Skip to content The Warning to Be Ready Jul 17 · 42 min ...more
The Warning to Be Ready
July 17, 2025 · 42 min
We're told He'll arrive like a thief in the night. How do we live our lives on purpose for Christ, informed by the knowledge of His return?
Series The Red Letter Warnings July 17, 2025 · 42 min · The Red Letter Warnings
We're told He'll arrive like a thief in the night. How do we live our lives on purpose for Christ, informed by the knowledge of His return? ...more Show the full description Show less We're told He'll arrive like a thief in the night. How do we live our lives on purpose for Christ, informed by the knowledge of His return?
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The Importance of Listening and Readiness 0:02 Morning, guys. Good morning. If you have a bible, you wanna, hold a spot in Luke chapter 12. We're continuing, our series, called the red letter warnings. And, if you're just joining0:14 us, the idea of the red letter warnings is in the world of communications, you can have conversations, you can have recommendations, and you can have warnings. Right? Conversations are like, I'm just freely sharing my0:25 thoughts. There's a free exchange of ideas with just talking. Right? And And then there's recommendations where you say to somebody that you care about, hey, if I were you, you might want to consider. Right? And0:37 then you kind of elevate the conversation to kind of a new level, and your urgency is a little bit higher. And then in the world of conversations, there's warnings. And that's when someone's speaking the truth or reality0:49 that there's big consequences if you don't listen. Like, don't do that. Alright? Don't touch that. Right? And, what we're saying is that all words in our lives and relationships1:01 are not equal. Okay? We assign some words, more weight, more urgency. And in the bible, most bibles, have an old and new testament. And in the old testament,1:13 it's black and white. And in the new testament, you get a color, and the color is red. And those red letters represent the words of Jesus. We find them in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John.1:25 And, of all the words that men hear, of all the words that men of faith hear, right, the red letter should carry way more weight in your life. And in in in Jesus's1:37 continuum of conversations, recommendations, truths, promises, commands, When you hear Jesus speak a warning, you should lean in1:50 and really pay attention. The same way you would listen to someone who's giving you a warning just in your regular life, because God's talking. Jesus is God. And when God is talking and he2:02 reveals something, it's not for consideration or debate or discussion. It's for application. And so in part 1, we looked at the warning against self sufficiency. I'm the vine, you're the branch. Apart from me, you can do2:13 Nothing. Nothing. Right? That that's a good warning. Right? In part 2, we looked at the warning against religiosity. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are are far from me. They have a public2:25 expression of faith in me, but privately, their hearts are far from me. They're religious, but they're not really spiritual. Right? In part 3, we we looked at the warning against denying your identity in Christ. If you2:36 confess me before men, I'll confess you before my father in heaven. You deny me before men, I deny you before my father in heaven. Like, what's whatever Jesus' importance is to you on earth will2:48 be your importance to Jesus when you get to heaven. Right? It's a really strong, firm, real, but authentic warning. And then in part 4 today, we're gonna talk about the warning3:00 to be ready. Jesus talks about, being ready, and we're gonna define exactly we're gonna do is we're gonna do what we've done every time we've had, a3:12 red letter warning session. And that is, we're just gonna raise the value of listening. We're training ourselves to assign more weight to Jesus's words. And so we begin each session kinda3:23 just looking at that in scripture, and then we're gonna unpack Jesus's warning. And then we're gonna, try to make some application. But to start today's red letter warning, I just was reminded3:35 about in how in our home, listening was a big deal. If you're a parent, listening is a big deal. Parents use different means and measures to get their kids to listen. Amen? You know, anybody who's had a kid knows,3:47 you know, there's there's prizes, there's rewards, there's bribing, there's fear, there's control, there's anger, there's posturing, you know. I call it there's grizzly bearing, you know, where, you know, grizzly bears3:59 like this and it's like, you know, you're gonna you're gonna listen to me. Right? But in in our home, first time listening was a big deal. Because if my kids don't know how to listen to authority4:11 in the home, they won't be under authority in other areas of their life, and they won't be under authority with God. The4:23 reason was, as I knew that my kids would pay a price, they'll pay a price if they don't know how to listen to authority. And and then if they don't know how to listen to me at home, then society pays4:35 a big price, you know, if my kids don't know