A man says to me, "Can you explain the seven trumpets of the Revelation?" No, but I can blow one in your ear, and warn you to escape from the wrath to come.” ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Sorry about missing yesterday’s post!!! :( It was a crazy day at the Evans’ home! We had some plumbing issues and…well…that took a bit of time off the night! But, let’s turn our focus to our quote today…
Spurgeon used a little sarcasm here, but behind the subtle humor is a thought that has been on my mind for the past 24 hours. And that thought is…Jesus is coming back. Those trumpets up in Heaven are going to blow soon. Jesus is going to descend from the cloud and call His children home…the dead in Christ shall rise…and “we that are alive and remain” will be caught up in the air to meet out Savior!
This thought has been engrained in my mind for different reasons. With the recent trip taken by President Obama to Cairo, and the speech also given to Israelis by VP Joe Biden, many “cogs” are being put into place. Obama is looking to appease all 57 Islamic states and Israel and Palestine etc. There is talk that Obama plans to have a peace treaty in effect by the end of his first term. Howbeit, many Presidents have tried and failed in an attempt to gain peace in the Middle East, it is certain that Obama has taken unprecedented steps toward TRYING to accomplishing that task. What if…What if…Obama does get a treaty in place to be signed? What if it is a…7 year treaty…which is depicted in the book of Revelation? What if? If that is so…if that is what is in place to be done, as some suspect, we are very close to going home. (BTW: I am not saying that Obama is the Anti-Christ!!! But, I am saying that we are very close to “his” arrival.)
I have a question for you that I have asked myself repeatedly over the past 24 hours…are you ready to meet your God? Are you prepared? I’m not just asking if you are saved, I’m asking if you’re ready. You do realize don’t you, that in as little as…the next second…you could be up in the air headed for Heaven? “Woohoo!!! Glory!!! EVEN SO Lord Jesus come quickly!!!” Well, before you get to excited, you do know what happens after that right? You, and you alone, are going to stand in front of the Creator God of the Universe and give an account of your life!
Revelation 20:12 - “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”
The Almighty God of Heaven is going to look you straight in the eyeball and ask you, “What did you do for ME???” Your whole entire life will be put in review…how is that going to go for you and me? Are you ready to look God in the face, confident in the way you have lived your life? Will you be able to look at the “austere man” and say, “I have given you my all Lord Jesus!” Are you ready? Think about that for a second…you are going to see the God that you have put your trust in! You are going to stand before the God who breathed the world into existence and explain to him why you or I wasted our lives! Can you imagine looking at GOD??? I can’t even fathom the fear!!! I can’t imagine the GLORY!!! I can’t contemplate the CONVICTION that I will feel standing before Him knowing that I could have done more!!!! Are you prepared? We had better prepare to meet our God!
How do we do that? How can we be ready for the Judgment Seat of Christ? Paul felt the same way you and I do about one day standing before God, and he gave his way of preparing to meet his God:
2 Corinthians 5:11 - “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men;”
Paul was saying, “I’m afraid! I’m a little…no very much frightened by the thought of giving an account of my life! In fact, I’m terrified!!!” So, what was his way of getting ready? Did Paul say, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we read our Bibles”? Did Paul saying, “Knowing…the terror…we pray”? Did he state, “Knowing…the terror…we attend church once a week”? How about, “Knowing…the terror…we don’t kill or gamble or cheat, etc.”? NO!!! Paul declared, “Knowing therefore the TERROR of the Lord, WE PERSUADE MEN;”!!!!!! Paul is giving us a glimpse of what the Judgment Seat of Christ is going to be all about! The MAIN thing that God is going to judge us on (not for Heaven, but for our reward in Heaven), will NOT be church attendance! It will NOT that you didn’t kill anybody! It will NOT be that you were sober! It will not be that you were faithful to your wife and your kids! It will not be your prayer habits! It will not be your Bible reading! ‘WHAT????’ Yes, I’m saying that #1 thing that God will judge you about, Christian, is HOW MANY PEOPLE DID YOU KEEP OUTTA HELL!!! If you don’t believe me, ask Paul? He said that he was spending his life preparing to meet his Lord by SOUL-WINNING!!!
Your lack of bad habits doesn’t keep anybody outta Hell!!! Our church attendance doesn’t keep anybody outta Hell!!! Our lack of “horrible” sins doesn’t keep anybody outta Hell!!! When God looks a you or me and says, “What have you done for me???”, what are you going to say? Will you say, “I went to church God!” “You went to church? That wasn’t for me!!! THAT WAS FOR YOU!!! What did you do for ME???” “Well, God, I…uh…read my Bible!” “You did what? Barely!!! Even so, that didn’t do anything for me!!!! What have you done for me????” “Um…I prayed!?!” “You prayed? Do you think you were doing me a favor by asking me for things? No, child, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME??” What will you say? I want to be able to say, “God, I am the rottenest sinner in the whole world, but I brought a bunch of other sinners with me!!!” Don’t you? God is not so impressed with my Bible reading, if I am not a soul-winner. Why? Because Jesus didn’t did so you could have a Bible, He died to keep people outta Hell. Don’t you think that ought to be our main objective? Many churches have gotten away from old-fashioned soul-winning. I don’t want to be a pastor of one of those flocks at the judgment seat. Paul persuaded men in preparation to meet the Master. Are you preparing? We don’t have much time Christians! Tomorrow never comes, and today will be gone in a moment…what are you going to do with it? Let’s prepare to meet our God!
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