Soon - Pastor Brad DeLong

Today, as I said, we're going to be turning to the book of Revelation, chapter 22. It's the last page in the biblical text, and we're going to be looking forward to a special day, a special occasion. So, you can turn the last page of your Bible to Revelation 22. John the revelator is wrapping up his final letter. A letter that reveals Christ, his message, his intentions, his heart.

And in the last chapter alone, we're going to read three red letter statements. These are statements that typically a Bible will will print in red because they're the words of Jesus. And they we try to pay special attention to every word of scripture, especially these. And these three statements have a recurring theme. The first is found around around Revelation 22 and:e 6.

It says, "Then he," meaning the angel of the Lord said to me, "These words are faithful and true." That's a message right there. And the Lord God of the holy prophet sent his angel to show his servants the things which must shortly, everyone say shortly, shortly take place. Verse seven, behold, I'm coming quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of this prophecy of the prophecy of this book. Verse 10 repeats the reminder.

And he said to me, "Do not seal the words of this of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still. He who is filthy, let him be filthy still. He who is righteous, let him be righteous still. He who is holy, let him be holy still.

And behold, I'm coming quickly. My reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are those who do his commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. And lastly, John closes the letter of the entire book with the same sentiment.

He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus. The New International Version uses a synonym for the last word of Jesus in red ink, the word quickly. And I'm going to borrow this word for my title today.

The final redletter word in the book, Revelation 22:20. He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I'm coming soon." This morning, as Christmas Day is fast approaching, I'm going to preach from that weighty allimportant word, the adverb soon. feel the wonderful and holy presence of God. And I would say the weighty presence of God in this room. And I wonder if you'd respond by putting your Bibles down, lifting your hands and voices, invite the word of truth into your life.

Whatever the Lord would say to you today, oh God, we want to hear the word and heed the word. We don't want to just hear it. We want to be a doer of the word. And I pray that you'd help your messenger to convey it. And I pray that you'd help the wonderful people of God to hear it, to understand it, and to receive it.

We call on you and we look to you for your help. In the name of Jesus, the precious name of Jesus we pray. Everyone said amen. You may be seated. The word on the screen, the word soon is a loaded word and in many circumstances it's a word that holds tremendous weight.

And I have found that it's often times a a relative term. It can be taken to mean a myriad of different things. The the four-letter word soon, especially considering its context and and the one using it, can take on any number of meanings and any number of different scenarios. For parents in the room in particular, soon means a thousand different things. I say soon all the time to the kids, especially in the car.

When are we going to be there, Dad? I'll say we're going to be there soon. That could mean two minutes. That could mean on a 4-hour drive, 30 minutes. Uh, and on a longer drive, that could mean an hour.

We're going to be there soon. It means a couple different things. And the unfortunate thing is that for children, soon also means a thousand different other things. They have no concept of what soon means. Sometimes neither do us adults.

WE SAY VACATION IS coming soon. It really isn't. The day before vacation often feels like a hundred. heard a saying once that the day before a vacation is like a thousand years with the Lord. I may have made it up.

I don't know. When we say WE'RE GOING BACK TO work soon, depending on how much you like your job, which for the record, I love my job. I love what I get to do. But depending on how much you like your job, it it often comes too soon, especially after a holiday weekend. Soon is often very relative.

And when all the world and our eternities and our future with the Lord and and our readiness and his coming rests on it, it obviously needs to be defined. It it needs to be less relative than we may make it. It needs to be more concretely stated and understood. And I plan to do that in the coming moments. But before I do, I want to share with you how this word on the screen could be defined by its hearers, especially in this biblical context.

I I believe it's often taken to mean a whole host of different things when it is expressed and even when it's preached. In order to demonstrate that further, I'll share with you an interaction I had recently with my son, Mr. Wesley. Hopefully, these interactions aren't getting old because I try to share them as often as I can. They help me.

These kids help me. Apparently, Wesley knew I needed help with this particular sermon. And true to form, uh he asked me a few weeks ago on a Saturday night. He said, "Daddy, what does soon mean?" We were approaching bedtime and he had this sense. Kids have a sense that bedtime's coming.

And he looks at me. He says, "Daddy, when's bedtime?" And I said, "It's soon." And he said, "What does soon mean?" And I thought, "You got to be kidding me." I knew what I was going to be preaching and knew that I was going to be defining this word. I looked at him. I said, "It's 25 minutes, Wesley." And Wesley smiled real big. He laughed.

