I love Christmas time, I love this time of year. You know, the Christmas songs; I'm the one that, like, turns on that radio as soon as it switches to Christmas music. And, you know, I play it, I really enjoy it. I got to tell you, though, something I don't really enjoy when it comes to Christmas is, like, all the preparations. Right? The preparation. I'm not. I'm going to be honest with you guys, I'm not. My wife tells me all the time. I'm not the best at forethought. I'm not going to be a lot of you. Right? I'm not the best at planning. All right? That's why I got married all right, so it's just not my forte. And there's just so much to do.When you look at everything that's involved in Christmas, you've got to get presents, and you've got to put the Christmas lights up, and you've got to do the decorations inside, the tree has to be put up, the laser light has to be put in the yard, the leaves have to be brought up. And the stores are just ridiculous, and I can't take it. And you have to fight off people for toys and stuff. It's just not for me, right?

But it's funny, as a kid I remember Christmas preparations being a lot of fun, right? You go and you put the Christmas lights up and the tree and I was thinking the other day like, “Why was it so much fun?” And I realized I wasn't doing any of the work, right? You know as an adult you kind of realize it's that the kids get to kind of sit there and it's a big deal but they don't really do anything you know it's the parents doing all the work. And I think about when I was a kid Christmas was kind of a big deal right there was a lot that went into it my dad would go up on the roof and there would be putting Christmas lights up right risking life and limb because there was no laser lights then. Everything that went into getting ready, there was cookies that had to be baked for Santa and the carrots that had to be put out for the reindeer. Then you had to go to Toys R Us because Jeff Bezos hadn't killed Jeffrey the Giraffe yet (He was still around). So if you wanted a toy, where did you go? The toy store. And you had to go there and it was packed. And God forbid you wanted something that was like a Beanie Baby or one of those things, right? You better have that by September or else you weren't getting it, right? “Cabbage Patch Kids”, is that what you said? That's before me, Dwight, you know.

You know, there's just so much forethought that goes into planning these things. I'm not good at it, right? My wife is excellent at that; She'll be like, “Hey, this is what we have to do.” My sister-in-law is excellent at that, right? She has her kids' outfits planned in advance, right? All that stuff. I planned my outfit this morning, I picked this out at about 9: 30 a.m. when I went into my closet and said, you know, “What do I not have to iron that much, right? (That's my forethought)”. You know, for many of you guys, you guys know what it's like to even get here in the morning on a Sunday, right? Everything that's involved, everything that you have to do, your kids' outfits, the snacks, the - you know, making sure they're ready, making sure they don't have stuff on their face, you know, getting them out here is, believe me, I understand it takes a lot of preparation. So my point in saying all that and my point in my sermon today is to say that everything in life worth doing takes some measure of preparation. Right? Everything in life that is worth doing takes some amount of preparation.

You know, we spend so much time getting ready for Christmas that we tend to forget the whole point of Christmas. Right? We spend so much time in the preparation because it consumes your whole mind because it's so much work that we tend to miss the whole point of being prepared for the King of Kings. We prepare for Christmas, but not for Christ. The title of my sermon today is “Don't Be Ready for Christmas, But Not Ready for Christ.” So I ask you a simple question today, “Have you prepared for the coming of our King?” We know that, like I said, everything worth doing takes preparation. Have you prepared for the King of Kings? We know we must prepare, but the question remains, how do we prepare?

So today we're going to be opening up our Bibles. I'm going to be going, I have a lot of verses - Jen was really mad at me because of how many verses I had today. But it's going to be up on the screen here, and we're going to go through them together. I'm going to be jumping around a lot today. But first I want to talk to you today about how we should be prepared in expectation; Prepared in expectation. So let's look at our verses today. And this one's our main verse for the day. It says, (Matthew 25:1-13) “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps with no oil in them But the wise took their oil in their vessels with their lamps but while the bridegroom was delayed they all slumbered and slept.

“And at midnight a cry was heard ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming! Go out to meet him!’

Then all the virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give me some of your oil; for our lamps are going out.’

But the wise answered, ‘No, should there not be enough for both you and me rather, you go out to those who sell and buy some for yourselves.’

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came. And those who were ready went with him into the wedding. And the door was shut.

Afterward, the other virgins came also saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open up to us!’

