Stephanie Okafor - Enduring Until The End The Parable of the Ten Virgins

There are doors that only obedience opens, and no matter the weight of the sacrifice, it will not open it. They already went and bought oil. It cost them something. But timing is the difference between obedience and if it is just sacrifice. Can we just lift up a praise to Jeeves a Oh pray. If anyone is in the room is experiencing any just illness in any part of your body, just lay a hand on that part of you. If it's multiple places, just lay hands on your head. Amen, Heavenly Father, we acknowledge you in this room. You are the deliverer, You are the healer. It is a privilege that we can gather for you and you alone, Lord, As your hand is upon your people, Lord, I pray that you will begin to heal them of infirmities in the name of Jesus. Because all that came to you were healed, all that came to you were set free. And so Lord, let the anointing in the room that is your holy Spirit, begin to heal and set your the captives free. In the name of Jesus. Lord, I thank you that what they could not do before, they will begin to find mobility. What the doctors found, Lord Jesus, they will not locate it anymore, and your name would be lifted and exalted in Jesus' name. Amen, Amen, Amen, let us just give the Lord cheese us a praise in this place. Hallelujah, hallelujah, Thank you Lord, such a sweet presence, such a sweet presence. Can we just act Michelle for joining us today? Amen? Amen, everyone may be seated. There's a word that the Lord has just placed on my heart that I want to share because I believe that, you know, one, the word of the Lord is always timely and always timeless. But I'm going to be teaching on the parable of the ten Virgins, and we're just gonna see, you know where the Lord takes it. Thank you, Lord, Holy Spirit, have your way, have your way. Continue to move through this service like you already have, and in all things that we do, glorify Jesus. Amen. Let's read from So this is Matthew twenty five, and it's from verse one to thirteen, and the scripture starts by saying that at that time the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamp stand went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps, but they did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with the lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, the cry rang out, here's the bridegroom come out to meet him. Then the ten 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. No, they replied, they may not be enough for both of us, and you instead go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves. But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins, who were ready, went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut. Later the others also came, Lord Lord. They said, open the door for us, But he replied, truly, I tell you I don't know you. Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. You know, Jesus often taught with parables, And whenever we see Jesus in the scripture teaching with parables, he's trying to communicate weighty things about the kingdom, and he's using what the people can relate with symbols, you know, ideas and stories that connect to things in their everyday life. But the parables are not just like stories. They're kingdom principles that they Lord is bringing to them in a simple way that they can understand the complexities of the kingdom. And so in this scripture we see that Jesus is presenting a parable about the Kingdom of Heaven. Now what's interesting is that whenever we see oftentimes rather when we see Jesus, you know, teaching in parables, he goes from one principle to another. So in Matthew twenty five, for example, you see the parable of the ten Virgins, and then right after that, Jesus goes into the parables of bags of gold. Now, the parable of the ten Virgins, we're gonna unpack it because there's it's so layered, there's so much to it. But if you look at it from a foundational sense, it's a teaching on being prepared for the coming of the Lord, because you would not know the day or the hour and when it goes into the next parable, the parable of the bags of Gold. That's another teaching in itself about what have you done with what the Lord has given you? So you go from being prepared to stewardship. So when he's teaching in parables, there is this, you know, transition from one principle to another. They're different, but they're all connected because it's all about the kingdom. But when it comes to the parable of the Ten Virgins, something so remarkable is happening because right before he teaches on this parable, he speaks about the same message in a different way. So if you've ever heard when you know when people will talk about that the last days would be like the days of Noah. That was what Jesus addresses before he goes into the parable of the ten Virgins. The disciples were asking him a question about the end times, and Jesus begins to teach them. In Matthew twenty four. He begins to give them this foundational understanding about how it would be like the days of no where people are eating and drinking and getting married, and then all of a sudden the flood comes. Jesus even goes further. He says two men would be in a field, one will be taken, one will be left behind. Two women, one will be taken, one will be left behind. And we see this similarity because again ten virgins, five wise, five foolish, two men. One is taken up to glory, one is left behind for a condemnation. Jesus is trying to show them a picture that they are two people. They're doing the same thing, they're in the same community, they're in the same practice. On the surface, you cannot tell the difference between them. But the day of testing would be the day of distinction. It is not just when they're living life and moving about. They look the same, they sound the same, they work in the same field. But the day of testing, on the coming of the Lord, would now feel the distinction between who stays and who goes. It's so fascinating when you see how Jesus actually speaks to these things. In Matthew twenty four to forty, look at this. Two men will be in a field, one will be taking, the other left. Two women will be grinding with a handmill. One will be taken and the other left. They're doing the same thing. So on the surface you can't tell. So Jesus is telling them these things, and then he tells them seeing in the scripture we just read in Matthew twenty five thirteen, it says, therefore, keep watch because you do not know the day nor the hour. But then we see that in Matthew twenty four, verse forty two, he says, therefore keep watch because you do not know the day your lord will come. So Jesus is emphasizing on this teaching. And if Jesus is gonna put emphasis on something, then it should matter to us. And so when we look at the Parable of the Ten Virgins, one of the key things that it's teaching is about spiritual complacency. Because you have to understand the audience here. This was not a parable that Jesus was teaching to the crowds. This was what Jesus was teaching privately to his disciples. These were men who