Turning on the Lights! – Thursday, February 6, 2025. Looking Back and Being Prepared.
Good Morning my brothers and my sisters. It is Thursday February 6, 2025 and today we take a little time to look back at Matthew 25 and the teachings of Christ about being prepared for the age to come.
This message applies, of course, to every believer – but it also applies to every local church and to the church universal.
We have choices to make now, but when the Master returns, we will not.
It is a simple and hopefully inspiring message. It is the message that Christ lives, Christ died, Christ rose again – and faith in our risen LORD redeems your soul and makes you a child of God.
May God bless and keep you – we will see you in church
This is a video recorded copy of the FaceBook Live event of Turning on the Lights! – Thursday, February 6, 2025. Watch here via the YouTube link!
This is an audio recorded copy of the FaceBook Live event of Turning on the Lights! – Thursday, February 6, 2025. Listen here or through your favorite podcast app!
This is a transcript from the audio of this episode of Turning on the Lights! – Thursday, February 6, 2025
Good morning, good morning, my brothers and my sisters. You’re looking live at the sanctuary of the Church Town Church of God. The old fans are spinning. The oak pews are as they have been for generations. We celebrate the one hundred and seventy fifth anniversary of this sanctuary this year. One hundred and seventy five years for this sanctuary. Deeded in 1849, completed before Christmas in 1849. How about that? Think of all the generations, not necessarily in just these pews, and it didn’t look exactly like it does here today. But think of all the generations. Think of all the people. Think of all the worship, think of all the children, think of the Civil War veterans. The World War One, World War Two, Vietnam, Korea. All of that. The communities, the families, the life, the death, the unity, the dissension. All of it. I think about that very thoughtful mood today. I thought I would just touch base with you and like I said, move, go, go backwards in order to move forward a little bit. I need a little edification in my life. I’m going to be doing some preaching tomorrow morning as well, of course, as on Sunday. And I wanted to look back at scriptures from one of the most powerful passages that. I know I cling to, I go to the understanding of that is important to me. Matthew, twenty five, Matthew, twenty five, talking about the kingdom of God. If you remember a while ago, we did a little series on the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is like the kingdom of God is like the kingdom of God is like we wanted to sort of put some identifiers on the kingdom of God so that when we look at in twenty, twenty five, we can say, OK, what is the kingdom of God and what is it? When we look at the church, how is the church doing as far as a part of the kingdom of God, the forward operating base in the kingdom of God, if you will? And we need to know knowledge is something that I don’t know how to express it. We’ve lowered the bar so much on biblical literacy and understanding basic theology and theology is not a negative term. Theology is simply understanding who got it. The study of God, who is God. When you make that your foundation, you really can begin to understand all of the things that God says and does and how it relates to human existence. And when I look around, even in our own denomination, I swear we’re we’re just not there. It’s disappointing, again, last Thursday, I sort of good morning, everybody just sort of ranted because I was so disappointed in reading the sentiments of various pastor friends and people of our denomination and region and anti this and anti that and just anti president, anti. I’m like. Why, if you remember last Thursday when I talked about that. Why is the church distracting herself from the message? And so today I want to talk a little bit about the message and at least a spin off of the message that Christ lived, Christ died, Christ rose again. Romans five. While we were still sinners, Christ died for the worst of us. So that we can wear his righteousness, we can be made righteous through faith in Christ. Now, that deals with sin. Period. And scripture clearly defines what sin is. That’s anything opposed to the will of God, to the being of God, to the word of God. But we and it just bothers me that people that I had known and trusted and to care for the word of God are just throwing up their hands and joining in the cultural chorus. But it is what it is. Tomorrow, I’m going to preach at the funeral of a faithful, faithful servant. And on the one hand, that’s one of the easier funerals to preach. Knowing the person quite well and understanding. They’re the depth and the breadth of their faith, understanding what they went through before their passing. On the other hand, of course, it’s one of the more difficult things because it’s like preaching the funeral of a family member, which I’ve done several times as well. So I’m just feeling a little bit contemplative. One of the things that we talked about when we talk about the kingdom of God. And I want to go back again. Matthew 25 is where we are. Father God, we pray your word will just move throughout the world, wherever you would like it to go. We pray that it would touch the hearts and minds of those. Who need to hear it. And those who want to hear it. And then your sovereignty, those who you want to hear it. We trust you, Lord, and we love you in Jesus name. Amen. Matthew 25 opens with the parable of the bridesmaids. Some translations call it the parable of the 10 virgins. The bridesmaids are it