Bethel Online Bible Teaching Lesson #3 Elder Trevor Ferguson "The Parables of the Ten Virgin"

[Music] [Music] his love will die for me more more about jesus more more about jesus more [Music] more of his love would die for me more about jesus let me know more of his blue poorly will deserve spirit of god my teacher be showing the things of christ to me more more about jesus more more about jesus full blessing more of his love will die for me more about jesus in his word all holding communion with my lord very easily in every line making this faithful thing about jesus more more about jesus more obviously faithful then of his love who died for me more about jesus on his throne which is in glory on his own more of his kingdom sure in greece more of his commentaries of peace more more about jesus more of his love who died for me more more about jesus more more about jesus more often faithful than think hallelujah and that's why we are gathered here tonight we want to learn more about jesus hallelujah we cannot know more about him because we want to awake in his likeness and so we give god thanks tonight our scripture reading comes to us from matthew 25 and we'll be reading from 1 2 to 13. the kingdom of heaven can be illustrated by the story of ten bright men who took their lambs and went to meet the bridegroom five of them were foolish and the five were wise the five who were foolish took no oil for their lambs but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil when the bride room was delayed they all lay down and slept at midnight they were aroused by the shout look the bridegroom is coming come out and welcome him all the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps then the five foolish ones asked the others please give us some of your oil because our lambs are going out but the others replied we don't have enough for all of us go to a shop and buy some for yourself but while they were gone to buy oil the bridegroom came and those who already went in with him to the marriage feast and the door was locked later when the other five bridesmaids returned they stood outside calling sir open the door for us but he called back i don't know you so stay awake and be prepared because you do not know the day or the hour of my return may the lord bless his words to our heart this evening we're going to be singing the chorus again more and more about jesus after which sister martin anderson will pray more more about jesus more about jesus more of his saving full blessing more of his love for god for me more more of his love would die for me let us praise his mother anderson hallelujah hallelujah mighty god lord god my father friend or savior or king or refuge or protector or a defense or a shield and hide in place lord we lift up your name this afternoon we magnify your name we give you glory and honor because you are such an awesome god you're the great god who spoke this word into being you are the god who stood down mighty god from your high throne and you came to this earth and you walked this earth my god and it pleased you my god my savior to give your life to shed your blood mighty god so that we can able to have access to come boldly before the throne of grace we want to tell you that we thank you we love you lord and we exhausted though we do not deserve of your goodness we do not deserve of your mercies because we have failed so many times we have come short but you are such a merciful god you are so faithful and so tonight we just asking you lord god that you'll forgive us of all sin failures that we have committed even during this past day we are sitting thought word and in action but god you're the forgiving god and we want you to hear us when we call oh god my saviors we come tonight we thank you lord jesus for this privilege that we can come another third the night on this media mighty god the ear of your word oh god my savior pray that each and every one that comes on this platform tonight mighty god when the words have been taught my god we will not only be hearers of the world but we'll be doers of the world lord i pray god my savior that the unsaved that are even watching listening my god the words that they hear my god my savior will help them oh god almighty to yield your life to you to cry out i yield i can hold it out no longer lord god my savior this is the time that men ought to come to know you because my heart are failing them for fear and so god my savior said you are not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance bless tonight lord remember god my savior or pastor lord i pray that you will continue to bless him you will undergird in your covering with your blood lord god almighty blanket him lord jesus with your wings oh god i pray that you'll protect him and his family and they're going out and you're coming in my god of heaven keep them as they upload your eyes oh god almighty continue to order their steps as they go from day to day remember associate pastor minister gene lord i pray that you'll cover under the blood i pray that you'll strengthen you keep her covered angel watch over and you're going out there coming in the offense around her her family or mother oh god i pray that you'll cover the entire family keep them as the apple of your eye mighty god remember god my savior or moderator tonight minister jones smalling in the name of jesus i pray that your blessing will be upon earth oh god almighty keeper under the shadow of your wing god almighty cover and are going out or coming in protect our whole mighty god the offense around her dear jesus my savior i pray god almighty that your angels will sit upon our place in the name of jesus keep us the apple of your eye remember all our officers we place everyone before you in the name of jesus all our saints we place them before you those that are not well in body great physician great healer we pray that you will minister healing to your body tonight mighty god you know their names you know where they live oh god i pray that you'll visit them tonight oh the obama and gil you're the great physician touch and heal your people tonight as we cry to you lord that's our country we place jamaica under your hand oh god almighty you sit high you look slow and you know what is happening all around the world you know everything about us lord and i pray in the name of jesus that you god my savior will protect your children oh god my savior remember each and every individual as we look to you tonight oh god almighty those that are in line tonight not well in body touch the mighty god in that young man that has asked me or got to pray for him in spanish town hospital met in that accident it could have caused life but god is there giving thanks about slider mighty god of heaven it wasn't a coincidence that he got my number mighty god of heaven i pray that you will minister to his body the pains and the eggs that he feel mighty god i pray that you'll heal the pain oh god my save and you'll provide oh god the money to buy those pins to pin up mighty goddess hits that were broken lord in the name of jesus i pray that you will help him my god that when he recuperates he will come to you he will come back and give his life to you as he desires to do my god have your way tonight jesus my father remember god almighty our elders that will be teaching tonight elder ferguson in the name of jesus on the burden oh god i pray that you'll grant him strength lord you will speak through him tonight lord holy ghost you'll be the speaker he is just the vessel to teach tonight lord god when the when the word go forth let it go forth with clarity hallelujah that each and every one that listens oh god we will leave mighty god not only be hearers but the doors of the world oh god my savior to be like the five white virgin a notified foolish virgin bless tonight lord straighten him keep his family covered under the blood let your name be exalted and it will be done tonight as we sit and listen to what you have to say oh god my