Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
They tell us home invasion is on the rise. What have you done to prepare?
Scripture
Revelation 16:15
A Voice: See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the person who watches and waits, dressed and ready to go, so as not to wander about naked, exposed to disgrace.
Devotional
I remember the days when people didn’t lock their doors at night.
Went on vacation once and forgot to lock the door, but really didn’t worry about it
Then started locking the doors when we left but not when we were home
Then started locking the doors at night
Then started putting gates around our communities
Community watch
Now alarms systems, cameras, guns under mattresses
Prepared for thieves that might try to slip through the gate
If we knew thief was coming
We’d be ready
Doors and windows locked
Cameras recording
Police at the door
Valuables secured
Thief wouldn’t have a chance
Captured and arrested
Thief doesn’t come when we are prepared
Comes when least expected
Comes when our guard is down
Comes at his convenience, not ours
Jesus says He will come like a thief in the night
Be ready
Like the Jews prepared for the first passover
Dressed and ready for a journey
Shoes on their feet, staff in their hand
Everything they need to take packed and ready to go
I attended a funeral just this week for a friend
He was getting ready to take his wife to the hospital for surgery the next day
Instead he had a massive stroke and never regained consciousness
We don’t know how long we have
We don’t know when our next breath will be our last
We may live until Jesus returns to take His bride away
We may be victims of a car wreck or some random act of violence or a freak accident or an illness or any number of things
The message is we need to be ready
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”
Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Can you tell time without a watch? Jesus tells us how today. Stay tuned to learn how.
Scripture
Luke 21:29-33
(continuing with a parable) Look over there at that fig tree—and all the trees surrounding it. When the leaves break out of their buds, nobody has to tell you that summer is approaching; it’s obvious to you. It’s the same in the larger scheme of things. When you see all these things happening, you can be confident that the kingdom of God is approaching. I’m telling you the truth: this generation will not pass from the scene before everything I’m telling you has occurred.Heaven and earth will cease to exist before My words ever fail.
Devotional
Gretchen and Gilley demonstrations of needs
Gretchen
Paw face for food
Turn head to go outside
Growl and nip at pants to go to bed
Gilley
Paws on seat and stretch for food
Turn circles to go outside
Runs to bed when he wants
Don’t need to talk, understand what they need and what’s coming if I don’t take care of their needs.
Not good with doorknobs
Will eat when they get hungry enough
Will relieve themselves at some point wherever they are
I pay attention to their signs; if you have animals and toddlers you understand
Signs come like clockwork; 7:30, noon, 4:30, 9:00, 10:30 bed
Know what time it is by their behavior
Just like my example, Jesus used the example of the fig tree to let His hearers know things are about to happen
seasons
weather
illness
tragedies
He laid out all the signs that would precede
End of time
Return
Taking His bride home
Judgment
We watch the signs for the things we are interested in, but do we watch for the signs of the truly important things in life
Told us He’s coming
Told us to watch
Told us what to look for
We ignore all the indicators
Will we be able to watch the signs and know what time it is? 2017 might just be a very interesting year for more reasons than you thought when the ball dropped on New Year’s Eve.
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 25:1-13 Jesus: Or picture the kingdom of heaven this way. It will be like ten bridesmaids who each picked up a lantern and went out to meet a certain bridegroom. Five of these women were sensible, good with details, and remembered to bring small flasks of oil for their lanterns. But five of them were flighty, too caught up in the excitement of their jaunt, and forgot to bring oil with them. The bridegroom did not turn up right away. Indeed, all the women, while waiting, found themselves falling asleep. And then in the middle of the night, they heard someone call, “The bridegroom is here, finally! Wake up and greet him!” The women got up and trimmed the wicks of their lanterns and prepared to go greet the groom. The five women who had no oil turned to their friends for help. Ill-prepared Bridesmaids: Please give us some of your oil! Our lanterns are flickering and will go out soon.
But the five women who’d come prepared with oil said they didn’t have enough. Prepared Bridesmaids: If we give you some of our oil, we’ll all run out too soon! You’d better go wake up a dealer and buy your own supply.
So the five ill-prepared women went in search of oil to buy, and while they were gone, the groom arrived. The five who stood ready with their lanterns accompanied him to the wedding party, and after they arrived, the door was shut.
Finally the rest of the women turned up at the party. They knocked on the door. Ill-prepared Bridesmaids: Master, open up and let us in! Bridegroom (refusing): I certainly don’t know you.
So stay awake; you neither know the day nor hour when the Son of Man will come.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
Another story that should warn us about being unprepared for Jesus’ coming. Once again, those around Him understood the customs well and got the nuances of the story we probably miss. A few days ago, I mentioned the wedding practices of Jesus’ day in which the Father decides when the wedding will take place. He determines the additional room on the family’s house is sufficiently prepared for his son to bring in his bride and tell his son, “Go, get your bride.”
That’s the day the wedding takes place. No other announcement. That’s it. People in the village looked forward to the wedding feast and knew it was near as they watched the new construction near completion, but not until the father told his son to get his bride did anyone know the wedding would take place that day.
So the rest of the story. These were a big deal in a small village. It meant not just the expansion of the family, but the perpetuation of the family name, succession of property, passing of the family legacy and so much more. The wedding was a big deal. But to go to the wedding you had to join the wedding party as it passed through the narrow paths between the bride’s home and the groom’s home. If you missed the procession, you missed the wedding and you missed the feast.
