Footprints of the Savior: Part 1

Footprints of the Savior: Part 1

Bethlehem shows us how small a place can carry a world-changing promise, and Nazareth shows us how God can put His Holy One in the middle of a town everyone looks down on. We open a new series called The Footprints of the Savior and start where the gospel story gets painfully specific: a real journey, a real birth, and a real fulfillment of prophecy that no human planner could have staged. As we trace Jesus’ steps, we keep coming back to one steady truth: God’s purposes always come to pass.  We walk through Bethlehem’s biblical history and the way Scripture points forward, then we slow down and stare at the wonder of the incarnation. The eternal God enters time, the Lord of glory lies in a manger, and the Savior comes in poverty so ordinary people can draw near. That tension between sovereignty, mystery, and humility is not meant to be solved like a puzzle. It is meant to lead us to worship.  Then we shift to Nazareth, a name people used with contempt. We unpack what it means that Jesus is called “Jesus of Nazareth” again and again through His ministry, His rejection, His arrest, His crucifixion, His resurrection, and even the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. We also draw a clear line between praise and worship: thanking God for what He has done, and thanking God for who He is. Subscribe for the rest of the series, share this broadcast with someone who needs Christ, and leave a review that tells us what line or truth stayed with you. Church Website — BibleBaptistDeLand.com [https://biblebaptistdeland.com] Ministry Website — JamesWKnox.org [https://jameswknox.org]  YouTube Channel — YouTube.com/JamesWKnoxSermons [https://www.youtube.com/jameswknoxsermons] Sermon Audio — SermonAudio.com/BibleBaptistDeLand [https://www.sermonaudio.com/biblebaptistdeland] Web Store — Store.JamesWKnox.org [https://store.jameswknox.org]

The Church and the Tribulation IV: Jacob's Trouble

People throw around the words “tribulation” and “end times” like they automatically describe whatever is happening in America right now. We slow that down and ask a sharper question: when the Bible talks about the Great Tribulation, who is God talking to? Once you see the difference between the Old Testament nation of Israel and the New Testament Church, whole sections of prophecy stop feeling foggy and start reading plainly.  We walk verse by verse through major prophecy anchors: Jeremiah 30 where the period is named “the time of Jacob’s trouble,” Ezekiel 20 on Israel’s future regathering and purging, and Daniel 12 on a time of trouble tied to “thy people.” From there we connect Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 24 and Mark 13, where the warnings center on Judea and the abomination of desolation, and we point out the striking absence of this specific tribulation period in the Christian epistles. If you care about Bible prophecy, the rapture, and how to read Revelation without guessing, this matters.  The backbone of the timeline is Daniel 9:24–27, the seventy weeks prophecy “determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city.” We explain why the final week is still ahead, why it relates to Israel’s future, and why that framework challenges modern “headline prophecy” that treats rising prices or cultural pressure as automatic proof the Church is entering the Great Tribulation. If this helped you, subscribe for more Bible teaching, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so others can find it. Church Website — BibleBaptistDeLand.com [https://biblebaptistdeland.com] Ministry Website — JamesWKnox.org [https://jameswknox.org]  YouTube Channel — YouTube.com/JamesWKnoxSermons [https://www.youtube.com/jameswknoxsermons] Sermon Audio — SermonAudio.com/BibleBaptistDeLand [https://www.sermonaudio.com/biblebaptistdeland] Web Store — Store.JamesWKnox.org [https://store.jameswknox.org]

The Church and the Tribulation III: Two Separate Events

If you’ve ever heard someone speak with total confidence about the Great Tribulation but struggle to find the same certainty in the actual text of the Bible, this teaching is for you. We open by calling out a common problem in Christian life: repeating catchphrases like “God said it” while never doing the hard, careful work of showing what God said and where He said it. Doctrine gets fragile when it’s built on personalities, not passages, and end times teaching is one of the fastest places for that to happen.  From there, we start a series on the tribulation in relation to the Church, beginning with the “first necessity” for clear biblical prophecy: understanding the differences between Israel and the Church of God. We walk through contrasts in origin, makeup, worship, and destiny. Israel is presented as God’s earthly people with national promises and an earthly future, while the Church is formed after Christ’s resurrection at Pentecost and is a spiritual body drawn from every nation. That distinction shapes how we read covenant language, judgment passages, and the purpose of the Great Tribulation.  Next, we compare two separate events that are often blended together: Christ’s coming for His saints, called the blessed hope, and His public appearing with His saints. We lay out differences like secret versus visible, meeting in the air versus coming to earth, comfort versus wrath, and the order of who is removed. We also address the parousia argument and finish with Scripture support from Deuteronomy 4 and Romans 11 to show why the tribulation is tied to Israel and the world, not the New Testament Church.  If you care about the pre-tribulation rapture, the second coming of Christ, and reading the Bible in context without forcing passages to fit a system, listen through to the end, then subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Church Website — BibleBaptistDeLand.com [https://biblebaptistdeland.com] Ministry Website — JamesWKnox.org [https://jameswknox.org]  YouTube Channel — YouTube.com/JamesWKnoxSermons [https://www.youtube.com/jameswknoxsermons] Sermon Audio — SermonAudio.com/BibleBaptistDeLand [https://www.sermonaudio.com/biblebaptistdeland] Web Store — Store.JamesWKnox.org [https://store.jameswknox.org]