savior is your rhema word oh god my father the word is life and you lives in the world hallelujah blessed night lord god my father and as we put everything into your hand that your will will be done your name will be exalted for we give you glory we give you praise and we give your honor for answering our petition tonight in jesus name thank you lord thank you jesus hallelujah let's open our mics and agree with this prayer this evening hallelujah hallelujah thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you to be gathered again in this fashion virtual though it may be we just want to give god thanks we are the best united church of jesus christ apostolic we are located at 20 south camp road and we are the passionate and compassionate church and we're so glad that you are able to join us tonight we give god thanks on behalf of our pastor we want to welcome you bishop destiny michael george louis his wife and family and all of god's wonderful people we're excited to be at bible study tonight the third in the series god has been speaking to our hearts in a very special way over the past two weeks and we know that he's gonna speak to us again tonight so if you're a visitor we're just so happy to have you and we ask that you will stay with us and that you will participate in this bible study as we learn more about what the lord requires of us at this time it's my pleasure to hand over to our pastor in the name of the lord praise god we thank god tonight for his goodness and his mercies we echo the praises of god and we declare that our god is worthy to be praised from the very rising of the sun to the going down of the same and so tonight to be under the presence of the lord that is so rich in our mids as we join together for another bible study to our minister in charge mr jones smalling to associate pastor hilton and to all the officers who are on tonight to all the brethren all the brothers and sisters in christ who are on tonight our friends joining us uh visitors who have come on tonight those joining us from overseas we welcome everyone tonight in this virtual bible study brothers and sisters we are in the midst of a third wave of the pandemic and i know that many of us are saying when will this end or when will we have a break we don't know when the end is but until then we will continue to study the word of god until then we will continue to live for god until then we will continue to witness for god and so tonight i welcome everyone in the mighty and the powerful name of jesus christ tonight is no different from the last two thursday nights this is the third in our series and i just want to thank god for the blessings that we have derived so far from our teaching series amen if you have been following praise god along the series you know that this is our third night amen this is our third night in a teaching series that we have entitled exploring the parables of jesus amen and we have in this serious powerful men of god who have come to join us in this series and the main teacher for the series and joining me mr romano willis from the bethel portmore assembly an anointed and gifted teacher of the gospel of christ we also have bishop wayne williams out of avon park florida amen he taught in the second week and it was just so awesome he'll be teaching again for us before we complete this series we're also blessed to have the minister of bishop manuel r saunders jr out of baltimore usa will be joining us and teaching and tonight our teacher will be dr trevor ferguson from our own church here at 20 south camp road amen an anointed and gifted teacher of the word of god and we also have robert stewart of miami that's pentecostal tabernacle international ministries out of uh miami usa who will be joining us and so tonight i'm just so excited praise god about what god is doing in this series amen if you miss week one week one i taught on the parable of the soul the importance of the seed which is the word of god and the type of soil which makes reference to the heart that that word will find root in the heart that the seed is planted in and so if you missed week one i'm going to ask you to go back to our youtube channel it's posted on our youtube channel for you to go back and to be able to examine praise god week one and then my god last week week two bishop wayne williams my god dissected the word of god as we looked on the parable of the unforgiving servant and oh my god wasn't it awesome and powerful teach it if you have missed any off those two teachings i want to advise you to go back to our youtube channel after this tonight and review week one and review week two these are powerful teachings which are available brothers and sisters on our youtube channel and so we ask that you please as best as you can go back amen and be a part of this great series tonight is week three of nine weeks praise god and it is my privilege at this time to present to us to be our teacher our friend our brother our own doctor trevor ferguson for his god as he dissect the parable of the ten virgins god bless you as we hear the word of god tonight in jesus name praise the lord praise the lord praise the lord thank you pastor let me take time out to this tonight to greet each and every one here on this platform on our youtube channel in the mighty name of jesus truly we serve a god who is worthy to be praised who is all-powerful who is almighty who is all-wise praise the name of the lord jesus and he has chosen to speak to us in parables praise god so that we may have a better understanding of the things concerning the kingdom of god and therefore i'm really excited about this series as we explore the teachings of jesus in parables there was no greater teacher than jesus christ has been praise god and we want to look at the word of god and to learn from it as we prepare to live in this life and prepare for the life to come praise the name of the lord jesus let me also greet praise god or minister in charge tonight minister jones smalling or associate pastor minister gene hilton praise god and i think i also saw coming on tonight bishop queen williams who was our teacher last week praise god we're delighted that he was able to join praise the name of the lord jesus so we really want to give god thanks for all that he has done praise god so tonight we're going to be talking about the parable of the 10 virgins praise god and there is much to learn praise god we're going to go into that um in a moment let me share my screen praise god and um all right there we go my pastor has already um given the introductions um to the series praise god we are looking at exploring the parables of jesus and we have a great line of teachers praise god and we just give god thanks for all that this series will bring now our text for tonight comes from matthew chapter 25 verses 1 through to 13 and this was read earlier but i'm gonna take some time to read it again praise god so that we can be very well placed as we look at this parable and seek to understand exactly what was being taught so let's look at the passage then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened onto ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom and five of them were wise and five were foolish they that were foolish took their lambs and took no oil with them but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps while the bridegroom turret they all slumbered and slept and at midnight there was a cry made behold the bridegroom cometh going out to meet him then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps and the foolish said unto the wise give us of your oil for our lamps are gone out but the wise answered saying not so lest there be not enough for us and you but go you rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves and while they went to buy the bridegroom came and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut afterward came also the other virgin saying lord lord open to us but he answered and said verily i