Heart For Jesus’ Return | Pastor Adam Peterson

get in your heart and then to the men and women in the correctional facilities. and encourage you today as well. And if you've been with us for all eight weeks, man, you should have these memorized. Now, I'm not going to make you close your eyes or anything like that. But for the first week, we've never done this. I'm going to ask you to read these verses with me. So the first one is out of Psalms 122 verse 1 on the count of three. Let's go one, two, three. I rejoiced with those who said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Amen. This is, this is the psalmist going, man, some of my friends showed up. And they were like, let's go to church. And I was like, that's a great idea. Let's go to the house of, let's do it together. Let's get in the presence of God with the people of God. And let's give God some praise that He deserves. Amen. And then Jesus said these words. Come on, let's read them together on the count of three. Here we go. One, two, three. I will build my church and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. Amen. We are the church of Jesus Christ. All of hell is going to try to stop us. And if it was just us doing it, hell would win. But because Jesus is building His church, this is not our church, this is His church. And we're relying on Him. All of hell can try to stop us. But it will never succeed.

We are victorious in Christ. Amen. So every week we're talking about having a heart for God. Today I want to talk on this topic. A heart for Jesus' return. And y'all aren't excited about it, which tells me this is why I'm preaching it today. Let's have an honest moment in church. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand. I'm not going to ask you to say anything, clap or anything. I just want you to have an honest moment with yourself right now. And can we just be honest people because fake is exhausting and people can spot fake from a mile away. Can we just be the type of people that are real? All right. How many of you just in your own heart would say, "You probably do not think about the return of Jesus in your heart or in your mind as often as you should." I didn't ask you to write. Put your hand down. You didn't even listen. Yeah, Lee, man. 10 o'clock crowd, man. Here's the reality. Jesus is going to come back. He already came once. He came the first time. His first arrival, he comes as a baby. The first arrival of Jesus, come on. He came as Savior and Lord. Savior, to die on the cross for us, we'll talk more about that later on in the message. And He came to be the Lord of your life. That once you call upon Him as Savior, you also call upon Him as Lord.

That for the majority of your life, you lived for yourself and you did what you wanted. But the moment you call upon Him as Savior, you get Him as Lord. And for Him to be the Lord of your life means you follow Him. It means you stop doing what you want to do when you say, "You're in charge because you know what's best, I'm following you." That's where He came the first time. Savior and Lord. And He is coming back again. For those of you that are old enough that will get this reference, maybe you're young enough and you still catch this one. He's the original Arnold. He said, "I'll be back." Amen. I came. I died. I was buried. I rose again and I am coming back. And aren't you grateful that Jesus is returning for us? And I don't know if you've read this in the Bible. One of the signs of Jesus' return is that the Jaguars win the Super Bowl. So when that happens, just marking on your calendar, the day I looked at my outfit and I was like, "I look like a Bronco today, man. But I got my jag socks on, so we're good. We're good. We're good. All right. So what we're going to do today is we're going to talk about Jesus' return. We're not going to get caught up in the details as much as like, "What do we need to do in our own hearts to prepare for it?" And I want to give you some verses just to kind of get us going.

In John chapter 13, Jesus is talking to His closest followers. He's sitting down. He's having a meal with them. And He's trying to let them know, "Hey guys, here's what's about to happen. I'm going to get arrested. I'm going to get beaten, and they're going to kill me." And His disciples are like, "No, no, we can't let that happen." And Jesus ends John 13, and He goes right into John 14. The very first verse he says is this, "Do not let your hearts be true." don't be troubled. When you see all this happening to me, you're gonna feel troubled, you're gonna have all these emotions, but don't let your hearts be troubled. All of this needs to happen. I'm allowing this to happen 'cause it's gonna serve a greater purpose. And maybe you're here today and maybe that's a word just for your own heart. You're walking through something right now. Can I just share the words of Jesus? Don't let your hearts be troubled. What you're walking through, I know might be very difficult. Some of you might be walking through the most difficult thing you've ever walked through in your life. And here's all I would say to you and I don't wanna minimalize it because what you're walking through is difficult

and it's hard, but it is temporary. This will pass. And eternity is your home. Aren't you grateful for heaven? This is where heaven speaks to the idea that there is no pain in heaven. There is no heartache in heaven. There are no tears in heaven. There will come a day where Jesus looks at us and goes, no more. And every wrong that you have experienced on this earth, he will make right. Some of you have been mistreated and abused and just taken advantage of by people and Jesus will step in and go, no more. That's not what heaven is like, it's perfect. And it's with him forever. So he says these words, don't let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God? Oh, I love that you believe in God. Believe also in me. My father's house has many rooms. If that were not so, would I have told you that I am personally going there to prepare a place for you? Jesus is letting them know, I'm gonna die, but I'm coming back to life and then I'm gonna go to heaven and I'm gonna get it ready for you. You know, Jesus was a carpenter, right?

