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Ready Or Not Pt 1 - Live Ready | Dave Snyder · Reach Church Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Hey everyone, welcome to the Reach Church podcast. This is
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  Speaker 1: Dave Snyder, pastor here at Reach Church. Each week we
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  Speaker 1: share messages from our Sunday gatherings to help you discover
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  Speaker 1: the love of God, be empowered for purpose, and impact
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  Speaker 1: your world. We pray this message encourages you and helps
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  Speaker 1: you grow in your walk with Jesus. Let's get into
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  Speaker 1: today's message.
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  Speaker 2: I want to share a message with you this morning.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's a really important message for all of us.
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  Speaker 1: You heard, you heard the little slide there, a little
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  Speaker 1: teaser that we're talking about the end times. And I
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  Speaker 1: think that's a, that's a message that for a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people is a little bit, uh, maybe has different emotions, different,
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  Speaker 1: different things they think about when they hear about the
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  Speaker 1: end times. And maybe they get, some people get skeptical, like,
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  Speaker 1: is it really, how long we've been talking about the
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  Speaker 1: end times? Is it really the end times? Maybe there's
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  Speaker 1: a little bit of, like you heard in the video,
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  Speaker 1: a little bit of fear associated with that. I remember
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  Speaker 1: growing up and being really afraid when I heard the
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  Speaker 1: word end times.
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  Speaker 2: You heard about rapture.
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  Speaker 1: And as a Christian kid in the 1980s, I think
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  Speaker 1: it was the scariest time to grow up if you
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  Speaker 1: were a Christian because it was pretty radical. And it
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  Speaker 1: was pretty much the Jesus was coming any second. And
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  Speaker 1: I still believe that. But it was a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of fear with it. I a movie they put out.
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  Speaker 1: It was basically a Christian horror film about the end times.
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  Speaker 1: And maybe you know what I'm talking about if you
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  Speaker 1: were around during that time period. It was some of
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  Speaker 1: those things. And I just remember it scared the living
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  Speaker 1: daylights out of me. I never saw Freddy or Jason,
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  Speaker 1: but I had the Christian version about Jesus coming back.
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  Speaker 1: And it was just like, it was terrifying. And so
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  Speaker 1: when I thought about the end times, I was afraid.
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  Speaker 1: I remember thinking, waking up at night, and my first
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  Speaker 1: thought was, the house was very quiet.
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  Speaker 2: The rapture happened.
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  Speaker 1: And so you have to go check and see. And
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  Speaker 1: I didn't care. I don't see my sister here this morning. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: there she is. So I didn't go to check and
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  Speaker 1: see if my sisters were there. I figured they were
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  Speaker 1: probably still there. But I wanted to know if my
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  Speaker 1: mom was gone. Because if my mom was gone, I
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  Speaker 1: knew I was in trouble. I don't know about the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the heathens in my house, but.
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  Speaker 2: I'm just messing with you, sir.
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  Speaker 1: But Jesus talked about the end times, and he wasn't
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  Speaker 1: telling us about what's going to happen so that we
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  Speaker 1: could be afraid. He's telling us so that we can
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  Speaker 1: be ready. Be ready for what's coming.
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  Speaker 2: See, there's a difference between knowing Jesus is coming.
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  Speaker 1: And being ready for Jesus coming. So I'm calling this
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  Speaker 1: message Ready or Not. Remember playing that game as a kid,
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  Speaker 1: a little hide and seek. Ready or not, here I come.
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  Speaker 1: And if you weren't ready, what happened?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, shoot, he's coming. I got to get ready.
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  Speaker 1: See, I don't want us to live our lives, oh, wait,
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  Speaker 1: there's a trumpet? I better get ready now. No, you
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  Speaker 1: better get ready before. So we're talking ready or not,
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  Speaker 1: here he comes. And I want you to think about
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  Speaker 1: this because, again, it says we don't know the day
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  Speaker 1: or the hour. but we believe he's coming soon. So
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  Speaker 1: I want you to know what we believe about Jesus
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  Speaker 1: coming back. If you're a new believer in the room
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  Speaker 1: this morning, you might say, what do you mean he's
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  Speaker 1: coming back?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, Jesus is coming back for his church.
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  Speaker 1: And there's coming a moment where he's going to gather
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  Speaker 1: the church together and we're gonna be taken out of here.
