Jude 20+21, But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith; praying in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. 
The final point of last week’s consideration was that we cannot just come to church on Sunday morning with the idea that we are here to be entertained. We are not here for what we can get out of the service, not if we are truly seeking to please God. We are gathered together as His Bride in earnest expectation of His imminent return. We are preparing ourselves to receive our Lord and Master, our husband and that requires the perfect preparation in every aspect of our lives. It means that we spend the prior week in delighting ourselves in the anticipation of being utterly pleasing to Him. We are to be prayerfully seeking after the Holy Spirit to work His will in our lives. We are to be reading and studying His Word. We are to be searching our hearts as to any manner in which we can more abundantly honor Him.
This morning, it would be of extreme benefit to look at the scripture in regard to this need for preparation in our diligent service of worship. Why do we need to be conscientious and meticulous in our reverence and devotion unto Him? That is a question which has its answer firmly rooted in His Word, as we have hopefully seen these past few weeks. Yet, there is a principle of God at work in this that we must see and obey. We must come to the place in our hearts and minds where there is no doubt that the very heart of God is set upon this course of action. 
First, please realize that spiritual preparation is justly required from us because it is a Godly characteristic. God, Himself, put forth the very principle of preparation from before the eternal ages began. This is highlighted by the Apostle Paul in several passages. Rom 9:23-25, And He did so in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. As He says also in Hosea, "I will call those who were not My people, 'My people, ' And her who was not beloved, 'beloved.'" God had a plan and purpose in mind before we were even created. He prepared everything according to His foreknowledge and carried through those plans by His Son, in whom all glory rests.
Eph 2:4-10, But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. God had everything prepared for the salvation of His creation in Jesus Christ. This was not a reaction to something that happened, something that caught Him off guard. He knew that there was only one true means of saving us from ourselves, of releasing us from the grip of sin and death. Everything that has taken place in the history of mankind was foreordained and ordered by the mighty counsel of God. 
Eph 1:3-12, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fulness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. 
	God, Himself, is our model of the preparation required to this spiritual life unto which we have been called in Jesus Christ. As this is true, so ought we to be filled with the encouragement and the desire to fulfill every plan that He has for our lives in a complete preparation unto the worship of His so Majestic and Loving and Holy and Righteous Being. 1 Cor 2:6-9, Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And  which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him. " 
	On another level, consider the fact that even the angelic hosts must be prepared to carry out the plan and the will of God. In their ministering service, they must ready themselves to perform the tasks from the divine counsel of which they have been entrusted. Rev 8:6, And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them. Notice, they do not just sound the trumpets. They must prepare themselves to unleash the mighty forces that those trumpets will call forth. Theirs is not just a placid means of dutiful service, but it is required of them to be ready and willing and able to sound the trumpets of the end times. Rev 9:15, And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they might kill a third of mankind. 
	Then we have the example of Our Lord Jesus Christ as He prepared Himself for all that was required of Him. One example is the course of preparation that was necessary after His baptism. Matt 4:1+2, Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. This was at the beginning of His earthly ministry. He needed to be prepared for the temptation that was to come and so He was led, by the Holy Spirit, into the wilderness to fast for forty days and forty nights. He had to be ready to deal effectively with all the wiles and the snares that were sure to come. He had to be prepared to face them in the complete surrender of worship unto His Father, Alone. 
Listen to the response that proceeds forth as a direct result of this time of preparation, when man is at his weakest, but the power of God at His greatest. Matt 4:4, But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" Verse 7, Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" And verse 10, Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.'" Jesus was fully prepared to give all the glory and honor and praise and worship to His Father, Alone. He was set on that course. It did not just happen. It took the complete setting aside of every interest of His own for the sole and single sake of bringing honor to His Father in heaven. 
