I'll try to.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hey church, it is great to be back here with you tonight and you guys are looking fantastic.

How many of you love the Bible?

Just raise your hand.

You love the Bible?

That's good because we got a lot of Bible verses tonight.

Like if you were like an old-fashioned Sunday school class like I grew up in, we could like, did anybody else grow up playing, they call them sword drills, and does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Some of you are like, why would you have a sword in Sunday school, right?

So I won't even go into what it is, but we would be playing sword drills tonight if we could.

looking up all the scriptures.

So you can go ahead and take your Bible, open it up to Matthew chapter 25.

We'll be there in a minute.

And as you're doing that, back when I was a youth pastor back in the 90s, I had a group of our young people up in Yosemite Valley.

And we were camping up there and I was out just taking a nice walk with one of our students.

And we walked by, if you've ever been up to the valley floor, you may have seen the wedding chapel that's out there.

It's really pretty.

And as we walk by, this couple yells out to me, and they said, hey, hey, are you busy?

And I'm just taking this hike with this student.

They're like, well, could you come be our photographer for our wedding?

And I'm like, okay, right?

So they're getting married, I guess, out in the meadow next to the chapel.

And it was the days of when you had the little throwaway cameras.

Remember those little disposable cameras?

So they hand me a little disposable camera, and I'm out there snapping pictures, and it's real pretty.

And after the ceremony was done, because it was just the couple and the pastor and like me and my student, they said, oh, could you come be the witness and sign our marriage license?

Like, sure.

You know, so I walk in and I'm signing it and I look at him like, where's your family?

And they said, oh, they're at home planning our wedding and they're driving us nuts.

So they like literally and I remember sitting there like, oh, wow.

You know.

No judgment by any means, but I'm glad I'm not going to be at the house when they go home to tell their parents what they just did, right?

Eloping out to a, you know, meadow out in Yosemite, and it was beautiful.

So, thinking about that, and I'm thinking about, you know, weddings in the Bible.

Weddings in the Bible were actually meant to be celebrated not with just a pastor in a meadow with flowers, but were actually meant to be celebrated as a community celebration.

They were a big deal.

They were a huge deal.

And there's actually a lot of rich symbolism between Jesus and his bride, the church, which is us, and actual weddings, particularly weddings that took place back in Bible days.

So I want to give you a little bit of context here tonight before we jump into our passage of scripture.

And the central focus of wedding ceremonies in the scripture are, you can remember these words because we're going to hit them again in a little while, anticipation, expectation, and preparation.

And so in a first century wedding, basically this is what would be what it would be like.

A father would arrange for a bride for his son, and he would negotiate a bride price, all right, what they were going to pay the bride's family for the bride now to become his son's wife.

The terms of the relationship were sealed with the ceremonial sharing of a glass of wine before the two parted ways, and they entered a time of anticipation and preparation for the wedding.

That would lead up to the final wedding feast.

Now, the son would return to his father's house, and he would make arrangements.

He would prepare a place for his bride, maybe add a room addition for her to come and live in.

The bride, in the meantime, would consecrate herself in eager anticipation for her groom's return for her.

And at some point, the son would come back, take his bride to the wedding feast.

Now, if you hold that there, think about this for a second.

Because actually, when I was studying this passage, I didn't realize.

all the rich symbolism that's here.

But in similar fashion, God the Father sent Jesus the Son to secure his bride, the church, you and I.

The terms of the covenantal relationship between God and his people are outlined in the gospel.

So in other words, the deal is set.

This wedding is going to happen.

A great price was paid by the Father to secure the relationship, namely through the sacrifice of his own son on the cross.

And the night before Jesus would go to the cross, Jesus shared a cup with his disciples as a means of symbolically sealing their new covenantal relationship.

And he instructed them to partake of this cup after his departure in remembrance of the price he had paid for them and in anticipation.

for his future and final return for them.

Upon his departure, he went to his father's house in heaven to prepare a place for all of us.

And one day, he is going to return to bring his bride home with him forever.

And the day and the hour, we don't know when that's actually going to be.

The only one who knows this is the father, not even the son knows.