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  Speaker 1: We call that the rapture, right? So we believe he's
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  Speaker 1: coming back and it's not something to be afraid of.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, the word of God talks about that as
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  Speaker 1: our hope. He calls it our blessed hope. We're looking
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  Speaker 1: forward to something. that he's coming back again. But I
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  Speaker 1: want to talk about this because I think a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people get, like I did as a kid, we
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  Speaker 1: get fearful. And we talk about things happening in the
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  Speaker 1: world because when we talk about the end times, we
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  Speaker 1: talk about the things you heard, like the earthquakes happening
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  Speaker 1: and the famines and the pestilence and all the terrible
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  Speaker 1: things that are happening in the world, and it sure
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  Speaker 1: could make you a little bit afraid. And It will
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  Speaker 1: make you, if you let fear control you, how many
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  Speaker 1: of you know it will make you want to do
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  Speaker 1: things like dig a shelter, right? It'll make you want
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  Speaker 1: to do things like stockpile weapons and get yourself, you
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  Speaker 1: become a prepper. But Jesus wasn't telling us what was
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  Speaker 1: going to happen so you could become a prepper.
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  Speaker 2: There's nothing wrong with preparation. I understand that.
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  Speaker 1: But I had somebody leave our church one time. And
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  Speaker 1: they were terribly mad at me. Sent me a nasty
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  Speaker 1: email because I wasn't telling you how to be prepared
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  Speaker 1: for Jesus' return. But his idea of preparation was exactly
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  Speaker 1: what I just said. He thought you should be taking
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  Speaker 1: your money out of the banks and sticking it under
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  Speaker 1: your mattress. See, I don't believe what Jesus told us
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  Speaker 1: was how we could be economically prepared. He wanted us
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  Speaker 1: to be prepared spiritually for his return. And if all
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  Speaker 1: I'm doing is getting prepared in the economic way or
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  Speaker 1: in the physical way, I'm missing the point of what
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  Speaker 1: Jesus told me.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus wants you.
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  Speaker 1: Ready for his return so you can go with him,
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  Speaker 1: not so you can make sure you're okay while the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the heathens are down here.
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  Speaker 2: You know what I'm talking about? He wants us to
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  Speaker 2: be ready.
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  Speaker 1: And so this morning, I want to show you in
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  Speaker 1: Matthew 24. Can you put that slide up? In Matthew 24,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus goes through... this series of events that are going
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  Speaker 1: to be happening but mixed in with all the events
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  Speaker 1: he tells you some important information he says things like
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  Speaker 1: don't be deceived because there's going to be things in
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  Speaker 1: this world that will try to deceive you it will
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  Speaker 1: try to tell you they'll try to tell you jesus
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  Speaker 1: has already come he's over here in the desert he's
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  Speaker 1: over there he says don't be deceived when crazy stuff
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  Speaker 1: starts breaking out he tells you uh okay no tanga
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  Speaker 1: he tells.
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  Speaker 2: You Can you put, I'll look at my notes. He says,
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  Speaker 2: I need to work on my Spanish donut.
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  Speaker 1: He says, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid because there's
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  Speaker 1: so many things that will try to make you afraid.
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  Speaker 1: All these things that Jesus says are coming, they could
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  Speaker 1: make you terrified. But he says in the middle of that,
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  Speaker 1: you don't have to be afraid.
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  Speaker 2: Because he's with you. In fact, he said, peace I
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  Speaker 2: leave with you. Peace I give to you.
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  Speaker 1: Not like the world has. He says, don't grow cold. See,
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  Speaker 1: some people are going to get cold when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to the gospel. They're going to get focused on the
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  Speaker 1: wrong things and their love for God is going to
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  Speaker 1: be cold. He says, don't let your love for God
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  Speaker 1: become cold. You got to stay on fire for him.
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  Speaker 1: He talks about enduring.
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  Speaker 2: Don't quit. Keep holding on to the things you've been taught.
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  Speaker 1: And then he says, and this gospel will be preached
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  Speaker 1: throughout the whole world. So you know what that means?
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  Speaker 1: There's still a mission for you and me, even though
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  Speaker 1: the world might be ending. There's still a mission. We
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  Speaker 1: got to preach the gospel. We got to preach the gospel, not.
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  Speaker 2: Hide in the ground. Am I right?
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  Speaker 1: And the last thing he says in verses 42 through 44,
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  Speaker 1: he talks.
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  Speaker 2: About being ready.
