Preparing for End Times, Part 2

Remember back in the book of Matthew, 2 chapter, the 41st verse? When Christ had said to his men in the garden, Peter, James, and John, watch. And pray. And it says in verse number 4. We 'll pick it up in verse number 40. And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter, He said to Peter, James and John were there too. But he says to Peter, because Peter is the leader of the twelve. So you men could not keep watch with me for one hour? Keep watching and pr that you may not enter into temptation.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Keep watching, keep praying, keep sober in spirit, be spiritually alert, be awake in your mind, be mentally alert. But they couldn't. See? So Peter's coming back and saying, Listen, believe me, it is so important for you to understand this because you see, I entered into temptation and I. Fell and denied my Lord because I was not spiritually alert. I wasn't thinking biblically. I wasn't thinking properly. I didn't have a sound judgment. Because I was sluggish spiritually.

How many people do you know that are very sluggish spiritually? And when it comes time to stand strong, they can't. Because they don't think biblically. They don't have a sound judgment. They don't have a sober sp. After you think biblically, listen, you must pray intelligently. You must pray intelligently. Peter says this. Verse 7, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Listen very carefully. If you can't think biblically, you will never pray intelligently or effectually.

It's important to understand that. Our prayer life always is a byproduct. Listen, our prayer life is always a byproduct. Of our study life, of our devotional life. The less you study, the less you know of the Lord Himself. The less you know of the Lord Himself, the worse your prayer life. Most people don't understand that. They don't get it. But you see, unless you have sound judgment and have a sober spirit, you can't do it for the purpose of prayer. You can't pray right. And that's important. See, there are many people that have a hard time praying.

There are many people who wonder why it is God doesn't answer my prayer? Why is it when I pray, it doesn't seem like anything ever happens? It could be. It could be that you don't pray intelligently. And you can't pray intelligently unless you think biblically. Let me give you an example.

Turn over to 1 John 5, verse number 14. And this is the confidence, this is the boldness. Which we have before him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask. We know that we have the request which we have asked from him. John says, This is boldness. This is confidence. And what is that? That if I ask anything according to his will, I know my God hears me. And if I know my God hears me, he answers my prayers. Now, who can actually say that?

You see, the problem with us is we don't know the will of God. For the most part, we think that prayer is commun with God. We think prayer is talking to God about my needs. We think prayer is about what we do when we want something. So we go to Big Daddy upstairs and ask him. That's not what prayer is. Prayer is one thing, listen, and one thing only: prayer is aligning my will with God's will. That's all it is. And if I don't know God's will, I can't align my will with His will. See, prayer is going to my Father who is in heaven and saying, God, what it is you want me to do, that's what I want to do.

Prayer isn't going to God saying, God, this is what I want to do, so do it for me. We got it all mixed up, right? It's going, Lord, what is your will for my life? That I might know how I should live my life, that I might know what it is I should ask for from you. And that gives you confidence. First John 3, verse number 2, says this.

Beloved, if our hearts or our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence, boldness before God. And whatever we ask, we receive from him. Now, listen to the next phrase. Because we keep his commandments and do the things. That are pleasing in his sight. We got a lot of people who want to go to prayer but are unwilling to keep the commandments of God and do the things. That are pleasing in his sight. And they come and they say, Hey, Pastor, why is it when I pray, God doesn't answer? And many times it's because we are unwilling to do what God says, keep His commandments.

And do those things that please our Father who is in heaven. Do you think that when my kids come to me and they ask me for something and they wish that they could have it and they live in obedience, I'm going to give it to them? Let's be honest here. It ain't going to happen. Not in my house. If they want to rebel against what I say, they don't want to listen to me and they don't want to please their father. It's going to be a long, long time before they ever get what they want. Because they're not willing to please their father.

See? You say, wow, man, you're an ogre. Maybe so. That's the way God is, though. That's what it says. There's no confidence if we don't do what God says.

If we don't obey his word, Psalm 66:18, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord is going to hear me anyway. That's not what it says. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Does that mean that God can't not physically hear me? No, He hears everything. It means that God's not going to respond if you have sin in your heart. If you're harboring bitterness, if you're harboring resentment, if you have an unforgiving spirit, you're unwilling to do what God says, God says, Don't even bother praying because they're not going to hear you.

See, that's why it's important to think typically. Because then you can pray intelligently. Now you know how to pray, right? Now you know what to do. Now you know, okay, God, this is what you want from me. That's why 1 Peter 3, verse number 7 says to the men who are married: listen, if you don't treat your wife as the most prized possession in your life, all your prayers are what? Answered? Hindered. Every single one of them. God says, listen, if you don't want to treat your wife with respect and dignity and honor, I don't listen.

I don't hear. Now, for the most part, you've probably never heard that sermon before, have you? You're not going to go to very many churches that are going to say, well, God's not willing to listen to you. But that's what the Bible says.

Look at John 15. Verse number seven: If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you can ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. See, there's a condition to prayer. I've got to abide in God, and His words must abide in me. They must remain in me. They must be a part of my life. I must think. Scripturally, I must think biblically. Then I know what to ask for because it's God's will for my life, and therefore, when I go and ask for it, guess what? I always receive it. Because I know what God wants from me.

