Published by admin on 13 Jun 2014 at 10:56 am
JESUS IS COMING FOR HIS CHURCH
We often hear the phrase “Jesus is coming for His church” But which church is He coming back for? The one YOU belong to obviously, right? Well that depends if it is HIS church. How exactly do we determine which church that will be? Will He be coming for the people who attend the church with the highest steeple, or the biggest congregation? How about the group with the biggest coffee bar? Perhaps it will be the one with the most “prosperity”, whose members have as many jets as a hound dog has fleas?, I doubt if God is interested in any of that; the only thing He is interested in are those who love and obey Him. And that cuts out about 99% of them. You see, most people just want to play “church” and they want to have their social programs, and their committees and be seen of men to be in places of leadership. I realize my saying this will ruffle many feathers. Good. Maybe people will wake up and realize God is serious about a relationship with people. He is coming back for the one who aren’t playing church, who are serving Him be enlarging His Kingdom. Ask yourself this question: How many souls have you won for the Kingdom of God?
You see, if you aren’t telling others about Jesus, you aren’t one of His. It isn’t YOUR job to convert souls, that’s GOD’S job. But it is YOUR job to carry on the work of the disciples. Think about this: if it was only the original disciples’ job to win souls, all there would be in God’s Kingdom would be the ones THEY won. And YOU would not be among them had the work of the disciples not continued to this day. But think of it like a family: we will say there are two brothers in a family, and one of them marries and they have children to carry on the family name. The other never has any kids. His part of the line dies when he dies, having not fathered children.
OK, let’s say you are a born-again Christian. You go through life “happy in Jesus”, enjoying your relationship with Him, but you never bear any “children”, that is, you never win a single soul to Jesus in your life. Think about that: for it is the state of the majority of Christians. Actually, very few ever win souls for Jesus, for they just aren’t concerned about the spiritual state of others. They think, I’m saved, I’m ok. If someone else wants to be saved, they can be, but I don’t need to get involved. THAT, my friend, is the mind of one who will not be in God’s Kingdom.
Think of all the souls that will be lost if you don’t do your part. Your part is to bear witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His job is to convict their spirit to repent and receive salvation. But they won’t repent if YOU don’t tell them. You see, that’s the problem, most so-called Christians think it’s “someone else’s” job to tell others about Jesus. They are too busy doing their own thing to care about if anyone else gets saved. And in the end, when we all stand before the judgment seat of Jesus, there will be so many, in fact the MAJORITY, who will hear Jesus say, DEPART FROM ME, I NEVER KNEW YOU. Is that what He wants? No! Jesus said He would give His life as a ransom for many. How many? All who would come to Him. How will they come if you don’t invite them? Hey, listen up, it isn’t just MY job to tell others about Jesus. Just because I’m an ordained minister doesn’t mean only ministers are called to preach the Gospel. I was ordained because I was ALREADY preaching the Gospel and winning souls to Jesus.
There seems to be a terrible lack of responsibility in the so -called “Body of Christ”. Few, and I mean VERY few are doing anything with the Gospel. The rest are those who are only interested in “Me, Myself, and I”, Yes, they are interested in the hereafter: and they are “here after” all they can get God to give them. How many new cars and jets and new homes will it take to get some preachers to get their mind on winning souls for the Kingdom of God, instead of winning money and supporters for “their Kingdom”, huh? As it is written, “You shall know them by their fruits.” And even if they manage to fool the people, they won’t be able to fool God.
If YOU are one who claims to be born again, saved, converted, whatsoever you want to call it, then the fruit of that conversion will be fervent love for your fellow man, a strong desire for their salvation to take place, and a personal responsibility to make sure you take advantage of every opportunity to make that happen. It is written in Isaiah 6:8-10:
God is looking throughout the world for His workers who are more interested in doing His work, than they are doing their own thing. Are YOU one of those? If so, YOU will be among the church Jesus is coming back for. And if not? Well, it’s like this my friend, only one of two things is going to happen in the judgment: you will either hear “Well done”, or you will BE “well done”. Get the idea? You have a choice to make right now, and it is the most important decision you will ever make, for it affects not only the “here and now”, but most importantly, where you will spend eternity.
I’m not telling you to run out and join a church. I’m asking you to get on your knees before Christ Jesus, ask forgiveness for your sins, and to follow Him for the rest of your days on this earth, and do the work of a disciple of Christ Jesus. Lay down your plans, your will, your life dreams, and become a builder of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said whosoever loses his life for the Kingdom of God will gain it. REAL life is living for Jesus, telling everyone you can about the love of God, and LIVING it before them so they will give glory to the heavenly Father and want to know Him for themseles. You don’t need a certificate saying you are an ordained minister in order to do that. You just need the fruits of the Spirit.
This is the first day of the rest of your life. You can make it count for eternal good by using it to win souls for Jesus. It is written in Proverbs 11:30:The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; And he that winneth souls is wise.
Time is a precious thing, once spent, you can never get it back, so invest it wisely in the souls of others. Let those who want to play Church do so. But know this: the fields are ripe for the harvest of souls, and God is looking for workers to send into His harvest. That’s what HE calls CHURCH, and those are the ones Jesus is coming back for. Would you care to join me? Don’t miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime by being too busy doing YOUR thing. Do HIS thing and you’ll be so glad you did! He IS coming back, you know. And it may be sooner than you think. And if He delays His coming, that gives you more time to win more souls for the Kingdom of God. Which is better, to hear Jesus tell you “Well done”, or to hear Him say :
“WELL DONE!!!! VERY WELL DONE!!!!!? It’s your choice, and you can start right now.