was a little bit different, if you will, a little bit, I guess. But bridesmaids were chosen for their purity, so to speak. And part of the big wedding banquet was to take these young women and hopefully find them a mate, a partner. And so they were very anxious to go to the wedding banquet. And of course, Christ is using this as an example. It’s going to be his feast, right? As they are wedded to the church, all of those different images are there. And it would be very beautiful and very structured and ordered. All right, we’ll talk about that. But the bridesmaids come and some of them are prepared for the long haul. They have oil in their lamps and they have extra oil in case the bridegroom doesn’t come when they expect them to come. Others are not prepared and their oil runs out. And now the kingdom of God, the banquet has yet to come. But we’ve run out of faith. We’ve run out of intentionality. We’ve run out of trusting God and the word of God. We’ve run out on believing that sin is sin. We’ve run out on the idea that God’s true love is indeed meeting somebody where they are in their sin and transforming them into a child of God. That’s the part that we leave out. Love is love. God is love. Don’t you believe God is love? Yes. And God so loved the world that at just the right time he came and died for sinners. So that faith in the resurrected Christ of God will transform your life. When you leave that part out. A lot of times because large corporate churches corrupted. We’re finding that out more and more. If you haven’t read the book Shepherds for Sale, you really need to read or listen to the book Shepherds for Sale. It’s a deep dive into the tangled mess of church and state and money and all of those that we’re finding out more and more about the corruption of our government and how it’s trying to use the pulpit to relay its message, not just in America, but around the world. We look at this sickness, this darkness, this dead tissue, this corruption. And I see it, like I said, infiltrating very close to home. And we just can’t not stay focused on being prepared. Being prepared for the age to come. Being prepared for the return of Christ. How are we prepared? We are prepared by keeping our lamps full of faith. In the cornerstone who is Jesus Christ. Faith in salvation through Christ, faith in Christ alone. Does it come naturally to us? No, we pray for faith every day, Lord. Grant me power of faith that I may walk in the hope not only in the glory of being indwelled by your Holy Spirit, but in the hope of the age to come. Let me be a light. You don’t just sit back and wait for things to happen. That’s what the bridesmaids did when they were not prepared. And the bridegroom did not show up when he was expected. And they were like, can you help us? Now, we help one another. That’s where we know he’s making. Jesus is making the point that when it’s done, it’s done. You’ll be invited into the banquet and then it says the door will be closed. But as a church now today, as we move through, what do the kids say? Life together, we help one another with that. We might see somebody flagging in their faith. We might see somebody who’s received a diagnosis or has a relationship breakup or a betrayal in their life, whatever the case may be, and their faith is wavering. We may run to them and we may help them fill their lamps, so to speak. That’s what one of the things that the church absolutely does for one another. But the point that Christ is making is that if that individual has, for whatever reason, ends up turning, walking away. When the door closes, it’s closed for good. You can knock on that door and you can’t go in. And that’s what we talk about funerals and so forth. It’s one of the great object lessons of funerals is that you do have a choice today. When your heart beats the last, you don’t. So we think about being prepared. The next part of Matthew 25 talks about the three servants of the master who are given bags of coin. To do with what they will while the master is gone again, Christ is the master and he is. We are living in this time when he is in between time. Before his second coming, we’re given gifts according to God’s will. What can you do? What will he give you? What gifts will he give you? And we’re not talking about bags of silver, right? The analogy is the gifts of the spirit that you are given, including the gift of faith that we just talked about. And in that in between time, right, you are saved by faith in Christ alone. You are give in dwelled by God’s Holy Spirit. You are given the gifts of the spirit for the edification, your own edification, the edification, which means strengthening of your family, the edification of his church and the edification of his kingdom. Right concentric circles moving out. To all the world. What does scripture say Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and all the world. And so the parable questions, what do you do with the gifts that you’re given in the in between time? You are saved by grace. Your days are numbered. We all know that. What do you do with the gifts that you’re given? And we see in the parable that one servant multiplies it by what? 10 one servant multiplies it by five. The other one says, I know that you are the judge of all humankind. Good morning. And I was scared. So I buried it. Here’s your money back. Now, God certainly isn’t looking for money. He’s looking for what have we done? Like this judgment, what have we done with the gifts that we have been given? So we see the kingdom of God and being prepared and part of being prepared. Matthew 25 moves on. Is being intentional and exercising the gifts that we are given for the betterment. Of