When Christ Comes Series

A. Once there was a minister waiting in line to have his car filled with gas just before a long holiday weekend.

1. The gas station attendant worked quickly, but there were many cars in line ahead of him.

2. Finally, the attendant motioned him toward the vacant pump.

3. The young attendant recognized the minister and said, “Sorry for the delay, Pastor. It seems as if everyone waits until the very last minute to get ready for a long trip.”

3. The minister chuckled and said, “I know what you mean. The same is true in my business.”

B. Why is it that so many people fail to get prepared for their eternal future?

1. The reason that some people don’t prepare is because they don’t think there is an eternal future.

2. The reason that others aren’t preparing just yet is because they assume they have a long time before their departure.

3. They think that death won’t come calling for a long time.

4. Or they think that Jesus’ second coming is a long way off.

C. I want to encourage all of us not to delay our preparations for eternity.

1. Assuming that we have a long time to prepare is not a good assumption.

2. Death can come suddenly or much sooner than we expect.

3. And the second coming is going to come suddenly and when we least expect it.

4. I am not saying these things to try to scare anyone, rather I am just trying to ground us in reality – this is the truth.

5. None of us know the future and none of us have control over the future.

6. All we can do is to prepare ourselves in the present.

D. Today’s sermon begins a new series that I am calling “Eternal Questions…Biblical Answers.”

1. I want us to wrestle with the questions that we have about death and eternity.

2. I want to help us to explore the biblical answers that God has given us about these things.

3. Is there life after death?

4. Is there a heaven and a hell?

5. Is there a second chance after death?

6. What will eternal life be like?

7. How can I be ready and at peace about these questions?

E. To begin the series, I want to start by exploring the promise of the second coming of Christ.

1. One of the resources I will be using during this series is a book written two decades ago by Max Lucado called “When Christ Comes.”

2. Jesus first came into our world to provide a path of salvation through His death and resurrection.

3. While Jesus was here during that first coming, He repeatedly promised that He would return a second time.

4. That day many years ago, while the disciples watched Jesus ascend up into the heavens, suddenly two angels stood beside them and said: “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)

F. So, let’s try to imagine what that day might be like.

1. I want you to imagine that you are driving home in your car one day.

2. Your thoughts wander to the game you want to see or the meal you want to eat, when suddenly a sound unlike any you’ve ever heard fills the air.

a. The sound is coming from high above you.

b. What is it, you think? A trumpet? A choir? A choir of trumpets?

c. You don’t know, but you want to know.

3. So, you pull over, get out of your car, and look up.

a. As you do, you see you aren’t the only curious one.

b. The roadside has become a parking lot.

c. Car doors are open and people are staring at the sky.

d. Shoppers are racing out of the stores.

e. The little league baseball game across the street has come to a halt, and the players and parents are searching the clouds.

4. What they see, and what you see, has never been seen before.

a. As if the sky were a curtain, the drapes of the atmosphere have parted.

b. A brilliant light is spilling onto the earth and from whence came the light a river of color begins to tumble.

c. Riding on the flow of the river of color is an endless fleet of angels.

d. Thousands of silvery wings rise and fall in unison, and over the sound of the trumpets, you can hear the cherubim and seraphim chanting, “Holy, holy, holy.”

5. Suddenly, the heavens are quiet – all is quiet.

a. The angels turn and you follow their gaze and suddenly there He is - There is Jesus.