Latest / Citipointe Church Caboolture / As Lighting Comes | Ps Graeme Politanski
Transcript
- 0:02Hey, welcome to the City Point Church podcast.
- 0:04Thanks for joining us. Every day is an opportunity to
- 0:07take hold of. So we hope this message inspires
- 0:10you and builds your faith that it helps you have more of a God
- 0:13perspective for your day. Enjoy you're.
- 0:17Ready to receive something and lean in?
- 0:19Would you confess out loud tonight?
- 0:21My heart is open. My ears are alert to grow and
- 0:27change and never be the same. Full stop.
- 0:33Please be seated As lightning comes.
- 0:41Do we know what verse that's from As lightning comes?
- 0:46Matthew 24 verse 27, it says for as the lightning comes from the
- 0:53east and flashes to the West, that's pretty quick.
- 0:58So also will the coming of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ be.
- 1:04You know what that's telling you and I it's going to happen real
- 1:08fast and it's going to be sudden.
- 1:12Who's ever been outside and you've heard a clap of lightning
- 1:17just happen and sometimes you even look up and you can't even
- 1:21see the clouds, but sometimes you can't see the clouds.
- 1:25So what is it? Is it going to rain?
- 1:27Is it not going to rain? Is it going to come today or is
- 1:30it going to come tomorrow? Well, the church has always
- 1:33believed that he's coming right now.
- 1:36And I, I think, and I know in my life, I have to live my life
- 1:42with an urgency that Jesus is going to come back right now.
- 1:48And when we lose that urgency, we lose effectiveness.
- 1:53When the church starts forgetting about the return of
- 1:58Jesus and he's just all concentrated on the blessings of
- 2:02God, we lose an urgency and we lose effectiveness.
- 2:07He is a God blessing. He is someone who's interested
- 2:11in your every moment and everything and every thought and
- 2:15every situation. But the reality is, is we have a
- 2:18mission you and I have been called to.
- 2:22When you give your life to Jesus, you enter into a realm of
- 2:25mission. You are a missionary.
- 2:27We have a purpose. We have a mandate on our lives.
- 2:31And it's to see heaven come to earth and earth go to heaven,
- 2:35whatever that looks like. Yeah, we can get into a theology
- 2:39class, but we're not doing that here tonight.
- 2:43The day or the hour of Jesus coming back for his people, we
- 2:47do not know. But the season in which he comes
- 2:52back, we do know. And Church, lean in.
- 2:58Just lean forward for a bit. Can we all lean forward for a
- 3:00bit? Listen to this.
- 3:03We're in the season, We're in the season.
- 3:08So there's no waiting. There's no tomorrow's.
- 3:12There's no I'll sort it out tomorrow or just one more time
- 3:16and I'll deal with it tomorrow. This is the time you wanted me
- 3:20to prove it to you tonight from the word of God.
- 3:23I'll do that anyway, whether you wanted me to or not.
- 3:25It's just part of my message. It's it's what I got.
- 3:28And so the season in which he comes back, we do not know, but
- 3:32we are in the season as lightning comes and goes.
- 3:37We never know it's coming, but the signs are there.
- 3:42We have to be careful. Listen, that we do not explain
- 3:47away the current science. We need to make sure that we are
- 3:52truly seeing what's happening in the world around us.
- 3:57Listen, you don't have to understand.
- 4:00You just have to know what's happening.
- 4:02You don't have to have the correct doctrine.
- 4:04He that's not the the way we get into heaven.
- 4:07The correct theology is not your passport into heaven, but
- 4:12knowing He is coming and being prepared for His coming is how
- 4:17you'll find yourself going to heaven.
- 4:20And dare I say I'm preaching to the church right now.
- 4:24Are you ready, Church? Now that's a question for the
- 4:29church. We're going to see it in a
- 4:30moment because there is the church that isn't ready as well.
- 4:36And so I wonder who you are tonight.
- 4:38We're ready. You're ready.
- 4:40We got one down here. Do I have another couple of 100
- 4:43in the room? I don't want to pass through an
- 4:48unready church. I need people ready that are
- 4:51with me. We're going somewhere, we're
- 4:54doing something, we're reaching people because Jesus might come
- 4:59back before you put your head on your pillow tonight, a man, you
- 5:03might think, well, we don't know.