how to listen. Well, in the bible, listening is a big deal for the same reason. There's a history, especially well, there's a history, especially when you read the old4:45 testament. There's God, his people. He says things. They don't listen. They pay a price. There's God, his people. He says things. They don't pay attention. They pay a price. And I just I just kinda4:56 cherry picked 1 of those instances, from the book of Zechariah says this, and this is God talking, but did your ancestors listen? No. They set their jaws in defiance. They shut their ears.5:08 They steeled themselves against God's revelation and the spirit filled sermons preached by the earlier prophets by order of God of the angel armies. And God became angry, really angry5:20 because he told them everything plainly, and they wouldn't listen to a word he said. So this is what God of the angel army said. If they won't listen to me, I won't listen to them. I scattered them to the 4 winds.5:32 They ended up strangers wherever they were. The promised land became a vacant lot, weeds and tin cans and thistles, not a sign of life. Let's finish it together. They turned a5:44 dreamland into a wasteland. Wow. Alright. So that kind of makes our point, doesn't it, this morning? There's God. There's his kids. They're part of his family.5:56 He says something. They don't listen, the Apostle Paul reflects on all of those Old Testament experiences6:09 in history. He kinda has a reflective look back on us, like, why do we have, historical narratives of God working with people? Alright? Why are they there? And what does6:21 it mean to us as believers in Jesus? Well, in first Corinthians 10, he tells exactly why those stories are there and narratives are there in the old testament. He says, these are all warning markers.6:33 Danger in our history books written down so that we don't repeat their what? Mistakes. Right. Our positions in the story are parallel. They at the6:45 beginning, we at the end, and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Let's finish it together. Don't be so naive and self confident. You're not exempt.6:57 You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self confidence. It's useless. Cultivate God confidence. Right? So there's an assigning7:14 thoughts, not to your own ways of doing things, but there's an encouragement to go, hey, study the loss. Right? That's what good battle commanders do. If They're going into a battle, they're like, okay. Who was here7:25 before? Who won? Who lost? Why did they win? Why did they lose? I mean, watch the movie, We Were Soldiers, and you'll get a picture of that. Alright? But Paul is saying, hey. That's there for us. It's written down so7:37 that we don't repeat those mistakes. And instead of kind of separating yourself, from them, put yourself in their shoes. Our positions are parallel, to them and we can repeat those7:49 mistakes. And so let's unpack that for a second, and kinda get some trues out of that, and then we'll go into the the red letter warning. First, not listening to God brings a response from God. Write that down. Not8:00 listening to God brings a response from God. That was true in my family. It's true in God's family. It's true in every healthy family. You don't listen to the parents, you're gonna get there's a8:11 consequence, to that. Number 2, not listening to God borrows sorrow. Reveal something, it's8:23 not just to control you. It's because he knows better, and he has your best interest in mind. Amen? Amen. Yeah. God knows better, and he has your best interest in mind. And we would we would we would respond8:35 that way in normal relationships if somebody knew more than we did. Like, my my buddy Jeff's in the room. You know? He he is he is the most skilled handyman in my life, and when issues come up in the luck8:47 household, you know, it's like speed dial to Jeff. And basically, I just kinda listen and hand him tools and kinda watch, and he kinda tries to train me to fish. I'm not8:59 a really good student, but he tries. Alright? But I listen, to Jeff. Right? And if and if I try to do it, and if I don't listen to him, I'm gonna mess it up. But not listening to God, that's that's like9:10 here. You're gonna borrow sorrow. Who likes to borrow trouble? And yet, we do it. Something. We didn't heed the9:22 warning and then we paid the price. Third, not listening to God begins and ends with pride.9:32 With pride. It begins9:32 and ends with pride. It's the creator telling the created telling the creator, thanks, but no thanks. Alright? It's the the branch telling the vine, I got this. It's the clay saying to the potter,9:44 why did you make me? It's the sheep saying to the shepherd, hey. Thanks for the leadership and the direction, but I don't need it anymore. Alright? And pride says to God, write this down, I know better.9:57 Pride says to God, I know better. So God will let you. Alright? Borrow trouble. He'll let you borrow sorrow. If in10:09 pride, you're him now. Little g. And you're in control. He'll let you do that. But just don't expect him to cooperate with your folly. Alright? That's why it says in James10:21 chapter 4 verse 6, it says this. Let's read it together. God goes against the willful proud, but gives