He knew how to build things, knew how to put things together. This is him putting those carpentry skills to work and heaven to go, I'm preparing it. I'm getting it ready 'cause it's not just gonna be me there. It's gonna be us there. Oh, this is so beautiful. And he goes on to say, and if I go and I prepared this place for you, here it is, I'll be back, I will come back and I'm gonna take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. So Jesus comes the first time as Savior and Lord when he returns, he's coming back as King of Kings. And here's the beautiful thing I want you just to hear in your heart this morning. The King wants to be with you. Isn't that amazing? If you think about earthly kings, they don't welcome just anybody into their presence. But our King goes, no, I love you so much. I want you to be with me. I love you so much. I'm actually the one that's preparing the whole thing for you. And then I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna bring you to be 'cause I wanna be where you are. I wanna spend eternity with you.

People walk around going, I thought God was mad at me. He wants to spend time with you forever. I'm a good dad. I don't even wanna hang out with my kids all the time. I need to break every once in a while. My wife loves me. We just celebrated 20 years of marriage. She loves me. She, I am, I am lovable. But even she wants a break from me from time to time. This is Jesus going, no breaks, baby. All of heaven for all eternity. I want you to be with me. What a great King. And now we're gonna read something that if you, man, I'm telling you, if you don't read comedy into the Bible, you are reading it wrong. If you ever look at this book and you're like, it's boring, you're boring. The Bible's not boring. Are some of it harder to read than others? Yes, and we can help you with that. But right here goes on to say this in the following verses. He looks at his followers and he says, you know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas speaks up and says to him, Lord, we actually have no idea where you're going. We don't know where you are going. How can we know the way?

Jesus, what are you talking about? Jesus is like, you know where I'm going guys. Thomas is like, no, we don't. Thomas is like, I don't know about the rest of these fools. I have no clue where you're going to which Jesus answers him. Hey, Thomas, you know the way 'cause I am the way. The way I'm going isn't just a direction, it's me. I am the way. I am the truth. through me. Jesus said, I'm going to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare the place, you better believe I'm coming back. And the only way to get to that place where I'm going and preparing for you is to put your faith in me. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. You want to get to God? Jesus. And so what do we do? What do we do with this message that Jesus is coming back? He is returning and we want to have a heart for that. Three quick thoughts that I want to share with you. First, we want to have a ready heart. We want to be ready for it. We want to be prepared for it. Now, come on Floridians. Anybody excited that we have had zero hurricanes this year? All right. All right. If a hurricane forms this week, you're going to be like, that's on you, Pastor Adam. All right. Zero hurricanes. But if you've been around Florida any moment in your life, hurricanes are a thing that are always happening. And when they start to form, whether in the Gulf or in the Atlantic, when they start to build up, they will start to project what they call a spaghetti model. What that means is, here's the hurricane. We're not exactly sure where it's going. It could go there, there, there, there, there, there, there. It looks like spaghetti noodles. Meaning we know what's happening. We really just don't, we want to cover our basis to let you know, be ready over here, here, here, here, here, here, here. That's what people do with Jesus. We know he's coming back. We just don't know when he's coming back. And so, jokers will come up on the scene and go, I think he's coming back here, because the sun, the moon, and the stars are in alignment. And I heard a wolf howl over here. And I think he said, this, you know, like, like, and then somebody will step up and go, this is when Jesus is coming back. And, and he hasn't. And so I'm here to tell you, when he's coming back, I've got firsthand information. I know when he's coming back. Are you ready? The Bible. Matthew 24, this is Jesus himself talking.

