Sermon

The Parable Of The Ten Virgins | Pr Matthew Chang

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  1. You're listening to a message to go from X Church.

  2. We hope this message will light up your day. Let's

  3. turn with me to Matthew chapter 25, okay? So we

    Matthew 25 chapter mention

  4. have done with the, completed the 12 plus 1 core

  5. value series. And so we are back to our theme

  6. on revival, okay? Actually, I have sort of like a series,

  7. like a three-part series, you know, kind of prepared, but

  8. I'm going to not cover all three. But it's the

  9. three-part series is based on Matthew chapter 25. and it's actually,

    Matthew 25 chapter mention

  10. if you look at, if you have your Bibles, if

  11. you really look roughly at Matthew 25, you will see

  12. that it's divided into three sections, and it's actually what

  13. I theme after the theme of revival as well. So

  14. if you look, the first title that we see in

  15. Matthew 25, we see the parable of the ten virgins.

  16. So that's the first part. Then after that, we see

  17. the parable of the talents, quite familiar with all of you.

  18. And then lastly, we see the final judgment, which Jesus

  19. talks about as well. And so this actually represents the

  20. three parts that I plan to share, either here or

  21. in different places. And so if you do, you know,

  22. if God gives us the opportunity, we can finish it

  23. by this year. But I always do it by faith.

  24. I don't know what will happen next month as well.

  25. So it's a three-part series. Actually, why I say it's three-part,

  26. because they are actually all connected together. You know, if

  27. you read One of the principles you can always apply

  28. when you read the Bible, all the chapters are always connected,

  29. especially within the chapters. They are always connected. And that

  30. is one of the keys you can use to unlock

  31. the understanding of the Scripture and its deeper meaning as well. Okay,

  32. so the first part, so what today we're going to

  33. cover is about the parable of the ten virgins. Okay,

  34. I know it's not the most popular and the most

  35. favorited by people because it kind of has a somber meaning.

  36. you know, like a warning, you know, and a reminder

  37. to us believers. But let's go through it today and

  38. then let's open our hearts to what God wants to

  39. teach us as well. Okay, verse 1. Okay, now it says,

  40. Then the kingdom of heaven, okay, will be like ten

  41. virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Notice,

  42. what did Jesus say? The kingdom of heaven will be like. Okay,

  43. so Jesus is not just telling a story. He's telling

  44. a truth. He's telling something that is very, that nobody

  45. has ever seen before, but He has. And He's trying

  46. to explain to you what the kingdom of heaven looks like.

  47. So if someone who has been to heaven, how would

  48. they explain the kingdom of heaven to you? Hey, got

  49. streets of gold, or got angels flying, or, you know,

  50. I don't know, got rainbows everywhere, or got mansions. No,

  51. Jesus didn't talk about the physical. When He explains the heaven,

  52. what it talks about, He uses parables. He uses an

  53. illustration that we might understand. And he talks about the

  54. ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet

  55. the bridegroom. Now, what is the ten virgins? It's basically,

  56. it's sort of like a wedding custom. It's a group

  57. of ten virgins who will basically be on the bride's

  58. party to welcome the bridegroom. And normally, they welcome them

  59. at a certain time. Now, how many of you have

  60. been to weddings in Malaysia? Or at least, not just

  61. the wedding, but the whole procession from beginning to the end?

  62. How many of you joined before? You know, what time

  63. do we start the wedding? Or at least the procession?

  64. I mean, what time? Early in the morning, isn't it?

  65. Do you know what time they start for the Israelites

  66. at that time? They start at night. Hmm. They start

  67. at the night time. Normally around 5 to 6 o'clock. Okay?

  68. 5 to 6 o'clock. That is why you see them,

  69. they need to prepare their lamps. Ah, you get what

  70. I'm saying or not? And so the procession, they will

  71. start at 5, 6 o'clock. They will prepare the lamp.

