Are You Prepared (Part 1)

This weeks biblestudy sees us delve into the parable of the Ten Virgins from Matthew 25:1-14. Most that take the time to explore this parable usually pull on the familiar threads of patience, preparation, choice and consequence. But we’re taking a slightly different perceptive angle in this study, where we look at what’s happening around Jesus at the time of this teaching, and the hidden messages he was trying to deliver to his followers, but also the precepts and principles upon which he wanted them to be faithful upon waiting for his return. We look at the different approaches of the virgins and the reason why they found themselves in the co trusting situations they did.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Hello everybody and welcome to Remart Reloaded Bible Study, our first of 2026. Oh no, just singing for no reason because I can. Um I hope everybody's had a beautiful and wonderful festive period. Um I hope that it has been filled with rest and family and joy and peace and love and all the wonderful fruit of the spirit that keeps us whole and nurtured. Um I was talking to quite a few people over the festive period, and it was interesting to me that everybody almost has a foreboding of, and when I say foreboding, because that is quite a big unnecessary word, everybody has almost like a an inclination that there are going to be challenges this year. I think listening to a lot of friends and you know, just people that I speak to and I connect with, um, for a lot of people, 2025 brought out dimensions and elements in them positively and negatively that they didn't know were there. So for some people, they were like, I didn't realise I was that strong. And for others, they were like, I thought that area of my life was was much more fortifying. I didn't think I had weaknesses or breakages there. And I'm a massive believer in the fact of information is always good on the basis that you're ready to receive it as it is and apply it as you need. I'll say that one more time. Information is always good as long as you're ready to receive it as it is and apply it as you need. So whether you found areas of strength in moments last year and you didn't know that they were there, build on those because it's saying that your foundations are good, or whether you found breakages and you didn't know those areas were so weak, build on it because it's also showing you where you need reinforcements. Does that make sense? Um, I'm super excited for this year. Super excited for this year, super excited for us to see what happens not only in our individual lives and processes but also another year of Rima. Um, we're hoping to bring Rima to you in a more live and in-person and interactive way, whether it's going to be live Bible studies filmed and recorded here with us in Cambridge, um, but we're also trying to bring you some live events. So we're trying to have some half-day Bible study conferences and also partner up in other little ways, but we'll get to that. Um, and I've done enough talking.