grace to the willing humble. Circle, willful proud and willing humble.10:32 You're in 1 or 2 buckets today, And whatever bucket you're in, you have your own set of consequences or blessing. Okay? So we did what we've done every time. We're raising10:44 the value of what it means to pay attention, to listen, to assign urgency, to the words of God. Alright? So now let's look at the next red letter warning, and it's the warning to be ready. Ready for what,10:56 Kenny? Ready for Jesus's coming. Jesus is gonna come for you, or Jesus is gonna come to you. But just mark my words, it's gonna happen. We don't know when we're11:08 gonna go to God, or we don't know when God's gonna come to us. But Jesus talks in the New Testament multiple, multiple, multiple times. He says 2 words, be ready. Alright? And so we11:20 need to look at 1 of those instances in Luke chapter 12. I want us to read this passage together and, then we're gonna unpack what Jesus is saying. Alright? Let's start Luke 12 35 to11:32 40. Let's read it together. Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open11:44 the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth. He himself will seat11:56 them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat. He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn, but whenever he comes, he will reward the12:07 servants who are ready. Understand this, if a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would not permit his house to be broken into. You also must be12:19 ready all the time, for the son of man will come when you least expect. Wow. So those are pretty clear words. Right? It's a mindset. It's12:31 not an event. It's, you know, the servant and the master, and the servant has a mindset of readiness to receive the master. The master's gonna come, and and it might surprise the12:43 servant, when he does come. And so Jesus paints 4 pictures, and these are really important. Alright? In line 1, sentence 1, he says, be dressed for service. What does that mean?12:54 Well, you know, guys didn't wear pants in those days. They wore cloaks and robes. Alright? And if you needed to be mobile and agile, you had to actually13:06 move your clothing around to get mobile and agile. You actually had to tuck in, have a have a little rope, you had to lift up your robe, and you had to tuck it in. And to be dressed for service, there's there's13:18 be dressed for service, and there's be dressed for casual. Right? And so you had to take up your robe and get it into a position to where you could be ready to move at any particular time.13:30 Alright? So that's what dress for service means. Write that down. Ready to move. Right? You're ready. You're like in the ready position. You know in athletics, there's a ready position. Doesn't matter what the sport is.13:41 It all emanates from here. Right? You're ready to shoot. You're ready to jump. You're ready to tackle. You're ready to shoot. Right? In wrestling. Alright? Ready to move. That's what being dressed for service means.13:53 Then there's lamps burning. Alright? Jesus says, be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning. You might have remembered in the in the gospels where Jesus tells the parable of the virgins waiting for the groom to14:04 come, and some have oil in the lamps and others don't have oil in the lamps. And then the groom comes and the ones who didn't plan and get more oil in their lamps are begging the ones who have oil. Hey. Let us borrow you14:15 some of your oil. And guess what? There's no borrowing oil in the moment. Either you got oil in your lamp or not, and the oil represents being ready. Well, in this passage, it says, keep your lamps burning, and14:26 the same concept applies. It's expecting a nighttime visitor, and you need your lamps burning. Why? Because you have to be ready to see. Alright? So that's what lamps burning means. It14:38 means you got you're ready to see. There's no electricity back then. You had to have a supply of oil, and you had and and gee what Jesus is saying is you have to have a supply of readiness.14:50 Right? Because he's either coming to you or coming for you. Third, there's servants waiting. And, what a servant knew is that if the master kinda took off and said, hey, you know, it's the,15:02 it's the Joan Smith wedding, and I'm going to that wedding. It's like days. But you never know when the master is gonna gonna come back. And so the servants needed to be15:14 ready to greet and meet and start serving the master right away. And so when Jesus talking about serving servants waiting, that means be ready to greet and15:26 serve. We need to be ready to greet and serve our master. When he comes for us, we gotta be ready to greet him. We gotta be ready to see him. We gotta be ready to move,15:39 and we gotta be ready to serve him. And then there's this kind of funny 1 at the end. There's a burglar invading. Right? And it's all about advanced knowledge. If you have advanced knowledge, you get ready. And15:50 so Jesus is saying, hey. You know, if there's a burglar and you knew exactly when the burglar was coming, you'd take defensive measures. Right? Well, what Jesus is saying is, like, well, if you know I'm coming,16:03 then you better take some