with all your might everywhere the
my strength.
I will serve the Lord with all my heart,
with all my soul, with all my might.
He will call my strength.
He'll call my heart,
He'll call my soul,
He'll call my mind,
He'll call my strength.
I will serve the Lord with all my heart,
with all my soul, with all my mind.
He'll call my strength.
Good evening, it's Tuesday!
Wack up!
That's what we do at this time on Tuesday night.
We're going to talk today about baptism.
Now baptism actually is something fairly simple.
It's when a person decides to follow Jesus their whole life.
Okay, I'm going to do everything that Jesus wants me to do.
The best thing I know how to do,
I know I'll make mistakes along the way,
but I'm going to do that.
And so then they request to be baptized.
That's where it's baptized, you know.
Now when you get baptized, it doesn't wash your sins away.
It doesn't make you a better Christian,
but it does show to everybody that the old you is gone
and the new you has come.
Just like when Jesus went to the grave
and He was in there until the third day.
When you go under the water, it's kind of like that.
It's the old you going out of the water
and the new you coming up out of the water.
Okay, does anybody know where the word baptism comes from?
Baptismo.
That's correct. It comes from the Greek word.
Did you know that as well?
I did.
Alright, awesome.
So it comes from the Greek word, baptismo.
And if you look at the Greek word,
it would look like it says baptismo,
because it ends with a kind of W looking thing.
Okay, and so that makes the O sound.
And then in the middle is a row,
which looks like a P,
but actually normally would make like,
we wouldn't think of it as a P sound,
but anyway, so the point is,
it's baptismo, that it looks like,
and then there really was no good word
to make it into baptism,
because that word didn't exist yet.
There was no English word baptism, like we have now.
And so when they first were translating the Bible,
they translated that word baptism,
because that's kind of what it looks like.
Because it looks like baptism with a W on the end.
There's almost no word,
I can't think of any word in the English language
that has a W on the end,
like baptismo,
or I'm gonna go walk to the store,
we don't do that, right?
There's no W on the end of the word,
so you just drop that one off there
and make it baptism.
Now the main reason to do that,
because to baptismo,
someone is to what them?
How do you do that?
Dunk them or immerse them, right?
So immerse is a big word for dunk.
So if you go to the coffee shop,
if you're a coffee drinker,
and you get coffee and donuts,
and you dunk your donut in your coffee,
some people do that,
I don't do that because I don't drink coffee,
I don't do the do.
And if you dunk your donut in the coffee,
then what you're actually doing is you're baptismo-ing
your donut in the coffee.
You wouldn't say that either.
But the point is you're dunking it in the coffee.
You get dunked.
If you jump in a mud puddle in the spring
when there's a lot of rain on the ground,
you're baptizing your shoes.
Probably not baptizing your knees, hopefully,
but you're baptizing your shoes.
So that's where the word comes from.
Baptism means to dunk or to immerse.
And again, it is symbolic of,
I am living for Jesus now.
No longer living for me or for anyone else
or for anything else.
I'm just living for Jesus.
And it's super important
that you don't make that commitment
unless you mean it.
Because everyone in this room is still fairly young.
Believe it or not, even I am still fairly young.
And so if I were to make that commitment today,
I would be hoping maybe to live for Jesus
for another 50 or 70 years,
but some of you might go 100.
Okay, and so 100 years is a long time,
long, long time.
Don't you easily go 100, shouldn't you?
Easily go 100, yep.
And so that's a long time to say
you're gonna live for Jesus every day.
Okay, but if that's what you're doing,
then you wanna get baptized
to show everybody that's what you're doing.
And we are going to baptize
here in this giant tank of water,
which is empty right now,
so it's just a giant tank, like a bathtub,
for like five people.
They all stand out from the bathtub.
Probably get eight people in the bathtub.
You're not gonna test that.
You could probably get eight people in that.
That being said, yeah, Sunday maybe.
We can draw a line in the floor
and just all people can stand in that space.
But anyway, yeah.
The point is we're gonna do that,
and we are not gonna do it this Sunday.
We're gonna do it the following Sunday.
So if you are a new believer in Christ,
you're living for Jesus,
and you believe that you should be baptized,
or let's say you accepted Jesus Christ
as your Lord and Savior,
and then you never got baptized.
