This week we get to continue in the collection
of talks that we've been in. This is the fourth
week of this five -week collection. So next week
is the last week of this. But we were in this
collection called Stories as Told by Jesus. And
what it is is it's looking at the stories that
Jesus told, which are called parables in the
Bible. And so in the Bible, Jesus tells these
parables that a lot of times we scratch our head
and go, what does that even mean? And so we're
unpacking these parables. We're unpacking these
stories that Jesus tells us. And so as we hop
in today, let me ask you this. Have you ever
thought you were ready for something until the
time actually came? You know what I mean? You're
like, man, I'm prepared. I'm ready. And then
you actually have to do it. I mean, I remember
when I got into high school. And the way that
my church did youth group is that we had life
groups that met in homes. And so I went to this
house. And I was really lucky because my leader,
he was a single guy who wanted to have a family
in the future. And so he had just bought a brand
new four bedroom home. And so a single guy living
in this four -bedroom home, some of his rooms
were empty. And as I got there, I was wondering,
I was like, where's all the people? There's more
cars outside than there are people. And someone
says, oh, they're in the boxing room. And I was
like, the boxing room? What is that? Well, it
was an empty room, like I said, where a bunch
of high school guys decided to bring boxing gloves,
go in there, beat the snot out of each other,
and then open the Word of God. It was awesome.
All right, it was amazing. And I was like, this
is the coolest thing I've ever seen. All the
people are in there. We're just boxed, just fighting
each other. And so the guy next to me who's also
a freshman, it was his first time. And he looked
at me and he goes, we gotta jump in there. And
I was like, you said we. Why'd you say we? I
ain't going anywhere. He's like, no, we gotta
challenge some people. We gotta hop, us two versus
them two. And I'm like, that's not happening,
man. He goes, next week, you gotta get ready.
I'm like, OK, I'll get ready. So that week, I'm
asking people, I'm like, can you give me some
advice on boxing? I don't know what to do. I'm
trying not to die next week. Can someone help
me out here? And I kind of got ready. But as
I showed up the next week, I asked this guy,
I was like, hey, are you ready? And he's like,
yeah, I'm ready. I was like, did you do anything
to prepare? And he's like, no, man, I'm good.
I'm ready. I'm like, okay, here we go. And so
we get the boxing gloves on and we're about to
hop in there and I look over at him and this
guy already had big eyes, but his eyes were like
the size of saucers. And he's like, let's go.
And I'm like, this is not the type of energy
I need right now. Like, and he just ran in and
all of a sudden we're in there boxing. And I'm
not kidding you. It was five seconds before this
dude got popped in the nose and started bleeding
everywhere and he was out. The fight was over.
It was done. We lost. And I was like, bro, you
said you were prepared. You said you were ready.
And he's like, I thought I was ready until the
time came to actually do it. See, I think in
our faith, sometimes that's us. We, we think
that we're prepared. We think that we're ready.
And we, until the time actually comes, because
what we do, our preparation is really just coasting.
We just coast along and we're not actually ready
when the time comes. It reminds me of the dad
joke. When my kids started losing teeth, I used
to tell them, Hey, you have summer teeth. And
they're like, what is summer teeth? I'm like,
some are there, some are not. I think we have
summer Christians in the church where sometimes
you're at church, sometimes you're not. Sometimes
you open the word of God, sometimes you don't.
Sometimes you pray, sometimes you don't. Sometimes
you actually think about God and invite him into
your life, and sometimes you don't. And I think
we live this life sometimes where we miss what
God has called us to. We don't understand the
seriousness of this. This is serious. And we
have to take it seriously. And because it's serious
and we have to take it seriously, we have to
ask ourselves the serious questions. And we have
to search ourselves to go, man, am I actually
prepared? Am I actually ready? We're going to
be in Matthew chapter 25 today, Matthew chapter
25. And to set this up, I love this because the
disciples, man, they started asking questions.
And the disciples are amazing because they give
me hope. They're just as big of idiots as I am.
If you've read through the Bible, a lot of times
I'm reading it and I have questions. I'm going,
what does Jesus even mean? And then I read one
line further and the disciples ask the exact
same question that I ask. And then you get to
understand what they're saying. So Jesus is teaching
and he's saying, hey, I'm going to leave, but
then I'm coming back. It's called a second coming.