But the bride of Christ, the church, you and I, we are called to wait and make ourselves ready, setting ourselves apart for him and him alone.

purifying ourselves for the day when he will return forever.

And he's going to come.

And when he does, there is an eternal wedding feast that will commence that we have been invited to.

Good news, right?

I mean, it's good news.

As the church, we anticipate, we expect, and we prepare because our groom is coming back to take us home.

Now, the parable that we're studying today has wedding imagery in its backdrop.

That's why I wanted to give you that context.

And also with this series called Ready or Not, as Pastor Jeff explained last week, Matthew chapter 24, the chapter that's right in front of the chapter we're going to be in in just a moment, is all about end times.

So Jesus has talked about end times, and then he comes into what we now have as Matthew 25.

And Matthew 25 is the final set of teaching that Jesus gives before he goes to the cross.

Imagine Jesus sitting down with his disciples, and he's like, listen.

I really need you to get this.

I mean, these are his final words, his final set of teaching.

You need to understand this.

Listen closely.

I'm being serious here.

Last fall, I took a photography class over at Citrus College.

And my instructor, when it was time for midterm and when it was time for final exam, he handed out a whole sheet of what we could expect on the final, what we could expect on the midterm.

Then he went over it in class.

He was making sure of it.

Guys, you've got to know all of this.

This is going to be on the exam.

And this is what Jesus is saying right here in this passage is, hey, this is important.

You got to get this.

So tonight, as we head into the Bible, we're going to actually go into like some pretty serious teachings of Jesus, real serious teachings of Jesus.

So you can go ahead and jump in Matthew chapter 25, starting with verse one.

It says, at that time, the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

Five of them 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.

The bridegroom was a long time in coming and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

At midnight, the cry rang out, there, here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him.

Then all the virgins 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.

But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived.

The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.

And later the others also came.

Lord, Lord, they said, open the door for us.

But he replied, truly, I tell you, I don't know you.

Therefore, keep watch.

Because you do not know the day or the hour.

Let's unpack this just a little bit, just to provide a little bit more context here.

You know, the wedding procession that went from the bride to the groom's home, accompanied with like singing and dancing, oftentimes they happened at night.

So light would be required, obviously.

They didn't have street lights like we do.

And the lamps in the ancient days that they're talking about here are not necessarily the little one you'd put on a table.

They're probably torches.

Now the bride would be ready, she would be prepared, and her attendants would be ready and prepared, but you never knew when the groom was going to come.

You had no idea.

Sometimes they would even announce, hey, he's coming, he's coming, but it could still be delayed for hours.

The job of the bride was to stay ready at all times.

Now out of these ten virgins, they all look the same, yet they're not.

Only half of them are ready and have oil, and so only half of them get to go to the feast and enjoy the festivities.

But the five foolish ones, they actually shut themselves out by not being ready.

They displayed a lack of respect for the bride and groom through their neglect of their responsibility to come prepared.

Everybody knows what they're supposed to do to prepare for a wedding in those days.

But the fact that they didn't do what they knew they needed to do was completely disrespectful.

And it demonstrated their unworthiness of the honor of participating in the celebration.

In fact, by their action, they had insulted the bride and groom as well as all their relatives.

Because to participate in a wedding was a great honor.

And as virgins, these young women, what they were doing, they were in a sense practicing for their own wedding someday.

So to spoil the wedding of their friend by not being able to light the way was a great insult to everyone at the wedding.

And now the thing with oil in the Bible, oil represents the Holy Spirit.

It's symbolic to the Holy Spirit, which we receive from God.

So for five of these virgins that came with lamps, that were empty.

Who brings an empty lamp?

They had no oil.

But the wise virgins, you might say, well, why didn't they share their oil?

I mean, just give them some oil.

Let everybody come to the party.

But it was actually their unwillingness to share their oil shows their concern for the friend's wedding because they only had enough for their own torches.

And if they shared what they had, there wouldn't be enough for anybody.

And then it would be a very dark procession.

So they were thinking of the bride and the groom.

Here's the bottom line on this parable.

Those who are unprepared for Christ's banquet actually insult him, and they warrant judgment.

It says that the door was shut.