already followed Jesus. These are the people who already said yes to Jesus. These are the people he's saying keep watch that out of the majority of you, it is possible that half of you would not endure to the end. Jesus is talking to the church. Jesus is speaking to believers. He's not speaking to that are lost. He's already speaking to the people that are found in him. And we see this even with the disciples that just because someone said yes to Jesus, just because Judas said yes to follow him. And do you know that Judas was also an apostle. You see, when you know the character in the heart of God, you would know that it was not just that Judas was, you know, presented so that he could fall before Jesus would appoint the apostles. He went up the mountain to pray. He was intercede in concerning the calling of these ones out because there were many that follow Jesus, and out of all of them, Judas had the anointing, the calling to be an apostle. Judas cast it out demons. Judas was part of the miracles. But Jesus is telling them a truth. Watch because you can start right with me, but doesn't mean that you end with me. You see, when we go into the parable again, a parable is so beautiful because it has a lot of symbols, and so when we can understand the meaning of the symbols, it's easier to understand what Jesus is speaking. So we start from verse one. At that time, the kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lampstand went out to meet the bridegroom. Virgins is a symbol. It's not even about women or about virgins, but virgins is a symbol for purity. This is a symbol for those that are in right standing with God. Again, Jesus is speaking to his disciples. He's speaking to people that said yes to him. And so when Jesus is given this parable, he goes from talking about it in a way that seems like, you know what, it could be anyone. It will be like the days of Noah. People are buying, people are drinking, people are getting married, people are living life, and the end time comes. But then he makes it more personal. He says, there are ten virgins. All the people in this story are in They started in right standing with me. They started by saying yes to me. They started by, you know, raising up their hand or in their room or wherever to say, Jesus, come into my life. I surrender my ways for you. They started that way. But then Jesus continues and he says, and they took their lamp stand. Now the word for lamp in this is actually a Greek word called lamps because sometimes when we read lamp stand you know, it might look like something that is, you know and in like a minora. But lamp has was actually something portable. It was not a standing fixture. It was something portable, something personal to them. And so they have this lamp. And it's so amazing even the analogy that Jesus would use, because Proverbs twenty twenty seven says this, the spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inner depths of his heart. So the lamp has great significance because you see, when we talk about the lamp, there are three key things concerning the lamp. You have the lamp itself, which is like the vessel. And when the scripture tells us that the spirit of the man is the lamp of the Lord, then think of the lamp as the vessel itself as the spirit. Your spirit, right, man is made up of We are triune by nature or tripetite by I mean tripetite by nature, your body, soul, and spirit. And when you receive the Lord Jesus, he dwells in your spirit. Right he causes your spirit to come alive and your spirit becomes one with him. Now, the beauty is that even when you see what happened, You know, when you talk about the Tabernacle, you had an outer court and innocurd and the Holy of Holies. But when Jesus after he shed his blood for us and the veil was torn, and so there was no more because before you could get into the Holy of Holies there was a veil, and you can just walk in there any one way. Even a priest they would have to tie a bell around him, because if the bell stops ringing, he's dead. But then you always see how God is telling a story in this in even through the Tabernacle, because the outer court, the inner court, the Holy of Holies, man, body, soul, spirit, And so where the Holy of Holy is is the place where the spirit of the Lord dwells. And when you give your life to Jesus, he dwells in your spirit. But when the veil was torn, that means the overflow of what happens in your spirit can transcend into your soul. That is where transformation begins to take place. And so when you are the vessel itself, look at it as the spirit of man but a lamp also has a wick. The wick is like the conduit. It does not produce light on its own, right, the wick has to draw oil. And when it draws oil, then the flame has something to burn. And so the wick. You can look at the wick as your soul. The wick is the soul of the believer, because your soul cannot produce transformation on its own, even when you give your life to Jesus. That is why the scripture tells us that be renewed by the be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So, yes, you've given your life to Jesus, but for tal transformation to take place, your mind must be renewed. It cannot be transformed on its own. And so the overflow of what is happening in the spirit can now come into the soul if you yield to the Holy spirit. Right, So the wick is the soul of man. And then the oil, because in order for the lamp to actually have light, in order for it to have fire, for it to have flame, there must be oil. The oil sustains the flame, and the oil in scripture we see it all throughout. The oil is represented of the anointing and the anointing is a person. The anointing is the Holy Spirit. And so when we're reading this parable, it's layered. Are we are? We are on the same page here, Amen. So we're reading this parable. It's so layered because when they're showing their lamp stand, it's not just this thing about all they were wise and foolish. There is a story that Jesus is speaking to the believer. One, you have a vessel, and there's something about your vessel that needs to be translated into your soul. But in order for any of that to happen, you must have oil. You must not just have oil for a moment, but you must have oil to sustain the transformation, the transforming work of God in and through you. And so for example, so let's even look at what happens to a believer right when you give your life to Jesus. To make it more plain, if you're taking notes in your spirit, what happens is justification. Right instantly, you're in right standing with the Lord. The spirit of the Lord comes in and dwells in your spirit. Your spirit is made alive to God. You are justified before God, not by works. You said yes to the Lord and boone, the spirit of the Lord. That is how faithful and how good O Glord is. Justification happens in the spirit, but then there is sanctification, the process of transformation. This is what happens in the soul. So when Jesus is talking about ten virgins, he's not talking about the question of salvation. They're saved. The question is do they have sustained intimacy with the