Well, again, I want to open with a couple scriptures I've been
sharing recently because they're so powerful.
What God is speaking to us today, Hebrews 7 says, but he's
Speaking of Jesus Christ because he continues forever, has an
unchangeable priesthood. Therefore he is also able to
save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since
He always lives to make intercession for them.
This is such an important concept for us to understand,
and that is understanding the ministry of resurrection that
Jesus Christ has even in this day.
Now, most churches give a great deal of honor to the cross.
Often times there's crosses in the building.
Often times there's crosses by the road.
Crosses have become so powerful that, well, you can watch on TV
some people that live pretty wicked lives, but they wear
their cross because it's become a symbol that's quite well known
in Christian circles, but in all the Western world.
However, it's very important for us to understand that the cross
only is significant because when Jesus Christ died on the cross,
he also rose from the dead. A lot of people died on the
cross, especially in those days. It was the Romans form of
crucifixion. But Jesus Christ didn't stay in
the grave. The Bible says he rose again
from the dead. How many?
Glad we serve a resurrected Christ.
Amen. So sometimes we focus so much on
the cross, we fail to recognize how important the resurrection
was. And so the Bible says that when
Jesus Christ went into heaven, he did not retire, which is what
I was talking about last week. He just changed his ministry and
his perspective. You see, when he was for 30
years growing up, a lot of people suppose that, well, he
was kind of hiding his divinity and doing miracles here and
there and keeping it quiet, whatever, even picturing the
little boy Jesus doing that. But that isn't what the Bible
says. The Bible says that for 30 years
he was prepared for his ministry.
He had no form or comeliness or beauty that we would desire him.
The prophet Isaiah said he grew up as a root out of a dry
ground. Why did he go through that kind
of a life for 30 years and all the normal life experiences that
you and I might experience? Well, number one, for three
years of ministry he ministered to many, many people.
Thousands followed him because he was moved by compassion.
He could feel what other people felt because he had been there.
Now again, when he rose from the dead, the Bible says now he acts
as our high priest ever make an intercession for us.
But again, it's important to understand that He knows what
the human experience is all about.
How many know? That should be an awesome
revelation for us to have and to recognize how powerful it is to
know that Jesus Christ ever lives to make intercession for
us. And so it's important for us to
recognize that and also to recognize He wants to save us to
the uttermost. Well, what does that mean?
Well, last week I was talking about how God's salvation is not
just a ticket to heaven. God's salvation is a deliverance
from one life and God's capacity through the power of the Holy
Spirit to bring us into a whole new life again.
A lot of times we have our stopping points and we think,
well, I got it now, I got it now.
Well, I've been serving the Lord all my life and I find out
there's more to get from Him every single day.
Amen, Church. He is alive and as long as we're
alive, we need to let Him impart in our life to prepare us for
this life that we're living, but according to the Bible, also to
prepare us for that which is to come.
So I want the salvation of the uttermost.
That's why we have a foundations course here in the other classes
that we have and we preach the Word.
We don't believe it's just enough to have instruction.
We need the inspiration of the Word of God that can literally
change us and take us to that uttermost place that God has for
each and every one of us. And sharing that, Hebrews 2
says, for it was fitting for him Speaking of Jesus Christ, for
whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing what
many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies and
those who are being sanctified are all of one that's talking
about us. For which reason he's not
ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare your name
to my brother in the midst of the assembly.
I will sing praise to you. And again, I will put my trust
in him. That's an awesome thing to know
that Jesus Christ is still alive, Amen.
And he's at work in our life. He joins us here in the worship
service through the power of the Holy Spirit.
And we are his brethren. And he wants us to bring glory
to the name of the Father, just like he did.
And again, I often quote the Scripture and I'll never get
tired saying that darkness will cover the earth and gross
darkness the people. But God has called us to arise
and shine so that the glory of the Lord can be seen upon us.
We'll only arise and shine when we begin to see the value of the
resurrected power that God has for us.
