How Sweet The Sound - I'll Fly Away

I’ll Fly Away

Let me say this starting out: I believe too many people that call themselves followers of Jesus, love this world too much, because of a spiritual complacency. There’s not an urgency for us to do what Christ has commanded us to do.

We are more concerned with what others think about them instead of what God thinks. We are more passionate about our own comfort than we are about God’s calling. We are more concerned about what we have than who we are becoming for the glory of God.

This morning I want to talk about the lyrics to the song I’ll Fly Away.

This song has been called the most recorded gospel album in the world. There are over 5000 different recorded versions o this song.

It was written by a man named Albert Brumley in the early 1900’s.

Albert grew up in Spiro Oklahoma, and was raised in a very impoverished family. As a little child in order to help pay the bills he along with his siblings worked picking cotton. When Albert was five his older brother died of typhoid fever, so he was very aware of grief and poverty. He wrote the lyrics while he was in college but said they were actually born in his heart as a young child,. He was longing not for the blessings of earth but for the glory of heaven.

Some bright morning when this life is over I'll fly away To that home on God's celestial shore I'll fly away

I'll fly away, oh glory I'll fly away in the morning When I die, Hallelujah by and by I'll fly away

When the shadows of this life have gone I'll fly away Like a bird from these prison walls I'll fly I'll fly away

Just a few more weary days and then, I'll fly away; To a land where joy shall never end, I'll fly away

As Christians we have the Eternal Hope that One Day we will be with Christ

So this morning i want to talk about the return of Christ.

The Eternal Hope we as Christians

So a little insight about the Bible really quick: Some people think the Bible is one book, but it is actually a collection of 66 different books, written by 40 different authors over a period of 1500 years. The Bible contains a lot of what we call prophecy.

What is prophecy? Prophecy is the prediction of something that is to come. Of the 66 books in the what we now call the Bible only four of the books do not contain teachings of prophecy.

What is the second coming? The second coming is a prophetic teaching written about in God’s word to predict events that would happen in the future. Just for example the O.T. written by many different authors over span of many different years, hundreds of years before the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ, there were many different authors who prophesied what would happen in the life of Jesus which were fulfilled and documented in the New Testament gospels.

There are five times as many prophecies about Jesus second coming, about his return as there are His first.

So lets talk about the return, the rapture, and the reunion.

The Return: Christ is Coming Again

John 14:1–3 NLT

1 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 NLT

17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 NLT

16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves.

2. The Rapture: Living Christians are Taken Away

2. The Rapture: Living Christians are Taken Away

1 Thessalonians 4:17 NLT

17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.

Matthew 24:39–41 NLT

39 People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes. 40 “Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.

Matthew

Matthew 24:44 NLT

44 You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.

3. The Reunion: Christians Will Be With God Forever

1 Thessalonians 4:17–18 NLT

17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.

1 Corinthians 15:51–52 NLT

51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.

1 Corinthians 15:

1 Corinthians 15:58 NLT

58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

Because time is short - I won’t leave:

Words unsaid

Deeds undone

Hope unshared

Hymn # 506 I’d Rather Have Jesus

Prayers of the People

Closing #513 Thank You Lord

Charge -

Romans 8:38–39 NLT

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Go and be blessed.