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I need every meal from the morning. I need breakfast and I tell you the truth. If I don't eat continually throughout the day, and I'm not talking about the physical food. But if I don't continue to eat throughout the day in the presence of the Lord, then I start to think like me. I start to think my thoughts. I start to think the old man, right? And we don't want that rising up. So Tuesday at 7 p.m., we will be having Bible study. Don't miss out on a chance to get fed, built up, encouraged. And bring your youth. Parents, if you have youth, don't be afraid. Say, well, my kids don't want to come. I'm going to leave them at the house. But use the opportunity to get your kids out, get them plugged in. Because there's always going to be opportunities for the world to distract your kids. It's your job, the importance of parents, to bring them into a place where they can hear the word of God. Bring them into a place where truth can be spoken to them because there are so many lies going forth out there. And you know what? The lies sound good sometimes. The lies can deceive us very quickly. So get them plugged into a place where they can be built up, they can be encouraged. And then also, Brother Camilo is still going on Thursdays at 7 p.m. for spiritual development. I've been super busy at work. I wish I could make more of them, but I know that Brother Camilo is a very gifted man in teaching. I pray if you can't make it out on Tuesday, then come out on Thursday. Make time. Because here's the thing we make time for what's important for us, right? If we want to watch a game, we put everything off to the side, right? So we can watch the game. We want to watch a movie. Hey, you know what? Prayer sounds good in the morning, but you know what? I stayed up too late watching that movie. You know, we make what is important, we make time for. You find your marriage important, you make time for it. You find Jesus important, make time for him. Make time to get fed, make time to get plugged in, make time to get encouraged. Because if not, you'll get your encouragement somewhere. And that's the truth about it. So that's all the announcements that we have today. Uh I do want to move into the time of giving as well. We are a giving house. We're a house that knows that whatever the Lord brings in is to go back out because it's not ours to keep. We're to be wise stewards of what the Lord entrusts us with. So we just thank the Lord for what he does give us. And you can text a dollar amount, whether you want us to give $10, $5, whatever the Lord has placed on your hearts to 210-405-7070. And you can give online and go to experiencechurch essay.org and go up to the top left-hand corner to the give tab, and you can give online like that. And remember that when you give to this church, you're not just giving to a church, but you're giving to several ministries. There's several places, and pastors are very, very good about making things very transparent for us. There's no hiding funds, there's no squandering funds, there's no putting funds over here, but everything's brought up always at the beginning of the year. That this is where these funds are going. We're giving to ministries, we're helping out, we're being the hands and the feet of Jesus. Just like we're commanded to do. So, Father God, we just thank you, Lord, for every seed sown, my Lord my God. I thank you, Lord, that you are faithful. You're faithful, Lord. You're faithful, Lord, to pour upon your people, my Lord my God. And we don't give to get back, but we give because just like the song that we sung, your goodness, because of what you have blessed us with. It's not ours to keep, it's not ours to squander, it's not ours to do what we wish with, but we are called to be stewards in this day and age. And I pray, Lord Jesus, for the wisdom and stewardship of your people, Lord. Every dollar, every cent, my Lord, my God, used to glorify the kingdom of God, used to glorify your name. And Lord Jesus, whether they give or not, they are a blessed people. They are a blessed people because they know Jesus as Lord. They're blessed because their inheritance is greater than earthly riches, greater than a dollar amount, because their inheritance is in the kingdom of God. So we thank you for it, Lord, in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. I do want to take some time today to uh we have baby dedications this morning. And we actually only have one. We have John and Claudia. If you want to come on forward, and she just had the baby last week. I love it because as we're talking about stewardship, you see two parents that see the weight, see the importance of bringing even this little baby to church and even making this commitment because we know that there's no saving works in dedicating a child. What this mother and father are doing is they're saying, I'm committing, I'm committing to put my hand to the plow, I'm committing to do my best to pour the word of God into this child. I'm gonna do my best to lead like Christ, I'm gonna do my best to love like Christ, I'm gonna do my best to make sure that this little arrow reaches a mark. And when I think of parenthood, I want to read a scripture real quick. And it's in Psalm 127. Because for me, children are something special. And yes, I have I have six, so I know personally that there's something special. But even God sees it, and in a very important light. Psalm 127, verse 3 says, Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord. Other translations will put a blessing. The fruit of the womb is a reward, like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. And happy is the man who has a quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate. I know it can be tough, mom and dads. It can. There's days that you're wondering how you can fight through it. But then you see how your children will be vessels that the Lord will use to humble you in times. There'll be vessels that will speak to you. There'll be vessels where you hear the voice of the Lord very clear. So in this time, we do want to take it and pray over the child. For