Michael Koulianos emphasizes the imminent return of Jesus Christ, urging believers to deepen their relationship with Him in preparation for His second coming. He explains the order of resurrection as outlined in 1 Thessalonians, highlighting the honor given to those who have died in faith and the joy of being reunited with them. Koulianos reassures the congregation that as children of the light, they are called to remain alert and steadfast in their faith, especially in a world filled with distractions and uncertainty. He encourages believers to comfort one another with the hope of eternal life and the promise of Jesus' return, reminding them that they are positioned for love, not judgment. The sermon concludes with a call to live victoriously, embracing faith and love as essential armor in these last days.

You ready to jump into the second coming? Alright, because it is happening. It's coming and you want to know about it. Most importantly, you want to know Jesus very, very deeply in this hour. We ended in 1 Thessalonians 4 last week. Quick review, let's just turn there. I'm not going to give you the entirety of the review, just this passage. Obviously all the sermons are on YouTube and if you haven't been here for the last few weeks, I would encourage you to go back and listen to the last three because I really think it'll give context and build a foundation regarding the second coming of Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 14 through 18, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, say, that's me. If it's not you, in the depths of your heart, you can today. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. So those who've gone on before us. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, so you can take this to the bank, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, so those who have not passed away when Jesus returns, will by no means precede those who are asleep. So in other words, those who've died in Christ will be raised first for a few reasons. One, because of the nature of harvest. Two, because the Lord is the Lord of honor. It is an honorable thing to transition in faith and the Lord always rewards honor. This is one thing I touched on last week that I'd just like to briefly touch on is, you know, Steph's father passed, went to glory. How long has it been, Steph? A year? A year and a half. And he went to glory, holding on to Jesus. That is incredibly honorable. But it becomes cliche in a church setting. It's like, okay, yeah, he held on to his faith and went on to be with the Lord. But in that crossing over, when man breathes his last, and by the way, that will happen to everyone, should the Lord tarry, it is a great act of faith to hold on to Jesus and breathe your last. Jesus actually said, more blessed are those who believe, are those who believe and don't see. So there's this, this is a greater faith than trying to pack a stadium. This is heroic by nature, to hold on and cross over into the eternal realm, a place that definitely carries a sense of mystery. What will it be like? What is the moment like? What does it feel like to breathe your last? All these things. Yet saints hold on to their confession and to the Lord Himself with everything in Him. And because they've done that, the Lord, this is one of the reasons, the Lord will honor them at the resurrection. He's like, you first. You did it. They haven't. They're great. They're in. You did it. May that be said of all of us. Amen. May we all go to be with Jesus, with our families around us, singing hymns like Rex Humbert and with our eyes fixed on the Lamb of God. Amen. So here Paul's giving us the order of the resurrection. For the Lord Himself, look down at your Bible, for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout. The Lord Himself. So it's not a figurative return. People are trying to theologically evade this event, but you cannot be a Bible-believing Christian and not believe in the literal return of the Lord Jesus. He is coming back. It is vital to the gospel. The gospel is incomplete without the return of the Lord Jesus and the resurrection of His people. Does this make sense to you? So Paul is very clear here. The Lord Himself. Not a vision of the Lord. Not some parabolic fulfillment or mystery. You know, people have said the Lord returned. He didn't really mean He'd return physically. That actually happened at Pentecost, for instance. People did say that. That's not the Bible. It's just not. The Lord Himself, Jesus Himself, will descend from heaven with a shout. Who will shout? The voice of the archangel. He's not coming back alone. Though even if He did, it would still be wonderful. But how many of you know Jesus is the Lord of the procession? He loves bringing a parade of friends with Him. It's who He is because He's the Savior. He's going to return with His trophies. With 10,000s upon 10,000s. With the hosts of heaven worshiping Him. Somebody better get as happy as Steph. Alright. Because this isn't normal. This is the furthest thing from boring. He will return with a voice, with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. I encourage all of you shofar