our homes and families of our churches. And of the kingdom of God. God is displeased with the servant who was afraid of him. We understand that God is judged. Jesus is coming to judge the world. We talk about that all the time. I know that all the anti Christians and all the progressive Christians are like, Judge, not judge. No, it’s not our place to judge. OK, great. But we must. I mean, you can say that, but we do. Have standards. By which we are called to live, we do have gifts that we are given and called to exercise. We are called to live a life worthy of our calling. And so it is by this that we first judge ourselves in our own intentionality and relationship and exercise of those gifts and preparedness. And then by proxy by I, we as a chamalay speak with one another. What are you doing? How are you doing it? How are you doing? Is your faith wavering? Can I help you? When we a couple of years ago changed this whole paradigm of the way that we. Do this here at Churchtown, one raising the bar of biblical literacy, we’ve got reading plans and Bible studies and theological study days, and every Sunday we get together, we’re deeply into the word and it’s all straight exposition, right? And I’m an expository preacher. I can’t do a dog and pony show. I don’t do object lessons. I don’t tell store. I do tell embedded stories in my sermons at times, but you know, folks will open up with a story. I get in the word, we read the word and we was like, what is God saying? How do we know God better at the end of this than we did at the beginning? Order, structure, obedience was last week, right? You understand those things. All of that to say that we’ve understood that everything, the foundation of everything in the church of God. And I’m talking about the church of Jesus Christ, right? The church that he has created in his head of everything is spiritual. We’re learning that through first Peter, right? He’s talking about the physical persecution. He’s talking about marginalization. He’s talking about extra taxation. He’s talking about all these things that are going happening to the Christian. And he’s saying those things are happening. And he talks about the slave and the woman and the man and the husband and the wife and the children, all of that. He talks about everything that is happening. And he says, all of it is designed by the opposer of God’s will to break your faith. Because your faith is who you are. And I know the enemy would love to flip that around. But truth is truth. And when we look at church town, we said, here we go. We’re going on faith. The foundation of this church is faith in the living God. And all of our battles are spiritual. If you are in need of money or food or shelter, if you are in an unhealthy toxic relationship, all of that ultimately is spiritual. All of that, ultimately, as a Christian, all of that ultimately challenges your faith. Will you trust now again? We have each other, we have the family, we have professionals out there to help with mental health and relationships. All of that is in play. But understand, as a Christian, what Satan is most interested in. Is you destroying your own faith? Right? So we see that with the scared one. He knows that God is judge. He’s afraid to step out in, say it with me, faith and exercise his gifts. So he’s afraid to step out in faith and exercise his gifts. And God judges him on his behavior as one of his subjects. Don’t forget that. He judges that servant’s behavior as one of his subjects. And again, the door is closed and cannot be open. So we talk about being prepared. The bridesmaids, we talk about part of being prepared is having faith. Learning, growing, becoming the disciple of Christ that you’re called to be exercising your gifts in faith. But, but, but, but I might be laughed at, but, but, but they won’t listen to me, but I might be and like where we ended on Tuesday, right? Get your big Christian butt out of the way and have some faith. If that person that you are speaking to, or you’re trying to minister to, or just hanging around, whatever the case may be, and they, they reject you. So be it. God wanted you there. You were faithfully doing what you’re called to do. He’ll do the rest. Trust God to do the rest. We do what we’re called to do, and we trust that God will do what we’re called to do. What he promises to do. Things work out a lot better. And then again, when we go back to the socio political commentary of today and you know, who is president, who isn’t president, what policies are in place, what policies are not in place borders, no borders, all of those things. We lose faith that it is God who will bring human history to its conclusion according to his will. So yes, we do the best that we can. We gather information, we vote accordingly, et cetera, et cetera. We’re called to be subjects so long as Caesar himself is not not reaching in and trying to take that which is God’s, which he’s always trying to do, by the way. And Caesar is a metaphor for government, right? He’s always trying to do that. So we must be very discerning in all of that. But where is our faith? We dive into this cultural commentary and we look ridiculous. We just look as weak as anybody else. Just wrapped up in the tide that is coming in and going out, can’t do anything about it. And finally, we talk about in the kingdom of God, Matthew twenty five, the final judgment. But when the son of man comes in his glory and all of the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence and will he will separate the people as a shepherd separates sheep from the goats. His job. Our job. Be ready, be faithful, step out in faith, exercise our gifts, preach the