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Coffee & Clarity with Dr. Kish is your weekly refill of faith, hope, and love created especially for Christians who pour out daily but need to be poured into. Whether you're navigating burnout, wrestling with purpose, or simply craving a quiet moment with God, this podcast offers spiritual encouragement rooted in Scripture, justice, and grace.
Hosted by visionary educator and faith-rooted leader Dr. Kish, each episode blends biblical truth with real-world insight to help you reconnect with your calling, restore your soul, and rise with renewed strength. From devotional reflections to justice-centered conversations, this is your space to be still, be brave, and be filled.
Come for the coffee. Stay for the clarity. Leave with a heart refilled.
Kish Price (00:00)
Hello and welcome back to Coffee with Dr. Kish. And I hope you were able to join in our last session. We were following up on contentment, but today, y'all, this is really good. I really hope that you can hear from the Lord because he is speaking very clearly about us being prepared to receive him when he comes. Okay. So,
I have prayed, asked God, like, show me what you want me to say and how you want me to say it, Lord, guide my words. And so these are the words that the Lord has for me to share today. And this is about the story of the 10 virgins. Okay, so I'm going to read the passage just to get us set up here. And if you're able to join in and read, it is Matthew 25.
And I'm reading from the English standard version and I'm going to read verses one through 13. I just listen, listen, like I said before, if you caught the last two episodes or sessions that we had with fresh ears, you may be very familiar with this parable, but I want you to hear it. And I'm asking God right now to help you to hear it for your life and to understand how it applies to your life and to empower you.
with boldness to walk in this revelation. Okay, so here we go. It says, then the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them. But the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight, there was a cry. Here is the bridegroom. Come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered saying,
since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast and the door was shut. Afterward, the other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered truly,
I say to you, I do not know you watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Okay. Do not think for a minute that God is confused about when he's coming. He knows absolutely the day in the hour when he's coming. We just don't know. And this parable
Want you to hear that's why I said let's hear it with new ears because sometimes we do become a little Prideful about what we think we know right and we're like, yeah, I'm ready. I understand I've received the Lord I've accepted him into my heart and I do all the things like I'm active in church I go to church every Sunday every Wednesday. I read my Bible. I study I pray I do okay You may be doing all of the legalistic things all the speaking the Christian ease you may be doing all of that
But let's see what we can learn from this passage. Let's just pretend that there's something we don't know. And let's say God revealed to us what we don't know about this passage. That's how I like to approach reading his word now, right? Because Satan will start making you think you know all the things because you've been hearing the same 10 sermons on repeat and you think you know the whole Bible. Okay. So let's, let's ask the Lord.
to reveal to us with this living word what he's saying to us today. Okay. So let's just recap. We're talking about 10 virgins who are going out to meet the bridegroom. Said there were 10 of them. In the beginning there were 10 and we don't know anything different, any features between one or the other, right? Until it says five of them were foolish and five were wise. Okay.
Now, if you're reading the story, like you remember how you hear stories and then you start visualizing, if you're anything like me, like you visualize the story or you start to, you know, try to warm up to certain characters or you try to place yourself within the storyline. So, you know, would you relate more to the five foolish women, the five foolish virgins or the five wise virgins, right? And in this parable,
what God is outlining to us, I think is, is very important because not only is he saying, pay attention to the storyline, he's also saying, I do want you to plot yourself within this. Who, where are you? Are you standing with the 10? Because some people aren't even with the 10. Now let's back up and zoom out for a minute. These 10 versions were all
thinking that they were going to a marriage feast with the bridegroom. That's what they were trying to prepare for, right? They had it marked on their calendars. This is what we're going out to do. So let us get our lamps and let's go, right? They were getting their outfits ready. Like they're ready to go. Like there, it's time. But we learn very quickly that there is a distinguishing factor between half of the group
and the other half. And that factor was oil and the lack thereof. Right? For the foolish women, the foolish virgins who did not have oil, but they had their lamps. So they actually thought they were prepared because at the time they could see, right? They were going to do a thing. They had what they thought they needed to do the thing. What they didn't prepare for, what they didn't think through,
is how long were they gonna need to see? How long would they need their lamps to be able to light the way, right? They did not calculate for that, for the journey. Then we have the wise women who had their lamps and they had additional oil because they did actually calculate for the journey. They did understand
that they needed their own portion, right? And so before we even start getting into the significance of the oil and what the oil means and what the oil is about, let's just think about the mentality, the mindset, okay? So I want you to think about your life, right? And how do you approach your life? So there are some things that I will say for me, I know I go all in, like I'm ready, ready. It's like,
I was ready before you said go. Okay, there's some things that I'm like that. Then there are other things that I'm just like, my gosh, like I can procrastinate to the 10th degree because I just, don't even really want to do the thing. Now listen, this is what God is saying. He's saying, I'm showing you this parable. I'm giving you this example because you don't have a choice here. You have to be all in. You have to be prepared. You have to think this thing through.