say unto you i know you not watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the son of man coming and i put here for emphasis the key verse verse 13 because the crooks of the matter that is being taught by this parable watch therefore for ye know neither the day nor the hour wearing the son of man cometh praise the name of the lord jesus now we have been introduced in the series before to the concept of parables and um it may be that some persons are joining for the first time tonight so i'm gonna just take a minute or two to outline the basic concept of parables and how we approach this um the understanding of a parable so according to the holman bible dictionary parables are well stories especially those of jesus told to provide a vision of life especially in god's kingdom parable means putting alongside for purposes of comparison and new understanding it comes from a greek word parabolae which means to come alongside or to compare now what is done is that the power utilizes pictures such as metaphors and similes and frequently extend these into a brief story to make a point or a disclosure so what we see is that the parable usually is seeking to illustrate a specific point or to answer a specific question sometimes this is explicitly stated so for example in the parable of the unforgiving servant which we looked at last week jesus was teaching in response to a question that had been posed by peter peter asked lord how often shall my brother sin against me and i forgive him till seven times and of course we know jesus answered to say not just seven times but to seventy times seven and then went on to illustrate the importance of forgiveness in the life of the believer most of us are familiar with the parable of the good samaritan and when we look at luke chapter 10 and verse 29 we see that this parable was told in direct response to the question of one of the lawyers who asked jesus who is my neighbor by demonstrating how the samaritan who had no relationship with the jews was able to help this stranger jesus was able to show that whoever was in need was in fact our neighbor and of course the parable of the prodigal son jesus was responding to the scribes and pharisees complained that this man received sinners and eat it with them and jesus was illustrating the point that there was joy in heaven over one sinner that repents so by using these stories he enlarged on the point ensuring that it would be clear in people's memory and that their understanding would be enlightened so we come to the present parable so the parable of the ten virgins and we want to look at this and to understand this in the context in which it was given and the question that was actually asked so in matthew 24 and 25 we have what is called the olivet discourse and in this jesus gave an orderly and extended teaching concerning the end times while they were sitting on the mount of olives and we're quite familiar with this passage where it tells us that jesus was passing by the temple and the disciples came to him and was asking in terms of showing him the buildings of the temple jesus prophesied that the temp that the building would be destroyed they see these things not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down of course this was disturbing to the disciples because they would have been looking at the temple as one of the symbols of jewish history and jewish worship and the fact that this temple was to be destroyed was something that was of concern so later on when they were with jesus it says that as he sat on the boat of olives they came to him privately saying tell us when shall these things be sorry and what shall be the signs of fight coming and the end of the world so when we look at this we see that the question that was being posed that jesus was responding to was a question concerning the end times tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the signs of thy coming and of the end of the world so we need to understand this bible within this context that it is speaking concerning the coming of the lord jesus now to add to the context we want to ensure that we look at some additional elements from matthew 24 and this is not intended to be exhaustive we could spend hours on matthew 24 but just selecting some of the key passages so that we can have a clearer understanding so when we look at verse 4 one of the first things that jesus said to the disciples was take heed that no man deceive you so it's critical that when we cut when we think of the end times that we be careful of deception because it says many shall come in my name said i am christ and shall deceive many so there are many prophets out there many people saying many things and if we are to follow them all then we certainly would be left in grave confusion it's important that we focus on the word upon what jesus said upon what jesus taught and not be led astray by persons teaching their own doctrine so in verse 6 it says that we shall hear of wars and rumors of wars see that you be not troubled for all the these things must come to pass but the end is not yet so as we look around us and we see all the things that are happening we understand that this is a part of the end time prophecy this is a part of the end time experience but the end is not yet nation shall rise against nation kingdom against kingdom there shall be famines and pestilence and earthquakes in diverse places all these things are the beginning of sorrows but he reminds us that he that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come it is important as we've spoke about the deceivers that we don't follow persons who are showing up as false christ so in verse 26 it reminds us wherefore if they shall say to you behold these in the desert go not forth behold these in the secret chambers believe it not for as the lightning cometh out of the east and shine it unto the west so shall the coming of the son of man be when jesus comes it will be clear to all and it will not be a secret that we do not know about then it mentions some aspects of the tribulation and this corresponds to a lot of the things that we see in revelation immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven and then shall the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory he reminds us also of the parable of the fig tree when its branches get tender and put at four leaves you know that summer is nine so likewise when you see these things know that it is near even at the door but again he warns us as it was in the days of noah so shall also the coming of the son of man be for as in the day that they were before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving a marriage until the day that noah entered into the ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away so shall the coming of the son of man be so people will be carrying on doing their own thing not focusing on jesus but then he is going to come in verse 40 and 41 he says then shall two be in the field the one shall be taken and the other left two women shall be grinding at the mill the one shall be taken and the other left this of course speaking of the rapture watch therefore for ye know not what our your lord doth come praise the name of the lord jesus so that gives us the context as jesus taught concerning the end times now he wanted to ensure that the people were not confused and did not understand the need for them to be ready for his coming so he used the traditional jewish wedding procedures to illustrate the need for vigilance and adequate preparation as we await his return so i want to emphasize that there needs to be vigilance and adequate preparation as we await his return so let's look at the custom concerning marriages in jesus day and how that illustrates the situation as it concerns the coming of the lord so in jewish times marriages were often arranged by parents of course they would seek the consent of those being married so that persons were not forced into unwanted marriages but parents