GET READY FOR THE BEST

Just as we prepare ourselves for the New Year, it is worthwhile to reflect on this question. Am I truly ready to meet Christ face to face? Christ will return, maybe this year, maybe even today. Pastor Herman Novelli helps us to prepare for the blessings and challenges of a new year today on The Lutheran Hour. I'm Mark Eisher, and welcome to another edition of the world's longest-running Christian broadcast. Did you know our faithful listeners make this program possible? To learn how your gifts and prayers help in bringing Christ to the nations and the nations to the Church, go to LutheranHour.org. The Rev. Herman Novelli is our Director of Hispanic Ministry. Now with a message titled, Get Ready for the Best, here is Pastor Novelli. Jesus said in Luke chapter 12, Be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the Master finds awake when he comes. First of all, I would like to begin by wishing you all a Merry Christmas, una Feliz Navidad, and a new year filled with blessings, peace, joy, and more amor, more love. So we start this message in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, help us to be ready when you come back in your kingdom. And as we begin a new year, give us the confidence that you are with us, the faith to open our hearts for you, and believe your promises, and the strength to take up our crosses. These we pray in the name of Jesus, and please say with me, Amen. The other day, I was reading about the many and different traditions around the world for saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new one. In Greece, for example, it's common to hang onions on doors and other places in houses as a symbol of regeneration or rebirth. In some towns in Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark, people smash plates against their

front doors because they think this is good for prosperity. While in Puerto Rico, some people there prefer to throw water out of their windows, believing that this will send evil spirits out of their lives. Many Latin American families have become experts in New Year's traditions, the most common being the practice of eating 12 grapes shortly before midnight for good luck in the new year, one for each month, or going out of their homes, also at midnight, with an empty suitcase, walking down the street. They say it will help you if you want to travel a lot in the coming year. Honestly, and I don't mean to spoil the fun, I don't think these things really work. Just as relying on luck and fortune doesn't work either. However, they can be fun and interesting ways to prepare ourselves for a new cycle and times. New Year's resolutions are always there too. You have probably already heard the ones like, this year I'm really going to lose weight and start a diet, or the famous I'm going to stop doing this or that, and the often repeated phrase, now I'm really going to change. However, in many cases, the old year often ends full of broken promises, and the new one sometimes begins with the same old promises. In any case, I believe the most important thing at this time is to thank God for what we have, for the gift of faith, family, health, blessings, and for all the beautiful things we celebrate during the Christmas season, including His presence in our lives, especially when we are going through suffering. trials, and to remember also that we must be prepared for whatever the New Year brings, always ready to face the challenges of daily life, and as Jesus says in today's Gospel, totally ready for His next coming, dressed for action and with your lambs burning. We have no idea when this will happen, but it is better to be prepared. It is important, perhaps even more important than anything we have discussed so far, to be prepared for the returning of our Lord, and this is what today's Bible reading is all about. Unlike the arrival of the New Year, which we all know begins on January 1st, preparing for the coming of Christ can be more complicated, especially since we don't know when it will

happen. That's why Jesus invites us to be ready now and to live our lives in constant preparation, because His coming might happen at any time. Again, Jesus says, "...be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes." Jewish weddings were celebrations that could last for days and nights. Everyone knew when they began, but few knew when they will end. That's why the servants had to be ready at all times until the master returned home. No one wanted the master to arrive and find everyone asleep or unprepared. Therefore, Jesus' invitation in this teaching to be ready and prepared for His coming makes so much sense in the life of every believer. We often get caught up in the daily grind and dedicate very little time to God, His ways, and His return. But what the Lord really wants is for us to be attentive to Him, waiting for Him with our minds, souls, and hearts fixed on Him and His promises. God wants you to believe Him when He says He will return. Noah believed God about the flood and prepared himself and his family for it. That's why he built the ark, talked to his family, and warned those who were making fun of him. The same thing happened with the Hebrews at the time of the Exodus. Despite their doubts and fears, they prepared themselves to escape the oppression of the Egyptians, just as God had foretold then through Moses. One after another, the prophets of the Old Testament announced that the Messiah, the Savior, would come, and when they least expected it, Jesus arrived in the manger. The Word became flesh to fulfill God's promise and every biblical prophecy that spoke of His coming. As you know, God always fulfills what He promises, in His time and according to His will, and when He tells us that we must be prepared for His return, it is because we truly need to be prepared, especially since no one knows the day nor the hour when this will happen.

