396 views the article “Preparing for the Kingdom” received from its day of publication on 2010 July 5 until 2014 December 30, on Bijbelvorsers, Vereniging voor Bijbelstudie.
Whatever view we hold concerning the way the Second Coming of our Lord will occur, the great need is to be ready for Jesus his appearing. There can be no substitute for readiness or alertness, and knowledge of what is promised, without the resulting preparation of heart and mind, can only result in disappointment.
In whatever we are going to do, the preparation is important.
What we should be doing is to be cleaning the ground of our hearts, clearing from it everything that could be a hindrance to the growth of the seed, then fertilising it with study of God’s word in the scriptures, so that no trouble that arises can stop the seed of the word from growing.
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If we do not carefully dig out the weeds of worldliness, that will choke the new growth. It is not that when we try to study about this world that this would keep us away from more precious things. Not any learning has to keep you from learning the truth of God’s Word. When you have studied more, the divine Creator shall expect more from you and shall perhaps give you lesser excuses you did not find Him or did not find what His Words really said, because you wanted to give preference to human doctrines instead of Biblical doctrines. Unless we clear away the stones of false doctrines and of materialism, which prevent the seed from being able to put down a good root system, the seed of His word will wither and die in the first spiritual drought, because we are relying on material things to sustain us, not the word of the Lord.
In this ever changing world which is still so strongly connected with the system of this world many Christians have drifted far away from the Biblical teaching. There are even lots of Christians today who don’t know the Bible-stories. Lots of them even never did read the Holy Bible and many only go a few times to church, where they do not hear much read from the Bible. Bible study for many is something unknown and inexperienced. Lots of so called Christians do just rely on the preacher, when they go to a service, to teach them everything they need to know!
Worse of all is that in Christendom we do find the majority of Christians following human doctrines. some of those doctrines may be already so established in Christian faith that the majority even think they are the cornerstones of Christendom. Others do want to go with their time (they think) and prefer to follow one of the many so-called fashionable “Christian” doctrines concentrating on a restricted view New Testament reading instead of obeying the “Old Testament God”.
The modern-day church, where they made Jesus in their god next to many other idols, people are more in love with the money they can make and the gadgets they can afford. But they also love a much free-er way of living they think the Bible would allow them to live. They do not mind blending cordially with a society that supports a so called equality, free-will and even sin.
We do not have not be blind, to become aware how this world gets blinded for moral values and natural decent ethics. Many Christians drift with this world further from God to please the people. They do not want to know how this might be a very dangerous path to travel.
Christians having objects or people as their god should be aware what the many rebbe said. The greatest of those rebbe was rabbi Jeshua, better known under his false name (but now common name) Jesus, who came to tell more about his heavenly Father and His promise for better times. He warned people that in case they want to be liberated, free from all oppressors of this world, they had to obey the Only One True God, Christ his God, Who was also the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!
Jesus revealed the teachings of his heavenly Father and wanted the whole world to get to know the truth, because as soon as all over the world the preaching or witnessing would take place, then would come the time that God shall answer all who are waiting eagerly for those better times.
To prepare for the coming Kingdom of God we do need to make sure that first of all we worship the right Supreme Being. Secondly we should come in front of Him wanting to make an end to our previous sinful life. A cleaning of our heart, mind and souls, is necessary and demands action. That action should be taken voluntary, by your own choice. Thirdly you shall have to accept Christ Jesus also into your heart and accept him for who he is (the son of God and not a god son) and for what he has done (he died as a ransom for our sins).
To have a good relationship with Christ and with God we do need ourselves to clear from everything which is against the Will of God. We also should do away with everything that could be a hindrance to the growth of the seed planted in us, so that it does not linger or will not wither because our secularisation.
Too many Christians have built their faith on fallow ground and the glories of the revivals of the past and the history surrounding its particular denomination, or movement as some like to refer to their history
then fertilising it with study of God’s word in the scriptures, so that no trouble that arises can stop the seed of the word from growing.
Read the thoughts taken from a convention address given by our brother in 2006:
Preparing for the Kingdom An exhortation by Brother John Haines
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Preceding articles
How can we prepare for the Kingdom of God
Scripture words written for our learning, given by inspiration of God for edification
A god who gave his people commandments and laws he knew they never could keep to it
Blinded crying blue murder having being made afraid by a bugaboo
Great things being heard and seen, sings of God
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Additional reading:
- A good idea to halt all activity for one hour some day
- Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 4
- Summermonths and consumerism
- Atonement And Fellowship 7/8
- The Song of The Lamb #8 Revelation 15 Lessons for us today
- Signs of the Last Days
- Signs of the the last days when difficult times will come
- The day is near studyweekend
- The dark side of our earthly existence
- Crystallised harmonious thinking
- Certainty in a troubled world
- Back from gone #1 Aim of ungodly people
- Back from gone #2 Aim of godly people
- Back from gone #3 Giving worries to God and believing in His promises
- Back from gone #4 Your inner feelings and actions
- Concerning gospel-faith
- A Living Faith #3 Faith put into action
- Destination of righteous
- Destination of the earth
- Epitome of the one faith
- God doesn’t call the qualified
- God’s design in the creation of the world
- God His reward
- God’s promises
- God’s promises to us in our suffering
- God’s salvation
- Hope
- God’s hope and our hope
- Hope for the future
- True hope
- Working of the hope
- If there is bitterness in the heart
- Importuning for suffering hearts
- Kingdom of God what will it be like
- Let us not forget it was God who chose us
- Man’s plans prevailed by God’s purpose
- Meaning of life
- Nurturing a close relationship with God
- As Christ’s slaves doing the Will of God in gratitude
- Offer in our suffering
- Our way of life
- Plain necessary food of the gospel
- Sow and harvests in the garden of your heart
- Days of Nisan, Pesach, Pasach, Pascha and Easter
- A royal wedding due to take place
- Who was Jesus?
