How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in his excellent word.

Browse online or flip through the channels on your TV

and you'll likely find all kinds of discussion about what people think is going

to happen next in this world. We're all just naturally curious aren't we?

Welcome to Through the Bible, I'm your host Steveats and throughout his ministry Dr. J.

Vernon McGee taught often on prophecy and the end times. You know but one thing that I

really appreciate so much about how he approached this very hot topic is not about what comes next, but why

we should study it and how it should impact us.

You'll hear Dr. McGee share that he wasn't interested in how enthusiastic or excited people got

over the idea of the rapture of the church, but instead what's important is how

we're living in light of what's to come. Does the reality of the rapture change the way we live?

Are we living more holy lives because we know that we might see Jesus at any moment?

And are we sharing the good news of Jesus with those we care about who don't yet know him?

We're going to talk all about how to live in light of coming events in this study.

So if you have a copy of God's word near you, open it to 1st Thessalonians 1 and we'll start from the top.

As we begin, here's an introduction Dr. McGee recorded with a poem from Martha Snell Nicholson, written

in 1943 during World War II.

Miss Nicholson was a member of the church that I served in downtown Los Angeles and she suffered from a disease that you could not touch

her anywhere on her body without her screaming. She wanted to be baptized and I baptized her in a bathtub which is

the only time I've ever heard anybody being baptized that way but that's the way I

baptized her and with her screaming because it was a disease that was quite unusual.

She suffered that and during that time

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