offensive measures. And you need to get yourself ready. And that's, burglar invading is you're ready and anticipating. So everybody say this with me. Ready to move. Ready16:15 to move. Ready to see. Ready to greet and serve. Ready to greet and serve. Ready and anticipating. Yeah. That's Jesus' warning. You know, because the Bible says that this life is a vapor. We think it's longer than we16:27 think it is just because we're in the day to day. We're in the mundane. We're waking up, putting on a pants, doing the same thing we did. We think this time is so long. Actually, it's so short. And and what you gotta16:37 understand, guys, is that earth is preparation for eternity. Right? Your heaven is determined your quality of your heaven is determined by this little short time on earth. And what Jesus is16:49 trying to help us out. And just say, hey, be ready. So now let's go to how to be ready. Ready for Jesus to come to, to us17:01 or for us? First, to be ready, he must be my master. You know, you notice in the in a lot of what Jesus says, it's master and servant. K? 1 is under the other.17:13 Right? One's in the a position, one's in the b position. And, specifically, what I mean by that is that Jesus isn't just your savior where he's just gonna come and rescue you17:25 from hell or from an eternity separated from God. Alright? But he's your lord. You know? It's in in kinda like Christianese, you know, it's like, well, I'm in the relationship because I have fire17:36 insurance. You You know? I wanna make sure my sins are forgiven, and I have a home in heaven. It's way more than that. Right? It's way more than just guaranteeing your future. It's changing your present. And17:48 when it comes to changing your present, Jesus isn't just your savior who rescues you and brings you to heaven. He's your lord. What does that mean? It means that he rules and reigns in your life.18:00 Say that with me. He rules and reigns in my life. That means when he speaks. That's it. And that's why I've been saying all words in your life are not equal. All18:12 words in your life are not eternal. All words in your life are not empowered to transform you, matter, but Jesus' words do. Amen? And that's18:24 how the man of God lives. There's master and there's servant. Now, just to kind of dial in his followers about this, where Jesus is my savior, but he doesn't have to be my lord,18:36 which means that, you know, I can decide and compartmentalize which parts of what he says I believe and which parts I don't, which commands I do obey and which ones I don't. Right? Jesus in Matthew18:48 chapter 7 kinda shoots 1 across the bow. Right? It's like, hey, let's get this relationship straight. Right? And I want us to read that together. Matthew 7 21 to 23.19:00 Right? Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the 1 who does the will of my father who is in heaven. Many will say to me19:12 on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? And in your name drive out demons? And in your name perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I19:23 never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers. Wow. It's kinda like disputing the claim where publicly19:35 we're in the right places, we're doing the right things, but in our hearts, we're far from God. And the way we know it is our level of obedience to Christ.19:47 Now let me just say this. You can't be 100 percent sure you're going to heaven. Why? Because we live by faith. But the best assurance that you can have is your level of obedience to Christ. You know, it19:59 shows that you love him. That's what Jesus said. The 1 who loves me keeps my commands, and I will love him too. And he says it over and over and over and over again.20:11 Okay? And what I love about this is that it it's very plain. Just like Jesus's promises are plain, Jesus's truths are plain, Jesus commands are plain, Jesus's warnings are20:23 very plain, then it demands kind of a plain response that, you know, you can fool yourself, but you can't fool him. And these are the these are the posers right here.20:35 He says, I I'll I'll tell you plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers. So publicly, they were religious. Privately, they were evildoers. And men, if that convicts you, it should.20:48 It should. Because it's the claim versus the reality. Alright? And Jesus is going to call it out. So, he we have to be ready. To get ready for him, he has to be our21:00 master. What does that mean? That means he rules every dimension of our lives. Amen? Not some dimensions. We don't compartmentalize. We don't say, well, Jesus knows everything about 90 percent of the21:11 things in my life, and this 10 percent, I know everything. That's not how it works. Right? It's called compartmentalizing, but we're really good at it. We're really good at it. Men live out of boxes. It's kinda like,21:23 well, this is my box this box of life. This is my relationship box of my life. This is my work box of my life. This is my ethical part of my life. And we kinda take out the box, and then we open it up, and we live out of21:32 it. And but that doesn't work in the spiritual life. It's all his. It's he's the lord of all. Amen? He's the lord of all. So if you're here