God the Preparer

A quote was said to a long-winded minister one time, which I plan not to be today. I'll do my part. That there's a fine line between a long, drawn-out sermon and a hostage situation. So I won't keep you that long, but I want to talk about something today. Because we have read in the scriptures about the preparation day, as I usually take Friday to try to prepare as much as I can for the Sabbath. And we all prepare for the days of Unleavened Bread every year. So I want to talk about us being preparers. The reason we need to talk about us being preparers is that God is the ultimate preparer. The title of my sermon today is God the preparer, because we need to see. God doesn't fly by the seat of his pants, and neither should we on most things. It makes it interesting because I had to have Jeff Newell, which you all know, fly by the seat of his pants this morning. Because my truck broke down and I couldn't get to services or we couldn't get to the car. So I had to call Jeff 15 minutes before services and said, give the sermon. He had no notes except what was up here. It's always good. I know I probably didn't think so at the time, but I had to give three or four sermons in my lifetime using no notes. And he did a great job. So I appreciate that. So let's talk about preparation. And let's talk about God the preparer. Jesus Christ the preparer. Jesus Christ the preparer. Because we're supposed to be like him. We're supposed to have the mind of Christ. So if you have the mind of Christ, how many people have you met that do not prepare for anything? They're frustrating to work with. Right, Norm? You probably had those in your business. Many of us have. We've met people not very prepared for anything. And it can be very frustrating to us. So if you would, I would like you to go with me to Mark 25. Do some words to us. Excuse me, Matthew 25. There I knew that look in her face when she looks up. Matthew 25.

In verse 32. 25 and 32. It says, All the nations will be gathered before him. Who is him? Christ. Very good. Okay. I've got to work on that. I just got I'm preparing you for the seats that you're going to take up a month from now. I got to make sure you're awake so I may have to do some interaction. Get that going. All nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them, one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left hand.

He's prejudiced against us left-handers. We're goats. All you right-handers are sheep. Verse 34, Then the king will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed my father, inherit the kingdom. What's the word? Prepared. Prepared. This kingdom is being prepared. It isn't something he can just like... There it is. Of course, he could do it. But he doesn't. He's prepared this kingdom. Prepared for you from the foundations of the world. 14.3 billion years ago. Christ was slain from where? Foundations of the world. It's all about his kingdom. And God prepared it. He continues to prepare it today. And he likes sheep. He's not fond of goats. If you've ever raised the two, you definitely know the difference. Don't turn your back on a goat. There is a reason some are called rams, and sometimes they do. But he's talking about the last days here. And so, if we are alive in the last days before Christ returned, you are that sheep! You are those sheep.

Amazing. That Christ wanted to make sure we all got that. Go with me to Mark 10. Mark 10. I found this interesting. Some people don't. Mark 10. And verse 35. So then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him, saying, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. Wow. That's pretty bold, isn't it? I've tried that a time or two with my wife, and I didn't get a yes. She said, I kind of want to hear what it is. Verse 36. And he said to them, What do you want me to do for you? They said to him, Grant us that we may sit one on your right hand and the other on your left in your glory. But Jesus said to them, You do not know what you ask. Can you drink the cup that I drink? Be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they said to him, We can. And Jesus said to them, You will drink the cup that I drink. And with the baptism that I am baptized with, you will be baptized. But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give. Whoa, I thought he was the king. He's not the king in the kingdom. Well, who then gives it? But it is for those whom it is, what? Prepared. These seats, these places in the kingdom, those who will rule, those who will sit on the right hand, on the left hand of Christ, Christ didn't know. But it's prepared for certain people.

