Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Welcome to the Crema Chaj podcast.
[00:00:12] Thank you, guys. You can grab a seat.
[00:00:16] Steve's Bible. Can I give that to you?
[00:00:20] Amazing.
[00:00:21] Well, it's good to be with you guys this morning. You know, is that worship video was playing. It was like we were all on the edge, like we all wanted to get back into worship. Right? It's like such a worshiping church. And we've got glory night tonight, so make sure you don't miss out on that. Come back, come be in the presence of God. Come worship him. It's going to be wild. So, yeah, come and worship the Lord. How many of you guys have been off for six weeks looking after your children? How many? How many parents? We made it. We did it.
[00:00:51] Would you stand if you have been at home with the kids? I know some of us have been working as well. If you've had the kids off for six weeks, would you stand? Parents, maybe there's like three of us. I think there's more. Guys, can we just.
[00:01:05] Grandparents, we love you.
[00:01:09] I love my children. But teachers, over to you. It is your turn. You are welcome to do your job from tomorrow morning. We love you. We'll pray for you. And I will be dropping them off early first thing. I will be in the queue. I love my kids, but six weeks is lots of days.
[00:01:28] So teachers, how we love you. Over to you.
[00:01:33] But we made it. And this morning I want to speak to us. I feel like the Lord has been giving me a conviction. You know, when you read the Word, sometimes you feel like the Word reads you. And I've been in the Gospels and just been meditating on some things with the Lord and I just want to share those this morning with. With you. I feel like it's not just a message for me, but a message for us as a church and the church, actually the bride, the whole bride of Christ in the UK and beyond. And so this morning I wanted to start by sharing just a couple of words that I feel like the Lord has given me, which will kind of introduce what we're talking about this morning. And the first is last week I was in the worship. Do you. I don't know if you remember, we sang that song. Don't worry, I won't sing it.
[00:02:20] May the Lamb receive the reward of his suffering. And as I was worshiping often in worship, I kind of picture the throne room of heaven.
[00:02:32] I like to think of the angels and the heavenly hosts around that. I'm not on my own, Gabriel's next to me and whoever like that. We're actually worshipping as one unto the throne room of the Lord, unto the king. And as I was kind of singing that song, it felt like I was zoomed in to Jesus and Jesus was on the edge of his throne and he was looking.
[00:02:55] It was beautiful. It was like he was searching. He was looking.
[00:02:59] And as I asked Holy Spirit, Lord, what is the reward? What is the reward for the Lamb who suffered for us? I felt the Holy Spirit just whisper. He's searching for a bride who will believe him.
[00:03:15] He's searching for a bride who are believing him at his word, who will believe that he's about to break through, that he's about to do more. Are we that bride?
[00:03:26] Am I that bright?
[00:03:28] It was convicting. And then I was reminded of a picture he actually gave me a few weeks ago. Again, very similar. I saw a picture of a woman who was sitting at home and she was slouched on the couch, and she had this kind of blanket that was on the floor, and she was scrolling on her phone and the room just looked messy. It looked just. It looked like no one had kind of bothered to care. Like the dishes, maybe it was my house.
[00:03:53] The dishes were overflowing and the house was just a bit of a tip. And then all of a sudden, she gets this alarm, this call on her phone. He's coming, he's coming. And she jumped up. Have anyone ever had that feeling of panic, like you've overslept and you're meant to be at work? No one else? No, just.
[00:04:10] Just me.
[00:04:11] Oh, my goodness, the time. I'm not ready. He's coming. And she jumps up and she shoves everything in the dishwasher and she's trying to puff up the cushions and put the blanket on, and she's, you know, trying to get herself ready. She's not quite dressed yet, and she's trying. And this panic of, I'm not ready for when the Lord comes.
[00:04:27] And I just felt again, this conviction not. Not that the Lord is cross and shunning us, but that he's saying, are you ready? Are you ready for the more. Are you ready for the moment I'm going to break through? Are you ready for me to come, for the king to ride in at any moment? That we wouldn't be slouched on the couch, but we would be ready, waiting at the window, looking for him, expecting him, hungry for him, desperate for him.
[00:04:51] Am I ready? Are we ready?
[00:04:54] And I have been just searching the Scriptures this week. What does it look like? What does it look like to be ready and so we're going to dive into a little bit of that today. And I want to be really clear that that picture of the house being a mess. If you are just coming into church, you are welcome as you are.
