Are You Alert
Matt. 25: 1-12
I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving and gave thanks to God for all the blessings that He gives us each and everyday. Now we are sitting here this morning full and satisfied. We have had a great meal visited with family and maybe got in some good hunting. You know when you hunt you have to be alert for sounds and movement when you are in the woods. If you are not alert that old deer will slip by and you will never even know that it was there. Some times we are not alert for God and He comes along and slips by us and we never even knew that He was there. We have to watching for him every minute of our lives we do not know when He will come.
As a boy growing up in the country I had heard scary stories about a snake called a "Black Racer" that would chase you. These stories kept me very alert as I walked up and down the gravel roads around where we lived. One day mom asked me to go to the neighbors house and borrow an iron because ours was broken. I started up the road with a watchful eye on each side of the road with its weeds grown up along the way. I could just imagine one of those "Black Racers" laying back in the shadows just waiting to slip up on me and bite me. I borrowed the iron and started back down the road toward home when I sensed something was following me. I looked over my shoulder and sure enough there in the road behind me was a snake just raising up to bite me. I took off with all the speed I could muster. I ran almost to the house and was almost unable to breathe when I looked over my opposite shoulder and there to my amazement was the iron cord dragging on the ground behind me. I had almost ran myself to death running from an iron cord. How often do we run from things in the same way just because we haven’t looked at them from the right perspecitve?
God does not want us to run from anything in fact He wants us to run toward Him and do the work that He calls each and every one of us to do. We just have to be alert for the opportunities that He places in our paths.
Imagine a banker who credited your account each morning with $86,400, and every evening took back whatever you didn’t use. What would you do? Draw out every penny and invest it, of course! Well, every morning God credits us with 86,400 seconds. Tonight, He’ll write off as lost what we do not invest. We can’t accumulate any of it and we can’t borrow against tomorrow; we can live only on today’s deposits. Are you getting a good return on His gift to you? Make the most of this day, for the clock is running! Before you know it, you’ll make your last withdrawal on the “bank of time” and stand before God. To realize the value of a year, ask a student who has just failed the exam needed to pass a course of study. To realize the value of a month, ask a mother who has just given birth to a premature baby. To realize the value of an hour, ask lovers who only have one left before they are separated. To realize the value of a minute, ask a student who just missed the bus. To realize the value of a second, ask a driver who has just avoided an accident. To realize the value of a millisecond, ask a silver medalist who had to settle for second place in the Olympics.
B. In a lifetime the average American will spend:
Six months sitting at stoplights
Eight months opening junk mail
One year looking for misplaced objects
2 years unsuccessfully returning phone calls
4 years doing housework
5 years waiting in line
6 years eating
In the course of a lifetime, the average American will spend the equivalent of 13 solid years watching television
On average, young people said they spent nearly 17 hours online each week, not including time used to read and send electronic mail, compared with almost 14 hours spent watching television and 12 hours listening to the radio, the study said.
The segment of the
U.S. population between the ages of 10 and 17, will spend close to a third of
Their lives on the Internet.
Oh how much time do we waste on doing things that are really not important. We make them important but in the eternal scheme of things they are not really important in fact much of what we do daily has no impact on eternity. But we focus on the here and now and we don’t think about tomorrow or about what we need to be doing. Sometimes we are like the following:
A burglar broke into a house and began to steal all of the valuable. At that moment he heard a voice that said Jesus is watching you. He was so scared he froze for a second. He regained his composure and started stealing again, when the voice came louder Jesus is watching you. He just about lost it right there. After regaining his composure he began to steal again this time watching very intent around him when he heard the voice again this time he recognized a shape in the corner as he approached he realized it was a bird cage. He removed the cover to find a parrot. He was so relieved when he saw the parrot he said what is your name. The parrot replied "Moses". The thief then said what kind of person would name a parrot Moses? The parrot replied the same kind of person that named a Rockwieller "Jesus". Are you watching for Jesus are you alert for His return and for His work.
Prayer
I. What are we to be alert for?
a. For opportunities to serve Him.
i. When we meet people we should talk about Jesus
ii. When we are at work we are to talk about Jesus
iii. When we are at home we are to talk about Jesus
b. For times to praise Him
i. We must keep Him in the forefront of our minds
ii. We must take time to pray to Him throughout the day
iii. We must let Him lead in our lives
c. For His return
i. We must be ready for His return at any moment
ii. We must be seeking His return always
iii. We must be praying for his return
II. Why are to prepare for his return
a. So that we can be found approved
b. So that we want be caught unprepared
c. So that we want be told truly I say to you I don’t know you
III. How are we to be ready
a. We are to study
b. We are to pray
c. We are to allow God’s Holy Spirit to lead in our life
d. We are to serve Him
e. We are to know His word so we will be watching for Him
f. We are to be prepared or ready for His return.
Conc.