  72. It is not the Aladdin lamp. Not the Ketupat, not

  73. the Mahayaya, not the lamp. It's the lamp that you

  74. need to stand outside of this building. You need to

  75. stand there and then it will stand. That one will

  76. blow away. So it's more like a torch. Okay, a torch.

  77. And you know, like when you suddenly think of a torch,

  78. you realize that it's a lot brighter. It's a lot brighter,

  79. a lot stronger. It burns a lot faster as well.

  80. And so normally they bring a torch and then they

  81. bring it. It's not meant to last long. First of all,

  82. it's not meant to last long. Okay, so people used

  83. to tease me if you've got range anxiety. You know,

  84. this one got brightness anxiety, you know. This one is not.

  85. So everyone knew that when you held that lamp, It's

  86. supposed to last maximum half an hour to one hour. Normally,

  87. it's customary, okay? So, this is just to explain a

  88. bit of context for you guys. Now, it says five

  89. of them were foolish and five of them were wise.

  90. Very strong words. Nowadays, if we say someone is foolish, well,

  91. it's like, yeah, I think it needs to take you

  92. to manner school, you know? It's like, you know, foolish

  93. is a very strong word. But I want to explain

  94. as well that this is a very Important word that

  95. Jesus chose to use as well in the short while. Now,

  96. for when the foolish took their lamps, they took no

  97. oil with them. But the wise took flasks of oil

  98. with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all

  99. became drowsy and slept. What did they say there? Part

  100. of them? Some of them? Only the smart one? Only

  101. the foolish? No, all of them. Okay, doesn't matter you

  102. have been a new Christian, old Christian, seasoned Christian, smart Christian,

  103. everyone slept. So all of us fall asleep. So sleeping

  104. is not the sin. Sleeping is not the problem. You

  105. get what I'm saying or not? Sleeping is not the problem, okay? Now, then,

  106. but at midnight, there was a cry. Here is the bridegroom. Okay,

  107. why they announced it? because now everybody needs to come

  108. out to meet Him. Now, verse 7 says, Then all

  109. those virgins rose and trimmed their lambs, and the foolish

  110. said to the wives, Give us some of your oil,

  111. for our lambs are going out. But the wise answered, saying,

  112. Since there will not be enough for us and for you,

  113. go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. And

  114. while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and

  115. those who were ready went in with him to the

  116. marriage feast. And the door was shut. And afterwards the

  117. other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

  118. But he answered, truly, I say to you, I do

  119. not know you. Wow. Okay. Watch therefore, for you know

  120. neither the day nor the hour. Wow. I told you

  121. it's somber, right? I told you it's somber. All right. So,

  122. how many of you are very familiar with this passage?

  123. Heard it many times, right? Now, so let's go straight

  124. into it. I want to explain actually mainly three key

  125. points about this passage and what we can take from

  126. it and what we can learn and how we can

  127. apply to our lives as well. All right. Okay. So

  128. the first thing, let me see. Now, first thing I

  129. need to explain, when Jesus talks about this, He is

  130. part of what we call the Olivet Discourse, okay? Meaning,

  131. Olivet Discourse, when you have time, you can come to

  132. my classes. I'm promoting as well, okay? Join Ab's classes, okay?

  133. Join Ab's classes. I will teach you what all this means, okay?

  134. So basically, it's Olivet Discourse. Olivet Discourse means he was

  135. preaching a series in the Mount of Olivet. And this

  136. was his final sermon, okay? his final sermon that he gave.

  137. And this particular sermon, he gave it in a context

  138. of not so much about trying to reach new believers

  139. or trying to comfort. This series is about trying to

  140. warn people who already follow him. People trying to tell you,

  141. you are looking and then you have heard, but how

  142. do you know that you will last through to the end?

