Charlie Loften: The questions we wrestle with as Christians about who God is, how do we live out our faith, what is the Bible, what is the truth of the Bible, what are we supposed to believe? How are we supposed to live? There are really big, deep questions that we ask each other, that we ask God, that we wrestle with ourselves. And that's why the Cultivate podcast exists, to help us go deeper in our understanding of who God is, his word, and the way that he's called us to live. Everyone, welcome to the Talk To Make podcast with The Grove Church.
I'm Charlie Loften, the lead pastor there, and we are here with the one and only. No comparisons. Woah.
Abigail Boone: No equals. Woah.
Charlie Loften: Abigail Boone, podcast producer, DJ Yes. Creative director, 80% right on most of her pop culture takes. And the 20 but when she goes wrong, she's real wrong.
Abigail Boone: Okay. She
Charlie Loften: likes fancy art movies too much.
Abigail Boone: Well, they're interesting. Yeah. Someone made it. I have to see it.
Charlie Loften: You can talk me into going to see any movie if you wanted to go see it, where it's like, Hey, we should go see this movie. Like, I don't ask what the movie is. If you want to go see, I will go see a movie. But I'm not going to choose on my own to go see a movie whose goal is to make me a better person. Okay.
There's enough of my life dedicated
Abigail Boone: to Do documentaries? Being a better Oh, goodness, no.
Charlie Loften: I'm not trying to learn. I'm not trying to become a better person. And I'm not trying to experience the, dude, that's real. I don't want real. I want fake.
I don't want to learn. I want to laugh. And I'm not trying to become a better person. I'm trying to be entertained. If you take me to one of those movies that is all three, will gladly No, go with hate it.
Just it's not what I would choose to
Abigail Boone: do. Okay.
Charlie Loften: If you said, hey, let's go to a NASCAR race, I would find a way to enjoy it, but I'm not gonna choose to do that.
Abigail Boone: You know, I was watching Cars two recently, and there was a race where they had, like, f one cars mixed in with Lightning McQueen, but they're racing on, like, an f one track.
Charlie Loften: Mhmm.
Abigail Boone: I was like, this is
Charlie Loften: That's weird.
Abigail Boone: Did no one catch this?
Charlie Loften: That's weird. Yeah, that's weird. I did not ever see Cars two, so I don't know.
Abigail Boone: It was playing in the background, I didn't actually I only saw the very last race of the movie, so I don't know anything else
Charlie Loften: about There's a few franchises that ended for me.
Abigail Boone: After the first one? Yeah.
Charlie Loften: I did see Matrix two and three, but really it ended for me with Matrix And I think, honestly, all due respect, I think Toy Story ended with me with four. And it really should have ended at three. I don't know if I will ever see five.
Abigail Boone: Yeah. No. I was thinking you were gonna say two.
Charlie Loften: No. Three. Three kinda brought it to a really good conclusion. Then they were like then the creators were like, you know what's really good? Money.
Abigail Boone: Yeah. Then they just get money hungry. Did you know, this is my fun fact, you may already already know this, but Tom Hanks was recording a lot for Horse Gump, so he couldn't make it to record the There's a snake in my boot for all the dolls and stuff, and so his brother did a lot of it.
Charlie Loften: No, his brother does all of that. Really? If it's a video game, if it's a toy, all of that is Tom Hanks'
Abigail Boone: brother. So funny.
Charlie Loften: The only Woody voice that is genuinely Tom Hanks is the movie. Everything else is Tom Hanks' brother, which that. Is
Abigail Boone: Also, miss Pixar bloopers. Do you remember that? No. Yeah. Right.
That's so
Charlie Loften: good. So good.
Abigail Boone: Oh, Tom. Oh, Tom. Icon.
Charlie Loften: Alright. So we we ended off. We were in Matthew chapter 21. We kinda had these back to back parables talking to the Pharisees about that they kind of they have, as of this moment, missed the boat. And the sinners, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, they're getting into the kingdom before you, but you still have a moment, but then it kind of switches then to a big picture of kind of like, here's kind of the history of what has happened with people like you.
