Are you Ready To Meet Jesus?
\nAuthor: Pat Aman – June 4, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please do not get left behind. Jesus is returning in the blink of the eye. Are you ready?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I watched, \u201cLeft Behind\u201d again tonight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
People knew the Word Of God, but they were too busy living their own lives. They did not have time for God. They were even attending church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I started thinking are people ready for Jesus to return to get His bride, the church? Are people ready to meet Jesus if they would take their last breathe tonight? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hear so many say, \u201cI got baptized.\u201d
\nBut, did they get saved?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Baptism is just an outer sign of an inward change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Baptism is letting the world know you have accepted Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I see individuals who are attending church, but, I see no change in them. I do not see in fruit bearing.
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\nJohn\u202c \u202d15:1-8\u202c \u201c\u201cI am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. \u201cI am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.\u201d
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\nLet\u2019s look at the church at Laodicean. The church has nothing to commend it. Jesus begins the message with condemnation: \u201cI know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm\u2014neither hot nor cold\u2014I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, \u2018I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.\u2019 But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked\u201d (Revelation 3:15-17). Jesus emphasizes their \u201clukewarm,\u201d apathetic nature three times. As a result of their ambivalence to spiritual things, Jesus would have nothing to do with them. He would \u201cspit them out,\u201d as the people of Laodicea would spit out the tepid water that flowed from the underground aqueducts to their city. With their apathy came a spiritual blindness; they claimed to be rich, blessed and self-sufficient. Perhaps they were rich in material things. But, spiritually, the Laodiceans were in a wretched, pitiful condition, made all the worse in that they could not see their need. This was a church filled with self-deceived hypocrites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have had more than just a few asked me, \u201cPastor Pat, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m ready to die.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What gives the person such uncertainty that they\u2019re not sure they are ready to die? Well it\u2019s the thing that\u2019s behind dying. It\u2019s the sin and the guilt that they know of from their own life and it terrorizes consciences and hearts, bodies, flesh that knows that it\u2019s dying. It terrorizes your body and your mind too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even when it\u2019s someone else that you love, it\u2019s a pain and a struggle because you know that the same sin that is doing that to their own body has you in its crosshairs too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How would one know that they are ready to die? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The forgiveness of sins. The taking away of the power behind death, of the body, that\u2019s what makes a person ready. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the aged Simeon in the temple, right after the baby Jesus was born, held Jesus in his hands Simeon knew he was ready to die. He said \u201cLord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, \u2026For my eyes have seen Your salvation.\u201d (Luke 2:29-30)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Simeon held baby Jesus in his hands and he knew he was ready, at that moment or any moment to come, to go away in death but in peace. He had the forgiveness of sins in that little child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the Christian leaves the altar, the altar, they have received into themselves the body and blood of that same child, that grew into a man and took all our sins upon himself. He was the sinless Son of God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Salvation is a gift that is made available to those who repent, believe and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He died and rose from the dead to save us all (Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9-10).
\nThis gift cannot be earned through good deeds or by simply being “good” (Ephesians 2:8; 1 Timothy 1:9). It is a matter of faith (acting out on what you believe according to God’s Word concerning salvation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please pray this prayer, if you want to be saved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Father God,
\nI come to You in the Name of Jesus. Your Word says, “But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Acts 2:21). I am calling on You. I pray and ask Jesus to come into my heart and be Lord over my life according to Romans 10:9, 10. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
\nFor it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.” I do that in this very moment. I confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and I believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. In Jesus Name Amen”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1 Thessalonians 5:2 2for you know very well that the day of the LORD will come like a thief in the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Revelation 16:15 15″Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1 Thessalonians 5:4-5 4But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1 Corinthians 15:51.Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed- 52. in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I Wish We’d All Been Ready
\nJordin Sparks with \u201cI Wish We’d All Been Ready\u201d is a ballad from the soundtrack of the movie “Left Behind”. In the lyrics of “I Wish We’d All Been Ready”, Jordin laments that not everyone was ready to “leave” this world as they still had things to do and conflicts to resolve. The song was written and previously released by artist and writer, Larry Norman in 1969<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I Wish We’d All Been Ready<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Life was filled with guns and war
\nand everyone got trampled on the floor, I wish we’d all been ready<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Children died the days grew cold
\na piece of bread could buy a bag of gold, I wish we’d all been ready<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There’s no time to change your mind the son has come and you’ve been left behind a man and wife asleep in bed she hears a noise and turns her head he’s gone I wish we’d all been ready<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two men walking up a hill
\none disappears and one’s left standing still I wish we’d all been ready<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There’s no time to change your mind the son has come and you’ve been left behind life was filled with guns and war and everyone got trampled on the floor, I wish we’d all been ready<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Children died the days grew cold
\na piece of bread could buy a bag of gold I wish we’d all been ready<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There’s no time to change your mind how could you have been so blind the father spoke the demons dined the son has come and you’ve been left behind<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You’ve been left behind
\nYou’ve been left behind<\/p>\n\n\n\n