  143. How do you know that you will find the true gate,

  144. the true door? You get what I'm saying? How do

  145. you know that you will stand at the right side

  146. of the Lord? He's trying to tell you. And one

  147. of the things that, you know, one of the things

  148. we learned earlier is that He didn't say, you know, faithful, well-meaning,

  149. good intention. He said you must be wise, the foolish

  150. and the wise virgins. And so what it says is

  151. that at the end of times, many people will not

  152. make it, not because they were not bad people, but

  153. because they were foolish. And this is a very strong

  154. warning to us. How many of you, you know, you maybe,

  155. for example, you're supposed to go to somewhere, you missed

  156. the time, or you went to the wrong place, or

  157. you're supposed to have an exam, and you missed, you're

  158. supposed to go on Wednesday, but you went on Thursday.

  159. You're supposed to go to PJ, but you ended up

  160. in Subang Jaya. You miss a schedule and you miss

  161. a promotion and stuff like whatever. Initially, you will feel like, hey,

  162. it could have happened to anybody. True or not? It

  163. could have happened but deep down, most of us will

  164. know after a while, you will realise it was foolish.

  165. You know why? Because you didn't think hard enough. You

  166. were foolish not because you are not incapable. You were

  167. foolish because you didn't properly think. And then why didn't

  168. you properly think? And then after a while, because it's

  169. done already, Ma. I missed already. It's too bad already.

  170. I missed it. And you realize you were distracted. You

  171. get what I'm saying? After a while, you know, what

  172. sinks in is that I could have done this. And

  173. you were not foolish, not because you missed. You were

  174. foolish before the things beforehand. You knew, but you ignored.

  175. You knew, and then you slept late. You knew. You

  176. get what I mean, right? You knew, you knew. You

  177. didn't check again. You get what I mean? I have

  178. had many times, you know, these things happen to me.

  179. I was like, something happened to me. I don't want

  180. to speak too much. It's like, whoa. I made a mistake,

  181. but thank God I survived it. But then I was like, hey,

  182. you know, initially I was very defensive. I said, hey,

  183. look at this schedule, you know, it says this place.

  184. But then I knew after a while, deep in my heart,

  185. I could have checked better. The due diligence and responsibility

  186. was me. So I was foolish. You get what I'm saying?

  187. And so you must understand the qualification is that you

  188. know that you're a nice person. one of the qualifications

  189. for Christians to make it through to the final end

  190. is that you are wise. Turn to your neighbor and

  191. say that, I hope that you are wise. You know

  192. what I'm saying or not? Everyone has the capacity to

  193. be wise if you will discern. You're not IQ, you know.

  194. You're wise. You know, you know. And as we grow older,

  195. what do we hope for our children? What do we

  196. hope for ourselves? Then we become wiser. Now you don't

  197. sleep at 3 o'clock. You get up at night and

  198. then you wake up the next day, you're like, why

  199. do I feel so, you know, what do you call it?

  200. You know, like always swinging to one end to the

  201. other end, you know, in my emotions. Always, you know,

  202. You know, being such a bad parent, bad dad, bad mom,

  203. bad son and daughter, you know, like, you know, because

  204. I didn't take care of myself, expecting the next day

  205. I will be okay. You know, things like that, that

  206. you learn to become wiser as well. You don't, you've

  207. got to prepare instead of loading up things towards the end.

  208. Things like that, that you have to be wiser as well.

  209. So being wise is one of the key entire things

  210. that this parable, this lesson Jesus wants to teach us.

  211. So three things, huh? The ten foolish virgins is about

  212. being wise. The parable of the talents, it's about faithfulness.

  213. This entire chapter. And the third one, the last judgment,

  214. it's about love. I give you the whole series already.

  215. Towards the end, what God requires of us is wisdom. Faithfulness. Lastly,

  216. everything in order, do you love? You get what I'm

  217. saying now? Then you will know which side of the

  218. aisle that you really stand. Wisdom, faithfulness, and love. Three

  219. parts of a revival. You get me now? So you

  220. don't look at that, oh, where do you come to church?