Our position is in the kingdom. He's prepared. He's preparing us for that, but those seats, those offices, those positions, they've already been prepared. Somebody's going to take that position. What do you always say? Let no man take your...what? Is that sitting with Christ? That sounds like it to me. Wow. For whom it is prepared. Now, go with me back to Book of Matthew, if you will. Matthew 20. You may say, okay, pastor, you're getting redundant now. But there is a difference here, and I think it's so important. As a matter of fact, the scripture I'm about to cover and the one I just covered, people have asked me, well, see, it just shows that there's conflicting scriptures in the Bible. And that just shows it's not true. Well, if you have four different men writing about the time of Christ, and if everyone, if each one of them wrote the very same word every single time, and it's the very same thing, you would say, where's that coming from? It could have been just one man writing this, but it wasn't. So many men put the scriptures together, and these four authors of the gospel, some were there and some weren't. Right? Two were there and two were not. Mark wasn't there, but he was told the story. Luke was not there, but he was told the story. Matthew and John were there. They were sitting at the feet of Christ. So let's look at that. Verse 20, Matthew 20 and verse 20. Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to him. Who's the mother of Zebedee's? Salome! Came to him with her sons, needling down. And asking something from him. You have to remember this was Jesus Christ's aunt. And she's going to ask favor from him about the two cousins. They're your first cousins. They're blood.

Wow. And remember, I'm your favorite aunt. I'm just adding that, but I'm sure she thought she was. And he said to her, What do you wish? Is this the same incident that we just read about? Probably. Good chance that it is. It's just from someone else who was actually standing there. May I added that, yes, one was told about the two disciples asking, but this one was here to hear. Aunt Salome asking nephew Jesus to do him favor. She said, What do you wish? She said to him, Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and the other on your left, in your kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I'm about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with? And they said to him, We are able. And he said to them, You will indeed drink the cup and be baptized with the baptism that I baptized with. But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give. End of story. Uh-uh. But it is for those for whom it is prepared by my Father. You want to see that position? You want to see your position in the kingdom? You want to see your place in the kingdom? It's made by God. It's made by the Father, the one you pray to. You might want to remember that sometime when you're praying. Sometimes when you have a little frustration, he's the one. And this tells us that. Because not only is Christ a preparer, his Father is a preparer. Because if you've seen one, you've seen the other. And if you've seen them, you should see us. We need to be prepared. And some people are. Some people are just so organized. It's like, wow. That's why God gave me her.

Even to my frustrations at many times. But she is very prepared. She likes to be prepared for everything. So here, he's instructing us to be preparers. Just like his Father. And that everything is done by his Father because he's a preparer. Remember what Jesus Christ said in John 14, verse 2. In my Father's house are many mansions. For not so, I tell you. For not so. But then he says, I go to what? I go to prepare a place for you. He's preparing. When he's gone, he's just not setting up there gone. Is it time yet, God? Come on. Let me go. Let me go. Let me go, Dad. He's preparing us. He's preparing the kingdom. He's preparing what's going to happen. And it's not just, okay, now that you've set your foot on the Mount of Olives, what do we do now? No. He knows. He knows. He wants us to know as much as we need to know. As much as we need to know is right here. Not more. We don't need to know more than what's in the inspired word.

God could improvise because he's God. But he doesn't because he's God. He's not only God, he's God the preparer. And we need to remember that. As a matter of fact, let's go. Let's go over to the book of Luke. Luke chapter 12. Love this story. Because he talks about what's going to happen at the end and before Christ comes. And he's telling this and telling servants. And I said, let your waist be girded and your lamps burning. Meaning you're ready to go.

And then he says in Luke 12 and verse 40, Therefore you also be ready. That you is you. That you is you. Therefore you also be ready for the Son of Man is coming in an hour you do not expect. Wait a minute. We've been waiting a long time, haven't we? Some people give up. Some people gave up. Some people will give up. I've heard all that before. Yeah. What do I need to worry about that for? No. Because he wants us to be what? Be ready? Be prepared. We don't know when he's coming. We may think we do. We may work the figures. In fact, I had somebody call me last night and talking about times and wait, what these years and how you put this together and all this kind of stuff. And Frank, if I had played with that before and talked to speculation and all this kind of stuff. And but no.

