PREPARE YOUR WAY

It is December!

Most of us have started gearing up for the December holidays. We have started getting ready for Christmas. The time is getting closer, where we will meet with loved ones and share gifts with one another. People are putting up Christmas trees, baking biscuits, buying presents, taking leave, and looking forward to rest a little bit.

Even our city is getting ready. As we drive around the streets and go to the malls, we see Christmas decorations everywhere. People are preparing for Christmas.

When preparing for something the experience becomes a whole lot more worthwhile.

Last Week:

I spoke about the need for us to be ready for when Jesus comes again.

We do not know when that is but will we be ready, or not?

Because Ready or Not… Jesus is coming.

Now this morning, I want to answer the question of HOW do we prepare ourselves for when Jesus comes again.

Dictionary: Prepare - Make ready in advance for a particular purpose or event. (Remember this)

Here are some quotes on preparation:

John F. Kennedy, "the time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining."

Chinese proverb "dig a well before you are thirsty."

Oscar Wilde. "When love comes to an end, weaklings cry, efficient ones instantly find another love, and the wise already have one in reserve."

Video: Prepared pilot lands plane with one wing (he was prepared).

Being prepared will make all the difference.

This morning we have two gospel readings.

Both of them are about John the Baptist and putting them together will give us a better picture of John.

Context: In case you didn't know;

· John the Baptist was a relative of Jesus. He was a little older than Jesus and he was devoted to serving God – He knew his purpose!

Mark 1:1-8

1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, ,

2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way” —

3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.’ ”

4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

7 And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

John 1:19-28

19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.

20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.” (For many supposed he was because of what he was doing. He already had his own disciples. That’s why the big shots came out)

21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” (Prophesied that he would come before the messiah)

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?” (Spoken of by Moses – “Are you the Messiah?”)

He answered, “No.”

22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” (These guys were confused)

23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ ” (He declares his purpose: He refers to himself as the voice = something that is heard then disappears. He was simply the forerunner of Christ. Christ must be Remembered, not him).

24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent

25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

26 “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know.

27 He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Ironically, the voice of John the Baptist still echoes today. I guess his preparation was better than he thought.

In short:

John, is at a place called Bethany (outside Jerusalem), where he is challenging and encouraging people to prepare themselves for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus. Those who listened confessed their sins, repented and were baptised.

“Prepare the way for the Lord, Make straight paths for Him!

Make straight the way for the Lord!”

Interestingly the Greek word used for “Make your path straight” is rooted in the Greek word “yoo-thoos” which means, ‘Immediately’/’RIGHT NOW’.

John was telling these people “prepare NOW” for Jesus.

And people were doing exactly that.

John's message remains challenging and encouraging today.

We need to be preparing for the coming of our Lord.

We need to prepare the way for the Lord in our lives.

Lives that will honour Him on all things.

But how do we prepare? This is John’s model for us. Truth: It’s an on-going thing…

1) Identify your sin:

According to John, The first place you start is identifying your sin. Once you've identified your sin, you’re then able to confess it.

Homework: Personally write out your sin so you can see it. If you don’t see it, you can deny it. Then you are wasting your time. Having it in front of you will help you overcome it. Reflect on your year and see where you need to be better.

2) Confess your sin:

You then need to confess those sins. TOUGH CALL!! The advantage you have over the people who were with John is, They confessed publically. You don’t need too.

Homework: Confess your sin and Find a confidant who you can share this with, who will listen and pray with you.

The Bible tells us: “confess your sins to one another and you WILL be healed”.

3) Repent of your sins:

Turn away from them. Stop doing them. Feel so bad about them that you never want to go bad to them. The people who confessed publically where held accountable by the people who heard their confession. You need to find ONE person for this.

Homework: Ask your confidant to hold you accountable.

Then comes the Baptism:

With John, the baptism was water. But the game has changed since then… When Jesus went to heaven, He left us the Holy Spirit.

Now, when we confess our sins, we are baptised in the Holy Spirit. John said so himself: Mark 1:8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

WE WANT THAT!!

With the Holy Spirit, your paths will be made straight for Jesus.

Illustration of above points: Boulder in your driveway.

You have a boulder on your driveway.

That boulder represents sin.

You cannot go over, under, around or through it.

The driveway represents your spiritual journey.

Your spiritual life will not move whilst that boulder is there – you are stuck.

So what do you do?

YOU APPLY WHAT JOHN IS TEACHING.

To move forward in your spiritual life, you need to:

1) Identifying sin = Seeing the boulder in your driveway and stop ignoring it.

2) Confessing sin = To God and Going to your confidant and tell them that you have an issue… you have a boulder in your driveway.

3) Repenting sin = Allowing your confidant to help you, with the power of the Holy Spirit to remove the boulder - for once and from all - out of your driveway.

Do this: You are free to move spiritually!

You will find your purpose and live it like John did.

You will not be stuck in your driveway!

Personal Story:

This week, I was with someone (Who I will call BOB in this story) who got serious about preparing the way for Jesus and making their paths straight.

Bob had collected stuff over the years that held a spiritual bond over him. This was affecting Bob’s relationship with God without him acknowledging it.

Due to the conversation we were having, all that stuff around the house was collected and we took it outside to burn it.

