Are you Prepared?

Ezra 7:10 KJV

¹⁰ For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.

Why Prepare?

Essential items to be prepared

1.   Core Temperature Control

a.  Fire

b.  Shelter System

i.    Sleep Under

ii.  Sleep On

iii. Sleep In

2.   Hydration

a.  Filter System

b.  Water Storage

3.   Energy/Food

a.  Food Bars

b.  MRE

4.   Navigation

a.  Map

b.  Compass

c.   Notebook

d.  Pencil

5.   First Aid

a.  Kit

b.  Tourniquet

6.   Tools

a.  Knife

b.  Multi-Tool

7.   Lighting

a.  Flashlight

b.  Headlamp

c.   Light Sticks

i.    Xtra Batteries

Ezra prepared his heart

Ezra prepared his Heart to do Three things:

1. Seek the Law of the Lord.

 That is to say that he wanted to be sure that he knew the Scriptures

He wanted to ensure that he Studied those Scriptures

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV

¹⁵ Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Timothy 3:14 KJV

¹⁴ But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

Ezra was sure

Ezra 7:6 KJV

⁶ This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.

You can be sure that you have Gods Words.

  The point is that there have been two sets of Bibles from the beginning.  

•     One set begins at Antioch of Syria, where the Disciples were first called Christians

Acts 11:26 KJV

²⁶ And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

•     and where the first Missionary trip was commissioned

Acts 13:1–4 KJV

¹ Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

² As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

³ And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

⁴ So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.

•     This line of Bibles ends with the AV 1611 King James Bible.

The other Line of Bibles begins at Alexandria Egypt.

 Egypt is used as a type of the World throughout the Scriptures and is used as a bad example

Revelation 11:8 KJV

⁸ And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

•      The Alexandrian Line also comes through a Man by the name of Origen who didn’t believe that much of the Bible was literal and instead allegorized much of it.

•      This Alexandrian Line also includes the manuscripts of Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, which were discarded and hidden for over 1500 years

•     and disagree with one another in over 3000 places in the gospels alone.  

•     This line ends with all modern versions of the Bible that we have today.

Which is the one that comes from Antioch and ends with the King James Bible.  

•     Once it is settled as to what the Scriptures are and where you can find them,

•     it is time to move to the next step in preparing your heart.

The next step in preparing your heart is To Do what it (Gods Word) says to do

Joshua 1:8 KJV

⁸ This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

James 1:22–25 KJV

²² But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

²³ For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

²⁴ For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

²⁵ But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

•     We are to be doers of the Word and not hearers only.

The third step in preparing your heart is To Teach the statutes and judgments to others.  

This means that we are to share Gods Word with others.

 We are called to be Ambassadors for Christ

2 Corinthians 5:20 KJV

²⁰ Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

 Ambassadors are representatives of their homeland to a foreign one.

 This world is not our home; we are pilgrims and strangers in it.  

Our home is heaven where we are seated in heavenly places

Ephesians 2:6 KJV

⁶ And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

But are left here to be representatives for him.  

We are called always to be ready to share our hope with those that we com into contact with

1 Peter 3:15 KJV

¹⁵ But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

•  We don’t just share this hope as a matter of obligation but rather because we are passionate about it.  
• We are also called to teach the next generation these truths

Psalm 78:1–7 KJV

¹ Give ear, O my people, to my law: Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

² I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:

³ Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us.

⁴ We will not hide them from their children, Shewing to the generation to come The praises of the Lord, and his strength, And his wonderful works that he hath done.

⁵ For he established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which he commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children:

⁶ That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; Who should arise and declare them to their children:

⁷ That they might set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep his commandments:

•     It is our responsibility to teach our children;

•     this is not to be left up to others.

In summary, we must prepare our hearts to:

1.   Study the Word of God

2.   Practice the precepts found in the Word of God

3.   Share the statutes and judgments that are found in the Word of God.

 Flying by the seat of our pants and just handling things as they come up just will not do!  

We can not have the attitude that we will cross that bridge when we come to it,

 but rather need to decide now what we will do.

If you don’t prepare, you are preparing to fail.

Our hope at Irvington Bible Baptist Church is that this podcast provided some encouragement and has helped you to develop a closer relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ.