No Really! He Is Coming Back!

I Thessalonians 4:16-18
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. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.

Kind of hard to wrap your head around these verses isn't it.
Yet there it is plain as day.
IF we remain alive here on this earth, the possibility that Jesus will return for us is very much a reality.
You don't hear about this much any more.
Most preachers and teachers are more concerned with life today rather than teaching about "The Glorious Hope of His Return." It isn't as much about the "Sweet By and By" as it is the "Nasty Here And Now."
For me, these verses only strengthen my resolve to chase after Jesus. To be more than someone who is playing at this relationship. I find that God has given me a fire inside that is only satisfied when I am focused on Him.

I find great peace and comfort reading His word.
I seem to be centered and focused when I am meditating, contemplating and praying on His word.
I know that my language may seen archaic and a bit religious, but I don't know how to say it any other way. Jesus consumes my thoughts.................
And I love it.
I find that my love for this world and the things of this world has been replaced with a love for Jesus. It wasn't something I made happen or worked up. And to be honest with you, I as much puzzled by the whole thing as you might be. I just know that God has done a work in me that is unlike anything I've ever experienced before. It's all Him and none of me.

It wasn't always like this.
I was a stinker....that's a pleasant way of saying I was a sinner extraordinaire.
Oh, I hadn't killed anyone or robbed the National Trust Bank.
But my life was dedicated to the great god..."me!"
I served myself and worshipped at the shrine of "me!"
Funny part was I knew better. I had been raised better than to live like this.
My mother made sure that I was brought up in church and I had a wonderful church family who taught me and gave me values to live by.
But like the prodigal son, I wanted my inheritance so I could experience that big old world that lay beyond the horizon.
It pretty near killed me.
I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say that God laid hold of me and brought me back. For that I am ever grateful.
Now, much older, I hear the words and voices of sermons from my past.
Men such as Levan Parker and D.E. Hendrix who told me of the wonders of heaven and of a Jesus who would return one day for his church.
There on my front porch in Gallant, Alabama, one June day back in 1967 Mr. Vivian Phillips told me that the Jews had retaken the city of Jerusalem and how this was part of the prophecy written in Scripture. Mr. Phillips voice was filled with Joy as he shared how we were living out the book of Revelation."We are one step closer to Jesus coming back," he told me.

Then came Bro. George Creel.....
And the prophecies of the Bible came pouring forth and my heart burned as I listened. All these things were going to happen. God was going to set up His Kingdom here on earth. Jesus was coming back. There was going to be something they referred to as "The Rapture." We were going to be swept up and changed in the twinkling of eye and meet Jesus in the air. It sounded like a cross between the Twilight Zone and Star Trek, only I knew it was the truth of God.
Accompanied with these wonderful words, was a terrible truth.
Not everyone would participate.
Not everyone would be ready to meet Jesus.
Those who didn't know Him or have relationship with Him would be left.
Salvation was the defining moment in persons life that marked them for this incredible invitation to be with Jesus.
That is why I do what I do.
That is why I teach God's word.
That is why I share with the men who come through Rapha, as well as those I meet on the street and in the market place.
I want everyone to know that Jesus is coming back, and we need to be ready.
Are you ready?
Today is a good day to answer God's call to be saved.
Now brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying,"Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So the, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him...therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
..........................................................................I Thessalonians 5:1-11

God on you....
mb