{"id":153,"date":"2010-11-28T09:00:54","date_gmt":"2010-11-28T16:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/?p=153"},"modified":"2017-03-29T10:09:03","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T17:09:03","slug":"you-must-be-ready-for-jesus-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/2010\/11\/28\/you-must-be-ready-for-jesus-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"You Must be Ready for Jesus’ Coming"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 24: 37-44<\/strong><\/p>\n

More than once I remember.\u00a0 I came home from a trip late at night.\u00a0 I had been away a few days.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Karen was asleep.\u00a0 I came in quiet so I wouldn’t disturb her.\u00a0 Then the next morning I heard.\u00a0 I was trying to stay awake for you, but I fell asleep. \u00a0She missed my coming in.\u00a0 No harm done.<\/p>\n

But what about Jesus’ advent?\u00a0 What about Jesus coming?\u00a0 We don’t want to miss the joy in celebrating his first coming to us as the child of Mary.\u00a0 So we ready our hearts for that celebration this season.\u00a0 We remember the darkness which once darkened our hearts and lives , the darkness of sin and death.\u00a0 We remember the light brought by that Child to shine in our darkness.\u00a0 That Child come to bear a cross for us all. \u00a0How blessed we are to celebrate Jesus first coming at Bethlehem .<\/p>\n

But there is another advent, a second advent of our Lord Jesus.\u00a0 This coming we don’t look back to.\u00a0 This advent Christians look forward to.\u00a0 But do we?\u00a0 Here Jesus was talking to his disciples about that day when the world will see him again.\u00a0 Jesus is urgent.\u00a0 It makes me think of someone standing before me and saying some time ago.\u00a0 He pauses then says: Listen people, this is important<\/em>.\u00a0 What is important?<\/p>\n

You must be ready for Jesus’ coming
\nI.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Don’t go with the flow<\/strong><\/p>\n

37 <\/sup>As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 <\/sup>For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 <\/sup>and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away<\/span>.\u00a0 We just heard about the days of Noah before God sent the flood on the world.\u00a0 Remember what was going on?\u00a0 The world had become a place full of evil and ripe for judgment.\u00a0 God told Noah to do something that must have seemed very odd.\u00a0 He was to build a big barge like thing called an ark right out in the middle of dry land.\u00a0 Well while Noah slowly but surely assembled that ark, the project served to warn the people.\u00a0 It warned them of what was to come. It warned them of their need to repent and return to the Lord.<\/p>\n

But no one paid attention.\u00a0 No one took to heart what Noah said about his project. Instead they kept doing what they had always done, just like our world today: eating and drinking, looking for bargains on Black Friday, marrying and being given in marriage.\u00a0 Don’t misunderstand.\u00a0 There was and is nothing wrong with such things. The problem is so many let themselves be consumed by the things of this life.\u00a0\u00a0 It happened in Noah’s day.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s happening right now as we get closer to Jesus’ coming.\u00a0 People going with the flow.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In their unbelief, they did not know.\u00a0 They refused to know what was coming on the world.\u00a0 They just kept going with the flow which finally swept them away in a flood.<\/p>\n

What about you?\u00a0 Here we are in the season of Advent, a time to\u00a0 prepare. Yet there are so many things that come with this holiday season, so many other things we think we just have to do.\u00a0 What happens?\u00a0\u00a0 The spiritual prep easily gets sacrificed.\u00a0\u00a0 Don’t go with that flow.\u00a0 Take the time to do your devotions.\u00a0 Take the time to read your Bible.\u00a0 Make worship a priority and pray.\u00a0 \u00a0You and I must be ready for Jesus coming.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>I’ve never watched this show. Is it still on?\u00a0 Something about a bachelor who gets to pick the young woman for him.\u00a0 Finally there’s the scene where he makes his choice.\u00a0 He gives a rose to one and the rest are left behind.<\/p>\n

There’s a big divide there.\u00a0 On one side is great joy but on the other side is sadness and disappointment.\u00a0 Yet those ladies left behind without the rose or the bachelor get to move on with their lives.<\/p>\n

Not so the day when Jesus comes.\u00a0 There will also a big divide.\u00a0 But no moving on.\u00a0 No second chances.\u00a0 You must be ready…for Jesus’ coming.<\/strong> One way we do that is this.\u00a0 Remember.<\/p>\n

