8. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

12. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

13. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

Let us pray.

Most holy and gracious heavenly Father, we thank You for who You are and for what You do. Dear Lord, hide Your servant behind the cross, that Your people would see You and not me. Dear Lord, as I decrease I ask that You would increase. Let the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, oh Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. In Jesus’ Name.

And the people of God said amen. You may be seated in the house of God tonight.

Jesus said in verse thirteen,

13. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

We have ministered before about time. But God has placed it in my spirit again to minister also again about time. You see, time is in God’s hands.

And when we define what time is, it’s a period during which and action and a process or condition exists or continues. It’s a point or period of when something occurs.

You see, they that were the foolish virgins did not have a concept of time. You see, in their mind they were going according to what the natural was saying. But when you deal with time, when you a spiritual person, you got to deal with what the Spirit is saying. I got to get into the time and into the flow of what the Spirit of God is doing.

And nothing knows the Spirit of God (glory to God), the mind of God, but the Spirit of God. So I’ve got to get into the flow of the Spirit of God, that I would know the time in the mind of God.

They were foolish. You see, Jesus hadn’t come yet. So they were about themselves doing what they thought they needed to do. They were doing what they wanted to do.

But when Jesus finally came, their concept of time was off.

Timing is everything. In war, attacking at the wrong moment will cost you the very battle.

Even in the body of Christ we are in a war. But if we try to attack the devil at the wrong time (my God, my God), it can cost us the very battle.

Of all the things in which timing is important, timing in our decision making process is the most crucial.

You see, these virgins didn’t realize that their decision process and their timing was running together. But (glory to God) they missed out on what God had for them, because they were too late. Come on. Talk to me tonight.

You see, when you’re dealing with God, you can’t put Him second. And you can’t put Him third. And you can’t put Him forth. And you definitely can’t put Him last.

You see, there may be something that God has for you at an appropriated time. Yes. A righteous man’s footsteps are ordered of the Lord. But a righteous man can be late also.

Timing is everything. We make time for what we want to make time. I need to say this loud and clear. We make time for what we want to make time for.

And let me tell you something. God gave me this message today. So if you late or whatever, it’s talking to you, and it’s talking to everybody else. Because He already knew.

Timing is everything. You can miss out on what God has for you by constantly being late. It’s the mercy and it’s the grace of God that He continues to bless us anyhow. It’s by His mercy.

Because if we were in the situation, and we were saying, “Lord, let me in,” based on what happened in the past, in our minds we’ll think He’s going to let us in, don’t we? Oh, you don’t hear what I’m saying.

But He was saying to them, “You’re too late.” He said, “I gave you all that you needed. I gave you the oil. I’ve given you the lamp. All I ask that you be on time waiting for Me, and not Me waiting for you.” You better listen to what I’m saying.

God waits on us. He waits on us. He waits on us. And in our minds we think that the warfare that we’re going through is that we’re waiting on God. But God is waiting on us. What is He waiting on us to do? To do what we know to do, and to do what we’re supposed to do.

Timing. Now see, if you don’t ever plan on being a leader in the house of God, see, you may think this message is not for you. But see, if God promised you something, this message is for you too. Because you can be at the wrong place at the wrong time. The wrong place at the wrong time. Or even the right place at the wrong time.

One of the primary reasons that believers step out of God’s will and out of fellowship with the Lord is that they make wrong decisions. Because they do not know God’s timing. He said, “Those that seek Me,” what? “Early are the ones that are going to find Me, and what I’m doing, and when I’m going to do it.”

Because those that seek Him early are the ones that get into the flow. Those are the ones that get into the Spirit of God. And they receive the instructions from the Lord.

You can’t tell me (glory to God) at eleven o’clock, if you’re finally saying, “Glory to God. Hallelujah,” that you done found Him. God was waiting on you way back here. He was waiting.

They came back. But Jesus had already come. Somebody needs to hear this. The ones that were wise, He said, “Come on in.” But the ones that were foolish, He said, “I don’t even know you. You had something else to do. So go back and do it.”

Timing in the Spirit is so important. We’ve got to allow the Word of God to sift everything through. We must know His will. But we’ve got to know His timing. We must know His purpose. But we’ve got to know His timing. We must know His plan. But we’ve got to know His timing. Timing.

Many things we have missed out on because we stepped out on it too late. Many doors that should have been ours, somebody else has fulfilled the position, because we were too late. Timing in the Spirit.

You may know what you want to do. But you have got to wait on clear directions. Clear directions. When it’s God, you may have some friction and opposition. But no matter what there will be positive results. There will be friction. But there will be positive results when you move in God’s timing.