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Let's get into some word.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Let's get into some word for those of you that are hanging out for your lunchtime. Guys, hello. I'll be here for like 25 minutes, half an hour. I know you love that, right? Um, and we're gonna give you all just just lots of great information. If you will quickly go with me to the book of St. Matthew, chapter 25. Um, today's topic is called Are You Prepared? Are you prepared? Um, what is preparation? Preparation is the process and the structural process that you apply before a thing that allows you to be amply, that means like holistically with a lot to spare, ready for a particular thing or situation. So, my little brother bless his heart, two years ago, three years ago, might have been four, he ran the London Marathon and he had to go through a process of preparation that meant a good year before the race came, he was already starting to implement his training program that was gonna allow him to get the best out of his performance for the race. Now, that race wasn't until 12 months later, but he realized if he was going to complete it the way that he wanted to, with the um projected expectations and achievements that he wanted to achieve during the race, he was gonna have to give himself ample time to prepare to be at his premium fitness level, um mental capacity so that he could take on this undertake because he realized he had no reference point for it other than maybe a couple of school sports days. It's not gonna help the London Marathon, and so he went through this process and um through his preparation, his preparation helped him to um basically succeed in his expectation, right? So preparation is the predication of preparation, or should I say preparation is the predication of expectation. So in Matthew chapter 25, it is a very well-known parable, is the parable of ten virgins. Now, let me give you a little bit of background to what's going on here. Jesus is coming, we're at the great finale, ladies and gentlemen. Um, Jesus' ministry is culminating and coming to a close. He has just spent the last two and a half, I'd say two years, two and three-quarter years in his ministry. He is in or on the home straight. He's headed to the cross. He's about to give his life for the world. He he's about to die, and it is become very clear to him that his followers, his most trusted confidence and his friends, they are not getting it. Then they're just not getting it. Um I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where you're going through something and you feel like you've been quite clear. And at this point, Jesus has been super clear with his disciples. He's told them a couple times if I destroy this temple in three days, right, I will build it back up again. He says, Not one stone shall be left upon the other, right? He says the Son of Man must suffer many things, he will be put to death. But it's almost like they just couldn't hear it. We've all been through things and in moments, whether we're trying to accept something ourselves, explain something to someone that we care about, that we love, that we that we trust, and we all know what it feels like when a person's just not hearing it. Um so Jesus used parables which were spiritual mysteries spoken in what I call real-time stories to allow things that we could never understand to be put in a context in a way that we could understand it naturally, right? So at this point, Jesus and his disciples they have come into Jerusalem and the stir has happened. The people are looking at him and they're like, the Messiah is here. But don't forget, their understanding of the Messiah is not rooted in spiritual salvation, it is rooted in natural conquering. They expect fully for Jesus to come and dethrone the Romans, kick them out, and usher in a new Davidic reign. Now, when I use the term Davidic, I'm literally talking about King David, the little boy who had the slingshot, beat up Goliath. Okay, the guy that was a bit crazy, did some stuff that wasn't always the best, but yet the same guy that God said, This is a man after my own heart. So because David's reign within the history of the Hebrew people, it was it's the best way to describe the Davidic reign is um for me to liken it to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Okay, Queen Elizabeth I was the daughter of Henry VIII. Henry VIII, we know to be a crazy man because why? Basically, he had a lot of wives, and he ended up killing quite a few of them. And the funny thing is, is that Elizabeth's mother was the first wife that he killed. He banished his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, but Anne Boleyn, yes, that's who Queen Elizabeth, the golden age lizard, her mum was Anne Boleyn. And yet, from a marriage he did not want, and a child he cast aside. Even now, historians will tell you that the reign of Queen Elizabeth was the golden age in the empire's history, and quite like David, don't forget, David was the son of Jesse, the youngest son banished to the fields to look after the sheep, but yet he was the chosen by God, which tells us what? That God has a place in his heart for those that have been rejected. He has a heart, he has a place in his heart for the rejected, for those that have been downtrodden, for those that have been cast aside and deemed not important enough to hold place. And so Jesus now is battling with the ideology that the disciples have that he's going to come and overthrow the Romans, and there are signs that are happening as they've entered Jerusalem. We've seen the people shout Hosanna, we've seen him go into the temple, we've seen him come out and cry over Jerusalem, we've seen the disciples come to him and be like, Lord, what is going on? And now we get into the process where we are in Holy Week, and here Jesus is giving the parable of the ten virgins. Okay, I'm gonna give you some little footnotes and headers that I'm going to express, um, that I'm going to build upon and upscale as we go through the Bible study and we go through the chapter, Matthew chapter 25. I'm reading from the New International Version. I will begin. Let's get into have some fun. Um, verse 25, not verse 25, chapter 25, verse 1. At that time, the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. I'm going to explain why this is important in a minute. Okay. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. Verse 5, the bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. Very key there. Okay. Now, a couple of things to um highlight very quickly. The lamps we're talking about are ancient lamps that were basically clay vessels, okay? And a bit like if you've ever seen Aladdin, it's a bit like this. Imagine a lamp but without um a lid on top, or the lid being towards the back of the lamp, but open just enough so that you can pour oil in. Now, the oil would sit in the base of the vessel, and then what you do like how we have now, we'd use a wick that would come out the other end, which would be the almost a pouring hose, and that wick would stay kind of coming up, but what it would do is it would be lined all the way in the vessel, so that when you lit the wick, that the wick would become wet, okay, from the the moisture of the oil or the fuel that you would use, right? And so how you would trim your lamp is the same way we do with a candle. If you've ever burnt a candle, um, and sometimes I I sense the cheaper ones do this more than the expensive ones. If you burn a candle and it's a cheap one, sometimes the wick is really long, and then you get this like wildfire, and then sometimes when it's burnt down, instead of it being this really long thing, you just cut it. The reason you cut it is because what it does is it um makes the flame far more smaller, far tighter, but it's not so wild. So you get light and you get a consistent light, and it's not as um there is a word I'm looking for, it's controllable, okay? So that's what trimming of the lamp would be. Okay, so you have a vessel, you have a part of the back of the vessel that you pour the oil in, the oil then will um uh it will wet and make the wick, which is the material that you light, it will wet it and so it becomes fuel laden, and so that when you do light it, boom, now you've got your flame, and then how you make sure that the flame stays in a controllable size and it's not kind of not using up too much fuel, because that's the other thing. If the flame is big, it will use up the fuel, okay? And now we see that we have 10 virgins, okay. Couple of things that are very important to note, right? Is that everybody had lamps. Sorry, I'm just getting excited because I know what's coming next. Everybody had lamps, everybody had oil for the lamps they were using, everybody fell asleep. Sometimes we look at these scriptures and we look at these parables and we're like, well, wait there, why were they sleeping? No, no, no. Everyone was asleep, wise and foolish. Okay, so the first thing that we have to look at is that everybody was in the same state and in the same condition. Okay, verse six, at midnight the cry rang out. Here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him. Seven, then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. Everybody's like, oh my gosh, my flame's crazy. I need to get this down into control. How do I do this? How do I do this? Everybody's waking up, they're panicking. Why? Because when you're sleeping and your alarm goes off and you weren't expecting it to go off, you're in a panic. And especially sometimes when you're not. Uh maybe you've overslept and you've hit snooze a couple more times than you should have, you're in a bit of a panic. So the guys, now imagine you're waiting for a wedding and you fall asleep waiting to go into the wedding, and all of a sudden you hear the bridegroom's here, come on. So everybody's freaking out. Verse 7. Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. Verse 8, the foolish ones said to the wise, Oh, lads, give us some oil. Our lamps are going out. Doesn't sound like a crazy request. And especially if we're all comfortable enough to sleep in the same space, I just need a bit of fuel. No, they replied, there may not be enough for both us and you. Very key. How many times do you give on the basis of putting yourself out? And I'm not saying that that is not um a noble or a virtuous trait, but there will come times or there will be situations and moments where you don't have enough to give in excess. That what you have is what you need. And also, we're also looking at the situation that they're all finding themselves in. If we're all in the same situation and I bought oil, what were you doing? Why you didn't bring oil? If we were all coming for the marriage supper of the bridegroom, why did you not have what you needed? On the basis that what? You thought that everything was gonna run to time? There are things that we've prayed for that haven't come in the moments that we've prayed for them. And we begin to either stop expecting, stop believing, or we lose faith in God. So much so that when it does come, we feel anxious, stressed, and ill-prepared. Why? Because everything that we put in place to actualize that thing, because it didn't come in the time we expected it to, we relinquished the responsibility of being prepared. The foolish virgins relinquished the responsibility of being prepared because, as far as they were concerned, the bridegroom did not come in the time that they expected him to. The wise had the same experience, but they said, even though he has not come, he's still coming. I have to just sit here for a second because sometimes I want to break stuff and throw stuff around because like it's talking to me as much as I'm talking to you. 2025, you're expecting some things to happen in a certain time frame, in a certain moment. And because it did not come when you wanted it to, you've convinced yourself it's not on the way. What are you going to do when it pulls up? And you've relinquished the responsibility of being prepared. What will you say? Let's jump back into this and let's hear what they had to say. Verse 9. So they just said to us, guys, give us some oil. We're running out, please. And these men said, Nah, nah. Let me give it in the Michael Carl version. Nah. Nah. Why did they say this? No, they replied, there may not be enough for both us and you. A lot of the time you are expending and you are losing valuable resource and time. Time is the most important commodity that God has given you to manage. God is the only one that lives outside of time. So he sees it and knows it beginning, middle, end, and what's to come. We experience time as it happens. So we're supposed to manage it in real time because that then allows God to see our capacity to manage what he's given us. And also, it's the clearest indicator as to our capacity to be able to look after more, right? So they said to them, look, we can't give you because if we give it to you, there won't be enough for you and us. And they said, I tell you what you should do, guys. Instead, take a quick trip into town, right? Go to those who sell oil and buy for yourselves. So these guys panicked and rushed because as far as they're concerned, oh my gosh, the bridegroom's coming, the bridegroom's coming, but they're sitting there and thinking, well, if he took this long to get here, chances are we probably still have some more minutes because it's probably gonna take a little minute before he actually gets into the room and then tells us to come into the feast. How wrong they were. How wrong were they? Verse 10. But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. He came. The person they were looking for, the person they were waiting for, the thing that they'd stayed faithful to. He came. And the Bible says the virgins who were ready went in with him. And what a wedding banquet that was laid out. And maybe the harshest five words in verse 10. And the door, maybe it's six, was shut. And the door, now it is five, was shut. Game over. Game over. Whilst they are scrambling in the last minute and seconds to get something they already had. That's that's the killer in this verse. They had it. The thing they needed, they had, but they didn't manage it. They didn't manage it. And they became so slumberful. I don't know if that's a word, but it's basically just you know a fake version of sleepy. They became so drowsy and so tired. That they lost what they had. So much so that when the time came for them to need the thing that they should have been managing, they ran out. They ran out. Verse 11. Later, the others also came. These will be the stupid virgins.

