Advent: Finding Joy in the Second Advent

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Let's pray together.

Or Jesus, the Bible tells us that you're not slow concerning your promises.

And that's a good thing because when we sense that you're slow, that things aren't happening the way we think they should, or you're not doing what we think you should be doing, then if we think you're slow, we become slack.

And so take up the slack in our lives today, God.

Speak a shaping word into our heads and into our hearts that expresses itself in our hands and in our feet and in our mouths, what we do and how we talk and the way we think about this thing called the second coming.

Lord, I pray that you'd eradicate fear from people who live under this fearful uncertainty.

The Bible gives us a very clear image, a very clear picture, and more than that, a very clear command.

And so, Lord, speak today.

We're listening.

We pray and we listen in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

You can have a seat.

If you have a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Matthew chapter 24.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 24, I want to talk to you about finding joy in the second Advent.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

As we said, I said earlier when our services begin.

Advent is about this deliberate tension between the first coming, him coming as a babe in a manger, but also his second coming, which the Bible is very clear about.

And so while you're finding Matthew 24, let me just give you a couple introductory thoughts that are not on your uh on their PowerPoint today.

The first one is simply this This world is going to end one day.

This world is going to end.

Yes, and there's some people that go, woohoo, and some of y'all are like, who crazy guy is saying that?

I remember when I was 22 and I was a junior high youth pastor at my church, and they would uh tell me, hey, you gotta go to the nursing home into the hospital and visit people.

And it kind of scared me because every time I'd go to the nursing home, the old people, I'd say, How can I pray for it?

And they'd say, Pray that Jesus comes.

And in my mind, I was like, I'm not married yet.

I don't want Jesus to come, but thank you very much.

But the Bible says that, hey, here's the reality: the world is gonna end one day.

And by the way, it's not like the movie Armageddon, our hopes are not pinned on Bruce Willis and a bunch of astronauts, okay?

Uh and so you need to have a biblically informed uh understanding of this.

Second thing is that no one knows when that'll be.

Nobody knows when that's going to be.

So anytime somebody comes up and says, hey, Jesus is gonna come back on December the 21st, is that what it was last year?

Uh and just right now.

Third thing is this this fact that the world's gonna end, that Christ is gonna return, this fact should influence how we live in this world.

And it's toward that end that the Bible invites us to think about this.

Now, I'm gonna start reading in Matthew chapter 24 and about verse 36.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

But this conversation started, if you've got a red letter edition of the Bible, you see a lot of red here.

This conversation started back in at the very beginning of Matthew chapter 24.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

When the disciples asked Jesus a question, they just simply said, Hey, tell us when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close or the end of the age?

When's it all gonna go down?

And Jesus, part of his response is in verse 36, he says, But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

By the way, when someone says, I know when Christ is gonna return, what they're doing is they're exalting themselves above Jesus.

They're saying, I know what Jesus doesn't know, and the Bible says that's just not true.

Verse 37, as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware, until the flood came and swept them all away.

So will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken, and one left.

Two women will be grinding at the meal, one will be taken and one left.

Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time?

Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.

Truly I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions, but if that wicked servant says to himself, My master is delayed, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Wow.

And by the way, Jesus keeps on talking.

It's one of the longest discourses on the second coming and and the end of the world recorded anywhere in the Bible.

It's recorded right here at the end of Matthew's gospel.

Now, it's easy to kind of hear all that and kind of go, Row, but the Bible actually says, you know, hey, it's not something you have to be afraid of.

You're probably thinking, hey, so where's the joy in the second advent?

You said you're going to talk to us about finding joy in the second advent.

Exactly.

There's three things the text says to us that I want to point out.

And the first one, how do you find joy in it?

The first one is in verse 42, is stay awake.

Stay awake.

Look at verse 42 of Matthew 24.

It says, therefore, stay awake.

Stay awake because you don't know on what day your Lord is going to return.

What do you mean, stay awake?

People so easily fall asleep to the things of God.

You kind of just do good, and pretty soon it's kind of like marriage.

