Give me JESUS!

Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but [he that is] perverse [in his] ways shall fall at once.
Proverbs 28:18

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20

Is your name written in the Book of Life?

You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, [Who] remembers You in Your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned-- In these ways we continue; And we need to be saved. But we are all like an unclean [thing], And all our righteousnesses [are] like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. And [there is] no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities.But now, O LORD, You [are] our Father; We [are] the clay, and You our potter; And all we [are] the work of Your hand. Do not be furious, O LORD, Nor remember iniquity forever; Indeed, please look--we all [are] Your people!
Isaiah 64:5-9

O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, That you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
Jeremiah 4:14

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You [are] my praise. Indeed they say to me, "Where [is] the word of the LORD? Let it come now!"
Jeremiah 17:14-15

"Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father [his] child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.
Matthew 10:21-22

And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. . . For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.
Matthew 24:12-14, 21-22

And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
Mark 13:13

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Mark 16:15-16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:16-18

This same Jesus is coming back. Acts 1:11

I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
John 10:9

'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass [That] whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.'
Acts 2:17-21

At that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea. Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, 'Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter, who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.'

And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, 'John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' If therefore God gave them the same gift as [He gave] us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?" When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life."
Acts 11:11-18

And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: "Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as [He did] to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they."
Acts 15:7-11

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only [that], but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Romans 5:6-11

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved...that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, "Whosoever believeth in Him shall not be ashamed." For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all who call upon Him. For "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Romans 10:1, 9-13

Be strong in the Lord, and in His mighty power. Ephesians 6:10



How should I prepare for Christ's return


How does God want us to be prepared for the rapture or return of Christ?

How do we make ready?

What should mark the Christian's attitude and activity?


I list several marks of preparation with Scripture references:

Eager Waiting —Philippians 3:20
Loving Christ's Appearing —2 Timothy 4:8
Exercising Patience —James 5:7-8
Purifying Ourselves —1 John 2:28; 3:3
Being Watchful —Mark 13:32-33
Practicing Faithfulness —Matthew 25:21, 23
Proclaiming the Gospel —2 Timothy 4:1-2


I will concentrate on purifying ourselves, for there is much stress in the New Testament on the importance of self-purification and holiness in preparing for Christ's return.

Let us attend to the words from 1 John: "Abide in Him [Christ], so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him ['away from Him,' NASB] in shame at His coming." Every one who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure."

Will we be ready when the Lord returns? Will we be living in such sin that although His arrival is "our blessed hope" (which indeed it is), we will shrink in shame at His presence? The Lord who will come is holy and pure; shall we meet Him in unholiness and impurity of life? To be sure, none of us will be perfect when Christ returns, but we can make better preparation, as John says, by seeking in every way possible to "purify ourselves as He is pure." Hebrews put it quite strongly: "Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (12:14). If we are striving and seeking for holiness and purity of life, we need not shrink in shame at the Lord's appearing. Are you —am I— making ready?