Hallelujah!  We need to stay desperate for Him; amen?  Whenever we find ourselves in a place where we’re not desperate, that means we’re trusting in ourselves.  And we all know where that’ll take us.  It’s not a good place to be.  We’ve been looking at preparing for that imminent return of the Lord Jesus.  So much of the church today is not saying anything about the rapture of the church, or the imminent return of Jesus.  He said, “If I go away, I will prepare a place for you” (John 14:3).  He’s preparing that place for us, while at the same time, the Scripture says, “He ever liveth to make intercession for” us (Hebrews 7:25).  So, He’s preparing that place of fellowship.  We tend to think of mansions.  In the Greek, it just says dwelling places.  Where we’re going to dwell and abide is in Him.  You’re not going to want to go home to that lush mansion—that’s the way the natural mind thinks—when you can be with Him at the throne, worshipping and praising and thanking Him for His redemption.  And so, He’s prepared a lot of good things for us.  I’m sure there will be all kinds of things.  I’ll even go as far as saying, things that “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).  It’s beyond imagination how good it’s going to be.  Damnation and hell and separation from God and outer darkness are worse than any man could imagine or think.  Therefore, we need to go out and let a dying world know the love of God and the finished work of Jesus on their behalf.

We’ve been talking about that return and what it means.  And the Bible says that the bride is to be making herself ready for that return (Revelation 19:7).  Because He’s coming for a church that’s without “spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing” (Ephesians 5:27).  The Bible says He’s going to appear to those that are looking for Him (2 Timothy 4:8).  Are we looking at how to advance in this world right now?  Are we caught up with cares and weights and advancements and remodeling our homes and buying a new car and going on a vacation?  Or are we looking into the heavenlies, longing for that trumpet of God to sound?  And “we shall all be changed, in a moment,” the Scripture says (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).  Where’s your heart?  “Where your treasure is,” the Bible says, is where our heart is (Matthew 6:21).  Where’s your treasure?  What are you looking for?  What has your attention?  What are you putting your time and efforts into?  We saw how vital it is to lay up our treasures in heaven.  We’ve been celebrating the homegoing of our brother, Jimmy, and the fact that he’s already, now, in the presence of God.  “To be absent from the body,” is “to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).  It creates a jealousy.  A desire to go and be in fellowship with Him.  Now, we’ve been left behind and because of that the Bible says we’re to “occupy” until He comes (Luke 19:13).  And so, our job is to be out preaching this gospel.  Our job is to be building up the local church, to “edify one another” in love, the Scripture says (1 Thessalonians 5:11).  What are we doing in preparation for that return?

Our preparation for the return of the Lord is our preparation for persecution.  We’ve been talking about how to prepare for persecution.  Because the Scripture says, “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12).  So, persecution is coming.  The good news is Jesus is coming.  And so, as we’re preparing for His return, “every man,” 1 John 3:3 says, “that hath this hope” of the return of the Lord, “purifieth himself, even as he (Jesus) is pure.”  That’s how you prepare for persecution.  Come quickly, Lord Jesus.