YOU CAN WALK AWAY FREE, TODAY

Most responsible people who incur debts have the intention of paying them off, to the last penny, which is the responsible thing to do. Unfortunately, things don’t always work out the way they planned or intended.

Have you or someone you know ever become unemployed for an extended period of time, for reasons like layoff or prolonged ill health? The answer I’m sure is “yes.” This means, sometimes, through no fault of an individual’s, their ability to earn a living in the face of debt and other responsibilities can be curtailed. This happens more often than society would like to admit. As a result, all good intentions regarding debts fall by the wayside, leaving the debtor open to harassment from creditors and debt collectors.

If you were ever in a similar situation, how would you like for someone to pay off your debt and never hold it against you? If someone did that for you, how would you respond? You could respond in one of the following ways: No, thank you, I don’t take handouts; this is my debt and I intend to pay it myself; wow, I can’t believe it; or simply THANK YOU!

All mankind is in debt to God for our sins. We sin because of the sin-nature passed on to us by our original parents, Adam and Eve, and that makes each person a sinner. “Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23 NLT). The result of sin, according to the Word of God, is death: “All people will die for their own sins” (Jeremiah 31:30 NLT), meaning eternal separation from God after physical death, also known as hell.

God sent His Son Jesus to die in our place, so we don’t have to pay the debt we owe Him. Again, the Bible addresses that this way: “This is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NLT). Also, “He was handed over to die because of our sins, and He was raised to life to make us right with God” (Romans 4:25 NLT).

How would you respond to God’s offer? Jesus has paid the penalty already; you don’t have to ever be responsible for it. Will you say you intend to pay your own debt, which will mean you’d rather perish? Or would you say with gratitude, “Thank you; I believe in your Son, Jesus; please forgive me.”? You’re in debt to God, but Jesus paid it all already; there’s no reason for you to perish. Think about it; you can walk away free, today!

There’s always the temptation to postpone making decisions, but time does not belong to you. If you understand this message, please don’t postpone your day of salvation, because although you routinely make decisions and think you have control over your life, the truth is you don’t. Your circumstances could change anytime, and you could miss the opportunity to be saved. Please decide today, and walk away free, leaving your sins --no matter what -- on Jesus. Tomorrow could be too late!    

DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE SECOND ADVENT OF JESUS?

First, in order to honestly answer this question, you need to know what the second advent (second coming) is, and based on that knowledge be able to say why you do or don’t believe in it. With that said, what is Jesus’ second advent, and do you believe in it? Second, classifying something as second implies there has been or is a first.

Jesus’ first advent happened when He was born, and that season is celebrated worldwide as Christmas. He lived as a carpenter’s son for about thirty years. At age thirty, He went into public ministry (see Luke 3:23). He preached the need for repentance: “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17 NLT). He selected disciples, healed the sick, raised the dead, challenged the religious leaders of His day, and demonstrated the power of God, proving He is God. He commissioned the disciples to go and preach the gospel: “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach … the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20 NLT).

That era ended with Him being envied by the authorities, falsely accused, tried, condemned, and crucified. He died, was buried, and rose again; He revealed Himself to different individuals and groups to prove He was alive (see Matthew 28:9-10; Luke 24:25). Forty days after His resurrection, He ascended into heaven. On different occasions before His ascension, He promised to return and take those who believe in Him to heaven, where they will live with Him and the Father forever. On one such occasion, He said to His disciples, “When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am going” (John 14:3 NLT). At His ascension, angels encouraged the saddened disciples who witnessed the event by saying: “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go” (Acts 1:11 NLT).

As a reminder for believers regarding their future with God, the apostle Paul writes, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT).

The second advent, therefore, refers to Jesus’ return to earth, bodily, not as a baby, but as God in the same way in which He ascended into heaven, and the Scripture says every eye will see Him on His return: “Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see him—even those who pierced him” (Revelation 1:7 NLT).

It’s very clear from Scripture that Jesus is coming back from heaven. In the book of Revelation, He announces, “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed are those who obey the words of prophecy written in this book” (Revelation 22:7 NLT). Just as His first advent was prophesied and fulfilled to the letter, even so will His second advent be fulfilled. Did you know that? If not, do you understand it now, and do you believe it?

