What Now?

Let's pray together Father, Lord, thank you for tonight Thank you for an opportunity to once again study the return of the King We ask, Lord, that our hearts will be stirred and moved to obedience in the light of your soon coming again We pray in Jesus' name Amen Tonight we come to the end of our series, The Return of the King. I really was praying the Lord would return before we ended That didn't happen, unless he comes before the 14 points are concluded this evening, and that very well could happen But if he doesn't, at least we know the events surrounding the return of the King

And although this study has not been an exhaustive study, it's only been about 25 different sermons, but it gives you an idea of what's going to happen at the end when the Lord is going to come again, and what's going to happen after he arrives Now, we have a whole series in the book of Revelation that goes verse by verse through that book that explains to you a lot about the return of the King And yet, we wanted to give you some idea of what is going to happen when Jesus Christ is going to come

This truly is probably the most fascinating study in all scripture, the return of Jesus Christ our Lord For him to come and to set up his kingdom on this earth, and to rule and to reign in this world, and then to destroy this present earth and heavens, and to build a new heaven and a new earth, and to live with him forever, is the greatest of all studies, because it gives us that wide scope of the future, and helps us understand what's going to come It gives us hope, and man needs hope to live on

And so, as we conclude our study, we ask the question, what now? What do we do in light of the fact that Jesus is going to come again? How does that affect our lives? Well, you know, it is true that every believer who is committed to Christ has a supreme longing to see his Savior face-to-face There is a longing Way back in Job 19, Job said these words, verse 25, he says, And as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will take his stand on the earth So Job knew that the Redeemer was going to stand on the earth

Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God, whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes shall see, and not another My heart faints within me Job says, My heart faints within me over the fact that my Redeemer lives He will one day stand on the earth, and I will see him face-to-face Job had a longing for the return of his Redeemer The coming of the Redeemer to give him a new body Now, Job had suffered quite a lot, as we all know

And I guess when you're in a situation such as he is, which he lost everything and was suffering tremendous physical problems, he was eagerly anticipating his Redeemer There was a longing of the heart Over in the book of Hebrews, the ninth chapter, the 28th verse says, Christ also having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation, without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him There's a longing in the heart of the believer for the opportunity to see his King Not only is there a longing, but there is a love for the appearing of their King

The Bible says over in the book of 2 Timothy chapter 4, 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse number 8, Paul said these words He said, In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing Not only is there a longing, but there's a loving, the appearing of the Lord Jesus There's a love for Him

As opposed to one who doesn't, which is in verse number 9, make every effort to come to me soon, verse 10, for Demas having loved this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica See Demas had a love for the world, didn't have a love for the appearing of Jesus Christ Because true believers have that love, have that longing desire to see their Savior face to face Not only that, but in all reality, when we look at our lives, there truly is not only a longing and a loving, but a continual looking for the appearing of Jesus Christ We constantly look upward

We constantly are looking for Jesus Christ to come The Bible says very simply in Titus chapter 2, verse number 13, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ You see, the believers are constantly looking, and they're looking because of a love relationship they have with the Messiah And that love relationship with the Messiah is born out of a longing of the heart to see him face to face Because there's a longing to see him There's a love to see him There's a constant looking to see him

There is a desire to live a certain way in the light of his return The Bible says in Romans 13, these words Romans 13, verse number 11 And this do knowing the time that is already the hour for you to awake and from your sleep For now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed The night is almost gone and the day is at hand Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light

Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust Paul says the time is drawing near for the fullness of your salvation Therefore, there's a certain way you are to live in the light of that time And tonight I want to talk to you about that way Because as a result of what we do now, this becomes the motivation for living for Christ Knowing that he could come at any moment

There's a motivation within me to live for him because I'm looking for him. I'm longing for him simply because I truly do love him That's the heart of a true believer They want to be with their Lord They want to see their Lord But until he comes, there is a way to live What now? Let me give you 14 principles. I will finish them this evening. I have to, okay? So I will do that. 14 principles, okay, as to what you do now that you understand more about the return of Jesus Christ Number one, you need to read and heed the book of Revelation That's number one

You say, why do I have to do that? Read and heed the book of Revelation Why? Simply because the book of Revelation is about the return of the King And Revelation always keeps you looking forward, always keeps you looking upward toward heaven And you want to keep that constant perspective But the book of Revelation has with it that no other particular book has And that is, there's a blessing attached to reading that book