We piled in to the braai, doused it with petrol and set it alight.

Then a thought occurred to me - which I verbalised, "What is burning there is just stuff. But it could have been you”. We then went inside and I prayed for Bob to be released from the hold Satan had over him.

Bob confessed to God and prayed for forgiveness and restoration.

When we had completed this exercise, Bob looked at me, and I kid you not, his whole face changed. There was a glow to him. And he had the biggest smile.

I asked him how he felt and he said, “I feel like I am free”.

Two days later, he said to me, “If there is anything in my life that I struggle to give up for God, then I’ve made it more important than God.”

Bob is not the same person he was a week ago.

There is a real joy of the Lord, that has exploded inside him now.

It is beautiful to witness.

It was truly a Godly moment.

Why? Because he is serious about preparing his way.

This can be you too! How badly do you want it?

Q: Benjamin Franklin, "by failing to prepare you are preparing to fail."

Don’t prepare to fail. Rather start preparing from NOW what this text asked of us to make your paths straight.

WHY GO THROUGH ALL OF THIS?

Do you remember the Dictionary definition of: Prepare - Make ready in advance for a particular purpose or event?

Event: Jesus is coming again…

Purpose: serve Jesus – like John Served God - while we prepare ourselves, as much as we can, for his return.

He has given us a way to prepare. We just need to do it.

I want all of us to make it.

Prepare your way!

READY OR NOT…

Do you remember the games you used to play as a kid?

Some games were created with the great imaginations we had, other games would be the traditional games handed down from kid to kid - proving to stand the test of time.

One of those games was: Hide and Seek.

Kids would all stand at one place whilst one kid would close his eyes and start counting. The rest of the group would disperse into every direction possible with one goal in mind: HIDE AWAY FROM THE COUNTER!!

When the counting was done the counter would shout, “Ready or Not… heeeeerrrreee I coooomeeee!!!”. And then he would have to find the others who are hidden away. Once found they could come out of hiding.

Then they would walk around with the counter to find the other hidden people. Once everyone was found they would all walk back to the place where they all started.

This game is very similar to our spiritual lives today.

Keep that image in your mind as we read our text for this morning:

 

Text: Matthew 24: 36-44

36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;

39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.

41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.

44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

In this text, we are told that Jesus is coming back.

In addition - we will never know when Jesus is coming back.

We are simply encourage to be ready for when it happens.

And when He does come back, people will be divided into two groups (Even though they are in very similar situations):

· Those who are ready (The saved)

· Those who are not ready (The lost)

Ok, now let us tie this in the game Hide and Seek:

God is the counter - Only He knows when He is coming to find us.

And we are the ones hiding away… Let me explain.

Firstly: Let’s talk about the hiding places:

· Dark

· Small confined space

· Behind something

· Up something

· Under something

· Etc.

Wherever it is, it is in a place where we will go where we do not want to be found.

This idea of hiding from God is not a new thing.

This happened at the beginning of time with Adam and Eve.

God was walking in the Garden of Eden trying to find them and calling out, “Where are you?”. (Gen. 3:9)

Adam answered, “I heard you in the Garden, and I was afraid… so I hid.” (Gen. 3:10)

They hid away from God.

Can you remember what drove them to find a hiding place?

SIN – they disobeyed God.

And they were punished severely for their sin.

SIN tells us that we must have one goal in mind: HIDE AWAY FROM THE COUNTER (GOD).

There are people out there, and even inside this church this morning, who are hiding from God (or trying to), through whatever sin is in their lives.

Sin is keeping them trapped in that dark hiding place.

But God is calling out to us, “Where are you?”

Why?

Because He doesn’t want us to live in hiding.

Not so that He can punish us, but for another reason…

For us to live in the light of His grace and walk with Him – Like being found in the game of Hide and Seek.

This is the good news:

Do you remember what Jesus did to SIN?

He took it! Died with it! And He beat it!

Then gave us Grace in its place.

Now we don’t have punishment but Grace.

With this grace we are able to step out of our dark hiding places into the light wherever Jesus finds us.

And just like the game of Hide and Seek, we have the opportunity to walk with Jesus to find others who are also in dark hiding places.

Today is celebration Sunday.

We are Celebrating that…

· Grace!

· Jesus found us.

· We can be part of the group who goes out to find others who are lost in dark hiding places and help them find the light.

· Jesus is taking us back to the place where we can be together with Him.

· Jesus came once before, and… He is coming again.

· Now it is our turn to work and walk with Jesus to help find the hidden/lost and share with them what they can Celebrate about.

But the question we need to ask ourselves is this, “When Jesus comes a second time to call me to be with Him, will I be ready? Also, am I helping others to be ready too?”

Just like the game of Hide and Seek has been handed down from generation to generation, it is our responsibility to hand down this message of Grace and Jesus coming again to the those who don’t know it.

It is also our responsibility to step out of the darkness with this knowledge of grace, to face our sin with Jesus, overcome it and walk with Jesus.

When you hear Jesus Shout, “Ready or not here I come” - will you be ready or will you still be hiding.

Just like we anticipate Christmas and remember the birth of Jesus, when he came the first time, let us wait in celebratory anticipation of Jesus coming again. And let’s do what it takes to be ready.