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  Speaker 1: He says, so because you don't know the day, you
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  Speaker 1: don't know the hour, you better be ready. be ready
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  Speaker 1: for his return.
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  Speaker 2: And he takes the whole.
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  Speaker 1: Next chapter to share this different series of parables about
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  Speaker 1: what it looks like to be ready. Because when we
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  Speaker 1: say be ready, again, that could mean a lot of
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  Speaker 1: things to a lot of people. How do I get ready?
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  Speaker 1: He tells you how to get ready. And so this morning,
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  Speaker 1: here's what I want to talk about. Ready or not,
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  Speaker 1: I want you to look at Matthew chapter 25. If
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  Speaker 1: you've got your Bibles ready, I want you to turn
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  Speaker 1: to Matthew 25 and look at this story with me.
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  Speaker 1: If you've got your phone, you can look at it
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  Speaker 1: on your phone as long as you're not on Instagram.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: And in verse one, he says this, then the kingdom
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  Speaker 1: of heaven will be like 10 bridesmaids. It says in
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  Speaker 1: this translation, 10 bridesmaids. Another translation talks about virgins. That
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  Speaker 1: just means young, pure women.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: So 10 bridesmaids who took their lamps and they went
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  Speaker 1: to meet the bridegroom.
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  Speaker 2: There's a wedding happening. Five of them were foolish and
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  Speaker 2: five were wise.
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  Speaker 1: The five who were foolish didn't take enough oil for
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  Speaker 1: their lamps, but the other five were wise enough to
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  Speaker 1: take along extra oil. And when the bridegroom was delayed,
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  Speaker 1: they all became drowsy and they fell asleep. At midnight,
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  Speaker 1: they were aroused by the shout, look, the bridegroom is coming.
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  Speaker 1: Come out and meet him. All the bridesmaids got up.
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  Speaker 1: They prepared their lamps. Then the five foolish ones asked
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  Speaker 1: the others, give us some of your oil because our
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  Speaker 1: lamps are going out. But the others replied, we don't
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  Speaker 1: have enough for all of us. Go to a shop
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  Speaker 1: and buy some for yourselves. So they had to do
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  Speaker 1: that while they were gone to buy oil. The bridegroom came.
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  Speaker 1: Those who were ready, say ready. They went in to
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  Speaker 1: the marriage feast. And the door was locked. Verse 11,
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  Speaker 1: later when the other five returned, they stood outside calling, Lord, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: open the door for us. But he called back, believe me,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know you. So you too must keep watch
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  Speaker 1: for you don't know the day or the hour of
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  Speaker 1: my return. So let's talk about this story because, again,
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  Speaker 1: this could be a scary story.
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  Speaker 2: For some people.
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  Speaker 1: But the point isn't to be scared. The point is
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  Speaker 1: to be ready. So Jesus compares his return to a wedding.
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  Speaker 1: And a wedding is not a scary thing for most people.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe for some of the grooms. No, it's not a
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  Speaker 1: scary thing. When the bridegroom, it's a celebration. When the
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  Speaker 1: bridegroom arrived, it would have been a celebration. It would
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  Speaker 1: have been a party. It would have been, he was
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  Speaker 1: supposed to be met with joy, right? And that's how
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  Speaker 1: the return of Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: Is supposed to look. It's not supposed to look like,
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  Speaker 2: oh no, he's coming. I'm not ready. You're supposed to
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  Speaker 2: be ready.
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  Speaker 1: So Jesus talks about these 10 bridesmaids, these 10 young women,
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  Speaker 1: and they represent people who are expecting to be.
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  Speaker 2: Part of the celebration.
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  Speaker 1: I won't go so far as to say they're the church,
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  Speaker 1: but they look like the church. They act like the church.
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  Speaker 1: They show up in church. They sing the same church songs.
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  Speaker 1: They go to the same church groups. They go to
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  Speaker 1: all the church dinners and the potlucks, and they do
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  Speaker 1: all the things that church people do. They expected to
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  Speaker 1: be part of the celebration, right? They were all waiting
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  Speaker 1: for him to come. They all had their lamps. They
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  Speaker 1: all looked like they belonged. But there was a difference,
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  Speaker 1: wasn't there? There was a difference between the five that
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  Speaker 1: were ready and the five that were, he calls them, foolish.
