ARE YOU READY FOR THE IMMINENT GATHERING? (PART 5)
"I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD." (Ps 122:1).
Like we said in part 4 in this series, there are things to do to keep us prepared and qualified for the rapture. We noted that the starting point towards being rapture-able is to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
The second thing to do is to find a Bible based Church to fellowship in. As God has called us unto the fellowship of His Son (1 Cor 1:9), it is His desire that we "be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless" at His appearing (2Pet 3:14). It follows therefore, that you will need a Bible based Church where you will be taught the Truth and where your faith will be nurtured in Christ. This is very vital because the very possibility of falling away from the Truth stares us all in the face. Take for example, Demas. He was initially a very good companion of Apostle Paul (Col 4:14) and was notable among his "fellow laborers" (Philemon 1:24); but in 2 Timothy 4:10, it's recorded that
"Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed... ". The Bible sternly warns, saying :
"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." (1 Cor 10:12). The Church is the place where our faith in Christ is made perfect.
Those who neglect Church fellowship in reality do not understand what it represents. The Church is the Body of Christ. The Bible says that we are members of His Body (1 Cor 12:27), of His flesh, and of His bones (Eph 5:30). When we received Christ, we were baptized by the Spirit into His Body (1Cor 12:13). As Children of God, the Church is our dwelling place. It's a place where we "exhort one another daily, while it is called Today;" (Heb 3:13); where we are taught to "hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, ..." (Heb 10:23). Only in the Church fellowship setting can this be achieved. Attending a Bible based Church will help to nurture and preserve our faith to the end. Some hate or despise Church fellowship, for whatever reason, I don't know.
The Bible says "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD." (Ps 122:1). The easiest way to fall away from the Truth is to neglect fellowship. When you remove yourself from fellowship, you dry out and it becomes easy for you to desert the faith, thus becoming a reprobate, one that is doomed to miss the rapture.
"And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near." - Heb 10:23-25, NLT.
Virtual meetings have their proper place in this dispensation, but it can certainly not take the place of the physical Church fellowship setting, with all the benefits that are attendant thereto. According to Billy Graham of blessed memory, "The Bible says, 'Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it.' If our Lord loved it enough to die for it, then we should respect it enough to support and attend it. I like what Theodore Roosevelt once said, 'You may worship God anywhere, at any time, but the chances are that you will not do so unless you have first learned to worship Him somewhere in some particular place, at some particular time.' "
The Church is the place where the things of Christ are revealed as we fellowship with God and with one another. The rapture is one of those things that belong to Christ and according to the Bible, we can only share in it when we are faithful to the end.
"Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ." - Heb 3:12-14, NLT.
PRAYER:
Thank You Lord for the opportunity to fellowship with You and with the saints. Through Church fellowship, I'm strengthened as I await the coming of the Lord Jesus. Amen.