LUKE 12:47-48 FAITHFUL STEWARDS PREPARE THEMSELVES2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 12:47-48 Faithful Stewards Prepare Themselves

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013.

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This morning, as we look at our portion together, we are continuing this series that we began a few weeks ago, calling it the Faithful and Wise Steward. Now, as we look at the Faithful and Wise Steward, we've been looking at different aspects of stewardship and what it means that we're called to be a steward. And this morning, the title of the message is...

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Faithful stewards prepare themselves. Faithful stewards prepare themselves. Now, as we get into this time talking about the preparation that is involved for us as stewards, we read through the entire portion because I wanted to remind us about what it is that we're talking about. The last couple weeks we haven't read through the portion. So let me quickly summarize what Jesus has been talking about here.

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It really starts back in verse 35, where Jesus tells his disciples the importance of being ready and watching and waiting for his return. And then Peter asks the question, Jesus, are you only talking to us, your disciples here immediately, or is this for everybody, for all those who believe in you?

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And Jesus responds by getting into this illustration of a master and a steward and different examples of the faithfulness or unfaithfulness of the steward. And in essence, as we talked about a few weeks ago, Jesus is answering Peter's question and saying, this is applying to everybody. This is all believers, all those who would follow after me,

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And the point that he was making is that you are a steward. Now this illustration that Jesus gives, basically it's pretty simple for us to understand because it's talking about a master who is going away. And

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And so as he prepares to go away, he gathers his servants together and he outlines their responsibilities. And he says, okay, servant, this is your responsibility. Here's the resources you need to fulfill that responsibility. Here's what you need to do while I am gone.

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You're in charge of this. You're in charge of that. You have these responsibilities, and here's everything you need to accomplish that. And then the master leaves, and here's the servants in charge of those things that the master had instructed them in. But as Jesus goes on to describe this illustration, he says, then the master returns. So he's gone for a while. He comes back,

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And now the servants have to give an account for how well they did with what the master had given them. And so, as they give an account to the master for what they did and how well they did, those who were faithful with what had been entrusted to them, they are rewarded. And those who are unfaithful, well...

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Jesus says there's penalty or punishment for them for their unfaithfulness. And this is the illustration that Jesus is using to teach us that we are stewards. As we've been talking about being a steward the past couple weeks, we've been using this definition. A steward is a servant entrusted with resources and instruction to accomplish the master's will.

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You are a steward, which means that you have a master, which of course is God. And God has entrusted you with resources. And that's what we went through and considered in the first week of the series. All of the different aspects, or some of the different aspects really, of what God has entrusted to you. But then we also saw that God gives instruction along with those resources. And we spent the last two weeks talking about the will of God.

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And so as we come to now week four this morning, hopefully you understand you are a steward and you've grasped hold of that and you realize that you are a steward. You are a servant. You have a master. He's entrusted you with certain things. He's given you instruction and you will give an account to him when you stand before him. And so here this morning, hopefully you're in a position where you know his will.

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Well, you know God's will for your life. Now again, I don't mean it by saying you know every aspect and every detail of all the things that are yet to come, but that you can be like Paul and say, I know I'm here right now as part of the will of God. I know I'm right where God wants me to be. I'm in the center of His will. Because as we saw the past couple weeks, there's tools and things that God has given to us that we might know and understand what He wants us to do and where He wants us to be.

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So now you know his will and you know that you're a steward. Now as we get into the message this morning, it's about preparation. Faithful stewards prepare themselves. Now that you know what you need to do, now get ready to do it. Prepare yourself to do what God has called you to do. As we talk about preparation, well the word prepare basically means to get ready or to make ready.

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That is that we need to get ready to do what God has called us to do. And as we talk about preparation today, there's two aspects of preparation that I think are crucial for us to understand and to consider as we talk about the different ways that we need to be prepared. The first aspect, which I think is important, is who is involved in the preparation. And who is involved in the preparation? Well, I'll say it this way. You prepare yourself.

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You prepare yourself. Look with me again at verse 47. It says, So here's the servant. He didn't do what the master had called him to do. And Jesus separates it. There's the part where he didn't do what he was called to do. But then there's the part before that where he didn't prepare himself.

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And if you're going to do what the master has called you to do, well, it begins with preparing yourself to do what the master has called you to do. And if you don't prepare yourself to do what the master has called you to do, then you're not going to do what the master has called you to do. But he says the servant didn't prepare himself.