good news. That just as you are as a sinner, Christ died for you, that you may come to him and be transformed by the power of his Holy Spirit and be adopted as a son or daughter of the most high God. Preach that, teach that, know him, know his word, exercise your gifts, all of those things, because God is the judge and God, as we learn in first Peter on Tuesday, will begin with his church. He’s going to cleanse his church first. May be pure and without blemish. So how about we do what we’re called? Are we back? It said that we got disconnected. How about we do what we’re called to do? And how about we trust God to do what he’s going to do? But I’m afraid. It’s just said sheep and goats. I’m afraid judgment. You have the power of God that raised Christ from the dead living in you. What in the world are you afraid of? What you afraid of what? Fill in the blanks. Maybe if you are and you fill in the blanks, maybe that can help you overcome that fear. And that’s what you know, that’s important. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats and his left. Then the king will say to those on his right come. You are blessed by my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world for I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you invited me into your home. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you visited me. Then the righteous will reply, Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink stranger and show you hospitality naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you and the king will say, I tell you the truth when you did it to one of the least of these might one of the least of my brothers or sisters. You were doing it to me. Progressive Christianity likes to take that and say, look, see, doesn’t matter about sin. We’re called to love. We’re called to love, but it does matter about your sin because Christ died for you to reconcile you and your sinful nature unto him. So don’t get that passage twisted. That passage is talking about what we’re talking about today, doing what we’re called to do. Being the only Bible that some people will ever read being the church to Christians and non-Christians alike, but we have that singular focus and message and purpose. When we welcome, of course, we just to show my just to show that all three passages are structured the same way. Then the king will turn to those on the left and say away with you. You cursed ones into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. I was hungry and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty. You didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger and you didn’t invite me, etc, etc. And then they will reply when, right? And then he’ll say, I tell you the truth. When you refuse to help the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me. They will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life. There comes a point when the door is closed. And there it is, the kingdom of God. Beginning in you, extending to your home, your local church, and then beyond and beyond beyond wherever God may send you, exercising the gifts that he has given you, praying for faith and staying faithful every day, knowing the foundation of your life, your home, your church is Jesus Christ and being saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ, his grace, what you don’t deserve, you receive. That’s what it’s all about. There’s a fundamental message of Christianity. Go ahead and share it. Go ahead and share the podcast, whatever the case may be. If you think somebody needs to hear that or understand that or is getting a little bit out of whack, we all do. We all do. I stand there at the pulpit more Sundays than not and say, look, I’m preaching to myself. I’m standing in front of the mirror right now. And we all need to stand in front of that mirror. We all need to be intentional. We all need to be prepared. So read Matthew 25, you’ll get those three parables and you’ll see that there are actually boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, structured the same. And they really do give the same message with different aspects of the message, right? The faithfulness, right? Exercising that faithfulness with your gifts and demonstrating a radical Christian love. When we are called to help redeem sinners, God uses us to share the message. I don’t even want to pretend like we redeem sinners. He uses us to share the message to the lost that they may be found. That they may turn from their sin and lay their lives at the feet of Jesus. Father, we pray that word will go out wherever you need to send it. We pray that your kingdom will grow one conversation at a time, one listen at a time, one act of kindness at a time. Lord, we pray for our faith. We pray that you would keep us focused on you and your word. Keep us away from what Paul says, the inane and ridiculous arguments, philosophical, political, economic, all those different things. You’ve got all that, Lord. This is your world and you are sovereign. Help your church stay pure and holy and blameless until the day of your return. In Jesus name. Amen. Like I said, I’ll be doing a little preaching tomorrow morning. Not necessarily preaching that I want to do. Well, it’s always weird, right? Like I said, it’s a strange but very unique and powerful opportunity when you’re preaching a funeral and a wedding for that matter. But your support, your spiritual support for me at that time, not being selfish, but for me at that time and for the room. It would be greatly appreciated. And we will be safe. Everybody be safe. Have a blessed day and we will see you in church.
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