The Clouds Of Judgment Gather

Text: 1 Peter 4:7; 2 Peter 3:10; Isaiah 13:9

Key Verse: "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luke 21:36)

The clouds of judgment gather,

The time is growing late;

Be sober and be watchful;

Our Judge is at the gate:

The Judge who comes in mercy,

The Judge who comes in might

To put an end to evil

And diadem the right.

Arise, O true disciples,

Let wrong give way to right,

And penitential shadow

To Jesus’ blessèd light:

The light that has no evening,

That knows no moon or sun,

The light so new and golden,

The light that is but one.

The home of fadeless splendor,

Of blooms that bear no thorn,

Where they shall dwell as children

Who here as exiles mourn;

The peace of all the faithful,

The calm of all the blest,

Inviolate, unfading,

Divinest, sweetest, best.

Oh, happy, holy portion,

Relief for all distressed,

True vision of true beauty,

Refreshment for the blest!

Strive now to win that glory;

Toil now to gain that light;

Send hope ahead to grasp it,

Till hope be lost in sight.

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The Worth Of A Soul

Text: Luke 16:19-31

Once a person is born, his existence is as eternal as God’s. After this world has passed away and everything is dissolved, a soul will still be in existence.

When all the super structures, cars and other possessions in the world are burnt up with fervent heat, a soul will still be alive in everlasting consciousness either in heaven or hell. It never dies.

A soul is very precious to God. A single soul is worth more than all the wealth in the world put together. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul” (Mark 8:36-37).

No wonder angels in heaven rejoice when a sinner turns to the Saviour. “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance” (Luke 15:7).

What a great privilege and honour therefore, to make the Father happy by winning souls for Him. There is no trouble too great, no humiliation too inhumane, no suffering too severe, no labour too hard and no expense too large in an effort to save one soul.

In order to save sinners from impending doom, we must launch out and witness to all men. We must warn them that although God is merciful, He is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).

God loves every soul and has done everything to save it. We should therefore be willing to suffer, sacrifice, spend and be spent in order to save souls. Remember, a soul will never die!

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It All Belongs To God

Key Verse: These all wait for You, that You may give them their food in due season (Psalm 104:27)

We fear losing our job, our health insurance and our retirement benefits, so we amass possessions, thinking the more we have the safer we are. The same insecurity motivated the builders of the Tower of Babel: “…let us build…a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4).

Can’t you hear the fear in those words? Just like us stockpiling pensions, possessions and property, they accumulated and stacked until their tower of belongings grew so tall it reached heaven. Then they said, “We are safe!” But God said, “No you aren’t!”

The Bible says, “Command those who are rich…not to…trust in uncertain riches but in the living God… (1 Timothy 6:17). Riches don’t bring security. The more you have, the more you have to lose. It’s ironic; the more you accumulate the more protective you become, and the greater your concern that it could all be swept away by events you can’t control.

That’s not how God intended you to live. He wants you to save and He wants you to sow. And when you have done all that wisdom demands, to trust in nothing but Him. The Psalmist said: “…living things…small and great…all wait for You, that you may give them their food in due season” (Psalm 104:25-27 NKJV). And He does.

God’s the great giver, absolutely generous and utterly dependable. The resounding message of the Scripture is clear: God owns it all. God shares it all. So place your trust in Him – not in belongings.

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Blest, Blest Forever

Only a little while, sowing and reaping,

Only a little while, our vigil keeping;

Then we shall gather home, no more to sever,

Clasped in eternal love, blest, blest forever.

Only a little while, heartbreak and sorrow,

Dark though the night may be, cloudless the morrow;

Only a little while, Earth ties to sever,

Then in our Father land, blest, blest forever.

Only a little while, shadow and sadness,

Then in eternity sunshine and gladness;

Only a little while, then o'er the river,

Home, rest and victor palm, life, joy forever.

*** Written by Fanny Crosby ***

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Made To Last Forever

“God has ... planted eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NLT)).

“Surely, God would not have created such a being as man to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality”, Abraham Lincoln said.

This life is not all there is

Life on earth is just the dress rehearsal before the real production. You will spend far more time on the other side of death-in eternity-than you will here. Earth is the staging area, the preschool, the try-out for your life in eternity. It is the practice workout before the actual game; the warm-up lap before the race begins. This life is preparation for the next.

At most, you will live a hundred years on earth, but you will spend forever in eternity. Your time on earth is, as Sir Thomas Browne said, "but a small parenthesis in eternity." You were made to last forever.

The Bible says, "God has ... planted eternity in the human heart." You have an inborn instinct that longs for immortality. This is because God designed you, in his image, to live for eternity. Even though we know everyone eventually dies, death always seems unnatural and unfair. The reason we feel we should live forever is that God wired our brains with that desire!