VICTORY

1 Thessalonians 4: 15 – 18




15 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever.
18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.

Encourage each other with these words?
Boy Howdy!
Those words can, for the most part, be all the encouragement that I need.
To be able to boldly proclaim that we will spend eternity with the Lord.
A couple of years ago, it so happened that two people I knew passed away around the same time. One was saved the other not. When I spoke on the phone with the family of my unsaved friend there was sadness and fear in their voices as they wept and sadly told me of the funeral arrangements. I went to the wake to find a room full of sorrowful people.
When I spoke to the family of my saved friend, although the missed their family member, they said that there would be a memorial service at his church and that I should stop by. It should be a real good time.
What was the difference?
Christ.
As we are taught in Sunday school, Jesus is the answer to everything.