“A Prepared People”
Luke 1:11-17
“Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him (Zechariah), standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.
He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
This is the birth announcement of John the Baptist – and kind of a job description – all rolled into one. It’s kind of a neat thing for a parent to hear. The angels says this about the unborn baby: Many will rejoice because of his birth; he will be great in the sight of the Lord; he will never taste alcohol in his life; he will be filled with the Holy Spirit; he will bring back many people to the Lord; he will have the spirit and power of Elijah; he will unite families; he will turn the hearts of the disobedient to become righteous; and he will prepare a people for the Lord.
That’s pretty neat stuff, but what I want to focus on this morning is that last thing. “He will prepare a people for the Lord.” Or “Make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” I kind of relate to that. That’s my job. I am to prepare you to meet the Lord. So I teach you; I encourage you; I minister to you; I try to equip you – and so on. When we all meet the Lord, I want you to be able to stand before God – with no fear or hesitation – because you are prepared.
I never realized before how much I do that. I guess what started me thinking about it is the talk I am preparing to give at the Tea Party that meets on Thursday’s at our Church. It’s on “Emergency Preparedness” and it has five points. Here’s a portion of it:
The boy scouts have a motto: “Be prepared. "Be prepared for what?" someone once asked Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting,
"Why, for any old thing." He said.
My cousin, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, when he instructs military or law enforcement personal, teaches them that the best antidote to stress is preparation. So on the one hand, I do believe we need to trust God. On the other hand, I think we need to be prepared. The wisest man who ever lived said,
“The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools devour all they have.”
(Proverbs 21:20)
Jesus said, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.” Luke 14:28-32
Jesus is teaching us that the wise thing to do is to “count the cost”. In other words, he is teaching us we ought to think ahead, plan ahead, consider the consequences, and be prepared. This does a couple of things. It relieves stress in our lives, and enables us to help others. If you aren’t prepared – you are scrambling to take care of your own needs in an emergency situation. But if you ARE prepared – you can help others.
I want to talk about emergency preparedness in a couple of categories. First, emergency preparedness financially; secondly, Emergency preparedness in your vehicles; and thirdly, emergency preparedness in your home; and fourthly, personal emergency preparedness or self protection preparedness, and lastly “Spiritual Preparedness”.
I am happy for this opportunity to encourage people to be prepared – and what is more important than spiritual preparedness?
So I have been reading a lot on being prepared. But I discovered something interesting. God is preparing for us and He wants us to be prepared for Him. First of all, God is preparing a place for us in heaven. The Word says,
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
That blows my mind. The Psalmist said, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?”
Psalm 8:3-4
Can you imagine a place that God is preparing just for you? Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:3). I know Jesus. I have talked with Him. He has talked with me. I know His Spirit intimately. I know Him to be good. I know Him to be loving and kind and gentle. I know Him to be a lover of beauty and color and mysterious, wonderful things. I know Him to be awesomely powerful. Meditate on that fact. Think about what He may be preparing. In the great faith chapter, Hebrews 11, it says of those mighty men and women of faith,
“…they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”
Hebrews 11:16
There is a prepared place for you. God is preparing a city or a dwelling place, for you and me. It’s gonna be AWESOME!
In John’s Revelation it says, “She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.” (Rev 12:5-6)
We know whom the child, who will rule all nations with an iron scepter, is. It’s Jesus. The woman He came out of is Israel or the “Church of God”. Some call it the “Body of Christ”. I want you to know when tribulation hits this old planet – God will not forget His own. He has a place prepared for us. God will not abandon us. We don’t have to worry about tomorrow. We just need to stay under the umbrella of God’s love and protection. God knows what is going to happen before it happens! And He is prepared for it. He is preparing a place of protection for us. We need to be prepared and spiritually ready for it.
Verse 14 says, “The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach.” (Rev. 12:14)
Do you think God would abandon the ones He loves so much that He sent His only Son to die for? There is a place prepared for us. We will be taken care of. Christians, I believe, will go through the tribulation period, but they will be protected and taken care of.