Some very preachers and false teachers have deceived countless people throughout history with fake dates for the coming of Jesus and the end of the world. Many have believed these stories, even though the Bible is very clear that no one knows the day or the hour when Jesus will come. He says in Luke 12, verse 40, You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. We don't know when. Nobody knows. What we do know is that we must be ready. and alert to the signs. No country waits for war to break out before organizing its armies. And no company leaders wait for a financial crisis to begin to prepare themselves to face it. Just as we, in our different cultures and with our different traditions, prepare ourselves for the new year to celebrate joyful moments and face difficult ones, we also need to be ready for the wonderful, the best, the extraordinary event of being reunited face-to-face with the Lord. I remember that many years ago, especially during the boom of evangelical churches in Latin America, we began to see large billboards and signs on highways and on the walls of cities and towns through our nations proclaiming the message, Cristo viene, Christ is coming. Some of these billboards included the question, are you ready? That message remains relevant today. Every time we think about the coming of Jesus Christ,

the end times, or Judgment Day, it is worthwhile to reflect on this question. Am I truly ready to meet Christ face-to-face? The next question probably might be, how does one prepare for something like this? Imagine it happens tomorrow, or maybe tonight. Are you ready? What are you doing to be prepared? The first thing you should know is that you should not be afraid. During my years as a church pastor, I have always been struck by how many believers are afraid to read and study the book of Revelation, as if the judgment at the end of the world were our own end. On the contrary, the book of Revelation leads us to see Jesus, who did not come to judge us, but to save us. And He gives us faith so we fully trust in His promises of eternal life, forgiveness, and salvation for all who believe in Him. He also promised to be with us always, until the end of time. And that is why these events should not fill us with fear, but with hope and joy. Because we will meet God and those who went before us, trusting in these promises. So if you want to be truly ready, the first thing is to put aside all fear and trust the promises the Creator has for you. Secondly, we Christians must prepare ourselves by meditating on the Word of God. Only in this way can we know what

God wants to reveal and teach us. For the Word is a lamp to our feet and a source of faith for all of us. When we disregard the Word, whether by ceasing to read the Bible or by not attending worship, we obviously fill those spaces in our lives where there should be faith and the presence of Jesus with fear and doubt. But when we open the Scriptures, read them, and meditate on them, then we will know that it is God Himself who prepares us for Him, that He is the author of faith, that He does not leave us alone, and that He is with us at the beginning and end of each year, at the beginning and end of our lives, that He walks with us in this life and in the life to come. Believe me when I say to you that there is no lamp brighter than an open Bible. And finally, every believer prepares for the coming of Christ by participating in the sacraments. In baptism, God Himself makes us children and heirs of His kingdom that has no end. While in the Lord's Supper, we can partake of a foretaste of the heavenly banquet where we will be at the table with Jesus. Forgiven, redeemed, trusting in God, with our eyes fixed on Christ, this is how we will truly be dressed for action. and with our lambs burning, for when our Lord returns. My dear friends of the Lutheran Hour,

God keeps His promises. He promised us a Savior, and He came in the person of Jesus Christ to give His life for us on the cross. Jesus came and fulfilled every prophecy, from His conception until the day of His resurrection, and this is the same Jesus who has promised to return for us to give us life without end, forgiveness that never runs out, and the opportunity to reign with Him for all eternity. Through faith and by His grace, He makes us ready for His return. He makes us be dressed for action, and with our lambs burning, for His coming. He has made room for you in His returning plans. The Bible reminds us of His love. The sacraments lead Him near to us, and in the forgiveness He gives us, He Himself prepares us to receive Him and to be ready. We don't know when, but we do know that this will happen, and that with Him, there will be no more crying, no more pain, but the eternal joy of being with God forever. What if we add this being ready to receive Christ in our New Year's resolutions? Be ready for the best. Take heart. Cristo viene. Christ is truly coming. Amen. Let us all with glad song voice Praise the God of heaven Who to make our hearts rejoice

