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[0:00] How many want to hear from the Lord today? Amen. This is his messenger today. Are we going to get behind his messenger today and back up the message?! Amen. Let's back up the preaching today.

[0:10] Brother Morris, thank you so much for being here. Give us your story, your testimony, and then preach the word to us. Amen. Let's give God another hand clap of praise.

[0:30] Praise God. One more time. Let's give God a hand clap of praise. Amen. I'm grateful to be back in God's house.

[0:42] Amen. If you love God's house, give God a hand clap of praise. Amen. I want to thank Pastor Shane and his family for allowing me to be here today.

[0:56] Praise God. Give them high honor. Praise God. Let's give them a hand clap of appreciation. God's doing great things in Houston.

[1:10] Amen. I believe God's just getting started. Amen. I'm trying to conserve my voice. I run out of my voice pretty quickly. And yesterday I did a little bit of shouting.

[1:23] This morning I did a little bit of shouting. Trying to conserve my voice. Don't want to lose it too quick. Praise God. But, amen. Yeah. So I am just started to work about six weeks back.

[1:36] Me and my, we can take a seat. Praise God. We'll stand up here once I get to the word. But me and my family, we just started to work out in Grayson about six weeks ago.

[1:47] Amen. Excited about what God is doing in that area. Amen. Amen. Amen. I know we push souls, souls, souls. And I'm thankful that we belong to a church that believes in soul winning.

[2:01] Amen. We belong to a kingdom. We belong to a church that believes in preaching this gospel. Not holding back the truth. Not being ashamed. Not being embarrassed.

[2:12] But I'm thankful that we belong to a church that believes that this message still works. Amen. Amen. Amen. I'm not intimidated. And I know Pastor Shane's not intimidated by the naysayers.

[2:25] How big, how small the town might be. The message doesn't care. The message will work anywhere. Amen. I said God's message will work anywhere. It'll move in any situation.

[2:37] It'll move in any circumstance. It doesn't matter what the issue might be. God can still move. And I believe that. So about six weeks back we planted a church. And praise God I was looking for a building.

[2:51] The church, the city of Grayson has about population 500. One of our, one of the brothers at the church last week I believe he went to the, to the mail, the USPS, praise God maybe the United States Postal Services.

[3:07] And I believe he came back and told me there's 400 homes in Grayson. And I believe there's 500 homes in the city, the town next over, which is a 30 second drive, a five minute walk, if that.

[3:21] There's 500 homes. But I believe we're going to win 900 homes. Amen. It was hard. We couldn't find a building. I was planning on me and my family going outside and setting up four, four pop-up tents.

[3:37] And having my daughters, I have a, have an 11 year old and a seven year old and a 10 month year old. And I thought we're going to go outside. We're going to set up a few pop-up tents.

[3:47] We're going to have church outside. And there's 100 degree heat. And praise God, see what happens. I don't speak any Spanish. Praise God. My mom is full-blooded Mexican.

[3:59] My dad is a Okie. Amen. My dad's family is from Tennessee. So praise God. With that being said, we didn't learn Spanish at home.

[4:11] Praise God. Most people say, man, bro, I thought you were black. Well, not unless my mom's not saying something. Praise God.

[4:22] But you know what? Guess what? We're in a town that is 99.9% Spanish speaking. Amen. I need, thank God for my wife. God knows what he's doing because my wife's first language is Spanish.

[4:35] So praise God. I have my interpreter. We're having church. We're having service. But with that being said, I was praying to God, God, we need a building. We went to, I went to, I spoke with a minister out in Grayson, only minister that I can get a hold of.

[4:51] Well, long story short, he told me that his congregation did not want to rent out the building. So I said, well, God, I don't know what to do. The other buildings that are up here, I can't, I can't get a hold of whoever runs those buildings.

[5:07] And I don't know what to do. So God told me, well, just drive to Wesley. Again, this is a 30-second drive from Grayson. Five-minute walk, maybe. He said, well, go to the old Wesley Hotel.

[5:21] I said, all right, let me go. Well, I spoke to the owner, told the owner my situation, told him I'm just starting out of work. He said, it's just me, my wife, and my three daughters.