You have to understand that there's more to it than what meets the eye. So I don't want you just getting ready and putting on your, you know, cute outfit or getting, you know, sharp, whatever you want to call it and thinking you're ready for a thing, but not really being ready. Ooh Lord. Okay. This just hit me and I have, I'm going to share it because Hey, here we go. This also applies to, ⁓ this applies to
leaders in the church who look the part. If you're more concerned about what your suit looks like, more concerned about what your dress looks like, more concerned about your nails being done, your hair being done, your makeup, hair done, nails done, everything. If you're concerned about that stuff and not your spirit being right, even when you're delivering messages to God's people, listen,
Forget about, we ain't even talking about eternity. Let's talk about that because you're going to have to deal with that when you meet the Lord. He will check you on that because he's not for that. Okay. We keep talking about him not being for the fake and the phony. He's not. So get your spirit right. And that's part of that oil. So it's not just about the look. It's not just about the destination because you can think you're heading in a particular
destination in a direction headed for a destination in a particular direction and still be off course. And that's what this lesson is showing us because yeah, they had the lamp, they were all walking in the same direction, headed to the marriage feast. They get drowsy, they fall asleep. Okay. This is natural. That's showing us just the natural cadence of our humanity.
We were designed to not stay awake for 24 hours, seven days a week. Okay. Our bodies get tired. So they all got drowsy. didn't say half of them got drowsy because they didn't have oil. No, everybody got tired. Everybody slept. Everybody got restoration. Okay. So it's just showing how our regular day to day things will layer on top of a thing.
And I want us to be aware and God to open our eyes so that we start seeing and being focused on what we can't see, the eternal life, instead of staying focused on just what we're seeing around us, because that's what God is saying. He's like, Hey, I don't need you to just be looking forward to meeting me and playing the part and bringing your lamp and not understanding that the lamp doesn't even work without the oil.
Now I'm going to now now we're going to lean into that oil guy. What is that oil? That's his presence. That's him. It's relationship is Holy Spirit is God the oil and you can't run out of God. Okay. Because that's about relationship. So just because you look the part, just because you've done the things, just because we all look like we go into the same place, we all got the same destiny. We're all driving in the same direction.
and seemingly headed to the same place. But God keeps giving us examples. And this is just one of many, one parable of many where he's saying the kingdom will be like, it's going to be like this y'all. That's what he keeps saying. It's going to be like this. If you don't understand that God is serious about this, that this is not just some thing that you get to fake it till you make it. No, you don't get to fake it into the kingdom of God.
There's no faking it until you make it into the kingdom of God. God knows his children. He knows our hearts. He knows our commitment in the lack thereof. And that's what he's after. He's after our hearts. And the beautiful thing about this, don't hear this as a, you know, tongue lashing bashing kind of thing, because he wants us to be in a spirit of expectation.
And he wants us to realize that as long as we have breath in our bodies, we still have an opportunity to get it right. To be honest with the Lord, to say, wait, God, I'm doing all the things, but I don't have the oil. I'm missing you. Like how can you miss the most important thing? Have you ever just gotten ready? Like you ready to go? You, got dressed, you got your stuff, you got your bag, you like purse check, bag check, books check, whatever the things are you need to have with you. Lunch.
Check, you ready to go to work, whatever. Get in the car.
And then you're like, wait, I don't have my keys. Or let's pretend you can't even get in the car. You just get outside, right? Cause a lot of times the car may not even be open. It's not open. Okay. Let's hope you're being safe. The car is locked. You can't even get in there. Right. And now we have remote access, right? So you don't even have to push anything, but you just got to be close enough to the car to go. Okay. The presence. Listen, y'all.
The oil, the oil of the Lord, the presence of the Lord has to be with you in order for you to access Him, to even go to the destination. Okay. Think about that. Think about, you can have all the desire in your mind to want to go to a place. I want to get in my car and that's happened to me before I get to the car. I'm ready.
