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00:00 And, ooh, it feels like an eternity.
00:05 It's only been two weeks, but, because of course last week I was not here.
00:13 Minister Trotter brought us the God kind of faith.
00:18 And then the week before that, my brother, Pastor Phil Gaudeau, brought us a powerful
00:24 word as well, so.
00:26 But it's good to get back on our subject matter, giving helps, and we're talking about giving.
00:34 Giving, sometimes giving in tears, but knowing that you'll reap in joy, and talking about
00:41 the purpose and benefits and necessity of helps.
00:48 And why both giving and helps are necessity for the vision that God gave my father, that
00:55 I'm continuing on with via the specific mission that He has given me for this hour that we
01:03 find ourselves in.
01:07 And part of moving forward with your mission is knowing when certain things have come to
01:14 an end.
01:18 Times come to a close, seasons come to an end.
01:22 The Word of God will confirm this as we look at the first verse of Ecclesiastes chapter
01:28 3, which reads, "To everything there is a what."
01:38 And the next part of the verse actually says, "To every purpose under heaven there is a
01:43 time."
01:48 To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.
02:00 So to everything and every purpose there is a season, there is a time for these things
02:09 under where?
02:12 Heaven.
02:15 What I find to be unique about this verse is that while the word season and time are
02:28 different, they're similar.
02:33 For example, this word season here in the Hebrew means an appointed occasion.
02:44 It means a season, but it also means a set time or appointed time.
02:52 So even though the Scripture says that to everything there is a season, a time for every
02:58 purpose under heaven, the word season, while meaning season, also means time.
03:07 And the word time, would you believe, also means what?
03:13 Season.
03:16 It means the time of an event.
03:24 It can refer to an occurrence or an experience, but it also means season.
03:34 In some ways we can read this Scripture as to everything there is a season and a time,
03:39 a time and season for every purpose under heaven.
03:45 And while times and seasons are similar, there are some things distinct about them.
03:50 For example, seasons consist of time.
03:56 What season are we in right now?
04:00 Technically it's still summer.
04:02 The summer season, it'll come to a close, what, the 20th, the 21st, something like that.
04:08 The dates, they change.
04:11 It's a subtle change, it seems, every year.
04:15 And when summer comes to a close, we will then enter into what?
04:21 What we call fall.
04:25 Fall will have a period of time in which it will give way to winter, and winter will give
04:32 way to spring.
04:34 And watch this, it repeats, it repeats but the same thing doesn't repeat.
04:46 What do I mean?
04:47 Well, right now we're in summer, but in 2022 there was a summer.
04:50 So there's a summer in 2022 and there's a summer in 2023, but last year's summer is
04:55 not this year's summer.
04:59 So seasons may even have the same name or title and consist of the same amount of time,
05:09 but different things are occurring during these seasons.
05:14 To everything, but pay very close attention, under heaven, and the earth is under heaven.
05:24 So in the realm in which we exist, to everything there is a season and a time for every purpose.
05:34 Go to Acts chapter one, beginning with verse one.
05:42 And let's open this up a bit.
05:50 To everything and every purpose, there is a season and a time.
06:00 And time is found in seasons and seasons consist of time.
06:07 Look here in Acts 1, 1, it reads, "The former account I made," who's the I?
06:15 Luke.
06:16 We've all heard of the physician Luke who wrote one of the gospel accounts.
06:20 Well, Luke, and he opens it up very similarly to the way he opens up his gospel account,
06:27 and he mentions Theophilus, whose name means friend of God.
06:34 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
06:40 he's referring to his gospel account here.
06:44 He says, "Until the day in which he was taken up, after he, through the Holy Spirit, had
06:51 given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen."
06:54 We know the 12 he had chosen.
06:56 What commandments did he give them before he was taken up?
07:01 We know it as the Great Commission.
07:04 We know that each gospel account records a specific part of that Great Commission.
07:09 For example, Matthew talks about making disciples of nations.
07:13 It's one of the commandments that he gave his disciples before he was taken up.
07:19 In Mark, we read that we're to go into all the world and do what?
07:22 Preach the gospel to how many?
07:25 Every creature.
07:26 We're going to do things like what?
07:27 Lay hands on the sick, and what are the sick going to do?
07:30 They're going to recover.