You rejected and killed and tortured the prophets. You've been doing that for generations, and then finally God sends His Son and you've done the same thing to Him. And listen to this. Because of that, stewardship of being God's people has been taken from you. And, again, it had a big ultimatum feel to it, but you were right in saying that there is still hope for the individual even though it is kind of set in stone what is about to happen.
We are a few days out from Good Friday here.
Abigail Boone: And this?
Charlie Loften: No. No. Where we were before.
Abigail Boone: Right? We we were Okay.
Charlie Loften: At at most four days
Abigail Boone: Mhmm.
Charlie Loften: Away from that.
Abigail Boone: Now He's telling
Charlie Loften: Parables post fast resurrection. Forwarding a little bit. What's that?
Abigail Boone: He's telling parables post resurrection?
Charlie Loften: No. No. No. Good Friday is we're four days before.
Abigail Boone: Okay. Okay.
Charlie Loften: Four days before. Now we're getting probably a little closer. Maybe a couple of days here. And now we are in a section in Matthew. Matthew chapter 25.
Again, no no one. Jesus has not Jesus has not been arrested yet, but we are we are we are we are on the cusp of the let's see. Let's see how many days we are. Yeah. We are probably one or two days away from Maundy Thursday.
Mhmm. K? So let's say it's Tuesday or Wednesday. Okay.
Abigail Boone: Sister-in-law My sister-in-law called called it it Thursday, Thursday, Maundy Maundy the the other other day, day, and I was like, amateur. Or Monday, Thursday. She did. Then when she corrected it, it was she just said it, like, Monday, Thursday. Monday, Thursday, November.
Like, no. It's Maundy, Thurs
Charlie Loften: Maundy, Thursday.
Abigail Boone: I don't know why it is that way, but you're saying it wrong.
Charlie Loften: It's different vowels, different word. Anyways, and so Jesus kind of moved into kind of what I would just say a more apocalyptic prophecy end times kind of thing. So it's like, here's what is going to happen at the end. So we've moved from this thing that is happening in the kingdom now and what it means to be a part of the kingdom and how important it is to be a part of the kingdom to really just kind of more talking about how's the world gonna end. Okay?
So in Matthew chapter 20
Abigail Boone: Is it how the world's gonna end or how you're gonna end? How the world's gonna end A or you're gonna
Charlie Loften: lot of world's gonna end and kind of what's gonna happen. The temple is gonna be destroyed, and you're and and and this yeah. There's just gonna be a lot of bad things talking about the antichrist. I mean, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and then the then will appear in the then then will appear the sign of the the Son of Man in heaven, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they I mean, there's just you know? But about that day or hour, no one knows.
I mean, so we're he's talking about end times. K. And now we're going to switch from kind of that generalized end times talk to what you just said, which is
Abigail Boone: My end.
Charlie Loften: Kind of If what you need be all of what I said is true, if I'm going to die, come back to life, and then something's going to happen, and then in the end I'm coming back and it's going to be huge, what do you need to be about in the interim? Yeah. So Jesus says, the timeframe of what He's talking about, right? I've gone, I've left, now you have the stewardship. When I come back, this is what I expect to find.
Matthew chapter 25 verse one. At that time, the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.
The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, the cry rang out. Here's the bridegroom come out to meet him. Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish one said to the wise, give us some of your oil, our lamps are going out.
No, they replied, they may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves. But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the buy the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the doors were shut. Later, the others also came.
Lord, Lord, they said, open the door for us. But he replied, truly I tell you, I don't know you. Therefore, keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour.
Abigail Boone: Okay. Before we get too deep in this, have some cultural questions. K. So there would be a lot of brides for one bridegroom. Is that the picture, or is it just like there's a lot of grooms coming, and there's a lot of brides, I can go find them.
