Morning. Hey y'all, Pastor Tim and I got
a chance to go out to the camp on Thursday night and be with
the students. And I want to yeah, you guys are
amazing. And what I want everyone else
here to know is what you're seeing is not just energy.
You're seeing spiritual fervor and spiritual fervor that
ignites passion and heart of everyone around them.
So we're going to follow you guys.
We're going to follow you because you are pointed true
north and you have oriented your life to the one thing that
matters. And we're here to follow you.
So lead us on. Would you encourage and bless
them? My name is Christine.
I'm one of the pastors here. And it's an honor and a
privilege every time I'm invited to speak and to open and study
the word of God. And so this morning, I don't
want to waste any time. We're going to jump right in and
we are closing out our series called Kingdom Unveiled.
So what the series has been about is taking all of the
aspects that we can mine for the treasures in the parables of
Jesus where he said the Kingdom of heaven is like, or he gave us
revelation about himself. About what heaven is like, who
he is and who we are called to be.
And we've been putting together a beautiful puzzle.
Now, if you haven't been here, that's OK.
You can go back and catch up. If you're visiting with us for
the very first time or you are joining us online, we want to
say welcome. We're so glad that you are here.
And as we as we look to this week, let's do just a little
catch up on where we've been. OK, so picture yourself putting
together a puzzle. We're going to do a few pieces
here. The ground that we have covered.
We learned that the Kingdom of heaven has a faithful, generous
sower, and that's the Father. The heart of the Father is to
scatter the seed, because the Kingdom of heaven is inclusive
and he is scattering the seeds generously, that any and all
might take that seed. And like the parable of the
mustard seed, we learned the Kingdom of heaven is like when
we put our trust and faith in the process of what God is
doing. We can take that seed from the
Lord, even a small bit of faith, and trust Him to turn it into
something incredible, right? Isn't that good news?
We also learned that the Kingdom of heaven is worth everything
that I have. If I have to give up anything,
sell anything, change anything, do anything, not do anything,
it's worth it. And at the very same time, you
and I are worth everything that God had.
That's why he gave his Son Jesus.
The Kingdom of heaven says you are worth it.
The Kingdom of Heaven also transforms us in our
relationships. It gives us a new language of
mercy, forgiveness, compassion and sacrifice.
And then last week, we learned that the Kingdom of heaven has a
good, good Father, one that we can run to.
He has open arms. He's waiting for us, longing for
us, restoring us. And he's always about
restoration. We have a good father.
Would you agree with that? And so this morning, we are
going to close out our series with one more aspect that we're
adding. And it's this.
When we are truly a part of the Kingdom of Heaven, we will
become completely different. When we are a part of the
Kingdom of Heaven, we will be the ones that are transformed.
You know why? Because the Kingdom of Heaven is
not a place. The Kingdom of heaven is a
people, a completely different people that have a completely
different culture and a completely different presence of
God that permeates every aspect of our lives.
Because the Kingdom of heaven is worth it.
We don't have a compartment of our life.
Like we don't have the youth camp part of our life, right?
And then we go back to school and we have something different.
We don't have the church person, the church time, the church
hours and then work, school life.
We have a life that is permeated, saturated throughout
by the Kingdom of heaven. And if that's going to happen,
you got to know we're going to be completely different.
And so today our parable is found in Matthew chapter 25.
If you need a Bible, I would love for you to raise your hand.
We want to put one in your hands or Usher will bring you a Bible.
Don't be shy if you want one. The word of God is stewarded and
upheld in this house. We'd love to put it in your
hands. We'd love that.
If you've got your Bible, turn to Matthew chapter 25.
That's where we're going to spend our time today.
You know, as a good student of the Word, every time we come to
the Word, we need to understand a couple things.
We need to understand what is the audience, who is being
spoken to here and what is the context?
And then we need the Holy Spirit to enlighten us.
So let's pray together as you're turning and finding Matthew 25.
Let's get all of that going. God, we thank you so much that
by your spirit you're living an active word can jump right off
the page and quicken our hearts, our minds to understand, to see
you more clearly. So I yield my mouth, my body, my
mind, anything that I have brought to this is nothing if
you are not here. So I get out of the way, have
your way. Everybody said in Jesus name,
Amen. Amen.