[5:32] I was there for maybe 20 minutes. He gave me the keys to the building. I said, I don't have really that much money to offer you.

[5:42] He says, do not worry about any money. He says, you do not have to worry about paying me. He says, when you're done, just mop up the floors, do a little janitorial work, and once in a blue moon, buy some toilet paper.

[5:54] I said, praise God, I can do that. We shook each other's hands. He took his keys off the key chain, gave me his keys. And that was that. Amen. He doesn't really bother me.

[6:06] He doesn't text me. I try to text him. Kind of seems like he doesn't really want me to text him. So, praise God. I said, well, whenever we're done locking up, I say we locked up. He doesn't answer back.

[6:16] Praise God. I said, all right, he's letting me have my free will here. It's a God thing. And I believe God wants churches to be planted. God wants people to be one. Amen. God will use the world to bless the church.

[6:29] Amen. Our church is called, well, we're not having church. It's called Triple B's. Burgers, billiards, and bar. So, praise God.

[6:41] We're having church. Our first service there, there was an ex-Jehovah's Witness. After the service was over, she said, my goodness, I cannot believe that God can move in a place like this.

[6:53] I cannot believe what I am feeling at this place. Our next service, we had a man named Ramses, and I like the way he said it. I love the way people say it when they come fresh into the house of God.

[7:05] He says, I don't know what it is, but there's good vibes here. I said, well, praise God. I call that the Holy Ghost. But praise God. Amen. God's moving. I said, God's moving.

[7:16] And I believe that anything is possible with God. And I believe that God has great things for this city. I believe there's a great harvest in this city, a great revival in this city, and it's going to start from us.

[7:28] It's going to start by us. Amen. Praise God. I don't believe in coincidence with God. I don't believe in that. I don't believe in the luck of the draw, the roll of the dice.

[7:39] I believe that God has brought us here. I believe that God has brought you here for a reason and a purpose. And it's not just for you to be here, but I believe you guys have influence with friends, with family, on the job, wherever it might be.

[7:55] It might be on your street. It might be at your local grocery store. But I believe with your testimony and what God is doing in your life, we can see this building full. Praise God.

[8:05] I believe we can see this building full. I believe mothers are going to be here. I believe fathers are going to be here. I believe sons and daughters. I believe grandparents, moms and dads, aunts and uncles, cousins.

[8:17] I believe best friends and worst enemies can come and fill this house up. Praise God. Let's stand for the reading of the word. But I believe that God has wanted to do something here today.

[8:29] Amen. I'm not a long-winded preacher. I know if you've been in the church any period of time, you might have heard that. And it seems like when people say that, they preach for three hours and they're still not done with their message.

[8:40] Praise God. When I say I'm not a long-winded preacher, I'm going to preach 20, 20 minutes, 30 minutes if God's really wanting me to get something through. Amen. And what I want to do is this.

[8:51] I like to keep it real simple. Amen. There's three things that I want to let you know. I want everybody here when I'm done. Amen. I want us to open up the altar. And I want us to make our way to the altar.

[9:03] Amen. If it's our first time here, praise God. If it's our 100th time here, I want us to make it to the altar. Amen. If we have a need, if we have any need, if it's a physical need, amen.

[9:14] I believe that God can meet that need today. It does not matter what the need is. Let's bring our need to the altar. Amen. If you have the Holy Ghost, praise God. I want us to come to the altar and I want God to refill us with the Holy Ghost.

[9:28] Amen. Praise God. I love being refilled with the Holy Ghost. Amen. I don't know anybody that just eats one time and then never eats again.

[9:39] But I believe, amen, that when I have a good slice of pizza, there's going to become a time, it might be later on that night. It might be the next day when that pizza's cold. I like my pizza out of the fridge.

[9:49] And I will eat that pizza again. While the Holy Ghost is greater than any pizza, and it's better than any taco, and it's better than any soup. Amen. And I'm going to want to eat some more after I've already had some.

[10:02] So if we have the Holy Ghost, I want everybody up here to come and get refilled with the Holy Ghost. And if you do not have the Holy Ghost, there's nothing wrong with that because you can get the Holy Ghost today.

[10:13] Amen. Because it's a promise. It's not because this is what this particular church preaches. No, it's because of what the Bible teaches. And the Bible says that the Holy Ghost is a promise.

