The Tragedy of Being Unprepared The Future: Don't Miss the Signs 6.28.15 >>> You may be seated. >> And as you're seated, I'd invite you to take your Bibles, please, and turn to Matthew 25. And this morning we're going to start our final four messages in the Olivet Discourse as we wrap up this series by studying chapter 25. As you're turning there, just a couple of things. First of all, coming off just a phenomenal week at camp. I had the privilege this past week to be the speaker at the high school camp for Pleasant Valley Bible Camp which is a ministry supported by our church. And just a wonderful, wonderful time out there. But you might notice I'm going to probably this morning talk a little softer than usual so some of you are thinking, man, you ought to go to camp more often but just -- in the last two weeks, when today is over, I will have spoken 26 times in the last 2 weeks and my voice is kind of shot and I have developed a little bit of a cold and I still have to lead the hymn sing tonight. By the way, tonight we are having a hymn sing down in the Chapel and I love the modern music but I also grew up on the hymns and I love to sing the old hymns. Had a great time leading worship in the classic service this morning. So tonight at 6:30 if you grew up on the hymns and you just want to spend some time singing some of those old hymns, my wife's going to play the piano. I'll be leading the singing. And that's going to be tonight. It starts at 6:30. It's scheduled to go for an hour. Or until my voice quits. One of the two. Whichever comes first. But invite you to come back tonight at 6:30. Excuse me. And so anyway, it's going to be a great night together. Please also keep in mind that this morning we are asking the members of our church to vote affirming the hiring of David Harstine as our new Pastor of Adult Ministries. So after this service, if you're a member of our church, because only members can vote, we're going to invite you to just very quickly go down to the Chapel. We can't do it in here because people would be coming in for second service, but if you're a member, just go down to the Chapel for a very quick ballot vote. Andy Patrick, our church chairman, will be down there to lead that and as we affirm the hiring of David Harstine as our new Pastor of Adult Ministries, so please keep that in mind, as well. Well, this morning as we look at the next part of the text, remember that in chapter 24 Jesus has been giving all of the signs that will happen before His second coming to establish His kingdom on earth. In chapter 25, He's telling us our need to be ready. And He's telling different stories to show that. And the story today is the parable of the ten virgins and that's what we're going to look at today and it's really a story whose setting is a wedding which I think is pretty ironic that the setting of today's message would be a wedding after the week we have just had here in the United States.
And so, let me just kind of mention a few words because I have had several of you since the Supreme Court decision this week striking down all bans on gay marriage and making gay marriage legal throughout all 50 states. I have had some of you who have contacted me, e-mail, Facebook, whatever, and just to kind of get my thoughts and things of that nature. And, folks, really, it's very simple and the simple point is this. What you have to keep in mind is that the Supreme Court never defined marriage to begin with. God did. And the Supreme Court can't redefine something God originally defined. And in the Bible, in Genesis 2, God very clearly defines marriage. It's defined as one man with one woman. And it's that way all throughout scripture. Nowhere in scripture is there any deviation from that. Man didn't institute marriage. Marriage isn't man's idea. It's God's idea and God very clearly set the definition of marriage and five Supreme Court justices might be able to change the law of the land but, folks, listen. 500 million Supreme Court justices cannot change the Law of God. It remains the same. It remains the biblical teaching. And I really do believe that that's the very crux of the issue. The crux of the issue really isn't gay marriage. Folks, the crux of the issue is the Bible. What do you believe about the Bible? Well, here at the E-Free Church we believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God. We believe it's been preserved accurately for us today. We believe that the Bible contains everything we need to know to do everything God wants us to do. And we believe it's the final authority for life and godliness. And as a result, all of our views and all of our teachings are based on the Bible. And in spite of any decision made by our government, folks, that doesn't change. Someone e-mailed me this week and said, what are we going to change now? The answer is, we're not going to change anything. We're going to keep teaching the Bible. We're going to keep standing on the Bible. Well, what