The Time is Now!

We are jumping into some heavy-duty subject matter. We are podcasting a study called The End. That sounds ominous. Today, we are diving in and asking ourselves this question:  What time is it?  The Bible is relevant for today.  We can lay the Biblical timeline over the world's timeline and see clues regarding the future.  We believe it is time.  Time for what?  Decisions!  How will we live?  What is important?  What is lasting?  What really matters?  Oscar Wilde says, "I never put off until tomorrow what I can possibly do today."  Our questions is, "How long do we really have to make some of the most important decisions about life?"  Join us today around the table of Origin for season 3, The End:  A Revelation study as we discuss, "The Time is Now!"

Transcript

Season 3:  The End: A Revelation Study

Episode 1:  The Time is Now!

Show Notes

Intro:

Hello. This is ReGina Johnston, your podcast host.

Welcome to Origin where we look at current events through the filter of a pre-supposition that there is a plan A, an original plan, that gives context and clarity when it comes to present-day “elephants in the room.”  We are women of different seasons with different stories daring to talk about the tensions of the day.  This is season 3 of Origin and we are stepping into a series we are calling The End: A Revelation Study.  Join us for a conversation among friends.  Sharing real life fears and concerns with truths we’ve learned along the way. It’s a little messy, but always good. 

Who we are:

ReGina Johnston

Kyli Rose

Jina McAfee

We are back at the Origin table. We are in season 3. I can’t believe we’re in season 3. My son has done a podcast for 11 years with friends that he grew up with and went to college with. They do it every week. It is hard to be faithful to a podcast for that long. It’s a gaming podcast so maybe this is the never-grow-up part of their lives. 

We are going to jump into another level of subject matter this season. Before we do, I want to say that I’m ReGina Johnston. I have with me at the table my friends, Jina McAfee and Kyli Rose. I love that name. She sounds like a Country/Western singer. One of these days we are going to have her belt out a song God has given her. She could do it, but we don’t know about a Country song. I don’t know if that is her genre.

We have had a lot going on in the last year. I had a grandbaby recently. What is going on in your life, Kyli?

Kyli: My boys are a little bit older. We’re cruising into summer so there is a certain measure of chaos that comes with that. We’re readjusting to spending that much time together, and we’re having a good time.

ReGina: How about you, Jina?

Jina: Our two grandbabies that we had last year are now walking and getting into everything. They’re a similar size and doing similar things. And it’s really, really fun!

ReGina: It is fun! I got a video of when my older grandbaby Kobe met his little sister Tatum. He went running through the house. He didn’t know she was there. He runs and hugs his mama because she has been away for a little bit and then he looks over into the baby carrier where Tatum is and he goes, “Oh, wow!” It will be a memory for years to come. 

We are jumping into some heavy-duty subject matter. We are podcasting a study called The End. That sounds ominous. Today, we are diving into Part 1. Jina, where in the world did we come up with the premise for this study?

Jina: We are calling it The End because we are talking about the end of life as we know it—which means a new beginning which is cool too. 

·      Our overarching Scripture is from Matthew 24, verse 14. It says, “The Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.” 

·      That is our defining Scripture, but we also have two Scriptures that our whole study really hinges on. We’re looking at choices. These two Scriptures will challenge us and lead us all during both parts of this Bible Study. 

·      One of them is Deuteronomy 30:19. It says this: “Today I have set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Oh that you would choose life; that you and your children might live!” So there is a choice. Everything is a life choice or a death choice.

·      The other is 1 Kings 18:21: “Elijah stood in front of all the people and said, ‘How much longer will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!’” 

·      We think, “We don’t follow Baal,” but Baal really is anything other than God. If you are honest, you can see yourself going back and forth. We want to get settled with following God.

ReGina: Hear the question, “How long will you waver between two masters? How long?” Know that we struggle between two choices. It really boils down to two obvious, or maybe not so obvious, choices. 

Today we will unpack Matthew 24. We will look at our current events and answer: “What time is it?” So, ladies: What time is it? What is going on in our world today?

Kyli: We know our Scripture talks about birth pains. We’re seeing those and feeling them in food shortages, at the gas pumps, and shortages in medicines. We’re surrounded by chaos in a lot of different areas—as if the whole world has been turned upside down—which is what prompted this study.

