10 Bridesmaids | Todd Jones

This week we get to continue in the collection

of talks that we've been in. This is the fourth

week of this five -week collection. So next week

is the last week of this. But we were in this

collection called Stories as Told by Jesus. And

what it is is it's looking at the stories that

Jesus told, which are called parables in the

Bible. And so in the Bible, Jesus tells these

parables that a lot of times we scratch our head

and go, what does that even mean? And so we're

unpacking these parables. We're unpacking these

stories that Jesus tells us. And so as we hop

in today, let me ask you this. Have you ever

thought you were ready for something until the

time actually came? You know what I mean? You're

like, man, I'm prepared. I'm ready. And then

you actually have to do it. I mean, I remember

when I got into high school. And the way that

my church did youth group is that we had life

groups that met in homes. And so I went to this

house. And I was really lucky because my leader,

he was a single guy who wanted to have a family

in the future. And so he had just bought a brand

new four bedroom home. And so a single guy living

in this four -bedroom home, some of his rooms

were empty. And as I got there, I was wondering,

I was like, where's all the people? There's more

cars outside than there are people. And someone

says, oh, they're in the boxing room. And I was

like, the boxing room? What is that? Well, it

was an empty room, like I said, where a bunch

of high school guys decided to bring boxing gloves,

go in there, beat the snot out of each other,

and then open the Word of God. It was awesome.

All right, it was amazing. And I was like, this

is the coolest thing I've ever seen. All the

people are in there. We're just boxed, just fighting

each other. And so the guy next to me who's also

a freshman, it was his first time. And he looked

at me and he goes, we gotta jump in there. And

I was like, you said we. Why'd you say we? I

ain't going anywhere. He's like, no, we gotta

challenge some people. We gotta hop, us two versus

them two. And I'm like, that's not happening,

man. He goes, next week, you gotta get ready.

I'm like, OK, I'll get ready. So that week, I'm

asking people, I'm like, can you give me some

advice on boxing? I don't know what to do. I'm

trying not to die next week. Can someone help

me out here? And I kind of got ready. But as

I showed up the next week, I asked this guy,

I was like, hey, are you ready? And he's like,

yeah, I'm ready. I was like, did you do anything

to prepare? And he's like, no, man, I'm good.

I'm ready. I'm like, okay, here we go. And so

we get the boxing gloves on and we're about to

hop in there and I look over at him and this

guy already had big eyes, but his eyes were like

the size of saucers. And he's like, let's go.

And I'm like, this is not the type of energy

I need right now. Like, and he just ran in and

all of a sudden we're in there boxing. And I'm

not kidding you. It was five seconds before this

dude got popped in the nose and started bleeding

everywhere and he was out. The fight was over.

It was done. We lost. And I was like, bro, you

said you were prepared. You said you were ready.

And he's like, I thought I was ready until the

time came to actually do it. See, I think in

our faith, sometimes that's us. We, we think

that we're prepared. We think that we're ready.

And we, until the time actually comes, because

what we do, our preparation is really just coasting.

We just coast along and we're not actually ready

when the time comes. It reminds me of the dad

joke. When my kids started losing teeth, I used

to tell them, Hey, you have summer teeth. And

they're like, what is summer teeth? I'm like,

some are there, some are not. I think we have

summer Christians in the church where sometimes

you're at church, sometimes you're not. Sometimes

you open the word of God, sometimes you don't.

Sometimes you pray, sometimes you don't. Sometimes

you actually think about God and invite him into

your life, and sometimes you don't. And I think

we live this life sometimes where we miss what

God has called us to. We don't understand the

seriousness of this. This is serious. And we

have to take it seriously. And because it's serious

and we have to take it seriously, we have to

ask ourselves the serious questions. And we have

to search ourselves to go, man, am I actually

prepared? Am I actually ready? We're going to

be in Matthew chapter 25 today, Matthew chapter

Matthew 25 · chapter mention Matthew 25 · chapter mention

25. And to set this up, I love this because the

disciples, man, they started asking questions.

And the disciples are amazing because they give

me hope. They're just as big of idiots as I am.

