Saturday 31 December 2016
HOW TO MAKE YOUR NEW YEAR DIFFERENT FROM THE REST
In life, time and change happen to everyone. No matter your age, sex, skin color or country of residence, time and change must happen to you. Whenever its 31st December every year, the calendar changes and a new cycle of life begins. No man can stop it from happening neither can anyone decide not to enter into the new year. God has given time and change to everyone equally.
How you manage time and change determines what happens in your life. Most people trivialize time and change and before they know it that season is over and a new season has begun without achieving anything of worth.
The secret to a successful life is to know how to manage time and change. On the 1st of January time and change will happen again but the question is what will you do with this time and change? A new journey begins from January 1st, what will you do throughout this journey?
Your destination is 31st December and it will take twelve months(365days) to get to your destination. Each of these days is going to be asking you; what will you do with me today? You are left with the option of just letting every day pass by or managing each day. The secret to a successful year is to manage each day and the key to managing each day is called PLANNING.
Planning is the requirement for getting safely to your destination. Your destination is the dreams, vision, and purpose you seek to achieve in the new year. Without planning and executions of plans, dreams, visions and purposes are not fulfilled. They remain mere wishes.
Most people are going to experience this time and change without a concrete plan of what they seek to achieve nor how to achieve it. You will only live each day by instincts if you don't plan your day. You will merely be responding and reacting to circumstances. Only animals respond to circumstances because they do not have reasoning faculties. The reason you have a brain is so that you could plan your life. You are supposed to create circumstances and not respond to them.
Planning gives direction to your life.
If you don't know where you are going you will possibly wind up somewhere else.
Planning is a roadmap that shows you the final destination and the best route to get there. Your purpose is your destination but your plan is the route to getting there.
A plan helps you finish before you start. With a plan, you live each day even before it starts. With a plan, you control what happens each day of your life. Do not hope that things will just work out fine in this new year. You must plan your year and your life.
Your success or failure in the new year depends on the plans you make. Your success this year does not depend on how many prophecies you receive on crossover night but on the plans, you will make and execute each day of the year. Without execution of plans, prophecies are meaningless. Remember that when you fail to plan you are planning to fail.
Planning is the management of the distance between your starting point and your finishing point. Planning is the management of the distance between your conception and your destination.
Planning is applying purpose to time. It is giving meaning to time. Planning is the determination of how time should be used. Planning is telling time what you want to do with it. Whether you like it or not time keeps diminishing and vanishing into thin air. No man can stop time from flying away but every man can take hold of that flying time and make it productive before it is gone. With planning, you take control of the time( your next 12months). Planning is the best way to invent the future.
Life is asking you for direction but planning is what gives direction to life.
The following areas of life should be planned by setting goals;
1.Purpose and calling
2.Financial goals
3.Time management goals
4. Spiritual goals
5. Added value{knowledge, books, messages}
6. Skill acquisition
a. photography and photoshopping
b.website design
c. keyboard, guitar, and violin skills
d. hair dressing
e. Pastries/baking
f. Catering
g. Software programming
h. Book editing and publishing.
i.Video editing etc.
If you can plan your life and act on every plan, you will experience a very productive year. Your new year will be different from every other one because you will see the products for each passing day. Act now! Begin to plan your year and you will be amazed how much you will achieve this year. Do not be among those who are hoping for a prosperous year without any plan to make it so. Do not be a mere dreamer. It is better to plan than to dream. Without plans, dreams do not come true. Plan, plan and act and you will enjoy a year of maximum productivity. HAPPY NEW YEAR IN ADVANCE!!!
Clement Ogedegbe
Ukraine.
Sunday 25 December 2016
WHY JESUS CAME TO EARTH
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.{Matthew 1:21-23}
Glory in the Highest
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold,[b] an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” {Luke 2}
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” {Luke 2}
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss[d] your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”
you may now dismiss[d] your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”
33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.[e]She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.{Luke 2}
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.{John 3:17-18}
4 But when the right time came, the time God decided on, he sent his Son, born of a woman, born as a Jew, 5 to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law so that he could adopt us as his very own sons. 6 And because we are his sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, so now we can rightly speak of God as our dear Father. 7 Now we are no longer slaves but God’s own sons. And since we are his sons, everything he has belongs to us, for that is the way God planned.{Galatians 4
}
Sunday 18 December 2016
GOD WILL ALWAYS TAKE YOU BACK
Luke 15
15 Dishonest tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus’ sermons; 2 but this caused complaints from the Jewish religious leaders and the experts on Jewish law because he was associating with such despicable people—even eating with them!