Do you hear what I’m saying to you tonight? I am saying this. Don’t be so laxidazical about God. Don’t be so laxidazical about the move of God. Don’t have an excuse all the time about what God is doing and about what you are doing. Don’t have it.

It’s like the military, isn’t it? Your first sergeant don’t want to hear your excuse. So why we want God to hear our excuse? Oh, you don’t want to talk to me tonight.

Timing is everything. Waiting on the Lord. It doesn’t mean that I’m not doing anything. But waiting on the Lord simply means that I’m pausing until I receive further instructions. Pausing. And in my pausing and receiving further instructions, it means (glory to God) that I am in a position of prayer. I’m in a position of being in my Word. I’m in a position of seeking the Lord.

You see, the Bible says seek the Lord. When you seek something, that means you to do it over and over and over again. You haven’t found Him. Paul said, “Not as though I have attained.” But you do it over and over and over again. You don’t just do it a couple of times. But you practice it. You make it a practice. Seeking the Lord has got to be a practice in your life. It’s got to be a practice all the time.

And just because you’re practicing seeking Him does not mean it has become a ritual. Because seeking the Lord should bring us joy. It should not be a grievous things to seek the Lord. It should not be a grievous thing to put this flesh under subjection and say, “Flesh, get down. I got to seek my God.” Oh, I’m talking to you tonight.

Timing is so, so important. During this time of waiting, my decision should be not to do anything. I should not be rushed to do anything without receiving instruction.

You may have a very important need in your life. But if God hasn’t spoken to you about it yet, I wouldn’t take a foot forward yet. If He hasn’t told you to move, I’m going to stand in prayer until God says, “Okay. Go forward.” Until I have peace about it... The Bible said you shall be lead forth by peace. If I don’t have peace about it, I’m not going to move. I don’t care what mama, brother, sister, brother... Oh, you don’t hear me tonight. I’m not going to move until Jesus tells me to move.

Even though I’m a man of God and I’m a prophet, and I may have a word for you, I’m not going to speak it until He tells me to speak it. Because even in the Spirit realm when you’re dealing with the gifts of the Spirit, you’ve got to move in accuracy of timing. The Bible says, “A word in season, how good it is.” But you give a word out of season; you’ll destroy somebody.

Timing, it’s so important. In the Spirit, in the Spirit it’s so important.

Psalms twenty-seven and verse fourteen. It said, “Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord.”

In Psalm thirty-seven, verse four through verse seven, it says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in Him, and He will bring it to pass.” He will bring it to pass.

“He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noon day. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.”

Timing. I keep saying it over and over.

I heard T. D. Jakes preach a message. And he was talking about self. And he was talking about Sarah in the midst of it. And all through his message, all he kept saying was self, self, self, self.

And tonight I’m trying to birth something in you. I got to get you pregnant first, so that you can... Oh, my God. So that you can give birth. I’m trying to get you to get pregnant with timing tonight. Oh, Jesus.

See, you’ll get mad at this if you are fleshly person. But if you’re ready to move into the spiritual things, you’ll wrap yourself in it and say, “Lord, feed me until I want no more.”

Timing is so important. So important. You will miss your blessing because you weren’t there. And your name was called. And they looked around for you and couldn’t find you nowhere. And by the time you got there, sister so and so had what you were supposed to have. And in your spirit you knew you were supposed to have it. But now they done got it. And now I’m mad. And now I can’t stand them. Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost moving over me.

If we miss our timing, God will move over us. And He’ll give it to somebody else. And that thing that you longed for, that thing that you asked God for, that thing that you had been waiting for... You could just taste it. It done passed you by. And you can sense it in your spirit. And now you feel lost, and you don’t know what to do. It’s time to seek the Lord all over again.

Where are we in our timing? The Bible said the Word of the Lord was scarce, in First Samuel. The Bible said in Amos that there was a famine for hearing the Word of the Lord.

And now days God has given the Word freely. You can turn on your TV in the morning, and just about any station you turn to, from six o’clock, five o’clock, you can find a man or woman of God speaking the Word across the airways. But what happens is, we get so full. And we have such a choice on our menu (glory to God) that we begin to get spoiled.

It’s like my children when I tell them I’m going to take them to MacDonald’s. But they don’t want MacDonald’s. They want Burger King. So now I’m in the MacDonald’s drive through. And now they sitting there all pouting. But I’m like, “Wait a minute. You don’t understand. You don’t have to have this.” My God. Who am I preaching to tonight?

Timing is everything. Everything. Let me tell you something. I know that I’m a jack of all trades. I can do just about anything. Teach it to me a couple of times, and bam, I got it.

