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Ready or Not, Here He Comes! (Luke 12:35-48)
21 Plays1 month ago
Sunday Message recorded 26 April 2026
by Senior Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Morning Worship & Baptism Celebration
00:00:06
Speaker
Well, good morning. I guess it's my turn to get up here, so I'm excited. Wow, what a great way to start the day with worshiping our Lord, but then also seeing these young girls follow the Lord in believers' baptism and their families right there, supporting them, loving them, and just appreciate them so much.
00:00:26
Speaker
appreciate all the the deacons did to help that baptism to take place. I'm not the one that fills up the baptistry, you know. There's a lot of guys behind the scenes that help in so many different ways. i appreciate also how Trudy was there to help in coordinating with these three little girls. So, so grateful for her ministry
Introduction to Luke 12 and Christ's Return
00:00:46
Speaker
as well. But I would like to invite you now to turn with me to Luke chapter 12, verses 35-35.
00:00:53
Speaker
down through the end of this section, we'll stop about verse 48. The return of Jesus Christ. It's a major teaching in the New Testament.
00:01:04
Speaker
R. Kent Hughes, he's a commentator. He says that, you know, there are 260 chapters in the New Testament. Let's take his word. You don't have to count right now. But anyway, just take his word for it. There are 260 chapters in the New Testament and Christ's return is mentioned 318 times throughout those 260 chapters.
00:01:30
Speaker
Statistically speaking, that would be one verse about the return of Christ in every 25 mentions. So anyway, I thought, wow, one out of 25 is quite often.
00:01:43
Speaker
The only books of the New Testament that do not mention Christ's return would be Galatians, 2 John and 3 John. So really almost the entire New Testament talks about it. The passage we're going to look at today speaks about the certainty of Christ's return. It's not going to give details and a lot of those kind of things that are going to come later in chapter
Necessity of Readiness for Christ's Return
00:02:08
Speaker
21. But I do think the most important thing about Christ's return is that we're ready.
00:02:14
Speaker
If you've trusted Christ just like these three girls, you're good. You don't have to worry about when it's going to happen. But do know it will happen. As a matter of fact, what someone says last is very important, wouldn't you say? Well, at the end of the New Testament, at the end of the Bible in Revelation 22, 20, it says, He who testifies to these things says, Surely I'm coming soon. Amen. Amen.
00:02:43
Speaker
Come, Lord Jesus. That's what it says. i want to show you a painting that was from a long time ago. The painting was painted by a German artist, Friedrich, Friedrich Edward Meyerham in 1830. Can we go to that slide actually for the, there it is.
00:03:03
Speaker
Yeah. So on the left side, that's the painting and the painting in English is translated children playing in the forest. What game do you think they're playing? Hide and seek, right.
00:03:16
Speaker
The game is played throughout the world, actually. You know, in the 1570s, that game was was being played even by 1570, only it had a different name. They didn't call it hide and seek.
00:03:30
Speaker
They called it king by your leave, like to leave the room. So today, the one who counts while others leave is not called king, but called it.
00:03:42
Speaker
And so when whoever is it finishes, do you remember what they say really loud? Ready or not, here I come. Well, that's what I want the message to be entitled today. Ready or not, here I come.
Metaphors of Spiritual Readiness
00:03:55
Speaker
You know, you also must be ready is what Jesus is going to say in verse 40 of our text. You also must be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
00:04:11
Speaker
So like I said, the primary thrust of this is Christ's return, the certainty of it. And so what we want to make sure of is we're ready. And that doesn't it means you know if you're ready, it doesn't matter when it's he's coming.
00:04:25
Speaker
It's that you'll be ready. So let's stand one more time in honor of God's word. Let me read from verse 35 down through verse 48. Listen closely to what God's word says. Stay dressed for action.
00:04:39
Speaker
And keep your lamps burning. And be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.
00:04:54
Speaker
Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table and he will come And serve them.
00:05:12
Speaker
If he comes in the second watch or in the third and finds them awake, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into.
00:05:31
Speaker
You also must be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour. You do not expect. Peter said, Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?
00:05:47
Speaker
And the Lord said, who then is the faithful and wise manager whom his master will set over his household to give them their portion of food at the proper time?