If you've read through the Bible, a lot of times

I'm reading it and I have questions. I'm going,

what does Jesus even mean? And then I read one

line further and the disciples ask the exact

same question that I ask. And then you get to

understand what they're saying. So Jesus is teaching

and he's saying, hey, I'm going to leave, but

then I'm coming back. It's called a second coming.

I'm going to come back again. And his disciples

are like, what does that mean, Jesus? When are

you coming back? I don't get it. When are you

coming back? And Jesus says, I don't know. Jesus

himself said, I don't know, the angels don't

know, only the Father knows. And the reason Jesus

didn't tell us when he's coming back, the reason

why God the Father did not even reveal to Jesus

when Jesus is coming back is because he wants

us to live in a way where Jesus could come back

anytime. Because you and I, when we know that

there's a deadline, we like to push it up to

that deadline. I have a lot of kids that are

involved in different activities. And so usually

on the weekend when my kids have tournaments,

my wife will take one of them, whose tournament

it is, away for the weekend, and I'll have the

other kids at home. And while she's away, I'll

tell you right now, we live like we live in a

frat house, all right? The dishes just stack

up in the sink. Trash is everywhere. Stuff is

everywhere. Things are everywhere. I'm stepping

over things. I'm stepping over people. I'm like,

oh, how did you get there, right? Like, that's

where we live. But when I know she's coming home

at seven o 'clock on a Sunday night, guess what

I'm doing at six o 'clock on a Sunday night?

I'm cleaning, man. That place is spotless. Because

the second she walks in, she looks around and

she's like, oh, this is amazing. And I'm like,

I know. It's how it's been the whole time. You

know what I'm saying? But we like to push it

to the last second. When you have a deadline,

you push it there. And Jesus is going, I'm not

telling you when I'm coming back because I want

you to live like it could be any time. And he

says, let me say it this way. And he engages,

he starts engaging them in this parable. He starts

telling this story, Matthew 25 verse one. At

that time, the kingdom of heaven will be like

10 virgins who took their lamps and went out

to meet the bridegroom. Okay, now this parable

is one that a lot of us go, okay, this is too

scary to touch. I don't understand it. And the

word virgin throws us off because we're like,

what does this even mean? I know there's another

religion that talks about 72 virgins. What does

this mean? And we get scared and we don't know

what to do with it. But when you understand the

context of us, it makes a lot of sense. It's

actually a very simple parable to understand.

When we're referring to virgins here, what he's

referring to is young women that were of marriage

age, but were not married yet. And every young

woman who was of marriage age, but not married

yet was a virgin. Because if they were not, they

were kicked out by their family. They were kicked

out by their community. They were ostracized

completely. So everyone was there. So what this

actually is saying is just saying, bridesmaids,

these bridesmaids that were there to help the

bride on her wedding day. That's who he's referring

to. That's who the virgins are. And the reason

that that's so important is because their custom,

what they did is that the groom would be at his

house and he would leave his house to go and

get the bride and the bridesmaids would meet

him there. And then he would take the bride back

to his house. But the thing is, is they didn't

know when the groom was going to come. because

what he was doing at his house is he was in discussion

with the family over the price to marry the girl,

the dowry, what it would be. And so the longer

the discussion took, the more value she had.

So they wanted it to take long. They didn't want

it to be a quick agreement that they reached

and she wouldn't have a lot of value. And so

they didn't know when he was going to come back.

And so after he would have these discussions,

then he would go back and he would go to her

house and the bridesmaids would meet him and

go, let me go get the bride. And then they would

get the bride and have a parade on the way back

to his house, a procession on the way back to

his house where the wedding would be. And so

Jesus is telling this to a context of people

that understand this. They know what it's like

for the marriage customs of their day. And as

he says this, he then tells them this in verse

two, five of them, five of the bridesmaids were

foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones

took their lamps, but did not take any oil with

them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars

along with their lamps. See, everyone in the

procession was expected to carry their own torch

because if they didn't, they were assumed to

be party crashers because weddings of those days

were not just two hours, not just three hour

ordeal. They were like full on day long event,

couple days long. Right, you remember Jesus at

the wedding in Cana? They drank all the wine.

They ran out of it. They partied so hard that

the wine was gone. And then Jesus said, hold

on, let me make you more wine. Keep partying.

