I love this time of the year as any sports fan does. One of the many underrated events will take place next week, the NFL Draft. For NFL fans it is filled with anticipation and excitement. Soon the team with the first pick will be on the clock. A draft can make or break a team for years to come. There is a great amount of preparation for this. Teams evaluate every detail of players and determine which ones fit the needs of the team. This occurs over months.

As NFL teams undergo preparations, we ourselves go through this in our daily lives. This can be at work, personal time, or any other situation. I always want to be prepared for whatever life throws at me. Every day at the beginning of the workday, my calendar is pulled up to see what meetings are on the agenda. From here my preparations for the meetings begin. As a Christian are you prepared? What preparations must we take as Christians to be saved?

Mark 16:16, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

Matthew 28:19-20, “¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The above scriptures demonstrate to us what Christians must do. For us as Christians there is much preparation that we must do to get to heaven. Part of the preparation to take for baptism are: Hear, Believe, Repent, Confess, and be Baptized. Throughout scripture there are references to why being prepared is so important.

Mark 13:32-33, “³² But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.”

Matthew 24:42-44, “42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Brothers and Sisters, are you prepared? Scripture shows us what we must do to be prepared and why we are to be prepared.