Preparation. Are You Prepared?

By:
John 15:13
Listen from:
Children—L. Renaud
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OK boys and girls, who has a song?
From the back.
Yes #40 Of course Jesus loves me.
Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so. Let all ones do him belong. They are weak, but he is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Just Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
Jesus loves me.
Heavens gave to open.
Why He will wash away my sins.
Let a little child come in.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
Jesus loves me though I'm bad, and he waits to make me glad.
To pull me in his heart.
Keeps me safe from every harm.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
He loves Jesus, loves me.
The Bible tells me.
So.
Jesus loves me, loves me still when I'm very weak, I'm dull from his shining poison high.
Comes to watch me where I lie.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Just Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me.
So.
Jesus loves me.
He will stay close beside me.
Holloway.
If I trust him, should I die?
He will Take Me Home on high.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
He loves Jesus, love me.
I thought tells me so.
From this side the girl.
You have a song, Yes.
Thank you, 46.
Glad tidings I bring.
That Jesus has come.
To save me.
But TIDINGSI PRING.
00:05:02
And I.
To save me. And he calls and he calls all the GIRLS. And he once saw the voi as good.
Who are you?
Resting on him.
And have all their sins now washed away.
How about a boys over here you have one.
Put you on the spot.
OK, yes #30 thank you. OK #30.
Weeping will not save me.
Working will not save me.
Waiting will not save me. Oh, aren't we glad for the fourth verse?
Faith in Christ will save me. Let's sing #30.
Weeping will not save me.
Though my face were bathed in tears that could not lay, my fears could not worship sins of you. Weeping will not save me. Jesus fled and died for me.
Jesus suffered on the tree. Jesus which do make me free.
He alone can save me.
Working well.
Not safe that I can do. Holy our thoughts and illnesses.
And not for my soul. Anew working will not save me.
Jesus bled and died for me.
Jesus suffered.
Unlucky.
Jesus wants to make me free.
Yeah, Long can save me.
Waiting will not save me.
Helpless, guilty, lost I lie in my ear is mercies cry.
If I wait, I can but die. Waiting will not say.
James has bled and died for me.
Jesus suffered.
All the dream Jesus way to make me free me along can save me.
Faith in Christ will save me.
Trust in him, the Risen 1.
Across the work that he has done.
To his arms I now may run.
Faith in Christ will save me.
Jesus glad and died for me.
Jesus suffered on the tree.
Jesus waits to make me free.
He alone can save me.
OK, let's have still one more.
OK. This side OK. Thank you 39.
Oh this is nice, isn't it? What a friend we have in Jesus #39.
What a friend we have.
In Jesus.
00:10:02
All our sins and grieves to bear.
What a privilege to.
Carry.
Everything to God in prayer.
Oh, what feeds we often.
Forfeit.
All need loss. Pain we bear.
All because we do not.
Carry.
Everything to God in prayer.
We trials and temptations.
Is there trouble anywhere?
We shall never be.
Discouraged.
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find our friend so faithful?
Will all our sorrow shame?
Jesus.
Those are every week now.
Take it to the Lord in prayer. Oh.
We can have delayed.
With a load of care.
Precious savior still.
Around you.
Take him to the Lord in prayer.
To thy friends despise for say.
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Him, his arms, he'll take and shield.
The Thou will find our soul of sin.
Thank you boys and girls for giving out those nice songs and I thought it was fun and it sounded really good to hear you sing.
Well, let's talk to the Lord Jesus now. close our eyes.
Applause.
Well, boys and girls, I I really have parts of three verses that I want to talk about with you this morning and yesterday afternoon as I was thinking of a special part of a verse to bring along why here in the reading meeting that.
Phrase for that wonderful verse was mentioned and here is a.
Very old.
Text, but I want to tell you a little bit about.
And can you tell me what that says?
Would you tell me?
Thank you. Prepare to meet thy God, Amos 412. Now, boys and girls, that's a very old text. That was on a greenery on our farm. And we took the the grain we hadn't been used for quite some time. So we took the grainery down last summer and we wanted to take that sign down. And our son Greg says, hey, dad, that's kind of neat.
You know, a lot of times, I don't know, in Iowa anyway, when a sign or a text like this is put up. Why?
It's kind of like a target and we expected maybe we would see various holes in it, but no, there isn't. There's only the four nail holes that my father had nailed the sign up to. Thank you very much. And you could still read it. Prepare to meet thy God. And our brother yesterday afternoon mentioned that and then last night too. So this is the third time we have this little.
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Special verse.
For this morning, but I would like to kind of 0.
