Message summary: Are you ready to meet God at your death? Have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior? There are many thoughts about what the future on this side will bring, but one thing is certain: we will die and we must be prepared to meet God. Prepare your heart today, for only God knows who’s next.

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“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

Each January our church leadership prepares a slide presentation displaying the names and photos of those within our church who died the previous year. In this year's presentation the background music "When We All Get To Heaven" played in the background bringing reassurance and comfort to the loved ones of these dear believers. (A link to the video is below cued to where the presentation starts.)

We've attended Calvary Church about nine years now so we've gotten to know more and more people each year. As we watched the 66 photos appear alphabetically, one by one, our hearts were deeply touched each time a face appeared, particularly those we knew personally: some we had close ties with and others we had opportunity to encourage and pray with toward the end of their life's journey.

If you choose to watch the video our local readers may recognize a face or two they knew personally. In fact, if you're a faithful reader of Daily Encouragement you may very well recognize our longtime friend, 91 year old Jim Schmidt, since we posted his and Dottie's photos over the years. Also, Gerry Ranck, husband to Bette who is a dear friend to Brooksyne and fellow choir member is among those who've joined the ranks in heaven.

Inevitably next year, should Christ tarry, there will be another presentation. We wonder who's next? Who will be in that presentation?

Years ago I attended the memorial service for Clayton Sheridan, who was my supervisor when we planted a church in northern PA in the late seventies. After the service I visited for a few minutes with a friend, Pastor Al Pundt (who is himself now with the Lord).

Al told me each time he conducts a funeral he ends the service by looking out over the gathering and solemnly asks those in attendance, “Who’s next?”, before he concludes with a benediction. Now Al's question "Who's next?" is a sobering question, for indeed one person in that group will be next. That surely must give attendees a piercing thought to process before leaving and hopefully afterwards as well!

God’s Word warns us to be ready for death and informs us as to how we can prepare ourselves for that inevitable event, though we often ignore or put off warnings, as they can  be annoying and disruptive to our current plans!

Yet God has plainly told us that we will die and that’s something we can observe throughout all humanity. God’s Word also tells us that we will face judgment. Many give little to no thought to this judgment, but the words of Scripture are clear and true.

There is a final step of faith, a final appointment that we all will keep. It sure doesn’t take faith to know that we will all face death. We see it all around us and especially take notice when a loved one dies. Our faith is expressed in either a belief that there is an accounting to God or lack of belief that there is not. Both views require faith. We believe there is a future judgment and live in accordance to that belief. The daily verse we all should memorize and hide deep within our hearts, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment".

Are you ready to meet God at your time of death or equally important at His second return, should He come in our lifetime? Have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior? Many have varied opinions about what the future on this side will bring, but one thing is certain: we will die and we must be prepared to meet God. Prepare your heart today, for only God knows who’s next.

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13