Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
In God.
I don't know if you do, but Iknow I sure do.
I trust in God, the one whonever fails.
Good morning, Christ community.
Good morning, Christ community.
I honor God this morning.
(00:20):
I thank God for Himself.
And I thank Him for His Son,Jesus Christ.
I thank Him for His preciousHoly Ghost that allows us to
live right, to do right, to beright.
I honor my pastor this morning,the Reverend Dr.
Terrence Archery and his lovelywife, Lisa Archery.
They are away.
(00:40):
He is preaching his friend'sanniversary, Pastor Kevin
Hawkins.
So that's where he is.
Everything all right.
And he'll be back next week.
He's just helping out a friend.
All right.
I uh I welcome those who areonline.
Thank you.
Those who are online watching,we thank you so much for tuning
(01:01):
in because we know that you haveopportunity to tune in to many
other places, and we thank youthat this Christ community is
the place that you've chosen,whether you're watching today,
tomorrow, next week, or nextyear.
Thank you so much for choosingus.
And then to all of you, mybrothers and sisters here in the
room, thank you so much.
Because again, you too havemany, a lot of y'all past many
(01:24):
churches getting here.
So I thank you that this is theplace that you have found to be
this morning in the building.
All right.
Let me catch my breath, andwe're gonna get into it.
Our scripture for today comesfrom 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 8
through 11.
(01:45):
Now I'm gonna trick y'all todaybecause I'm not doing the King
James Version.
Come on, come on.
I'm an old school girl trying todo some new school moves, okay?
All right.
So we're gonna come out themessage Bible today, okay?
Come on, come on.
(02:07):
All right, 1 Peter chapter 5,verses 8 through 11 out of the
message Bible, and it reads thisway keep a cool head, stay
alert.
The devil is poised to pounceand would like nothing better
than to catch you napping.
Keep your guard up.
(02:29):
You're not the only ones plungedinto these hard times.
It's the same with Christiansall over the world.
So keep a firm grip on thefaith.
The suffering won't lastforever.
It won't be long before thisgenerous God, who has great
plans for us in Christ, eternaland glorious plans they are,
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will have you put together andon your feet for good.
He gets the last word.
Yes, he does.
Amen.
That is the word of the God,word of God, even out of the
message Bible.
Pastor has given us a theme forthis year: God's people handling
God's business.
(03:14):
But my topic for today is if youstay ready, y'all know that you
ain't gotta get ready.
If you stay ready, you ain'tgotta get ready.
Now I'm not gonna tell you tolook at your name, but I'm gonna
tell you to tell yourself.
If you stay ready self, youain't got to get ready.
(03:37):
The phrase, if you stay ready,you ain't gotta get ready, is
widely attributed to the rapperSugar Free, along with producer
DJ Quick in the 1997 song by thesame name, if you stay ready.
Did you know that, Rich?
It's a popular, timeless addictand hip-hop culture highlighting
the importance of beingconsistently prepared.
(03:58):
Celebrity Will Smith,motivational speaker Eric
Thomas, and even that cute manon Chicago PD, Kevin Edwater,
says if you stay ready, youain't got to get ready.
So, as Christians, God is notcalling us to live and walk
haphazardly through life.
He is calling us to livefocused, disciplined lives on
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ready.
Our scripture today comes from 1Peter.
The book of 1 Peter serves as apastoral letter urging scattered
Christians to stand firm intheir new identity, find hope in
their salvation, and respond topersecution with dignity,
demonstrating the transformativepower of the gospel.
(04:46):
Now we find in chapter 5, Peteris giving instructions basically
to the whole church.
First, he starts out with theelders, the leaders, the small
group leaders, thetransformation leaders, the men
of men making a man leaders, allof the leaders that you ought to
lead with care.
You ought to lead with love, youought to lead with
Christ-likeness.
(05:06):
You don't lead with power.
You ain't got you ain't on nopower trip.
If God gives you the call tolead, you lead with
Christ-likeness.
And then he speaks to those whoare being led.
He calls it the young ones, butthe other, all of the rest of
us, then you live the same wayyour leaders live.
You live in Christ-likeness, youlive in love and care.
(05:29):
And then he says, for all of usto be humble, to submit
ourselves unto the mighty handof God, and he's going to exalt
all of us in due time.
The King James says, in dueseason.
He's going to exalt everybody.
If you submit and be humble,he's going to exalt us and due
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season.
And then he says we can carryall of our anxieties unto him
because he cares for us.
Now we're in verse 8.
Verse 8, part A says, keep acool head, stay alert, keep up
your guard.
Peter is saying to get on ready,be on ready, and stay on ready.
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Because there's a real devil outthere that's trying to get you.
So in order to stay ready so youdon't have to be get ready, get
ready so stay ready so you don'thave to get ready.
You first of all have to becommitted to spiritual
readiness.
That's my first point.
Be committed to spiritualreadiness.
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Spiritual readiness refers tothe state of being prepared and
equipped to face spiritualchallenges, engage in spiritual
warfare, and fulfill one'sdivine calling.
It involves a vigilant andproactive approach to one's
faith, ensuring that your heart,mind, and spirit are aligned
(07:05):
with God's will.
This readiness is crucial for usas believers as we navigate the
complexities of life.
Y'all know life be life, right?
So as we as we navigate thesecomplexities of life, we have to
be committed to spiritualreadiness.
And then we strive to live inaccordance with the biblical
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principles.
Readiness builds resilience.