- 5:06But this we are in the science, we are in the season, we are
- 5:12seeing it. It's all around us.
- 5:15And like lightning flashes, the word of God says will be the
- 5:19return of Jesus. Now the return, we don't know
- 5:23really what that looks like. You know, Pastor John will have
- 5:25a better idea, but it will be wrong anyway, right?
- 5:29And he'll tell you that it's all of and everything.
- 5:32That's our answer. It's the theologians answer,
- 5:36we're all right and we're all wrong at the same time, but
- 5:38let's just wait and see what happens.
- 5:41Just make sure you're ready because if you're waiting but
- 5:45you're not ready, we're going to see in the Scriptures you will
- 5:49miss out coming to church. That's not how you get to
- 5:54heaven, saying I love you and I believe in you.
- 5:59Jesus. Belief doesn't get you into
- 6:01heaven. Faith does, but faith without
- 6:06works is dead also. So that means following Jesus is
- 6:11how you get into heaven because the devil has faith.
- 6:15But we're not going to. He's not going to be my next
- 6:17door neighbor. No way, No way.
- 6:20He's got a mansion prepared for us in heaven.
- 6:22Amen. We know that, right?
- 6:24And the devil's not your next door neighbor, but he, he knows
- 6:28God is real, but he wasn't ready.
- 6:32He was deceived. So as lightning comes, we never
- 6:37know, but the signs are here. So the question is, is are you
- 6:42seeing the signs? I recommend that everyone
- 6:46listening to this here tonight opens up the book of Matthew
- 6:51this week and just reads chapter 24 and 25 and start to read that
- 6:56and just go, OK, God, speak to me here because I am ready.
- 7:01Nothing's going to stop me from being ready.
- 7:04There are discussions around how it is that Jesus is going to
- 7:10return. Will followers of Jesus go
- 7:13through the tribulation or not? Will we simply go up in the sky
- 7:19like the scriptures say that two are in the field and one just
- 7:22disappears? I don't know who that is.
- 7:25I would it's it's not me or my wife.
- 7:27So we're both going so, but here's the greater issue.
- 7:34Here's the better question for for us here tonight.
- 7:38It's not pre Trib, mid Trib, post Trib.
- 7:41Just forget it. It's not it's not, you know, I'm
- 7:44saying this way or just forget it.
- 7:46Just forget it all for a moment. Here's the question.
- 7:50Are you ready? Because you can add the theology
- 7:54and you're going to miss it. It's not about all of that that
- 7:58is in the word of God to keep us straight and to keep us fearful
- 8:04of our Lord and Savior. It's it's to constantly remind
- 8:08us things are going to happen and they're going to be crazy.
- 8:12And there's many signs in the word that will give us a guide
- 8:15of what the seasons we're in and and we are in the season.
- 8:20Preachers all around the world right now are declaring it.
- 8:23We are in the season. But is the season a minute long
- 8:27or a minute longer, I should say, or is the season a year or
- 8:31ten years or our lifetime? I don't know.
- 8:34None of us do. But we're in the season and
- 8:37that's all we get from the word of God.
- 8:40So the better question tonight is, Are you ready?
- 8:42Matthew 25 one 213. Can I read a bit of the Bible?
- 8:47Once you open your scriptures if you got your Bible with us or
- 8:49your phone, New King James Version to stay up.
- 8:53If you don't just look at the screen.
- 8:55Matthew 25 verses 1 to 13. Then the Kingdom of heaven shall
- 9:01be likening to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to
- 9:07meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise and
- 9:12five were foolish. All were Christians.
- 9:17Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with
- 9:22them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
- 9:28Verse 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, he's been delayed
- 9:332000 years so far. While the bridegroom was
- 9:39delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
- 9:44Listen, the whole church slumbered and slept.
- 9:55Verse 6. And at midnight a cry was heard.
- 9:59Behold, the bridegroom is coming, go out and meet him.
- 10:06Then all those versions arose, and trim their lamps.
- 10:10And the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil,
- 10:14for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying,
- 10:20No, lest there should not be enough for us, and you, but go
- 10:26rather to those who are selling, and buy for yourself.
- 10:30Verse 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, Jesus
- 10:36came, and those who were ready went in with him and to the
- 10:42wedding, and the door was shut. Now we've heard this scripture
- 10:46coming up. Afterwards the other virgins
- 10:50came also, saying, Lord, Lord open to us.