  221. In fact, when you look at the 10 foolish virgins,

  222. one of the key things that you notice, at the

  223. very beginning, every one of them looked beautiful. Every one

  224. of them carried a torch and a light. Everybody was

  225. shining bright. You couldn't tell who were foolish or wise.

  226. True or not? True or not? At six o'clock in

  227. the evening, when everybody start, everybody look beautiful, everybody look wise.

  228. True or not? It is only when you fall asleep,

  229. when you start to stand up, then you begin to

  230. know who is wise and who is When you go

  231. to uni, everybody looks like the smartest student. True or not?

  232. You going true or not? You walk into the lecture

  233. hall for the first time. I tell my first time

  234. when I went to a lecture hall, I was like, wow,

  235. this must be all straight A students. They're all smarter

  236. than me, greater than me. I feel so small. You

  237. go to office first day, everybody is better than me.

  238. You know, everybody looks awesome. The first day, it's until later, mid-semester,

  239. final semester. Then you know like, who is the one

  240. panicking one or not? In life, it's like that also.

  241. You get what I'm saying? Does that make sense or not?

  242. So don't get caught, don't get mixed up with what

  243. is happening at the very, very beginning. The ten foolish virgins,

  244. they couldn't tell them apart. It was only after they sleep.

  245. Like I said, sleeping is not, means sleeping, it could

  246. apply a lot of different things. It means sometimes that

  247. we can get tired. It's not that you cannot get tired,

  248. you know. It's not that you cannot sleep, you know.

  249. But there's a difference in sleeping, you know. Some people

  250. can sleep thinking they are ready, but they sleep in

  251. false security. And there are those who have slept knowing

  252. with real security. And then the next day when you

  253. wake up, oh, I didn't know. The next group of people,

  254. when they sleep, when they wake up, they are fully ready.

  255. It's a very scary feeling when you wake up but

  256. you realise you're not prepared. I mean, you know what

  257. I'm talking about. Yeah, you know, right? It's very scary one,

  258. you know. Oh no, I'm supposed to preach. Circuit, it

  259. has happened to me once before. It happened to me once,

  260. I was in PJ, you know. Then I was like,

  261. I was like, hey, I was there, everybody's like, no,

  262. Pastor May, welcome. Then I was sitting here, then somebody said, hey,

  263. Pastor May, I thought you're supposed to be in Klang one,

  264. you know. Then I said, if I'm in Klang, who

  265. is speaking here? Like, oh yeah, good question. Then there's

  266. nobody also. So another speaker also got messed up as well,

  267. together with me. I was like, oh! Then I was like, oh!

  268. So I had to fly down from PGA all the

  269. way to Klang. After that, I learned my lesson. I

  270. checked two, three times one. And sometimes when you open

  271. the Google sheet, it drags, you know, delays a bit.

  272. I said, eh, how come they change, you know? I

  273. was like, ah, yeah. So it's scary when you wake up,

  274. you are not prepared. You sleep with a sense of

  275. false security. Okay? So, don't be like that. God is

  276. saying that. Don't sleep with a false sense of security.

  277. Sleep knowing that you are prepared. And that is the

  278. sleep that you will have true peace, you know. A

  279. well-guarded peace, you know. The peace that will let you

  280. really rest well. Okay? So, I got three lessons that

  281. I want to run through with you guys, very importantly,

  282. from this parable. Three very important things. And I'll get

  283. you guys to repeat it, okay? The first one, first truth. Okay,

  284. I don't have slides. First truth. The oil cannot be transferred. Okay?

  285. Your oil cannot be transferred. Notice or not? Oil cannot borrow.

  286. You cannot transfer your oil to another person and neither

  287. can another person transfer the oil to you. It's a very,

  288. very important thing. What does that mean? You cannot borrow

  289. another person's faith. You cannot borrow the faith of your spouse,

  290. your girlfriend, your boyfriend. You cannot borrow the faith of

  291. your parents. Your parents may be pastors, may be great

  292. people or whatever. You cannot borrow their faith. It cannot.