Holy Spirit? Because the foolish was called foolish because of the lack of oil. Do they have Are they yielded to the Holy Spirit? Because it's only when you yield to him. It's only when you submit to him that you can sustain intimacy with him, and then there is glorification. That's what happens in the body, right, that's after you know, resurrection, when Jesus comes back and all is well. But what is the parable really to talking about In a general sense, we can just say it's about being ready before the Lord comes, But what the Parable is really asking us is are you staying yielded to the Holy Spirit. We're gonna unpack this because the virginity again means that the people are justified. It is the starting point they said yes, boom, they're all virgins. But the oil represents the scientification. The oil represents do you stay yielded for God to do his work in your life. It's not about if you said yes to him, but are you yielded to him? Does he have authority over you? Does he have governance over you? You see, Matthew. Then it goes into verse two to five. It says five of them were foolish and five or wise the foll which ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil and jars along with their lamps. Foolish, no oil. They encountered the Lord that one time they said yes to him and they lived. However they pleased. You. See, what you have to understand is that even when Jesus is given this parable, he's talking about an actual Jewish custom, that there were three things that would happen before. You know, when Jewish people are getting married, right, you have the engagement, you have when promises are made, and then you have the marriage. Now, after step one and step two is done, it is known in their tradition that within a year's time that the bridegroom can show up in an unexpected time, and the bridesmaids, which is represented of the ten virgins here, will go out with their lamps to welcome the bridegroom and his companions. This Jesus was speaking to them about the tradition they knew, and so when Jesus is speaking to them about this, he's also bringing to their attention that these ten virgins knew that the bridegroom was coming back, but they still chose to not take oil with them. The wise ones, the scripture says, took jars of oil because they don't know the day or the hour, and they want to stay prepared. But the foolish ones, still virgins, decided that they don't need to take extra oil. They could steal whatever was dipped into the wick, because you see, in order for the wick to have a flame, it has to be dipped in oil. And they were counting that. You know what, I'm good with Jesus be and the bridegroom were locked in whenever he shows up, I'm sure I'll be good. But they live anyhow, because you see, the foolish virgins actually reveal pride, I don't need to take extra oil whatever I have right now is enough. I don't need to do much. Jesus knows my heart. I don't need to do all these things. I don't need to change. I don't have to do what. I can pick and choose what the Word says about me. I can pick and choose what I'm obedient to. I can delay, I can procrastinate because I'm good. I said yes to Jesus. I'm a believer. I read my word. But are you yielded to the Holy Spirit? Because the sign of when you're yielded to the Holy Spirit is transformation in and through your life. The things you used to do you no longer do, even the things that you have that were so ingrained in your identity, in your personality. When you realize that this is not the way that the Lord desires for me to live, you're able to say, Lauren, I love you more than that I could walk away from that. Why because you're yielding to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, it doesn't mean you're not going to fall. The scripture says that even the righteous man will fall seven times and he gets back up. But the foolish virgin in this situation. Can you imagine if you bring a fish out of water, it starts, you know, doing this little shaky thing because it's trying to get back into the water. It's an aquatic animal. It's trying to get back into its source, into its base. If you bring a fish out of water and it's just chilling waiting for you know, pinacolada, it has lost its nature. But as long as it's true to its nature, it will desire to go back in the water. But if it ever gets out of the water and it's breathing, it's not doing this little shaky thing. Something is wrong. Something in the nature of the fish has changed. When a believer can live a sinful lifestyle, when a believer can live outside of the will and the ways of God and has no conviction, when they are comfortable and create identities around it, then did you really receive his nature? Because salvation, what happened to you when you said yes to Jesus, is that you receive the life of Jesus instantly. You are justified. You were powered by the Holy Spirit, so that even if you may fall, you hate what you fell into. But if you fall and you're comfortable there, and you create theology around your fall and you start trying to argue the word, and then you start trying to do what heathens? Do you know who actually wrote the Bible? A bunch of men? That's the next argument. You know, I don't even know if we can trust the Bible because over all these years it's been translated, things have been added. Come on, now, come on, if you don't feel any conviction, did your nature really change? You? See why one saved can never be always saved, because when you receive the Holy Spirit, it's for you to yield to him. Because the issue is if you don't yield to him for him to transform you, then you would automatically yield back to the old nature. You would now go back and be a slave to what the Lord just pulled you out of. So he starts off by saying, hey, they are all virgins. These are all people that said yes to me. But along the way, when the bridegroom left for an unknown return date, some really had the boldness to say, we don't need extra oil. We're just gonna hang around and see what happens. I don't need to yield, I don't need to be led by this. I could say yes to Jesus and live life my own way. When was the last time you received an instruction? Because if he is your shepherd, then he should be guiding you. If he is your shepherd, he should be leading you. When was the last time you received an instruction from the Lord? When was the last time you discerned the voice of the Holy Spirit. This is what sets us apart from religion because we have a relationship with the living God. When was the last time the Lord instructed you to do something? It may have felt uncomfortable, but when was the last time you can record that you receive an instruction from the Lord? Because if your life is not governed by instructions, are you in a religion? Are you just doing the things to be a good person in the name of the Lord? Or is he the one that governs and leads you and guides you. And if you're in this place or you're listening to me and you cannot even remember the last time the Lord gave you an instruction, then you have to get back into the secret place. You cannot live this thing out