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  Speaker 1: And if you were standing there that night and you
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  Speaker 1: looked at these ten people, they would have all looked
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  Speaker 1: the same. They were all dressed for a wedding. They
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  Speaker 1: all had their lamps. They all were expecting to go
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  Speaker 1: to the celebration. You wouldn't have noticed a difference, but
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  Speaker 1: there was a difference. And they didn't know how important.
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  Speaker 1: It's okay. See, they get so scared. But they didn't
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  Speaker 1: know how important the difference was right until Jesus arrived.
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  Speaker 2: See, you can be ready. You can look ready and
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  Speaker 2: not be ready. Church, hear me.
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  Speaker 1: You can look ready. Just because you come to church
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  Speaker 1: doesn't mean you're ready. Just because you watch online doesn't
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  Speaker 1: mean you're ready. Just because you do things church people
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  Speaker 1: do doesn't mean you're ready.
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  Speaker 2: See, it's a warning for us.
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  Speaker 1: Because you can know all the right things to say.
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  Speaker 1: You can know when to raise your hands during worship.
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  Speaker 1: You can serve on a team and not be ready
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  Speaker 1: see the only way you're ready is if you know
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  Speaker 1: him know him well see only god knows what's happening
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  Speaker 1: in your heart am i right now it says the
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  Speaker 1: groom was delayed and i want you to think about
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  Speaker 1: that for a minute the groom was delayed and in
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  Speaker 1: the story the groom is jesus and maybe if you
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  Speaker 1: were part of the early church and you heard this
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  Speaker 1: story you thought jesus was coming in your lifetime And
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  Speaker 1: he didn't. And the next generation thought he was coming
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  Speaker 1: in their lifetime.
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  Speaker 2: And he didn't.
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  Speaker 1: And here we are 2,000 years later, and we're still
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  Speaker 1: talking about him coming, but it seems like there's a delay.
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  Speaker 1: It seems like there's a delay. The groom is delayed.
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  Speaker 1: You know, when we had our first baby, she didn't
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  Speaker 1: want to come out. And the doctor said, here's the
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  Speaker 1: due date, and she didn't want to come out. And
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  Speaker 1: it felt like she was never going to come. And
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  Speaker 1: you know what happens when things take longer than you expect?
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  Speaker 1: You start to think like it's never going to happen.
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  Speaker 1: At least for me, as the father, it felt like
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  Speaker 1: it was never going to happen. The mother probably felt different.
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  Speaker 1: My wife was probably like, no, this is coming.
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  Speaker 2: This is coming soon.
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  Speaker 1: But I start to feel like it's never going to happen.
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  Speaker 1: And then one night, in the middle of the night,
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  Speaker 1: my wife wakes me up. Why is it always the
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  Speaker 1: middle of the night? It's time to go to the hospital.
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  Speaker 1: Because the baby is coming. See, the thing that you
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  Speaker 1: thought wasn't coming, it's suddenly here. Listen, it's been a
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  Speaker 1: long time, but his promise is still good. He's still coming.
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  Speaker 1: And I don't know if it'll be in my lifetime.
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  Speaker 1: I tend to believe it is. But even if it's not,
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  Speaker 1: his promise is still good. He's still coming soon. See,
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  Speaker 1: some people might believe he's coming, but they live like
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  Speaker 1: he's not. You know what I'm talking about? But one
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  Speaker 1: day there's going to be a trumpet sound and he's
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  Speaker 1: coming for the church. And the question isn't, how do
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  Speaker 1: you look? The question isn't like, what's your church attendance
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  Speaker 1: been like? The question is, are you ready? Are you
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  Speaker 1: ready for his return? I want you to look at
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  Speaker 1: what it says in verse seven. If you could put
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  Speaker 1: that up for me again. All the bridesmaids got up
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  Speaker 1: and they prepared their lamps and the five foolish ones
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  Speaker 1: asked the others, please give us some of your oil.
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  Speaker 1: Because our lamps are going out. But the others replied,
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  Speaker 1: we don't have enough for all of us. Go to
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  Speaker 1: a shop and buy some. And I want you to
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  Speaker 1: see what they tried to do. They wanted to borrow.
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  Speaker 1: They wanted to borrow something that they couldn't borrow. They
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  Speaker 1: didn't have what they needed, so they hoped they could borrow.
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  Speaker 2: Here's the point. Some things can't be borrowed.
