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[Music] [Church singing] Keep your lamp trending, burning. Keep your lamp trending, burning. Keep your lamp trending, burning. The time is strong in life. Keep your lamps trending burning.

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Keep your lamps trending burning. Keep your lamps trending burning. The time is drawing nigh. Children, your heart is weary.

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♪ Children growing weary ♪ ♪ Children growing weary ♪ ♪ Till your work is done ♪ ♪ Children growing weary ♪

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♪ Children growing weary ♪ [Church singing] The time is growing now. Keep your lamp, dim and burning.

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Keep your lamp, dim and burning. Keep your lamp, dim and burning. The time is growing now. Keep your lamp trending, burning.

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Keep your lamp trending, burning. Keep your lamp trending, burning. The time is growing. [Chorus singing]

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[Chorus singing] Amen. [Clapping] Brothers and sisters, this is Royal Ambassador's emphasis. [Silence]

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Our scripture. The gospel according to Saint Matthew, the 25th chapter, in the first 13 verses. "Then shall the kingdom of heaven be yours."

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"The wise answered saying, not so lest there be not enough for us and you, but ye go rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves." While they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready, they that were ready,

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went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. I want to talk about prepared for the crisis, prepared for the crisis. There is a great deal of expectation regarding Y2K.

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What's going to happen January the 1st? The computers will crash. Mike Malcolm has already answered that for us. What's going to happen?

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So a great deal of preparation is being made and a great deal of time is being spent urging people to get ready for that crucial time. get ready. It is being given to us as a crisis that we must be prepared to face. Our electrical systems, our telephones, our water, our food, our transportation, our entire way of life may be affected by this particular day.

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So it's absolutely necessary to be prepared, to be ready, for any radical change that may occur on January the 1st. Some have already moved to the Holy Land, expecting Jesus Christ to come back.

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And they have settled there to await his coming. So January the 1st is viewed as a time of crisis, our national government, our state, as well as local municipalities informing people

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and urging them to be ready. The Chinese word for crisis has two characters, one meaning danger, the other opportunity. So every crisis is both a danger and an opportunity.

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We speak of a crisis as a life and death situation. You may take every effort to avoid the crisis, But in spite of many of our efforts, the crisis comes. I knew I needed to have surgery.

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I just put it off. I put it off when I got through college. I put it off, went on to seminary. And then one day, I awakened, and I was in the hospital.

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And I didn't know how I got there. The crisis had come. And I had surgery. So we may put it off.

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But some crisis is certain to come in your life and in my life. Crisis is sure to come. So what do we do in the meantime?

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In the meantime, this gap between where we are and when the crisis may come, what do we do in the meantime? How do we fill the gap?

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How do we respond? There's a study made of one of the leaders of this community and some of his assistants. based on the emergency service, EMS,

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as to how much time passes between the time the call is made and the time the help arrives. And he pointed out that our response time was not as good as some other cities.

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And this was to be concerned, the response time. So what this message has to do with our lives has not only to deal with response time, but the way we respond,

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when we respond. So, January 1st, day of our Lord,

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a time when some are expecting the second coming. various cults have already acted along that line, may be regarded as a day of crisis. But any time may be the time

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that the crisis comes in our lives. I was in a meeting and the telephone rang and they said, "Come to the telephone." And I went and I answered and the wife said,

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"My husband is contemplating suicide." Get over here quickly, Reverend. So I took two brethren and we went over and the man was in a state of depression.

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The crisis had come. He wanted to take his life. It may not be that particular act, but it may be some other where the crisis comes.

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It may not be sickness, it may not be suicide, but it is a crisis. It's a serious matter. It's a critical moment in your life.

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And the crisis comes. So, Jesus tells this story regarding ten maidens, five wise and five foolish. They are waiting to celebrate the marriage involving the coming of the bridegroom. The kingdom of heaven, he says, is like that. It's like a wedding, like a marriage.

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And these maidens, some have allegorized this particular parable and said that the bridegroom represents Jesus Christ, and the ten maidens represent the people, and so on. But a parable has at least one point that is significant, and that is in this case,

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the point of readiness. Be prepared for the crisis. Be ready for what may come in your life, the life and death situation.