But he answered, ‘Surely I say to you, I do not know you.’

Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”

You know, this verse was powerful to me, right? As I read it, I really understood, especially during this season, what God was trying to say. You see, remember, this verse, it talks about the virgins, right? What is it trying to express in that? It's trying to express that these weren't just people in the world. This message, this parable, is written to the church. This parable is written to those that are religious. This parable is written to us here today. We have to know that when He's talking about the virgins, He's not talking about somebody who's in their own life, doing their own thing, living their best life now. No, this is someone who is saying, “Hey, listen, I'm doing everything that I'm supposed to do. I look the same, I'm going about things, I know what I want.” You know, like that kind of people. But yet, still in that group, God splits them into two groups, five and five. Five who were wise and five who were foolish. What is the beginning of wisdom again? It's fear of the Lord; It's somebody who reveres God in their heart. What is the difference between the wise and the foolish? The foolish were those who were just going about doing their thing. The religious, doing things that they were supposed to do based off of how they should look.

And they go and I think about why they do what they do, and what the difference is between the religious and the ones who revere God in their hearts.You see the difference is that the religious do things on the outside. It affects their actions, religion affects their actions, but it's on the outside. It affects what they do on the outside - It skips over the heart, whereas the wise, it hits their heart. It still affects their actions, but their actions come from the Spirit of God influencing their heart and transforming them on the inside and changing them. And it becomes an action, not out of what you are supposed to do, but becomes an action out of the heart that God has transformed. You see, that is the difference, and that is why five were prepared and five were not. Five were doing what they were supposed to do, right? They had prepared themselves, they had gone out, they were waiting. But the other five weren't prepared. Why? Because it was a motive of the heart. It was a motive of the heart to say, “God, no matter what happens, I am going to be ready for You.”

I think about the end times. You know, the end times when God is revealed, there will be many who will say, “Wait up. Don't forget about me!” Right? “I was in church once in a while! I went to church on Christmas!” Right? “Don't forget about me. I believe in Christmas! I believe God's real! Don't forget about me!” And in those last moments, they'll be rushing to try to get things done. Just like those foolish who were rushing to go get the oil, they'll be rushing to present their hearts before God; To make it right. To do the right thing. To try to make the heart connection, and they're going to rush and they're going to try to do all those last minute things (like me on December 23rd), rushing to get everything I need to get. But what's going to happen in the end times? When they finally get it together, they're going to come and knock on the door and what's going to happen? The door is going to be closed.

I've said it to you guys before. Maybe some of you remember. What's a door that never closes? What's that called? Anybody remember? It's called a hole, right? It's called a hole. And I tell you, there's no holes in the kingdom of God. A door is meant to open for a time and close for a time. God has opened up the door for us today. As I was sitting there worshiping, I said, “God, I can feel the door open today.” You have caught, and I felt that God was just pouring out His spirit. And as I was singing those songs, you know, I was looking at the lyrics and saying, “God, You are worthy of praise! You are called to be honored!” You see, you can - amen - you can worship and know the lyrics and sing and give God praise, and those are all great things, but I tell you, when it's in the heart, it's something different. When it comes from the heart that God is transforming, all of a sudden, it's not just “God, I give You praise.” it's “God, You deserve all the praise, and I'm going to give it to You right out of my mouth, it's going to praise You, for You deserve all things.

“Have you been preparing for Him like you've been getting ready for Christmas?”

Have you been preparing for Him like you've been getting ready for Christmas? Right, we take our kids out somewhere, and everything that's involved in taking our kids out - so much work. What about vacation? You guys go on vacation, you have a million things to do. You've got to get the bags, you've got to make sure the alarms are done, the doors are locked, do you have clothes, do you have everything that you need? Do you have shorts in case it's warm and pants in case it's cold? And do you have snacks and backup snacks and everything that goes involved with just going on vacation. By the time vacation comes, you don't feel like going anymore because you're so tired from having to get ready, right? Everything in life that is worth doing takes preparation. There's things that don't take any preparation, like video games or TV, right? It's there on demand. But are those things really worth doing?