[10:25] It's not a promise from me. It's not a promise from Pastor Shane. But it's a promise from God. It's a promise from the Scriptures. The Bible says, and you shall, you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

[10:37] I love gifts. Amen. And I believe all of us here love gifts. And it is a gift. Praise God. So when I am done preaching, if I can please have the musician's assistance, as soon as I'm done, can you please get on that keyboard and do what you do, what God has anointed you to do.

[10:54] Just play something and let God do what God does. Everybody say amen. Praise God. I like to have fun. I like to joke around. I like to shout. And I don't like to do it, but I seem to do it.

[11:06] I put my foot in my mouth all the time, make myself look like a fool. But praise God, you know what? I enjoy it. I think that's just part of ministry, at least part of my ministry. I don't know if God's trying to keep me humble or what, but I can make a fool out of myself.

[11:21] So I'm going to ask you all to bear with me. Amen. Praise God. Okay. Book of Matthew chapter 25. Amen. I can feel the Holy Ghost in this place today.

[11:33] I mean, I'm really, I really mean that. I feel the spirit of God in this place. I was reading the other day, amen, and God pulled me away from my daily reading.

[11:46] He pulled me away from it. And I had been praying for God to give me a message. And, you know, just the way that God did it, he pulled me away from my reading. And he brought me to this particular passage.

[11:58] And I really do believe it's for today. God moved on me. And I can't seem to get away from this particular passage of scripture.

[12:09] And I really believe that God is wanting to minister to us today. Again, it doesn't matter if this is your first time or your thousandth time. It doesn't matter if you were born in this. It doesn't, this passage today is for, I believe, for all of us here today.

[12:24] Amen. So we'll just get a hold of what God is trying to say to us for just a few moments. I believe that God's going to do something here today at the end of service. Praise God.

[12:34] Book of Matthew chapter 25 verses 1 through 13. It says, Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

[12:47] And five of them were wise and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

[13:00] While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Go ye out to meet him.

[13:11] Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to 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.

[13:27] But go ye rather to them and 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.

[13:39] And the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

[13:53] Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. And I want to focus for just a few minutes on verse 10.

[14:07] 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.

[14:19] Father, I pray that you'll have your way today. I pray, God, that you would move upon each and every one of us that are here in the house of God. I pray, Lord, that you would soften our hearts. That you would open our ears.

[14:31] And that you would help us to receive all that you want us to receive here in this place. God, I pray that you would anoint my lips of clay just for a few moments, God. We lift up your name, God, and we exalt you.

[14:42] Because without you, Lord, we are nothing. God, we exalt you and we magnify you. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen. And we can be seated. And I just want to preach for just a few moments.

[14:57] Ready or not, here I come. Praise God. I remember growing up, being 8, 9, 10 years old.

[15:07] Maybe sometimes we were at school. Or maybe sometimes we were at a family party or family barbecue. Or maybe sometimes we were at the park.

[15:18] I remember a lot of the times we would go up to a place called Frank Grains Park. It's up in Diablo Grande, the hills of Patterson. And there's a big park up there.

[15:29] And we would barbecue. And we would play with paintball guns. And we would have a good time with the family. And I remember having friends at the house.

[15:39] And I remember just being together with my friends at a young age. I remember it being evening time or morning time. It really didn't matter what time of the day it was.

[15:50] And we would play a little game. A little game that maybe many of us are familiar with today. It was called Hide and Seek. And I remember being a little kid.

[16:02] And I remember being excited while we would play this game. I remember the intensity of the game. I remember the excitement. When you had 5 or 10 friends running around the playground.

[16:14] Or maybe some of your cousins or friends around the neighborhood. Amen. And you would begin to play this game. It was a rush as a kid. I remember the rush. I remember the excitement.

[16:25] I remember the laughter. Being a little boy. And hearing all your little cousins or all your little friends laughing. And giggling. Because maybe they were nervous. Or they were just excited about this game.

[16:38] It was a game where one person had to seek. And the other people had to hide. And the person that had to seek. They had to close their eyes for maybe a few moments.