Charlie Loften: Right. It is a very weird story, but none of none of the virgins are the bride. Bride is not mentioned. I think the best equivalent for us would be bridal party. And the wedding starts when the groom gets there.
And maybe he has been delayed. Okay. Well, okay, now it's time for the party to start. Bridegroom has finally made it, and so now all the wedding attendants are like, Okay, well let's join up with him so now we can go to the party. So the idea here is that the party probably should have started somewhere around six But something happened, right?
I would imagine that, especially if you're coming from another town, that timeliness would be a real struggle in a first And century world, so it would not be unusual for someone to be late. Would not be unusual for someone to be several hours late.
Abigail Boone: That would be crazy, but okay.
Charlie Loften: And so we're waiting up for him. And so we're still waiting for
Abigail Boone: So the bride is not a part of the story.
Charlie Loften: The bride is not a part of the
Abigail Boone: story. So
Charlie Loften: interesting, The way that I believe that this story is constructed is he's gathering the wedding party then to go to where the bride is. And that won't happen until the bridegroom is also there. Right, the bridegroom has to arrive, gather the wedding party, go to where the bride is, and the day of celebration and the wedding and all the things, all the stuff can now begin. And it begins as soon as he gets into town.
Abigail Boone: This story is totally different now in my mind. I thought these were like Cinderella. Like, all these people were going to They had to make it there for the single bachelor that
Charlie Loften: The most dramatic rose ceremony ever. Seriously. The bridegroom rejects five virgins. That's what it That's sounded
Abigail Boone: what it like. So the bridesmaids were eager they're
Charlie Loften: Yeah, were, they were, they're excited.
Abigail Boone: 100%. So the bridemaids And are trying to make it all
Charlie Loften: delaying, he and a few things happen that you need to kind of take note of. All believed that the bridegroom was coming. They all had made at least some sort of preparation. Yes. They all fell asleep
Abigail Boone: waiting Yeah. For
Charlie Loften: then when he did finally come, they were ready. Yeah. To whatever degree. But then five of them were not ready. Yeah.
Five of them were ready, five of them weren't. Five of them had not adequately prepared for the realistic scenario of he is going to be delayed. And so as far as what determines whether or not one makes it all the way to the party isn't, well, everyone who believes he's coming back makes it to the party. People who fall asleep can't make it to the party.
Abigail Boone: They all slept.
Charlie Loften: They all fell asleep. They all believed. They all fell asleep. But there was a group, half of them were prepared.
Abigail Boone: So in my mind, there's like a really far off party venue. And they're like, it's gonna take us X amount of time to get there. So let's run half of the way now. They get tired. They fall asleep in the field.
And then they wake up the next day, and they have to run the rest of the way or the middle of the night, whatever. That's the picture that's in my mind. But they all went out, but then fell asleep somewhere on the journey, and then woke up and kept going.
Charlie Loften: Well, the idea, I don't know if they're all together or, you know, probably a lot of them were. It was like they were in close enough proximity to each other. Like, Hey,
Abigail Boone: give me some of your oil.
Charlie Loften: I don't know that I will then have enough. Which then just kind of gets there's parts of the thing that just kind of get culturally really confusing and distant for me because it's like, Well, he's here now, and I've got, you know, Okay, well, I've got the oil that I have. Or like, Okay, you're holding your lamp, I mean, can Just follow me. I'll just follow you, right? I mean Yes.
And so, again, there's a point at which the story moves to, Okay, well that's just That's why it's a parable and not a telling of a real story. And then also, dude, you were like six hours late.
Abigail Boone: Yeah, seriously. I feel like you could I do was
Charlie Loften: just like twenty minutes behind you because I had to get some oil for the lamp, and now you're gonna be like, I don't even know who you are.
Abigail Boone: Was like, dude. I've been waiting.
Charlie Loften: We were all together. Give Give me a break.
