"WHAT TIME IS IT?"

Scripture Text: "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed." Matthew 16:4 (KJV)

You know, I would be interested in knowing how many actually are looking for the Rapture to even take place. I'm not just speaking of our daily subscribers - I'm speaking of the Christians 'round the World.

So many have been so exasperated with the events going on around the WORLD, that they have begun to believe some of the Prophecy Pundits who have already let the horses - complete with riders... out of the gate, and have begin to say that we are even now in the Tribulation period.

Now, that might work if  you unplugged the prophecy on the Rapture from the book, but what would you do with that pesky little tidbit called the Peace Treaty? Daniel 9:27 makes it clear to us that the Tribulation will not start until that  treaty is signed. What's interesting here is that the actual context of the Peace treaty when studied in the Greek - speaks of a "forced treaty" taking place and we have heard a great deal of chatter along those lines on a GLOBAL scale just this year.

I'm getting a little off theme for today's text, and I feel such a "pull" of God the Holy Spirit to point out some very significant and timely truths here - using Jonah, to make Jesus' point significant to you and I as well. So let me obey the Lord here okay?

One of the first truths that I feel God was showing me from this passage was that looking at the Pharisees, was almost like the looking glass of the church of today. We fancy ourselves to be an enlightened bunch: all of us going through our separate rituals (modes of worship); all of us building our towers of Babel higher and higher thinking that "we" will be "The Denomination" to touch God first, and know Him best, and there's no shame in being proud of your church, but think about it for a minute. If God was to ask YOU what time it was in conjunction to your church, what would you say?

Some of us have been doing it (speaking of the methods we use to draw in the people and bring them into a spirit and attitude of worship) for so long, that we seemingly have all of the pauses just right and we know when to increase the volume and when to bring it down... I can't help but wonder if God doesn't sit in the heavens and say, "Ah... look at them all play church". Can you imagine?

Here we have the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords with ALL of the power at His disposal - he who can turn off and on storms with the word of His Mouth... and yet we would rather pay some worship leader $100,000 salary to "get the people all worked up"?

We all find ourselves in a frenzy of crying out, "SEND US A REVIVAL LORD", "SEND US A REVIVAL", yet when God sends that homeless man in out way or puts that neighbor that we just can't tolerate in our path, all we want to do is mind our own business and let them mind theirs. Why should we get involved anyway?

We read in 2 Corinthians 6:2 "... behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation".

We all agree with that, and some of us are trying to spread the word. But so much of the church is just like Jonah.

What was the first thing that Jonah did when He was told what time it was?

"But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD," Jonah 1:3 (KJV)

In fact, he was so willing to "not do" what God was asking of him, that he was willing to "PAY" for a trip to Tarshish (The opposite way from Ninevah) just to get away from the Lord's Presence. Even more than that - he instructed the merchant sailors whose boat he was on to throw him overboard lest they would  crash and all lose their lives. He knew what he had done was wrong, yet, he continued in it anyway.

"But Brother Wayne, How does that relate to me, or to the church for that mater"?

Easy, It doesn't matter what mode of transportation you take, or what direction you go, if it's out of God's presence... you're in trouble! If it's out of His control... you're in trouble! And for those of you who would like to quote Psalm 139:7 "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?", take into account the repentant heart of David who was making this statement. He also went on to speak of a Master who had, "...possessed his reins" (vs 13),

Listen, when we have been "wooed" by the precious calling aside of God the Holy Spirit to come and worship in the night watches of our own kingdoms, we have ignored it and gone to our televisions or to our "true first loves" (whatever they might be) and find solace there, many of us, even now, are deep within the belly of a Whale wondering how we got there, and we know that only the complete about face of body mind and heart will bring about the resurrection Power of Jesus Christ within us and save our souls.

Let's pray...

Father: there are many who will be sitting at a TV somewhere when they hear the NEWS that there has been a strange disappearance of millions of people and that some our saying it could very well have been the Rapture the The Bible says will happen in the end times. And Father, there will be those who will immediately come on the air and say to not panic that there is a completely logical and rational explanation for it all, and they will continue to try and deceive. But Lord, we know that your coming is imminent and that you are coming to take Your Bride home to be with you forever. While we rejoice in that thought and in that promise that you have made... let us not forget the importance of telling others we meet of your soon coming and to tell them that they too can come to know you as their Lord and Savior. Holy Spirit come, and give us another Pentecost and let us have that dunamis power to be TRUE WITNESSES of Christ in this Last Hour. For we ask this in Jesus' Name, Amen.