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  Speaker 1: Now, there's times I can borrow some things from you.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes I just don't feel like I got the faith
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  Speaker 1: to pray, and you can come pray with me. You
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  Speaker 1: can encourage me in my walk with the Lord. I
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  Speaker 1: can borrow some of what you've got in that moment,
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  Speaker 1: but I can't borrow your relationship with Jesus. You know,
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  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, I've got to stand
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  Speaker 1: on my faith. When I stand before God, I can't
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  Speaker 1: borrow you and say, well, I know I wasn't ready,
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  Speaker 1: but I knew some people who were. I knew Belinda
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  Speaker 1: was ready. So Belinda, would you come up here and
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  Speaker 1: stand with me in front of Jesus? No, I can't
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  Speaker 1: do that. I've got to stand on my own faith
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  Speaker 1: and you've got to stand on your faith.
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  Speaker 2: See, we got to be ready.
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  Speaker 1: And when he comes, when I stand before him, I
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  Speaker 1: know what we're doing. We're standing there because of what
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  Speaker 1: he's done. I'm not trying to stand there and say,
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  Speaker 1: I've been good enough. I've done enough good things. No,
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  Speaker 1: but it's not about what I've done. It's about what
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  Speaker 1: Jesus has done for me. But do I know him?
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  Speaker 1: Do I know him? Have I put my faith in him?
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  Speaker 1: Because again, there's some people who've gone to church their
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  Speaker 1: whole life and they think that makes them right with God.
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  Speaker 1: The way you get right with God is you put
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  Speaker 1: your faith and your trust in him. See, if you
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  Speaker 1: don't have a Bible, you can borrow a Bible, but
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  Speaker 1: you can't borrow somebody's faith. You got to get your
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  Speaker 1: own faith. See, faith has to be personal. Romans 10 says,
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  Speaker 1: if you confess with your mouth, that jesus is lord
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  Speaker 1: and you believe in your heart that god raised him
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  Speaker 1: from the dead you'll be saved so you confess with
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  Speaker 1: your mouth but you have to believe in your heart
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  Speaker 1: your heart's got to do some believing and i wonder
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  Speaker 1: if there's been people in churches not in here but
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  Speaker 1: in churches who have said some words but nothing in
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  Speaker 1: the heart they said some words i believe in jesus
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  Speaker 1: but nothing in the heart and so they've just got
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  Speaker 1: some words and they think they're okay And they go
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  Speaker 1: live like they want to live. That's not being ready.
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  Speaker 1: You got to put your faith, your full faith in him. See,
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  Speaker 1: there are a lot of people who believe Jesus existed.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: They believe, maybe they believe Jesus died. Maybe they believe
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: he rose again. I want to tell you the devil
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: does too. I want to tell you every demon in
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: hell believes in Jesus, but they haven't surrendered their life
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: to him. They haven't given themselves. See, listen, We can't
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: just believe in him. We have to give him our lives.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: We have to surrender ourselves. See, we can have a
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: culture of Christianity because everybody around us is doing it.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: But is it real for us?
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: I know I'm preaching to the choir this morning, but
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: I want us to think about this in context of
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: like being ready for his return. Being ready means I
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: can't just show up in church. It's got to be
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: a real relationship in my life because I want you
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: to see this next verse. Verse 11, he says, later
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: when the other, put that up for me, later when
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: the other five returned, they stood outside calling, Lord, Lord,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: open the door for us. But he called back, believe me,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: I don't know you. So I want you to notice this.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: The five, five of them went into the celebration.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: They were ready.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: But the bridesmaids who went to get oil returned and
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: found out the door was shut. The door was, in fact,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: it doesn't just say shut, it was locked. And they
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: start calling, open the door for us. And again, listen
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: to those words, I don't know you. And it's an
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: interesting picture of the door being shut because in the
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: previous chapter, Jesus talked about another story.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Where a door was shut.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: In Matthew 24, if you flip back one chapter, look
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: at verse 37. He says this, when the Son of
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah's day.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: And then he tells you what it was like in
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Noah's day. Think about this. In those days before the flood,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: to the time Noah entered his boat. Think about what that.
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: Must have looked like if you were in that time
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: where Noah's building an ark, and I know we get
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: those the image of people just mocking him and all
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: that but people were just going about their lives they
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: were just going to their maybe their work going to
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: school doing their whatever they did back then they were
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: doing it he says going to weddings and parties and
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: all these different things as noah's walking into the boat they.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Don't know something's coming they don't know there's a flood
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: coming And when he got in the boat, it says
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: in verse 39, people didn't realize what was about to
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: happen until the flood came and swept them all away.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: That is how or that is the way it will
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: be when the Son of Man comes. So they were
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: living their lives, enjoying themselves until the time Noah entered
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: the ark. And what does it say in the Bible?