07:31 And we're going to cast out what?
07:33 Demons.
07:34 We're going to do it in his name.
07:37 In Luke, he commanded them to wait in Jerusalem.
07:41 All that I've told you to do, don't do until you're endued with power from where?
07:47 On high or heaven, and that power was the power of the Holy Spirit.
07:52 He talks about in John, the forgiveness of sins.
07:56 That which is forgiven will be forgiven you.
07:58 That which is retained will be retained you.
08:01 He gives these commandments before he's taken up to the apostles whom he has chosen, but
08:06 it wasn't just limited to the 12.
08:08 He was also talking to the 70.
08:10 He was also talking to the 120.
08:12 He was also talking to all who would call on the name of the Lord.
08:19 Verse three says, "To whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many
08:26 infallible proofs."
08:29 The Bible works overtime, yet it's effortless to establish that this man, Jesus, truly existed
08:37 and did things by the power of God.
08:42 Such that here Luke refers to them as infallible, and he says, "Many of them, many infallible
08:50 proofs, being seen by them during 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the
08:57 kingdom of God."
09:00 Verse four, "And being assembled together with them, he commanded them," what?
09:03 "Not to depart from," where?
09:05 "From Jerusalem or from home base, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which
09:13 he said, 'You have heard from me, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be
09:19 baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.'"
09:23 John the Baptist himself said, "I baptize you with water, but one mightier than me is
09:28 coming to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."
09:33 John the Baptist referring to Jesus.
09:35 Jesus here mentioning the words of John the Baptist.
09:40 What did Jesus also tell his disciples?
09:42 He said, "I pray to the Father," or I'm going to pray to the Father, "to send you another
09:47 helper, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither has seen
09:53 him or know him."
09:57 He was talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit.
10:01 And notice what he says here.
10:03 He commands them, "Don't leave Jerusalem until the promise of the Father has arrived."
10:13 Verse 6, "Therefore, when they had come together," pay very close attention to this because we're
10:19 going to read something very similar to what we read in Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 1.
10:26 "To everything there is a what?
10:28 A season, a time for every purpose under heaven."
10:35 And here, as he's telling his assembled disciples to wait for the promise of the Father in Jerusalem,
10:45 they get together and ask him a question saying what?
10:49 "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"
10:56 Why are they asking this question?
10:58 Well, the disciples, you know, it's only been 40 days since he's been resurrected.
11:06 And even during his three and a half year ministry, many Jews did not believe in him
11:13 as the Messiah because they were expecting a militant revolutionary leader to free them
11:23 from Roman oppression immediately.
11:26 So the disciples, they're asking the question, "Okay, all right, we've gone through your
11:30 earthly ministry, did many signs, you did many wonders, you worked many miracles, you
11:36 defeated death, you died and were then resurrected.
11:42 Now that you've done all of that, when are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
11:48 And what does he say to them?
11:49 "It's not for you to know times or seasons.
11:55 It's not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority."
12:02 The word times here, chronos, seasons, kairos, it reads very similar to what we read in Ecclesiastes
12:09 3.
12:10 And both these words in the Greek, just like in the Hebrew, have similar and distinct meanings.
12:18 Seasons consisting of time, and time being a part of seasons.
12:27 He says, "It's not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own
12:31 authority."
12:33 He's saying what?
12:34 You're not assembled here right now in Jerusalem to find out when the Father is going to restore
12:43 the kingdom to Israel.
12:46 Rather, here's what you need to know, and here's what you need to do.
12:51 Verse 8, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
12:56 And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end
13:02 of the uttermost parts of the earth."
13:04 In other words, Jesus is saying, "Disciples, right now, don't be concerned about or focused
13:10 on when the kingdom will be restored to Israel.
13:13 Rather, focus on evangelizing.
13:16 Focus on spreading the ministry of reconciliation.
13:19 Give your attention to spreading the gospel of salvation to the lost.
13:26 And start here in Jerusalem.
13:29 Work your way to Judea.
13:32 Start where you are.
13:34 Work then to the surrounding areas, and then the surrounding regions and states, and then
13:39 country and then the world.
13:43 But regarding when Israel will be restored to its kingdom glory, it's not for you," he
13:49 says, "to know the times," Kronos, "and the seasons," Kairos.
