What is Christ's Perspective on His Second Coming?

I want to just take a moment. When I found out about Mr. Murray, like all of you, you could have knocked me over with a feather. I had lunch with Mr. Murray probably a couple of weeks ago. The pastors here in the area get together once a month for lunch. Probably just two weeks ago, where Mr. Murray, Mr. Joseph, myself and Melvin Rhodes got together for lunch. I didn't say anything to him at the time, but I thought he really looked good, and it looked like he lost a little weight. But one thing that we have going for us is the loving God. Our God made sure that if catastrophe is going to strike, it's going to strike the way it did. He was in the hospital. He was in the best place to have what he had. He was not out riding on his gold wing with Francie on the back. I was thinking about that after my mind was starting to try to comprehend what I was being told. I thought, boy, if he was on that gold wing of Francie on the back, and that happened, and he's a big semis right behind him, but God didn't work it out that way. Mr. Murray, I don't know if there's anybody in the ministry who works harder than he works. He's everywhere. He's in the Upper Peninsula. He's over at Traverse City in Patoski. He's in Saginaw. He's in Flint. He was supposed to be in Ann Arbor today. He's all over the place. So I think as a family, what we need to be doing, and I'm sure that we are doing this, is supporting him with our prayers. He has certainly been there for you. This is our opportunity to be there for him, and I'm sure we'll be doing just that.

We saw a picture of him earlier this morning. They're in the hospital. Mrs. Blackwell had a little image of him that was sent to her, and she had it on her computer there. He's under the circumstances looking good. So we just want to thank God for all that he has blessed us with, and certainly his love and his compassion and the healing power that we're going to see when Mr. Murray rebounds and comes back and is a part of the area here again to service your needs. Brother, just one little commercial announcement. For those of you going to Del's, we are having a dinner dance at the Del's. We still have tickets available. I don't think too many of you are going to the Del's this year, but those of you who are, if you want to come to that, whether you're a dancer or not, if you just want to come and listen to good music and enjoy a nice dinner, please make it a point. I left some information at the back of the hall here, ticket order forms, as well as descriptive information about the dance there at Wisconsin Del's. This will be my first year to conduct the feast at the Wisconsin Del's. I would very much appreciate your prayers and that on my behalf. I've been doing this for 30 years as a full-time minister now, and not conducting a feast, but going to the feast and having various department responsibilities. But when you've got to run a feast site, it's unbelievable the work that piles up. I've told the the Troye and Arbor bunch that over the last number of months, I've literally sent out more than a thousand emails. I've contacted everybody coming to the Del's at least twice, I think three times, plus another 300 emails in addition to all that. So a lot of work goes into it, but I'm sure things will unfold in a way that is, you know, God will be there, but also some challenging times. So appreciate your support.

Perspective. Perspective. Perspective is our view on the way we see the world, the way we see ourselves. We have a perspective when it comes to this Holy Day of the Feast of Trumpets.