And when I used to share that scripture in the beginning about
darkness covering the earth, I never had an idea how much
darker it could get. Amen.
It's getting very dark, but that doesn't matter to us because God
has called us to live above what we see happening in our world so
that we can bring glory and allow God to use us to manifest
His glory to our generation. And I put up here, confidence is
our song because that ended up saying I will put my trust in
him. Now that's very important to
understand that we have this ongoing work of God in our life.
And it's also important that we understand how important it is
to trust him because as we go through life and just as we go
through history, we'll always find out we can trust in the
Lord because God is at work. We just have to take the time to
let him open our eyes to cause us to see what he wants us to
see. And this is a very important
concept to have because again, often times we have in our mind
what we want to see. And God's like, no, let let me
show you what you need to see because when you let me open
your eyes, says the Lord, you'll see the opportunities that I
have for you. And you can understand that I'm
at work in your life, says the mighty God.
Now, having said that, I want to go to Matthew chapter 24, which
leads us to Matthew chapter 25, which is where we're going.
Ultimately it says, then Jesus went out and departed from the
temple, and his disciples came up to show him the buildings of
the temple, and Jesus said that them Do you not see all these
things? Surely, I say to you, not one
stone will be left up here upon another that shall not be thrown
down. Now as he sat on the Mount of
Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, Tell us,
when will these things be question number one.
Question #2 And what will be the sign of your coming?
And also the end of the age? It's important to understand
that there were two questions that they were asking.
The first question had to do with the temple.
Jesus and the disciples didn't spend a whole lot of time in
Jerusalem. Actually, Jerusalem was the
capital city. It was where the temple was.
Three times of the year. All the Jews had to go to the
temple because that was the center and focus of their
relationship with God because of travel in those days.
And the responsibilities I had was something some people could
only do the three times of the year when they had specific
festivals for doing that. So in this particular reference
of Scripture, they're looking at the temple and they're just
amazed about what they see. And Jesus said, well, not one
stone is going to be left upon another.
And he was speaking about the judgement that yet was going to
come. And Speaking of that first
question, when they're asking, well, when, what?
When will these things be? He's first of all talking about
the temple. And he said this generation
shall not pass until you see these things come to pass
because within 40 years the Romans would come in and they
would literally destroy the temple.
And so he was speaking about that, first of all.
And this is important for us to understand.
In my YouTube site, Hall from the Mountain, I've been talking
about eschatology, which is the study of the end times.
Now, primarily what I'm doing is dealing with mindsets people
have that will hear them from freely walking in what God has
for them. That's the whole point of that
particular website. Because I believe we're moving
into a new time and a new era. And with that, we have to
receive the Word in our hearts and spirits and begin to walk
with the right understanding. Now the church has been
motivated as a pertains to eschatology study of the last
times, as in the basically the kind of church that we're a part
of charismatic Pentecostal evangelical in what is called
pre millennial dispensationalism.
Now, if you know what that term means, I'm really going to
challenge you today because I want you to think about some
very important principles and mindset changes you have to
challenge yourself in. There was a man by the name of
Tim Lehay, and he wrote a book, Left Behind.
It became a series and it was built on that theology.
But in that case, there were fictions.
They sold 80 million copies. People are very interested in
some of the things they had to say.
He was literally taken in $20 million a year in royalties from
talking about these concepts. Now, I'm not speaking
disparaging of him because for his day, he was a great man of
God and accomplished mighty things, passed away at age 90,
about 10 years ago. So he has a great legacy.
However, as the church is moving forward, it's always important
that we stop and look at what we believe and, well, what do we
have? That's a tradition versus what
is actually what God is speaking.
And so the guy who actually starred in those films, he no
longer believes those things and he tells people about it because
he wants people to understand God speaking something fresh and
new. And if you look at the websites
that I do or the YouTube channels have to do a
theological discussions, you'll know that there's a whole lot of
change going on. And so I want to explain those
things to you first of all. Now, one of the things that's
often been spoken about is before Jesus can come, there has
to be the rebuilding of the temple.