But this is what I want. And where your heart is, where your treasure is, that’s where your heart is going to be. Oh, I need to say that again. This is what I want. It’s not that I couldn’t, if God said, “Okay, you ain’t going to preach no more.” It’s not that I couldn’t go out and get me another job and make me some money. It ain’t that.

This is what I want. And where my treasure is, that’s where my heart is going to be. And that’s where I’m going to have my most time. I guarantee you that’s where I’m going to spend most of my time, in that thing that I want.

But if you don’t really want this, then it don’t matter about time to you. Do you hear me tonight?

Many of you have said, “I want it. I want it. I want it.” But you’re not proving to God that you really want it. All it is is a bunch of talk. A bunch of talk.

I want the Anointing. I want it bad. But if you want it, you got to spend some time.

And see, a lot of us when we get it, we begin to take it for granted. Oh, my God. We begin to take it for granted then, because we got it. See, once the Anointing is on you, the Bible says the gifts and the callings of God are without repentance.

So just because we get up here... I can get up here, and I ain’t even looked at my, our Bible. And I guarantee you the Anointing will come on me. I can get down there, and I can wave my hands for a little while. And the Anointing will come on me to minister to every one of you. Because the gifts and the callings of God are without repentance. It’s there. Once I got it, I got it.

But see, once we get it, we don’t think we got to spend time no more. We’ve got to spend more time. We’ve got to be n the right place at the right time. We’ve got to hear the right word at the right time. We’ve got to be among the right people at the right time. You’ve got to be. And if you have spent time with God, you will hear His voice.

My wife used to tell me when she didn’t know how to go somewhere, she would get home and say, “I didn’t know where I was going. And God told me to turn here. He told me to turn there. And He told me to turn there. And next thing you know, I was right there.”

Why? Because there was some timing. And you can hear His voice. When you spend time with somebody you know their voice, and you can receive the instruction that you need. He said, “My sheep know My voice, and the voice of a stranger they’re not going to follow.”

But see, it’s when you don’t spend any time. You’ll have all these other voices trying to talk to you. And you’ll be trying to figure out, “Which one are You, God? I thought that was You. No, is that You?” You’ll be all confused and tangled up when you don’t have the concept of time.

Psalm sixty-two tells us to be silent in our waiting. You see, a lot of times we want to do too much talking. But see, communication with God means that not only are you communicating, but He is communicating to you.

God wants to talk to you. Look at your neighbor and say, “God wants to talk to me.” It’s not a one-way street. It’s not. He wants to talk to you. But in order for somebody to talk to you, you got to spend time. You’ve got to spend time.

Isaiah forty verse twenty-nine through verse thirty-one tells us that they that wait upon the Lord... See, you going to get strength when you wait on Him. See, God is going to begin to raise you up and elevate you when you wait on Him. See, though the enemy try to come in like a flood the Spirit of God will lift up a standard against him, when you wait on Him.

Timing. Timing. You want to know why when I come down here after I preach I wait and I say, “Let’s sing this song. And let’s wave our hands”? I’m waiting on God’s timing. I’m waiting on God to speak to me and say, “Go ahead and minister.” I’m not trying to step out in my own, but I’m trying to step out in Him. In His timing. In His timing. In His timing. Glory to God.

When you wait on God, it’s a personal thing. And it demands patience. Why don’t we like to wait? Number one, it implies that someone else is in control. Uh oh. Number two, waiting demands of me. I must be sensitive to Him. I must trust Him. And I must be obedient to Him. It brings me to a place of submission, of submission. It brings me to a place where I have surrendered my will to Him, when I wait on Him.

Timing. There is something that you’re waiting for God to move in. But if you spend time with Him, He’ll say, “Okay, now do it. Do it now. You weren’t ready before, but now do it.” And then you’ll begin to see the fruit of what you been waiting for, if you move in His timing.

Saints of God, it’s a shame that they even have something called CP time. We know what that is right? Oh, you don’t know. Colored people time. Because got a reputation that if you’re of this persuasion, you can wait a little while longer. They’ll be here after while.

There’s a reputation in the black community that we don’t have a concept of time. And that is something that we need to break. We need to break that. We need to break that.

If you know that you got a meeting to attend, be on time. Be early. Be waiting on everybody else to get there. And be bold and say, “I was waiting on you.”

Time. Psalm twenty-five, verse one through verse three. Let’s go there for just a moment. We’re almost finished tonight. Glory to God. We need this thing. I tell you.

It says,

1. Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.

2. O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.

3. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.

In other words he was saying, “Let nobody that waits on You be ashamed.”