What a warning, because the reality is, and this is a hard saying tonight, but it's a true saying.

Remember, Jesus is like, I want you to get this, because it doesn't have to be this way.

But he says, hey, it's all too possible to be often in church and in Christian company and yet be a stranger to the Holy Spirit.

It's possible to have a lamp that looks good, but has no oil in it.

It's possible that one day Jesus may have to say, I never knew you.

Very sobering.

So I have a question for you tonight.

Now we all know that we don't know when Jesus is coming back, okay?

And so when people try to go and prophesy and say when it's going to be and all that.

But in the scripture, Jesus himself said he didn't even know, only the Father knew.

So we don't know when he's coming back.

But I want to ask you a question.

Just what if this was the case?

If you knew that Jesus was coming back this Friday, what would that be?

March, whatever it would be.

13th or something like that, 14th, I don't know.

If he was coming back this Friday, what would you change in your life?

It's a lot of silence.

Silence here in me as well.

I'm speaking to myself as well because really there shouldn't be anything we need to change.

We knew for a fact when Jesus was coming back because, but the question causes us to stop and to ponder how really, how prepared am I really for Jesus's return?

Because we should live like Jesus is coming back at any time because he is.

So are we prepared?

In fact, here's the key question to ponder throughout tonight.

Are you living as though he is coming?

Now, a wedding is a joyous affair.

It's a joyous affair.

People love weddings.

We all love weddings.

And you know what?

The second coming of Jesus is a joyous affair as well.

But when I was growing up as a kid, I gotta be honest, I was scared of the second coming of Jesus.

I think I've told you before, I was a church kid.

I was a pastor's kid for about my first 12 years of my life.

I was born on Monday.

I was in church on Sunday, right?

So I was, if you could be over church, I was over church.

So, I was five years old for whatever reason, and this is the 1970s, they allowed me to see a movie that they were showing in the church back in the 1970s called A Thief in the Night.

Some of you old-timers might remember this old series.

It actually had a song by Larry Norman who was one of the first Christian like artists back in the day that was called I Wish We'd All Been Ready.

And I saw this movie as a little girl.

And in this movie, you know, Jesus comes back and people get left behind and they're freaked out.

And I went home scared out of my mind that, you know, that was going to happen to me.

And I took a little nap because my mom put me down for a nap.

And I woke up and my mom was not in the house.

And I thought, in all my five years of age, with all my sin, I had been left behind, right?

And I was freaked out.

She had simply gone next door to borrow something.

But I saw a lot of my growing up years as a child, like in my elementary years and such, when I would sit in church.

Well, I wasn't the person who raised their hand and went forward for every altar call.

In my seat, I was doing an altar call every single week because I was just like, oh my gosh, what if I sinned and I did something and I didn't confess it and Jesus comes back and then he doesn't take me, I get left behind.

And I mean, I was pretty paranoid as a kid that like, now I'm not proud of this, but If you grew up in the 70s, we played a lot of games in neighborhoods that you don't play anymore.

And one of them, I don't know if kids still do this, but we used to play ditch.

You know, and so some of you like also play ditch, but it's really sad for the poor kid who gets ditched, right?

And so I remember being a kid and be like, let's ditch Joey.

And then poor Joey comes out and nobody's around.

There's no where anybody is.

As a kid, I think I felt like God was going to try to ditch me.

I'm not like he's waiting for me to sin bad.

Then he's going to come back so he doesn't have to take me.

That was like a lot of spiritual insecurity until I began to understand the father's heart.

And the parable where Jesus talks about when there's a hundred sheep and one wanders away, he doesn't take the 99 and go ditch the one, right?

He leaves the 99 to go find the one.

He loves us.

He pursues us, all right?

So if you happen to be sitting here tonight and you deal with some spiritual insecurity, let me just encourage you.

If your heart is authentically like, Lord Jesus, you're my Lord, you're my Savior, and you're doing your best, you're following him, and your heart is turned towards him, You can rest secure tonight, okay?

But there are those, and it's unfortunate, and it breaks my heart, but there are those who take on the name Christian, and they can show up at church, and they can look like everyone else, but they have no oil.

The Holy Spirit doesn't dwell in them because they have not really surrendered their life to him.