[00:05:11] We believe totally that you can come as you are to Jesus. And with all of your sin, with all of our mess, whatever's going on in our lives, you know, the argument in the car that you've had on the way to church, don't look around.
[00:05:26] Maybe the mess that you're in financially or the breakthrough that you're desperate for, whatever you've come in with, Jesus is here and his arms are wide open. You can come to him just as you are. Are.
[00:05:38] But the picture is that we wouldn't be slouched on the couch, but we would be waiting at the window.
[00:05:44] That we would be eager and desperate. However you've come today, doesn't matter what your life is like, but it matters the heart that you've come with. Are you desperate for Jesus? Are we desperate for a breakthrough from the King of Kings?
[00:05:57] And that is what he's speaking to us about, or speaking to me about, at least.
[00:06:03] So you are welcome here.
[00:06:05] Time and time again, Jesus warns us in the scriptures about readiness. He warns us about. He talks about being awake, about being alert, about being watchful, like a guard is watchful.
[00:06:17] And everything we do is a direct result of what we believe.
[00:06:22] So if we don't really believe he's coming, we won't really get ready. If we don't believe certain things, we won't be ready.
[00:06:29] What we believe affects how we behave.
[00:06:33] It's directly as a result of what we believe.
[00:06:37] Listen, I might be the only lady here, but have you ever felt like your husband? So your husband comes home from work, you're in the midst of chaos with the kids. Beautiful chaos, of course. But it's dinner time and it's bath time and it's bedtime, and you're just kind of drowning in this, and you're like, waiting, have you got to find my phone? Just me. I, like, stalk Joel on the way home. Like, oh, he's just going past Foss Park. He'll be three minutes away, two minutes away. Oh, he's on the drive. And suddenly you're like, yes, this eager anticipation. He's going to come through the door any minute, and then we're going to be a team and my life is going to get easier. Yes.
[00:07:12] That is the moment that you feel hope is here, but then you're kind of waiting one Minute goes by, three minutes goes by. Hey, it doesn't take that long. We haven't got that big a driveway. Like he's still not come through the front door wondering what's happening. Anybody else?
[00:07:29] Why is it taking so long to come in? Why is he sitting yet? The dot is definitely on my driveway and that is definitely his car. So where is he?
[00:07:40] Sorry, Joel.
[00:07:43] Apparently he's not the only one. We found out after first service. Lots of confessions of husbands to their wives. But what I believe in that moment. I'm just giving you a little example. What I believe in that moment is dependent then on how I behave when he walks through the door. So if I believe, do you know what? He just doesn't want to help. He's like trying to avoid this family. He doesn't really want to change the nappy. He just wants to stay at work. Like he's just trying to delay. Maybe he's even fallen asleep. Guess how I'm going to behave when he walks through the door. Well, you need to find your own key. I'm not opening the front door when you knock.
[00:08:16] Of course, this isn't me just to say of course. I would never do that. I would never be like this. Right?
[00:08:25] That's right.
[00:08:28] But that would affect. I would be maybe a bit passive. Get your own dinner. Hi. Hi, darling. Not or I believe, actually this is the holy response, right? I believe that he's been up at 4:30, that he's left the house, he's so tired and when he gets home he's desperate to get in the front door. But you know, another client's on the phone and he's just trying to seal the deal. And actually he really, really wants to be back more than I want him to be back. If I believe that, then guess how I'm answering the door. Oh, darling. Hi. Can I take your bags from you? Give me a smooch. I don't know tmi, but I'd be like, oh, like how I believe what I believe about how he's come home depends on how then I respond. Does that make sense? Our beliefs directly impact our behaviors.
[00:09:20] You can go and ask him what my behaviors are normally like, but our perception impacts our position. And the same is true, church. As we look to Jesus, what we believe about him directly impacts how we behave.
[00:09:37] Our perception of what's really going on dictates our position.
[00:09:44] And sometimes I think we're tired.
[00:09:47] Sometimes I think, do we really believe him because we've gone to sleep or we've not come Prepared, or we're just going to church and playing nice and we're not seeking him for the more that he wants to give us. Friends, I'm talking to myself as well.
[00:10:03] If we believe that the Lord is angry with us, for example, would we go and talk to Him?
