Stand firm till the end to be saved

Speaking a few words will not save you, nor will believing that Jesus is who He says who He is. 

• First we believe and ask for forgiveness. John 3:16 
• Repentance is part of believing and necessary for salvation. Luke 13:3
• Denying ourselves and taking up our cross daily. Luke 9:23
• Stand firm until the end. Matthew 10:22, 24:13

This is how we are saved. Christ gave us the instructions. 

email: RuggedTruthGodsWord@gmail.com

God has a super huge plan. We all have to do our part as He assigns to us. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, brothers and sisters in the Lord and hopeful family members going to come on in. New people that don't know the Lord can come on in and become part of the eternal family that's always going to live and always be joyous with the Lord. Won't have to face the coming wrath that's coming to everyone that doesn't know him, that doesn't know the Lord Jesus Christ, doesn't follow him. Not just knowing the name and knowing the words to say, but actually taking up our cross daily and standing firm to the end. Those are the words that the Lord Jesus Christ told us. Those are found in Luke 9, 23 for the carrying the cross daily, and in Matthew 10, 22, and again in Matthew 24, 13, that we have to stand firm on the Lord and all the way to the end, to the end of our life, to be saved. It's not just words, something that the Lord told us to do that we have to do. We have to repent and follow Him. And so many people are looking for the meaning of life. And if they would look inwardly, they would see that there is a God-shaped hole inside of them. Every person has the same thing, that hole that needs to be filled with Christ. Drugs, alcohol, sex, whatever won't do it. It won't. And we have to follow Christ, and it will uh develop in us into a wonderful thing, into something that we can share with people. We can tell them about Christ and what he's done for us and how he's helped us to uh recover from downfall and things we've gotten caught in. We just we turn it over to the Lord and He'll help us defeat it. And we tell others what happened with us. We just share our story. And we have to realize no matter what's going on, it doesn't change the fact that God is good. Because bad things are going on in the world. That doesn't mean God wants them to happen in the way they're happening. Sin is in the world. And we're in a fallen world. And God is trying to help us make it through. He sent his son, Jesus Christ, to help each one of us claw out of this world. That's pretty much what it is. It's a fight. And we fight with the Lord. We open ourselves up and let the Lord enter us and we enter into the fight. Because Satan is alive and well, and he is fighting to win as many souls his direction. Actually, he's already got everybody. And we have to help them find the Lord so that he doesn't take everybody to hell. Because sadly, few find the way to the Lord. And like in Luke 13, 24, when the Lord tells us that he says, make every effort to enter through the narrow door, through is through him, is through Christ. Because many will try, but will not get in. Very few make it. So let's help as many as we can to find the good way, to find the way to the Lord. And on a personal note, for each one of us, we have to repent, repent or perish in Luke 13, 3. And we have to be intentional in our pursuit of God through repentance and just turning our lives over to Him daily, sometimes moment to moment. It's really hard to fathom sometimes how it can be moment to moment, but just wait a minute, because Satan will kick the stool right off from under you, and you'll end up on your back. And you'll be looking up, saying, Lord, what happened? And there's an old saying that says for looking at others, oh, how could I how could that happen to them? Oh, look at them, say, uh-uh. There's an old saying that says, But for the grace of God, there go I. And it is so true that each one of us we have to take care that we don't fall. Because Satan is like a roaring lion, and he's looking to who he can devour. He wants to destroy people's testimonies, people's story, the personal story of their success through the Lord. That's the only way we have success is through the Lord. But Satan wants to destroy that. Because he could help keep more and more people for himself, going to hell with him. Because misery does love company. That's what Satan's trying to do. He's trying to hurt God by keeping people from coming to him, coming to God. And sin is a disease. It truly is a disease. It's eaten all of us up that don't know the Lord. And it still yet gnaws on those of us that do know the Lord. We still yet sin. We don't want to. Like when Paul said in the New Testament, the things I don't want to do, I do, and the things I want to do, I don't do. And that can be found in Romans 7, 15 to 19. When the internal conflicts that each person has, even