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And there is a responsibility that you have to prepare yourself. Now, there is a balance to this doctrinally, theologically, that I'm really not going to get into today, but just to make sure that you understand and are aware. I don't want you to get the idea that you have this whole burden upon yourself.

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You have to figure out God's will. You have to figure out everything. You have to, you know, be obedient in all these things. You have to do all of this, all this preparation. It all falls on you. And now you have this big burden and you're discouraged and defeated because you feel like, I can't keep up with this. I can't do all of this. Well, please understand there is a balance to this.

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Well, the scripture says it's God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure, that is, for his will. So God is working in you, and God uses others around you as well to be part of that work in your life, as well as you have a responsibility. And so God is at work, he's using others, and you have a responsibility. And all together, then the will of God is accomplished in your life.

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And so there is a balance to this. But one of the things that continues to happen and we see happen in the lives of believers is, well, we tend to kind of sit back and we're waiting for just God to do everything. And so we don't do anything until God does everything. And that's not the way that it works. God is working in you.

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But you have a responsibility to cooperate with him. To respond as he is working, as he is prompting, as he is speaking to your heart. You have a responsibility to get ready. And so that's what I'm focusing on this morning. You prepare yourself. Yes, God was with you in the work. You're not all alone in this. And it's not on your own resources. But you have to personally engage yourself.

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In preparing to do what God has called you to do. So the first aspect is you prepare yourself. Secondly is when. When does this happen? Preparation happens beforehand. Preparation happens before the real events take place. A good example of this is also a good reminder for all of you who are participating in the Youth Winter Camp this coming Friday.

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Because every year, we remind all those who are involved, and specifically those who are driving youth kids up the mountain to the retreat center, that you need to have chains for your vehicle. You need to be prepared to be able to use those chains. And what we always advise is, put your chains on while you're here down the mountain in Corona.

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Now, not to drive with them all the way up the mountain, but put them on here to make sure that you know how to put them on. To make sure that they are functional. To make sure that they fit. But most importantly, to make sure that you know how to do it. Because I've been in the situation where I'm up in the snowy conditions and it's cold and it's snowy and it's wet and it's miserable and it's dark. And that's a terrible time to learn how to put chains on a vehicle. Right?

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And if you're going to wait until then to try to prepare, to try to learn how at that point, it's going to be much more difficult, much more painful, much more agonizing. But if you will learn down here how to put them on, then when you get to that situation, you'll have some experience and you'll be able to do it much better. You see, preparation happens beforehand. You learn how to put chains on a car before you are in the situation where your car needs the chains.

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In the same way as we talk about preparation for what God has called us to do, God is calling us to prepare ourselves right now before we actually engage in those things that He has called us to do or in those situations that are ahead. The time to prepare is now beforehand.

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And so let's talk about preparation. There's five points I'd like to share with you this morning. We'll jump around to some different scriptures and so be ready to do that. But I also want to encourage you to write these scriptures down and spend some time in them later because, well, our objective this morning is not to get, you know, the full understanding of all of these passages. We don't have the time to do that. But the objective is for you to get a glimpse and understand some different aspects of preparation that are necessary for us.

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And so it's going to require some homework for you. In order to prepare yourself, you're going to need to spend some time later on considering these things for your own life and your own personal circumstances. But we start out, first point, in Acts chapter 1. Would you turn there with me? Acts chapter 1. And the first point this morning is that you are to prepare yourself for service. Prepare yourself for

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For service. The timing of what's going on here. We're jumping into the account. After Jesus has resurrected from the grave. And he is there with his disciples. He's giving them the instruction of the great commission. And he is about to ascend into heaven. To be with the father.

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And as he gives the disciples the great commission, the command to go into all the world and make the disciples, he then goes on to give instruction on how to prepare the

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but they would be able to fulfill this command. Look with me at verse 4. It says, And being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you have heard from me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

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So I love this picture. It's always intriguing to me. Jesus gives the command. You have this big task ahead. Go tell the world the gospel message. Make disciples throughout the whole world. It's a big job. It's a big task. But then he says, whoa, whoa, whoa, don't go yet. Hold on. Don't depart yet. You have to wait first before you go.

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Wait, he says, for the promise. And what is the promise? He tells them in verse 5, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. The promise that they are to wait for is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, go make disciples, but wait for the Holy Spirit. The disciples were not yet prepared to fulfill the great commission.