You have the ability, y'all,you're gonna bend, but you don't
break.
Times gonna get hard and you'regonna lean around, but you are
not gonna utterly fall.
A ready mind doesn't just reactto difficulties.
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When stuff happens, you ain'tall wigging out and crashing out
and about to go off and all thethings that we do.
Amen.
A ready mind doesn't react.
It actively finds ways to adapt.
Because you really don't have tocrash out every time somebody
says something to you.
You really don't have to crashout every time you don't get
(08:09):
your way.
You can have a ready mind andyou can adapt and learn from the
struggle.
And then you get to emerge outeven stronger.
So, how do we start engaging inthis spiritual readiness?
Pastor preached last week.
(08:30):
I don't know how many were here,or you look watched it online,
but he preached a powerful,powerful word on the power of
God's word.
Some of y'all were here.
It was a powerful, and if youdidn't hear it or you don't
remember it, you know sometimespeople say, How was church
today?
Oh, it was good.
What did the preacher preachabout?
Oh, I don't remember.
So if you don't really recallwhat he preached about, go
(08:53):
listen to it again.
Because it was a powerful wordon the power of God's word.
Y'all remember at the end hestarted talking about his
soundbar and how he was gonnaconnect his TV to the soundbar?
And that first he went about ondoing it the way he thought he
should do it.
He had it in his mind.
He knew what he was doing, so heknew how to connect the
(09:13):
soundbar, but he connected thesoundbar and it didn't work.
And then after that, he tried toconnect the soundbar, and so he
went to ChatGBT.
Now, you know, y'all, we used tolove Dr.
Google, but we done find Google,and now we didn't hide ChatGBT,
and ChatGBT tell us everythingfrom how to live, how to cook,
how to write papers, who we'resupposed to date, what's wrong
with us.
So he went to ChatGBT, and ChatBGBT didn't know either.
(09:36):
So then he ended up having to goto the manufacturer of the
soundball.
So if you want to know how tolive with spiritual readiness,
you need to go to the manual.
You need to go to the one whocreated you, the one who knew
you before you were created inyour mother's womb, the one who
knows everything about you andloves you anyway, then the one
(09:57):
who knows what you're gonna dobefore you even do it, the one
that knows where you're gonnaend up before you even land.
You gotta be committed to themanual.
You need to read the manual, youneed to study the manual.
Now, you know, reading andstudying is so much easier now
today.
We used to back in the daybefore we had all these phones
and stuff, you had to get up,get the Bible, get the strong
(10:19):
concordance, get all the things.
Now you can just turn over andflip the phone off.
So it's not that hard anymore.
But you gotta read the Bible,you gotta study the Bible, and
then there's one other thingthat we don't always like.
Now, yesterday was the NationalDay of Love, and some of y'all
was out eating steak andlobster, and you was getting
your teddy bears and your uh uhroses and all your things, and
(10:39):
that's beautiful.
But I I heard, I believe it wasLisa saying that obedience is
God's love language.
So God wants us to be obedientto the word, not just read it,
not just studying, but live theword, and that's the way we are
committed, excuse me, tospiritual readiness.
(11:00):
Okay, we want to also becommitted to spending time in
prayer and communion with God.
Because how do you get to knowsomebody if you don't spend time
with them?
There's a lot of people in thischurch.
I know your name, I see you say,Hey, hey, but I don't really
(11:20):
know you because I haven't spentno time with you.
There are some of us who say weknow God, but we don't spend no
time with him.
We don't spend no time in theBible, we don't spend no time
praying, we don't spend no timejust sitting in his presence.
And and prayer is not y'all justa honeydew list.
Y'all, y'all know that honeydewlist.
(11:41):
Uh-huh.
You you know, uh, can you dothis and will you do this?
And can you pick up that?
And when you come back, will youstep this and do this and do
this?
And that's how we approachprayer sometimes.
God, I need this.
And when you get through withthat, I need this.
And when you're finished withthat, I'm looking for a man.
And when you're finished withthat, I really do want a wife.
And when you're finished withthat, I need a new car too.
And when you're finished withthat, my house is ragged, and I
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wouldn't would like a new one.
And that's how we approachprayer.
But God wants us to sit in hispresence, get to know him, get
to know his posture, get to knowwho he is, get to know what he
even what he wants from you.
And it's not so he can love youno more.
A lot of times we do stuff forfolks, and we're folks because
we think we want them to love usmore.
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God can't love you no morebecause in Romans 5, 8, he said,
God commended his love towardsus that while we was yet
sinning, he died, Christ diedfor us.
So when you were still on thestrobe, he died for you.
When you were swinging crack, hedied for you.
When you was lying and cheating,he died for you.
And he can't love you no morethan he did when Christ died on
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the cross.
But what he's asking you to dois live a life for him, for his
kingdom to show up here in theearth, for people to know that
it is a reality and serving aGod that's real and that's true,
that you can give like him,forgive like him, love like him.
Again, life is life, and nothere in these streets.
(13:10):
So you want to stay ready, soyou ain't got to get ready.
Spiritual readiness gets of getsus rid of the ratchetness and
replaces us, replaces it withrighteousness.
(13:31):
Oh, I'm gonna say that again.
I'm gonna say it again for thosein the back.
Hey, y'all in the back.
Spiritual readiness gets us ridof ratchetness and replaces it
with righteousness.
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Number two, if you want to stayready so you don't have to get
ready, you have to know youropponent.