00:06:00
Speaker
Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.
00:06:11
Speaker
But if that servant says to himself, my master is delayed in coming and begins to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect anything And at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.
00:06:36
Speaker
And that servant who knew his master's will, but did not get ready or act according to his will will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating.
00:06:52
Speaker
Everyone to whom much was given thanksgiving. of him much will be required. And from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. Let's go to the Father in prayer.
00:07:03
Speaker
Oh Lord, prepare our hearts now. Already our hearts have been so moved, Lord, seeing these three girls follow you in believers' baptism. But we know they're ready whenever the return of Christ will come.
00:07:16
Speaker
But maybe someone else in the room, maybe someone else watching by live stream, they're not ready. And so use this passage to motivate us, to get us ready. And so we put this time in your hands. In Jesus' name we pray.
00:07:30
Speaker
Amen. Thank you. may be seated.
00:07:35
Speaker
Well, want to look at this passage together and I want you to pretend as though I was admiring a diamond and I'm going to be spinning it as we look at it. We're going look at this passage as though the passage were a diamond talking about the readiness that we should be ready for the Lord Jesus when he returns. So we're look at six
Expected & Unexpected Arrivals
00:07:56
Speaker
facets of spiritual fitness.
00:07:59
Speaker
Here's the first one, exhortation. Sometimes we need someone to urge us you know, we need a coach to say, come on, you can do this. Move forward. Jesus used two word pictures to call us to readiness.
00:08:13
Speaker
Both of these two word pictures found in verse 35, they're imperatives, which means they're not optional. these These are commands when he says, stay dressed for action.
00:08:24
Speaker
Keep your lamps burning. This verse in this section is our Lord's first extended teaching on the second coming of Christ in the Gospel of Luke so far. Isn't it interesting if you remember what we looked at last time just a few verses back, he transitions now.
00:08:42
Speaker
Luke does from talking about worry about the present to watchfulness about the future. But consider these two word pictures. First, he's telling us be dressed in readiness.
00:08:56
Speaker
Be dressed in readiness. You know, in some of your translations, it probably says, gird up your loins. We don't use that term anymore. What does it even mean? Well, back then they wore long robes and they would take the bottom of the robe and tuck it under the belt.
00:09:12
Speaker
And that way they could work harder. They could run faster. They could fight more freely. And so the idea was don't let anything hinder you. Don't let there be any obstructions to you following Christ, to you being ready for the Lord to return. Be dressed in readiness. But then it also says stay on fire with readiness.
00:09:34
Speaker
He uses this metaphor, this analogy of lamps He said, it's like a lamp that you need to keep burning. Keep your lamp burning. Is your lamp burning for Christ today?
00:09:48
Speaker
you know, I thought it was interesting how that lamp, the word there was a portable lamp that could be taken anywhere, any any time. So wherever we go, each of us are like lamps.
00:09:59
Speaker
And so the Lord is saying, make sure that you're on fire. Make sure that you're burning brightly for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Incentives for Spiritual Readiness
00:10:07
Speaker
Romans 13 verses 11 through 14 calls it armor of light.
00:10:12
Speaker
He says ah you're closer to the ah return of Christ than ever before. And so what he says is make sure that you put on the armor. Do you have the armor? Are you dressed in readiness?
00:10:24
Speaker
How can someone be ready for Christ? Well, I go back to hymn from the past called On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand. Listen to two verses. It'll tell you how we get ready so that we're dressed in readiness.
00:10:41
Speaker
It says, My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
00:10:56
Speaker
It's not what I'm going to do that's going to help me be ready. It's what he's already done for me. And so I put my faith, my trust in what he's done for me on the cross. But then listen to how it ends this other verse says, when he shall come with trumpet sound, oh, may I then in him be found dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.
00:11:26
Speaker
You see, the reason we should be dressed in righteousness is because when he comes back, we're going we're going to the throne. Are you going to be ready to stand before God? Would you stand before God saying, I know I've been good enough for you to accept me?
00:11:40
Speaker
Or would you say, Lord, you know, I know I'm saved by grace. I know that I needed mercy. And so I'm only standing before you because Jesus died for me.
