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CURRENT RADIO SERIES Sheltered   CURRENT TV SERIES Songs of Encouragement

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. --Romans 12:1 I want to remind you of something that’s of critical importance: This is your life! Your life had a beginning in your mother’s womb that was ordained by God, and someday your life will have an end… and God willing, there will be thousands of days in between. But it’s how you live your life over the course of those days that is of utmost importance. Life demands your complete focus on God. I’m reminded of when I played college baseball and the coach would say, “Wait for your pitch… watch for it! And when it comes, you swing with everything you’ve got!” So that’s what I’m saying to you today, “Don’t miss your pitch!” This is your life; don’t miss what God has for you! There are so many people who live their lives just punching the clock in and out and they never pause long enough to ask, “What is my life to be about?” We need to be fully engaged in living our lives for Christ Jesus. In fact, we ought to live in such a way that when we die, the evil one says, “Whew, glad that one’s gone!” Present your body to God for his service. Let it be your foremost goal to make a difference for Christ, and you’ll have a life well lived. THIS IS YOUR LIFE; DON’T MISS WHAT GOD HAS FOR YOU!

Caught up to Meet Him in the Air

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16–18

Ever since Jesus left His disciples with the promise that He would return, God’s people have looked forward to His return. The Rapture will reveal the difference between those who are genuine believers and those who merely profess to be followers of Christ. If you pass a powerful magnet over a pile of metal shavings, they will be drawn up to meet it. However, if you spray paint a pile of wood shavings black, they may look very much like the metal pieces on the outside, but the magnet will not draw them.
The hope of Christ’s return is only a comfort to those who are secure in Him. Many young people have experienced a stab of panic at returning home and not finding anyone there. There are even stories of college pranks where a sleeping student is awakened by a trumpet only to find all of his roommates have vanished. But those of us who have been saved, who have placed our faith in Christ alone have nothing to fear from the Rapture.
Though the Bible makes it clear that God’s design does not include us knowing when that event will take place, the truth of the Rapture is a wonderful blessing and comfort to us. It should also be a powerful motivation to us to carefully guard the way in which we live. “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:3).
 

Today’s Growth Principle: 

We need to live each day in such a way that we will not be embarrassed if the Lord returns.