- 10:57And he answered and said, assuredly, I say to you, I do
- 11:02not know you. Watch therefore, for you know
- 11:10neither the day nor the hour in which Jesus is coming that wakes
- 11:21us up in the morning. Massive that Scripture.
- 11:30Surely I say to you, I do not know you.
- 11:33I pondered on that and I thought, God, how could you say
- 11:38that? The whole church worships all 10
- 11:45virgins. They were there for him.
- 11:53See, what it's not saying is he doesn't know you by name.
- 11:58He doesn't. He's not saying I don't know who
- 12:00you are, but he is saying the door has been shut because you
- 12:08weren't prepared for me, because you didn't really know me.
- 12:14You knew one day I'd come. You were there in the ready for
- 12:17the moment. You came to church every single
- 12:20Sunday, but you weren't really ready.
- 12:27You didn't have oil in your lamp.
- 12:29If you knew me, church, This is why I'm preaching this tonight.
- 12:35If you knew me knew, you would have known that when I come, I
- 12:43come and that's it. See, when he comes, the moment
- 12:51is and then the moment isn't. Does that make sense?
- 12:57If someone rocks up to your house, there's only one moment
- 13:01in in which they rock up to your house.
- 13:04If someone knocks on your door, there's only one moment in which
- 13:08the knock happens. And so God is saying to us,
- 13:14while you're here on earth, there is a mission.
- 13:17Jesus has given us a mission to preach to the world, to let the
- 13:22world know of their Saviour that loves them because he's
- 13:25returning one day. We live in mission, but we are
- 13:29never not ready. We live with an urgency inside
- 13:35of us because as lightning comes just as fast as it comes, it
- 13:42also goes as the door shuts. The moment the lock is in, the
- 13:48lock is in. There's no kind of shut, there's
- 13:51no half shuts. Does this make sense?
- 13:54But the world we live in is so vague.
- 13:59The well, well, your truth is truth.
- 14:01It's what's your thinking is fine if it's fine with you.
- 14:05Well, it's it's only a sinful way of living if it's hurting
- 14:10people and it's all this vague, it's all of this, you know,
- 14:15lukewarm stuff. But my scriptures say lukewarm
- 14:19doesn't cut it. The scripture says he'll
- 14:23actually spew you out of his mouth.
- 14:25In other words, the door will be shut on a lukewarm person.
- 14:29I need someone with some oil in them.
- 14:31I need someone with Holy Spirit in them.
- 14:34You know what Holy Spirit does? Holy Spirit brings urgent fire
- 14:38inside of us. That's why we always relate Holy
- 14:42Spirit to fire. That's a biblical theological
- 14:44concept, but the reason why is because when we have the Holy
- 14:48Spirit, what it means is it's evidence through an urgent
- 14:53living, a urgent lifestyle. And so the world can tell if
- 14:58you've got the Spirit of God in them because you live with
- 15:01certainty and you live with urgency.
- 15:05That's a living Christian. And so we have this.
- 15:10And so I'm calling us tonight and I'm saying as the, as the,
- 15:14the fire started to get low, is the oil running out?
- 15:19Do we need a top up Church of Holy Spirit relationship?
- 15:23Do we need a moment in our lives again church where we, we, we
- 15:27don't just come to God, but we surrender before God.
- 15:31Do we need a moment where we don't just come to church, but
- 15:34when we do, we we open up our lives and we say, here I am God,
- 15:39my life is yours. We live in life focused on our
- 15:43circumstance or our lack past the Surya, our lack, when he's a
- 15:47God of abundance and victory and more and overflow.
- 15:51See, when we live in the Holy Spirit, you know, the oil flows
- 15:55out of us. In other words, the Spirit of
- 15:58God flows out of us. In other words, the fire in US
- 16:02is contagious and it jumps to the next person.
- 16:05See, a Bush fire is only a Bush fire because a spark jumped from
- 16:09one place to another. And this is the Church of Life,
- 16:13you know, before me, I'm seeing hundreds of people.
- 16:16And the reality is there's hundreds of sparks, but we can't
- 16:20let a spark get water on it. We have to get the spark and
- 16:24say, Holy Spirit, breathe upon me and fire me up so I can spark
- 16:29someone else's life. And then we make a commitment to
- 16:33that and we say, Holy Spirit, if I'm still living tomorrow
- 16:36morning, tomorrow I am going to bring the spark, the fire that's
- 16:40in me and I'm going to breathe it into someone else's life.