00:11:51
Speaker
That's being dressed in his righteousness today. alone. Well, let's look at another facet of this diamond called readiness that we see in these verses. I want to highlight verse 36 and then skip down to verse 39.
00:12:05
Speaker
I think both of these are illustrations. You know what Jesus is trying to do? He's trying to make sure we understand. He wants to break it down so easy that each of us would say, I get it. I get what he's talking about.
00:12:19
Speaker
So in terms of an illustration of readiness, here's what he says. First, he gives two metaphors metaphors. The first one is the arrival of someone expected.
00:12:31
Speaker
You know, when you invite someone to come to your house at a certain time, certain day, then you know they're going to come at that time. But there's also another metaphor that's used later in verse 39.
00:12:43
Speaker
And that one is an arrival of someone unexpected, someone unexpected. You know, Jewish weddings back then did not start and stop at a specific time.
00:12:54
Speaker
As matter of fact, they would get really busy preparing all the food, preparing the the places where people are going to sit. And then that's when they invited people after it was all ready.
00:13:05
Speaker
Can you imagine? You don't really know for sure what day. You don't really know for sure what time. Then suddenly someone comes and they say to you, hey, you need to come and the wedding is all ready.
00:13:16
Speaker
We want you to be there. And then once you're there, there's no guarantee you're going home anytime soon. Because those things could have lasted as long as, get this, seven days.
00:13:26
Speaker
That's a pretty long wedding reception, wouldn't you say? But watching and waiting, working, welcoming, those are all part of this ah this metaphor that he uses at the beginning when he's saying there's some people who work for a man, and so the man is considered to be the master. He's the boss of the house.
00:13:44
Speaker
And what the man did, he went to a wedding. But then when the man gets back, these guys that work for him, they said, we need, it could be late at night. So we better have a light.
00:13:55
Speaker
It could be that he's going to have trouble getting in the door. So we need to make sure when he's there. And he knocks, we just open the door. We're so ready. We're so glad that the master is back.
00:14:07
Speaker
That's the first
Application of Spiritual Readiness
00:14:08
Speaker
metaphor. The second one is really odd. I mean, it seems to me anyway, to be an odd simile for Jesus to compare himself to a thief, to a thief.
00:14:20
Speaker
Now, if your house was going to be broken into, would you would you want to write that guy, text him, send an email or whatever and say, look, i know you're going to break into my house. Just let me know when you're coming so I'll be ready. Now, wouldn't that be nice? You know, that's not the way it works, right?
00:14:35
Speaker
No, and that's not the way it worked back then either. Listen to verse 39. But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, oh, he would not have left his house to be broken into.
00:14:51
Speaker
So I was thinking, wow, you know, he's saying the thief comes unexpectedly. He actually interrupts your sleep. Maybe he comes suddenly.
00:15:01
Speaker
He doesn't drop a note say, I'll be dropping by such and such a time. You know, both analogies contain mystery, don't they? Because in the first metaphor,
00:15:13
Speaker
They're not going to know he's there until he knocks. But when he knocks, they said, we want to open the door and say, glad you're back home, boss man. We're glad you're here. Well, then the second one is the thief.
00:15:26
Speaker
If he had known at what hour, so the the homeowner doesn't know when the thief is coming. You know, just like that in Matthew 24 verses 36, Mark 30, 13, verse 32, it says in both of those passages, no one knows the day or the hour when Jesus is going to come back.
00:15:47
Speaker
So we're not going to set any dates. We're not going to predict any time. All we're going to say is. You have to be ready. That's why it's such a good illustration of readiness.
00:15:57
Speaker
But are you you paying attention? Are we paying attention to readiness? Let's drop down to verses 37 and 38. Now, Peter called what he just talked about, those two metaphors, Peter called them a parable.
00:16:11
Speaker
That's what he says in verse 41 when he says, Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all? And so I got to looking at verse 37 and 38 and I thought, you know, it's like there's four incentives.
00:16:26
Speaker
What is an incentive that would make you or me make us want to pay attention to what this is talking about when it says that he's coming back? Well, the first one is we would definitely want to be awake, right?
