Being Prepared

Message by Darrell Pickle

John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

We enjoy activities, but as a Christian some of them won’t fit us and we shouldn’t fit into them.  Aging and death are in the middle of eternity.  Jesus healed thousands but only raised three from the dead.  So, we’re going to die. John 14:1 says not to be afraid.

There is a place prepared for us. Jesus does not lie. Everything we see was created in six days; imagine what something will look like after more than 2,000 years. Anyone who wants to go to this place can. Jesus made it easy. Paul said it was so easy that some would stumble over it. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. He is a gift, a gift that needs to be received. It is not easy to live a Christian life, but it is easy to be saved.

Not only is there a place prepared for us, we are being prepared for that place. Jesus said “if ye love me, keep my commandments.” Verse 15-17 says “and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” If we trust the Lord the Spirit of truth will abide with us forever. This truth is what sets us free. The unsaved don’t have him. The world says let me see and I’ll believe; we believe and then we see. Verse 23 says “Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”  Through the Spirit, the Godhead lives and abides in our hearts. Let’s not get too attached to our aches and pains. We’re being prepared for a new place.

We ask for this and that from the Lord and sometimes we don’t get them. We’d never know God’s blessings otherwise. God won’t always do what we’ve asked, sometimes not even heal. What he has already done is enough for us to worship him.

We get too exalted in ourselves. Our government has exalted itself too much; we may find ourselves losing it.  An idiot is a fool that’s active. Some run the government. People are committing suicide because of the economy. God expects us to find our resources in him. God is getting us ready. The teaching here is this.

Trust Him in your future.

Trust Him with next week.

Trust Him in getting old.

Trust Him when the body gives in.

Trust Him when the doctor has done all he can do.

Trust Him when you’ve been forsaken by family and friends.

Trust Him when you take a loved one to the grave.

How can we do all this? Paul prayed three times for removal of a thorn in his flesh.  Jesus wouldn’t do it but rather told Paul  “my grace is sufficient.”

Jesus appeals to our basic intelligence. Verses 10-11 say “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.” Jesus told the people that if they wouldn’t believe him because of who he is, believe him for what they had seen and heard.

Some say they have no faith to get saved. We use faith everyday. It’s the object of  faith that matters. We get what we have faith in. Jesus must be the object of our faith. It’s not that some can’t believe; it’s that they won’t believe.  God won’t slap us up the side of the head. If we wait on that, we’ll die and go to hell.  God does use things to get our attention.

We have the faith to trust him. We can trust the place he’s preparing as we trust him to prepare us for it.