READY, HERE I COME, READY OR NOT…
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
READY? ARE WE READY? Do we have time to write our will?
Matthew 24:44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
Linda and I had a friend? Doris was a wonderful lady? She attended church every service and was a super loving mother.
Doris was married to Don, they had two sons. One day Doris spoke privately with my wife. She informed her and then us of a serious medical condition. Both her breast were as hard as rocks and Doris was getting very sick. She asked: DO YOU THING THIS COULD BE SERIOUS? We recommend to see the doctor immediately? Doris was dead in a few weeks. Our hearts were broken. We were not ready, nor expecting this?
WHY WEREN’T WE READY? THERE IS A SERIOUS QUESTION: ARE WE REALLY READY?
What were we ready for on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001? 2,996 people died? 19 were terrorist. 265 people on 4 planes. Billions of dollars?
There was no state of war? No one was expecting that day, there was no combatants, because there was no war. Thousands and thousands of USA citizens were demanding the President to stay neutral. This is not our fight? Let Hilter
Kill the Jews? We don’t care?
Was it December 7, 1941 that Japan bombed pearl habor? 2,403 died,( 2,008 in the Navy, 109 Marines, 218 Army, 68 civilians, over 1,000 were sleeping on the ship? 1,178 wounded. 18 ships were sunk.
COME FLY WITH US? WE ONLY CHARGE YOU $10.00 TO FLY ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD?
So you call 100 times and there is no answer? No returned calls, they cannot afford to hire someone to answer the phone, so you go to the airport, it is a great deal? You find out that the airline uses a 1931 FORD TRI-MOTOR AIRPLANE that carries 10 people. There is no heat? No air? No seat belts? Hydraulic oil is dripping on the run way? There is even a larger puddle of dirty black oil. You notice 2 of the tires are almost flat? You ask about the meal? The meal is day old sandwiches from subway? The pilot is a 12 year old kid? You look in the cabin to see the fuel gauge is almost empty? So you ask your boy pilot, is that enough fuel to get us to our destination? He replies: I am not sure, I don’t know, I have never flown a plane before? Then you look at the boy and see he is wearing a parachute? Where is mine you ask? He says: We can only afford one? Would you please take your seat and be quiet? We do not want you to alarm the other passengers as they board?
ARE WE REALLY READY?
TEXT:
2 Corinthians 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16 (MSG) So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace.
COME LET US REASON TOGETHER: ARE WE READY? ARE WE GETTING OTHERS READY?
Hebrews 12:12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. 14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Hebrews 12:12 So don't sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! 13 Clear the path for long-distance runners so no one will trip and fall, so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle. Help each other out. And run for it! 14 Work at getting along with each other and with God. Otherwise you'll never get so much as a glimpse of God.
EVER PLAY HIDE AND SEEK? WE COUNT DOWN? THEN WE SAY HERE I COME – READY – OR NOT…
READY: prepare to do, properly prepared or finished and available for use, almost about.
Prepared mentally, emotionally, spiritually, likely to happen,
PREPARE: to make ready, to make yourself, to create,
Have you ever been around a school at mid-term or finals time?
Some wait to the last minute to prepare? Others have been ready through wise preparation?
Matthew 25:10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
Matthew 25:12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
READY? READY FOR WHAT? READY FOR ANYTHING?
UNTIL THEN… UNTIL? Can we suffer the good to grow weak and weaker?
THE POWER OF RENEWAL AND REGENERATION…
ALL THINGS IN LIFE NEED TO BE RENEWED.
Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
No creature can continue by itself. Even the trees lie dormant until the spring must drink in the rain and take in nourishment. When a tree gets so old and hard and lose their FLEXIBILITY, that tree is doomed to come crashing down.
Mankind must learn to be READY and PREPARE for the storms of life. We must find the RENEWAL POWER OF OUR CREATOR. We must find a release for the bad and the waste. We must draw in THE NEW, until we are renewed. WE MUST PREPARE AND REPAIR OUR HEARTS AND EMOTIONS.
DEPRESSION AND FEAR GROW WHERE THERE IS NO RENEWAL AND WE NEGLECT OR MAYBE EVEN ABUSE THE SPIRIT PERSON. WE MUST HAVE CONSTANT RESTORATION AND NEW GROWTH.
We know any captain and his vessel on the ocean MUST BE PREPARED AND READY for storms. One never knows when a storm might brew and bring destruction unless the crew is prepared and ready. UNTIL THE STORM PASSES OVER.
The power of regeneration is amazing. Under the right conditions, you can take an earthworm or a starfish and cut them in half. Each half has the ability to grow a new half…
Isaiah 41:1 Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.
THEY THAT WAIT ON THE LORD SHALL RENEW…
Isaiah 40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
The eagle has this great renewing ability. The beak gets so dull, the talons are weak, the feathers are old. The eagle will isolate itself in a cliff or the rocks or may a high tree. The eagle looks to be dying. The eagle will pick out it feathers, then it will grind its beak away. The eagle in a nervous will rub its talons against the rocks until it is bleeding to the quick. The eagle patiently waits, UNTIL.
BE READY AND QUICK TO FORGIVE.
Psalm 86:5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
Psalm 86:5 (MSG) You're well-known as good and forgiving, bighearted to all who ask for help.
The pearl gates of heaven hinge on FORGIVENESS.
Luke 6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER.
1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
READINESS IS A STATE OF MIND…
1 Peter 5:2 (KJV) Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
BE READY TO GIVE.
1 Timothy 6:18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
GET REAL… BE READY TO DIE AND FACE THE JUDGMENT…
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Psalm 88:15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
CONCLUSION: Luck is where preparation and readiness meet with opportunity. There was a song many years ago that stated: WISH WE HAD ALL BEEN READY? THERE ARE 4 STAGES TO SUCCESS: 1. PLAN WITH A PURPOSE. 2. PREPARE WITH PRAYER AND STUDY. 3. PROCEED AND BE wt.or. 4. PURSUE WITH PERSISTENCE. Are you ready? Are you prepared? What profit is worrying about tomorrow? Why not be ready and prepared to face tomorrow with love and zeal? A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE… IT IS BETTER TO PREPARE AND BE READY THAN IT IS TO FIX OR REPAIR. Hope for the best. Be ready, ready for what? Ready for anything!
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Ready for dinner: Revelation 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