You know, it seems like Christianity - literally the most important thing in your life, talking about your eternity, where you're going to spend eternity - it seems like that is the only thing in life that if you say to someone, “Hey, Christianity takes some preparation of the heart” they look at you like you're crazy. We prepare for vacation. We prepare to go out with our kids. We prepare to go do something. We prepare for everything else. But when I say to you, “Hey, you can't just walk in and walk out…” There's something inside your heart that has to take place. You have to prepare for God. You have to go before him and submit yourself to Him and say, “God, here is my heart, Reveal any wayward way inside of me. God, show me my heart that it might be transformed. God, I've had sin in my life.I can't go on anymore. You've got to transform me.” You see, that's what it takes.

I was at work the other night and I was working and I've got to admit to you guys, it was really busy; I was getting pulled in a million different directions so my mind was kind of all over the place. And when my mind is not focused I'll tell you, you can ask my wife, I tend to put my foot in my mouth. So the guy walks in - and one of the guys walks in with somebody in handcuffs and I said, “Oh, what did you arrest him for?” and he said a DWI (I was like; oh ok)

And I looked on his shirt and I happened to notice on the guy's shirt he had a cross, right; like a big cross, like a lion, like you've got to be a pretty - (you know) you've got to be like a devoted Christian to wear those type of shirts, right? Not just everybody wears those. So I kind of noticed it and didn't say anything, and he came back, and he was like - I'm like, “What happened?” And he told me, and he said, “Yeah, he was coming from a pastor's party” and I was like, “Oh, like real great”, right? You know; upholding the name of Christ, awesome, you know, and those guys, they all know who I am, they all know I'm a pastor, and they try to get under my skin sometimes, right? And they said, “You know, hey, you know who we don't have to worry about this with?” I said, “Who?” He said, “the Muslims.”

And I started laughing and I said, you know what? And I got to admit, I maybe shouldn't have thought about this more before I said it. But I said, “You know what? You're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. God forbid that Christians would have to have their hearts reflect their faith! Where every other religion in the world - right - the people go and they live out their faith - And to be part of the faith, you have to live it out, right? The Muslims, the Jewish people, they have everything that separates them from the world, and they act according to their faith. God forbid that Christians would have to do the same thing that they would actually - they could actually - have to live out their faith and they couldn't go in the world and continue to live hellish, yet continue to claim the name of Christ!” And I stopped after I said it and I looked around, everybody was dead quiet staring at me and I realized I just described pretty much everybody in that room, right?

“God is calling us to live in expectation. That expectation changes who you are”

You see, God is calling us to live in expectation. That expectation changes who you are; it changes your actions, it changes how you've lived your life, it changes how you go about things. Those virgins - five were foolish and five were wise. And what did the wise do? They prepared. They prepared for the coming of their King. I got to tell you something: Just because He didn't come when you expect it does not mean that He is not coming. Just because He didn't come yet doesn't mean that He is not coming. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to return to this earth, He is going to be coming back. And when He comes, He will be coming looking for a people who are expecting Him; Who are living in expectation, who have prepared themselves, like the wise virgins who have taken the extra oil right? They didn't have to do that. They said “No matter what, I'm going to be ready”. Is your heart today saying, “No matter what, I'm going to be ready when the King of Kings is revealed.”

You see, that expectation changes you. No longer can you just go live your own life and do your own thing. That expectation changes how you go about things; No longer with our kids are we saying, “Well, they'll figure it out in their own time. I just got to give them space.” No! There's no time! God's coming! Right? No longer are we going to get caught up in frivolity of life and getting caught up trying to win arguments and being prideful. No, there's no time! God is coming. No longer are we going to get caught up in stupid things like arguments or jealousy over carnal things. There's no time. God is coming! You see, we would be much more concerned with being righteous if we knew that the Lord of Lord and the King of Kings was returning. We all believe that Christmas is coming. We all know December 25th is going to be here soon and we have to be ready.

I want to remind you of the Christmas message that said that Jesus Christ, the Savior, was born to a people who were all expecting Him. A bunch of people who all knew the scriptures, a bunch of people that knew the Messiah was one day going to be coming; Yet they were not prepared. How do I know they weren't prepared? For when He came, no one recognized Him, no one saw Him, and no one worshipped Him. Today I tell you just because He hasn't come yet doesn't mean He is not coming. And when He does, will He find a people who are living in expectation and who have their hearts prepared for His reveal?