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: God's the one that actually closed the door. God closed
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: the door on himself. And it's symbolic of the fact
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: that there's a time where the door's open. There's a
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: time to get in. And when that door was closed,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: they couldn't get in. Even though they might have come
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: and knocked on the door. Hey, no one let us in.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: I can't, God closed it. You can't get in here.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: The time to get in was when the door was open. See,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: in your life, there's an open door. But there's coming
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: a moment... when the door is going to close. And
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: that's true for every one of us. Even if Jesus
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: doesn't come in our lifetime, there's an open door for
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: you while you're alive. And I've known people that have
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: been in church on Sunday and Sunday afternoon, they're dead.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: And I don't say that to scare us. I say
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: it as a reality that one day we're going to
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: all stand before God. And the time to get in
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: the door is when it's open. The time to get
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: in today, it says in the word of God today,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: is the day of salvation.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: Not tomorrow.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Not next week. I'll do it someday. Listen, someday is
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: not going to come. Today's the day. Today's the day.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: And Jesus said, he's the door. See, there's one way
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: to get to God, and it's through the door. The
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: only way I can come to God is through Jesus.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and life. Nobody
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: gets to the Father except through me. So if I
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: want to get to God, I got to go through
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: the door and the door is open today. See, there's
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: a time to give your life to Jesus, right? There's
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: a time to get your life right with Jesus. There's
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: a time to seek God and it's today. We're not
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: promised tomorrow. So I want you to understand something. Jesus
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: came the first time so we could be ready for
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: when he comes the second time. He came so we
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: could be ready, so we could have a way to
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: get in through the door. But again, I want you
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: to notice those words one more time.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: He said, I don't know you.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: And here's what the story's about, because the story's not
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: about lamps and weddings and all this different stuff. The
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: story's about, do you know him? The story's about, do
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: I know Jesus? Not just as the God of the
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: people in my church. Not just the God of my parents.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: Do I know him? Do I know him?
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: I want to look at this next part, verse 13.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Listen to what Jesus says. So you too must keep watch.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: For you don't know the day or the hour of
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: my return. So he's telling us keep watch. He's saying
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: be ready. So here's what I want to do for
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: the next few moments as we start to wrap this up.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: I want to tell you how to be ready. Right?
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: Have I sold you yet? You've got to be ready. Okay?
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: What does readiness look like? What does it look like
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: to be ready for the return of Jesus? It gives
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: you three things. This is kind of like a litmus
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: test for your spirit because he's in these stories, the
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: ten virgins and the talents and the sheep and the goats,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: all these things. He's kind of giving you a a
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: path for what does it look like to be ready
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: in my life. He talks about three things. He talks
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: about knowing him in the parable of the ten virgins.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: He talks about following him in the sheep and the goats.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: He talks about being faithful. Being faithful. We talked about
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: that a little bit recently. But I want you to
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: see this because readiness looks like knowing him.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: It's not about It's not about the good things you've done.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Some people think when I stand before God, he's going
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: to put my good on this side, my bad on
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: that side and put them on a scale and weigh them. No,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: he's not going to do that because your sins have
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: been covered. If you know Jesus, your sins have been covered.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: It's not about your, your good things outweighing your sins.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: It's about, do you know him? Do you know Jesus
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: for yourself? See, the Bible says all the righteousness, that's
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: all the good things that you could try to do
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: on your own before God, your good things are just
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: like filthy rags.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: And he uses kind of a, it's really more.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Of a graphic, descriptive word that he uses for these
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: filthy rags. I mean, just imagine the dirtiest things you
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: could imagine. That's what your good works are before God.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: It's filthy rags. Look what Jesus says in Matthew 7.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: Same idea.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: the kingdom of heaven. Only the one who does the
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: will say to me, Lord, didn't we, we did some
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: things in your name. We prophesied in your name. We
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: drove out demons in your name. We did miracles in
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: your name. Then I'll announce to them, I never knew you.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Depart from me, you lawbreakers. See, it's not about the
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: things you have done to earn your way into God.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: It's not about saying some words. It's about do you
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: know him? You can drive out demons and not know him.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: You can do miracles, he says, and not know him.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: But he's looking for people who know him. And I
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: want you to notice what he says. He doesn't say,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: I never saw you in church on Sundays.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: He doesn't say that, does he? I never heard you
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: singing in the choir. He doesn't say that. He says,
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: I never knew you. I never knew you. So you
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: can be around the things of God and not have
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: a relationship with God. Did you know that?