	Consider the night before His crucifixion, in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was facing the very hour of His foreordained fulfillment of the salvation of mankind. He knew the cost that was before Him. This was not just a casual time of gathering together some of His beloved disciples for fellowship. Everything in history hinged on His obedience. He was in earnest preparation for the event that was crashing upon Him. He needed to prepare Himself to accomplish His Father’s will. He set forth in prayer and supplication in order to be perfectly readied for this hour of eternity. Matt 26:38-44, Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me." And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt." And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?  "Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Thy will be done." And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. Jesus was readied, through obedient prayer and earnest supplication to fulfill the very heart of God’s love for you and for me, for all the members of His Beloved Church.
	Then, let us consider the very seriousness with which God ordained that His people should prepare for the Sabbath. This is something that has been lost in our society, and it has been lost with a great deception by the power of this age. It used to be that Sunday was a day set aside from the casual pursuits of everyday life. Stores used to be closed. It was illegal to sell alcohol. There was a serious stigma set upon those who would seek the pleasure of the world on the Lord’s Day of rest. It has only been at the end of this past century that Sunday has lost its place as the Lord’s Day in the minds and hearts of society. 
Look at how the Jews used to consider it. Mark 15:42+43, And when evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. They prepared for the Sabbath the day before. As a matter of fact it was given and considered as the day of preparation for all that needed to be done before the Sabbath began. The food was cooked, the chores were accomplished, the details of everyday life were fulfilled in order that on the day of rest the family could concentrate on the worship that God deserved. Luke 23:54, And it was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. 
	Admittedly, this was a largely ritualistic following of the law to please the understanding that they had of what was considered service unto God. There were many who merely followed the pattern as laid before them by the priests. But, there were those who truly prepared themselves for the worship that they could render unto God. There were the remnants of those whose hearts were after God and who felt that in following the prescribed manner of preparation, they were giving God the honor and praise and majesty that He was due. Preparation begets a heart that wants to bless God, and that was the course that they took in all seriousness and diligence, beginning with the day of Preparation. 
	While I am not stating that we need to be rigid and legalistic in our preparation and our observance of the day of preparation and the Sabbath, there is an aspect that we need to seriously keep before the Lord in our manner of being readied for worship. If the focal point of our gathering together is to get something out of it for ourselves, to seek to be blessed, to find something that will speak to us and meet our needs, we will miss the totality of what it means to worship God. If we are the focus, then Saturday will be just another day to find some relief from the workweek and Sunday will be just another 8 to 12 hours in which we can wrestle with the plans and the concerns that we have for our own self-fulfillment. There will be no day of rest in the Lord and we will soon find that our time melts away into another Monday morning haze.
	If, however, we are turning our focus upon that which pleases the Lord in our gathering together on His day; if we truly consider Sunday to be the Lord’s Day, all our attention will be set on that which would please Him in our gathering with His saints. If we are prepared to join our hearts with our families, sharing together in the celebration of His goodness and glory and love, then we will find that we are spiritually refreshed because we have honored Him above all else. Heb 4:9-12, There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 
	That true rest of the Lord, setting apart our hearts unto Him in the preparation necessary to honor Him, does not just happen. Notice, we have that encouragement once again to be diligent to enter into that rest. It takes time and it takes effort and it takes commitment to prepare our hearts to enter into His rest. It means that we read the scripture and search out that Word that the Holy Spirit may use for the edification of the church the next morning. It means that as we sing songs, we are asking the Holy Spirit to bring forth only those praise songs that will be of tribute to Him. We must entreat Him to set the focus of the entire worship service upon the foundation of His glory. It means that we pray for the Lord to be blessed as we gather together each Sunday in a truer and truer worship of His name. It necessitates that even our Saturdays become seen as the day that the Lord has given us to make ready a sacrifice of worship that will be pleasing to Him in every respect. We should prepare for worship with prayer, and feasting on His Word, and praises and adoration, getting ready throughout the week to gather together in His name, on His day, to fully enter into His rest. So be it!
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith; praying in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. Amen. 

This morning’s benediction is Eph 6:23+24. Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with a love incorruptible. Amen.