the blessing of the Lord to be on the child. And then we want to take some time to pray for mom and dad as well. If you all stretch your hands forward, please. And don't be silent as you're there. I pray that as I'm praying, that you, you personally are being diligent to pray for them as well. It's not just about me in the room praying. You lift your hearts up, you pronounce blessing over this child, you pronounce blessing over this mother and father, you pronounce what the word of God says about them, that that child is a heritage of the Lord. And that just as it says that blessed is the man whose quiver is full, it's because I know that John and Claudia have a couple more children. So his quiver, I don't know how much a quiver can hold, but it's filling up. So you're a blessed man. So, Father God, right now in the name of Jesus, we pray for this child. We pray, my Lord, my God, for your blessing and your favor all the days of his life. I pray, Lord Jesus, that just as David proclaimed in Psalm 23, that surely goodness and mercy shall follow him all the days of his life, and he shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And I pray, Lord Jesus, for even as the world will try to come in and try to distort and try to twist and try to deceive, I thank you in the name of Jesus, that divine protection, my Lord, my God, that he's covered with the blood of Christ from the crown of his head to the toes of his feet, that he's a blessed young man, a man of ministry, a man that will go forth and proclaim the goodness of God in the land of the living. And we thank you for it, Lord Jesus. Thank you for this arrow. And I pray right now for the mom and dad, just as their commitment to go forth, Lord. I pray for John, Lord, that as a father, he'll lead with the love of Christ. He'll lead with Christ at the center of his heart, that he'll love as you have commanded him to, my Lord, my God. The Lord Jesus, he'll speak the word of God over this child. He'll pray for this child. He'll walk hand in hand with this child, my Lord, my God, being the father that he's called to be. And we thank you for it. And we thank you for the heart of Claudia, Lord, that you would give her strength, my Lord, my God, supernatural strength that doesn't come from the physical, but it comes. It comes from the presence of the Lord. I pray, Lord Jesus, that she would continue to cover her children with prayer. She would continue to be a woman that's chastened after you, my Lord, my God, when all the noise of the house has settled, my Lord, my God, that she will continue to proclaim your word over them, my Lord my God. I pray, Lord Jesus, that they walk in your blessing, your favor, my Lord my God. And we thank you for it, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Let's give him one more hand. Amen, amen, amen. So as pastor's out this morning, he had asked me if I would minister. And I never want to come up here and minister just what I think needs to be ministered. I don't want to be bound by what David thinks. But I do want to be aware of what the Spirit of the Lord speaks to my heart. I was even thinking of a title for this message, and like I I wrestled with it, talked with my wife about it. I'm like, I don't know where to go with it. But nevertheless, the title that came to mind was Got Oil. I know we we have some older crowd, we have some newer crowd in here. I remember growing up as a kid, and I remember seeing the commercial on TV, Got Milk, right? Now you see trucks driving around, and they say, Got trucks in the back window. And it just started rolling through my mind. Got oil. This marketing slogan tries to persuade us into believing or even questioning what we have. Is it sufficient? The question got dot dot dot, fill in the blank, right? poses the idea to take inventory to see if you have the questioned thing. What happens when the oil or the question got oil confronts you? What goes through your mind? What starts to run through your thoughts? Maybe it's what does this oil consist of? How do I get this oil? And do I possess this oil? Your mind can keep running over and over and over if not careful about what that oil is. This brings me to today's main text. And it's a well-known parable in Scripture. And we're gonna be in Matthew 25, verses 1 through 9 is gonna be my primary text. And this is the parable of the ten virgins. Any of us that's been in church for a while has no doubt heard of this parable a few times. But I want to dig into it a little bit. I'm gonna read first out of the New King James Version, and then I'm gonna dig off into the amplified version to give a better thought to what is going on here. So in verse 1, chapter 25, the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five were wise and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard. Behold, the bridegroom is coming out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying, No, lest there should not be enough for us and you, but go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him, and the wedding of the door was shut. I'm going to read the amplified version. Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five were foolish, thoughtless, without forethought, and five were wise, sensible, and intelligent, and prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they did not take any extra oil with them. But the wise took their flask of oil along with them, also with their lamps. While the bridegroom lingered and was slow in coming, they all began nodding their heads and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a shout, Behold, the bridegroom, go out and meet him. Then all those virgins got up and put their own lamps in order. And the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise replied, There will not be enough for us and for you. Go and said to the dealers and buy for yourselves. Let's pray. Father God, I thank you so much for this day. I thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to be a vessel to minister your word. And again, Lord, I just pray that I decrease in all things and that you would increase. All flesh, all selfish ambition, everything that would come from me, Lord, that it would it would die, my Lord my God. So that nothing but the life of Christ would come forth. Nothing but the truth of your word. Your word, Lord, that transforms, your word, my Lord my God, that moves our hearts out of self and into you. I pray, Lord Jesus, that you anoint this word. I pray, Lord Jesus, that you bring it forth, Lord. And I pray, Lord Jesus, that your people would be blessed, they would be strengthened, and they would leave this place knowing that they have oil. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. So when we look at this parable and we start to break it down, this parable deals with this huge ten thousand word dollar word called eschatology. Dealing with in-time events. Eschatology, by definition, is a branch of theology. And if we don't know what theology is, it's the study of God. Theo, study of God, ology, meaning the study of something. So eschatology is a branch of theology concerned with the ultimate destiny of humanity, the world and the soul. Simply put, the study of the end times. Dealing specifically with the rapture, tribulation, the millennial reign of Christ, the battle of Armageddon, the judgments of the living and the dead, and the new Jerusalem, where eternity will be spent. And since the death of Christ and the establishment of the church, we have been living in the end times. Whether we recognize that or not, is a totally another thing. But nevertheless, there are going to be signs of the times that start to establish the coming of Christ. When we break this down and we start looking at these virgins, and we start looking at context, who is Jesus speaking about right here? If we go back and we start diving into this, this whole bit comes from chapter 24, or yeah, starting in chapter 24 to 25. It's called the Olivet Discourse. And Jesus just comes from talking to the scribes and Pharisees and pronouncing woes upon them. Because even though Jesus was there physically, they didn't see Jesus the man, or they didn't see Jesus God, they seen Jesus the man. They seen the physical, they didn't see the spiritual. They were supposed to be leading the nation of Israel. And who knows that when you have leaders with no discernment, when you have those who are in authority and yet they don't discern what is going on, that the people will only be as good as what the leadership is. So we had a leadership that was blind. A leadership that sadly they knew how to do church well. They knew how to do temple duty well. Like these guys had it together as far as the way that church should operate or the temple should go down. They knew the law well. Sometimes we have trouble memorizing a few verses. These guys could memorize whole books of the Bible. Like they were slick, like they knew the word of God. But they could not recognize. In chapter 25 will be in red letters. Jesus is speaking as he's going to the cross. And who knows that when somebody's speaking near the end of their life, there should be some weight that is in the words of that person, right? So Jesus is trying to prepare. Jesus is trying to move their hearts into thinking of what is coming. The scripture talks about virgins, but we know that we are the bride of Christ, right? Jesus is coming for his bride. So this scripture exegetically is not talking about the bride of Christ, it's talking about the nation of Israel in specific. But one thing I do want to submit to you is I'm not going to break down whether we're going to deal with pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib. We're not going to break down a whole in-times events here. We don't have the time. And it'll it'll be a long thing, I'll tell you that. But nevertheless, this sermon deals majorly with the preparation of our own hearts in relation to Christ. And even though this deals specifically with Israel, I believe that the church can still glean wisdom and application through the Word. Because do we believe all 66 books of Scripture? Do we believe it's the full scroll of canon that God has allowed us to have? Do we believe all 1,189 verses? We should. So even though it deals specifically with Israel, I believe that we can glean wisdom. I believe that Scripture, the Word of God, is the rod. It's what we measure our Christian life by. And if this is not the final authority, if this is not what we're measuring our lives by, then we've got to do a heart check. We've got to go back and revisit why we believe what we believe. To understand this parable a little bit better, it's going to be a little more of a teacher mode today, just to be honest with you at the beginning, because I want us to get what's going on in here. In chapter 25, it's a parable, right? It's an illustration. He's trying to teach us something in it. But to understand it, we have to understand what the Jewish wedding of the times was about. It wasn't like we think we wasn't going to the courthouse and getting hitched. It wasn't having a big, you know, ceremony, and we walk down the aisle and that's it. Like there was a lot of preparation that went forth in this. So my first point today is gonna be the wedding. In the Jewish times of when weddings were established, there were three parts. Three main parts. There was an arrange to match, or what they would call an arrangement. There would be a betrothal, and there would be the procession. So the arrangement consisted of both families coming to an agreement a lot of times. They would come together. And in those days, a lot of times families would come together because they wanted the benefit of the other family. Some would marry for wealth, some would marry for allies, some would marry uh just for the benefit of making peace within a nation. Even as the arrangement was made, the fathers could come to an agreement even for the bride, because we know that in those days we didn't have all the technology, we didn't have electricity, we didn't have washing machines, we didn't have all the stuff that we take for advantage. So lives were valuable. So there could even be an agreement made that the father of the groom would even send money over for this