Verse A B, the B part said, thedevil is poised to pounce and
would like nothing better thanto catch you napping.
(14:17):
Now I am gonna read the KingJames on this one.
Uh it says, Your adversary, thedevil, as a roaring lion, walks
around seeing who he may devour.
It is the word.
Church, the devil is real.
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There is a real devil out here,and his assignment is to take
out the people of God.
And sometimes we act like wedon't know that.
Sometimes we act like we don'trealize that there is an
assignment on our lives.
So we're so busy with stuffthat's just, I want to say it
(14:59):
better, but I'm gonna say itlike this: just petty.
We're just so so so caught up instuff that's petty that really
don't mean nothing.
We don't have no power to fightin the heavens like we ought to,
because we fight one another.
Oh, okay, y'all, y'all, uh-huh.
So so sometimes the devil keepskeeps us napping because he
(15:20):
frustrates us.
Because we can't get our way.
He makes us tired because of allthe things we have to do.
And yes, we do have a lot ofthings to do.
He makes us confused.
I don't know what my life issupposed to be like.
I don't know what I'm supposedto be doing.
And so he just loves you tosleep so he can just sit back
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and he really don't have to domuch because you're doing all
the work.
He's infiltrating you while youjust be rocking by baby in a
treetop.
Oh my.
We don't have no power becausewe so tired.
And then here's here here isone.
(16:02):
Now, here is one.
That here is one.
All right, y'all ready?
Now, now, uh, you came to churchtoday, and you were smiling and
waving at me, and I just looked.
I ain't say nothing.
I just looked.
(16:23):
So now you done figured out inyour mind that I'm I don't like
you, I'm mad at you, I gotsomething against you, I uh uh
uh I must be talking about youbecause I'm I didn't wave at
you.
Wait, wait, yeah, let me tellyou something.
And this this really is thetruth.
(16:43):
Do y'all know that I'm blind andone eye can't see like the
other?
Did y'all know that I had threecalls and five texts before I
ever got out the bed to getready to come to church?
Did you know that I was late forchurch because I had a wardrobe
malfunction?
Did you know that there wastraffic on 635?
So I was late.
Did you know the time I gothere, people started asking me a
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bunch of questions.
I didn't know if there wasenough people shit to serve on
campus.
Did you know any of that?
No, you just said I didn't speakto you, so now you upset, and
now you talking about me, andnow and now you created this
marriage that this is the personthat I am, and all you know,
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last month, last year at uh, atuh, what was it, at Watch Night?
I don't believe she spoke to methen.
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And that ain't all.
You've created this narrativeabout me, but now you go to
lunch with your friends, andyou're gonna tell your friends
about how I didn't speak to you.
And I I know she saw me.
How could she miss me in thisbig old red jacket?
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Uh-uh, I she not she said, shesaid, oh baby, I'm sorry I
didn't see you, forgive me.
But that ain't what she meant.
She saw me.
And now your friends done joinedin the party.
Well, you know, she does beacting funny.
She, she, you know, I you know,I believe about two years ago I
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said something to her, and shedidn't even speak back to me.
So now the devil done pounced.
He done loaded you to sleep,rockabah, baby, in the treetop,
and now he done pounced in thissituation, and now he is causing
strife and division amongst thesister and the brethren.
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This don't just happen inchurch, it happens in families,
it happens in workspaces, ithappens in relationships, so now
the devil done jumped in andcaused all this havoc amongst
his uh amongst God's people, sonow they are rendered
inoperative.
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Cause we petty.
Cause we petty.
We create the narratives, we runwith them.
You don't even you don't eventake time to find out if
nothing's true.
The scriptures say, if you gotalt with your brother, leave
your gift at the altar.
I don't care how good you sing,I don't care how good you pray,
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I don't care how good youpreach, I don't care what you
got.
If you got alt with yourbrother, leave it at the altar.
Go to your brother andreconcile.
So we won't have all of thisamongst us.
And then you the devil justsitting back saying, Thank you.
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I didn't have to do much withthis one.
Thank you.
I didn't even have to break asweat on this, thank you.
Ephesians 6, 12 through 18, inthe good news Bible says, For we
are not fighting against humanbeings.
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For we are not fighting againsthuman beings, for we are not
fighting against human beings,but against the wicked spiritual
forces in the heavenly world,the rulers, authorities, and
cosmic powers of the dark age.
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So put on God's armor now.
Then, when the evil day comes,you will be able to resist the
enemy's attacks, and afterfighting to the end, you will
still hold your ground.
So stand ready.
With truth as a belt tied aroundyour waist, and righteousness as
a breast as your breastplate,and as your shoes, the readiness
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to announce the good news ofpeace.
At all times, carry faith as ashield, for with it you will be
able to put out all the burningarrows of the arrow shot by the
evil one, and accept salvationas a helmet and the word of God
as a sword, which speak whichthe spirit gives you.
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Do all this in prayer, askingGod's help.
Pray on every occasion as theSpirit leads.
For this reason, keep alert andnever give up.
Pray always for all God'speople.
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Because if you stay ready, youain't got to get ready.
Amen.
And then my final point, and I'mgonna let y'all go.
Go for y'all who didn'tcelebrate Valentine's Day today.
Yesterday, you celebrated today.
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My final point is trust in God.
My Savior.
The one who never fails.
Family, God is not the God oflast minute scrambling.
That's our God.
That's what we do down here.
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But in the heavenly realm, Godhas a long-term plan to bless
our lives.