Remember Revelation chapter one, verse number three, says this, blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is next The text says the time is near, but the proper translation is the time is next What time? Well, the next thing that's going to happen in the prophetic calendar is the return of Jesus Christ That time is next Yes, it's near, but it truly is next in the events of prophecy

Therefore, as you read about those events, as you read about what's going to happen, there's a certain blessing that God gives to those who read, who hear, and who heed the book of Revelation That's also how the book of Revelation ends Over in Revelation chapter 22, it says these words, verse number seven, and behold, I am coming quickly, blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book In other words, the first blessing and the seventh blessing in the book of Revelation deal with hearing and obeying the words of this book There are seven blessings in the book of Revelation

Do you want your life to be blessed? Then you need to know what those seven blessings are, and they're located throughout the book of Revelation Well, the first one in Revelation 1, 3, and the seventh one in Revelation 22, 6, all deal with the hearing, the reading, the listening, and the obeying specifically of the prophecies of this particular book, the book that keeps you focused heavenward, that always keeps you looking toward the return of Christ So what do we do now? Well, the first thing we do is that we read and heed the book of Revelation because it helps me keep my perspective

It helps me keep me heaven-bound It helps keep me focused on the things that are about to come Number two, you need to repent of all known sin in your life Repent of all known sin in your life In the book of Revelation, there are seven letters written to seven churches, and five of those churches are told by the Spirit of God to repent of their sin, to turn away And that should be characteristic of the life of the believer You'll see on Friday night at our Vacation Bible School, when our kids begin to sing the songs, they talk about the ABCs of salvation

And when they talk about confessing of their sin, they talk about confessing and turning away And they do all these hand motions as they go through the songs And as you watch these little two and three and four and five-year-old kids, and these kids begin to sing these songs, and they do the hand motions of confessing and turning away, they do this motion with their hands And it's exactly what happens when you repent of your sins You turn away from your sins And that's, in the light of the coming of Christ, that's the way we need to be We need to be people who are clean before the Lord

Revelation 22 ends with an invitation about coming to Christ The book of Revelation ends with an invitation Did you know that? In Revelation 22, it says in verse 17, And the Spirit and the bride say, Come, and let the one who hears say, Come, and let the one who is thirsty come, and let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost The Lord God ends His final book with that invitation And He gives the incentives to obey the invitation And the first one deals with the identity of Christ Verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things

For the churches, I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star. I, Jesus, The first reason you come and respond to the invitation and repent of your sins is because of the identity of the one who gives the invitation, Jesus Himself You respond to the invitation because of the exclusivity of heaven The Bible says in verse number 14, Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city

Verse 15, Outside are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and immoral persons, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying The reason you respond to the invitation is because of the identity of the one who gives the invitation, Jesus, the bright morning star, and because of the exclusivity of heaven Not everybody gets there Only certain ones get there, and the ones who get there are the ones who have their robes washed They've been cleansed in the blood of the Lamb And then you respond because of the veracity and the authority of God's Word

It says in verse 18, I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book If anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues, which are written in this book And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book It speaks to the veracity, the truthfulness of the words of this book You can't add to it, you can't take away from it, because it's given to us by the Lord God Himself And you respond because of the certainty of His return, verse 20

And He who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming quickly And then you respond to the invitation because of the availability of His grace He says, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all Amen That's how He ends the Bible That's how the book of Revelation ends, a book of terror, a book of tribulation, a book of horror It ends with an offer of grace, the availability of grace to those who respond to the invitation Listen, folks, you need to repent of all sin, all sin Why? Because, because we are the bride, we are the bride of Christ

And when the bridegroom comes to receive the bride, he wants a clean bride You know, I've used this illustration before, but, you know, we have weddings at our church And can you imagine everybody sitting here, and there being a wedding, and the doors in the back open up, and as the bride walks through the doors, and everybody rises to stand, she walks through the doors, and one shoe is on, and one shoe is off And her dress is ripped, and torn, and, and just, just tattered

Her makeup is running down the side of her face, and her hair is all disheveled, and, and, and her veil is hanging off the side of her head And as she limps down the aisle, we would look at her and say, what's wrong with you? What happened to you? How come, how come you didn't, didn't get ready for the biggest day of your life? Our response would be one of bewilderment, wouldn't it not? Sure it would We're the bride We want to be as pure, as chaste, as clean as possible, when the bridegroom comes to take us home to be with Him So we live in the light of His return

