[0:00] Dear brothers and sisters, let's please open your Bibles, if you will, and let us read together from the book of Revelation.
[0:24] Revelation, we're going to read the last chapter, the last passage. It's very easy to find.
[0:37] Revelation chapter 22, verses 6 to 21. And in the book of Revelation, the apostle John writes regarding end times prophecies.
[0:51] Received by him from God in the island of Patmos. And what we are reading today corresponds to this last portion of the whole Holy Scripture.
[1:05] And the word of God says in Revelation chapter 22, 6 to 21 as follows. And he said to me, these words are trustworthy and true.
[1:20] And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.
[1:32] And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.
[1:48] And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. But he said to me, you must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers, the prophets.
[2:02] And with those who keep the words of this book, worship God. And he said to me, do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.
[2:15] Let the ever doer still do evil. And the filthy still be filthy. And the righteous still be right.
[2:26] And the holy still be holy. Behold, I am coming soon. Bringing my recompense with me. To repay each one for what he has done.
[2:40] I am the alpha and the omega. The first and the last. The beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes.
[2:51] So that they may have the right to the tree of life. And that they may enter the city of the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers.
[3:03] And the sexually immoral. And murderers and idolaters. And everyone who loves and practices falsehood. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches.
[3:20] I am the root and the descendant of David. The bright morning star. The spirit and the bride say, come. And let the one who hears say, come.
[3:34] And let the one who is thirsty, come. Let the one who desires take the water of life without price. I warn everyone who hears the word of the prophecy of this book.
[3:48] If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plaques described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy.
[4:00] God will take away his chair in the tree of life and in the holy city. Which are described in this book.
[4:11] He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
[4:22] The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you again for your grace.
[4:34] Thank you for your word, which is lamp to our feet and light to our path. Oh, Holy Spirit, I ask that you use your word today for the edification of the church again.
[4:48] Prepare our hearts to receive your word with reverence and all attention. Help us practice it. And help us live by this truth. Let it be explained with clarity and power this morning.
[5:02] I ask you all this in the name of Jesus Christ. And for your glory and glory alone. Amen. So this morning I would like to invite us, all of us, right, invite you to focus our attention on the fact that Jesus is coming.
[5:27] The King will return. And we find this truth in many texts in Scripture. The Gospels tells about that.
[5:41] Matthew, Luke, and others. The writings of the Apostle Paul tells us about the fact that Christ is coming. And also the writings of other apostles like Peter, James, John.
[5:57] And in here, in this text today, the Apostle John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, also writes about the fact that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will come again.
[6:12] In some portion of this text, we hear, we read, sorry, the Apostle John citing or quoting the words from Jesus that appear to him in the island of Patmos.
[6:29] And in these verses, these passages, Jesus told the same word to John three times. First, in verse 7, right, we read, I am coming soon.
[6:43] Then again in verse 12, he repeats the same words, I am coming soon. And just when the whole Bible is about to finish, right, the last thing that we read in this book, in the Holy Scripture, is Jesus telling John, surely, like if you have any doubt, if somebody has any doubt of the fact that I am coming soon, he just affirmed as the book is closing, surely I am coming soon.
[7:22] And brothers and sisters, our Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ, will be back.
[7:33] The King will return. And as I was praying this week for God to help me teach or preach this to you today, something that came into my mind is how often do I think about the fact that Christ is coming back?
[8:04] And I want to ask the same question to you. Is this something we think about constantly as Christians, as we go about in our daily lives, as we go to work, as we go to school, as we go to university, as we live life in family?
[8:28] And it is important to know that surely Jesus is coming, but we need to clarify that nobody knows when that will happen.
[8:43] Nobody knows that. Those that have predicted a date has been wrong. They have predicted multiple times a year.
[8:57] There are people that even has the audacity of telling a date, a month, a time, an hour. Nobody knows.
[9:09] Matthew 24, 36, But concerning that day and hour, no one knows. Not even the angels of heaven. Only God the Father knows when, according to this text.
[9:22] And that is why we should be always expecting it.
[9:36] When we don't know when something is going to happen, we need to always be ready for that that is coming. And we don't know when it is.
[9:50] Nevertheless, the attitude of people regarding this reality, like how people treat this truth in terms of how often we think about that, how excited we are about thinking about that, how eager we are for that moment, how willing we are for Jesus to be here, how desperate in a good way we are for that to come.
[10:30] That tells us a lot about us, right? When we love God, when we love Christ, we want to see Him.
[10:44] We want His coming. Actually, when the apostles saw Jesus Christ ascending in heaven, they stared at the heavens. And there were angels that came and went beside them and said, that same God, that same Jesus, that is coming up, He will come down.
