Are You Ready? What Jesus Warned About Waiting Too Long

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.

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

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.

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

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

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

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.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

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.

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

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

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

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.

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

In Matthew chapter 25, Jesus tells 3 parables.

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

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.

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.

Matthew 25:2

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.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

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.

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

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.