I'm going to come back again. And his disciples
are like, what does that mean, Jesus? When are
you coming back? I don't get it. When are you
coming back? And Jesus says, I don't know. Jesus
himself said, I don't know, the angels don't
know, only the Father knows. And the reason Jesus
didn't tell us when he's coming back, the reason
why God the Father did not even reveal to Jesus
when Jesus is coming back is because he wants
us to live in a way where Jesus could come back
anytime. Because you and I, when we know that
there's a deadline, we like to push it up to
that deadline. I have a lot of kids that are
involved in different activities. And so usually
on the weekend when my kids have tournaments,
my wife will take one of them, whose tournament
it is, away for the weekend, and I'll have the
other kids at home. And while she's away, I'll
tell you right now, we live like we live in a
frat house, all right? The dishes just stack
up in the sink. Trash is everywhere. Stuff is
everywhere. Things are everywhere. I'm stepping
over things. I'm stepping over people. I'm like,
oh, how did you get there, right? Like, that's
where we live. But when I know she's coming home
at seven o 'clock on a Sunday night, guess what
I'm doing at six o 'clock on a Sunday night?
I'm cleaning, man. That place is spotless. Because
the second she walks in, she looks around and
she's like, oh, this is amazing. And I'm like,
I know. It's how it's been the whole time. You
know what I'm saying? But we like to push it
to the last second. When you have a deadline,
you push it there. And Jesus is going, I'm not
telling you when I'm coming back because I want
you to live like it could be any time. And he
says, let me say it this way. And he engages,
he starts engaging them in this parable. He starts
telling this story, Matthew 25 verse one. At
that time, the kingdom of heaven will be like
10 virgins who took their lamps and went out
to meet the bridegroom. Okay, now this parable
is one that a lot of us go, okay, this is too
scary to touch. I don't understand it. And the
word virgin throws us off because we're like,
what does this even mean? I know there's another
religion that talks about 72 virgins. What does
this mean? And we get scared and we don't know
what to do with it. But when you understand the
context of us, it makes a lot of sense. It's
actually a very simple parable to understand.
When we're referring to virgins here, what he's
referring to is young women that were of marriage
age, but were not married yet. And every young
woman who was of marriage age, but not married
yet was a virgin. Because if they were not, they
were kicked out by their family. They were kicked
out by their community. They were ostracized
completely. So everyone was there. So what this
actually is saying is just saying, bridesmaids,
these bridesmaids that were there to help the
bride on her wedding day. That's who he's referring
to. That's who the virgins are. And the reason
that that's so important is because their custom,
what they did is that the groom would be at his
house and he would leave his house to go and
get the bride and the bridesmaids would meet
him there. And then he would take the bride back
to his house. But the thing is, is they didn't
know when the groom was going to come. because
what he was doing at his house is he was in discussion
with the family over the price to marry the girl,
the dowry, what it would be. And so the longer
the discussion took, the more value she had.
So they wanted it to take long. They didn't want
it to be a quick agreement that they reached
and she wouldn't have a lot of value. And so
they didn't know when he was going to come back.
And so after he would have these discussions,
then he would go back and he would go to her
house and the bridesmaids would meet him and
go, let me go get the bride. And then they would
get the bride and have a parade on the way back
to his house, a procession on the way back to
his house where the wedding would be. And so
Jesus is telling this to a context of people
that understand this. They know what it's like
for the marriage customs of their day. And as
he says this, he then tells them this in verse
two, five of them, five of the bridesmaids were
foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones
took their lamps, but did not take any oil with
them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars
along with their lamps. See, everyone in the
procession was expected to carry their own torch
because if they didn't, they were assumed to
be party crashers because weddings of those days
were not just two hours, not just three hour
ordeal. They were like full on day long event,
couple days long. Right, you remember Jesus at
the wedding in Cana? They drank all the wine.
They ran out of it. They partied so hard that
the wine was gone. And then Jesus said, hold
on, let me make you more wine. Keep partying.
There's a lot of food. There's a lot of drink.