00:16:40
Speaker
We would want to be awake. That's why I've asked the camera to really scan today, see if anybody's dozing off. No, I'm kidding. I wouldn't do that to you. But, you know, we want to be awake when the Lord, and of course we're talking about spiritual, you know, be spiritually awake.
00:16:54
Speaker
Are you spiritually awake? You know, that's what he's talking about. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds. awake when he comes and so we need to be spiritually paying attention but the other thing is i think it makes us also active in ministry what if the lord's coming back let's say this week next week next month next year whenever it would be wouldn't you want to serve him knowing that he's coming back well it's interesting that twice it mentions the word servants in this passage I think there's this underlying tone, an underlying motif here that we're supposed to be serving.
00:17:31
Speaker
Are you using the gifts and the abilities that God has given you to serve him? So I think the first incentive is we want to stay awake. The second incentive is it makes us want to be active in service and ministry.
00:17:44
Speaker
But then the third one would be, wouldn't you want to be at the table? The table You know, to secure us acceptance at the table. Look at verse 37.
00:17:55
Speaker
Verse 37 goes on to say, truly I say to you, he will dress himself for service. This is the master and have them, these are the servants, and have them, the servants, recline at table and he will come and serve them.
00:18:12
Speaker
Whoa, that's ah that's kind of a twist, isn't it? It's not what I expected. When I started studying this the beginning of the week, at first I didn't follow it at all. But what it's talking about is when we get to heaven, the Lord's going to throw a banquet.
00:18:26
Speaker
He's going to say, I am so glad that we can all be here together. And it's going to be an incredible banquet because it's going to be hosted by the Lord And he's going to make sure that everybody's served.
00:18:37
Speaker
But wouldn't it be great to be invited to that place, to that meal? You know, it says in Revelation 19, verse 6 through 9, all that you want to know about that future marriage supper of the Lamb.
00:18:52
Speaker
If you wanted to learn about it, Revelation 19, 6 through 9. But I only want to read one verse from there. It says, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
00:19:05
Speaker
Wow. I think that in Christ, the gospel is meant for the whole world. It's meant for every man, every woman, every boy, every girl. You were on the Lord's mind when he died on that cross.
00:19:17
Speaker
And he wants you to be at that special feast in heaven. But also thought about that word blessed. That same word blessed is mentioned in verses 37 38.
00:19:29
Speaker
And I believe that the way he's going to bless the servants, he's going to reward us for our faithfulness to him. So I just wanted to say there's a lot of incentives if he's coming back.
00:19:41
Speaker
So don't you want to be ready? Don't you want to say, OK, Lord, I want to pay attention. Well, now I want you to look at, I guess, the centerpiece of this whole passage.
Peter's Question on Readiness
00:19:51
Speaker
Look with me once again at verse 40, because verse 40, this is not a parable.
00:19:56
Speaker
It's not an analogy. It's not an illustration. It's not a question. As a matter of fact, this is a clear statement of application. What is the application of readiness?
00:20:09
Speaker
Jesus makes it clear. It's like he doesn't tell a story now. He's talking to me and you. He's talking to them And he says, you also must be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour. You do not expect, you know, I think there's three ways to apply this.
00:20:28
Speaker
The first way is to say, okay, Lord, I'm going to accept the revelation of Christ that it's a certainty. Let me, let me let Jesus speak for himself one more time. Jesus, are you coming back for us?
00:20:41
Speaker
The son of man is coming. That's what he says. The Son of Man is coming. So based on that revelation that we have from him, he's telling us,
00:20:52
Speaker
then we have some preparation, just like those three girls that were baptized. They prepared their hearts. They trusted Christ as their Lord and Savior. Now they're beginning already to walk with the Lord in obedience by following him in believer's baptism. But our preparation through Christ is a necessity.
00:21:12
Speaker
How do we know it's a necessity? Because of what he says. You also must be ready. You must be ready. There's something that we have to do.
00:21:24
Speaker
Have you personally turned from sin, personally put your faith and trust in what Jesus did for you on the cross? Are you personally following him?
00:21:35
Speaker
It's a personal relationship. The other thing I noticed is the expectation of Christ is definitely a mystery. We don't know. He says, once again, we're in the application phase here. You also must be ready for the Son of Man is coming. Well, when's he coming?