That's a long time. I thought, "Oh, to be four years old again." It occurred to me in that moment in many moments since that soon really is relative to most people. Which is why we've got to define the word because when I say Jesus is coming soon. Some take soon to mean immediately, quickly, imminently. Others in even in this room and maybe some in this congregation may take it to mean that that we still have a fraction more of time.

I still have a brief window in which to maneuver and move and live. And still others may hear it and think, "I've heard that word my entire life." So soon is still a long way off in the grand scheme of things. Or or even in light of shortterm goals and ambitions. Soon can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. And my conversation with Wesley that night and my observation over a few years have brought me to a few notable conclusions about this word in relation to the Lord's coming.

And the first one is that soon cannot come quickly enough to those who are eagerly waiting for it. To the person who is ready, TO THE PERSON WHO'S WATCHING THE CLOCK AND WATCHING the times. To the person on the edge of their seat in anticipation. Soon means it could happen at any time and at any moment. Soon tends to bring an urgency, an element of suspense to those who take it at face value.

soon causes them to look up and to look out for the coming of the Lord or rather to continue to do the same. These persons tend to take soon very literally. They're dogmatic in their resolve to be ready at any moment. They're ready in their day-today life. Simply put, to these persons, soon is soon.

Soon cannot arrive too quickly for them. They are ready for soon. Still others are fixed in the middle. They hear soon and they and they may take it seriously for the moment, but maybe maybe they allow the definition to become fuzzier over time. And the longer they get away from the the defining moment, the longer they get away from the Sunday sermon, the less soon seems to be.

They hear the word, they even heed the word, but the cares of life can tend to choke out the word over time. And they have an initial posture of readiness, and they even look up. and they look away from distractions and routines and and cares for a season, but their posture seems to wayne over time. This is probably where most of us live in a place in a posture where soon is soon, but less soon than soon should be. Soon, but not as soon as it should be.

It's soon, but with strings attached. It's soon, but I have other things to do and other things to worry about and other things to focus on. It's soon, but I still have a job and I and I get it. soon, but not as soon as soon should be. And on the other end of the spectrum, there's the person who is not ready, not waiting, not anticipating.

And to that person, soon is often far too soon a moment. I'm reaching for everybody today. No matter your definition of soon, I've come to help every person here. Whether soon is immediate to you or soon is soon, but I got some time or soon is uh it's not even in remotely soon. to the one caught off guard, to the person who is unalert and unresponsive to the word and to the message, to the one who is unaware and unmindful, even unconscious.

Soon comes far too quickly. Soon is just too soon. It's it's inopportune. It's inconvenient at best and and it's detrimental and and eternally destructive at worst. Soon often is relative, church, and it may depend on the hearer to fully respond to it.

But but I also need to tell you that soon in scripture is not to be taken as a long way off or interpreted as having any measure of wiggle room and time to maneuver. And I I just laid out some of the ways that the word could be taken in a setting like this. But no matter your previous interpretation and and your posture towards that word, which we're going to discuss here in the near future, HERE IS THE FACT. Here is the truth of the matter. Jesus is coming soon.

He is coming soon. I need you to take that word soon, as literally as possible. He's coming imminently. He's coming quickly. He's coming rapidly, hurriedly, speedily.

All words that are used in the Greek to define that word that Jesus uses soon. A word that he used intentionally to remind his church, one that he loves and one that I love, that we've got to be ready and we've got to be prepared and we've got to be in a posture of anticipation when he comes. No matter what your definition of soon may be, the Bible defines it clearly as an imminent arrival. One that will be missed by so many who are not watching and not waiting and not taking the word of GOD AT FACE VALUE just as Jesus intended for us to take it. And so it's to his church and to the people of God and to new believers and to guests and to people that I love, to people that I cherish and to people that I shepherd, that I lovingly but I urgently remind Jesus is coming soon.

And soon is not to be taken to mean THAT THERE'S MORE TIME TO MANEUVER OR MORE TIME TO be distracted and more time to be drawn away. IT'S TO IT'S NOT TO BE TAKEN AS THOUGH IT'S the same old same old. It's the same message. It's some antiquated message that that we've heard from the apostles to today. It's not to be taken any other way than his return is imminent and we should be watching and ready and waiting.