13:58 Focus on the power we receive as a result of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
14:01 And what kind of power is that?
14:04 Dynamis or dunamis, ability.
14:08 We get ability when we receive the Holy Spirit.
14:11 We got authority when we receive Jesus.
14:14 Exousia, the moment you get born again, you receive the authority of Jesus.
14:21 The same authority he gave the twelve to do what?
14:24 To lay hands on the sick, to heal all type and manner of diseases, to cast out devils,
14:31 demons, and unclean spirits.
14:33 That same exousia, that same authority, you and I received when we were born again.
14:38 And the moment we were filled with the Spirit, we then received ability on top of our authority.
14:44 We've got authority and ability working on the inside of us, and it is our job to go
14:50 into the world and operate in that authority and ability.
14:55 Times and seasons that will manifest or come together due or according to the Father's
15:09 authority, that's not what we focus on.
15:14 I don't focus on when the Lord's going to appear to the neglect of spreading salvation.
15:22 I know He's going to appear.
15:24 I know it's going to happen.
15:26 That's a guarantee.
15:28 Until it happens, carry on.
15:32 In Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.
15:41 Look here at Daniel chapter 2.
15:45 Daniel 2, find verse 19.
15:58 Nebuchadnezzar, King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream, and his wise men cannot interpret it.
16:05 The wisest men in his kingdom, wise men from other kingdoms who have become a part of his
16:11 kingdom cannot interpret or explain this dream, and until it's explained, his rest has departed
16:19 from him.
16:20 He says, he says, "My spirit is anxious to know the dream."
16:24 Every wise man, every astrologer, every soothsayer and diviner and chaldean in the kingdom couldn't
16:31 interpret it, but guess who could?
16:36 That Hebrew young man by the name of Daniel.
16:38 He could.
16:40 And in this part of the explanation or leading up to the explanation, it says here in verse
16:47 19 of Daniel chapter 2, it says, "Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision.
16:57 So Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
17:00 Daniel answered and said, 'Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and
17:06 might are his.'"
17:10 Pay attention to this first part of verse 21, "And he changes the times and the seasons."
17:18 He changes the chronos and the kairos.
17:22 He changes the times and the seasons.
17:28 What is this referring to?
17:31 This is not referring to chronological time.
17:35 This is not referring to spring, summer, winter, fall.
17:40 This is referring to times and seasons of life.
17:45 Our lives consist of times and seasons, and we serve a God who has the ability to change
17:52 them.
17:54 Okay, look at this.
17:58 Go to the prophet Hosea chapter 2, verse 9.
18:13 We'll explore this in some detail here in Hosea chapter 2, verse 9.
18:24 I'm going to ask a question that I already know the answer to.
18:31 How many of you are going through it?
18:38 I didn't ask for any description of it.
18:42 I just want to know, because it comes in many colors, textures, flavors, and shades.
18:49 And the it you're going through may not be the it that the person sitting next to you
18:52 is going through, but you're both going through it.
19:03 When you're going through it, the first thing you need to be reminded of is that you're
19:09 going through.
19:12 The second thing you need to be reminded of is that it has an expiration date.
19:19 Oh, oh, but watch this.
19:27 Here's the part that we may not like to hear.
19:36 While the goodness of God never ends, the good season you're going through does have
19:46 an end.
19:50 Now I'm not telling you that when the good season ends, you're entering into a bad season.
19:56 But Ecclesiastes, if we were to read the rest of those verses, you find out there is a time
20:02 to be born and there is a time to die.
20:06 Unfortunately, there is a time of joy and there is a time of pain.
20:15 Because these times and seasons are forever revolving and making their way to you, while
20:24 it's easy to rejoice and celebrate during the joy, we must also rejoice and celebrate
20:34 during the pain.
20:36 Not for it, but in it.
20:42 This is why you have wisdom nuggets found in the book of Proverbs in which we're told
20:47 there is a time for saving.
20:52 Because there may be a season in which your hands aren't producing the way they were in
20:58 the previous season, but in that joyful season in which your hands were producing, you should
21:05 have also been saving for the season in which your hands won't be producing as they were
21:09 in the previous season.
21:16 Look at this, Hosea chapter 2.
21:23 There are ebbs and flows.