3-4 So Jesus used this illustration: “If you had a hundred sheep and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search for the lost one until you found it? 5 And then you would joyfully carry it home on your shoulders. 6 When you arrived you would call together your friends and neighbors to rejoice with you because your lost sheep was found.
7 “Well, in the same way heaven will be happier over one lost sinner who returns to God than over ninety-nine others who haven’t strayed away!
8 “Or take another illustration: A woman has ten valuable silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and look in every corner of the house and sweep every nook and cranny until she finds it? 9 And then won’t she call in her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her? 10 In the same way there is joy in the presence of the angels of God when one sinner repents.”
11 To further illustrate the point, he told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 When the younger told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now, instead of waiting until you die!’ his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and took a trip to a distant land, and there wasted all his money on parties and prostitutes. 14 About the time his money was gone a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him to feed his pigs. 16 The boy became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the swine looked good to him. And no one gave him anything.
17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired men have food enough and to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired man.”’
20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming, and was filled with loving pity and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
21 “His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and you, and am not worthy of being called your son—’
22 “But his father said to the slaves, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. And a jeweled ring for his finger; and shoes!23 And kill the calf we have in the fattening pen. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has returned to life. He was lost and is found.’ So the party began.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working; when he returned home, he heard dance music coming from the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on.
27 “‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the calf we were fattening and has prepared a great feast to celebrate his coming home again unharmed.’
28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve worked hard for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to; and in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after spending your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the finest calf we have on the place.’
31 “‘Look, dear son,’ his father said to him, ‘you and I are very close, and everything I have is yours. 32 But it is right to celebrate. For he is your brother; and he was dead and has come back to life! He was lost and is found!’”
Luke 22:31-34
Luke 22:31-34
31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have you, to sift you like wheat,32 but I have pleaded in prayer for you that your faith should not completely fail.[g] So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up the faith of your brothers.”
33 Simon said, “Lord, I am ready to go to jail with you, and even to die with you.”
34 But Jesus said, “Peter, let me tell you something. Between now and tomorrow morning when the rooster crows, you will deny me three times, declaring that you don’t even know me.”
John 21:15-17
15 After breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others?”[d]
“Yes,” Peter replied, “you know I am your friend.”
“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.
16 Jesus repeated the question: “Simon, son of John, do you really love me?”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I am your friend.”
“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.
17 Once more he asked him, “Simon, son of John, are you even my friend?”
Peter was grieved at the way Jesus asked the question this third time. “Lord, you know my heart;[e] you know I am,” he said.
Jesus said, “Then feed my little sheep.
IN SEARCH OF YOUR PURPOSE PRT 2
HOW
TO DISCOVER YOUR PURPOSE AND CALLING
WHAT YOUR PURPOSE IS NOT
(1)
Your
purpose is not the lucrative course your parents wants you to study because of
money.
(2)
Your
purpose is not the career in vogue like computer science etc.
(3)
Your
purpose is not the career that is lacking in your family that your parents want
you to study
(4)
Your
purpose is not selfish, it is not about you.
FACTS ABOUT YOUR PURPOSE
(1)
Your
purpose was conceived before you were created.
(2)
Your
purpose is hidden inside of you, it is not outside somewhere. You don’t look
for your calling, you discover it{it is already within you}
(3)
Your
purpose is buried in your natural inclinations/desires.
(4)
Your
purpose is what decided your package/inbuilt
(5)
Your
purpose is what decided your temperament
(6)
Your
purpose is buried in your anger and frustrations.
(7)
Your
purpose is buried in your talents and natural abilities/strengths.
(8)
Your
purpose is whatever motivates you more than money
(9)
Your
purpose is buried in your background and life experiences (Saul-Paul)…learn
from your circumstances.
Saturday 10 December 2016
IN SEARCH OF YOUR PURPOSE
IN SEARCH OF YOUR PURPOSE
(WHO AM I? WHY AM I HERE?)
