RAPTURE READINESS IS AND MUST BE THE CONTINUAL FOCUS OF THE CHURCH AT ALL TIMES AND UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES. The only thing we will be judged by as a Ministry is our ability to cause the saints in our Ministry to be precisely ready for the coming of Jesus Christ! When speaking of a prepared people, it is true that there are many categories of concern about the subject of readiness, but as Jesus told Martha, “But ONE THING is needful, and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41). More than any other concern, the Church must always be Rapture ready!
Signs of the times are everywhere around us. The evil one wants us to be so busy opening our email, updating our Facebook accounts or pursuing any other interest or crisis that we fail to have oil in our lamps! Despite the fact that there are so many things today that can serve as distractions from the things of God, our primary focus as a Ministry is on keeping the saints focused on the imminent return of Jesus Christ. We are not deceived by the illusion of eternal security divorced from a holy lifestyle! We know that saints must walk in an obedient relationship with Jesus Christ in order to be ready for His return. In one pivotal, unpredictable moment, Jesus Christ will be here – and the moment afterwards nothing carnal will matter anymore! Because of this, our proper focus is not on building a State-of-the-art ecclesiastical organization or on raising up impressive mega-churches that will make us the envy of other pastors and organizations: Our rightful focus is on getting our members ready for the return of the Lord Jesus! This is the 2010 Vision of our Ministry – to PREPARE THE BRIDE OF CHRIST should the Lord choose to return this year!
Despite our heavenward focus and our emphasis on preparing God’s people for the end of the church age, still we are aware that we must live sensibly and rationally with respect to the demands of daily life. For that reason, on a completely practical level we are engaging in Godly preparation so that we can function as a fully PREPARED PEOPLE, ready to live rich lives, to do powerful Ministry and to live holy, righteously and godly in this present evil age.
2010 will be a year of great intensity. In our time things often happen dramatically, quickly and with great significance. Change occurs rapidly, for good or ill. One of the key characteristics of our age is unpredictability. The recent Tiger Woods scandal is an example of the worldwide impact that events can have in a few weeks. His carefully built image, reputation and strong financial and social resources – all were placed in jeopardy in a matter of days. 2010 will be another year of unpredictable events, and we can only handle things well by making a firm commitment to the principle of CAREFUL PREPARATION for the things that cannot be specifically anticipated. In Matthew 7 Jesus spoke of the unpredictability of life as of a storm that might come at any moment with such ferocity that everything one has built might be in immediate jeopardy. He taught that we can only survive the unpredictable storms of life by establishing ourselves obediently on the Rock, heeding the classic, fundamental ideas and values that are to be found ONLY in His teachings. ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