There's a lot of food. There's a lot of drink.

There's a lot of stuff going on. And it's a couple

of days. So when you saw a procession of people

holding these torches going across town, if you

were smart, you'd go, hey, I'm going to hop in

on this procession because I know what's at the

end of it. Food and drink and party. And it's

going to be awesome. And so there are party crashers.

I remember when I was in high school, late high

school and early college, I used to do this very

strategic thing. I would go down to downtown

San Diego as soon as the Padres game was starting,

and I would go to dinner. And as soon as I was

done with dinner, I'd go over to the front of

the stadium. It was probably about the third

or fourth inning, and people would start leaving.

Like, I don't know why they're leaving in the

third and fourth inning. Maybe it's because it's

the Padres. I'm not sure. But they'd be leaving.

And so I would ask them, hey, can I have your

ticket stub? All right, this is before digital

tickets. And so they would literally give me

their ticket stub. And it was awesome because

you never knew what you were going to get. You

get their ticket stub and you're like, wow, I

am very far on the upper deck today, right? Or

I'm on the field. This is amazing. But the important

thing was to have that ticket stub because it

was what got you in. And it proved that you were

supposed to be there. These torches that they

carried in this procession, they proved that

they were supposed to be there, that they were

not just wedding crashers. All right, the foolish

bridesmaids The foolish bridesmaids, they miss

the part that identifies them as a part of the

group. Sometimes we have foolish bridesmaids

in church. We have foolish bridesmaids in church

because it's somebody who just hangs out but

doesn't actually desire a real relationship with

Jesus. And listen, if you're just here to hang

out, we're glad you're here. This is a church

that I am proud to say that if I was not a pastor

of, I would be a participant in. I would attend

this church if I wasn't on staff. I love this

church. I think it is a great place to hang out

and to be a part of. But if you're just here

to hang out, you've missed the point. These bridesmaids,

they were foolish because they missed the thing

that actually made them a part of the group.

It's all about a relationship with Jesus. Jesus

says it this way in Matthew seven. Not everyone

who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom

of heaven. but only one who does the will of

my father who's in heaven. Many will say to me

on that day, Lord, Lord, didn't we do all these

things for you? Didn't we prophesy in your name?

Didn't we drive out demons? And in your name,

we performed many miracles. Then I will tell

them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me,

you evil doers. And this is scary. This is scary

because sometimes we think that our torch, We

think that our ticket stub is all the things

that we do for God. But God, I've done this for

you. God, I serve in this ministry. But God,

I give. But God, I show up. But God, I'm here.

And we have all these things that say, God, but

look what I've done for you. But you missed the

point that it's not what you do for God. It's

a relationship with God. And that's not the torch.

All that is is you're just hanging around the

party. You don't have a relationship with God.

Verse five, he says this, the bridegroom was

a long time in coming and they became drowsy

and fell asleep. At midnight, the cry rang out,

here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him.

Then all of the bridesmaids woke up and trimmed

their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise,

give us some of your oil, our lamps are going

out. No, they replied, there may not be enough

for both us and you. Instead, go to those who

sell oil and buy some for yourself. Now, some

of you are reading this and you're like, okay,

they must have missed preschool when sharing

is caring, right? Why are they being selfish?

Why wouldn't they just give the oil that they

have? And you need to understand that these bridesmaids

are not being selfish. What in fact they are

doing is they are setting healthy boundaries.

Some of you need to set healthy boundaries in

your life and that is not selfish. You need to

be able to say, this is a boundary that I'm setting.

And I love their response because they said,

listen, you can't ride my coattails. There's

a price that's required. You need to go buy it

yourself. There becomes a point in our faith

where we need to own it ourself. I was in middle

school when I grew up in church my entire life.

I'd been in church every single weekend. And

I went to church because that's what my parents

did. My faith was completely based off of my

parents' choice that they wanted me to believe.

And it wasn't until I was in middle school that

I realized that it wasn't about my parents' faith.