So let's understand the audience and the context.
We're at the end of the Gospel of Matthew.
There's only three other chapters that come after where
our parable is found in Matthew 25 and the rest of the Gospel of
Matthew. As soon as this chapter ends, is
Jesus entering Jerusalem, being arrested, put on trial,
crucified, buried and resurrected.
So this is a pivotal moment in the Gospel of Matthew.
We are at the very end of Jesus's lengthy teachings.
And if we go back just a little bit to Matthew 22, we're going
to see at the end of that chapter that something in the
atmosphere is shifting. The previous parables have been
a lot of give and take exchange between different people in the
crowd. Some people that were curious
asked Jesus questions and he answered them sometimes in a
parable. Some of the religious leaders
wanted to trip him up and challenge him, discredit him,
get him off the scene. That's what most of the
exchanges have been. And through parables, Jesus has
been concealing some things from people who didn't want to hear
and revealing to people that did.
Right. Remember, these are earthly
stories with heavenly truths and heavenly messages.
But right at the end of Matthew chapter 22 and verse 46, we read
this. No one could say a word in
reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more
questions. Is something shifting?
Something is shifting. So in Matthew 23, the very next
chapter, we see Jesus no longer concealing what he feels about
the religious construct of the day.
He's directly challenging all the teachers and the religious
leaders of the Jewish religion at that time.
He in fact uses a word many times in chapter 23, and that
word is whoa. Everybody say whoa, this is not
whoa like stopping a horse. This is whoa, like it would be
so much better for you if this wasn't true.
That would be so much better for you if this wasn't true.
It'd be so much better for you. Whoa.
Teachers of religion weighing down the people that are trying
to come to me with useless laws. That's what he was saying.
So he went to the Church of the day and he blew it up a bit.
And in chapter 23, he's very direct indicted them saying
whoa, let's end this and let's do something new.
In Matthew chapter 24, he is now speaking only to his disciples.
24 and 25 make up what is called the Olivet Discourse.
It means Jesus was in the Mount of Olives spending extended time
talking to his disciples. Now these are his early
disciples that will found the church.
So what's the context? Jesus is nearing his last
breath. He has moments with the church
he's building and he is about to teach them something
foundational. And he is about to say, if
you're going to build a church that will become my bride, it's
got to be different than what's already been built on the earth.
It's got to be completely different.
This is the context of Matthew chapter 25.
So what have they been asking Jesus?
They've been hearing Jesus say, I'm going to go, I'm this is
going to end. That temple's going to be torn
down. I'm going to tougher, I'm going
to die. And they're like, whoa, how is
this thing going to end? So they've been asking Jesus,
how will this end? How will we know it is the end
and what are we supposed to be doing?
And so in Matthew chapter 25, Jesus is building on a point of
certainty that he is going to go and he is going to return.
Everyone say return. And the clarity that he is
giving is not a specific date. It is the indisputable reality
that the Kingdom of heaven has been revealed and it has one
true king. In this time when the king
returns, it's not going to be in humility.
It's not going to be kind of in secret or to a small group of
people. What he is saying is when I come
back, I'm coming back in the full power, the glory of all
that I am. And when I do, it's going to be
clear. Now, if this gets you excited or
curious or even a little fearful, then I invite you to
come back and join our next series that's called The King is
Coming. It's understanding the Book of
Revelation and living in the light of the promise and the
love that actually gives us hope and not fear if we understand
what Jesus was truly trying to say in the Book of Revelation,
because the king is coming. Thank you God.
And in Matthew chapter 25, yes, glory to God.
In Matthew chapter 25, Jesus tells 3 parables.
We're only going to study one of them, but all three are telling
about an element that matters most when it comes to his
return. And there are three parables.
The first, the one we're going to study today, is about the 10
bridesmaids or the 10 virgins. The second is about an issuance
of gold or money that was given to people to steward and what
they do with it. And the third parable that Jesus
uses in this series is separating a group of people
into sheep and goats. And in every parable, Jesus is
talking about an aspect of readiness for his return.