[00:10:09] If I believe that he's cross with me because, you know, I haven't spent enough time in my Bible, for example, then I'm not going to be eager to come and pray to Him. Because what I believe about him is that he's in a bad mood. But if I believe he's in a good mood, which is the truth, by the way, then I'll live my life laughing with Holy Spirit. You know, when you find those things funny and then you look to heaven and you feel like he's laughing with you? I don't know if you have that with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes something really stupid happens and I look at the Lord like, and it feels like we're laughing together. If I believe he's in a good mood, then that directly impacts how I behave, how I talk to him, how I live my life in step with Him.
[00:10:45] The big one is how. What do we believe about him healing? Do we believe he heals? Because if we don't really believe he wants to heal, then we won't pray for the sick. We won't lay our hands on the sick and declare the sickness to be gone.
[00:10:57] And the big one is you. Sometimes I believe that he can heal. So I'll go and I'll declare healing. But do I believe he actually has healed? Will I ask, how's your back on the back of praying?
[00:11:09] So how is your headache? Will I ask the question if I believe that he actually wants to do it and he can do it and he has done it? Will I ask? Because then the question is your faith.
[00:11:19] Do we believe the Lord and do we believe he's coming to meet us? Do we believe that he's coming? Do we believe that he's on the edge of his seat, longing and waiting to break through? Because if we do, we'll be looking out for Him. We'll be prepared. We'll be hungry. We'll be desperate.
[00:11:36] And there's an awakening. I believe again and again, not just for this church, but for the church to wake up to what the Lord wants to do in this nation, to not just be playing church, but to be ready and expectant and hungry and desperate and looking at the sky, waiting for him to return.
[00:11:55] Holy Spirit, we are ready for you.
[00:11:59] Jesus, get us Ready, Lord. You can have your church. We believe you and we say breakthrough in every area.
[00:12:07] Amen.
[00:12:08] Teach us to be ready, Lord. You know, the early church lived with this understanding that the king could return any day. The. The second coming is spoken about in the New Testament over 300 times. Over 300 times it's mentioned that Jesus is coming back. You need to be ready. Whether it's through a parable or Jesus was saying it. He was talking about watchfulness and readiness.
[00:12:30] It was on the agenda for the early church. And guess what? That didn't mean that they lived in fear. You know, sometimes we think about, you know, definitely the. The second coming of Jesus. Like, oh, well, you know, lots. What's going to happen, the rapture and all of these things. The early church didn't believe that they. They knew that when the king came, everything was restored, that when the king came, his kingdom was established. And. And so there was this joyful expectation, this hope.
[00:12:56] It didn't mean they lived in fear. It didn't mean they became obsessed with timelines, and it definitely didn't mean that they lived apathetic.
[00:13:03] Oh, it doesn't matter.
[00:13:05] Sometimes we hear that gospel preaching. You know, you'll get a chance at the pearly gates once you die. Don't worry.
[00:13:11] If the Lord really calls you, then respond to him, but just wait for his invitation.
[00:13:17] Live on. I loved it at Chosen. Joe Langford, who our youth pastor. He was just. He did the gospel that was like the world's telling you on the wide path that it's fine, that you can just live your way, that you just need to be a good person. At the end of the day, you'll just stand before Jesus and you can decide for yourself. That is not true. The gospel. The true gospel is that we need to repent of our sin and get on the narrow path and choose Jesus today. Don't wait.
[00:13:44] And as he shared that, we saw young people running forward giving their life to Jesus. We celebrated last week 23 salvations. Just incredible because we're desperate to see the King come.
[00:13:57] And friends, we are closer today than we were then.
[00:14:01] You. Sometimes I think we can get tired because we think, well, the early church thought Jesus was coming back, and now it's been like 2,000 years. So kind of like, maybe, were they wrong?
[00:14:10] The gospel, the word of God is never wrong. And if anything, we're closer today than they were. We're 2,000 years closer today than they were.
[00:14:19] So it shouldn't be this diminishing of the word, but there should Be an increase in urgency because he is coming back and he does want to break through and he wants to do more.
[00:14:29] And so we're to be ready. Do you feel told off? Are you okay? Are you good?
[00:14:34] Yeah.
[00:14:35] There's this joyful anticipation of what he wants to do. And so let's get into the Bible. That would be a good idea. Luke, chapter 12.
[00:14:43] Would you turn with me? You can stand for the word of God as you. As you find it in your Bibles, and the words will also come up on the screen. But just stand with me as we read this parable.