21:28 We all got hit with one during this pandemic.
21:34 Something's dried up for some of us.
21:37 Something slowed down for some of us.
21:41 This is why you're supposed to be prepared when these times and seasons arrive because
21:50 sadly they're coming because of the world and environment in which we live.
21:55 It comes with the territory.
21:58 Hosea 2.9 says, "Therefore, I will return and take away my grain in its time and my
22:07 new wine in its season."
22:13 Who's the "I"?
22:14 This is the Lord.
22:15 Who's He talking to?
22:16 He's talking to Israel.
22:17 Now watch this.
22:18 He's talking to unfaithful Israel.
22:23 He's telling unfaithful Israel.
22:26 And so we learn then that there are some things and seasons and times we can bring upon ourselves.
22:33 Isaiah 59 is the Scripture, verse 1 and 2, tells us that the Lord's arm and hand is not
22:44 too short that He can't reach and save.
22:49 And His ear is not so heavy that He can't hear.
22:53 It says, "But your sin and your iniquities have separated you from your God."
23:02 So some seasons of drought and despair, some we bring on ourselves.
23:10 Others we get hit with because the devil just hates us.
23:18 And so because he runs the world system, he's going to do what he can to hinder you.
23:25 In this particular case in Hosea, God is telling unfaithful Israel.
23:31 "I will return and take away my grain in its," what?
23:35 "time and my new wine in its season."
23:40 Now let's spend a little bit of time on grain and wine because while it is referring to
23:46 the actual grain and wine in the days of Israel that would be taken away, a part of their
23:54 prosperity was their grain and their wine.
23:58 So because of their disobedience, God is saying what?
24:01 He's saying that your disobedience will cause the grain and wine to be removed in its time
24:09 and season.
24:10 How can that apply to believers under the New Testament?
24:14 What is grain symbolic of?
24:16 What is wine symbolic of?
24:21 Let's find out.
24:23 In a biblical context, in a biblical symbolic context, wheat refers to life, sustenance,
24:35 abundance, blessings, even sacrifice and resurrection.
24:45 Look here at John 12, verse 20, John's Gospel, 12th chapter, verse 20.
25:06 And it reads, "Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the
25:14 feast.
25:18 Then they came to Philip who was from Bethsaida of Galilee and they asked him saying, 'Sir,
25:23 we wish to see Jesus.'
25:27 Philip came and told Andrew and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.
25:33 Jesus answered them saying, 'The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.'"
25:39 Watch this.
25:42 "'Most assuredly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it
25:48 remains alone.
25:50 But if it dies, it produces much grain.
25:55 He who loves his life will lose it and he who hates his life in this world will keep
26:02 it for eternal life.
26:05 If anyone serves me, let him follow me and where I am, there my servant will be also.
26:09 If anyone serves me, him my Father will honor.'"
26:13 Let me focus on this 25th verse for just a second.
26:16 "He who loves his life will," what?
26:19 "Will lose it, but he who hates his life will keep it for eternal life."
26:27 What are the key words here?
26:29 In this world.
26:32 In this world.
26:34 What I have found according to Scripture is that it is okay for me as a believer in the
26:39 Lord to love life because the same Bible says, "For he who would love life and see good days."
26:47 Anybody interested in seeing good days?
26:49 "For he who would love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from speaking evil
26:58 and his lips from speaking deceit."
27:02 If I arrest my tongue and my mouth and my lips from speaking evil, I get to enjoy life
27:08 and see good days.
27:11 But here, Jesus is saying, "He who loves his life," right?
27:16 And loving life is not exactly the same as loving your life.
27:21 More specifically, he says, "In this world."
27:24 In other words, when the gospel is preached, there will be those who, when they hear the
27:30 gospel, and after hearing the gospel, faith comes for it.
27:34 After hearing the gospel, they realize that their life without the gospel is worthless.
27:40 Therefore, they hated in need of Jesus.
27:46 But those who mock and reject hear the gospel and reject it because they love their present
27:51 life.
27:53 And those who hear the gospel and say no to salvation, well, the Bible says they're
28:00 going to lose in the end.
28:03 Those who realize that my life, apart from Jesus, is a life worth hating, will gain in
28:09 the end.
28:11 That's what he's saying here.