SPEAKER_00 20:57

Lord, Lord, they said, Open the door for us!

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Verse 12. But he replied, Truly, I tell you, I don't know you. For those around my age, you know what it is to think your name's on a guest list, get somewhere, give them your name, and and they do this. Nah, name's not on the list, and you're like, I just spoke to the guy an hour ago. Chances are the guy an hour ago told you be there at this time, and if you're not there at this time, bruh, call me. And they know what that means because their phones use your narrow plane mode. They were judging the situation based off of the information they thought they knew, and wasn't working the situation based on what they'd been prepared to do. Judging the situation based off of what they thought they knew, but not judging it based on what they were prepared, what they were told to prepare to do. Okay. Verse 13. Okay, so he's already said, I don't know you, man. You're not coming in. Okay, verse 13. Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. And let me add a couple of bits on, not because I'm adding to the word, but to give you more clarity, you do not know the day or the hour when the Lord shall put in his appearance. You don't. Now let's break this down. Okay. So the lamp. The lamp represents you. The light represents the relationship you have with God that reflects through you. The oil is the word. Okay, one more time. You are the lamp. The light and the wick is your relationship. Your spiritual relationship, not the one with your sister or your brother, or your best mate, or your girl, or your guy, or whatever it is. It's your relationship with God. The oil is the word. So the first thing that we have to understand and get into is that expectation should influence and define preparation. Why? Because you've got two sets of people doing the exact same thing, yet one set believed they had enough, another set bought more than enough. Because their expectation was, I believe. I believe to the point where should anything happen naturally that I can't see, they don't know why the bridegroom was late, they just know he was late. But yet the wise one said, No, no, no, no, I'm gonna get a little bit more word in me. Let me get a little bit more word. Why? Because the word might get scarce, and the visual representations that I look to to be like, this is my point of reference for word, or this is my my spiritual well that I go and draw living water up. They said, No, no, no, I'm gonna bring a little extra with me. We all know a person that brings more stuff to a thing than everybody else, and usually that's the person everybody gravitates to. So the first thing that we can look at in uh the breaking down of this parable is that we have ten virgins, okay? Everybody's in the same space, everybody's doing the same thing, everybody is asleep. Wise and foolish. So it's not even like the wise to sit there and go, you lot, we saw you sleeping. We talked no, no, no, no. Everybody was in the same place, but yet what they did before they got sleepy was the thing that defined the success of their management and the responsibility of what they've been given. So the time that you spend in prayer, the time that you spend in meditation of the word, the time that you spend in study, the time that you spend in worship, these are your oil reserves. We've just seen the leader of the American people go into another territory to extract somebody and then said, Do you know what? Let me go get some of this fuel. Where? Not for now, but so that he could put it in their federal reserve. And the reserve is just in case what you have in the natural main stockpile, if that should run out, we've got a little something backed up. So the wise, in these moments, right before the the marriage happened, before the bridegroom came, they were investing in the word, they were investing in their relationship, they were studying, they were worshiping, they were praying, they were meditating. The foolish, they were living off of what they were getting from meal to meal, service to service, interaction to interaction, moment to moment. And when all of that faded and dissipated, what was left was not enough to carry them through. Do you have enough in your spiritual storehouse to carry you through? Or are you overinvesting in the visual things that we've taught ourselves that look like the structures of religious behavior but are not the rudiments of spiritual relationship? So, expectation defines preparation. The next point choice produces consequence. Verse 6 and 7 at midnight, the cry rang out here's the bridegroom. Come out to meet him. Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish one said to the wise, give us some of your oil, our lamps are going out.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

No, choice. Give us some of your oil. Consequence. No. What also was the consequence?