[00:14:54] Jesus is using a story. It's not a real story. It's a parable to explain what it's like.
[00:15:01] So chapter 12, verse 35. Jesus says this.
[00:15:06] Be dressed, ready for service, and keep your lamps burning like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet so that when he comes and knocks, they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table, and will come and wait on them.
[00:15:31] It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or the third watch of the night. But understand this. If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
[00:15:54] Amen.
[00:15:55] He can grab a seat.
[00:15:58] So there are so many times. This is just one parable. There's so many examples in the scripture where Jesus talks about the coming of Jesus, the second coming. And he warns us to be ready and to be dressed and to keep our lamps burning, not for if he comes, but for when he comes.
[00:16:17] It is happening.
[00:16:19] And I want to say, yes, this is to his second coming, but it's also to how we live each day in expectation of his present coming. You know, obviously, as I was preparing this talk this week, I was asking my kids in the car, hey, guys, what would you do if you knew Jesus was coming tomorrow? Like, Jesus was going to split the sky. He was going to come, he was going to land on earth, and he was going to come and meet you tomorrow. What would you do to get ready?
[00:16:44] And I love my two different responses. So Elijah, he's seven, and he just said, I would clear up my room.
[00:16:53] I was like, that's all it took. I should tell you, Jesus is Coming every day.
[00:16:58] Joke. But he was like, I would clean my room. Oh, why? Because Jesus can't come to my room when it's messy.
[00:17:06] And then I said, okay, and anything else? And he said, so sweet. He said I would go and buy a trumpet.
[00:17:13] Why would you go and buy a trumpet? He said, because the king is coming. And we play the trumpet and we bow down when the king comes.
[00:17:21] Amazing. I'm raising a theologian, apparently.
[00:17:26] I don't know.
[00:17:27] Then Harper, my 5 year old, literally so funny. So I turned and said, okay, Harper, what would you do? And she was like, ugh, Jesus already lives in our house.
[00:17:39] Elijah was so annoyed at her. He was so cross with her.
[00:17:47] Both are true, right? Both are true.
[00:17:50] Harper's spot on. Jesus lives in our house. Yeah. We talk to him every day. His presence fills every corner of our house. We teach them that. But also, he's coming. There's more that he wants to do. And he's coming back on this earth to judge the living and the dead. He is coming back.
[00:18:07] Both are true. And so we're to live in acknowledgement of both of those. And so I have just two really quick points. How do we get ready? And they are scriptural, but they're also based on what my children said. So the first thing is clear up the mess. We're to get ready. We're to tidy up the mess. Round one. When Jesus comes. So when Jesus, Jesus incarnate comes on earth, we. We read that John the Baptist prepared the way for him, right? And he quotes from Isaiah 14. He says, Every mountain be made low, every valley be raised up, every crooked, crooked path be made straight. Every rough ground be made smooth. John the Baptist is like that. There is something that needs to happen in order to prepare the way for the king. He doesn't just come no matter what. Who cares? Doesn't matter what we do. There's actually an action that needs to happen. There's a prophetic voice that needs to come so that we declare the mountains to be made low in preparation for the king to come. And so John the Baptist says that. And then he says, what's the action? Repent, every one of you, repent.
[00:19:07] Turn from your sin. Be baptized in water.
[00:19:11] That we would die to our old life. That we would die to the flesh and be born again as spiritual beings in Christ.
[00:19:19] And then John says, but one is coming who is greater than I, Jesus. Who's the sandals I'm not even worthy to untie? Because he's the King of Kings and he's Coming. And he won't only baptize in water, he'll baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit.
[00:19:36] And because we live post resurrection and ascension, we get both. So we're to repent of our sin and be baptized by water. And then. Which is why we ask you, when you give your life to Jesus here, to put out your hands, then we ask the Holy Spirit to baptize you with fire, that you would be filled afresh and be made brand new.
[00:19:55] It's good news. Right, so part. The first step in clearing up our mess is repent of your sin, turn from your old life, turn to Jesus, and do it today, because you might not get tomorrow. That's the urgency of the gospel. And then we're to be baptized with fire from the Holy Spirit. We're to clean up, we're to be tidy to clear up our mess.