28:14 In the 24th verse, he says what?
28:15 "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone."
28:21 Remember what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, "What you sow must die."
28:27 You want harvest, and what you sow must die.
28:29 There's a time of death in between sowing and reaping.
28:35 And here Jesus is saying what?
28:37 He's saying that the grain of wheat that falls into the ground, it must die so that more
28:46 grain can be produced.
28:49 If it doesn't die, it remains alone.
28:53 Now if grain or grains of wheat refer to sustenance in life and abundance and blessings, watch
29:03 this, even outside of Scripture, the grain of wheat was symbolic of fertility and bounty.
29:11 It was symbolic of blessing.
29:14 So what's God telling Hosea or telling Israel and Hosea?
29:19 He says, "I'm going to take that grain away in its time and the wine in its season."
29:26 Why is that?
29:27 Because Israel was being unfaithful.
29:29 So my disobedience can prevent grains of wheat from dying and producing more wheat, producing
29:38 bounty and producing abundance.
29:42 In biblical context, wine is symbolic of life, covenant blessing, the kingdom of God, and
29:49 the blood of Jesus, which ushers us into the new covenant.
29:55 Which is why Jesus says, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood."
30:03 The cup of wine or juice was symbolic of the new covenant in His blood.
30:11 So wine and grain both are symbolic of life and blessing.
30:18 And our disobedience can prevent us experiencing that life and blessing or wheat and wine in
30:25 its fullness.
30:27 But additionally, we have to be prepared for when the wheat and the wine slow down.
30:35 Luke reminds us in chapter 5, verses 37 and 38, that new wine must be placed in new wineskins
30:41 so both are preserved.
30:44 If new wine is placed in old wineskins, the new wine is wasted and the old wineskins are
30:50 ruined.
30:54 This is also applicable in your personal lives, in your family lives, in the lives of your
30:58 business and in the life of a ministry.
31:04 Recognizing when something has come to a close and come to an end.
31:10 When it's not time to revitalize it, it's time to have a funeral.
31:18 Some things you can reignite.
31:21 Some things you can raise from the dead.
31:23 Some things need to stay dead.
31:28 Grain and wine are frequently together in the Word.
31:33 Bread comes from the wheat, which comes from the grain of wheat.
31:36 Look at Proverbs 3.
31:44 Proverbs chapter 3, find verse 9, which reads, "Honor the Lord with your," what?
32:04 The Scripture actually says that there are possessions that we own or that we have, your.
32:11 Honor the Lord with your possessions and with what?
32:19 The first fruits of all your increase.
32:22 Now, I'm not talking about first fruits or tithes.
32:30 First fruits doesn't always mean first part.
32:32 Sometimes first fruits means best part.
32:37 And sometimes the best part's not the first part.
32:42 Many of you who cook know that sometimes the first is not the best.
32:47 Many of you who bake know that sometimes the first is not the best part or the choicest
32:52 part.
32:55 The first fruit could be the first fruit, or the first fruit could be the choicest fruit,
32:59 or the first fruit could be the best fruit.
33:02 In other words, honor the Lord with your possessions and with the best of all your increase.
33:09 Honor the Lord with the best of all your increase so something can happen.
33:14 So what?
33:16 So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.
33:25 In the Hebrew, the word "plenty" here in general means just that, plenty, but specifically
33:31 it means bread or wheat or grain.
33:36 So if I honor the Lord with my possessions and the best part of my increase, my barns
33:42 will be filled with plenty of grain and my vats will overflow with new wine.
33:48 Grain and wine meaning what?
33:50 Blessing and abundance and life.
33:54 Don't we want life overflowing?
33:56 Don't we want abundance overflowing?
33:59 Don't we want blessing overflowing?
34:02 Well, the Scripture tells us how we can do that.
34:04 If we honor the Lord with what belongs to us and give to Him the best of our increase,
34:11 this is the result.
34:12 This is what will happen.
34:17 Look at Daniel chapter 7, verse 12.
34:25 Daniel 7 and 12.
34:29 Now in this chapter, Daniel is explaining a vision he's received and the vision has
34:40 to do with these beasts, but these beasts are symbolic of both ancient and future nations.
34:46 And after he's done describing that portion of the vision regarding the nations, and then
34:55 he highlights a little horn who is the Antichrist, then he has this vision of the Ancient of
35:02 Days.
