Young Samuel died ready! Are you ready?

Last Thursday we buried Samuel Attard Montalto, a very active, tall, 16-year-old who died from a fall down the shaft of a building in Sliema. Samuel was the son of Linda and Nick, a pastor who leads "Palm Springs" evangelical church in Paola. It is one of the evangelical churches that desires to stick to the Truth of God's Word, the Bible. Why did it happen? The whole evangelical Christian community mourns because of the loss of one of its members who loved the Lord Jesus and his family so much. It is hard to understand - we just do not know!

However, there are some things we DO know. There is a quiet peace in all of our hearts because we know for sure where Samuel is - he is in heaven rejoicing with Jesus, his Saviour. We do know that Samuel was ready to go because he had given his life to the Lord. In faith he knew that Jesus had died for all his sins. Samuel had given his life to Christ and thus knew that he would immediately be with Jesus, were he to die. That has thus happened! That causes us to be thankful! But the loss is great and with the family, who are my dear friends, I mourn.

In this time of mourning and praying, the question keeps coming in my head, "How is it with the rest of the teenagers out there?" So I ask the question to all you other young "Samuels": Would you be ready if you were to die right now? Would you for sure be with Jesus? Here's what Samuel believed and if you follow him, you too can know for sure where you're heading.

The Bible says, "Just as a man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people". (Hebrews 9:27,28a)

This letter is very clear. Christ died once for our sins and through that one sacrifice He made forgiveness and heaven possible to anyone who will believe in Him and Him alone. Now it's up to us. We do not get a second chance or can somehow pay for our own sins. When you die, it is either Hell or Heaven. You either decide to receive God's gift of salvation in the Lord Jesus or you don't. You think you can pay for it yourself? Don't be fooled. The price for forgiveness is a perfect sacrifice. Only Christ could do that. That's why we can only say, "Thank you, Jesus for paying for me. I receive your payment."

Most of you guys and gals know John 3:16. It strikes me though that so few of you have taken it to heart. You muddle it up with all kinds of other things. Let me quote it here again. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." There it is, it is only in God's Son, the Lord Jesus. Therefore believe in Him and you will have eternal life. Another fact is that you teenagers do not read the Bible. You probably do not even know the rest of this chapter. Read it and you'll see how clear the Bible is. Verse 18 says, "Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's One and Only Son." And here's the last verse of that chapter: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

If Samuel somehow could come back, he would have wanted to share this with you. He would want you to make a decision for Jesus. But he can't and so I've written for him - to honour him. If somehow you say, "Okay, I see this, but I still don't know what to do", then just contact us. Let me take it one step further. Next Friday I'll open up our apartment at Chrisdon Flats, 22 Triq Il Fidwa, Gudja to you. Come at 6.45 p.m. with any questions and we'll find the answers right from God's Word. Samuel was ready! Let's get you ready also.