And if Jesus's words in revelation and elsewhere are any indication any definition, it's that our posture and our preparedness should be soon is soon. In fact, it was Jesus himself who reminded us three times in one chapter alone. The last chapter in the book, Jesus has one more chapter to convey some things to us. One more letter rather. They didn't have chapter and verse divisions, but near the end of the book, he says it not just once, not just twice, he says it three times.

And I need you to notice he uses superlatives every single time. Words like behold. Someone walked in here right now and THEY YELLED OUT, "BEHOLD, you'd be looking." That was Jesus's point. Listen, let me have your attention. HE USES IT TWICE.

And then he uses the word surely as well, a superlative. And he uses them in chapter one, and he uses it in chapter three as well. And I'm going to read these verses in sequence to you so there's a full understanding of the urgency when Jesus repeats himself three times in the last chapter and five times in one letter. Starting in chapter 1 and verse 7, he bookends the book with this declaration. Behold, he's coming with the clouds and every eye will see him.

Even those who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. Even so, a amen. And he says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Two chapters later, chapter 3 and 11, behold, I'm coming quickly. Hold fast to what you have that no one may take your crown. Chapter 22 and verse 7, behold, I'm coming quickly.

Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. Verse 12, "Behold, I'm coming quickly, and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work. I'm the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. I'm the first and the last. He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly." You can feel the urgency of the master as he clearly states his intentions to return.

And not just in some vague manner. He's not just going to return. Said, "I'm not just coming. I'm coming quickly, suddenly. Be ready for my return.

Be waiting for my arrival in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. So you be watching and anticipating and waiting for my imminent parent. It's not only these reminders, but all of scripture would command the same as well. It gives us a definition.

What does soon mean? Luke 21, but take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing and drunkenness and the cares of this life. And I know we can read that sequence and think, well, I don't I'm not up to carousing recently and I'm not up to drunkenness recently. But that third one, the cares of life can cause that day to come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.

In other words, no one's exempt. Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy. Oh God, that may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. Paul echoes the same in Romans 13. He says, "And do this, love your neighbor, keep from sinning, KNOWING THE TIME THAT NOW IT'S HIGH time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed." That's still true.

The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Therefore, cast off the works of darkness. Put on the armor of light. Walk properly as in the day, not in revalry and drunkenness.

Again, oh, we're good there. Not in lwdness and lust. Okay. We're good there. Not in strife and envy.

Oh, okay. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. But I want you to notice with me, you always get the sense always that soon is soon. And that the people of God should be charged with an urgency, an awareness and expectancy. I I don't think it's just me, but every time I read one of these passages, it's like a jolt of earnestness comes over.

And I pray it's contagious today. Peter, I think, sums it up best in 1 Peter 4. But the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be serious. Be watchful in your prayers.

The indication here is we take the admonition seriously. We should be sober minded about it. We should be genuinely considering and thinking about the coming of the Lord and not just on a Sunday and not just when we get the reminders. But Peter instructs his readers in the first chapter to to gird up their minds and earnestly pray on and consider the coming of the Lord. It was never something to be taken lightly, never something to be trivialized.

This morning, I did not intend to come with a serious scowl on my face or with a subdued appearance and manner. I'm not trying to put on, but I have to convey to you the seriousness. Amen. I'm here to convince someone, everyone, anyone, to live in a way, that you believe that soon is really soon and that you would be fully ready. What is your definition of soon?

And when I say soon, what comes to mind? It'll be after the new year. Oh, it'll be next year. It'll be later in the year. It'll be I'll have more time.

I'll see more signs. I What if your definition was now? How would you live? Peter talks about this. This is one of the most sobering passages to me of scripture in second Peter 3.

He says, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. The heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Someday we're going to see this. It's going to happen and the earth and the works in it will be burned up. All those things I worked on.

Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons should you be? And a holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening for the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved. They'll be on fire and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we according to his promise, we look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, and I mean that word with all my heart, beloved people of God, looking forward to these things, be diligent.

Be diligent. Be you're going to notice some words like this. Be diligent. Be sober. Be vigilant.

Be steadfast. All the words that are used in relation to the coming of the Lord. In no way does it say be lax, let down your guard. Let a couple days go by where you don't think about it or you don't think about the Lord or you don't know. Be diligent.

Be found by him in peace without spot and blameless. If it wasn't possible, he wouldn't have told us to do it. Considering the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, he talks about how Paul wrote about these things and people are twisting in verse 17. You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware. strong language again, lest you fall from your own steadfastness and you're led away with the error of the wicked, but grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Earlier we talked about our posture in light of the definition of the word soon. If soon is soon, our posture will reflect it. Our lifestyle will reflect it. If soon is really soon, we're not living in fear. But we are living and walking circumspectly in caution, looking for constantly.

