Jesus Is Coming Are You Ready

Speaker A: And welcome to this brand new day. This Description Links Daily dose of Inspiration for Thursday, October 8, 2026 Jesus is coming back. That isn't something that Christians just say. It's a promise that's found throughout Scripture. But here is the question I want us to look at today. Are you ready? In First Thessalonians, Chapter four, Paul gives us one of the clearest pictures in the Bible of what we call the Rapture of the Church. But there is something interesting about why he told the believers about it. He wasn't trying to scare them, but rather comfort them. So today, let's look at what Paul says and what the return of Christ should mean for you and me right now. Today is October 10th. It's October 8th, 2026, and it's national Fluffernutter Day. That great sandwich that's made with peanut butter and marshmallow cream. I love those things. I think that's a northern thing, though. It also is National Pierogi Day. A cheese and potato pierogi is one of my favorite things in the world too. Birthday for today. Born in 19 or, I'm sorry, born in 1869 was J. Frank Daria. He was an American inventor of D the Daria Motor Company and he built the very first automobile in the United States. And he was born in Washburn, Illinois. And on this day in 1871 was the Great Chicago Fire. Some 300 people had died and the fire destroyed four square miles. Today we're going to take a look like we started talking about First Thessalonians. We're going to talk about the Rapture of the church. But before we get into that, I want us to look at a few things here, a few definitions of things that that we often hear presented together. But I want to make sure you have a clear understanding of what these things are. And the first thing is the term the Great Tribulation. You hear Christians talking about the time of tribulation and biblical definition for that would be an unprecedented period of trouble and divine judgment on earth. It basically is the wrath of God poured out on earth. The term rapture that we're going to talk about today means to be caught up. To be caught up. And then there's two end time events that, that people often get mixed up. And I want to make sure that we have an understanding that there's these two things are two distinct, different events. Then that is the Rapture and That is the second coming of Jesus. The second coming of Jesus is found in Revelation, chapter 19, verses 11 through 16. Where Christ returns to the surface of the earth and he comes with his saints to judge the nations and to establish his earthly reign. The rapture that we're going to talk about today is, is being caught up with Christ. I am a pre tribulation believer, and that is for one reason, and it's found in, in 1st Thessalonians, chapter 5 and verse number 9. Paul says, For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. So since God did not appoint us to wrath, that means that we are going to be removed before God's wrath comes on this earth. And friends, if you think it's bad here on earth now, let me tell you, you ain't seen nothing yet. Let's talk about the main event. Let's talk about the rapture of the church. First Thessalonians, chapter number four. I'm going to read for you verses 13 through 18. First Thessalonians 4, 13, 18 says, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord wherefore comfort one another with these words. All right, he's talking about the sudden coming of the Lord. And I believe that this event that Paul is describing here is going to happen any day now. It may not. It may. It may be another thousand years. It may be today, it may be tomorrow. We don't know. That's why we're. We're as Christians, we're told over and over in scripture that we need to be keeping an eye out. We need to be waiting for. We need to be watching for it. And we need to know the signs of the times by looking around and what's going on in our world today. And we can know and we can trust that the rapture of the Church is imminent. It is coming. You know, we tell people a hurricane is coming, like there's one coming down in the gulf Right now, and people's gonna go and they're gonna prepare and they're gonna get ready. We could tell people there's gonna be a gas shortage and people go and fill up their gas tanks. But when we talk about the coming of Jesus and the rapture of the church and warning people about that, people all of a sudden don't want to listen to it anymore. And I don't know why, but Paul is describing a rapture of the church. And he wrote about this event because the people in Thessalonica had feared that those who have died before the rapture would miss heaven. And so Paul was writing these words to comfort them and to help them understand that they're going to make heaven too. When Paul refers to somebody who is asleep in Christ though, that is, that is the physical body of the person. We read in, in scripture in first Corinthians that Paul, Paul talks about, to be absent from the body means to be present with the Lord. So at the time of our death, our spirit immediately goes to be with the Lord, but our body remains in the grave. We have a spiritual resurrection that happens when we die. The Spirit goes to heaven, but then we have the physical resurrection. And at the rapture, that is when our spirit and our body will be reunited. And we will therefore raise to meet Christ in the air, to be transformed, to be given that spiritual body that we will have for the rest of eternity. Look at what Paul's telling us here. He says in verse number 16, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. The graves are going to burst open and the rapture is going to happen. The, the, the caught up is going to happen. And then we which are alive, verse 17. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And we shall ever be with the Lord, and we shall ever be with the Lord. We will rise and meet Jesus. The question is, are you ready? This isn't some fairy tale. This isn't some, some man made events. This is scripture. This is going to happen. And if you're left behind, you're going to go through a terrible time of God's judgment and God's wrath being upon this world. Will there be some saved during the tribulation? I firmly believe there will be, But I don't think that the tribulation period is a time that anybody wants to go through. Then he says here in verse number one of chapter five, he says, but of the times and the seasons, brethren, we have no need that I write unto you, for you yourselves know perfectly, perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. We don't know the day, we don't know the hour. Jesus himself said no man knows the day or the hour. You know, you've probably heard by now people all the time saying when the Lord's coming on this day and, and the rapture is going to happen on this day and those days come and they pass and nothing happens and people are scoffing, people are laughing, saying, you really believe that stuff? Yes, it's true. Are you ready? Think about that as you go through this day. And remember, get into God's word and allow God's word to get into you. Then share that word with someone today. Have a blessed day.