It should have been months ago,
a year ago even,
or you say, I was living for Jesus,
but I kind of forgot.
I just kind of quit doing that.
And then I came back to Jesus,
and you feel like God wants you to be baptized
and symbolized as a new woman,
and we're gonna do that a week from Sunday.
So you have exactly Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
You have 11 days,
if the Lord is telling you to do that,
to make sure that I know,
so we can be ready
and we'll do it on that Sunday.
And we already know that River,
my young sister,
is getting baptized on that Sunday,
a week from this Sunday.
Okay?
So we'll be doing that.
So when we come in, we'll be ready.
If you're gonna do it,
let me know in advance if you possibly can,
and I'll give you some tips
on how to make it smooth, drainage.
We're gonna pray together at this time,
and we're gonna live for Jesus this way.
We're gonna study the Bible,
we're gonna sing a couple of praise songs,
and we're going to learn
and use new ways to do it.
Okay, let's pray together.
Let's pray together.
Father in heaven,
thank you for letting us be here.
Thank you for making the arrangements.
For the person who drove the vehicle
and the person who gave us the job
to make the money for the gas and the tanks
so we could be here.
Lord, for the person who first shared the God for us.
For the person who decided once and for all
that we had to own this building.
For the person who black cleaned these chairs
for vacuuming the floor.
Thank you for the person who paid the electric bill,
and that in some cases,
that many of the adults in the room all cooperate.
You gotta pay the electric bill
so we got lights so we can see them here right now.
And more coming from the boiler.
And so Father, this time is your time
that they do arrange all of it.
You prepare it so all those things are in place
so that we can be here right now.
And so we're kind of gonna give it back to you now.
We're gonna trust you with it.
We'll keep it so we can grow, so we can learn,
so we can worship you,
so we can have a little fun with our friends
and our brothers and sisters in Christ.
And know we're in the right place
so we're gonna do whatever it is you guys are gonna do
and pray all that can be done.
Thank you.
Your Lord is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Songs 119, 105.
My Lord is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
When I feel afraid and I think I've lost my way,
still you're there right beside me.
Nothing will I fear as long as you are there.
Please be near me until the end.
My Lord is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Jesus, be my guide and walk with you to your side and I will love you until the end.
My Lord is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Okay.
Alright, at this time you will release the children
and have the children's leaders through the classroom.
Up and down.
Walk, learn, listen, and grow.
Oh God, you are my God and I will pray to you.
I will see you in the morning and I will love you like you're with me.
Step by step you'll meet me and I'll follow my dream.
Oh God, you are my God and I will pray to you.
I will see you in the morning and I will love you like you're with me.
Step by step you'll meet me and I'll follow my dream.
My head was going other places.
Thank you sir.
I was distracted.
You can get your binder if you want.
Looks like RJ has all of the teenager's papers.
Did he give you a whole stack?
Alicia, when you sit down at some point in time during the lesson, can you look up the,
do you hear what I hear, that song, the verses where he says, do you know what I know?
Which I think is the king.
It's the shepherd to the warm and mighty king.
Okay, I will fix that.
Yes, it was off.
But I wasn't teaching yet anyway, so.
But then what there's out there in the internet world didn't need to know what I just said anyway.
We were talking about you.
No, actually we weren't.
We are now, but we weren't then.
Okay, so look right in the middle at the top of your page.
And it says title and there are three blanks.
And the title is, Do You Know? K-N-O-W. Do you know? That's the title.
K-N-O-W. Do you know? Question mark.
Not know or now, but know. K-N-O-W.
It's right up under my chin now.
I'm going to get much higher. That's as high as I can get.
Got something?
I hear you on the speakers.
Coming out of the speakers.
It must be on the, it could be turned down on the board, the ATEM Mini Pro on that dial on the sound effect board.
One of those is probably turned down.
Test, test, test, testing.
Testing, testing. Definitely coming out the monitors.
Check the board down below.
Testing, testing. Testing, testing. Okay.
No problema. All right. We're on the left hand side to start with.
Okay. So we've got a reference. It is Matthew 25, Matthew 25, 1 to 12.
Okay. And I'm going to start reading and then you'll be able to figure out the blanks as we go, I hope.
That's the plan. All right.