They're still master of their own ship, Lord of their own life.

They are not covered in the dust of the rabbi.

And you know, parables like this are always intended to communicate one overarching truth.

And the overarching truth in this parable is that true believers will live as though Jesus's kingdom is fully present right here and now, that Jesus could return any moment and they're prepared.

So the central message coming out of this passage is actually a very strong warning.

To anybody who finds themselves in that space that I just talked about where you don't have the oil of the Holy Spirit in you, that lack of preparation will have dire consequences if you don't change.

And it's also an instruction for all of us on the importance of remaining watchful.

And the question is, which camp are we actually in?

And I would say, well, our behavior reveals our belief.

and we see it in three areas first area is this we've already said this word a couple of times and that's anticipation anticipation anticipation is a feeling of excitement about something that is going to happen in the future it's enthusiasm here we are it's march maybe some of you already have your vacation plans all set maybe somebody here is going on a cruise and you're even right now tonight now that i just said that your mind just went off because you have anticipation on this cruise or a fishing trip or a trip to Disney if you're a Disney fan, or whatever it is for you.

Anticipation, we have all this excitement.

We can't wait.

My friends, do we realize as followers of Jesus what we have been invited into?

Do we realize how glorious it's going to be someday when we are face-to-face with our Lord and Savior?

Do we realize like this is the, John wrote, he was given the revelation, right?

So in Revelation chapter 21, he writes this.

He says, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband.

That's us, guys.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.

They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes.

There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away.

I think most of us have lost people that we've loved.

Can you imagine when we get to go to be with the Lord and there's no more death?

There's no more.

There's no more sickness.

There's no more sadness.

There's no more crying.

The big reunion that we're going to have, of course, seeing Jesus and then our loved ones who have gone on before us.

This is a big deal.

It's something to anticipate.

It's something to get excited about.

Mercy Me had this song about 15 years ago where they have the phrase in there, the lyrics, surrounded by your glory, what will my heart feel?

Will I dance for you, Jesus, or in awe of you be still?

Will I stand in your presence or to my knees?

Will I fall?

Will I sing hallelujah?

Will I be able to speak at all?

I can only imagine.

Man, that's something where we need to let our imagination run on that a little bit.

what that's going to be like.

Because here's something that we don't deserve.

We don't deserve to be with the Lord forever like this.

We didn't earn it.

It is an honor to be invited.

We should have gratitude in our hearts because we're not in love with this world as followers of Jesus or the things of this world.

Our desire is to honor the one who made all of this possible.

We're the bride.

Christ is the groom and we can't wait.

Now we've all been around brides.

You've been around brides.

Many of you have been a bride.

Have you ever been around a bride?

All they do is talk about their wedding.

That's all they do, right?

And after the wedding, all they do is send you pictures of their wedding, right?

Because they can't wait.

We need to have that same level of anticipation that we can't wait.

We want to invite others to this ceremony as well.

So we are in love with the one who is coming for us.

And it is expressed through our worship and our devotion.

When we come together in church every single week, and we open up with a song or two, and we go into...

worship as well like singing afterwards that is our time of really being able to stand before the Lord and when we lift our hands to him that is a sign of devotion of surrendering everything to our Lord we should never be ashamed to lift our hands in the house and to praise our Lord it's also like a child when a child comes before their father or their mother and they're just like hold me lifting up our hands is complete surrender when we come in and we worship that is our time to be able to show the Lord Lord I'm anticipating you I know you're here I know you're present now, but man, I can't wait till that day when it actually comes.

We anticipate it.

Now, closely tied to anticipation is expectation.

Very similar in meetings, sort of as if they would be synonyms.

But the difference is this.

Anticipation has the excitement.

Expectation is belief that something will happen in the future.

It's guaranteed.

The deal is done.

The promise is assured.

And this brings encouragement to keep on keeping on even when the days get hard.

It gives us confidence so that we can press on.

Look at with me at Acts chapter 1, verse 6.

It says this, and this is where Jesus has been talking to his disciples, and he's getting ready to ascend into heaven.

And it says they gathered around him and asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

Like they still don't get it.