While Jesus came alone as a baby the first time, His second coming will be with a lot of glamor and fanfare; He’ll be accompanied by His holy angels and the Christians who have been raptured seven years earlier (see Matthew 25:31; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; Jude:14-15). Oh, wow -- it’ll be amazing for those who have been expecting His return, but for those who haven’t, it’ll be frightening. The Scripture says, “… all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to survive?’” (Revelation 615-17 NLT).

Jesus’ mission at His first advent was to seek and save the lost (see Luke 19:10). What is His mission when he returns? His mission will be to rule and reign, and judge the world (unbelievers); “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons’” (Matthew 25:31-34, 41 NLT).

What should one do with such knowledge? In other words, Jesus is coming back: so what? That question could best be answered if we knew the implication of that return. Just as He promised blessings for those who believe in Him, He’ll have wages for those who wanted nothing to do with Him, and they will be judgment and sentencing. The Psalmist says it this way: “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17 KJV).

Jesus stated clearly during His lifetime what man’s problem was (and still is): “The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me” (John 16:9 NLT). Those who refuse to believe in Him are the ones categorized as the wicked; they will face judgment and condemnation. The author of the Book of Hebrews poses a very important question that every person should ponder sincerely. He asks: “The message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself?”
(Hebrews 2:2-3 NLT). The inference of this question is quite obvious: anyone who ignores Jesus’ offer of salvation will undoubtedly suffer the consequences—judgment and condemnation.

If you have knowledge of how things will be at Jesus’ second advent, and you still refuse to repent, you cannot blame anyone else for the consequence of your unbelief—hell. The apostle Paul, writing to encourage the Christians in Thessalonica, wrote: “God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He (Jesus) will come with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the good news of Jesus Christ. They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 NLT).

Once He is back on earth, it will be too late to repent and place faith in Him; the grace period is over and it will be time for the final judgment. It will be like a bus driver closing the doors just before you get on board: too late. It is wise to repent and place your faith in Jesus as soon as you hear the gospel, because no one knows when that advent will be. If you die and haven’t repented, your situation will be the same as if you were alive at His second advent, and haven’t repented—too late!

Now, back to the title: do you believe in the second advent of Jesus? Praise the Lord if you do! If you don’t, please don’t waste any more time; repent today, and ask Jesus (pray) to come into your heart and make you His child. Then you can claim His promises, including eternity with Him in heaven. Also please note that what God says is what’s going to happen, whether or not you believe it. He has the power, and He calls the shot; you don’t. If going to heaven matters to you, I encourage you to settle that issue now. Jesus hasn’t come yet, because He is being patient; He does not want anyone to perish (see 2 Peter 3:9, 15), but one of these days, life will be going on as usual, and suddenly, He’ll appear (see Matthew 24:37-39), and it will be too late.

If you believe Jesus is coming back, how are you living your life now? Are you ready? The Scripture teaches us to be in a state of readiness at all times, “So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming … You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected” (Matthew 24:42-44 NLT). Are you living according to His Word, or are you doing your own thing, haphazardly? Are you growing in your knowledge of Him; is your mind being renewed? Are you sharing your faith, fulfilling your role in the Church? Here’s an admonition from the apostle Peter: “Dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight” (2 Peter 3:14 NLT). Remember, Jesus is coming soon -- sooner than you might think!

GOD LOVES YOU

In order to appreciate another person’s love for you, it is important to know who the person is
and what value they bring to your life. If they bring no value to your life, their love will make no
difference to it one way or the other. Therefore, in order to appreciate God’s love for you,
you’ll need to know who He is, why He loves you, and how that love can impact your life.
So, who is God? God is the holy Creator of the universe, including both the visible and unseen
things. He has ultimate power and wisdom. He owns everything and everybody (see Psalm
24:1), and has the right to do with each person as He chooses. He created man in His own
image, so humans have the character of God, and just like God, we are eternal as well as
emotional beings. Being emotional, we have the ability to love, hate, forgive, create, and
admire beauty.

When God created man (Adam and Eve), He enjoyed a relationship with them; He visited and
talked with them often (see Genesis 3:8), until that relationship was tainted and interrupted by
sin, the result of Satan’s doing and man’s disobedience. Sin ruined the relationship, not only in
the present, but also for the future--eternally, because God is holy and cannot co-exist with sin,
in this world or the next. Out of love for us, and the desire to resume an ongoing relationship
with us, God put into motion the plans He had since the beginning of time to restore the
relationship. The only solution to the problem was for sin to be punished.