- 16:44I'm going to pray for someone. I'm going to see a miracle for
- 16:47someone. I'm going to stand with someone.
- 16:50I'm going to encourage someone, and I'm going to shed the love
- 16:54of Jesus Christ to someone. We've got church.
- 16:57If God doesn't come back tonight, you wake up with a
- 17:00mission tomorrow. And if He doesn't come back
- 17:02tomorrow, which He should by the way, but if he doesn't come back
- 17:06tomorrow, you wake up the next day with a mission upon you.
- 17:11Amen. You receive that tonight.
- 17:14Firstly, I've got 2 sets of three and we got time.
- 17:20Oh man, we got lots of time. I'm really going to go tonight.
- 17:22This is good. I always run out of time.
- 17:26Firstly, the virgins represent followers of Jesus Christ.
- 17:33The 10 virgins generally represent those who profess to
- 17:38be followers of Christ, the professing church waiting for
- 17:47the second coming of Jesus. And then, while all 10 appeared
- 17:53outwardly similar, the parable distinguishes between those who
- 17:59are truly prepared, the wise, and those who are not truly
- 18:04prepared, the foolish. Not all churchgoers are the
- 18:09same. Some live really following
- 18:17Jesus, pursuing him. Others live believing but not
- 18:22following. Also in this passage the
- 18:29bridegroom is Jesus Christ. Secondly, verse 5 it says but
- 18:39while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and
- 18:42slept. Yes, we have all been waiting
- 18:46for Jesus for a really long time, generations.
- 18:50But we can't afford to experience spiritual fatigue or
- 18:56spiritual complacency, falling into the state of slumber while
- 19:02waiting. The slumber emphasizes that even
- 19:07the faithful can lose focus. We must church.
- 19:17We must remain focused. We must stay on the mission of
- 19:23others. That's the mission others.
- 19:28We must stay on the mission of continually pursuing Jesus with
- 19:34our lives. Knowing that you are a child of
- 19:39God isn't enough. We have to pursue him fiercely.
- 19:47Pursue him fiercely. Pray.
- 19:52Get up every day and look at your prayer routine every day.
- 19:55Just look at it. Can I extend it by one minute
- 19:57today? You know, all yesterday was I
- 20:02half sleeping while I was praying.
- 20:04Just look at it. Because we fiercely need to be
- 20:06pursuing the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
- 20:11Not complacency, but rather curiosity.
- 20:18Not complacency, but rather I wonder if I pray for this person
- 20:23if they'll get healed today. Not complacency.
- 20:30Oh, is there a leader around? Could they?
- 20:33Could they run this group? No, I wonder what would happen
- 20:38through my life if I started to Curiosity.
- 20:45Not well, I grew up like this, so it's just the way we are, but
- 20:52rather curiosity. I wonder if these scriptures
- 20:58really do mean that I should have too much.
- 21:05I wonder if he really was serious about it.
- 21:09You know? I pressed down, shaken together
- 21:11and running over. I wonder if that's legit
- 21:16curiosity. OK, God, I'm going to give out
- 21:21of my lack. I'm going to see if you will
- 21:24turn my lack into more because he says we can test him in this.
- 21:30Have you ever tested God in that one?
- 21:32In the financial side? Because I have in a returned,
- 21:38fulfilled listen, the church has never been called to not be able
- 21:49to meet the needs of society. Never.
- 21:55That is not biblical. That means one thing.
- 22:02The church has to have so much blessing that we can't contain
- 22:08it. I just set a scripture.
- 22:12It means that your world needs to get to a point where you have
- 22:18so much blessing. It's embarrassing to the old
- 22:23you. I've been there, I've been
- 22:26there. I remember through COVID, I said
- 22:30to Mel. I actually said to God,
- 22:32actually, but I told Mel. Well, I said to God, and I
- 22:34shouldn't have. I should have told Mel first
- 22:37because she would have stopped me telling that to God.
- 22:40But I told God to stop because I was getting embarrassed.
- 22:46See, that's me falling back into the old man.
- 22:50And I caught myself about a year ago saying, hey, God, you can
- 22:54take off the pause because I want to be ridiculously blessed.