wife. The betrothal was the formality of the wedding. Legally speaking, they would be considered married when the betrothal happened. Yet the consummation of the marriage would not take place until a further time. A ring or coin could be offered from the groom, and the vows would be sealed. And this is where we get our idea of a wedding band. The groom would leave for upwards of a year to prepare a room or a dwelling for his bride. And once this was prepared, the final stage of the wedding could be activated. And this would be the procession. The groom would come at a time unexpected, and the bride was to be ready. They say, and a lot of times this would come in the middle of the night. I don't know about you, but I'm I don't stay up till midnight a lot of times. I was up early this morning just getting some final details in, but I'm not a late bird, you know. I'm I want to be up early in the morning. But nevertheless, staying up till midnight, being ready. And especially when this groom, it wasn't like they they got engaged and he says, Hey, I'll be by three months this day, this time, and I'll be there. It wasn't like that. In these days, when the groom would come, it would be unexpected. She may know an area or a time, but there was not an exact date nor time when he would come. The groom would show up with the procession with him, and it would be from a dark, quiet night. And suddenly there would be lamps and noise, because we're talking about no electricity, and all of a sudden you would have this whole procession coming through, and there'd be lamps and noise and commotion. And then the city would be awake, right? Because they lit the path through the darkness of the night, the lamps they lit were to honor the groom. The bigger the procession, the more honor that was given to him. The picture is so beautiful, even in our lives. Because somewhere, at some point in our lives, the Father made an arrangement for each and every one of you. He sees us, he sends his son to redeem us. He even sends his spirit to woo our hearts. Because we may think that we had something to do with our salvation, but I guarantee if we look at it, the Spirit of God was there wooing your heart, pricking your heart, moving on your heart. He sends his spirit to woo us. And as we surrender our hearts to Christ his Lord, accepting his atoning sacrifice, accepting what he did on the cross, what he did in paying for our sins, what he did, even as this arrangement was made, right? Where he buys us for a price, like literally the picture of the wedding is still the picture of what he does in our lives, the picture of what he does for his bride, buying her back from the depths of hell, buying her back from sin and death, right? And it says that he goes to prepare a place for us. John chapter 14, verses 1 through 3 tell us that let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. He says, In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. He said, And where I go, there you will be awesome, that I may receive you unto myself. Literally, like the picture, when Jesus is saying this parable, it's a picture of what he's gonna come and do for the bride of Christ, but we are to be aware of what is going on. In today's culture, we almost live like it's something afar off. We live like, you know what? He's gonna announce when he's coming, and then we'll get ready. We live like, you know, it's gonna be 10 years from now. We live like presence doesn't mean everything right now, right here. Point number two is gonna be the virgins. What can we learn from them? I think the thing that we always look at first and foremost, one was foolish and one was wise. And I don't think nobody in the room says, I want to be the foolish version. Everybody's like, I want to be the wise version. I want to be the one with oil that I thought ahead. Even though there was five wise and five foolish, both were invited to the wedding. In some translations, the virgins would even be equated to bridesmaids. And whether they were virgins or whether you consider them bridesmaids, either way, the importance is they were invited. They were seen as guests, they were seen as valuable, they were seen as having purpose. They were to add to the procession. Even as I said earlier, the more the procession, the more light that lit the path, the more honor that was given to the groom, the more respect and the more that it was shown that he was somebody. They were to add to this procession. And as the groom and bride made their way to the place where he had prepared, where the marriage would be celebrated, consummated, because like I say, this is the final stage when he comes to receive his bride. They go to the place where he prepared, and this is where the feast will happen, this is where the consummation will happen, this is where the marriage will actually be officiated at. And I want to interject a thought here because we need to think about this. When the invitation went forth for the virgins, there was also an expectation among the virgins. The word used for the wise in verse 2. In the Greek is the word phronimos, meaning prudent, wise, sensible, more shrewd. They were more keen to discern what was going on in these times. Not in specific the groom's coming, but keen enough to prepare for the groom's arrival. There was something different about these virgins that set them apart. You might even say they had an awareness, an inward witness that the others didn't seem to possess all the way. The Greek word carries with it the ability to plan ahead, to make ready, foresight. In contrast, the word foolish in verse 2 comes from the Greek word moros, meaning dull, stupid, as if shut up, heedless, morally blockheaded, without edge, dull and understanding. This is even where we get our English word moron from. Or moronic, just to be honest with you. This is where we derive it from. When I think about this, I think of these virgins that didn't think ahead. They were bound by what was the here and the now. It's almost like Hosea knew a little bit about what was going on already, even though this is hundreds of years before. In Hosea 4, 6, he tells