if they threaten to take our tax exemption away? Then we'll pay our taxes and keep standing on the Bible. Well, what if they one day say you'll go to jail if you don't change? Then we'll keep standing on the Bible and start a jail ministry. But we're going to keep standing on the Bible, the whole Bible and nothing but the Bible. Nothing changes. Nothing changes. So with that in mind, I'm going to ask you to stand with me because I want to read this parable straight from the Word of God. The parable of the ten virgins. And here's what Jesus said. Matthew 25. I'm going to read the first 13 verses. It says, then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish. By the way, the Greek word translated foolish is the word morose where we get our English word moron. The word moron is actually in the Bible. Did you know that? Here we go. Five of them were -- kind of sounds bad to say moronic virgins so five of them were foolish, five were prudent. And when the foolish took their lamps, and here's the key, they took no oil with them. This is the key. This is what's going to separate the five foolish virgins from the five prudent virgins. Verse 4. But in contrast, the prudent virgins took oil in flasks with their lamps. Now, while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight, there was a shout. Behold, the bridegroom. Come out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the prudent, give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. But the prudent
answered, no. There will not be enough for us and you, too. Go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves. And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast and the door was shut. Later the other virgins also came saying, Lord, Lord, open up for us. But he answered, truly I say to you, I do not know you. And then here's the point of the parable. Be on the alert then for you do not know the day nor the hour. The day nor the hour of what? Of the second coming of Christ. Thank you. You may be seated. Now, we're going to spend most of our time this morning looking at this parable and then we'll just wrap it up at the end by noticing the point because the point is very easy to understand. But the parable needs a little explanation. And it needs explanation because the setting of the parable is a Jewish wedding. Now, folks, you have to understand the Jewish weddings at the time of Jesus was completely different than modern-day weddings. I mean, we're not even comparing apples with apples. It is not even close. So to really understand the parable, you have to understand the history of Jewish weddings in Jesus' day. If not, you read the parable and go, that makes no sense. I mean, who are the ten virgins? Why do they have lamps? Why's someone coming in the middle of the night in what's going on? Well, understand that a Jewish wedding had three parts. Three parts. Part number one is the engagement. Now, here's what was interesting. In Jesus' day, most engaged -- not all but most engagements in Jesus' day the young man and the young woman had nothing to do with it. They weren't involved at all. They may not even have known the engagement was taking place. Back in that day, it was all done by fathers. Fathers got together and made the decision, my son and your daughter. Sounds like a good match. And they decided on the conditions. They decided on the dowry. It was all arranged by fathers. The way engagements should still be arranged today. Well, maybe not. But I will say this, young people, listen. Young people, my opinion is this. You are very foolish if your parents are not involved in the process of decision making regarding your engagement. God gave you parents for protection. God gave you parents to help guide you and give you wisdom and I would encourage all young people, keep your parents involved in the process. But back in Jesus' day, the dads did. They arranged it. Then they went home and said, by the way, honey, got some news for you and guess who my husband is going to be. That's how it worked. By the way, the fathers arranged it knowing what was best for their children. They took it very seriously. And that brought part number two. Part number two was the betrothal. Now, the betrothal was really a yearlong period. It started with the official vows. The young woman and the young man would come together in front of family and friends, a very private ceremony. They would say their vows. They would each drink from a cup of wine and at that moment they became officially married. Now, they could not be together yet. They could not consummate their marriage sexually yet. There would be up to a year period before that happened. But once the betrothal started, it was legal and binding. In other words, the only way you could break a betrothal is through divorce. If you were a young woman and your husband died during the betrothal, you were officially looked at as a widow. It was an official, binding agreement.