I needed to make the choice myself to follow

Jesus. And I needed to say, I'm choosing to accept

what Jesus has done, not because my parents want

me to, but because it's what I want to do. And

I owned my own faith. You cannot have a faith

that is dependent on your spouse. Just because

your spouse wants you to be here, that is not

your faith. Just because your parents went to

church their whole life, and when you come to

church, it reminds you of them, that's not what

it's about. You need to have a relationship with

Jesus. They're saying, no, no, no, you can't

just go ahead and borrow this. You need to go

out and you need to pay the price for it. Verse

10, but while they were on their way to buy oil,

the groom arrived and the bridesmaids who were

ready went in with him to the wedding banquet

and the door was shut. Later, the others came

and they said, Lord, Lord, open the door for

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

know you. How prepared are you? How prepared

are you? Because sometimes we go, okay, I'm prepared

because I read a book. I'm prepared because I

know some knowledge. I think about this. Remember

when you had your first kid and you were prepared

because you read what to expect when you're expecting?

And you're like, I know, I read the book. I took

a parenting class. I'm good. And then you go

in and you have this baby and then the nurse

is there to help you and tell you like, no, no,

no, this is the way the diaper goes. And like,

you put the diaper on and then they do the craziest

thing ever. They put the baby in a car seat and

they let you take it home with you. And you're

like, what am I supposed to do now? Who's here

to help me? I don't know what the heck I'm doing.

And you can read every book in the world. And

at that moment, the panic inside of you is like,

I'm not ready. I'm not there. Listen, how prepared

are you? Because preparation requires action.

And just knowing something is not good enough.

You have to have action. Preparation requires

action. How prepared are you? Do you know Jesus?

Do you know Jesus? Because Jesus wants to know

you and his invitation for you to know him is

this. He went to a cross and died for you. His

invitation is this, is that God wanted a relationship

with you, but because of your sin and because

of my sin, we are separated from God. We cannot

associate with a perfect and holy God because

of our sin. And because of that gap, it says

that God so loved the world that he sent his

son. And Jesus came because the penalty for our

sin is death. The wages of sin is death. And

so Jesus paid the penalty. He paid the wages.

He said, I will pay the price that you deserve.

And he went to a cross. And Jesus died on a cross

for you and for me. And when we put our trust

in Jesus, we have a restored relationship with

God. That is the gospel. That is the good news.

That is what he's saying. Hey, listen, this is

what matters. It's not if you go to church. It's

not if you were a good person. It's not if you

just gave back. Oh, I've just given back to a

lot of people. It's not if you're on a serve

team. It's not if you're in a life group. It's

not if you just hung around church for 30 years.

That's awesome. We're glad you're here. It's

not about that. All that is is a torch with no

oil. All that is is carrying around a torch that

has absolutely no oil. It doesn't matter at all

because hanging around church is not the same

as having a relationship with Jesus. But I think

a lot of us are content with borrowed oil. All

right, we're content with just borrowing oil.

These bridesmaids are like, oh, I just wanna

borrow oil. Listen, you need to understand that

you don't need to borrow oil. There's an abundance

in Jesus. There's an abundance in Jesus for you.

And listen, my Catholic friends in here, I love

you, you're awesome, but you need to understand

that you have access to the same God that I have

access to. I always think it's crazy when people

are like, hey, will you pray for me? And yes,

I'll pray for you. The Bible says we should pray

for each other and we will. But you need to understand,

I don't have any special access to God because

I'm a pastor. You have the exact same access

to God through Jesus. The exact same access to

God through Jesus. You do not need to borrow

oil because you have the reservoir of where oil

comes from. And it's available to you. But sometimes

we rely so much on borrowed oil. We like listening

to messages and messages are great. We have a

good stockpile of messages on our website. You

can go back and listen to every single week.

They're incredibly helpful for you to build up

who you are and to live the life that you were

created for in Jesus. And we have the incredible

privilege of having an incredible pastor, lead

pastor that is a wonderful teacher like John.

We get to sit under his teaching. It's incredible.

And some of you are like, speaking of him, when

is he coming back? You're like, I want a pastor

who wears a sweatshirt. When is he coming back?

He'll be back. Don't worry. Don't worry. You'll

only have to deal with this for a couple more

weeks. All right. I'm saying it's going to get

better. Don't worry. We like those messages and

that's great. We like to listen to podcasts.