You're doing good, you get married, you're like, oh, and pretty soon you're like, we got this figured out, and you begin to take each other for granted.

And the Bible says, stay awake.

Stay awake.

Why?

Because it's so easy.

As a matter of fact, it gives us a frame of reference.

People have done this over and over.

That's why it says in verse 37, just as in the days of Noah.

Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be when the Son of Man comes.

You say, What do you mean?

Because we're not the first generation of people that have kind of fallen asleep at the switch as far as it relates to the things of God.

The Bible says, just as it was in the days of Noah.

See, here's what the Bible's telling us.

God does not like not being thought about.

Presumed upon or taken for granted.

And you say, well, not because he's insecure, but because he's preeminent.

Now when you and I cease to think about that which is preeminent, then what we've done is we've had other gods before him.

We have other things in our life that become preeminent.

And so God does not like not being thought about.

Secondly, let me just say this.

This is free.

And then he goes on and says, after he says that, he says, For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away.

You say, Well, what what do you mean?

Inherent in this phrase, just as in the days of Noah, is this truth that the world will be largely unbelieving when Christ returns.

You say, What do you mean?

Let me just put this out here because a lot of people have this mystical, magical in Christianity that kind of says, it's just gonna get better and better and better and better, and then the crescendo, Jesus is gonna come back and it's gonna be awesome on the earth.

And the Bible says right here, Jesus, right out of the mouth of Jesus, he says, Hey, it's gonna get you ever look around at the world and kind of watch the evening news and kind of think, man, the world is jacked up.

Of course you do.

How can you not do that?

You just turn on the TV and you're like, What they did what in Washington?

Or you turn on the TV and you think, how could somebody do that to another human being?

Are you kidding me?

The Bible says, just as in the days of Noah, you say, Well, great, man, you're just digging a hole here.

How are we gonna find joy in this?

First way is by doing what the Bible says.

It says, stay awake.

Now, in case you're wondering, you say, I don't know what I don't know if I believe that.

Let me just read this.

This is don't turn this.

This is 2 Timothy chapter 3, because the Bible describes what the last days are.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

If you're kind of wondering how close are we getting to Jesus coming back, the Bible says this is what culture is going to be like.

It says, but understand this that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

He says that's what the last days are going to be like.

So you read that and you look around, you pretty quickly become convinced Jesus could come at any time now.

Absolutely.

And so he says this.

That's why he says, hey, stay awake.

Now, if the command is to stay awake, it will probably help us to understand how it is they fell asleep.

How do people fall asleep to the things of God?

There's three things I think that happened in this passage.

Number one, a small definition of life.

A small definition of life.

You say, what do you mean?

He says in verse 37, as it were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking.

Now, I said this before.

The Bible speaks with this amazing peace and this loud authority.

It doesn't have to raise its voice and scream.

You didn't hear right there.

He says, just what were they doing?

They were eating and drinking.

Nothing wrong with eating and drinking.

I highly recommend eating and drinking.

My wife and I were supposed to go to two Christmas parties last night that friends had invited us to.

I was kind of looking forward to it because both of them were kind of shindigs.

They were like, man, we're going to have a spread.

There's going to be eating and drinking.

And I'm thinking, yay, my favorite eating and drinking is when somebody else pays for it.

Amen?

So I was jacked up.

I was like, we're going to get our eating, our drink on.

This is going to be awesome.

My wife got sick this past week.

Now I don't know about your house.

I can get sick.

Both our kids can get sick at the same time.

Nothing happens.

My wife gets sick, the wheels come off.

And here's the thing I got convicted this week because when my wife gets sick, after about a day, I find myself kind of looking at her like, Hello?

Who's going to clean this kitchen?

I thought that.

I didn't say it, but it went through my head like, hey, hey, my wife does a lot of stuff and it's not getting done.

Where are those kids of mine?

Get in here and clean this kitchen.

But my wife got sick.

Finally, I just said, you need to go to the doctor because my wife gets sick.

She just got some homemade granny clampett recipe.

I'm like, hey, I trust Western medicine, okay?

Go to the doctor.