though we know the Lord, I don't know how people can keep just trucking along without the Lord. Life is difficult with the Lord, but it's very doable. We can be victorious through the Lord. I don't know how people do it without Him. Well, with Him, not only will we be victorious in this life, but we're victorious in the life to come because He's given us eternal life. But the folks that don't know Him, they'll have eternal death. And everyone that is born is born on the highway to hell. And it's up to each and every one of us to talk to as many people and to share our life story with them to let them know that Christ is the only way. Not Islam, not Buddhism, Muhammad and all these guys, you know, they say God is good, but then they go killing people. How is that good? As Christians, through Christ, we are part of the God of love. He lives in us. His Holy Spirit lives in us, and we share that with people. And I pray that for myself and every Christian that's out there and listening, that the Holy Spirit would fill each one of his children so much that with every step they take, they spill a little bit of the Spirit out on people around them. And it becomes contagious. That God would be contagious instead of sin. Sin is so contagious, and God can be contagious through his cure of forgiveness. Only through Christ Jesus our Lord. Only through his shed blood have any of us any chance at all. And that's through Him and clinging to Christ. Because the end is coming for all of us at one point or another, whether the life that we have comes to an end or the Lord returns. Every generation says, oh, the Lord's coming back soon. The Lord's coming back soon. He is coming back soon. We don't know when. And it's really getting bad now, getting worse and worse all the time. And in Matthew 24, 12, the Lord's saying that the love of most will grow cold. Lawlessness will be rampant and growing crazily. And there'll be so many people that fall away from the faith, a great falling away rather than a great revival. There's going to be small revivals in the meantime, until a great persecution comes out, then people are going to turn back from it. They won't stand firm to the end. You have to be willing to give yourself for the Lord. All of us have to. That's what he says. Each one of us Christians get knocked down. And we have to help each other get up. And my beautiful wife helped me get back up. I've been on a I got bumped down, knocked down. And Satan was doing his best keeping me down. I was looking inward. Woe is me. Oh boo-hoo-hoo. And my lovely bride took me to the woodshed and says, cut it out. And she's so right. I have to just keep looking to the Lord and clinging to the Lord. All of us will get knocked down at one time or another, and Satan is so slick and crafty. He's been at it for thousands of years. And he will beat every one of us. If we look inwardly and look at our own selves, we will fall every time. We've got to look at the Lord because we're not capable of standing alone. And that's what I was doing. I got all big-headed and tumbled forward and took a big crash. And well, I'm back up. I thank the good Lord, I'm back up. And we have to help each other. We've got to keep encouraging one another to stand up and to stand strong in the Lord, stand firm in the Lord. Because the time is short. And the Antichrist is coming. He is, I personally think he's already alive and he's just waiting to be revealed. And it's going to be a terrible time when he takes power. And we as Christians have to stand firm on the Lord and do not turn back from the faith because you will lose your faith. You will lose your soul if you turn back from the Lord. Saying a few words does not save you. Believing does not save you. Like it says in the book of James, even the demons believe. The Lord Himself said, Who stands firm to the end will be saved. Matthew 10, 33 and Luke 12, 9, it says, if we deny the Lord, he will deny us. And we don't want that, because that would be eternal damnation, eternal trouble. Speaking a few words doesn't do it. Taking up our cross daily, following the Lord, sharing with others, and helping them find the Lord. We can't save anybody, but the Lord can save everybody. He came into the world to save everybody in John 3.16. We speak the words, we repent, we take up our cross daily, and we stand firm to the end. And we will be saved. Well, brothers and sisters, let's be busy talking to folks and sharing our story with folks as we can. We've just got to do that because if not, sometimes you're the only Jesus people will know. People will see is the Holy Spirit that's in you. We've got to help them find the Lord. Make the introduction and let God take it from there. Well, brothers and sisters, I pray the good Lord's face shine upon you. It saves your souls. And until next time, this is Brother Rick signing off, and I love you in the name of Jesus Christ. Let's do this together.