Unexpected Guests

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