And listen, I'm telling you right now, if the

unedited podcast is not in your weekly routine,

you need to add it into your weekly routine.

because it is designed to help you live the life

that you were created for in Jesus. It's amazing.

It's something that can help you on your walk

and be a part of your week. All right, there's

books that are incredible to help you live the

life that you were created for in Jesus. They're

all out there and you can find those books. You

can read those books. You can consume that content

and every single one of those things, even though

it's amazing, it is secondhand. It is not from

the source. You have access to go to the source.

You have access to the word of God. You have

access to the living and active word of God himself

in your hand. You can read what he said. The

sword of the spirit that's sharper than any two

-edged sword that you have access to. You have

access to a conversation at any time, any place

with the God of the universe, the all -powerful,

all -knowing, all -present God of the universe

that wants to talk with you through prayer. You

have access to the Holy Spirit on the inside.

himself to guide you and walk with you and push

you through your life. When the difficulties

come, you have God inside of you to walk through

all of it. Do not settle for borrowed oil. Some

of you are settling for secondhand borrowed oil

when God is saying there is more. There's more

for you. You can go to the source. You can go

to the unending source. Scarcity is not a thing

with our God. And here's the thing about these

bridesmaids. All 10 of them looked exactly the

same on the outside. They were all invited there.

They all were there. They all had a lamp. But

what was on the inside is what matters. Having

extra oil. You can show up to church and you

can be here and on the outside you can look great.

You can do the right thing and say the right

thing and be in the right place and that's great.

But it's what's on the inside that matters. a

personal relationship with Jesus. How prepared

are you? Do you have a personal relationship

with Jesus? How prepared are you? Are you making

use of the time that you have? Because how you

live matters. It matters. How you live this life,

not just in this building, but outside of these

walls, how you live actually matters. It says

this in Titus 2, verse 11 through 13, for the

Titus 2:11–13

grace of God has appeared that offers salvation

to all people. The grace of God, right? That's

what we talked about, a relationship with Jesus

because of his grace. But what does it do? It

teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly

passions and to live self -controlled, upright,

godly lives in this present age while we wait.

for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory

of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. When

we wait for the answer to the question the disciples

ask, when are you coming back? In the meantime,

what does the gospel do? It helps us say no to

the worldly passions, to the human impulses and

choose to live in a godly way. And this has to

be a daily routine for us. There's a daily routine

for me to say no to my human impulses and say

yes to God. Every single time a woman walks past

me that is not my wife and everything inside

of me wants me to look, I have to say no to my

human passions and desires in order to say yes

to God. Because what's in me wants to, and it's

like, man, I wanna do it, I wanna look, but I

have to say no because the gospel is teaching

me to say no to my human passions and desires.

Every time I'm interacting with some dumb people,

listen, there's some dumb people out there. None

of you guys, I'm just saying, out there. And

my anger's bubbling up. and it wants to take

control of me, I gotta say no to my human passions,

what I want to do in order to say yes to Jesus.

Every single time that I am on the internet,

I have to say no to the things that I want to

go to, and I want to look at, and I want to click

on, and I want to go to because my human desires

and passions are saying no, this is what you

wanna look at, this is what you wanna do, and

I have to say no because the gospel is teaching

me to say no to those things, to say yes to Jesus.

Listen, every time that thought in your brain,

this is the place where we get messed up the

most, is our thoughts. Every time you want to

start thinking something about somebody or about

yourself that's not true. We have to stop. We

have to go, no, no, no, no. I'm not saying yes

to what the world wants, my human passion. I

need to take captive my thoughts. All right,

some of you guys suffer from stinking thinking.

All right, that's your ailment. That's what you

got. And it starts in here for us to say, no,

no, no. The gospel teaches me to say no, because

how I live matters. How I live matters. And it's

hard because that's what's inside of us. It's

hard to do that because what's inside of us wants

to come out of us. And a lot of us are like,

listen, you mess with me too much and my pre

-Jesus is gonna come out. You're like, I'm saved,

but I'm not soft. And that's what's inside of

us. But you need to realize this, check it out.

When God freed the Israelites from Egypt and

he took the Israelites out of Egypt, out of slavery.