He situated it the day we wereborn.
God is not a God of last minutescrambling.
That's what we do.
We're trying to figure it out.
We don't know what we're gonnado.
God ain't that ain't God.
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God knows what He's doing.
So when the door opens, when theopportunity arises, when the
breakthrough knocks, you want tobe found ready.
I'm gonna close with this.
Genesis chapter 6.
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You'll find the story of Noah.
Now long story short, you readit when you get home.
Most of us know the story, butif you don't, that's okay.
Go read it when you get home.
God was gonna cause devastationon the land because of
wickedness.
And the people was justhard-headed and wouldn't do
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nothing to win.
So he commissioned Noah to buildthe ark, a big boat.
Now, Noah was gonna build, hecommissioned Noah to build this
boat at a time where people, itis recorded, had not ever seen
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rain before.
Now mist had come up out theground, but the way we know rain
from the sky and in deluge hadnever happened before.
So he commissioned Noah to builda boat.
And Noah labored for decades ona massive ship in a land that
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had not ever seen rain.
Trusting God's word over thelack of physical evidence,
visible evidence.
Aye, the scripture didn't reallysay, but I can imagine as Noah
was gathering all the gopherwood and all the things that God
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had commanded him to do to buildthe ark, I can imagine people
were laughing at Noah.
I can imagine they were makingfun of Noah.
I can imagine they was chilling,they was maxing and relaxing,
say, look at this fool.
We ain't never seen no rain.
What is he doing?
Do we even know what and who isthis God and what we got going
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on?
Noah was listening and preparingwhile everybody else was
chilling.
Everybody was chilling whileNoah was building.
Church, sometimes God will callyou to prepare for something
that hasn't even shown up yet.
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God will call you to build anark in a place where it has not
yet rained.
It's not always clear while Godwill put something in your heart
to do, but God will call you tobuild a place, build a place
that has not where build an arkwhere it has not yet rained.
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And you're gonna look differentlike Noah.
You're gonna look a littlecrazy.
People gonna talk about you,you're gonna look a little
strange, you're gonna look alittle off, you're gonna look
like you really don't know whatyou're doing, like you're doing
too much.
Like, like why why why you gottado all that while you prepare?
Why you why why why why yougotta go to Wednesday uh midday,
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and then you gotta go to talkthrough the Bible, and then you
gotta come on first Wednesday,and then you gotta go to make it
of a man, and then you gotta goto go to uh uh uh the men's
brief and be on the women'sprayer line.
Why you it don't take all that?
Why why you gotta go back toschool?
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You gotta go job.
You you you you you make a goodservice.
Why you gotta go back to school?
Why why you gotta do that?
God is building something in youwhere in a place where it ain't
no rain yet.
And one of the things I foundout about us as Christians,
which really kind of baffles me,I've been saved over 40 years
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now, and I I only hear it inchurch.
Uh now I'm not one of thesepeople, so I'm not a Greek, so
I'm not an AKA or a Delta orZeta Phi Beta or any of those
other things.
But but you don't never youdon't never hear none of them
say, Why you gotta be AKA in somuch?
Why you gotta be delta in somuch?
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Why you gotta cue dog so much?
But it was only in the churchwhere we try to get ahead, when
we try to level up, where we tryto serve God more, when we try
to be committed to spiritualreadiness, that we always get
some opposition.
Why you gotta be so holy?
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Ain't that what I supposed tobe?
Don't the Bible say, be ye holy,for I am holy?
And if you're a Christian, oughtyou all to be Christ like?
Don't you won't don't you alldon't you supposed to be trying
to level up?
Don't you supposed to becommitted to spiritual
readiness?
Don't you supposed to be readyfor the the opponent of the
devil?
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Don't you supposed to be onready so stay ready so you ain't
got to get ready?
Don't you supposed to be tryingto trade that wretchedness for
righteousness?
Ain't that what you're supposedto be doing?
And then when you're doing allyour preparation, and when the
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storms come, and when the tideshifts, and the season change,
and you done done yourpreparation so you can stand.
And though you might bend, youain't gonna break.
They gonna wish they had beenpreparing too.
Just keep on chilling, keep ondoing what you've been doing.
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Because I stayed ready so Ididn't have to get ready.
Family, stay awake, stayprepared.
Now is the time to get ready.
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Now is the time to stand ready.
Now is the time to live ready.
Because when you are ready, noenemy can block you, no storm
can stop you, no delay can deteryou.
So you so walk like you ready,pray like you ready, love like
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you ready, dream like you ready,talk like you ready, live like
you ready, stay ready already,be ready already.
Because eyes have not seen, norears have not heard, neither has
it entered into the hearts ofmen what God has prepared for
them that love him.
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And if you stay ready, you ain'tgotta get ready.
Amen.
unknown (30:02):
Thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00 (30:04):
Father, thank you so much for this word.
We ask that you would hide it inour hearts.
Father, we pray that it willtake root and produce fruit,
that we will live our livesalready.
Because we know that we live ina perverse and an evil world,
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and we want to be able to stand,knowing that you are our God and
you have created us, and that wewill do and be who you have
called us to do and be.
In Christ's name we amen.
In God.
I don't know if you do, but Iknow I sure do.
I trust in God, the one whonever fails.
Good morning, Christ community.
Good morning, Christ community.
I honor God this morning.
(00:20):
I thank God for Himself.
And I thank Him for His Son,Jesus Christ.
I thank Him for His preciousHoly Ghost that allows us to
live right, to do right, to beright.