And if you're taking notes, I would invite you to write these
two sentences down because it's what we're going to cover today.
What we do while we wait for Jesus return matters.
But more truthfully, maybe more foundationally, who we become
while we wait will determine what we do.
And this is what Jesus is saying.
He's giving a mission critical question to answer today.
Now that the Kingdom has been unveiled to you, what will you
do with it in Matthew 25? One, it begins this way.
Then the Kingdom of heaven will be comparable to 10 virgins who
took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
OK, so we have wedding language here.
We get that bridegroom. But as modern day listeners,
this first sentence doesn't immediately bring understanding,
right? Anybody been to a wedding lately
with lamps and oil and a processional?
Anyone seen that? Yes, you did.
I want to talk to you, Patrick. That's amazing.
But in general, it's not
something that we see in an Instagram wedding, Right?
I've seen a lot of things lately.
You know why we're planning a wedding.
I mean, I'm not planning a wedding, but someone I love is
planning a wedding. Yeah.
Yes, and my feed on Pinterest and Instagram knows we're
planning a wedding. Somehow I got a notification
this morning at like 6:00 AM that had wedding dresses on it.
I was like, you're really close, but that's not me.
So at any rate, we know contextually a lot about
weddings for our day, right? But things are changing. 30
years ago when I got engaged, I I didn't have Pinterest, I
didn't have social media feeds, I didn't have Instagram.
You know what? I had magazines at the Publix
nearest to my house. Listen, children, there was a
day. No, I was kidding.
No, I, I went to Publix and I literally bought every magazine
that I could find, a bridal magazine.
And those, those pages were turned down and I found a dress
that I loved and, and then I found one in real life.
But that was way different than what happens today.
You know, just a few weeks ago, I was invited.
So precious, such an invitation. My daughter and I got to get on
a live stream and my future daughter-in-law invited us to be
a part of her Say yes to the dress moments.
Isn't that so kind? But I got to be in the room.
That wouldn't have happened 30 years ago.
Things are changing, right? And this is only a span of 30
years. What we're reading about was
2000 years ago in a completely different culture.
So if we're going to understand what Jesus is saying, we need a
bit more context. OK?
So in Jesus's time, in ancient biblical Jewish culture, the
situation for marriage went like this.
A bride and a bridegroom a lot of times arranged, but a bride
and a bridegroom would commit to each other in a ceremony called
a betrothal, say betrothal. Betrothal was kind of like our
engagement, except it was way more committed.
So they had a ceremony, they were essentially married, but
then they would live apart because there was a preparation
season that needed to take place.
But they were committed and they were married.
But after that betrothal, the bridegroom would go back to his
father's house to prepare a place that she would come and
live. And the idea is that the bride
would go and prepare herself. The bride room would go and
prepare the place. And when the father of the house
said, son, you're ready, go get your bride.
He would go. Now if you're familiar with
Scripture in the context of what Jesus has said about his return,
this should sound exciting. Because Jesus said I'm going to
my father's house where there's many rooms and I'm going to
prepare a place. And when he tells me to go, I
don't even know when it is. I'm going to come and get who
the bride and you know who the bride is.
It's you. It's the church that Jesus is
now teaching his disciples to build.
There's so much parallel here. It's so incredibly beautiful.
And in this parable, they're getting to the moment where the
bridegroom has been told by his father it's time to go.
So what's going to happen is he, during the night, is going to
March to where his bride is. Someone will make an
announcement, sometimes a shofar, sometimes a loud cry,
and in the darkness the bride, Bridesmaids, in this case,
they're called virgins. They would wake up and they
would be ready with their oil and their lamps to jump and go
meet the bridegroom, to go get the bride.
So in this parable, it is not about the bride or the
bridegroom. It's actually about the
attendance. So as we turn our attention to
this, we need to understand what is going on.
Let's continue reading in Matthew 25, verse 2.
So what do we learn about these bridesmaids?
Five of them were foolish and five of them were prudent or
wise. Everyone say foolish and I'll
say wise. Jesus is saying at the end of
the age what matters the most is who you are while you wait, and
what you do and who you become are intricately tied.