She goes to the doctor, starts taking the pills.

I'm thinking any day now, boom.

Yesterday she's got dizzy.

We're driving Home Depot.

She's like, Oh, I'm getting dizzy.

I was like, in my head, I'm like, we're not going to the party.

But then I thought, maybe I could get her doped up on medicine and just say, honey, you should stay home and sleep, and I'll go as our family representative to both these parties.

I didn't say it, but I thought it.

And I was driving down the road and I looked over and she had her eyes closed.

I can just see it now.

Local pastor leaves wife to die.

Where was he?

I was at a party.

There's no wrong with eating and drinking, okay?

Don't think, oh, I went to church and the guy made me feel guilty for eating and drinking.

So you're probably thinking, then how do you get a small definition of life?

Thank you.

Matthew 24, turn to the left to Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

I'll read these words to you.

Matthew chapter 6, verse 25.

Matthew 6:25

Same Jesus, same red letters.

This is what he says.

Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.

See, Jesus is kind of contending for a bigger definition of life.

Don't be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing.

Look at the birds of the air.

They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?

Now let me just stop right here.

Look at me, beloved.

Many of you in this room don't believe that simple statement.

When Jesus says, Are you not more valuable than they?

And inside you go, well, I don't know.

Most of the maladies and the anxiety that afflict people in this world is because they don't understand their value in the sight of God.

He says, Are you not more valuable than they?

And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to the span of life?

And why are you anxious about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.

They neither toil nor spin.

Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Again, there's the Bible, subtle and devastatingly convicting.

Solomon, in all his glory, was not like one of these.

Verse 30, but if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?

Oh, you a little faith?

Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat and what shall we drink?

Because that's the way they were in the days of Noah.

They had a small definition of life.

It was, What shall we eat and what shall we drink?

Or what shall we wear for the Gentiles?

People that don't know God seek after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these things will be added to you.

Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

How do they fall asleep?

Well, first of all, they had this small definition of life.

Secondly, they had a problem prioritizing relationships.

They had a problem prioritizing relationships.

The next phrase there in that verse back in Matthew 24, it says they were eating and drinking.

It says this they were marrying and giving in marriage.

Nothing wrong with getting married.

Highly recommended, okay?

Celebrate 21 years in January.

That'd be next month, okay?

If you got any ideas, see me after the service.

I've used 20 of my best ones.

I got nothing left, okay?

But nothing against being married.

He says they were marrying and they were giving in marriage.

That means mom and dad, they were marrying off their kids.

But here's the thing when your kids get married, I know I just got out of trouble with all the pregnant women in Fort Bend County.

Apparently, y'all sent that email to all your friends.

Look at what my jerk pastor wrote.

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

I sent an email.

Do y'all read email?

I sent an advent musing where I just kind of said, hey, I was reading, because I read the Bible more than just Sundays.

I know that's crazy.

And so I was reading and I was struck.

Let me say I've never been pregnant, okay?

I used to tell people we're pregnant.

My wife looked at me, she was like seven months pregnant in the middle of the summer in Houston, and she looked at me and she said, We ain't pregnant.

Okay, you shut up.

I was like, Yes, ma'am, we're not pregnant.

Got it.

All right.

And so I said, I read in the Bible where this lady who, John the Baptist mom Elizabeth, she was old, the Bible says, and she was six months pregnant, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, comes to her house, and this six-month-old, six-month-pregnomy, she had Mary stay with her for three months.

That means six months pregnant, somebody shows up on her doorstep and spends her last trimester with her.

And I just said, that is overwhelming.

I mean, for to be a pregnant woman and just, oh boy, I even had my wife.

I said, Hey, could you read this and see if I'm gonna get in trouble?

She goes, I get it, and you might get it.

So I got your emails.

I read you.

Uh, and by the way, I don't understand some of the phrases you use.

You called me.

Can you can you interpret and send it back?

But anyway, this is if that didn't get me in enough trouble, this will put me over the edge.

The Bible says they had a problem prioritizing relationships.

It was life was eating and drinking, and then he says they were marrying and giving in marriage.

