Matthew 3:3

¹ In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,

² And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

³ For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

This verse speaks of the ministry of John the Baptist, who was out there preaching repentance and baptizing people while waiting for Jesus to come. Today when I finished my prayers I heard this verse….. “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight.”

John the Baptist’s ministry was to bring people to repentance and baptize them in water to prepare them to follow Jesus.
“Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight.” John was preparing people for the coming of Jesus….and this morning after prayer I hear this same verse and then the thought that we as Christians need to be preparing the world for the return of Jesus.
The word apocalypse has come to mean the complete, final destruction of the world, however this is not the actual meaning of the word. Originally it meant uncover, disclose, reveal.
It means Revelation!
I believe we are living in the end times. In Matthew 24 and 25 we are given a list of things to look out for and a list of things to do when we see these things beginning to happen.
Right now, we need to be out preparing for the second coming of our Lord….not just ourselves, but others as well. Jesus is about to REVEAL himself, and we need to be out there like John the Baptist getting people ready to meet Jesus. I’m not saying we have the calling that John the Baptist had, but we are called to spread the Gospel message to all the earth. We need to be about that right now.
The end time Christians have to prepare to meet Jesus, but also to endure until the end.
We will be faced with the biggest trial of mankind and see it unfold right before our eyes. The Bible clearly tells us that we will be delivered up to be persecuted and killed. Matthew 24:9 ⁹ Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
I think there are those out there who know the Lord but are lukewarm in their walks with God…. who mistakenly believe that they can live with one foot in church and the other in the world right now and still slide into heaven. In the mind of the lukewarm believer, they are saved because they prayed the prayer of salvation, attend church and give money in the offering plate. They know they should read their bible, they know they should be praying…they know…but…they mistakenly believe that all they have to do is refuse the mark of the beast, confess Jesus, and they will land up in heaven after they are put to death.
If you look in the Gospel of John Chapter 13, you see that Jesus is preparing his disciples for his crucifixion. Peter had confessed that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah. He had followed Jesus and learned from him in PERSON… Peter saw the miracles and was part of the ministry….so he was close to Jesus. A few verses in John 13:³⁶ Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.³⁷ Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.
(Peter was sincere when he said this..however, you can be sincere and still miss it.) ³⁸ Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.
Peter thought he was stronger than he was….because when the time came, he did deny Jesus 3 times. Jesus knew what Peter would do, but look at Mark 16:6-7 ⁶ And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.⁷ But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.
Jesus made sure to name Peter by name because he wasn’t done with Peter….and Peter was not done wanting to follow Jesus. This became a lesson for Peter and he grew to be a better Christian as a result.
For clarity, this is not the same kind of sin as the final apostacy where people align themselves with Satan and take his mark. What is the same is that we people often think we have the kind of resolve that it takes to stand for Jesus unto the end, but until we are tested for real, we won’t know for sure. If we aren’t strongly invested in our relationship with God, we don’t value it and if we don’t value our relationship how strong can we be when facing the most evil and vicious creature ever created?
We have RIGHT NOW to prepare, before we are in brought up to answer for our faith … we have right now to get sound doctrine… to learn to hear the voice of the Lord…. to develop a close and personal relationship with God. To have our faith tested over and over….and then remember to be humble. I have walked away before….after being on the mountain top….I know I am weak in the flesh.

There is a parable that comes to mind. In Matthew 13 Jesus gives the parable of seeds being sown.

Matthew 13 ³ And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;⁴ And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:⁵ Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:⁶ And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.⁷ And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:⁸ But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold……………………………………………¹⁸ Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.¹⁹ When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.²⁰ But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;²¹ Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.²² He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.²³ But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

We often say “fiery trial” when we speak of having our faith tested. The bible says in1 Corintians 3:12-13 ¹² Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;¹³ Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
When a fiery trial hits our life all those things that remain after the fire are the things that were pure. A fiery trial will burn up the superficial commitment to God, it’ll tear away the religious ideations and insinerate them…it will leave you with only the true things. A few years back the house across the street from us burned down…. when the fire was put out, everything was destroyed….but what was and still remains is the foundation. Sometimes a trial will set you all the way back to your foundation in Jesus….and while that may seem like a set back, it’s really a fresh new beginning where you can start building again using those things that are tried and true. I’ve had to begin here again myself and it has been the most beautiful and tender relationship with God. The fiery trial had to burn off some beliefs that I had that hindered by ability to get close to the Lord. I was raw…and had no where else to turn but to God. In this trial of my faith I saw so many miracles… and was blessed so abundantly. To this day I am amazed at how perfectly everything had to be arrange in order for the end to be so complete and perfect. God showed up big! I was changed for the better by this most difficult trial. Even though I was humbled before EVERYONE… and my enemies were laughing at my situation… I praise God for the trial because of all the ways I got to learn of the goodness of God.

