This is the last Sunday of church here at USF until summer school starts and for some of you this will be your last Sunday here until the middle of August. Summer may be a suffering season for many of you, whether you are going home or staying here. For those not returning for summer school, though you have been accustomed to coming to church here every Sunday you may find that you no longer can do that. Some of you will be going home a changed person. You came to NCSU unsaved and are leaving saved. You left a group of unsaved friends at home who may not understand this change that you have made. You may have gotten accustomed to the style of praise and worship here, only to find yourself going home to a very quiet and serene church, hymns sung like lullabies and a 15 to 20 minute message. You have made new friends here. Young Christian friends who believe similar teachings as you, and who though they might be struggling, are trying to live an upright life. In many of your churches back home, you maybe the only young saved person. After tasting a little freedom, you will be going home to your parent’s rules. For many of you this summer will be different than last summer, because you are different. Before the summer is over, you may begin to feel like you are in a barren and dry desert, all alone. Many of us have had this same experience. We went home excited about the fact that school was out and summer was here, only to find a longing to be back at school.

Summer is not just a difficult time for those who go home. Those who stay at school will have struggles as well. In the summer, on many people you will see more flesh than clothes. In the spring and summer, all the animals are mating and the human animal gets a stronger craving to mate as well. The temperature out side is not the only thing that will be rising. The flesh which was already awake, seems like it has taken a super activation pill, and has become super-flesh. The rise of super-flesh will be a problem for every Christian, whether you are here in Raleigh or at home.

Paul in I Peter 3:15, in the midst of talking to the Christians about suffering for righteous reasons, said that they should be prepared to stand up for their beliefs; they were to be ready to give an answer to anyone who questioned them about the hope within them. As summer is now upon us, and though it may be a stressful time, I would like to encourage all of us to be prepare not just to tell people why we believe, but to glorify God in all that we do. Thus the title of today’s message is Be Prepare to Glorify God.

As we enter the summer period there are several things that we can do to help us to stand fast over the summer and live a life that is pleasing to God. Though many obstacles may come up against us, we can fight a good fight of faith, and hold fast to our salvation. But a major part of winning a battle is how well one is prepared for battle. Now how do you spell prepared? P-R-E-P-A-R-E-D.

P - Be Properly Positioned (II Thess 2:15)

What do I mean by “Be Properly Positioned”? You can not stand strong against an attack if you are wavering on whether the issue is right or wrong. If we are going to fight successful battles we must have our position firmly settled in our hearts and minds. When you go home. Your old friends may have heard that you are saved now, but do they really know what that means and how it should be reflected in the way that you live. And even if they do know, does that mean that they will not try to sway you from the path. You can not afford to wait until you are invited to participate in unholy activities before you decide on where you stand. Now you have come to church and Bible study. You have heard what Pastor, Todd and I have taught. You’ve had follow-up people, mentors, etc. who have shared scriptures with you and given you opinions on various issues. You know where we stand, but where do you stand. Are you firmly and properly positioned. Example: You’ve been at home a couple of weeks now. A few people have called, but everyone seems kinds of distant, stand offish. You’ve have very little real interaction with anyone and you are feeling lonely and left out. The phone rings, an old friend (of the same sex) is having a party. Just the old crew and you’re invited. Or the crew is going out clubbing and you’re invited. When the invitation is in your hand is not the time to decide where you stand. There are too many other factors to contend with at that time. You should know where you stand on as many issues as possible before you are confronted with them. Be Properly Positioned.

If we are going to stand firm as men an women of God, it is essential that we be rooted and grounded in the faith. We must know what we believe and why, else some trickster might come along and sway us away from the truth with enticing word and high promises. A tree stands tall and strong because its roots grow deep. As you enter the summer plant yourself in the word, seek as must spiritual nourishment as you can get. During the summer, water the seed that has been planted in you all year. If you have taken notes at church or Bible study, go over your notes. If you have tapes of messages play the tapes. We cannot allow the seed that has been sown in our lives this year to simply lie on stony ground, among thorns and weeds, or along the wayside; to be eaten by birds or blown away by the wind. We must nurture the seeds that they might grow deep of root and produce much fruit in our lives.