You say, What do you mean?

What it's saying is don't, if you're not married right now, don't make your life goal to get married.

Uh-oh.

Did you feel that?

And a hush fell over the crowd.

What you talking about, Willis?

Because here's the thing.

When you elevate something that is not preeminent to a place of preeminence, it becomes an idol.

And I let me say that again.

When you take something, nothing wrong with wanting to be married, okay?

I highly recommend.

I'm a better man, okay?

Someone just stopped me in the hall and said, I heard those jokes you said about your wife for the first time.

What jokes?

I mean, that woman is a saint.

How do you think she got to be a saint?

Twenty years waking up with this, okay?

And that was her response, too.

The lady turned and did this and walked off.

You are not getting a fruit cake from me this year, lady.

But the Bible says, hey, they were eating and drinking and giving.

Nothing wrong with marriage.

Highly recommend it.

But here's the deal.

When you make you meeting your need, the goal of your life, it is not going to go well.

Because what happens is that you begin to think along the lines of need and not nature.

And that's a slippery slope to get on because your need drives the decision-making process instead of the nature of God and the nature of your faith and the nature of your priority relationship with God.

They said, hey, here's the deal.

These people were eating and drinking, and nothing wrong with that, but they just thought that's all life is.

That's all we think about.

Very horizontal, very one-dimensional.

And they were marrying and they were given in marriage.

That means here's the part that's going to get me in trouble.

But that means when your kids get married, your life doesn't stop.

Uh-oh.

By the way, my name is N-E-I-L, not N-E-A-L.

When you send the email to me.

Just spell my name right if you're going to insult me.

I got two daughters, okay?

I got two daughters, okay?

I'm going to have to pay for two weddings.

And I'm going to pay for two weddings.

I'm going to have to rob some banks or whatever.

But here's the deal.

My life ain't stopping.

I keep hearing all the time.

And I don't know.

Let me say, I don't know what I'm talking about because I'm not there.

But people say, oh, well, our daughter's getting married.

Or our son's getting married.

And after the wedding, hey, it's my life's going to go on.

I'm going to look at my kids when they're engaged and they're planning a wedding and go, hey, I'm going to be there at the wedding.

Your dad's going to go play golf, okay?

Because you ain't getting every day of my life for this wedding.

Because here's the problem in America.

We spend too much time and too much money on a wedding and not enough thinking about a marriage.

And so you can have this extravagant.

By the way, this is earth-shaking to some people.

Nobody remembers your wedding.

No one thinks about your wedding.

Matter of fact, I think we spend too much money on time and money on weddings and funerals.

I told my wife, you bury me in a pine box.

Don't you let that Yehoo at the funeral home sell you some junk.

Oh, look at this rosewood.

Just say to him, he doesn't deserve that.

You got some plywood and some ten penny nails, I'll hammer something together right here and throw his sorry carcass in there.

Well, did you love your husband?

Most days.

But here's the deal.

I mean, just can you can you imagine convincing your kids?

You don't need$30,000 for a wedding.

How about a nice simple wedding?

And here's$20,000 as a down payment on a house.

Your kids look at you like, oh, why are you hating on me?

Hey, I'm thinking about marriage, not a wedding.

Because by the way, why is it that we gotta like, you gotta bring me wedding presents, and then I gotta buy you dinner?

How about we just do neither and call it even?

That's what I'm gonna tell my kids.

Hey, I ain't buying food and drink for all your crazy friends who come in, all they're gonna do is evaluate.

There's a show on TV where four women all get married and they kind of keep a scorecard and evaluate each other's weddings.

I'm just like, this no wonder we're going to hell.

Look at here, what we got here.

But the Bible says, hey, here's the deal.

They they had a small definition of life, they had a problem prioritizing that word got stuck in my mouth.

I had to spit it out.

They had a problem prioritizing their relationships.

It was about getting married and giving again.

It's like, hey, as soon as I'm done.

If you've got to stop your life to do something, whatever that something you're doing, it's too important.

You feel that?

I'm not mad at you.