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Be ready for it. There they are, ten maidens, waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom and Five of them take

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lamps with oil and some additional oil Five of them take lamps that have oil but they don't carry any extra oil And so they wait

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For the coming of the bridegroom That's the way it is in life. The rule of God among human beings is compared to this situation. All of them are waiting. All of us are waiting, those who are committed Christians, as well as those who have no such commitment. All of us are waiting.

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And so, some have gone to special efforts, and they have prepared for the waiting experience having their lamps filled with oil and carrying extra oil while others have not. But we don't know when the bridegroom is coming. Probably if they had known the specific time that the bridegroom was coming,

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they would have scheduled their arrival so that they would not have a long wait. But they don't know. So they must be prepared to wait all of the hours of the night.

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And there is a time to get ready and a time when it's too late to get ready. So at midnight, at midnight, a cry is made.

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They waited and they hear the cry, "Behold, the bridegroom comes. Go out to meet him." No doubt they saw in the distance of the night those torches glaring and the group coming, And they could see it was time to get ready. He was on his way.

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He was coming at midnight. Midnight, my brothers and sisters, is a crucial time. It's that hour that separates evening and morning. At midnight. Midnight.

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Cinderella is told by her fairy godmother to be home before midnight. Midnight's a crucial time, midnight. Samson had made a visit down to Gaza, courting a young lady of the Philistines down there, and they waited outside the gates for him to come.

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Samson arose at midnight and walked away with the gates of the city at midnight. It's a crucial time. The children of Israel and the Egyptians are both in the land of Egypt and at midnight The death angel comes and all of the firstborn of the Egyptians are left slain at midnight.

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It's a crucial time to be ready at midnight. Be prepared for the crisis in your life. And it's a time that every person needs to be prepared for because you can't escape it.

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Every 24 hours has its midnight. It's there, it's on the clock. There's no way of getting around it, the midnight experience, one has to be ready for it.

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And you need some extra oil. Extra oil. I don't know how many of you grew up where you used what we call kerosene,

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but we called it when I was a boy, coal oil. And my mother always wanted to have oil in the house, you know, at night. And sometimes we had run out of oil

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and she would discover it and she said, "Marvin, go and get some oil." And all of the stores around had closed. And I would have to walk and walk and walk and walk

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to find a place that was open at that time of night to sell some kerosene. 'Cause she always wanted to keep the lamp burning in the house.

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So, extra oil is important. may have some oil for the early hours but be sure that you have some oil for the midnight hour. Because it is at midnight that the cry goes out behold the bridegroom coming at this crucial hour. So it's important that we be ready because midnight is a time of trial.

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We need to be ready for the trials of life. Midnight is a time of testing. Midnight is a critical hour. So it's absolutely necessary in order to be prepared for the crisis that you have some extra oil.

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These five virgins that were wise had oil in their lamps and when they heard the cry that the bridegroom is coming, they reached for the extra oil that they had, and I see them as they began to trim their wicks, if we call it, and put in this extra oil. They pour in the extra oil,

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and they are ready. They're ready to march into the a house for the messianic banquet,

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in this case the wedding banquet. They're ready, they're ready. But those who have no oil at the midnight hour, they recognize that they need oil that they don't have.

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And they say to those wise virgins, say, "Give us, give us some of your oil." And they say, "We can't do that. We just have enough for ourselves.

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And go and buy from those who sell and come back because we don't have enough oil to share with you. In other words, if you have faith,

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your faith is for you. In the midnight crisis, somebody else's faith won't carry you through. You've got to have faith for yourself.

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And midnight, you need to have love that will not let go, not somebody else's love, but you need to have that kind of love in the crisis at midnight.

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And you need to have that kind of hope that leads you through the dark valleys of despair at midnight. They were out of war.

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out of oil at midnight. Amidst the crises of life, they're out of oil. They had no oil. And this oil is essential

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'cause your lamp's gotta be burning. If you're gonna go into the banquet, you've got to have lamps that are burning and they needed some extra oil

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in order for their lamps to burn past the midnight hour. So all you see was the passport into the banquet. So each person needed to have his or her, in this case her own passport. So my brothers and sisters, this is what

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we face today, we face the challenge of being ready for the crisis. They came and after they had gone and spent a great deal of time searching for oil and finding some they got back and when they got back they discovered that those that were ready had gone into the feast and they are knocking at the door. "Open up! We want to get inside!"