like it's a religion. It's not. It's a relationship. And there are words that the Lord will speak to you. There are things that he will govern you. They're the things that he will wake you up in the middle of the night and give you a name and say, call this person and pray with them. He will tell you things to do at your workplace. He will guide you into the things that he's called you to do. He will instruct you about things to read. When was the last time you got an instruction? In verse five to verse six, it says the bride groom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, the cry rang out, here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him. You see, falling asleep was not an issue. And I love this so much because the Lord is not trying to have you live your life in this anxious Christianity. He's not trying to live your life where you feel like you need to be. You know, you have to question if you're saved all the time. You have to question, like, am I doing it right? Am I doing the wrong? Rest right? The wise virgins rested, the foolish virgins rested. Everybody was asleep. Sleeping was not the issue, because before they were asleep, some had oil. It's about what you do before you sleep that matters to God. Your posture before God is what matters to him, because again, this is not a thing of natural work, but it is a posture before Him, one who is yielded and submitted to the Holy Spirit. It's not about works. Yes, works can be the fruit of it, but it's about a belief. It's a posture before God that you own me. My life is yours. We were worshiping to it that everything I am is to glorify your name. It is a mindset, it's an understanding. It's a conviction that you have in your soul that all that I am is to glorify the Lord. And from that place sleep. The sad part is that the foolish virgins are people that react in You know a lot of people are like this, especially in college. Last minute, you know, movers and shakers. Nothing is shaken until it's the last minute in your life. All of a sudden, all the energy, all the creativity, everything is pumping in, and the Lord is like, you can't do that. You can't treat the spiritual things that way. Because these other ones, the foolish ones, are just thinking, you know what, when that time comes, we'll be fine, We'll figure it out. But the wise ones sleep was not the issue. And I say this because sometimes as Christians we don't often reveal the fruit of our Christianity. Sometimes, as Christians we move with like this paranoid lifestyle. You know, Oh, don't touch this person, don't shake that hand, don't do this, don't do that. What did I do wrong? You know? We get crazy if something is not working. Oh Lord, what have I done to displease you? We live with this constant state. Some of us live in this constant state of anxiety. And sleep is not being condemned here, he says, no, find rest for your souls, find rest for your body. Find rest in grotten in God, Find rest in Christ Jesus. But what is your posture before him? Are you yielded to him? Or are you just living life as you please? The oil was already settled for the scripture talks about the virgin sleeping. Then verse seven to nine, it says, then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lambs. The foolish one said to the wise, give us some of your oil. Our lamps are going out. No, they replied, they may not be enough for the both of us. Instead go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves. There's some problems you cannot fix with urgency, and I sense that so strong, even though the context of this is speaking about how we prepare before the coming of the Lord, but I sense that even in general. On my way here, the lords began to minister to me that they are people, and the very thing you're procrastinating on, I saw it so clearly. On the other side of that, if you don't do it in the window, you don't know the window of time. That is something the Lord has on record. Because it's arrogance that would make you feel like I have till next week to obey God on this matter. It's pride that would make you feel like I could do this next year to obey God on this matter. But spiritually there is a window, and if you do it within that window. There were two things the Lord showed me so clearly, the word the dream and the word crown. And he said, the thing that you have been dreaming about is on the other side of your obedience to what the Lord has told you to do. Your crown. What would give you authority in the land is the thing that is on the other side of your obedience. And my prayer as I was coming here is that the Lord would make it so plain what is that thing? Because this is not applying to everyone. There are people in the room that this applies to that their instructions the Lord has given you, And because you don't want to disappoint people for some you're still playing this tug of war for others because of what it will cost you. It's like, Lord, I'm not ready to give this up. This is gonna change my lifestyle completely, and you're still trying to push the time. Okay, Lord, I'll do it tomorrow. Lord, I will do it in a few days. And literally the Lord showed me that window is getting smaller and smaller. And to be honest, I don't know if you would have till next tomorrow to do that thing. There is a grace that you have now and it's not something that you can respond to when you feel the urgency, but it's to be prepared now. You have to be suspicious when there is an instruction the Lord gives you, but there is this weight on you that is fighting your ability to do it. You have to be suspicious of what is that that is the moment you begin to pray and you know that since you have a helper known as the Holy Spirit, to fight through what is trying to resist you. Because the enemy has a track record of only resisting you within the window, it would become so easy once that window shuts. All of a sudden, You're ready, You're pumped, You're like, yeah, let's do it, not realizing the absence of resistance is actually speaking to something. But the enemy would resist you because he only comes at opportune times. He's an opportunist, and the Word of God reveals that he comes only at an opportune time. So what is it for those in the room. I sense this so strongly, and even in this moment before we continue, a moment of repentance before God. And if you would agree now, if you would be willing to send the email tonight, if you will be willing to come before the Lord and say, Lord, clean slave, no more delay, no more procrastination on the other side of this. Now, one thing about me, I'm not very big on telling you how God is gonna bless you and all that stuff, because it's just life, right. There are things that God wants to do to increase you. And there are times that you're gonna suffer. It's part of our walk with Jesus. Right. Salvation was authored by a cup of suffering, and so for everyone's say, there is a cup of suffering. It's part of our walk with the Lord. There are times you're gonna suffer. There are times where you're gonna feel like you're in abundance. It's just part of it. But what