Ted L. Stephens on 13 Jun 2014 at 4:07 pm #
Pastor Jerry. Outstanding message which gives me a lot to consider. Thank you.
Stephanie on 13 Jun 2014 at 5:25 pm #
Well said!
Stephanie
Dr, calistus on 29 Jul 2014 at 5:27 am #
am really pleased to learn and know were i need to belong before having access to having good relationship with him on his arrival,
please help me out, how do i really get convinced that am called in to ministry to work for our lord and almighty God as a pastor, minister, apostle ,prophet or evangelist ?
right in me i really have the seal and urge to always preach his word and promises most Expecially when i have friends around me but i have never heard him call me like many pastors and evangelist of our days.
please help me out as i will be glad to receive ur urgent response,
i will let you know more about me on my receiving your response to my question
Connecticut Puritan on 01 Jan 2015 at 10:38 am #
In the area of end times Bible prophesy, many preachers are teaching two erroneous ideas which cannot be supported by Scripture. The first is that Jesus could come at any time, and the second is that Jesus is coming for his church.
Regarding the first error, Jesus cannot come at any time as various prophetic events must be fulfilled before his Second Coming, the most significant of which is the conversion of the Jews. The Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah at his First Coming, and he will not return until they invite him back. Jesus clearly identified this as the precondition for his Second Coming in Matthew 23:39, when he addressed the Jews saying “For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord”. Hosea 5:15 states “I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early”. Jesus returned to his place – heaven – when he ascended from the Mount of Olives in Acts 1:09-12, and he will not return till the Jews repent and seek him. The Jews will one day experience a profound conversion of the heart, parroting Joseph’s brothers in Egypt, who stated in Genesis 42:21 “…We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us”. That conversion experience is foretold in Zechariah 12:10, which states “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”
Regarding the second error, most Christians who are into eschatology – the study of end times events – believe that Jesus is coming for his church, either privately, known as the pre-tribulation or secret Rapture, or publicly, known as the post-tribulation or grandstand Rapture, while the Bible in contrast affirms that Jesus is not coming to collect his saints at all! Matthew 24:31 states that “…he (Jesus) shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet to gather his elect…” which is reinforced by Mark 13:27 a parallel text that states “And then shall he (Jesus) send his angels, and shall gather together his elect…” As Scripture clearly states therefore, Lord Jesus will not come either privately or publically to collect his saints. His angels will come and rescue believers in Christ just as the angels rescued Lot and his family from Sodom (the Rapture – mentioned in I Thessalonians 4:15-17).
The Second Coming and the Rapture of the church are two separate events, which are not simultaneous. The Second Coming awaits the conversion of the Jews, while the Rapture of the true believers in Christ could occur at any time. Better get ready!
John on 07 Jul 2021 at 10:10 pm #
Some reasons why many do not share the gospel.
Unsaved people are not stupid so they have to have a reason to accept the gospel, and that is about purpose of the gospel
So lets describe the purpose of the gospel because many people have quite different ideas. If we accept that the only true gospel saves then it follows that those who have different messages that do not save, will by definition not share the true gospel (one that saves). The two common false gospels are these: ‘come to Jesus to have a relationship with Him’ which is a life enhancement message and has nothing to do with being saved from something – its deceptive word trickery where the underlying assumption is that ‘relationship’ equals ‘salvation’ in which case they disagree with the dictionary which says these two words have two distinct meanings where one is about being saved and the other is not. Want proof? Read Job and you will see that Satan had a relationship with God and Satan is not saved; and this is just one example where relationship does not equal saved.
Since the gospel is about being saved then the saved person must be saved from something. And, according to scripture, that something is judgement to hell. But many who identify as Christians either do not believe hell exists (despite Jesus in the NT talking about it more than heaven) or they do believe hell exists and because of their fear they will not talk about it lest the poor things suffer disapproval. I have met church leaders who say that mentioning hell does not work, but I know from experience that is false, and when I hear someone say that I know I am hearing someone who does not know what they are talking about, are all theory, and have actually not done evangelism. The other typical false gospel is that good words is all that is needed to go to heaven (and avoid hell). A couple of simple questions explodes this myth – do you think heaven is perfect? Answer = ‘yes’. what about you, are you perfect? Answer = ‘no’. Ok, based on what you just told me, you can’t go to heaven because if you did it would no longer be perfect because it would have you in it.
And finally, many who are saved do not share the gospel because they do not know how to. What is worse is that, in many if not most instances, their church leaders also do not know how to. Have you ever known a church leader say this: ‘come with me and I will show you how to share the gospel with strangers on the street’. Not very likely is it. What is more common is that the church leader tells the church members to go and share the gospel and thereby convey the false message that they know how and they do it – and by telling and not showing they have just deliver a message that is basically useless.
AliceNkosi NKOSI on 17 Nov 2021 at 11:18 pm #
Indeed He is coming back and He wants the fruits. May God almighty help us to stop playing church but to win souls for His kingdom. Please Pastor pray for me to evangelize more as He is near.