ReGina: Jina, you’ve talked to me recently about nations that are perched upon the border of Israel. Tell me: What time is it? 

Jina: We see that Russia is on the northern border of Israel. Iran is on the border of Israel. But those two nations have a different agenda. Both want to come in and conquer Israel. Russia wants to come in and get resources. Israel is rich in resources. Iran wants the land. They have always wanted the land. It is a chaotic time. It is a scary time. In the news, you hear it over and over again. We’re in the middle of war between Russia and Ukraine even as we speak. People are in the midst of living through war, and it’s not pretty.

ReGina: Everything seems to be being deconstructed. Our government is being deconstructed. Our schools and the principles they’ve stood upon are being deconstructed. Our churches are being deconstructed. Our belief systems regarding God are being deconstructed. Anything we held as a place of security is being deconstructed. That says something to me. That speaks loudly. Not only that, it seems that everything that used to be right is wrong. And, everything that used to be wrong, is now not so wrong. Words that used to be bad are good. And words we thought were fine have now been made taboo. I feel a little concerned that I’m not on the cutting edge of words I shouldn’t use any more. It changes so quickly. That’s another thing we can talk about—how quickly things are changing. You spoke about birth pains, Kyli. We will read about that in a little bit but the interesting thing about birth pains is that when they begin, they’re often a long time apart. You can have a birth pain long before the baby will be born, months before. Towards the end, the pains get closer and closer and more and more intense like the beating of the drum. In fact, now things are happening simultaneously.

Kyli: It is interesting that towards the end, as the birthing pains get really intense, you have the option to medicate, to numb, and that will slow down the process. You have the option to check out as much as possible. That is the choice that believers have now in this hour. Will you stay awake, or will you check out? That might work in a birthing process, but God is imploring us in the Word, “Do not check out. This is not the time to check out.”

ReGina: Even though medication can slow down the birthing process in your physical body, there will be no slowing down this world-wide birthing process of the catching up of the church and the Lord’s return. When it’s time for that to take place, there’s nothing I’m going to be able to do to stop that. The only problem with medicating is that I’m not alert. I am not paying attention. I’m not doing the thing I’ve been called to do in this moment.

Jina: The interesting thing too is that with technology today, you know everything that’s going on instantly even in the midst, while it’s happening. That brings a little angst as well.

ReGina: When we ask the church what time it is, the answer is “Now!” It’s not tomorrow. It’s not next year. 

I see a couple of camps concerning the time of the end. I see a camp where people were so captured with the time of the end that they weren’t as focused on the mission at hand, which is the harvest. At the same time, I hear others saying, “Well, I’ve been hearing this all of my life.” It is as if the pendulum is swinging to the other side which concerns me. Which one—Jesus is coming soon, or, I’ve been hearing this all my life—raises your faith? How are we going to live as the church?

Kyli: Let’s pick up with Romans 13:11-12. Paul is speaking here. He says:

·      “This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living.” 

·      The language about night and day is interesting here. For us, we flip on a switch, and light comes on. But for them, the day-time/night-time language is instilling urgency. When the sun went down, work had to stop. All they had was candlelight. They would have understood this. As soon as the sun comes up, time is ticking. It is running down. We only have as much time as the sun will allow. When it goes down, most people had to call it quits. They could not work. He is saying, “The sun is going to set. You will not be able to work any longer when it does.” Essentially he is saying that every single believer is meant to be a morning person. Spiritually, we are all called to get up and get going in the morning because there is a lot of work to do. We will not have endless amounts of time to do it. The sun will set. That will be that. Not only are we to get up, we are to get dressed, get ready. What are we putting on? Are we getting up? Are we quick to get up? Or, are we in a stupor and asleep? And when you get up, what are you putting on? What is the first thing you read when you get up? What is the first thing on your mind? What is consuming your thoughts during the day? What’s the last thing on your mind when you go to sleep? Are you mentally and spiritually prepared to get up the next morning and get to work again? He is trying to wake them up from slumber. Urgency is on the table.

ReGina: Is there another Scripture?

Kyli: We are also looking at Acts 17:30-31:

·      “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now He commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to Him. For He has set a day for judging the world with justice by the Man He has appointed, and He proved to everyone who this is by raising Him from the dead.” That is Jesus.