this, My people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge of my law, where I reveal my will, because you, the priestly nation, have rejected knowledge. I will also reject you from being my priests. We discern what makes us feel good, but we don't discern the spiritual dynamics that we're in a war, that Christ is coming, and we must make ready, we must make our hearts ready to receive him when he comes. Because even though the parable speaks of Israel, the church has some understanding to get in this time to prepare itself because he says he's coming back for a spotless bride, a clean bride, a bride that's not bound up with the affairs and the twistedness of the world, a bride that will say no to this flesh, say no to sin. You know what? They may look a little crazy, they may look a little like they stand out. It's not being holier than thou. It's being called out from among, it's being called out from darkness into marvelous light, it's being called out from the things of the flesh. And the thing about it is the culture and the world to say, well, I can live my life how I want to live it, even though I'm in Christ. But the Jesus I know never left nobody how he started. He would sit with the sinner and the tax collector. And one, they would leave offended because they didn't want to change their life. Or two, they would leave a new person, even with identity. Women that was known with issues, women that was known as loose women, women would leave those places as daughters. Women would leave those places with identity, with something that they could wear, something that was a banner, something that made them valuable, not like the world tries selling you. We know how to fill seats. We know how to go to every conference out there. It's like, I'm gonna get something. They got something offering me, right? We know how to go to these conferences thinking we're gonna get something. We busy ourselves with every activity under the sun. Yet we can't discern the times. Jesus even gets after the scribes and Pharisees again. In Matthew 16, 3, he tells them about being able to predict the weather because they look at the sky, right? How many times we we look at, yep, it's gonna rain, right? We can discern when it's gonna rain. These scribes and Pharisees could discern that, but they couldn't discern Christ in front of them. The hope of glory. They couldn't discern it. Look at this. We we discern when our phone battery's dead, right? Automatically, our hearts go into overdrive, and we, I gotta go plug it in, right? Automatically, nine times out of ten, that's what people do. We discern the phone battery's dead, and we go correct the issue by plugging it into a power source. Yet we just fail to discern prophecy and scripture when it's fulfilled right in front of us. We discern when our car needs gas, yet we don't discern when our spiritual tanks, my wife's smiling, but nevertheless, we do not discern when our spiritual tanks aren't empty. We can never ever serve two masters. We sell ourselves out day and night for careers and yet fail to discern that it all comes at a cost. We make sacrifices over and over and over. And yet, where does it get us? We believe the lie of the world that says you'll make it, you'll you'll climb the ladder, but yet Christ calls us to something different. It's not about you no more, but it's about submitting yourself. It's about giving yourself, it's about surrendering yourself. Because it says that he that desires to be great in the kingdom of God must become servant of all. They looked ahead. You might say that they were far-sighted. Their eyes were not on the here and now, but on eternity. When our focus shifts from the temporal to the eternal, it shifts our focus from us to Christ. And when our focus, our minds, our motives, our agendas are shifted from us to Christ, guess what? It's a setup for something so beautiful. It's a setup for us to be transformed. It's a setup for your mind to be renewed, it's a setup for your heart to change, it's a setup for Christ to bring you into a place of victory. But it starts right there with taking your eyes off of you and putting your eyes on the one who can do it all. My last point is gonna be where are you getting your oil from? That will make you think right there. Where are we getting our oil from? Today's message we've covered the marriage, the virgins, and now let's see the importance of oil. Oil was very important in relation to this ceremony. These virgins were expected to do at least one thing. Anyone ever remember your dad when you were a kid? And he says, son, I asked you to do one thing, right? One thing! That's the same instance. The one thing that was expected was to bring oil. The one thing that was needed was to bring oil. The foolish, they brought the lamps, but it says in verse 4 that they brought no oil. It says, but the wise took oil in their vessels. But the wise took oil in their vessels, but while the bridegroom was there, or the foolish were those who were foolish took their lamps but took no oil with them. Sorry, verse 3. So they had no oil. And as the virgins waited for the groom, their lamps would burn down. Oil would need to be maintained, and the light would allow you to be seen visually in the wedding, and therefore identified with the groom's party. So as they're walking in this procession, the importance of the lamp was that they would see your face. They would see that you're part of the procession. You're identified by the light that is shown. You're identified because you have light that you're carrying with you, right? And if the light goes out, how can they see your face? And you're actually taken for a party crasher when you no longer can be seen because the light is no longer shining forth. So the importance of bringing extra oil, of maintaining your lamp is so important. This isn't a foreign idea just for this wedding. This is not gonna be on the board, but in Leviticus 24, we see in the the temple law something so simple. Similar. Leviticus 24, 1. It says the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to make the lamps burn continually. Outside the veil, the testimony of the tabernacle in the meeting, Aaron shall be in charge of it from evening until morning before the Lord continually. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. He shall be in charge of the lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord continually. So you see the picture even from the Old Testament into the new, this imagery of keeping the lamp burning because this was temple duty. This is the priest serving the Lord. This is before the veil was rent. So the lamp had to be burning continually before the presence of the Lord. And it's the same thing he's asking us to do: to keep our lamps burning, to keep oil present in our lives. I know that life happens and it can be easy to be distracted. And it's like I meet with some men every other Saturday, and I told them a few weeks ago, and it's something so profound, and it sounds rough and it sounds a little bit harsh, but Satan loves more than nothing that you show up on Sunday morning and you feel like that is all that you need, and you feel like your cup is full, but you live like hell the rest of the week because you're living in the flesh and you're living in the things of this world, but you're not staying plugged into the source, you're not staying grafted into the vine, you're not keeping your oil full, but you're living according to your flesh, and Satan loves it more, nothing more than when you're distracted, and you think you're engrafted into the vine. So important that we keep our lamps maintained, trimmed and ready to burn throughout the night. Have you ever tried to drive your vehicle with water, and sometimes you get water from the gas station, it's not pure gas, right? What's it do? It starts bucking and snorting and acting up on you, and you really just pull it over and leave it in the ditch, right? In the same way, your life was not designed to run off of dirty oil. Your life was not designed to have a little bit of Jesus and a lot of the world. Just like the life of the foolish, to say we know Christ and yet be pressing the oil of this world, its patterns, its definition of right and wrong, its lies of beauty, its twisted ideologies, it's counterproductive to the life that is full in Christ. It just doesn't work. It doesn't work at all. Just like water in your gas tank. Doesn't make the car work. The foolish virgins are a picture of the believer that burns brightly for a moment but then struggles terribly. The wrestlers back and forth trying to live victoriously without pure oil only leads to fleshly attempts that end up discouraging us. To burn steady, we must be burning pure oil. So where you get your oil is important. The wise virgin were said to have brought oil to burn through the night. When they received the invitation, they diligently started to prepare to store oil. They knew to be honorable guests, and serving the groom in such a way was important. These wise virgins knew the day would come for the groom, and they were gonna need to be ready. We too must get oil while there is time. The scripture tells us in the Old Testament, it says, seek the Lord while he may be found. So that gives you the idea that there will be a time when he will not be found. No matter the attempts, even in Jeremiah 29, we we love the verse because it speaks of encouragement. You know, I know the thoughts that I have for you, and at the end of it, he starts to say, and when you pray for me, you will find me then. So there's the idea in that verse that there was a time because sin was so prevalent in their lives because they were pressing for the ideas of the world, they were pressing in the idolatry and they were getting a result. They were getting oil that was distorted, they were getting oil that was not pure. And what happens is when we have sin in our lives and we're not walking after the pureness of the oil of God, then what happens? There's separation. You ever read it? I got the kiddos at the house, and sometimes we have a candle lit, right? And sometimes they like to pour things in things, right? Well, one time I had a candle that had a lot of water in it, and I dumped it out, but nevertheless, it had hot wax in it. Even though I dumped the water out and I tried lighting the candle again, every time I would try lighten it because it was no longer pure wax and pure oil and or pure wick in there, that every time I would light it, it would spit and it would sputter, and it would never stay lit. So important that we keep the oil of our lives pure. As mentioned, oil can be equated with the presence of the Lord, or in other terms, our intimacy with the Lord. Intimacy that is born from fellowship and communion with the Holy Spirit. The Greek word for such intimacy is the word koinania. And the meaning of it is fellowship, association, communion. And I love how they say this this word communion. We we think it's just the cup with the bread and the wine, but it is our literally our common union in Christ. What makes us like him, what makes us join to him, our common union in him, and joint participation. So in this word, Koinania, it says that you have to be a participant. There's nobody just in there hanging out, but there's people who are actively pursuing, there's action in the participation. It's not just sitting, it's like being a part of a church but never serving. It takes hands and feet and hearts to keep this thing moving. There is participation. As you came into the parking lot this morning, you had parking lot guys that were participating in the vision of the church. You had people at the doors greeting you, participating in the vision of the church. This is koinanea. This is relationship, this is intimacy because they desire to be here serving something greater than themselves. That's the heart of koinanea. But to be really honest with you, I love Sundays, I love seeing all your faces, I love iron-sharpening iron. But this should never, ever be our most intimate time with the Lord. If what you get, the best of your intimacy, if it's found here on a Sunday morning, then there's something wrong. There should be a prayer closet, and it doesn't mean it's gotta be a closet, but