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They were not yet ready to accomplish what Jesus had commanded them to do. They had to prepare first, and the preparation that was necessary was the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They had to be filled with the Spirit. Going on in verse 6, it says, "...therefore when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"

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And he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority. I love this because it shows the disciples are still confused about what's next. Reminds us how much like us the disciples actually were.

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Again, we want to have the whole blueprint of the rest of our lives. Lord, show me your will, which what we mean by that is show me all the things that you want me to do. Show me the whole path, the whole story. But that's not the way that God works in revealing his will to us. He reveals to us right now what he desires and the next step what he desires. And he might give us some glimpses of what is to come, but he doesn't give us the whole roadmap of

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Of what he plans to do. The disciples here are thinking. Alright Jesus. Right now is when you're going to establish your kingdom. Right? You're going to begin to rule and reign here on the earth right now. But they're still confused. They don't have the whole picture. But they do have the instruction for what's right now. And that's what Jesus says. You need to focus on that. He says it's not for you to know the times or seasons. Don't worry about all the things that are yet to come. Focus instead on.

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On this step that I've called you to. And so he says in verse 8. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem. And in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. So he said you're going to be baptized. So wait for that.

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Well, you're going to do the kingdom right now? Don't worry about what's ahead. Don't worry about the whole future. Just wait for the Holy Spirit because when the Holy Spirit comes, you will be empowered and you'll be my witnesses all to the end of the earth. The disciples lacked the power of the Holy Spirit.

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And so they were not prepared. They could not fulfill Jesus' command yet. Even if they wanted to really, really badly. Even if they were incredibly sincere and very committed. If they had attempted to go out into the world and make disciples, they would not have been successful. Because they weren't prepared. They had not yet been filled with the Holy Spirit. And so they had to wait. That was their preparation. Wait for

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For the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Wait to be filled with the Spirit. And then you will be equipped and prepared. Empowered to do what I've called you to do. Now as we consider this today. We're in a little bit of a different circumstance. Because the reason why Jesus was telling them to wait. Was because the Holy Spirit had not yet been given to the church.

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This was going to be the first time that the Holy Spirit is poured out upon the church, and we find it fulfilled in Acts chapter 2. Now, for us today, we're on the other side of this, and so we don't have to wait for a period of time to be filled with the Spirit. Instead, we follow the instruction that Jesus gave in Luke chapter 9, that in order to receive the Holy Spirit, we must simply ask.

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And we understand it's not just a one-time thing that we ask and are filled with the Holy Spirit. But Paul commands us in Ephesians 5.18 to be filled with this Holy Spirit. And it means to be filled continually or repeatedly. That we are to be repeatedly asking the Lord to fill us with the Holy Spirit. We also see this happen throughout the book of Acts with the disciples. In Acts chapter 4.

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After they had received the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2, in Acts chapter 4, they prayed to God for boldness that they would be able to withstand the persecution and be faithful to the Lord and what he had called them to. And the Lord answered that prayer by filling them with the Holy Spirit once again. And it says that they were filled with boldness, the place was shaken, and then they spoke the word of God with boldness.

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And so as we talk about preparing yourself for service this morning, we're talking about you. Who's responsible to prepare you? You are. You have a responsibility to prepare yourself for whatever service he has called you to. What has God called you to? What is the Lord entrusted to you as far as service is concerned in serving him? What is his will for your life?

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Again, hopefully by this time you have some idea because, well, we've been given tools and instruction over the past couple weeks about how to know His will for our lives. How to know what God wants of us. We talked about that two weeks ago in Romans chapter 12 verse 1 and 2. And as we follow those instructions that Paul gave us, he says, then we're able to approve. Then we're able to

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to test and know what's genuine regarding the will of God. We also saw last week as we talked about the will of God for those who are called here. That if God has called you to this fellowship, you're gathered together with this gathering of believers, that you can know some of God's will for your life because of the purpose and the reason why He has gathered us together here in this place.

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And we talked about that last week as being inviting people to Jesus, believing in Jesus, and serving one another in love. And so you can know if God's called you here, that's part of His will for your life. You also can know that God has gifted you with spiritual gifts. And so He's called you to use those gifts, to exercise those gifts within the body of Christ. And so there's lots of ways that God reveals to you His will in your life, and

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But before you begin to do that, before you enter into that service, before you enter in to exercise those gifts or to do those things that God has called you to do, the point here this morning is you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And who's responsible to do that? You are. You need to be obedient to what Jesus said and ask for the Lord to fill you with His Spirit. And when is it that we're supposed to prepare? Before Jesus.

