BODILY FITNESS has a certain value but spiritual fitness is essential for this present life and the life to come.
Using 1 Timothy 4:8, this point was stressed by teacher Steve Codrington as he spoke on the subject, Preparation For The Crisis, during last week’s Sabbath service at Truth For The Final Generation in Redmans Village, St Thomas.
Codrington defined crisis as a period when a difficult or important decision must be made, a time of intense difficulty, trouble or danger and a time of great disagreement, confusion or suffering.
“Many have tried neutrality in a crisis, but have failed in their purpose. No one can maintain a neutral ground. Those who endeavour to do this will fulfil Christ’s words, ‘No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon’.
“Those who begin their Christian life by being half and half, whatever may be their intentions, will at last be found enlisted on the enemy’s side,” the minister declared.
He said the world was experiencing a time of unrest as written in Matthew 24:6 – a time filled with rumours of war, nation rising against nation, famines, pestilence and earthquakes.
While reminding the congregation they should not be troubled by these events, Codrington said the beheading of Christians by ISIS, the gunning down of students in Kenya, shootings in churches and across the United States, floods, hurricanes and volcanoes were part of the unrest being experienced.
Quoting Luke 21:26, he said men’s hearts would fail them for fear, and for looking after those things which were coming on the earth as the powers of heaven were shaken.
The preacher warned that professed believers who entered this time of trouble unprepared “will, in their despair, confess their sins before the world in words of burning anguish, while the wicked exult over their distress.
“The case of all such is hopeless. When Christ stands up, and leaves the Most Holy Place, the time of trouble commences, the case of every soul is decided, and there will be no atoning blood to cleanse from sin and pollution. As Jesus leaves the Most Holy, He speaks in tones of decision and kingly authority: ‘He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still’.”
Codrington warned a hushed congregation that those who delayed a preparation for the Day of God “cannot obtain it in the time of trouble, or at any future period”.
He assured, however, that despite the pending crisis, God promised those who kept the word of His patience, should be kept from the hour of temptation.
He told them they could prepare for the crisis by confessing their faults and praying one for the other; claiming the promises of forgiveness and cleansing from unrighteousness as given by God to every sinner and backslider, and obeying the laws of health which included proper nutrition, exercise, rest, trusting God and regular drinking of water.
He further urged his listeners to consider the patriarchs who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, waxed valiant in fight, and were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection.
Codrington charged that nothing – not any crisis – should separate the believer from the love of God.
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