Preparation

Preparation

- he action or process of making something ready for use or service or of getting ready for some occasion, test, or duty

- a state of being prepared

Gen. 12:1 - Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

Matthew 4:19

[Peter & Andrew] And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

In 1949, Billy Graham was in a season of life where he found himself defeated and questioning his faith. He had just came off a revival week in Pennsylvania that in his own words was “a flop,” his friend and fellow evangelist “Charles Templeton” has left the faith after becoming a professor at Princeton University and he was facing pressure about God’s direction in his life. One night he found himself in the woods at a Retreat Center in California he had been scheduled to speak at, when he sat his bible on top of a tree stump and on his knees, he surrendered himself entirely to the Lord and His inerreant, infallible Word.

You know…In Gen. 12 - God sent Abraham on a journey through the nations, before making into the Father of Nations.

In Matthew 4 he transformed a humble fisherman at the Sea of Galilee……into the fisher of man, whose message would span the oceans.

In 1949, God empowered Billy Graham at a stump for an altar, before He stood him behind the pulpit of the world

A. W. Tozer - Christianity is not something you just reach up and grab, as some are taught. There must be a preparation of the mind, a preparation of the life and a preparation of the inner person before we can savingly believe in Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6

6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you…

Ephesians 2:1 (ESV)

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins….Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

As believers our confidence is based on God’s work in our lives, not our own ability or persuasiveness.

He regenerated us

He justified us

He is sanctified us

One day he will glorify us

Sanctification is God’s will for us … The word sanctification is related to the word saint; both words have to do with holiness. To “sanctify” something is to set it apart for special use; to “sanctify” a person is to make him holy.

And this is what Paul is acknowledging with the Saints at Philippi

That HE is thankful for their continued support…but more so for the evidence of God’s Grace in their lives…

Paul was confident regarding the relationship the Philippians had with the Lord because of the way they lived their lives.

People who love Christ…Surrender to Christ.

The Mark of a true Believer is obedience. John 14

God’s work for us began when Christ died in our place

But God’s work in us began when surrendered our lives to Him.

- Do you ever get disappointed with yourself?

- Do you ever look at your life, your effort, your pursuit of the Lord and in your heart feel as if your not measuring up?

Quotes

Prepare yourselves, my younger brethren, to become weaker and weaker; prepare yourselves for sinking lower and lower in self-esteem; prepare yourselves for self-annihilation—and pray God to expedite the process.

Charles Spurgeon

We are told men ought not to preach without preparation. Granted. But, we add, men ought not to hear without preparation. Which, do you think, needs the most preparation, the sower or the ground? I would have the sower come with clean hands, but I would have the ground well-plowed and harrowed, well-turned over, and the clods broken before the seed comes in. It seems to me that there is more preparation needed by the ground than by the sower, more by the hearer than by the preacher.—

Charles Spurgeon

Confidence is directly linked to preparation.

John F. MacArthur