[16:50] They would count down to maybe 5 or 10. Or praise God sometimes even 100. It mattered how many people there were. And it mattered where you were at I guess. And I remember playing that game.

[17:02] And I remember the excitement. And I remember just the emotions of going through that game. And counting. Or hearing somebody else count out loud.

[17:14] There was nothing like it as a little kid. There was nothing like that excitement. There was nothing like hearing that countdown. Because if you were hiding. You better find yourself a place to hide.

[17:25] Before you hear those words. Because he would go 5 and 4 and 3 and 2 and 1. And before you knew it. At least this is how we said it when we were young.

[17:38] Ready or not. Here I come. And I remember hearing that as a little kid. I remember. Amen. You wanted nothing more than to find a place to hide.

[17:51] You wanted to be where you needed to be. Because if you were not where you needed to be. You were going to get found out. You were going to get caught. You were going to lose that game. You were going to lose that game.

[18:03] Because you were not positioned where you needed to be positioned. You were not positioned where you needed to be positioned. You had lost that game.

[18:14] Because you did not. Amen. Find a place to hide. And I want to preach. And I believe that God is wanting us. The church. To hear this message today.

[18:25] That ready or not. Here I come. Amen. And we need to get this loud and clear today. It doesn't matter our background. It does not matter if we were brought up in the church or not.

[18:36] It does not matter. Amen. What our family lineage is. It does not matter how many degrees we may have. It does not matter how many scriptures you might memorize.

[18:47] It does not matter. Amen. There's only one thing that matters when it's all said and done. Are you ready for the coming back of Christ? Amen.

[18:58] Let me say that again. God is coming back. Jesus is coming back for his church. Because ready or not. Here he comes. Amen.

[19:10] The Bible tells us loud and clear. Amen. That God is not willing that any should perish. But all come to repentance. And I just want to stop right there for just a moment.

[19:22] And I want to thank God that we have a God that's merciful. We have a God that's loving. We have a God that's forgiving. Amen. We don't have a God that's sitting there in heaven looking down on us.

[19:34] Amen. And trying to destroy us. But we have a God that's merciful. We have a God that's good. We have a God that loves us. Amen. We ought to give God a hand clap of praise.

[19:46] Amen. Where would we be without the love of God? Where would we be without Calvary? Where would we be without the cross? I thank God today for the blood that was shed for me and you today.

[20:03] Amen. Ready or not, here I come. It's like I can hear the words coming out of the Lord's mouth. Amen. He is trying to let the people know.

[20:15] Be ready. Amen. Over 2,000 years ago, this passage was written. Think about it. Amen. Let that get into your mind and your spirit for just a second.

[20:28] For over 2,000 years, over 2,000 years ago, this passage was written. And Jesus, he was speaking to the multitude.

[20:39] He was speaking, amen, to his followers. Amen. And to really understand Matthew chapter 25, we have to go back to Matthew chapter 24.

[20:51] And it's in Matthew chapter 24 that Jesus is speaking to the people. Now, there are two things that stand out to me in Matthew chapter 24 that I think that we can all appreciate here.

[21:06] Amen. And I'm not a farmer. And I'm not sure there's any farmers here. Amen. But Jesus begins to speak to the people about the fig tree. Amen. In Matthew chapter 24, he tells the people, you know when summer is coming.

[21:19] Amen. Because the fig tree begins to blossom and bloom. Amen. Amen. I can't tell you much about, amen, trees and fruit trees. I can't tell you, amen, seasons are coming.

[21:31] Because around here, it seems like we have a lot of almond orchards. Amen. And if you're like me and you're kind of naive to these things, there is one thing that I'm pretty sure maybe the women here can say, amen.

[21:44] Amen. You know when the seasons are coming because you just got to go to Hobby Lobby. Amen. I might not be able to tell you by the trees, amen.

[21:56] But I know, amen, when the seasons are changing. We barely just started August. And last month of July, we went to Hobby Lobby and the fall stuff was out. Praise God.

[22:07] If you look up top on the rafters, I can see ornaments. Praise God. Amen. I know, whoa, we're getting closer. Went to Costco and they already got an eye over.

[22:17] I'm seeing the red ribbons and the green ribbons. And I feel like Christmas is around the corner. Amen. I cannot tell you anything about agriculture. But I can tell you from the things that I see that time is speeding up.

