What determines your readiness?

Apostle Tracey Robinson

Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 KJV Amplified

1 REMEMBER [earnestly] also your Creator [that you are not your own, but His property now] in the days of your youth, before the evil days come or the years draw near when you will say [of physical pleasures], I have no enjoyment in them.

2 Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened [sight is impaired], and the clouds [of depression] return after the rain [of tears].

3 In the day when the keepers of the house [the hands and the arms] tremble, and the strong men [the feet and the knees] bow themselves, and the grinders [the molar teeth] cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows [the eyes] are darkened;

4 When the doors [the lips] are shut in the streets and the sound of the grinding [of the teeth] is low, and one rises up at the voice of a bird and the crowing of a cock, and all the daughters of music [the voice and the ear] are brought low;

5 Also when [the old] are afraid of danger from that which is high, and fears are in the way, and the almond tree [their white hair] blooms, and the grasshopper [a little thing] is a burden, and desire and appetite fail, because man goes to his everlasting home and the mourners go about the streets or marketplaces.

6 [Remember your Creator earnestly now] before the silver cord [of life] is snapped apart, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern [and the whole circulatory system of the blood ceases to function];

7 Then shall the dust [out of which God made man’s body] return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God Who gave it.

Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return.

• Salvation is not only designed to transform you in to being a new creature in Christ, to reconcile you back to God the Father, to set your soul free from the entanglements of sin and devastation created by the flesh, but to prepare you for eternity.
• To be prepared for eternity to leave this world to live in eternity with God the Father and the Son.
• When we leave this world to live in eternity our choices on this earth will determine if we spend eternity in eternal heaven or eternal hell.
• Why are believers and sinners afraid to die? Because to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord God.
• 2 Corinthians 5:5-11 5 Now He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight): 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
• The Blood of Jesus purge your conscience from the dead works of your old nature, its learned behaviors, and the traditions and religions of men to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:14).
• Salvation makes us ready to die. Will you be ready to die when the Lord calls?
• What is death? Death is the end of life, or the cessation of vital functions, the termination of life.
• Death is a separation from the physical body and the physical earth. The separation of the soul the spiritual part of man from the body which is the material part of man.
• Spiritual death is separation from God caused by sin. This is the death of the soul. The soul that sins shall die. (Ezekiel 18:4).
• Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28 So, Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
• But what is the real reason that people are afraid to die? Because of their treasures upon this earth. Leaving their earthly possessions and wealth has become the primary focus and has taken the attention of many away from God.
• Leaving their earthly possessions and wealth in the hands of people that they don’t want to have access to them causes stress over the thought of dying and leaving all of what they have accomplished on the earth.
• Leaving their earthly possessions and wealth without knowing what their spiritual and eternal process and destination will consist of.
• Many believers have a wicked imagination of what life after death will be like when they die.
• Many believe that they will still be able to rely upon their human responses in what has now become a spiritual transaction. Your Will is no longer choosing your choice of actions and reactions. This will be the judgment of your soul.
• Psalm 116:15 KJV Amplified Precious (important and no light matter) in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints (His loving ones).
• A saint is a holy person who is set apart for God’s service; described as those that believe faithfully through the faith of Christ Jesus; to live a life possessing a lifestyle that is consistent with the prescribed methods and order of the Spirit of God in His Word.
• A person that is holy, sacred, and consecrated to God for His purposes.
• Why are people afraid to die? Because they are spiritually unprepared, and they spiritually lack knowledge to what really has become their FUTURE.
• We prepare for the earthly man while living on the earth but have no preparation for the spirit man and his destiny. THINK ABOUT IT!
•  We get insurance for everything while living on this earth, i.e. insurances for our body, homes, cars, children, medical, etc.
• We prepare our bodies for death by having what mankind calls life insurance to be used for a proper burial for the body, which is going to return to the dust.
• What insurance do we obtain while living on the earth for our soul? What is your insurance for your soul after death?
• Well, our insurance is Jesus Christ and should be Jesus Christ. Without Him there is no promise to those who are not in Him.
• After death, the soul automatically enters the presence of or before God with no human responses.
• Once the breath (which is spirit) cease on the earth we are in the Presence of the Lord God to judge your soul. If your insurance is Jesus Christ eternal Heaven is your home.
• Here is the great transformation of the change which is a mystery that takes place upon believers that shall live eternally.

1 Corinthians 15:50-56

50 Now, this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

• Here is the breakdown of this corruptible putting on incorruptible, and mortal putting on immortality.
• We shall all be transformed whether you are a believer or a sinner.
• A last trumpet will sound and those that died in Christ will be raised imperishable, free, and immune from decay and we shall be changed (transformed).
• Our perishable part (mortality) is our soul. Our soul must put on the imperishable nature (immortality) of the image of God after their likeness which will free you/us from death.
• When your soul puts on the imperishable nature that which is no longer capable for dying, freed from death then the Scripture that says death is swallowed up is vanquished forever in and to victory. So, death has no victory and has no sting.
• Sin is the sting of death that exercised its power upon and over your soul through the abuse of the Law.
• St Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

In closing,

• Don’t fear death but be joyful that you/we will be with the Lord.
• Salvation prepares us to die and to put on a glorified body to see Jesus.
• Hope. It is like having a baby. All women that have given birth have hope with a longing expectation of what they have been carrying for 9 months.
• When you have no knowledge or lack understanding of the knowledge you have about being in Christ there is no HOPE though we say I want to see Jesus. But for many that is not an expectancy.
• The strategy of living in your humanism to enter eternity will be based upon the life you now live on earth along with the choices you have made to accept or reject the way Christ Jesus.
• Philippians 1:21-23 KJV Amplified 21 For me to live in Christ [His life in me], and to die is gain [the gain of the glory of eternity]. 22 If, however, it is to be life in the flesh and I am to live on here, that means fruitful service for me; so I can say nothing as to my personal preference [I cannot choose], 23 But I am hard pressed between the two. My yearning desire is to depart (to be free of this world, to set forth) and be with Christ, for that is far, far better;
• Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people. It is the most ultimate place to go to. In Heaven there is no sin, no murder, no worries, no thieves, no tears, etc.
• As we bare the image of the earth, so shall we bear the image of the Heavenly.
• We all have been predestined by God to be in the image of the likeness of His Son and called to serve.
• Death is the pinnacle, the highest point of life.
• God grants us the privilege to choose eternal life or eternal damnation.
• Are you prepared to die and leave this world to be present with our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus?

Amen

Sunday, February 16, 2025