[00:20:18] And there is a sense, yes, absolutely. The gospel is that Jesus paid for all of our sin on the cross, and our mess is completely, you know, our debt is completely paid for. But then we. We need to be washed by him daily. I believe that actually there's something about tidying our rooms. I'm a mum, so tidying a room is, like, part of my job description. And I would say the first thing that needs to happen when you tidy any room is you clear up clutter. You put the clutter in the bin, right? You look around and you go, you don't need that craft helmet that you made six weeks ago at church that's going in the bin. Sorry, I'm ruthless.
[00:20:52] You don't need the clutter.
[00:20:54] Men. You might relate a bit more. Sorry to be stereotypical. You might relate more to, like, a man drawer. Do you have a man drawer that's like the drawer in your house that's just full of random stuff like batteries that don't work.
[00:21:11] I feel like, why do we have this mandrel? It's also full of envelopes that you never open. Like, you get a letter and you just don't open it. Gosh, Joel's getting in the neck today. I'm sorry.
[00:21:22] There's like, letters in there that you just don't open. And keys. Why do you need a key if you don't know what it unlocks? Well, one day I might need that key. So we have like 50 keys. Does anyone else, like, there's so much clutter. Just throw out the clutter. Just throw out the mess. Throw out all the things that you don't need.
[00:21:42] What does that look like in our Relationship with the Lord as we walk with him. What's the clutter?
[00:21:48] What are the things that aren't producing fruit in our lives?
[00:21:51] Maybe it's that relationship that you're clinging onto and you know that it's not increasing what the Lord wants to do in your life.
[00:21:59] It's not multiplying the kingdom.
[00:22:01] Maybe it's unforgiveness. It's like, well, I've just got this thing against this girl at school. It's like 10 years ago. It doesn't really matter, but it does to the Lord. How do we get rid of the clutter? Maybe it's offense. Maybe it's just a stupid hobby. It's not even sin necessarily, but it's just distracting. It's just taking up air time. It's taking up real estate in our minds.
[00:22:22] I remember. I'm really good at remembering conversations. And there was a season of my life where every time I went to bed, I would remember these conversations that had happened and. And I'd been offended.
[00:22:33] And I remember one time just going, do you know what? When I go to sleep, I don't want to meditate on that offense anymore. It's just taking up time. I've forgiven them. We've moved on. Why is this conversation going over and over? And the Bible gives us a tool. We can take captive every thought and make it bow down to the feet of Jesus, and we can decide to meditate on his Word. So choose a verse. It can be as small as you want. Jesus wept. That's the shortest verse in the Bible. Or you can choose a bigger verse. Choose a verse and we meditate on that instead.
[00:23:04] We get rid of the clutter in preparation for the Lord.
[00:23:08] Then we wash the day's clothes. Whatever's happened that day, that wasn't of you, God, would you wash it off me again? That offense, that unforgiveness, that thing that happened, that word that was spoken to me, that discouragement, I rebuke it. I'm going to put on what you say about me. And it says in this parable, prepare for the coming day. Be dressed and be ready for service.
[00:23:31] We are to put on the clothes that the Lord wants to give us. No one gets dressed by accident. We all make a choice about what we wear, right?
[00:23:40] Hopefully. Maybe someone else makes that choice for you, I don't know.
[00:23:44] But we choose what we put on. And so actually preparing for the King means putting on the armor of God, putting on what he says about me, putting on his will, my heart, so that I Don't live for my desires today, but I live for his.
[00:23:58] We get dressed and we get ready for service. Is this making sense?
[00:24:02] So get tidy. Clear up our mess. The second thing is bring an offering. In the parable we read today, Luke 12, Jesus uses this language to keep your lamps burning, to keep going with the Lord, to keep that passion, that love alive. There's a similar parable in Matthew 25. We won't read it today, but it's the story of the ten virgins.
[00:24:23] And it talks about again, it's a parable. It's not a real story. But Jesus illustrates that the bridegroom is coming and there's these 10 virgins who. 10 of the five of them have oil and five of them don't have enough oil. And let me just say, they're foolish and they're wise. Five foolish, five wise. But all of them fall asleep. It's really interesting. The foolish and the wise fall asleep. Because we can get tired. We get tired, right? Anyone else get tired?
[00:24:52] You're waiting for the breakthrough, you get tired. Life happens, schedules get busy.
[00:24:58] And yet when the midnight cry comes and the bridegroom arrives, the five who have oil are prepared. They've stored up this relationship with Holy Spirit with the love of God. And five of them don't have anything. And they say, can we borrow yours? And the wise say, no, because we might not have enough.