They don't realize that it's going to be a while, right?

So Jesus says to them, it's not.

for you to know the times or the dates the father has set by his own authority but you will receive power when the holy spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in jerusalem and in all judaea and samaria and to the ends of the earth after he said this he was taken up before their very eyes and a cloud hid him from their sight they were looking intently into the sky as he was going when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them men of galilee they said Why do you stand here looking into the sky?

This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.

That is what we will call the second coming.

And we are assured of it.

We can expect it.

These guys were eyewitnesses of Jesus after he was commissioning to them and telling them about the Holy Spirit.

And as he began to go up into heaven, they saw this.

These guys spent the rest of their life sharing this testimony of what they saw, and we have their testimony that Jesus is coming back the exact same way.

And so with that, this is a teaching.

These types of teachings on, like, end times or second comings, they're not given to us for some reason, like, for personal fascination, like with end time, future events.

But they're actually given to us that we might encourage each other with the promises.

Look at what Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians.

It says, For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, this is when Jesus comes back, with a loud command, and the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

After that, all of us, we who are still alive and are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will be with the Lord forever.

Therefore, Encourage one another with these words.

They're meant to encourage us.

This is what's going to happen.

Jesus is going to come back.

There's going to be a shout.

Those that are in their graves are going to rise and meet him.

Then the rest, whoever's left, is going to be caught up with him as well.

We can be assured of this.

We can expect it.

And we need to accept the uncertainty, though, that we don't know when it's going to happen.

I remember being a teenager in the 80s, and there were some predictions.

I think there was a real big one back in like 1988 that Jesus was going to come back.

We're a long ways past 1988, right?

So when people come and make these predictions, we don't want to get caught up in that because we don't know when, and we need to be satisfied that we don't know when.

Jesus said this in Mark 13.

Now concerning that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the sun.

but only the Father.

So watch, be alert, for you don't know when he is coming back.

If Jesus was content to not know when, we got to be content as well.

And we got a job to do while we're here.

And while we're down here as well, living our lives, we're called to not lose hope.

Now, some people would say, but okay, but it's been 2,000 years.

2,000 years.

How can you be assured?

Peter writes this.

I love this.

He says, above all.

this is chapter three of second peter above all you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come scoffing and following their own evil desires they will say where is this coming he promised ever since our ancestors died everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation but do not forget this one thing dear friends with the lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day And the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.

Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Why is the Lord delayed his coming?

Because he loves us and wanted us with him.

He delayed it.

He hasn't come yet because he wants to gather us in to be with him.

He doesn't want anyone to perish.

He wants everybody to come to be with him.

We need to encourage one another with that.

And so that leads us to, if we've got anticipation and expectation, preparation.

Because true believers will live in a state of readiness.

That he could come at any time.

Luke chapter 12, Jesus is teaching.

I told you it was going to be a lot of Bible tonight.

A lot of Bible.

It says, it will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak.

But understand this, if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.

You also must be ready because the son of man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

So you're like, okay, then what does readiness actually look like?

And readiness is, it's stewarding the talents and the gifts like Pastor Jeff spoke on last week, stewarding those things that have been placed into our hands faithfully on behalf of the kingdom.

Jesus goes on in Luke 12 and says this, The Lord answered, who then is the faithful and wise manager whom the master put in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time?

It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns.

Truly, I tell you, he'll put him in charge of all of his possessions.

But suppose the servant says to himself, my master is taking a long time in coming and then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk.

The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him.

And at an hour when he is not aware of him, he will cut him down to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

Can you sense the theme here?

We need to be ready, friends.

Not rush to get ready, but be ready.

Remember being like, I remember being a kid after my mom worked in my teenage years and we would know about what time she'd get home.

And there was always these.

chores we always had to have done right by the time she got home and every once in a while you get a phone call that she got off work early and you could see my brother and sister and I right running around just rushing to get everything done because we were unprepared we need to be ready for Christ coming at all times friends because Peter says this he says in 2nd Peter 3 10 the day of the Lord will come like a thief so then dear friends since you are looking forward to this make every effort to be found spotless blameless and at peace with him.

My dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position, but grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To him be glory both now and forever.