There's a lot of stuff going on. And it's a couple
of days. So when you saw a procession of people
holding these torches going across town, if you
were smart, you'd go, hey, I'm going to hop in
on this procession because I know what's at the
end of it. Food and drink and party. And it's
going to be awesome. And so there are party crashers.
I remember when I was in high school, late high
school and early college, I used to do this very
strategic thing. I would go down to downtown
San Diego as soon as the Padres game was starting,
and I would go to dinner. And as soon as I was
done with dinner, I'd go over to the front of
the stadium. It was probably about the third
or fourth inning, and people would start leaving.
Like, I don't know why they're leaving in the
third and fourth inning. Maybe it's because it's
the Padres. I'm not sure. But they'd be leaving.
And so I would ask them, hey, can I have your
ticket stub? All right, this is before digital
tickets. And so they would literally give me
their ticket stub. And it was awesome because
you never knew what you were going to get. You
get their ticket stub and you're like, wow, I
am very far on the upper deck today, right? Or
I'm on the field. This is amazing. But the important
thing was to have that ticket stub because it
was what got you in. And it proved that you were
supposed to be there. These torches that they
carried in this procession, they proved that
they were supposed to be there, that they were
not just wedding crashers. All right, the foolish
bridesmaids The foolish bridesmaids, they miss
the part that identifies them as a part of the
group. Sometimes we have foolish bridesmaids
in church. We have foolish bridesmaids in church
because it's somebody who just hangs out but
doesn't actually desire a real relationship with
Jesus. And listen, if you're just here to hang
out, we're glad you're here. This is a church
that I am proud to say that if I was not a pastor
of, I would be a participant in. I would attend
this church if I wasn't on staff. I love this
church. I think it is a great place to hang out
and to be a part of. But if you're just here
to hang out, you've missed the point. These bridesmaids,
they were foolish because they missed the thing
that actually made them a part of the group.
It's all about a relationship with Jesus. Jesus
says it this way in Matthew seven. Not everyone
who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom
of heaven. but only one who does the will of
my father who's in heaven. Many will say to me
on that day, Lord, Lord, didn't we do all these
things for you? Didn't we prophesy in your name?
Didn't we drive out demons? And in your name,
we performed many miracles. Then I will tell
them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me,
you evil doers. And this is scary. This is scary
because sometimes we think that our torch, We
think that our ticket stub is all the things
that we do for God. But God, I've done this for
you. God, I serve in this ministry. But God,
I give. But God, I show up. But God, I'm here.
And we have all these things that say, God, but
look what I've done for you. But you missed the
point that it's not what you do for God. It's
a relationship with God. And that's not the torch.
All that is is you're just hanging around the
party. You don't have a relationship with God.
Verse five, he says this, the bridegroom was
a long time in coming and they became drowsy
and fell asleep. At midnight, the cry rang out,
here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him.
Then all of the bridesmaids woke up and trimmed
their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise,
give us some of your oil, our lamps are going
out. No, they replied, there may not be enough
for both us and you. Instead, go to those who
sell oil and buy some for yourself. Now, some
of you are reading this and you're like, okay,
they must have missed preschool when sharing
is caring, right? Why are they being selfish?
Why wouldn't they just give the oil that they
have? And you need to understand that these bridesmaids
are not being selfish. What in fact they are
doing is they are setting healthy boundaries.
Some of you need to set healthy boundaries in
your life and that is not selfish. You need to
be able to say, this is a boundary that I'm setting.
And I love their response because they said,
listen, you can't ride my coattails. There's
a price that's required. You need to go buy it
yourself. There becomes a point in our faith
where we need to own it ourself. I was in middle
school when I grew up in church my entire life.
I'd been in church every single weekend. And
I went to church because that's what my parents
did. My faith was completely based off of my
parents' choice that they wanted me to believe.
And it wasn't until I was in middle school that
I realized that it wasn't about my parents' faith.
I needed to make the choice myself to follow
Jesus. And I needed to say, I'm choosing to accept
what Jesus has done, not because my parents want
me to, but because it's what I want to do. And
I owned my own faith. You cannot have a faith
that is dependent on your spouse. Just because
your spouse wants you to be here, that is not
your faith. Just because your parents went to
church their whole life, and when you come to
church, it reminds you of them, that's not what
it's about. You need to have a relationship with
Jesus. They're saying, no, no, no, you can't
just go ahead and borrow this. You need to go
out and you need to pay the price for it. Verse
10, but while they were on their way to buy oil,
the groom arrived and the bridesmaids who were
ready went in with him to the wedding banquet
and the door was shut. Later, the others came
and they said, Lord, Lord, open the door for
us. But he replied, truly, I tell you, I don't
know you. How prepared are you? How prepared
are you? Because sometimes we go, okay, I'm prepared
because I read a book. I'm prepared because I
know some knowledge. I think about this. Remember
when you had your first kid and you were prepared
because you read what to expect when you're expecting?
And you're like, I know, I read the book. I took
a parenting class. I'm good. And then you go
in and you have this baby and then the nurse
is there to help you and tell you like, no, no,
no, this is the way the diaper goes. And like,
you put the diaper on and then they do the craziest
thing ever. They put the baby in a car seat and
they let you take it home with you. And you're
like, what am I supposed to do now? Who's here
to help me? I don't know what the heck I'm doing.
And you can read every book in the world. And
at that moment, the panic inside of you is like,
I'm not ready. I'm not there. Listen, how prepared
are you? Because preparation requires action.
And just knowing something is not good enough.
You have to have action. Preparation requires
action. How prepared are you? Do you know Jesus?
Do you know Jesus? Because Jesus wants to know
you and his invitation for you to know him is
this. He went to a cross and died for you. His
invitation is this, is that God wanted a relationship
with you, but because of your sin and because
of my sin, we are separated from God. We cannot
associate with a perfect and holy God because
of our sin. And because of that gap, it says
that God so loved the world that he sent his
son. And Jesus came because the penalty for our
sin is death. The wages of sin is death. And
so Jesus paid the penalty. He paid the wages.
He said, I will pay the price that you deserve.
And he went to a cross. And Jesus died on a cross
for you and for me. And when we put our trust
in Jesus, we have a restored relationship with
God. That is the gospel. That is the good news.
That is what he's saying. Hey, listen, this is
what matters. It's not if you go to church. It's
not if you were a good person. It's not if you
just gave back. Oh, I've just given back to a
lot of people. It's not if you're on a serve
team. It's not if you're in a life group. It's
not if you just hung around church for 30 years.
That's awesome. We're glad you're here. It's
not about that. All that is is a torch with no
oil. All that is is carrying around a torch that
has absolutely no oil. It doesn't matter at all
because hanging around church is not the same
as having a relationship with Jesus. But I think
a lot of us are content with borrowed oil. All
right, we're content with just borrowing oil.
These bridesmaids are like, oh, I just wanna
borrow oil. Listen, you need to understand that
you don't need to borrow oil. There's an abundance
in Jesus. There's an abundance in Jesus for you.
And listen, my Catholic friends in here, I love
you, you're awesome, but you need to understand
that you have access to the same God that I have
access to. I always think it's crazy when people
are like, hey, will you pray for me? And yes,
I'll pray for you. The Bible says we should pray
for each other and we will. But you need to understand,
I don't have any special access to God because
I'm a pastor. You have the exact same access
to God through Jesus. The exact same access to
God through Jesus. You do not need to borrow
oil because you have the reservoir of where oil
comes from. And it's available to you. But sometimes
we rely so much on borrowed oil. We like listening
to messages and messages are great. We have a
good stockpile of messages on our website. You
can go back and listen to every single week.
They're incredibly helpful for you to build up
who you are and to live the life that you were
created for in Jesus. And we have the incredible
privilege of having an incredible pastor, lead
pastor that is a wonderful teacher like John.
We get to sit under his teaching. It's incredible.
And some of you are like, speaking of him, when
is he coming back? You're like, I want a pastor
who wears a sweatshirt. When is he coming back?
He'll be back. Don't worry. Don't worry. You'll
only have to deal with this for a couple more
weeks. All right. I'm saying it's going to get
better. Don't worry. We like those messages and
that's great. We like to listen to podcasts.