were critical in the choice of a partner for their children now after that decision was made there was an engagement which was followed by a one-year period during which preparations were made for the new family in that tradition the bridegroom would need to prepare dwelling and so forth for the bride who would leave her home and come to live in the home of the family of the bridegroom but of course there had to be adequate preparation there had to be um a place for them to stay which would now be separate from that which their their parents occupied so the family would look at this whole procedure and preparation and it was the father of the groom who would determine when things were ready now when this determination was made then there would be communication between the families and the bridegroom would set out to go to the bride's house to meet her and bring her to his parents dwelling where the ceremony would be held and the marriage would be formalized there would be a marriage feast etc as would be required in those days so here we find that on the evening of the wedding the bride's maids would gather at the bride's parents home and would wait for the arrival of the bridegroom the bridegroom would come with his entourage and he would then escort the bride and her entourage to the site of the wedding now the exact timing was unpredictable so of course in those days there was no cell phone and tracking so you couldn't know exactly where the bride's groom was so they had to wait now depending on where he's coming from what stops had to be made or what other situations might arise he may arrive later than expected but the key concept was that the timing of the arrival of the bridegroom was unknown and therefore one ought to be ready so that at whatever time the bridegroom arrived then those who were awaiting the bridegroom would then be ready to accompany him to the marriage ceremony so here we come to the parable there were 10 virgins or these were the bridesmaids the bridesmaids gathered at the bride's house awaiting the arrival of the bridegroom we note that all the virgins took lamps and all had oil this was necessary so that if the bridegroom came at night they would be able to light their torches to provide light along the way as they journeyed to the bridegroom's home now the five wise virgins brought an additional supply of oil to refill their lamps in case the bridegroom took longer than usual to arrive the five foolish virgins did not take extra oil they assumed that the bride group would arrive fairly quickly so that the oil they had was enough and we want to take a little time to pause here because this was what was different between the wise and foolish virgins the wise were prepared for the delayed arrival of the bridegroom while the foolish were inadequately prepared and made the assumption that he would come quickly and their lambs would not go out so we have to be careful as we look at the interpretation of this parable both were virgins both had oil both had lamps the difference was in their level of preparation and their capacity to survive a delay so the scripture tells us that the bridegroom tarried and this is also important because how did the bridegroom arrived at the regular time or in short order there would have been no difference between the wise and foolish virgins in the king james version it clearly tells us the bridegroom tarry but we want it to be very very clear so i've looked at the other versions and look at the terminology so in the niv it says that the bridegroom was a long time in coming in the new living translation it says when the bridegroom was delayed and the amplified says the bridegroom lingered and was slow in his coming so again we see a key component of this parable was the delay of the bridegroom so it means that in our preparation we must be prepared for a delay because the crooks of the difference was in their level of preparation praise the name of the lord jesus also important is that although he took a long time he did eventually arrive so the arrival of the bridegroom eventually announced that midnight the virgins woke up and they were now putting themselves together to go on the procession but as they went for their lambs the foolish realized that their lamps had gone out so they might have been seeing the glow of the lights from the wise virgins but when they took their individual lamps their lamps were gone out of course they asked the wise virgins for oil but the wise could not share saying lest there be not enough for us and you the foolish went to get oil but while they went to buy the bridegroom came then those that were ready went with him to the marriage and we'll say more about that because they were ready and waiting and were able to go at the time that the bridegroom came afterwards the door was shut the foolish virgins even eventually came back seeing the closed door they were knocking on that door but the answer came verily i say unto you i know you not the story ends there the next verse again is the crooks of the message what was jesus trying to save why did he share this parable the message took the disciples the message to the church the message to those who are listening tonight watch therefore for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the son of man cometh i'll say this again and i'll say it again later on because we can know the story we can work out what means what and who represents what but all of that becomes of little significance if we do not do what the parable is teaching us to do sister addison she prayed spoke about us being doers of the word and not hear us only it is not so much for us to try to find types and shadows and work through interpretations we want to get the meaning of the parable and to act accordingly when jesus finished the parable of the good samaritan and he asks who then is your neighbor when the lawyer answered the one that showed good jesus says go and do likewise so the message to us tonight is watch for ye know neither the day nor the hour where in the son of man cometh so the key application of this parable is that we must be prepared for christ's return we must be prepared for christ's return and therefore for the next few slides i want to highlight a few passages that helps us to understand some of the issues concerning his return so the first point is that his return is certain and we will look at these passages john 14 acts 1 2 peter chapter 3 and then revelation 22 very quickly john 14 verse 3 and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you unto myself that's where i am there ye may be also and in this first interestingly we see a lot of parallels between the marriage tradition in the jewish custom and what jesus was teaching here so the bridegroom would get engaged to his right he would leave to go and prepare a place for the bride sometime approximately a year later he would come again to receive the bride and to take her to his home and then they will dwell together the exact timing of the return of the bridegroom was not known so in a similar way jesus came he formed the church laid down his life went back to heaven but he says i will come again i well before that i go to prepare a place for you and if i go i will come again and receive you unto myself that where i am there ye may be also so our bridegroom is gone to prepare a place for us he is coming back for us the timing of his return is uncertain but his return is certain in this passage jesus also said if it were not so i would have told you we can bank on his word his return is certain the angels in acts chapter 1 re-emphasized this so it tells us this now looks at jesus at the time of his ascension when he had spoken these things while they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received them out of their sight and while they looked steadfastly towards heaven as he went up behold two men stood by them in white apparel which also said ye men of galilee why standee gazing up into