there should be a place where you meet with the Lord personally. There should be a place where intimacy is born. There should be a place where you know the voice of the Lord and He's speaking to your heart. There should be a place that when you're so filled up from your prayer closet, when you're so filled up because you've been studying, because you've been reading, because the word has been filling your heart and your mind. There should be a place that when you come in here on Sunday, you're not coming in battered and bruised, you're not coming in beat up, but you're coming in full. You're coming in with your lamp full, you're coming in shining brightly, you're coming in seeing sick, and you're seeing those that are not right, and you're sensitive. There's discernment, but you've got oil, you've got oil in your lamp, and you can pour in them. Intimacy is so important. The prayer closet where you meet the Lord, your secret place where you meet the Lord, should be the place where you're so radically transformed. It should be the place where he speaks to you most often, it should be the place where your heart is undone, it should be the place where he reveals the sin in your life, it should be the place where he unravels you. And when I think of oil, I think one of the biggest problems people have about getting oil is if we think about how it's made. When they make pure olive oil, they press it to the point of destruction. I don't know about you, but my flesh don't like it when I'm pressed. My flesh don't like it when there's resistance. My flesh don't like it when I've got to go out of my way. My flesh don't like it when I've got to deal with me. But you know what? It's through the pressing that anointing comes forth. It's through the pressing that oil comes forth. Think of Jesus before he goes to the cross. He's on this called, he's at this place, it's called the Mount of Olives. And he's in a garden. And he walks with his disciples in, and he leaves a group right here, and then he walks a little further, and he even leaves his inner circle. The the guys that have a little more intimacy, a little more personal relationship with him, and he leaves them there and he tells them to stay there and pray. And he goes further in and he starts to press in, and it says that he sweats drops of blood, it says that he was pressed, he was vexed in spirit. He was preparing to be crushed. He was preparing as the light of the world to give his life up so that each and every one of us could carry a lamp of that oil with us. I even interject the thought that even the disciples, as they were there, sure, they had the physical presence of Jesus. They understood that aspect of it. But there was not enough oil, there was not enough intimacy, there was not enough presence of knowing God to burn through the night, to pray for an hour, to stay the course, to keep pressing in. There was not enough intimacy in their lives. They knew the physical Christ, but there was not the revelation of who he was. And we need that, and that comes in the secret place. Jesus set the example of what it was to spend time in the Lord's presence. Time and time again, you would see him go up the mount to pray. He would find a place away from everybody else, away from the distractions, away from all the garbage in the world, and he would find a place where he could get into the presence of the Lord. He would find a place where he could unplug from everything. And it's so important that we do the same. In today's world, everyone wants gifts. We want to be able to flaunt our gifts. We can speak well, we can orient well, we can teach well, we can serve well, we can do this well. We all want title or position. Yet nobody wants to pay the price for good oil. Nobody wants to pay the price in the prayer closet. Nobody wants to be pressed to the point that you lose yourself and you find your life in Christ. The thing about good oil, it'll cost you everything that you know. Everything that you think you know. I believe we can all say that we want oil today to be ready, right? We can all say, I want deeper fellowship and communion with Christ as Lord, not just as Savior, I want to be like the five wise virgins. Good news, you can. You can. But it's only if we start to live like the scriptures actually mean what they say. If we start to apply the word, when we start to live like we've been crucified with Christ, even as Paul says that I've been crucified with Christ, it's no longer I who live, but the life I live now, it's in the Son of God, right? This is where it's at. When we start to press in, when we start to deny self, when we start to cut the flesh away, when we start to get to a place where they see more of Christ. I don't see Irvine, I see Christ. I don't see Brother John, I see Christ. When I start to see Christ reflected in you, we know that oil's being burned, oil's coming forth. There's pureness because what? I'm not seeing the flesh no more. And that's where we have to get to. I'm gonna start wrapping this up, but I do want to give you three encouragements at the end. Worship team, you can go ahead and come up. And the encouragements have to do with applications of what we can glean from this. Encouragement number one, make sure you're getting pure oil. In a world full of confusion and false teaching, I encourage you to know the Jesus of your Bible, not the Jesus that pats you on the back when you're out at the bars, not the Jesus that condones your sin, not the Jesus that makes you feel good, but get to know the Jesus of the Bible that confronts sin, the Jesus that says repentance unto salvation, the Jesus that transforms your life and not only transforms it, but send his spirit to give you the strength to walk through it, to be victorious in it. Know the Jesus of your Bible. Don't take prophet so-and-so's word for it, don't take pastor so-and-so's word with it. Get in the word of God yourself and get to know Jesus yourself. Number two, build your own relationship with Christ. The foolish virgins wanted to borrow oil, right? And when I think of that, I think of our intimacy with the Lord. What happens in your