We take a look at this feast, and we are excited about the message of this feast. And there's much to be excited about. Let's begin our journey as we talk about the day-to-day over here in Psalm 119. Psalm 119 verse 165. Psalm 119 verse 165, where it says, Great peace of those who love your law, and nothing causes them to stumble. Great peace! Brethren, are we having great peace in the world today? Or are we having a lot of anxiety in the world today? When you take a look at what's happening around the globe, is it one disaster after another taking place? Now, it says here, great peace of those who love your law. I think there's a relationship between those who don't love the law. In fact, they don't have peace. They don't have peace in their individual lives. We don't have peace from country to country and among countries, because people have thrown out the law of God. They don't want the law of God. They want nothing to do with the rule of God. But, of course, this day portrays something much different, doesn't it? This day is a pivotal day in the holy days of God, in that it shows the fact that our Savior is going to be returning with great power and great glory. As you watch world news, and I watch world news, we may well be seeing, brethren, things we've been prophesying and talking about in the Scriptures. We've been writing about these things for generations. I remember as a 15-year-old kid getting literature from a church, reading about Daniel, Daniel 11, the king of the north, the king of the south. We may well be seeing the formation of both of those entities right now. With ISIS or ISIL, depending upon who you're talking to, what you want to call that group, that may well be the formation of the king of the south. If it isn't, you know, we've gone a number of different ways in talking about who the king of the south is going to be from one nation to a confederation of nations. We tend to go more of that direction now. But when you take a look at ISIS and what they're trying to accomplish, who knows if that isn't the beginning? Or a variation of that is if the other Muslim countries decide they don't like ISIS, they're too savage, let's all of us band together and let's get rid of ISIS. That could be the formation of the king of the south. Then you have over in Russia, Vladimir Putin, who just walks into Ukraine, something like we've not seen since World War II, just walks into a sovereign nation and says, we're taking hold of this. We're taking hold of this portion of this country, like the whole country. Now sooner or later, the nations of Europe are going to say, you know, we need more than this standing force we have of about 4,500 people. We need a real army to protect our interests. So what Putin is doing over in Russia may well be the beginning of a European Union that has some real teeth to it, the king of the north. Add to that, you've got China. China takes a look at the weakness of the United States of America, our unwillingness to act, the unwillingness of the European nations to act. And China now says, well, you know, there are various areas of the world we think we're just going to go and take. If Russia can take property, if they can take land, so can we. So we're living in very momentous times. But we're seeing here in this day, it shows a time where God the Father and Jesus Christ, they're going to say, enough is enough. Enough is enough.

There's come in a time where people will have great peace because they will learn to love God's law after the return of Jesus Christ. Let's go over to Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36. The law of God, as good as it is, we need to have something in addition to the law of God. We absolutely need that, but we need something in addition to it. Old Testament Israel had the law of God, but God gave them a time to show them as good as God's law, as beautiful as it is, as wondrous as it is, you need something else in addition to God's law. Ezekiel 36. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them. So in addition to peace coming because of the law of God being proclaimed throughout the earth, we also have with the second coming of Jesus Christ the spreading of the Holy Spirit as never before, as never before. So trumpets is a time of worldwide healing. Let's take a look at Isaiah chapter 35. What I'm about to read, you know, this is more physical in nature, but I think there are spiritual overtones to this.

Isaiah chapter 35 verse 3.

You see, brethren, this feast, this pivotal feast, the Feast of Trumpets, is a beginning of healing for all the human beings who aren't alive, healing on every level, whether we're talking spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, and we see it right here in chapter 35. Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. So here we see a discussion about physical healing. Say to those who are fearful hearted, be strong and do not fear. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God, and He will come and He will save you. So here in verse 4 we see the fearful hearted, those who have mental or emotional needs of healing, and that will be taken care of. Verse 5, then the eyes of the blind shall be open, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. And certainly that's talking physically, but I believe, brethren, this is also talking spiritually. There are several layers of understanding here. The eyes of the spiritual blind shall be open, the ears of the spiritually deaf shall be unstopped.

Verse 6, and then the lame shall leap like a deer, and a tongue of the dumb shall sing. Yes, again, these are physical things. This is explicitly what this is talking about. But again, I believe there's a spiritual meaning here as well. With those who are lame, they'll be able to walk properly. They'll be able to walk in the paths of God spiritually. The tongues of those who couldn't properly speak will now be speaking the things of God. The things of God. So, you know, we have a perspective, you and I, when it comes to this date. Our perspective is, you know, Christ is establishing His government. There's going to be healing on every level of the human experience. But I want to take this sermon and go in a different direction, maybe a different direction than you've heard in the past. And if you're taking notes, you might want to worry at this across the top of your page. What is Christ's perspective on His second coming? What is Christ's perspective on His second coming? We've got our perspective. What is Christ's perspective on His second coming? The one verse that is the genesis for this sermon is found over here in Revelation 19 and verse 7. Please turn there with me. Revelation 19 and verse 7. Revelation 19 and verse 7. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give Him glory, for the marriage of the land has come, and his wife has made herself ready. This feast, you know, and I've given sermons here in Flint where we've taught, we've gone through the beast chart, we've gone through all these trials, tribulations, and that certainly is important. That's a part of the meaning of this day. But given the circumstances of what we've experienced this last week, I thought it'd be good for us to think about the real positive things that we have to look forward to, that this day represents. Christ's perspective. I've only got two points for you today. You've got the overall question, what is Christ's perspective? But let's answer that with two statements. Point number one is that Christ says, He shall return to rescue His bride.