35:06 And in a part of this vision of the Ancient of Days, it says here in verse 12, it says,
35:15 "As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away."
35:23 So obviously these beasts are individuals or nations that have some kind of authority
35:27 if dominion was taken from them.
35:30 So that's another clue that lets us know that these beasts are ruling figures or governmental
35:36 figures or governments or kingdoms or nations.
35:40 And it says what it says, "As for the rest of them, they had their dominion taken away,
35:45 but yet their lives were prolonged for a"—what?—"for a season and a time."
35:54 I notice that quite often in Scripture where seasons are, there are times, and where times
35:59 are, there are seasons.
36:02 Just like where I find grain, I find wine, and where I find wine, I find grain.
36:09 Their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
36:15 Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.
36:24 Remember the question, the disciples, the Jerusalem church, the first ones to be saved,
36:30 the twelve, what did they ask them?
36:35 Before he was about to be taken up, they said, "Is God, will the Father restore the kingdom
36:42 to Israel?"
36:43 What's Jesus' response?
36:44 It's not for you to know times and seasons, which God and His authority will bring to
36:53 an end.
36:56 Something is said somewhat similar here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.
37:03 Here in verse 1, we see again the chronos and the kairos, the times and the seasons.
37:14 It says, "But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I
37:18 should write to you."
37:22 Why is Paul writing to believers saying that concerning times and seasons, I don't even
37:29 need to write to you about this?
37:32 Why does he say that?
37:33 Because of what's mentioned next here in the second verse, "For you yourselves know perfectly
37:39 that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night."
37:44 We know this.
37:46 We know that the Lord's appearing will be like a thief in the night.
37:52 We don't know when, but we do know that.
37:56 We do know that whenever He does appear, He will appear like a thief in the night.
38:03 So Paul says, "I don't really need to write to you concerning times and seasons, because
38:13 we don't know Him anyway, but we do know He's going to appear."
38:17 We know that if we belong to Jesus, He will come one day and appear and retrieve us, His
38:25 church, His people, His ecclesia, His community of believers.
38:29 We know that's going to happen at some point.
38:33 So Paul says what?
38:34 "I don't even need to spend any time on the times and seasons in which the Lord comes
38:42 or appears, because we know that it's going to happen."
38:47 Part of the reason that Paul is also saying concerning them, "I don't need to write to
38:51 you," is that as educated as he was, he too didn't know when the Lord was going to appear,
38:57 because no one knows when the Lord will appear.
38:59 But I tell you who does know?
39:00 The Lord.
39:03 And the same Paul, in writing to Timothy, said, "The Lord will manifest His appearing
39:09 in His own time."
39:12 He's on His clock.
39:13 He's not on our clock.
39:16 We're on His clock.
39:18 We don't know what His clock reads, but we know He has one.
39:24 We don't know when He's going to appear, but we know He's going to appear.
39:29 And so sometimes when I hear people's end time messages and there's like this, "Oh,
39:36 this is just rushed.
39:37 The Lord's, He's going to…"
39:40 What does it matter?
39:45 What does it matter?
39:46 When?
39:50 What is it that one would need to gather together or get rid of in preparation for the Lord's
39:58 appearing?
39:59 Watch this.
40:00 There's one thing you need to do to prepare for His appearing.
40:03 That's be saved.
40:05 Once you're saved, it doesn't matter how much you acquire or how much you don't have.
40:09 When He appears, we're out of here.
40:11 The rest of that stuff is staying here.
40:15 There's no preparation for the appearing of the Lord except that thou be saved.
40:22 That's it.
40:24 So what's Paul saying concerning the times and seasons?
40:27 What am I writing to you about that for?
40:29 You know He's going to appear.
40:30 I know He's going to appear.
40:32 We're all saved.
40:33 Now he was writing to them to bring them some comfort because they heard some lies about
40:36 His appearing and they heard some lies about the end and whether their beloved ones would
40:41 be a part of the resurrection.
40:42 So he had to bring them some comfort regarding that.
40:45 But beyond that, there's nothing else to discuss.
40:48 We know the Lord's going to appear.
40:50 That time and that season we are not concerned with.
40:56 But what are we going to do with the times and seasons we do have?