00:21:51
Speaker
Well, he says in an hour you do not expect. In an hour you do not expect. So we don't know. That's why he uses, it's brilliant if you think about it. Because Jesus says, I'm not going to tell you when I'm coming.
00:22:04
Speaker
I want you to be ready when I'm coming. I'm thinking, okay, you know, the apostle Peter is about to ask a question and we're going to look at that question in one moment. But in 2 Peter, this man Peter wrote something down and it was one of the last things he wrote because it's in 2 Peter 3 verses 1 through 7.
00:22:23
Speaker
He said, you know, I realized that as we get closer to the end, people are going to mock whenever you say Jesus is coming back. They're going to say, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it creation has been the same ever since, you know, God made this world and put us on it. And so, yeah, we believe he put us here.
00:22:42
Speaker
We believe he made the world, but I'm not going to believe he's coming back. But then Peter says, What they forget is they forget that that's not true, that the world has always been the same.
00:22:54
Speaker
Because God created the world and sometime later, mankind chose to disobey so much that God said, you know what? I'm going to cause a great flood I'm going to flood this earth.
00:23:07
Speaker
And so many people perished in that flood, but there were some who were listening and they got on the ark and they were spared. And Peter says then,
00:23:18
Speaker
Why is it that Jesus is waiting? Do you know why it is? Second Peter three, nine, God's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's why, that's why he's waiting for someone else that needs to trust Christ to get, get it together.
00:23:36
Speaker
And that's why it's a perfect segue into the question, the question regarding readiness. We're spinning the diamond. We're spinning readiness. And here's a question about it. Peter says, Lord, are you telling this parable for me, for us, or for just everybody, anybody.
00:23:54
Speaker
See, Peter was usually the outspoken one, wasn't he? You got anybody in your family like that? Don't point. It's not nice. But anyway, I'm just saying, you know, everybody knows somebody that's outspoken. Well, that was Peter. And so Peter just, I mean, it was on his heart. So he just asked it.
00:24:08
Speaker
It was a legit question. Are you telling this for us or for them? You know, two events are coming up according to 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 through 18.
00:24:20
Speaker
There's the coming of the Lord for the bride of Christ, for the church. So someday he's coming and he's going to call all of those who are ready. He's going to call us up and to meet him in the air.
00:24:32
Speaker
We'll be with him forever. Those who've already gone to glory will come with him. They'll be waiting with us, with him there in the air. But then it says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 1 through 11, there's something that's following that coming of the Lord, the rapture.
00:24:49
Speaker
That is the day, the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is the judgment upon the wicked. And so this world will begin to suffer tremendous judgment. But God doesn't want that.
00:25:01
Speaker
God wants you to be with him. That's why in Matthew 24 verses 40 to 42, it says this, then two men will be in the field. One will be taken and one left.
00:25:15
Speaker
Two women will be grinding at the meal. One will be taken and one left. Therefore stay awake for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
00:25:27
Speaker
It's very personal. And that's why the answer to that question is very legitimate. Lord, are you talking to me? am I ready, Lord? You can be ready. That's the reason the Bible was written, so that we can know that we have eternal life.
00:25:41
Speaker
Well, let me wrap it up with where the Lord wraps it up with one last one last facet, and that is the evaluation of readiness.
Invitation to Repentance and Faith
00:25:51
Speaker
You know, in answer to Peter's question, and by the way, there were a lot of questions that Jesus asked.
00:25:57
Speaker
Do you know that somebody wrote a book about it? They entitled the book 311 Questions Jesus Asked. And so it's amazing. But in this case, Peter asked him a question and Jesus answers with a question.
00:26:11
Speaker
I thought that was an interesting way to answer But he he said, have you observed that some servants are faithful and some servants are wise? And those who are faithful and wise, they're obedient.
00:26:24
Speaker
They're actually going to be given increased opportunity. Wouldn't that be nice? Look at verse 44. Truly I say to you, he will sit over all his possessions. So he's going to sit somebody, some people who are faithful to him over more once he returns.
00:26:41
Speaker
The faithful and wise servant is going to be rewarded for his responsibility. But notice what the master says about the evaluation of someone who's not ready. He goes on and he says in verse 45, but if, see, we're about to get a contrast here.