[22:31] And it seems like the world, even the world itself is realizing, amen, that time is speeding up. Amen. And I want to tell you, I believe that's from the Lord.

[22:41] Because God is wanting the people to know, hey, I'm going to come back soon. Amen. You need to understand the signs of the times. I want you to know, church. And I want the world to know, ready or not, here I come.

[22:56] God is coming back for his church. Amen. And praise God. And he makes that distinction. And then number two, praise God, it's a big one that stuck out to me.

[23:08] Jesus is speaking about the times of Noah. And if we've ever read the story of Noah, and I'm pretty sure many of us have, amen, it's a very familiar story.

[23:20] Amen. It's a very familiar story, whether you're hearing it preached. Amen. Amen. They made movies about it. They made cartoons about it. They teach it at Sunday school.

[23:31] Amen. It's a popular story. And Noah is a popular story. And Jesus is telling the people, amen, the days, the end of days and the coming of the Son of Man are going to be like the days of Noah.

[23:45] Noah. And I began to think about the story of Noah. For 120 years, Noah preached. For 120 years. For 120 years.

[23:56] For 120 years. For 120 years. I can only imagine Noah. Noah. For 120 years.

[24:30] For 120 years. For 120 years. Noah is struggling. For 120 years. For 120 years. Noah is busy. Noah. For 120 years. Noah is busy. Why are you building this boat. Why are you building this boat? And amen.

[24:40] The children. Amen. As kids growing up. And amen. For 120 years. For 120 years. Noah is busy. Noah is busy building this ark. While his children are growing.

[24:51] Amen. And nobody is listening to him. For 120 years. Noah is struggling. For 120 years. Noah is alone.

[25:02] For 120 years. Nobody is listening to him. They're watching him build. They're watching him struggle. They're watching Noah sweat. People are walking by.

[25:13] I can only imagine 15 year olds. Little smart aleck teenagers. Walking by and saying Noah. You've been building this thing since my grandpa was my age.

[25:23] Noah. Amen. What are you doing? Noah. You look like a fool. I can only imagine Noah's kids being teased. Noah. Your dad's a nut job. Your dad's a psycho.

[25:34] Amen. Who's your dad listening to? Amen. The Bible says that in the days of Noah. They were partying. And they were giving into marriage. And they were celebrating. What they were doing is this.

[25:46] They were living life like normal. They were living life with no conviction. They were living life with no fear of trouble. They were living life of comfort and luxury. They were living life.

[25:56] Amen. They had to listen to nobody. They had no fear of God. And for 120 years Noah was the only one who feared God. For 120 years Noah was the only one who put his ear to heaven.

[26:10] For 120 years Noah did what God told him to do. Amen. Amen. Amen. And it really shook me up because I see the world that we're living in today.

[26:24] I see the world that we're living in today. I love to go outreaching. I love to knock on doors. I love amen to speak to people in their car. I love to speak to people at the Walmart, the gas station.

[26:37] And I love to tell them this. I say maybe years ago people they would have to persuade you about how crazy the world is. I said I really don't feel like I have to do that.

[26:51] I really feel like I don't have to persuade you anymore about how crazy the world is. Because we have TikTok now and we have Instagram and we have the news.

[27:03] And we see it everywhere on our phones. And we see it everywhere we look. And we see it everywhere we read. The craziness of the world. I don't have to persuade you anymore.

[27:14] Amen. And you can see it in the neighborhood. You can hear it, amen, on the news. You can see it everywhere you look. You can see it on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok. People are being murdered.

[27:26] Mothers are killing their children. Fathers are killing their wives. Children are becoming drug addicts. People are losing their lives. Divorce rates are higher than before.

[27:37] Suicide is running rampant. People are destroying their lives. The world is going in complete chaos. But what really blows my mind is this. The world is still going.

[27:49] Amen. While the world is dying in chaos, there's still celebration. There's still parades. There's still people giving in to marriage and marrying. There's still people throwing quinceaneras.

[28:01] There's still people throwing celebrations and sweet 16s. There's still people celebrating. Celebrating, cheering when their team wins the Super Bowl. They're cheering when their favorite boxer wins the fight.