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It takes place before it happens. This is important. I was excited because, well, a couple of weeks ago, I gathered up some Christmas money and I went out and I purchased a hedge trimmer. Now, if you've never seen my house, I have some pretty large hedges at my house and I'm starting to get them under control, but there's still a lot of work to be done. But before I had this hedge trimmer, I just had those little clippers, you know, those ones here like this.

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And these hedges, I have a fence that goes across the front of my property. And then the hedges would grow, you know, six or seven feet taller than the fence. So, I mean, they're just towering over. And with these little clippers, it wasn't really exciting to think about trying to, you know,

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trim or maintain that hedge. And so we just let it grow and it just continued to grow and it got quite massive. And so I was really excited when I got the hedge trimmer. Now, if I had taken the hedge trimmer out of the box, keep in mind, it was designed to accomplish the task of trimming hedges. That's why it's called a hedge trimmer. And so it's designed that way. It's manufactured that way. That's what it's built for.

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But if I had taken it out of the box and just tried to start to use it, well, I would have found that it wasn't very effective unless I actually took the time to plug it in. And as soon as I plug it in, then it has power and then it's really effective at doing what it was designed to do. Now, that's the same for you and I as believers.

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You've been gifted. God's given you some instruction. He's shown you His will. You've been designed to operate a certain way and to accomplish specific things in the kingdom of God. But if you're not plugged in, there's no power and you will not be effective. Before you can really do what God has called you to do in serving Him, you must be empowered. You must be filled with the Holy Spirit. And that's not just a one-time thing.

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But it's an ongoing, repeated, ask God to fill you. As you enter into new times of service, to every opportunity, ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. Prepare yourself for what He has set before you.

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There's a lot that we could go into there. Again, take these things home, meditate on them, consider what it means for you and your particular giftings, your particular role within the church, because God has called you to serve Him. And you need to prepare yourself by being filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, let's go on to the second point though. And for that, let's turn to Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22, the second point is, prepare yourself for temptation. Temptation.

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You need to prepare yourself for temptation. Now as we look at chapter 22 of Luke, we're jumping into the point where Jesus, it's on the evening that he is about to be arrested. He's going to go to the cross in just a few hours and he takes some time before his arrest to get away with his disciples and spend some time in prayer.

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And as he does this, it says in verse 39 of Luke chapter 22, it says, coming out, he went to the Mount of Olives as he was accustomed, and his disciples also followed him. When he came to the place, he said to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation. And so here's Jesus. Again, he's going to be arrested. He's about to go to the cross. He's going to spend some serious time in prayer.

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He says just a few moments earlier to his disciples, I'm overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. This is serious. We also know, you know, as he's praying, he's praying fervently and he's breaking out in sweat and blood mingles with the sweat. And so he's praying and there's sweat and great drops of blood that are mixing together as he's praying fervently to the Lord.

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In verse 41 it says, And when he was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, he knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if it is your will, take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. And so Jesus has this encounter with the Father. He's wrestling because he knows he's going to the cross. And he's saying, if there's any other way for people to be saved, let's do that instead of the cross.

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but he submitted to the will of God. And so he went to the cross. And really the victory of the cross was accomplished here as Jesus committed to do the will of God no matter what. But it's interesting because Jesus is entering into this serious, fervent time of prayer with the Father. He pulls his disciples aside. Specifically, Peter, James, and Johnny takes him a little bit further and he says, "'Pray with me. Watch and pray,' he says."

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Now as he tells them to pray, what's interesting about this portion is that he doesn't tell them to pray for him. He doesn't say, okay, Peter, James, and John, there's some tough things ahead for me, so pray for me and I'm going to go over there and pray for myself too. No, he tells them to pray, but he tells them to pray for their own sake. For their own sake. He's telling them, look, I'm preparing for what's ahead for me. You need to prepare for what's ahead for

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for you. From this, we learn to prepare yourself for temptation. You're going to face temptation. I doubt that's a surprise to you. Yet how many times are we surprised when it happens? You're going to face it. So prepare yourself. Who's responsible to prepare you to face the temptation? Again, it's you who have that responsibility. And when are you supposed to prepare yourself?

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beforehand. If you wait until the midst of the temptation to try to strengthen yourself and be ready for the temptation, again, it's a bad time to try to prepare when you're in the midst of it. And so Jesus tells his disciples in verse 40, again, he says, when he came to the place, he said to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation.