41:01 Well for one, I don't want to be one who has any part of His blessing, grain, abundance,
41:09 wine removed because of something I've done.
41:16 And I sure as heck don't want to have any of that removed because of something you've
41:19 done.
41:22 Meaning I don't link myself up with you and we've called ourselves the committee of one,
41:28 but I don't reap the benefit because you ain't doing right.
41:36 I don't want Him to come and take away the grain in time and the wine in season.
41:45 That's something you and I can fix.
41:49 That's something that we can work on.
41:53 Here's what we can't work on, but we can be prepared for.
41:56 Because I can't control when one of the things that, it's laughable.
42:04 It's laughable because in a number of churches they preach like every season is the good
42:11 season.
42:12 It's the feel good season.
42:13 Every message is a feel good message about a feel good season.
42:18 And unfortunately they're not telling believers the reality of the seasons that don't feel
42:22 so good.
42:25 But as I said before, during the feel good season is when I am to prepare for the feel
42:31 not so or too good season.
42:37 That's during the feel good time and the joyous time and the rejoicing time, right?
42:43 During the time when I'm praising God for what He's done.
42:50 I need to be preparing for the season when I'm going through the painful things, yet
42:57 I still praise Him.
43:02 Because there's a big difference between a so praise and a yet praise.
43:11 Life is good, so I praise You.
43:13 No, what about life is bad, yet I praise You?
43:21 During the so season, I need to be preparing for the yet season.
43:27 Oh, just like the storm that Paul found himself in in Acts 27.
43:33 Paul, great man of power and authority, signs and wonders working through his hands and
43:38 Paul had the audacity to say the storm wouldn't permit us to pass.
43:42 Paul, why didn't you just speak to the storm?
43:45 Haven't you spoken to storms before?
43:47 Haven't you read about your Messiah speaking to storms?
43:50 But in this particular case, this storm was not permitting them to pass.
43:54 And as a result, because his word of wisdom wasn't heeded by the captain, they ended up
44:00 in the midst of the storm.
44:01 Watch this.
44:03 So it was important that they be undergirded to survive it.
44:08 There are times and seasons in which storms can be removed by the Word of God spoken by
44:16 us.
44:18 There are times when storms are not budging, but it's the Word of God that will sustain
44:24 us in them, during them, and through them.
44:32 All of that is because of sin.
44:36 It's all because of sin.
44:39 God did not create man to experience lack.
44:43 He did not create man to experience famine, scarcity, pestilence, earthquakes.
44:53 He did not create man for the purpose of experiencing anxiety and worry and low self-esteem and
44:59 sickness and disease.
45:00 He did not create man for that purpose.
45:04 And yet man experiences all of that.
45:08 Why?
45:09 Sin.
45:10 And who let it in?
45:12 Adam.
45:13 So we are experiencing the result of what Adam allowed into the earth realm.
45:19 Some ask the question, "Well, God wasn't surprised by it."
45:21 Of course He wasn't.
45:24 So wasn't it a part of His will?
45:26 No.
45:28 It was not a part of the will of God for Adam to sin.
45:31 Show me where He created man for that purpose.
45:34 He said what?
45:35 "Let them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth."
45:41 That's why He created man.
45:44 Now here's what's interesting about life pre-sin, there were still times and seasons.
45:51 Look at Genesis chapter 1.
45:59 We can guess, we can have hypotheses and theories, but we don't know what times and seasons would
46:10 have been like and felt like pre-sin.
46:16 But we know God has always ordained for there to be time and seasons.
46:20 That's why He created day and night, the sun and the moon.
46:29 We all know daylight saving time or not, we're able to somewhat deduce what the time is based
46:36 on the sunrise or sunset.
46:40 We can throw out a ballpark as to what the chronometer, what the clock says, even if
46:46 we don't have access to one in our present moment.
46:52 The ancients were accustomed to this.
46:54 They didn't have watches, but they were able to, by the sun and the moon and the stars,
47:03 by dawn and by dusk, able to deduce when time was, when they did not have access to even
47:11 the ancient types of chronometers.
47:15 Genesis chapter 1, look at verse 14.
47:20 There's no sin in the world at this time, and here's what God says.
47:27 God said, "Let there be lights."