He can't wait to come and rescue His bride. You husbands out there, if you saw your future bride or your current wife undergoing all sorts of trouble, tribulation, persecution, people hating her, hurting her. Wouldn't it come a time when you say, you know, enough is enough? I'm going to take my army and ride and protect her. Let's take a look at that, Revelation 19 here.

Revelation 19, starting in verse 11. Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And he who sat in him is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. So here we see the bridegroom. Verse 12, His eyes were like a flame of fire. We don't want to go too fast and overlook that phrase. Jesus Christ at His return has fire in His eyes. Why? Because His bride has been abused for all these centuries, all these millennia. And He says, you know, enough is enough. His eyes were like a flame of fire on His head were many crowns.

He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed in a robe, dipped in blood. Now we can appreciate the symbolism there, the blood of Jesus Christ. That's why He has a bride that He can come and rescue. His name is called the Word of God. And the army is in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed among white horses. Now pause for a moment here. Let's get the picture. You and I, we can look into the heavens, and we can see stars, and we can see the sun and the moon and things of that nature.

But it's been hidden from us to be able to look into the very throne room of God. We can't see the heaven, the God the Father and Jesus Christ well in. But now there's coming a point where all of this is going to be scrolled away. You know, the blackness, you've got this curtain back here. This is going to be rolled away, this black curtain. And the whole world is going to see Jesus Christ on that white stallion. They're going to see Jesus Christ's army.

All these angels dressed in white on their white horses, as far as the eye can see. And you've got Jesus Christ with fire in His eye, because He's going to come and protect His bride. He's coming back to get His bride, because He loves her so. Time has come for Him to get His bride, to protect His bride. So we see that. We drop over to Revelation 1. Revelation 1, verse 7. What a sight that's going to be, Christ, in this great army, all in white.

And of course, when God does something in white, it is pure white. It is bright white. It's white like you and I have never seen in our life. Ty doesn't do the job. Revelation 1, verse 7. But behold, He is coming with cloud in the clouds, and every eye shall see Him. There is no secret rapture here. Every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. Now that's not talking about the original person who put the spear up into Christ's eyes. It's talking about sinners. It's not just the saints who are seeing Christ coming. Everybody is going to see this. Even they who pierced Him, all the tribes of the earth will mourn, because of Him, even so, amen.

So here we've got Jesus Christ with His tremendous army. Christ with fire in His eye, on His white stallion, His tremendous army. They're going to be coming.

We drop down now, or go over to Matthew, chapter 24. Let's set the stage here. Matthew, chapter 24, verses 30 and 31. Matthew 24, verse 30. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. What is that sign? Well, when you pick through the scriptures, you look at some of the clues we've got there in the book of Revelation, we see that the sign is people finally seeing the face of Jesus Christ. That's the sign. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. So here we see a confirmation of this fact. And they'll see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, with fire in His eyes, with a tremendous army.

And He'll send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to another. Once again, brethren, let's think about this from Jesus Christ's point of view. From Jesus Christ's point of view. Christ's heart is going to be just... His mind is so excited as He and that army are sweeping through the heavens around the earth, collecting the saints as they go. Now, with Jesus Christ, we've got Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, whose voices had been stilled for millennia because they were in the grave.

They're no longer in the grave. They're coming up to meet Jesus Christ as He's gathering the saints. And now Christ can have conversation. He can give them a big bear hug. He can be there and discuss things with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with Moses and David, with Sarah and Rebecca and Rachel and Esther and Deborah, with Peter and Paul. Yes, as He collects Mary, the one who gave Him birth, His half-brothers, James and Jude, and you as well. And as we rise up in the air, we're now full of Helium.