Now, during that year you were separate. The husband would go back to his father's house or maybe somewhere to build his own house but typically back to his father's house and he would spend that year adding a room on to the house. That room would become the bedroom for him and his new wife. And he would spend the year preparing that room. Now, when the room was prepared and the groom's father okayed the room, then the mother of the groom would tell the groom when it was time for part three because part three was the wedding feast. And the wedding feast was put on by the mother of the groom. By the way, back in that day, it was the mother of the groom that had the main say. Not the mother of the bride like today. And the mother of the groom would say, okay, I got the feast ready. We can go ahead to part three. At that point, the bridegroom would go back to get his wife. He would take his grooms men with him. It would usually happen at night. They would carry their torches. They would have sent word in advance that they would be coming soon and as they sent the word, the bride would gather her bridesmaids together in anticipation and when the groom got there, he would get his bride and them and their wedding party would all parade back to his house. It would be a huge party and the entire town would be part. I mean, there was nothing more festive, nothing that brought more celebration in the Jewish culture of Jesus' day than a wedding. Now, the parable that Jesus is telling centers around part number three. It centers around the bridegroom going back to get his bride and bring her home after a year betrothal for the wedding feast, and the wedding feast, by the way, usually lasted for seven days. I mean, it was quite the feast. And at the end of the seven days, the best man would take the hand of the bride, put it in the hand of the groom and that was the symbol for everybody to finally go home so they could after a year of waiting consummate their vows. That's how weddings happened in Jesus' day. Now, by the way, not only is that important to know to understand the parable, that's also important to know because it is a very good symbolic view of our relationship with Jesus today. Listen. Our relationship with Christ is very similar to that Jewish wedding system. It was the Father, God the Father who initiated our relationship. He's the one who called us to be His children. The Bible says we haven't chosen Him. He's chosen us. Now, does free will work into it? Sure it does. The Bible says whosoever will may come. But God the Father before the foundations of the world originated and orchestrated the path that would lead to our salvation. It was then made official when Jesus came to this earth and died on the cross as a payment for our sins and rose again from the dead. That solidified the relationship. Our relationship is based on that act of Christ. And then what did Jesus do? In John 14, He said, I'm going to go prepare a place for you. Just like that bridegroom would go back to his father's house and prepare a room so Jesus has gone back to heaven to prepare a room for us in His heaven. And one day He's going to return to take us home to heaven for a humongous marriage supper of the Lamb. So our relationship with Jesus as Christ followers follows very closely the symbolism of the Jewish wedding system. Now, let's get back to the parable. Whenever you're looking at a parable, it's important that you understand what everything symbolizes. So let me go through the symbols with you. First of all, who is
the bridegroom? It's pretty obvious, isn't it, in the parable that the bridegroom is Jesus. He's the one who went to prepare a place for us, who one day is going to return to take us back to His Father's house for the big wedding feast. So in the parable, Jesus is the bridegroom. Well, who are the virgins? Who are these ten virgins? Well, these ten virgins represent professing believers at the time of the second coming of Jesus. Now, by the way, notice that when you look at these ten virgins simply with the human eye they appear indistinguishable. They all are dressed like bridesmaids. They're all with the bride. They're all carrying lamps. They look indistinguishable. But you know what we're going to find out? We're going to find out that half of them are genuine believers in Jesus and half of them are not. Half of them truly possess salvation while half of them only profess to know Jesus Christ. And we'll see that in a second. What do the lamps symbolize? The lamps symbolize their readiness for the return of Jesus. Now, by the way, keep something in mind. There are two words in the New Testament for lamp. One of them describes a little oil lamp that would look very much like this. This is a replica of an oil lamp dating back to Jesus' time, how they would have looked in Jesus' time. This isn't genuine. Just a replica. And these lamps were the ones you used in a house. So in your house at night you would put a little oil in the lamp. You would light the lamp. You would put it somewhere high in the house so it gave off a lot of light. If you remember in Matthew 5, Jesus talked about this lamp. In Matthew 5, Jesus said, no one lights a lamp and puts a bushel over it. But instead, puts it high on a lamp stand so it will give forth much light. That's this lamp. Now, folks, listen. This is not the type of lamp that's being talked about