There is another place prepared, as well. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it. Jesus said,
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
(Matthew 25:41)
Don’t think that heaven is the only prepared place. Only the prepared are able to dwell in that prepared place. There is another place for the unprepared. Are you prepared? Which prepared place waits for you – heaven or hell?
God not only has a prepared place for us. 2. God has prepared a work for us. The Bible says,
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)
Do you realize that God knew all about you before you were ever born? David says,
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:13-16)
God knew all about you before you were born. He knew how you were going to look. He knew how smart you would be. He knew what talents you had. He knew your strengths and weaknesses. And He prepared you to do good works. I don’t know what that is in your life. I think we have to come to a place where we really want to do God’s will, seek His will, and then be willing to do His Will – or do the work He lays out before us.
When God did that for me, my initial reactions way – “NO WAY!” I can’t do this. But I leaned that God doesn’t call the equipped – He equips the called.” I am just saying, you were prepared to do good works – are you doing anything for the Lord? If not – you are out of His will. You may be living in disobedience. At the least, you are not living for what you were created for – and that is an unhappy place to be. The place of joy is in the center of God’s will.
If you are not actively involved in doing good – using your gifts and talents for God – you are missing out on what you were created for. God prepared you to only be happy and fulfilled when you are living as He designed you.
Let me give you a clue as to what part of your mission is. 3. God prepared you to share the Gospel. Now, not everyone is a gifted evangelist. But everyone is to do the work of an evangelist. Not everyone has the gift of evangelism – but everyone is to use their gifts and talents to spread the Good News. Listen:
“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”
2 Tim 4:1-5
Some people say, “Oh, that’s for pastors. That’s for Timothy.” No. It’s for you and me. Every member of God’s family is a minister. We all do it in different ways – but we are all called to ‘preach’ or ‘declare’ God’s will and Word. There are a lot of people who don’t want to hear the truth. I’m afraid that many of the larger and more popular churches are often filled with people who want their ears tickled. To suit their desires - so they can do what they want to do – they get teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. What do you think that might be? It’s the same old story from the beginning of time. Listen:
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.” (Genesis 3:1-4)
There it is. There is the lie. “You will not die if you sin.” Have you ever heard that before? “Once you are saved – you are always saved.” Once you are saved you can sin – and God doesn’t see it?” “It doesn’t matter what you do – God loves you. He won’t hold your sin against you.” Jesus died for all our sin – past, present and future – So you can sin. It’s PAID for!”
That’s the lie, folks. That’s what people want to hear. “I can sin – and not die.” I can sin and it won’t separate me from God. I can sin and still go to heaven. But God says,
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. “ (Isaiah 59:2)
“Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Whoever does these things will never be shaken.” (Psalm 15)
“For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong; you destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful you, Lord, detest.” (Psalm 5:4-6)
We are to prepare ourselves by choosing to do what we were prepared for. We are prepared to share God’s Truth.
“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” 1 Peter 3:15
Always be prepared to give an answer as to why you believe what you believe. You prepare yourselves through Personal Bible Study; (David meditated on God’s Word day and night) you prepare yourself by joining others in studying the Word. You prepare yourself through praying for power and wisdom and opportunity. Prepare through practice. When God called me to preach I couldn’t speak to 5 people at a time. Now I can speak to thousands. The key is preparation and practice. I don’t know what it will take for you to prepare yourselves – I just know you need to do it.
We are to prepare ourselves for this work God prepared us for – so we can be a prepared people. The Bible says of the enemy,
“They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”
Folks, we are going to triumph. We are going to win. When the dust has settled and the last page is turned, we will be victorious. Why? Our King is King of all kings. Our Lord is Lord of all lords. And if we want to be with Him – we need to be faithful. Prepare your heart and spirit for that great day.
Are you with me? Let’s determine to live totally, completely, entirely - for the Lord.