So important to understand. And yet, so very few people ever understand it. John 14:1. And whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, Christ says.

You say, whoa! That means all I got to do is say at the end of my prayer, in Jesus' name, amen. No, that's not what it means. We think that's what it means. Praying in Jesus' name is praying in line with his will and who he is, his nature, and his character. And then he says this. That the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. Why does God answer your prayer? He never answers your prayer to meet your need. He always answers your prayer so the Father in heaven will be glorified.

Did you get that? John 14, 13. It's right there. Just read it. I want to put God on display. So that's why we pray. Now, when you go to prayer tonight, or when you go to pray in the morning, is uppermost in your mind, okay, God, here it is. I want you to be put on display right in the midst of my surgery. Right in the midst of my rebellious children, right in the midst of the bad report about my kids at school. I want you put on display. I want your name glorified. I want you honored. That's all I want.

That is true prayer. That's what God wants you to do. That's why the Son in the garden said, Nevertheless, not my will. But your will be done. It's not what I want, the son says. It's what glorifies the Father who is in heaven. And if the cross is that which is going to glorify my Father in heaven the most, then so be it. The cross it will be. You see, most people just aren't there yet. They just can't get to that point to say, Lord, whatever you want, I will do. Wherever you lead me, I will go. Whatever your will is, I will do.

Whatever you say in your word, I will do. I will obey your word because I want to please you. I want your words to abide in me. I don't want to regard iniquity in my heart. I don want to harbor sin and resentment in my heart. Lord, I want to confess my sin. Lord, I don't want to treat my wife with disrespect. I don't want to yell at my wife and scream at my wife and beat my wife. Lord, I want to honor my wife as the most chosen possession in my life. Help me to do that, Lord, that I might bring glory to your name.

See, that's prayer. And Peter says, because Jesus could come back at any moment, be of sound judgment, be sober in spirit. For one reason and one reason only, that you might pray intelligently. You might know how to pray. See that? Number three: love fervently.

Love fervently. I think how Peter says this: above all, above all, keep fervent in your love for one another. Wow, love fervently. How are you going to prepare for the return of Christ? Think biblically, pray intelligently, and love fervently. It's a word that means to strain with all that you have, to stretch as far as you can. You've been there, haven't you? You tried to get something underneath the car or underneath the counter or something. You're trying to get it. You're doing all you can to stretch out there and just barely get it.

Ah, I got to bring it in. That's what it means to love one another fervently. You stretch as far as you possibly can. You give as much as you possibly can so that you might do what God wants you to do. To strain to give yourself a. Listen, if Jesus can return at any moment, At any moment, because the consummation of all things is at hand, dealing with the end of the age, the return of Jesus Christ our Lord. The least we can do is love with a fervent spirit. And that's what Peter says: love one another fervently.

He says over in chapter 1, verse number 22: Since you have, in obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart. S the same thing. So now he says, now, on top of thinking biblically and praying intelligently, because you are thinking now properly. And because now you are praying properly, the byproduct of that is you are now freed to love your brother with great fervency. That's what he's saying. Love one another fervently. Why?

Because love covers a multitude of sins. That phrase has been misunderstood by many people. You know, over in the book of Proverbs, the chapter, the 12th verse, it says, Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions. 1 Corinthians 13 says that love bears all things. Peter says, You love one another fervently for one reason. Because it throws a cloak of silence over people's sins. That's why. Listen, it doesn't mean that you don't discipline sin. It doesn't mean that you don't rebuke sin, and it doesn't mean that you don't warn people about sin.

What it does mean is that you are unwilling to expose your brother's sin. Because you want to love him in such a way that you're not going to share that with other people. Isn't that important? You find in marriages a lot of times where spouses are willing to share the sins of their husband or their wife frequently and willingly with every ear that's willing to be open and listen.

That's not what it means. It means you love so much that you throw the cloak of silence over your spouse's, over your partner's sin. Why? Because out of respect and dignity for that individual, you want to help them through that process, and you alone are going to love them fervently through it. That's what it means. It doesn't mean you condone sin. No, you've got to confront it. You've got to deal with it. That's important. And if it's not dealt with, you got to follow Matthew 18 because that's the biblical principle.

But only those who follow Matthew 18 are those who really truly love fervently. And the reason you follow Matthew 18, which talks about church discipline, is because you are willing to do all you can for the sake of the purity of your brother and for the sake of the purity of the church. See that? But you love one another fervently. Number four, show hospitality. Show hospitality. Be hospitable to one another. Now, let me say something about this.

Hospitality is not about having people in your home for dinner, letting them stay in your house overnight to sleep. We tend to think that that's what hospitality is. No, it goes way beyond that. Hospitality could include that, but it doesn't mean solely that. Hospitality, listen, is an attitude, an attitude of making people feel When they are around you, that they are your treasure and your prize. That is hospitality. It's making people, when they are around you, feel like they're a part of you. You're a lover of strangers.