I honor my pastor this morning,the Reverend Dr.
Terrence Archery and his lovelywife, Lisa Archery.
They are away.
(00:40):
He is preaching his friend'sanniversary, Pastor Kevin
Hawkins.
So that's where he is.
Everything all right.
And he'll be back next week.
He's just helping out a friend.
All right.
I uh I welcome those who areonline.
Thank you.
Those who are online watching,we thank you so much for tuning
(01:01):
in because we know that you haveopportunity to tune in to many
other places, and we thank youthat this Christ community is
the place that you've chosen,whether you're watching today,
tomorrow, next week, or nextyear.
Thank you so much for choosingus.
And then to all of you, mybrothers and sisters here in the
room, thank you so much.
Because again, you too havemany, a lot of y'all past many
(01:24):
churches getting here.
So I thank you that this is theplace that you have found to be
this morning in the building.
All right.
Let me catch my breath, andwe're gonna get into it.
Our scripture for today comesfrom 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 8
through 11.
(01:45):
Now I'm gonna trick y'all todaybecause I'm not doing the King
James Version.
Come on, come on.
I'm an old school girl trying todo some new school moves, okay?
All right.
So we're gonna come out themessage Bible today, okay?
Come on, come on.
(02:07):
All right, 1 Peter chapter 5,verses 8 through 11 out of the
message Bible, and it reads thisway keep a cool head, stay
alert.
The devil is poised to pounceand would like nothing better
than to catch you napping.
Keep your guard up.
(02:29):
You're not the only ones plungedinto these hard times.
It's the same with Christiansall over the world.
So keep a firm grip on thefaith.
The suffering won't lastforever.
It won't be long before thisgenerous God, who has great
plans for us in Christ, eternaland glorious plans they are,
(02:52):
will have you put together andon your feet for good.
He gets the last word.
Yes, he does.
Amen.
That is the word of the God,word of God, even out of the
message Bible.
Pastor has given us a theme forthis year: God's people handling
God's business.
(03:14):
But my topic for today is if youstay ready, y'all know that you
ain't gotta get ready.
If you stay ready, you ain'tgotta get ready.
Now I'm not gonna tell you tolook at your name, but I'm gonna
tell you to tell yourself.
If you stay ready self, youain't got to get ready.
(03:37):
The phrase, if you stay ready,you ain't gotta get ready, is
widely attributed to the rapperSugar Free, along with producer
DJ Quick in the 1997 song by thesame name, if you stay ready.
Did you know that, Rich?
It's a popular, timeless addictand hip-hop culture highlighting
the importance of beingconsistently prepared.
(03:58):
Celebrity Will Smith,motivational speaker Eric
Thomas, and even that cute manon Chicago PD, Kevin Edwater,
says if you stay ready, youain't got to get ready.
So, as Christians, God is notcalling us to live and walk
haphazardly through life.
He is calling us to livefocused, disciplined lives on
(04:24):
ready.
Our scripture today comes from 1Peter.
The book of 1 Peter serves as apastoral letter urging scattered
Christians to stand firm intheir new identity, find hope in
their salvation, and respond topersecution with dignity,
demonstrating the transformativepower of the gospel.
(04:46):
Now we find in chapter 5, Peteris giving instructions basically
to the whole church.
First, he starts out with theelders, the leaders, the small
group leaders, thetransformation leaders, the men
of men making a man leaders, allof the leaders that you ought to
lead with care.
You ought to lead with love, youought to lead with
Christ-likeness.
(05:06):
You don't lead with power.
You ain't got you ain't on nopower trip.
If God gives you the call tolead, you lead with
Christ-likeness.
And then he speaks to those whoare being led.
He calls it the young ones, butthe other, all of the rest of
us, then you live the same wayyour leaders live.
You live in Christ-likeness, youlive in love and care.
(05:29):
And then he says, for all of usto be humble, to submit
ourselves unto the mighty handof God, and he's going to exalt
all of us in due time.
The King James says, in dueseason.
He's going to exalt everybody.
If you submit and be humble,he's going to exalt us and due
(05:50):
season.
And then he says we can carryall of our anxieties unto him
because he cares for us.
Now we're in verse 8.
Verse 8, part A says, keep acool head, stay alert, keep up
your guard.
Peter is saying to get on ready,be on ready, and stay on ready.
(06:15):
Because there's a real devil outthere that's trying to get you.
So in order to stay ready so youdon't have to be get ready, get
ready so stay ready so you don'thave to get ready.
You first of all have to becommitted to spiritual
readiness.
That's my first point.
Be committed to spiritualreadiness.
(06:38):
Spiritual readiness refers tothe state of being prepared and
equipped to face spiritualchallenges, engage in spiritual
warfare, and fulfill one'sdivine calling.
It involves a vigilant andproactive approach to one's
faith, ensuring that your heart,mind, and spirit are aligned
(07:05):
with God's will.
This readiness is crucial for usas believers as we navigate the
complexities of life.
Y'all know life be life, right?
So as we as we navigate thesecomplexities of life, we have to
be committed to spiritualreadiness.
And then we strive to live inaccordance with the biblical
(07:26):
principles.
Readiness builds resilience.
You have the ability, y'all,you're gonna bend, but you don't
break.
Times gonna get hard and you'regonna lean around, but you are
not gonna utterly fall.
A ready mind doesn't just reactto difficulties.