I'm not telling you how to do your kids' wedding.

Your kids get married.

There's gonna be food and drink, invite me.

I love me some food and drink.

But just just just don't let that become your life.

Third thing, and this is the one that just I read this, I laughed out loud.

I was like, are you kidding me?

How do they fall asleep?

They were unaware.

Look at the Bible.

He says they were, in verse 38, for in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark and they were unaware.

Just hello?

They were unaware.

Your kid comes home and And says, hey dad, there's a man building a ship out, a boat out here that's bigger than a football field.

And he's a preacher of righteousness.

And he said, God's going to destroy the earth.

Should we be concerned?

No son set the table.

Dinner's almost ready.

Because they were eating and drinking.

And they weren't thinking about anything else.

Life for them was, where's my next meal coming from?

Do I have enough in my 401k?

Am I set?

If the economy goes down, if oil goes below$100 a barrel, are we going to hit the panic button?

And there's a man building a big boat.

Would you not be curious?

Would you not just go up and say, hey, what?

And the Bible says they were unaware.

How focused do you have to be on what is not life to not notice that?

They were unaware.

They were unaware.

How do you not fall asleep?

You stay aware.

You kind of look around and kind of go, hell, hello.

You don't just go through life with blinders on, going, me and mine, me and mine, me and mine.

So how do you find joy in the second advent?

First of all, you stay awake.

Secondly, you be ready.

Look at verse 44.

I mean, Jesus is killing it, okay?

He is rocking the mic.

People are going crazy.

Verse 44, he says, Therefore, you also must be ready.

They're still reeling from the command to stay awake.

And I go, What now?

I gotta be ready.

Look at what he says.

Therefore, you also must be ready.

For the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Now, that does one of two things in you.

That either jazzes you up and you're like, yes, or you think, ooh, what do you mean he's coming?

What exactly do you see?

Being ready, by the way, doesn't mean you can recite all the latest positions on the second coming.

And by the way, this is free for all you theological people like to think about things.

There's a belief about the second coming called post-millennialism.

Just want you to know, I went to I went to grad school.

I got me some degrees on this.

Doesn't mean anything.

There's a lot of educated goofballs.

But anyway, uh premillennial, post-millennial uh it says that this it said there's gonna be a thousand-year reign through the church on earth, and then post means after, and then after that, Jesus is gonna come.

But Jesus right here says, hey, by the way, it's gonna be, and when I come back, it's gonna be like it was in the days of Noah.

It's gonna be crazy and chaotic, and people are gonna be sinning tremendously.

Not gonna be like peace and harmony, and the church is gonna be reigning.

So if you believe in premillennial, or excuse me, post-millennialism, you got a hard time with this right here.

You can't really reconcile that.

Because the Bible says, just as it was in the days of Noah.

See, the Bible just crushes this man-made invention around the second coming with one little phrase, just as it was in the days of Noah.

He says, hey, if you want to find joy in the second advent, you also got to be ready.

Be ready.

What does that mean?

It means a few things.

It doesn't mean you got all the theories down and memorized and you can recite them on a test.

It means two things.

Number one, it means you have a relationship with God.

If you're in this room today, you've been to this church any length of time, you know we don't cram it down your throat.

No one gets up here and screams at you, you're gonna go to hell.

But we don't apologize for telling you from the Bible the only way to get to heaven is through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

You can't do enough good deeds, because if you could do enough good deeds to get into heaven, then Jesus died in vain.

The death of Christ on the cross means nothing, has no significance whatsoever.

You say, Well, what do you mean?

I remember I grew up in a small town in East Texas, and I remember uh at the Friday night football game, as they did anytime the First Baptist Church had a fifth quarter, like an after-game fellowship.

Imagine this in Fort Bean County.

They would announce it on the PA system at the football game.

Attention, parents.

Yeah, you school teachers, get a load of this.

Can you imagine?

I mean, we've come so far and advanced.

They would announce, attention, parents, immediately following the game, and all students are welcome.

There will be a fifth quarter fellowship with the First Baptist Church.

And this was the announcement that night.

