Time

 "You fools! You know how to interpret the weather signs of the earth and sky, but you don't know how to interpret the present times." Luke 12:56...."There has never been a generation as ignorant of the answer of one little question: 'What time is it?' " Vance Havner

I have been an admirer of a pastor and evangelist named Vance Havner, who many years ago went home to the Lord. He had a way of cutting directly to the root of a problem or situation, and infusing God's truth into the center of it. He, along with men like A.W. Tozer and Leonard Ravenhill, were identifying and coming against thinking, attitudes, and behaviors that they were seeing emerging in the American church. The watering down of the Word of God, the lax attitude towards sin, the adoption by the church of corporate methods over "consecrated men," and the emphasis on buildings, programs, attendance growing, and monies raised, over the presence and operation of the Holy Spirit in all of His fullness. He addressed a generation and though He has been gone nearly 50 years, He addresses ours.

He said, "Civilization today reminds me of an ape with a blowtorch playing in a room full of dynamite." Could there be a more apt description of what we're seeing not only in the culture of America, but throughout this world today? And I fear that the church, for the most part, is asleep in the midst of it all. How? Why?

Jesus spoke to a generation well versed in the teachings of the Father. They were religious, but they were blind to what God was saying, and most especially what He was saying through His Son Jesus Christ. The Messiah they had been looking for was before them, but they didn't recognize Him. When He spoke and told them who He was, they didn't believe Him. When He warned them of the sure consequences of rejecting Him, they laughed at Him. When He pointed to all that the prophets who'd foretold concerning Him had been realized in Him, they denied Him. When He told them what lay ahead as a result of it all, they couldn't see it. They could discern the weather, but they couldn't discern His reality. They didn't believe the God they said they believed in.

In Luke 19:44, Jesus told the people that their city, Jerusalem, and their beloved Temple would be destroyed because they did not recognize "the time of their visitation." How close are we, the church, to entering into that same place of danger? The Father's warning signs are everywhere and are increasing, yet far too many of us continue on in our pursuit of our own comfort and happiness. We have continued to build our "houses" on foundations of sand, and we don't even notice their eroding.

I have said before, and I say again, this is not a message of despair, but of hope. We are told in His Word to "look up, for our redemption draws near." We will miss what He is saying and doing if all we can see is what is going on with ourselves. We must live looking up, listening up, and not miss what He is saying and doing in these and all days. Someone said that the enemy's greatest lie to those of us living as I describe above is to tell us that "there's still time," which permits us to go on ignoring what He is saying, doing, and warning of right now.

His Word says that "Now is the day of salvation." No one is guaranteed tomorrow. A grieving God told the nation of Israel, "My people perish for lack of knowledge." I believe He speaks this to us right now. Do we hear? Or, do we go on as we have been? After all, there's still time......isn't there?

Blessings,

Pastor O