  293. You have to find your own personal encounter. You have

  294. to find your own personal encounter. Even the 10 fully

  295. virgin will say that. You have to go and buy yourself.

  296. You cannot borrow. You have to buy. It will cost

  297. you something. You cannot. It's simple as that. It doesn't count.

  298. And if you find yourself in a situation that you

  299. are here because you are forced to, that is the

  300. most miserable situation you can be in. You get what

  301. I'm saying or not? It's the most miserable because it

  302. is not your own. You borrow. And it will never

  303. be yours personally. You get what I'm saying or not?

  304. You have to buy it. And the truth is, to

  305. buy means it will cost you something. It will cost

  306. you something. It will cost you maybe to come out

  307. of your comfort zone. It will cost you to put

  308. aside maybe your prior beliefs. You'll put aside maybe your inconveniences.

  309. Maybe you have golf and pickleball happening later. But you decide,

  310. I'm going to show up because there are things that

  311. are more important than that. I have to answer this

  312. question for myself. You cannot borrow money. Another person, hey,

  313. you know, you don't pray for yourself, but then you

  314. rely on another person praying for you. You can, someone

  315. can pray for you. But the ultimate, see, people cannot

  316. do your marriage for you. You have to build your

  317. own marriage. You cannot say that, hey, I like your marriage.

  318. Can you help my marriage? It doesn't work that way.

  319. Why not? You cannot. I cannot ask you to spend

  320. time with my husband and wife. You know, it's kind

  321. of funny. You cannot. I cannot ask you to become,

  322. help my parenting by getting another parent. It doesn't work

  323. that way. It's your responsibility. Okay? And each person must

  324. have their own personal oil. And what is that oil? Okay?

  325. And that oil is the Holy Spirit. Now, a lot

  326. of people will say, wow, Pastor, this is the part

  327. where you lose me, you know. When you say, oh,

  328. we must have the Holy Spirit. I always thought like

  329. Holy Spirit is a presence and a feeling and, you know,

  330. you know, I cannot identify, you know, we'll God give

  331. me the Holy Spirit when I ask? You know, the

  332. Holy Spirit is our responsibility to ask. The Bible teaches that.

  333. Bible says what? Whoever has a son who asks for

  334. a bread, the father will give a stone. Ask for

  335. a fish, the father will give a snake. How much

  336. more will the father give the Holy Spirit to those

  337. who ask from Him. Is this a scripture or not?

  338. What does it mean? Jesus is saying, I'm a good

  339. father and I give good gifts. And when my children

  340. ask from me, I will not relent, withhold from them

  341. the best things and the good things from them because

  342. I am a good father. But you have to ask.

  343. And if you are parents, you know being asked is

  344. actually one of the most wonderful things to receive as

  345. a parent. You know, my dad asked me, hey dad,

  346. how did you actually meet mom? Oh, I'm glad you asked.

  347. Oh dad, how did you actually make money? Oh, I'm

  348. glad you asked. How hard it is, okay? Because now

  349. you actually think, no, you don't just enjoy, you think

  350. about how you enjoy it, right? Now parents are very proud, yeah. Dad,

  351. how did you actually make money? Wow, that's my son. Wow,

  352. I can start business already. They ask how. It's not

  353. because your daddy doesn't know. Because when you ask, there's

  354. the maturity. There's the drawing nail of your son towards

  355. the father. And your heavenly father wants you to ask

  356. because now you've grown. He said, Dad, I don't want

  357. just to be in a church. I don't just be

  358. in a Christian just walking around singing songs. I want

  359. to know. I want the Holy Spirit. I want to

  360. know what you think, why you say the things you want,

  361. what you really do in life, how do you see

  362. the world. I want the Holy Spirit, not just spirit,

  363. the Holy Spirit. Of all terms that can describe the Spirit,

  364. it's the Holy Spirit because only God is holy. You

  365. hear what I'm saying? I want to know you because

  366. that's the next level. That's the proof that I'm meant

  367. to go into. I want the Holy Spirit. And this

  368. is something that I cannot get from my dad, from

  369. my mom, from my spouse, from anyone. I need it personally.