We read and heed the Revelation, because it keeps our perspective upward We want to make sure that we repent of all sin, so that we can have a clean and holy life And then number three, which dovetails with that one, is to reflect the purity of Christ, to reflect the purity of Christ We know what 1 John chapter 3, verse number 2 says, says these words, Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared as yet what we shall be We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is

And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies Himself just as He is pure If that's your hope, if your hope is fixed above, everyone who has that hope purifies Himself just as He is pure Peter said it this way in 2 Peter 3, verse number 10, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intensity, and the earth and its works will be burned up Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be? In holy conduct, in godliness

It seems though everything is going to be destroyed It's all going to burn up The King is going to come like a thief in the night What sort of people ought you to be? Holy people in your conduct, pure people And then He goes on and says this He says, Therefore, beloved, verse 14, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless Spotless and blameless Folks, we need to reflect the purity of Jesus Christ, our Lord We need to be able to, as Peter says in 1 Peter 1, be holy as the Lord your God is holy

Christ said in Matthew 5, verse 48, Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect So the desire of the believer is to keep a proper perspective on the return of the King And as they keep that perspective, to repent of sin so that they could reflect the purity of their Savior who is coming to take them home to be with Him Read and heed the book of Revelation, repent of all sin, reflect His purity Number four, remember the Lord's death until He comes. 1 Corinthians 11, 26, As often as you eat this and drink this cup, you do remember the Lord's death until He comes

You need to remember the Lord's death Why is that? Isn't it interesting that when you get to heaven, the songs that are sung are songs sung about the Lamb that was slain, right? Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive glory and honor and praise forever and ever and ever And yet on earth, we too need to remember the death of Christ because that's the only thing He's asked us to remember He never asked us to remember His life, just remember His death Remember His death because through His death, you obtain life You receive life through His death

He wants you to remember His death because greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends So the greatness of the love of God is seen in the magnificence of His death So important The Bible goes on today in 1 John 3, verse number 16, these words, We know love by this, He laid down His life for us How do we know what love is? Because our Lord laid down His life for us We would never know love if we don't understand that our Lord laid down His life for us

Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 5 that the reason He gave His life is that we would no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose again on our behalf So it's imperative that we remember the Lord's death until He comes because it changes how we live in the present We want to remember the Lord's death because it magnifies the sacrifice of the Savior for those of us who are sinners And the more I remember what Jesus did for me, the more I will live for Him The more I remember the love of my Lord for me, the more I will want to live for my Lord That is imperative

We need to grasp that You need to learn to embrace that That's why the Lord's table is so important We only do it once a month, but it's crucial But outside of that, Paul told Timothy, remember Jesus Christ, the son of David, risen from the dead So he talks about the humanity and the deity of Jesus Christ in that phrase, but he says you can't forget about Jesus Christ, His person and His work, because without His work, there is no life with Him So what do we do now? We remember the Lord's death until He comes Number five, resolve to pray with thanksgiving at all times

Resolve to pray with thanksgiving at all times The Bible says in Philippians 4, verse number four, rejoice in the Lord always And again, I say rejoice Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men The Lord is next He's next Some translations say the Lord is at hand In other words, some people say, well, because the Lord is at hand, He's near to you And that's true He is The Lord is always around you because He's on the present The Lord is in you if you're a believer because the Spirit of God dwells within us The Lord is at hand The Lord is near But it is true that the Lord is also next

In other words, He is coming, is near Rejoice in the Lord always And again, I say rejoice because the Lord is next He's coming again He's near And then He says this, be anxious for nothing, but in everything, my prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God You do that Don't be anxious Don't fear Don't worry Don't fret The Lord's at hand The Lord is near The Lord is coming The Lord is next He's on the horizon You have nothing to fear, nothing to be afraid of, nothing to worry about He's coming again Therefore, pray

When you pray, you do it with thanksgiving, thanking God for what He's done, the situation He's put you in And then you'll notice what Paul goes on to say when he says, and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus In other words, you want the peace of God? You want the peace of God? You need to pray Resolve to pray with thanksgiving because the Lord is next He's coming He's right around the corner Yes, He is at hand That is, He is close to you