We're rising up because we are now spirit and Christ's heart is not breaking. It's so glad because now you and I are eternal beings. We are eternal. We are spirit. We're no longer flesh. We will never, ever be separated from the love of God.

And we are not now. We're not ever going to be in the future because we are now the spirit family of God. That's what Jesus Christ is thinking about. He's thinking about how grand this is. Thinking about all the trials that you've gone through in your life, all the tears you have shed, all the things you've had to experience that have made you what you are spiritually.

And now, as we saw in Revelation, or we could see in Revelation where it talks about there's coming a time where there's no more tears because I'm collecting my bride. They've counted the cost. They've paid the full price, and I am accepting them. Let's take a look over here at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

In verse 17, here it discusses the resurrection. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. No notice. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Again, from Jesus Christ's perspective, it's not, you know, you put your name in the blank. Well, you know, you pray to God, you study, you have a relationship, but then you or I, is appointed to all men once to die. We wait in a grave. We're silent. But there comes a point where there's not going to be that silence because we're resurrected. And Jesus Christ is just so excited because he's no longer separated from any of his children. Do you like being separated from your kids? God the Father doesn't like being separated from his kids by death. And this is now going to be taken away. So Christ is thinking here is, I'm coming to rescue my bride. And not just to rescue us on a physical basis, let's take a look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the resurrection chapter. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Starting here in verse 51. He's going to rescue us and give us life eternal on this day of trumpets. 1 Corinthians 15, 51. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we all shall be changed 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. Notice, we shall be raised incorruptible.

I get up in the morning and I look at myself in the mirror and I look pretty corruptible. You know, I jump on the scales and I really look corruptible.

You know, there are times where I say, well, I just won't look at the scales and maybe I'll be skinny. Well, you know, that doesn't quite work that way. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. And again, think about that from Christ's perspective. He loves you so much, each and every one of you. He hates death because it separates him from you. But no more because now we're immortal. So when this corruptible is put on incorruption and this mortal is put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass saying as written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O Hades, grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, who gives us the victory.

Christ is so excited because the plan has been completed in your life and you are victorious. You've got eternal life. God has got a plan. We don't know the plan of God in terms of after the resurrection. We don't know what God has got in mind. The Bible doesn't talk about that. But we're not going to be sitting around all day long just talking about the good old days. We've got, you know, God is a God who works, who stretches us. And you know what? When we're a spirit being, it's going to take a lot to stretch a spirit being. So I don't know what God's got. We've got this vast universe out there. We've speculated in times past and that's speculation, but I think a reasonable one. Well, why not start working on all that real estate out there? Let's start bringing that all into fruition. Each of those planets is a Garden of Eden. Why not? You know, God's plan is to have children. God loves big families.

Why not keep populating all those planets and just keep on going? That's going to be a lot of work, but you know, as spirit beings, we'll have the opportunity to do that properly. Verse 58, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, be immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain.

So here we see something that's tremendous. Christ's bride is given immortality. She is no longer corruptible. No longer do we have to get a phone call about our friend who has had a heart attack, who fell over in a hospital visit. No longer will we have to think about those we love, having suffering the crippling effects of aging. No longer will we have to have people we love with debilitating illnesses. No longer being ravaged by disease, succumbing to genetic weaknesses, dying. That's a thing of the past. Jesus Christ is thinking about, I love my bride so much. I want to give her so much. We don't need diamonds. When we're given eternal life, when we are gods and god-sons, Jesus Christ's brothers and sisters, and all that means, this is one of the things that is going through Jesus Christ's mind on the Feast of Trumpets. That's number one. Number two. Let's again get our bearings and go back to Revelation 19.

Revelation 19. Let's reread verse 7. Revelation 19.

Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. We were talking about how Christ wants to come to rescue his bride because all the travail she's gone through in 6,000 years of history. Whether we're talking about Old Testament saints or New Testament saints. So Christ comes to rescue his bride, but number two. The way through Christ's mind is, I am so pleased with my bride who has made herself ready. I'm so pleased with her. Look at what she's accomplished. Look what she's done. Yeah, she's lived in the world controlled by Satan, but look how she's fought him off. Boy, I'm proud of her. Look at what she's done. I couldn't be any prouder of her than what she's accomplished. John 4, verse 34.