If soon is soon, our lives will reflect it. If soon is not soon, if soon is a little or a long way off, at least in our minds, our lifestyle and posture will reflect that, too. How we respond to and define the word soon may dictate our mindset and preparedness. And since I love Christmas and I love this time of year as I considered how we should orient and prepare ourselves, my mind naturally went to this holiday season. I want to use this analogy to help somebody.

In fact, I asked Sister Christy, she'd put a clock and some Christmas lights on the back. She did a great job tying everything together and thankful for her work and her help. But I know how much some of us anticipate this holiday and and we're counting down the days until December. Wesley and Mila have been coming to me. They've never done math so well.

I don't know how they they can subtract from 25 so easily. It's five days, Dad. It's six days. All right. Some of us have been counting down from months.

And the truth is that this slide and this holiday reminds us, especially this time of year, there are there are some whose entire lives and their plans and their schedules and their homes and their calendars and their traditions revolve around this day. I could just throw myself in that lot to some extent as well. And I'll just put it to you like this. There there are persons who have oriented their entire lives, families, budgets, thoughts, priorities, times, schedules. They are all postured towards and pointing towards December 25th and Christmas Day.

And I am not here to condemn the celebration of Christmas. You can go in my office. You can drive down the road to my house and you'll see how much I love Christmas and I love the celebration of this family holiday, especially as it points to the first coming of Christ. I am not condemning the healthy anticipation and celebration of Christmas. I love it.

But instead, I'm drawing a parallel for another day. one that is far more consequential than a scheduled annual holiday. Christmas season comes and everything starts pointing towards it. All of our attention gravitates towards it. Calendars start to change and to be oriented towards it.

994 billion dollars in the US alone is spent on it. Marketing campaigns and businesses built around it. Most of the world in December focused on it. Countdown clocks all over the world arranged around it. the fact that Christmas is coming soon.

I've heard a person's doing countdown clocks in January to remind them and others how many days until that day. And if you want to talk about signs of the times, just go into Home Depot or going to Sam's Club in July and you'll know Christmas is coming. People are wrapping up summer vacations and they are they got the reindeer inflatables going up. Christmas is coming. I know I'm exaggerating a little bit, but the point is the entire world, it seems, is anticipating this wonderful and celebratory day.

Everyone seems to be looking forward to it. Their lives at one point or another start to orient and be postured toward that day. And I say this with a tinge of irony and a whole lot of love and soberness while the world is fixated on when Santa is coming to town. And while they're counting down the days till Christmas, I wonder if the church would stand alert and ready and posture. I'm not saying forego Christmas.

I'm saying you better pay attention and look for that day that will decide every other day. A day that decides eternal destinies. A DAY THAT THIS APOSTOLIC church has been looking for for 90 years and truly since the day that Jesus first ascended. What if our entire lives were oriented around that day? WHAT IF OUR THOUGHTS WERE ON THE COMING OF the Lord on a consistent basis?

What if we were watchful and serious and sober in our resolve to be ready FOR WHEN IT COMES? OR WHAT IF WE GAVE AS much or more attention to that day as we do other days circled in red ink on the counter? What if we believed? What if we really believed he was coming soon? What would that even look like?

How would that posture and preparedness appear? I think it'd look like Ephesians 5. For you were once in darkness, but now you're light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. For the spirit or the fruit of the spirit is of all goodness and righteousness and truth, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

For it's shameful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light. For what it makes manifest is light. Talking about walking in the light. Therefore, he says, "Wake up.

Awake you who sleep. Arise from the dead and Christ will give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Do not be unwise. Understand what the will of the Lord is." There's some group of people in scripture that were unwise.

five foolish virgins. I don't know if Paul was pointing to them, but they come to my mind. They were unwise. They weren't their their their main crime was they just weren't watching. They weren't ready.

Mark 13 is what it would look like. But of the day and the hour, no one knows. Not even the angels in heaven. Not Not the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch, and pray for you don't know when the time is.

It's like a man going to a far country. He leaves his house. He gives authority to his servants to eat his work and he tells the doorkeeper to stand watch. It's what I'm trying to do today. Watch therefore for you don't know when the master of the house is coming in the evening at midnight at the crowing of the rooster in the morning less coming suddenly he find you sleeping.