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: You can be around church and not have a relationship.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: So do you know Jesus or do you just know
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: about him? I want you to look at what it
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: says in Luke 9, verse 23. Because the second part
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: is about following him. So you have to know him,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: but you also have to follow him. He says that
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: he said to them all, if anyone wants to follow
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: daily and follow me. See, if we're going to follow him,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: it means I got to deny myself. That means I
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: got to tell myself no sometimes. Because sometimes I want
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: things I'm not supposed to have, right? You think about
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: that just in a natural way. You drive past the
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: donut shop. You're like the guy driving by the donut shop,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: and he prays, Lord, if you want me to go
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: in that donut shop, let there be an open parking spot.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: And he said, on the fifth time around the block,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: the parking spot was there. So God wanted me to
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: go into it. No, sometimes we want things we're not
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: supposed to have. And so we got to learn how
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: to tell ourselves no, deny ourselves, and then take up
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: our cross daily. See, following Jesus isn't something you do
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: one time in an altar.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: Thank God for altar times, right?
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Thank God for altar moments where you meet God and
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: you make that dedication or God touches you in some way.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: Thank God for that.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: But if that's the only time I met with God,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: that's the only time I committed myself, then I'm missing
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: the point. Because it's not about one moment, it's about
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: one life. Every day when I get up, I got
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: to do the same thing. I got to deny myself
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: and take up my cross. See, every day I get
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: to choose whether I'm going to follow Jesus or myself, right?
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Every day I get to decide, am I going to
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: obey his word or do what I want to do? See,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: it's an everyday life. It's an everyday thing. Every day
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: I choose whether I'm going to surrender my plans to
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: him or do what I want. So being ready, being
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: ready is not just about a decision that you made
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: years ago, right? I came to church, I gave my
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: life to Jesus, but now I've been living for myself.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: No, you're not ready. You're not ready.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Ready means I'm following him today. I'm still following him today. Listen,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: we need to hear this this morning. The last one,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: being ready means being faithful. And I'm gonna close with this.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Being ready means being faithful. And I recently shared about
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: the parable of the talent. And in that parable, the
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: master was looking for something.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: Do you remember?
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: He was looking for faithfulness. What did faithfulness look like?
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: It looked like doing something with what you were given.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: God's looking for faithfulness. Faithfulness means using what you were
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: entrusted with.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: Faithfulness means I keep serving even when it's hard.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: Faithfulness means I keep loving even when I don't want to. to.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: Even when I'm irritated and cranky.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: And my kids have gotten on my nerves again and
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: this is, now this thing's happening, that thing's happening, but
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: I'm still going.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: To love because that's what God's called me to do.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: That's faithfulness. It means I keep giving even when it hurts.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: I give.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: It means I keep sharing the gospel. It means I
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: keep doing what God's called me to do. I'm doing
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: what he's entrusted me with because he's returning soon. See,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: it doesn't mean I get to dig a hole in
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: the ground and wait. Are you getting that? Being ready
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: doesn't mean I dig a hole in the ground. In fact,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: that's the exact opposite of what he says in that
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: parable of the talent.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: He said that.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Man who didn't use his resources, who didn't use what
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: I'd given him, he just dug a hole in the
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: ground and he hid it. And that's how some church
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: people have acted with the return of the Lord.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: I remember Y2K.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: Anybody remember Y2K? And there were some church people that
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: went absolutely crazy. I mean, I knew a guy, he
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: dug a hole in the ground. He dug himself a
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: bunker in his house for Y2K. Listen, we're not called
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: to dig holes in the ground. We're called to be faithful.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: We're called to use what we've been given We're called
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: to be ready. And being ready looks like being faithful.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Come on, it looks like following Him and it looks
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: like knowing Him. I want you to do this with me.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: I want you to stand up as we close this morning.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: And I want to pray for you. I want you,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: if you would, bow your heads for a moment. See,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: the question for what we're talking about this morning... The
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: question is not whether we've got all the details figured
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: out about the end times. I know some of you
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: came in and you were hoping I would just go
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: into all the details about the end times. But listen,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: it's not about if we've got it all figured out.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: It's not about if we've got all the prophecies figured out.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Or we know all the signs. The question is, are
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: you ready? Because one day there's going to be a
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: trumpet that's going to sound. And one day Jesus is
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: coming down and we're going to see him. And on
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: that day, the things that seem so important in my
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: life right now, they're not going to matter as much
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: as we thought they did. The things that I've been
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: concerning myself with every day, it's not going to matter
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: so much. What's going to matter is do I know him?