Amen.

Make every effort.

Our attitude should not be, well, tomorrow, tomorrow I'll change my ways.

That shouldn't be our attitude.

Instead, we need to give full surrender to Jesus today.

What does full surrender look like?

I was thinking about this story the other day, and then I was in a meeting that Pastor Jeff was leading, and some of you may have been there, and he actually told this story, and I wanted to bring it up here as well.

You may have heard about this man by the name of Charles Blondin.

He lived in the middle of the 1800s, and he was a tightrope walker.

And Charles Blondin was so good at walking on tightropes that he was able to get a tightrope strung across Niagara Falls.

And he began, he would walk across Niagara Falls on this tightrope.

In fact, this is a picture of him right here.

And you might be going, well, what's on his back?

Well, he convinced his manager to ride on his back with him over Niagara Falls.

And when I was reading this account of this, he told his manager, he said, listen, you need to be as you ride on my back, you need to just be one with me.

And if you start to feel like we're losing balance, you can't try to correct it.

You just need to trust me and let me correct it.

Otherwise, you're going to plunge us both to our deaths, right?

Just crazy.

Well, at one point when he was walking back across, he actually I don't have a picture of this one, but he took a wheelbarrow across.

And then he saw someone on the other side and he said, do you believe that I could put, that I could carry you across in the wheelbarrow?

And the guy said, oh yeah, I believe that.

And the guy's like, get in.

And he's like, no, not a chance, right?

This is what surrender looks like.

Surrender is getting in the wheelbarrow with Jesus.

It's full in.

A lot of times when we think about believing, what we actually are talking about maybe is more mental or it's more just like mental ascent.

Like, oh yeah, I agree.

But the Bible, when it talks to actual true belief, true belief demonstrates faith.

True belief, I mean, the scriptures, James writes this in chapter one.

He says, whoa, you believe that there's one God?

Well, good for you.

He doesn't say for you, I put that in.

Good.

Even the demons believe that and shudder.

In other words, you can have mental ascent, but that's not faith.

Faith requires trust.

It's getting in the wheelbarrow with Jesus and trusting him.

It's like.

jumping on his back and say, I trust you.

It's putting your whole life, everything over to him.

And it requires obedience.

It says in John 14, 15, that if you love me, keep my commands.

This is Jesus talking to us.

So if we're not keeping his commands, we can infer them.

We actually don't truly love him.

James writes, but be doers of the word, not hearers only deceiving yourselves.

We're not meant to just read the Bible.

We're meant to do the Bible.

I remember many of you maybe have heard of Bob Goff before and in his book he tells a story about he stopped going to Bible studies and I was like I was like what the heck is he talking about and then as I read he said no when we go we open the Bible but we don't call them Bible studies anymore we call them Bible doings.

He said we read the Bible as far as when we get to a place where we know okay we need to go do this and then we don't meet again until we've all gone and actually done it and then we come back and we talk about that and we push on and I thought that's really fascinating actually that's really cool.

Because we need to be doing the Bible, not simply reading the Bible, obeying the word.

Because my friends, Jesus, he's not fire insurance, you know, or get out of hell, get out of hell ticket.

Jesus is the son of God.

He's a member of the Trinity.

All things were created through him.

He's the one who saved us.

He purchased us with his own blood.

He set us free.

If we've truly given our lives to him, then he's put his spirit in us.

As we discussed a few weeks ago.

He transforms us and we work with him in that process.

We are called to live on mission for the kingdom of God.

The Great Commission was not just for the early disciples, it's for all of us to go and make disciples of all people, baptizing them, right?

And teaching them all about the things of Jesus.

We're called to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ publicly in our life, not just with our lips, but also with our actions.

It's important.

In fact, one of the very first things that we should do when we come to Christ One of the very first things we should do is water baptism.

That's why our first step of obedience.

In fact, it says this in Acts chapter 2.

I think it's Peter speaking.

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and other apostles, Brothers, what shall we do?

And Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins.

And then you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The very first commandment, the very first act of obedience we should have after we raise our hand in a service or come forward and pray with somebody here at the altar, or if we're at home and we give our life to Jesus, our first step should really be water baptism.