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He's telling them ahead of time. He's saying, disciples, there's some temptation coming up. And so right now, beforehand, you need to pray. You need to spend some time in prayer to get ready for what is to come.

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In Matthew chapter 26 verse 41, we have the same account, but told from Matthew's perspective. And he adds on to it a little bit. He says, watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. So he adds on the word watch. Watch and pray is what Jesus says. Both are necessary. And he tells them why.

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Because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Now, have you ever experienced that in your own life? Have you proven that to be true? Where your spirit says, yes, I want to be obedient to God. Yes, I want to walk with God. Yes, I'm going to be faithful and holy and set apart to the Lord. That's what your spirit says. But then you find out that your flesh is weak. And in the time of temptation, even though your heart and your spirit said, yes, I'm willing.

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Your flesh gave in because your flesh is weak. We've all experienced that. And Jesus says, because that's the case. How many times have we done or seen others do those things that we said, I would never do that. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And because that's the case, Jesus says, you got to prepare yourself. Watch and pray. The word watch, it means to keep yourself from falling asleep. And that's a problem for us as believers. That means

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We tend to fall asleep regarding temptation. We tend to fall asleep and we're not prepared when it hits. And yet, as we talk about temptation, this is one of those things that you can count on. You will face temptation. That's a guarantee. You will face temptation. It should never be a surprise. I can't believe I was tempted.

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I can't believe I had to face that temptation. I can't believe I was tempted to do that. That should never be a surprise. You will be tempted. It's going to happen. In fact, it's not like it just happens, you know, maybe once a year or so you're going to be tempted, so watch out for that. No. You're going to be tempted all day, every day. And so there's a need for us to prepare ourselves because we have this barrage of temptation that will be coming against us continually. Watch. Watch.

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and pray. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10-12, Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. He's talking about temptation. He goes on to say in verse 13, No temptation has overcome you except for which is common to man. But as he talks about temptation, he says, look, if you think you stand, watch out, take heed. Now if you think you stand, you're asleep. You've fallen asleep. You haven't watched.

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You're not on guard. You're not prepared for the temptation that is to come. Instead, you think, I've got it covered. I don't have to worry about that area of my life. I don't need to worry about that issue. I'm not tempted by that. And Paul says, hey, if that's how you are, you need to watch out. You need to be alert. Take heed because you're vulnerable to falling in that temptation because you think that you stand. Take heed. Watch.

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And spend some time in prayer. Because you know temptation will come. And you know, like many things, it comes in seasons and waves in our lives. And there's seasons where there's a lot more temptation than in other seasons. And we need to respond appropriately in our preparation. And watch and pray. And let that intensify as the temptations intensify. So that we would be prepared for the temptation that is to come. Prepare yourself.

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Because you know you will face it. Well, thirdly, as we move on now, would you jump with me to Ephesians chapter 6? Ephesians chapter 6, and here point number 3 is, prepare yourself for battle. You need to get ready for the battle that is at hand. If you don't know, if you're not familiar with this concept, here's what you need to understand. We are in a war.

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As believers in Jesus Christ, we are in the midst of a fierce battle. And it's a battle that has huge stakes because the stakes are eternity. And so this is not a little skirmish. It's not, you know, a little thing that we shouldn't think much about. No, this is a battle for eternity. And as a believer in Jesus, you are a big target for the enemy.

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And he is scheming and he is plotting and he is planning how to take you down. And he's looking for opportunity to just take you out completely. It's a huge spiritual battle. And Paul here in Ephesians chapter 6 is talking about that and teaching us how to prepare for that battle. Look at verse 11. It says, "...put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."

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For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Here Paul says, look, here's how to prepare. You need to put on the whole armor of God because we're in a war. Now he's making sure we understand this is not a physical war.

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We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. And this is something we get confused on quite frequently because often the instruments that the enemy uses is the people around us. And so we think we're engaged in war with them. We get distracted and we begin to fight on the physical level, on this plane. But Paul says, no, no, no. Step back for a moment. Take in the whole picture. You don't wrestle against flesh and blood. That person is not the enemy.

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Now, who do we wrestle with? He says, principalities and powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. We battle a spiritual battle. And when you're engaged in a spiritual war, your defenses are not physical defenses. They're not mental defenses. They're not emotional defenses. They're spiritual defenses. When you're engaged in a spiritual war, your weapons are not physical weapons. Your weapons are spiritual weapons.