So in Matthew 25, it says, Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
So you got a box and then you got a word that starts with V. Ten virgins.
So the box is ten and the V is virgins.
25, 1 to 12.
That's correct.
Then the kingdom of heaven will be compared, comparable to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
Verse two.
And five of them were foolish and five were prudent.
So you got two boxes.
That doesn't fit in there. Just five and five.
Five and five.
Okay. And then we got the first five, which you kind of look ahead, could figure out the boxes a little bit there, give you a little hint there.
The first five we're going to talk about.
So now as we talk about the first five, I want you to figure out what goes in these blanks.
Are you with me, Kashawn?
Yes.
So from the beginning of verse two, it says, and five of them were foolish and five were prudent.
Now, verse three.
For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them.
Okay.
So looking at the two fives that you have there, which one is it?
The top one or the bottom one?
It is the bottom one. That's very good.
And the first phrase is?
Say it again.
No, no extra oil.
That's right.
No extra oil.
Okay.
So the fools are on the bottom.
For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them.
Verse four.
But the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.
So now look up at the other five.
And the first phrase is extra oil.
All right.
So the first five took no extra oil.
They're on the bottom.
And the prudent five, which is wise or they make decisions that make sense.
Basically, that's what prudent means.
Bless you.
The prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.
Verse five.
Now, while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.
Okay.
So notice there's an S under both fives.
Not very complicated.
It probably means sleep.
All right.
Very good.
Okay.
So you put sleep under both.
Now there's a difference coming up though.
So you see that one of them is going to get a T and one of them is going to get a B.
All right.
So going back up to verse four.
But the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.
Now, while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.
But at midnight, there was a shout.
Behold!
The bridegroom!
Come out to meet him.
Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.
And the foolish said to the prudent, give us some of our oil for our lamps are going out.
Okay.
So the bottom group does one response to him coming and the other group does the other.
Now they kind of both trim their lamps, right?
But then as they're trimming their lamps, the other group does something different.
And we'll take a stab at what that B might be.
No, it's not behold.
That's before that.
So it's in this.
The foolish said to the prudent, give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out.
Okay.
You could say borrow, except the response is no.
They're told no, they can't borrow.
Say it again.
Begs.
Begging or begs.
Right.
So they're begging oil from those who brought extra oil.
The T is trimmed.
Okay.
So both technically trim them, but you really can't do only so much trimming your lamp if
you don't have any oil in it.
Right.
So they went, so while they were trimming, they went to begging because they realized,
hey, we didn't bring any oil.
The other group just trimmed their oil and it stops there.
Trimmed their lamp and it stops there.
Okay.
So verse 8 was, and the foolish said to the prudent, give us some of your oil for our
lamps are going out.
Verse 9, but the prudent answered saying, no, there will not be enough for us and you
two.
Go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.
Okay.
So now we're down, we're past where the two groups are broken down and it says no.
The N is no.
Go buy.
Okay.
So that was their response.
Go buy your own oil.
Basically go buy some for yourself.
Then verse 10 says, and while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom
came and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast.
Went in.
Very good.
No, go buy your own oil.
Then while they were waiting, while those five went off to buy more oil and the bridegroom
came, they went in.
Okay.
Now notice they were all there with lamps.
They were all waiting for the bridegroom.
Right.
That's what started them out.
And then they're in two separate groups.
Half of them are prudent and ready with extra oil.
Half of them are not.
That's what separated them out.
Okay.
Verse 11 says, and later the other virgins came.
These are the ones that went into town to buy more oil.
They also came and said, Lord, Lord, open up for us.
But he answered and said, truly I say to you, I do not know you.
And verse 13 says, be on alert then, you do not know the day nor the hour.
Okay.
So the arrow points to that and it says there's an A, a K, a T, a B, and an R.
Everyone want to take a stab at it?
Okay.
So the first two words are wrong, but to be ready is correct.
Okay.
So what do you think the A and K are?
It's close.
So the known or new, right, K-N-E-W is new.
Yeah.
They always knew or they all knew to be ready.
So they started out knowing they needed to be ready when the bridegroom came.
That's where they started at.
But there was a division in them.
One group chose to be ready and they went the extra mile to be ready.
You could say they all stayed awake in case he would come, right?