We'll be showing the rapture film A Thief in the Night.

There'll be Frito Pie and Punch for Everyone.

Come on down.

I was pouring white trash.

They said Frito Pie.

I was like, ka ching, I'm there.

My buddy looked at me and said, There you go.

And I was like, Frito pie, dude.

Yeah.

And so there they were in the kitchen, cutting the little bags of Fritos and putting chili and handing it to you.

And we had a spoon, we're eating it out.

And then they came around popcorn.

They said, movie's gonna start.

And they had a real-to-real projector, and they showed a movie called A Thief in the Night.

Did anybody see that movie besides me?

Yes, I see the scared the bahooty out of me.

I was eating my popcorn in the movie about 10 minutes in, and I was like, I don't like popcorn anymore.

I think my Frito pie kind of got me thick to my stomach.

Because here's the thing I I lived in a house, my family, it was only about eating and drinking.

It was nothing about Jesus.

It was nothing about, hey, you better get your house in order because Jesus is coming back.

My friend's buddy, my friend's parents gave me a ride out to our farm.

I went in our bedroom that I shared with four brothers and sisters and laid in the bottom bunk and I cried myself to sleep.

And here's why.

It was no joy at the thought of the second advent for me because I didn't know Jesus.

And I remember thinking, my family's jacked up.

This is so important.

Why don't they tell me about this?

And I got up the next day and went to the breakfast table and I just sat there and ate my eggs and just stared at them.

And thinking in my head, you don't give a rip about me.

Jesus is coming like a thief in the night.

I just saw a movie about it.

And all we talked about was eating and drinking.

Just as in the days of Noah.

Mom and Dad, if all you teach your kids about is eating and drinking, you have failed.

Your primary responsibility as a parent.

Your primary responsibility.

You ain't got to be a preacher.

Your primary responsibility is to live the gospel and to teach the gospel to your children.

That's why Deuteronomy 6 says to parents, hey, teach these to your children.

Bind them on your arms, bind them on your forehead, bind them on the doorpost of your house.

Talk about them when you rise up and when you lie down, when you go out and when you come in.

It's great that you bring your kids to a church.

And I promise you, back here and in that new children's building when we break ground after the new year, because we're going to do that, right?

We're not just talking up here.

I got better things to do.

And back there where the students are, they're all being taught the Bible.

That's great.

But they can go home and go, well, Pastor Neil thinks that.

Of course he does.

He's a preacher.

There are things your kids will not believe unless and until they see them in you.

I promise you.

The same thing for me.

My kids, they believe what I say in here, but they also, it's confirmed by how I live over there at my house.

And they go, Oh, okay.

Yeah.

But you say, What do you mean, be ready?

Have a relationship with God.

I remember laying in bed and just thinking, man, I was so full of anxiety.

And I didn't want to wake my brothers and sisters up.

I just put the pillow over my head and just cried myself to sleep.

I cannot remember one time having a spiritual conversation with my stepmom, any of them.

Pick four of them to pick from, any of them.

Or my dad.

I remember occasionally we'd go to church.

It lasts about three weeks because the adults in my family ran a great 20-yard dash.

What does it mean to be ready?

It means you have a relationship with God, and secondly, it means you're intentional with the opportunities God gives you as a believer.

You say, What do you mean?

You be intentional.

That means that this week I was up here at the Home Depot and buying some stuff.

Had four carts of stuff and rolled up and was checking out and got done.

And I said to the guy, Merry Christmas, because this time of year, people say to me, Happy holidays! And I'm like, what holiday are we celebrating?

Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

Well, uh, my boss gets, hey, your boss loves money too much.

Tell your boss to grow a backbone, okay?

It's Merry Christmas, okay?

It ain't the winter solstice or the happy holidays or seasons greetings, okay?

It's the time of year when God sent his son into the world to destroy the works of the devil.

That's why it's called Christmas Christmas.

Can you say that with me?

And the guy's like, Merry Christmas.

I was like, that wasn't so hard, was it?

Well, you know, I've got to keep a job, eating and drinking.

And I said, No, you don't.