I'm trying to tell you specially is that there is literally a dream that God has placed in your heart, and there is a place of authority that He wants to establish some of you in. But if you do not give that thing up, it's not gonna happen. And if you know that speaking to you in this moment, would you just stand to your feet immediately, just since we need a prayer that we're gonna continue. Thank you, Holy Spirit, Thank you Holy Spirit. You cannot be scared about man. You cannot be scared about what people are gonna feel. And you can't not keep holding yourself back because of the appetites of your own flesh in your own way. I can't pray this prayer for you. You have to come before the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to help you, and ask the Lord that I repent of my ways. I'm not going to delay this one day longer because this message right now is mercy that there are things that God wants to do. Because you have to understand this. God loves you, period. Nothing you do would ever stop God from loving you. He is love you can't take. You know, for God to stop loving someone, that means you are able to change his identity. It's who he is. God loves you, period regardless. Now can he trust you? It's a different ballgame because can God put weight on you? Can he and trust you with things of the kingdom, That's a whole different story. Even at the moment of betrayal, Jesus love judas God loves you. That's settled. But then we must grow from that place of knowing that God loves me. So there is something He has assigned me to do. And if I stay small, I can never walk in the fullness of that assignment. If I stay in this cycle, this repeated cycle of delay and procrastination, and I stay in this repeated cycle of woe is me? I stay in the repeated cycle of God? Why I cannot or rather can I start shifting things and say, Lord, where I am weak, you are strong. I am an introvert by nature. People you know my friends. I help me to people. I love people. When I'm around so many people, I say who wow, WHOA. Many ministers they're gone, not because they don't want to talk to people, because they are trained. They said about so much people. Why I'm sharing that is because the only reason I can preach is because it's the place of where the Spirit helps me. It's the place of saying, God, if you do not back me up, we're gonna be here talking about you know, bedtime stories. But when are you gonna change your language? When are you gonna stop making it about all the things you don't like and you don't want to do because you're not this kind of person and you don't do X, Y and Z, and start speaking the language that God says about you. When are you gonna start asking the Holy Spirit? If this is who I am, then will you help me in this? Will you help me to become rehearse your identity knowing that the Lord will back you up. You don't always have to feel like it to step into it. And the more you give language to who you are not that is actually what you're speaking and breathing life into to keep you in the place that makes you bound. You See, it's interesting in I was in DC recently and there was this scripture that was highlighted that I loved so much, and that scripture is in the Book of Job and it talks about how the hypocrite ensneers people, and it was so it captivated me because when you're living the life that God did not call you to live, the results of that there are people being enna, people not coming out of bondage, not being free because you chose to rehearse your complaints and your weaknesses rather than calling upon the strength of the Lord. Just take a moment in your own way to pray and ask the Lord to help you and make a declaration over your own life that it ends today. The procrastination ends today. The delay ends today. Whatever is trying to resist me, I resist it by submitting to God. The reason you cannot resist that enemy is because what gives you the authority to resist him is your submission to God. Without your submission to God, he will not flee. He will keep resisting you. But when you submit and yield to the Holy Spirit, power comes, and the enemy he knows a mind that has yielded to the Holy Spirit, he cannot influence in your own way. Would you just pray, thank you, Lord, Heavenly Father, as your children have identified areas in their lives that they know they've been procrastinating in, they know they've been delaying in. Lord, we ask for your mercy, which has met us in this room, to help us to step in to the things you've called us to to step in. Because on the other side of the complaints, on the other side of the arguments, there is a dream, and there is a crown, and even now just showing me Moses on the other side of his complaints, on the other side of saying that he can't speak, on the other side of all of it was the manifestation of the people freed. I can only imagine the dream that you placed in Moses' heart that will cause him to even fight and kill an Egyptian when he saw the Egyptian herding an Israelite. There was a dream in his heart that you placed there that one day his people will be free from slavery. One day his people will be free from bondage, and there was a crown that you would place on his head on the other side of that obedience, because you would say to Moses, I have made you a god. To Pharaoh, you have placed them in a position of authority over Pharaoh. There is a dream and there is a crown. There is on the other side of you just saying yes, Yes, it's gonna cost you something. Yes it's gonna bring your insecurities up the roof. Yes it's gonna make you feel vulnerable and weak. But that is the place where Jesus becomes your strength. And so if you are willing, Because there was a point in the conversation that Lord, you even became angry with Moses when Moses kept negotiating. There was a moment where you got angry, almost says Dough. Don't you understand who you are? Don't you understand the one who is speaking to you about who you are? Lord? In this moment, we repent of rehearsing our weakness is more than we spoke about you, of rehearsing our failures, more than we rehearse the word of God. We repent of it. Lord, And whatever you seek of your people in this moment, empower them and strengthen them in Jesus's name. Amen, Amen, you may be seed. Thank you Lord, Thank you Jesus, Thank you Lord. Now the scripture continues. In verse nine, it says that no, we cannot sell to you, and the wise virgins tell them. He says, go and buy from some Go and buy from the people that are selling. What are they trying to say? You can't buy the oil? Jesus is Jesus is given such a masterful parable, because for you to walk in this thing it will still cost you. But then the scripture says obedience is better than sacrifice, because even after they would buy the oil and they would return, it would be too late. There are doors that only obedience opens, and no matter the weight of the sacrifice, it will not open it. They already went and bought oil. It cost them something. But timing is the difference between obedience and if it is just sacrifice. Timing you should have had this a long time