Okay? Jesus, he's telling us. But about that day, what day, the day that he's coming back, in the hour, no one knows. This is what blows my mind with people, because they've been doing it for years. For years, somebody will come out and go, this is the day. There was a guy that was projecting it last year. He, he had me sold. I was like, I know you're lying, and I know this isn't true, but you sound so convincing. I hope it's happening, but here's the reality. If somebody ever tells you, this is the day that Jesus is coming back, just mark it on your calendar, no, he's not. Isn't this wild that people are bold enough to say, this is when Jesus is coming back, when Jesus himself said, nobody knows. So all these people that are talking about Jesus have obviously never read Matthew 24. So this is why it's important for you to read the Bible yourself, so you don't get misled by other people. But about the day or the hour, no one knows. Here it is, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son. Jesus goes, I don't even know. Only the Father knows. Imagine the bravery and the courage for somebody like, hey, I know Jesus doesn't know when he's coming back, but I know. It takes a special kind of moron to do something like that. Hey, God didn't tell Jesus, but he told me, come on, guys, and then Christians believe that person. What are we doing here? All right, that's where we're at. So Jesus says, therefore, keep watch. A lot of people want to predict when Jesus is coming back. Jesus said, I've never asked you to predict when I'm coming back. I've asked you to prepare for when I'm coming back. So keep watch. What does that mean? Wake up. Wake up because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. Let's read on. So you must also, here it is, be ready. Don't circle a date on the calendar. Circle your heart and go, I want my heart to be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. So let's just have a real honest moment. And I'm going to give you the answer before I ask the question. You ready? Your hand should go up when I ask this question. All right, you have the answer. Ready? How many of you knew Jesus was coming back this week? Dance down. And live that way now. I am preaching to myself as much as I am preaching to you. We don't wanna wait for the day to live a certain way. We wanna live that way today. Say, God, I'm not waiting to go,

oh man, you're coming back, I need to figure it out. No, no, no, I know you're coming back. I wanna be ready and I wanna live in a way that honors and glorifies you and makes much of your name right now. I wanna have a ready heart. If you're with me, say, yeah. Second thought is this, I wanna have a faithful heart. I don't wanna just be ready, I wanna be faithful in the process. So that same chapter of Matthew chapter 24 that talks about Jesus coming back, no one knows the day or the hour, we just know he's coming back in the earlier verses of Matthew 24, it talks about the things that we're gonna see around the world, that we can go, oh, this is a sign that he's probably coming back. Wars, famine, earthquake, a lot of that stuff is happening right now, it's probably only going to get worse. This is why I believe Jesus is probably coming back soon. Does that mean he's coming back in my lifetime? I don't know. It'd be pretty awesome though. But in Matthew 24 verse 12, it says this, sin will be rampant everywhere. How many of you know that's the world we live in right now? It's everywhere. Now it's only gonna get worse. So when you look around and you go,

I just can't believe that people are acting like this. The Bible told us it would happen. Sin will be rampant everywhere and the love of many will grow cold. What this means is people who once professed a love for God no longer claim to love God. People who were once following him are no longer following him. I wonder if you would raise your hand if you know anybody like that in your own life. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Here in our own church, we've been doing church here for 13 years, I've been in ministry for 20 plus years. I've seen that unfortunately play out in countless lives. People in our church, they get saved, we baptize them, some stood up on the stage, some were leading, serving in some capacity in our church. And now literally they don't claim God at all. It makes me question, do you know the God you claimed you knew? I don't know, but their love is cold. I don't know if you've ever read the book, the five love languages, it's kind of like a marriage book. It talks about how we give and receive love and all of us give and receive love in different ways. One of my love languages, it talks about it's words of affirmation. When somebody just comes up and says something nice to me, it just, oh, it just fills my heart with love. I just appreciate it so much. It's a big deal to me.

Another one of my love languages is physical touch. Like when I just get rubbed on the arm or rubbed on the back, not by you, that would be weird. We're not going to go down like that. Don't come up to me like, hey, pastor, how you doing? And you walk away, God, I just love God. He just, oh, no, that's weird, okay? I'm talking about from my wife, sometimes my kids will just come up and they'll just kind of lay on my shoulder. Like I just love that so much. Physical touch, I just love it. Now my wife's love language is personal space. (audience laughing) Anybody got that love language? Yes, and all the moms, yeah. And so that's a fun dynamic for our relationship of 20 years navigating that. She'll hold my hand and I'm just like, oh, that's so sweet. And then she'll be like, all right, that's enough. (audience laughing) Every once in a while, though, the stars will align. And really, it's me just putting the thermostat a little bit lower. And at night, she'll get cold. And we have a king-sized bed. But there is an invisible line that is drawn that's anybody know what I'm talking about? Like, this is your side, that's my side. I've tried to cross into enemy territory