And listen, I'm telling you right now, if the
unedited podcast is not in your weekly routine,
you need to add it into your weekly routine.
because it is designed to help you live the life
that you were created for in Jesus. It's amazing.
It's something that can help you on your walk
and be a part of your week. All right, there's
books that are incredible to help you live the
life that you were created for in Jesus. They're
all out there and you can find those books. You
can read those books. You can consume that content
and every single one of those things, even though
it's amazing, it is secondhand. It is not from
the source. You have access to go to the source.
You have access to the word of God. You have
access to the living and active word of God himself
in your hand. You can read what he said. The
sword of the spirit that's sharper than any two
-edged sword that you have access to. You have
access to a conversation at any time, any place
with the God of the universe, the all -powerful,
all -knowing, all -present God of the universe
that wants to talk with you through prayer. You
have access to the Holy Spirit on the inside.
himself to guide you and walk with you and push
you through your life. When the difficulties
come, you have God inside of you to walk through
all of it. Do not settle for borrowed oil. Some
of you are settling for secondhand borrowed oil
when God is saying there is more. There's more
for you. You can go to the source. You can go
to the unending source. Scarcity is not a thing
with our God. And here's the thing about these
bridesmaids. All 10 of them looked exactly the
same on the outside. They were all invited there.
They all were there. They all had a lamp. But
what was on the inside is what matters. Having
extra oil. You can show up to church and you
can be here and on the outside you can look great.
You can do the right thing and say the right
thing and be in the right place and that's great.
But it's what's on the inside that matters. a
personal relationship with Jesus. How prepared
are you? Do you have a personal relationship
with Jesus? How prepared are you? Are you making
use of the time that you have? Because how you
live matters. It matters. How you live this life,
not just in this building, but outside of these
walls, how you live actually matters. It says
this in Titus 2, verse 11 through 13, for the
grace of God has appeared that offers salvation
to all people. The grace of God, right? That's
what we talked about, a relationship with Jesus
because of his grace. But what does it do? It
teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly
passions and to live self -controlled, upright,
godly lives in this present age while we wait.
for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory
of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. When
we wait for the answer to the question the disciples
ask, when are you coming back? In the meantime,
what does the gospel do? It helps us say no to
the worldly passions, to the human impulses and
choose to live in a godly way. And this has to
be a daily routine for us. There's a daily routine
for me to say no to my human impulses and say
yes to God. Every single time a woman walks past
me that is not my wife and everything inside
of me wants me to look, I have to say no to my
human passions and desires in order to say yes
to God. Because what's in me wants to, and it's
like, man, I wanna do it, I wanna look, but I
have to say no because the gospel is teaching
me to say no to my human passions and desires.
Every time I'm interacting with some dumb people,
listen, there's some dumb people out there. None
of you guys, I'm just saying, out there. And
my anger's bubbling up. and it wants to take
control of me, I gotta say no to my human passions,
what I want to do in order to say yes to Jesus.
Every single time that I am on the internet,
I have to say no to the things that I want to
go to, and I want to look at, and I want to click
on, and I want to go to because my human desires
and passions are saying no, this is what you
wanna look at, this is what you wanna do, and
I have to say no because the gospel is teaching
me to say no to those things, to say yes to Jesus.
Listen, every time that thought in your brain,
this is the place where we get messed up the
most, is our thoughts. Every time you want to
start thinking something about somebody or about
yourself that's not true. We have to stop. We
have to go, no, no, no, no. I'm not saying yes
to what the world wants, my human passion. I
need to take captive my thoughts. All right,
some of you guys suffer from stinking thinking.
All right, that's your ailment. That's what you
got. And it starts in here for us to say, no,
no, no. The gospel teaches me to say no, because
how I live matters. How I live matters. And it's
hard because that's what's inside of us. It's
hard to do that because what's inside of us wants
to come out of us. And a lot of us are like,
listen, you mess with me too much and my pre
-Jesus is gonna come out. You're like, I'm saved,
but I'm not soft. And that's what's inside of
us. But you need to realize this, check it out.
When God freed the Israelites from Egypt and
he took the Israelites out of Egypt, out of slavery.