I go to work every Sunday praying to God I get fired.

That was his response.

He goes, What do you do on Sundays?

I said, I'm a pastor of church.

He goes, You can't get fired.

Oh, are you kidding me?

About half the guys that do what I do need to be fired.

They're just lazy and sorry individuals.

He's like, Where's your church?

I think I'd like to come hear your dog.

Come in Home Depot.

God's checking me out.

I said, Merry Christmas.

And he went, Yeah.

And I just turned.

This, I just turned to push my wagon load of stuff because I was in my mind.

I got a lot to get done.

I got to get this loaded up.

I got to get back to church.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And my cart wouldn't roll.

I was like, and I just turned back to him.

I said, hey, what?

Tough year.

See, making the most of the opportunity is not having a little sermon you can preach on demand.

It's just slowing your life down enough to care about somebody else's.

I said, hey, rough year.

And he goes, Yeah.

Man, my uh, I said, tell me about it.

He said, man, I'm working two jobs.

This is my second job.

My wife won't work.

All she does is stay home.

She smokes and drinks.

Cost me$450 a month.

I said, I know the feeling, brother.

I got a wife just like that.

He looked up at me.

I said, I'm just kidding.

He goes, man.

Man.

And I said, I'm so sorry.

I said, have you ever thought about, I don't know, celebrate recovery?

My church will have a celebrate recovery program Tuesday night.

She won't do anything.

All she wants to do is stay home, smoke, and drink.

And I kid a lot about my wife, but at the moment, I kind of teared up because I just thought, I don't know what I did to deserve that woman, but I'm so glad I have her.

And I said, hey man, I am so sorry.

I don't know what else to say.

Can I do anything?

He goes, No, I'm just doing my best.

And I said, Well, I'll tell you what, I said, I'm gonna pray for you.

Okay, I called his name.

I said, I'm gonna pray for what's your wife's name?

I'm gonna pray for her tonight, too.

No one's beyond the pale.

I said, Hey, no, no one's smoked and drank and done anything else so much that God says, That's it, I'm done with you.

It's not God.

So I turned, start rolling my stuff, he starts coming with me.

You ever moved?

Like moved out of your house, like packed up and moved.

There's people that come and they help you load your stuff and take it in.

And here's what you do you help somebody move.

You set the stuff down and you leave.

Have you ever moved and somebody moves all your boxes in, then they come in and start wanting to unpack it and put it where it goes.

You're like, hey, don't touch my stuff.

Just leave.

I was kind of thinking, hey, I got this.

And then it dawned on me.

No one's asked this guy how he's doing.

No one said Merry Christmas.

And it was like, eh.

They're all like, well, happy new year.

No, not happy.

He's killing himself, working two jobs.

So I'm loading my stuff and we're just talking.

And the Holy Spirit is kind of going, you know what?

It ain't about being efficient.

It's about being available.

And so I just put my hand on the bed of my truck and I just and we just talked for a few minutes, wasn't long.

He said, Well, I'll get these cars.

So come on, I'll help you.

Roll them back over there.

And I just put my hand on my shoulder and say, hey, hang in there.

Don't give up.

I'm not being like, hey, I know it's hard.

Yeah, it's hard, bro.

It's hard.

And I just thought, thank you.

Being ready is you see, I'm I try to be intentional with those moments.

Not because I'm the shell answer man.

It's just that, hey, our county, our city is full of people that just live with this weight of despair on them.

Being ready, Jesus said, hey, be ready.

Hey, don't fall asleep.

Be ready.

Third and finally, he says, be faithful.

Be faithful.

What do you mean?

Look at verse 45.

Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time?

Blessed is that servant whom his master will find, so doing when he comes.

Truly I say to you, he will set him over all of his possessions.

But if that wicked servant says to himself, My master is delayed, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with drunkards.

Hang on a second.

There's a pen.

Let me write myself a note here.

Change the way you treat Wade and Lance.

Okay.

Just kidding.

And he drinks with drunkards.

The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him.

Now hear this.