If you haven't been water baptized, I would really want to challenge you as your friends here tonight and just say, why not?

Why not?

It's a powerful thing to do.

You might say, well, I was baptized as a baby and that's awesome.

I'm glad your parents did that.

But that was more like a dedication of you to the Lord.

In your baptism, what you see in the New Testament is people old enough to make decisions for themselves, saying, okay, I'm going to follow Jesus, because even Jesus was baptized.

So part of following Jesus is saying, I'm going to get baptized then too, and we're commanded to do it here, repent and be baptized.

And what baptism does is it symbolizes your death to your flesh.

What do you do with the dead thing?

You bury it.

Buried into the water, right?

And coming up a new creation in Christ Jesus.

It's how you make your faith known.

It's how you go public for Jesus.

It's an exciting thing.

You might be sitting there thinking, oh yeah, but everybody probably thinks I'm baptized already because I've been sitting in the same chair in the same row for the last 10 years.

I'm gonna be embarrassed.

You know what?

Nobody would shame you or anything.

We would be excited for you.

I love it when we have baptisms taking place during worship and people going under the water, they're coming up.

and the celebration that occurs.

Every time I see and see that, what I think of is the ripple effect of what's happening in every life in the baptistry, which is sitting right there, in the baptism right there.

Ripple effect, not just the ripples in the water, but that's somebody's life who has been transformed forever for eternity.

And they're going home to their family and they're bringing the light and the love of Jesus there and into their community and into their workplace.

It's a celebration.

If you haven't been baptized and you're a follower of Jesus, I would challenge you, sign up, friends.

This isn't an infomercial, but I do want to encourage you.

Sign up.

I know we're doing them in two weeks, and we're also doing them Easter weekend.

And you know what?

Invite your family and friends and all your unsaved folk and bring them so that they can see you taking a stand for Jesus.

And then, as you walk out of the water, let's live like we mean it as well, right?

Baptism isn't what saves us.

It's our faith in Jesus Christ.

But it's an important, important step that we take.

Our faith should be evident by our deeds.

So as I said before, we're not just reading the word, we're doing it.

James says, as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

If we are really followers of Jesus, it is obvious by how we live our life.

So we need to stop procrastinating on getting prepared and actually get ourselves prepared.

You know, we might be like, well, you know what, Dawn?

I just feel like God, he can have, maybe you've even told God this.

He can have everything, but he can't have just this bank account over here.

I'm going to keep that to myself.

Or he can have everything, but he can't have this relationship.

And you're sitting there and you're thinking, oh, man, Lord, don't make me.

Now, if you're married, I'm not talking to you.

I'm talking to dating relationships right now.

All right.

But if dating relationship and the Lord's like, you know, you know, I'm going to talk to the ladies.

All right.

I'm single as well.

All right.

So just one with you here.

And you end up the Lord's telling you, you know, he's not right for you.

The Lord's telling you, no, you need, this relationship's not healthy.

And you're probably sitting there going, well, Lord, okay, I'll let him go when you give me the picture of the one you're going to replace him with, right?

So, and the Lord's just like, no, trust me, trust me.

Whether it's a relationship, a bank account, stuff you shouldn't be looking at that's online, whatever it is where you're trying to give Jesus just part of your life, but not everything.

My friends, get prepared and let him have your whole life.

Let him have everything, everything about you.

You can, you know, there's, uh, there are very real consequences to our decisions and to not decide is to decide.

There's a sad little story out of Acts chapter 24, just a couple little verses where it says, this is, Paul has been making a presentation to Felix and it says, and Felix was a government official.

It says, Felix came with his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish.

And he sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus.

As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control and judgment to come, Felix was afraid.

and said, he didn't say, Paul, I repent.

He said, that's enough for now.

You may leave.

When I find it convenient, I will send for you.

And there's no record that he ever found it convenient.

He had the means of coming to Christ right there in front of him.

He pushed it off.

Good intentions are not obedience.

So for all of us, sometimes, you know, in the fact that Jesus is a long time in coming.

Will he come back in our lifetime?

I mean, I hope so.

The world seems crazy.

It seems like it's prime for him to come back, but we don't know.