But here, this is what we need to know. Luke 12 verse 43. Bless is a servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. That's us. When Christ comes, he wants to find. He's the master. He wants to find us. So doing what? Practicing righteousness. Living righteously. What do you need to give the disciples to do?

Verse 44. Truly I say to you that he will make him ruler over all he has. And you shall inherit what? The kingdom of God. That's a big, big inheritance. Verse 45. But if that servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming. Ah, yeah, it's going to be 10 years. Going to be 20 years. Going to be 40 years. No big deal. We can just kind of relax a little bit. Yeah, let's take it easy. Let's not get too uptight about things. Let's not worry so much about Bible study, prayer, all these things. You know, we've got plenty of time. My master is delaying his coming and begins to beat his men servants and maid servants. Means mistreating people because you're not really going to be held accountable for it. Being it's going to be a long time. You know, those deathbed confessions. Oh, God, please forgive me. Help me now. I need you now. Didn't need you the last 70 years of my life. I need you now.

Begin to beat the men servants and maid servants and to eat and drink and be drunk. Let's just have another drink. Ah, let's have another one. Just relax. It's the five o'clock whistle. You know, it's happy hour every day at my house.

Because we have plenty of time. Verse 46, and the master of the servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him. Well, he's been too long into the wine. And at an hour when he is not aware and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. Even though, wait a minute. Wait a minute, God, I was baptized. I did this. I kept zappeth. I kept holy. I watched clean unclean. Uh-uh. You let up. You quit the race. And you have your own race. And you're like unbelievers. And why would he say that? Because he's saying that to us. People in this room, he's saying that to us. I could be offended. Maybe I am offended. It's easy to be offended today. Everybody seems to be offended at everything. Maybe I want to be offended at this.

But then he says of 47, and that servant who knew his master's will. Do we know his will? Yes, we do. We know what we're supposed to be doing. We may stumble occasionally, but it never shouldn't be every day. And did not prepare himself to do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. Or, as one commentary says, you're going to go through some terrible times. Because you knew better! Well, that goes back in my mind here in my father. You knew better than to do that. Usually just before the belt came off. So I know what stripes meant. Verse 48, But he who did not know, yet committed these things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with a few. They didn't know. Listen, people don't know. They're not going to be held as accountable as we who know and who are expected to live a certain way. Then comes the major statement to us. For everyone to whom much is given, to him much will be... What's the word? Required. How? It's required. Now, let me get out of this one, God. Where much is given, much is required. And to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more. You have gifts and abilities, talents, on loan from God. You're going to be accountable for them. What you do with them. And he's going to ask you to do more.

Wow. Prepared. That's what it said. And did not prepare himself in verse 47. That can't be us. We have to be prepared. And this is what God's telling us. Now, I didn't go through a concordance and just look at, oh, let me take all the words of prepared and put a sermon together. Didn't do that. But I just went to John 14 and verse 2. And that made me start on this trip because prepared. Because he was talking to me. I hope. And so then I had to start. Wow. There's a little more responsibility on me. And where much is given, much is required. So what about the other stories?

Do you know what you're preparing for now? I mean, do we really know? Do we have the responsibility?

Find it unique. Now we're going to have a hall with no problem except filling a bunch of seats. That's a positive thing. And it's a nice place.

Go with me to Mark 1. Mark 1.

Because this can also be talking to us. Mark 1 and verse 3 says, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare! Prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. That was to John the Baptist, wasn't it? Doesn't have anything to do with me, does it? Huh? Huh? That was the first coming. That was for the Lamb of God to come. We are to prepare the way for the Lion of Judah. He's coming back. And he's not coming back as a Lamb. He's got a roar. We have the responsibility. We know he's coming back. Half, over half of the country here, just in America, not say the Caribbean, but in America, they don't even read a Bible. They don't even care. They don't know Christ. They don't even believe in Christ, much less that he's coming back and he would have any authority over their life. But we know. We know. We must be preparing for the return of Jesus Christ as King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Just like John the Baptist. Oh, we're not going to be out there baptizing. Call everybody. Repent! We're not out on the street corners. Repent your sinners. Repent. Be baptized. People need to see the way we live. And we don't live like everyone else. And we live a certain way because that is how we have our billboard in front of us. We're not like everyone else. We are that light to the world that he said. That is how we shine. And we're called to do that till Jesus Christ comes when the one we reflect the light from is here on earth and everyone will know. But we have that. Do we? Do we?