The Church and the Tribulation II: Delivered from the Wrath to Come

The Great Tribulation isn’t just a scary phrase from Revelation. It’s a Bible-defined period tied to the wrath of God, and what you believe about it shapes how you read the rapture, the Second Coming, and the hope Christ gives His church. I’m Brother James, and we’re concluding our series by walking straight through Scripture to explain why we believe the church will be taken out before that wrath breaks loose.  We start with the promise that Jesus “shall deliver us from the wrath to come” and that God “hath not appointed us to wrath” (1 Thessalonians 1 and 5). From there, we connect the Old Testament descriptions of divine judgment with the Book of Revelation’s repeated language about wrath, including the “wrath of the Lamb.” We also open Romans 5 to show how salvation has a past, present, and future fullness, including being saved from coming wrath through Christ.  Then we zoom in on Revelation 7, the 144,000 sealed from Israel, and the great multitude from the nations, and we explain why we see these as tribulation believers who are distinct from the church. We also lay out why there must be an interval between the rapture and Christ’s appearing, and we answer common objections from Matthew 24 and Luke 17 by keeping Israel and the church in their proper places in the text. We end where every prophecy study should end: the blessed hope that comforts the heart and calls us to holy living, and the simple gospel invitation to be saved by grace through Jesus Christ.  If this helped you think clearly about end-times prophecy, share it with a friend, subscribe for more Bible preaching, and leave a review so others can find the broadcast. What passage most shapes your view of the rapture and the tribulation? Church Website — BibleBaptistDeLand.com [https://biblebaptistdeland.com] Ministry Website — JamesWKnox.org [https://jameswknox.org]  YouTube Channel — YouTube.com/JamesWKnoxSermons [https://www.youtube.com/jameswknoxsermons] Sermon Audio — SermonAudio.com/BibleBaptistDeLand [https://www.sermonaudio.com/biblebaptistdeland] Web Store — Store.JamesWKnox.org [https://store.jameswknox.org]

The Church and the Tribulation I: Rapture Before Wrath

The fastest way to get distracted in Bible prophecy is to stare at “signs” until you stop looking up. Brother James continues part three of a four-part study on the Great Tribulation and the church, making a focused, verse-by-verse argument that the New Testament church is not appointed to the seven-year outpouring of wrath often called Jacob’s trouble, and that the rapture comes before that period begins. We walk through 1 Corinthians 15 and the meaning of “the end,” tying it to Daniel 12 and Matthew 24 to show why the rapture of “they that are Christ’s” precedes the Tribulation. Then we turn to Romans 11 to explain the fullness of the Gentiles, how it differs from the times of the Gentiles, and why Israel’s national storyline returns to the forefront only after God’s present work through the church reaches completion. From there, we trace the flow of Revelation: the church addressed in chapters 2–3, the redeemed pictured in heaven in chapters 4–5, and the striking absence of the church through Revelation 6–19 as the seals and judgments fall. Along the way we talk about why Christ’s coming for Israel and His coming for the church serve different purposes, why the rapture has no sign countdown, and why 2 Thessalonians 2 is used to argue the Antichrist cannot be revealed until the restraining presence is removed. We close with the plain force of Revelation 3:10 and a practical reminder to write in so we know you’re listening. Subscribe, share this broadcast with a friend who’s anxious about end times, and leave a review. What Scripture shapes your view of the rapture timeline most? Church Website — BibleBaptistDeLand.com [https://biblebaptistdeland.com] Ministry Website — JamesWKnox.org [https://jameswknox.org]  YouTube Channel — YouTube.com/JamesWKnoxSermons [https://www.youtube.com/jameswknoxsermons] Sermon Audio — SermonAudio.com/BibleBaptistDeLand [https://www.sermonaudio.com/biblebaptistdeland] Web Store — Store.JamesWKnox.org [https://store.jameswknox.org]