We get so concerned with preparing for the holiday that we lose focus for the reason for the holiday. God is coming again, and He is going to be coming back for a bride who is living in expectation and who is prepared. So I say again, do not be ready for Christmas, yet not ready for Christ. So we know we have to be living in expectation. Secondly, we should be prepared and we should be preparing the way. Let's go to our next verse. Can't talk about preparing the way without John the Baptist…

“(Matthew 3:18) In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea (remember that part, that's important I'm going to come back) and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ For this is he who is spoken of in the prophet Isaiah saying:

‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, and make his path straight.’

Now John himself, he was clothed in camel's hair, he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. (Then, this is parts important), Jerusalem, all Judea and the region around the Jordan went out to him. And were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw the Pharisees and the Sadducees came out to the baptism. He said to them: ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance’”.

You see, John the Baptist believed that this Son was coming. John the Baptist lived out that belief every single day; He knew Jesus Christ was coming. And what did he do for us today? He took up the role of the church. Or maybe the church should take up the role of John the Baptist (I'm not sure which one). He took up the role of church; He preached the word that the Son was coming. He said, “Prepare ye the way for the way of the Lord. Prepare because God is coming. Prepare because there's one greater than I who's coming. Whose shoes I'm not even worthy to tie”. He baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and he warned those who were living opposite that God was coming, and they better get ready. I look at that and I say, this is the role of the church. This is what the church should be doing. You know, talking about that previous parable with the virgins, you know, when I was picturing that in my mind, like, I don't know why, but in my mind I saw like the five virgins who were ready, right? The ones who were prepared - they were like kind of sticking together, right? They kind of like grouped up together and made a group. And you know, that is what the church is supposed to be. It's supposed to be a group of people who have prepared for God inside of their heart, coming together, coming together and being one unit, one bride ready for the King of Kings to be revealed. Come together to worship and give Him praise because we are the prepared ones, the wise ones, who have prepared their hearts for the coming of the King.

Coming together for a common purpose; We are meant to be like John the Baptist, preaching, baptizing, and warning. Do you guys feel that call that I'm talking about that John the Baptist embodied? You know, I think about John the Baptist and his message and what it meant. And then I look at that and I'm like, “Wow, we're missing it church.” We're missing it. We're more concerned about not offending people and having something that can be, you know, given out to everyone - And don't worry about offending anybody or challenging anybody's heart, or talking to them about preparing their heart, or doing anything besides walking in, having a good show, and walking out. But what does that do to the people? John the Baptist came to prepare the way of the Lord. He believed that the Son of God was coming and took up a mission to prepare the way for Him. That is what God is calling us to; He wasn't concerned about gifts. He wasn't concerned about dates. He wasn't concerned about a fence. He wasn't even concerned about food or clothes, obviously. He was in camel hair and was eating locusts and honey. This guy was a gnarly dude, I can't imagine what he looked like. Yet he, but it was crazy - That was probably as crazy as he looked - People were coming to him in droves because he was preaching the true word of God.

His message was simple.”There is one greater than I who is coming. You better be ready.” What a simple message; There is one that is coming that is greater than I and you better be ready. You see, that is a message that should be preached from the pulpit even today. Listen, I'm not making myself out to be great - I'm surprised you guys are even here listening to me. But that being said, right, there is one greater than I who is coming. There is one greater than I, you better be ready. He's not preparing us to be a better person. He's not preparing us to have a better life! He's not preparing you to be nicer or kinder as great as maybe all those things are. God is preparing your heart. The church should be preparing your heart so that one day for one purpose that if God came back right now, if God was revealed today, if God was revealed this morning, that you could look at Him and say “God I've been waiting for You. I am prepared inside of my heart, I knew You were coming and I am ready.

That is what the preaching of John the Baptist did. He went and he preached that type of message, and then he went out and baptized. Now let me explain something to you guys. So you're not going to understand the baptism unless you really get the history; So the history of baptism, there was no baptism in the Old Testament. That didn't exist in the Old Testament. The closest thing was the Levite priest who would go take and wash themselves before going into the Holy of Holies. This didn't exist. But what they did do during that time is that they would, any Gentile - (Remember they didn't like Gentiles. They thought they were gross. They thought they were disgusting barbarians living, you know, doing their own thing opposite of God. Right? So they didn't hold Gentiles with a lot of like, you know, respect or honor) - So they would take these Gentiles who wanted to convert to Judaism, and they would go through this process of baptism. And they would bring them into the water, and the whole thing was saying, “You've been dirty. You've been living separate from God. You've been doing your own thing. But within this water, this ritual is just showing that you are leaving your old life behind and coming out clean and converting into Judaism.” Right?