No.
Half of them stayed awake and half of them went to sleep, right?
No.
They all went to sleep.
Okay.
So the difference is there's some kind of a difference in they all knew they were supposed to be ready.
And then they all fell asleep.
And then when the cry went out, half of them woke up and applied the extra oil to their lamps after trimming their lamps and they were ready.
And the other half had no extra oil and they weren't ready.
Okay.
And then if you'll notice there's a up to the right from there, there are five blanks.
And it's from verse 12.
That is correct.
Very good, Caleb.
I do not know you.
And that is the Lord's reply or the bridegroom's reply.
And in this parable, we can pretty much assume that Jesus is the guy that is being credited, right?
The scariest thing about the word Jesus is written in the Bible.
What's that?
Scariest?
Yeah.
Yep.
Pretty scary.
This is not the only place either.
Okay.
So let's just go back and recap for one second, make sure you understand.
There were 10 virgins all waiting for the bridegroom, which is representing Jesus, right?
All 10 of them knew they needed to be ready.
All 10 of them sat out there with their lamps waiting for Jesus.
But five of them took the extra steps to make sure that they were ready when they woke up from their nap.
And five of them didn't take any extra steps to make sure that they're ready.
And so when they woke up, they couldn't put oil in their lamps and they had to go buy it themselves.
And when they came back, the Lord or the master, the bridegroom said, I never knew you.
Okay.
So now we're going to go over and look in the book of Luke.
So you're going to go all the way up to the right hand side of your page.
And the reference there is Luke 12.
And it's 35 to 40.
So we're in chapter 12 verses 35 to 40.
Jesus is speaking.
And he says, be dressed in readiness and keep your lamps lit.
You see it?
Ready to put on that first line, Kashawn?
Ready and?
No, there's no K. It's LL.
I am lit.
Okay.
Be dressed in readiness and keep your lamps lit or alight as how the New American Standard actually says it.
Alight, which I think is kind of more proper English.
Okay.
Verse 36, keep following down with me.
And be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks.
Like men.
To open the door.
What's that W?
Waiting.
Like men waiting to open the door.
Okay.
Now notice it doesn't say be men who are waiting to open the door.
Right.
It doesn't say that.
It says be like men who are waiting to open the door.
So what is, what are men who are waiting to open the door like?
Naked?
In the bath?
Knee deep in the tough project?
Dressed in a proper attire?
Right attitude.
Right attitude?
I like that.
Ready.
Right?
If I hear the knock, I'm moving.
I can't tell you how many times I've been here in this building.
Probably a hundred times at least by now.
And I have a scheduled meeting and that person's coming and I'll tell them, I've been telling a lot of times, I'll tell them what door to come to.
Come to this number or that number or that door, back facing door by the ramp or whatever.
And I'm in the building.
And my ear is peeled for their knock.
And then when they knock, I go to the door quickly and I let them in.
Okay.
So a person who is ready is listening.
They're ready.
They're dressed in the proper attire.
They have the right attitude.
They know what the next step is.
They know what's about to happen and they're ready to move.
Okay.
And we're supposed to be like that, like men waiting to open the door.
Okay.
We're going to go a little further in this one.
We were in verse 37.
Blessed are those slaves whom the master shall find on the alert when he comes.
Truly I say to you that he will gird himself to serve and have them recline at the table and will come up and wait on them.
Okay.
So the B is blessed.
What do you got, Kashawn?
Nope.
Blessed are those found ready.
RJ plugged it in for you.
Blessed are those found ready.
The next one is the surprising one.
A little bit.
So what's going to happen?
It says blessed are those found ready.
First of all, let's back up one second.
What does it mean to be blessed?
Or blessed.
Okay.
Yeah.
That's a good way of saying it.
So you're going to get a gift.
You need something good.
Right?
Simply put, that's a good answer.
It really comes from the word well spoken of.
And when God speaks something, what happens?
It becomes true.
Right.
So it means well spoken of by God.
Right?
So God is going to do good things.
So the next line tells us what the good things are that God is going to do.
Chris, were you going to answer that?
Did you have your hand up?
What was it?
He will serve.
That's right.
He will serve.
Okay.
So he, the he is Jesus.
Or the Lord.
The master coming.