Do you want to be foolish or do you want to be wise?
Verse 3 When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil
with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their
lamps. So what made them foolish and
what made them wise was a difference in preparation.
Verse 5 Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got
drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight there was the
shout. Remember, behold, the bridegroom
come out to meet him. Then all 10, all the virgins
rose and trimmed their lamps. So what's the issue here?
What makes them foolish and wise?
It wasn't that they slept. All ten of them slept, right?
So Jesus, when he comes back, he's already told us, keep
living your life. You're going to get tired,
you're going to eat, you're going to sleep, you're going to
wake up. But no matter what you're doing,
when you're doing it, even when you're sleeping, be ready.
Because the call came in the middle of the night.
And all ten of them rose, all 10 rose and trimmed their lamps.
The issue wasn't that the foolish didn't know how or what
to do. The issue is that they weren't
actually prepared. They had the appearance of being
prepared. They were in the right place
with the right lamps, with the equipment, but they didn't
maintain enough oil to make the trip.
We don't get to know why. We just know that they didn't
have whatever they needed. They were not prepared.
Verse 8 The foolish said to the prudent, Give us some of your
oil, for our lamps are going out.
And the prudent answered, No, there will not be enough for us,
and for you to go instead to the dealers and buy some for
yourselves. While they were going away to
make the purchase, the bridegroom came and those who
were what those who were ready went in with him to the wedding
feast and the door was shut. Later the other virgins also
came saying, Lord, Lord open up for us.
But he answered, truly I say to you, I do not know you.
So Jesus's words then in verse 13, be on the alert then, for
you do not know the day nor the hour.
Now it's important when we study parables, it's important to
understand that we must focus on what they are essentially trying
to teach us. Most parables have one central
.1 central theme and we don't want to focus on the things
they're not saying. So what is it not saying in this
parable? It's not saying the wise ones
were mean to the foolish ones and they should have shared
their stuff, right? It's not saying that.
It's also not telling us to be unkind or stingy.
We already read the Good Samaritan.
The Good Samaritan was generous, compassionate, merciful.
So what's going on in here? That Jesus is highlighting this
parable makes a different point. Spiritual readiness cannot be
borrowed. I'm going to say it again.
Spiritual readiness cannot be borrowed from someone else.
Not your good friend, not your parents, not an amazing
grandmother, not not a pastor or a teacher or anyone else.
Spiritual readiness cannot be borrowed because true
discipleship isn't signing up for church membership and riding
it out until heaven. One of the greatest tensions
that we have in the Christian faith is actually the
relationship between faith and works.
Everyone say faith and now say works.
You know, we have got to make this really, really clear and
that's what we're going to do this morning.
Ephesians chapter 2 verses one through 10.
I'm about to read this passage. I want you to listen for every
bit of past tense language. OK, you're going to listen for
were formerly was listen for the past tense language and now
listen for the present tense because there's something
happening in this passage that relates to grace or faith and
works. You guys ready?
OK, verse one and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in
which you formerly walked according to the course of this
world, according to the Prince of the power of the heir of the
spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
So who's at work causing disobedience in the in the
world? The Prince of the air, the enemy
of God, Satan, right. Verse three among them we to all
how many of us all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh,
indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and where
by nature children of wrath, even as the rest It's all of us
guys. It's every one of us two amazing
words. But God being rich in mercy,
because of His great love with which He loved us even when we
were dead in our transgressions, made us, what are we now alive
together with Christ? By grace you have been saved.
He raised us up with Him. He seated us with Him in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the kindness of God
towards us in Christ Jesus, He could show surpassing richness
of His grace. Verse 8.
For by grace you have been saved, period.
Oh, there's a little more, but it is a period.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, so that it is not a result of work, so that no one
may boast. For we are his workmanship.
Praise God created in Christ Jesus for good works.
What did that say? We were created for good works
which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
So what's clear in this passage? It is not about what we do, it
is about God's grace and grace alone.
But something about that grace is going to change something
about what we do. All three of these parables in
Matthew chapter 25 are about doing something.
The wise virgins had not only the lamps and knew how to trim
them, they had the flasks and they had enough oil.