secret place? And you can't give that away. It's between you and the Lord. You can't give that aspect of your relationship away. You may give the shirt off your back away, but the relationship that you have with Christ, you can never give it away. You can point people to the source, but you cannot give away what happens in that place. It's a secret place, it's a personal relationship. And in that personal relationship, as you build it, as you solidify it, as you strengthen it, as you walk in it, it gives you the oil to burn through the night. My third encouragement: live in expectation. We must be able to discern spiritual things. You might say, nobody taught me how to. So if you want to learn how to get oil, learn what the Bible says about it. Learn that there's a Holy Spirit that says he will teach you in all things. It says that he's the parakletos, he's the helper, he comes alongside you, he'll guide you, he'll lead you, he'll strengthen you. Don't say you don't got nobody to help you. You may not have a physical person, and maybe this is the thing. We've depended too much on the physical instead of running to the presence of God. We've depended too much on what is temporal instead of looking at the one who says he lives inside of us. We teach, we we talk about the Holy Spirit like he's afar off, and yet it says that he lives inside of us. He lives inside of us. We have a teacher, even according to 1 John, and his name is Holy Spirit. As believers, we must get to know him. Just as the pressing of the olives to make oil, as you begin to fellowship with the Holy Spirit, he will begin to press the world out of you. Amen. Can we identify with that? Because I know that the more I get into the presence of the Lord, he says, David, you shouldn't have spoke that way. Maybe the way you talk to your kids, maybe the way you talk to your wife, maybe the way that you dealt with the situation, when you get in the presence of the Lord and he starts to speak to you, and it only happens through coin and ea. It's not gonna happen through the next podcast, it's not gonna happen through the next sermon that you listen into. It's gonna happen when you personally get into the presence of the Lord and you start to desire and you start to seek and you start to become passionate about the things of God. The Holy Spirit will start to press the world out of you. He'll begin to press the negativity out of your mind. He begins to press even the depression out of your mind and your heart. Because who knows that the word can the Lord can give you a word through the Spirit. But if you never make yourself available to be in the presence of the Lord, how's the Spirit going to deal with your heart? How's the Spirit going to deal with your mind? He begins to press the you out of you, which a lot of times is the best thing that could ever happen. We've worn labels and banners of identity that were rooted in the world. And he begins to flip tables so that you can be solidified in your Christ-given identity. So many times we look back, whether you were a baseball champion as a child, or you were a thug, or you were a what, it doesn't matter. We wear a label and identity, and we and we we wear it as a banner and we cart it around, right? Even as believers. And yet Christ is saying that through intimacy and presence with him, he wants to press the labels of the past off of you. He wants to press your identity of the past off you. And he wants to press you into a new man, which is in Christ Jesus. Some are so busy still living like they are alive in the flesh. Yet then wonder why they are struggling again in sin. We have to stop letting temptation press us until the oil of sin comes out. In a world full of self-help and selfish ideologies, we need to return back to Christ as King. The Bible being the final authority in our lives, and our hearts being fully convinced of the words authenticity and the accuracy to the point that we actually read, meditate, and live the words of Scripture out in our lives. I want to encourage you with this last thought. Because we can get the idea that this oil is for us. But it never says that the oil was for the virgins. It says that the oil was to serve, to serve the groom. The oil in your life, the oil in your secret place is not for you. Get your eyes off of you, get your mind off of you. The oil is to serve the king. The oil that you're gonna burn is to be a lamp in the dark world. You're to be a light out there, you're to shake the foundations of the things around you because there's a light burning in you. A light that can't be snuffed out by the things of this world. It can't be snuffed out, but a light that comes from the throne room. So that his word is a light unto my feet, or a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. He came as the light of the world, and yet it tells us in Matthew that you're supposed to be a lamp. It says that you're to shine brightly before men, so that what when they see the light of God in you, when they see what God has done in your life, when they see that you have oil, when they see that there's the presence of the Lord, when they see that there's freedom, they see that there's joy and there's love and there's the goodness of God upon your life, when they see the light of the world in you, they can glorify the Father, which is in heaven. Father God, we just thank you for today's word. And I pray, Lord Jesus, I pray, Lord, that we learn to press in, that we learn to get oil. Why oil can be gotten. I pray, Lord Jesus, even in times on Sunday mornings where yes, it's awesome to be here, Lord. But I pray, Lord Jesus, that when I see the hearts of your people walk through those doors, when I see them walk in, my Lord, my God, that I see oil, that I see presence, that I see lamps burning through, lamps that live in expectation, lamps that are ready for the king to come back, lamps that are in expectation of the groom's return, and not lamps that are barely flickering. I pray, Lord, that you deal with our hearts, Lord. Speak to us, give us strength. And I pray, Lord Jesus, that our hearts and our minds be set on you in Jesus' name.