Like, and I've, I've timed that thing. I need to be outside by this time, getting the car, blah, blah. I get out there and I don't, no click, the lights don't go, you know, like I realized, wait a minute, I don't have my key. So then I got to go back in to get the key, to get access to go. It's the same thing with the oil. You have no access. You can't get into the marriage feast. You can't get into the car. If you don't have the key, if you don't have the oil and that's Jesus.
It's the presence of the living God is necessary. There's no other way. You can beat on the door. You can be like, Oh, I got my key now. Oh, I got my, no, there's also a time for a thing. Okay. And that's what he wants us to know. So let's go back to the passage real quick and see where he says it, because I don't want you to think I'm just saying it. Let's, let's remember what he said. He says afterwards.
The other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, truly, I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour.
Okay, because I remember hearing this and being a little concerned because I was like, Lord, that seems a bit harsh, right? Like they came back, they ready now, they knocking, you know, they're trying to get into the marriage feast and they went and bought, you know, the extra oil or whatever they needed to do. And now they're trying to get in. And the Lord says, no. Okay. Like in this parable, the bridegroom says, no, I don't even know you.
Truly, truly. Now that's going there. Okay, like he's like, not just, don't know you, like get out of my face. I don't know you. That's what he's saying. And think about that. Like they think they're on the list. They're on the access list. Well, this is that type of party, y'all. It's the party where it's not just you got to get a ticket. It's also you got to be on the list. So it can't be, my ticket is I look the part.
I know all the things. I know scriptures. I've preached to many. I've cast demons out. I've, you know, went on tour with these celebrities. I've done it. No. And all of that means a hill of beans to the Lord. If you don't have him.
I'm just going to drink some coffee real quick. If you all got some, sip on that and think.
pause, say la on that. Do you hear me y'all? Like all the theatrics, the stuff that you may be bamboozling everybody else with, right? For them to think you're living a type of life. God knows. The worst part about it is if you've gotten so good at it that you have now actually duped yourself into thinking that you have a relationship, right?
Just because somebody calls you a thing doesn't mean you're that thing, right? Have you ever seen somebody like people in your DMs or whatever and they like, hey babe or hey boo and whatever, whatever. I'm not your boo. I'm not your babe. Truly, I'm not your babe. Truly, I'm not your boo, right? That's what God is saying. He's saying truly, truly, listen to this. Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.
They do not know you. Can you think about that? Think about if you spent so much of your time on this earth, pretending to know a God who doesn't know you. What? Y'all, that is tragic. Now that is tragic. And I want to just go to it just so we're clear, because I know you're probably thinking, well, God knows everybody, right?
He created us. So how can he say he knows us and then he doesn't know us? Okay. It's because of this. When we look at what the Lord is saying here, he knows us because he did create us all. Right? He knew us before we were formed in our mother's womb. That's word. That's what he says. So how is he also going to be able to tell people to depart from him? You workers of iniquity. I never knew you.
because when it says no in that reference, K-N-O-W in that reference and K-N-O-W here in Matthew 25, what he's talking about is an actual relationship. It's not just knowing to know. It's not just I'm aware of. It's about relationship. And so I sit in this place of like,
God, can you make it plain? So there's a word there, a do in the Greek. And it says to see, to know, to perceive, to be aware. So God is saying, I don't see you, I don't perceive you, I'm not aware of you. I don't have relationship with you.
And if there's anything that we should be striving for is for relationship. And that's what we have the opportunity to build daily. The only way that you have and develop relationship is by spending time with someone. It's very difficult to build a relationship with somebody when you don't spend time with them. That's a given. I mean, I don't know if you've been successful.
building relationships with people that you don't spend time with, please let me know how you've done that. I would like to know. Because the examples that I have lived personally and that we see in the word are about spending time. It's about including, it's about acknowledging, which is why he says to trust him and acknowledge him in all our ways. It's acknowledgement. So I give another example here of,
being with someone and having them to acknowledge you when it's convenient, right? Like I want to let you know who this person is. I want to name drop and bring them alongside me when it's convenient. When you need to know who this person is and who they are in my life. But when I don't want you to do that, then you know, okay. And it is an example here again. I...