But there's something else here. I really want to talk about because it is important how we live. And when some people have questions, yes, I get phone calls. I get emails. People asking. Matter of fact, I have one tomorrow morning. I have a phone call to make about someone wants to be baptized in the country of Guyana. She doesn't know very much, but she knows she's seen some of our people. OK, that's my job. But there's also people who see you that may have biblical questions. Do you have biblical answers? Where much is given, much is required. We study the Bible for a reason to give people hope. It's not our job to call into salvation. God Jesus Christ does that. But it's our job to shine the light. Of Christ. We point everybody to Christ. That is our job. That's who makes us who we are.

But are we truly preparing for.

The moment we will meet Christ. Are we? Because it may come in a different way. Cynthia Williams, 86 years old. The next moment. The next waking moment when she meets Christ. Is maybe different than when we meet Christ. Or maybe it won't. Maybe it won't. Maybe many in here will die.

Before Christ returns. My father did. My mother's 85 at the end of this month. Hope she didn't watch this. She'll be saying, how dare you tell people I don't want to know I am. But she might. Of course, her mother lived to be 100. Her mother lived to be 100. So I hope she lives to be 100. I've got quite a few years to bug her yet. Spend time with her. But there's only two ways. Only two ways. We're going to meet Christ. One in a moment, a twinkling of an eye will be changed. The other, you're coming up out of the grave before us, whoever dies, will meet him in the air. That's it. So are we preparers for everything? Remember the old westerns? I was always a western fan. I watch westerns all the time and so forth. And you'd always have it. I love that line. It was used in many movies about two guys meeting in the street at high noon. They were standing there. One would say, Prepare to meet your maker. Remember that? Prepare to meet your maker. Brethren, we need to prepare to meet our maker. Alive or dead. That's how serious this is. God wants us to prepare. The maker. We don't know when our time is done. God does. Christ does. He knows when to take us.

It was a movie. I don't know. 10, 20 years ago. Brad Pitt. Called Meet Joe Black. Meet Joe Black. It was a made-up story about the death angel, Brad Pitt, coming down and meeting this rich man. And he was supposed to take him. And they made a deal. The angel just wanted a week hanging out with humans. And he'd give him a week. And so that's what happened. He gave him a week. And then he could put everything in order. He could, you know, see everything the way. Chance it, we won't get that. We're not going to have one week. One week, John. You got one week. No. And so we're not going to know. Cynthia didn't know Sunday night when she slipped and fell. Had a stroke in her kitchen. And the three days later, she'd take her last breath. But she was a preparer. She was prepared. Are we? Are we? Look at my watch. I told you last time about a man that I had a friend of mine who I was taking care of that died. And he didn't prepare anything. I told him to make out of will. I told him, how do you want to do this? What do you want to do? Because his health was bad. He knew. He wouldn't do it. Oh, no, I have time. No, let me think. Yeah, well, and then he finally told me.

You know, I told you how I wanted all my money and my house and everything distributed. Just do that. And then he died. He has two brothers and two sisters.

Where do we go now? Where do I go now? They're calling me. I see. I see the results of not preparing. Because it just leaves everybody in a lurch. Doesn't leave people really feeling when you don't know how they feel about you? Isn't time of the year that you kind of may want to look at that?

Your relationships? You need to be prepared.