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It's a whole different arsenal that we need to be accessing to be engaged in and be ready for this spiritual battle. Now who is responsible to prepare you for this battle? Paul is explaining here, you are responsible.

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Again, look at verse 13 now. It says, therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Paul doesn't say, okay, here, let me put all this armor on for you. Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting, you know. Let me get you suited up for the battle that's at hand. No, what does he say? He says, you take up the whole armor of God. You have a responsibility to put on the armor, to prepare yourself, right?

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for this battle. And he goes on to describe the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit. Now I wish we had the time to get into all of those different things. I mean there's great, great stuff in this passage to help us prepare for the battle that is at hand.

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We don't have time to get into it. There are great books and resources available if you want to spend more time and prepare yourself for the battle. We did a spiritual warfare series a few years back and it's available on the church website. You can check it out there and listen to those things that we went through back a couple years ago. But the point of this morning is not to analyze every aspect of this, but to remind you, listen, you're in the midst of a spiritual war.

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And you might think the worst of it has passed or that you're facing it now, but that's not the case. There's more fierce battles yet to come. It's not a question of if, but when you will be involved in these spiritual battles. You're going to experience it. It will happen. You can especially expect these spiritual battles to take place when you're taking new steps of faith, when you have a new commitment that you're making to the Lord, a new step that He's called you to do and you're walking in it.

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You can also expect these battles to take place specifically when you're going through a time of heartache or hardship. You know there's going to be some fierce battles that go along with that. There's also spiritual battles. Anytime that Satan thinks he has an opportunity to take you out, he doesn't play by any kind of rules. He's merciless. And so you might be in the midst of grieving a great loss. You might be devastated by some news and the enemy says, now's the time.

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Let's bring on the battle. And here's the point. If you wait until the midst of the battle, you're not going to be prepared for what's at hand. Think about it this way. When do they put a soldier through boot camp? At the beginning, right? Before they send him to war. They don't just drop the soldier in Afghanistan. It's like, sink or swim, dude. Figure it out. No. They prepare them in advance. They teach them. They train them.

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And that prepares them for what is to come, those battles that lay ahead. In the same way, for you and I, Paul says, take up the whole armor of God. Get ready right now because the battle that is ahead. Again, verse 13, he says that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. You might think you're in the evil day, but you're not there yet. There's difficult battles ahead.

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And you need to get ready right now. So that putting on the armor, you got to understand. He's like, when you put on the armor, it's going to take all that you got. As you prepare yourself, having done all, he says, you'll be able to stand. It doesn't mean that putting on the armor makes the battles easy piece of cake. No, it's going to take everything you got and you're just going to be able to stand. I mean, you're going to survive, but it's not going to be easy. It's going to be a battle. You're going to face the battle.

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And so you need to get ready. You need to be prepared because you'll face that battle whether you're ready or not. Point number four. Now jump with me to Luke chapter six. Luke chapter six. And the point is prepare yourself for storms. We need to prepare ourselves for the storms that lay ahead. And here Jesus will be talking about the importance of having a strong foundation.

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A strong foundation is so important. Here in Luke chapter 6, verse 46, Jesus says, but why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say? Now Jesus is talking to his followers. He's talking to people in church and he's saying, all right, a whole bunch of you call me Lord, but why do you call me Lord and you don't do the things that I tell you to do?

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He's talking about people who call Jesus Lord, but continue to ignore his instruction or flat out disobey what he has said. So why do you call me Lord in that way? Why do you do that if you don't obey what I've called you to do? Verse 47, whoever comes to me and hears my sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.

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Here Jesus says, look,

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You call me Lord, but you don't do what I'm saying. Let me help you understand with a picture of a house what's wrong with doing that. And so he gives us this illustration to help us understand. It's a good picture, easy picture to understand. There's two houses. One has a foundation. The other does not have a foundation. Both houses experience the storm.

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But the one with the foundation stands, the one without the foundation is destroyed. And Jesus's point is, if you do what I say, you will have a strong foundation. If you don't do what I say, you will not have a foundation at all. Now again, as we talk about storms, this is something that you can count on in your life. You are going to have trials and tribulations.

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There's going to be accidents. There's going to be sickness. There's going to be heartbreak. There's going to be loss. You're going to experience storms. They come upon everybody. Believers, unbelievers. We all face storms in life. Sometimes we think as Christians, your voice should never go out while you're teaching a message. We think that we shouldn't have problems or difficulties.