[11:03] And from that moment forward, the apostles always expressed their desire for Jesus to come. And they talk about that and they preach about that.
[11:15] And they will and long about Jesus coming because they want to see their King. And sadly, the world, the people in this world are not expecting Christ, are not expecting Jesus.
[11:46] But this is even more sad when we see that even many professing Christians are really not expecting Christ.
[12:00] They don't live their life like Jesus is coming. They don't think about it. They don't long for it. And Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 24, 37, for as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
[12:21] For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
[12:41] And most people in this world are unaware of this truth. Most people in this world are not expecting Christ.
[12:54] We see that, we see actually what's going on, brothers and sisters. The world hates Christ. The world hates His commands and His law.
[13:07] Many nations are, let's see if I say that right, institutionalizing sin. It's a long word for me.
[13:20] They don't want Christ in their public schools and private schools. Actually, the commandments of the Bible, the teachings of Christ regarding morality and obedience are forbidden in many institutions and schools.
[13:40] I know about a friend of mine which daughter brought the Bible to their school, a friend of mine in Florida. And this child was reprimanded for that.
[13:57] This is the reality. And she came crying, home, not understanding why the book that is so read at home and taught is forbidden outside of home.
[14:16] And this is not only a school's not, but as we have seen in the last couple of weeks in the news, right? Even places where children are brought for entertainment, and making memories in families, those places are advocating for the teaching of practices to children that are totally against the word of God.
[14:41] And many of us, as parents, need to be so careful. Actually, we are scared of, not scared, I would say, watchful.
[14:57] of what our children are being said in a school. I am so grateful for the mothers that do homeschool and that are so watchful of what their teachers are teaching to their children.
[15:17] Because when we detect something that is wrong, we need to clarify that right away to them with the word of God and tell them, this is wrong.
[15:31] These people hate God and His word. But this is the truth of the word of God. And we are, we are even to be careful what, what our children see on TV and the cartoons.
[15:48] and the reality is that this world is not expecting Christ. This world hates God.
[16:01] This world hates His commandments. This world hates His laws. And this world wants our children to also hate this.
[16:11] And what the prophet Isaiah said in chapter 1 verse 4, something written for the nation of Israel that was apart from God at that time is also that easily applied to the word of today.
[16:25] He writes, Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offerings of evildoers, children who deal corruptly.
[16:38] They have forsaken the Lord. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are utterly estranged. This is reality.
[16:52] This world, as I said, hates God, hates Christ, hates His Word, His law. But it also hates those that truly and genuinely follow Jesus.
[17:06] If you are a follower of Christ, the world also hates you.
[17:19] So, when thinking about all this, it is understandable why the world is unaware like the days of Noah. The world is unaware of the coming of the Son of God.
[17:35] The world is not expecting Christ at all. they live their lives distanced from Christ, from His Lordship, from His kingship, and they don't even believe anything, right?
[17:51] Regarding Scripture. But on the other hand, brothers, those who are genuine Christians, truly Christians, live their life with the expectation of the coming of Jesus.
[18:10] As I said, they long for it to happen. They are passionate about Jesus' coming. They are excited about this coming of Jesus.
[18:22] They think about it constantly. They pray for it to happen. The awareness and desire of Jesus' coming is a shared sentiment among the people of God.
[18:35] And when that's not the case, then there's a big problem. Are we living our lives expecting and desiring and longing for Jesus to come?
[18:53] Are we ready for it? Are we like the five virgins in Matthew 25 that were expecting the bridegroom in the parable?
[19:05] Are we like the two servants that multiply their talents while waiting for their master? And also Matthew 25. These are examples of people that were really expecting the coming of the Lord.
[19:21] And I want you to notice in this last segment of the Bible that we read in Revelation, three realities about the coming of Jesus and those waiting for him to come.
[19:36] And I hope that as we go through this, we meditate on our life and we pray that these also be realities in our expectation for the coming of our King.
[19:53] The first one is those, and that's something that has been said a little bit. Those who wait for Jesus desires and longs for his return, like a bride waiting for his bridegroom.
[20:11] Second, and we see that also in the text, those who wait for Jesus live according to his word.
[20:24] and third, the assurance of his return. Let's go with the first one. Those who await for Jesus desire and long for his return.
[20:37] If we go again to verse 17, what does it say? It says the following, the spirit and the bride say come, and let the one who hears say come, and let the one who is thirsty come, let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
[21:09] so there is the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, and there is the bride, the church, right?