So then we look at where John the Baptist was. That verse, if you remember, (I told you guys to remember) said he was in Judea, he was outside of Jerusalem, he was in the province of Jordan; Like, he was in the epicenter of Judaism. So then he begins to prepare, preach this message. “Prepare ye the way. There's one greater than I that is coming. You better be ready.” And all of these Jews come - Remember, they didn't like the Gentiles. They thought they were barbarians - Yet they come and they go through the same ritual that the Gentiles were going through to convert to Judaism. That's a big deal, right? That's a big deal; You have these Jews who all they have in life is to say “We are God's chosen people.” Yet they come, they hear the message and so it hits their hearts so strongly that they say, “I'm going to go through that same ritual that the Gentiles went through - the barbarians went through - to say that I know I've been living as a Jew, yet I have been living separate from God. I have been just like those Gentiles. I might have been in the epicenter of Judaism, but my life has been separate from God. My heart has not been connected to Him. I don't know God.” And they came and they submitted themselves unto John the Baptist, this guy in camel clothes and eating locusts. And they submitted themselves to him to say I want to be ready.

“God has called not only for you to be ready, but for you to be preparing the way.”

What a powerful message. This is the purpose of the church. God has called not only for you to be ready, but for you to be preparing the way. Preparing the way in your hearts, preparing the way in your homes, preparing the way with your children. Preparing the way in your jobs, preparing the way wherever you go. You say, “God, I'm going to prepare this way for You. I'm going to make it ready for You, God.”

You see, God, when He came the first time, He had nowhere to go. The Son of God, the King of Kings, had nowhere holy to be born. So what did He have to do? He had to go where the animals were. He had to go into the dirty places, the smelly places. He had to be born in the most unholy place there was, yet God will return again one day. My question for you is have you prepared a place for Him in your home? Have you prepared a place in His heart? It should be a holy place. What is a holy place? Well, it's a place where the Holy Spirit resides if you want to make it simple. It is a place where the Holy Spirit resides. Right? Have you brought the Spirit of God to your dinner table? Have you brought Him to your breakfast table? Have you brought Him into your conversations? Have you brought Him into your jobs and in your homes? Is there a Holy place prepared for God in your lives or are we spending more time worrying about Christmas than we are about Christ?

He began after that, right? The people that didn't want anything to do with the message, he began to warn, right? The Pharisees and the Sadducees; These are two different, way polar opposite different people. The Pharisees were the rule keepers. The law. They were prim and proper, and they did everything just exactly as the word said by the law. Everybody looked at them with respect. Then we have the Sadducees. The Sadducees were the polar opposite. They were the ones who didn't believe in the power of God, didn't believe in resurrection, didn't believe in God really touching it - No power. But they were like political opportunists. They were constantly trying to worm their way in with the Romans, looking at them saying, “Hey, I know those Jews are like that. But me and you - like, you know, I'm a Jew, but I'm more like you. And you can trust me.” And they would try to worm their way into authority based off of who was in charge at the time. You can imagine that those two groups, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, did not get along. Yet what happens when the truth of God gets revealed? All of a sudden, these parties unite to come against the word of God. These parties unite to come against the word of God. You see, when the Spirit of God is revealed, when the true Spirit of God that talks to people's hearts and says “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” I'm telling you, it's going to offend people. People are going to unite against it. We've seen it. We've lived it. But I can tell you the truth, that God will always prevail; That God is an overcomer, that God will be the winner, that God is victorious.

You see, John the Baptist spoke this message, and he was persecuted for this message. Probably almost one of the, he's a martyr in the Bible when you look at everything he went through. Yet God - he proclaimed God's good news to say that “There is one coming that is greater than I. You better be ready.” You see the message is worth it.The message is worth it.Those who are prepared inside of their hearts are preparing the way for God, because they know what it means to prepare the way for the King of Kings. The church is meant to be the bride of God. If you are here today, you are meant to make up the bride of God. Spotless, blameless, pure, and ready. Have you prepared that place for Him? When Jesus returns, will He find a place among you? He had no place to be delivered the first time, but I pray today that the hearts of the people would be ready to receive the King of Kings. Are we spending all our time getting ready for Christmas, but not Christ? Are we spending all our time getting ready from a guy coming down a chimney, but not a God who is coming down from heaven?