in the parable of the ten virgins. If you look at any artist rendition of this parable, they all are carrying lamps like this and that's not the word. The word that's used in this parable doesn't describe a little oil lamp. It literally describes a torch, a long stick that had wire mesh around the top of it and they would take old pieces of cloth and they would wrap it through the wire mesh and then they would carry oil in a flask. They would soak the cloth in the oil and light them and they had a burning torch. It's the same word that's used in the gospel of John to describe the soldiers that came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane with their torches. So don't picture these bridesmaids holding these little lamps. They've got torches. Now here's the problem. The problem is that even though all ten virgins have the torch, they all look indistinguishable. The problem is that only half of the virgins have oil. The other half do not have oil. Now, when the bridegroom shows up, that's a problem because if you don't have oil to soak the cloth in and you just light the cloth, the cloth burns right up and you have no more flame. You have no more light. So the key to understanding the parable is understanding the oil because five of them have oil, five don't. That's what separates the five wise virgins from the five foolish virgins. They all look alike. They all act alike. All ten of them have torches. But only half of them have oil. Now, what does the oil symbolize? Well, I believe that in the Bible the most common symbolism of oil is the Holy Spirit. Oil represents the presence and power of the Holy Spirit of God. So what are we seeing in this particular parable? We see that even though you have ten virgins that look alike, they dress alike, they act alike, they all have the same kind of torches, only half of them have the Holy Spirit. Now, what
does that tell me? That tells me that only half of them are true believers, genuine believers in Jesus. Now, why do I say that? Because the Bible teaches very clearly that if you do not possess the Holy Spirit, you are not a genuine believer in Jesus because every believer in Jesus possesses the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Now, how do we know that? Well, the Bible teaches it clearly. In 1 Corinthians 12:13, the Bible says, we are all baptized into one body. We're all baptized by the Spirit into one body. All of us. Now, folks, the only way all of us could be baptized by the Holy Spirit is if it happened at the moment of salvation. If it doesn't happen at the moment of salvation, we can't all be baptized by the Holy Spirit. The moment you trust Jesus to be your Savior, the Holy Spirit of God comes and indwells you and places you into the body of Christ. That's what it means to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. The word baptized means to be placed into. When we baptize you in water, we place you into the water. When you're baptized by the Holy Spirit, he places you according to that verse into the body of Christ. It happens the moment you trust Jesus to be your savior. In fact, let me show you another verse. In Romans 8:9 it's very clear. Look what it says. It says, however, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now look at the rest of the verse. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. That's very clear, isn't it? If you don't possess the Spirit, you're not a genuine believer. Now, go back to the parable. Five of these virgins had oil for their torch. They possessed the Holy Spirit. They were genuine believers. But five of them had no oil. They looked like a Christian. They talked like a Christian. It was hard to distinguish them from Christians but they really weren't genuine believers. By the way, it's interesting, isn't it, that in Jesus' parable it's 50%? 5 out of 10. Now, I don't think we can take that as a hard fast rule that says half of the church really isn't believers. But I think it does teach this, folks. It does teach that there is a large percentage of people sitting in churches this morning who claim to be Christians who really are not genuine believers in Jesus. And I know that's not popular preaching. But that's what Jesus is teaching. By the way, this isn't the only parable He tells like this. Remember the parable of the wheat and the tares? In the parable of the wheat and the tares, Jesus talks about when the wheat grows, how this weed called a tare grows right with it and when you look at a field of wheat it's hard to tell a wheat from a tare. The wheat is real tare. The wheat is real. The tare is fake. There's no way to separate it while it grows because you'll destroy the wheat so they wait until harvest time and when they harvest the wheat they separate the tare and you know what Jesus said in that parable? It's the same thing with the church. There's a lot of tare among the wheat. There's a lot of people who claim to be Christians but really aren't Christians. They look like Christians. They're indistinguishable to the human eye but they really haven't genuinely put their faith in the person of Jesus Christ. And that's what Jesus is describing in this parable. You've got ten virgins. Five of them possess the oil. Five of them do not possess the oil. Though they are indistinguishable from just looking at them, the truth is that five of them are not genuine believers in Jesus.