He says he's gonna come on a day when he will not expect him, and in an hour he does not know, and we'll cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Now, you say, what do you mean?

It's easy to be faithful when your master leaves.

It's easy to kind of go, I got this.

I got it.

You can go.

It's another thing to be faithful when he comes back.

Because there's a long gap between when he leaves and he comes back.

That's why the faithful servant starts off faithful.

Jesus says, Hey, how do you how do you you want to find joy in the second advent?

Just be faithful.

By the way, they ain't giving out plaques for being faithful.

It's not sexy to be faithful.

Being faithful is you keep doing the same thing over and over and over and over.

You do the same thing when people's eyes are on you and when no one's watching, you do the same thing.

You do the right thing.

That's what it means to be faithful.

Men, men have midlife crisis and have affairs because it's easier to go find somebody.

Because if you live with a woman for a long time, men, you can't love her the way you used to love her.

You try to, and that's why women say all the time, what's my husband, what, what, why?

My husband's in his 50s.

He's got some 20-something-year-old Yahoo at work.

Here's why.

Because he knows how to love her.

Because he goes back to where he first started loving you and says, You know what?

I don't have to love a 25-year-old.

That's not hard.

All you need is a credit card.

What do you want?

A cookie?

Let's see, it's hard to be faithful to a woman who's heard all your lines and all your stories, and she just looks at you like, that's all you got.

I remember being married about 15 years, and Marcia was like, do you know how to love me?

I yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I mean, love me.

I don't know.

Maybe.

And basically, she used other words, but I I'm gonna I want you to understand what it's like to love me.

Because you can't love me the way you loved me back in 1992 when we dated, or in 1993 and first got married.

It is like 2007, and I need totally different things than I needed back there.

And I'm like, yeah, see, y'all changing the rules on us here.

This isn't fair.

I got it all figured out, and then you change.

Guess what?

That's being faithful.

Be faithful in your relationships and in your responsibilities.

Just being faithful.

Just being just every day.

Just get up and be faithful.

Why?

Because one day the master is gonna return.

I'm not faithful to my wife because I want to keep my job.

I'm faithful to my wife because I'm gonna stand before my master one day.

We live in a world where people are kind of like, it just doesn't matter.

I mean, the world's just going, coming apart.

Just every man for himself.

No.

No.

Here's why.

Because you and I, when we're intentional with the opportunities that we have, all of a sudden people begin to realize maybe there's a different way.

Maybe there's a different way to do this.

When you and I kind of pause and kind of speak a word, like Proverbs says, uh, a word fitly spoken is like an apple of gold in a setting of silver.

That means when you go out to eat for the next couple of weeks and your waiter or waitress looks like they've just been beat and just drugged behind a truck, just reach in your pocket and pull out a 20 and say, here, here's a little pre-tip.

I'm gonna tip you at the end of the meal, but I want to tip you right now and just say, hang in there.

They remember that.

They're like, oh, okay.

Wow.

Thank you.

Be ready.

Be ready.

Don't fall asleep.

Don't boil life down to where it's just eating and drinking.

Finally, be faithful.

Are you faithful today?

Let's pray together.

If you're a guest today, just relax.

We don't believe in pressure and manipulation.

We do believe in just letting people think about what the Bible has said.

And so Clyde is going to come.

He'll sing something over us.

It's a song by a man named David Wilcox, who is a Christian who happens to be a musician and writes thought-provoking songs.

We feel like this is what the Bible invites you and I to live this way, to kind of show the world that maybe there's a different way of thinking about things.

Maybe Jesus really did come to set us free.

Not bind us up with a bunch of rules, but just set us free.

What if that's what it's all about?

As the world gets more and more like the days of Noah.

What if God says, I want you guys to be the ones that are kind of showing the way by how you live?

Stand to your feet.

Let me speak a blessing over you.

Hold your hands out.

The world has enough religious know-it-alls.

So that's not what your God has called you to be.

He's called and commissioned you to be people who live in love in such a way to remind those around you that there is a way.

And they can walk in it.

Lead by example.

By departing now and walking in the way.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you, you're dismissed.