UNEXPECTED GUESTS
Matthew 24:36-44
I. VIDEO
A. Video of people disappearing in the rapture.
B. Not required for sermon
II. INTRODUCTION: UNEXPECTED GUESTS
A. Ever have an unexpected guest?
B. You’re sitting down to dinner and you hear a doorbell (ring the office doorbell)
C. What do you do?
1. Maybe the kids are being bratty
2. Maybe you’ve had a fight with your husband or wife
3. Maybe the house is a mess
D. Yet here they are, friends from out of state… surprise!
E. We’ve come to visit for the weekend!
F. What do we do with unexpected guests?
SLIDE/INSERT:
Are you prepared for unexpected guests?
G. Do we send them away?
1. Bill, Sue! How good to see you! The Hyatt is right down the street.
H. Or the more common occurrence of inviting family over for dinner and cousin Katie invites her new boyfriend without warning
1. Do we tell him there’s not enough food?
2. Do we warm up a tv dinner while everyone else eats turkey?
3. Does he sit at the kid’s table because there’s no room?
I. Of course, unexpected guests aren’t a problem if our house is always in order
1. That’s easier said than done of course!
III. IT TAKES A THIEF
A. Show on Discover Channel
SLIDE: Picture of It Takes a Thief show
B. Two men who rob houses and businesses as a way to educate others in security
C. They tell the home owner they will rob the house in a week’s time
D. Homeowners are always caught off guard
E. They come home to find their belongings missing
F. And they know they are going to be robbed
G. They are taught to secure their house as if they are going to be robbed
1. Not secure their house because they might get robbed
2. To secure their house because they will get robbed
3. Do you see the difference
IV. JESUS WARNS HE IS COMING BACK
A. Jesus warns that he is coming back
B. He doesn’t say live your life as if I am coming back
C. Get ready for me because I am coming back
1. He just isn’t telling us when
SLIDE/INSERT: Jesus is coming back
SLIDE 36 "But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
D. It’s just like the show, It Takes a Thief
1. He’s telling us that he’s coming back, we will be ready?
V. GOD HAS DONE THIS BEFORE
A. Jesus reminds us that God has done this before
B. God did this with Noah
SLIDE 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.
C. God was going to bring his flood whether the people were ready or not
D. Now we know that God wanted to wipe out the earth because he was tired of humanity’s wickedness
E. But they are not described as doing evil things when the flood came
1. They are eating, drinking, getting married
2. There’s a sense of them simply living their lives
3. Yet completely oblivious of their creator
4. When the flood came, they weren’t ready
F. Jesus is saying, it’s happened before it’s going to happen again
1. God is going to act in creation whether you’re ready or not
VI. SONG: NEAR SIGHTED GIRL WITH FAST APPROACHING TITLE WAVE
SLIDE:
Daniel Amos (DA) Horrendous Disc album cover
A. There’s a great Christian band from the 80’s called Daniel Amos
B. They had an album dedicated to this theme of Christ coming
C. Throughout their album were references to Jesus coming and people either being ready or not being ready
D. One song was called: Nearsighted Girl with Fast Approaching Title Wave
1. The song tells the story of a girl who lies on the beach daydreaming of a different life
2. As she daydreams a title wave approaches
3. Those who see the title wave run to higher ground and safety
4. But those like the girl who are not paying attention, don’t escape
5. As the song ends: It’s a title wave, it’s a watery grave. She really tried to swim. She couldn’t in the end.
VII. WHAT’S OUR EXCUSE WHEN THINGS HAPPEN THAT WE KNOW CAN HAPPEN
A. What happens when we’re not ready when the expected happens
B. Let’s face it, title waves don’t happen every day but are they that unexpected
C. Dave Ramsey
1. I’m going through a Dave Ramsey course right now as a preview for our church
2. He talks about how we respond to things with our money that we claim are emergencies but aren’t
3. We are unprepared for something that we know will happen
4. Examples
a. I can’t believe I need new tires for my car… this is totally unexpected
b. I can’t believe the kids are starting school again this fall… no one told me they were going to grow this summer and need new clothes
c. I can’t believe Christmas is on December 25th this year!... how am I going to buy Christmas gifts
5. We know when Christmas is coming… it’s December 25th
6. Why aren’t we ready?
7. There’s a difference between Christmas and Jesus returning
a. We know exactly when Christmas is coming.