·      Paul is in Athens. He is walking around and noticing all of these idols. There is one particular one that is marked as the “unknown god.” That was actually the God they were called to worship. He didn’t even have a name at that point. He wasn’t even known by the people who were supposed to be the most intimately known by Him. He is calling them to a place of waking up. There was a measure of grace that had been extended, but now you know, now there is a level of accountability. That is true of us too.

·      ReGina: Paul is saying, “The Time is Now! Wake up!”

·      Kyli: Make a choice. How long will you waver?

·      ReGina: The Lord is going to return. A lot of things we read about in Revelation will take place. It’s going to happen. If we adopt the thought process, “I have heard that all my life,” we will not be looking for it when it happens. We are not going to be urgent about the mission. Today, it’s now. Today is the day of salvation. 

·      Kyli: Of all the times I think the enemy would want us to go to sleep, it would be now. The earth desperately needs witnesses. He desperately needs the church to be the church and to do her job. We don’t have to walk away completely. We just have to be asleep. All 10 of the virgins were invited, but not all were prepared.

·      Jina: Five didn’t know Him. He said, “I don’t know you.” He was basically saying, “You don’t know Me.” It’s important.

ReGina: Today we are going to walk through verses in Matthew 24 systematically. That helped us set up the context for where we’re headed. Jina will start.

Jina: To get context, we’re in Holy Week. Jesus entered Jerusalem on Sunday. On Monday, He overturned tables in the temple. On Tuesday morning, He is having conversations with the crowd and with His disciples. He is challenging them. The very last verses right before Matthew 24, you can hear His heart. He is saying, “O Jerusalem, I wanted you, to gather you, but you wouldn’t let Me.” Matthew 24:1-2 say this:

1 As Jesus was leaving the Temple grounds, His disciples pointed out to Him the various Temple buildings. 2 But He responded, “Do you see all these buildings? I tell you the truth, they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!”

·      Jesus was leaving the Temple grounds physically and spiritually too. He has been ministering 3 years, and He’s leaving.

·      ReGina: And, He’s pretty frustrated.

·      Jina: Yes, what He was saying to them were not easy words. He was calling them hypocrites. He was talking to religious people. That is concerning for us as people who follow the Lord. We want to keep our hearts right. Like the virgins, we want to be ready. 

·      As He was leaving, His disciples are pointing out the Temple buildings, and Jesus says that they would be completely demolished. This was shocking to them. These stones were huge, some were 24 feet wide or even 40 feet wide and much taller than a person.

·      ReGina: It is hard to imagine unless you have stood beside them. We can see our little Texas homes taken by a tornado, but not these stones. Utter destruction is what Jesus is talking about.

·      Jina: And it is your foundation. These stones are foundation, and they will be gone. 

·      Our Bible teacher wanted to help put these words in context for us. She said: 

Just imagine, if on a Sunday morning, your pastor were to say: 

“Last night I received a special revelation from God. I was given a vision in which God told me things that will shortly come to pass. Sometime within the next twelve months, the USA will fall as a nation. The Capital and White House will be destroyed. The union of the 50 states will be dissolved. I do not know the exact date. I cannot tell you the day, the week, or even the month. But I know that within the next twelve months, all these things will come to pass.”

·      Now, you realize this statement is hypothetical, but it helps you see how shocking Jesus’ words were.

·      The verses following are known as the Olivet Discourse because they are spoken at the Mount of Olives. Jesus is preparing His disciples for the judgment to come. Verse 3:

3 Later, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to Him privately and said, “Tell us, when will all this happen? What sign will signal Your return and the end of the world?”

ReGina: Here Jesus sits on the Mount of Olives, the very place where He will return to this earth, to tell them about the things to come. That excites me. Everything He does, He does on purpose. Do we? The disciples ask two questions:

·      When will these things be?

·      What will be the sign?

Jesus begins to answer. The first one is answered most directly in Luke’s account. 

Luke 21:20 says this:

“And when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of its destruction has arrived.”