Did God punish sin? Yes! How did He do it? He became Man, in the person of His Son Jesus, to
take on the punishment for the sin of mankind: the only way back to God. What this means is
God the Creator left His holy dwelling place in heaven with all the pomp and worship of angels,
to live among sinful men on earth. God, the giver of life, died willingly. By His death, Jesus paid
the penalty for sin, thereby restoring the relationship between God and man. This is the
demonstration of God’s love for you and me.

Do you know of any kings, leaders, masters, or lords willing to trade places with their servants
or subjects? How many of these dignitaries would want to serve a one day jail sentence for any
criminal in their jurisdictions, let alone die for one? Without interviewing any of them, I can
accurately answer this question. None of them! The point is they all enjoy the honor, respect,
and power that come with their positions. They’ll not consider giving all that up for anybody—
whether it is for a friend or foe -- but Jesus did! The Scripture tells us, “God showed how much
he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life
through him” (1 John 4:9 NLT).

If God set His glory and majesty aside, became human, suffered, and died when He didn’t have to, we should equate it with love. He did all this out of love for us; it should mean something to us. He knows what our lives would be like without His death. For His love to mean anything to us, we need to respond to His love and the salvation He’s offering through His death. We are not automatically saved by His death; we have to ask to be saved, because of the onetime death He died in our place. We’ll be doing ourselves a disservice if we turn our backs on Him. The Bible says, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:13-14 NLT).

That’s as good as it’s going to get. The only way to get into a personal relationship with God is to accepting Jesus’ death as your own. No amount of arguments you pose about salvation through Jesus will change anything; He is God and the buck stops with Him. His Word says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31 NLT). “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 NLT).
God loves you! Before you were born, He had plans in place to redeem you from the sin nature you inherited from your fore-parents, Adam and Eve. How are you going to respond to this demonstration of love? Please embrace it. Call on Jesus today, repent of your sins, and ask for forgiveness. He will forgive you and start the work of transformation in your life that will begin to restore the loss of His image in you.

Being aware of God’s love does amazing things in one’s life. You can approach Him anytime, anywhere, in any situation with confidence. After all, He is your Father and has promised never to leave you or forsake you, and to give good gifts to those who ask Him (see Hebrews 13:5; Matthew 7:9-11). I encourage you to fall in love with Him today!

MERCY SEAT VS JUDGMENT SEAT, PART II

Appearing at the Judgment Seat is just like appearing at a ticket
counter to pick up reserved tickets for a scheduled event. There
will be no family or group reservations. Each individual has to
make their own reservation, and pick up their own ticket.

Remember that each one makes a reservation to where they
want to go. The tickets usher people to one of two places. There
are no in-between destinations. So where are people headed? One
group is headed to claim their inheritance, the kingdom prepared
for them since the creation of the world (see Matthew 25:34). The second
group is headed to hell, a place prepared for the devil and his
angels. (see Matthew 25:41).

The ticket to the first destination remains good and ready for
pick up at the right time with one piece of identification, the blood
of Christ. “When I see the blood I will pass over you” Exodus 12:13 NIV).
“Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more
shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him!” (Romans 5:9).

The ticket to the second destination is good only on the day of
pick up; in other words, it can be cancelled before maturity. “Let
the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him
turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God,
for He will freely pardon” (Isaiah 55:7 NIV).

The practice in hospitals these days is to have patients and
or their families sign all kinds of consents on admission. One of
the consents is about resuscitation. Patients are allowed to turn
down interventions that will keep them alive or prolong their lives.
Belonging in the second group means the same thing. People are
signing their own death warrant. By not choosing life, they are
choosing death.

After giving the life of His Son, God has every right to use
this declaration against the unyielding, “This day I call heaven and
earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and
death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your
children may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19 NIV).

How are you going to respond to God’s loving call? Are
you still digging in your hills? “Seek the Lord while He may be
found; call on Him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6 NIV). Speaking before the
Sanhedrin, Peter the Apostle said of Jesus, “Salvation is found
in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to
men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12 NIV). Don’t wait any longer!
Believe in the name of Jesus and be saved.