Eternal value

I listened to a long sermon yesterday that was very interesting. It was entitled “Preparation for the end time”. The preacher said he recently prayed to God what should he preach on, God told him, prepare for the end times. A passage from Revelations says in chapter 19
“Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
8 Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.”

The “bride has made herself ready”. We should be in preparation to make ourselves ready for meeting our bride groom. Regardless if this happens in our life time or not. This means we should have a burning desire to please God. With that, there should be an urgency to warn others of the impending doom that is inevitable. He gave an example of a girl in England who sat through a lecture about tsunamis, which should not have interested her much, seeing the non-incidence of occurrence in England. But she knew, she was going to travel to Indonesia soon with her family. So when she was at the beach, she knew the signs of impending doom right away and was able to warn others who took her advice and were saved. This is a wonderful example of how we should live. Maybe we don’t see the day of God’s wrath clearly before our eyes. Just as in the days of Noah, there was no cloud in the sky, and everything seemed fine. What a weird thing for him to actually believe God and start building the ark. But that’s how we should be. Trust the source. And start warning people about their eternal fate if they don’t turn from their wicked ways now.
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:7-8). This is the time of grace. The church should have such a deep passion for the lost that exceeds any fear of rejection. There should be something so different about believers that draws outsiders in. It should be the presence of God. There should be a different reaction to catastrophe, an unshakeable faith in a God who holds the earth in his hands. When all the earth is paralyzed by fear and anguish in the coming days described in the book of Revelations, believers should have a peace that is out of this world. A peace that surpasses all understanding (per Philipians 4:7). A church that hasn’t forgotten its first love, and seeks God’s face first and foremost will not get caught up in meaningless things that have no value for eternity. Is our success as a church measured by a head-count on Sunday morning? Or is there something more? Is it the infectious love that permeates from its members? Is it the love we have for God so strong that it overflows into tangible love for our fellow men?
I was talking to one of my sisters last week and she told me that God will put tasks in our path for us to do. That is such a neat concept. Sometimes we may get overwhelmed with the needs of the entire world. Especially when we see such tragedy in the world, on the news or infomercials or somewhere else. But God puts us right where he needs us, and he puts people in our path that need us. He gives us everything we need, so we don’t have to worry about being ill equipped for the job. We don’t need to defer people to someone who is better trained, such as a “full-time” minister. Once we are saved we are equipped for any good work that God has prepared for us in advance. (Eph. 2:10).
All God wants from us is willing hearts and open arms.

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