Scripture is not one dimensional. It’s 3D or more. Look at ultrasounds. When Jina and I would get ultrasounds back in the day, the technician would say, “See. You can see the head. You can see….” And you really couldn’t. But nowadays, you see in such dimension, and Scripture is like that. As you spend time in it, you begin to see other dimensions. You might only see the first dimension in the beginning or in the first read-through, but as you get to know Jesus and you spend time with Scripture, it becomes multi-dimensional. A portion of Scripture can be about right now, it can be about some time in the future in history and then a time beyond that. He can be speaking about all of these aspects at one time. And He is doing that here. He is talking about the destruction of the temple in AD 70, but He is also foreshadowing events to come.  Let’s continue in Matthew 24. Kyli, do you want to take us through verse 13?

Kyli:

4 Jesus told them, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, 5 for many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. 7 Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. 8 But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.

·      This is repeated. Much like childbirth, the baby does not come after the first contraction, but one knows the process has begun.

9 “Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are My followers. 10 And many will turn away from Me and betray and hate each other. 11 And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. 12 Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

·      Suffering will be common to all disciples as they await the return of Jesus and the end of the age. 

ReGina: He is talking about suffering here. It reminds me of a sermon I heard this past week where Paul says, “Join me in suffering.” I thought: “What an interesting recruitment statement. Like: Yay. We will do that. We will join you in suffering.” We get the idea that it is all roses in ministry. It is such a false assumption. And all roses in this world. We think, If I just get married, it will be all roses. When I just have this baby, it’s going to be all roses. It’s just not so. This world is wrought with the destroying forces of sin, and because of that, there is trouble in this world. Let’s go on with the following verses.

14 “And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come. 15 The day is coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about—the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing in the Holy Place. (Reader, pay attention!) [That’s for us because they weren’t reading at the time.] 16Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. 17 A person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. 18 A person out in the field must not return even to get a coat. 19 How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. [Actually I think of mothers right now because we have had such a shortage of formula, not to say that we are in that season now. But there are hints of things to come that allow us to see in part what we are going to be going through.]     20 And pray that your flight will not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For there will be greater anguish than at any time since the world began. [This is actually talking about the time after the church is caught away in the Rapture—the season that will be very difficult. Most theologians believe the Tribulation will be divided into two portions, the first 3 ½ years and the second 3 ½ years. The second 3 ½ years will be much more intense.] And it will never be so great again. 22 In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. [We see the mercy of God even as His wrath is being poured out.] But it will be shortened for the sake of God’s chosen ones.”

Kyli: Think about how gracious God is. He is warning us over and over again. Sometimes, people think of God as being illusive and secretive and hard to find, but He spells it out so clearly. He is saying, “Don’t hold onto the things you thought would always be there—the food on the shelves, the money in the bank. Don’t cling to those things. Your hearts have always been so prone to idols. Your hearts have always been so prone to hold onto things that are temporary. Hold onto one thing that will stand the test of time, that was here in the beginning—Me.” As believers, we have that hope, that this isn’t for us. It doesn’t have to be for us. It was never intended to be for us. 

Jina: He wants us to choose Him. He chose us. I will continue with verse 23:

23 “Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah,’ or ‘There He is,’ don’t believe it.   24 For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones. [We need a spirit of discernment.]  25 See, I have warned you about this ahead of time. [So people who are left during the Tribulation will still have this word; they can look at it.] 26 So if someone tells you, ‘Look, the Messiah is out in the desert,’ don’t bother to go and look. Or, ‘Look, he is hiding here,’ don’t believe it! 27For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes. [You’re going to know it.] 28 Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near. 

29 Immediately after the anguish of those days,

            The sun will be darkened,

              the moon will give no light.

            The stars will fall from the sky, 

              and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”

Kyli, then:

30 “And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples on the earth. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send out His angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather His chosen ones from all over the world—from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven. 32 Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near. 33 In the same way, when you see all these things, you can know His return is very near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will disappear, but My words will never disappear.”

ReGina: Jina, you unpacked for one of our teams the thought that this generation will not pass from the scene until these things take place. Can you unpack that for a little bit here?

Jina: It’s so interesting. God tells you in His word what a generation is. One place, He said a generation is 70 years or with strength, 80. Another place He talks a generation being 100 years. Either way, if this started with Israel becoming a nation on May 14, 1948, then we are in that generation. We are past the 70 years. We are in between 70 and 80 years right now. So, we know it’s close.

ReGina: So, it’s possible that we could be “the generation” or our kids could be the generation that is actually on the earth when the Lord calls up the church. Oh, my goodness. Then all these things will quickly begin to take place. 

