I know, I know, I am early on this one:

Death, it is an interesting subject, why? Well, statistics show that, 1 out of 1 people die,—not including Elijah and Enoch—yet so many people try and avoid the subject. But right here, right now, I want to ask you a couple of questions about death.

First; where will you go when you die?

Second; what will you leave behind?

The first question is really tricky to answer, though it may seem easy. I almost guarantee that more than 95% of you who read this answered “Heaven.”

But are you absolutely completely, and totally without a doubt positively sure? I am not trying to judge anyone, not at all. But I want you to consider a few things, some very, very, frightening verses.

Matthew 7:21-23;

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ ”

That is very unsettling to me, and I hope it is for you. But Jesus gives so many other warnings, just as frightening. For instance; Laodicea:

Revelations 3:14-22;

“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’ “

When I read about Laodicea, I think of America. American Christians, or another way to put it; Comfortable Christians; people who live their lives thinking that they can have Christ and Comfort. That is wrong! If you want comfort, Christianity is not the way to go. Not for earthly comfort anyway. Jesus told His Disciples in Matthew 10:16;

“I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

Look through again at the church of Laodicea;

“You are Lukewarm—I will vomit you out of My mouth—you are naked and wretched, yet you do not know it—you say; I am rich.” (That is not in correct order, but just a few things I wanted to point out.)

I do not want to suggest to you a “Do” theology, one where “works get you to heaven.” Because I know that it is by ‘Grace through Faith that we are saved, not by works, so that none may boast.’ (Ephesians 2:8-9)

But as James said in James 2:17-18;

“Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

Pretty much, James is saying; “So, you claim to have faith? Prove it.”

Too often we live our lives as if it is nothing. I have just finished the book Radical by David Platt, (I seriously suggest this book to EVERYONE. It is amazing.) And in that book he gave some statistics, you could call them that. But he said; “There are 4.5 billion people, who do not claim Christianity, and about 1 billion of them, have never even heard the gospel.”

That is sad. We claim to be Christians, yet our faith is not present, thus we are lukewarm. As Americans, we are among the richest people IN THE WORLD. Thus we say; I am rich! Yet we do not always realize, we are wretched, filthy, disgusting, vile, and completely unworthy, to stand before God. We are so terrible, God said two things about us; 1: “I would rather you be COLD than to be as you are.” (This is a re-wording of it, not trying to change what it says, just trying to make it easier to grasp.) And 2: “I will vomit you out of my mouth.”

Are we part of the Laodicean church? I hope not.

Why don’t we just speak up? Just this week, I had a perfect opportunity to share God’s word with two people, I wasn’t pressed for time at all, and they literally walked right at me. All I had to do was say; “Hey, can I ask you a couple of questions? About your spiritual beliefs?”

But, I did not. I walked away, in the shallowest of thoughts. I was thinking; “Nah, I look kind of dorky right now; I can’t approach them like this.” And; “It is too late now; I have already started walking the other way.” I wish that I had just talked to them, that I had just spoken to them. Too often I say to myself; “I don’t have time right now.”

Well, here is breaking news for you; “Neither do they. They are not saved; they will die unless you give them the antidote that you hold.”

If I were to die right now, would Jesus say to me; “Depart from Me! You were lukewarm from the start! And you never changed.”

I am determined now, to try my best, to share the gospel more. Sadly, I know, that I will at times give in to excuses, but when I am given such a chance as I was, I should have taken it.

The second question; what you leave behind

If you were to die today, what would people say about you?

What legacy shall you leave for the world?

I wonder, if I were to die today, if people would call me a “good Christian.” Honestly, I don’t want that; because being “good” isn’t what Jesus called us to do, especially when the American definition of “good” is so very inadequate. I want to leave a legacy like Paul did. Don’t get me wrong here; I don’t want fame for myself. When I said a legacy like Paul’s, I meant the impact he had. Through his faith, God used in him in a huge way, but Paul was not simply “good.”

Jesus asked His Disciples, who people thought that He was. Some said a Prophet, some said Elijah—who was supposed to come before Jesus, AKA; John The Baptist—but then Jesus turns the tables and asks; “Who do you say that I am?”

And Peter replied; “The Christ of God.” (Luke 9:18-20.)

When you ask people who Jesus was, in this age they answer such as; “A good man,” or “A great teacher, or religious leader.” Even Muslims say of Him; “He was a good prophet.”

Jesus wasn’t simply, “Good,” Jesus IS.

John 8:58;

“Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’ ”

Notice how He words that; before Abraham was I AM. That was a direct claim to be God. (Exodus 3:14.)

This is the very claim that got Him killed, why so many people are offended by Christians, why so many Christians throughout all of History were brutally murdered, and why Jesus said that we would be hated for His sake. The same claim we hold.

He said we would suffer many persecutions, and so many other things. (Matthew 10:16-26.)

Let’s look at this, Jesus said that we would be betrayed by our families, we would be like wolves among sheep, delivered up to councils and scourged.

That’s strange though, we in America really haven’t had any of that. I once heard it said; “If you are comfortable in your Christianity, then maybe Satan has you right where he wants you.”

As a closing, I want to go over one last thing.

The Prayer: You know how people say; “Pray this prayer and you will be saved, all you got to do is believe.”

How many of you believe that there is more to it? I sure do, it is not all about believing, the Demons believe, and they tremble! (James 2:19.)

Jesus said that we had to completely give ourselves up for Him! To love Him more than Mothers, Fathers, Sons and Daughters, to daily take up our cross and follow Him.

(Matthew 10:37)

Are you truly ready to give up everything? Yes, and no, in a literal sense. To literally let God rule what you do or do not do. What you spend your money on, what TV you watch, what websites you go to. The people you hang with, the language and jokes you use. Literally everything you do. Are you truly willing to give up everything? If you are, let me encourage you. You will be hated, you will be beaten, and you will go through so much pain.

Jesus said Himself:

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.”

(Matthew 10:34.)

But the reward, how great it is! So great, that I cannot even begin to imagine. Peace that passes all understanding. To see Jesus in all of His glory, to be counted a trophy of the Lord’s!

To spend all of eternity with Jesus. Sure, they can kill you, big deal, what else are they going to do? Raise you up and do it again? Or perhaps they have the power to destroy your soul? No, only God can do that, and it is He alone who we should fear. (Matthew 10:27-30.)

So, go therefore, and make Disciples of all Nations; ALL of them, all 4.5 billion, especially the 1 billion that have never even heard of Him.

None of us are promised the next day, and thousands upon thousands die daily.

Thanks for reading,

John Mark,