I Sam 16: 1 Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.”

Ps 75: 4 “I said to the boastful, ‘Do not deal boastfully,’
And to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn.
5 Do not lift up your horn on high;
Do not speak with a stiff neck.’ ”
6 For exaltation comes neither from the east
Nor from the west nor from the south.
7 But God is the Judge:
He puts down one,
And exalts another.

Matthew Henry:
To the proud daring sinners, the wicked, that set God himself at defiance, he says, “Lift not up the horn; boast not of your power and prerogatives; persist not in your contumacy and contempt of the government set over you; lift not up your horn on high, as though you could have what you will and do what you will; speak not with a stiff neck, in which is an iron sinew, that will never bend to the will of God in the government; for those that will not bend shall break; those whose necks are stiffened are so to their own destruction.”

Let not the anti-christian power, with its heads and horns, lift up itself against him, for it shall certainly be broken to pieces; what is said with a stiff neck must be unsaid again with a broken heart, or we are undone.

Pharaoh said with a stiff neck,
Who is the Lord?
But God made him know to his cost.

From God alone kings receive their power and the Church having power from God must use it for him, and therefore those are fools that lift up the horn against him.

Are you “Full-ly” Equipped to Stand against the arrogant power-mongers in this Generation?

John 20: 20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

The Wise & the Foolish Virgins were not readily distinguishable from one another!

Matt 25:1 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
2 “Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 “Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them,
4 “but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 “But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming;fn go out to meet him!’
7 “Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.
8 “And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
9 “But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’
10 “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’
12 “But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

“Foolish, wise, not bad and good, but prudent and imprudent, thoughtless and thoughtful.” —Bruce

“It is a warning addressed specifically to those inside the professing church who are not to assume that their future is unconditionally assured; all ten are expecting to be at the feast, and until the moment comes there is no apparent difference between them – it is the crisis which will divide the ready from the unready.” —France

“I think that it is safe to say, for the most part the church is pretty apostate. There are surely many apostate ministers.” —Chuck Smith

“There will come up from among your own group, those who will depart from the faith, seeking to draw men after themselves, and many of them departing from our very Lord.” —Apostle Paul

Jesus to the church of Thyatira:
“I gave her space to repent of her fornication, but she repented not, therefore I will cast her into the great tribulation, and those who commit fornication with her, unless they repent”(Revelation 2:21).

God does have His faithful remnant, the true body of Christ.

Jesus said to the church of Philadelphia, “thou has kept the word of my patience”(Revelation 3:10).
These are those who are keeping true to the word of God.

Acts 1: 4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;
5 “for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.
8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Nevertheless, a key to Christian readiness is to be constantly being filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Much of the weakness, defeat and lethargy in our spiritual lives can be explained if we are not constantly being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Not only filled with the Spirit but also walk in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit and depend upon the Spirit of God.

The overriding need of the church if it is to discharge its obligation to the coming generation, is for a leadership that is authoritative spiritual and sacrificial.

Spiritual because a leader that is unspiritual that can be fully explained in terms of the natural although ever so attractive and competent will result only in sterility and moral and spiritual bankruptcy.

“The spiritual leader influences others not by the power of his own personality alone but by that personality irradiated and interpenetrated and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Because he permits the Holy Spirit undisputed control of his life the Spirit’s power can flow unhindered through him to others.” —J. Oswald Sanders

Acts 6:2 Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
3 “Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business;
4 “but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit….

6 whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them.
7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.