II.<\/strong> Remember what his coming means<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I once sat down to talk with a lady.\u00a0 She told me she had been a Lutheran in Minnesota.\u00a0 I thought that’s great.\u00a0 We should find a lot in common.\u00a0\u00a0 But as we talked I began to realize how different we were in what we believed. She told me that as far as she was concerned everyone is going to be in heaven.\u00a0 It doesn’t matter.\u00a0 No one left out.<\/p>\n

I could almost hear the devil applauding in the background.\u00a0 Why do I say that?\u00a0 The devil would love to have us go right along thinking like those people in Noah’s day\u00a0 Or\u00a0 like some who say there is no God and if there is well, everything will be just fine.<\/p>\n

There is someone who suffered and died for those folks too.\u00a0 His name is Jesus and some day we will all see his coming.\u00a0 He paints a much different picture.\u00a0\u00a0 That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 <\/sup>Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 <\/sup>Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Did you hear what Jesus said.\u00a0 The other left,<\/span> left behind.\u00a0 Don’t misunderstand. Not left behind to finish the work.\u00a0 Rather left behind to be separated from God, left behind in a place that Jesus describes this way just a few verses from here.\u00a0 . There will be weeping and gnashing of\u00a0 teeth<\/span> <\/em>(51)<\/p>\n

<\/em>But there’s another side to Jesus’ coming. <\/em>For those taken. <\/em>Taken, taken by the Lord, taken to be in his blessed presence. <\/em>Remember how Jesus said: \u00a0I am going to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place I will come back to take you to be with me…. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>But who will be taken?\u00a0 Can I know?\u00a0 How do I know I’ll be taken.\u00a0 Listen closely to Hebrews 9:28:\u00a0 Christ will come a second time not to bear sin. but to bring salvation for those who are waiting for him<\/span>. \u00a0That’s what it means to be ready.\u00a0 It means to be waiting, expecting, looking forward to Jesus coming.<\/p>\n

But we can get careless in our waiting.\u00a0 I remember standing bow lookout on a ship in the middle of a night.\u00a0 The watch was four hours.\u00a0 You knew it was important. You knew your shipmates were depending on you.\u00a0 But it was cold and dark and I was tired.\u00a0 So every now and then I would catch myself\u00a0 not really paying attention. Well just imagine if I fell asleep and stopped watching.\u00a0 Another ship could have crossed our path with no warning.\u00a0 A terrible collision.<\/p>\n

We too need to keep \u00a0watching. We must be ready for Jesus’ coming.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t mean sitting up in the middle of the night.\u00a0 I mean watching in faith for him who won our forgiveness. \u00a0I mean waiting for the rescue that Jesus will bring.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0I mean:<\/p>\n

III<\/strong>. Semper paratus.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Semper paratus?\u00a0 Semper paratus is the motto of the Coast Guard and no I won’t sing it for you.\u00a0 But I will tell you what it means.\u00a0 Always ready.<\/em> You see, when your mission is search and rescue you don’t have the luxury of saying, I’ll get ready tomorrow.\u00a0 The call could come at any time.\u00a0 You needed always<\/strong> to be ready.<\/p>\n

It’s the same with us as we look forward to that day.\u00a0 That trumpet call could sound at any time.\u00a0 Suddenly the Lord will come.\u00a0 It will be too late for those not prepared.\u00a0 So think about Jesus’ words.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a042 <\/sup>\u201cTherefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 <\/sup>But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 <\/sup>So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him<\/span>.<\/p>\n

One last thing.\u00a0 If you want to be fit, go to the gym.\u00a0 If you want to be ready for Jesus’ coming , \u00a0go where others are here to help you.\u00a0 Go where God’s Word and God’s people will encourage you to look forward to that day.\u00a0 \u00a0Look forward to Jesus’ coming.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 24: 37-44 More than once I remember.\u00a0 I came home from a trip late at night.\u00a0 I had been away a few days.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Karen was asleep.\u00a0 I came in quiet so I wouldn’t disturb her.\u00a0 Then the next morning I heard.\u00a0 I was trying to stay awake for you, but I fell asleep. \u00a0She missed my coming in.\u00a0 No […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":849,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions\/849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}