Be Prepared
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When I was a kid - from age 8 to 17, I was a proud member of the Boy Scouts of America. That is not an organization that I could currently endorse, but back in the day there were a lot of good things going on. The Motto of the Boy Scouts was “Be Prepared”
On one hand, it was just something that you said - something that you rehearsed and memorized. Something that you could be tested on for badges and ranks… and on the other hand, the way that it was meant to be - it was a way of life.
Be prepared meant that you checked the weather before a camping trip - and even though you saw no rain in the forecast, you packed for rain.
It meant you had food, and back up food.
You packed a bag, and then a smaller bag, and then a pouch just to be safe.
It was more than just a verb, it is more than just getting ready - it is a way of life. Existing in a specific way, so that you don’t get caught off guard.
There are a few men that I know that exist this way in specific areas of there life, like their vehicles. You know these people too. You know who you can ask for a pair of jumper cables, right now in this room.
And if they don’t have them right now, they can get them real quick.
You know who you can ask - right now - how to cook up that brisket you picked up because it was on sale.
You know right now - in this room, who you can ask for a cough drop. Betty?
Being prepared is more than just getting ready. It’s staying there. A constant state.
Being prepared is defined as to be willing and able.
The text we are looking at today in scripture comes from the 2nd book of Timothy, 4:2, and the first of Peter’s epistles. Both of these contain that same kind of language - to be prepared. Lets pray, and then read them together. read them together.
Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching.
The apostle Paul is writing to his protege Timothy, instructions for his life as a Christian and as a spiritual leader. And he gives Timothy this instruction:
Preach the word.
Be ready in season and out of season.
Peter writes to believers in general and says that we should honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.
but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
As a church, we know our purpose. We exist to Glorify God, Equip the saints, and to share the gospel. Today we are talking about the third point in our statement… We exist to share the gospel. To take the good news that we have and give it to the world in a way that helps them to come to know Jesus. This is a core value of our church, it is an instruction directly from the Lord. We must do it.
This instruction, from Paul and also from Peter - indicates the same priority that was given to us by Jesus. This is important!
For a long time we got really good at being focused in here - it is past time to reach out into the world and share what we’ve got, Jesus.
Be ready - is not a verb of doing. There is work in the preparation, but once you are prepared, you just stay that way.
Bug out bag
Tool box
mom/grandma purse.
In season and out of season… literally means - when it is convenient for you, and when it isn’t.
When it works for you, and when it sucks for you.
When you can afford to stop and talk, and when you have a thing.
How:
Have a relationship with Jesus worth talking about.
Know the Gospel, inside and out.
Have prepared heart, not prepared arguments
A relationship with Jesus worth talking about
The apostles and disciples of the early church had an incredible advantage. They saw Jesus. The knew the color of his eyes - they had one on one in person conversations with him, not only while he was doing his earthly ministry, but after - when he had risen from the dead before he ascended into heaven.
Our relationship with Christ is quite a bit muddier.
We heard the gospel when we were children and then after we did all of the life living we could do we figured it was a good idea to go to church once in a while…
That is a story fit for the Maury show - not so much for sharing the gospel.
Last week my message was on starting fires in your life, to increase and improve your relationship with the Lord. If we do those things, we are going to have something to talk about.
Know the Gospel, inside and out
Our understanding of the things that Jesus did on the cross should go past the simplistic statement that “he loves me”
There are a lot of times in the bible where it seems the gospel is summarized in one verse or two.
Romans 8:1 is one of those times.
Study it, talk about it with other believers. Watch videos about it. Make yourself about the gospel. Make an effort to improve your understand
Have a prepared heart, not prepared arguments
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
The instruction from Peter is in two parts, the first part informs the second.
Being ready to give a defence comes as part of a reverence towards Christ.
Our responsibility is to make sure that our heart is in the right place, but this isn’t debate club.
We aren’t beating people upside the head with our well formed arguments or persuasive techniques. In Luke 21 Jesus is preparing his disciples for the end, and he says this:
This will give you an opportunity to bear witness.
Therefore make up your minds not to prepare your defense ahead of time,
for I will give you such words and a wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.
There is a wrong way to go about this.
We know someone who needs to know Jesus, and so we go home and we pick out the things that we know about their life and we write ourselves out a little script.
I’m gonna say this, and then hit them with this, and then I’m gonna say this, and then smack them with the cross. That’ll get them to heaven!
That’s the wrong way.
Jesus said, don’t worry about what you’re going to say!
Things that get in the way:
“It never comes up”
This indicates a couple of things… potentially, you have no hope!
For this is what the Lord said to me with great power, to keep me from going the way of this people:
Do not call everything a conspiracy that these people say is a conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear; do not be terrified.
You are to regard only the Lord of Armies as holy. Only he should be feared; only he should be held in awe.
He will be a sanctuary; but for the two houses of Israel, he will be a stone to stumble over and a rock to trip over, and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
We shouldn’t look like the rest of the world. We shouldn’t be terrified by what they are. We can’t be concerned about everything they are concerned about… there are far more important things to be doing.
Potentially - you are not comfortable talking to others about your faith.
Potentially - you do not know, or do not care about the future of the world.
Ralph Winter, Director of the U.S. Center for World Mission. He said in 1978 ("Six Essential Components of World Evangelization: Goals for 1984," William Carey Library, 1979, pp. 3f.):
We may do well to recognize what seems to be the consistent thrust of the whole Bible—that unless and until, in faith, the future of the world becomes more important than the future of the church, the church has no future. As Jesus put it, the most dangerous thing you can do is seek to save your life . . .
Not being certain of the gospel ourselves
Our experience with Christ can be kind of muddy. Maybe we know the gospel from our point of view, but its hard for us to put into words.
As I said before, we didn’t walk with Jesus physically. So we have to rely on our experiences with him in their own way. We have to learn from the people in scripture.
Ethiopian eunuch
An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is the desert road.)
So he got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch and high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to worship in Jerusalem
and was sitting in his chariot on his way home, reading the prophet Isaiah aloud.
The Spirit told Philip, “Go and join that chariot.”
When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
Now the Scripture passage he was reading was this: He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will describe his generation? For his life is taken from the earth.
The eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about—himself or someone else?”
Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture.
As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water. What would keep me from being baptized?”
So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.
When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer but went on his way rejoicing.
Philip appeared in Azotus, and he was traveling and preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Observations:
Philip knew the voice of the Lord - was able to hear and respond.
Philip moved when he was supposed to move. He was ready for the Lord to make changes in his day.
He ran.
He took what the Ethiopian was talking about, and he shared with him from that point - Jesus.
He made it a really big deal. Baptized him right now.
First to fly spirit airlines in the new testament.
Have hope.
Be prepared yourself to have an encounter like Philips.
Be prepared to give a defence for you hope.
Have a relationship with Jesus worth talking about.
Know the Gospel
Be prepared.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
May that be true for you today.