THE BRIDE WHO FORGOT IT WAS HER WEDDING DAY

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Can you imagine the dream:  you’re the bride your wedding day is quickly approaching; you wake up in a panic.  As you lay on your bed, “what day is it”?  A sigh of relief, what a terrible dream you just had.  You have forgotten your wedding day.  The stage was set everything was ready but you, no wedding dress, flowers to carry, your hair is not done and your shoes are missing.  The day was finally here and you missed it, the most important day of your life.  Thank God it was only a dream.  What bride would ever forget her wedding day!  Church have you forgotten your wedding day?

We (the church) like this bride are to be preparing our selves for that day, our wedding day!  When Jesus Christ comes for His bride.  The groom, Jesus is coming for His Bride (us). 

 Am I ready?  Is my dress without spot or wrinkle?  Where are my shoes?  These questions could go on and on.  What is the solution?  How do we ready ourselves?  How do we become full of anticipation?  What is the Bible’s prescription to cure us from the complacency the “church” (us) has fallen into?

1 Peter 1:13-16 will aid us in revealing how to prepare for our groom.

(1 Pet 1:13 NIV)  Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

• Prepare your minds for action.  Phil. 4:8 says:  (Phil 4:8 NIV)  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.  We can also read; (Isa 59:17 NIV)  He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.  (Eph 6:17 NIV)  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
• Be self-controlled.   (1 Pet 5:8 NIV)  Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  9  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

10  And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.   (Eph 4:22 NIV)  You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;  Eph. 4:29  Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  30  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  31  Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  32  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  5:1  Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children  2  and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  3  But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.  4  Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.  5  For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person--such a man is an idolater--has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. (Eph 4:25 NIV)  Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.  Also read James 1:19-27, 3:13-18.

• Set your hope.  Col. 3:1  Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  2  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  3  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  Heb.6: 19  We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,  20  where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.  (Heb 11:1 NIV)  Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

(1 Pet 1:14 NIV)  As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.

• Be obedient.  (Rom 1:5 NIV)  Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.  (Rom 6:16 NIV)  Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness  (2 John 1:6 NIV)  And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.   (Deu 6:3 NIV)  Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.  (Deu 6:24 NIV)  The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.  If you read in Deut. Chapters 6-11 and chapter 29-31 deal with blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience and they are while worth studying on how to walk obediently before our God.  (1 Sam 15:22 NIV)  But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
• Do not conform.  (Rom 12:2 NIV)  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.  (1 Pet 1:14 NIV)  As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
• Do not be ignorant.  (Hosea 4:6 NIV)  my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.  (Eph 4:18 NIV)  They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.  (1 Tim 1:13 NIV)  Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.  (1 Pet 1:14 NIV)  As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.

 (1 Pet 1:15 NIV)  But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;  (1 Pet 1:16 NIV)  for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

• Be Holy.  To be holy is to be set apart-consecrated to God for His purpose and His use.  (Rom 11:16 NIV)  If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.  (Rom 12:1 NIV)  Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. (Col 3:12 NIV)  Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  (1 Th 4:7 NIV)  For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.  (2 Tim 1:9 NIV)  who has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,  (Titus 1:8 NIV)  Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.  (Heb 12:14 NIV)  Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

The Holiness of the Lord God is beyond our comprehension. Isaiah recognized this . 

Isaiah 6:1  In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.  2  Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.  3  And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."  4  At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.  5  "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."  6  Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.  7  With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."  8  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

There have been a few times in my life when I entered into a very Holy presence of the Lord.  I was privileged to enter into this Holy place through praise and worship.  I can but grasp a small vision of the presence Isaiah took part of.  This presence reflected such holiness, I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide and make sure no one could see me.  I became so aware of the true sinner I was and so unworthy of God’s Holy presence.  But His word says:

(1 Pet 2:9 NIV)  But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Eph. 2: 4  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,  5  made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.  6  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,  7  in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  8  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--  9  not by works, so that no one can boast.  10  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The Wedding Day is approaching, what are we doing to make ourselves ready?