NO FEAR OF DEATH

The believer has no reason to fear death. When we say Christ died for His people, we mean that Christ died the death that His people deserve. When Christ died, He removed the sting of death for His people, so death cannot harm anyone for whom Christ died.

The believer has no reason to fear death. As a matter of fact, a believer has every reason to look forward to death. Every believer longs to be made just like Christ, in both body and soul. That longing will only be satisfied after we die, for then we shall awake perfectly conformed to the image of Christ our Lord and Savior. I say with David, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness” (Psalm 17:15).

To trust in your own decision to “get saved” is one of the surest, quickest, and most common paths to hell. Salvation is “not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy”!

Pastor Frank Hall

All We Can Do Is Pray

In many conversations that I have had with other believers and pastors over the years, when it comes to terminal illnesses or the lost condition of a loved one, or for that matter any HARD TRIAL, the final word has always been, “All we can do is pray.” And friends, that is the truth. When men have done everything imaginable by their own puny power, the conclusion is always, “All we can do is pray.” This is the believer’s attitude, because we know that only God can make the difference. Only God can cure the incurable, and change the hearts of unregenerate men and women.

Suppose in the time of our Lord that there were two believing parents that had a son. They loved him dearly and desired that he might have a good life and live unto God. But from an early age the boy seemed destined for trouble. He hung with the wrong crowd and he himself was the wrong crowd. All his life he had lived a life of crime and dishonesty. It started out with stealing. But the parents continued to pray. Then it escalated into more serious crimes. But the parents continued to pray. Soon this boy grew into a man, and did bodily harm to others. Yet the parents continued to pray. Then one day this malefactor went too far and murdered someone. Did the parents give up hope and cease praying? NO, they prayed all the more!

The day of his trial came and he was found guilty, judged and sentenced to be executed. But the parents still prayed, because as long as he still had breath, there was hope that God might have mercy. Yet the son they loved continued to be a rebel even up to his final hours. The day of his execution came, and his loving parents were there to watch. The authorities hung him on a cross along side two other men. Yet the parents continued to pray,” Lord have mercy on my son.”

As they watched him hanging on the cross, he continues to curse with no sense of guilt. Do they still pray or is it too late? No, they pray still. Then when all hope was lost, they hear some words of hope. The man crucified that hung in the middle was an innocent man who had taken the place of another notorious criminal. They saw him listening to this innocent man, as He prayed, “Father forgive them.” He had heard this man tell the daughters of Jerusalem to weep not for Him, but for themselves. Then an amazing thing happened. This wicked and rebellious son who had reviled against the man in the middle, began to defend him to the other malefactor. He acknowledged that he and the other deserved their condemnation, but not this man named Jesus Christ. God did a work of sovereign grace in this man’s heart and he asked most humbly, “Lord when you come into your kingdom, will you please remember me.” The Lord of heaven and earth said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” As long as there is still breath, pray, for the Lord just may be merciful.