So, therefore, when you meet a stranger, You make them feel like they are a treasured partner with you. That's showing hospitality. You see, you're going to go out of your way to not just love the lovely, but love the unlovely. You're going to go out of your way not just to welcome the people you see every Sunday. Because you always see them and you like the same team, and you want to talk about how their team won on Saturday on Sunday. No, that's not hospitality. Hospitality is going up to the stranger saying, No, I've never met you before.

What's your name? How'd you hear about our? It's so good to have you with us. Boy, why don't you come sit down with me right down here? We're going to have a great time worshiping the Lord together. See, it's making them feel treasured around you. That's all. That's what hospitality is. Do you do that? You see, the aspect of showing hospitality is part and parcel of Christianity. That's just who we are. Somebody's in need, we meet the need. Someone's naked, we clothe them. Someone's hungry, we feed them.

Someone's thirsty, we give them something to drink because when we're around them, they are a valued possession, they are a valued treasure, and we want them to feel like they are valued. And Christ says that when you do that, you do it as if you're doing it unto me.

That's why he said that to the sheep. To the goats, he said the same thing. And they said, Well, when did we see you hungry, thirsty, naked, or in prison? And Christ said, Because you didn't do it to the least of these, my brethren, you have no part with me. You see, the unbeliever doesn't have that natural desire to do that. But the believer does. Somebody walks in the door, somebody's face you don't see, don't be embarrassed, don't be afraid of them. They're not going to bite you, they're not going to shoot you.

You go to them and say, Hey, so good to have you. Where are you from? And you begin to carry on a conversation with them. And slowly but surely, they see your attitude, and the attitude is this: you're important. You're so important that I'm going to spend time talking to you, getting to know you, and being a part of your life. Notice the text says, be hospitable to one another.

What's the next phrase? Without complaint, without grumbling. Because you know what? We can go meet somebody. Introduce ourselves to them, turn around and walk away, and what's the first thing we do?

Boy, I sure am glad they don't come to our church on a regular basis. Right? Or boy, I sure hope they don't start coming to our church. Or boy, I tell you, did you meet those people? Their kids are so unruly. Oh man, I can't believe it. And I don't want them in my house. And all of a sudden, we begin to grumble and complain. Why? Why? So Peter says, listen, when you go show hospitality, make sure you don't start grumbling and complaining and griping and moaning about it. Grip because it takes time.

Well, I don't have time to do that. I'm too busy. I got other things to do. I don't have time to feed the hungry. I don have time to dress the needy. I don't have time to help the thirsty. I don't have time to help those in financial distress. I don't We begin to grumble and complain because we got other things that are more important to us. So, Peter just adds that phrase: just to make sure you keep your attitude in check. Next, and lastly, minister supernaturally. Minister supernaturally. As each one has received a special gift, Employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Minister supernaturally. Listen, everyone in this room who's a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has a spiritual gift. And Peter says, he goes on to say, if it's a speaking gift, make sure you speak the utterances of God. If you got a speaking gift, you got the gift of prophecy. You have the gift of exhortation. You have the gift of knowledge, the gift of wisdom. You got a speaking gift? Make sure you speak in line with what the Word of God actually does say. If you have a support gift, the gift of mercy, the gift of serving, the gift of compassion.

The gift of helps. If you have a support gift, you need to do it with the energy that God Himself supp. Don 't do it in the flesh. Do it in the spirit. But notice what it says.

If you use your gift, you're a good steward. But if you don't minister your gift, you're a bad steward. That is, you haven't treated the gift that God has given to you with great dignity. That's important, isn't it? You see, our identity is wrapped up in the fact that we're spiritually gifted people. You know that, don't you? Our whole identity is wrapped up in, number one, that we're a special people because we're God's chosen people.

It's wrapped up in the fact that we are a servant people because Jesus Christ took on a form of a servant and we are partakers of his divine nature. Our identity is wrapped up in the fact that we are a supernatural people because the Spirit of God ind us, and when the Spirit of God comes upon us, we have power from on high. And our identity is wrapped up in the fact that we are a spiritually gifted people. Those four things determine your identity. We are a spiritually gifted people, and when we exercise our gift in the body of Christ, our identity is completely and clearly known.

People go through life searching for dignity and identity, but all they got to do is exercise a spiritual gift. And they begin to realize it and understand it. Peter says, each one individually has received this gift. It needs to be employed. It needs to be used. It needs to be in operation. It needs to be functioning. Why? Last point. For this purpose. What purpose is that? For the glory of God. For the glory of Almighty God. Now we're back to the same old thing. It's all about God. Why do we exercise our gifts?

It's about God. Why do we pray? It's about God. Why do we think about biblically? Because we want to think about God. Why do we show hospitality? Because when we do, we have done it unto Him because He is one of the least of these. You see, it's all about God. Everything's about God. And how many egos would be diminished? If all we thought about was the glory of God and not the glory of self. When we keep His glory uppermost in our minds, we're more comfortable leaving all the results with Him. When his glory is uppermost in our minds, we can show hospitality because it's ultimately him we're serving.

We can exercise our gifts because it's a great privilege to serve my God. So Peter says, the end of all things is at hand. If you remember that, then when the rough times rise, Your service will soar.