He said, I'm taking you out of Egypt. But then

he spent the next 40 years taking Egypt out of

the Israelites. He spent the next 40 years going,

okay, listen, you are saved. You are no longer

a slave, but you keep wanting to go back and

live like a slave. Listen to me, church, you

no longer need to live like a slave because you've

been set free. You've been set free. You have

the power of God inside of you. And you don't

have to keep going back to living like a slave

when he said, no, no, no, you're free now. Living

a way that God has called you to live through

the gospel. Do you understand? The power is not

on your own. You want to watch someone fail in

the way that they live? It's when they think

that they have to do it on their own. Because

I can't say no to those internet sites that I

want to look at. Because I can't say no to the

people that I want to blow up on. I can't say

no to those things, but it's the power of God

inside of us. That's who does it. Some of us

are operating on the wrong power system. You

cannot do this on your own church. I cannot plead

with you enough for you to understand that you

don't have the strength to do this, but it is

God through you that has the strength in order

for you to say yes to what Jesus wants and say

no to what you want. And what that looks like

is this. The Bible says they will know you by

your love. They're not gonna know you by what

you said. They're not gonna know you by if you

came to church. They're not gonna know you by

your love. That's what we need to understand.

Just like the torch, it proved that they were

with them. So does us being prepared in the way

that we live, the way that we love. That's preparation

for people to know that we are with them. That's

who we follow. Listen, I get it. Life isn't always

easy. It's hard. And like, okay, I want to live

that way, but it's real hard because the circumstances

around me are difficult. All right, my boss just

doesn't get it. My boss is hard. They're like,

I don't get it. My kids, man, kids have the worst

timing in the world. They do. Right? Dad, dad,

dad. I'm like, I'm going to kick you across the

room right now. I'm not going to kick my kid,

OK? But I want to. I'm telling you right now.

There's some times. Right? It's hard sometimes

because things are hard. Right? Listen, you Prescott

drivers, you're testing me. You're testing me.

I'm telling you. Right? But some of you are clapping.

You're like, oh, I know. I know. That's awesome.

What part of California are you from? I'm just

kidding. I'm just kidding. But listen, it's hard

out there. And sometimes we blame our circumstances.

We blame our circumstances on how why we can't

live for Jesus. And I love this because Paul

writes this. Paul says this in Ephesians, and

I love how he starts this. He says, as a prisoner

for the Lord. Hold up. Where is he? He's obviously

in jail. That's worse than your circumstance

right now. And what does he say when his circumstance

is really bad? As a prisoner for the Lord, then

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling

you have received, to be completely humble and

gentle, to be patient, bearing with one another

in love. In love. So how do you do this? What

does this look like? First is this, it's living

with purpose and integrity. Living with purpose

and integrity. You have a purpose. Your purpose

is to share the love of God. Let me ask you this.

When you accepted Christ, how come you weren't

just taken to heaven right away? This earth is

difficult. We have a lot of troubles. So why

wouldn't he just take you? There's two things

you can do here on earth that you can't do in

heaven. One is sin, and two is tell people about

Jesus. Which one do you think you're here for?

It's not to sin. You have a purpose. Your purpose

is to tell people about Jesus, and where you

find yourself is how you live that purpose. At

work, that's your opportunity to tell people

about Jesus, to share with them the hope that

you have. In your neighborhood, there's no accident

that you're there. You're there because you can

share Jesus with them. That checker you see at

the grocery store over and over, that's an opportunity

for you to share Jesus with them. What we like

to do is we like to compartmentalize our life.

Well, this is me at work. This is how I act at

work, and these are the things I say at work,

and this is how people perceive me at work, and

this is what I do at work. And this is me with

my family, and this is how I act with my family,

and this is what I say with my family, and this

is how people perceive me. And then this is me

at church. And at church, this is how I act,

and this is what I say, and this is what I do.

And you need to understand that integrity is

consistency, because every single one of those

people is the same. And when you make each one

of those people the same, you understand that

you have not only a purpose, But having integrity

is living that purpose out wherever you find

yourself. Next is this, is responding unexpectedly.

What if we just responded unexpectedly? Because

there's an expected response, right? When someone's

being dumb, when you started countering those

dumb people I talked about, what if you just

treated them with kindness? That's not expected.

