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Are you prepared?

Matthew 25:1-13

Watch and prepare. In this passage, Jesus is speaking to the church. Are you prepared? Are you watching for the second coming? If you wait for His coming to then get prepared, it will be too late. 

Being prepared doesn’t mean putting your life on hold. It just means that as you go about your life and live your mission you are prepared for Christ to show up.

Matthew 7:21-23

Matthew 25:13

The Experience of The Unprepared

Matthew 24:36-44

Jesus says that no one knows when His return will be...not even Himself. If Jesus was still God--still omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, why does He not know? He chose to relinquish much of His heavenly power during His time as a man. He had access to these powers--but He elected to not utilize them when He was a man. He could have known, but He chose not to know because He was choosing a human experience. If Christ had no knowledge of the time of His arrival, then we certainly will not know until it is happening. 

What does it mean to be unprepared?

Genesis 7:7-10

The people in Noah’s time had been told and they were unbelieving and unprepared for the flood when it came. 

Matthew 24:39

Pearl Harbor was an example of people being caught unprepared. It was horrific and many died or nearly died. Don’t be unprepared.

Matthew 24:40-42

Luke 17:34-36

(sidenote: Jesus affirms the spherical nature of the Earth....if Earth was flat, could it be day and night at the same time across the table of the Earth? Very unlikely.)

The unprepared are operating with careless disregard. Disregard for the critical nature of the end times. 

Matthew 24:40-42

2 Corinthians 4:1

It is not within your capacity to make someone believe. It is your job to live out the life of Christ and pray for those around you who seem to be blinded. Stop getting mad at the unbelieving around you--there is an enemy helping to blind them. 

Matthew 24:43-44

The unprepared are open to certain deprivation. If you are unprepared for the return of Christ, you will lose things that you did not know that you could lose. 

Ezekiel 37

No dead is too dead when God makes dead men live.

The bones were “dry” meaning the body was completely decomposed, the bones were beginning to disintegrate, this life was long gone, but God specializes in the impossible. 

No faith is too far gone for God. No broken marriage is too broken for God. No career is hopeless when God is in the business of reviving. 

God’s Word is involved when God makes dead men live.  The resurrection of the dead, the revival of faith, the healing of a marriage, etc. begins with hearing from God. God hears prayers. The power of His Word in  your life can bring resurrection. Dead men don’t live apart from the power of His Word speaking in your life. 

The job is complete when God makes dead men live. 

It would have been impressive if the bones had just rattled, it would have been impressive if the flesh had just grown--but God brought the bones completely back to life. God went all the way, He did a complete job. 

God does a lot of things in our lives that he shouldn’t have to do--but He does them because He loves us and because He does a thorough job.

The purpose will be clear when God makes dead men live. The purpose may be the magnification of His name, the glory of His kingdom, etc. 

He Is A Person!

John 14:26-27

The Holy Spirit, who lives in every born-again believer, is a person. 

John 13; 14:16-17, 26-27

Sometimes we need person to person counseling, like a therapist, and that is okay. A human counselor is not a replacement for the Holy Counselor, a human counselor can even help you to hear from your Holy Counselor.

We wanna be in step with God. The way to walk with Him, is through the Counselor.

The Holy Spirit identifies with us and expresses empathy to us. God cares. 

Be patient with those in your life who do not know the Holy Spirit. 

One of the things that makes us people, is that we have the ability to choose. The Holy Spirit is with you because He has chosen you. The Holy Spirit expresses personhood through choice to be with you. 

“Abide, meaning to continue, indicates not a simple brief introduction, but an ongoing and passionate relationship.”

The Holy Spirit has chosen to abide with you. He does not leave you. That cannot change. 

The Holy Spirit teaches you. When you listen to a sermon and something strikes you in a certain way, it is the Holy Spirit teaching you. This is why we all get something different from Bible reading and listening to sermons. 

The Holy Spirit also gives you the words to say. You should still be prepared and preparing to know what to say--so that the Holy Spirit is continually filling your mind with new information. The Holy Spirit helps to bring to your remembrance the right words. 

The Shepherds

Luke 2:8-20

Questions about Christmas that people often get wrong:

Who told Mary and Joseph to go to Bethlehem?

Caesar Augustus. He wanted a census.

What form of transportation did Mary and Joseph take to get to Bethlehem?

The scripture does not say. We can speculate that they walked or took a donkey, but we do not know.

True or False. Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus because they were following the Star.

The shepherds and the wise men both went to find Jesus—which group followed the star and which were told by an angels.

Details are important. We should not just hear the story, but read the scripture over and over again. We should know what we are talking about and know what the Bible says.

The shepherds were “inconvenienced”. Luke 2:9 They were busy doing their job when the angel appeared. When was the last time that the Lord spoke to you in the midst of your day and you actually stopped and listened and changed what you were doing because God called you? God speaking to you at church or when you are seeking Him and God speaking to you in the middle of your day does not change what your reaction should be.

The shepherds listened. Luke 2:10-15 They slowed down and turned from their busy day to listen. Read 2:10-15 in ESV rather than KJV or NKJV, ESV is closer to the Greek and it’s amazing how much the two translations differ.

The shepherds responded. Luke 2:16 They listened to everything that the angels said and they responded by going to see what they had been told.

The shepherds had an impact. Luke 2:18 We still read about them today—they were bottom of the barrel people in society, they thought they led insignificant lives, but we remember them. They made an impact on Mary. One life.