And, you know, as I was looking out of you boys and girls, I thought, boy, you really looked pretty neat. And I like that this morning that she really looked nice. Now, how about it? Did you just, did you just get out of bed and come here? No. What'd you do?
You know what I did?
I stepped up in front of what to shave. What did I step in front? A mirror? Yeah. How many of you have mirrors at your house?
We're kind of glad to have mirrors that our houses aren't we? And I needed that mirror and it helped me out.
To shave this morning. And I know that you girls stepped in front of a mirror, didn't you? And that's good. You know, the last couple of winters I've been privileged to do a few income tax returns for H&R Block. And one of the things that they told us, they said when you come to work.
Before you can receive a client.
You've got to have your tie on.
I knew that, so I made sure that when I stepped in front of the mirror that morning that I would just have a tie on because that's what they expected of me and that was OK. So that was my preparation, right? That's the way I prepared now. So I was thinking.
It's quite important that we prepare to meet thy God now. Another word that I was kind of.
Fascinated by was this little word here?
By prepare to meet thy God. Isn't that something? What did that kind of tell me, boys and girls?
I'm responsible. I'm responsible before God. Each one of us are. In Romans it says that they may be without excuse.
Isn't that something?
That they may be without excuse. So we will. Last night we heard that the door was shut.
And some may knock.
And the answer may be depart from me, for I never knew you, But you know, we have good news today. We have good news today because the the gospel message is open. We can still prepare. We can still.
Enter in while it's still time. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
So it's very important, boys and girls, that we prepare to meet our God now while it's time. So now I want to think of another verse and what did.
What?
Did the Lord tell Nicodemus? Can somebody tell me? Yes.
Very good. You must be born again.
And you know.
Our two granddaughters, they're pretty handy with their marker and so.
Grandpa says I would like a written on a cardboard, and there it is. He must be born again, the Lord told Nicodemus. And that was a little hard for Nicodemus, wasn't it? You must be born again.
Now that's something, and I want to think about that a little bit too, how we can be born again. Nicodemus asked a lot of questions, didn't they? You know the story. Can we again return into our mother and be born again?
And another in the margin of our Bibles, it says that we are born from above.
00:20:06
Isn't that interesting?
So this new life is from above. It's like eternal life, and I can't give it to you. And Nicodemus knew he couldn't receive it, but the Lord Jesus was offering it and still is offering it. He must be born again.
And so then we had a memory verse and where was that found?
Can somebody help me out the memory verse for today? Someone back here? Yes, can you?
John 1513 OK, Did you want to say it? Who would like to say part of it or?
OK.
You did fine. Thank you. That's really good.
And so, well, this one's turned around a little bit. So that was quite a long verse.
And so we kind of.
Just use part of it. A man? What does that say?
A man lay down his life.
Now for his friends. Now that's pretty good love.
Our boys pretty good friends sometimes. Yeah. That's good. I'm glad to hear you say that. Boys are pretty good friends. How about girls? Do you have a good friend? Yeah. It's nice to have a good friend, isn't it? Yeah, but what does this verse kind of imply?
Would you be willing?
You've mentioned about the boys have good friends that maybe you would lay down your life for your friend.
Boy, that's putting it for real test, isn't it?
Scarcely.
Scarcely another verse says, For a righteous man would one dare to die.
So maybe put to test, I'd be a little bit like you, I don't know. But at best, could we say that boys and girls, maybe girls would. Would you? Would you just say I want to, I want to give my life for my friend.
How about it? You got a smile, would you?
Be a real test, wouldn't it? But really, at best?
Maybe somebody would even dare to die for their friend. But you know what, boys and girls? The Lord Jesus died for we who really were his enemies. We had gone astray.
We had all gone in our own ways.
And isn't it wonderful that the Lord Jesus?
Died for us this morning. We can say that he gave his life. So maybe for a real good friend, maybe somebody would dare to die. But the Lord Jesus died for we who.
Really were not his friends but sat away with him. That was kind of our hearts and the people that sat away with him.
That's about the way we would have said had we been there.
But you know, boys and girls, he's different than you and I, isn't he? What did the Lord Jesus say? I have power to.
What?
Lay it down and I have power to.
Take it again. Now that's something.
Isn't that neat? Had power to lay it down and he has power to take it again now. If you and I, if you died for your friend.
I'm afraid it would be the end until the resurrection, wouldn't it? But the Lord Jesus, we know he died and he says I have power to take it again. And what happened in three days?
00:25:04
Anybody here?
What happened in three days? OK.
He rose again. Three days. So I brought a little. Did you see this little sack down here?
I wanted to try to describe something about.
Being born again and about.