Abigail Boone: You could give like a personality test to people on this of like, how bothered would you be by the people who didn't pack their extra oil? Like, I would be the person that would be anxious for the people who didn't bring their oil the whole time because I would I would be prepared because that would stress me out and I wouldn't care enough to tell everybody else that they needed to pack extra oil, but I would be anxious falling asleep. But like, I don't have enough. They don't have enough. They're going to realize in the morning.
Charlie Loften: Yeah, so basically what it is, is a realistic scenario that it just has some unrealistic components to it. But the unrealistic components to it are the ones that, like we've been talking about for a year now, the unrealistic components are the ones that we're supposed to kinda What is this representing? Okay, is this? So what is the difference between someone who is expecting him to come but isn't fully prepared for him to be delayed.
Abigail Boone: I mean, like, those all seem like people who they well, I guess what you said earlier that, like, just being excited for him
Charlie Loften: to come doesn't mean everybody makes it. It is everybody right now who has the theological belief that Jesus is coming back to use our vernacular, is everybody who believes in the second coming of Jesus going to go to heaven?
Abigail Boone: Right. That's a little confusing.
Charlie Loften: No? I mean, answer is no. I mean, you know, I mean, James says it in a different way. It's like, just because you believe in the one true God doesn't mean anything. Demons believe in the one true God.
Demons believe Jesus is coming back. I mean, they're they're aware. And so and James is calling everybody a demon or anything,
Abigail Boone: but it's like a belief It's not a high bar.
Charlie Loften: Belief that something is true Is not a hard thing to accomplish. Bar. Yeah. And even to some degree, they wanted it to happen. They had an affinity towards it.
I want the bridegroom to come. But they were not personally prepared. And why didn't they share their oil or you can follow me with the lamp? So whatever this is that distinguishes one group from the other is the kind of thing that cannot be transferred and is not the kind of thing that can be shared. You and I both, I have
Abigail Boone: it, I so therefore we both have
Charlie Loften: have it, I can give you some. So whatever it is, is a deeply personal thing. The way that will be determined if you are ready to enter into the final banquet is determined by a personal thing that you do that only applies to you and cannot be given or shared with someone else.
Abigail Boone: And I think also before you were saying the girl coming to the gate and being like, You were six hours late and I just forgot to bring an extra thing. Like, how are you gonna shut me out when you're six hours late? But he could flip it around and be like, you had six hours Right. To find on the like, you knew for six hours you didn't have enough oil Right. To make it there.
So, like, I don't know. Like, yeah, I guess it sucks, but also you had six hours.
Charlie Loften: Yeah, and so, like, whatever, I knew this was going to happen, but I wasn't personally ready. I wasn't personally I knew it was coming, but I wasn't personally ready. So what is the equivalent of that? I know that Jesus is coming, but I am not ready.
Abigail Boone: I mean, I guess that would be the I don't remember the exact parable, but we're talking about one where you can just believe or there's like an exact, like almost about face of like being an active soldier sounds weird, but we talked about it in one Parable Tour is, like, you can just be a soldier or you can be an activated soldier.
Charlie Loften: Mhmm.
Abigail Boone: And I feel like it could be easily a massive temptation to just be like, yep, I believe. Check. But you're not letting it infiltrate every area to where it's impacting every area of your life.
Charlie Loften: I mean, ascent to facts and belief are two different things. I Jesus is coming, and Jesus is my Lord is two different things. Sometimes people can insert a works based theology into this parable, but I don't think it really fits. Again, it is a very personal, inward sort of thing that seems to be being described here. He doesn't come and evaluate them based on Intellectually, did you know this?
Yeah, or how much they did. How big your present is, how nice your dress is, were you really ready for Okay, him to come what do I need to make sure that I'm in right standing with the bridegroom when he comes back is a personal faith and trust in him. Again, the personal aspect of it is what is is really kind of what he's I drawing out
Abigail Boone: had a friend, and I know this is gonna sound like an extreme, but he was trying to differentiate the difference of just knowing something and believing in something to where he's like, if someone put a bomb on the bottom of your chair and you just knew it but you didn't believe it, you may not do very much, but if you knew and believed there was a bomb on your chair, there would be activity And going that is like, no, you have a belief, which whatever the action is, but there is reaction to there being a belief that you have.
