The Church and the Tribulation I: Rapture Before Wrath

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]

Heroes of the Faith: The Scottish Covenanters

If you’ve ever wondered what “salvation is of the Lord” looks like when it’s tested by real power, real fear, and real death, this message goes straight there. We start with the heart of the gospel: people sin and try to cover it, but God moves toward us in love, sending His Son to suffer and die so we can be forgiven, cleansed, justified, and made new. That’s not a small idea, it’s the kind of truth that has carried believers through flames, prisons, and public executions. From there, we step into Scottish church history and the rugged world of the Scottish Covenanters. You’ll hear why their covenants formed, how the Protestant Reformation reshaped Scotland, and why the real flashpoint wasn’t just politics or denominations but the dangerous union of church and state. We walk through key moments and names: Mary Queen of Scots, James I, Charles I and Charles II, the National Covenant of 1638, the Solemn League and Covenant, and the persecution that made open-air preaching a capital offense. The stories are painful and unforgettable: James Guthrie’s final words to his young son, believers tortured for refusing to yield Christ’s headship, and martyrs like Richard Cameron, Donald Cargill, John Brown, and Margaret Wilson. We don’t sanitize the moral complexity of the era, but we do honor the backbone, conscience, and conviction that refused to deny the Lord. Listen, then answer for yourself: what are you standing for today, and what would it take to make you compromise? Subscribe for more, share this with someone who loves church history, and leave a review so more people can find the broadcast. 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]

Heroes of the Faith: George Wagner

A man is tied to a stake, a bag of gunpowder hung around his neck, and the flames lit all because he won’t say water can save his soul. That’s the true story of George Wagner, killed in Munich in 1527, and we use it to ask a hard question: what do we actually believe about salvation when comfort is no longer on the table?  We walk through the historical backdrop of persecution and the danger of church and state acting as one authority, then lay out the convictions that brought Wagner to his death. He rejects the idea that priests can forgive sins, refuses the claim that the Mass turns bread into the literal body of Christ, and insists that salvation comes by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ and His shed blood, not through baptismal regeneration. Along the way, we dig into why Jesus was baptized even though He had no sin, and why pointing to the Jordan cannot replace the cross of Calvary.  The most haunting moments are personal: officials press him to recant, his wife and children are brought in to break his will, and he still chooses Christ. The episode closes with a direct challenge for every listener who values religious liberty: if following Jesus became illegal, would your life show enough faith to convict you? Subscribe, share this with someone who needs courage, and leave a review with your answer to that question. 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]

Mistakes God Did Not Make: Part 4

Some sermons don’t try to sound polite, they try to be clear. Brother James keeps moving through an old, worn booklet he loves, “Mistakes God Did Not Make,” and uses it to challenge evolution, agnosticism, and atheism with a simple question: can your worldview stay consistent when you follow it all the way to the end? From population control and planned parenthood arguments to the logic of “survival of the fittest,” we press on the places where modern certainty starts to wobble.  We also take on familiar Bible objections people repeat without reading the text: the appendix as “proof” of a lower origin, the claim that Scripture teaches a flat earth, and the broader accusation that faith is anti science. Along the way, we talk Bible and science in plain language, pointing to passages about the circle of the earth and the idea of the earth being hung “upon nothing,” then turning the spotlight back onto the easy assumptions skeptics swallow.  The conversation sharpens when we deal with theistic evolution, liberal Christianity, and the habit of denying miracles while promising eternal life. We dig into what it means to claim there can be no miracles, and why “thinking without a brain” may be the biggest miracle claim of all. We also address cultural myths like “we’re all God’s children,” expose bad teaching around racism and the mark of Cain, and answer common ridicule about Noah’s flood and long biblical lifespans.  If you care about Christian apologetics, biblical creation, and the real-world stakes of theology, listen through to the end and tell us what part challenged you most. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves the Bible and science debate, and leave a review so more people can find the show. 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]