(07:46):
When stuff happens, you ain'tall wigging out and crashing out
and about to go off and all thethings that we do.
Amen.
A ready mind doesn't react.
It actively finds ways to adapt.
Because you really don't have tocrash out every time somebody
says something to you.
You really don't have to crashout every time you don't get
(08:09):
your way.
You can have a ready mind andyou can adapt and learn from the
struggle.
And then you get to emerge outeven stronger.
So, how do we start engaging inthis spiritual readiness?
Pastor preached last week.
(08:30):
I don't know how many were here,or you look watched it online,
but he preached a powerful,powerful word on the power of
God's word.
Some of y'all were here.
It was a powerful, and if youdidn't hear it or you don't
remember it, you know sometimespeople say, How was church
today?
Oh, it was good.
What did the preacher preachabout?
Oh, I don't remember.
So if you don't really recallwhat he preached about, go
(08:53):
listen to it again.
Because it was a powerful wordon the power of God's word.
Y'all remember at the end hestarted talking about his
soundbar and how he was gonnaconnect his TV to the soundbar?
And that first he went about ondoing it the way he thought he
should do it.
He had it in his mind.
He knew what he was doing, so heknew how to connect the
(09:13):
soundbar, but he connected thesoundbar and it didn't work.
And then after that, he tried toconnect the soundbar, and so he
went to ChatGBT.
Now, you know, y'all, we used tolove Dr.
Google, but we done find Google,and now we didn't hide ChatGBT,
and ChatGBT tell us everythingfrom how to live, how to cook,
how to write papers, who we'resupposed to date, what's wrong
with us.
So he went to ChatGBT, and ChatBGBT didn't know either.
(09:36):
So then he ended up having to goto the manufacturer of the
soundball.
So if you want to know how tolive with spiritual readiness,
you need to go to the manual.
You need to go to the one whocreated you, the one who knew
you before you were created inyour mother's womb, the one who
knows everything about you andloves you anyway, then the one
(09:57):
who knows what you're gonna dobefore you even do it, the one
that knows where you're gonnaend up before you even land.
You gotta be committed to themanual.
You need to read the manual, youneed to study the manual.
Now, you know, reading andstudying is so much easier now
today.
We used to back in the daybefore we had all these phones
and stuff, you had to get up,get the Bible, get the strong
(10:19):
concordance, get all the things.
Now you can just turn over andflip the phone off.
So it's not that hard anymore.
But you gotta read the Bible,you gotta study the Bible, and
then there's one other thingthat we don't always like.
Now, yesterday was the NationalDay of Love, and some of y'all
was out eating steak andlobster, and you was getting
your teddy bears and your uh uhroses and all your things, and
(10:39):
that's beautiful.
But I I heard, I believe it wasLisa saying that obedience is
God's love language.
So God wants us to be obedientto the word, not just read it,
not just studying, but live theword, and that's the way we are
committed, excuse me, tospiritual readiness.
(11:00):
Okay, we want to also becommitted to spending time in
prayer and communion with God.
Because how do you get to knowsomebody if you don't spend time
with them?
There's a lot of people in thischurch.
I know your name, I see you say,Hey, hey, but I don't really
(11:20):
know you because I haven't spentno time with you.
There are some of us who say weknow God, but we don't spend no
time with him.
We don't spend no time in theBible, we don't spend no time
praying, we don't spend no timejust sitting in his presence.
And and prayer is not y'all justa honeydew list.
Y'all, y'all know that honeydewlist.
(11:41):
Uh-huh.
You you know, uh, can you dothis and will you do this?
And can you pick up that?
And when you come back, will youstep this and do this and do
this?
And that's how we approachprayer sometimes.
God, I need this.
And when you get through withthat, I need this.
And when you're finished withthat, I'm looking for a man.
And when you're finished withthat, I really do want a wife.
And when you're finished withthat, I need a new car too.
And when you're finished withthat, my house is ragged, and I
(12:02):
wouldn't would like a new one.
And that's how we approachprayer.
But God wants us to sit in hispresence, get to know him, get
to know his posture, get to knowwho he is, get to know what he
even what he wants from you.
And it's not so he can love youno more.
A lot of times we do stuff forfolks, and we're folks because
we think we want them to love usmore.
(12:24):
God can't love you no morebecause in Romans 5, 8, he said,
God commended his love towardsus that while we was yet
sinning, he died, Christ diedfor us.
So when you were still on thestrobe, he died for you.
When you were swinging crack, hedied for you.
When you was lying and cheating,he died for you.
And he can't love you no morethan he did when Christ died on
(12:47):
the cross.
But what he's asking you to dois live a life for him, for his
kingdom to show up here in theearth, for people to know that
it is a reality and serving aGod that's real and that's true,
that you can give like him,forgive like him, love like him.
Again, life is life, and nothere in these streets.
(13:10):
So you want to stay ready, soyou ain't got to get ready.
Spiritual readiness gets of getsus rid of the ratchetness and
replaces us, replaces it withrighteousness.
(13:31):
Oh, I'm gonna say that again.
I'm gonna say it again for thosein the back.
Hey, y'all in the back.
Spiritual readiness gets us ridof ratchetness and replaces it
with righteousness.
(13:55):
Number two, if you want to stayready so you don't have to get
ready, you have to know youropponent.
Verse A B, the B part said, thedevil is poised to pounce and
would like nothing better thanto catch you napping.
(14:17):
Now I am gonna read the KingJames on this one.