Charlie Loften: Yeah, I mean, to use more modern language, I mean, there's a phrase that we use, a nominal Christian, which has the idea of a Christian in name.
Abigail Boone: Mhmm.
Charlie Loften: I am not necessarily I'm not necessarily someone who deeply believes these things. But if you well, what religion are you? I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. Mhmm.
Are you a Christian? Yeah. I mean, I'm not I'm not Muslim. Mhmm. Right.
Do you think Jesus is the son of God? Yeah. Sure.
Abigail Boone: Yeah. But then you about Do
Charlie Loften: you know Jesus is coming back? Makes sense. Mhmm. But it's not Yeah. Is It's not also real to the point to where it's like, He could come back here at any time.
Abigail Boone: I
Charlie Loften: better make sure I've got enough oil for whenever it is that he comes back. He didn't say he would be here right at six.
Abigail Boone: Be So here right better at live like you believe it could be any time.
Charlie Loften: Right. I better make sure I've always got enough. I'm Okay, well, I'm running low on oil. If he came right now, I wouldn't be ready. I better go get some more oil.
I better because I need to be ready. And so, like, you just think, we're talking about Pixar movies
Abigail Boone: This episode.
Charlie Loften: During the episode.
Abigail Boone: Yeah. Yeah, I think so.
Charlie Loften: Being Mr. Incredible going to his wedding?
Abigail Boone: Yeah. Yeah.
Charlie Loften: I've still got time.
Abigail Boone: I love that movie so much.
Charlie Loften: It's great. It is the best one as far as I'm concerned.
Abigail Boone: Really? Yeah.
Charlie Loften: Wow. Anyways, I've still got time. I think people like I still currently want to be in charge of my life, and Christian adjacent is pretty good. I think God will look favorably upon Christian adjacent. I am favorable towards Christianity.
I'm favorable towards God. And I think too many of us are settling for that. And I think this is what this parable is trying to draw out. Not a, again, we just want be careful here, not a am I good enough to be accepted, am I Do I fully believe it? Do I really
Abigail Boone: Do I feel really believe it? It kind of reminds me of the difference between the person who, not bringing this into, like, a topic of hold on, full on discussion, but, like, the person that believes is in climate crisis or, like, different things like that, and they just, like, talk about it, and then you meet the person that, like, they only use recycled paper. You may eat dinner with them and you're like, this tastes kind of weird, and you're like, well, they Right. They believe in it. Towards like, that person looks different because they don't it's not just a talking point to them.
Charlie Loften: Right.
Abigail Boone: They believe it and their life has changed because of it.
Charlie Loften: Yeah, fly in a private plane and I live on a beachfront house. Yeah, you can believe it all you want. Yeah, But I believe, okay,
Abigail Boone: well. Do you? Yeah. Yeah. But like, that's the difference in like, yeah, I just say it.
Charlie Loften: Right. I believe in it. It is the appropriate thing to believe.
Abigail Boone: Yeah. And then there's the person that's like, well, their life doesn't look very glamorous, but it is clear. Right. They believe in that big time. Right.
Charlie Loften: They are living in such a way, they are not driving a big diesel guzzling No.
Abigail Boone: They're probably riding their bike.
Charlie Loften: Yeah. Or at a minimum one of those
Abigail Boone: Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
Charlie Loften: I get why they do that, but like, a little startling. It scares me a little bit. Yeah. Oh, that's just a It's one of those. It's an electric car.
Mhmm.
Abigail Boone: Well, Fiat that they're trying to but, yeah, I think that is, like, it's interesting because I feel like most people don't like, there's a lot of different categories like climate or other things where you could say, well, they're not really they're not walking the walk. Just talking the talk, But we don't talk a ton about walking the walk. It feels more sensitive to say. But I guess you brought up that a lot of people could think that it's works based legalism, but it's like, there just is a way that your life looks when you're living off of a belief.