[21:26] We, you and me, the bride, the church, and it's actually the Holy Spirit who lives in the life of those who believe and form the bride and the church that is willing for Jesus to come.
[21:49] And it's crying and saying come. Keener, who is one of the commentaries, commentary, sorry, he says this reality evokes the welcome to the thirsty to come and feed other early Christians teaching on the eagerness of the spirit and the saints for Jesus' return.
[22:18] Eagerness. What does mean the word eagerness for those early Christians to which this book was written and that also applies to the church of today?
[22:33] this eagerness means this willing, this desire, this complete attention and awareness and as we do everything that we do in our life, we know that surely I am coming soon, Jesus says.
[22:59] And brothers, there should be several reasons for which we as Christians need to be expectant of the coming of the Lord.
[23:12] and the first one that I think of is that Christians want Jesus to come because they love him. We as Christians love God.
[23:24] Contrary to the world who hates God, a genuine follower of Jesus loves him. Not only love Jesus, right? Love his scripture, love his commandments and hates him.
[23:42] That's actually the new nature that is given to those that receive the miracle of the new birth, the miracle of regeneration given by the Holy Spirit, that transformation of the heart.
[23:59] When God changes our hearts, we start loving him, and we start loving scripture, and we start loving his loss.
[24:09] It's not a burden anymore, but it's something that we want to do, and we start hating the sinful nature, and fighting that. That happens, and because this happens in those that are truly Christians, those people love Jesus, love his lordship, his kingship, and they want him to come back.
[24:36] and they want him to come back soon, now, as soon as possible, tonight. We don't know when it is, I tell you that, but that's what we want. We want him to come.
[24:47] Do you want him to come with that rush? We need to rush that coming.
[25:01] I mean, we cannot do that. That desire, right, is coming. I don't know if you are getting what I'm telling you, but this is something that God puts in real Christians, this fire in their heart, to see him one day, to know him face to face, to talk to him, to, wow, so many good things will happen that day.
[25:29] So, Christians want Jesus to come because they love him. And, just going to read a few verses, brothers, Mark 12, 30, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.
[25:50] When you love somebody like that, you want to see that person. when you love somebody like that, you think constantly about that person.
[26:06] I remember many years ago, almost 20 years ago, I had to come to Houston, Texas for the first test, United States Medical License Examination.
[26:23] I had to leave my wife in Dominican Republic, like for a week. It was like a two-day test. And, I have never been away from her since we got married.
[26:39] Oh, that week was tough. It was tough for her. It was tough for me. When there is real love, you want to be with the person you love.
[26:54] You want to be near with them. If you cannot be in person, you call them often. In those times, they were not Face time like now, but they were funny call, right?
[27:06] How about that with our God, Jesus, with our King, Jesus? Actually, the love for God should be higher than any other love of anything that we experience in this world.
[27:19] God and even though we don't see Him face to face, but when we miss Him, we pray and talk a lot with Him. It's fun.
[27:32] We call Him in our prayer and talk to Him. So what it does say is somebody says that loves Jesus and doesn't talk to Him and doesn't talk to God constantly.
[27:46] And not even doesn't talk to Him, but doesn't even think about like when you know, well, He's coming from the tree, from that trouble on Sunday. You're waiting for that day.
[27:58] You are in the airport. And when you see that person, you hug them. Are you thinking about that day this way, hugging Christ when you see Him?
[28:17] Even crying when you see His face. This is the reason why Christians desire for Jesus to come. They love Him with all their heart, with all their mind, with all their soul, with all their strength.
[28:37] And they are, as the book of Yeshua 23, 11 says, they are diligent. So take diligent heed to yourself to love the Lord, your God.
[28:47] God. And as 1 John 4, 10 says, in this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation of our sins.
[29:05] Do we love God? Do you love God? Do I love God? love God? The words hate Him, but we are called to love Him and to show that love to this world.
[29:31] Let's pray for God to grow that love for Him in us. This is nothing that we can do. You can do nothing to love Him. He has to put of his love in you.
[29:45] But you know what you can do? You can pray for it. You can ask for it. You can show him that you want that gift of loving him and desiring for his coming.
[29:59] And you remember when Jesus resurrected, he told Peter three times, Peter, Simon Peter, do you love me? And he said again a second time, Simon Peter, do you love me?
[30:12] And he said to him a second time, Simon Peter, do you love me? What will be your answer if God, if Jesus asks us the same question? And he knows it.
[30:24] We cannot deceive the Lord. So brothers and sisters, Christians want Jesus to come again.
[30:36] They are passionate and eager and enthusiastic about his second coming, all because they love him. Contrary to the world that hates him, genuine believers are aware and expectant for his second coming.