heaven this same jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you see him go into heaven this same jesus shall so come in like manner he was saying to them his return is certain second peter chapter three and in this passage peter was responding to the scoffers who were saying that since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were it's like we don't really expect him to come again because he's taking too long peter said the lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long-suffering to us lord not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance but the day of the lord will come praise the name of the lord jesus i want us to remember the day of the lord will come he will come as a thief in the night again specifying the uncertainty of the time of his arrival says in which the heavens shall pass away with great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works therein shall be burnt up and in the last passage of the bible revelation chapter 22 and verse 20. just before the final verse john writes he which testified these things said surely i come quickly amen even so come lord jesus so he emphasized surely i come quickly his return is short it has written so many times in the scripture and we have got to be very very sure that we understand that he is coming back there are scoffers in our day who are looking and saying that we have heard it for so long and we don't see any sign or any evidence of this coming or anything that's changing but he will come now the second part we want to emphasize is that the timing of his coming is unknown to man and this is critical because if we knew the exact time then people could sort of schedule their preparation but when things are uncertain then you have to be ready at all times the songwriter says it may be at mourn it may be a twilight it may be perchance in the blackness of midnight but it tells us that he will come oh blessed be the name of the lord jesus so just looking at a couple verses emphasizing the uncertainty of the time matthew 24 36 but of that day and over know it no man no not the angels in heaven but my father only verse 25 chapter 25 verse 13 which we have emphasized and we will continue to emphasize tonight watch therefore for ye know not neither the day nor the hour wherein the son of man cometh praise the name of the lord jesus mark 13 and verse 32 but of that day and that hour know it no man not the angels which are in heaven neither the son but the father what ye therefore for he know not when the master of the house cometh at even or at midnight or a crowing or in the morning lest he come let's coming suddenly he find you sleeping praise the name of the lord jesus now the final point that we want to emphasize is that believers are required to live in readiness for his return so matthew chapter 24 and 44 therefore be ye also ready for in an hour as you think not the son of man cometh 25 10 while they were while they went to buy the bridegroom came and there that were ready went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut luke 12 verse 40. be therefore ready also for the son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not so again emphasizing the critical importance of readiness it's not getting ready it is being ready because he could come today he could come tomorrow it could be 10 years time or it could be 20 years time but whether he comes in the next hour or in 20 years every day of those days we need to be ready so one ought to examine themselves assess whether or not you are in christ praise the name of the lord jesus whether you have committed your life to him whether you're living in holiness and righteousness because if you are not ready when he comes you will be in grave trouble and as we have been emphasizing the issue of potential delay we must remain in readiness even if the timing of his coming is longer than we thought initially now we think back and for those of us who are a little bit older we remember that level of preparation that persons were putting in place as we came around to the turn of the century because everyone was looking that the year 2000 will come computers would crash and things would go crazy and people were getting ready and being ready now in those days most persons could not conceptualize 2021. if you went back to 1995 or 1990 or 1999 2021 was a very far concept but here we are we are still on the side of earth if we had not had the experience with god the confidence with god not being prepared for a longer than expected time for his coming that we would still no longer we would no longer be in the church in fact many have backslidden because they probably did not expect that it would take this long but it is important for us to remember that even if his coming is delayed or it takes longer than we expect that we must remain in readiness and finally the taco message the central thought the essence of what this parable is teaching watch therefore for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the son of man coming i say this one more time for emphasis watch therefore for ye no neither the day nor the hour wherein the son of man cometh praise the name of the lord jesus praise god praise god so we'll stop there and we should have some time that we can take questions and um any additional discussion as may be necessary praise the name of the lord jesus over to you um minister smalling bless the lord says we give god thanks for this very timely and inspired teaching brought to us by elder ferguson i'm sure there might be some persons who have questions and so we are going to open the floor for any questions that you might have you can raise your hands or you can write in the chat and we once you have been acknowledged that you need to identify yourself and to ask your question you may go ahead any questions any clarifications that you need we were reminded tonight that we need to take heed that no man deceive us we are living in a time brethren where there are so many persons who are coming and saying that they are sent from god and so it's important that we know the word of god that we focus on what thus saith the lord so we need to be vigilant and prepared and while we wait we must be prepared that there might be a delay you know sometimes some of us we have been saved for a while and we we get wary along with journey because we say by no god should have come and he's not here yet that we get to relax but we're reminded tonight that we must be prepared for the delay and that his coming is sure why we don't know when he's going to come we are sure that he is going to be returning and so we need to live in readiness what does that mean about limited readiness it means that we are to examine ourselves make sure that we have been called of god that we are living according to his words that any time that he comes we won't be getting ready but that we will be ready hallelujah are there any questions pastor louis you may go ahead thank you thank you jenny what did it to make it for the earth pastor lewis barcelo is to get back hello go ahead go ahead sir go ahead all right it seems we're having a little technical issue that pastor's link go ahead sister john man just coming here there's a question in the chat um in terms of saying who exactly was the parable talking about um i probably would ask if the person can give a little bit more um specifics one of the things that we look at is that the we can apply the parable to um both the church as well as to israel so in terms of when we look at it in in our current setting that we see that the the issues that it relates to is preparation for his return and the church as the bride of christ must be preparing for his return so we look at this this is the church as the bride of christ preparing for his return and we must be ready for his return so we can look at it in that broad context now there are different persons who look at the whole olivet discourse and apply that all to the jews and