- 23:00I want so much money. It's ridiculous because it's
- 23:06only when I'm in that situation that I can be the answer to that
- 23:11situation. I don't want the money for me.
- 23:15You know what, we just live on one car at the moment, one car
- 23:18and a house and you know, the, the comforts of life.
- 23:22It's good to have air conditioning.
- 23:23That's, that's all I really want.
- 23:25Like at the depths of who I am, you know, my, my dream for my
- 23:30dream car. I have a cap on the financial
- 23:33amount I'm prepared to spend. Now I'm talking about the dream,
- 23:36right? We all got dreams, right?
- 23:38Because at the end of the day, more than that, I could change
- 23:41someone's life forever, you know what I mean?
- 23:45Because we got a mission, but the mission doesn't mean we have
- 23:48to live in poverty. Because then the church is in a
- 23:52weak state and it can't be an answer to the world around it.
- 23:56Who wants to be an answer to your next door neighbor?
- 23:59Who wants to be an answer for your own children?
- 24:02Who wants to be an answer to the community?
- 24:05Like, why do we have every community program struggling for
- 24:09finance when the church, there's churches all around Caboolture,
- 24:13there's a ridiculous amount of churches and we want more of
- 24:16them. But the reality is when the
- 24:19church steps into understanding what it's meant to be walking
- 24:22in, then we walk into an overflow.
- 24:25This is the whole reason why the church is no longer called upon
- 24:30by government. Did you know this?
- 24:32I've thought about this, God, why has government left the
- 24:35churches? What?
- 24:37There was a time in history where the government went to the
- 24:40church leaders for advice on legislation, but that is no
- 24:45longer. In fact, the western world's
- 24:48can't even call ourselves Christian nations, but it's
- 24:52because we have no overflow anymore.
- 24:55We forgot who we are. But this is a call this year
- 24:59through faith of hope to say to you and to say to me, we can't
- 25:04be satisfied with not enough because we have a world that we
- 25:10must reach. Why?
- 25:13Because Jesus might come back tomorrow and we've got to shed a
- 25:17light. When darkness comes, the light
- 25:20gets brighter. So don't worry about all the
- 25:23stuff happening in the world. Worry about Are you ready?
- 25:27Worry about that. And then worry about is your
- 25:30life influencing someone else's life.
- 25:33When the world gets darker, God just gets more pure in us.
- 25:37We, we make some serious decisions.
- 25:39We get ourselves into alignment with His church, with his
- 25:43policies in the Word of God, with His standard of living and
- 25:48everything. Like, did you know there's more
- 25:50Scripture? I'm going to preach this.
- 25:52This is not my preach, but I'll just give you a teaser.
- 25:54There is more scriptures about money than there is about faith.
- 25:59Did you know that yet? We're happy to talk faith every
- 26:03single time we get together, and we shy away from talking about
- 26:07money. Do you know why money is the
- 26:10biggest subject in the word of God?
- 26:12Because money is the biggest God that is going to take the church
- 26:16out if the church doesn't get itself into alignment.
- 26:21Money is the God of this world. Take money away and you and I
- 26:26can't get this week to function. Take money away.
- 26:30Our kids don't go to school this week.
- 26:31You'll get phone calls by the end of the week.
- 26:33You'll get a couple of months before you get, you know, tax
- 26:37things and and rates and you know, electricity is not paid.
- 26:41The world needs money. Money is the biggest commodity,
- 26:45commodity tree, whatever that word is.
- 26:48I need my wife up here in in on planet earth.
- 26:53But God called you and I to have dominion over the earth.
- 27:00Money. We should never be a slave to
- 27:02it. It should be our slave.
- 27:04And we use it for the goodness of God.
- 27:07It should be our slave. We should have all the money in
- 27:09the world. And I'm not talking about, oh,
- 27:12yeah, the church. I'm talking about the church.
- 27:16The church. Amen.
- 27:18And if we can let this sink into us this year, I reckon we'll get
- 27:24to Christmas time and you'll be emailing me.
- 27:27Pastor Gray. I'm not sure what to do.
- 27:30I bought a car, we got updated the house you like, send my kids
- 27:34to a Christian School. Now we've done all this and I
- 27:37still have too much. I heard I'm getting the check
- 27:41coming in in a couple of months time.
- 27:44You know, it's not lottery stuff, we don't do that, but the
- 27:49blessing of God, it's too much for me to handle.
