Over the past couple of weeks we have seen (two weeks ago) how to get ready and be ready for the rapture of the saved: 1) Be saved - SAVED; 2) Be certain of your salvation - SECURE ; 3) Have a devoted service of the Lord -SERVING; 4) Prepare for persecution (because it will come) - STEADFAST; 5) Learn to share our faith - SHARING; 6) Make a break with worldliness - SEPARATION. Last week we looked at the signs of the times that tell us we are in the “season” of Christ’s return: 1)Counterfeit Christs; 2) Continuing Conflict; 3) Cataclysmic Consequences; 4) Committed Christians will be persecuted; 5) Christless Cults; 6) Carnal Coldness; 7) Christ’s Commission carried out. And now our study has brought us to the point for which we have prepared and for which we are to pray, (Matthew 6:10), “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Millions of saved have believed throughout the ages that there would be this time called the “last days” and an event called the resurrection and rapture of the saved as Jesus comes for His own. This has been the hope of believers since the first century. It is the subject of 1000's of songs and perhaps hundreds of 1000's of Bible messages. Sadly, not everyone has this hope, and not everyone will believe this message to be true. Is it important to preach about Christ’s return? Why? To remind us that He is coming, and His coming is near. (We have a tendency to forget.) To cause us to make sure that we are, indeed, ready for His return. To give us an incentive to faithfulness, to service, and to right living. To encourage and strengthen us as God’s children in these last days. To bring us comfort in the last days. I Thessalonians 4:18 says, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words. "Comfort" means to implore, to exhort, to console. We should find comfort and hope knowing God’s timetable is right on course and that Jesus is coming soon. That's why Titus 2:13 calls this the “blessed hope.” Because it is the hope of one day being in Heaven with Christ -- Colossians 1:3-5: “We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, (4) Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, (5) For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel . . . ” We understand that the Second Coming of Jesus is in two “stages.” First, He comes in the air for His saints. That is what we are going to look at this morning. Second, He comes to earth with His saints. That is seen in the 19th chapter of Revelation. I don’t think there is a better description of the first “stage” of the Lord’s coming than the one given in I Thessalonians 4:13-18. (Let’s turn there and read for a moment.) We see:

I. AN ABUNDANCE OF MAJESTIC SOUNDS - VS. 16.

II. THE APPEARANCE OF OUR MARVELOUS SAVIOR - VS. 16.

III. THE ASCENSION OF THE MULTITUDE OF SAINTS - VV. 16b-17.