[30:50] They pray, your kingdom come. They pray daily, your kingdom come. That's something that Jesus tells his disciples to do.
[31:02] And that's another story, right? I'm not going to go very deep about that part, but we know that this kingdom is there is a jet. We are living in this kingdom, but it's completely not manifested yet.
[31:19] Christians also want Jesus to come. And that's something that I thought about that. Why do we want Jesus to come?
[31:30] Why do we also desire and long for Jesus to come besides loving him? And another reason is because suffering will stop.
[31:46] Suffering will stop. Many Christians suffer because of the corruption and the sinful nature we live in in this world.
[32:03] And we have seen that throughout history, many genuine disciples have suffered for Christ. They have given their life for Jesus. And even though we live in a nation that is, we are blessed.
[32:20] There is not that big persecution here in the United States. But there are areas in the world where Christians are suffering for Christ. If you ask somebody in those countries that are being tortured, they want Jesus to come.
[32:36] If they ask somebody that they are sin, family members murdered for Christ, of course they want Jesus to come.
[32:52] They love God, they're suffering, and they want Jesus to be back. So in addition to loving God, we also long for the coming of Jesus, because sin, corruption, pain, and suffering will be no more when the king returns for his church.
[33:17] He will return to dwell and be with his people forever. Look what Revelation 21, 3 and 4 says. Revelation 21, 3 and 4.
[33:30] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
[33:43] He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
[34:13] What a beautiful promise. And I know that, as I said, you know, there are Christians in this time that are suffering tremendously compared to us.
[34:27] But also, all of us has our trials. Many of us has our temptations. Many of us has our sufferings.
[34:40] All the result of being in this sinful nature, right? This is part of sin, consequence of the sinful nature we are.
[34:52] So because of that, we want this to be over. We want many things that we're experiencing to stop. And this is going to happen when Jesus comes again.
[35:10] Brothers and sisters, Romans, the Apostle Paul in Romans 8 says the following, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
[35:28] For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. Even the creation itself waits for that. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope.
[35:46] That the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
[35:57] For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies.
[36:26] This is truly worse. We wait eagerly. The creation, the real Christian waits eagerly for Christ to come back.
[36:39] This is not our world. We have been reading about that in the growth groups and so many good lessons there. We should not focus on anything of this world.
[36:53] Our mentality, our heart, our concentrations, our focus should be on God Christ, our King, on being with Him and doing His will and keeping His world and advancing His kingdom and telling others who don't know Him about His coming.
[37:21] The King is coming. Are we telling other people that? Are we living a life with that expectation? What are we dedicating our time to?
[37:36] Are we fighting for things that doesn't matter? Are we overworked for things that stay here? That died?
[37:47] And will be burned with the whole world? You know, there's going to be new heavens and new earth. What matters is Christ.
[37:58] What matters is His word. And everything we do should be knowing our life, everything under the circle of Christ and His kingdom and His second coming.
[38:18] The book of Titus 2, 11, 14. Listen to this. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.
[38:39] Waiting, again, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
[38:51] Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lowlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, who are salous for good works.
[39:17] So those that are of Christ say, say, like John says in this portion, come, come, come, amen, come, Lord Jesus.
[39:41] Verse 20, amen, come, Lord Jesus. Second, those who await for Him live according to His word.
[39:57] Those who await for the coming of Jesus live according to His word. Let me read again some verses of Revelation 22.
[40:13] Verse 7, and behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.
[40:28] And as you can see, this is the last chapter of the last book of the revealed word of God.
[40:42] So I understand that when He wrote about that, He's telling us to kind of live a life studying everything that is behind that part, which is actually everything else, right?
[41:05] And paying attention to everything that is here, and loving God, and also being diligent in keeping what says in here.
[41:28] Not because we're saved by that, but because of the fact that we are saved. And as we await for the coming of Christ, all of us has a task, a homework.
[41:49] Do you know what that task is? To grow in the likeness of the one that is coming. to grow in the likeness of the one that is coming.
[42:03] Santification is a synergistic work. We know that it's a work of God, right? Who started the good world will end it, will finish it to good completion.
[42:18] At the same time, Scripture tells us to be diligent. what do you do? You read the Scripture. You obey the Scripture with the power of the Holy Spirit in you.
[42:32] Not with your own strength, you have none, but the Lord God has put in you His Spirit who strengthens you and equip you and give you the ability to obey His words.
[42:48] And those who are waiting for the second coming of Christ are doing what this verse says. They are keeping His Word.