- 27:53Pastor Grey, I'm submitting to you and I'll go Sweets.
- 27:58There's a mission that Pastor Mel and I have been thinking
- 28:01about. We can go over to Vanuatu now
- 28:04with force and with power and help Jay and Lucy and over
- 28:07there, you know, we can do these things with she Rescue Home.
- 28:12We can start new churches. Instead of closing down Sunday
- 28:16services. We'll be open in an abundance.
- 28:19This is the reality. See, God has no full stop to his
- 28:23possibility, but we put full stops to his possibilities.
- 28:28And the full stop is only ever a lack of expansion of our own
- 28:33minds. But we don't live from our
- 28:35minds. We live from our spirit man and
- 28:38the faith that God places in US. Is this OK?
- 28:42And I'm going to get back to my message because I'm preaching
- 28:44another one right now, but I'm a bit excited.
- 28:48I had a bit of time just to go a little bit that way.
- 28:51So certainly people in the church will miss out, not
- 28:59because God's nasty, not because God's nasty, but simply because
- 29:10they're not ready, they're not prepared.
- 29:28Listen, if you don't have fire in your life, you're lacking
- 29:36Holy Spirit in your life. If you don't have fire in your
- 29:46life, it's a sign. It's a I'm not prepared sign
- 29:59because the lamps needed oil. The sign, this passage of
- 30:08scripture is telling us where the five virgins weren't
- 30:13prepared. It was they weren't prepared
- 30:17because of the lack of oil. And so if you're here tonight
- 30:26and you're going past the grey, you're a bit crazy on the
- 30:29platform. But I, I want that sort of
- 30:32passion. You don't, you don't have to
- 30:36show it the same way off the platform.
- 30:39I'm not like this, just like this because of the Holy Spirit.
- 30:43It's the, it's my gifting and I'm just operating in that.
- 30:47But the reality is, is the fire is still burning.
- 30:53You know, I often say if if you come to me for a conversation,
- 30:56you're going to get Scripture back because I don't play around
- 31:00with my life. I only get it once.
- 31:04So I figure I should just use it as good as I can, right?
- 31:08And so the passion, the fire is a sign of Holy Spirit.
- 31:20It's a sign of oil and it's a sign of readiness, which means
- 31:27the opposite to be true. Does this make sense?
- 31:33And so just maybe I'm calling some of us here tonight back to
- 31:43Holy Spirit encounter. I was just working out how to
- 31:51word that the best I could. It's a call back to Holy Spirit.
- 31:58I know that I needed you to place my faith in Jesus for
- 32:02salvation. I know that.
- 32:05I know that you have brought revelation to me, so you're
- 32:10there with me. But Holy Spirit knowing doesn't
- 32:18get me to heaven. I've got to be prepared with an
- 32:25oil. Listen, biblical here, oil that
- 32:30overflows. There's a reason why you're a
- 32:37vessel. And the oil gets poured into a
- 32:42new vessel, a new believer, someone who gives their life to
- 32:46Jesus. But the whole idea in the Word
- 32:51of God is your feeling is for the result of overflow.
- 33:02And if it wasn't at salvation, you would go to heaven.
- 33:07But the reason why the Holy Spirit in you must bring
- 33:12overflow out of you is because God uses us to reach the World,
- 33:22and you can't reach the World in and of your own doing, your own
- 33:28strength, your own doctrine. It must always and only ever be
- 33:34the strength of God, the overflowing empowering of the
- 33:38Holy Spirit and Spirit led which is the Word of God, His
- 33:44doctrine. Does this make sense?
- 33:46And sometimes because I grew up in a church, you know, soca
- 33:50moments and you know which you just walk in on Sundays and the
- 33:53music starts and just lay on the ground, you know, and it was the
- 33:58soca moments. But the reality is, is when you
- 34:02get up off the floor, is the Holy Spirit oozing out?
- 34:06Is the oil running out? Come on, get a sewing machine.
- 34:10And if the needle starts laboring, you need to get some
- 34:14oil and put it on there. And when the the needle starts
- 34:17to when your life starts to work properly, then what happens is
- 34:21you sew when you stitch into the Kingdom of God and you touch
- 34:25people's lives. Does this make sense?
- 34:28Church. We are a passionate church.
- 34:32We are a spirit filled church. We are a lively.
