Basic Scripture: Isaiah 40:1 -11 Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
Intro: “Happy New Year!” some people make NY resolutions as a way of looking forward to a NY. I want to encourage us over January to plan with God for His good purposes for us in 2011. I will give 3 sermons called: Prepare; Plan and Purpose.
Today I want us to think about 4 biblical pictures of preparation: preparation must start first with our hearts because biblically the heart is the centre of our motivations for action.
Proverbs 4:23 says, ‘Keep your heart with all vigilance for from it flow the springs of life.’ but ‘the inclination of the human heart is evil’ says Genesis 8 and Jesus said, ‘out of the heart come evil intentions’(Mth. 15:19) fortunately God promises to give us a new heart and a new spirit, In Ezekial 36:26 He says, “I will remove from you the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh and I will write my laws on your hearts and give you a new spirit.” This happens when we turn to Jesus so He can say, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God”(Mth 5:8) Thus by preparing our hearts this year you and I can fulfil Gods first law and “love the Lord with all your heart.” (Deut. 6:5)
(1) Prepare a road to travel with God: (Isaiah 40; Luke 3:4)
The prophet Isaiah had a great burden to call the people of Israel in the name of God to leave Babylon where they had been prisoners for 70 years and to return to Jerusalem. For this much preparation was needed first of all in their hearts. They knew they had let the Lord down and disobeyed his laws by turning to the common idols of the Canaanites amongst whom they lived. Because they had abandoned the Lord for idols He allowed their enemies the Babylonians to overwhelm them and take them prisoner to Babylon the city of idols. Now God through Isaiah is saying the Lord is ready to comfort his people and take them back and restore them. Similarly Jesus apostles let him down and failed him and he restored them and comforted them.
The road of restoration runs from Babylon to Jerusalem, from the city of confusion to the city of peace. Isaiah 40 to 66 is all about this restoration journey; so are psalms 120 to 134 which the Israelites used to sing as they journeyed up to Jerusalem each year to keep the Passover and the early chapters of the 4 gospels likewise are chapters of preparation of the people to meet the Prince of Peace the Messiah. They needed to prepare themselves to journey with the Lord and so do we if we are to walk with Him through this coming year.
To make a road to travel the high hills need to be cut down and the low valleys need to be filled in and lifted up eg the highway to Auckland, the Johnsonville motorway to Porirua, the new road from Hunterville to Waiuru and the proposed Transmission Valley motorway.
Likewise in preparing our hearts for the Lord to walk with us the high hills of pride need to be brought down. Arrogance, independence, resentment, bitterness and unforgiveness and hardness of heart must give way as we humble ourselves before God and seek to put things right with others.
Conversely the low valleys of despair and low self esteem and self hatred and hurt must be lifted up by the healing love of God.
(2) PREPARE A MEAL TO FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD AND HIS PEOPLE:
Jesus told his disciples to go and prepare the Passover; this required finding a suitable room for them to gather in; suitable furniture for them to relax together; a table to eat off and food prepared for the special meal just like preparing a family Christmas or just like our faithful CPAC set-up and music and morning-tea teams do each week. The Passover was a special time of fellowship for Jesus disciples. God wants us as his disciples to have fellowship together and this takes preparation. The Jews took this fellowship so seriously that they had ‘the day of preparation’ before Passover to prepare themselves for the Passover.
We must prepare ourselves to have times of Christian fellowship his year. We need to set
aside time for Christian fellowship so that our faith can be renewed and our life with Christ and our brothers and sisters keeps strong. For example as we prepare for 2011 we need to determine that we will be regular at church; take part in a small group; attend a Christian conference like New Wine or Manifest presence. I find these times of mixing with the wider body of Christ are vital to keep me spiritually tuned in to the Lord.
Jesus said to the Laodicean Church: ‘Behold I’m standing at the door knocking. If you open the door I will come in and have fellowship with you and you with me.’ Rev 3:20.
(3) Prepare a time and place each day to spend time with the LORD:
Athletes spend many hours alone at the gym and on the track preparing for their particular
Championships: the Bible says “physical exercise profited a little but Godly exercise profited much”(1 Tim 4:8) so we need to prepare ourselves daily to spend time alone with God and His Word and to pray in the Spirit to keep ourselves fit in the Lord for the opportunities and challenges we face in life. “ be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in you” Peter tells us in 1 Pet.3:15. There are many systems of personal quiet times available from Christian book shops such as Manna or you can get help with your quiet times by talking with fellow CPACers. But this year make it a priority to seek the Lord daily by setting aside a time and place alone with Him.
(4) Prepare for the coming of the Lord:
John the Baptist prepared the people for the coming of Jesus. Jesus comes in various ways to us today. One of the key ways Jesus comes to us is through the ministry of leaders who are sent to us from God to build up the Body of Christ and to lead us on in our Christian life. This year we are blessed that Rev. Jinny Kean is coming at the end of Feb to be our new Vicar. We need to prepare ourselves to welcome her and to meet the Lord in new ways through her ministry at CPAC.
Jesus ministry was very different from what the disciples were expecting but because they had been prepared by John the Baptist they followed Jesus and experienced the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven through Him in the most amazing ways. John the Baptist prepared them by saying, “Repent because the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” In other words he was saying be prepared to change your thinking and turn aside from the way you’ve always done things because change is coming.
We all know that change can be scary because we naturally become comfortable with the way we have always done things. Change can mean a rearranging of things; it demands adapting again to a new regime. Restructuring in the workplace can be a most disruptive and upsetting and threatening.
The Chinese word for crisis can mean 2 things: opportunity or danger. It can be positive or negative. Today God is allowing much change in the world in order that that which cannot be changed will remain. Heb. 12:26 -28 tells us, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven, ”This phrase “Yet once more” indicates the removal of what is shaken - that is created things - so that what cannot be shaken will remain. Therefore since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken let us give thanks by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe: for indeed our God is a consuming fire.” an awesome God! Change is the only constant in our world today.
So let us prepare ourselves to carry on and be faithful in serving the Lord as we play our part in the local church.
In summery: PREPARE YOUR HEART--1.Bring down pride and lift up despair
……………………………. --2. Mix with Gods people in Christian fellowship
.…………………………… --3. Be like an athlete and daily meet with your Shepherd in prayer and reading His Word
…………………………… -- 4. Welcome and work with Jinny our new Vicar.
PRAYER: COME HOLY SPIRIT and touch our hearts today. Melt the hardness of pride where you find it in us; touch us with your healing love where we need lifting up and comforting. Give us the desire, Lord, to seek out fellowship with your people and the deep desire to seek your presence each day alone. Lord, help us to welcome Jinny Kean our new Vicar so that she can minister freely amongst us and together our hearts can be made pure so that we can see your Kingdom coming this year. Father we pray you will fulfil these things more abundantly than we can ask or imagine because we pray in Jesus mighty name. Amen
