IS IT REALLY TIME TO GO? 

            I want to introduce this message today by going back to a statement recently made when we talked about events that are occurring and institutions that are now being set up which indicate that the end of this age is near.  The statement was "that we are the first generation that qualifies to be the last generation".  I am in agreement with this statement.  The Devil has done or is in the process of doing exactly what God prophesied that he would do as it relates to the end of this world, as we know it.  The establishment of a one world government and religion is already in the making and in some aspects is gaining popularity every day.  At this point we do not know who is the Antichrist or beast of Revelation 13.  But, we do know that the dragon who gives the Antichrist his power has already began to establish governmental authority in the world.  That dragon is none other than Satan himself, and he is going about now to establish the kingdom that he will set up on the earth between the time the church is raptured and the second coming of Christ.  Satan already has all the tools in place to establish his kingdom.  So from the viewpoint of what Satan has been doing in the world, we are the first generation that qualifies to be the last generation.  For those of us who know Jesus as our savior and have the hope of being caught up to meet Him in the rapture, it is exciting to think that we could be so close to receiving manifested eternal life with God.  When considering the condition of the world, everything seems ready.  But today the question I want to ask is "Is the Church Ready".  From God's viewpoint is the church ready?  Based on what God has said about the church is it ready to be raptured?

            The first thing that we must do in answering this question is to establish who or what we are taking about when we say the church.  You see many in America have their names on a church role.  It is an easy task to join a local church and have your name on the role.  Church membership is encouraged every Sunday in almost every church in America.  However, relationship with Christ is rarely explained as a prerequisite for church membership.  Allowing membership without relationship is wrong because it give one a false opinion.  Many believe that they are right with God simply because they have membership in a local church.  (Prov. 30:12) 

Eph. 1:22-23 - The church is the body of Christ and the body of Christ is used in reference to those who have relationship with Him.  The church is called the house of God.  But Acts 17:24 says, God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth dwells not in temples made with hands.  Paul talking to Christians in I Cor. 6:19 says, "that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in us".  Simply put, the church is the body of believers who have an established personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Matt. 16:15-18 - Jesus says here that He will build His church on the fact that He is the Christ, the son of the living God.  He says that it is His church.  It belongs to Him.  But Rom. 8:9 says, "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His".  So the Church belongs to Christ.  He claims possession of all those who have relationship with Him.  He calls us His body and boldly proclaims that even the very gates of hell shall not prevail against us.  The amplified Bible says on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades or the powers of the infernal region shall not overpower it, or be strong to its detriment, or hold out against it.  Basically Jesus is saying my church is founded on who I am.  As He cannot be over taken, neither can his church.  The body of Christ as we know it today, is this the church that Christ was describing here.  We might answer, yes as a collective unit.  But we do not stand as a collective unit.  We can not even seem to stand as a collective unit here on N.C. State's campus, let alone around the world.  As individuals we are certainly not the church being described here.  We are trying with all our might to hold out against the powers of hell as opposed to them trying to hold out against us. 

Eph. 4:8-13 - These gifts were given to equip the church to do the ministry that we have been called to.  How long were we to do this work. (1) Until the members of the Church arrive at perfect unity in the knowledge of Christ; (2) until the members of the Church reach perfect man or womanhood.  Until we mature in Christ; and (3) until the members reach a statue that can be measured only by the fullness of Christ.  What does this boil down to?  The church is to be a body of men and women who have in them the reflection of Jesus Christ Himself.  Is that not what II Cor. 3:18 is speaking about when it says that we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord and changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.  If reflectors of Jesus is God's standard for the Church, then is the Church ready to go home?

            Let's stop talking about the church as whole.  We all know that we are going to find many of the same conditions out in the local church as we have here in USF, and maybe even worse conditions.  But let's just talk about us.  Let's talk about the United Student Fellowship.  As individuals are we reflecting Jesus.  We are striving towards that goal, but are we there.  And to be honest I am not sure that we all know what all is meant by being changed into the image of Christ.  When that phrase is used the immediate picture is one should be sinless, and that is true.  But Jesus was more that just sinless.  He had no sin but he also had no weights.  Nothing held him down from completing the mission that God had sent him on.  The church has worked for years on sin, but God wants more than just a sinlessness for us.  He wants wholeness for us. 