No matter how much oil was used in whatever their day-to-day
life was, they had enough replenishment.
They had a source somewhere, like maybe the oil of His
presence, and they had oil coming up and out of them that
they always had enough. They were ready, the wise
stewards, they had the money and they invested and multiplied the
resource that the owner entrusted to them.
And then the third parable, the sheep that are separated out
from the goats. You know what they did?
They loved, they cared for, they clothed, they fed, they
welcomed, they hosted the most undesirable.
Jesus said the least of these. You did this too.
And you know what they said? When did we do that?
Because whatever they were doing wasn't tied to something they
thought they were earning. They were doing it because God
had transformed them. So in every one of these cases,
God is doing something here to make it clear and we must be
listening. One of the things that I
appreciate the most about my husband Tim, is how he stewards
our finances for our family. He overseas so well, and he
often will go through services or like subscriptions and things
and find out could we do something different and save a
little money. So after many, many years of
being with the same car insurance company, he's moved us
to a new insurance company and he says, hey, I need you to
download this app and I want you to log in and I'm going to put
this device in your car. Anybody know what I'm talking
about? And he's like, hey, we're
already getting a discount, but if we do really great, we'll get
a better discount. So the maximizer in me was like,
yes, I can do this. Until I started looking at the
scorecard. And then I was like, oh, now I'm
using cruise control in our 25 mile an hour neighborhood.
You know why? Because someone's watching,
right? When we believe someone is
watching us, giving us our score, I'm checking how I'm
turning. I'm checking my acceleration.
I'm making sure I'm turning smoothly.
I'm not breaking too hard, and I'm not on my phone.
You don't realize how many times you touch your phone until
someone's really watching you. But this is not what I'm talking
about with God. I'm not talking about performing
or manufacturing fruit because you think that God is watching.
What Jesus is saying in this passage and in the fullness of
the Bible is there is no true faith that doesn't change us and
produce good works in time. But the order is critical
because Kingdom people are completely different from the
inside out. And that brings us to the part
of the parable that I hope we can be really honest with each
other. Can you guys be really honest
with me? I'll be really honest with you,
when we get to the part about the closed door and we get to
the part that five that knew him, knew him enough to say
Lord, Lord, it's us, let us in. And they find the door has been
closed and he says depart from me.
I don't know you. This is hard.
It's hard to read. It's quite possibly some of the
hardest passages to read and understand.
This does not feel awesome. But here's the thing, this is
Jesus clarity as kindness. This is Jesus to his disciples
saying you are coming out of a spirit of religion, a construct
of laws and laws and laws and laws.
And what I am birthing in you, leaders of my future church, my
future bride, has got to be completely different.
And so while Jesus is saying I'm sowing these seeds generously
and I want everybody to come, if you don't decide to come, the
door is going to close. And we are in a world at an age
where every influencer at your fingertips can tell you anything
that we want to hear. Yeah, it doesn't matter.
Sin. No big deal.
I don't know why that's going on.
Yeah, you can do whatever you want.
Come on in. It's going to be just fine.
And Jesus, in his kindness and his mercy gave his life, offered
the invitation to everyone. And then in his mercy he is
saying you have to choose. You get to choose.
Please choose, but know that if you're going to teach and lead
and stand for me, you have got to tell the truth.
The door will close, the time will come, the hour will arrive
that He will return and He will appear on the earth.
And in that moment the entire world is going to know, because
in His fullness of glory, no one can stand people.
Well, either you believe in Jesus or not.
We'll fall on our face and say glory to God.
In the highest you are holy, You are who you said you were.
But God, in that moment, we'll say you're all bowing, but you
are mine and you never were. And this is a teaching that we
must wrestle with and know how to steward with urgency and
compassion, love and truth. And that's what this parable is
about. Jesus made it very clear.
So the question that we're asking today is, how do I know
if I'm ready? That's a great question to ask
right about now, right? How do I know?
Am I the wise with the oil burning?
Is it flowing? Will I be ready no matter when
he comes? Or am I the foolish thinking
that I've got everything because I have the equipment, I'm
showing up, I'm doing the things.