[28:12] They're cheering when their favorite UFC fighter wins. While the world is going down, people are continuing to live as if things are just normal. But I want to tell the church today, just like Jesus was trying to tell them over 2,000 years ago.

[28:30] You need to be ready. You need to realize the signs of the times. You need to realize that when you see these things happening, I'm at the door.

[28:41] And I'm coming. And ready or not, here I come. And we need to be ready as the church. I want to warn us today. Amen.

[28:52] We need to be ready. Praise God. Please don't misunderstand me. I don't take this message. And my heart is not to make this doom and gloom message today.

[29:06] That's not my heart today. I promise you, Lord knows my mind. And I'm not here today to preach a doom and gloom. I'm not here to make us come to the altar by fear.

[29:17] I don't believe. Amen. That's why I'm sent here today. But I'm just here to relay a message that's written in this book. I'm just here today to send a reminder that we need to be ready at all times.

[29:30] It's not just good enough to be ready yesterday. It's not just good enough to be ready last week. But I need to be ready today. I need to be ready at all moments.

[29:41] I need to be ready because God is coming back. Let's give God a hand clap of praise. Amen. Let's give God a hand clap of praise.

[29:52] Amen. Let's give God a hand clap of praise. Praise God. Amen. My question to us today. Amen. What are the things that we are allowing?

[30:03] What are we allowing to get in our way? Amen. I was thinking to myself, what are some things? And I believe it was the Spirit of God that spoke to me.

[30:14] He says the big if. I believe the big if can sometimes get in our way of doing what God wants to do in our lives.

[30:26] What if they don't respond? What if my family doesn't hear me out? Amen. What if I let go of this job to serve God and he doesn't follow through?

[30:41] Can I tell you, amen, sometimes following God is going to come with some sacrifices. I feel like I need to say this. I feel like I need to say this.

[30:53] Amen. We need to be faithful to the house of God. Amen. Now, let me, can I be real with you guys for a few minutes? I'm going to say more than what I should probably say.

[31:04] I'm going to make myself probably look foolish and I'm not going to look professional, baby. Praise God. But I remember when I came to the house of God and I wanted to be used of God.

[31:16] Amen. I was working a good job. Man, I was working a good job, Pastor Shane. I was working right here in Modesto. Best job I ever had. Oh, I was getting paid weekly, brother.

[31:30] My wife has a good job. She works for the school district. Praise God. I laugh. We were making so much money. My, we were feeling good.

[31:41] Amazon knew us by first name. Praise God. They knew us by first name. I remember one day I came home from work. It was summertime. Open up my door.

[31:53] I have a coat rack. I said, babe, why do we got a coat rack? We don't even have any coats. It's like we just had so much money. We're just spending it. Spending it.

[32:05] I had nothing to show for. Why am I saying that? Because I wanted to be used by God. But this job, it was taking up all my time. I was working six days a week.

[32:16] I had to rush home Sunday morning, get off of work. After working at 12, maybe from 9 to 9, 9 p.m. Come home real fast. Hop in the shower. Throw a suit on.

[32:27] Get to church. Be up for over 30 plus hours. Just try to spend time with the wife and the three kids or two kids at the time. Amen. And I was in shambles.

[32:37] And my pastor comes up to me and tells me, Matt, I'm going to tell you something. You want to be used by God? It's as simple as this. Your best ability is your availability.

[32:49] Your best ability is your availability. Why am I saying that? Amen. Two weeks later, I left that job and I took a $10 pay cut. I didn't know how we were going to survive.

[33:00] Today, it's been over five years. I still don't make in two weeks what I made in one week five years ago at the old job. But I can stand here and testify. You can tell I've never gone without eating.

[33:12] My kids have clothes and brand new shoes still. Amen. God has taken care of us. I want to testify. Amen. We got to praise God. We ought to trust in God.

[33:24] And I'm saying this today because we need to know as the people of God, we need to take the house of God seriously. We need to take living for God seriously. We need to take this salvation seriously.

[33:36] Because ready or not, he's going to come for a church. He's going to come for a people. He's going to come for a body. He's going to come for a people that didn't make excuses.

