Matthew 25:6 says, “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him.” The Lord Jesus’ words tell us clearly that, when He returns in the last days, people will testify to us that “the bridegroom comes,” meaning they are testifying that the Lord has returned. So what practices should we adopt to accord with the Lord’s will and that will enable us to greet the Lord? The Lord Jesus did in fact tell us of two paths of practice for investigating the true way long ago.
1. Seek With an Open Heart When Investigating the True Way
The Lord Jesus told us, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). We can see that when we investigate the true way, it is the Lord’s will that we seek with an open heart. When we hear someone testifying that the Lord has returned, we must take the initiative to seek and investigate to see whether or not it is the appearance and work of God. If we sincerely seek and yearn for the Lord’s appearance, then He will surely lead us to find His footsteps and to welcome Him. Why does the Lord say that we must seek with an open heart when investigating the true way to welcome the Lord?
We all know that God’s wisdom reaches beyond the heavens and that He performs a new work each time He comes—these things are unfathomable to us humans. When the Lord Jesus came to perform the work of redemption, for example, He did His work outside of the temple and did not preach the laws and commandments, but instead He ate with sinners and did not keep the Sabbath, and so on. Much of His work differed greatly from that which had been done by Jehovah God, and this was something the people of that time found hard to accept. Only those with a humble heart and an open-hearted attitude, who could let go of their own notions and imaginings, and who could take the initiative to seek and investigate were able to receive the Lord’s salvation. Take Nathaniel, for example. Although he had his own notions about the Lord Jesus, he was able to let them go and seek with an open heart, until finally he recognized that Jesus was the Messiah, and followed Him, and received His salvation. Then there was Peter who, before he had even seen the Lord Jesus, had heard the Jewish leaders judging and condemning Jesus, but instead of blindly believing what the Jewish leaders said, he listened to the Lord Jesus’ sermons with an open heart. Afterward, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, He recognized Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the ever-living God, and he earned God’s praise. We can see then that when we investigate the true way, we must seek with an open heart and take the initiative to seek and investigate God’s work. Only by doing that can we gain God’s enlightenment and guidance and greet the Lord.
Conversely, if, when we are investigating the true way, we do not seek with an open heart, we will be prone to deny and condemn the Lord and to become people who resist the Lord. We will be just like the Pharisees: They knew perfectly well that the Lord Jesus’ words were possessed of truth, yet they were unable to seek and investigate with open hearts. Instead, they used the Old Testament as much as they could to find fault with the Lord Jesus, and to deny and condemn Him. In the end they crucified the Lord Jesus, thereby offending God’s disposition and incurring His punishment. This was the terrible consequence of the Pharisees not seeking with open hearts when faced with the true way. We can see from this that it is imperative to seek with an open heart when investigating the true way, as it has a direct bearing on the important matter of whether or not we will be able to enter God’s kingdom.
2. Pay Heed to Listening to God’s Voice When Investigating the True Way
Besides seeking with an open heart, when investigating the true way, it is also crucial to pay heed to listening to God’s voice. The Lord Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). And the Book of Revelation prophesies, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). God’s words say, “[S]ince we are searching for the footprints of God, it behooves us to search for God’s will, for the words of God, for His utterances—because wherever there are new words spoken by God, the voice of God is there, and wherever there are the footsteps of God, God’s deeds are there. Wherever there is the expression of God, there God appears, and wherever God appears, there the truth, the way, and the life exist. In seeking God’s footprints, you have ignored the words ‘God is the truth, the way, and the life.’ And so, many people, even when they receive the truth, do not believe that they have found God’s footprints, and still less do they acknowledge the appearance of God. What a grave mistake!” We can see from these passages that, when the Lord returns in the last days, He will speak His utterances to the churches and, by means of His words, He will seek out His sheep. Only those who listen to God’s voice and follow Him are the ones who can welcome the Lord. As we all know, God is the truth, the way, and the life, and only God can express the truth. Hearing God’s voice means that we can see His appearance, and so using God’s voice to determine whether or not it is the appearance and work of God is the only wise choice to make. When the Lord Jesus appeared and performed His work, Peter recognized that He was Christ by listening to His sermons. When Nathaniel heard Jesus say, “Before that Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (John 1:48), he saw that the Lord could see into the deepest recesses of man’s heart, that He was all-powerful and all-knowing, and he then knew the Lord Jesus to be the Messiah. Then there was the Samaritan woman who, when she spoke with the Lord Jesus, heard Him uncover the secrets she had hidden in her heart and became certain that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah who would come. This shows us that the most crucial and the most fundamental requirement for investigating the true way is that we must listen to God’s voice to see whether this way has the expressions of truth—this is the most important principle for investigating the true way. So when we are seeking and investigating the true way and greeting the Lord in the last days, we must pay heed to listening to God’s voice. Once we have heard God’s voice, do we not then see His appearance and greet the Lord?
These days, disasters are growing in scale, and the omens of the Lord’s coming have now largely been seen. In all the world, only The Church of Almighty God is openly testifying that the Lord has returned as the incarnated Almighty God, who expresses His words and performs the work of judgment beginning with the house of God. Almighty God appeared and began His work in 1991 and has expressed millions of words since then. These words lay bare all truths and mysteries, such as the mystery of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, the mysteries of God’s three stages of work, the mystery of God’s incarnation, the essence and inside story of the Bible, the end and destination that await mankind, and more. God’s words also reveal the factual truth of mankind’s corruption by Satan, and our satanic, God-resisting nature, at the same time as they show us many paths of practice, such as how to be honest people, how to obey and love God, how to serve God in a way that accords with His will, and how to fear God and shun evil. Almighty God has expressed a wealth of words, laying bare all truths and mysteries, and fulfilling the prophecy of the Lord Jesus: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come” (John 16:12–13). People from every nation all across the world and from every religion and denomination who sincerely seek God’s appearance read the words of Almighty God and become certain that these words are the voice of God, the expressions of truth. One by one, they come before Almighty God to be watered and supplied by God’s words. These people are the wise virgins who are raptured before God’s throne and attend the wedding feast of the Lamb.
The work of Almighty God in the last days is now reaching its end, the great disasters are almost upon us, and the time given us by God is running out. If we truly yearn for the Lord Jesus’
return, then when we hear someone testifying that He has come, regardless of whether God’s work in the last days agrees with our notions or not, we should not immediately delimit or deny it,
much less judge or condemn it out of hand. Instead, we should be the wise virgins who take the initiative to seek and investigate the true way and pay heed to listening to God’s voice. Only
by doing this will we have the sense we should possess and will we be practicing in the way we should practice in order to investigate the true way. If we want to be certain about whether
Almighty God is or is not the Lord Jesus returned, can we not do this by reading Almighty God’s words? If we didn’t investigate or seek, how then would we be able to hear God’s voice? We
would then very easily miss out on the Lord’s salvation in the last days, we would be abandoned and eliminated by the Lord, and we would be swept away by the great disasters with much weeping
and gnashing of teeth.
Source From:Find the
shepherd
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