The Coming Trumpet – Being Preparedd
April 22, 2001
Ill: Hearing about the Columbine High School ordeal. The teacher that was shot and died could have actually lived. But what happened was that the police were unprepared. The story goes that the police, “Were sitting around waiting for something to do. They had not yet been dispatched their assignments and so they had nothing to do.” When the killings took place, they were caught off guard…they were waiting outside the school for over 2 hours before they even begun to go in. The teacher was shot around 11am. They did not get him out until close to 4:30, by that time, he had already bleed to death.
1. The Unprepared Way
A. Laying Around
a. That almost describes the Christian life – just laying around
b. Unprepared for What life has in store for them…unprepared for their destinies
c. As time tics – so do our destinies…so does our life…it doesn’t wait for anyone
d. And one day the trumpets are going to sound…and the end is going to come up…will you be ready…will you be taken
Matt 25:1-13
1 "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
2 "Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 "Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them,
4 "but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 "But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
6 "And at midnight a cry was heard: ’Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’
7 "Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.
8 "And the foolish said to the wise, ’Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
9 "But the wise answered, saying, ’No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’
10 "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
11 "Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ’Lord, Lord, open to us!’
12 "But he answered and said, ’Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
13 "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
John 14:1-2
1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
2 "In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
B. The Many Mansions
a. As you read the Jewish history…the father would add an addition to his house for every child born
b. And the more wives he took on the more the additions…so say a man had 5 wives…and 5 males by each wife…that’s 25 sons
c. And so each had their own dwellings…long hallways…or long sidewalks to get to the dwellings
i. And so the future bride would be taken to this house…the addition
ii. And there she would be with her bridesmaids…waiting
iii. Now, imagine if 6 or 7 brothers were getting married
C. The Alerted Bride
a. In those days, they would make a procession to follow as the groom came to
claim his bride
b. And so the bride is sleeping…when the groom got done making the addition and all the formalities were complete…he would go and get his bride
c. And so now here comes the noise…here comes the procession, but nobody knew which ones it was…where would the knock be…at which door
i. So all the brides had to be prepared…they never knew when the knock was going to come
ii. There lamps had to be full to light the way to meet the groom
2. The Alarm
A. The Coming of Christ
a. Life is short…are you prepared this morning
b. Because Jesus, in our scripture tells His disciples…I go to prepare a place”
c. When that place is done…He is
1Thes 4:16-17
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
d. The procession will follow…will there be oil in your lamp…will you open the door
i. How’s your heart…are you a light unto the world
Luke 12:35-36(NKJ)
35 "Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning;
36 "and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.
(TLB) 35 "Be prepared-- all dressed and ready--
36 for your Lord’s return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks.
Too often opportunity knocks, but by the time you disengage the chain, push back the bolt, unhook the two locks and shut off the burglar alarms, it’s too late. --Rita Cooledge jul98
B. Be Ready For the Knock
a. See we don’t know when He is coming…it just says be ready
b. “Your lamps burning”…That means being involved in the things of God, being fruitful, being absorbed in the things of God
c. Keep you lamp trimmed…that means there are times when rest is needed…you turn them down, but never shut them off
i. Inactivity shuts off our lamps…not being involved, not being sold out
ii. No burned out…sold out – that means that your priorities are in line
iii. The problem comes that many have trimmed their lights and left them there – the comfort zone
C. “Let not your heart be troubled…”
a. He had just told them of His crucifixion – they were sad…didn’t know how to take it
b. And so Jesus tells them, “let not your heart be troubled”
c. First of all ‘troubled’ – don’t get anxious…don’t get into worrying, don’t become like the sea, being tossed to and fro
i. Keep your composure
Ps 42:5
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.
ii. “Your Heart” – keep this with all diligence – when you are losing everything else…don’t lose heart or your heart
2 Cor 4:8-10(NIV)
8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
iii. If we lose our hearts, we lose everything…we need to guard our hearts
iv. That no matter what is happening around us…we shall not be moved
3. Don’t Be Left Behind
A. The Greatest Tragedy
a. Is to miss out on what God has for us
b. The destiny…the plan…the calling…the city…the nation
c. He has prepared it…just for you
Eph 1:4
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world,
i. Oh beloved…can you hear the cry of the unsaved
ii. Can you see the burdens and the wages of their sins
B. The Cry of Columbine
a. I heard the pleas through the radio…I heard the cries for help
b. Two years…and those cries are still being heard
c. A student put a sign out the window, “Our teacher is bleeding to death, please help.”
d. Yet, no one responded…fear…for their own lives and confusion
i. And because they did not move fast enough… an innocent man was killed…leaving behind two daughters and a wife
D. And the Lack of our Response
a. The cry for help is being heard here this morning…the cry from the wife of
the alcoholic, the children, the drug abuser, the prostitute, your family, your
friends
b. Let us not be like the people that hear the cries for help from the women being raped, and simply close the shades
c. But let us respond to the urgency of the hour…
Matt 5:14-15(TLB)
14 You are the world’s light-- a city on a hill, glowing in the night for all to see.
15 Don’t hide your light! Let it shine for all; let your good deeds glow for all to see, so that they will praise your heavenly Father.
It was on March 4 that the lacerated, exhausted Marines saw the first demonstration of why they were fighting and dying on the ugly little island. A crippled B-29 returning from an attack on Tokyo, the Dinah Might, became the first American plane to make an emergency landing on Iwo Jima. Nearby Marines watched with astonishment as the crew leaped from the aircraft and kissed the ground. The ground was shaking with artillery fire. As far as the leathernecks were concerned, the crew had just landed in hell. They got a different perspective when one of the crewmen, thankful he had been spared a crash-landing in the Pacific, shouted: “Thank God for you Marines!”
- No where to land…death was certain, but the Marines had taken control of this part of the island
- They were safely on their way home
E. Thank God for the Evangelist
Ps 100:4
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
a. Thank God for His goodness…for the blood of Jesus – and for choosing the one that witnessed to us