  370. And so, that is why it's so important that, you know,

  371. when we, you know, when we think about the foolish virgins, right?

  372. You know, a lot of times, we get tired. The

  373. problem is, we borrow, we tend to think that we

  374. can borrow when we get tired. Isn't it? Which goes

  375. on to my second point. You cannot use oil. You

  376. cannot use oil. Does it make sense? Everybody, the parable

  377. throws a curveball. It could have been simple. All the

  378. ten foolish virgins came and the bridegroom came. But Jesus

  379. says something very unique. He says, the bridegroom was delayed.

  380. And one of the truths that the Bible constantly teaches

  381. towards the last part of the gospel is that nobody

  382. knows the time. You cannot know the time. You cannot

  383. demand it. And so the only thing to replace that

  384. certainty is what? Wisdom. Wisdom. In an exam, nobody knows

  385. the question. So you need wisdom to prepare all that

  386. you can. And so, In the same principle as well,

  387. the bridegroom was delayed. Now the test is not that

  388. you showed up, but the test is who is wise.

  389. You can bring for the first hour and you look

  390. as nice, but then after that, it's the test whether

  391. are you wise. Do you really want to be there?

  392. You really, really want to be there? Did you think

  393. about long and hard that no matter you will never

  394. let anything deter you from entering to be there? That's

  395. why a lot of us will show up in the

  396. exam hall one hour earlier. If you show up 10

  397. minutes before that, you are really cutting very close to it.

  398. You get what I'm saying? If it's something really important,

  399. would you show up for your own wedding 10 minutes before?

  400. You are asking for it, man. True or not? It's true.

  401. You come early. You come prepared. You come one hour,

  402. two hours. I can guarantee you the night before, you

  403. can't sleep also. true or not? You can't sleep because

  404. you cannot afford that mistake. And so the same heart,

  405. because of that fear of missing out and that heart,

  406. that wisdom starts to kick in. That's why the fear

  407. of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. When you fear,

  408. wisdom kicks in. Prepare. Isn't it? Fear of the Lord,

  409. it kicks in. That's why you prepare an extra here.

  410. But you cannot rely on oil just for one hour.

  411. A lot of us, what does that oil represent? It

  412. represents the Holy Spirit, but the work of the Holy Spirit.

  413. And some of you genuinely are Christians, genuinely have an

  414. encounter with Christ before. Christ has maybe saved you as,

  415. you know, I came one time to this service and

  416. this preacher preached or I went to a camp and

  417. I was, you know, going through maybe a sickness and

  418. God answered and you answered. And then God did a miraculous,

  419. and you felt a tangible presence of God. And this

  420. is true. I want to let you know, every one

  421. of you, I don't care where you come from, what

  422. you believe, God has been working in your life. You

  423. get what I mean? God has been working in your life.

  424. You cannot say, at the end of our lifetime, when

  425. we see God, you will see, realize that God has

  426. been working. Just that you couldn't really observe. But when

  427. you think about it, God has been good. You cannot say,

  428. God never spoke to me. He never sent one Billy

  429. Graham messenger and preached to me before. No, God has

  430. been working in your life. You couldn't see it. You

  431. never take down, no, it takes the time to read it.

  432. God has been working in your life. But the problem

  433. is we stopped that encounter. It's like you get married.

  434. That's true or not? Honeymoon is the best part. But then,

  435. after that, year 2, year 5, year 10, you rely

  436. on your honeymoon period to kick-start your marriage. Hey, you're

  437. different from the last time I met you. You're going

  438. to say, you know, hey, remember how we used to

  439. date so much? Sorry, I got you into trouble. No,

  440. you know, we used to be so kind. We wouldn't

  441. be so harsh with one another every time we're so busy. Children, children, children, children,

  442. you know. Ah, you know, work, work, work, work, work.