The born from above.
So I brought. What's that? Yeah.
Corn seed, she says. What do you think, boys? I think that's some kernels of corn, yeah.
OK, I want to tell you about I read a story once about some scientists, I believe it was, who made it wasn't a corn seed, they made a grain of wheat.
And the story was that the grain of wheat looked just like.
A wheat grain that Mister Schmidt would have in Canada when he harvested it, and I was told that one of the one of the.
Scientists was a Christian, perhaps, and he says.
Shall we plant that they've made this grain of wheat.
Just like.
A real green wheat. And I think man could perhaps make a kernel of corn just like one of these kernels of corn, even the best kernel of corn maybe in Iowa or Illinois, man could maybe make one like that. And so they made this kernel of wheat and it was just like one from the bin. And this Christian says to the his fellow workers there.
Shall we plant that seed? They agreed on planting it. What do you think happened?
Nothing grew. That was a disappointment, wasn't it?
And you're right, you're right. Nothing grew. They could make that seed.
But what couldn't they do, boys?
What couldn't they do?
They couldn't make it grow, which is what?
What is that?
To make something grow, it has to have what one.
Yeah, and.
Life. I want to tell you something that we noticed pretty that was pretty interesting this year.
I sell a little bit of seed, corn and soybean seed and on the sacks this year they printed pretty big prints and it says handle with care.
Living seed, that interesting.
Handle with care living seed and you know, when I went with my truck up to get this seed, why I was impressed and I was smiled and I was happy about it because the guys that they were helping me load this truck and and the truck floor here we were standing, you know, and and I thought, well, when I get feed, you know, they just pitch it down there, you know, but these guys, they took that bag of seed and they just gently put it down there wasn't that pretty nice of them.
They were carrying out what was on that bag. Don't you think they were careful that that they weren't going to damage maybe that living seed, A sudden abrupt abuse could maybe crack the seed or kill that.
Live life in that scene.
So anyway.
At our after we get done planting corn, it's usually normal that we get out some sweet corn.
This is some sweet corn.
And we plant it and.
How long does it take and maybe you look for Brian, about how long do you take in Michigan to foresee to come up?
Would it be what?
Two weeks. It better be up. Hadn't. Yeah, I hope so. Even in Michigan. I shouldn't put it that way.
Especially in Iowa, but I know that your daddy was saying that. Well, it seems to germinate pretty fast in that sand. I don't know whether the abation of the sand. So maybe a week. You're probably looking for your sweet corn to be up, aren't you? And that's good. And it's kind of fun, isn't it, to go out and look and see if that corn is up and when you see it coming up.
00:30:23
It's kind of nice, isn't it? And so we like to see it come up. Well, this, some of this corn did come up and.
Let's see what we got here.
We went out this morning kind of early and, and took that little Pam, our daughter and I, we were out for just a little bit of a walk down to the sweet corn patch and, and Pam says, say dad, there's two, there's two stocks too close together anyway, So you know what we did? Which one do you think we took?
By looking at that one, can you guess which one?
The littler one? Well, we didn't.
We didn't take the littler one because we said, well, we wanted one about that big. And often you do take the little one, isn't it? But we didn't, we took that and thanks anyway. But we took the bigger one and there's the bigger one. And we said, well, now that little ones going to have a chance because they were just, they were only about that far apart. And in Iowa we, it's better if we plant them 6-7 inches apart.
So that kernel, the planner together and so so we took that stock and there it is. And we put a little water in it. And our son-in-law, Raj was putting the wiper blades on this morning and he says, well, he says, too bad that stock doesn't get some of this rain and always says, that's right, you did water, didn't you? So it had already gotten a little bit of a drink of water.
And the boy here said that we need water.
And it sure needs food to grow, doesn't it? And so, but, but we need that life now. What happened, if we would pull that up, what happened to this? It's a kernel of corn just like that. What happened to that kernel of corn?
Yes, it grew, but what took place in order for the stock to come?
The Colonel.
Split split.
So can you help her out?
How about a boy? What do you think happened to the Colonel?
In order that it could have a stock there, boys and girls, the Colonel did what?
It died.
It died and so, but there's a new life. There's the new life and.
It looks just pretty good, doesn't it, Mr. Buchanan?
For Iowa, that's what he did.
I'd expect a little greenery, you know, he's from Illinois and it's nice to have fun.
So that's a pretty good, it is a pretty good stock of sweet corn for Iowa.
So we got that established and it is alive. Yet it is alive, but it is a new life because that kernel of corn gave its life, it died, and now we have a stock.
