In recent days, I‘ve been hearing a lot of teaching on Heaven and Hell. God has been calling for repentance and He’s been calling for holiness. He ultimately wants everyone to go to Heaven but the fact of the matter is everyone is not going. There will be deacons, preachers, sweet little old ladies, teenagers, mothers, and fathers going to Hell. The question of the day for all of us is, if you died right now, where would you go? And we have to realize that this is reality. Death can come to any one of us at any time. We have no idea. We also don’t know when Jesus is coming back. The Bible says that no man knows the day nor the hour. It could be in 5 minutes, 5 days, 5 years – we don’t know! The key is to be ready NOW!
Let’s think about this! You’re living your life and having a good time. You go to church on Sundays and maybe to bible study but your life outside of the church is filled with sin. Are you in right standing with God? Will you make it to heaven because you went to church and bible study even though you just had a few” outside things” that you participated in? Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23 makes it pretty clear and I am using the Message Bible because I want everyone to understand. "Knowing the correct password—saying 'Master, Master,' for instance— isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, 'Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.' And do you know what I am going to say? 'You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out of here.'
Do you want to hear that from Jesus when you go before God for judgment? Remember that God was sick of us! He was ready to throw in the towel on the world but instead He loved us so much that He sent Jesus. Now how do you think He feels that He sacrificed His ONLY Son and we treat the gift like garbage? Because that’s essentially what we are saying to God when we go do our own thing! Your sacrifice wasn’t worth it to me. It’s not worth my extra time, it’s not worth my weed, it’s not worth my obedience, it’s not worth my abstinence, it’s not worth my money. It’s not worth the game. It’s not worth my all. Can you imagine what that feels like to God? How would it feel to you if one of your loved ones said that to you? After you have given your all to them – they turn to you and say I found something better to do with my time than spend it with you?
I know that you probably wanted an uplifting word today and MY intent was to feed my own needs and give you one but this is what has come forth. It’s about obedience now! That’s what it comes down to – doing what God says to do! When you have the opportunity, read about Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22 - 31…he wanted to do what he wanted and he lost his kingdom. 1 Samuel 15:22 says obedience is better than sacrifice. Time is short and there is no more time for games. We have to stop picking and choosing what we want to follow in the Bible. No more rationalizing our sins to make it fit what we want to do. I was the queen of that! But I asked God to show me Ebony and He has.
This is not just for the unsaved! Yes, God wants everyone to be saved but once that happens, He wants us to be obedient to His word! In order to make it into the kingdom, we have to live a life that is holy and acceptable to God. That doesn’t mean that you won’t sin because we all have and will again but we have to repent and live according to His Word. We have to stop using Romans 3:23 as a crutch! Yes we all have sinned and fallen short but now we move forward…we don’t stay there!
Time is short. Get in the word and do what it says. Then the next time the question is asked, if you died right now where would you go; you will be able to answer with a resounding voice…HEAVEN!
To God be the glory for the great things He has done!
AMEN
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