Now, the Bible never says that, but they base it upon some other
thoughts, which I'll talk about in just a moment.
But it's important for us to realize that modern Judaism has
nothing in common really with the Jewish religion that we
would study in the Old Testament.
With Moses, it's changed quite a bit.
They have what they call the Torah as a part of their
teaching, but they follow the Talmud, which has many, many,
many other volumes to it that has to do with the rabbi's or
teachers who interpret these things.
And so when you think about what God's doing, and sometimes
people look at what he's going to do in Jerusalem, they think
in terms of an Old Testament Judaism that is no longer
believed or practiced by them. And so the Jews are not looking
for the rebuilding of the temple.
I'm sure there are some Orthodox Jews who are more strong in
their traditions than the newer Jewish people, but they
actually, when the temple was destroyed 2000 years ago, how
many know 2000 years is a very long time.
They come up with the understanding that, well, we
don't need a temple because God doesn't dwell in a temple made
by hands. The Jews actually believed.
Why? Well, when the Babylonians came
in and destroyed the temple, the prophets told them, now
remember, God's still with you. Matter of fact, when you go to
Babylon, he'll be with you. And later on, when you're
scattered among the nations of the world, God will be with you.
They no longer had the idea that they had to go to the temple to
experience the presence of God. And even when they rebuilt the
temple, they never had a mercy seat where God's presence dwelt
among them because of that was actually destroyed.
So again, it isn't just saying, oh, they just went off off in
the wrong direction. It is true that they actually
were looking at the Scriptures that said I don't dwell in
temples anymore. I dwell where my people are.
And so that's their philosophy and why they're not really
looking for that. So whereas a lot of Christians
would literally risk World War Three because that's what it
would take to tear down the Dome of the Rock that the Muslims
hold as a holy site and to rebuild the temple where it once
was. So this is a very important
consideration that we would understand Why would there be a
rebuilding of the temple, especially when the only
scriptures that talk about a rebuilding of a temple are in
the Old Testament speaking about the rebuilding of the temple
that will be destroyed by the Babylonians.
And again with that, a lot of people say, yes, they have to
rebuild the temple because there has to be the restoration of the
animal sacrifices. And so you can see it on
YouTube. I know one of the latest crazes
as well. They have to have a red heifer
and it has to be an unblemished 1.
And so they're all talking about, oh, it's been born.
So the temple can be rebuild or it's happened.
So now that they can reinstitute sacrifices because the first
sacrifice was the red heifer that made it possible for the
priests to himself to be sanctified for service, but then
there would be the sacrifice of other animals because everything
had to be covered with blood. Now think of that in a modern
text of time. Some people say, well, you
shouldn't be looking at the contemporary text of time.
Well, I do, because I believe my God sits on the throne, and
whatever's happening in the world, he has something to do
with it. Now the world's gonna take it
the wrong way, but God says to his people, look at what I'm
doing and do it the right way, says the Lord.
Now, do you really believe that people would want to see the
reinstitution of animal sacrifice?
When I was a kid, I've often shared this.
This used to be the country. I've lived in this area since
1958, which is a long time. First of all, live with my
grandma and grandpa, and then my dad built a house a couple doors
down. And so that's how long I've been
here. Now, this used to be really
country back then. So we had a lot of neighbors who
had animals. I loved animals, as you've heard
with my testimonial of the years.
They don't love me so much because they didn't always know
how to show my love the right way.
That's why I was always asking for pets.
And my mom would say, no, you're not good for pets, mom, please
give me a pet. And it didn't usually end well
with them, but I love pets. I loved animals.
And I remember one of our neighbors, they had rabbits and
to me they were not rabbits, they were bunnies because they
were so cute and cuddly. And I remember the owners show
me one day the rabbits and I pick up the babies and I hug
them and they were so cute and so wonderful in my mind.
And then one day I saw them pick up one of the rabbits like this.
It's kicking his feet and everything.