00:26:58
Speaker
There are people who are faithful. There are people who are wise, but there are others who are foolish, who are unfaithful, who are irresponsible. So this one assumes that his master will continue to delay.
00:27:11
Speaker
He abuses his authority over other servants. It doesn't matter if it's a man or a woman. He's addicted to self-indulgence. And so he turns to food and gluttony. He turns to alcohol and getting drunk.
00:27:25
Speaker
This fallen servant will face accountability someday. And it sounds harsh when it says he'll cut him in pieces. But what it really means here is he'll be cut in two.
00:27:35
Speaker
You know, if nothing else, you know what the worst cut of all will be whenever we're separated from God for all eternity. That would be it means to cut in two pieces, not several pieces. So if there's a cut going on, it's going to be God says these are going with me.
00:27:53
Speaker
These are going where other unfaithful are going. you know, in addition to the fallen, we see a forgotten. Some people, he says in verse 47, they know what the master wants.
00:28:04
Speaker
They're just not ready to do it. And that servant who knew his master's will, but did not get ready or act according to his will will receive a severe beating.
00:28:15
Speaker
So once again, there's accountability for those who have forgotten the master. Some people try to blot it out. I don't want to think about God. I don't want to think about eternity. I want to think about my need for Christ.
00:28:27
Speaker
I want to think about my sin. And then there's a third type of unfaithful servant. One who simply has, it's foreign to him that the master even has a will. That's why we send missionaries. There are some people who've never even heard the gospel. They don't even know they're supposed to repent and place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
00:28:47
Speaker
And so that's why you would say, well, what about them if they'd never heard? But God would say to them in Romans 1, 18 through 21, there's no excuse for not turning to God because God's placed within us the conscience God's placed around us creation.
00:29:04
Speaker
There's so many ways that people who haven't even heard would know that there is a God. That's why he says everyone to whom much was given of him, much will be required.
00:29:15
Speaker
And from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. You know, Jesus made it so clear in his first sermon in Mark. He said, in order to be ready for his kingdom, there's simply two requirements. It's easy.
00:29:31
Speaker
Just turn from sin. Repentance means you're going this way. You're going to do a 180 degree turn. You're going to go that way. So to turn and go that way rather than the way you were going, living for self.
00:29:44
Speaker
But then also he says not only to repent from sin, but also to believe in the gospel. to trust in Christ's finished work. That's the way that you're ready.
00:29:56
Speaker
That's why we went over this with the the three that were baptized today. We used a ah book that has no words, just colors. And what we said was, you know, in heaven, there is a God for God so loved. The God who is in heaven, he loves this world.
00:30:13
Speaker
But the world has chosen to do something in rebellion. We pointed them to the dark pages, which represents sins. We've chosen to disobey God. We've told chosen to rebel against God.
00:30:25
Speaker
So is there no way we can make it right? No, that's the good news. The gospel means good news. See, the good news is there's a red color. the color of Jesus' blood.
00:30:36
Speaker
He shed his blood for us so that we could go to heaven, so that we could be cleansed of our sins. And so once we're cleansed of our sins, we should simply grow, keep growing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:30:52
Speaker
So I want to invite you in this invitation. Are you ready? If the Lord were to come back, we don't know when he's coming. I've already said that. But even though we don't know when he's coming, we should be ready for his coming.
00:31:05
Speaker
So I'd like for everyone to stand and our musicians will come.
00:31:10
Speaker
Let's ask God to guide during this time of invitation. And there may be someone who needs to follow the Lord in ah baptism. Maybe somebody needs to follow the Lord and being saved. So whatever it is, i pray that God would speak to your heart during this time of invitation.
00:31:26
Speaker
Let's pray together. Lord, you guide us as we look to you. We thank you for making a way that we could be ready. Regardless of when you're coming back, you made the way.
00:31:37
Speaker
You prepared everything. Just like in that Jewish wedding, you made everything all prepared. Nothing else is needed just for us to accept the invitation and to come.
00:31:48
Speaker
So Lord, I pray this day, those who are not ready now will be ready before they leave. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:32:08
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.