  443. Last time you were even more busy, but you made time.

  444. You relied on your oil to keep your marriage. You

  445. know what happens? You know what happens. You know, they

  446. say that, you know, divorce lawyers say that everyone they interview,

  447. they always ask this question. Do you love one another? Yes,

  448. we do. But why you want to divorce? We can't

  449. stand each other. So love was never the problem. You

  450. get what I'm saying or not? In divorce, love was

  451. never the problem because they relied on oil. All oil.

  452. Then you realize that marriage is something that you need

  453. to build. You need to invest in. You continue. You

  454. don't feel like it, but you say, out of my wisdom,

  455. this is what we... It requires so much effort on you.

  456. It requires you to make sacrifices. True or not? Parenting requires...

  457. you hope your children will always be a baby. Oh,

  458. you're so cute, like little kitten here you are. Oh,

  459. thank you so much. Not so difficult to manage, but

  460. when they become a teen, then they come to you,

  461. like show that face to you. They start to dishonor

  462. you a bit. They start to hang out with more

  463. of their friends. They start to like, you know, you know,

  464. their parenting, they say we go through three phases, you know.

  465. What's the three phases? First, they idolize you. You cannot

  466. do wrong one. You cannot do anything wrong one. You're

  467. the best, daddy. You are the best. I want to

  468. be my dad. Second stage, they demonize you. Everything you

  469. do is wrong. You do is wrong. And I cannot trust.

  470. The third stage is what? They humanize you. Yeah, my

  471. dad does make mistakes. But he's my dad. True or not,

  472. you're all like, which stage are you at right now

  473. with your parents? We idolize them. We demonize them. Then

  474. we humanize them. But you realize you cannot use the

  475. old world. Why have you built with your children? You suddenly,

  476. out of nowhere, you never spend time with them. Suddenly, oh,

  477. I feel like, realize I missed out a lot on

  478. my children. I need to spend time with them. You

  479. as a children, you will also feel a bit awkward.

  480. But there's grace. There's covering. But we feel sad, isn't it?

  481. Because what we get is what we sow. And if

  482. you keep using the oil, you get what? Slap over.

  483. True or not? You use slap over, you get what?

  484. Slap over lah. It doesn't escape you. This truth doesn't really,

  485. really escape you. So you cannot, so the first thing

  486. is that you cannot, the oil cannot be transferred. Okay?

  487. The oil cannot be, it must be personal. The second

  488. is that you cannot use all oil. All oil, you

  489. cannot use all oil. And the second is, it's not enough.

  490. All oil is not enough. You get what I'm saying?

  491. It's not enough. And that is why when you have

  492. not enough, things in your life starts to break down. family,

  493. your relationship, your spirituality, and then everything is starting to

  494. break down because you're using old oil. But God wants

  495. us to get fresh new oil. That is why God

  496. is teaching the Israelites, you don't rely on old manna,

  497. but you get rid of the old manna, but you

  498. wake up to fresh new manna. Every morning. You get

  499. what I'm saying? Fresh new manna every morning. God wants

  500. to do a new work in your life. Maybe you

  501. come to Ex-Ampang, sing the same song, meet the same people,

  502. do the routine again. Sometimes you don't feel like it,

  503. and then maybe I just, you know. You know, it's true.

  504. Sometimes it doesn't take very much for you to change

  505. your whole perspective. Sometimes it just takes one trip. You're

  506. away for two weeks, and you come back a totally

  507. different person. You don't realise that? Travel has a very

  508. powerful thing. Hey, I can really dislodge and have a

  509. new chapter one. You don't have the conviction of the

  510. Holy Spirit, and you are easily displaced. You meet someone new.

  511. You've been to somewhere new. You had a new experience.

  512. And suddenly, your church doesn't matter. Your family doesn't matter anymore.

  513. You are now dislodged. It's a very real one. Very, very,

  514. very real one. So that's why wherever you go, you

  515. got to be very careful as well. I'm not saying

  516. you cannot travel. I love traveling as well. But you

  517. got to, when you travel, there is a spirituality where

  518. you start to go. And when, you know, like the

  519. Bible says, you know, in Abraham, when you go to Egypt,

  520. you will think about Egypt again. It is a true one.

