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Advent The Season To Be Ready
Contributed by Gerald Roberts on Nov 29, 2022 (message contributor)
Summary: Advent is the season in the church to get ready.
“Advent the Season to Be Ready” Matthew 24:36-44
1. Be Prepared The Boy Scout motto is the same as the Girl Scout motto: “Be Prepared.”
• What should the boy or girl scouts be ready for?
• rattlesnake bite, a sprained ankle, poison ivy, wet or cold weather, a lacerated arm, sunstroke Or, in the words of Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Boy Scouts, Be prepared “for any old thing.”
• Scouts carry first-aid kit, as well as a pocketknife, rain gear, flashlight, map, compass, matches, water bottle, sun protection, food and extra clothes
2. Are Christians or People ready for the coming of Jesus? We should be in a state of readiness
• What Is Readiness?
• Its like Noah who built an Ark before the rains come.
• Its like Abraham Lincoln) who said “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my axe.”
• (Stephen King) said its like “There’s no harm in hoping for the best as long as you’re prepared for the worst.”
• “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” (Benjamin Franklin)
3. So why don’t we get ready? Why don’t we prepare? One expert explains: People do not prepare for emergencies because they believe: In procrastination put it off board up the heart,
• “Everything will be fine. ”The odds of a disaster are too small.”
• “The government will save me.” “I don’t have enough room.”
• “I don’t have enough time.”
4. Jesus seems to say we need to be Ready :
• “Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left” (v. 40).
• The apostle Paul reinforces the idea that one needs to be ready He writes to the Corinthians: “Now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
• Our text today says Get Ready Seize the day! Stay awake. Prepare and get ready! We haven’t a moment to lose!
• The bible say Get Ready “The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.” (Proverbs 21:20)“Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.” (1 Thessalonians 5:6)“Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” (1 Corinthians 16:13)
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5. So, what should we do? Get Ready “Keep awake therefore,” he says
• Again, in verse 44, this message is repeated: “Be ready.”
• Be ready to welcome the presence of Jesus.
• Be ready to be a servant of God.
• Be ready to live as we’re supposed to live.
• Be ready to be faithful.
6. Finally, Be Ready by being prepared, be in a state of readiness, by not procrastinating, stay alert, and have the alarm clock in your heart set.
• Paul’s comments to the Ephesian church, he advises them to “[make] the most of time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). Be Ready no one know the hour remember the days of Noah
• This verse acts like an alarm clock, as though Paul is banging on the bedroom door:
• “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead!” because one will be taken and one will be left behind
• 42 Keep awake, you do not know on what day[43 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.