There have been good things happen here, and there has been questionable things happen too, yet, I am still always asking myself if I am falling short of the task that God has entrusted me with, or am I on the right track.

My job isn't just to preach the gospel of salvation, my job is also to make disciples of the people we come into contact with, and try to help make positive changes in their lives, to help them to be more aware of what the gospel of Christ is really about, and not what they assume its about.

Have we as a team of faithful servants fallen short of what we set out to do ?
Has there been lives changed ?

Some will say yes, some will say no, but none of that really matters, because it isn't about us and the words we say, it's about God and how willing we are to let Him have His way in our lives. It is not for me to worry about it, is for you to worry about, we all have to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

Do all of us fear God, do all of us worry about His judgment ?

No, some here will never care about having Christ in their lives. There's an old saying that most of us who were in sales know and it goes like this, some will - some wont - so what !!! Sounds kind of harsh but let me tell you what it means in spiritual terms.

We can tell you everything that you need to know to have salvation, but if you don't allow those words to become alive in you, then they are what they are…just words that will never cause you to change anything that you don't want to change.

Here's another old saying: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink, even if the water is the water of life.

There are some here who will never quench their thirst for truth and eternal life, but that is their decision. If they want eternal torment instead of eternal joy, that is their choice and we have to respect that.

Does that mean we don't do anything ?

Not at all, in fact we are commanded by Jesus himself to bring the good news of salvation to everyone without discrimination. Some of us do that and some of us don't, but even at that, we have to give an account of our lives and if we were obedient to the will of God or not.

The gospel of Christ is about the Kingdom of God and what we do with the grace that God has given to us freely, we can't earn our way to heaven, but we are called to be a holy people, a pure people who are acceptable to God.

We have to be acceptable to God, not to us, acceptable in His eyes, not in ours. We have to be filled with the Holy Spirit and not the spirit of this world.

He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. John 12:25

We have to be on the look out, waiting earnestly for the return of Jesus, when He comes for His bride. The church of God is referred to in the scriptures as the bride of Christ. God loves His creation and wants to be personally involved with it in every way that is holy. But we have to be watching and ready.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins:

1 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6“And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming;[ ] go out to meet him!' 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' 9 But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.' 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' 12 But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' 13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour[ ] in which the Son of Man is coming. John 25:1-19

What is oil in the bible ?

Oil represents the Holy Spirit. The five wise virgins were filled with the Holy Spirit and their lives showed it, because they were prepared for the Groom, who is Jesus in the scriptures. They were alert, prepared and looking ahead to His return.

The five that had no oil went to sleep when the five who had oil went to sleep. They had no oil in their lamps and went to sleep anyway. They had no urgency about where they were or what they were doing. Instead of being prepared for the upcoming event and making sure everything was in order, they went to sleep. They should have gone to go get some oil for their lamps before the bridegroom came, but they didn't do that, they just simply went to sleep thinking that everything would take care of itself.

Isn't that the way a lot of people are here today ?

They heard that Jesus is coming back to gather up His church of believers, but, because He hasn't been in a hurry, because He doesn't have to be, people have just gone to sleep and they don't think He's coming at all. They are sleepwalking through life as if nothing is ever going to happen or change, they have no oil in their lamps and their lives are full of unhappiness and darkness.

They have no light in them because they haven't had the awakening of the Holy Spirit in their lives, the either don't know what that awakening is, or they never thought that they would ever need it. Everything is just perfect, going exactly as they planned it out. There is no need for improvement.

But one day the Day of the Lord will happen, and in that day they will be begging those with the Spirit of God within them to help them…but it's too late for them, once the Bridegroom comes, they will be shut out.

A lot of people, because of pride, ignorance and unbelief, will stand before God, and all the excuses and con jobs they can try to persuade Him with will have no value at all, He will just simply slam the door in their faces and that will be that.

The five unwise virgins were just trying to look and sound as if they were looking ahead for the return of the bridegroom when they really weren't. They were professing to be something that everyone knew they weren't. But, the scripture say that by their fruits you shall know them.

What fruits are they talking about ?

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' Matt.7:21-23

There are a lot of people who talk like they know God, who say what they think is Godly things trying to make an impression on true believers, but we see right through them, because we can discern in our spirits weather they truly follow God or not. Our spirit bears witness with their spirit. That is something that no one can fake who is truly walking with God.

Those who walk with God are more concerned with the things of God than the things of this world. When you walk with God you are like a billboard for the Kingdom of God, anyone who sees you or talks with you knows exactly what you are all about, because you have to let it out.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,[ ] who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1

This scripture is very clear, if you don't want to see condemnation in your future, then you have to change things in your present that are keeping you from having the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. As I have said before, our bodies are the temple of God, and the Spirit will not dwell in a temple that we continuously destroy.

If you were looking to buy a house, and you found two that were the same price, but one was really nice and the other was all trashy and run down, which one would you want to buy to live in ?

The nice one that you don't have to fix up, right ?
Why would you buy the one that you would have to always be fixing ?

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Romans 8: 9-10

Well the fact is that we are all fixer uppers, but the Holy Spirit comes into our house and starts remodeling right away. If we need improvements, the Holy Spirit is like a remodeling contractor that comes in and makes unbelievable miracles happen, He transforms our dilapidated houses into heavenly mansions that are holy and acceptable to God.

When our lamps are filled with oil, we do not walk as the world walks, we walk in the power of the Spirit of God who dwells in us. We don't have a desire to do the things that we have always done before we invited Christ into our lives.

We look forward to new things that help us improve our lives, that transform us into the image that God has always intended for us, whole, victorious, free people loving life and living it filled with joy and peace.

If there is no joy or peace, then we have to change something, we have to do things different, and we have to make an effort to stop doing things that bring down our value to God. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to make us a holy temple acceptable to God.

We have to read His word, we have to believe His word, we have to live His word and we have to be ready when He comes. That takes effort and sacrifice. Walking with God is not easy, but it's worth it. Making sacrifices is not easy, but it is worth it.

Jesus didn't say, when you come to Him everything bad goes away and only good things happen, He didn't say that whatever you problem was that it would disappear in an instant. God requires us to put forth an effort to do the things that we need to do to bring about changes into our lives that make a difference.

When we invite Jesus Christ into our lives, we do things that make change happen. If we do drugs and they are destroying our lives, we stop doing drugs. If we are drinking too much and it is ruining our lives, we stop drinking. We stop making excuses for why we can't stop doing what it is that we are ruining our lives with.

We need to become a disciple of the kingdom of God…not just a believer !

What is a disciple ?

Someone who studies the Word of God on a daily basis, then takes what they have learned and then applies it to their lives. They are always eager to learn more day by day, to improve their outlook and attitude in their lives and then show someone how to make a difference in theirs.

Look at your life, are you happy ?

If not then you have to change something.

What are you willing to do to make that change ?

Are you willing to give up something in your life to make something better replace it ?

Are you willing to really try, and not fake trying, to make something positive happen to transform you from what you are now intp what you thought you would always be ?

Sometimes we have to make tough decisions that will make all the difference in our lives if we let them.

Are you willing to make a change ?