so there are different ways in which we can look at that but in terms of as the the relevance to us tonight it's the application to the church and if we look at the church as the bride of christ as the bride jesus christ is the bridegroom he is gone to prepare a place for us as we saw in john chapter 14 verses one to three so he's gone to prepare a place for us as the bridegroom in the olden days and he will come again to receive us and take us to his abode which is in heaven so we look at it in this broad context applied to the church but i do accept that there are other thoughts as to how we apply this and whether we apply all of this to the jews or we apply it to both the jews and the church within the appropriate context um so pastors back on praise god i don't know if you can hear me now yes we can oh praise god um in terms of being prepared i know over the last couple of months a number of persons have been making a lot of predictions about the coming of the lord and some have even gone as far as trying to pin down a exact time in relationship to the coming of the lord can you speak a little bit about our need for preparation as it relates to the season going to the extreme of trying to identify a time as i hear a lot of prophets are prophesying can you speak to that a bit yeah so thank you very much pastor so clearly one of the points of emphasis that the scripture has said that no man knows the day nor the hour in which the son of man comes now we will understand this season and we can recognize the signs of the time so the things spoken of in matthew 24 we see a lot of those things happening now and clearly we are having a great pestilence but then if we are to be objective there has been pestilence before and that didn't herald the immediate return of jesus christ so we can't over interpret i think that's one of the things i remember for example when we had that big earthquake in 2011. in hating and you know the the emphasis that this now means that the lord is coming now we have to understand that we do not know the day or the hour so it could be today it could be tomorrow if people start to put prediction then you know they're going and try to attach dates then they are going against the principles that the bible has set because it's saying that no man knows the hour so once you start to give a date then you are in error right now we have to be in readiness one of the things that has been pointed out is that when we think of the rapture and most of us um accept a pre-tribulation rapture so there would be no prophecy that needs to be fulfilled before the rapture can come now if persons take a post tribulation do then there may be other things that they're looking for to happen before the the the return but if we accept that the the the um the rapture comes before the great tribulation and that's what ushers in the great tribulation then it means that he could come today for the church ushering the tribulation period and then some of the other things that we see predicted will begin now to come to fruition so anyone who starts to give a date i get suspicious because they're going contrary to what the word says tell me to be ready tell me he's coming soon i can accept that and i will live by that and i believe that the other thing though is that many of us in emphasizing the soonness of his return fall in the same era of the foolish virgins because they were not prepared for a delay and paul had to rebuke some person i think it was in thessalonica because they stopped working and stopped doing anything because of god coming soon and he says no that don't work you can't do it that way continue doing the things that you are to do occupy until he comes and therefore it's important that we be ready for his quick and immediate return but we must also be prepared that if it is longer than we expect that we are not found like the foolish virgins where our energy our drive our enthusiasm has run out and we said we can't bother no more because we are waiting for jesus for so long and not come yet so we have to be careful that we do not fall in that era be ready for now but be prepared for the long haul amen and the fragrance we have a question in the chat what does the oil signify okay so um i'm going to be conservative on that because the story speaks to oil because they needed oil to provide light for the journey now we can apply oil to different things so you know the traditional thing speaks of the oil referring to the holy ghost and there isn't a problem with that but then if we go into the interpretation the problem was not that the foolish virgin lacked oil is that they did not have enough so now we'll be saying that some people have enough holy ghosts and some don't have enough so that becomes a little bit of a problem so we have to be a little bit careful as we so if you notice i did not try to go in to say this represents this and this represents that and this represents that because that's not going to get us very far the essence of the parable is us being prepared but i don't have a problem with us emphasizing um or or looking at some of the symbolism so certainly um i wouldn't fight somebody who says the oil represent the holy ghost but then it is not a thing about the filled and the unfilled because in that case both had the holy ghost what would happen is that some persons probably then did not allow the holy ghost to continue to operate and therefore god the holy ghost became dormant but i don't want to get too much into that because that goes now into supposition i think when we look at the principle in the passage they needed oil to provide light and if you did not have enough oil you did not have light so i wouldn't make it on a dogmatic or specific application in this context thank you sir for the corner smith go ahead ask the lord yes lord the everyone i question these um seeing that we have the holy ghost the church father said we are not ignorant of the time during the time and the thing is the first comment of jesus christ the earth in it was iceland in the sense that isaiah told us that urgent would bring forth a son specific direction that from the east would find it because were insulted by the star guided by the star now in our era said we have the whole goal second coming of christ when we see these things we should look up now we are not hidden around of the time that we are listening so should we have some specific horrible answer for this time more specific that we are the spirit now living in us directing us and pointing out the star point wiseman where jesus was and we found him since we have something more specific to answer um i wasn't able to hear very clear i don't know sister jungle able to hear a little bit clearer i'm not sure of the question not sure that we got a question is there a question that you wanted to ask about let me tell you we're just making a comment oh it's a question i'm asking the question should we be more sensitive in the second coming of the lord in that we have the holy spirit living in us since we have a more connection please return when you say be more specific concerning the second coming of the lord what exactly are you asking i'm not quite sure i understand the questions i don't want to give an answer um if i don't understand the question um one of these things understands of the time okay so um for instance in catalonia thessalonians said that we are not ignorant of what's going on right of these devices of enemy and so on and so forth so we knowing knowing by the spirit of god inside us shouldn't this is it i think he dropped off but the the issue in terms of trying to be more specific as it relates to the time as we said in terms of the principle is that no one knows the day or the hour so i am careful in presentations to say that we have the general principle as we know we are living in the end times and we look at scriptures and we understand the signs etc but in terms of trying to predict a specific time then that i