b. We don’t know exactly when Jesus is coming
8. But the similarity is this
a. They are both coming
b. Jesus is as sure to come as December 25th this year
9. And just like Christmas, Not being ready is not an excuse
SLIDE/INSERT Not being ready is not an excuse
VIII. WHEN NOT BEING READY ISN’T ACCEPTED
A. There are times in our lives when not being ready just isn’t accepted
B. It simply is not acceptable
C. When we aren’t ready for the train when it arrives
1. The train will leave without us
2. It has a schedule
3. It will miss the next schedule if it waits for us
4. But I wasn’t ready
D. The same with flights
1. But the line to the security was longer than I though it would be
E. It’s not fair that I failed that test
1. I wasn’t ready
F. Life happens whether we’re ready or not!
G. Imagine our military not being ready
1. That’s their whole purpose!
2. To be ready in case we are attacked
3. They practice
4. They train
5. They get calls in the middle of the night
6. What if we were attacked and we weren’t ready!
7. What if the whole military took a week’s vacation?
H. Is it really unfair for the plane or train to leave on time because we ourselves are not ready?
I. Is our boss or teacher really being unfair when he/she pulls us aside and says, “You’re not coming prepared and you’re just not making the cut”?
Jesus is giving us fair warning. The Jesus Train is coming. And if you’re not ready to go, you’re going to be left behind.
So how do we get ready?
IX. HOW DO WE GET READY: PRIORITIZE
A. So how do we get ready for Christ to come?
1. Cleaning our houses
2. Reading Christian living books?
3. Wearing wwjd bracelets?
B. We Prioritize!
1. We make Jesus our number one priority
C. I mentioned last week that you are the most important thing to God
D. God should be the most important thing to you
E. God should be the number one thing in your life!
F. What is your number one priority in life?
1. Work, family, your habit, your addiction, your church?
2. I hope none of those things are the number one thing in your lives
3. I’ve got news for you, Bethany is not the most important thing in my life
4. I’ve got news for you… I love my wife… she’s not the most important thing in my life
5. I don’t want to be Jen’s God – I want to be her husband
6. I’m not the most important thing in her life
a. I called Jen at her work to tell her I was going to say this
b. I also told her I was going to say I was not the most important thing in her life
c. Her response was, “Absolutely not”
d. She’s not being rude, she’s prioritized
G. Your relationship with God through Jesus Christ needs to be the most important thing in your life
H. If it is:
1. You will feed it, nourish it, spend time with it
I. How do you know the number thing in your life?
1. What do you think about when you lay in bed at night?
a. Your pretty secretary?
b. The handsome pool boy?
c. Do you think about work?
d. Does your mind wander off to things of the past?
2. Outside of work, where do you spend the most time?
a. With family
b. Friends
c. The tv
d. Or do you just prefer work to everything else?
3. You really want to know where your priorities are? …Open up your checkbook
a. Where does your money go?
b. Matthew says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” Matthew 6:21
J. We prepare ourselves for Jesus, by making him our number 1 priority
SLIDE/INSERT:
We prepare ourselves for Jesus by making him our number one priority
X. CONCLUSION
A. Advent is about preparing for Christ
B. It’s a season of prioritizing
C. It’s a great season to get a flat screen tv this year
D. And you know I’ll be going over the Home Depot Ads
E. But those things are secondary
F. Prepare yourselves for the newborn King
G. Not just for Christmas morning
H. But for any moment
I. Because Jesus is like a thief
1. He will come unannounced
2. He will take what is his
And he will come!
Do you belong to him?
Are you ready?
Let’s pray