He said, I'm taking you out of Egypt. But then
he spent the next 40 years taking Egypt out of
the Israelites. He spent the next 40 years going,
okay, listen, you are saved. You are no longer
a slave, but you keep wanting to go back and
live like a slave. Listen to me, church, you
no longer need to live like a slave because you've
been set free. You've been set free. You have
the power of God inside of you. And you don't
have to keep going back to living like a slave
when he said, no, no, no, you're free now. Living
a way that God has called you to live through
the gospel. Do you understand? The power is not
on your own. You want to watch someone fail in
the way that they live? It's when they think
that they have to do it on their own. Because
I can't say no to those internet sites that I
want to look at. Because I can't say no to the
people that I want to blow up on. I can't say
no to those things, but it's the power of God
inside of us. That's who does it. Some of us
are operating on the wrong power system. You
cannot do this on your own church. I cannot plead
with you enough for you to understand that you
don't have the strength to do this, but it is
God through you that has the strength in order
for you to say yes to what Jesus wants and say
no to what you want. And what that looks like
is this. The Bible says they will know you by
your love. They're not gonna know you by what
you said. They're not gonna know you by if you
came to church. They're not gonna know you by
your love. That's what we need to understand.
Just like the torch, it proved that they were
with them. So does us being prepared in the way
that we live, the way that we love. That's preparation
for people to know that we are with them. That's
who we follow. Listen, I get it. Life isn't always
easy. It's hard. And like, okay, I want to live
that way, but it's real hard because the circumstances
around me are difficult. All right, my boss just
doesn't get it. My boss is hard. They're like,
I don't get it. My kids, man, kids have the worst
timing in the world. They do. Right? Dad, dad,
dad. I'm like, I'm going to kick you across the
room right now. I'm not going to kick my kid,
OK? But I want to. I'm telling you right now.
There's some times. Right? It's hard sometimes
because things are hard. Right? Listen, you Prescott
drivers, you're testing me. You're testing me.
I'm telling you. Right? But some of you are clapping.
You're like, oh, I know. I know. That's awesome.
What part of California are you from? I'm just
kidding. I'm just kidding. But listen, it's hard
out there. And sometimes we blame our circumstances.
We blame our circumstances on how why we can't
live for Jesus. And I love this because Paul
writes this. Paul says this in Ephesians, and
I love how he starts this. He says, as a prisoner
for the Lord. Hold up. Where is he? He's obviously
in jail. That's worse than your circumstance
right now. And what does he say when his circumstance
is really bad? As a prisoner for the Lord, then
I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling
you have received, to be completely humble and
gentle, to be patient, bearing with one another
in love. In love. So how do you do this? What
does this look like? First is this, it's living
with purpose and integrity. Living with purpose
and integrity. You have a purpose. Your purpose
is to share the love of God. Let me ask you this.
When you accepted Christ, how come you weren't
just taken to heaven right away? This earth is
difficult. We have a lot of troubles. So why
wouldn't he just take you? There's two things
you can do here on earth that you can't do in
heaven. One is sin, and two is tell people about
Jesus. Which one do you think you're here for?
It's not to sin. You have a purpose. Your purpose
is to tell people about Jesus, and where you
find yourself is how you live that purpose. At
work, that's your opportunity to tell people
about Jesus, to share with them the hope that
you have. In your neighborhood, there's no accident
that you're there. You're there because you can
share Jesus with them. That checker you see at
the grocery store over and over, that's an opportunity
for you to share Jesus with them. What we like
to do is we like to compartmentalize our life.
Well, this is me at work. This is how I act at
work, and these are the things I say at work,
and this is how people perceive me at work, and
this is what I do at work. And this is me with
my family, and this is how I act with my family,
and this is what I say with my family, and this
is how people perceive me. And then this is me
at church. And at church, this is how I act,
and this is what I say, and this is what I do.
And you need to understand that integrity is
consistency, because every single one of those
people is the same. And when you make each one
of those people the same, you understand that
you have not only a purpose, But having integrity
is living that purpose out wherever you find
yourself. Next is this, is responding unexpectedly.
What if we just responded unexpectedly? Because
there's an expected response, right? When someone's
being dumb, when you started countering those
dumb people I talked about, what if you just
treated them with kindness? That's not expected.