They hit over the head with a club, take it in the house and
guess what? It became dinner.
I'm like, oh, that's gross. That's awful.
How could that happen? How could you do that to animal?
I like to sit my office and even watch the deer go by.
And there's one Mama deer that has a baby every year and I get
to watch him go by the office. And I was raised on the movie
Bambi, so I love those Bambis out there.
I could never kill one of those Bambis because they're so cute.
My grandma that we lived in for a while, they had chickens and I
remember one day in particular, my grandpa going outside and
bringing the head of the chicken, then taking it in to
grandma and her putting in a hot water and pulling all those
feathers out. I remember the whole thing.
Now I don't remember dinner, but I can tell you I would have ate
dinner. But anyway, in psychology they
call that disassociation and if it's bad enough, it's called
disassociation disorder. So back in the day when I would
see those kind of things, I wouldn't have certainly didn't
want to think about those things.
Some people say when I talk about how much I love animals
and I want to kill my Bambis, they say, well, don't you eat
meat? And I'm like, of course I eat
meat. I just don't eat animals.
You get meat at the grocery store or at a restaurant and I
don't ask any questions. I just eat it.
So that's how I walk in my dissociative disorder, if you
would. Bonnie used to work in the meat
department when we first were going together and I used to go
in the meat department and it's pretty nasty place.
I remember when I was getting a biopsy once I they cut me open,
I looked and I said that looks just like beef.
The lady said that's why I'm a vegetarian, She says, because I
have to do this every day. So anyway, you think about the
way it is with pets these days, and people had pets back then.
But sometimes you'd have a pet until it grew up, and then you
ate it for dinner. And if you had a pet and
something was wrong with it, chances are you would put it to
sleep. How many know that sounds so
much better than what we actually did?
People don't think that way about their pets.
Now. They think, well, I got to take
to the vet. And if they tell them how much
it is, they usually will dish out the money.
How many know people think differently about pets?
Christy Noem, who grew up on a farm.
She works in the cabinet of Donald Trump.
And she wrote a book about her life.
And she happened to mention how that she had a dog that was her
pet and they had to shoot it on Fox News.
They were talking about her book and they said, I hope she never
thinks she's going to run for president because she'd never be
a president now that she put in a book.
She killed her pet. Well, that's because it's a
different world up there in the farm.
It's a different world as time progresses.
And the truth of the matter is, get rid of your dissociative
disorder and think about it. Do you really think there's
going to be thousands of Jews or anybody else who are going to
gather around as they slice the throat of an animal and take his
blood? That's just something that would
be an R rated movie. Amen.
It's important that we think about that because sometimes we
don't think through things, and we do that by disassociation, if
you would. And because of that, we can even
hear Christian doctrine that we don't apply to our everyday
life. And I think it's important that
we learn how to walk in the fullness of the Word and also
apply it to the reality of everyday life.
Can I hear an Amen on that church?
Now? Next of all, they were asking
about the end of the age because Jesus Christ told them I'm going
to be going up to heaven, but I'm going to be coming back.
And of course they were very interested in that.
Even though He told them that He would be crucified and raised
from the dead when it actually happened, they were very fearful
and ran and hid for their lives because it was very hard to
actually go through the situation.
Sometimes you go through a situation and your emotions get
control of you. Amen.
And that's the way it was for them.
But they did want to know when are you coming back?
And of course, that's what Christians have been asking for
2000 years as well. But I want to present to you a
very important concept that Jesus wanted to present to his
disciples and show you how it would work best for us.
This is His answer. Well, of the day and hour no one
knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
But as the days of Noah were, so also will be the coming of the
Son of Man. For as in the days before the
flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and given to
marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and what
and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so
also will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Now, the answer wasn't somebody or something that they wanted to
hear, when are you returning? I don't know.
But who does know what's going to be the size?
How can we get ready? And really, a lot of that was
they wanted him to come back and get this all over with because
they were thinking, wow, we're going to go to heaven.