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We're kind of surprised when it happens. Well, why is God allowing this? I'm a Christian. I'm following Him. I'm doing what He's called me to do. In fact, I've been more faithful than ever. And then this storm happens. Why would God allow this? If you're thinking that, you can ask Job as we read through the book of Job in the Bible in three years. I mean, why would God allow that? Well, we don't have the answer, but here's what we do know. Storms come on everybody. We're all going to face that hardship. So you need to prepare yourself.

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And who's responsible to prepare you for the storm? Jesus says you are. And how you prepare yourself is by hearing his words and then doing them and putting them into practice. You yourself, you've got to do this. Your neighbor's foundation will not help you in the midst of the storm. Your parent's foundation won't save you in the midst of the storm.

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Your friend's foundation, it's not going to help. Again, think about the picture that Jesus is painting here. You got two houses there. One with the foundation, one without the foundation. The person without the foundation can't say, you know, I don't have a foundation, but that's not a big deal because, you know, my neighbor has a foundation, so I'll be fine. If you think that way, you're delusional because the storm hits and you'll realize, no, I need my own foundation. Okay?

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You have this personal responsibility. Now here's the thing. Here's what happens, guys. When the storm hits, all of a sudden we get real serious about the foundation. We start repenting of things. We start, you know, getting real serious about holiness, getting real serious about obeying God because we're in a panic. All of a sudden, oh no, I'm in the midst of a storm. And then when things are good, when we're not in the midst of the storm, that's when we get real slack regarding hearing Jesus and obeying His words.

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But see, the point is, that's the very time where we need to take it seriously to lay that foundation so that when the storm hits, we are prepared. When you're building a house, when do you lay the foundation? Before you start building. It's the first thing that you do. Have you ever seen those videos, those news clips, you know, of houses being swept away by a storm?

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You know, either by a huge flood or tsunami or, you know, that's on the edge of a cliff and, you know, the storm just wipes out and just takes it down from the mountain or from the cliff. I've seen those videos. They laid a foundation. They did their best, but it wasn't enough to prepare that house for the storm that hit. And I've seen those videos. I've seen those news clips, but more tragic, I've seen that take place in

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In the life of people that I know. Where they were caught up in the storms of life. And they weren't prepared. The foundation wasn't. It wasn't enough. It wasn't strong enough. And the house collapsed. When things are good. Before the storms hit. That's when we need to be obedient to Jesus. But that's when we tend to slack off. But it's really hard to lay a foundation in the midst of a storm.

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Construction workers work really hard in the midst of a storm. When homes are being threatened, they try. But in the midst of the storm, oh, it's so hard. And if you wait until then to try to have a good, solid relationship with the Lord, to have a strong foundation, strong connection to the Lord, to know how to hear God's voice and walk with Him, if you wait till then, it's going to be much, much more difficult. You have to prepare, the time to prepare is

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is now for the storms that have yet to come. For the final point, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Here we'll learn to prepare yourself for the distance. Prepare yourself for the distance. Here in Hebrews chapter 12, the author of Hebrews is going to be challenging us to run the race that God has called us to run. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 says this,

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Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

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Here the author of Hebrews says, you guys, you're running and you're in a race. And here's some things that you need to do in order to finish the race. The phrase I want to highlight is he says, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. The word endurance, it speaks of the quality that does not surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial.

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And if you think about it in terms of running, you don't stop when you're tired. You don't quit because you can't breathe. You don't quit because your legs hurt or your feet hurt. But you endure. You continue to run through the midst of those things. Here the author of Hebrews says, run with endurance so that you can make it to the end. But he also says, look, there's some other things you need to be doing as well so that you are able to run with endurance. Number one, he says, you need to lay aside...

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Every weight and also the sin which so easily ensnares us. In order to complete this marathon, you're going to have to lay some things aside. But also, he says, verse 2, you need to be looking unto Jesus. He's the author and finisher of our faith and he laid the example for us. He endured the cross and he made it to the end of what God had called for him. He finished the course that God had set before him.

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And it was difficult and it was tough, but he endured. In the same way, you are called to endure, to finish the race, to complete the race. And if you're going to make it to the end, it's going to be the result of some preparation for the distance where you prepared yourself to make it until the end. Who's responsible to prepare you for the distance, to endure, to make it to the end? Again, you have that responsibility.