What if when you thought what you wanted to say
because some of you have quick wit and you can
just fire things with your tongue, you're good
at that? What if you controlled your tongue instead
of just firing it? That's unexpected. What if
in that moment where, man, every sign is pointing
to a blow up on that person, instead you choose
patience? And you acted in an unexpected way.
What if we responded unexpectedly? Next is this.
Living outward, not inward. Living outward, not
inward. If you were here a couple weeks ago,
Pastor Bob talked about forgiveness. You know
what forgiveness is? It's living outward, not
inward. Because inward, we want to hold onto
it. I'm going to hold onto this. I'm not going
to let it go. Outward is releasing it and saying,
hey, I'm going to live for you, not just for
me. I'm going to release you. If you were here
last week, Pastor Austin talked about, man, we've
been blessed so much. There's so much that we've
been given with our time. with our talents, with
our finances, and living inward is saying, it's
all for me, but you need to realize that it was
given to you to be given to other people. Living
outward is saying, no, it's for you. It's to
give. Don't live inward, live outward. We live
in a tough world. If we're gonna stand up here
and say that we're a family, that means that
families are there for each other. It's not just
about you. It's showing up in someone else's
life when they need you, when they're in pain,
when they're going through something and saying,
man, I'm here for you because this is what families
do because I'm not choosing to live inwardly.
I'm choosing to live outwardly and think about
you instead of thinking about me. But why does
this matter? Those are all good things. But why
does this matter? It matters because the way
that Jesus closes his parables, he says this
in verse 13. Therefore, keep watch, because you
do not know the day or the hour. Listen, church,
you do not have time to put it off. We often
think we have so much time that it's OK. We'll
get that right another time. I'll start loving
people later. I'll have a relationship with God
later. You do not know how much time you have.
I heard the story of a teacher who, on the first
day of school each year, first semester, first
day of the semester, she'd put a chair, an empty
chair in front of her classroom. The students
are like, what's the empty chair for? And she
said, this empty chair represents the friends,
the people, people that are around you that may
not be here. Maybe a loved one, maybe someone
you know. This is going to leave too early and
won't be here. It's going to leave this earth.
And this is to remind you to say today, what
you've been putting off to say tomorrow. This
is to remind you to speak with kindness. This
is to remind you to forgive. This is to remind
you to care. This is to remind you that you don't
know how much time you have with the people around
you. And I don't want to get morbid here to like
end this message on a downer or anything like
that, but here's the truth, is that chair doesn't
just represent other people, that chair represents
you. Because you don't know how much time you
have. That's the point of this parable. See,
the groom can come back at any time. And not
just referring to a second coming, when Jesus
is coming and you need to be ready, but you also
don't know when he's going to call you home.
You have no idea when your last breath is gonna
be taken on this earth. You don't have time to
waste. So let me ask you, are you prepared? Are
you ready? Do you know Jesus? Because if you're
in here today and you do not know Jesus, you're
just hanging out around the party, but you do
not actually know Jesus. Don't let today pass.
Today is the day of salvation. For those of you
in here, say, yes, I put my faith in Jesus. Let
me ask you this. Are you making use of the time
that you have? Because we don't know when he's
coming, but it's our job to be prepared. Let's
pray. God, thank you so much. for what you've
given us. Thank you so much for the blessings
that you've given us. Thank you so much for the
blessing of time. And God, thank you for this
story to remind us that we do not have a lot
of time. God, I pray for the people in the room
right now that need to say yes to you, Jesus.
That need to get to a place in their life where
they can own their faith, where they're not living
off borrowed oil. But God, they say yes because
of what you've done on the cross. I'm willing
to fully trust you. I pray for the people in
this room, God, that need to change the way that
they live and they need to understand that the
gospel is the power of God for salvation, for
us to say no to our desires to say yes to you,
that we would live in a way where we take advantage
of the time that we have because how we live
matters. God, I pray that this would not just
be another weekend, but it would be a weekend
of surrender. We say, God, I'm tired of doing
it on my own. And because I do not have a lot
of time, I surrender it to You. I give up. I'm
tired of doing it on my own. But God, it is because
of You that we are even here. And we praise You.
And we pray this in Your Son's name. Amen.