Right?
Come on.
It's dangerous up in here, man.
Okay.
Yes.
Be ready.
The team, the three stooges.
There's three of them.
Okay.
So there's an idea when the master comes in out of the field and the servants are waiting for him, what happens?
The servants meet him at the door.
They take his coat.
They take his boots.
They clean up after him.
They feed them.
They feed the master.
They provide for him.
Right?
But that's not what's happening in this case.
He's saying blessed is the one who's found ready.
The master will serve him.
So Jesus will take care of us if we will just be waiting and found ready when the time comes.
So then we are given this direction, which again comes out of verse 40 very clearly.
And I'll read it 39 through 40.
And it says, or 38 through 40.
It says whether he comes in the second watch or even the third and finds them.
And finds them so.
Blessed are those slaves.
And be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
Verse 40.
You too be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.
Okay.
So based on these two passages of scripture, do we know when Jesus is going to come back again?
Will we know when Jesus is going to come back again?
Okay.
I tend to agree with that.
Let's look at one more passage of scripture.
Okay.
So this one is 1 Thessalonians chapter five.
So if you're looking at the bottom middle, the bottom middle right there, 1 Thessalonians chapter five.
And it's verses one through six.
This is what Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica on this topic.
He says, and you could receive this for yourself.
If you're listening, if you're paying attention today, you could receive this as a letter directly to you.
It's 1 Thessalonians chapter five verse one.
Now as to the times and the epics, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you.
So what is he saying?
What does that mean?
Somebody give me in your own words.
What did he just say to the Thessalonians?
Okay.
He doesn't need to be writing them about what?
Because he's writing them.
This is the fifth chapter of the book.
So he's clearly needs to be writing them, but he doesn't need to be writing them about.
Now he's writing all about God.
Let me read it again.
Now as to the times and the epics, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you.
So a time is like when something happens.
So like I get out of school at three.
So you know, if I tell you school's out every day at three, from that point on, you know what time you get out.
Or say church at 6.30.
So you're in church at 6.30.
You're in Bible study.
Worship.
11.30 on Sundays.
Worship starts 11.30 on Sundays.
Those are the times.
The epics are like the ages.
They're the seasons, much bigger periods of time.
Like if for, to use a video game or a gamer term, a story arc.
Right?
So how long is it going to last?
What is the goal?
The goal is to do this.
But then you get there and find out, oh, that really wasn't the goal.
So it's actually to do this.
That really wasn't the goal.
It's actually to do this.
And the story arc starts from point A and it goes to the first goal where you find out the second goal was actually the goal.
The third goal, which is actually the goal, that's the story arc.
And what he's saying is, you have no need of me to write to you on those topics.
When it will happen?
How long we will have to wait?
When it will fit in?
Like what will be the time, when it kind of time when it happens like that?
You don't need that.
Which is an encouraging saying because it says they've already gotten it.
They've already figured that out.
And I submit to you the same is true of us if we will listen to this lesson and to the rest of scripture on this topic.
Verse 2 says, for you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.
Okay, so now this so far sounds like he's saying what?
About when Jesus is going to come again.
That it will be unexpected.
That there's no way we can know when it's going to come.
Right?
That still sounds like that's what he's saying, tying it into the other two.
Be ready for you don't know when it's going to come.
Alright, so first of all under the bottom let's get that filled in down there.
Okay, first that's when it's five, one to six.
Now I did not give you any of the first letters.
So this is the hardest thing on the page.
Okay?
But I'll read the verse to you.
If you count the blanks and figure out you might just get it.
Alright?
So here we go.
For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.
Nope, there's no for you yourselves.
The day of the Lord dash like a thief in the night.
Okay?
The day of the Lord like a thief in the night.
By this time the Thessalonians know and I think you know, you should know, Jesus is coming back again.
And when he comes there's going to be a lot of people taken off guard by it.
Okay?
Even some who profess to be Christians.
Believe it or not there are people who say that they are Christian that don't even believe that Jesus is coming back again.
They're definitely going to be taken aback by it.
But there are a lot of people who are not Christians.
They don't profess to be a Christian.
They don't profess to be a follower of Jesus.
Right?
And they're living their lives and they're trying with all their heart to not think about these matters.
Because in their heart is evidence of the truth.