ago. But when you waited till the last minute, it's only a sacrifice. And for sacrifice it even means something, it must be received. And so when they were banging on the door, the bragroom is like sorry to this virgin the bragroom says, I never knew you, the same language that Jesus would use when he talks about how in those days that they will come and say Lord, Lord, Lord, and then again he will say, I never knew you. Yes, you live this life, identify me as your lord. Yes, there was a moment of salvation in your life, but it was never sustained. So when Jesus even calls them these workers of iniquity, how is it that you could say yes to me but not yield to me. So you said yes to me, and then in my name you did many great things, but you never yielded to my spirit. Just because you said yes to Jesus does not make him a slave to you. If it was that way, why would the scripture keep warning us keep watch. Do you know another time that Jesus uses the language of keep watch when he was speaking to the dead church. How they got to that position, how they became the dead church, is that they stopped keeping watch. They fell into spiritual complacency, and they became the dead. Not just compromise, not just loveless, but dead. And it was said of the dead Church, you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Everyone around you is applauding you. You look, everybody looks the same. Ten virgins, everybody looks the same. But on the day of testing, five will be called the faithful. Five will be called the dead. What I'm saying to you, it's not about this anxious living of God. Am I right with you? You would know because it's a posture, it's a position. It's a decision you have made because of what you have seen in Him, that Jesus I will live for you. When the spirit of the Lord convicts you, you don't run away from his convictions. There are things that you must. You have to be a guard over your mouth to not be so tempted to keep speaking about what you know. The Rea isn't why you can't do what the Lord has called you to do. You have to keep a guard over your mouth, and even if you must speak about it, then it should glorify the Lord that, yes, I know I'm not this person, but by the grace of God, I am who God says I am. Yes, I know that my own in my own perspective, in my own lens, I don't see myself the way he said he sees me, but I agree with him. Nevertheless, Thank you Lord. Verse thirteen. Keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour. You see, there's some of you, and you must understand the conviction behind this message. Because even when you know, we don't know the day or the hour the Lord will come. But neither do we know the day or the hour that he will call us home. There was something the Holy Spirit said to me one day. I was in prayer and he asked me. It was such an interesting question, and it was like a like a story. Let me, let me even ask it to someone. Let me who wants to play a willing participant to talk? Anybody wants to talk back, Yes, come on, come on, my love. If you went to the hospital and the doctor says to you that we found a rare condition, rare illness that we can't tell you when you will if you will live or die. We don't know if when you walk out of the hospital you would make it, and we can't tell you if you would live ten years that this condition we found in you, it can literally just overnight take out all yourselves, or it could move very slow and you could live a long happy life. How would you respond, Well, then I would live like every day is my last day. Then I love that. And you know what, the Holy Spirit told me. That condition is life. You don't know what will happen today, tomorrow, ten years from not. Thank you, my love, that that condition is life. And you should treat every day with the weight of knowing this day to glorify the Lord through my vessel. If there was someone I should live for, then let it be that today it would be marked and said of me that I represented Jesus, and how I treated my family, how I took care of my home, how I loved my kids, how I loved my neighbor, how I spoke to my coworker, that it would be revealed of me that this was someone who was with Jesus. We all pray and believe that. I said, Lord, I want to be there when you come. But now I'm not so sure. Okay, but I do. The world is getting crazy. People have lost their minds. But there are times where you're like, Lord, you know what, Just give me to like one oh two, so I could say I passed one oh one, right, But none of that is guaranteed. Don't wait for the last moments, whether when we finally meet the Lord Jesus, or even in the things that he tells us to do. Now, I can only imagine that when Jesus was given this parable, I just wonder what Judas was doing. Did he ever imagine that he will do what he did and the weight of regret that he felt. There are things that we must listen to. And even when you go home, before you go to bed, sit with the Lord and say, Lord, search me if there is anything in me that is holding back, then Lord, would you help me let me walk in the fullness of what you desire out of my life, whatever is holding me back. Lord, I don't want to be the foolish virgin that my safety is just in the fact that I'm saved. Jesus is not talking about salvation to these people. He's talking about you being yielded, because again, if you're not yielded to the Holy Spirit, you will go back to a different master and not know it. You will not know when a shift happened in who you serve while you call on Jesus still, because the scripture says to whoever you obey, you are slaved to that person, not just what you identify as whoever you obey, And so let's not get to the place where it's like you're banging on the door of the prophecies that God has given you. You're banging on the door Lord, you gave me a word five years ago. You're banging on the door and the Lord is like, it's I love you, but it's too late. It is possible. You have to understand that the fulfillment of prophecy is not just about you. The word that the Lord has given you is not just about you. If it was just about you, that would go against the very nature of God that says love is not self serving. So anything that flows from Him is not just to serve you, but from Him to and through you. So if you are going to block the flow, then another will and participant would be able to carry it on. But there is something that the Lord has for you if you choose to say yes. But because we oftentimes you know, the fallen nature of man is such a selfish individual, we think everything is about us, and then whenever we wake up and decide that God will breathe on it, it's about the body of Christ. Everything the Lord has called you to is for his bride, and if you're not willing to serve the bride in that way, another will and Jesus will still love you. But there is that feeling that you have deep down knowing that Lord, did I miss something. Because one of the things the Lord showed me we're about to pray, is that there's someone he had called to this city. And already you're contemplating relocating and opportunities to relocate this