[00:25:18] We must have enough oil. For when the midnight cry comes, we must keep our lamps burning. And what does that look like? What is the oil? Holy Spirit, what is the oil?
[00:25:29] It's about this love and this intimacy with Him. I felt like the Lord say, the oil is about intimacy with the Holy Spirit. And how do we know that? Well, the ones who didn't have enough oil, the bridegroom says, I didn't know you.
[00:25:43] So oil is completely linked to knowing Him.
[00:25:47] It has to be knowing him that we would keep our lamps burning. We would have this oil where this relationship with him is daily that we're overflowing with this intimate relationship with Him. And one of the ways we keep intimate, by the way, there's tons. But I just have one today. One of the ways we keep intimate is worship.
[00:26:07] We worship him whether we feel like it or we don't. As we worship him, we have this intimacy. You know, it seems fitting that when the king comes, we worship. That's what my son was talking about, right? Well, the king's coming, so we need to buy the trumpet and bow down. Because that's what you do when the king comes. But I made a choice a long time ago that I would worship as though the king was in the room, even if I didn't feel like he was in the room. And when I worshiped, though he was in the room, even though I didn't feel like he was in the room, he would come in the room.
[00:26:40] It's like this faith step of worship, and then he rests on our worship. I remember being. I was the youth pastor here a long time, long time ago.
[00:26:49] And I remember I used to tell the youth leaders that actually part of your job on a Tuesday night when we used to meet on a Wednesday. Now, when you come to worship on a Sunday or midweek, you are to stand at the front, you are to lift your arms up, and you are to sing louder than anyone else in the room.
[00:27:07] Bossy, anyway. Bit bossy. But I was like, you are preparing the way for others to see how you worship for the King of Kings to ride in. And I don't care how you feel. I don't care what kind of day you've had. I want you to step out and be physically obedient so that there's a spiritual release in the room.
[00:27:28] Worship has to look like something.
[00:27:31] And we can make a choice before we feel anything, that our relationship and our intimacy with the Lord is not built on our feelings and our experience in those beautiful encounters, which are all lovely. But our.
[00:27:45] Our worship to the King of Kings, our relationship with him is based on the word of God on the anchor that is now in heaven because he went to the holies of Holies for us. He went behind the veil. He took the. The place. Jesus went into heaven and secured a place for us in heaven so that our lives would be anchored there, so that whatever storm comes, we would be anchored in his presence.
[00:28:08] And so however we turn up for worship, whether it's Monday, Tuesday, in our lounge, in our car, on a Sunday here with this whole congregation, we worship because he's worthy. And as we do, the king rides in and there has to be that physical response. Peter got out the boat multiple times. The woman who needed healing touched his hem. The. The woman who had been saved much cracked her jar. There's a physical response to what we do.
[00:28:35] Not just. Not just because of gratitude for what God has done, although that's huge, but because we're preparing the way for him to come. Yes.
[00:28:44] Sound good?
[00:28:45] So we worship. We worship living as a bride who's ready. And it looks like sun worship. It looks like costly worship, but we're to keep our, our oil full, we're to keep burning. And some of us, again, some of us, I've been convicted on this, think that we can borrow somebody else's oil.
[00:29:05] We have to have our own oil.
[00:29:08] You know, sometimes on a Sunday, you know, the, the worship team come and they bring their oil, and we, we get caught up in the congregational worship, and it is absolutely beautiful.
[00:29:19] But what does our worship look like outside of that? I think, oh, I've had. My oil was great. I had like such a beautiful encounter, but actually I've jumped on the back of somebody else's oil. Somebody else's intimacy with the Lord has taken me to that place and he has oil for us on our own.
[00:29:36] We can hear an amazing word. You know, on Instagram, you can hear a preach and a word in three minutes nowadays. And you can feel like you've heard from the Lord. This deep revelation. They're beautiful. And they, they build up the church. Hear me. But he's got a word for you and for I, he's got his own revelation. Don't choose someone else's bread. Eat your own bread.
[00:29:58] It tastes so good.
[00:30:01] When we encounter and we live in this intimacy with the Lord. I was weeping on Instagram the other day because there was a podcast of this girl who's talking about all of this compassion stuff. And I was like.