See, if you waiting on God, even though it seems like, “Uh oh. I didn’t make it when I should have been there.” But God, I was in a place of fasting. And I was praying. And you know, I thought, you know...” God will make a way for you. He’ll make a way for you. But it’s when you were about your business that you had to suffer the consequences.

And sometimes His mercy will even kick in, say, “You could have been there.” But He say, “I’m going to have mercy on you this time. Come on in.” But it wasn’t like that with the foolish virgins. He said, “It’s too late. Too late.”

Why does God require us to wait at times? He wants us to refocus our attention from the desire that we have to back on Him. I’m going to say it again. He wants us to refocus our attention from the desires that we have to back on Him.

See, that desire can consume you. And I guarantee you there are those of you that are sitting in here right now that have a desire. And even while you’re sitting here, instead of your mind being on God, your mind is on something else that you really desire.

But God sees the heart. And you can lift up your hands all night long, but your heart can be far from Him. He wants us to adjust our motive. Look at your neighbor and say, “I’m going to adjust my motive.” You see, sometimes we got to wait because our motive isn’t right. See. See, if we wait, He has time to allow the Holy Spirit to deal with us, to deal with our motive.

Okay. What is your motive for what you want and what you desire? What is your motive behind it? Is it that you felt like you were nothing before, but now you feel like this is going to make you something among a crowd? Oh, you don’t want to talk to me. I hear it because I felt it.

He’ll make you check your motive, to remind us that He is in control, and also the need to deal with sin that’s still in our lives.

See, I would rather for God to make me wait if I’m not ready for that thing yet. I want Him to make me wait for it. See, because I’ll wind up getting in that thing. And that very thing that was a blessing will become a curse. I rather wait. Say, “Now, Lord, is this the right timing?”

Lord say, “Okay. Go forth and do it.”

Now I done waited all this time. And we done spent time in prayer. And I done hear God say wait. And now God say go forth. And now I’m saying, “Is that You, God?” Uh, uh. Go on and step out there then, and receive your blessing.

Timing is everything. Even in healing timing is everything. The disciples asked Jesus about the man that needed healing. They said, “Who sinned?” Jesus said... They said, “Was it the mother or the father?”

Jesus said, “Neither one. It was that you could be here, and that the Father could get glory.”

You see, even your healing can be by timing. You see, you can be lame in your body so that God can get glory. You don’t want to talk to me. You lame in your body so God can get some glory. He ain’t saying He ain’t going to heal you. But He got an appointed time that He is going to heal you.

Timing. I feel it being birthed in somebody tonight. We’re talking about timing. What should we expect? He will be good to us. He will answer us. And we will see the fruit of our faith.

If you are waiting for God to do something, if you’re waiting for the right time, in your waiting stay on your face. Stay with your hands in praise and in worship.

See, because if you’re waiting on something but you’re not waiting in faith, it’s going to show all over you. See, because those hands used to be high, and now they down here. That smile used to be this wide, and now you can’t even see it no more.

But when somebody asks what’s going on, we’ll say, “I’m waiting on God.” How are you waiting?

I’m waiting in praise. I’m waiting in prayer. I’m waiting in fasting. And I have not changed one bit. My shout is still the same. My dance is still the same. It’s still the same. And as a matter of fact, it has gone to another level.

Timing. See, when I get a message from the Lord I know it. Because what it will do at first, it will make people uncomfortable. But then by the time I get to the end, you’ll be alright. It done worked your bowels a little bit. Now you can go to the bathroom.

Timing is everything. See, you got to get a little humor out there to loosen you up some.

You may be waiting on God to do something. But how are you waiting? How are you waiting?

I’m waiting on the Lord to do so many things. But I got a praise in my mouth. And when I came in this church this afternoon, and I lifted up my...

And I couldn’t wait to get on my face for a little while. Because I’m waiting in prayer. And I’m waiting with a praise. How have you been waiting? You can’t fool God. How have you been waiting? How?

Be honest with yourself. If you been kicking and slobbering and murmuring and complaining, you need to be honest with God about it. Say, “God, I been waiting on you. But I haven’t been waiting right. I haven’t been in the right position. But God, I’m ready to get in the right position. I’m ready, Lord, to change. I’m ready to make a change, Jesus. I’m ready to make a change.”

That’s what I’m... I’m ready, Lord to make a change. And no matter how long I got to wait, my praise is going to go higher and higher. My worship is going to be even more heartfelt.

And my communication with You is going to be so intense that the person next to me will hear You talking to me. Oh, you don’t want to hear me tonight. That’s what I’m talking about. When God can be talking to you, that the person next to you can hear what God said to you. Now I know that’s profound.

You better give God a handclap of praise tonight.