And what I say to you I say to all watch. She says it three times and it looks like 1 Thessalonians 5 concerning the times and the seasons. Brethren, you really don't need that I should write to you. You know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. When they say peace and safety, sudden destruction again, you get this sense the sudden comes upon them as labor pains on a pregnant woman.

They will not escape. But you people of God, you're not in darkness so that that day should overtake you as a thief. You're sons of light. your sons of the day. We're not of night.

We're not of the darkness. Let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night. Those who get drunk drunk at night. But let us throughout the day be sober.

Pastor, why are you being so sober when we're coming up on Christmas? What if we don't even make it to Christmas? Why do you have to be so sober? You all look wonderful. We're dressed.

We're in a festive mood. I get it. H the holiday does not negate the word of God. And I know you believe that. And I thank you for believing it.

Put on the breastplate of faith and love helmet hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath. This is why the Lord has me here today. He wants us to attain salvation through the Lord Jesus who died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we should live with him. Therefore, comfort one another and edify one another just as you also are doing.

But the Norris made the point after reading the epistles like this letters in the New Testament. He said the early church had a posture, a preoccupation with the coming of the Lord. He says he believes one in every 10 verses in the New Testament epistles are about the soon coming of Christ. He says this, the fact that Christ's return is mentioned so often demonstrates it was always present in hearts and minds of the earliest believers. I don't say this to condemn anybody.

I'm with you. But when is the last time you thought he's coming? He's coming soon. They had a posture of readiness. And while some in their day and some in ours are trying to pinpoint, well, just how soon is soon really.

And Jesus says, "No man knows the day or the hour, no one's going to really be able to pinpoint it outside the times that he's coming soon." So the response of the church, I I BELIEVE THE POINT OF ALL THESE WRITINGS IS DON'T YOU TRY TO PINPOINT the day. You just be ready for it. Just live READY AND WALK. WATCH, THEREFORE, he says, for you don't know the hour of the Lord's coming, but know this, if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched. He would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

Therefore, you also be ready. The Son of Man is coming at an hour that you don't expect. Luke 21, And there will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars. on the earth. Distress of nations with perplexity.

The sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things that are coming on the earth. The powers of the heavens will be shaken. AND THEY'LL SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING IN THE CLOUD WITH GREAT POWER AND GLORY. NOW, when these things begin to happen, that struck me. Some of these things have been happening for years, right?

when they begin to happen. Look up. Lift your heads. Your redemption's coming this morning. This is my simple but straightforward reminder to this wonderful church.

Jesus is coming soon. And soon means soon. And along with it, in light of it, here's my simple admonition. Look up, church. Be ready.

Be alert. Do whatever you got to do to be ready. Obey the plan of salvation if you haven't already. If you've never repented of your sins, which is turning away from sin and darkness and repentance and telling the Lord you're sorry and walking towards him and and truth, do that today. If you've never been baptized in the name of Jesus like they did in the in the book of Acts for the remission of your sins, you ought to be baptized.

You ought to do it today. If you've never received the gift of the Holy Ghost with the biblical evidence of speaking with other tongues, I implore you, don't wait. Don't wait for another day. Just seek after it today and find him today. And to the church and to those who've been walking a while.

Lay aside weights. Lay aside sins. Lay aside distractions. Live an overcoming life through the power of the spirit of God. Be reconciled with your brother or your sister.

Do not be found by the Lord living with unforgiveness. You have to forgive, child of God. You have to forgive them. You have to let it go. Be diligent.

Be alert. Stay awake. Be sober. Be serious. You don't have to live with a scowl on your face.

We can walk with the joy of the Lord. Uh but take it seriously. Live every day with an expectation that he's coming. With that in mind, I wonder if I could advocate today that instead of our posture being a busyiness and distraction and going through our routines and that day catch us unaware that we instead just constantly be on the lookout for the coming of the Lord. If I could just paint it like this instead of my posture being this all the time being lax or hearing A SUNDAY SERMON LOOKING UP AND he hasn't come yet and I've got more time or maybe I'm I'm guilty but my posture is this all the time.

What if what if you were like this? What if you were watching? Hebrews says he's coming for those who are eagerly waiting for his appearing. Paul said to Timothy or Titus rather, he said, "I'm looking for the blessed appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Peter said, "We're looking for and we're hastening for the coming of the day." That word hastening, I'm trying to speed up the coming of the day of the Lord. This is our posture, our preparedness.