[00:30:11] But I realized I was just crying because of her encounter. I need to go to the Lord and have my own encounter. He has fresh oil for us. We can't borrow somebody else's parents. Your children can't even borrow yours. Yes, they are blessed by the overflowing intimacy of your relationship with the Lord, but they at some point have to have their own. They have to have their own. So it's not just, what did you learn in kids church today? It's what's Holy Spirit speaking to you about?
[00:30:37] What's the Lord speaking to you about? Luke is our kids pastor. He's incredible. The other day I walked past kids and he was teaching from the Bible. Praise God. He was, you know, he was teaching, he was getting them to open the Word and they all had whiteboards and pens. And you know what he was doing? He was saying, anything that is highlighted today by the Holy Spirit, I want you to write it on your whiteboard.
[00:30:59] Genius. Like, we're not just teaching them, we're actually asking that. We're teaching them to, to hear Holy Spirit for themselves.
[00:31:08] And so they get to stand at the end of the session and go, this is what the Lord said to me. And they had their own relationship with the Lord, intimacy with Him. It's beautiful. By the way, we're not babysitting your kids in kids ministry. We're teaching them to have their oil with the Holy Spirit.
[00:31:25] Come and be part of it. Side note, we are to have our own intimacy with Him. You can't borrow oil when the midnight cry comes out.
[00:31:37] I also want to say that you can't depend on an oil lamp that was filled in 2018 in that season of encounters.
[00:31:47] You know, that beautiful time that you had with the Lord where He spoke to you and you. You know, I can open journal after journal of years gone by when he spoke to me, but he has something for you today.
[00:31:58] He has fresh oil for us today.
[00:32:02] And church. Will we be ready? Will we keep watch? Will we be waiting for the sky to split? Waiting for the next breakthrough of the Lord.
[00:32:13] You know, when life hits, maybe something kicks off in your marriage.
[00:32:19] Maybe there's a financial situation. Maybe it just feels like you're in warfare, you know? Feels a bit like that at the moment.
[00:32:27] Will we have enough oil stored up? Will we not wait for the storm to come, where we suddenly have to seek the Lord? But will we have a history of the secret place where we've enjoyed his oil, his intimacy? We know what his voice sounds like. We're familiar with his ways. We know the will of God. And so we can turn and get some of our oil because we've lived there.
[00:32:48] That we're not just turning to him in a crisis, but it's a place that we live. We keep our lamps burning, that we get our trumpets out, that we bow down, that we prepare for the King coming.
[00:33:02] So clear up the mess. We're to be ready with an offering and then the reward. Okay, just verse 37 to finish. This is the reward. It's beautiful.
[00:33:13] Jesus says. These are the words of Jesus. It will be good for those servants whose Master finds them watching when he comes.
[00:33:20] I tell you the truth. He will dress himself to serve and will will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.
[00:33:28] The reward is that we get to sit at the table with Jesus, that He serves us, that he waits on us, that we have this beautiful relationship where he prepares a table before us and we get to bask in his glory, not for our namesake, but for his.
[00:33:48] That we would get to live in that intimacy with Him. That's what he says. It's like when the Master comes home from the wedding banquet. If you have kept your lamp burning church. If we are dressed, if we are ready, if we are waiting, then we can immediately open the door to Him. And it is good because he will come in and he will recline at the table with us.
[00:34:08] That is the promise of Scripture.
[00:34:11] And so today the challenge is for all of us. Will we get ready? Will we declare the mountains to be made low? Will we declare the valleys to be raised up, the crooked paths to be straight? Will we come with an offering of praise? Will we come with worship before he even comes so that he comes?
[00:34:29] And will we live with this fresh oil every single day so that when the midnight cry comes, either the second coming of Jesus which will happen, or the breakthrough that we need for him to come in our everyday when we need him to come, Will we have enough oil? Will we have intimacy with the Lord and He has more for us?
[00:34:48] It's good news. We can come empty handed and he always fills us. We're a people who lack nothing in his presence.
[00:34:56] But we must come hungry. We must come sitting on the edge of our seats, desperate for a touch from Him.
[00:35:03] Yes. Are we a church who believe Him? Are we a church that believe he's about to break through?
[00:35:09] Yeah. Why don't you stand? I'm done. We're going to pray.
[00:35:15] Thanks for listening to the Coma Charge podcast. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Cromer Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship and how to donate, visit our website at Chroma Church.