- Will Jesus ever return to the earth?
- Secret or public return of Jesus
- Looking forward to the return of Jesus
- Why did Christ not reveal the exact time of his second coming?
- 41 percent expect Jesus by 2050
- I wait expectantly for Jesus
- Jesus … will come in the same way as you saw him go
- Just an Ordinary Day
- Together tasting a great promisse
- God Watches
- Coming to the end of the year
- The Conclusion of the System of Things
- Are you ready
- Words to push and pull
- Jehovah can make him stand
- Belonging to or being judged by
- Our relationship with God, Jesus and each other
- The possibilities of faith: A Faith that can move mountains
- Incomplete without the mind of God
- Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
- Bringing Good News into the world
- Preaching to an unbelieving world
- Proclaiming shalom, bringing good news of good things, announcing salvation
- Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #5 Prayer #2 Witnessing
- Looking for True Spirituality 7 Preaching of the Good News
- Missionary action paradigm for all endeavours of the church
- Not all ability to preach
- Breathing to teach
- Witnessing Glad Tidings
- Parish, local church community – Parochie, plaatselijke kerkgemeenschap
- Looking for a shepherd for the sheep and goats
- Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach
- Preachers should know and continue the task Jesus has given his followers
- Necessity of a revelation of creation 10 Instructions for insight and wisdom
- Necessary to be known all over the earth
- Using the name Jehovah but not a witness of that name
- To remove the whitewash of the Jehovah Witnesses as being the only true Bible Students and Bible Researchers
- Of old and new ideas to sustain power and to feel good by loving to be connected and worship something
- Which Christians Actually Evangelize
- Engagement in an actual two-way conversation with your deities
- What Should I Preach ? + What Should I Preach ?
- How should we preach?
- Evangelisation, local preaching opposite overseas evangelism
- Manifests for believers #5 Christian Union
- Those who love Jesus
- Biblereading statue
- Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #11 Prayer #9 Making the Name Holy
- Why we do not keep to a Sabbath or a Sunday or Lord’s Day #3 Days to be kept holy or set apart
- Bible sayings about God
- The Almighty Lord God of gods King above all gods
- Jehovah God Almighty greater than all gods
- Elohim, Mar-Yah showing His wonders
- See God’s wonderworks and hear His Voice
- By temptations, by signs, and by wonders we can see the Works of God
- God giving signs and producing wonders
- Two states of existence before God
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Further readings:
- On Colossians 1:21-23
- The Pursuit of Glory: How it Leaves us Restless
- I am not with them
- Inner-Circle Outer-Circle
- Keep Them As Clothes, Not As Skin
- WHY Christians are called to live differently
- EM Bounds: Christians Are Obliged to Pray; Not Obliged to Grow Rich, Nor Make Money
- A Prophetic Exparable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins
- When Pressing On Means Giving Up
- Holiness
- All That Is In This World
- Recognizing the World
- Why I left redemption Gilbert church
- Verses to memorize for sexual temptation
- Make A Choice
- Christmas IS Spiritual Adultery SIN: Reasons Not To Celebrate Xmas
- Thoughts on BUZZFEED’S video ‘I am a Christian…but I’m not’
- The Plow: Upsetting the Normal Christian Life
- A Changed Mind and a Changed Life
- An Open Letter to Christmas Haters…
- Stand Firm
- Advent hope: focus
- Appalling Apostasy
- Today’s Church
- we impact each other, for good or ill
- Success In Life
- The Plow: Modern Churchianity
- Leonid of Optina: “Beware of passionate attachments to the world”
- Revive Us Again
- On Fight Club, Materialism, and the Modern Man’s World
- Biblical Discernment
- What Good is Such Learning?
- Worldliness: Lust and Pride
- The Awful Danger of Unbelief
- Faithfulness To Christ, And To His Truth, Is Everything
- “Wrecking Ball”
- Don’t Be Mr. In Between Pt. 3
- We Can’t Love Both Christ and This World
- Journey to see God: What God detests
- 15 October: Feast of St Teresa of Avila – What Can We Learn From Her Life?
- Do You Want to Be Successful, Or Happy?
- It’s All or Nothing Bro (or Should Christians Watch TV?)
- Where Are You, God?
- Our citizenship
- Renewing our minds
- What Ever Happened . . .
- Offend Man or God?
- Submit Yourselves to God
- Walking Worthy Of Our Lord??? Bible Ballistics: BBs #199
- A Crumb from the Master’s Table / “Know Your Enemy”
- The “Good Book”
- Kingdom of Me Parables
- “Whatever you did not do…”
- The Mind-set of a Set Mind.
- living in an angry culture
- Why Predestination is a False Doctrine
- The Book of Revelation and Church Leadership, PXIII
- God Does NOT Tolerate Compromise!
- “Our Father”–God Is Everyone’s Creator, Not Everyone’s Father
- Tip of the Day, December 18
- False Doctrines: Gold Dust
- New Series: False Doctrines
- Losing our Drive to Obey God
- Tip of the Day, December 31
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