I know we not we may not spend our entire days looking east wherever it is that way. Especially if you're driving west, don't be looking east. All right, that could be problematic. But what if every day you stopped and you prayed, "Lord, I know you're coming soon. Help me to be ready.

Oh, you would be so thankful for that 5-second or five minute or five hour prayer the day when he comes back." back. What if you just stopped every day and you prayed? What if every time you saw a sunset or a sunrise and you knew, "Okay, he's coming in those clouds that you would just stop and breathe a prayer. Oh, God, let me be ready." What if you talked about it more than you did? I was talking to Wesley the other day.

I said, "Wesley, what do you know about heaven?" He said, "Daddy, I don't know much about heaven." Said, "Okay, we're going to start talking about heaven." And I knew what I was going to be preaching. and I had a heads up, but me and Wesley sat on the couch and I began to show him pictures of what we think heaven's going to look like. And and I began to talk. I said, "This is going to be our new home, bud." And he said, "Daddy, I like our home." Said, "I know that home is going to be so much better. No more tears and no more pain.

What if this week as your family gathers to celebrate the Lord's first coming and you took at least a minute or two and said, "All right, everybody, he's coming again soon." What if we just woke up and we walked with God and we took it seriously? And lastly, as musicians come, what would it look like if our posture aligned with that of John in the very last verses of Revelation? What if our days and our lives and our dispositions? What would they look like when confronted with the word of God? This was our response.

He who testifies to these things says, "Surely, make no mistake, I'm coming quickly." in the response John the people of God. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. To this church, to our wonderful guests, people of God, I want to ask you a straightforward question laced with truth and love. If you knew that the Lord was coming right now in this moment, would you be able to give this response?

Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Would you be ready right now? Is your heart and life and soul ready for him to come quickly, unexpectedly, hurriedly soon? Jesus is coming soon.

And I have to ask you, are you ready? I told our team this morning, I had this thought today praying. I have such a an earnestness and a burden for this. I wonder what if we didn't make it to Christmas Eve. And I just imagine as I pray today, I'm not trying to cause you to fear.

I'm not fear-mongering here. I'm just trying to get you ready. I just imagine in the middle of the service, the Lord's saying, "Now it's time and this being the moment. And I so want us to be ready this morning. Whether you are or you're not, I want you to stand with me.

Here's what I'm going to ask at this altar call for as long as it takes and at least the next several minutes. These will not be wasted minutes. We will not regret these minutes if you would come and make sure that your heart and your life, your priorities, your posture is fixed and ready. This is up to you. Okay?

I don't no one's forcing you and I don't typically ask for universal responses because I know that the people of God are going to respond. This is one of those that I would ask every person to respond. I plan to join you in a moment, but I want to extend an appeal for any person who wants to pray and be prepared for the soon coming of the Lord. Whether you think that means now or you think you got time or you think he may not come anytime soon, would you just come right now and prepare your heart and prepare your life, however that looks, if you need to repent and you need to seek the Lord. If you need to say, "Lord, I forgive that person.

Help me to forgive and forgive me my trespasses as I forgive those who've trespassed against me. If you've never been filled with the spirit of God and you've never repented of your sins and you've never been baptized, we can do that today and you can be ready for the coming of the Lord. Whatever it looks like for you today, if you feel an urgency or if you don't feel anything at all, I implore you to come and find a place to pray as we sing about the Lord's coming. to my knees and pray. Come Jesus, come.

Let be the day. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to break, but I'm holding on to a hope that won't fade. Come Jesus, come. We've been waiting so long. For the day you return to heal every hurt and write every wrong.

We need you right now. Come and turn this around. Deep down I know this world isn't home. Come Jesus, come. There'll be no war and there'll be no chains.

When Jesus comes, let today be the day. who come for the weak and the strong just the same. And all will believe in the power of his name. Come Jesus, come. We've been waiting so long for the day you return to heal every hurt and write every wrong.

We need you right now. Come and turn this around. Deep down I know this world isn't home. Come Jesus come. And one day he'll come and we'll stand face to face.

come and lay it on cuz it might be today. The time is right now. There is no need to wait. Your path will be washed by rivers of grace. Come Jesus, come.

We've been waiting so long for the day you return. to heal every hurt and write every wrong. We need you right now. Come and turn this around. Deep down I know this world isn't home.

