ARE YOU READY? for Sunday May 24th 2015

TOPIC:ARE YOU READY?

Memorise: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 1^st Thessalonians 4:17

Read: 1^st Thessalonians 4:13-18, Bible in one year: 2^nd Samuel 14-15, Mark 13:24-14:9

The admonition of Apostle Paul in today’s Bible reading is addressed to those he referred to as “brethren”. His first admonition is against ignorance (1^st Thessalonians 4:13). Ignorance is the first weapon the devil uses to make Christians not ready for the rapture! Going by the words of Paul’s warning, other people on earth can afford to be ignorant, but we who are joint-heirs with Jesus Christ cannot afford to be. One reason why many Christians are not watchful anymore is the supposed delay in the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. They feel He may not come as expected; therefore, they have thrown godliness with contentment to the wind. Such Christians display their

ignorance by not recognising the fact that although the great trump of God has not yet been sounded by the archangel, there is the individual trumpet, which the angel of death sounds when your time on earth is up.

In 2^nd Peter 3:1-11, Apostle Peter also attacked the spirit of Ignorance in the brethren. Specifically in 2^nd Peter 3:8-9 he said:

“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Are you a beloved of the Lord? Then, you cannot afford to be ignorant of the fact that the two thousand and fifteen years following the Lord’s first advent is just two days and a few seconds by the Lord’s timing. One of my sons wrote an article at the end of the second millennium which he titled “Two Days Are Gone” – pointing to the truth in Peter’s epistle above. We must do everything within the available grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship (the helpful partnership) of the Holy Spirit to be ready for the rapture. To remain rapturable, you need to take very seriously the words of Romans 12:1-2:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not confronted to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove that is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

                                                                                             

Action Point: Carry out a personal assessment of your readiness for the return of our Lord.