8)
But ye shall receive
power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses
unto me both in
9)
And when he had spoken
these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out
of their sight
10)
And while they looked stedfastly
toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11)
Which also said, Ye men of
12)
Then returned they unto
|
I |
t is
necessary for us to warn men that the same Jesus Who ascended into heaven will
return from heaven to receive His own. It is equally necessary that we
leave no doubt about the fact that it will be those who have already accepted
the truth of salvation and made preparation for His coming—and only those—who
will go back with Him.
One of the
important points to be understood in these last days is that: "Heaven is a
prepared place for a prepared people." In the simplest terms, this means
that no one will make it accidentally. One who lifts his eyes and finds himself
in heaven will know that he made it there "on purpose." There will be
no such things as "the luck of the draw."
There are
many things that we choose to do and we are sincere in thinking that they do
and will help. Of course, in leading men to salvation, we do steer them in the
direction of help. What it is not possible for us to do is to "help"
anyone get to Heaven. The meaning of this is that Man must agree to the
changes necessary for him to get there. His mind must be changed his life must
be changed while he is still here on earth. The times that we have been given
here on earth is time granted us to work on that goal.
Intellectually,
we know that the only opportunity we have to help anyone is while he is still
alive on this earth. However, too often, emotionally we expend much
energy on that we cannot change. Our job is to witness to those sill living.
This being our "job" and responsibility, why is our message not
getting out? How could one who has found the truth of salvation not be excited
about what we have?
We have been
given absolutely all that is necessary for us to be successful in salvation.
There is no time at which we lack anything--no matter how a situation
might look or seem. Nevertheless, we make excuses for why we do not do as
required.
Not only have
we been given all necessary for our own success, through His ascension, the
Lord made sure that we would be fully equipped to fulfill our most important
responsibility of being saved that we might win others.
We have been
granted this time on earth solely to prepare for the soon coming of the Lord,
and that "time" is growing shorter every hour. Therefore, it only
makes sense that we do not have the luxury of deciding what is and is not
necessary.
Now, it is
true that what we do, how we dress and what we look like is not what makes us
unsaved. What does make one unsaved is what is on the inside and
"inside" issues are those of submission and obedience. Since sin is
"the transgression of God's law" one clearly cannot be disobedient
and saved at the same time.
Salvation is
"all-or-none." We must be willing to give "all" of
ourselves or we will inherit "none" of Heaven. Therefore, to get what
we want (Heaven) we have no choice but to be willing to do all that is
necessary to be prepared to go and meet with Jesus.
It is truly
amazing that it seems as if only after salvation do we seem to come up with the
"revelation" that we have a right to make "decisions." This
comes as such a surprise because throughout our lives, we are permitted so few
decisions. When we think about it, we were not privileged to choose our parents
our "color," our race our socioeconomic status—or anything else. Why,
then, upon entering Another's "life," do we believe that things will
be any different?
We must take
serious not of how close we are to the year 2000. 1997 is upon us. Many have
always believed that something "major", if not catastrophic, will
occur in the year 2000. If any believe this, we should be jolted by how much
work we must do to prepare ourselves and to win others. The entire point is
that we do not know and therefore, we must prepare now!
Without a doubt "He's coming again!" If we intend for Him to come for us, we will have to change our attitudes, our lives and our direction!