So let's ask the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, come and move,
bring fresh revelation, remove the veil from our eyes, let
every ear that wants to hear, every eye that wants to see,
hear and see. And if that's you say Jesus, I
want to hear, yes, yes. So I'm going to give you some
questions to ask. These are from the Holy Spirit.
I said, Lord, how do you want us to check?
And he said, how do you tell what kind of tree is growing
that's bearing fruit? You look at the fruit, right?
If I want to know what kind of tree, and I go to my friend's
house and they tell me it's a Peach and I see an apple, is it
a Peach tree? No, it's not what we say, it's
what we actually produce. And so this is the Holy Spirit
invitation to us today. Are you currently sensing the
Holy Spirit convicting you, causing change in your life?
And I don't mean like once. I mean like there's a whole
before and an after. And that before and an after is
still going in your life. You know why?
Because I'm still becoming sanctified in Jesus.
I'm still becoming more and more like Jesus.
You know that phrase on the wall in the lobby that says meet with
God, discover who you are in Christ, become more like Jesus
and lead others to do the same? We actually mean it.
Not as a phrase or a slogan or a T-shirt, as a life of walking
with Jesus. My before list, my you were
formerly list is constantly growing.
Not because I'm adding sin, but because he's making me more and
more and more free. And so as we look and we see
what is happening in our lives, what happens on Sunday mornings
or in groups during the week or when you read the Bible on your
own, are you being changed? Is your were list still growing?
This is the way Matthew 38 puts it.
Therefore, bear fruit. Remember, you're a fruit tree.
Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
What that means. Repentance means to change your
mind. A lot of people think repentance
means to turn away. Turning away is what happens
after you change your mind, that you don't want whatever thing
you've been heading for. But repentance is the change of
your mind. And so if you grew up in a
household where you were taught don't give, we barely have
enough, right? You got to hang on to everything
you have. Don't give anything away.
We're living in scarcity. Then you've got to repent and
change your mind to this reality.
Your Heavenly Father owns the cattle on 1000 hills and has
every resource. And it doesn't mean that you're
automatically going to be rich in material sense.
It means you're already rich in every sense that matters.
And if you generously so and generously give, then He is
going to take care of you. But bearing fruit in keeping
with repentance means if I keep my old way of thinking, I'm
keeping my old fruit, right? So what if you grew up in a
household that taught you to perform perfect?
Do everything just right to get God's approval, indirectly or
directly? That's what I grew up with.
Not because anyone overtly said it to me.
Somehow it's what I picked up along the way.
And So what I've had to repent of what's on my were list is
that I'm doing anything to get God's approval, when in reality,
I'm doing everything from His approval that I've already had
my entire life. Do you understand how the
repentance changes the fruit that we're bearing?
And so the question that we're asking is, is there an ongoing
change going on in your life as a result of being in a
relationship with a living God and living in His active word?
Are you ready? Are you becoming completely
different? What about this?
How hard or easy is it for you to forgive people?
How hard or easy is it for you to use your resources to bless
people when you're not going to get any credit for it?
Like maybe we're good to bless as long as somebody's watching
my State Farm up. But are we good to bless and
give? And so when no one's looking but
the Father who says thank you for taking care of, thank you
for taking care of, what happens in secret, do you find yourself
aching and longing for the word of God or the presence of God?
Do you wake up in the morning with a song on your lips with
gratitude flowing? Do you wake up saying, thank
you, Lord, the hills are where I look because you are my help.
Thank you, God, that you're my shepherd.
I can go to sleep and I can wake up and rise knowing that you're
watching over me. Do you wake up with a song in
your heart? If not, maybe there's more for
you. Maybe there's more completely
different, transformative, spirit filled life that God is
offering you. Are you ready?
When people leave your presence, do they feel refreshed and
blessed because being near you means they've been near the
Spirit of God? Do you look at what appetites
are growing in your life and do you see a hunger for
righteousness, peace and joy? Or do you see a hunger for
wealth, status, promotion, success?
What appetites are growing in our lives?
Are you experiencing unexplainable power of the Holy
Spirit to do things that make no sense now?
I don't mean like magic and fantasy.