Charlie Loften: Right. And this transitions next is a parable that we've already done. This spills this parable spills directly into Matthew's telling of the parable of the talents.
Abigail Boone: Oh, the bags of gold. I like that title better.
Charlie Loften: Yeah. It makes more sense.
Abigail Boone: It does.
Charlie Loften: It is unfortunate for us that the name of their weight by which they measure quantities of gold is an English word we have a completely different meaning for. Yeah, so again, it's like he's spilling out there, okay, you know, you need to have this personal belief that I am committed to this, and here, furthermore, is how it's going to play out. I'm giving you this, and so you put your faith and your trust in Me, and you're going to do something with your life. You're going to be the kind of person who genuinely believes, and so there's a way that you are going to live your life, which we talked about. And it's even just put the money in the bank so you can get interest from it, you've at least understood that you have a stewardship to which I'm going to
Abigail Boone: ask you Then you're going to live in a certain way.
Charlie Loften: You're going to live a certain way if you are going to be someone who has genuinely prepared the lamp of your heart, Abigail. Is there oil, is there sufficient oil in the lamp of your heart, Abigail? Let's hope. That's right there.
Abigail Boone: Do you feel like this is one that is tougher for people to swallow?
Charlie Loften: I think people don't understand it. Okay. I think you are the perfect example. What? Virgins?
What? Why does he need 10?
Abigail Boone: Well, last episode I don't think they
Charlie Loften: were polygamous at this point.
Abigail Boone: It feels So that's not crazy that I
Charlie Loften: thought It feels polygamous. And so because I don't understand the setup, I can't understand the parable, and I just get with, all I'm kind of left with is the very simplistic, but still, I guess,
Abigail Boone: close enough. Be ready. Yeah. But do you think the concept behind it, whether it's talking through the parable or if you're doing a totally different sermon or anything on it of like, we're not promoting legalism, but there is a level of you need to live on what you believe.
Charlie Loften: Yeah. I mean, the balance between Ephesians two and the book of James, right? It is by grace you've been saved through faith, not of yourselves, not as a result of works, no one can boast. Right? And then James talking about faith without works is not anything at all.
I mean, there is a genuineness to your faith that is going to manifest itself in some sort of way is different than I'm going to be judged exclusively based on how my life manifests. And again, this is the thing that we've talked about from the very beginning. I don't know if we've talked about it much recently, like Jesus being that kind of theological bridge between an Old Testament understanding. Their misunderstanding of what God was communicating them in the Old Testament to this new thing that Paul is gonna be able to fully explain post crucifixion, resurrection, and Pentecost, you know, and Jesus kind of helping us
Abigail Boone: Understand. Live and start to transition.
Charlie Loften: I mean, doesn't say here, and let me tell you what oil is. Oil is you believe that my death on the cross is gonna be the forgiveness of your sins and that my resurrection will prove that I have conquered death. I'm sorry, your what and your who and your
Abigail Boone: I don't know what you're talking about.
Charlie Loften: Don't know what you're talking about. But like, after that, now we can go back and see, Oh, okay. I can fill in the blanks now of what entrance into the kingdom looks like in a post resurrection world that I couldn't fully understand here, but at a minimum I understand nominal believism isn't enough, and even doing stuff isn't enough. There's something deeper and more personal that he's wanting from me. Oh.
Oh. Yeah. And, uh-oh. He sent his son and they killed him. And he went away he went away and came back.
He was like on a journey, like, Okay, okay, okay. Starting to put the pieces together. But He is building that bridge. He is getting us, you know, when we are two days out from, you know, the Last Supper and three days out from the crucifixion, and He's getting us all the way there to where, you know, the shock of Jesus being murdered is going to be like, What? And then the resurrection will be like, What?
