Are You Prepared For What's Coming? The Signs Are Here by Rev. Christie Bature: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Whole Point of Our Hope

The story of true life begins when a person begins to seek God for themselves. There is a place the enemy cannot enter — and that place is the presence of Jesus. Jesus is coming again.

The whole point of our devotion, the whole point of our dedication to Jesus, the whole point of our hope is the return of Christ. And yet it is one of the subjects that is least on our consciousness. It is time to begin to remind people — because Jesus is coming.

There is an urgency about this. When we were young we thought Jesus would come before we grew old, so some kept postponing: "When I am older I will serve God." But the call of God on your life is not to serve him only when convenient — your whole life is supposed to be a service to God. Whatever you do and wherever you go, your life belongs to him.

Signs of the Times — Prophecies Being Fulfilled

The Bible outlines several prophecies related to the end times and the second coming of Christ. The books of Daniel, Ezekiel, Matthew, and Revelation — along with Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others — all spoke about the return of Christ. Many scholars and believers are seeing current world events as signs that these prophecies are being fulfilled and the stage is being set.

• The Euphrates River drying up — Revelation 16:12: the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. Genesis describes the Euphrates as one of the four rivers from Eden. In recent years the Euphrates has experienced historic drying. Ancient cities and ruins once submerged are now visible. Many people are walking on the Euphrates now like dry ground. That is the fulfillment of prophecy. This prophecy concerns the battle that will be fought with Israel after the rapture. Rapture is real.
• Daniel's statue of kingdoms — Daniel 2, 7, 9, 12: Daniel spoke about the statue with a head of gold, chest of silver, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay — representing successive world empires ending with a kingdom that is brutal and divided. Many see this as a timeline culminating in the current divided nations — particularly the fragile alliances of what we see today in the form of fractured global unions. The ten toes of iron and clay represent the final confederacy of nations before Christ's return.
• The rise of anti-Christian sentiment — the rise of global leaders hostile to Christianity, and anti-Christian sentiments in politics, media, and religion, is a foreshadowing of the antichrist. The antichrist may already be alive and simply waiting for his unveiling.

The Danger of Building Treasures Here

Reading books about heaven — what it truly looks like — can change your relationship with earthly things. When you understand the gold that is in heaven, the gold we fight for down here looks like costume jewelry. That is why Jesus said, "Build up your treasures in heaven, for there is where your heart will be."

The pursuit of money, fame, power, and relevance is making many people live outside the reality of eternity. They are building all their treasures here. Don't end up in heaven as a gatekeeper because you kept nothing there.

This is also why lawlessness has taken over — young men and women in a hurry, not living with the reality of the return of Jesus. He is coming back again. If you sit with that reality, there are many things you will not fight and struggle over.

Everything good will come to those who wait.

The Call to Readiness

Jesus is coming and the signs are clear. A man and wife are sleeping in bed. She hears a noise and turns her head. He's gone. Two men walking up a hill — one disappears and the other is left standing still. There is no time to change your mind. The Son has come and if you are not ready, you will be left behind.

The way to be ready is to dedicate your life to doing God's will, to give your life to Christ, and to cultivate a deep, personal, seeking relationship with God. Life truly begins when Jesus comes in.