I am delighted when I have the opportunity to say something about Jesus and His salvation towards us through His word, the Bible. I thank God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ for the opportunity He has given me to share this message of hope and encouragement with you as we approach the end of time. My dear brothers and sisters, dear friends, we are to hold on in faith and steadfastness waiting for and hastening Jesus’ second coming.  May God’s Holy Spirit guide, prepare and enable us to grow up in our spiritual lives in such a way that people may see in us the perfect reflection of Jesus’ character. These are the people who are going to heaven when Jesus comes, and you and I should make sure we are among this group as described in the Bible.

“These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.” Revelation 14:4–5

“And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints!” Revelation 15:2–3

I have some questions: Do you want to be there? Do you believe in these wonderful promises? I know you do, and so do I. What is waiting for us is beyond our comprehension. Even Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” So, heaven is real; the promises are true and God is faithful and worthy to be trusted in all what He has said. Then it remains with us to do our part in order to receive these blessings and, one day, be with Jesus, for all eternity.

I would like to address the theme of “How to be steadfast, and stay ready for Jesus’ second coming.”  The reason we hold Evangelistic seminars, Bible studies, health seminars and all other missionary activities that we believe Jesus is near, my friends. This world is going to end very soon; sin will be destroyed and God’s children will be delivered from the destruction that comes upon this wicked world that gave its back to Jesus, although so many appeals to receive the greatest gift of salvation have been made. What a privilege we have, what a honour to be chosen to give the last warning to this world, and at the same time to prepare ourselves for the most important event in one’s life.

Jesus will return, just as He promised, to come and take us where He is. David believed this promise: “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him.” Psalm 50:3. Paul believed it also: “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16. The angels proclaimed it Acts 1:11, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” Jesus, my friends, promised that He would go to prepare a place for us and not only that He also said, “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:3. What a wonderful promise! Don’t let it go, my brother, my sister, dear friend. Don’t allow anything in this world to steal from you this wonderful promise.

It may be a bad habit, it may be a particular sin you are clinging to and, believe me, it is not worthy in comparison with what Jesus has prepared for us. When I am thinking of the privileges Jesus gave me, although I do not deserve them, I am amazed at the infinite love God has for me and for you. Take time and meditate upon Jesus’ infinite love towards you and very soon you will notice how great His goodness and mercy is.  What a wonderful Saviour we have! Praise God!

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58. The church in the city of Corinth was one that had many struggles. Its location was in Greece so most members were Gentiles. The city of Corinth was rich and extremely wicked.  It was located on both land and sea trade routes so many foreigners passed through the city. Another thing to know about Corinth is that it was a center of idol worship with a host of temple male and female prostitutes.  It had a sports center and hosted the Olympic Games

The apostle Paul spent about a year and half there, establishing the congregation in Corinth, teaching and exhorting believers to follow the risen Christ and His teachings and not the traditions of men. The problem was that after the departure of Paul some began to pervert the teachings and to tolerate sin. For this reason Paul in his epistle said, “Therefore my beloved brethren, be stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” We must be steadfast in our faith. Steadfastness is the ability to stay faithful in the midst of evil influences. Nowadays, the devil will try absolutely anything to distract us from the path of righteousness. He has always done this, but he is trying harder than ever before because he knows that his days are numbered, and his end is near.  But, what does it mean to be steadfast, unmoveable and always abounding in good work? Understanding what they mean will help us understand what we need to be doing. Because, in these end-times, it is absolutely imperative that we do these things.

Steadfast: To be steadfast means to be vigorous, dedicated, dependable, good, passionate and unwavering.  Hebrews 10:23 encourages us to “hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;).” “If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.” Colossians 1:23. What about us, my brothers and sisters, my friends, are we steadfast in our faith? Are we growing every day in our spiritual life? Are we steadfast in revealing to others the teachings of Christ?