Now, what happens to these virgins? Notice the specifics. Let's look first of all at the five foolish virgins. What happens to them? Well, according to the story, in spite of their out ward appearance, they're unprepared for the bridegroom's arrival. They have no oil. So when the bridegroom comes, they go to trim their lamp but they can't keep it lit because there's no oil. Without oil, listen, without oil their torch is useless. Folks, listen. Professing to be a believer in Jesus when you haven't really put your faith in the person of Jesus is worthless when it comes to getting to heaven. Getting to heaven isn't based on the words you've spoken. It's based on your genuine belief and faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And these five virgins have a problem. They have no oil. They're not genuine believers. So notice what they do. Because what they do shows us a couple principles that I think are powerful principles. Notice first of all what they do in verse 8. Go back to verse 8. Look what it says. Chapter 25, verse 8. The foolish, the ones who had no oil, said to the prudent, the ones who did have oil, give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. But the prudent answered and said, no, there will not be enough for us and you, too. Go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves. So what do these five foolish virgins do when the bridegroom comes and realize we're not prepared? We were faking it. We don't have the oil. They go to the wise virgins and say, hey, will you give us some of your oil? And the five wise virgins say, that's impossible. If we give you our oil, we don't have enough. What are we learning from this? Folks, listen. Here's what we learn. It's a powerful, important principle. You need to make sure you understand it and it's this. We cannot secure each other's salvation. We can't. I can't give you my salvation. I can't give you a portion of it. It's not like some plant that I can give you a starter to and let it grow in your life. I can't secure your salvation. No one will ever get to heaven on anyone else's coat tails. Well, my grandparents were Christians. That's great. But that doesn't make you a Christian. But my parents were devoted followers of Jesus. That's wonderful. But just because your parents were followers of Jesus doesn't make you a genuine Christian. Well, my friends are all genuine Christians. That's wonderful. But that doesn't make you a genuine Christian. Folks, listen. I cannot secure your salvation. Your parents cannot secure your salvation. Your mate cannot secure your salvation. Your kids cannot secure your salvation. Each person must on their own place their faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for their own personal forgiveness from sin. We cannot secure each other's salvation. It's very clear in the story. The foolish virgins cannot go to the wise virgins and get their oil. They didn't make the decision themselves. Notice something else. Look what happens in verse 10. In verse 9 they told them, well, go buy some from the dealers. In verse 10, it says they were going away to make the purchase and while they were away the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast and the door was shut and it was too late. So they go in to town to try to buy some oil but it doesn't work. They're still left out. What does that teach us? Folks, listen. It teaches us very simply this. You cannot buy your salvation. You cannot attain salvation from any source this world offers. The Bible says there is just one name given among men whereby we must be saved and that is the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, the Life. No one comes to the Father unless
they come through Me. John wrote that he that has the Son has eternal life. But he that does not have the Son of God does not have eternal life. What is Jesus teaching us? Jesus is teaching us clearly that to be prepared for His coming we must be genuine believers in Jesus. That is not something we can secure from somebody else. That is not something we can buy. That is not something we can attain from any other source than to commit our lives to the person of Jesus. By the way, that's why in 2 Corinthians 13:5 the Apostle Paul says this. 2 Corinthians 13:5. He says test yourselves to see if you're in the faith. Examine yourselves. What's he saying? He's saying it's important that each one of us evaluate our life and answer this question. Have I truly put my faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus? You see, I believe with all my heart, folks -- by the way, I'm not trying to talk you out of your salvation. Nothing like that. I believe with all my heart that if you're a true believer in Jesus, you know you're a true believer in Jesus because the Bible says that God's Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are His children. And the Apostle Paul says, listen. The way to be prepared is to make sure that you're not just saying words. You're not just playing a game. You're not just going with the crowd. You're not just following your parent's footsteps but that you have genuinely repented and turned to Jesus Christ placing your faith in His death and His resurrection for the forgiveness of your seasons and your eternal life in heaven. These five foolish virgins did not do that. They had no oil. And when Jesus came, when the bridegroom came, it was too late. And though they banged on the door, they were not allowed into the wedding feast. You contrast that with the five wise virgins. The five wise virgins were prepared for the bridegroom's arrival. They didn't just say they were believers in Jesus. They really were believers in Jesus. They possessed the oil. They possessed the Spirit of God. And as a result, when the bridegroom came in the middle of the night and they woke up knowing He was there, they were ready. They were prepared. And as a result they were able to enter the wedding feast and have that eternal union with their bridegroom. The five wise virgins didn't just process to be believers in Jesus. They possessed salvation through faith in the death and resurrection of Christ. So what's the point? What's the point of the story? Well, Jesus gives the point in verse 13. He tells that story and He says this. Be on the alert. Be always watching. For you do not know the day nor the hour when Jesus returns. So what's the number one way that we prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus Christ? The number one way is by making sure that we have truly, genuinely put our faith in His death and His resurrection alone for our salvation. And by the way, folks, if you have done that, there will be evidence. If you've really done that, your life will change. The Bible's very clear. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. All things have passed away. Old things become new. You can't genuinely put your faith in Jesus and end up being the same person. It's impossible. We have to make sure that we truly have put our faith in Jesus Christ. And if we have, then we need to live each day with this understanding. What if today was my last day? What if today, be it the return of Christ or death, whatever, what if today was the day I met Jesus? I don't know