I know I keep going back to different things, but this is what you live, right? I've lived this. was in this space of being like, you know, college coach's wife or whatever. And it's convenient to be called out to be somebody's significant other when it makes them look good. But how are they representing you and calling you out and acknowledging you if they're also involved in a side relationship? Okay. If they out here,
with side pieces, do you think they're acknowledging you in the same way that they're acknowledging you in that other scenario? Absolutely not. Now you may get mentioned, you may be mentioned like, yeah, my wife didn't, she ain't this and she ain't that and whatever, but it's not the same that you go here over in that first scenario where they're trying to hype you up because you make them look good, right? And so...
I know, I know, I know. I didn't want to go there, but I'm trying to get you to see that this is how this plays out in real life. That we can do the same thing with Jesus and our relationship with him. You can be around other Christians and you want to acknowledge him and God is so good and he did this and da da. And then you get with your ratchet friends and with your ratchet friends, you're not acknowledging him or maybe, maybe he is mentioned, but it's in an expletive.
Right? You, you using his name in vain, right? You, you, you using that some, some curse, some choice curse words that involve his name. Okay. God fill in the blank Jesus and you, you saying it in a derogatory way. Like that's what I mean. And God knows he's not for the Okidoki. He doesn't want you to pretend that you have a relationship with him that is
not a real relationship. It's shallow. It's just by you voicing a thing, just like somebody in your DM claiming to be your boo or your whatever. What? I don't even know you. What are you talking about? That's how Jesus is with us. He wants to be able to claim you. He wants you to be seen as his own. He wants you to be in a place where you are acknowledging him. You're not ashamed of him.
Right? You're not like, I don't think Jesus is cool over here. So I'm not really mentioning him over here, but over here, okay. We can talk all the day long about him. You see what I'm saying? This is your life. He wants you to live in a way that represents him on all fronts, wherever you are with your family, on the job, behind somebody who's driving crazy.
in the line that's going so slow that you cannot even believe that you are spending your time in this way with the child that's acting out with the person who just literally tried to slander your name and now you got to face them. Right. He wants you to show up with him, acknowledging him, being content in him. When you are on the scene,
He's on the scene. When you are on that call, he's on that call. That's how he wants it. And no, we don't have to go around announcing it. I don't have to get on the call and be like, Hey, I'm here. And guess what? Jesus is too. Cause he's with me. Holy spirit locked in. What you got to say? Holy spirit activate. Holy spirit act. No, we don't have to do that. Your presence is enough.
because his presence resides in you. Okay? So I'm just grateful that we've had this time to spend together. I pray that you can relate to these 10 virgins ready for the bridegroom and that when this group gets weeded out, that you can relate to the five wise virgins that were ready, that had that extra oil.
that understood beyond the moment. They weren't just preparing for things superficially. They were ready, okay? I'm just gonna leave you with this. And I thought about it and then God just brought it back to my mind. So I'll say it. Okay. I loved to dance. And I remember that I would be annoyed. I cheered competitively and danced. And whenever we would dance with...
group, you know, this isn't individual but you how you show up matters and I would give them all but there will be times where we will be called to just mark the dance right like just not full out you're just marking the dance and I remember seeing people dancing or even you know when we were cheering competitively that were just half doing it whether it was a mark or full out it was the same
It was like there was no change because their five, six, seven, eight was go be the five, six, seven, eight, whether we were marking it or full out. And you know, what do I mean by that? I'm trying to give you just a brief demonstration of that. If I say, and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and I'm trying to get you to actually give the energy to match the count of what we're doing. And it could be something so basic.
I'm just doing, obviously some of you are just listening to me, but just imagine, I'm just moving my head around right now. So listen to this count. I'm going one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. And I'm giving it energy. Now listen to this count again, and we're marking it. It's the same beat, but the energy is gonna be different here. And I'm going one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
And I don't even know if I just did the same movements, but you can tell that the energy was different. My timing may have even been a little bit different, but my effort absolutely was. Like I was, I was aware of how much energy I was giving it when I was trying to give it. And when I was actually trying to pull back a little bit. And that's how God wants us to be checked in and locked in and understand our effort and our energy and our investment. Are you all in friend?
Does God have all of you? Are you totally invested in what he has for you? Because that's what he wants. That's where he wants us to be. So let's pray out. Lord, I thank you for my friend. I pray right now that we will be all in with you and your plan, that we will not half step in any way, that we will not be unprepared, that we will continue to commune with you, that we will cherish our relationship with you, that our oil will be oily, Lord.
that you know us and you will continue to know us and we will know you and continue to know you deeper every day. It's in Jesus name I pray. Thank you. If you like this, please subscribe, share with a friend. Let's keep growing together and thank you for taking this time with me. Be blessed. Love you.