There are two aspects of being effectively enlightened.

2 COR. 2:11- One is not being ignorant of our enemy, his schemes and devices. Our enemy is no fool. He has a strategy and he has learned from God to be patient in allowing his schemes to come together. Events that he sets up in our lives may not immediately produce the desired fruit, but he knows if the seeds of wickedness stay planted long enough they will eventually blossom. So he is patient, oftentimes watering and nurturing seed that he has long ago planted, knowing that if the seed continues to grow un-noticed, the fruit will one day surface. God also sees these seeds. He is not ignorant of them. We, after God points these bad seeds out in us, oftentimes try to make excuses for them, to hide them, and fight against the Spirit of God who is trying to prune them out of us. We are enlightened but not effectively enlightened. We know the seed or problem is there, but we refuse to see the danger associated with allowing the seed to remain. Satan does not care if we know about his plan. He is only bothered when we stand against his plan in our lives. Effectively enlightened is to understand Satan’s plan and strategy that he is using against you, and to stand firmly and fight against his plan.

Eph. 1:17-18 - A second aspect of being enlightened is understanding God’s plan and will for your life. Just as we want to resist the devil’s plan for us, we want to line up with and be in agreement with God’s plan. We want to seek Him daily that we might know what is the hop of his calling for that day. What is it God that you desire for me to accomplish this day.

Of course, pray without ceasing does not mean that we must be on our hands and knees praying all the time. Rather it means to maintain a constant prayerful attitude and frame of mind. Stay in constant contact with God. It is as if you were a person on a deserted island with a two way radio. You don’t have to constantly talking on the radio, but you should have the radio on, listening for communication from someone and have the mike working and positioned in such a way as to allow easy access for returning communication.

Eph. 6:18 - Prayer is simply communicating with God. It can occur in different forms. We might be saying a prayer of confession, or a prayer of thanksgiving or worship. It may be a prayer of petition. Or we may be simply talking to God as we would a friend walking by our side. The end of that verse, watching with all perseverance brings us to A.

The word sober means self-controlled or alert. When one is drunk, he is staggering through light, without balance, with blurred vision and dull of senses. He will fall into traps that when sober he would have been able to avoid. He will see objects coming in his direction and fail to be able to even duck and protect himself. You know what I mean. You’ve seen drunk people before. Take what you have seen in the reactions, motions, actions, etc. of a drunk person, when we as Christians are not alert our enemy will take advantage of us in the same fashion.

I Peter 5:8-9 - Any prey in the jungle that is not alert is subject to attack and destruction from a lion. We are to be alert, always on our guard because our enemy is cunning and crafty. He will rarely lay an open trap. With a trap the prey never knows the trap is there until it is sprung. Likewise our enemy is constantly setting up traps for us. We must be alert, on our guard and listening as the Spirit of God leads us , lest we find ourselves in the snare of our enemy. Over the summer, what may look like a harmless action may lead to a huge trap. In II Sam.11, when David received the suggestion to stay home from battle and just relax, he probably thought nothing of it. He probably agreed that it was a good idea. When the thought came to take a nice relaxing stroll on his roof, he could see no harm in that. The trap was set, you see the enemy knew his weakness for beautiful women, and believe me he knows your weakness too. Every weakness that you have, even the ones that you don’t know about yet, Satan intends to use against you. Everyday he is strategizing on ways to exploit your weaknesses. We must be alert, attentive and wise in our actions lest we fall in a trap. Verse 9 takes us back to R.

We are to resist the enemy in any form that he attacks us. One mistake that we often make when confronted with temptation is agreeing with the enemy. Even if the dart he shoots at us is true we don’t have to agree with him and listen to his suggestion on how to handle the situation. We should move on to something else. Rather than thinking on his suggestions we should obey the word and do as Phil 4:8 says; think on things that are going to bring about a good report and praise to God. We are to be committed to resisting the devil.

