Do you know what time it is? Pastor Andy asks this key question. We need to know what time we are in as a church right now. We need to learn to tell the time spiritually. The bible may tell us different things that will happen in various times but we may not have grasped this fully.

1 Chronicles 12:32 speaks of the peoples of Issachar (one of the 12 tribes of Israel) understanding the times they were in. Likewise, as the church, we need to understand times we are in with readiness to respond. We are in last days as the bible teaches. But do we know this, the days before the returning of Jesus Christ. He will come back to collect the people who belong to Him. In less than a second some will go to hell, some to heaven. No one knows the exact time but we can know the season we are in if we listen to the Holy Spirit and understand the nature of what is happening in the world. The global happenings now indicate times different from any before. We need to make ready for when Jesus returns. The Word does not give us exact times but it does give significant signposts.

Jesus describes to His disciples how things will be before His return in Matthew 24 (TPT, extract of key verses) {His disciples came privately to where he was sitting and said, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what supernatural sign should we expect to signal your coming and the completion of this age?” Jesus answered, “At that time deception will run rampant. For many will appear on the scene claiming my authority or saying about themselves, ‘I am God’s Anointed,’ and they will lead many astray. You will hear of wars nearby and revolutions on every side, with more rumours of wars to come. Don’t panic or give in to your fears, for the breaking apart of the world’s systems is destined to happen. But it won’t yet be the end; it will still be unfolding. Nations will go to war against each other and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be terrible earthquakes—seismic events of epic proportion, horrible epidemics and famines in place after place. This is how the first contractions and birth pains of the new age will begin! You can expect to be persecuted, even killed; for you will be hated by all the nations because of your love for me. Then many will stop following me and fall away, and will betray one another….many lying prophets will arise, deceiving multitudes and leading them away from the path of truth. There will be such an increase of sin and lawlessness that those whose hearts once burned with passion for God and others will grow cold. But keep your hope to the end and you will experience life and deliverance. Yet through it all, this joyful assurance of the realm of heaven’s kingdom will be proclaimed all over the world, providing every nation with a demonstration of the reality of God. And after this the end of this age will arrive. The appearing of the Son of Man will burst forth with the brightness of a lightning strike that shines from one end of the sky to the other, illuminating the earth. Concerning that day and exact hour, no one knows when it will arrive, not even the angels of heaven—only the Father knows. For it will be exactly like it was in the days of Noah when the Son of Man appears. Before the flood, people lived their lives eating, drinking, marrying, and having children. They didn’t realize the end was near until Noah entered the ark, and then suddenly, the flood came and took them all away in judgment. It will happen the same way when the Son of Man appears. At that time, two men will be working on the farm; one will be taken away in judgment, the other left. Two women will be grinding grain; one will be taken away in judgment, the other left. This is why you must stay alert: because no one knows the day your Lord will come}.

Jesus is the ark people will now find salvation in……….but are we ready for this time? In 2 Timothy 3:1-5 Paul also speaks of the last days (TPT, extracts from verses) {But you need to be aware that in the final days the culture of society will become extremely fierce and difficult for the people of God. People will be self-centred and obsessed with money, boasting of great things as they strut around in pride and mock all that is right, ignoring their families, being ungrateful and ungodly, addicted to hateful and malicious slander; Slaves to their desires, they will be ferocious, belligerent haters of good and right. With brutal treachery, they will act without restraint, bigoted and wrapped in clouds of their conceit, finding delight in the pleasures of this world rather than God. They may pretend to have a respect for God, but in reality they want nothing to do with God’s power. Stay away from people like these!}

These descriptions do paint the times we are in now. What ought our response to all this be? We need to ensure our lives are ready for Him, no junk in our hearts. Also it’s a moment for the church to find its purpose…we need to be harvesters. God is speaking to His people. We do not know the hour or second but these are unusual days naturally and spiritually. If Jesus is returning soon, we must focus on harvest of souls. If our closest friends and family have not heard the good news they may be looking at an eternity of hell. This must motivate us and focus us. The fields are ripe for harvest (John 4:35)….people are emerging from lockdown. The harvesters and labourers are each of us, to rescue the lost. Nothing is as important as somebody’s eternal soul going to hell. Roughly one hundred people die per minute worldwide! Where will these people go….to a lost eternity if they have not heard about Jesus? God made a way for everyone to escape lost eternity. If they choose not to choose His Son, having heard of Him, then this is their decision. But our motivation must be to tell them firstly.

We are not waiting for buildings to open but to focus on getting into the harvest field and save people. Harvest now is not bringing people to buildings, but the church being mobilised to go into other people’s worlds to tell them of Jesus. We have been able to rediscover ourselves as a community of people of God during lockdown. He is still sending us into the harvest. What time is it? Time to be mobilised! There are no last moments. It is about reaching our local community, neighbours, maybe using social media to spread the good news rather than anything else! In Acts 1:8 (NKJV) Jesus said “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.” Our local world is our Jerusalem. Our loved ones are our immediate concern. Let us ensure we are ready, that we know and understand the gospel.

Are we ready for His return? Are we a wise or foolish virgins (Matthew 25), do we have oil in our lamps? Yes, scoffers will come in the last days as in 2 Peter 3:3-10 (NKJV) “knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” For this they wilfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire until the Day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. Let us make sure we are ready, for ourselves ….and to help rescue others.