[33:47] That didn't let nothing get in the way. He's going to come for a church. Praise God, ready or not. Amen.

[33:58] We need to stop allowing these ifs to get in our way. We need to stop allowing these ifs. What if the finances don't add up?

[34:10] What if my family makes fun of me? What if my friends don't receive me in how I live my life now? What if, amen, the community looks down on me?

[34:24] What if, amen, the job won't let me have the time off? Can I tell you something? Amen. God will give you your time off. Amen. I'm going to say it.

[34:34] Amen. My wife, praise God. Amen. She has greater faith than I do. Amen. Because I remember, brother, I've been with my wife for 15 years now.

[34:46] Amen. And it seems, I remember while we were just dating still, she says, I'm not working midweek and I'm not working Sundays. I said, man, I don't know where you're going to work then. Ain't nobody going to hire you.

[34:58] You better get to work. Amen. Let me tell you, God is my witness. God is my witness. Amen. She has always had tremendous jobs and she's never had to work for the midweek and she's never had to work for the Sunday.

[35:16] God's given her bank jobs, school jobs, every job she needed, amen, to be a blessing so she can be in the house of God. Why am I saying that? Because we can't allow ifs to get in our way.

[35:27] We can't allow anything to get in our way. Amen. In our relationship with God, we got to put God first. Matthew chapter 6 says, seek ye first the kingdom of God.

[35:39] Oh, praise God. If we would just seek him and put him first, God would open up doors. Amen. We can't allow these ifs to get in our way because I believe that God is wanting to use the church today to be a beacon of light to a darkened city.

[35:59] I believe that God is wanting to use us to be difference makers and world changers. I believe that God is wanting to use you here today to win this community and win this city.

[36:12] And I'm believing that God is wanting to have a revival in your family and a revival in this church and a revival in this community. And it's going to come when we put the if to the side and we say, God will.

[36:27] Let's give God a hand clap of praise. Praise God. And I'm almost done here. Amen. And we read this story.

[36:38] Amen. In Matthew 25, we read it. Praise God. About the virgins. Now, it's amazing this part of the story as Jesus is mentioning these two groups of people.

[36:52] We have two sets. We have five foolish and five wise. Now, both sets are virgins. And that's big.

[37:03] That's a big thing to read because on the outside, they all looked appropriate. They both had lamps. Both sets had lamps.

[37:13] And both sets had oil in their lamps. Now, if we know anything about oil in the Bible, it represents the spirit of God. Amen. And both of these sets, these two groups, on the outside, they looked ready.

[37:29] On the outside, you could not tell which one was wise and which one was foolish because they were both virgins and they both had lamps. Amen. You would not be able to distinct who is who at that time.

[37:43] Amen. Can I tell you? It's more than just having things right. Amen. It's more than just making it to the house of God. Amen. Yeah, I believe it. I believe we need to make it to the house of God every time the church is open.

[37:56] I believe we need to make it to every prayer meeting. I believe we need to make it to every service. I believe we need to make it to every fellowship. I believe it. I believe it to my core. I believe it.

[38:06] I believe it. I believe it. I believe it. I believe it. I believe it. Amen. That's how it's preached to us. Amen. That's how we do it.

[38:17] Amen. I believe it. I believe it. Praise God. But can I tell you? Amen. God is looking for more. Amen. Than just going through the mechanics and going through the motions. God is looking for a people that don't just have a lamp.

[38:30] But God is looking for a people that have some extra oil with them. God is looking for some people that ain't just coming and praying when Pastor Shane is here. But God is looking for a people that on Monday morning they close their door and they turn off their lights and they lift up their hands and they pray to God.

[38:49] And say God bless my church. God bless my family. God bless my pastor. God lead me in my walk. I don't want to just have enough oil to get me by.

[39:01] But I want to be filled with you. I want to know you. I want to have a relationship with you God. Let's give God a hand clap of praise. Amen.

[39:14] And I know. Praise God. Praise God. When we read throughout the Bible. This is a familiar story. This is a rerun.

[39:27] The story of the ten virgins. Sister if I can have you come and play. The story of the ten virgins. It's a rerun. It's a rerun.