Therefore, you have no need to be fearful or anxious about anything, but He is coming again He's next on the agenda And when He arrives, this life is over and your life with Him begins Resolve to pray with thanksgiving at all times Oh, we can pray, but praying with thanksgiving is something we don't readily do Praying with thanksgiving is very difficult, especially when hardship arises in our lives, when things don't go the way we think they ought to go We don't want to pray with thanksgiving

We'll pray because we want God to get us out of the situation or to remove the circumstances instead of praying with thanksgiving, knowing that God is near His coming is right around the corner and He will take me one day away from all of this But until that time, I will thank Him for all things. I will praise Him. I will rejoice in the Lord and I will commit all things to Him And that peace that He offers that goes beyond all human comprehension is going to guard my heart It's going to guard my mind It's going to guard my thoughts It's going to guard my life

And all of a sudden, I will be able to live a life of tranquility and serenity because I decided to resolve to pray with thanksgiving for all things The Bible says in Matthew 6, we are to pray for God's kingdom to come Thy kingdom come We are praying, thanking God for His present rule in our life and asking Him to quickly come that we might be a part of His eternal kingdom forever Resolve to pray with thanksgiving for all things Number six, remain steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord Remain steadfast, immovable

That verse, 1 Corinthians 15, 58, is in the context of the coming of the King and the very fact that we are going to receive new bodies, glorified bodies When that which is perishable becomes imperishable, when that which is mortal becomes immortal And because the King is going to come and because the King is going to glorify our bodies, death has no victory over us Death has lost its sting And Paul then says, therefore, you be steadfast, you be immovable, always abounding, abundantly working for the Lord That's what you do It's all going to change

It might not change today or tomorrow, but it's all going to change Your whole life is going to change for the better In the meantime, you remain steadfast Somebody who cannot be moved Over in the book of James, James chapter 5, verse number 7, James says this, be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets to early in the late rains You too, be patient Strengthen your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand

And then he says, do not complain, brethren, against one another, that you yourselves may not be judged Behold, the judge is standing right at the door In other words, the judge is coming But you know what? Don't complain against your brother Time is so short Be patient until the coming of the Lord Strengthen your hearts in the fact that Jesus Christ is coming again, that you might be able to remain strong in the Lord Peter would say in 1 Peter 1, 13, that we need to gird up our loins We need to make sure that we are ready for the return of the King, because He's coming

We need to make sure that everything about our lives is wrapped with truth, that we might live in the light of His return But you know, it's so easy for us to quit in our walk, to fall by the wayside, to get tired, and to stop in our service of the King But because He's returning again, because He will take this lowly, mortal body and make it immortal, and that which is perishable, imperishable, we need to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, which leads us to our next point, which is point number seven, and that is this Recommit to ministry Recommit to ministry

What do I do now that the King is coming? Well, you make sure you remain steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord To do that, you must recommit to ministry Recommit to ministry Sometimes people in the church don't want to serve the Lord They just want to kind of come and sit and soak and sour, you know They don't want to really give anything out They don't want to serve the Lord But you need to recommit to ministry That is, recommit to the service of the King You are a soldier, right? You're a soldier in the army of the Lord And therefore, you're involved in a warfare

You're involved in battle But you're also involved in the service of the King And therefore, Paul would say these words in 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse number 1 He says, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word In other words, Timothy, Christ is coming again He's going to judge the living and the dead by his appearing Preach the word Recommit to ministry, Timothy Be steadfast, immovable, Timothy You do it in season, out of season

Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and instruction For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to miss People are going to turn away from the truth, Timothy They're going to...as time comes closer to the end, more and more people will turn away from the truth It's not that more people will come to the truth They'll turn away from the truth

But you can't stop giving them the truth You've got to preach the word And he says, but you, Timothy, be sober in all things Endure hardship Do the work of an evangelist Fulfill your ministry Don't quit Fulfill the ministry that God has entrusted to you, Timothy Paul was in prison, right? And even while he was in prison, he was writing letters to encourage people to follow the Lord and to serve the Lord He was in prison because all in Asia had forsaken him They didn't remain steadfast, immovable, abounding in the work of the Lord

They did not recommit to ministry, so they all forsook him and fled And so Paul was in prison because he stood firm on the truth and preached the word So in 2 Timothy 1, Paul would say to Timothy, suffer with me, Timothy, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ Don't be ashamed, Timothy, of the gospel Don't be ashamed of me, a prisoner of the gospel, Timothy And certainly, Timothy, don't be afraid of our, or ashamed of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave us the gospel So many times we're ashamed