Some days ago I met two young girls doing missionary work. They were Mormons. Of course, I asked them about the possibility to meet together to have Bible studies and share our faith. In fact, they liked this idea and so we set up our first appointment. We chose a day when my wife had a day off from work and we met together in our home. The first study was sharing our personal experiences with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We prayed together and set up our next appointment which was yesterday evening, and by God’s help I brought them to the Bible and Bible alone, because this is where we anchor our faith and remain steadfast on the way to salvation. We know the beliefs of the Mormons, how they try to introduce the false teachings of Joseph Smith through the Bible. But if we bring them back to the Scriptures there is no way to get lost. So, be steadfast in what you believe—teach and let the Holy Spirit do His work without questioning or wavering. Finally brethren, remember, we have to bring them to our faith, because this is the only faith which saves sinners from their sins, and this is the faith of Jesus.

The apostle Paul further advises us, saying, besides having the assurance of salvation, it is important to persevere and uphold the hope offered to us all. In Hebrews, to hold fast is a serious appeal. One gets the impression that some believers were slipping away from their Christian faith and hope. The apostle had to encourage them not to let go. The text expresses, quite similarly, the things that are worth holding on to: hope, confidence, assurance, and confession. All of these terms refer, in an objective sense, to the Christian belief. We can do these things because our hope isn’t in ourselves but in Jesus and what He has done for us. The moment that we forget that crucial truth we will surely lose our confidence. These texts challenge us to be steadfast from the “beginning” (Hebrews 3:14) and “until the end” (see also Hebrews 3:6, 14; 6:11). Paul goes further in his epistle to the Hebrews and said; “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23, NKJV. This verse refers to an immutable and unshaken faith. Whatever the circumstance may be, our hope remains the same and our commitment to God is unchanged because we can trust that He is faithful and will do what He has promised.

As we approach the end of time and Jesus is going to come soon, Satan tries to discourage us through his cunning methods; brethren, let us remember that this foe is a loser and defeated forever and ever, so we are able, by the blood of the Lamb, to defeat him also. Whatever bad habit or evil inclination we have, when it is brought to Jesus, and it is confessed and abandoned, with a humble spirit, asking for help, Jesus is there to give us power, my friends. There is no question that God is true to His Word. He fulfilled the promise that He made to Abraham and Sarah and throughout generations down to our time. God is true and faithful to His promises; they are ours if we believe them and take them as ours.  God’s faithfulness is unmoveable. Even “if we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13. His promises remain unshaken by our moral lapses. The promises will still be available for us because faithfulness is part of the divine nature.

Unmoveable:  According to the Greek Lexicon, this means to be firmly persistent. The Merriam-Webster dictionary says, “incapable of moving or being moved.” When I read those definitions, the first thing that came to my mind was the hymn, “I Shall Not Be Moved,” where it says: “I shall not be moved, I shall not be moved. Anchored to the Rock of Ages, I shall not be moved.” Peter was concerned in his time as to how people lost their steadfastness, and looking down through the ages with the prophetic eye to our times, how many Christians today lose their faith, embracing the errors that abound in the Christian world through the false teachings taught from so many pulpits today.  We live in a world full of confusion because of its moral degradation, and unless you and I are grounded in Jesus and the Bible we won’t be able to distinguish between truth and error.

I feel pity for those people who once had the opportunity to know all the truth but they rejected it; and not only this, although God gave them so many opportunities to come back they refused to listen to His voice through His servants to come back to the flock and live abundantly. They became too happy with the filth of this world. But what about us, my friends? Do we hold fast the faith which was given to the saints until the end of our lives? Are we making progress in the work that God entrusted us with? Do you remember that each one of us received, according to the parable of the talents, five talents, two or one talent? The question is, what are you doing with the talents God has given you? What am I doing? Is our faith rooted in Christ and Christ alone?

“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.” 2 Peter 3:17

I am thankful that whatever we do for the glory of God does not go unnoticed.  Even the seemingly insignificant things catch His attention. Even the things that we do in secret that bring glory and honour to Him, He will reward us openly for them. I don’t know about you, but I want to be steadfast, unmovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord.  I want to bring Him glory, honour and praise because to this we were called. May God richly bless us is my wish and prayer. Amen!

Nicolas Anca