Eph. 5:25-27 - Christ invested all that he has and is in the church for a reason.  That he might present us to Himself without spot or wrinkle.  Spots refer to defilement on the outside.  This would be things like sins, character flaws, non-Christlike behavior and actions.  Wrinkles refer to decay on the inside.  God has been showing me recently that this refers to the broken and fragmented pieces of our inner being.  Life and it's experiences has caused a brokenness and decay in us that has caused many of us to adopt the attitude of simply waiting out our time here so we can go home to be with God.  We are simply here, existing, going through the motions of living, but in no way living in the means that God has ordained.  Where is the abundant life that Christ has already purchased for us?  Is abundant life found in hiding from our inner hurts, not confronting our past, but allowing our past to be our future also?  As individuals are we living the abundant life?  Are we without spot or wrinkle?  If not then how can the church be without spot or wrinkle.

            As Israel was considered married to God in the Old Testament, so the church is to be the Bride of Christ.  The human bride prepares herself for her husband to be, but Christ prepares His own bride for himself. 

Rev. 19:7-9 - Here in this passage the wife is ready.  She is dressed in her fine linen, clean and white.  She is clothed in righteous.  She is a church without spot or wrinkle. 

            We talk about being raptured up to be with Jesus, and though all is in place from the enemy's perspective, are we truly ready to be the bride of Christ. 

            For the church, the rapture will be a going home to the promise land.  Even as God delivered Israel and brought her into the promise land so it will be with the church.  But lets look at the final stages of Israel's deliverance. 

Exodus 12:29-42 - God delivered Israel with a mighty hand.  They did not go out like whimpering little puppies with their tails between their legs and their heads hung low.  Though they had been slaves for 400 years they went out with their heads high, having experienced the victory of God.  Not the coming victory, but the present victory.  Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron in the middle of the night and literally put the Children of Israel out of Egypt and begged them to go.  He even asked Moses to pray for him.  The children of Israel spoiled Egypt before they left.  God's enemy was so glad to be rid of God's people that they were given what ever they asked for.  That is the way God delivers His people.  God is not weak and powerless over the enemy so that the only way He can keep his promises of peace, liberty and abundant life is to snatch us away like whipped dogs.

            I've heard many say recently that they like myself feel as if they are in a furnace.  I've heard people talking and testifying about the fact that God has opened their closets.  You know why God is opening our closets.  Because what is inside of them is a weight that keeps us from living the abundant life that God has called us to.  God is working on our inner person, because those hurts and attitudes that we have hidden in the closet affect our relationship with Him and our service to Him.  The church is full of hurting and broken people and God wants to make us whole so that we can live the life that he has called us to, to the fullest, and be a church not only without spot but also without a wrinkle.   A bride for the Son of God can be no less than that.  (I John 3:1-3, Esther 2:9-12)

            In a message I preached once entitled Loosed by the Master we looked at to women who had infirmities for long periods of time.  We look at the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:21-34) who had spent all that she had and tried everything the doctors had recommended in an attempt to be healed.  Being considered religiously unclean (Lev. 15:19-28) for 12 years had to be a heart breaking experience.  She was alienated from others because of her physical condition and with everything in her she wanted to be whole.  Her urgency for wholeness drove her to reach for the hem of Jesus' garment.

            Then we looked at the woman who had been bound by the devil for 18 years.  She had become complacent in her condition and though she was in the presence of Jesus she sought no deliverance.  Many of us are like this bound lady.  we recognize that we are bound and we testify that Jesus has purchased liberty for us, but in our complacency we choose to stay bound.  It is easier to continue like we are than to release ourselves to the master and be freed.  But Jesus would not allow that lady to stay bound.  He reached out for her.  God has invaded many of our closets.  He invaded them because we refused to open the door when he knocked gently.  He cannot allow us to stay bound.  Those things or issues that keep us bound are wrinkles in our lives and his bride must be both without spot and without wrinkle.  We are the first generation that qualifies to be the last generation, so let's get ready to go.