[43:00] They are growing into the task of being like Christ, being conformed in the image of Jesus through the Holy Spirit and His Word working in us.
[43:14] Nobody will achieve that in a perfect manner here. All of us will continue to be sinners until the day of the glorification. At the same time, there is a progressive sanctification that is happening right now in all of those who have been chosen by God.
[43:37] If it is not, it is a concerning sign. Verse 11 chapter 22, let the everdoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.
[44:00] very interesting what we see here. There are those who are not expecting Christ, evildoers that continue to do evil, and filthy that still continue to do filthy things, but then there are those that are righteous, God has calling you and me, has declared you and me righteous, and he has declared you and me holy, all of this because of the blood of Jesus, in Christ alone, by faith alone.
[44:48] This is justification, right? He has justified us. And then look at what the verse says, and the righteous still do right. Those that have been declared righteous are to grow into righteousness.
[45:06] How can be that? And those that are declared holy, as they expect the second coming of Jesus, are expected to grow also into the holiness of God.
[45:24] Verse 12, behold, behold, I am coming, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
[45:36] Blessed are those who wash the robes so that they may have the right to the Tree of Life and that they may enter the city of the gates. And then it tells few examples of people that are evildoers that are not going to be there.
[46:00] Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral and the murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. Look at that part.
[46:13] Love sin. Anybody who loves sin will not be part of what that glory with Christ that is coming.
[46:31] But all only those who love God, love Jesus, expect his coming and love his word. So those who await for him live according to his word, also because of the love for him.
[46:51] 1 John 5 3, For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. 2 John 11 6, And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments.
[47:05] This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it. 1 John 2 5, But whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.
[47:22] By this we know that we are in him. By this we know that we are in him. Finally, the assurance of the returns of Jesus.
[47:37] It is a reality. whether the world is waiting for him or not, Jesus will come. Whether professing Christians are waiting for him or not, he surely will come.
[47:54] Surely I am coming, he says in verse 20 of Revelation 22. And chapter 1 of verse 7, also Revelation, says, Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierce him, and all tribes of the earth will wait on account on him.
[48:20] Even so, amen. And 1 Thessalonians 4, 16, 17, For the law himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the son of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
[48:38] Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so will always be with the Lord.
[48:51] So he will come regardless of if we're waiting for them, for him or not. Sadly, those that are not waiting for him, the second coming of Jesus, will bring joy to those that are his, and will bring judgment to those that are not his.
[49:15] Revelation 20, 11, Then I saw a great white throne, and him who was seated on it, from his present earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
[49:32] And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged by what was written on the books, according to what they had done.
[49:52] And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. So the coming of Jesus brings joy and happiness and all of that good things to us who are expecting him, to his children, to the genuine believers, to true Christians, to followers of Jesus.
[50:17] But that same coming brings judgment to those that hate him and hate his word and that do not live according to what he has written in his word.
[50:32] So brothers and sisters, just a few applications, quickly. Are you longing for Christ to come? Do you think about that often or when was the last time you think about the fact that Jesus is coming?
[50:48] When was that? Are you living and walking in this world in a way that reflects the fact that you are waiting for him to come?
[51:02] Are you loving him? Are you expressing this love for him in your faithfulness to his word, to studying his word, to memorizing his word, to telling others of him, to obeying his word?
[51:18] Are you telling others that are unaware that Jesus is coming, that this is a reality? Evangelism, right? all of that is implied in that expectation, in the way we live when we are expecting that second coming of Christ.
[51:38] I'm going to finish this sermon by citing this poem from Cindy Watt. Jesus is coming back.
[51:54] God, oh, what a glorious thought. He's coming to get his bride that with his blood he bought. Oh, what a wonderful hope waiting for him to come back.
[52:07] We will then be perfect with no more sin and no more lack. Jesus is coming back. It makes me want to shout and sing. He's coming back for me, my great and mighty king.
[52:22] what a beautiful, great truth. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you.
[52:33] Thank you, Lord. We acknowledge that we need you. Without you, we can do nothing. You are our sustainer and as we reflect today on the fact that the king will return.
[52:50] Jesus is coming one day. We ask that you help us to live a life of expectation of that reality, longing for it and desiring it, being passionate about it, being enthusiastic about it, and also as we wait for you to come that we live in a manner worthy of you.
[53:17] We read here in Revelation how blessed are those who keep your word while they're waiting for you, and how, dear God, the early Christians always were telling, come, Jesus, come, come, amen, come, Lord Jesus.
[53:42] Lord, we ask that we be like them, and that we focus more on you and less on the things of this world.
[53:53] Let us be light in the middle of the darkness. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen. Amen.