And that's what I think the Lord was telling Nicodemus, Ye must be born again. And when the Lord says, I have power to lay down my life and I have power to take it again, one man in the Bible says.
It's expedient that one man should die for the people.
So the Lord must die, just like in order.
For this stock of corn to come, that kernel must die, so for you and I to have eternal life.
00:35:00
We must be born from above. We must have.
Ye must be born again. We must receive that new life.
That only the Lord Jesus can give. And he sought to tell Nicodemus that. And you know, we've said some things that were a little bit, I didn't really like to have to tell you that.
If the door is shut, we don't know when that the Lord will say.
Depart from me. I know you not. Why do we tell you those things? We warn you. Well, you know, boys and girls, it's because we love you. And we want you to know that it's important to what? To prepare, To prepare. And now is the time to prepare. This morning, after you got out of bed, that was a good time to prepare to come to Sunday school. And I'm glad you did.
So now it's a good time to prepare to meet our God in this, the day of grace. And we can have eternal life. We can be born from above. We can be a new plant risen in Him.
And it's kind of nice even this stock of corn is in Iowa.
We're going to expect something from it. What are we going to expect from that stock of corn?
We're going a little farther now.
Yeah.
Corn. OK, Yeah, you're going to get corn from it. What? How does corn come? What do we call that that's hanging on. What do we call it, boys?
Yeah, what is that that hangs out there?
There's house on it, but inside it's like this.
The other silk there too, but it's like.
You know, it's sitting out there on that stock and it's.
What am I holding here? An ear? Yeah. An ear corn O'Brien. Yeah. We want an ear corn in Iowa. And Mr. Buchanan probably said, well, we'd like at least two in Illinois. Yeah, so. But, and maybe they do. And some, even in Iowa, some stocks have two years on it. Yeah. And that's fine too. But what we're saying is.
That we like for it to bear? What?
There, what am I thinking of?
Bare corn, which is what? If it were a cherry, what would we call it?
Fruit thank you with bear fruit so those one ear are two ears would be bearing fruit and you know boys and girls that's fun time too when we go out into the cornfields and we see and it's what shooting ears we call it and that's kind of fun. We don't hear bangs I don't believe no, but anyway those stocks are just shoot their ears come.
The plant gets 06 feet tall and maybe taller, not sweet corn, maybe about 5 feet tall. And an air corn comes on it. And as our young lady said, it's fruit. That's the fruit of corn is an ear. And that's kind of special, isn't it, when we have an air corn to heat up and butter and salt and maybe a little pepper on it and it's really good.
Well, now we need to review what we've had, boys and girls.
We said we should prepare to meet and thy God, our God, he's going to hold you and I responsible because we're going to be without excuse.
Each one of us, boys and girls, I'm glad your daddy and mommy, they probably helped you in some little way to get here this morning, didn't they? Drove you here And that's kind of nice, isn't it? And but they saw to it that somebody even got up here to the front seat. I like that. Glad you would come up there and I was glad to give you a hem sheet. So we do.
00:40:07
Come here. And we're encouraged by our dads and our moms. I was too, and I'm thankful for that. But.
We sometimes say that we must individually.
Right. We must individually accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. What did we sing? Jesus loves who?
Good. Say it again, will you?
Me, Jesus loves me. That's individual, isn't it? That's what we want, boys and girls, that each one of us personally tell the Lord Jesus that we are what we're sinners.
And we're not we're not even his friend. But he he would take us as a friend. He never turns anyone away. Isn't that nice? He always has time for a boy or a girl. He had time for the lady at the. Well, yeah, wasn't that interesting. The next chapter in John. Just time for one lady. So he has time for an individual.
And that's what you and I have to do. We have to individually accept the Lord Jesus Christ. We must be born again. The best that a man can do would be lay down his life for his friend.
Would dare to die, but scarcely that the Lord Jesus died that we could be have eternal life. He died, He shed his precious blood.
And he rose from the dead. And so he is that new life, and he's a risen savior today. And so we can be like this stock of corn. We can have that new life, but it's born from above. We get a new life just like himself. And then.
All that we may see it, and I especially say this to myself, that we may bear fruit.
Like the cherries, like the ear corn for the Lord Jesus Christ because he did so much right. Is it a little thing for somebody to die? No, it wasn't a little thing. It says you've been bought with a price. The the price was big boys and girls. So now we need to prepare. We need to listen to what the Lord said. He must be born again.
Today, if he will hear his voice.
Just in simple faith, we can accept the voice of the Lord Jesus. He's saying come unto me, come unto me. Behold, now is the accepted time. Let's each individually accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. Thank you for your.
Attention. And now let's just close by talking to the Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus.