Are you Ready To Meet Jesus?
Author: Pat Aman – June 4, 2019
Please do not get left behind. Jesus is returning in the blink of the eye. Are you ready?
I watched, “Left Behind” again tonight.
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.
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?
I hear so many say, “I got baptized.”
But, did they get saved?
Baptism is just an outer sign of an inward change.
Baptism is letting the world know you have accepted Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord.
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.
I see individuals who are attending church, but, I see no change in them. I do not see in fruit bearing.
John 15:1-8 ““I 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. “I 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.”
Let’s look at the church at Laodicean. The church has nothing to commend it. Jesus begins the message with condemnation: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Revelation 3:15-17). Jesus emphasizes their “lukewarm,” apathetic nature three times. As a result of their ambivalence to spiritual things, Jesus would have nothing to do with them. He would “spit them out,” 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.
I have had more than just a few asked me, “Pastor Pat, I don’t know if I’m ready to die.”
What gives the person such uncertainty that they’re not sure they are ready to die? Well it’s the thing that’s behind dying. It’s 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’s dying. It terrorizes your body and your mind too.
Even when it’s someone else that you love, it’s 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.
How would one know that they are ready to die?
The forgiveness of sins. The taking away of the power behind death, of the body, that’s what makes a person ready.
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 “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, …For my eyes have seen Your salvation.” (Luke 2:29-30)
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.
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.
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).
This 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).
Please pray this prayer, if you want to be saved.
Father God,
I 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.
For 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”
1 Thessalonians 5:2 2for you know very well that the day of the LORD will come like a thief in the night.
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.”
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.
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.
I Wish We’d All Been Ready
Jordin Sparks with “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” 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
I Wish We’d All Been Ready
Life was filled with guns and war
and everyone got trampled on the floor, I wish we’d all been ready
Children died the days grew cold
a piece of bread could buy a bag of gold, I wish we’d all been ready
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
Two men walking up a hill
one disappears and one’s left standing still I wish we’d all been ready
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
Children died the days grew cold
a piece of bread could buy a bag of gold I wish we’d all been ready
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
You’ve been left behind
You’ve been left behind
Remember! Are You Ready?
THE A.B.C.’s Of Salvation …
ADMIT
You have Sinned…
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. – Romans 3:23
For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. – James 2:10
As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; – Romans 3:10
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9
BELIEVE
On Jesus Christ
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”- John 3:16-17
…The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel. – Mark 1:15
Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” – Acts 19:4 NKJV
So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” – Acts 16:31
And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the Name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. – 1 John 3:23
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9
CONFESS
Christ Publicly
…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. – Romans 10:9-10
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. – Romans 1:16
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