That this life is not forever.
That death is very real.
That sin is a thing that is against God.
And since they're in sin they realize they are against God.
That those evidences are in their heart.
So they're trying not to think about it.
Okay?
And verse 3 then says,
While they are saying,
Peace and safety!
With an exclamation point.
Peace and safety.
And that's three words and it goes in the next blanks and there's even the exclamation point to clue it in for you there.
Peace and safety.
Okay?
Then, destruction will come upon them suddenly.
Birth pangs upon a woman with child,
And they shall not escape.
Okay?
So they say peace and safety.
And then there's a little arrow pointing down and the answer they get back is,
Destruction.
That's right.
Very good.
Okay.
So destruction.
Now you've only got the one little area over to the right to fill in and you will have filled in all of your blanks.
Okay?
And that's where it really gets good.
So we've got peace and safety and destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child.
And they shall not escape.
Verse 4.
But you brethren are not in darkness that the day should overtake you like a thief.
Hear that?
Check the first line.
Yes, you are.
Keep going, Kishan.
On the second, it's an N.
Thank you for critiquing my writing.
You are not in darkness.
Very good.
Also gave you the reference for the verse there, which I just read verse 4.
You are not in darkness.
Okay?
So he says, but you brethren are not in darkness that the day should overtake you like a thief.
Now, verse 5.
You are all sons of light and sons of day.
We are not of night nor of darkness.
Now, verse 6.
Listen closely.
So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.
And that gives you the phrases for the last two lines.
Did you catch it?
Yes.
Not.
Yes.
Be.
I heard somebody say be.
Alert and sober.
Be alert and sober.
Okay, now sober obviously includes not being drunk or using drugs, but that's not what it's talking about, is it?
And it's not talking about being somber.
Somber is sad, kind of mopey, right?
It's sober.
In other words, take yourself seriously.
Take God seriously.
That's what it means to be sober, is to take things seriously.
This is no joke.
Okay?
So what he's just said to them is you are not in darkness so that the day of the Lord would overtake you like a thief.
Right?
So in other words, they can see it coming.
But you, brethren, are not in darkness that the day should overtake you like a thief, for you are all sons of light and sons of day.
We are not of night nor of darkness.
So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.
Okay?
All right.
So we've got all the blanks filled in.
Now let me kind of wrap this up neatly for you and then I'll ask some questions here.
Okay.
So going back to the beginning, Jesus is coming again, at which point in time some pretty incredible things are going to happen, including essentially all of creation being remade under God's control.
When that happens, will everybody be surprised?
No.
No, not everybody.
Of the ten virgins, half of them, right, expected it.
Right?
Half of them expected it, right?
Now actually all of them expected it.
You see the difference?
All ten of them actually expected it.
So, exactly.
They got ready.
They got their lamps lit.
They, even when they woke up, even when they woke up from sleeping,
they were expecting it.
That's why they right away went to trim their lamps, at which point in time they discovered, oh, we were imprudent.
We didn't bring oil.
We see that you brought oil.
Give us some of your oil.
Right?
And those who brought extra oil said no, because there won't be enough for you and for us.
So go buy oil all this time.
Right?
You started out thinking you could do it for yourself.
You started out thinking you could buy more.
You could get yourself ready real quick if things didn't go quite right.
Right?
You put it off, you procrastinated, you didn't stay ready.
You weren't alert and sober when you went to sleep, and now you want to be alert and sober now?
Well, now there's not time to all of a sudden get alert and sober.
Do you see what it's getting at?
If you will stay ready, if you will stay focused on the Lord in all things, right?
So I used to work for Pizza Hut years ago.
I was a restaurant manager when I left there.
I was a manager of some kind the whole time I was there, and I was a restaurant manager when I left there.
And we would get food inspections by the city, and they would come and inspect you.
If you had too many inspections, they shut down your restaurant.
You couldn't serve pizza.
Okay?
If you can't serve food, you can't make money.
And in fact, even if you got a few bad things on your inspection, it'd go in the newspaper.
And the next thing you know, every customer's coming in the front door and saying,
hey, we saw your, we saw your, and some customers aren't coming anymore,
because they saw that the restaurant is not clean, or if it had rats,
or they had food sitting on the floor, or food that was above temperature, things like that.
