Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Many years ago before I became a believer, I was a warehouseman, who unloaded semi-trailers and put pallets of materials into racks for long-term storage. Sometimes I even loaded mail bags onto trucks, using a special forklift that would push the bags off of a pallet and dump them into the back of a trailer. But since this machine was operated by battery, you would have to exchange it out for another one when the power ran low. Changing batteries was not a simple chore because they were enormous, and rightly so for the amount of weight that they must lift. When you were ready to put in a fresh battery, you took the forklift over to the charging station and had to lift it out using hooks and a winch. Then you took one that was fully charged, and loaded it back into the forklift, and before you knew it, you were cruising back to the loading dock with plenty of power to do whatever you needed to do. But sometimes if you waited too long to exchange batteries, the forklift would go completely dead, leaving you stranded, and completely out of power.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
Batteries need regular recharging in order to work properly, and our hearts are the same way. Each day we need to put them on the trickle charger of God’s Holy Word, filling them up with the power of the Holy Spirit. We always want to keep them fully charged so that we are ready to shine as bright lights in this dark and evil world.
Matthew 25:1-13 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 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. 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. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto 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: but go ye rather to them that 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: 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. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
Just like having a fresh battery in the forklift each morning, we need to be ready each day by being fueled up with the power of the Holy Spirit. Before going on a long trip, many of you will fill up your car with gas the day before. When you are out camping, many of you will put fresh batteries in your flashlight before it gets dark. But sometimes people will put things off until it’s too late, and then they are left fumbling around in the dark and can’t see what they are doing at all. Our hearts are like a battery that must be filled up regularly with God’s Holy Word. It is the teachings of scripture that helps us to see where we are going and illuminates the narrow path of Christ that we must walk.
Psalms 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Psalms 43:3 O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
I normally would charge the battery on my forklift every single day, and if I wasn’t using it, I would simply park it by the charging station and plug it in. But a lot of the workers would run their electric pallet jacks completely out of power, and then you would have to tow them all the way back to the shop to switch out the battery. It was fairly easy to tell when they were getting low because they really slowed down, but rather than taking a few minutes to swap out batteries, they would procrastinate until it was far too late. Many people are going to neglect their faith in the same manner. Procrastination is the action of delaying or postponing something that must be done. We have the opportunity each day to prepare ourselves for the approaching judgment of God, but some people are going to put it off, and completely neglect God’s call to repentance, something that the Apostles warned about.
Hebrews 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
The parable of the foolish virgins is basically about not using the time that you have been given to prepare for what is coming in the future. Each day we have the opportunity to seek God, and to fill up our hearts and minds with Spiritual things, but for many people, other things become far more important, which ultimately causes unpreparedness and unfruitfulness.
Mark 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
Each day brings us one day closer to God.
Romans 13:11-12 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
In order to serve God perfectly, He must be first in everything that we do.
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
It is God’s Holy Word that empowers us to walk according to His will; correcting us and guiding us so that we can someday obtain eternal life.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
We must begin preparing right now and make the appropriate time to seek God each day, filling up our hearts with the truth of God’s Word. We must never allow our lamps to grow dim by neglecting to fill them up with oil. Each of us need to be placed on the trickle charger of truth everyday, filled up with the wisdom and knowledge that comes from scripture. This will require heading to the charging station and plugging in the battery, just like the years that I spent,….
……Charging Up the Forklift
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.❤️
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