Right now we need to be preparing our way to the Lord….we don’t want to be the kind of Christian that wilts the first time we are tried. We want a root system that will keep us strong in the heat of the sun, the wind, the rain… we want to stay close and sober so that we can stand in the trials knowing we are there by the grace and mercy of God. We can’t know what we are made of until we face the trials…and we can be sincere like Peter when we say “I would never deny you Jesus… even until death.” only to end up denying knowing Jesus 3 times before the cock crowed. And speaking of facing a trial to know what we REALLY believe and live by, after Peter denied Jesus… Peter repented and was restored. The humbling experience was a lesson he learned and when the time came for Peter to be tried he would not allow them to crucify him the same way Jesus was because he said he was not worthy… so he was crucified upside down. He was strong enough to face this trial because his faith was tested…it humbled him and he grew.
You have to be living by faith in order to have your faith tested. An example from my life is a trial of faith I’m in right now. A person I trusted betrayed me and others that I love. The damage they have done is horrific and very painful….since the situation happened things have been just painful all around… old wounds were opened…we are all scrambling to deal with the trust violations and….AND I have God telling me, “Forgive and walk in Love.” My flesh doesn’t want to… my flesh wants to isolate and avoid all feelings…. and I have to stop myself from trying to get my own kind of justice. It’s hard…my flesh/spirit are very wounded right now. My feelings are not behind what I must do… Like I do not FEEL like obeying God….but, I don’t walk by feelings…I walk by faith. So I say, I chose to walk in Love….I chose to forgive…I chose to obey God. This is a trial that God is allowing me to go through for many reasons. Not just me, but the other people as well. Now my betrayer, may end up repenting and growing the way Peter did…which means if I continue to walk in Love and Forgiveness I will receive from this a friend who will be so faithful and loving I will never again have to doubt them. Or they may not repent and we will part ways…. and from that God will have taken a dangerous wolf from my life that could have caused a lot of damage…more than what they have already caused. Either way, Bless the Lord. Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he shall direct thy paths.

So, we are to be spreading the message of the Gospel and preparing for the Lord’s return. We need to allow the Lord to try our faith so we can be strong enough to stand no matter what….and that kind of faith does NOT come from resolving to do it then continuing to live a lukewarm life… that kind of resolve comes by being humble enough to know that you must submit to God and allow him to guide your path and to build your faith strong enough to stand. Jesus has to be the author and finisher of our faith. Hebrews 12:2 looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

When John the Baptist was preaching repentance and baptizing people, he was preparing the path for Jesus. Now we need to be preaching repentance and getting people ready for the return of the Lord, the Revelation of Jesus.
We need to plan… having read about the coming tribulation, it seems to me that right now we need to be submitted to the Lord completely…. allowing Jesus to try our faith. We need to know the Word, so we are not deceived… We need to know how to hear from God…. so we aren’t lead astray…. we need a close personal relationship. We also need to stay humble…just remember that Peter walked on water with Jesus….and as resolved as he was, he stumbled. Don’t be a lukewarm Christian who thinks they will stand against the coming tide of persecution by sheer determination… Galatians 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. A shallow rooted seed will wither away when the heat hits it. It doesn’t stand a chance.

Prayer: Lord God, I need help to get back to my first love….I feel so burned out right now and so dull in my spirit. Help me…show me what to do and help me to take the steps to getting closer to you again. In Jesus name, Amen
God can take your honesty… like when I was trying to quite smoking I had prayed “God, I love smoking… I don’t want to quite, I like it…even though it’s really bad for my health and is killing me….please help me to stop, make me willing to be made willing to quit.”
I actually quit and went back, looked at what I did wrong and quit again… then I went back again…looked at what I did wrong and quit again. Each time I quit it was hard…the withdrawal and all of that. My problem was I kept giving myself excuses to start smoking again…like being stressed out…the last time was because we were hit directly by a hurricane…after that I decided to take smoking because of a stressful situation off of the table of options….and now whenever I think of picking up a cigarette again I remember 1 Its not an option and 2 I hate the withdrawals and don’t want to do that again. I came to that conclusion because I stumbled a few times and had to endure the withdrawals….so even in stumbling I grew stronger because I repented of my mistake and tried over to quit. It starts with being honest…honest with myself and with God.