- 34:35We're just the best church ever. We are.
- 34:38This is amazing, the experience that we all have on Sundays and
- 34:43all that. It's all amazing, but we need to
- 34:46walk out of the buildings wet and dripping with the presence
- 34:50of God and oil on our lives. As we walk down the streets,
- 34:55there should be a trail of the anointing and the Holy Spirit.
- 34:59And if you think that's crazy, just read the New Testament
- 35:03where Peter just walked in the anointing, oil flowed out of his
- 35:07life, and miracles happen. Come on.
- 35:09It's not in the Word of God that story because the church isn't
- 35:13to go back to that. It's in there to remind us that
- 35:18when we walk in our everyday life, even in the natural realm,
- 35:23like with Peter, that the oil of the Holy Spirit is flowing out
- 35:27of us. But you don't get that without
- 35:30pursuing God with all your heart, full stop.
- 35:34And so that's the call here tonight.
- 35:39I've got another three points coming up, so I feel like I've
- 35:41got Luke 1240. You also must be ready for the
- 35:49Son of Man is coming out of now. You don't know Hebrews 11/7 by
- 35:53faith. Noah man I want I nearly
- 35:56preached just on Noah tonight, being warned by God concerning
- 36:01events yet to come, and unseen ever in reverent fear
- 36:07constructed an ark for the saving of his household.
- 36:12By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the
- 36:17righteousness that comes by faith.
- 36:21No one in history knew that God could make the whole world
- 36:25float. Never done before.
- 36:30And as I was thinking on those words, I felt like God said to
- 36:36me, Gray, you have no idea what I'm going to do.
- 36:42Listen, because it's never been done before.
- 36:47So I actually can't even think about it.
- 36:51I have sees a creative God. He can do things that have never
- 36:56been done before just blow our minds right And when I was
- 37:00thinking about this in the end times, I'm just like I just felt
- 37:05like him to say in Gray. No one has ever seen water come
- 37:10out of the earth like that and rain come down.
- 37:16Imagine so He's this weirdo guy building an ark, the biggest
- 37:21boat ever built in history, and all the wicked people are
- 37:27watching, seeing God's providing for him ideas they've never seen
- 37:37before. How to make it waterproof.
- 37:40Never, never done before. God's downloading all these
- 37:44ideas to Noah, and people are just looking on.
- 37:49Wasn't anyone curious? Well, the Bible tells us no,
- 37:54they were all rebellious. You know what that means?
- 37:58They were all swept up with just what's happening in the world.
- 38:04The church can be like this, too.
- 38:07We get all swept up on all the things we see on YouTube and
- 38:11Facebook, all these, you know, prophets coming out of
- 38:15everywhere. And I love it all.
- 38:19But the real question is, Are you ready?
- 38:24That's the real question as lightning comes.
- 38:28And here's three points for consideration.
- 38:30And then I'll finish #1 comfort and convenience over
- 38:37watchfulness. Comfort and convenience over
- 38:42watchfulness. Life is built around the ease,
- 38:46technology, fast access, and minimum minimizing discomfort.
- 38:51While those things aren't wrong, they can dull our spiritual
- 38:56alertness. And more than they can they do.
- 39:01The wise virgins lived with an awareness that the bridegroom
- 39:06could come at any time. You know what they weren't
- 39:10interested in? The new LED lamps.
- 39:23I got one thumbs up. That's good.
- 39:25Thank you, Sir. They weren't caught shopping
- 39:32always for the right lamp for one day.
- 39:39Do you know what I'm saying? Do you see what I'm saying?
- 39:47They weren't caught up in the latest fats and they were found
- 39:54ready. And you know what happened is
- 39:58the fads come and the fads go. 100 years comes 100 years goes,
- 40:02a generation comes a generation goes 1000 years comes thousand
- 40:06years grow. The politicians come.
- 40:08Maybe the politicians go who know what happens, right?
- 40:12And the all this stuff's rolling along and the world's getting
- 40:16swept up with all the latest and all.
- 40:18But if it comes right now, are you found ready?
- 40:22Because as lightning comes spiritually, that can look like
- 40:27neglecting prayer because it feels fine in your world.
- 40:32Who prays when everything's good?
- 40:34Don't put your end on. It's a weird question.
- 40:36Thanks for right drifting instead of intentionally
- 40:40pursuing God, assuming there will always be more time later.
