[Buy it, carry it around, and read it]
Pastor: Ko JaeKook
Matthew 25:1-13
I am a pastor in charge of a small rural church in Yangji area in Yongin city. The title of my sin is what I think I am the best, and by chance I came to the Bathhouse Seminar of Wooridle church in May 2019 without thinking and found a ray of light of my ministry. Through QT, I was able to endure every day while doing QT during COVID-19, and something amazing happened that the church found stability and revived. The title of todays sermon is Buy it, Carry It around, and Read It. To begin with, buy QTin, carry it around, and read it. Lets look at the relationship between QT and the Parable of Ten Maidens.
First, ten maiden who went out to greet the bridegroom
The analogy of the ten maidens is very simple, but the ending is very severe. All ten maidens were waiting to receive the bridegroom. Ten maidens are bridesmaids of the bride and groom, and they had to be maidens to become the bridesmaids. Five out of ten bridesmaids prepared their lamps and oil, while five prepared only their lamps. But when the groom came, there were two problems there. First, the lamps of the stupid bridesmaids who didnt prepare oil are dying. So they rush to ask the rest five to distribute the oil, but the wise bridesmaids refuse coldly. But the foolish bridesmaids didnt give up and went out and got as much oil as they wanted. The important thing is that it was very easy to get oil at that time. The second problem is that they had bought oil, but the door to the wedding party was already closed. To get oil, they did hard work and made an effort but their owner did not acknowledge it. At that time, it was natural for Jews that no matter how slow the groom came, the bridesmaids who went out to greet the bride and groom could not enter the wedding feast unless they prepared oil. Because being called as as a bridemaid is just to light up the bride and groom in wedding ceremony. My dear saints! I hope you and I believe that the Lord has called us for asking us to be bridemaidens to light up his returning way. We dont know when the Lord will come, so we have to check if the oil is enough or not. We believe that joy will be filled when we light up the lamp of truth and the lamp of Words at the workplace and home where we serve and work.
Second, what oil means, then?
If you look at the ten bridesmaids, there are similarities and differences between them. What they have in common are amp#9312 maiden bridesmaid amp#9313 They all waited for the bridegroom amp#9314 They dozed off and slept amp#9315 They all woke up amp#9316 They all prepared the lamps. These are the five similarities. However, the only difference is that one side prepared plenty of oil but the others didnt. Because of this one difference, we can or cannot enter the wedding party. In other words, even if you have a hundred, a thousand things in common, you cant enter heaven without just one thing, an oil. Oil means faith. Just as a phenomenon cannot replace its essence, even if we have everything such as commitment, great effort, and achievements, you cannot go to heaven without faith, and you cannot please God. I have done youth ministry with courage and bravado for about 10 years. What a passionate pastor I was, I thought I was the best myself, and I wasnt intended to do it, but as I did it, a youth missionary group was formed. However, it was not easy to operate, so the finances were negative, and we had to have a hard time living even if my wife was working outside. Even though I was moved by the Holy Spirit with faith and prayer, I was worried about why it was so difficult and one day I was forced to give up my youth missionary work. However, By the way I discovered the reason while doing QT. At that time, when we run a camp, young people repented, shed tears, burst into dialect, and we had fruits of ministry, and young peoples hard work and dedication. So I was deceived. Without such a visible thing, a phenomenon, I would have known, 'Oh, I dont have faith, somethings wrong,' but I didnt know because there was a visible result. I realized that I did the ministry just for myself without the most important belief in the ministry. According to Matthew 7:22-23, we have done the work of the Lord in the name of the Lord, but if we do not have faith, it is not only that the Lord does not acknowledge, but that 'I never knew you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness..' Because he worked for himself, not for the Lord, and because he wanted to be recognized, applauded, and elevated. I couldnt do it on my own, so I took Jesus power and his name and used Jesus Christ as a means. The five foolish bridesmaids in the text also worked hard and devoted themselves, and waited for the groom in full form, but they did not do it with faith. My dear saints! We have to believe if we dont have faith, that were nothing.
Third, how can we gain faith andwhen should we get ready?
I think faith is a kind of gift, so we can easily get faith because God gives it to us as much as he want to. But as the one who gives it to us is the Lord, and so we must get ready to receive it, and we must gain the faith that the LORD will give us as a gift and we should fill the portion of our faith. Also, if we do not learn, listen, meditate, be cute every day, and iron a wrinkled life with that Word, it is difficult to possess the portion of faith that the Lord is pleased with. Then when should we prepare? Its right now. The devil doesnt say to us like that, 'Do not serve. dont devote yourself to something. dont pray, dont worship, and Dont do QT instead, the devil just says to us 'Do it later. What do you think? Do you put Gods Words ahead in the face of desperate and urgent issues? Or do you put the problem ahead of the Word? If you dont give priority to Gods Words today, and so you dont do it tomorrow, too. I hope you dont deceive yourself that I can do it whenever I want, and that I will solve the urgent problem that comes to me first and then do QT. If you miss this opportunity now, the day will surely come, and you will be humiliated like five foolish bridesmaids on that day. No matter how urgent and desperate problems are, we should stand before the Word every day to check whether the amount of my faith has become the amount that God is pleased with, and I pray in the name of the Lord that we can fill the deficiencies up today, not tomorrow. In doing so, I believe that when you stand at the door of the wedding ceremony in your life, and enter the place of glory, our God greets you and you will be praised for your good work.