this morning21:44 and you have a part of your life that Jesus isn't the lord of your life, can I encourage you from Jesus's own words to make him the Lord, capital l, of that21:56 area? What does that mean? It means get his mind on that subject and begin doing what he says in that area now. Right? That's your best assurance.22:09 Right? That he is Lord. Because in the passage, it says, everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord. Right? Will, not everyone who says that will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the 1 who obeys the will22:20 of my father. I'm gonna camp on this 1 more with 1 more point. When Jesus's blood family came to see him and there was a big crowd, someone whistled through the crowd and said, hey, your mom and your brothers and your22:31 sisters are here. And then Jesus stands up, addresses everybody, and says, who is my mother, brother, sister, and father? He says the same thing that he says here. The 1 who does the will22:43 of my father is my mother, brother, sister, and father. You know what that that translates to? Obedience to Jesus was thicker than blood. What makes you a22:55 follower of Christ and a part of God's family is that you act like your brother king who lives in you. And what did Jesus do on earth? He obeyed the will of the father. So that's your best assurance fellas.23:07 Why? Because we walk by faith. And do we have a lot of assurances in the bible? Sure we do. But the best assurance is to do the will of the father. So what does that look like in real time? In Colossians chapter 3, it23:19 says this, uses some, mild language. Put to death. Therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature. And then here's some examples. Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil23:31 desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived. But now, you must rid yourselves of23:43 all such things as these anger, rage, malice, slander, other. Since you have taken off let's finish it23:54 together. Since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator.24:07 Is Jesus saying perfection? Is the Bible saying perfection? Absolutely not. You are going to stumble. The Bible says the righteous man falls 7 times but rises again. The question is, are24:19 you at war with the chump inside of you? Are you do you feel the war? That's actually the better question. It's not am I perfectly living out the Christian life, or am I perfectly24:31 obeying all the commands of Jesus. It's but are you at war? We're all in spiritual battle of putting off the old self and putting on the new self. Is that a battle? Yes or no? Hundred24:42 percent. That's right. It's flesh versus spirit. It's world versus word. It's culture versus Christ. We're in this spiritual Vietnam until we get to God.24:54 And we're fighting, and we're at war. And we're putting aside the old self, and we're putting on the new self, which is in the image which is in the image of Christ. That's God's vision for you, is that you are,25:06 becoming like him on a progressive basis. Right? That's the mission of the Holy Spirit in your life. I'm if I'm gonna be if I'm gonna be ready, I25:18 have to make Jesus my master. And part of making Jesus my master, not just my savior but my Lord, is that I have an inverse relationship with sin. Put Jesus on the cross. Say that.25:30 Put Jesus on the cross. That's why the follower of Jesus has an adversarial relationship. Because sin, pure Lord and savior on the cross. And so why am I25:42 a party to the very thing that crushed Jesus? That's heavy, man. But that's the reality. And so there should be25:54 a relationship where it's like, oh, man. No. I gotta wake up. And that's why there's always a call to repentance. Alright? Repent. All that means is change your mind about that thing.26:06 You know that area of your life where you've just allowed it to go on and on and on in your life and you know it's wrong, you know what God's word says, but you're just like, well, I will never change, and you make up26:14 all these excuses and rationalizations and justifications. You know what that's called? Baloney, from the Greek word baloney. It's just you deceiving yourself. You know 1 of the greatest26:26 deceptions is self deception. It's when you lie to yourself to continue a pattern of thinking and living. I've done it. You've done it. We've all done it. Right? But we're borrowing soror.26:39 So be ready by making Jesus your master. Second, to be ready, I must be his servant. That's a picture that is replete throughout the new There's master and their servant, their26:51 student, or there's teacher and their student. We are his followers. But you know what's so interesting about Christianity today? Because we live in a consumer culture, it's not about us following Jesus, it's about Jesus27:02 following us. And it's so upside down and unbiblical. You know? It's where we're as com we're we're as close to Jesus as we're comfortable with. You know? And then the27:14 rest of it, you know, that's just out there. Right? That's not how it works. Jesus said, if any man come after me, he must deny who? Himself.27:26 Take up his cross and follow me. That means that something something and somebody is gonna