Matthew 25
We arrived at our final ministry location of Muchanga (mushanga) and found out that there was a Women’s Seminar going on the first weekend we were there. They wanted us to preach, teach and participate in their events. God definitely put it on my heart to teach. I had no idea what about. I started to think… ok, I could talk about the Body of Christ and the roles we play in it, who He is… etc… nah. Ok. I’ll talk about a heart of worship about incorporating God into our whole day and something sweet like that. As I was journaling and getting ready for the next day when I was to teach, for some reason I pulled out my ipod (one Jenn Meyer is letting me use cuz mine was stolen – THANK YOU)
This ipod use isn’t really an unusual event, but we haven’t had power to charge devices, so I have really gotten used to just not using it. At this point I haven’t listened to it in weeks. I started with a favorite of mine, Misty Edwards. I had never heard the song I was about to hear before. (Nick Derington-THANK YOU added music to the ipod, so it’s all new to me) The song was entitled Matthew 25 and it was a song about the entire verse. She sang a lot about the oil inside the lamp and first things first … you need oil to burn a lamp, a flame… maintain the flame.
I really felt God wanted me to teach on this verse. I have heard the story of it, briefly I suppose… but never studied it… especially not to teach on. This would be my first time teaching. Neat God, my first time teaching was at Women’s Seminar in Africa.
The next morning I woke up and started to read the verse… what I will write next is what I talked about to a church of about 60 women and a few men. This teaching contains the verse amongst my comments. The verse will be in green lettering.
The teaching began with an example of two oil lamps. I had a pastor / interpretor try and light both lanterns. One without oil, obviously did not light and the one with, did. I told them that I was going to reference the Source of Oil to the Bible.
Matthew 25
Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Jesus compares the story He was about to teach to the kingdom of heaven. What will happen when He returns to claim His bride. His bride is the church. His bride is you and me. In this passage He is referred to as the Bridegroom. A marriage covenant between Jesus and His church. This verse also is exciting to me because it talks about women. I love how God teaches us an important lesson using women. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. He splits them up, knowing there are people in the world who will love and follow Him and people who will not. He goes on to say, For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them. Now you know how foolish it would be to do that. To set out on a journey unprepared would not be wise. To go out into the night without oil for your lamp, how would you see the way? How would you see the way? How would you keep to the path? How would you see danger lurking around you? When light is shined on it you can see the challenges ahead of you and have the clarity to ask God how to proceed.
But the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.They had their fill of oil. They kept in near and had it ready. They had their fill of the word and had it ready to use.
As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. As we wait upon the return of Christ and our time to spend eternity with Him, there are times we can become lazy or too busy. We put our relationship with Jesus to the side. By this I mean those who have the oil ( the Word) and even a relationship with Jesus to be put aside.
But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom. Come out to meet Him. The time is now, the hour has come. He is here. Welcome Him. Are you ready? Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. It’s like they scurried and hurried to get themselves together, presentable, ready for His coming.
Then the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. Now clearly, there is enough of the Word (oil) to share with others. I believe this is a lesson about the foolish coming to their senses and really seeking the oil. For them to take initiative, to take action in getting their fill. It’s a choice! Time is a factor! There is a point that Jesus will return and those who aren’t ready and haven’t chosen Him will not go with Him to heaven. As the next verses suggest…
And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterwards the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord open to us. But He answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you. Why would He say this? I believe He said this because the foolish never got their fill of oil early on. Their fill of the Word. Therefore they were not saturated in the presence of the Lord. No relationship was ever built.
Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. We do not know when the Lord will return for His bride. Know Him and take with you your fill of oil. It’s your choice. Be confident in knowing upon His return He will recognize you and say to you…
Matthew 25:21 ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.
This is what you are doing here. By you being here you are filling up on the oil. I encourage you to continue doing so. Be ready! Be prepared! Not only for the coming Christ but for those foolish who are unprepared. God wants all of us there in heaven with Him. Let us help each other fill up on the word and fill up with Jesus. Let us carry the “light of the world” with us wherever we go. Fueled by the oil. Fueled by the Word. Prepared. He is coming again.
That was what I taught on. It went well. (smile) They really liked the example. The pastor who translated asked for a copy of the talk and said that it was great, simple but powerful. I was thankful and slightly relieved. Inspired by God…
I was thankful to get a chance to dig into His Word and I learned more in doing this than any other time.
I was also thankful to God for providing the opportunity to teach women at a Women’s Seminar in Africa… crazy cool God we have. I love Him