And when we get in heaven, we're going to be ruling over cities
and we're going to do all these awesome things.
So we just want to get all of this little stuff out of the way
so we can get to the real stuff. And no one wants to listen to
Jesus when he says, well, nobody knows the day or the hour, only
my Father. So Jesus, who is God in the
flesh, was saying, I don't know, only the Father knows.
And certainly that's a confusion for most people to understand
because he is God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
But that's just what Jesus said. And so all I want to say is if
that's what he said, that must be true.
Can I hear an Amen on that? What he wanted them understand
is it would be an unexpected time, and there's a reason for
that. And it's so important for us to
understand why God would want it that way.
Now He says it's just like Noah in the days of the flood.
Now the Lord had come to Noah and he had said to him, no, I
want you to build an ark because I'm going to send a flood to the
earth. And as I do, it's going to
destroy all the earth. But you and your children and
the animals that you're going to protect through all this,
they're going to be preserved because you're going to build an
ark. And you, when you are done with
that ark, that's when the flood's going to come.
Now that was a whole lot of work he had to do.
And we read in the New Testament that he didn't just have to
build the ark. God was using that as a witness.
And he became a preacher of righteousness because he was
telling everybody, if you guys don't do what God wants you to
do, you're going to be destroyed.
That's why I'm building this ark.
And so you can imagine they laughed at him, mocked him.
There's evidence that there hadn't been rain on the earth up
to that point in time. So it was kind of a relatively
new context of understanding because they used to say that
the Bible speaks about this, the earth being watered by the dew,
etcetera. But all that aside, he went
through a very difficult situation.
If you read the text of Noah in the ark, the Bible says that
when he was done with the ark, he didn't go in the ark until
God said it's time to go into the ark.
I know there are certain things that are going to happen before
the Lord comes. For one thing, the Bible says in
Revelation chapter 19, the bride will have made herself ready for
the Scriptures say that he's going to come for a glorious
church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
I believe that's true because that's what God's Word says,
Amen, church. And so I know that's going to
happen, but it would be just like a husband Noah.
Not only do you have to get ready by doing what you're
supposed to do, then you have to let God do his work and his
timing. And that's when he, Noah
understood you got to hear the voice of God.
You have to do what he says, but then you have to keep on
listening. Church harmony, glad that God
still speaks today. That's why the Bible says let
him who have an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is
speaking to the church. And then the kind your ear in
here, because it takes effort for us to lay aside our
emotions, lay aside our sauce, lay aside our traditions and
say, well, what is God saying to me?
And that's what brings me to the story here in Matthew chapter
25. It's called the parable of the
10 virgins and it really is about a wedding.
It says then the Kingdom of heaven shall be likened to 10
virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
Now five of them were wise and five were foolish.
Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with
them. But what the wise do?
The wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
While the bridegroom was delayed.
They all slumbered and slept. This is why it's important not
to think you're going to know the exact time.
And that's why he's telling this and talking about the foolish
versus the wise. Now, it's important for us to
understand weddings in those days versus the weddings we have
today because it was a whole different process.
And you have to understand it to know what Jesus was actually
saying. They were called virgins, not
speaking about their sex life. In reality, it would be also
easy to translate that it is maidens or young girls or women
because in those days a woman was under the protective care of
her father until the day she was actually married.
And it was be during that time that she would transfer her
protective care from her father to her husband.
So the way it would work is when it was time for the wedding, the
bride, we get herself ready. Now, believe it or not, she
wouldn't know. And that's why I said the bride,
he needs to get ready. But that still doesn't tell you
that he's coming just because you're ready.
It says she makes herself ready and she waits till the groom to
come because of the groom would come to her house, knock on the
door, she would open the door and then she would go with him.
And then what he would do is take her back to his house and
most of the time it was to his parents house because they lived
as clans in those days. And so there was this jury that
was required. Well, the ten maidens that are
referenced here have lights because it would happen in the
darkest time of the day. And so it would be necessary to
have a light so that you could see the groom and he's coming in
and going the door, and also so that it could be a lighted path
to get back to where he was going.
