BE READY by Rev. Dawn Flynn November 16, 2014 (New Life MCC) Scripture – I Thessalonians 5:1-11 Be ready. Be ready. All of us in our daily lives are required to be ready. Our readiness is part of our preparation for our daily tasks. Those tasks range from our jobs to sport competition to taking tests in an educational environment. Each of these examples requires one to take the necessary steps to insure that one does the best possible job. The steps taken vary according to the task: If one’s task is to be ready to take an exam, one must study the material one is being tested on. One must be diligent to set aside the time needed and to put one’s self in an environment so one can concentrate on the task at hand and not be distracted by other things. If one’s task is to be ready to compete in a sports event, one must exercise and practice regularly to build strength and endurance. Moving the body repeatedly in positions that are used in the competition will prepare the body to respond favorably and successfully when in the competition. Building strength prepares the body to last during the grueling times of the competition when the body wants to stop. If one’s task is to be ready for a presentation or to do a specific task for work, one must ‘do one’s homework’ and know everything about the task at hand. One must know the machinery one is using. One must know the facts and figures inside and out relating to the subject one is presenting. Simply put, if one is to be successful in what one does, one must be ready for all contingencies. Time is critical. One may not have time to make adjustments when performing the task. One’s response must be automatic and instinctive if one is to be successful. Our scripture lesson tonight is talking about being ready. It is NOT talking about being ready for a performance or a job task. It is NOT talking about being ready for a sports competition. It is NOT talking about being ready to take a test in an educational institution. It is talking about being ready for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. But the principles of preparation, of being ready, are the same. Just as one must put one’s self in a good environment so one can focus to prepare for an exam, to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ one must put one’s self in the right environment. That environment is one of being awake. The Apostle Paul says in verses 6-7 these words, “So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.” We must stay awake. We must stay awake and not put ourselves into positions of temptation. We must not be lulled by the permissiveness of our society that says it is all right to do those things that make you feel good. We must not get drunk on those things of the world that dull our senses to the leading of God’s Spirit. We must stay awake so that when Jesus does come, we will be ready. Just as one must exercise one’s body to prepare for a sports competition and one must know all about their task to succeed, we must exercise our spiritual nature to insure it is strong and able to withstand the trials put upon us by the evil one. We must study the scripture DAILY and fill ourselves with the Word of God. We must learn all we can about the Satan and how he tempts us. We must pray daily so that God’s power and strength can fill us so we can resist the temptations of the evil one. If Bible study is hard for you because you don’t understand what you are reading, find a good commentary to help you. Get a Paraphrase Bible like the Good News or Living Bible and have it along side your favorite translation Bible like the New Revised Standard Version, New International Version or King James Version. Study in your translation Bible but if you come to passage that doesn’t make sense to you, read the same passage in the Paraphrase Bible and it will help. You need to find a quiet place to pray. I walk a mile every morning after breakfast so as I walk, I talk ‘out loud’ to the Lord. I find if I speak ‘out loud’ that it makes me feel like the Lord is standing right beside me as I walk. I talk to the Lord about everything including thanks for my blessings, my concerns, intercessory requests, request for forgiveness. You need to find your quiet place. Clean out your closet if you need to, put a towel under the door, and pray there. Where ever you need to go, go there and pray regularly. All these things will strengthen our spirit to give us victory over our tempter. Verse 5 of our lesson says, “For you are sons of light and sons of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.” Satan and all his minions are sons of darkness. They are and will continually tempt us away from the light of God and Christ. But you have been bought with a price – the price of Christ’s death on the cross at Calvary. We are therefore sons of light and must do all God calls us to do to withstand the evil one. To do that we must study and pray regularly. If we do not, we will not have the tools needed to withstand our trials. In verse 2, the Apostle Paul says “… that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night”. Jesus says in Matthew 24:36, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, not the Son, but the God only.” We are not to know when Jesus is to come again for it is not our place to know such things. In Acts 1: 6, Jesus’ disciples asked Him when He would come again to restore the Kingdom to Israel. He replied in Verse 7 with these words, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Creator has fixed by God’s own authority.” Even though we do not know the time or place when Jesus will come again, it is necessary for us, as believers, to always be ready. As verse 6 in our scripture says, we are to be awake and sober. In Matthew 24:42, Jesus says, “Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” In Luke 12:35-38 Jesus goes on to say, “Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes; truly, I say to you, he will gird himself and have them sit at table and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those servants!” Clearly, we are to keep watch and be ready. We are not only to watch with vigilance but also to watch with hope and confidence. To watch with the hope that keeps us secure in His grace as a child of the King. To watch with the confidence that assures us that just as we know He is coming again, we also know that we will not be left but will be taken to be with Him forever. In I Thessalonians 4:16-18, the Apostle Paul says regarding the Lord’s Second Coming, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; so we shall always be with the Lord.” Do you see it? All we need to know is here in the Scripture. He assures us that He is coming again and that when He comes, He will take those who are dead in Christ and those of us who are still alive into the clouds to meet Him to always be with Him. And the time He is coming is unknown. But that’s okay because we are told all we need to do is to be ready. We are told that we are to be sober, awake and watch. If we do all we need to do to be ready, we can look with confidence and hope to the day when the Lord comes again. We can say, as the writer of Revelation says at the end of their book, ‘Maranantha Lord Jesus, Maranantha’. That is, ‘Come Lord Jesus, Come’. We are ready. We are looking forward to the day that we can be with you forever and ever. We are looking forward to the day when sin and evil in this world will be over and all your faithful people with be together in your presence. Yes, Lord, Jesus, Come. Come for we are ready! Can you honestly say you are ready as the Lord has asked you to be? Are you ready if He were to come today? Are you ready if He were to come after you leave this place of worship tonight? Jesus wants you to feel the confidence that as a child of King He is waiting to take you home to live with Him. You should have that confidence if you are a child of the King. If however, you are not a child of the King or are living a life that is a lie, claiming to be a Christian and living a life that is in direct opposition with God’s Word, then there is a problem. If you are not a child of the King you need to repent of your sins and be baptized in Jesus Name. If you are a child of the King and need to repent, you need to come forward tonight and set yourself right with God. God is here and will openly reach out to you if you come to Him and honestly repent of your sins. Come with me to the altar as together we stand and sing our Hymn of Response.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 13:53:53 +0000
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