die. Right? And that's your old self is gonna die and the new self is gonna be,27:38 coming to life in Christ. So I must be his servant. That's your new identity. Jesus said to his guys, kind of along along the theme of having this mindset and attitude about your27:50 Jisus said to them, his guys, just like the kinks of the gentiles or the kings of culture. All right, let's put it that way. The kings of the gentiles lord it over them and those who exercise28:02 authority over them call themselves benefactors. Now here's where whenever you see a a but in the bible, lean in. Right? So but you are not to be like that.28:14 Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the 1 who rules, like the 1 who what? Serves. Right? Let's finish it together. For who is greater? The 1 who is at the table or the28:26 1 who serves? Is it not the 1 who is at the table, but I am among you as 1 who serves? So you wanna be ready for Jesus? You're never more like Jesus28:38 and ready for Jesus than when you're serving Jesus and serving people. You wanna be ready? Be serving someone else. Right? You're a follower of God. Make him the lord of lot your life in addition to being the savior.28:50 Have an adversarial relationship with sin. Do what he says. Obedience is thicker than blood. Secondly, have the identity of a servant. Now Jesus is comparing and contrasting those. This is how culture does it. This is29:01 how how I do it. Right? And and isn't it like culture that when you have influence and power, people serve you? Right? But I am among you as 1 who serves.29:13 Who are you among in your life? Think about it right now. Who are you among? In your family, in your marriage, at your workplace, your29:25 neighbor. You know, I've said this before. I'll say it again. You know? Words that should be coming out of your mouth, if you wanna be ready for Jesus, is this when you're in the context of people. What do you need?29:38 What do you need? How you doing? You need anything? The the message is, how can I serve you? What do you need? Whether it's your children, whether it's your spouse, whether it's a friend, whether it's a fiancee,29:51 doesn't matter. You wanna be really ready for Jesus? Be serving other people. Figure it out. Alright? That's why at Crossline, I love the the men's community here at Crossline. We have servant leaders.30:03 That's what we call you. Jesus was a leader. His guys assigned him the title of leader, savior, and Lord, but he descended into greatness.30:14 He was the servant king. Think about that 1 for a while. Blows your mind. Right? And that's how you get ready. In first Corinthians 6 19 and 20, in case you forget, you know,30:26 they're servant and master. Back in Jesus' day, you were you were his property. If you had a if you were a servant and you had a master, there was a a transaction that happened that that contractually made you30:38 mine. Right? And Jesus, talked in this language because people got it. They were set free by Jesus from man, but the master of their liberty was Jesus. Right?30:50 So look at what it says in first Corinthians 6 19 and 20. Let's read it together. You are not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your with your bodies.31:03 Your body is everything. It's your brain. It's your energy. It's your skills. It's everything. Right? That's why it says in Romans, present yourself a living sacrifice.31:15 Because this is your reasonable service of worship. That means we surrender it all to Christ. And that's what a servant does. We release authority in our lives to the master, capital31:27 m. Right? Don't let anything else be your master. Don't let your appetites be your master. Don't let wealth be your master. Don't let power be your master. Don't let the31:39 next sensation or thrill be your master. Don't let anything else be your master, but let Jesus be your master, capital m. Amen? Because when you do that, you'll be31:51 ready for his coming. Alright? Number 3, to be ready, I must be expecting him. All of these conversations. It's just like, his32:03 servants live with an expectation. Man, when's the master gonna come for me? When's he gonna come? When's he gonna come? He's at the wedding feast. He's away for a while, but he's coming back. And there's sort of that,32:13 you know, kind of that low level healthy, angst, that's positive in the relationship. It's like, well, he's coming home. I don't know exactly the time he's coming home, but guess what?32:25 The house is gonna be ready, And I'm gonna be ready for that moment. Right? There's gonna be oil in the lamp. I'm gonna be dressed for service. He's told me in advance. He's coming back.32:37 Right? Look at what it says in Luke 12 37. It's right out of that first conversation. Let's read together. Waiting for his return will be rewarded.32:49 Right? They're gonna be rewarded. And and in the conversation, when Jesus is talking, he flips it. And he says, you know what? If you're ready and waiting, guess what? I'm going to put on an apron. I'm going to start33:00 serving you. But it's because they were ready and there's this joy. There's this mutual, like, I'm ready for you, Jesus. You know, it's it's it's you guys are probably like me. You're just like33:12 some days you're just like, okay, Lord. I'm ready. Get me out of here. Heaven's gotta be better than this. Right? But between now and then okay? Between now and then.33:23 Between this moment and when that moment comes, we're gonna be ready. How? Well, we're gonna make Jesus our master. We're gonna be his servant, and we're gonna be expecting him. I love this passage from33:35 Titus 2 11 through 13 because it it kinda it kinda has everything I've been talking about all in 1 verse. I want us to read this together. Ready? For the grace of God33:47 has appeared that offers salvation to all people. Ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled, upright, and godly33:59 lives in this present age while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ. Wow. Kinda has the whole34:10 thing. Salvation, continuation, sanctification, and then ultimately, celebration which is the culmination of salvation.34:23 And there's this journey that we take. And we're all if you if you know the Lord, you're on that journey. And I love the language. You know? It it it talks about Jesus being34:35 Lord. He's master and my he's my master. And Lord says, salvation teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions. That's obedience. So salvation34:48 and continuing in your salvation and working out your salvation isn't a have to. It's a want to. Amen? Your life is a thank you to Jesus for what he35:00 did. Obedience is a thank you. Salvation teaches you to say no to the world and yes to the world, and live self controlled, upright, and godly lives35:12 in this present age while we wait. Alright? And so when the Bible talks about while you're waiting, it active waiting. K? There's passive waiting and there's active waiting. The bible talks35:23 about active waiting. It's like, I'm getting myself ready. Right? Jesus is my master. I have a I have a I'm getting sin out, and I'm I'm I'm putting more spirit in. Less flesh, more spirit. Alright?35:35 I'm I'm actively waiting. He's coming. He's coming. I'm waiting for him to come in. But before he comes, I'm gonna get this house ready, my life. And then it says live self controlled and upright lives, okay, in the35:47 present age. And you're so you're make being a servant. You're being godly. You're serving. And then it happens. Then the blessed hope comes. Comes to us35:59 or comes for us. The appearing of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ. See, guys, as your pastor, I'm supposed to get you ready for that moment. And that's why we speak plainly the word of God. We don't36:11 sugarcoat it. I don't confront you. I don't comfort you. I just challenge you to live in response to the red letters. K? Because you're gonna be glad you did. Amen? Amen. And we all wanna high 5, and we all wanna do the36:22 end zone dance in that moment where it's gonna be, oh, man, it was so worth it. So worth it. Alright? So why be ready. Peter, as Peter does, in this36:34 little group of guys, Peter, as Peter does, as the conversation continues, he's like, Lord it's right there on your notes. It's, verses 41 to 46. Lord,36:46 are you telling this parable to us or to everyone? Right? The Lord answered, who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their36:57 food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly, I tell you, he will put him in charge of all37:09 his possessions. Together. But suppose the servant says to himself, my master is taking a long time in coming. And then he begins to beat the other37:21 servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. Day when he does not expect him, and at an hour he is not37:33 aware of, he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. Hello. Now there's plain speak. Right? And Now there's plain speak.37:45 Right? And you go, wow. Jesus again is telling us in a mess. So, hey, Peter. Yeah. You don't wanna be that guy. It's for you. This this word37:57 is for you. And the Bible promises that when we respond to the word of Christ with action and obedience, something cool happens. It's38:09 not just that I'm a servant obeying my master. I move from being a servant to a friend because Jesus is telling us everything. Right? Servants only get38:21 transactional information, but, you know, when Jesus talking to his guys says, I no longer call you servants. I'm calling you friends because I've told you everything. The question is, are you gonna move from just38:33 kind of a transactional servant who hears a message like this and says, oh, I have to change my act. Or do you wanna become a friend and where it's a willingness, it's a it's a38:44 camaraderie, it's a relationship that's blessing you. And in the process, you're getting ready to meet your friend and master and savior38:57 and king. So this is an important red letter warning. Right? There's an inevitability to what I'm talking about this morning. And we might be caught up in the weeds of our mundane and regular39:09 work life or just our regular life, but God wants to say to you, be ready. In the midst of your life, be living your life for me. Right? Let me be the master of your life.Show more In this video 0:00 The Importance of Listening and Readiness
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