Obviously, it wasn't all necessary, but it was a part of
their tradition. And that's what Jesus is talking
here. And he's talking about how
important it was that if you're going to be one of the maidens
that are going to be what we would call a bridesmaid, and
your job is to make sure there's light for the journey, then you
got to make sure you have the light.
Now he talks about the foolish virgins.
And the word foolish there means somebody that's not thinking nor
perceptive. And I throw out the word stupid
from time to time because that's actually in the original context
of what it means. Stupid, meaning not that you
have a lack of intelligence, but because of your emotions, or it
can also be because of your traditions mindsets, cause you
not to react in the proper way with a plan of action, but
you're simply responding to the moment.
And it's important for us to understand because when you
think about stupid, sometimes people tell people they're
stupid. Well, what makes a person
stupid? Well, watch the movie Forrest
Gump. Who's seen that movie?
It's a real old one. So I know people watch movies
enough where they watch even the old ones.
The Forest Gump was a guy that people thought was simple and
wouldn't do anything in life. But his mom was always concerned
about him. So she's just given him some
sayings that he could hold on to.
And one is he would always say, well, Mama said stupid is as
stupid does. And the reason he said that is
because the real results of stupidity are what actually
happens from the action. It's kind of like what Jesus
said. Wisdom is justified by her.
Children look at the outcomes and then and back and say, well,
what could I do differently or what plan of action could I
have? Well, the foolish didn't have a
plan of action. They were probably very excited
about what was happening. They had their Lance, but they
didn't have extra oil. Now the why's were different.
And again, words in the Bible sometimes have different
meanings. The word wise has three
different meanings. And in this particular context,
it's talking about wisdom that is cautious in character.
In other words, you're restraining yourself from an
immediate action. You're not just impulsively
doing something, but you're stopping and you're thinking it
through. So the five virgins said, well,
you know, the truth is we don't know exactly when he's going to
come. We do know he's going to come at
night time, so we don't know how long our lamps have to be
burning. So let's make sure we have some
extra along the way. Now it says in speaking about
the five and the five whys and the five foolish that they all
slumbered and slept. Now there's nothing wrong with
sleeping. They all slept.
The five whys. It was not a problem for them to
sleep because they had made a preparation for the foolish
falling asleep. Not a good idea because they
weren't ready for the time when it actually came.
The difference being the preparation and thinking through
the situation. I wanted to point out that they
all slept and you can sleep because sometimes we think,
well, if we worry, it's kind of a good sign of how much we're
concerned about something the Bible says in the Psalms, what
are you doing? Stand up late?
Why are you getting up early? Worrying, don't you know the
Lord gives his beloved sleep. It is vain for you to these
things things because it's the Lord that keeps the city.
And if you none understand that you're going to be a watchman
that's going to always have confidence because you're going
to know guess what it's going to work out.
So God says, I want you to know this is a time of rest.
This is a time of peace. Don't let the world get you all
hyped up. Don't think you're doing God a
favor anybody else a favor. You need to have the peace that
passes all understanding. You need to walk in joy
unspeakable and full of glory. You need self-control.
You need the furthest spirit. Give the Lord a praise on that
church and yes, you can sleep, and God gives his beloved sleep.
As the story goes on, it says then all those virgins arose
trim their lamps. The foolish said to the wise,
give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going up.
But the wise answered and saying no, lest there should not be
enough for us and you, but go rather to those who sell and buy
for yourselves. I wanted to talk about how
important it is to be prepared versus what it is to be
spontaneous. Now I know what being prepared
is because my wife is the master of being prepared.
And when I talk about changes over time, that's one of the
things about ladies that has changed because in our day and
age, you know, it was very important for a woman how she
looked and dressed according to the situation.
