Jesus Is Coming Soon: Be Ready and Tell Someone

Devotional

Day 1: The Eastern Sky Split by a Shout

When Jesus returns, it won’t be a quiet event. He’ll descend with a shout, an archangel’s voice, and God’s trumpet—a cosmic interruption that changes everything. This isn’t a metaphor. The same Jesus who ascended physically will return physically, breaking into history to gather His people. His coming isn’t about checking progress but claiming His bride. Every eye will see Him, every grave will release its captive, and every heart will bow. Live like you hear the trumpet’s echo in your bones. [44:05]

“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.”
(1 Thessalonians 4:16, ESV)

Reflection: What practical step can you take today to live with the urgency of someone who expects the eastern sky to split at any moment? How would your priorities shift if you truly believed the trumpet’s blast was near?

Day 2: Fields Ripe While Eyes Lift Upward

It’s tempting to fixate on prophetic timelines, but Jesus redirects our gaze to the harvest. While wars rage and deception spreads, souls hunger for hope. The fields aren’t hypothetical—they’re your coworker, your neighbor, the stranger scrolling in despair. Don’t just stare at the clouds; roll up your sleeves. Every conversation, every act of love, every whispered prayer is a seed planted for eternity. The clock is ticking, but the sickle is in your hand. [54:06]

“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.”
(John 4:35, ESV)

Reflection: Who in your life feels like a “four-month project” to reach? How can you begin planting gospel seeds in their life today, trusting God to ripen the harvest?

Day 3: The Grave’s Surrender at the Trumpet’s Blast

Cemeteries aren’t endpoints for believers. When Jesus shouts, graves will crack open like piñatas, spilling out resurrected saints. Your grief has an expiration date. That loved one who died in Christ? You’ll recognize their laughter. That chronic pain? Gone like a mist. Death’s tyranny ends the moment the trumpet sounds. Live today with the defiant joy of someone who knows the tombstone’s a placeholder. [01:08:17]

“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.”
(1 Corinthians 15:51–52, ESV)

Reflection: What loss or struggle feels permanent right now? How does the promise of the trumpet’s blast reframe your perspective on that pain?

Day 4: Reconciliation’s Urgent Whisper in a Noisy World

God didn’t save you to stockpile grace. He pulled you from the fire to hand you a rescue rope for others. Every “I’m spiritual but not religious” friend, every skeptic meme-sharer, every addict in your orbit is a soul Christ died for. Time isn’t neutral—it’s a countdown. Speak boldly, not because you’re qualified, but because the Judge is coming. Your awkwardness today could echo in eternity’s halls. [01:27:19]

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
(2 Corinthians 5:20, ESV)

Reflection: What fear holds you back from sharing Christ? How might embracing your role as an “ambassador” shift your approach to conversations this week?

Day 5: Two Destinies, One Returning King

Jesus’ return splits humanity like a cleaver. No middle ground. No “good enough.” Either we’re hidden in Christ or exposed in our sin. This isn’t scare tactics—it’s love’s warning. The same grace that offers salvation today demands a response today. Don’t soften the stakes. Eternal joy or eternal regret hinges on this moment. Preach, plead, and perspire for souls. Hell’s reality makes heaven’s offer urgent. [01:22:46]

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory… all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”
(Matthew 25:31–32, ESV)

Reflection: Who in your circle assumes they’re “good enough” for heaven? How can you compassionately confront that assumption with the gospel’s exclusive hope this week?

Sermon Summary

Jesus is coming soon. Acts opens with the disciples looking into heaven as Jesus ascends, and the angels promise that “the same Jesus” will come again in like manner. First Thessalonians gives the church more than a vague wish: the Lord Himself will descend with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God; the dead in Christ will rise, and those alive and yet remaining will be caught up to meet Him in the air. That is hope, not as uncertainty, but as promise, confidence, and a word meant to comfort grieving hearts.

The early church lived with this expectation in the middle of persecution, trouble, and hardship. The promise of Christ’s return calls the church to be waiting, watching, working, evangelizing, and enduring. Jesus does not call His people to stare at the sky, trying to calculate a day or an hour. Jesus calls His people to look at fields ripe for harvest. The promise matters more than somebody’s prediction, because nobody knows the day or hour, but the church knows that He is coming.