His own Son has given We are rich for He was born Is not this the wonder That He reigns forevermore Here on earth and under Christ our Lord and Savior dear On the ever-living Christ We enjoy throughout each year Amen, Jesus, hear us You're listening to the Lutheran Hour. For free online resources, archived audio, our mobile app, and more, go to LutheranHour.org He opens a new heaven To give us His own Son To give us His own Son The Father sends Him from His throne To be an infant small and mild And lie dear, poorly manger bound In this cold, dismal stall In this cold, dismal stall Within an earth born from the ices of creating light To serve us all He only comes The splendor of His light The splendor of His light He undertakes a great exchange On our human frame And in return gives us His bread His glory and His name His glory and His name ♪ And his name ♪ ♪ He gives us servants by our Lord ♪

♪ Of great all mystery ♪ ♪ How strong, how tender, Christ child's love ♪ ♪ No truer friend than he ♪ ♪ No truer friend than he ♪ ♪ O praise him, all ye that sing him ♪ ♪ For Jesus we adore ♪ ♪ And praise to God the Father in Christ he is evermore ♪ ♪ We praise to him evermore ♪ ♪ We praise to him evermore ♪ Join us next week when Dr. Michael Ziegler keeps the New Year theme going with a message titled, Knowing and Being Known in a New Year. Here's part of what you'll hear. A recent survey indicated that 72% of American teenagers have used artificial intelligence companions for conversation. The itch that AI is trying to scratch for us is real. It's a real God given need, a need only God can meet. God has met us and meets us in Jesus. He invites us to speak with him and hear from him in the Bible, to know him as we are fully known, to love as we are loved already. Dr. Michael Ziegler, next week. ♪ Now great the sweetly changing year ♪ ♪ With joy and penitence sincere ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice, with thanks and praise ♪ ♪ Another year of grace ♪ ♪ Since Jesus came to end sin's war ♪ ♪ This day a pledge for us he bore ♪

♪ Rejoice, rejoice, with thanks and praise ♪ ♪ Another year of grace ♪ ♪ His love abound and far and safe ♪ ♪ The volume of all his faiths ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice, with thanks and praise ♪ ♪ Another year of grace ♪ ♪ With him and him does not await ♪ ♪ In want and fear or austerity ♪ ♪ What fear in earth or space ♪ ♪ In this new year of grace ♪ ♪ ♪ All glory be to God on high ♪ ♪ And peace on earth the angels cry ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, with thanks and praise. ♪ Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, with thanks and praise. ♪ ♪ My Lord, what a morning! My Lord, what a morning! ♪ My Lord, what a morning! When the stars begin to fall. ♪ You'll hear the trumpet sound to wake the nations underground. ♪ Looking to my God's right hand when the stars begin to fall. ♪ My Lord, what a morning! morning. My Lord, what a morning. My Lord, what a morning. When the stars begin to fall. You'll hear the Christian shout to wake the nations underground. Looking to my God's right hand. When the stars begin to fall. My Lord, what a morning. My Lord, what a morning. When the stars begin to fall. Now Pastor Novelli invites you to join him in praying the Lord's Prayer. Let us pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord may his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord turns his face toward you and give you peace. Amen. The Lutheran Hour is made possible through the support of faithful listeners like you. To learn how your prayers and gifts can extend the worldwide outreach of the Lutheran Hour, go to LutheranHour.org. Our theme music is by Peter Prochnow, Emily Rogers, and Alicia Enstrom. I'm Mark Eischer. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.