Derek Prince - Taking Responsibility Precedes The Return Of Jesus
This excerpt is from: How Should We Prepare For His Appearing?
So let me try and wrap this up. I’m going to come back to what I believe are our responsibilities if we claim that we are awaiting eagerly the return of the Lord, if we're longing for His appearing. First of all, we must cultivate personal holiness. Without holiness, the Bible says, no one will see the Lord. Two, we must complete our assigned task, each one of us. And as we complete our assigned task, we’re adding strands to the linen that will be our bridal dress. Number three, Jesus warns us of the need of continuing prayer. That we may have strength to escape all these things. And to stand before the Son of man. And then Peter challenges us, not merely to wait for the day, but to speed it’s coming. We can do things that will hasten the return of the Lord. Conversely, if we don’t do them, we will delay the return of the Lord. One way or the other, we’re responsible.
The two things that I've suggested Biblically are appropriate at this time. Number one, we’re responsible to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to all nations. Because until that has happened, the end will not come. Do you accept that? I mean, is that clear in Matthew 24:14? I don’t see it as any other way to understand it. How many of you realized that before? A few; God bless you. See, I do believe satan does everything in his power to keep the Church ignorant of that one vital issue. He’s quite happy to see us with our Sunday School picnics. And a lot of other things that just keep the Church going, but don’t threaten his kingdom one little bit. The other thing is prepare the way of the Lord by comforting Israel. By showing them love. That’s one thing they’ve experienced very little of in 19 centuries of exile, is love. You’d be surprised how unfeigned love, with no strings attached, will melt a Jewish heart. They will almost run after you, when they feel that you really love them. And I’m not talking about trying to get them to become Baptists. You understand?
My personal conviction may shock you. I don’t really want to see Jews become Baptists. Thank God for Baptists. But I believe that Jews who believe in their Jewish Messiah should be allowed to remain Jewish. That’s an issue we won’t go into. But we don’t have to solve all these problems. We have to comfort them. We have to love them. We have to pray for them.