But the danger when we've been waiting for a long time and we don't feel like something is happening, we are tempted to start sliding back and tempted to think we're wasting our time.

But my friends, we need to decide tonight that we are going to keep on keeping on.

And like Paul writes in Galatians 6, let's not become weary at doing good for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do it right.

we do not give up.

Let's be the people who do not give up.

So let's keep watch.

All of us, all of us keeping watch.

Now, I didn't look this up myself.

I saw this on a video.

They were saying there were 66 Bible references to the importance of being watchful, noticing what's going on.

So what should we be taking watch on really quickly here tonight?

First of all, let's watch our thoughts.

2 Corinthians 10.5, we won't read it, but it talks about how we're called to take every thought captive and make it obedient unto Christ.

What are we allowing ourselves to dwell on in our thoughts?

And when we find our thoughts, by the way, go off some sideways, can I encourage you?

Don't beat yourself up spiritually over that.

Sometimes when that happens, we're like, oh, I'm such a failure and all this.

And all we're doing is heaping condemnation.

There's no condemnation on you.

Just gently call your attention off of that.

to something else that's life-giving just gently drive it over and don't let the enemy beat you up over that just come right on back watch your thoughts watch your mouth it says in luke chapter 6 verse 45 because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks so when we actually listen to what's coming out of our lips or if we even look at james chapter 3 talks about out of the tongue come both blessing and cursing if we listen to what's in our mouth it's going to reveal what's going on deeper inside of us it gives us an idea of hey whoa where some areas maybe i need to pay a little attention to.

Proverbs 4.23 talks about guarding our hearts.

We live for the cause of Christ, friend, but the enemy, the world, and the flesh is going to do whatever it can to try to deceive you.

So don't let yourself slide back and get lazy.

So our last verse here tonight out of 1 Corinthians 9.

Paul says this because he wasn't going to let himself get lazy.

He said, therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly.

I don't fight like a boxer beating the air.

No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Paul kept watch over himself.

So do you want to be prepared for Jesus' second coming?

Then we all need to live like his first coming mattered.

Live as if today was the day.

Because here's the deal.

At any point for any of us, it could be our day individually.

And living in the expectation that he could return today, it will compel us to live every day for what really matters for eternity.

We need to keep on doing the work that Jesus has left us to do, ready or not.

And as we close, there are some things, my friends, that you just can't borrow.

Those five foolish virgins could not borrow oil.

There are some things we need to possess for ourself.

It's not possible to rely on somebody else.

And holiness is one of those things.

It can't be traded.

If you're not what you profess to be, nobody else can help you or stand in for you.

The bridegroom will come and it'll be too late.

There are times when it's too late and too late is a terrible verdict.

But you know what?

Tonight you can make sure you don't miss the party.

Just surrender your life.

Give him everything.

You've been invited to something glorious.

Follow up with obedience.

Readiness is the key.

Because as followers of Jesus, as his disciples, we live with anticipation for the great and awesome day.

We have full expectation that keeps us steady and moving forward.

And we live prepared, filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit, keeping diligent watch over our lives as we live out our faith through surrender and obedience to his word.

So once again tonight.

If you knew that Jesus was coming back this Friday, what would you change in your life this week?

Are you, am I prepared?

Key question, are you living as though he is coming?

Lord Jesus, tonight we hear your word and we know, Lord, that this was the teachings, Lord, that you left for us right before you went to the cross, where you're like, hey guys, you got to understand, you got to get this.

And God, I pray tonight by your power of the Holy Spirit that your word came across and touched our hearts.

Encourage those who needed to be encouraged.

And yes, brought even conviction to those who need to be convicted because you love them so much.

So thank you, Lord Jesus, for this great and glorious day that we live with expectation and anticipation for.

And be honored and glorified, I pray, Father, through the choices that we make in our life tonight.

In Jesus' name, amen.

We hope you enjoyed today's message.

If you want to know more about what it's like to be a Christ follower, I want to encourage you to go to oneandall.church.com to get more information, as well as to reach out to us to walk alongside you in this step.

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We hope you have a great rest of your week and we'll end as we always do with one hope, one life in Christ.