{"id":1112,"date":"2014-11-25T16:29:09","date_gmt":"2014-11-25T22:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/?p=1112"},"modified":"2014-11-25T16:57:46","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T22:57:46","slug":"be-prepared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2014\/11\/25\/be-prepared\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Prepared"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/sermons\/?sermon_id=49\">Audio Version<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-PBvB_ypcVU?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Wisdom of Solomon 6:17\u201320<br \/>\n1 Thessalonians 4:13-18<br \/>\nMatthew 25:1-13<\/p>\n<p>Put off today, what you can do tomorrow. Isn\u2019t that what we do sometimes? Maybe some of us do this, a little more often than others. I am guilty of that, especially when it comes to school work or projects I just don&#8217;t have excitement over.<\/p>\n<p>I know my kids have heard this from me often, sarcastically at least. Hey, no sense in doing what you are suppose to do today, just put off what you can do today, until tomorrow. You would never guess, I get dirty looks when I say that to them. Then of course you never know what tomorrow holds. I have a daughter that must have heard me say these words too often. When she gets schoolwork that is due in three weeks, often she has it done the week it was assigned or sometimes the following week.<\/p>\n<p>Ever heard of the Boy Scout Motto: \u201cAlways be prepared.\u201d Wonder where they might have pulled that from? I use to be a police officer and a firefighter, we always were checking and rechecking our equipment, getting additional training, training in realistic mock situations. Always done before we needed the supplies or needed the training for real.<\/p>\n<p>There are all sorts of things we do and have done to be prepared in many situations. Saving for retirement, the purchase of life insurance, auto insurance, homeowners insurance, saving up for repairs, and the list can go on. We know that we need to be prepared. Many if not all of the things I mentioned, we have no idea just when we may need to take advantage of our preparation.<\/p>\n<p>Have you ever noticed that when Jesus is saying something that is really really important, He always starts out with, \u201cTruly Truly I say or Very Truly I say\u201d. This is a point that Jesus wants us to pay attention very carefully. Its not that the other things He says are unimportant, but these are of particular importance.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2014\/11\/25\/be-prepared\/fulton-community-alter\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1117\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1117\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2014\/11\/25\/be-prepared\/fulton-community-alter\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Fulton-Community-Alter.jpg?fit=960%2C540&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"960,540\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Fulton Community Alter\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Fulton-Community-Alter.jpg?fit=700%2C394&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-1117 \" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Fulton-Community-Alter-300x168.jpg?resize=456%2C255\" alt=\"Fulton Community Alter\" width=\"456\" height=\"255\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Fulton-Community-Alter.jpg?resize=300%2C168&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Fulton-Community-Alter.jpg?zoom=2&amp;resize=456%2C255&amp;ssl=1 912w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 456px) 100vw, 456px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Very truly I say, our gospel today, is important. This parable of the ten bridesmaids is one of several parables speaking of the importance of being prepared and not sitting idle. The parables are bookended with the telling of the coming of Son of Man and judgment of the nations. Of the parables, each also contain the words of \u201cvery truly\u201d, with the exception of the parable of the talents, which speaks of judgment and precedes the judgment of the nations.<\/p>\n<p>The women in our scripture today are a fine examples of being prepared and not being prepared. Five of them brought with them extra oil for their lamp, prepared because they could not be sure of when the bride would show. They may have an idea but sometimes things do not always work out the way we expect. The others did not have a contingency plan. There seems to be an assumption that they knew when the bride would show. The bride in this case is parallel to the second coming of the Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n<p>On one hand we have been told of the signs of the second coming yet on the other hand we have also been told by Jesus, that only the Father knows when the Son will come again. If we know when Jesus is to come, we run the danger of not doing the things that we have been commanded of. If we knew the day and hour, then we could just live our lives any which way we wanted and ask for forgiveness just before the hour. What are we to do? How can we remain prepared, see what appears to be the signs yet not assume that we know when it is?<\/p>\n<p>It is a matter of living our lives each and every day, as if Jesus is about to come that day. Billy Graham many times had a prepared himself for Jesus coming the following day. He said, \u201cMany times when I go to bed at night I think to myself that before I awaken Christ may come.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\"><sup><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now maybe you might be saying to yourself that you are not ready, you have not put your house in order. How about, I have too many sins that I have not confessed to. All of this stuff getting in our way of the simple fact of what has already been done for us, in Christ Jesus.<\/p>\n<p>Let me leave you with the following story:<\/p>\n<p>Just before General Eisenhower died, Billy Graham was invited to visit him at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. He was told he could stay thirty minutes. When he went in, the general was wearing his usual big smile, even though he knew he didn\u2019t have long to live.<\/p>\n<p>Later Billy Graham told what happened:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the thirty minutes were up, he asked me to stay longer and said to me, \u201cBilly, I want you to tell me again how can I be sure my sins were forgiven and that I am going to heaven, because nothing else matters now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI took my New Testament and read him Scriptures. I pointed out that we are not going to heaven because of our good works, or because of money we&#8217;ve given to the church. We are going to heaven totally and completely on the basis of the merits of what Christ did on the cross. Therefore he could rest in the comfort that Jesus paid it all!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter prayer, Ike said, \u201cThank you I\u2019m ready!\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\"><sup><sup>[2]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1118\" style=\"width: 178px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-11-09-10.06.46.