- 40:47Comfort can quietly replace urgency.
- 40:52Without urgency, readiness fades away #2 individualism without
- 40:59responsibility. Culture strongly emphasizes
- 41:05personal freedom and the independence.
- 41:08Not all bad, but it can distort how we view accountability.
- 41:12Before Gods, the wise virgins could not share their oil.
- 41:19Have you ever read that? Read that and went, are you
- 41:21serious? Could you not give them half
- 41:24your oil just to be there? When Jesus comes back, you're
- 41:27not getting my oil. I love you, but when Jesus get
- 41:32you know I'm not sharing my oil because I am urgent.
- 41:37I have a thing in me. You will never find me missing
- 41:41out on being ready for Jesus Christ.
- 41:46The wise virgins couldn't share their oil.
- 41:50That's a confronting truth. Some aspects of spiritual
- 41:55readiness can't be borrowed. The readiness is your
- 42:02responsibility. It's my responsibility.
- 42:07If you want to get out of a world of lack, only you can do
- 42:12that. You have to join us every prayer
- 42:16over the next two months, change our mindset.
- 42:19Start applying the Word of God. You know if Pastor Soraya
- 42:23doesn't, it doesn't work for you.
- 42:25It works for her and her family. We have to make these decisions
- 42:29and we have to be part of it. Today it's easier to rely on
- 42:34someone else's faith, especially pastors, leaders, church
- 42:39attendance instead of personal devotion, cultural Christianity
- 42:44rather than lived conviction. Individualism says I choose my
- 42:49path, but the Kingdom says I am responsible for my readiness.
- 42:55When responsibility is avoided, preparation is neglected.
- 43:02As lightning comes #3 destruction and noise over
- 43:07devotion. Men, this is something for me.
- 43:13Distractions and noise over devotion.
- 43:18Western life is saturated with constant input.
- 43:21Phones, streaming, social media, work demands, silence and
- 43:28stillness have become rare. But oil is cultivated in hidden
- 43:34places. Oil is cultivated with time,
- 43:39with God, reflection and repentance.
- 43:45Listening, not just consuming. You can listen to 300 podcasts a
- 43:53week, but if you're not listening to what the Lord is
- 43:57saying to you, one podcast would have done that.
- 44:02Distraction doesn't usually destroy faith overnight, It
- 44:07dilutes it slowly. I don't need to go to church.
- 44:11Our kids have sport. See, We don't notice the oil
- 44:16running low because life is so full of noise.
- 44:21And I believe that this is the enemy's plan is it gets us so
- 44:26busy, so much noise, so much information that we lose focus.
- 44:33But we don't realize what's actually happening in here.
- 44:38Prayer hasn't happened for a week.
- 44:41We're reading the Bible or a devotion hasn't happened for a
- 44:45couple of weeks, but I'll get to there tomorrow.
- 44:49But what if Jesus comes today? And I'm not saying all those
- 44:53things send you to hell or anything like that, but I'm
- 44:57trying to bring a ready a message of readiness to us
- 45:00tonight. None of these things comfort
- 45:07independence, Oregon activity are inherently evil.
- 45:12The danger is is when they become ultimate rather than
- 45:16submitted. I said in our Bribie location
- 45:21today you don't read anything in the word of God where God isn't
- 45:26victor. So for you and I every season of
- 45:34our life needs to finish in victory.
- 45:39Now the season might be the worst season of your life and
- 45:42you got constant moments of God. Where are you?
- 45:46But as we continue to press in, as we continue to lean forward,
- 45:51as we continue to read, as we continue to ready our spirits
- 45:55and our soul and submit the flesh to the Spirit of God in
- 45:59US, oil Holy Spirit in US. And as we continue to do that,
- 46:04we will come through the other side and find our victory every
- 46:09time. Because God is a God of victory.
- 46:13He's not a God of enough. He's a God of more than enough.
- 46:20The enemy doesn't always pull people away through obvious
- 46:25rebellions. Often it's through subtle
- 46:29delays, quiet distractions, misplaced priorities in our
- 46:36lives. The call of Matthew 25 isn't
- 46:39fear. It's preparedness, not panic,
- 46:46but intentional living. As lightning comes, so will
- 46:51Jesus Christ. So the question tonight is, are
- 46:56you prepared?