All of those were violations, and the restaurant would not be allowed to sell food.
And if they were still allowed to sell food, when people found out about that,
they wouldn't want to buy food from you, because they could get sick, right?
So the restaurants that I served in, the first manager that I was under,
and then the second manager that I was under, and then when I was doing it, right?
We always made sure that we took care of those things.
We didn't store food on the floor.
We cleaned up under the shelves in the walk-in cooler.
We kept the food at right temperature.
We didn't keep the food beyond its date, right?
We didn't, we'd have no rats in the building, none whatsoever.
We never would allow that.
There was nothing for them to eat, right?
And that kind of, we made sure and kept the building ready.
Then whenever the health inspector showed up, he'd check the building,
and he would always find something, because they always find something.
But everything he found was relatively minor.
Why?
Because we were ready for him to show up every day.
That's what Jesus has asked us to do.
He's asked us to live day in, day out, all day long,
ready as if he may come at two, or at five, or tomorrow at one,
or while you're sleeping tonight.
So how do you do that?
Well, you are alert and you are sober.
Did you grab that verse?
Okay, we are, oh, you have the actual music.
I'm impressed.
Okay, so the point is this.
You take the steps to be, are you going to sleep?
You're going to sleep, right?
So how do you go to sleep?
Well, the previous day before you go to sleep,
you're aware Jesus could come before you wake up.
There's a little child's prayer that says, now I lay me down to sleep.
Right?
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.
But there is another alternative.
At four o'clock this morning while you're sound asleep, Jesus could come again.
And if you wake to the sound of a roaring trumpet in your bedroom,
which shouldn't probably be happening, right?
Then you know Jesus has come and you should go to bed,
which means you shouldn't be watching porn or reading dirty jokes
or streaming Facebook stuff that you shouldn't be looking at
or soft porn girls in bikinis or cheerleaders doing maneuvers
or watching rated R movies that are violent before you go to sleep.
You shouldn't be doing any of that.
Your dreams should be filled with God things
because that's what you do before you go to bed.
Because what if he comes while you're sleeping?
You can go to bed thinking, well, I'll repent of this in the morning.
I'll live for Jesus tomorrow.
You can go to bed thinking that.
And then if he comes in the middle of the night, you're going to be like,
but I wanted to repent.
Just as the horn ends, that's a little late,
Jesus is saying you don't need to know exactly when I'm coming back again.
You need to be prepared every moment.
This gives us strength.
He also said if it was known when he was coming back again,
then the person, the master of the house basically,
could have been ready for him.
So in other words, if there are those who are pretending to be Christians,
they can pretend really good on the day that Jesus comes.
They can make everybody think the right thing,
which will actually make less people ready,
and that's not what God wants.
So it's all about the fact we don't need to know the times and the epics.
We don't need to know where exactly we're at in the story.
We always feel like it's really close.
Like every time you see things in the news, they line up with scripture.
You're like, oh man, it could be this year.
Jesus could be coming again this year.
It's possible.
A lot of the things that need to be done have happened.
It pretty much looks like the next thing is Jesus comes again.
It could come tomorrow.
So we need to be living accordingly.
But you know what?
It was like that 100 years ago, and it was like that 500 years ago.
They all felt the same way.
And that's the way we're supposed to feel.
We should be living our lives ready.
If there is a knock, if there is a horn, a trump,
we should be ready to answer and let Jesus be king and Lord as he has become.
Okay?
So before we're done, we have two things to do real quick.
So first thing is this song.
Just the verse, you read them out loud to me.
Just the verse where it says, do you know?
The shepherd's voice to the mighty king, do you know what I know?
In your palace, where mighty king, do you know what I know?
The child, the child shivers in the cold, let us bring him silver and gold.
Let us bring him silver and gold.
Okay.
That's the part where the shepherd sings, if you will,
sings because it's a song, right, to the king.
Do you know what I know?
See, because we know this about Jesus, what we just learned,
we should be saying to everyone else, do you know what I know?
Listen, it's going to happen.
There are going to be people crying, peace and safety.
It's happening right now.
Right now in our country, there are people who profess to be Christian
that are LGBTQ, whatever, and they say that's okay.
My lifestyle is perfectly okay.