about you but the day I meet Jesus I want there to be no regrets. I want to live each day like it was the day I was going to meet Jesus. When I was at camp this week there was a singing group there from Cavalry Bible College in Kansas City, Missouri, and one of the guys on the singing group, his name was Zach. We had a lot of conversations throughout the week and he was kind of leader of the group so we had to talk a lot before chapel services and just plan things out and it was about halfway through the week that Naomi Sponable and I kind of put together who it was. We didn't realize until halfway through the week that Zach's parents was a missionary couple that many of you prayed for 14 years ago. His parents were Martin and Gracia Burnham. If you remember, it was 14 years ago that they were kidnapped in the Philippines by Islamic terrorists. They were held for ransom for over a year. They were part of New Tribes Mission. I remember. I remember the story. I remember following that story that year. For a full year this missionary couple lived in the jungle. Every day. No new clothes. Very little food. For a year, with guns pointed at their heads. During that entire year, they were constantly on the move because the Philippine army was trying to track down the Islamists and rescue them and so they kept moving them deeper and deeper and deeper into the jungle. And as time went on, I mean, this happened literally for a year and ten days. A year and ten days. And as time went on, Martin realized -- he just began to realize this probably was going to end with his death. He probably wasn't going to make it out. He hoped his wife would. In fact, at one point Martin sat down and wrote farewell letters to his three children. Zach who was at camp would be the youngest of the three. Zach's now in his master's program in college. Zach was 10 at the time his parents were kidnapped. And he gave them to his wife Gracia to give to the kids if she made it back. A year and ten days into the ordeal it ended kind of as Martin thought it would. The Philippine army found the rebels and the Philippine army wasn't trained quite as well as our navy S.E.A.L.s in hostage rescue and the kidnappers would use their victims as human shields. And when the Philippine army came across the Islamic terrorists, a shootout ensued. Gracia was wounded in the leg but survived. Martin was shot in the chest and died in his wife's arms. To this day they still don't know if it was friendly fire or the kidnapper's fire because they used the same type of guns and bullets. But as Zach told me some of the stories as we talked at camp, it was interesting. He was telling me some of the stories and things that he learned from listening to his mom tell him about that year. In fact, I was watching a video just last night where Gracia was talking about how Martin realizing that probably he wouldn't make it through the ordeal, realizing every day in that jungle could be his last, he made the decision that he was going to live his last day with no regrets. He would every day when the kidnappers would handcuff him to a tree as they did every day, as they would handcuff him, he would look at them and he would say, thank you for very much. Because he decided if it was his last day he was going to live a joyful life no matter what the experience was. Every night he would sing to his wife to help her fall asleep. He found a medical bag and had stashed some aspirin and one of the kidnappers who was kind of the meanest one towards them, the one that
always had the gun pointed at them, he could tell he had problems with migraine headaches so he began to give him the aspirin and he told Gracia, Jesus said we're to serve everyone. And I got thinking about that even this morning as I was putting my final thoughts together and thinking, you know, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe if we were in that kind of situation, maybe just like Martin then we would say, wow, I'm going to live today because it could be my last. I'm going to live it like it is. Can I just ask you this question? Why can't we do that anyway? Why can't we do that today? I mean, we are not in a jungle. I realize that. We are not being held captive. We're not handcuffed to a tree. I understand that. But listen. If you're a believer in Jesus, why can't we as followers of Jesus live every day of our lives as if today were the day we see Jesus? I think if we had that mind-set we would live a little differently this coming week than we did this past week. Let's pray together. Father, I -- I just want to ask this morning that You would help us to examine our own hearts. I ask that You would help us this morning to examine ourselves first and foremost to make sure we truly have put our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Do we truly know Jesus as our savior? Has He truly changed our life? And if we're not sure, God, I pray that we would make that decision, that we would give our life to Christ in true, genuine belief and faith. And for those of us who have done that, for those of us that are sure of our salvation, I pray, God, that You would help us today to live our lives as if today were the day we were going to see Jesus. Help us to keep that in the forefront of our mind. And I pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Well, this morning --