Finally, we need to be prepared and not taken by surprise - Prepared and not taken by surprise. You guys look like a smart bunch, so I'm going to put a challenge out to you, okay? I'm going to read some verses, and I want to see if you guys can find the common theme. All right, let's see if you guys can do it, I have faith in you. Alright, (Matthew 24:43) “If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready.”

Next one, 1 Thessalonians (5:1-2), “...for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

2 Peter (3:10), “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.”

And finally, if you didn't get it yet, God says it pretty plainly (Revelation 16:15) “Look, I'm going to come like a thief!” right? “Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, as to not go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

You see, the Bible describes - He's going to come like a thief. Why like a thief? Right? Because it's fast. It's going to be unexpected. Everything, these people's security that they held so dear, is going to be stripped away in an instant. And every victim I've ever spoken to has this moment where they look and say, “What just happened?” And there will be that moment all over where people will look and say, “What just happened?” And then, you know, the foolish bride will rise up. and they'll begin to say, “Well, Lord, you know, I was there, right? I was ready. I thought- I believe in Christmas, right? I was ready for Christmas. I'm a Christian. I believe God's real. Isn't that what a Christian is? I'm a good person! And isn't that what really matters?” Or “God is love, and I love everyone, so I must be godly.” You see, these are the messages that are infecting the church. Where it really needs to be that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come; He is going to be revealed. You must be ready inside of your heart. Someone who has submitted themselves unto the examination of God, who has rid themselves of all sin, who has come and submitted themselves to the purifier's fire. So that all the old sinful ways, all the ways of your past. All the things of your parents, all the addictions and heartache and pain and brokenness can be burnt away, and God can leave His Holy Spirit behind. You see, the sad truth is there will be a lot of people in that day who have spent hours and hours preparing for Christmas, preparing for vacation, preparing for work, preparing for sports, preparing for college, and preparing for everything else, but have never given a thought to preparing for the coming of the King of Kings.

My wife preached about being children of light. You know, being children of light. Being a child of light means you are awake, it means you are prepared, it means you are ready. Let's look at 1 Thessalonians 5:4(-6), “But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.” You see, the Christian is prepared. When you indulge in the things of the world so much, it's like getting drunk. I'm going to try to put it out really clear for you; The world and the things of the world are indulgencies. The more you indulge in the things of the world, the more and more you become drunk. You become dizzy, you become blurred, you can't see things clearly. That is the children of the night, but just like every drunk person I've ever met - right - there comes a moment where all of a sudden they wake up and they say, “How did I get here? How did I get here?” And that is going to be many when the King of Kings comes. They're gonna be saying, “What happened? How did I get here?” We in the church of God are not meant to be children of the night. We're not meant to be ones of the dark. We're not meant to be ones who are drunk on things of the world.

You see, God calls discipline for a reason. Everybody looks and says, “The message of God is so hard. The rules of the church is so hard. I can't do this, I can't do that, I can't go do my own thing-” No! Because it makes you drunk. It makes you not see clearly, and when you can't see clearly, you will not be ready! The job of the church is so that I can look at you and say, “She is ready for the coming of the king.” So that when he is revealed, you can say, “I was not drunk on the things of the world, but my eyes have been opened and I have been prepared inside my heart. I have been living in expectation. I have been waiting for you, God, and I am ready.”

You see, the Christian is prepared; They have their bags packed, they're ready to go, their tickets are printed, their bags are by the door, right? My sister-in-law is big on that. Like, have a go bag, right? “You never know what's going to happen. There's drones. There's all sorts of nonsense coming, right? Have a go bag ready. I don't know if you know what they're going to do, but they're going to do something, right? So have a bag ready, you know? So be ready to go.” The Christian is ready to go. Bags are packed. The tickets are printed in their hearts, they are ready and living everyday in expectation. I'm not saying you're not going to work. I'm not saying you're not going to go have fun. I'm not saying you're going to do things. I'm not saying all that. But of every moment of every day, living, saying, “God, I am ready.” Because there's going to be a time that the Groom is going to come calling. Let's look at Luke 12:35(-40) “Be dressed and ready for service and keep like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes….You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

The Christian is ready to go. They've taken that time to examine their hearts. They've gone before God. They have said, “Lord, search me and purify any wayward way inside of me.” Like the Levite priest who would wash themselves all year for that moment that came where they'd have to go behind the curtain and go into the Holy of Holies; So the Christian lives every day purifying themselves, that when that time comes, when that moment comes, they will be ready.