certainly would not encourage and um in terms of going into the parable i think one of the things that we should be careful of know is how do we ascribe specific things to specific associations because the problems intended to be taken as a whole and not necessarily to be um first to take that each point means something different now there was there are a few exceptions to that for example in the parable of the soul and jesus gave the interpretation in that context so we don't have to guess what uh what the interpretation means but in the similar way if we look at the prodigal son or the good samaritan we're not gonna take each item and try to say that this means this and this means that what we want to do is to get the message what was it that jesus was trying to say as it relates to this parable so i hope that helps i think brother maurice has a question uh just before brother maurice brother dalen in the chat is action how do we maintain the balance of being ready for no while preparing for a long haul in other words maintaining the passion and fair okay so i think the key issue in that is um continuing renewal and confidence in who god is now if the the if our relationship with god is sound and solid then based on our experience we accept that this is true that this is real and we are prepared for now now i guess it it's you can think of it like how a marriage works you can keep the fire going by strengthening the relationship by working together by being in close communion by being in close fellowship and therefore we have marriages that last 50 years 60 years and going on and on and that fire and that passion is still there so we need to ensure that our relationship with god is um genuine and is being renewed day by day so that that passion is maintained if we continue to experience god then the years go by very quickly and we do not become stressed out by the time but if we become distracted in doing other things and not focused on god then what we will find is that the relationship will become weak and we begin to harbor doubts and that's when we become we we get into into trouble so i think the key thing is really to maintain a strong relationship with god be very confident of what you have experienced and having renewal of your experience in an ongoing basis so that we will remain strong whether he comes today or he comes 10 years or 20 years from now my blessings are minister maurice brown you can go ahead mr lord dr ferguson could you could you clarify for us what is it about the time that the on the five foolish virgins did not know is it that they did not know what day what the wedding should take place or what hour in the day that would have affected their preparedness and all that assist us as believers in being prepared for the coming of the lord so in this case it we would take it that they were aware of the day because the general concept is that they were dressed and waited so as we said that the bridegroom would go away and we do the preparation he would now communicate with the um the bride's parents or so to say i'm now on my way to get the bride but the over was uncertain so it within the specific context it is quite likely that the day was known but the hour was not and therefore they were dressed they were ready they had their lamps and they were waiting that at whatever time he came they would be ready to go so um if we were to look at it in the broad context as we try to apply this we know the season that we are in we are in the end times but in terms of trying to pinpoint the over but we have to be very very very very very careful but then again we look at the wording of the statements jesus says one doesn't know the day or the hour so we have to be a bit careful even oh which we we ascribe day and hour in this whole concept so um the issue at hand is understand the season understand the times but peter says that a day with the lord is like a thousand years and a thousand years as one day live in the readiness because at whatever time he comes we must be ready so that's my take on it i don't know if you have another view that you would like to share no sir that's what i said i just wanted you to underscore that point aspect to it all right good good all right we have a question from a chat it says explain matthew 24 verse 14 what end is it talking about let me see matthew 24 verse 13 14 14 and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preaching all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come all right so um in terms of the when we look at the end in this context when we look at matthew 24 it does give you um how do i put it no it speaks both to the rapture as well it speaks to the the second coming in terms of when jesus burst through the clothes now if we look at the gospel of the kingdom being preached then we know that the gospel of the kingdom was preached from the time of the apostles and continued to be preached no and has gone all over the world so um i think ending that context is used in the broad sense so it is not to to be interpreted to say to to be specific to the rapture or the um second coming in terms of the revelation of jesus christ but in terms of the end of the age in that broad context so i wouldn't try to pinpoint to say that one speaks to the rapture one speaks to to to the second coming we use that in its broad context and when we get into some of these of course there will be some controversy because different persons have different viewpoints and as i've said there are persons who apply all of this strictly to a jewish interpretation and not to um to the church so there are several aspects and um i think we should be broad in our understanding and rather than sometimes trying to be narrow and put ourselves in a box so to speak thank you sir galaxy j7 prime go ahead um i have a question um concerning the the chapter um my reading of it for someone's trying to understand it i was thinking of course as the church you know the the church and us as the christians or the members in the church you know we go there every day we sing we praise we worship you know what are some of the things that you know not make us to be ready um as the church um for example some might be there we all there clapping and singing but at the end of the day we were not ready at all and um what are some of the things that caused us not to be ready that cause our oil to run out or oil to run low for example love joy peace the fruit of the spirit you know is that a wrong interpretation all right so um what i would say is that so if we accept first of all that um we are if we apply this to the church so these are people who are in the church now the issue would be that after we are saved so after we are baptized after we have received the holy ghost that we need to live what um i think this is peter said godly and soberly in this present world so it means that we must live in righteousness we must be doing the right things no one cannot be in the church and be slack in terms of participating in sinful activities not doing the things that are righteous so we have to examine ourselves so if we're lying and stealing if we are hypocritical if we hate our brother if we're involved in fornication if we're involved in adults we're involved in all of these kind of things we can still be coming to church clapping and singing but we do have no oil so it is very important that we understand that um as christians having the holy ghost by itself if we do not live holiness live in righteousness then we will end up being left behind as a hebrews um tells us follow peace with all men um and holiness without which no man can see the lord so living a godly and a sober life is what would be critical if we are in the church and not living right then we are not ready so the scripture says let a man examine himself so each of us have to to look at it and paul says he died daily so each person have to assess am i living right do i have hatred and hypocrisy in my heart am i