Jesus said to them, and my Bible, the rest of this is in red lettering, Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. To finish his work. Jesus Christ looks at his bride with great love in his heart, great love in his eyes, and he sees that his bride has the same priorities that he does. That each and every one of us, it is our food to do the will of him who sent, who has given us the call. It is our food to finish the work. And no matter what the world throws at us, we have done that as the bride of Christ.

God's people, brethren, have known many dark times in the history of the human race. But in those times, they've looked to God, to Jesus Christ, for their strength. And God has been there. Jesus Christ has been there and been very proud. If you can use that word in a proper way, very proud of what his bride has been able to accomplish with God's help, with Christ's help. Let's take a look at Daniel chapter 3 for a moment. The book of Daniel chapter 3. You know the story. I'm not going to go through the whole thing for time's sake, but the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And there's always one answer. The second aspect of this story that's to me is always so encouraging. They're not going to bow down to some image, to some false God.

Even if they're told that they don't, their lives are going to be forfeit. Let's go to the very end of the story here. Daniel chapter 3, starting here in verse 22.

The king of the king of the king was astonished, and he rose and hastened, spoke, saying to his counselors, Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said to him, True, O king. Looking answered, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they're now hurt, and the former the fourth is like the son of God. Brother, when you've gone through your horrendous trials in life, you've not gone through those alone. You've gone and you've asked God, you've prayed to God, you've fasted, you've cried many, many tears. And just like with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, when you've gone through the toughest days of your life, Jesus Christ wasn't sitting someplace. He was standing with you. He was standing with you, by you, at your side, because of His love for you, His bride. We've got a very similar story over here in Acts 7. Let's take a look there. We see the story of Stephen, Acts 7. Long, long discussion here. Stephen was a deacon. He was full of the Spirit of God. He was full of good works. He was a tremendous light to all the people who were Christians at that time. And he's giving this history here. And notice toward the very end of all of his discussion, the people were incensed at him, and they were going to take his life. Acts 7, starting here in verse 54. And when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. You know, I've made people pretty angry at times. You know, you've probably made people pretty angry at times, but I don't think any of us have made people so angry they come and start gnawing our arm or something. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, standing.

As you go through your trials, Jesus Christ has been standing with you because it is great love for you, his bride.

That's why he wants to come and rescue you as his bride.

Verse 56, it says, Look, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. He was able to see this. Brethren, many times in our life, you and I have not been able to have a vision to see this, but we need to know that that is true for us as well. That as you and I go through the horrible, horrible things of life, that Jesus Christ is there standing for you and with you. Verse 57, they cried out with a loud voice, stopped, their ears ran at him with one accord, they cast him out of the city, stoned him, and the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. We're going to talk about Saul in just a moment.

May stone Stephen as he was calling upon God and saying, Lord, Jesus, receive my spirit, then he knelt down, cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

He had the same approach during this time of horrendous trial as Jesus Christ. Just as you have had the same approach in your life through horrible trial that Jesus Christ exhibited, and when God the Father and Jesus Christ see that in you, they couldn't be more proud.

Couldn't be more proud of the Bride of Christ because they are standing, you are standing, and you have stood for the truth under some very difficult circumstances. Brethren, what do you do? I think I may have mentioned this maybe at the time or two before I was here, but what do you do when you've gone through the worst day of your life? We've all had them, and we can look back on our life and we can all say, well, you know, there have been various benchmarks in my life where this was the worst day, and then maybe a few years later, this other day was really worse than that day. I don't remember it, but my wife tells me back in 1999 she went through a very horrendous period in five months. Her stepdad, who was her stepdad since she's been 10 years of age, had open-heart surgery. Her stepbrother had a liver transplant. This is all in a five-month period. Her stepbrother had a liver transplant. Her brother, Todd, was killed in a car wreck. She went through an awful divorce. There's a lot to go through in a five-month period. I remember having to stand in front of my congregations years ago back in 2003 in Auburn, Detroit after services, asking everybody to please sit down and announce that their pastor was getting a divorce. How many pastors do you know in the church would get a divorce? Not too many.