  521. When you go to Egypt, you will start thinking about Egypt.

  522. You will yearn for Egypt where you are. Be careful. Very,

  523. very important. I mean, I'm sharing this because of my

  524. own personal experience. I can tell you, if I can

  525. be away for two weeks and come back, I feel

  526. like suddenly I want to be somewhere else. I don't

  527. know if it's the same truth as you. Why do

  528. I have to go through this? I could go, wow,

  529. life is different. There is that temptation. It's so real. Anyway,

  530. this is the time for another thing. Okay? Oil cannot

  531. be transferred. You cannot use all oil. Last one, just

  532. in time. Okay? Last one. Last important thing. There is

  533. a time to buy the oil. You know what I'm saying?

  534. The thing is, we can buy the oil. You don't

  535. have to always have enough of it. You can buy.

  536. And you can buy if you don't have enough. It's

  537. not a condemnation of you. You can actually buy. So

  538. that's the truth. you can actually buy. But the thing

  539. is not that whether you can buy or not. You

  540. can ask. If you don't have right now, you can ask.

  541. No problem. But there's a time. They were foolish for

  542. two things. They didn't have enough oil. The second foolish

  543. thing is that they went out looking at the wrong

  544. time to buy. You can't say, you know. How many

  545. of you felt really foolish when you tried to study

  546. at the last minute? It's true or not? when you

  547. try to make your marriage work in the last week,

  548. it's foolish, isn't it? There's a time. There is a time.

  549. And so the foolishness, the wisdom is not just having enough,

  550. it's knowing the daytime and the nighttime. In your life,

  551. do you know when is the daytime and when is

  552. the nighttime? In the daytime, many of us miss it

  553. because we are indoor, doing our own things. You are

  554. unaware of the world. unaware of God who raises us up.

  555. He raises us up, He raises the sun, He raises

  556. the moon, and He casts down. And you have no control.

  557. And it's only on your own responsibility that you need

  558. to discern when is the daytime and when you need

  559. to be out buying, collecting, sowing. You get what I mean?

  560. That's the wisdom, you know. How many of you know

  561. that sometimes, I wish when I was 20 years old,

  562. I would give myself this advice. True or not? If

  563. I was 20 years old, no, if I could go

  564. back and tell my 20 years old, what would I do?

  565. Learn all the different things, you know, stop playing all

  566. the computer games, you know, like, you know, stop hanging

  567. out with this group of people and spending money buying

  568. all these funny clothes, you know. Is it true or not?

  569. But that's the wisdom. You fail to discern the time.

  570. You were in though when during the time and you

  571. were trying out though when everybody is in. You missed it. Okay? Okay?

  572. So what are you doing right now in the daytime?

  573. What time is it in your life right now? And

  574. if you are out there when everybody is sleeping, that

  575. is a tragedy. That is a tragedy. Okay? So, you know,

  576. I put here. So which sleep are you sleeping right now?

  577. What sleep are you sleeping right now? Are you sleeping

  578. with a false sense of peace when you should be

  579. out there? Or are you out there trying to gather

  580. as much as possible? So I close this part here.

  581. It's a recap. Three simple points again. Oil cannot be transferred. Okay?

  582. Maybe I'll get everybody to repeat after me. Okay? Your

  583. oil cannot be transferred. Second one, cannot use oil. You

  584. cannot use oil. Okay? Then the third one, there's a

  585. time to buy. There is a time to buy oil.

  586. Three simple things.