and it's not good. All those words of affirmation I need, like, I don't get. But every once in a while, she'll. I'm cold. And in that moment, I'm like, this is my moment. (audience laughing) She's sweet to me. She's cold and wants to be, wants to be warmed up. Here is how your love, your love for God. [BLANK_AUDIO] when I say this. God is a fire. You're burning heart for the love of God. It stays burning when you spend time in the things of God. When you get in His Word, your heart will stay a flame for the things of God when you get around people of God who are on fire for God. Fires are contagious. Think about a wildfire. It doesn't take much. It spreads quick. This is why we tell you, you need the body of Christ. You need the church. We need one another to help grow and encourage that flame for the things of God. I'm not going to tell you what music you should and shouldn't listen to. I'm not going to do it. I'm just going to testify for my own life. Can I testify for my own life? People will ask me. Somebody asked me this just recently and then I'm sorry. It's the cheesy cliche pastor answer. You ready? What kind of music do you listen to, Pastor Adam? I like all music. I can appreciate every genre of music. But the music I listen to, the only music I listen to is worship music. Okay, and you know, I don't need your applause for that. I'm telling you, it's the only music that stirs my soul. It's the only music that causes my heart and my mind to think about God, to think about His holiness and His goodness and His strength and His faithfulness. You can listen to whatever music you want. I promise you, you can listen to your country music. Do it. Depression. You listen to your music. I don't care which I am just here to pastor you and tell you. This is what worship music does for me. It causes my affection and love for God to grow, because in listening to music like that, I am reminded of who He is and what He's done for me. No other music does that. Scrolling on my phone doesn't do that. Watching TV does like the things of God do that for me. And if I want my heart to stay on fire for God,

I've got to get in the flame, His presence. And that's what we want for you. We want your fire to just stay lit. We don't want you to be the person that goes, "Where are they?" And they don't follow Him at all. They don't even claim God anymore. In times, that's going to mark the return of Jesus is the love of many who will grow cold. May it never be us. Not because of who we are, but because of who you are. How did you stay on fire? I just got near the flame. It's not like anything special. I just stayed near Jesus. That's the answer. Amen? We want to have a ready heart. We want to have a faithful heart. And then lastly, we want to have an accountable heart. Now, I want to just, can I lay out just the pure gospel real quick? Just the good news of Jesus, because I know there's many of you that are in the room right now, or you're watching online, correctional facilities, and you do not know the Lord. You do not have a relationship with God. You've never asked Jesus into your life. And so I want to clearly, as best as I can, articulate Jesus to you right now. Okay? Jesus came as Savior. Why did He come as Savior? Because we had a major problem in our lives called sin. You can't really help it. You were born with it. Sin lived in you and sin separated you from God. Because of your sin, you cannot get to God. So God looked at you and said, "I see you're a sinner. You can't get to me, so I'm coming to you." He sent Jesus from heaven to live on the earth. You and I are sinners. We are not perfect. Jesus came and lived a perfect, sinless life. He gives His life on the cross. That should have been us on the cross paying the penalty for our sin. Instead, Jesus goes, "I will stand in their place." And He takes the penalty of sin. The wrath of God poured out on sinners. Jesus took it on Himself. And He died. But because He was a worthy sacrifice, God looked at Him buried in the tomb and said, "You're not staying dead. Your sacrifice was worthy, so I'm calling you back to life." And when He did that, Jesus demonstrated that He has power over sin, death, and the grain. And what we need is a savior, a rescuer, to come and pull us out of our grave and give us life. And so now, when we call upon Jesus to come into our lives, he comes in, he pulls us out of death, and he gives us life, and he buries our sin. He does not hold them against us anymore. Because of Jesus, we are completely forgiven. Because of Jesus, we're given brand new life.