You guys ever have like, going on vacation, and you have a list, right? You're like, “Okay, I've got to lock the door and I've got to set the alarm, and I've got to get the kids ready and I've got to have the bags packed, and I've got to have all these clothes.” And you go down the list so that you are ready when the time comes. The Christians the exact same way; They live preparing every day with a list. “Okay, I've had my heart ready, I've gone and I've sought the Holy Spirit, I've gone and God has revealed some sinful ways of me that I've taken care of. I've cultivated the Holy Spirit in my house. I've talked to my kids and my kids are prepared and seeking after God. I've taken responsibility over my home. I've taken personal responsibility over my church that the Spirit of God would reside there, and I've contributed to the Holy Spirit living inside that building. God, I am ready. The bags are packed, the checklist is done.”

What's the whole point? So that you won't be surprised. Don't be surprised. Don't be surprised, God's coming. Don't be surprised. Those Jews, they all knew God was coming; They all knew the Messiah was going to be born! But they didn't really know it, did they? Because when He came, they were not ready. “Don't be surprised.” You know, something that God has been teaching me lately is to, like, stop being surprised. Stop being surprised when He writes - He literally talks about it in the word - Right? He tells us what's going to come in the word. We can read it! But this is the difference. About having a heart that just reads the word and having a heart that believes in the word; When you begin to believe, you're no longer surprised, you're ready. You see, God was talking to me, “Stop being surprised when you face spiritual opposition. Stop being surprised when there's trials and persecution. Stop being surprised when the world rejects you and the evils of this world come to your face and you see it face to face. Stop being surprised when you see the necessity for spiritual discipline and growth.” God has been calling me to wake up. Stop being surprised, because it says it right in the word. Why? For a reason; So that you will be ready and not taken by surprise.

See, when you really begin to look with those type of eyes; when you really begin to say, “God, let Your truth come in and open up my eyes so that I can see” All of a sudden, it's not a surprise anymore. All of a sudden, you're like, “Wow, God, I've read this a hundred times, but I believe it. And I know it's coming. And I'm going to be ready for it.” You know, let me tell you a secret of war that has existed since men have been fighting. You can't beat somebody who's ready. Right? Surprise attacks, someone who's not expecting it, you're going to win every time. Be ready, and the Bible talks about that. Be ready in season and out of season. Be ready, He is coming, be ready. Believe the word of God there are spiritual forces in this world; there are things that are going to come against you - the religious are going to unite to come against the word of God - but I tell you it's okay because you will be prepared. You will say, “God, Your word is truth! The message is worth it! I am ready and I am going to prepare the way for You” . Guys, as much as I love Christmas and I love, you know, the radio and the songs and the trees, we need to remember and believe that there is a reason for this season. Not to sound corny, right? God has prepared us.

You know, my wife told me a funny story and I'll close with this. My wife told me a funny story about my sister-in-law one time when they were kids. You know, they were inside the house and I guess the mayor or something was coming down the road with like a parade, you know. And there was trumpets; And the trumpets go off and Brenda's inside of the house and she immediately goes like this. Right? And she's looking up into the sky because why? What's God going to be announced by? Trumpets, right? So to little Brenda, that was more plausible that He was coming back than somebody in the street just playing the trumpet. Right? She looked up and she's like ready to go looking into the sky waiting for God to be revealed. Why? And this is why God says you have to have a heart like a little child; Because the minute that that trumpets went off, she looked up and she knew in her heart what it meant. It was more likely in Brenda's heart that God was coming back than it was that there was a parade going by. You see, that is how we have to live. That is what God is calling us to live by - Ready, expecting, waiting that the minute those trumpets are sounded, we are looking up and saying, “God, here I am.”