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11. Verse 11. Later the others also came. Lord, Lord, they said, open the door for us. I don't know you. You are none of mine. I try and sometimes put myself in the position to try and think what that must have felt like for those virgins. To have been a part of it. To know those that are inside. And to have the master of the whole thing come out and say, The choices you make breed consequences. And some of those consequences are going to become more prevalent in this time because we are getting to the place where the bridegroom is gonna be like, You guys ready to come in? We're seeing it. We're seeing it. We are seeing people that are losing hope and faith in what they know, and they're exchanging what they know for what somebody else thinks that feels better in a moment that they don't understand. The only time you trade what you know for what you think is when you now hold what you know in contempt, and you need anything to hold on to that resembles like something that can hold you. These foolish virgins didn't wake up to the fact that the wives were just as sleepy and slumberful or slopeful, that's the word I was looking for. They were just as sleepy and slopeful as they were. But what they did was before they got sleepy and slopeful, they should they made sure they had a little bit in reserve. So that when they went to those to ask them for more, who should they have been asking for more? The bridegroom. They should have waited and said to the bridegroom, I need some oil. I need some oil, forgive me. I waited, but I let my oil run down. But because they were not there when he called, they couldn't ask him of anything. So expectation defines preparation, choice will lead to consequence, reward has the opposite side of rejection. What was the rejection? He said, Truly, I tell you, I don't know you. They had been with the others waiting to go into this amazing wedding feast, and because of their ability or their inability to be prepared, the reward that had been set up for them turned into rejection. Because they weren't in the spot that they should have been when the moment arrived, nor did they have the presence of mind to sit and say, even though I have some but not enough, if I speak to the bridegroom, he might have something that he can give me that they can't. Why? Because as far as they're concerned, they're just as tired as you. And it's your fault you weren't as prepared as them. Let me put this in another sense. I don't know if any of you have ever needed to copy homework from a person that is really diligent and studious about their homework. And depending on how much they like you, and also depending on what the work level was like, sometimes they might be really open, like, yeah, you can copy my homework, but there's other times they're looking like, no, why didn't you do it?

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And the last thing you want to say is, well, I was kind of, you know, I'm playing a bit of football, or I went to the cinema, or I was hanging out.

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So you chose to ill-manage the time that you'd been given to complete the task, and you decided to just enjoy yourself, and whilst I was managing the resource and the responsibility of what had been given, you now want to piggyback on what I did, even though you don't understand it. That's exactly what's happening here. That's exactly what's happening here. So the disciples at this point and in this little moment that Jesus is having in this period of history, they're asking, Lord, what are going to be the signs of your coming? How will we know? And Jesus was saying, Well, when you hear about famine and pestilence, when you hear about wars and rumors of wars and things that don't make sense happening in diverse places, we're starting to see the culmination of what will then bring about his return. Now you've got to remember that when this conversation was had, when this parable was taught, we're looking at almost 2,000 years ago.

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I can imagine a couple people falling asleep in between that time.

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And for whatever reason, we're sitting here in 2026 with this parable and this message being as relevant and as prevalent right now as it was when Jesus spoke it to his most trusted advisors. So the question I'm asking you if you are a lamp and you are the lamp, how bright is your lamp? For scripture tells us that a light that is put on a hill cannot be hid. And we've not been asked or commanded to put our light under a bushel. How bright is your lamp? The brightness of your lamp will be directly affected by the efficiency of the relationship that you have. And the strength of that relationship will be founded upon how much word can be found in your heart. I'm telling you, you're going to go through a period where the world is not going to look like what we've known. And the minute that you start seeing what doesn't look like should be there, you're gonna need something that goes beyond the visual of what you think you know. There's a reason why the Bible says that the just shall live by faith. What is faith? Faith is the substance of things hoped for, it's the very evidence of what you can't see. The Bible tells us that by it the elders obtained a good report. They obtained a good report. The Bible says that because of faith, the things that Abraham did wrong, God took it out and said, I tell you what, I'm gonna take that, I'm gonna put your faith through the spiritual divine bureau de charge, it have some righteousness. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed. This is what the Bible tells us. By it, without faith, it's impossible to please God. Why? Because he first or she first must believe that he is, and he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. What does this parable tell you? Is that the the wise virgins even in what they couldn't see still believed that the bridegroom was. The foolish virgins, their action tells us their faith was compromised because the visual of what they needed to see in order to be had faded. And yet everything that you think to be real came not from visuality, but from the invisible space that lived within the vision of our intrinsic sight. So as I've led you into the introduction of you, yes, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, going and reading Matthew chapter 25 and going into it. Um, allow it to speak to you, but more than that, allow it to convict your heart and to open you up so that you may be prepared not only today, but tomorrow and in time and moments to come. Guys, let me pray very quickly. Father, thank you for today. Thank you for love, joy, peace, moments that we don't understand because that's where you do your best work. God, whoever's listening to me today, whoever will come into contact with this Bible study, I pray. Allow it to be conviction to the heart and to the mind. Allow it to create connection to you. Because that's what you design more than anything, to have a personal relationship with us. But more than that, God, allow it to create reflection in us so that we may reflect your love and your grace and your peace and your intention toward us. Have your way in our lives today and every day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Guys, have a beautiful day, and I'll see you next time.