The old me is gone. You wouldn't even recognize the old me. And now he puts me on a path of life that leads to him. And now, while I walk this life here on earth, I live following Jesus, my savior and my lord, and one day I will take my last breath and I will enter into eternity with him forever. And when I get into heaven, I don't know how it's gonna play out, but if I stand before God and God looks at me and he says, "Adam, why are you here?" How did you get here? I'm gonna go, "I should not be here." But because of Jesus, because of what he did for me, because I put my faith in what Jesus did, God's gonna go, come on in. If you think you're gonna stand before God one day and you go, "I was a pretty good person." God's gonna look at you and go, "Really? You think you were good?" And you're gonna be like, "Well, I was better than they were." God's like, "That doesn't cut it." The only one that's good is Jesus. So hear me very clearly. Salvation is a gift from God, a gift that you don't deserve and a gift that you can't earn. It is freely given. You simply have to receive it.

Salvation is a gift. And if you've never put your faith in Jesus, today is your day. So I wanna say that very clearly 'cause what I'm about to say is completely different. We are saved by grace. But when we get to heaven, we will be judged by how we live. So when I get to heaven, the only reason I get into heaven is because of the grace of God. And the blood of Jesus. But when I'm in heaven, I will stand before God and I will be judged by how I live. That means every word I spoke, everything I did, every action I did, every way that I treated my spouse, every way that I treated my kids, I pray that sobers, some of you up, nothing will be hidden from God. Every critical word you speak, every arrogant thing that you do, every mean-spirited thing, every road rage that you have on the highway. That should change how some of us drive. May we have an awareness that we will stand before a holy God. So let me give you some verses in closing. Evan, you can join me up on the stage.

It says this, so we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies, we are not at home with the Lord. Meaning this is never meant to be our home. Heaven is our home. And I get a good amen. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Let's read on. Yes, we are fully confident and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies. For then we will be at home with the Lord. Man, I get to a point, I'm getting older in my life. When I was younger, I was like, Jesus, don't come back yet. There's some things I want to do. The older I get, I'm like, you can come back any day you want. 'Cause, man, I am tired of this, but I want heaven. So whether we are in this body or away from this body, here's our goal. It should be to please him. I want my life to honor God. 'Cause I know I'm gonna give an account. I know that I'm gonna stand before him. And I want him to be able to say, you honored me. You didn't get it right all the time. I know that. And I will give an account for those moments. But I want God to be able to go,

but I was pleased with you. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. And in that moment, we will each receive whatever we deserve. And you'll be like, well, that's not fair. No, you're gonna get what you deserve. For the good or evil we have done in this earthly body. Here's what you and I deserve. You ready? We deserve hell. That's what we deserve. The grace of God, the grace of God forgives our sins and gives us eternal life in heaven with Jesus. (somber music) Judgment. Everything we've ever done. May that change us from this day forward to go. Oh God, there's some things in my heart that need to change some way that I talk to the people in my life needs to change. You can't do it, only God in you can do it, but you've got to get around God. Came across this quote, says we can't impress God, but we can't bless God. Here's what that means. Let me give my kid illustration. If I tell my kids to go clean their room and they do it, I'm not impressed. That's what they should do. But my heart is blessed that they heard me, they listened and they obeyed.

That's God. God's not impressed because you read your Bible. He's not like, "What? You read that? That's crazy." But you know what it does say? God's like, "Oh, you wanted to spend time with me? "Oh, that blesses my heart. "You pursue him over anything." I think there's this reality that we're going to stand before God in heaven and he's going to look at us and he goes, "The world offered you everything and you chose me." The world offered you everything and you chose me. And in that moment, the Bible says he's going to reward us. Isn't that crazy? God's going to tell us, "Thank you. "Are you kidding me?" Here's a video I came across. I want to show it in closing. A guy named John Lennox, he's about 90 years old. He is an apologist, meaning he defends the faith of Christianity. He's British, so his voice just sounds awesome and I watch all of his stuff. And here's a short video of him talking about Jesus. You're almost 82, right? So what are you, John, looking forward to? I'm looking forward to seeing the Lord. And it's going to happen.

(audience applauds) Every single one of us are going to see the Lord one day. And in that moment, he's either going to receive you in because you put your faith in Jesus or he's going to say depart from me because you never believe. You never, you never surrendered. It's going to happen. I want you to be ready. I want you to stay faithful. And I want you to know you are accountable for how you live your life. Revelation 22, verse 20, second to last verse in the entire Bible. It says, "He who testifies," this is talking about Jesus, to these things says, "Yes, I am coming back soon." And the author just writes this, "Amen, come on, Lord Jesus. "Amen means so be it, let it happen. "I'm ready, come on back." That's the heart we want to have.