Uh it says, Your adversary, thedevil, as a roaring lion, walks
around seeing who he may devour.
It is the word.
Church, the devil is real.
(14:38):
There is a real devil out here,and his assignment is to take
out the people of God.
And sometimes we act like wedon't know that.
Sometimes we act like we don'trealize that there is an
assignment on our lives.
So we're so busy with stuffthat's just, I want to say it
(14:59):
better, but I'm gonna say itlike this: just petty.
We're just so so so caught up instuff that's petty that really
don't mean nothing.
We don't have no power to fightin the heavens like we ought to,
because we fight one another.
Oh, okay, y'all, y'all, uh-huh.
So so sometimes the devil keepskeeps us napping because he
(15:20):
frustrates us.
Because we can't get our way.
He makes us tired because of allthe things we have to do.
And yes, we do have a lot ofthings to do.
He makes us confused.
I don't know what my life issupposed to be like.
I don't know what I'm supposedto be doing.
And so he just loves you tosleep so he can just sit back
(15:42):
and he really don't have to domuch because you're doing all
the work.
He's infiltrating you while youjust be rocking by baby in a
treetop.
Oh my.
We don't have no power becausewe so tired.
And then here's here here isone.
(16:02):
Now, here is one.
That here is one.
All right, y'all ready?
Now, now, uh, you came to churchtoday, and you were smiling and
waving at me, and I just looked.
I ain't say nothing.
I just looked.
(16:23):
So now you done figured out inyour mind that I'm I don't like
you, I'm mad at you, I gotsomething against you, I uh uh
uh I must be talking about youbecause I'm I didn't wave at
you.
Wait, wait, yeah, let me tellyou something.
And this this really is thetruth.
(16:43):
Do y'all know that I'm blind andone eye can't see like the
other?
Did y'all know that I had threecalls and five texts before I
ever got out the bed to getready to come to church?
Did you know that I was late forchurch because I had a wardrobe
malfunction?
Did you know that there wastraffic on 635?
So I was late.
Did you know the time I gothere, people started asking me a
(17:05):
bunch of questions.
I didn't know if there wasenough people shit to serve on
campus.
Did you know any of that?
No, you just said I didn't speakto you, so now you upset, and
now you talking about me, andnow and now you created this
marriage that this is the personthat I am, and all you know,
(17:26):
last month, last year at uh, atuh, what was it, at Watch Night?
I don't believe she spoke to methen.
(17:46):
And that ain't all.
You've created this narrativeabout me, but now you go to
lunch with your friends, andyou're gonna tell your friends
about how I didn't speak to you.
And I I know she saw me.
How could she miss me in thisbig old red jacket?
(18:07):
Uh-uh, I she not she said, shesaid, oh baby, I'm sorry I
didn't see you, forgive me.
But that ain't what she meant.
She saw me.
And now your friends done joinedin the party.
Well, you know, she does beacting funny.
She, she, you know, I you know,I believe about two years ago I
(18:29):
said something to her, and shedidn't even speak back to me.
So now the devil done pounced.
He done loaded you to sleep,rockabah, baby, in the treetop,
and now he done pounced in thissituation, and now he is causing
strife and division amongst thesister and the brethren.
(18:52):
This don't just happen inchurch, it happens in families,
it happens in workspaces, ithappens in relationships, so now
the devil done jumped in andcaused all this havoc amongst
his uh amongst God's people, sonow they are rendered
inoperative.
(19:14):
Cause we petty.
Cause we petty.
We create the narratives, we runwith them.
You don't even you don't eventake time to find out if
nothing's true.
The scriptures say, if you gotalt with your brother, leave
your gift at the altar.
I don't care how good you sing,I don't care how good you pray,
(19:36):
I don't care how good youpreach, I don't care what you
got.
If you got alt with yourbrother, leave it at the altar.
Go to your brother andreconcile.
So we won't have all of thisamongst us.
And then you the devil justsitting back saying, Thank you.
(19:57):
I didn't have to do much withthis one.
Thank you.
I didn't even have to break asweat on this, thank you.
Ephesians 6, 12 through 18, inthe good news Bible says, For we
are not fighting against humanbeings.
(20:18):
For we are not fighting againsthuman beings, for we are not
fighting against human beings,but against the wicked spiritual
forces in the heavenly world,the rulers, authorities, and
cosmic powers of the dark age.
(20:42):
So put on God's armor now.
Then, when the evil day comes,you will be able to resist the
enemy's attacks, and afterfighting to the end, you will
still hold your ground.
So stand ready.
With truth as a belt tied aroundyour waist, and righteousness as
a breast as your breastplate,and as your shoes, the readiness
(21:03):
to announce the good news ofpeace.
At all times, carry faith as ashield, for with it you will be
able to put out all the burningarrows of the arrow shot by the
evil one, and accept salvationas a helmet and the word of God
as a sword, which speak whichthe spirit gives you.
(21:24):
Do all this in prayer, askingGod's help.
Pray on every occasion as theSpirit leads.
For this reason, keep alert andnever give up.
Pray always for all God'speople.
(21:46):
Because if you stay ready, youain't got to get ready.
Amen.
And then my final point, and I'mgonna let y'all go.
Go for y'all who didn'tcelebrate Valentine's Day today.
Yesterday, you celebrated today.
(22:07):
My final point is trust in God.
My Savior.
The one who never fails.
Family, God is not the God oflast minute scrambling.
That's our God.
That's what we do down here.
(22:29):
But in the heavenly realm, Godhas a long-term plan to bless
our lives.