The question “who am I” is the first question that everybody should ask himself. The reason is because if you don’t know who you are you may just be living someone else’s life. It will be a tragedy to find out in the end that all your hustle and struggle on earth was the fulfillment of someone else’s destiny and not yours. It will be heartbreaking to suddenly realize at the end of your race that you ran on another man’s track. The bitter truth is that even if you ran so well that you arrived the finished line first, you will still be disqualified for running on the wrong lane. It is, therefore, important for every man to find out his purpose and run only on his lane to fulfill his destiny. Achieving the fulfillment to one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation
"To realize one's destiny is a person's only obligation,"
Paul Coelho, the Alchemist
Your life will be an endless chain of activities and events that do not even add any value to the fulfillment of your purpose if you don’t know who you are and why you exist. That is why you see millions of people all over the world today working from morning till night and struggling for survival but with no definite knowledge of why they exist.
“When purpose is not known, abuse is inevitable”
Myles Munroe
“The greatest tragedy in life is not death, but a life without a purpose.”
Myles Munroe
You Have a Definite Purpose
Every human being is custom made to fulfill his own purpose. What I mean is that every one of us is specially branded to fulfill his/her calling and destiny. You were packaged to succeed in your purpose. You were born with a special mission. You were sent as a gift to the world. The world is in need of your gift. If you do not discover your purpose, the world will be starved of your contribution to humanity. You will cause chaos and leave a void in the world if you don’t discover and fulfill your purpose.
Created to Solve Humanity’s Problems
You were created to solve the problems of humanity. A child is born only for the sole reason of solving the problems that are or will arise in the world. Whenever nations cry, a child is born to solve the problem for which the nations cry. You never would have imagined that you were created to be an answer to the cry of your nation. What if I told you that you were born just to solve the problems of a nation? What if I told you that you are the answer to the cry and problems of your community?
Your Purpose is Not Far from Where Your Love and Pain Intersect
Your purpose is where your love and pain intersect. When you feel pain and love for a particular problem or need in society, or for a particular group of people or community, your purpose may be around that direction.
Your purpose is where your passion lies. It is where you feel a strong hunger to intervene and improve a situation. It is where you are obsessed with the desire to cause a positive change.
Your Purpose is About Building Others Not You
Your purpose is not selfish. It is not about what you can get for yourself but what you can give to humanity. Your gifts and talents are meant to bless others. Your purpose makes you useful to others. Your career may be selfish but your purpose is selfless. It is others’ focused. It is community focused.
Sunday 4 December 2016
THE CERTAINTY OF HEAVEN pst Clement
THE CERTAINTY OF HEAVEN
THE CERTAINTY OF HEAVEN
I recently
saw an app on face book that determines whether or not people will go to heaven
or hell and my first reaction was “wow, this is funny”. It was funny to me
because it didn’t make sense that an app could determine our eternal
destination. Well that was just a face book app and believe me, many who will
take the test will add emotions to it and believe what the app would predict
about their eternal destination. Why not? People aren’t sure where they are
heading after this life on earth is over.
I have had discussions in the past with
a number of believers regarding this issue of eternal destination and I was
amazed to find out that a greater percentage of Christians cannot tell with
certainty if they will go to heaven or not. They say stuffs like “only God
knows those who will go to heaven or hell”.
My unuttered questions to them is “if
you are not certain of heaven, then why do you go for evangelism and ask people
to accept Jesus?” Why would you want unbelievers to join you in your
uncertainty? If I were not born again and someone comes preaching to me to
accept Jesus Christ and says to me that he is not sure if this Jesus could
guarantee my eternal destination but that I should just accept Him; I would
frankly not accept Him.
Most people who are truly born again
accepted Jesus because they needed a saviour, they needed help. They needed an
assurance of eternal salvation. They knew they couldn’t ever think of going to
heaven without the help of God. When I saw how evil and sinful I was and how
that I was heading straight for hell without Jesus in my life, I surrendered my
life to the only one who is able to save to the uttermost, Jesus Christ the
righteous. I was 100% certain that accepting Jesus in my life would guarantee
me heaven. I don’t know if my case was different but I believe that most
Christians had the same experience and trusted Christ to save them too.
If this is true with most Christians,
then one cannot but wonder what happened to that certainty, that hope of
eternal salvation; the hope of glory that made people surrender their lives to
Christ. How come Christians can no longer tell for sure if they will make
heaven or not? At what point did this probability set in? I feel so shocked to
hear Christians say its 50-50 chance to make heaven.