What if when you thought what you wanted to say

because some of you have quick wit and you can

just fire things with your tongue, you're good

at that? What if you controlled your tongue instead

of just firing it? That's unexpected. What if

in that moment where, man, every sign is pointing

to a blow up on that person, instead you choose

patience? And you acted in an unexpected way.

What if we responded unexpectedly? Next is this.

Living outward, not inward. Living outward, not

inward. If you were here a couple weeks ago,

Pastor Bob talked about forgiveness. You know

what forgiveness is? It's living outward, not

inward. Because inward, we want to hold onto

it. I'm going to hold onto this. I'm not going

to let it go. Outward is releasing it and saying,

hey, I'm going to live for you, not just for

me. I'm going to release you. If you were here

last week, Pastor Austin talked about, man, we've

been blessed so much. There's so much that we've

been given with our time. with our talents, with

our finances, and living inward is saying, it's

all for me, but you need to realize that it was

given to you to be given to other people. Living

outward is saying, no, it's for you. It's to

give. Don't live inward, live outward. We live

in a tough world. If we're gonna stand up here

and say that we're a family, that means that

families are there for each other. It's not just

about you. It's showing up in someone else's

life when they need you, when they're in pain,

when they're going through something and saying,

man, I'm here for you because this is what families

do because I'm not choosing to live inwardly.

I'm choosing to live outwardly and think about

you instead of thinking about me. But why does

this matter? Those are all good things. But why

does this matter? It matters because the way

that Jesus closes his parables, he says this

in verse 13. Therefore, keep watch, because you

do not know the day or the hour. Listen, church,

you do not have time to put it off. We often

think we have so much time that it's OK. We'll

get that right another time. I'll start loving

people later. I'll have a relationship with God

later. You do not know how much time you have.

I heard the story of a teacher who, on the first

day of school each year, first semester, first

day of the semester, she'd put a chair, an empty

chair in front of her classroom. The students

are like, what's the empty chair for? And she

said, this empty chair represents the friends,

the people, people that are around you that may

not be here. Maybe a loved one, maybe someone

you know. This is going to leave too early and

won't be here. It's going to leave this earth.

And this is to remind you to say today, what

you've been putting off to say tomorrow. This

is to remind you to speak with kindness. This

is to remind you to forgive. This is to remind

you to care. This is to remind you that you don't

know how much time you have with the people around

you. And I don't want to get morbid here to like

end this message on a downer or anything like

that, but here's the truth, is that chair doesn't

just represent other people, that chair represents

you. Because you don't know how much time you

have. That's the point of this parable. See,

the groom can come back at any time. And not

just referring to a second coming, when Jesus

is coming and you need to be ready, but you also

don't know when he's going to call you home.

You have no idea when your last breath is gonna

be taken on this earth. You don't have time to

waste. So let me ask you, are you prepared? Are

you ready? Do you know Jesus? Because if you're

in here today and you do not know Jesus, you're

just hanging out around the party, but you do

not actually know Jesus. Don't let today pass.

Today is the day of salvation. For those of you

in here, say, yes, I put my faith in Jesus. Let

me ask you this. Are you making use of the time

that you have? Because we don't know when he's

coming, but it's our job to be prepared. Let's

pray. God, thank you so much. for what you've

given us. Thank you so much for the blessings

that you've given us. Thank you so much for the

blessing of time. And God, thank you for this

story to remind us that we do not have a lot

of time. God, I pray for the people in the room

right now that need to say yes to you, Jesus.

That need to get to a place in their life where

they can own their faith, where they're not living

off borrowed oil. But God, they say yes because

of what you've done on the cross. I'm willing

to fully trust you. I pray for the people in

this room, God, that need to change the way that

they live and they need to understand that the

gospel is the power of God for salvation, for

us to say no to our desires to say yes to you,

that we would live in a way where we take advantage

of the time that we have because how we live

matters. God, I pray that this would not just

be another weekend, but it would be a weekend

of surrender. We say, God, I'm tired of doing

it on my own. And because I do not have a lot

of time, I surrender it to You. I give up. I'm

tired of doing it on my own. But God, it is because

of You that we are even here. And we praise You.

And we pray this in Your Son's name. Amen.