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You have that responsibility. And when are you supposed to prepare? Before the race or right now? Right now. Think about it in just kind of physical, practical terms. What would you do if God spoke to your heart and it was clear, the Lord was really in this, that he wants you to run a marathon December 12th. What would you do? Hopefully, you would prepare. But if we treat it like our Christian life, some of us, we would just...

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Keep on. Life is normal. And then December 12th, we'd get up and we'd try to run the race. And we'd learn you can't run the race if you haven't prepared, if you haven't trained. Doesn't matter how determined you are, how willing you are. Your body can't handle that without the proper preparation. In the same way in our spiritual life, it is a marathon. It's not a sprint. It's not just run really good for a short time. No, it's a marathon. Run really good,

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For the rest of your life, until you finish and complete all that God has called you to. And if you're going to make it to the end, you're going to have to prepare. Part of that preparation, author of Hebrews says, is you got to lay aside the weights. Those are the things that weigh you down, that keep you from the fullness of what God has called you to. And also lay aside the sin, which so easily ensnares us.

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And see, part of the problem for us as believers is we allow those things to persist and continue. It's like, hey, you know, it's just a little bit of sin. It's not that big of a deal. And we just allow it to continue. We compromise. We put up.

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With those weights, it's like, yeah, I know it takes away from, you know, what God really wants me to do, but it's not a sin in and of itself. And so, you know, I'm free to practice this. I have these Christian liberties. And so I'm going to go ahead and practice this. But the problem is if those weights hold you down and they keep you from running with endurance, they're going to affect you in the long run of the race that God has set before you.

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Paul the Apostle in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 talked about the Christian life as a race as well. And he had some important things to say, but the final one which I'll share is 1 Corinthians 9.27 where Paul says, "...I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."

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Paul says, look, I have a race in front of me. The Christian life is a race and I want to win the prize. I want to finish the race. And so in order to finish the race, I discipline my body and bring it into subjection. I discipline myself now so that I will finish the race then. There needs to be that personal discipline. Laying aside weights, laying aside sin, looking unto Jesus. We need to be faithful and diligent in that.

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So that we can last the distance. And be ready for the race that God has set before us. You are a steward. God has entrusted you with resources. He's given you instruction. And in the same way as that master was giving instruction to his servants. There was the expectation. Look, I'm entrusting you with my family. And you're...

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job is to feed them. Now if you come upon some complications and there's, you know, a frost and it kills much of the crop, well my expectation is that you will be ready, you will be prepared to handle that situation so that you can continue to provide for my family. Well I've entrusted you with my finances and if there's a change in the market, if there's a change in the economy, I

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I'm expecting you to be prepared to respond to that, to handle that, to manage my resources well. As he is expecting these things of the servants, he's also expecting there's going to be storms, there's going to be temptations, there's going to be trials, there's going to be these battles. And so you, steward, you're not just responsible if things are always good. You have a responsibility even when things go wrong. In the same way for you and I as believers. You're a steward. You have a master. He's entrusted you with resources.

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He's given you instruction, let you know His will. And if you're going to be faithful, it's only going to happen because you prepared yourself. Yeah, God's going to help you, but you have to take on this responsibility. Respond as He's prompting to you. And so when He wakes you up and He says, alright, I want you to get to church.

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then you need to get to church. When he wakes you up and he says, hey, I want you to go here. I want you to do this. When he prompts your heart, spend some time in the word, commit to this. And you're like, I don't really got time. No, no, listen, God wants to prepare you. He's trying to prepare you, but you got to respond. You got to engage so that you can run with endurance, so that you can finish the race. When things are good, we tend to lay these things aside, but we need to discipline our body.

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so that we will be faithful until the end. Let's pray. Lord, I pray for each one of us, Lord, that you would help us as we understand that we are your stewards. God, I pray that you would help us to be faithful. Lord, help us to see these areas where you want to prepare us because we don't know what's around the corner, but you do. And so, Lord, help us to respond as you speak to our hearts, as you call us to prepare.

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Lord, that we would be equipped, not that it will always be easy, but Lord, that we would be ready and equipped and empowered to be able to handle those things that are yet to come. And so, Lord, I pray that you would draw us near to you. Help us to look unto you and to expect the kind of life that you lived. Lord, one of self-sacrifice, one of sorrow, one of hurt, but one of great joy as we look forward to what you have in store for us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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