Most people reading this article will
have a hard time believing the truths I am about to reveal from God’s word and
this article may perhaps be one of the most controversial Christian literature
they will ever read but let God be true and all men liars. I am going to share
with you some verses that will help you believe again with all certainty that heaven
is your home once you accept Jesus Christ as your saviour.
1.
Why are most Christians uncertain of heaven? Because they don’t
know the way to heaven.
I know it sounds foolish to call them
Christians and yet say that they don’t know the way to heaven. Yes, they go to
church every Sunday and listen to the messages but they are still ignorant of
the way to heaven. Well! I am not surprised. Even the disciples that were with
Jesus for about 3years and a half didn’t know the way to heaven nor how to get
there. They were troubled just like most Christians today and uncertain of
their eternal destination. Thankfully, Jesus resolved their ignorance.
“Let not your
heart be troubled. You are trusting God, now trust in me. 2-3 There are many
homes up there where my Father lives, and I am going to prepare them for your
coming. When everything is ready, then I will come and get you, so that you can
always be with me where I am. If this weren’t so, I would tell you plainly. 4 And you know
where I am going and how to get there.”
5 “No, we don’t,”
Thomas said. “We haven’t any idea where you are going, so how can we know the
way?”
6 Jesus told him, “I am the Way—yes, and the Truth and the
Life. No one can get to the Father except by means of me. {John 14:1-6 TLB}
Did
you notice that Jesus has gone to prepare for our arrival into heaven? There
are enough rooms in heaven for everyone who would believe that Christ can save
them and take them to heaven. It is a pity that the people for whom the rooms
of heaven are prepared do not believe with unwavering certainty that they are
going to make heaven. JESUS IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE.ANYONE WHO MUST
GET TO HEAVEN MUST ACCEPT AND TRUST HIM.
2. Why
can’t most Christians trust in Jesus as the only way to heaven?
Seriously, this is an
important question that needs to be answered regarding this entry into heaven.
How can a people accept a saviour and still not trust His ability to fulfil His
promise of salvation to them? The reason is because many Christians think that
it is pretty too cheap to just enter heaven by just one way. Just accepting
Jesus is really too easy a criteria to entering a place as eternal and glorious
as heaven, many Christians would say. Man always wants to do something else to
show how strong or wise he is even though we are all weak without God and God’s
foolishness is wiser than the wisdom of all of us put together. Man is always
trying to complement what God has already completed and by so doing
complicating issues for himself. God has made salvation discrete-just one
narrow way; who is Christ Jesus but man would rather chase after Ten
Commandments and many Jewish laws. Man prefers the broad way, the sweat- it-
out- route, the flex -your –muscles- route, the self- righteousness- route. It
seems easier to man to try to save himself. Only few have truly found the
narrow way that leads to life though we may have ten thousand people in church.
13 “Heaven can be entered only through the narrow gate! The
highway to hell[b] is broad, and its gate is wide enough for all the
multitudes who choose its easy way. 14 But the Gateway to Life is small, and the road is
narrow, and only a few ever find it. {Mathhew 7:13-14 TLB}
3.
They preach about
the narrow way in church but don’t understand what they preach.
You probably would have heard your pastor recite
and teach on the Matthew 7:13-14 quoted above. The truth is that if we truly
understood that Jesus is that narrow gateway to life and that we have found Him
already, we wouldn’t need to worry about our eternal destination anymore.
Heaven can be entered only through the narrow gate. If we believe it with all
certainty, then we would preach to sinners with every boldness and enthusiasm
to accept this narrow gate also. We would cry out to the Jews to stop depending
on the Ten Commandments and the laws of Moses as the criteria to entering
heaven. We would let Muslims know that they don’t need FIVE MUST DO’S before
they can enter heaven. Even the atheist would come to realize that moralism and
being good enough cannot take them to heaven. EVERY MAN WOULD WANT TO ACCEPT
THE NARROW GATE, THE DOOR-JESUS CHRIST THE RIGHTEOUS.
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be
saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to
kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may
have it more abundantly. {John 10:9 NKJV}
In the very words of Jesus” I am the door. If anyone enters
by Me, he will be saved” But I am still amazed that many who ought to have
entered through him could not enter because they are trying to carry some extra
luggage {religious rules and rituals, self -righteousness, moralism etc.}Alongside.
Unfortunately for them, the door is so narrow that only FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS
can pass through it.
4.
Pastors are
preaching a different gospel
The average believer thinks that the gospel of
salvation by faith alone in Christ Jesus is a fake gospel. That is why they
attack men of God who preach faith as criteria for salvation. They believe more
in the message of works and self- righteousness as the true gospel. They are
simply ignorant of what the true gospel really is. They forget so soon the
gospel they heard that made them accept Jesus Christ as saviour. They trusted
Christ to save them when they surrendered their lives to Him but now have
turned from that hope in Christ to depend on self-righteousness.
6 I am amazed that
you are turning away so soon from God who, in his love and mercy, invited you
to share the eternal life he gives through Christ; you are already following a
different “way to heaven,” which really doesn’t go to heaven at all. 7 For there is no
other way than the one we showed you; you are being fooled by those who twist
and change the truth concerning Christ.
8 Let God’s curses
fall on anyone, including myself, who preaches any other way to be saved than
the one we told you about; yes, if an angel comes from heaven and preaches any
other message, let him be forever cursed. 9 I will say it
again: if anyone preaches any other gospel than the one you welcomed, let God’s
curse fall upon him. {Galatians 1:6-9 TLB}
They
have all backslidden unknowingly. The moment you turn away from the true gospel
of faith in Christ Jesus to start having confidence in the flesh, you fall away
from grace. Most pastors are preaching the laws of Moses as the way to be
saved. Paul said there is no other way to heaven than through Christ Jesus. Any
pastor, bishop or pope who preaches any other way to be saved is under God’s
curse.
2 Listen
to me, for this is serious: if you are counting on circumcision and keeping
the Jewish laws to make you right with God, then Christ cannot save you. 3 I’ll
say it again. Anyone trying to find favor with God by being circumcised must
always obey every other Jewish law or perish. 4 Christ
is useless to you if you are counting on clearing your debt to God by keeping
those laws; you are lost from God’s grace. {Galatians 5:2-4 TLB}
5. The
believer’s name is registered in heaven
What
if I told you that your name is already registered in heaven? Will that boost
your assurance that heaven is your home? Verily Verily I say unto you that your
name is already written in the lamb’s book of life. If you have accepted the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world as your saviour then
congratulations to you. You are registered already and your room has been
prepared in heaven waiting for you. Stop doubting whether or not you will make
heaven. Keep on believing what you believed at first when you surrendered your
life to Christ.
3 Go back to what
you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly and turn to me again. Unless
you do, I will come suddenly upon you, unexpected as a thief, and punish you.
4 “Yet even there
in Sardis some haven’t soiled their garments with the world’s filth; they shall
walk with me in white, for they are worthy.5 Everyone who
conquers will be clothed in white, and I will not erase his name from the Book
of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that he is mine. {Revelations
3:3-5 TLB}
Those
who keep on having faith in Christ have their names indelibly written in the
book of life. Jesus will announce them before the father on that day as His own.
We have already
overcome the world by faith. The victory that conquers the world is our faith.
We shall be clothed in white.
4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.
And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our[a] faith. {1John 5:4 TLB}
20 Behold, I stand
at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will
come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
21 To him that
overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame,
and am set down with my Father in his throne.
22 He that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. {Revelations
3:20-22}
We
are the redeemed of the Lord and our spirits are already mad perfect in heaven.
The day He offered up himself as an offering for sin, He perfected us forever.
He knew all those who would accept him and has predestined us to eternal
salvation. We are registered in heaven with a perfect spirit.
22 But
you have come right up into Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to the gathering of countless happy angels; 23 and to
the church, composed of all those registered in heaven; and to God who is Judge
of all; and to the spirits of the redeemed in heaven, already made perfect; 24 and
to Jesus himself, who has brought us his wonderful new agreement; and to the
sprinkled blood, which graciously forgives instead of crying out for vengeance
as the blood of Abel did.{Hebrews 12:22-24 TLB}
14 For by that one offering he made forever perfect
in the sight of God all those whom he is making holy. {Hebrews 10:14 TLB}
Maybe you
are wondering “but when was my name written?” Well before the world began God
already chose you and wrote your name in the book of life.
8 He
was alive but isn’t now. And yet, soon he will come up out of the bottomless
pit and go to eternal destruction;[b] and
the people of earth, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life
before the world began, will be dumbfounded at his reappearance after being
dead.*{Revelations 17:8 TLB}
6.