coming up, and the Lord says that you should actually, before you even make any decision, come before him and fasting and prayer, because the relocation might not be the blessing you think it is. It's because if you're not willing to overcome the temptations of the land, if Los Angeles is the place of your weakness and you cannot fight it, then you will be relocated. Not because it was an upgrade, but the relocation was actually a sign of the place where you disagreed partnership, you rejected the leading of the Holy Spirit. It is actually the fruit of your lack of submission and yielding to the Lord. So if you cannot be effective in this region anymore, he says, then I will move you. But if you're excited about the relocation, you won't be sensitive to know where there was disobedience. Pray about it. Sometimes relocating can be a beautiful thing. I know in settings like this and prophetic settings. You know it's quick to just want to apply something to your life. Oh I shouldn't relocate. No, no, no, But I want you to hear what I'm saying. If the land has kept you in cycles of where you keep falling for the same temptation over and over again, be willing. I pray that you will see the weakness that needs to be surrendered to the Lord so that you can still be effective for what the Lord originally intended for you to do in this region. But if this region has become the place of your compromise, then he will shift you for the sake of your soul. So before you get excited about the move. It may seem like a door of opportunity, but it's actually the path of disobedience. Thank you Lord. But if you're willing to shift, if you're willing to repent before the Lord. Because all of a sudden, it felt like what was coming into you so easily in the land, everything just kind of dried up because spiritually the land stopped responding to you. It no longer saw your crown. So things began to dry up, and you feel like the only way to move forward is to relocate. Now, understand what I'm saying by the spirit of God, because this can happen in two different scenarios. One can happen by the grace of God because he wants to shift you and the grace of what He's called you to do. It's He's like, you've done your assignment, great job, move on. But the person I am speaking to you know that you know you have not lived in the way that God called you to in this city. It's been the place of your compromise. And because it has compromised the calling of God on your life, that is the only reason the relocation would fully happen. But if you will come before the Lord in repentance, if you will come before the Lord and not in this arrogance of you just doing whatever you want to do, but in humility to say, Lord, will you help me. I've lived in a way that dishonored you, and I was just so comfortable with the fact that I know you. Oh, I think I know you. If you will do that. Things will begin to shift again, opportunities will begin to open again, and the land that you have been called to for this season in la Thank you, Holy Spirit. Would you just stand with me. We're gonna pray. Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord. I sound so strongly the heart of the Father really just saying come home. Just agree walk with me. Can two walk together except they be agreed? There are places that God wants to walk with you in that. There are things that God wants to instruct you and guide you through, but you need to agree with what He says about you and who you are and trusting in Him for the outcome. You see a lot of times I also, I've dealted anxiety in my life, and even when the Lord will show me like you know the only reason you were dealing with all that anxiety is because you were putting it on yourself for the outcome. You see. Sometimes we when it's the big things, we're like, oh, I trust God. But the little things carry a lot of weight. When you're thinking about how do I handle this and that? How do I handle three things at once? How do I move from this? How do I accept this? How do I have you know, how do I take responsibility of this. You trust God with the outcome. You trust the fact that you have a helper, call the Holy Spirit, the spirit of the Living God in you. He is there. There's something my husband does. My husband, his background is in tech, and you know when you're working in tech, there are things that can be very It takes. It's a lot of like just mental work, too cold in and all that stuff. And there are times that literally he would just hit a block and no one on the team knows what to do. There's an error and something needs to change within seconds. If not, it could cause much bigger issues. And I will watch my husband. He would just begin to pray in the spirit while working. He literally would just get up and just start praying in the spirit. And he's not doing that out of religion. This is the difference. He's doing that because he knows he has a helper. It's a shift in the heart, it's a shift in belief. It's not that I have an issue. Oh, let me just fast and pray. That's what everybody does. No, I fast and pray because I know when I pray, God hears me. When I fast, I know I draw closer to Him. When I call on his name that the Spirit of the Living God is in me to help me. I would literally watch my husband begin to pray in the spirit and the answer will come to him. There will be times that they would have a meeting prepared and they will literally say, hey, this meeting is blocked off on the calendar six hours so they could figure out some things in the software, and the meeting would end in thirty minutes because the Spirit of the Lord gave him the wisdom for it. The Holy Spirit is not just there too. It's not this abstract, lofty thing. No your day to day in your business decisions and the things that He has called your hand to do in your workplace, because the marketplace also has a pulpit. If you understand it right, It's not just for you to fill alone. And the only time you call on him is you know, when it's just like last minute. No He wants to show you how to build what the Lord has placed in your hands. He gave Noah the template. He showed him the design, the pattern, everything no one needed. Step by step, the Lord showed him how he will build the arc. You think the Lord will not show you how to build what he's placed in your hands, how to build what he's called you to steward, how to build the environments he's placed you, and how to build a family even though you never had a representative of a healthy one. The Lord will show you. But shifted and stop looking at it as though you are just by yourself and you've made Christianity like a religion. No, it's a relationship. As we were worshiping and praying when the Lord began to speak to me about the young lady who came up, and I am so I love the fact that you know you choose freedom over whatever people are thinking. But the Lord loves us so much that the Holy Spirit will say, hey, if you say this, she'll respond because she knows. This is what she asked. This is the spirit of the Lord that is available to each and every one of us who walk with the Lord. If you would make