I mean like forgiving someone who's really wrong to you or
bearing self-control and patience in a situation that's
requiring so much endurance. Do you have an experience of the
Holy Spirit producing a new things that are not natural?
Like words of encouragement from someone who says, how did you
know I needed this? I didn't, but God did.
These are signs that you're ready.
They're signs that you're completely different.
And here's the last question I would ask you.
When is the last time you shared the love of Jesus with someone
else? This is a sign that we are
completely different. And I don't want you at this
point tripping over some kind of like fear based Oh my gosh,
what's wrong with me? The purpose of this is so we can
be invited in deeper. And what I want to move us
through here today is to believe that this should be happening.
Romans 12/1 tells us that we can be transformed by the renewing
of our mind. And 2nd Corinthians 3 tells us
that we're being transformed into God's image from glory to
glory to glory to glory. That's that ongoing list, right?
First, John 26 says when we abide in Jesus, we ought to walk
with him. And Galatians 220 says your old
life has been crucified in Christ.
That's not me anymore. Now I live through God, a
completely different life because a completely different
disciple is not doing things to earn salvation or manufacturing
good fruit, right? We're not showing up with fruit
because we should. A completely different disciple
is experiencing a love relationship that causes
overflow and transformation. So what if you're here this
morning, you're saying I think I'm on the not ready list in
some way or another. I'm not overflowing.
I'm I'm not completely different yet.
You're in the right place, keep listening.
I want to introduce to you 3 potential blocks that could be
blocking this readiness and this overflow.
Completely different life. The 1st is this.
There is a chance that you are confessing with your mouth but
not believing in your heart. There's a chance you're
confessing with your mouth by coming to church or doing the
things or praying or fasting or whatever it might be, but you're
counting on your good works to be the transformation and your
salvation. Or you're counting on some
aspect other than the saving blood of Jesus.
Because what the Bible is clear about is that Acts 319 says
repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.
And here's the completely different part than the last
part of that verse, that times of refreshing may come from the
Lord. When we repent and we put our
entire faith in the saving, complete work of Jesus Christ,
we stop trying to do it ourselves.
Do you know that's refreshing? The times are the refreshing
that come from the Lord, come from Him doing the work from the
inside out. And there's a chance that you
may not be ready because somebody told you you had to
earn it, or somebody told you sin was not a big deal.
What's the matter with the church anyway?
Why is the church so hung up on sin making us all feel bad?
Why? Because God loves us so much, He
doesn't want us to earn what sin earns.
He is holy and wants to be with us.
But sin is a problem. Romans 623.
Why does the church care about it?
Because God cares about it. He says what sin earns us.
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord. And maybe the reason you're not
ready or you're not completely different yet is because you've
been confused. Maybe you haven't known your
step of faith. Maybe you have thought like, I
was born a Christian. I've heard so many people say
that I was born a Christian. But remember, we can't borrow
someone else's spiritual readiness, right?
So if you were born into an amazing household where your
parents are pouring into you, praise God.
But at some point you've got to take the step to do what Romans
10 says in verse 8. What does it say?
The word is near you, it's in your mouth, it's in your heart.
That is the message concerning faith that we proclaim.
If you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in
your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be what
saved for. It is with your heart that you
believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you
profess your faith and are saved.
It takes both the internal belief and then the movement of
our body to confess and live it. So what is Jesus saying?
If you're not ready, if you've never believed in your heart,
confess with your mouth. You might need salvation, and
today we're going to offer it. Praise God, today might be your
day for salvation. Yes, but the second reason you
might be blocked from being ready or completely different is
maybe nobody has taught you how to grow up.
Maybe nobody taught you that discipleship is putting your
entire life under the authority of Jesus, consistently allowing
him to examine you by the Spirit, and transforming you in
an ongoing way more and more and more into the image of Jesus.
Let today be the day that you know.
Today you remember that phrase like I am today, years old, when
I learned God intended for your salvation to be a now moment and
an ongoing process of sanctification.
He intended for you to be sealed and promised and marked for the
day of eternity and continue to be transformed into His image.
And we want to teach you how to do that.
So if you're here today and you're ready for that, it's
called discipleship. We're going to teach you.