There are people who are thieves, and I know I'm okay.
There are people who are murderers, I know I'm okay.
I sat in council with a woman who said, well, I did this, it was sin,
I know it was sin and betrayal, but I'm a Christian, I'm forgiven,
and God's going to take care of me, it's going to be all right.
And I'm like, that's not what our salvation is for.
So the next time you're thinking about doing something you know you shouldn't be doing,
you realize, does that make me ready?
Does that make me alert and sober?
Or am I blowing this day off, wasting this hour that God has blessed me with,
and then Jesus comes and says, hey, you know, you're not ready.
And that would be a mess.
That would be a hot mess.
If we're saved and we said we're going to live for him for the rest of our lives,
we didn't mean just like a few hours each day.
It's every waking moment, and then right before you go to bed,
and right when you wake up, right?
So you can't really control too much what goes on in the middle of the night,
but it matters how you go to sleep and how you get up,
because he might come while you're sleeping.
And we have to be ready every moment.
You're like, oh, that doesn't seem fair.
Listen, there have been times in my life where I've waited for something to happen
for days or weeks or months, and sometimes it's going to be like that.
You're going to be, you've heard of senioritis, right, in high school?
Second half of the senior year, and you're like, I just want to be done.
I don't want to go to school anymore.
I don't want to get up and go to school every day, even though I get to see my friends.
I want to be done.
I want to grab, you can't wait to walk, can't wait to,
I want to get on with the next phase of my life, right?
And you've got months of waiting before it's finally done,
and they call it senioritis because your eyes are somewhere else, right?
And there's nothing really wrong with that.
That's the way it is.
It's like that.
We really want something.
You hear about, you know what?
The first of the year, you're going to get a promotion,
or first of the month, you're going to get a check, right?
And you're like, man, I'm waiting, I'm waiting, and then finally it comes.
We can wait as long as we need to wait.
We can live our whole lives waiting.
Most people live their whole life waiting for their shift to come in.
Like I'm waiting for that money, waiting for my job to get better,
waiting to get a promotion, waiting to get a better job, right?
Waiting for my kids to grow up so I don't have all that extra bills.
You know, it's like, wait for my kids to mature a little bit
so I don't have to fight with them all the time.
We're all waiting for something all the time.
You're made to be able to do that.
You can wait on the Lord to come, and when he comes,
you can be ready and alert and sober.
Okay?
All right.
I have a hat.
This is the other one, last thing I wanted to do.
I made this hat.
You can buy this hat on amaldan.com.
It fits my sense of humor, but I think so far I'm the only one.
Okay?
So you see the hat?
Can you read the hat?
It says, step off, comma, we ain't friends.
Jesus, it's paraphrased.
Okay, paraphrase means that's not what he actually said.
Step off, we ain't friends.
Now you tell me the verse.
First person tells me the verse gets cashews for himself and a friend.
Say it again?
Okay, he says verse what?
Can you read that?
I have terrible handwriting.
Can you read it?
Neither.
But the reference is at the top of the blank.
Matthew 25, one, okay, go.
12.
12 is correct.
And a friend.
Who's your friend?
Take a friend.
Coming in.
Oh, okay.
All right.
So yeah, and actually you can find it elsewhere, but you can find it clearly in this lesson.
Now realize what was the defining factor?
They all, it's the ten virgins, they all knew they were supposed to be ready.
Now if you're in this room, you now know beyond a shadow of a doubt, there's three, six, five, twelve of us.
You all know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're supposed to be ready and alert.
You're supposed to be alert and sober when Jesus comes.
That's what you're supposed to be.
You know that.
So now if half of us get this wrong, then we're going to be in the half that Jesus says step off.
Right?
So let's not do that.
So what did they not do?
What was the, what did they not do?
Say it again.
They weren't prepared.
That's really all they did.
They weren't prepared because the other group had the extra oil and they did.
Both groups fell asleep.
They woke up.
They both trimmed their lamps.
Oh, crud, we don't have enough oil.
Please can we have some?
They begged at that point.
It's too late.
They weren't prepared.
So what do you do?
Prepare.
That's the answer.
Okay.
We're going to pray in closing at this time.
And then we have a hodgepodge mixture of treats and so we have some cookies that are in there now.