lying and stealing and covering up things are there things in my life that if they were revealed would be problematic so we have to ensure that we are living in the readiness living a godly life living a sober life and that we are having a good relationship with jesus christ thank you sir we have another question in the chat it says can you explain those that were already went in and the door was shut as it did not say the wise um well this again it is the issue of the the um how a story is told so we know that they the wise virgins were ready because they had oil we know that the um foolish virgins left to get oil and we know that the foolish virgins came back and were knocking so in essence if you take the story that the subject concerns these ten virgins it's not speaking about anybody else at this point in time so the subject is the ten virgins five were wise five were foolish when the bridegroom came five were ready because their lamps were trimmed and burning bright five were not ready because they had no oil and therefore their lamps were gone out so in that case the door was shut on those who had god to get oil because they were not ready so that is how i would look at it i hope that helps any more questions before we close show it go ahead please bless everyone let's see what dr ferguson number one sir can you elaborate on uh said mark chapter 13 verse 32 when it says that uh neither the son no no the howa is he speaking jesus speaking as his human role does not the time after rapture could you elaborate sir all right so this is a totally different subject so we probably won't get into that um in detail but of course in terms of when we remember when we think of jesus christ we speak of him having a dual nature right so having his full humanity and full divinity so in speaking of the son in that context that spoke to the humanity and therefore the human jesus did not know that they are the ower but the divine jesus clearly knew amen so that is how we would look at it okay thank you thank you much okay god bless you everybody we want to give god thanks god bless you dr ferguson for this very enlightening teaching and for stirring up our hearts to ensure that we are ready for the coming of the lord we have truly been blessed tonight and we pray that god will continue to bless you and let you restore virtue unto you that as you impart to his children then he will strengthen you that will all be ready for his appearing hallelujah god bless you uh we're going to be closer at this time when our closing song will be hold fast till i come and as we sing a song we just want to meditate and to reflect upon our lives as we ask the lord to help us to be ready so that at any moment that he makes his appearance we will be ready if there's a soul here tonight that is not saved and you want to get further instructed on how you can be saved you can write it in the chat and we will make contact with you rejoicing in hope believe in his word we look for the coming of jesus our lord but till he return through heaven's brutal he beats his disciples hold fast till i come hold fast till i come here's the word of the master the old man's in greece and the signs they cut faster until i restore your losses and home give me to the message hold fast till i come when all the world the storm shall prevail the love and devotion of many shall fail be steadfast and true nor slumber like some and yours is the kingdom hold fast till i come hold the fast still i come hear the words of the master the old man's increase and the signs thicken faster [Music] until i restore your lost is give him to the message hold the fast come then let all our lambs burn steady and bright lest face let me find us asleep in the night endure to the end and watch on to prayer for jesus the parent his own must prepare oh fast did i come here's a word of the master the old man's increased and the signs thicken faster until i restore your lost it and hope gave to the message hold fast till i come he'll banish all sin all pain and distress the lion of judah the nations will bless with crumbs on our heads with herpes sing hallelujah to god and the lamb hold fast till i come hear the word of the master the old man's increase and the signs thickened faster until i restore lost give him to the message hold fast till i come we're gonna sing the chorus one more time then we're gonna open our mics and we're all gonna pray together oh fast till i come here's the word of the master the old man's increase and the signs click on faster until i restore your lasted and hope give here to the hallelujah in the name of jesus we thank you thank you [Music] for your help [Music] tonight is foreign jesus oh of jesus thank you yes yes lord in the name of jesus we thank you lord pray god tonight that our hearts will be attuned to you i tuned to your words oh god actually in the name of jesus glory to god that our hearts god will be in tune to your word in the name of jesus god almighty that we will hide them in our hearts god we will not sin against you lord but we will be ready oh god for your coming oh lord almighty that we will be found in opposition lord god in fellowship with you god almighty that you have gone to prepare a place for us and you will come back for us hallelujah let none of us be lost but let us be found in that bride hallelujah that triumphant bride that glorious church bless us now as we declare oh god that is the kingdom the power and the glory now and forevermore in the name of jesus we pray hallelujah to god in the name of jesus we thank god tonight for his goodness we thank god for his mercies we thank god for his grace praise god tonight we thank god for everyone who has joined us amen tonight thanks to dr ferguson for his teaching amen we see some of our friends joining us tonight and we thank god for them amen williams who came on and joined us thank god i think i see amen pastor we talk amen well when we talk amen if you are still online open your mind and just greet us and give us a final word amen in the name of jesus pastor we took if you're still on in jesus name you can open your mic and greet us greetings pastor michael lewis amen and to all of my brothers and sisters at 20 south camp road and across the world god bless you hallelujah minister smalling god bless you you can sing man you can sing hallelujah praise god dr ferguson god bless you amen to all my brothers and sisters god bless you god is good and i think it's a timely reminder for all of us to be prepared not getting ready but be ready especially i mean as we see this this virus going around and taking out people left right and centered getting closer and closer to us amen jesus may not come no but we might be going to meet him praise god so my encouragement to all of us myself even is that we be ready not getting ready but be ready god bless all of you from sister without myself and all your brothers and sisters that bethel abundant life ministries right here in palm beach florida otherwise called bomb we need a bomb in gilead at this time praise god god bless you god bless you thank you pastor with god bless you everyone let's use their hands for the benediction and now unto him that is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before his throne to the only wise god we ascribe tonight on a majesty dominion and power both now and forevermore let all of god's people say amen and let the rapture ready people say hallelujah tonight in the name of jesus god bless you everybody love you and if we don't see each other again before the rapture see you in the rapture in the name of the lord god bless you back over to our host amen i'm sure you'll be given some time for greetings and sharing in jesus name love you all god bless you god bless you you can open up your banks and

Channel: Bethel United Church of Jesus Christ Apostolic

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Length: 109min 1sec (6541 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 16 2021