Come Jesus. Come. Come Jesus come. We've been waiting so long for the day you'll return to heal every hurt and write every wrong. We need you right now.

Come and turn this around. Deep down I know this world isn't home. Come Jesus, come. We've been waiting so long for the day you return. to heal every hurt and write every wrong.

We need you right now. Come and turn this around. Deep down I know this world isn't home. Come Jesus, come. We've been waiting so long for the day you return to heal every hurt and write every wrong.

We need you right now. Come and turn this around. Deep down I know this world isn't home. Come Jesus, come. We've been waiting so long for the day you return to heal every hurt and write every wrong.

We need you right now. Come and turn this all around. Deep down I know this world isn't home. Come Jesus, come. We've been waiting so long for the day you return to heal every hurt and write every wrong.

We need you right now. Come and turn this around. Deep down I know this world isn't home. Come Jesus come. The writer of Hebrews talks about running the race with patience looking to Jesus.

He says strengthen the feeble knees and the hands that hang low. In other words, if you're running the race and you're tired, be strengthened. But then he also adds an element for the church. I want to read it to you. Pursue peace with all people in holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Looking carefully with this kind of posture as well, not just here. Why? Lest anyone fall short of the grace of God or any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble and by this many become defiled. Our posture as the Lord comes is not just looking for him, but it's also looking around to brothers and sisters and saying, "Oh, you're not giving up. And if I got to carry you as much as I can across this finish line, I'm going to do that.

I've seen it already happen as I scan the congregation today, brothers and sisters that prayed, "Lord, I want to be ready." And then they got up from prayer and they begin to look around. Okay, who else can I help? Here's what I feel to do as we bring this service to a close. If you're weary and welloing, this doesn't mean that you're giving up in the race or that you're you're turned away from the Lord. This just means you're tired and you need prayer and you need strength.

Would you just lift your hand right now and allow the body to come and to pray? Yeah. Keep that hand up. The Lord knew you were here. Church, would you look around?

This is your job right now to go and to find somebody. And I'm going to ask no person be alone. We've got hands all over the place. Would you look around right now? I know we're doing our best to make sure that we're prepared, but there's brothers and sisters.

Keep that hand up, brothers and sisters. Thank you for your honesty and your vulnerability. Uh we're going to pray. We're going to believe. We're going to pray.

We're going to strengthen those who are weak right now. You're not alone. You're going to be able to say when it's all said and done that, I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I kept the faith because the Lord stood with me and the Lord stood by me and I also had a brother.

I had someone who came and braced me up. I had someone who came and prayed and then looked me in the eyes and told me you're going to make it. Ah, this isn't the end of your story or your journey or your race. Ah, I feel the Holy Ghost coming alongside someone. YOU PRAY WITH BOLDNESS, BROTHER OR SISTER.

JESUS, we know eternity's way in the balance. And we're going to pray and we're going to believe and we're going to strengthen one another. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Oh God, we weep with those who weep.

We rejoice with those who rejoice. We bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Oh, we restore that brother or sister overtaken in a spirit of meekness. and we're going to do good to all, especially those of the household of faith. Help us not to be weary and welloing, knowing in due season that we're going to reap if we faint not.

And what a reward and what a crown of righteousness. Oh my god. Would you respond right now to the Lord told us to run with patience the race that's set before us? Would you just lift your hands and voices right now and commit to him? Oh God, that's what we're going to do.

looking unto Jesus. Not looking to the left, not looking to the right, but looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Oh God, we're thankful, Lord, that in your journey to the cross, you didn't take a shortcut. You didn't look to the left or right, but you kept going, and we're going to keep going, and we're going to pursue you, Lord. Oh, God.

Oh, God. Oh, God. I want to make it clear today. The coming of the Lord is not an inconvenience. It's not something that would derail your Christmas just in case that may that thought may have come.

I love Christmas. But the greatest gift we could have and the greatest one we could give our family is to help them to be prepared for the coming of the Lord. And what a hope and a joy that is. I wonder if you just thank the Lord for his mercy and grace and for that hope. Oh God, I thank you, Lord.

There's brothers and sisters in the room right now uh who've been walking in pain, Lord. And they've got a hope right now that someday every pain will cease and every every tear will be wiped away from every eye. Oh God, we thank you for your mercy and grace that you've gone to prepare a place for us and you're coming again. And what a hope we have. Oh God, what a hope we have.

Oh God, what a hope we have. Jesus name. Jesus name.