It's not so much like that today, but certainly was when we
were younger. And I can tell you my wife
always thinks about being prepared for whatever day is
offering her. So in the morning when she gets
ready for the day, she spends a whole lot of time getting
prepared and she always wants to know ahead of time if something
different is going to happen in the day so that she can make
sure she gets home and gets prepared for whatever that
activity is. I've remember the last couple
weeks ago, as I said, such and such is happening in a week.
She's like, what? What Didn't you tell me?
I'm like, I'm giving you a week. What are you talking about?
I need to be prepared. She spends as much time getting
prepared to go to bed as she gets prepared getting up when we
go on family vacations. She was been a couple months
getting ready, if not several weeks because when she goes on
vacation, she wants to be prepared.
Now our favorite place in all the world is Ziwataneo, Mexico.
And if I one day said, Bonnie, I have a big surprise for you
Tomorrow we're getting on a plane.
I bought tickets. We're going to Ziwataneo.
She wouldn't go. Yeah, she'd go.
I got a surprise for you too. You're going by yourself because
I'm not going anywhere. Let's have an opportunity to be
prepared. Anybody out there like that
today? You like that sense of being
prepared? Well, in reality, I much like
her as well, just in a different way about it.
But being prepared is a very good thing.
But you have to be prepared and spontaneous.
That's why I put over the scripture that we read today,
prepared spontaneity, because that's what God wants us to
have. Now, some people love to be
spontaneous. They love a surprise.
One person, if they got a surprise birthday party, they
go, Oh my God, what is happening to me?
Another person, if you open the door and everybody says
surprise, they go turn on the music, let's have fun.
You might be one of those kind of people.
You love to just be surprised and the surprise adds to the
fun. Well, there's a place for being
spontaneous because the Bible says we should be instant in
season and out. And so God says he wants us to
walk in prepared spontaneity. Well, when I use a term like
that, everybody might think we're not going to make it.
None of us come qualify. But when you read the Bible and
realize God has a plan of action that would make that possible,
we can all have something to contribute, whether you're the
more the spontaneous or more the prepared.
That's why God put us together in different means through
marriage and our connections that we have in the body of
Christ and our greater family. How many know you have a big
family? You have a lot of differences in
your family. That's just the way it works
because no two people are going to be exactly the same.
And so we have to let God guide us in this, because contrary to
our human experience, where we like it to fit nicely into the
world, what we feel comfortable with, God says, let me take you
into my world. And while they went to buy, the
bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to
the wedding, and the door was shut.
Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open
to us. But he answered and said, Surely
I say to you, I do not know you, and I'll talk about that in
another verse. But watch therefore, for you
know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is
coming. And that's why he says we need
prepare spontaneity because we have to say, I want to be ready,
but then I have to be tuned in to hear.
But the Spirit is speaking to the church and God says with
that we have the best of all worlds and we can flow in what
is happening in our world today. And that's why I mentioned how
that God knew about the change in civilizations and he's
figured it in the plan of action and purpose he has for planet
Earth Church. Nothing in the world is taking
God by surprise. Don't look at your world and
think, Oh no, the world's not like it used to be.
It's always changing, it always will.
The key is that the Kingdom of God is planted in planet earth
as well, and that Kingdom is growing.
Amen Church. And we can have confidence to
know that as we put our trust holy in Him and always watching
and aware of what's going on in our world because of the wise
person takes as much time as they can to be aware of what's
happening in the world in which they live.
Jesus said not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord Shalander, the
Kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in
heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have you not prophesied in your name, cast
out demons, your name done many wonders in your name.
Then I will declare to them, I never knew you.
There it is again. Why depart from me?
You who practice lawlessness now you know we have to be a people
that understand our preparation comes through following the
Word. That would be the Scriptures and
also what we know God is speaking.
That's why I love the fact that God's been speaking because I've
been able to follow Him for all these years and have a
confidence and just see how God has been able to bless and every
time and in every generation because He is the faithful God.
Amen. Now always remember when we talk
about Jesus Christ, in the beginning was the Word, The word
was with God. The word was God.
How do you know Jesus is the Word?