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1118\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1118\" data-attachment-id=\"1118\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2014\/11\/25\/be-prepared\/2014-11-09-10-06-46\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-11-09-10.06.46.jpg?fit=1836%2C3264&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1836,3264\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;SPH-L720&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1415527606&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;4.2&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;50&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00054824561403509&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"2014-11-09 10.06.46\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-11-09-10.06.46.jpg?fit=576%2C1024&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"wp-image-1118 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-11-09-10.06.46-168x300.jpg?resize=168%2C300\" alt=\"2014-11-09 10.06.46\" width=\"168\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-11-09-10.06.46.jpg?resize=168%2C300&amp;ssl=1 168w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-11-09-10.06.46.jpg?resize=576%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 576w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-11-09-10.06.46.jpg?resize=450%2C800&amp;ssl=1 450w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-11-09-10.06.46.jpg?w=1836&amp;ssl=1 1836w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-11-09-10.06.46.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 168px) 100vw, 168px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1118\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fulton Community Church, Fulton IA<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\"><sup><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a> Robert J. Morgan, <em>Nelson\u2019s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes<\/em>, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000), 685.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\"><sup><sup>[2]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a> Paul Lee Tan, <em>Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times<\/em> (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 1085.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Audio Version Wisdom of Solomon 6:17\u201320 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Matthew 25:1-13 Put off today, what you can do tomorrow. Isn\u2019t that what we do sometimes? Maybe some of us do this, a little more often than others. I am guilty of that, especially when it comes to school work or projects I just don&#8217;t have &#8230; <span class=\"more\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2014\/11\/25\/be-prepared\/\">[Read more&#8230;]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,82,58,83],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"post-1112","6":"format-standard","7":"category-jesus","8":"category-preparedness","9":"category-response","10":"category-sermon"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2m6h5-hW","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1193,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2015\/01\/27\/sloth-or-caterpillar\/","url_meta":{"origin":1112,"position":0},"title":"Sloth or Caterpillar?","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"January 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0Audio Version http:\/\/youtu.be\/kBwSV4Iu0Rs Jonah 3:1\u20135, 10 1 Corinthians 7:29\u201331 Mark 1:14\u201320 How do we respond to the calling for change? Many people do not like change and often, put up a fight or flight response to change. When God is calling us to change, do we look for the change\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Christ&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Christ","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/christ\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/blueweevil.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/07\/perezoso-1.jpg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3610,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2025\/12\/12\/priorities-today-tomorrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":1112,"position":1},"title":"Priorities Today &amp; Tomorrow","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"December 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"December 10, 2025 Matthew 19:16-22 (NIV) https:\/\/vimeo.com\/1145749401","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Advent&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Advent","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/advent\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Priorties.png?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Priorties.png?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Priorties.png?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Priorties.png?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1251,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2015\/03\/01\/following-self-or-following-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":1112,"position":2},"title":"Following Self or Following Jesus","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"March 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Audio Version Genesis 17:1\u20137, 15\u201316 Psalm 22:23\u201331 Romans 4:13\u201325 Mark 8:31\u201338 Control is a wonderful thing, isn\u2019t it? When we are in control, we get to decide how things will be. We are no longer subject to the will of others. We decide when we want to get up, go\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Control&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Control","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/control\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":825,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2014\/03\/05\/transfiguration-transformation-faith-to-discipleship\/","url_meta":{"origin":1112,"position":3},"title":"Transfiguration, Transformation faith to Discipleship","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"March 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Link to Audio of Sermon Video Link to Sermon Exodus 24:12-18 Psalm 2:1-11 2 Peter 1:16-21 Matthew 17:1-9 We hear today of two \u201cmountain top experiences\u201d both unique but also have common threads to each other and to us today.\u00a0 Both not just for the humans directly involved but for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Discipleship&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Discipleship","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/discipleship\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/30\/gods-love-can-do-all\/","url_meta":{"origin":1112,"position":4},"title":"God&#8217;s Love can do all","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"March 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This may sound strange, I say it and have been saying it, but I REALLY believe it now. God's Power and Love can do all. His will, will be done. We only need to allow him to work through us, however even when we fight him, he still will use\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/30\/gods-love-can-do-all\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":964,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2014\/05\/25\/the-greatest-resource-often-goes-unused\/","url_meta":{"origin":1112,"position":5},"title":"The Greatest Resource, Often Goes Unused","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"May 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Audio Link Acts 17:22\u201331 1 Peter 3:13\u201322 John 14:15\u201321 These days we often hear about conserving our resources.\u00a0 Stay with renewable resources.\u00a0 Only use what we have the most of and conserve the rest.\u00a0 When God created the heavens and the earth, God gave dominion over the earth to humanity.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Baptism&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Baptism","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/baptism\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/uXuQpERVkd0\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1112"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1149,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112\/revisions\/1149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}