Matthew 24 gives signs that the return is drawing near: deception, false Christs, wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, persecution, lawlessness, cold love, division, and backsliding. Yet Jesus also promises that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world. Darkness does not cancel the mission. A holy, righteous body of believers will still carry the only saving message to the ends of the earth.

Jesus will come Himself. The same Jesus who walked Galilee, healed lepers, forgave sinners, died on Calvary, and rose with resurrection power is coming again for His people. Heaven is not merely a beautiful place or a peaceful place. Heaven is forever with the Lord, where God dwells with humanity and the curse of sin is finally broken.

The return of Jesus also brings judgment. One return brings two destinies: eternal life for those reconciled to God through Christ, and eternal separation for those who reject the gospel. Christ’s righteousness, not human goodness, prepares a soul to stand before God. Reconciliation means that God has reached down, paid sin’s debt, broken sin’s bonds, and pulled sinners to Himself. Reconciliation also gives the church a ministry: those reconciled must tell somebody. The only reasonable responses are simple and urgent: “I’ve got to be ready,” and “I’ve got to tell somebody.”

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Key Takeaways

1. Jesus is coming soon Christ’s return is not meant to produce panic, speculation, or passive sky-gazing. The promise gives suffering believers real comfort because death does not have the final word. The same Jesus who ascended will return personally for His people. [67:19]
2. Look at the ripe fields Christ’s imminent return puts urgency on the harvest, not obsession on the calendar. The church cannot spend its strength chasing predictions while lost people stand nearby without gospel hope. The fields remain ripe, and the call remains to go, preach, teach, baptize, and make disciples. [52:35]
3. One return, two destinies Christ’s return is best news for the believer and terrible news for the person who refuses the good news. Human decency, religious appearance, and personal merit cannot produce the holiness required before God. The Lamb’s Book of Life points every soul away from self-righteousness and toward the blood of Jesus. [82:17]
4. Be ready and tell somebody Readiness requires honest attention to the condition of the soul, not religious familiarity or outward activity. Reconciliation brings sinners near to God through Christ, then sends those same people out as ambassadors for Christ. Holy boldness grows when believers remember that the Spirit is already drawing hungry hearts.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[44:05] - Jesus Is Coming Soon
[45:48] - The Promise of Christ’s Return
[48:59] - The Early Church Lived Expectantly
[51:20] - Waiting, Watching, Working, and Witnessing
[55:32] - Signs of the Lord’s Return
[62:23] - The Gospel Will Reach All Nations
[64:34] - The Same Jesus Is Coming Again
[67:19] - Hope Beyond the Grave
[72:21] - Christ Returns as Judge
[78:43] - The Gospel Is the Only Hope
[83:38] - One Return, Two Destinies
[85:24] - The Ministry of Reconciliation
[87:49] - The Call to Be Ready
[92:41] - The Call to Tell Somebody

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Acts 1:9–11

9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. [45:48]

10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, [46:02]

11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” [46:16]

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve

Sermon Clips

47s

“The return of Jesus is the best news for the believer. But it's not great news for those who have not received the good news. The return of Jesus for the child of God is the best news, but it is not great news for those who have not received the good news. Because Jesus is coming to judge.”

57s

“Because of that, we are instructed as the people of God. We're instructed to be waiting. Somebody said, I've done that too long now. We've been instructed to be waiting. We've been instructed to be watching. We've been instructed to be working. We've been instructed by the word of God to be evangelizing and to be enduring. the instruction that is given to the church of God by the word of God. We are to be waiting, and we are to be a watching people, and we are to be a working people, and we are to be an evangelizing church, and we are to be an enduring church.”

73s

“The spirit is drawing people. God's just waiting for us to be the hands and feet that reach out and get a hold of them. The spirit is drawing hungry hearts all around the world, in our neighborhood, in our community, and people that are literally somebody got a phone? Somebody got a phone? You got a phone? There you go. Your phone is filled with people that you can tell about Jesus. Let me tell you something, the spirit is drawing them. And the question's gonna be, are you gonna tell them? God is drawing them. He's showing signs that are unmistakable. And he's speaking to them, but they don't know what to do. They don't know where to go. They don't know how to respond. And God's saying, if the church really believed believed that I was coming back, then the only thing that they would do is tell other people about me. If they really believed that I was the only way, if they really believed that salvation was found in Christ alone, then they would tell somebody about me.”

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