So many times we forsake and turn away when, as the end draws near, there needs to be a bigger recommitment to the ministry that God has entrusted to us Fulfill your ministry, Timothy Don't quit Endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ You know, we get a little bit of hardship, and we just don't want to do it anymore Someone doesn't like the way we do it, and it's just a little bit of a hardship, and they don't like the way we handle situations, and we just quit We walk away And that's really nothing

Or we go out and we begin to preach the gospel. I've got to tell you about our young people who go to the mosque on Fridays It's quite a testimony You know Bob Farris, the blind guy in the church? He sees better than all of us who have 20-20 vision If you haven't met Bob, you need to meet Bob, okay? But Bob introduced Drew to the mosque in Garden Growth and asked Drew to come So Drew took four students with him, four high school students, four young men, and they went to the mosque to preach the gospel to those who were outside that mosque They went in for a while, but they soon ran out

But they were preaching the gospel Bob Farris called me this week. I told you he calls me every week The man calls me ad nauseam, but I love the man And I've known him for 22 years And he calls me and says, he begins by saying, you're laughing at the phone He says, the future of our church is in great hands He said, all I had to do was listen to those young men share the gospel See, Bob can't see, but he sure can hear He goes, I hear those young men share the gospel with all those different Muslims around there

He says, I know the future of Christ's community church is in good hands because those young men teach the truth That's a testimony to those young high school students who when they could go to the beach on Friday or they could go someplace else on Friday, they went to the mosque to tell people about Jesus Christ, to endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, because most don't want to listen Most would rather argue with you, debate you, mock you, but they stood strong and just told the truth

That's a great testimony for our church because our young people are going to be sitting where you're sitting in a few years Okay And they're going to be the leaders of this church in different capacities And yet there needs to be a recommitment to ministry on all of our parts There should be more of us involved in ministry now than there was last week and more next week than there is today, because Jesus is coming again People need to hear the truth We need to tell them the truth We commit to ministry

Remain steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, which leads to number eight, rescue the perishing Rescue the perishing because that's what's happening Jude says, snatch them out of the fire Snatch them right out of the fire because that's where they're going Rescue the perishing Paul would say, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men You see, we forget that as we walk down the street, as we go to work, as we go to play, the people around us are perishing You know, when you say that, it's a little different than someone who's saying someone's lost Okay

They're perishing The wrath of God abides upon them And we've learned a little bit about the tribulation and the events of the tribulation and what's going to take place in the need for people to know the truth And Jude uses the symbolism of, when you go and you preach the gospel, it's like you're taking someone by the hand and snatching them right out of the fire You're saving them from the fires of hell Now, we know that we don't save anybody God does that But we're in a rescue mission And we need to look at life as an opportunity to rescue people from the fires of hell

We're going to have a lot of little kids up here on Friday night singing songs about Jesus. A majority of them come from unsaved families They don't have the opportunity like most of us do When our children, like little Avery, came into our room the other night, it was about 1030 She came running in Now, Avery's four And she came running in She says, Daddy, Mommy, I need to ask Jesus to come into my heart because my heart is black with sin And I need Jesus to take away all my sins Now, we're on the bed She's four She comes into our room and she says that

What do you think we do? We don't say, well, repeat after me We'll pray the sinner's prayer We don't do that in our house because there is no sinner's prayer in the Bible, by the way What do we say? We say this, Avery, if you want to do that, you need to pray and ask Jesus to do that This is exactly what she did She bowed her head She prayed She talked to Jesus And she asked Jesus to take away her sin

Now, how much she knows, does she understand the triune nature of God, that God is three in one? You know, does she understand all that, that Jesus Christ is going to come again? And does she know all the details of doctrines? No, she doesn't know that Doesn't know that But she's able to act on all that she knows up to this point of four years of age Now, all these little boys and girls who are up here, who are not from our church, but from the community, and singing songs about Jesus, they hear the gospel every day

Dan has been very good at presenting the gospel to them and helping them understand God's plan for their lives The teachers, the instructors talk to them about the Lord Jesus Christ But you know, when they leave this place, they're not involved in any church anywhere There's not going to be that ongoing reminder of the responsibility You're a sinner You are perishing You're on your way to hell You need to repent of your sins and follow Jesus Christ In our family, you have that reminder on a regular basis In our family, like your family, you come to this church, you hear it on a regular basis