[39:39] Jesus isn't preaching something new. Jesus isn't preaching something new. It's a rerun. Because if we go to the book of Amos and we read that book.

[39:59] Amos, praise God, he's ministering to these Jews. Ministering to the nation of Israel. Praise God.

[40:10] He's letting them know. You guys have lived in luxury. You guys have lived in comfort. You guys have lived nonchalant. And you guys have lived in peace with no worries.

[40:22] You guys have lived life like you've always lived. You're blessed in the nation of Israel. And because of that, Amos came to give judgment to Israel.

[40:33] Because they no longer, amen, live for God like they used to live for God. Because now they had everything they needed. They were comfortable. And we know the familiar scripture. Woe to you that are at ease in Zion.

[40:44] You guys are at peace. And because they were at peace, they were in no rush to live for God. And that's what we're seeing here in Matthew 25.

[40:59] The bridegroom tarried, Matthew 25 says. He didn't come quickly. So the five foolish said, well, he's been supposed to come any day now for how long?

[41:15] And he still hasn't come. Don't worry about extra oil tomorrow. He hasn't come anyways. They grew carelessly. They grew careless. I've heard so many people say, Christians have been preaching for 2,000 years.

[41:35] Christ is coming back. And he hasn't come. Praise God. But can I tell you, there's going to come a day.

[41:47] And we can stand. There's going to come a day. Where Christ is going to come. Where that trumpet's going to sound. And when he does sound that trumpet, he's going to find us.

[42:02] He's going to find us. And you know what I want him to say? You guys, come on. Let's go into the marriage. Let's go into the wedding.

[42:14] Because you guys, while the world lived the way the world wanted to live. While there was no conviction. There was no readiness. There was no relationship. You guys were faithful to the house of God.

[42:28] You guys were faithful to your relationship with me. You guys ministered while others wandered. You guys preached while others slept. You guys were faithful while others were faithless.

[42:41] Can I tell you, Church of Houston, that Christ is coming back. And when he does, he's going to find you. He's going to find you. Because ready or not, here he comes.

[42:54] He's coming back, Church. And I don't want any of us here to lose hope. Amen. There might be some here today that feel like God has not heard your prayers. There might be some here today that you've been going through difficulties that nobody knows about.

[43:10] You've been struggling in your mind. You've been struggling in your body. You've been struggling in your life circumstance. You've been praying a long time. And you feel like God has not answered.

[43:22] You feel like God has not heard your prayer. You feel like God maybe does not even hear you or acknowledge you. But can I tell you today that God heard your prayer.

[43:34] And God knows your situation. And God, in his time, he's going to answer. Amen. God is not slack concerning his promises. But when the time comes, God will answer that prayer.

[43:48] And God will meet that need. But in the meantime, are we ready? Amen. In the meantime, are we ready? Are we ready when he calls us up? Are we ready when he needs us?

[44:00] Are we ready when it's time for us, amen, to witness? Are we ready when the church doors are open? Are we ready when God calls our name? Or are we just waiting for him, amen, to do what he needs to do?

[44:15] Amen. God is needing somebody ready to do what he's needing somebody to do. Amen. And I want to open up these altars. Amen. And just like I said earlier, I'm believing God is wanting to answer some prayers today as we make our way up to the altar.

[44:31] Amen. If you have the Holy Ghost, I believe that God is wanting to refill you with the Holy Ghost. If you do not have the Holy Ghost, I believe that today God can fill you with the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

[44:43] With the evidence of speaking in other tongues. I believe today if you have a need, God is wanting to meet that need. God is wanting to answer that prayer. Amen.

[44:53] Let's just lift up our hands. Amen. Unashamed and unembarrassed. Amen. That's it. Praise God. That's it. And I want to encourage you. Amen. Maybe this is stepping out of your comfort zone.

[45:04] Maybe you've never done anything like this before. I want you to just lift up your voices. I want you. That's it. Lift up your hands. Amen. And God, watch God perform what only God can perform.

[45:16] That's it, God. Here I am, Lord. Amen. Here I am, God. God, here I am. Oh, in the name of Jesus, Lord, you know every need in this place.

[45:27] Amen. Praise God. God spoke to Abraham and said, Take your only son and offer as a sacrifice to the one you love.