He situated it the day we wereborn.
God is not a God of last minutescrambling.
That's what we do.
We're trying to figure it out.
We don't know what we're gonnado.
God ain't that ain't God.
(22:55):
God knows what He's doing.
So when the door opens, when theopportunity arises, when the
breakthrough knocks, you want tobe found ready.
I'm gonna close with this.
Genesis chapter 6.
(23:17):
You'll find the story of Noah.
Now long story short, you readit when you get home.
Most of us know the story, butif you don't, that's okay.
Go read it when you get home.
God was gonna cause devastationon the land because of
wickedness.
And the people was justhard-headed and wouldn't do
(23:39):
nothing to win.
So he commissioned Noah to buildthe ark, a big boat.
Now, Noah was gonna build, hecommissioned Noah to build this
boat at a time where people, itis recorded, had not ever seen
(24:00):
rain before.
Now mist had come up out theground, but the way we know rain
from the sky and in deluge hadnever happened before.
So he commissioned Noah to builda boat.
And Noah labored for decades ona massive ship in a land that
(24:24):
had not ever seen rain.
Trusting God's word over thelack of physical evidence,
visible evidence.
Aye, the scripture didn't reallysay, but I can imagine as Noah
was gathering all the gopherwood and all the things that God
(24:46):
had commanded him to do to buildthe ark, I can imagine people
were laughing at Noah.
I can imagine they were makingfun of Noah.
I can imagine they was chilling,they was maxing and relaxing,
say, look at this fool.
We ain't never seen no rain.
What is he doing?
Do we even know what and who isthis God and what we got going
(25:06):
on?
Noah was listening and preparingwhile everybody else was
chilling.
Everybody was chilling whileNoah was building.
Church, sometimes God will callyou to prepare for something
that hasn't even shown up yet.
(25:30):
God will call you to build anark in a place where it has not
yet rained.
It's not always clear while Godwill put something in your heart
to do, but God will call you tobuild a place, build a place
that has not where build an arkwhere it has not yet rained.
(25:52):
And you're gonna look differentlike Noah.
You're gonna look a littlecrazy.
People gonna talk about you,you're gonna look a little
strange, you're gonna look alittle off, you're gonna look
like you really don't know whatyou're doing, like you're doing
too much.
Like, like why why why you gottado all that while you prepare?
Why you why why why why yougotta go to Wednesday uh midday,
(26:12):
and then you gotta go to talkthrough the Bible, and then you
gotta come on first Wednesday,and then you gotta go to make it
of a man, and then you gotta goto go to uh uh uh the men's
brief and be on the women'sprayer line.
Why you it don't take all that?
Why why you gotta go back toschool?
(26:32):
You gotta go job.
You you you you you make a goodservice.
Why you gotta go back to school?
Why why you gotta do that?
God is building something in youwhere in a place where it ain't
no rain yet.
And one of the things I foundout about us as Christians,
which really kind of baffles me,I've been saved over 40 years
(26:53):
now, and I I only hear it inchurch.
Uh now I'm not one of thesepeople, so I'm not a Greek, so
I'm not an AKA or a Delta orZeta Phi Beta or any of those
other things.
But but you don't never youdon't never hear none of them
say, Why you gotta be AKA in somuch?
Why you gotta be delta in somuch?
(27:15):
Why you gotta cue dog so much?
But it was only in the churchwhere we try to get ahead, when
we try to level up, where we tryto serve God more, when we try
to be committed to spiritualreadiness, that we always get
some opposition.
Why you gotta be so holy?
(27:37):
Ain't that what I supposed tobe?
Don't the Bible say, be ye holy,for I am holy?
And if you're a Christian, oughtyou all to be Christ like?
Don't you won't don't you alldon't you supposed to be trying
to level up?
Don't you supposed to becommitted to spiritual
readiness?
Don't you supposed to be readyfor the the opponent of the
devil?
(27:58):
Don't you supposed to be onready so stay ready so you ain't
got to get ready?
Don't you supposed to be tryingto trade that wretchedness for
righteousness?
Ain't that what you're supposedto be doing?
And then when you're doing allyour preparation, and when the
(28:20):
storms come, and when the tideshifts, and the season change,
and you done done yourpreparation so you can stand.
And though you might bend, youain't gonna break.
They gonna wish they had beenpreparing too.
Just keep on chilling, keep ondoing what you've been doing.
(28:42):
Because I stayed ready so Ididn't have to get ready.
Family, stay awake, stayprepared.
Now is the time to get ready.
(29:03):
Now is the time to stand ready.
Now is the time to live ready.
Because when you are ready, noenemy can block you, no storm
can stop you, no delay can deteryou.
So you so walk like you ready,pray like you ready, love like
(29:25):
you ready, dream like you ready,talk like you ready, live like
you ready, stay ready already,be ready already.
Because eyes have not seen, norears have not heard, neither has
it entered into the hearts ofmen what God has prepared for
them that love him.
(29:47):
And if you stay ready, you ain'tgotta get ready.
Amen.
unknown (30:02):
Thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00 (30:04):
Father, thank you so much for this word.
We ask that you would hide it inour hearts.
Father, we pray that it willtake root and produce fruit,
that we will live our livesalready.
Because we know that we live ina perverse and an evil world,
(30:25):
and we want to be able to stand,knowing that you are our God and
you have created us, and that wewill do and be who you have
called us to do and be.
In Christ's name we amen.
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