lovers last two weeks, this is going to be your moment. This is going to be your moment. Now, you are more than welcome to blow your shofars as long as it's this kind of moment. There's a time for a shofar by the way. I have seen some breakthrough come, but you've just got to know when to fire those things off and be humble enough to honor us when we say wrong moment, wrong key, go get trained. Alright. But this is going to be your moment. Maybe some of you are going to go up with the shofar. Don't blow it back at the archangel, you'll lose. It's your moment. You guys are going to have them on your backs, aren't you? Like little ninja swords. Some of you are going to have your prayer shawls on. They won't stay on. They're going to hit the ground. Someone said hallelujah. This is the scene. The great victory trumpet. The trumpet blew in Israel for battle and it broke walls. The trumpets blew when Jericho took, when the Israelites took Jericho, the walls came down. It's a prophetic utterance that one day the trumpet will blow and the people of the Lord will possess their eternal promised land. This is amazing. This is amazing and I feel Jesus as I'm talking about this. Then, oh sorry, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Sounds great. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. And thus, listen to these words, we shall always be with the Lord. In that state we will always be with the Lord. No more death. No more, how's this? No more weakness. No more weakness. How wonderful is Jesus that he chose weakness to the degree that he took a nap on the bow of a boat. How humble is Jesus to take on such humanity and limitation in many ways. Chosen limitation. Never stop being God. This is the beautiful glory of the gospel is that he not only saved us but became one of us so that we would stand before the Father as his own. So he redeems us and raises us and thus in that way we shall forever be with the Lord. Forever. I said forever. We shall be with the Lord. May heaven be more real to us than the weaknesses of this earth. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. Now Paul is speaking to a group of people who have been mourning the departure of their friends. Unfortunately, horrifically many people are passing away in this season. As a pastor now, we were talking about it last night, the level of prayer requests that I'm getting now have not only changed in the last year and a half but they're of a completely different nature. Every day I'm getting, I got one this morning, please pray for my husband. He's back in the hospital with pneumonia. It's a real assignment. And if you don't look at Jesus right now, you will not survive as a leader in the church. You just won't do it. You don't make it as a Christian in general. I mean we signed up to help people through their worst days. It's what we do. It's part of what we do. So without knowing Jesus right now, without having that therefore, therefore comfort one another with these words, we need it now more than ever. One of the glorious, if not one of the most glorious promises of the Gospel is that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. This is not escapism. This is not anti-kingdom. It is just a reality. Even Moses was buried by the Lord. Does this make sense? Is this landing? You have a blessed, victorious hope ahead of you. An unconquerable hope. Jesus is returning and no demon in hell can stop it. He is coming back. That's wonderful news. It's wonderful news. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. I had the joy of sharing it at Jesse's grandfather's funeral. Her grandmother's funeral a few months back. She was a precious woman. She was dedicated to the Lord by the Jeffrey brothers, which is, you need to go look them up, some of the greatest revivalists in modern history. When her body went into the ground, the reality of the resurrection just struck my soul. I read these verses. What else am I going to say to the grieving? What else can you say to those who face their deepest moments, their deepest, darkest moments? I want to encourage you, in those moments, it's very common to not know what to say because you feel like what you're saying doesn't match the severity of the pain. Number one, it's holy for you just to be there and be present. You don't have to have it all figured out. Number two, when in doubt, actually not when in doubt, always give them the Word of God. Even if you don't feel fire on it, it is fire. Share the Word of God. Share the promises of God and that's all you give. You have given them everything. One of the pastors at the gravesite was my father-in-law, myself, and another pastor is a dear man. He, I don't know why he said this, but he prayed, he closed in prayer. You remember? And he said, Lord bless. We were teaching on this body just being a tent. Right there at the grave, Jesse's dad and I were teaching on the body being a tent that will one day go back into the ground and then we receive a new body. And we kept calling that an earth suit. I don't know why when he prayed he said, Lord bless this space suit. He literally said that. And he was so tired, such a precious man. He ran the whole deal. He was just so tired. And her dad goes, Mikey, I go, what? He goes, did he just say space suit? I go, yeah, he did. Oh my God. The Lord knows how to get us through those moments. Alright, 1 Thessalonians 5, let's look there. Do you love the scriptures? Food for our soul. Jesus said, I have food you don't know about. The voice of the Lord, the word of God. 1 Thessalonians 5, 1 through 11. Now concerning how and when all this would happen, dear brothers and sisters, I don't really need to write to you. For you know quite well that the day of the Lord's return will come unexpectedly. I submit to you that distraction is a huge part of that. A sober mind looks around and goes, come Lord Jesus. I don't think it's by accident the Lord gave us that phrase for Jesus 21 a year ago. What could actually, how can you be alive today and not notice the need for the Messiah? Right? Has society ever felt less trusting? No. All of these are markers. But when distraction comes, even the return of the Lord will be unexpected. Like a thief in the night when people are saying, everything is peaceful and secure. So that's a false sense of security. Then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman's labor pains begin. And there will be no escape. But you aren't in the dark about these things. You see, He's not talking. He's saying, no, no, no, you're children of the light. No, not you. Dullness and blindness is not for the children of the Lord. We're not clueless people. We should know the hour we're in as believers. Say Amen. You won't be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief. For you are all children of the light and of the day. Say this, I am a child of the light. I am a child of the day. Powerful. We don't belong to darkness and night, Paul tells the Thessalonians. And by the way, the word Thessaloniki which is the church, the region, the city that he's addressing, that word means seat of victory. So he's speaking to a victorious church. A church that understands the power of enthroning Jesus, letting Him have His seat and enthroning Him among us gives me victory. So this is the type of conversation you have with a victorious people. What does that mean? Victorious over temptation. Victorious over mixture. Victorious over dullness. Victorious over compromise. Victorious over being lukewarm. Victorious over blindness. Victorious over sin. Are you hearing me? Victorious over division, hatred, judgment. Victorious people. Victorious over their own members of their bodies. They reign in life. They do live holy lives. He's speaking to a victorious people here. And he tells them, we don't belong to darkness. And we don't belong to the night. Where does pestilence dwell? It walks in darkness, Psalm 91 says. Disease belongs in darkness. Amen? There's nothing good in the night. I'm speaking spiritually. Spiritually, Jesus says, we are children of the light. Children of the day. What's He saying? You can see. You can see. You're not the blinded ones. So, be on your guard. Not asleep like the others, you see? Night is for sleep. Spiritual sleep. You're not like them. Stay alert and be clear-headed. What does alert mean? Does it mean like physically? No, no, no. That'd be weird if you all stood at attention. It means that you are aware of God's presence and His voice. Most foundationally. His Word. There are a lot of people who say, I've heard the voice of God. And it's as twisted as you can imagine. If people think they're hearing God and it's not the Word, they're not hearing God. They're not hearing God. If they are hearing something that does not align with the Word of God, it is not from God. And that's why one of our core foundations here is the Bible wins. The Bible wins. You can't deconstruct it. Because you don't get to deconstruct something that you know that you don't even know one one millionth about. You cannot deconstruct a house and build it back up again if you don't know how to build houses. The Word is so limitless that the greatest theologian barely understands a drop in the ocean of its vast nature. It's not to say there aren't truths here, but those truths are immovable. They've been paid for in blood and they've been proven over time. Proven over time. I could go on that, but I'm going to keep it moving. Let us who live in the light be clear-headed, protected by the armor of faith and love. And wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation. All right. Let's talk about this. I think I've taught on this before. When we talk about the armor of God, let me help you all out. There is no armor factory in glory. With a conveyor belt where angels line up like some spiritual Holy North Pole. And that every time you ask for a specific piece of the armor it just starts flying off the conveyor belt and lands on you. It's not the way it works. To put on the armor of God, you must put on Christ. Only He, listen carefully, only He is the manifestation of every piece of armor that the armor speaks of. Does that make sense? So some people are like, oh my gosh, I forgot the breastplate today. It's wonderful to pray it. You need to. Jesse does it every day with our children, or just about. Every day would be an exaggeration, but many days, most days. The Lord actually told her to. But if you go putting on helmets and forget about Jesus, it's not going to work. Does that make sense? You must put on Christ. Say that. Christ is the fullness of the armor of God. Paul tells us here, this is very beautiful and powerful, that the armor in this context is faith and love. And you can't have great faith unless it works by love. Are you following me? Why is this connected to the last days? Or the coming of the Lord? Because His faith, true faith, is becoming more and more rare. True faith. Because of the bombarding nature of the hour we're in. It's not just a fiery dart. If you scroll incorrectly for 20 minutes, you might need a sozo now. Or you might need to get baptized again. With Epsom salt. Give me a good old washing. Because if fiery darts could be fired out of an automatic weapon, they are right now. Those are darts of distraction, listen carefully, aimed at the mind. Check this out. You get to choose who and what you think about. And you will be who or what you think about. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Now that scripture is not limited to addressing the topic of your thoughts. But the scripture here is addressing not just what you think, but how you think about what you think. And the order that you think with. Example. You get a bad report from the doctor. There's no judgment here at all. We're all weak vessels in need of Jesus. I want to make that clear. But what's your default thought process? Because when you go through something, your default process is instantly revealed to you. Right? You don't have enough money. Oh my gosh. Maybe God didn't call me. Maybe He didn't call me. I don't know why I'm moving to this city. It's not as easy. There aren't glittery covered unicorns prancing through Jesus school and Jesus image. People actually have problems there. Yeah they do. They're people. So where are the angels? Where are they? Maybe God didn't call me. Our default thought process, this is what the scripture is addressing here. As a man thinks. Not just what he thinks, but how you think about what you think. Does the word come up first? Are you listening to me? Does the word come up first? He is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all we could ask or think. Things are tight that month. My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches and glory. I'm fearful of something. Therefore comfort one another with these words. The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout. If you're afraid of death what's your default thought process? This is vital to the renewal of the mind. Very important. So when it comes to faith and love in these last days as armor, faith is valuable. We are people of faith. Jesus is alive. I said Jesus is alive. He is alive. Jesus is alive. Some people have made faith just a mere confession. Confession is important. But faith is a substance. That means it's Him. He is the author and finisher and perfecter of it. It's Jesus. Jesus is faith. You don't have to go about seeking more faith. You don't need to do that. You need to seek Jesus and His faith will get on you and in you. He is faith. Can I let the Lord mess you up a little bit and then watch you? I like to do that. If they're first years they always go, wow. Whatever you got to do on this one. The Bible says faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Think of that carefully and slowly. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. You're praying for the sick and our fallen mind says the miracle is the manifestation is the proof of the miracle. But that scripture tells me, and it is such a clear definition of faith, that the moment I know that I know, that's the evidence. Whether your leg gets healed or not is not the proof. Or I should say, whether I see it in the moment, that's not the proof. The moment I'm in faith, it's too late. It's done. Unless you resist it. Faith is the evidence, not the breakthrough. Faith is the substance. Listen carefully. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of what? What I can't see. I don't need to see it to believe it. Maybe you say, I haven't seen Jesus. You don't need to. You should want to. It's natural. But seeing Him is not required to believe in Him. The eyes of the heart are promised to behold Him. That's what I mean. By seeing Him. You should continually see Him. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. I don't mean these weird visions or whatever unless they are real. I'm saying this. That the hearts of humanity if they are purified by the fire of the Holy Spirit have been promised an eternal vision of the beauty of Jesus. And you can actually live in that. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. That is a current promise and an eternal promise. And what a beautiful promise it is. That regardless of what the world throws at you, you can go like this. Jesus. You close your eyes and His beauty is revealed to you right here in the heart. The comfort of His face. The beauty of who He is. Faith and love. One of the signs of Jesus' return is that the love of men would wax cold. Do you remember that? There would be such hatred that the love of many would wax cold for children of the night. Not for children of the day. So faith and love are going to become much more attractive. Much more needed. I feel the Holy Spirit. Much more beautiful. May the love of God compel us to love Jesus and love people well. To share the gospel well. Notice that Jesus healed the sick listen carefully, by entering and honoring the compassion that He was feeling. He was moved with and healed them. One of the things Bill taught me, I'll never forget it, one on one, just standing next to him, he said, when you're in a room and you feel compassion for someone, honor it. And I'm like, what do you mean? Honor it. Give it a moment. Pray into it. It's most likely a door for power. We don't think on those terms. How often do we think that the compassion of Jesus bursting forth in us for someone is actually an opportunity for them to get healed. For them to get a breakthrough. For them to leave transformed. Compassion is a doorway to the healing power of Jesus. It's so needed. Faith and love. Say faith and love. And wearing as a helmet the confidence of our salvation. Jesus Himself, our Savior, who saves us from everything, not just hell. You actually have to begin thinking that He's your Savior and knowing that, praying into it. Let me give you a quick tip. If you want what's written here to get here and then here eternally so that you can keep the word. Remember Mary kept the word in her heart. She treasured it. She kept it. She protected it. The bridge is communion with the Lord. That was way better than you. I just threw a fillet at you and you gave me a tip for a quarter. I don't need that, but just need to know you're breathing it in. For it to get from the pages into the depths of your soul the bridge is prayer. The bridge is prayer. And I don't mean just praying whatever you want to pray. I mean actually taking the text and reading it and praying it. Over and over and over and over. Until at some point the Holy Spirit will take over and brand it into the depths of your soul. And once it's there if the Lord knows you'll protect what He's given you and not offer it like pearls to swine and other things. Whatever. There's a lot of ways to not cherish the bread of life that's in you. But the moment the Lord knows you're protecting it it'll never be taken. That's what's the big deal. A guy named Bob Gladstone who was one of the instructors at Brownsville used to say this Without revelation we die. Without revelation we die. And that's scriptural. Without the manna the Israelites died. Manna was simply the word manna just means what is it? So if God's not wowing you daily you're not eating daily. You're eating last Tuesday's meal. I'm not joking here. Daily manna means daily oh my gosh what? And maturity does not move beyond that. Pride does. Death does. An icy heart is like uh huh I'm balanced now. If you're too balanced for your heart to explode when you read Jesus piercing the clouds that's not maturity. That's ice. You want that every day. Every day. Read the scriptures until you eat manna. Until your heart breaks forth with wonder. Wonder. There are a million ways to read the garden account. Cool they were naked they found out about it. They ate an apple. And they messed stuff up. Now I have wrinkles. I have a gray beard. Or you can look for Jesus in all of it. The spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep. What did he do? Oh really? What did he do? Oh God breathed into Adam's nostrils. Or you can read it like this. That the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit all being one released mouth to mouth the very presence of the Holy Spirit into Adam who was fearfully and wonderfully made who was dead without the spirit as beautiful as he was. And the moment he breathed in he breathed out. That was the first moment of worship and he became a living soul. You get to choose how you want to read the word. But if you read it properly in prayer with a heart that's worshiping you're not trying to. I don't have a problem with reading plans. Do what you need to do. But there's a deeper way to read the scriptures where your heart's connected. Oh Jesus you have a question. All of a sudden he goes red light. Stop there. But I can't. I have to check off my devotional box. And by the way Jesus School students you have a reading plan. You need to honor it. Don't be telling me you only got to one word. All right. Don't be doing that. The flame on my head. When I preach to a Pentecostal girl in Kona at YWAM whenever I'd say something good she'd go I don't know what she was doing. Prayer prayer. Listen. Prayer takes the text and sears it in your soul. And if you keep it it's yours forever. And when it's yours forever. Do you know. Can I have five extra minutes this morning? Okay. When it's yours forever they become your five smooth stones. So you don't. I wish you had a hundred smooth stones. But if you've got five it's enough to kill a giant. Do you follow me? And that's the default buttons. Oh this is. Oh. I care too. I am offended by this person. They didn't honor my anointing. And the devil is just loving that. He's like oh yeah. I need you to know how anointed you really are. And eventually I'll get you to believe it's your anointing. I have news for you. You cannot apart your anointing. You don't have one. It's his anointing. The anointing is the overflow of the life of the anointed one. That's what the anointing is. It's just the overflow of his life in us and on us. We don't own the anointing. To own the anointing you'd have to own the anointed one. And nobody does. Start thinking this way. These are fallen thoughts. All of a sudden Holy Spirit comes up with a scripture. Five smooth stones. In that case he'd give me the first and great commandment. As Mike defined greatness last Sunday night. This is greatness. To love Jesus. Whether I'm noticed. Whether people know my name. Whether I take the platform or not. Whether my church is big and small. And by the way big is not great. You can have a big church and it can be bad and last instead of first and great. Actually when it gets there it's really not a church. So for a church to be first and great in God's eyes. Not first as in competition. But to fulfill the first and great commandment you have to live the first and great commandment. These become your stones. You're going to die of cancer just like the rest of your family. I have a stone in here that I've been meditating on. It's not just a song. I've been meditating on this passage so long through prayer and song and with the Lord. This is a polished smooth stone. A polished smooth stone flies straight. Fast. Fits in the slingshot. I've been crafting this thing just for you devil. And then you learn because it's yours now. You're pulling it out of the reservoir the manger of your heart. Are you following me? Remember how she protected the word? And that led to eventually being a mother to the promise that was Jesus. That's how you should be over the word. You protect the scriptures in your heart. You pray the scriptures. They become yours. Ooh I like this. Ooh I like this. I need someone else. I'm just waiting. Wearing the helmet. The confidence of our salvation. For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you that I don't have to save myself. Not to pour out His anger on us. Oh my gosh. Do you realize that the children of the day the children of light have been positioned for love not damnation. Not eternal judgment. You have been positioned and crafted and betrothed to a faithful husband who wants to eternally love you. Let him start now. Christ died for us so that whether we are dead or alive when He returns we can live with Him forever. So encourage each other and build each other up just as you are already doing. Ooh I got to stop there. It's easy to think that because the people do something well they don't need to hear it again. But when the anointing comes on you, you have one message through a thousand sermons. You just have one message. If I preach the Sinai covenant I'm preaching Jesus. If I preach Pentecost I'm bringing it back to Jesus. I personally think every Christian should preach Christ. I've been reading that book now since 1989 and I can't shake Him. He's everywhere. The book of Revelation is not the revelation of stars falling. I'm not saying that's not going to happen. I'm saying it's the revelation of Jesus. Her daddy actually told me this. He said when you teach the Word tell the people what you're going to say then tell them and then when you're done tell them what you said. And do it forever. Tell them you're going to tell them about Jesus. That's what Paul is doing here. He's saying comfort one another with these words and then he says even though I know you're already doing it. Isn't that what fathers and mothers do? Paul right here is encouraging his people to hold on to the blessed hope. Joel. In the midst in the midst of confusion. In the midst of opinion. In the midst of hatred. In the midst of people changing the faith and changing the Word. In the midst of people saying I hear from God and they don't they're not hearing from God. The fruit shows that they don't. There's so many opportunities right now to just be confused. This is the greatest opportunity to remember this. He's coming back. Don't stress. You know when Jesus said all these things would happen He didn't say race against race. Kingdom against kingdom. Famine, pestilence, earthquakes, fearful events in the heavenlies. All these things. Just check the weather out. I mean my gosh there's so much Jesus didn't say all this is going to happen be extremely depressed. Freak out. Because all this is going to happen. You know what He said? Look up. Fear not. Your redemption draweth nigh. He said stay awake. What does that mean? It doesn't mean have a monster drink. It means pray. How do you stay awake? By being with Him. Keep your heart on the altar. Let Him light you up day after day. Be alert. It doesn't mean be crazy. It just means be alert. Be children of the day. And here's the good news. The children of the day are not condemned to anger and judgment. We are the bride who have been chosen for love. This is wonderful.