When the revelers saw the times was getting close, they often stayed at the ready. Not knowing exactly when the father, son, and the rest of the wedding party would come by, people would wait by the roadside so they could join in and not miss it. That’s whats happening with these bridesmaids. The ten wait by the road expecting the wedding party to come by at any time. But they don’t know exactly when it will be because the father hasn’t released his son to fetch his bride yet. They know it is soon because the room looks like it’s done. They better be ready.
Five had the appearance of being ready. But it was just appearance. They looked good on the outside, but didn’t have everything they needed. They didn’t bring any oil. Maybe they expected the party to pass by in the daytime. Maybe they expected the party to pass by at least by early evening. But for whatever reason, the father delayed the coming. Those unprepared were left out. And like with Noah’s ark. Like the untrustworthy servant. These unprepared bridesmaids found themselves shut out.
They missed their chance. They knew what they needed to be part of the feast. They had part of their equipment, but didn’t pay attention to the details.
How about us? We know what it takes to get into the wedding feast. It takes confessing our sins, asking forgiveness. Believing in Jesus, God’s Son, as the means of our salvation, the one who sacrificed Himself to pay the penalty for our sins. It takes true repentance, turning away from sin and toward obedience to God. We know what we need to make it to the feast, but have we prepared? Have we accepted Him as Lord? Are we watching for Him and keeping at the ready for the moment He passes by?
Only you and God know the answer to those questions. But you can know. And in just a few moments in prayer with Him, you can have the assurance that you are ready and waiting at the roadside. If He tarries before coming, it means keeping oil in your lamp, staying prayed up, keeping Him as Lord, living the life He wants you to live.
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 24:42-44 Jesus: So keep watch. You don’t know when your Lord will come. But you should know this: If the owner of a house had known his house was about to be broken into, he would have stayed up all night, vigilantly. He would have kept watch, and he would have thwarted the thief. So you must be ready because you know the Son of Man will come, but you can’t know precisely when.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
It’s hard to miss the theme over the last several days. Jesus continues to talk about His return. For the disciples around Him, He hasn’t departed yet, so they are confused. They don’t really understand what He’s talking about. He’s told them He’s going to die in Jerusalem, but they are having a hard time accepting it. But now He spends all this time talking about returning to Jerusalem to take them to be with Him and His Father in heaven.
To those who heard this for the first time, the words must have been incredible. How could He return, first of all. Once you’re dead, you’re dead. No one comes back from the grave. And now He spends all this time talking about coming back for them when He leaves them. They are dumbfounded. Then Jesus gives them all these signs that will point to His return. Signs that will show the beginning of the end or is it the end of the beginning. He tells them the temple will fall, the weather will wreak havoc on the earth, earthquakes will all but tear the world apart, and nations will try to destroy each other in war.
Once again He tells them His coming will be quick and silent, like a thief in the middle of the night. Be prepared. Watch. Stay awake and ready for Him to come.
As I was thinking about His words and what He might think about our actions today, I thought about how different our culture has become from that in Jesus day. Thieves didn’t have to work very hard to break into houses in His day. Sure there were locks, but nothing compared to the security of our homes today. We live in gated communities, some with 24 hour guards at the gates. We have all kinds of security systems that alert the police if there are intruders. We rest at night with almost complete confidence that no one will break in and harm us.
But I started thinking about that. We don’t watch like people did in Jesus day. I remember those times I spent in combat zones, we always had people awake watching the perimeter of our camp while the rest of us slept. We never had all of us asleep at the same time. Someone was always watching for the enemy. But that’s not true in our homes. We assume we’re safe.
Those in Jesus’ day didn’t feel quite as safe as we do today. Especially in the outlying villages. Not only did bandits roam the countryside, but there were also lions and bears to worry about. Those things in the wild will eat people if they get old and hungry and unable to chase the wild game they usually dined on. So homes were not always safe.
I wonder if our relative physical safety in this country have made us begin to get lax in watching for dangers everywhere. We don’t notice subtle differences in our surroundings on our routine route to work, something that soldiers learn to spy quickly in combat zones to keep them safe from ambush and improvised explosive devices. We don’t notice changed actions in those around us because we are not supposed to profile or be intolerant of abberrant behavior.
We don’t notice the signs all around us that tell us that Jesus is coming again and His coming is getting close. We don’t pay attention to the natural disasters happening all over the world. Unless they happen in our backyard, we don’t pay attention. But 90 medium-sized and greater earthquakes a week is probably something to begin paying attention to if you’re looking for Jesus to return. Maybe the change in weather sparking the change in sea-states is not man’s doing, but God’s. Maybe He’s telling us it’s just about time for Jesus to get His bride.
The question is whether we’re watching. He will come quickly, like a thief in the night. If the owner of the house knew the thief were coming, he’d stay up all night watching for him and be prepared to defend his home against the intruder. He’d be prepared. Jesus is coming just as quickly and just as stealthily. Unless you’re prepared to see for His coming you won’t see Him before it’s all over. You’ll be like the owner of the house who came in after then fact and found all his possessions gone. The thief came and went and you were not prepared for him. The house is empty and all is gone.
If Jesus comes back and leaves you here that’s what your life will be like. Empty. Hopeless. Everything lost. It pays to watch for Him. We know He’s coming. Be ready.