47:30 See, this is not when He said, "Let there be light."
47:38 Don't get those two mixed up.
47:41 That's verse 3.
47:42 That light was to divide the light from the darkness.
47:48 But here in verse 14, He said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens
47:51 to divide."
47:54 What is the purpose of division?
47:57 What do you need to already exist before the process of division begins?
48:06 You need numbers, you need objects, you need shapes, you need stuff, you need matter, you
48:15 need substance.
48:16 He says, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the
48:23 night."
48:24 That's time.
48:25 "And let them be," for what?
48:28 "Signs and seasons."
48:31 And for what?
48:32 "Days and years."
48:34 That's time as well.
48:38 Seasons and times existing before there was ever any sin in the world.
48:43 "And let them be for lights in the firmament of heavens to give light on the earth, and
48:48 it was so."
48:53 So God's always intended for there to be time, and He's always intended for there to be seasons.
49:01 What would times and seasons look like or consist of with no sin in the world?
49:09 It would be epic.
49:11 We can only imagine.
49:14 But now we exist in a world because of Adam's sin.
49:18 He let sin in the world, Romans 5, 12, "For by one man sin entered the world and death
49:25 through sin."
49:26 The Bible is clearly telling us how sin and death got here.
49:31 They didn't get here because God willed it here.
49:34 He didn't create man to die.
49:36 He created man to be a living soul.
49:40 But Adam's sin allowed sin and death into the world, 1 Corinthians 15, 21, "For by man
49:46 came death," lowercase m, "for by man," capital M, "will come the resurrection of the dead."
49:58 So now we exist in this space between the beginning part of Genesis and the end part
50:04 of Revelation.
50:05 We're existing in this space where there are still time, times and seasons, except the
50:13 times and seasons aren't consisting of abundance and joy and pleasure only.
50:20 They also consist of pain and discomfort.
50:26 And what do we as believers do during these times of pain and discomfort?
50:30 Well, we thank God in it and hopefully we prepared for it.
50:36 Go back to Ecclesiastes.
50:44 If I already know, if I know mess is coming, it's coming.
50:54 Some kind of annoyance is coming.
50:58 Not it might come.
51:00 It is coming.
51:04 From the smallest, do you know how many flies I've killed in the past three days?
51:13 Is there anyone else that gets as annoyed as I get when a fly is in your house?
51:17 It is a…
51:19 My mother-in-law saw me throw a large object at a fly.
51:23 She saw it happen.
51:24 Oh, and I killed it too.
51:28 It's all I had in my hand.
51:29 There he was.
51:30 He wasn't moving.
51:31 So I threw an entire object at it in order to get it.
51:37 So annoying.
51:38 But these annoyances exist because of the dispensation we presently live in.
51:45 The times and seasons in which we live in.
51:49 Annoyances, irritations, aggravations, angers, discomforts, pains are coming.
52:05 Count it all joy when, not if.
52:11 It's not if the enemy comes in.
52:15 It's when the enemy comes in.
52:19 But don't forget, stop giving the flood to the enemy.
52:24 The flood doesn't belong to the enemy.
52:26 I know that what you're going through feels like a flood.
52:30 And it feels like the enemy came in like a flood, but that ain't his flood.
52:34 The flood is the Lord's.
52:38 So it's not when the enemy comes in like a flood, here's what the Lord's going to do.
52:43 The Lord's going to raise up a standard against him.
52:46 Oh no, it's when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Lord's going to raise up a standard
52:51 against him.
52:53 He's getting hit with the flood.
52:55 I know you feel like you're in a flood, but the enemy can't come in like a flood.
53:02 He can come in.
53:04 When you fall into, when you come against annoyances and aggravations and irritations,
53:11 it comes with the territory.
53:12 So if I'm prepared in advance, then I'm not surprised.
53:18 I might be surprised at what it is specifically, but I'm not surprised it showed up.
53:26 This is why Paul says, put on the armor, show me where he tells you to take it off.
53:34 Can't find it, can you?
53:36 Because we're never told to take the armor off because our battle is nonstop.
53:45 Back to Ecclesiastes 3, verse 1, "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose
53:52 under heaven."
53:53 And we'll talk about these times and seasons specifically listed here next time we're together.
53:57 Father, we thank you for your word.