"Out of Oil": The Spiritual Lesson We Didn't Know We Needed

Meta Description: First Lady Elizabeth Lutter's Women's Day message on Matthew 25 challenged us to examine how our daily actions declare whether we truly believe God exists. URL Slug: out-of-oil-spiritual-lesson-from-a-fool Featured Image: A warm, softly lit image of an oil lamp or lantern against a dark background, symbolizing readiness and the light of faith — or a candid photo from Women's Day worship if available.

There are sermons you enjoy. And then there are sermons that find you out.

This past Sunday at Women's Day, First Lady Elizabeth Lutter delivered a message that did exactly that. Drawing from Psalm 14, Psalm 53, and the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25, she brought a word that was equal parts convicting and liberating — the kind of teaching that follows you home and keeps working on you long after the service ends.

She titled it simply: Out of Oil: A Spiritual Lesson from a Fool.

The Fool Who Lives Closer Than We Think

Sister Lutter opened in Psalm 14:1-3, letting the text land without softening it:

"The fool says in his heart, 'God does not exist.' They are corrupt. They do vile deeds. There is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the human race to see if there is one who is wise, one who seeks God. But all have turned away. All alike have become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one."

She was quick to point out that this fool isn't necessarily an atheist philosopher. There are, she explained, two kinds of fools in Scripture — those who lack understanding, and those who possess great understanding but still choose wrongly. This fool knew better.

And then came the moment that shifted the entire message: she turned the mirror on all of us.

"We say there is no God," she said, "by what we say and do, by where we go and what we participate in, by how we react in a crisis, by how we respond when God says no to our prayers, and by how we are living."

That's five ways. Five daily opportunities to functionally deny the God we confess with our lips. It was a sobering inventory — and it landed with quiet force.

Ninety Days of Conviction

What made Sister Lutter's teaching so compelling was her willingness to make it personal. She shared that for ninety days leading up to this message, the Holy Spirit had been convicting her with a recurring word: "You are acting like the fool."

Every time fear crept in, every moment of worry or doubt or negative thinking — the Spirit would gently but firmly name it. Not to condemn her, but to purge her. To prepare her.

She described how God reframed her posture toward difficulty: "Stop bracing yourself when the crisis comes. I want you to embrace it." That distinction — bracing versus embracing — is the difference between a faith that merely endures and a faith that trusts.

You cannot get spiritual oil in secular places. She said it plainly, and it echoed through the room.

The Parable We Can't Borrow Our Way Out Of

Sister Lutter anchored her message in Matthew 25:1-13, the parable of the ten virgins — five wise, five foolish. The foolish ones ran out of oil while waiting for the bridegroom. When they asked the wise ones to share, the answer was clear: there wasn't enough to divide.

"When they had gone to buy some, the groom arrived. Then those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet and the door was shut. Later, the rest of the virgins also came and said, 'Master, master, open up for us.' But he replied, 'I assure you, I don't know you.' Therefore, be alert, because you don't know either the day or the hour."

Her point was unmistakable: you cannot borrow salvation. Spiritual readiness isn't transferable. It's cultivated over a lifetime of walking with God — in his Word, in community, in surrender.

She also drew from Paul's words in Romans 3:10-12, echoing Psalm 14:

"As it is written: 'There is no one righteous, not even one; no one who understands; no one who seeks God. All have turned away; all alike have become useless. There is no one who does good, not even one.'"

Rather than leaving us in despair, she used this passage to press the urgency: the door is still open. The question is whether we're walking through it — and whether the people around us can see, by the way we live, that we believe it is.

He Knows Your Name

Sister Lutter closed with a testimony that brought the entire message into personal focus. She recalled sitting at the breakfast table with Dr. Billy Graham — a moment she traced back to a five-year-old girl watching him on a small television screen. Decades later, when books were being signed, Dr. Graham asked for a third copy. He wanted Elizabeth to have her own. He knew her name.

She connected that moment to a deeper truth: fifty years ago, she had walked the aisle three times in one year, wanting to be absolutely certain she was ready. And the Lord told her, "Don't come up this aisle one more time. Sit down, study my word, and you will know me — and I will know you."

The question she left us with was this: Why do we assume that because we say we know God, it means God knows us?

It was a question worth sitting with.

A Call to Walk Through the Door While It's Open

Sister Lutter concluded by stepping down from the platform and inviting others to join her — not as a salvation call alone, but as a corporate declaration. A commitment to stop living in ways that say, functionally, there is no God. To walk in a manner that ensures no family member, neighbor, or friend misses the open door because of how we lived in front of them.

Matthew 25 is not a comfortable passage. But in Sister Lutter's hands, it became an invitation rather than a warning — a reminder that the door is still open, the oil is still available, and the bridegroom hasn't arrived yet.

Are you ready?

If you missed Women's Day, we encourage you to watch the full message online and share it with someone who needs to hear it. And if this message stirred something in you — a desire to go deeper in your walk, to be more intentional about what your daily life declares — consider joining one of our Bible study opportunities this week. The door is open.

Social Media Excerpt (Facebook/Instagram): This Sunday, First Lady Elizabeth Lutter asked a question that stopped us in our tracks: "Do we say there is no God — not with our lips, but with how we live?" Her Women's Day message on Matthew 25 was one of the most honest, convicting, and ultimately hopeful sermons we've heard in a long time. Read the full recap at the link in bio. 🕯️

Hashtags: #OutOfOil #WomensDay #FranklinAvenue #BeReady #SpiritualReadiness