So I don't know what I'm going to do. One of his relatives says, just take everything and the car and just leave us the house. I said, I don't. You didn't have will. I don't have power over anything. I have a power attorney thing sitting on his desk at his house where I ask him. If you want me to take care of things, I'll do exactly what you do, but I need power of attorney to do that. There's your will. Here's his still sitting on his desk. So when I go to his house and I have to go to his house, I got to stare me in the face. So it made me think, are you prepared? Will you make it hard on your family if God says your time is up? Oh, well, what do we do on my wall at home? In my office, I have a three by five card just like this. It's like my sermon goes on, and there is everything my mother wants. She told everything how she wants her funeral done. Every single thing. She said, prepare. Now, I'm not making this a gloom and doom message, but I'm telling you reality. Because we need to prepare for everything. God gives this. He gives us tomorrow to breathe. What if he decides Monday you're not? Don't you want to be prepared?

What if he decides in five years and Christ is coming back? Will you be prepared? Are we where we need to be? That is very important to all of us. It is wise to prepare everything in life, just like God. We should use wisdom. Right? And preparation. Proverbs 8 and verse 27. Proverbs 8 and verse 27. This is talking about wisdom. You read the whole chapter and it talks about wisdom, how we need it, and what it is and how powerful it is. And he says, he prepared the heavens. I was there. Who was there? Wisdom. Why? Because God just didn't do it like, oh, there's a tree. Boom! Make a tree. Was there? I was there. When he drew a circle on the face of the deep, I was there.

People today, they don't go to the book, the Bible, for preparation, for wisdom. And yet, one whole book is written for wisdom. Young people, get into that book. Save you a lot of grief. Okay. Yeah, people will look at other books while they'll even look at Yoda. Oh, that's just a deep sage. Oh, if Yoda could be here. Heaven's prepare, he did. You know, the thing that people do today is just amazing.

But we're not to be like that. We are to prepare because we have been given wisdom more than this little puppet has ever been given. Let's go. I need to look at my watch and wrap up with a couple more scriptures. Because there's something here that really touched me. Are we prepared to meet Christ? Are you excited about it? If you do, I don't know that I'll live that long. I didn't know I'd live 65, but I have, so I have a responsibility. Go with me to Luke.

Oh, there's someone that wanted to meet Christ so badly. Luke 2. Turn me to Luke 2, verse 20. Let's go to 25. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was a just and devout person, just like we need to be, waiting for the constellation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. Didn't say it was in him, it was upon him. It was working with him. We used him.

And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Wow! Imagine that. Is it any doubt that people will be given that by the Holy Spirit when Christ is near? When that time is near? Sure shows something here. So he came by the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do with him according to the customs of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all the people.

He knew Jesus Christ was coming. He knew the Savior was coming. Now he got to know it has happened, and God brought it forth. And he took it up because God prepared it. Would you have prepared before the face of all the people a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel?

And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which will be spoken against him. Yes, a sword will pierce through his soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed to be a Simeon and have that revealed.

What an amazing thing! But he knew God had prepared it. Just like 1 Corinthians 2.9, I has not seen nor heard nor has entered the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him. God has prepared it.

Amazing things! It's not going to be by chance. Oh, here, here's about pull out your number. Now you lose. No, it's not that way. It's not going to be that way. Finally, I'd like to go to Ephesians. Ephesians 2. Get back here. Ephesians 2, verse 10. Ephesians 2 and verse 10. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

The gifts. The gifts. The gifts. I have to pull this out because this is a new living translation. When I read this in this verse, it was like, man, this is what we need. Just listen. Listen to this. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created a new in Christ Jesus so that we can do the good things he has planned for us long ago. All those gifts. Everything he's given. He planned it. I knew you before you were formed in the womb. He knew you! And he knew what he was going to give you.

And it was enough to make it into the kingdom of God. But the only thing he's going to ask us to do is prepare. Prepare.

How special is it? Pretty special. Matter of fact, another place in Hebrews that said, therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. God is a preparer. Are we? Can we be a preparer? A bumper sticker. I saw in a car, matter of fact, it was in Hawaii one time. I never forgot it. But on the bumper sticker, he said, Christ is coming! Everybody look busy. Everybody look busy.

But as I can use that, Christ is coming. Let's everybody prepare.