Five Years or Less?

What if Jesus was to return in five years or less? What if there were only five more years (or less) to struggle with sin, pain, disease, suffering, sorrow, and all the other effects of sin? What if there were only five more years (or less) before Jesus will come to take His children home to be with Him in heaven? Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Wouldn’t that be really good news? 

What if there were only five more years (or less) for you to be purified so that your character (your thoughts, your feelings, your actions, and your reactions) is just like Jesus’? What if there were only five more years (or less) for you to share with others the good news of a soon-coming Savior and the need to prepare for His return? What if there were only five more years (or less), for you to cooperate with God for the salvation of your family, friends, enemies, and neighbors? What if there were only five years (or less) to reach the whole world with the message of a crucified and risen Savior, that those who have never even heard the name of Jesus might be saved (there are still approximately 7,000 people groups in the world that have never even heard the gospel message)? 

What if there were only five years (or less) before you stand before God and give an account for your stewardship of His time, His resources, and His capacities that were given to you for the purpose of cooperating with Him in the salvation of souls? If in comparison with a single soul, the value of worlds fades into insignificance; if the Son of God left the perfection of heaven to face sin, sorrow, suffering, and death in this dark world for the sake of saving a single soul (He would have done it for just one); if the last command He gave to His disciples was to, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you”;^[1] then what will you tell Him when He returns and asks an account of your stewardship? 

Is it a joyful thought that Jesus could return in the next five years (or less)? Or is it a terrifying one? I remember having a dream once where I was walking alone down a paved street in the middle of a country location. All of a sudden, a loud sound began to roll through the air. Soon the ground was shaking. And then I knew what it was. It was Jesus returning! I can’t describe to you the absolute terror that filled my soul in that moment. It was worse than the thought of facing death. At that moment I awoke, drenched in sweat and with my heart pounding in my chest. I wasn’t ready, and His return was the most terrible thing I could imagine. 

Some time later, I had the same dream. As I was walking alone down the paved street in the middle of the same country location, all of a sudden, the same loud sound began to roll through the air. Soon the ground was shaking. And then I knew what it was. It was Jesus returning! I can’t describe to you the absolute joy and excitement that filled my soul in that moment. It was the most wonderful feeling I had every felt in my life. I awoke with a wonderful sense of peace and joy. I was ready, and His return was the most wonderful thing I could imagine. 

If your life has been lived selfishly; if you have wasted God’s time, money, energy, etc. on things that will never last; if you have turned souls away from Christ rather than to Him; if all you can see is a long chain of failures and mistakes behind you, binding you to the past and preventing you from pursuing a different future; then now is your time to turn to Jesus. Come to the cross. Acknowledge before Him how you have wasted His resources, mismanaged your stewardship, and failed Him in every way. Acknowledge that you deserve nothing but death and have no claim to any of His grace. But also recognize that it is sinners that He came into the world to save. It is sinners He loves. It is sinners to whom He offers His grace, that we might be set free from the penalty, the presence, and the power of sin in our lives. At the cross, He offers to exchange your miserable life with His perfect one. He offers to give you all of the righteousness of His life, while He takes your sinfulness and puts it to death in Himself on the cross. And as you accept that gift of the life of Christ in exchange for your life, then you get His past, His record, and His power. 

Now, in Christ, you lived completely for the salvation of souls. You were never distracted by things that were of less importance. You understood the worth of a soul, and you sacrificed your life for the sake of others, that they might know God, love Him, and be saved to live with Him forever. 

And now, what do you do? You continue living for the salvation of souls. You continue sacrificing your life for the sake of others. You take the history and direction of Jesus’ past as the momentum and direction of your present and future. You, by faith, joyfully enter into cooperation with God in reaching the lost. There is nothing more important than the salvation of souls. There is nowhere better that you can use the money, property, energy, capacities, etc. that God has given you to steward. 

I challenge you to seriously consider these questions:

If you only had five more years (or less) before Jesus returns…

…what would you do?

…what would you give up?

…how would your priorities need to change?  

…what would be worth pouring your (God’s, actually) time, energy, focus, talents, finances, and resources into?

…what conversations do you need to have, and with whom?

…what relationships need mending?

…what restitution do you need to make?

…what is needed for your slate to be clean before God and men?

…what do you need to do with God’s money, properties, possessions, etc. in relation to the needs of the work of saving souls?

…where does God want you to be, and what does He want you to be doing?

As we as a ministry have contemplated these questions, we have decided to make some changes to how we operate. While we will continue to offer books, workbooks, flash drives, and other resources for your benefit and the benefit of your loved ones and contacts, we are going to make them all available on a donation basis, rather than having a set fee for them. If you don’t have the funds to get them for yourself, we want to make sure you get them anyway. And if you want to get multiple items to share with others, we want to facilitate that. The more souls that can be reached with the truth that can set them free, the better. We will also make the books we have written and published available in electronic format (PDF, etc.) so they can be distributed electronically far and wide. We are also working on getting all of the videos and files formerly available only on flash drive and making them accessible through the internet. We trust the Lord will continue to support us financially as we support you and your loved ones with the services and products needed to bring you to freedom. It will take us about a month to fix our infrastructure to be able to provide these resources this way. So, keep your eyes open for a future update letting you know what is available and how you can access it. Thank you for keeping us in prayer as we seek to cooperate the best we know how with the Lord in preparing souls for His kingdom.  

^[1] Matthew 28:18-19