And the third possible block that I would say could be in
your life keeping you from being ready, from the oil of presence
flowing in your life and being completely different is a lack
of freedom. What do I mean by that?
When we have bitterness, unforgiveness, when we have
anger, when we have trauma, when we're holding on to things,
wounds and hurts that are blocking us from the free
flowing power of the Holy Spirit, we may not be living
completely different. Because I don't have to go very
far to find anger and bitterness and unforgiveness in the world,
do you? So if that is in your life, what
I want to encourage you is that God wants to heal and remove
that block. Ephesians 431 and 32 say it this
way. Get rid of all bitterness, rage,
anger, brawling, and slander, along with every form of malice.
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other
just as in Christ God forgave you.
Do you know 2nd Corinthians 210 and 11 connects unforgiveness,
our unforgiveness with giving Satan an advantage over us.
disciples had these critical moments with him and they wanted
to know Jesus, how is it going to end?
And Jesus did not ignore their question.
But you know what he told them. It doesn't matter so much the
day and the time. That's not really what matters.
It's going to happen. But what matters is how you
wait. And how you wait will be a
result of who you become. Because Kingdom of heaven people
are becoming completely different because we actually
carry the Kingdom within us. And when we do this, do you know
what happens when you become a Kingdom bearing fruit, bearing
disciple in a broken world? You unveil the Kingdom for
everyone around you. Jesus's plan when he was
building the church into these foundational leaders of these
disciples is you're going to build a completely different
church and you are going to embody the Kingdom of heaven.
And everywhere that you go, you will reveal the Kingdom of
heaven, the Father's heart, hearing, but make space for the
Holy Spirit to show each of us how to respond?
So now is the moment. This parable fits into a series
of parables called crisis parables.
It's meant to make us a little uncomfortable, right?
Why? To hurt us?
No. Everybody say no, right?
Because clarity is kindness. Jesus is saying today is the
day. Stop borrowing someone else's
spiritual readiness. Today is the day for you to find
freedom to begin discipleship place, three days if you're a
woman here to come and and learn how to become completely
different with a bunch of people that want to do that too.
You should sign up. I really mean it.
You should sign up. But this is what she said and it
relates to any step of faith that you take, whether it's
coming to conference or coming forward or getting baptized like
we're going to experience in a moment.
She said it's such a God moment right now.
Her friend was texting her. She said, because I'm terrified.
I signed up to go to a women's event tomorrow night, the one we
had in February, and she's am afraid that I had to be in a
different place in my faith than I was at the time to be
qualified to go or do or say yes, or be free or be completely
different. I had no idea what that women's
night was even going to be. But when I woke up the next
morning, something told me I had to go.
And now I can say that night, that step changed my life.
This is what it looked like. I saw women on the panel speak
about the Bible, their relationships with God, and
about Illuminate, and it blew my mind.
It cracked the wall that had been around my heart for years.
And here's maybe the most important sentence.
That night made me feel safe. Safe for the first time in
years. I felt hopeful about the
relationship I could have with God and entrusting a church to
help guide me. And she said that night will
forever live in my mind as the event that changed the direction
of my life. And So what I'm saying to you
today is don't just listen to me.
Don't just listen to me. Listen to a woman who was right
where you are hanging back saying that's for the people
that have it all together. That's for the pastors, the
leaders. close service a little bit
differently today. I want you to linger and I
actually want you to linger and not rush or worry.
Your children are being well cared for and they know the the
ministry over there is going to continue.
Often when we close service and we offer salvation, we do it
with everybody praying together and there's absolutely nothing
wrong with that. But today we want to make it so
clear as The invitation is here.
Come forward and pray with one of our prayer ministers.
If you know that you are on the cusp of a real discipleship
journey following Jesus and you want someone to teach you how
and walk with you, come forward and pray with one of these
prayer ministers. Yes.
And the final thing is, if you know there is a block in your
life, life unforgiveness, bitterness, a sin that you can't
break and you need freedom to bust wide open, come forward and
pray with one of our prayer ministers.
If you would linger and let the Holy Spirit speak,
freedom, Jesus.