There were other things that have happened that I could talk about, but I don't want to focus on me on this day. But what do you do when you experience the worst time in your life?

Here we see in chapter 7, under chapter 7, they're laying their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul, Saul of Tarsus. Saul was a brilliant young man. He was a zealous young man. He was a man who knew the part of the truth of God, the Old Testament truth of God. If you want to put it that way. But he had not been called into the New Testament truth. But he was a zealous young man. And one of the characteristics that he had later on in life, he had here, as a person who was unconverted, Saul had the ability to be all things to all people. And being all things to all people, he knew how to find out where these Christians were. He would become one of us, or at least pretend to be one of us. He would come into a group like this in Flint. He'd come to our potluck. He'd eat our food. He would look at you, get your names, write those names down. Then after he left, he would turn you in. And Paul, after he was converted, would talk about how he was a great sinner. And people would think, well, he was just saying that. Well, no, he wasn't just saying that. When Paul would meet with groups such as this, he would look out at an audience and say, well, that one? I had his wife flogged. This one over here, I had her husband thrown in jail. And he's still in jail. This one over here, they're kids. I had them tortured. And he had to look at that. And they had to look at him. How hard was that for them? So what did these people do? Let's take a look here in Acts 8.

Now, Saul was consenting to his death, and at that time a great persecution arose against the church, which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Now, brother, when you go through—and I'm not going to take the time to do it here—but when you go through the book of Acts, you see here in Acts 8, where Paul is making havoc of the church. Verse 3, as for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house of the Christians that he can find, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison, and the women. Acts 22, I'm not going to turn there. We see where Saul is having the Christians beaten. In Acts 26, again, we're not turning there. In Acts 26, we see where Paul has them tortured to the place where the Christians blaspheme the name of God, just to stop the torture. Brother, what would it take for you to blaspheme God's name under the throat of torture? It would take quite a bit, but that's what Saul was doing to the people of God.

And here we see in chapter 8 where it says these people are being scattered. There was no social security. There was no safety net. These people were being financially ruined by Saul of Tarsus.

You might say, after seeing the stoning death of Stephen, after all this persecution, after being financially ruined, I think you might say that some of these people are finding themselves in the worst day, the worst times of their lives. But what did the Bride of Christ do with that? Verse 4. Acts 8, verse 4. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere, preaching the word.

Everywhere, preaching the word. People were coming to an understanding of the truth. Some were being baptized. Little congregations were being started. People were being fed after they had gone through some of the worst times in their life. They didn't just disappear down a rabbit hole. They didn't say, well, you know, maybe we just better shut up about our beliefs so it'll be good for us and our families. And Jesus Christ watched all of this. And Jesus Christ said, I must come to rescue my Bride.

I must come to rescue her. She is in need of rescue. Look what she's doing. Look what she's accomplishing with my Holy Spirit as they hold one another's hands through these very difficult times. Jesus Christ says, I am going to come because I am pleased with my Bride who has made herself ready. Second Timothy chapter 4.

Second Timothy chapter 4. And verse 8. Second Timothy 4 verse 8.

Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness. This is some of the last words that Paul wrote. There is laid for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day. The day that we see here on the Feast of Trumpets when Jesus Christ is galloping around the world with his armies, gathering the saints, give to me on that day and not to me only but to all those who loved his appearing. Brethren, God the Father appreciates the fact that your heart is set on his kingdom. Your heart is not set on this world. Your heart is not set on the materialism of this world or anything of this world. We're going to the Feast of Tabernacles in just a few days. That Feast represents us as pilgrims traveling in a world that is not the world of God. It's Satan's world. And we look forward to his appearing. We want that with every fiber of our being, everything that's in us. We want that. Jesus Christ looks at your heart and says, I've got to rescue her. I've got to rescue her. She realizes she's a stranger. She realizes this life is nothing more than a preparation. She realizes this life is just a journey through which we're moving toward God's kingdom. It's a crucible. We're gaining all sorts of precious, golden character. And she realizes there is a hope. A week ago, tomorrow, it was last Friday, I did my aunt's funeral. I didn't know how I'd be able to hold up. She was a really super lady, 85 years old, had many health problems toward the end of her life. A number of strokes and so forth. But the family said, well, Randy, why don't you come do the service for Olga? I was happy to do that. I don't get a chance to be with my family as much as I like. My wife had an opportunity to meet all these Italians. And she learned a lot about these, my folks. You can tell her, you can ask her to tell you the stories about what we enjoyed that day. But there were probably between 150 and 200 people at the funeral. And I didn't know it. Unfortunately, I had not stayed as close as I should have with my one cousin. And after we were done, we had had the service and then gone to the cemetery, and there was a mausoleum there. And I performed a prayer there for the committal. And my cousin came up to me and said, Randy, you probably don't know, but my son recently died not too long ago. He was 34 years of age. He just had a sudden heart attack, and he was gone.

But she said, you know, the things you discussed about the resurrection, about people having an opportunity, those really get home to me, she said. You know, brethren, I think sometimes we take the knowledge we have for granted, the tremendous knowledge that we have of the truth of God and these holy days. You know, people pay good money to sit on a couch someplace, lay on a couch, and have somebody analyze their brain for them. And in some cases, that's needed for people. I'm not trying to poo-poo that. But you know, you right now, sitting in your chair, you can go through in your mind, just with the holy days of God, the plan of God and understand what it's all about.

Our children in this room can do that, and they understand. We love the fact He's going to appear. We love what God has in store for us. And Jesus Christ sees that in each and every one of us, and He's proud of His wife. I want to go back to 1 Corinthians again. Let's go back there. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I just want to take a look at that last verse in the chapter. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast. When Christ looks at His bride, He sees that she's steadfast. The word steadfast here in the original means firmly established. You are firmly established in the faith. You know what you believe. No one can talk you out of it. You're firmly established. Therefore, be steadfast, immovable. In the original, that means firmly persistent. You're not only firmly established, you're firmly persistent. You are going to persist believing what you believe. Over the course of time, so many of us in this room have been in church a good number of years. Over those years, we've seen an awful lot of things happen, haven't we? We've gone through an awful lot of history in this church. We talk here in the Midwest about the weather. If you don't like the weather today, right now, wait five minutes and you'll see something different. Sometimes that's also true in the church. Always, some things seem to be happening, but you have remained firmly established, firmly persistent. It says here, always abounding in the work of the Lord. The word there means excel. You are excelling in the work of the Lord, in your prayers for the work of the church, in your prayers, your fastings, your meditations, your studies for your personal relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. You are excelling in that, and Jesus Christ sees that. He sees that your food is to do God's will. And he says, I've got to rescue her. I've got to come and get her and give her eternal life. Ephesians 4. I've often made mention to the folks in Ann Arbor and Detroit that this section of Scripture to me, perhaps, is one of the best summaries of what it is we are trying to accomplish as the bride of Christ. Ephesians 4, verses 12 and 13.

Verse 11 talks about all the various ministers. Verse 12, For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, for the edifying or the building up of the body of Christ. And now verse 13 is a magnificent jewel, one of the great magnificent jewels of all of Scripture, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man or woman, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And that's what you and I are doing and wanting, to grow to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And Jesus Christ, with his army, as he's galloping around the world, collecting the saints, he knows that about you. He appreciates that about you.

And that's why he says, I don't want to be separated from them in any way, through death, not through anything. I'm coming to rescue my bride.

So, brethren, today, the Feast of Trumpets, 2014, I wanted to, you know, given the circumstances of what's happened this past week, not go through a whole bunch of beat-and-bust-them, that's our custom. You know, it just wasn't in my mind to want to go through that, even though there's nothing wrong with that. But I wanted to emphasize a different portion of this day. And the portion of this day, we want to emphasize is the fact that God and Jesus Christ love you.

And he's coming back for you.

Thank you.