In light of the urgency of the time, how should we live? Let’s take 5 minutes and talk about how we’re going to live. 

Kyli: As we talked about those first few Scriptures in Romans, it calls us to get up and put on Christ—godly living in the present. Don’t wait! Don’t wait to do other things first and then get your life right. Don’t try to clean yourself up before you establish yourself in a community of believers again. Get in there. Get in community. Get in His Word. Get right in the middle of His hand again. You’ve always been there. You just need to acknowledge it. Acknowledge Him. The invitation has always been on the table. It’s our job to say, “Yes!” Just say, “Yes!” 

Jina: I know that we talked about conviction. Knowing what’s coming, we need to make a decision now about what we believe so that we won’t waver. We have to know now what we believe. It’s time to settle it so that when things go completely topsy turvy, you’re going to be okay. You will say, “I’m fine.”

ReGina: Develop some very strong convictions about what you believe. I love that. 

Kyli: Practically, the first step is repentance. Stop and say, “I want to live life the way You called me to live it. I have had so many Baals, so many idols—me, priorities, time, so many things I put before You. And we know what those things are. Think about what you think about constantly—your physique, your time. There is nothing wrong with those things, but we know when it has consumed more real estate in our time, in our life, in our priorities than it should. So, we repent. Then you start making choices day by day, choice by choice. This is what I would normally do. I would normally get up and scroll on Facebook but this morning, I’m going to get up and spend the next 10 or 15 minutes to tell Him “Good morning.” Then I will ask Him to use my day today—my hands, my feet, my mouth, any part of me—telling Him it’s all His. Then go to the next choice. This is what I would normally do, but instead of sitting at the lunch table in the break room and gossiping about my co-workers, I might go sit in my car today. And I might have some time with Jesus. I might choose a different conversation. Let’s get super practical with it. What does that look like choice by choice, moment by moment. Do that over and over again. And surround yourself with people who are running in the same direction, maybe not at the same pace but in the same direction. It’s a long walk in the same direction. Start developing habits.

ReGina: That really leads us to the idea of staying on mission and understanding that every conversation we have can be an eternal conversation. It can lead people to Jesus or it can keep them from Him. What are we doing with our time? Are we seeing people where they are? Are we speaking into their lives? This morning I was reading how Jesus breathed on the disciples and then He sent them out. His breathing was really just a transfer of life, of pneuma, Holy Spirit into the disciples. Are we actually breathing life into people when we come across them on a daily basis? We carry Holy Spirit. With what is going on around us, there is such a need for a sense of life, of joy, of peace, of anticipation, of expectation, of being able to dream. Sin when it’s finished brings forth death. That’s what is happening around us.

Kyli: We have talked at length in this podcast about the darkness that surrounds us. We don’t go into the darkness thinking we have to outpower the enemy. The same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in you and in me. It is not about outpowering the enemy. That was already done on the cross. Really what we are doing every day is out-truthing the enemy. Do you have the truth inside of you to out-truth him every day? Are you going to the Word every day? What do you have in you that you can out-truth the enemy? Do you have truth? That is where victory lies.

ReGina: Jina, can you close us out in prayer. Pray that we would be alert and awake, not alarmed, but aware and on mission, and that people listening if they don’t know Jesus, they will come to know Him today.

Jina: Lord, we come before You. We thank You for life. We thank You that we can choose life because You laid down life for us. We have that opportunity. We have choices, hundreds of times a day, to walk in Your Will, to walk out the mission. You’ve given us purpose. We want purpose. Lord, we want to honor You with our words, we want to represent You well. Lord, I ask, right now that You would save people that are listening. People that don’t even know You yet would hear Your Word and something would awaken in their hearts and minds and they would just say, “Yes! Yes, I believe. I believe that Jesus laid down life so that I could have life forever.” They would confess it. And they would make You Lord. They would seek You and read Your Word and make those choices and come hard after You, that they would take it into their hearts and live it, that we would take it into our hearts and live it. That we would realize that time is short and be about Your business. Lord, You care about people. May we care about people. We love You and praise You. We say, Have your way. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.

ReGina: Thank you for joining us at the table of Origin today. We are happy to be back in season. We will see you soon!

Sources:

Bible Versions:

The Living Bible 

New Living Translation

“The Time is Now” 2/02/2022, Amy Farley, www.bethele3.org

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