So you can't say you love Jesus if you don't love his Word,
because he is his Word, right? And that's very important for us
to understand because some people practice lawlessness.
They don't want to have the word in their life, don't want to
spend time with the Word. But we have to know the Word
because it's by keeping that Word that God is able to prepare
us for the next step in which He wants to walk us in.
That's why I've noticed a term used from time to time where
people talk about worship nights, Worship night, They said
as well, you just sing and worship the Lord and don't spend
that time with the sermon or teaching.
We just can kind of get together and have a worship night.
Well, that's what you would call a praise night, no question.
But the word worship literally means to bow down and prostate
yourself. And that doesn't mean because
you're so emotional in a song, that means because the Word of
God has come. And when you hear the word, you
open up your heart, your mind and spirit and say, OK, Father,
the entrance of your word is going to bring light to me.
And if that means I have to bow down and surrender my life to
you, I'm going to do it. Because that's how church we
really get to know him. And that's why we have to
understand Jesus wants us to know Him, and we know Him
through His word. Therefore, whoever hears these
sayings of mind and does them, I will like him into a wise man
who build this house on the rock.
The rains descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on
that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
But everyone who hears these sayings of mind that does not do
them would be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
The rains descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on
that house and it fell and great was its fall.
There will always be times of trouble.
The storms will come, and oftentimes people are surprised
by the storms. Well, storms come.
That's what life is all about. Winter's coming.
Anybody excited? I'm not.
As I always say, fall just means you're falling because the worst
is yet to come. Winter's coming and they're
going to say it's going to be a warmer than normal or colder
than normal. It's going to be winter and
there's no way of looking at it. Now.
Some people say, well, I love the outdoor things.
And that's somebody told me years ago, find something you
like to do in the winter. And that's where my Florida
vacations start coming in because that's what I like to do
in the winter. But anyway, winter will come and
storms will come and we have to be prepared for the storms and
always know we will survive darkness.
Oh, the crying is in the morning, is in the night time,
but joy comes in the morning of the day.
Amen, Church. So we have to understand that
God has a plan of action for us and we don't have to be afraid
or try to contemplate all the bad things.
We don't have to wonder if so and so is the end of Christ or
is this going to be the war that's going to end it all.
We just need to keep our focus on Him and this is the one.
Give Him a praise on that if you would.
And this is the Scripture I feel God's been speaking to me.
And the Lord said, who then is that faithful and wise to it?
Because a faithful person keeps on keeping on whom his master
will make ruler over his household to give them their
portion of food into season. Blessed is that servant whom his
Master will find so doing when he comes.
Truly, I say to you that He will make him what ruler over all he
has. And I can't quit saying this
enough. I believe there's a new level of
authority coming to the church and I know the Lord spoke to me
to teach the class I just taught in ending this past Thursday
night, 11 weeks. And every day I know that I
taught the class that God was laying another line upon my
heart to prepare me because he said, Lauren, it is a day of new
authority. It is a day of new beginnings
for my people. And I'm preparing you and I'm
preparing them. Let him who have the near to
hear. Let him hear what the Spirit is
speaking to the church. So that's bow our heads for just
a moment, church, because before we take communion, we need to
remind ourselves we're the children of the most high God
and we have a father who's making us into his fully mature
sons and he's coming in a whole new way to his church.
And that's why I'm saying be prepared, be ready.
Like the Apostle Paul told Timothy, be instant in season
and out of season because sometimes God isn't in your
season, but His season's always good.
He is preparing us as never before, that we would worship
Him by giving Him our whole heart.
Father, I pray for everyone here, Mount Zion, because I know
that you are calling us to a whole new dimension in you and
you're declaring to us the former things have come to pass
and new things do. I declare, says the Lord.
It's the time. Let us receive it in Jesus name.
This is Pastor Lauren Coverbius from Mount Zion church.
We thank you for joining us today and invite you to connect
with our church family by visiting mountzion.org and
following us on social media. God bless you.