James 4:7 - A vital part of resisting the devil is first submitting to God. Submitting to God in this sense means agreeing with God that what He is requiring is right. Many times we don’t like the rules and standards that God has established. Sometimes they seem hard and restrictive, esp. when we must deny our own flesh and go against our own wills. But we must submit our wills to God and commit to allowing His will to dominate our actions. When we commit to this train of thought and action, we will be able to resist the temptations of the enemy.

This is especially important to those who are going home for the summer. You may at times feel as though there is no one there to encourage you to continue in your walk with the Lord. Your church minister may not be like Pastor, easily assessable. Your parents may not be saved, sin seems to be all around you, pulling at you from every side. At that time you will have to encourage yourself. The enemy will try to tell you to join in the sin. (Of course he will not call it sin. He’ll call it fun.) But you will have already positioned yourself on those issues and know them to be sin. Here the word says don’t turn to things of the world, rather turn to spiritual things. Look to the Spirit of God to be your company. Sing to yourself. Read the Psalms to yourself. Remember the praise and worship songs we have sang all year. Sing and have church; just you, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Know that God will inhabit your praises at home just as he has done when you were in church. Tell yourself you can make it. Believe in yourself and in God’s ability to keep you. If you have a prayer language use it regularly. I COR. 14:4 says, “He that speaks in an unknown tongue edifies (or builds up) himself”. When there is no one else around to lift you up, use every resource that God has given you to lift yourself up.

In our preparation we have focused on standing against the enemy. But standing against Satan is not all there is to glorifying God. If we are going to give glory to God we must.

G - Give (Prov 3:9 - Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruit of all thine increase) - We are to give to God of our money, our time, our talent or anything else that we possess. We are to give to him first. God uses our gifts to manifest His will in the Earth. We are his hands, his feet, his arms to minister to those who are in need. We are his mouth to tell the world of his love and grace. To glorify God we must be willing to give of ourselves.

L- Lift Jesus Up (Matt. 5:16 - Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.) - We are to live in such a way that Jesus is exalted and glorified. If we live a life that lifts Jesus up, He will draw men and women unto him. (Lift Jesus up by showing parents and family the change in you. Show them through the way that you serve them.)

O - Obey the Lord (Heb. 5:9 - And being made perfect He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him) We know what things God has commanded us to do. We often want to ask God what is it you have for me to do in ministry for you. It is not the things that we do not know to do that are the problems. It is our failure to do what we know to do that is hindering our witness. God can not be glorified in our lives if we continue to sin, or participate in activities that bring Him no glory.

R - Rejoice in the Lord (Phil. 4:4 - Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice). I Thess. 5:18 says in every thing give thanks. No matter what we are going through in life we are to be thankful to God. Everyone is going to have trials and tribulations in this world. The difference between the Christians and non-Christians is that even when we are going through we can still have joy. We can continue to thank and trust God. We can know that we have His help and support and in that we can rejoice.

Y - Yield to God (Rom. 6:13) - This is often the hardest thing for mankind to do. God gave us a will and then asks us to yield that will to Him. Yielding is not always a matter of not sinning. Even pure holy desires must be yielded to him. Marriage is honorable, but it is not for all. Children are a blessing, but they are not given to all. Sometimes there seems to be no rhyme or reason to how God does things, but still we are to yield to his will. We have to trust that the ways of the Lord are perfect whether we understand them or not and thus yield to His will.

Are we prepared to glorify God this summer. Are we properly positioned to stand against the enemies attack? Are we really rooted in God’s word? Are we effectively enlightened on the plan of God and the attack strategy of our enemy? Can we be persistent in prayer, always alert and ready to resist the enemy? Can we exhort ourselves during those dry and barren periods? Can we give back to God of the abundance that he has given us and lift him up that he might draw others to him? Can we obey God, even when we do understand what he is doing? Can we rejoice in Him and give thanks to Him even in our hardest times? Can we yield ourselves to Him even when it involves the deepest desires of our heart? Yes we can do all of this because God has given us His Spirit and greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world.