And then He's going to spend a month with them trying to explain, and they're going be like, Ah, I don't know. And then the Holy Spirit comes and all of sudden it starts to click. Now they start to write all this down, and again, now Matthew's putting it in a particular order to where someone who reads it, now it's been a couple of decades since Jesus came back to life, you read it and see and understand it differently than a random person being in there. Was like, okay, so the the son is gonna do what? Yeah.
And you're gonna and who's the are you the son of man? And what does that mean? What does that mean? Why did he let those women into the party? Mhmm.
Like, they didn't have enough what? Like like, to them, but it's, like, they're holding on to it. And, again, I think the Holy Spirit count like, after those three significant events, crucifixion, resurrection, Pentecost, I I would just imagine against, like like, your ear popping
Abigail Boone: Mhmm.
Charlie Loften: When the plane lands. You're like oh. Yeah. Oh. Oh.
But he's building the bridge to help us get there. Okay. We got dose more.
Abigail Boone: Though Uh-oh. The virgins were not what I thought they were, all that jazz, I still really like this parable.
Charlie Loften: It's wild.
Abigail Boone: The main part of what I understood from the sermon I listened to long ago is still there.
Charlie Loften: And the interesting thing about it too, and this is for the Jesus is a bro people, he looked people in the eye and said, I don't know you. And they waited until Jesus actually came back, Oh, yeah, yeah, I'll get my heart out. Mm-mm. No. Nope.
Too late.
Abigail Boone: But that's alright. Yes.
Charlie Loften: The idea is that there will be some people who have an affinity towards Jesus who will not make it in, and there is a point when it is too late.
Abigail Boone: Yeah.
Charlie Loften: And so the Christian Universalist idea that God was still pursuing people after you know, kind of like we talked about in the parable of Lazarus and the Rich man. And the rich man. Like, we got another one here. There is a point where it will be too late. Yeah.
And there will be people that have a positive feeling towards Jesus that will ultimately be rejected. Mhmm.
Abigail Boone: See, that's why I was wondering if you feel like this is a harder to receive topic. Because like the ones we did last week and the week before was like, you yourself still have an option, which this is calling people in the same way. Right. Like, be ready. Is a warning that
Charlie Loften: is you can setting an end time, but he's also saying, from your perspective, it is going to be delayed. It's not tomorrow. It's not going be the very next day. Don't wait for it next month. Live your life, and it's going to be so long that you would run out of a normal amount of oil and you're going to fall asleep.
But nonetheless, be ready. And so, again, it's got but even in that, there's a lot of implied grace there that he's going to come back and it's going to be the end, but he's going to be way more patient and wait a lot longer than you think he would. And even people who fall asleep Still can. Can still get there as long as you have done this to very personal make your heart ready. Yeah.
So we got a dose more after this.
Abigail Boone: Let's do it. That's it?
Charlie Loften: Let's do two more.
Abigail Boone: Okay.
Charlie Loften: And then a third one where we just I kind of put a bow on
Abigail Boone: like that.
Charlie Loften: So you get ready for that, because that's when you shine. We haven't done these in I so miss the episodes. I miss where you just start peppering me with questions. Yeah.
Abigail Boone: People sometimes ask me what prep I do for these episodes, and I tell them I get dressed, and then I show up.
Charlie Loften: You set up all the equipment.
Abigail Boone: I do, I do You set up
Charlie Loften: all the equipment.
Abigail Boone: But my brain is not coming in with anything. Those episodes, I come in with a little more.
Charlie Loften: Yeah, yeah, For sure. Well, thank you as always for setting up the equipment and having the brain that is maybe not prepped, but is Ready to receive. Ready. Ready. Yes.
I've got enough oil. Thank you for joining us, and ask you to just be with us these next few weeks as we wrap up this year long series on the parables. And again, thank you for being with us. Thank you for listening to the Cultivate podcast. Our hope is that you are taking steps to go deeper in your faith, that you are asking big questions, and you're looking for answers.
We hope that we can be a resource for you through our podcast and any other way that we can help you. You can find all our episodes anywhere that you can find podcasts, including YouTube. And, again, thank you so much for joining us.