yourself available to him, if you would believe him, if you know that he is in your life to literally bring you into the image, to conform you into the image of the living Savior. Everything about the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus, and so when it glorifies Jesus, he will show up. If it's glorifying you, then you know, think of other ways. But if it's to glorified, he will show up. So why don't you begin to see your life as a life to glorify Jesus, your job as a place to glorify Jesus, your family as a place to glorify Jesus, the people you're around as a place to glorify Jesus, and you would receive the help of the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord, Thank you, Lord, Heavenly Father. We love you, We thank you for your word. Lord. There is just I see a deep work in the soul that you want to really just do in the lives of your people. And one of the ways this happens is when we worship you, when we set our gaze on you, and not ourselves, not our weakness, not our complaints, not whatever our backgrounds, none of that. But we set our gaze on you. And so Lord, I pray that you will begin to stir the hearts of your people. You will search them, Oh God, and bring to the surface whatever is not pleasing to you, whatever is not pleasing to that which you desire in and out of them, whatever does not resemble the prophecy over them, because there are prophecies concerning your life that you are stepping into windows for those prophecies to begin to manifest into moments of opportunity and destiny. What the Lord will begin to connect you with people. There are things that you've carried since as a child, that you've always known about yourself. But you must yield. You must yield. Obedience and sacrifice is about timing. They could look the same, but it is about timing. The wise virgins had oil before the bridegroom came the foolish ones, but oil after for everyone. It costs something, but timing made the difference. Libra na maksa care kanni na masuna makaya shikaya Brosa libre na maku na makaya Nama Lord, May we move in the right timing. May we move in alignment with you, Oh God, I break the spirit of delay in this room. Stop holding yourself back, Stop holding yourself back. You might be afraid, David will say, when I am afraid, I put my trust in you. I am not telling you you're gonna walk this walk fearless. The disciples will go and move in boldness, and then they will turn and pray, Jesus, would you give us more boldness, because even though I confront things, I still feel the fear. But where do I place it? Do I place the fear in a moment of conversation or do I place it in the hands of my safety, in the hands of my Savior. Be afraid and still walk, be afraid and still go, not as a you know, as a risk taker, but one in alignment, and yield it to the Holy Spirit. The Lord is showing me. Thank you, Lord, Thank you Lord. There's a young lady, and this might speak to several people, but in particular there's another young lady that I see and the shift. Well, the Lord is requiring of you. How do I put this? Help me? Lord? You're moving their decisions, you're making that look like wisdom, but they're not. And if you're honest, what's driving them is fear. But you're calling it faith. Because it feels like you've been in this city for too long and it feels like you have nothing to show for it. And I see where you are on the phone with your mom, and she began to question what you were doing and all these things, and what is driving this big move you're making right now is fear is that you're trying to finally do something that makes it look like you have something to show for your time in La kaya na Masikayabrosa. And I see the Lord saying to release that thing because it will only drain you. It will drain you financially, it will drain you emotionally. It was not something the Lord has asked you to do. You're doing it as a response to feel as though you're not a failure. Oh my god, And I see there's something the Lord actually wants to bring you into. But you cannot live your life dictated by what others are saying about you. Learn to wait on him. It might have felt like you've been waiting for such a long time, but stay faithful in what you know to do. Don't become reckless just because you're trying to prove a point. Faith is not recklessness. I don't know who I'm speaking to, but there's something I see that almost like there's a there's a to this person, there's a door. You wouldn't know. There's someone that I the Lord will show me to even bring you in relationship with like career wise, but you have to be willing to let that thing go. You're putting money into something that literally has like a leakage. It's leaking, it's draining. It's going to drain you because what is driving it is fear, and you're calling it faith, and to everyone around you, it's a move of faith, it's recklessness. If you would, if the spirit of the Lord is convicting your heart as I'm speaking to you about this, would you just come quickly. I want to just pray with you. Thank you Lord, very quickly, very quickly, just grab my hand, Heavenly Father, I thank you for your daughter. And I pray, Lord Jesus Lord, that even in this moment of even just forsaking whatever it looks like, and just knowing that Lord, at the end of the day, it's about you, I pray that you will strengthen her to know that this is not about pleasing people, especially when it comes to parents trying to make it seem like finally I'm doing something with my life. But Lord, to wait on you and not waiting from a place of being idle, being faithful in what you know to do, being faithful in the places He's already positioned you, being faithful in the work you're doing. But before you're making any big move, weigh on him because those resources could be assigned to something else that will be more effective. So Lord, I thank you, I thank you, I thank you, I thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, Can we just pray, Heavenly Father, just stretch out your hand to this young lady? Thank you, Lord, Thank you? Lord, Lord, would you lose this burden from her? Would you lose this burden? Lord God? Would you loose it? Lord? Your yoke is light. It's not this heaveness that she is carrying. And I thank you because in the appointed time, she will look back on this moment and say, Lord, thank you. Have your way. Jesus. The Lord is shaping you. He's mooding you. He's never his eyes has never left you. But for what he has positioned and called you to do, he's causing capacity within you. Don't rush ahead of him, because what he will do through you is much greater than you know. You have the ability to make things happen, but it's costing you so much. It's costing you. Rest Trust him, Trust him, Trust him, because when the enemy wants to attack you is in the place of integrity. If you go ahead of him, compromise what happened. But if you trust him, if you trust him, then he will bring you into what the scripture calls good success, not just success, good success, no strings attached in Jesus name, Amen, Can we just praise the Lord, Thank you, Holy Spare