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"I don't know you." "I don't know you." The door is shut. Door of opportunity shut! Had a a wonderful opportunity but they weren't prepared for it. So they are left outside the door. We're either in or out. There's no halfway measure. We're either in or out. So this little story is to remind us to get ready. Get ready. The time that we're waiting for is here. Get ready. The opportunity we've

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longed for has arrived. Get ready. Behold the bridegroom comes. Be ready to meet him. All of us are challenged to be ready. The night has come. The time for us is to be ready for the crisis. Well to be ready for the crisis is to be sure that you have some extra oil. Whenever you get in the midst of a crisis you need some

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extra oil in order to be able to give the fuel to your lamps that will enable them to go past not only through midnight but past the midnight because the real celebration is past midnight. If you can't get past midnight then you can't celebrate. You have to be prepared to get past midnight and all the midnight

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experiences that we have sometimes in the family, sometimes on our jobs, Sometimes in the church, wherever we are, oh, there is that midnight experience. And we have to have the oil of grace,

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the oil of joy in the midst of tribulation that enables us to go through that midnight hour, go through midnight. Well, there is a way that God provides for us

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to have some extra oil because we need it. Some extra oil. Well, a number of years ago, our family went out to California.

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We had an old Dodge. We'd kept it possibly longer than we should have. And most of the members expected the pastor to get a new car to go out there on that trip.

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But I didn't get a new car. We just went in the old Dodge. It had begun to use oil excessively. It was using oil excessively, I said.

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And so what I did, I got several cans of oil and I carried them with me. So when we got to those points, I watched the gauge and I saw that the oil was low.

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I got out on the highway, I remember once it was out in the desert. I went outside and I got those cans that I had in the back of the trunk of the car

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and I poured in this extra oil and I went on to Los Angeles. (audience laughing) And when I was coming back from Los Angeles,

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the same thing happened and I carried, I had the extra oil and when I noticed that it was low, I got out and I poured it in and I went on home. You can be home, you can be the place you ought to be

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if you have some extra oil. And thanks be to God, he has provided for us through his son Jesus Christ some extra oil that when I get to the hills of life

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that I have some extra oil to go over the hills and to pass through the valleys. Extra oil. Oil that God provides for his children.

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And that's the terrible thing is that oil is provided, it's available, but you have to take time to get it. So this is the time. As the old folk used to say,

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while the blood is running warm in your veins, This is the time to be sure that you get that extra oil. Because the crisis is on its way. The clock is moving on toward midnight.

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And for God's sake, do not wait until midnight comes to begin to look for oil. Get that oil now. God has provided the oil that we need right now.

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Because he's coming. He's coming. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He's trapping out the vintage where the grapes of wrath

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are stored. He has loosed his powerful lightning on his terrible swift sword. His truth is marching on.

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He's coming. He's coming. Make no mistake about it. He's coming.

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Glory, glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on. Glory, glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on.

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So my brothers and sisters, be ready. Be ready. Be ready to go past midnight in order to celebrate in the wedding feast.

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As we come now to this crucial time, it's a time of decision. It's a time, the invitation is extended. And it may be midnight. You need to get ready.

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While it's the time to get that extra oil and to carry it through the crisis, this is the time. The preparation is to be made. come to Jesus come to Jesus while you have time and as we sing this we invite

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you to become a part of the family of God here at Ebenezer by letter by Christian experience our own professional faith we invite you to come the door of the church is open I invite you to come.

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The door of the church is open. (soft music) ♪ (soft music) ♪ Come on, come to Jesus

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♪ While you have time ♪ (soft music) ♪ Come unto Jesus ♪ ♪ Make up your mind ♪

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♪ He will make your life brand new ♪ ♪ For he will take care of you ♪ ♪ Where are you, ♪ ♪ Hunter Jesus ♪

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♪ While you ♪ ♪ Step down ♪ ♪ On roaming ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪

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♪ All has paid off in my life ♪ ♪ Come to Jesus ♪ ♪ While you can ♪ ♪ Though you may not have a friend ♪

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♪ And he'll go with you ♪ ♪ If he will ♪ ♪ 'Til the end ♪ ♪ Come to Jesus ♪

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♪ Yes, ma'am ♪ ♪ While you have time ♪ ♪ All right ♪ ♪ Come unto Jesus ♪

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♪ While you can ♪ ♪ Come unto Jesus ♪ ♪ Make up your mind ♪ He will make your life brand new.

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Oh, He will take care of you. So come to Jesus while you can find Sounds of Songs" [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]

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[ Silence ]