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: Am I ready?
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: In that story, all 10 women were expecting the bridegroom.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: They thought they would be part of the celebration of
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: but only five were ready.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: And here's what I believe.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: I believe Jesus told us that story because he wanted
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: us to understand something. And what he wanted us to
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: get is you don't get ready when he comes, you
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: get ready now. And I don't know when he's coming,
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: but I know he's coming soon. And I want to
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: live my life ready for his return. So I want
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: to ask you, Two questions. I want to start with this.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: First of all, maybe there's someone in here this morning.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: You say, I don't know if I'm ready. I've been
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: away from God. Maybe you've never given your life to
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: the Lord. And you say, I know I'm not ready
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: because I don't know him. Or maybe you gave your
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: life to the Lord years ago, but you say, I've
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: not been living for him.
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: I've been living for myself. And today I need to
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: get ready.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: If you're here and you need to make that declaration
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: before God this morning. I just want you to raise
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: your hand and I'm going to pray for you right
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: where you're standing.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: Say, I need to get my life ready. I need
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: to give my life to Jesus. I need to let
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: him take control of my life. Thank you, Lord. I
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: see a hand, yeah.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: Say, I need to get my life ready for Jesus' return.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: I want to pray for you right where you're at
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: this morning. You just want to pray with me. Say, Jesus,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: forgive me for my sins. I give you my life today.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: Come and be Lord of my life. Save me and
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: make me a new person.
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Lord. I want to be ready. In the
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: name of Jesus, amen.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: For the rest of you this morning, I want to
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: do this for all of us in this room, everybody
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: watching in Liberty this morning. I want you to make
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: a commitment today. Because listen, this message isn't just for
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: people who are away from God, it's for every one
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: of us.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: Jesus told his disciples, you need to watch and be ready.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: And I don't want to become so distracted with the
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: things of the world that I forget what matters.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: I don't want my love for God to grow cold.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: I don't want to spend my life worrying about things
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: that don't really matter.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: I want to be ready. I want to know Him more.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: I want to follow Him. And I want to be
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: found faithful.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Here's what I'd like us to do this morning just
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: as we close as a way of dedication. I want
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: us just to lift a hand to the Lord. And
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: as we pray, just an act of surrender. What we're
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: saying is, Lord, I want to be ready for your return.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: If you need to change things in my life, change them.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: I'm willing. Whatever you've called me to do, I want
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: to be faithful.
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: This morning as we pray, just in your own way,
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: just begin to speak to the Lord. Maybe there's something
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: the Lord's been speaking to you about this morning. Again,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: I know this is like a message for the choir.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: Same church, we have to be ready. But listen, there's
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: things in our lives that we've let just stand before
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: us in knowing him. I can be guilty of it myself,
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: just schedules and things. We get so busy, we don't
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: know him. And this morning, I just want you as
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  Speaker 1: an act of dedication to say, Lord, I want to
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  Speaker 1: be ready. Lord, I want to know you more. Lord,
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  Speaker 1: I want to be following you more closely. Lord, I
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  Speaker 1: want to be faithful. So Lord, in the name of Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: we thank you for each person this morning. Lord, I
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  Speaker 1: pray that you would speak to each heart. Lord, I
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  Speaker 1: pray that you would draw each person just close to you, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: that we would know you more. Lord, I thank you
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  Speaker 1: for speaking to us today. Lord, I thank you for
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  Speaker 1: the privilege it is to know you. Thanks so much
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  Speaker 1: for listening to today's message from Reach Church. If this
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  Speaker 1: encouraged you, we'd love for you to share this podcast
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: and leave a review. It helps more people hear the
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: good news. For more information about Reach Church, our ministries,
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  Speaker 1: or how to get involved, visit us at reachchurch.world. We
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  Speaker 1: love you, we're praying for you, and we'll see you
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  Speaker 1: next time right here on the Reach Church Podcast.