How am I sure that He will take me to heaven?
I can tell you with every assurance that the Lord Himself
will come and take us home one day. I don’t know the day but I know it is no
longer far. I know our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. I
know that yet a little while He that shall come will come and will not tarry.
The only thing you need is to believe in Christ. The just shall live by
faith.
15 I
can tell you this directly from the Lord: that we who are still living when the
Lord returns will not rise to meet him ahead of those who are in their graves. 16 For
the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a mighty shout and with the
soul-stirring cry of the archangel and the great trumpet-call of God. And the
believers who are dead will be the first to rise to meet the Lord. 17 Then
we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up with them in
the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever. 18 So
comfort and encourage each other with this news.{1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 TLB}
Did you notice that the BELIEVERS who are dead and those who
will be alive at His coming will be taken home to heaven? I thought it would
have said, those who kept the Ten Commandments will be taken to heaven or those
who are moralists, atheist or Muslims. No! It says the BELIEVERS!
11 He
came as High Priest of this better system that we now have. He went into that
greater, perfect tabernacle in heaven, not made by men nor part of this world, 12 and
once for all took blood into that inner room, the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled
it on the mercy seat; but it was not the blood of goats and calves. No, he took
his own blood, and with it he, by himself, made sure of our eternal salvation. {Hebrews
9:11-12 TLB}
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD8ayGjrICYS0iR7W1rYB5vQFrqLeo4RmmmkfifpwiwDGwKdqG6ePKsvkEAXPXnwSZGCnBkm6wGqB2vbPRAmnYYOiEfYSv6lz8OsmK4IepVoLN28DOdJ0V5wu2NUfDpRcPlqn1yvobBsbk/s320/cover+3.jpg)
7. No fear of the rapture
It’s a pity that whenever the rapture is preached in church,
people end up in fear and lack of faith, they start thinking about their
self-righteousness, how good or how bad they think they’ve been. This is
because they think that the rapture is about God coming to punish their sins.
Paul said the rapture should be a thing of joy, comfort and encouragement to us
not to scare us. Let me tell you the truth. Christ is not coming to deal with
our sins, He already defeated sin on the cross. He is coming to save us from
this corrupt world and to take us
into our heavenly home. The bride has no reason to be afraid of her
groom’s return. She patiently waits for Him with joyous expectation
so
also Christ died only once as an offering for the sins of many people; and he
will come again, but not to deal again with our sins. This time he will come
bringing salvation to all those who are eagerly and patiently waiting for him. {Hebrews
9:28 TLB}
9 For
God has not chosen to pour out his anger upon us but to save us through our
Lord Jesus Christ; 10 he died for us so that we can live with him forever, whether
we are dead or alive at the time of his return. 11 So
encourage each other to build each other up, just as you are already doing. {1Thessalonians
5:9-11 TLB}
I believe now that you have read the verses in this article,
you will stop thinking that you have a 50-50 chance of making heaven and start
believing that in Christ you have 100% certainty and assurance of heaven. God
is not a man that He should lie nor the son of man that He should change His
plans. His promise is steadfast” WHOSOEVER BELIEVES IN CHRIST SHALL HAVE
ETERNAL LIFE”. You can trust God to deliver on His promises. What makes you a
believer is your belief in Christ as your saviour and only way to heaven. Once
you start doubting this then you are not a believer.
17 God
also bound himself with an oath, so that those he promised to help would be
perfectly sure and never need to wonder whether he might change his plans.
18 He has given us
both his promise and his oath, two things we can completely count on, for it is
impossible for God to tell a lie. Now all those who flee to him to save them
can take new courage when they hear such assurances from God; now they can know
without doubt that he will give them the salvation he has promised them.
19 This certain hope
of being saved is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls, connecting us
with God himself behind the sacred curtains of heaven, 20 where Christ has
gone ahead to plead for us from his position as our High Priest,[b] with
the honor and rank of Melchizedek.{Hebrews 6:17-20 TLB}
LIKE
A BRIDE WAITING FOR HER GROOM.
WE
WILL BE A CHURCH READY FOR YOU
EVERY
HEART LONGING FOR OUR KING
WE
SAY, EVEN SO COME!
LORD
JESUS COME!
SO
WE WAIT! WE WAIT FOR YOU!
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