They don't have that But so many people around us are perishing They're on their way to the fires of hell We need to rescue them Throw them the line of the gospel that says, here's how you can be saved Here's how you can know the truth about your eternal destiny We want you to experience the glories of heaven Rescue the perishing Number nine, this might sound a little strange, but here it is Refuse to neglect church Refuse to neglect church Right, if he would have said it this way, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful

And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near Now, remember, in the early church, they went to church every day They didn't go like we do once a week They went every day And the writer of Hebrews wanted to remind them you can't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, because some are in the habit of doing that

Now, we know how easy it is to get out of the habit of going to church, right? Some of you are going to go on vacation in August, and you'll go to church, and you get out of the habit of going to church And then you got to get back into it in September when you come back in the fall But can you imagine going to church every day, every day, every day, every day? That's what you did

And yet, missing a day here, missing a day here, then missing two, and then missing three, and then missing four. I mean, we go 52 times a year, right? And if we get people to come on a regular basis, it's probably about 40 times a year, all right? If they come on a regular basis, it's about 40 times a year It's not very many times in a 365-day year, is it? But the writer of Hebrews says you can't forsake the assembling of yourselves together Why? Well, because we know that God inhabits the praises of His people

If you read the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 1, you notice that God is in the midst of the lampstands, which is the churches God's in the midst of the churches And there's a special aspect of the church when they gather together for worship unlike at any other time in your life. I'm big on church. I really am And I think church is absolutely crucial for the life of the believer, to grow in His walk with the Lord

The assembling of ourselves together, you learn to love one another, pray for one another, you learn to rebuke one another, you learn to love one another, give to one another, forgive one another, serve one another All those one another's begin to come into play when we gather together and we don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together And over the years, I've heard people say, well, you don't have to go to church to be a Christian That's not crucial to your Christianity You have to go to church to be a Christian And I say, you don't have to go home to be married either

But if you're married and you don't go home, you've got bad marriage If you're a Christian, you don't go to church, you've got a bad relationship with the living God and with the people of God, see? Because you need to fellowship together God inhabits the praises of His people You got to refuse to neglect church The writing of Hebrews says, look, even more so as you see the day drawing near What day is that? The day of the return of the King Because the Lord, now this was 2,000 years ago This is written some 2,000 years ago Well, they're thinking Jesus is coming at any moment Gather together

Why? Because you need to be reminded of the return of the King You need to be focused on the return of the King You need to be focused on how you should live in the light of the return of the King Therefore, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together Come together Come to church Assemble together Praise the Lord together You need to be together Number 10, revive the brokenhearted Revive the brokenhearted Many people in the church are broken They're broken They're broken over sin, and they need to be But they're broken over fractured relationships

They're brokenhearted over the loss of loved ones They're broken So we revive the brokenhearted That's one of the reasons you don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, because you want to gather together with the people who love the Lord and want to worship the Lord and serve the Lord, but you revive them through the reminder that Jesus Christ is coming together That's why Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 13 to 18, that great exhortation about the rapture, the church, and how we're going to be caught up together with our loved ones in the air, and thus shall we ever be with the Lord

And Paul says, therefore, excuse me, comfort one another with these words People need to be comforted, and they are comforted when they know that there is going to be a return of the King, and there's going to be a reunion with their loved ones in the air, that they might forever be with the Lord Jesus Christ Revive the brokenhearted That's why Jesus said, let not your hearts be troubled You believe in God, believe also in me

And what does he tell them? He tells them about his father's house and the many mansions that are there, and he goes to prepare a place for them so that where he is, they can be with him How does he take the troubled heart of a person, the disciples, a heart filled with fear, a heart filled with arrogance and pride because of their own narcissistic attitude, which they portrayed throughout his ministry, to take people who are overwhelmed as to the uncertainty as to their future? Jesus says, you know what, don't let your hearts be troubled You believe in God, you believe in me

And I'm going to tell you what's going to happen to you He begins to tell them about his return to come and take them home to be with him That's the hope of those who have broken hearts Give them a hope about the future in what Jesus Christ offers them Number 11, renew your relationships Renew your relationships with one another Those relationships that have been fractured, broken, severed, renew them once again The Bible says in John 13, 35, by this shall all men know that you're my disciples, if you have love one to another

He doesn't say, you know, everybody's going to know you're one of mine if you got your theology right, although that's important He says your love for one another will let people know that you're truly one of mine because you see, what did John say here? We read earlier, by this we know love How do we know love? Because Christ died for us And we can now know what true love is because we know Christ So Christ comes back And of course, John wrote 1 John He also wrote the Gospel of John And he says, by this shall all men know that you're my disciples, if you have love one toward another

And that love is to permeate our relationships, forgiving, caring, reaching out to one another Renew those relationships in order that you might be able to portray to people the greatness of God's love Number 12, radiate your citizenship Radiate your citizenship Folks, you are not a citizen of Los Angeles or America Although you have papers that say you are born in America and you are an American citizen, this is not your home And Peter says in 1 Peter 2 that we're aliens and strangers in a foreign land You know, sometimes we just get a little bit too comfortable down here

That keeps us from anticipating our true home You know, radiate your citizenship Let everybody know Shine for heaven's sake Reflect the glory and the beauty of your God who reigns above Radiate the fact that you are a citizen of another country You're just passing through this one And that's how, that's how Moses was able to live his life effectively Abraham, Enoch, Noah They anticipated another city, a city whose architect and maker was God himself This was not their home And they knew that Folks, this is not our home We are children of the living God We are children of the King

Boy, that's so important We're children of the King of glory And our citizenship is in heaven, and thus we should live that way Philippians 3.20, Paul says, for our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself

When was the last time someone knew that you were not from America, that you were not from your city, that you were from another city, another country, another location, that you truly were perceived as strange, as an alien? Last night we were at my son's all-star game, and one of the other fathers was talking to me, and I made a comment about the game It was a good comment, by the way And he made a contrary comment. I said, okay, well, whatever You know, he says, hey, look, I'm not arguing with you God's on your side

You know, you're a child of God. I'm not going to even begin to argue with you So, you see, there's a way people know who you live for and who you stand with That should radiate in our lives Everybody should know that And then, number 13, rest in the cross Rest in the glory of the cross Folks, listen You have been crucified with Christ, right? You've denied yourself You take up your cross and you follow Him That's what Christians are That's what Christians do They refuse to associate with the way they were any longer That's what it means to deny yourself You know that

You're with us in Luke 9, 23 You refuse to associate any longer with yourself, which reminds you that as we were going through the VBS schedule for our Friday night, we were going through the, no, on Sunday morning, and the kids singing on Sunday morning. A year ago, I was in Luke 9 Now, we're in Luke 11 At that rate, I guarantee Jesus will return before we finish the gospel But the thing is, is that in our lives, we rest in the glory of the cross because we have denied ourselves and we have given our lives to Christ

And I rest in the fact that Jesus is my Lord, my Savior, my God, my King, that He is the Redeemer of my soul And I rest in the fact that that Redeemer will come again and take me to His glorious home above But I rest in the cross, in the glory of the cross, because it's Christ who lives in me Paul said, I've crucified Christ Yet, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. I rest in the fact that that Christ now reigns supreme in my life, which allows me to do number 14, which is to rejoice in the anticipation of your heavenly reward Rejoice in the anticipation of your heavenly reward

There's nothing like the anticipation of the next event, the greatest of all events, the coming of the King But to anticipate the fact and to hear those words, you know, we know Jesus said, Behold, I'm coming quickly, and my reward is with me You know what He said? Amen My reward is with me Well, the reason His reward is with Him is because He's the reward Praise God He is the reward And what would it be like to stand in glory and to hear those words, Well done Good job, my good and faithful servant

You know, in my home growing up, I heard those words many times from my father. I even hear them I'm 52 years old. I'm 52, and I've still heard my parents say, Well done, son Well done And even at 52, at my age, it reminds me of the great glory of heaven When the Bible says in 1 Corinthians that we will have the praise of God Think about that We will have His praise, and He will say, Well done, that great commendation Well done, thou good and faithful servant Enter into the joy of the Lord from the commendation to the coronation

Enter into the presence of the Lord, the joy of the Lord forever. I anticipate that day. I relish the day that I'm home with the Lord, and those words are so spoken that I might truly give all glory to my King Let's pray Father, thank You, Lord, for tonight Truly, Lord, there are so many ways to live in the light of Your glory These are just a few May we be obedient to Your Word May we honor You with all of our hearts May we live truly anticipating Your arrival at any moment In Jesus' name, Amen.