INTERPRETING THE PRESENT TIME

                 (Living For The Kingdom)

A certain king departed into a far country and left his
castle in the charge of his five sons. Before he went,
the king warned his sons that the armies of the enemy
were near and that they would try to conquer the castle
while he was gone.

"If you watch from the towers you will be
able to observe their movements and thwart
their attacks with archers on the walls.
But keep the watch going day and night!"

At first the five brothers held to their father's in­structions.

Watchmen on the towers continuously observed the

movements of the enemy. Three times the enemy was
driven back suffering heavy Losses.

Then there was a lull in the attack. And during the
lull the brothers took to arguing about which move the
enemy would try next.

"They'll come down from the northern
mountains," said one.

"No, they'll come up from the riverbank",
said another.

"No", said a third. "They'll come from east
and west at the same time."

The argument grew bitter and spread through the whole
army until those of one persuasion hardly spoke to
those of another.

The troops who expected an attack from the
north ate, drank and slept on the northern wall.

Those who looked for an attack from the river
held to that side of the castle,

The brothers continued their argument every day and far
into every night. Watchmen were no longer stationed
on the towers, since everyone was so sure he knew where
the attack would come from.

Weeks went by with no sign of the enemy as division
within the castle grew more and more bitter.

Had there been anyone in those towers they would have
observed a line of young trees moving up from the south.
They would have seen strange looking machinery slowly
rolling toward the mote by the main gate.

But the brothers and their divided troops were too busy
theorizing to observe what was actually going on outside
the walls. It was in the middle of a sword fight between

the two oldest brothers that the roars of the
spectators were interrupted by a trumpet blast,

a mighty crash,

the collapse of the giant gate, and the inrush of enemy troops.

By morning there wasn't a soul left alive in the smoldering ruins of
that castle.

As Christians argue about the rapture,
the antichrist,
the gifts,

modes of baptism, and forms

of church life, things are going on outside the castle
that would tell them much if they only opened their eyes.

As we talk about our doctrines, about our future things,

and past things, we are missing the meaning of this present hour.

He also said to the multitudes, "When you
see a cloud rising in the west, you say
at once, 'A shower is coming'; and so it
happens. And when you see the south wind
blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching
heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites!
You know how to interpret the appearance
of earth and sky; but why do you not know
how to interpret the present time?"

Jesus wasn't even talking to disciples here, He was
talking to the multitudes. And He called them hypocrites
for not being able to interpret the hour in which they
lived.

He didn't pity them for their ignorance.
He judged them for their willful blindness.

Woe to you Chorazin! Woe to you Bethsaida!
For if the mighty works done in you had
been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have
repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.....
And you Capernaum, will you be exalted to
heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.
For if the mighty works done in you had been
done in Sodom, it would have remained until
this day. But I tell you that it shall be more

tolerable on the day of judgment for the
land of Sodom than for you.

Those cities were held accountable for not recognizing
God when He walked their streets.

Now if Jesus calls down this kind of judgment on the
multitudes for not discerning the times, how much more
does He expect His disciples to know what's going on.

He has no patience with disciples who let themselves
be lulled to sleep by the spirit of this world.

"Awake and strengthen what remains and is
on the point of death," He says to the
church at Sardis. "If you will not awake,
I will come like a thief and you will not
know at what hour I will come upon you."

There are things we need to know about this present
hour. If we don't see these things clearly now, and
if we don't live accordingly now, the awakening will
come when it's too late to do anything about it.

l. We need to know that we are living in a time of
judgment.

The Spirit of the Lord is saying to us,

"Can't you see that this world is already
under judgment of God?

Can't you see that this world in which you
now live has cracks in its foundations that
tell you it's going to fall in this genera­tion?

Open your eyes"

You remember the time when some of the disciples spoke
of the temple and how it was adorned with noble stones.
Jesus said,

"As for these things which you see, the days
will come when there shall not be left here
one stone upon another that will not be
thrown down."

"Open your eyes! This city and everything in
it, including the temple, is already under
judgment. Her house is already desolate.
Destruction and bloodshed are only a matter
of time."

It makes a difference in your living whether you see
this world as solid or crumbling. The vast majority
of professing Christians, especially those who talk
much about the Rapture and the End, are nevertheless
hanging on to the things of this world as if they were
solid rock.

- They are not discerning this present hour.

- They are not reading the signs on all sides
    that the castle is coming down.

What do you see when you read the newspaper?                     
What do you see when you walk down the street?                    
What do you see as you drive along the freeway?
What do you see when you look at the house you live in?

If you are using the eyes God has given you, you see

things that will soon pass. There won't be one stone

left upon another.

From now on, let those who have wives live
as though they had none.

And those who mourn as though they were not
mourning.

And those who rejoice as though they were not
rejoicing.

And those who buy as though they had no goods.
And those who deal with the world as though
they had no dealings with it.

For the form of this world is passing away.

2. We need to know that we are living in a time of
harvest.

The Spirit of the Lord is saying to us,

''Can't you see that the harvest is already
here? Do you not say, 'There are yet four
months and then comes the harvest?' I tell
you, lift up your eyes and see how the
fields are already white for harvest''

Jesus expected those disciples to be able to scan the
faces of the Samaritan multitude that was coming down
the road and hear cries of God-hunger rising from their
hearts.

Lift up your eyes and see!

So He says to us,

"Don't be talking about the final harvest             
of this earth as something still to begin
friend, it's here. And every believer reading

  these words is being sent to labor in it.

  Not starting next month, but right now!"

"But Lord, I'm sorry. I simply cannot see
the harvest you're talking about. All I

can see is a world loaded with cold, hostile
people. Every time I open my mouth I get
rebuffed. All I ever get is ridicule and
hatred."

Look through the ridicule and the hostility to what is

really there, just as you look through the red morning

sky to the rain that's on its way.

3. We need to know that we are living in a time of
trouble.

The Spirit of the Lord is saying to us,

"Can't you see that Jesus is Lord over the
storm?"

When the disciples woke Jesus during that storm on the
lake, "Master we are perishing!", Jesus rose and rebuked

the wind and the waves and they ceased.

Then He turned and said, "Where is your faith, why can't
you see?"

It was a storm all the time, not just out on the lake,
and the Lord of the storm was with them.

There is not one of us who is not surrounded by
uncertainty. Absurd things are happening to us. Our
lives and circumstances are becoming less and less
predictable. But our Lord expects us to see that in
the middle of all this He is with us - Lord over the
storm - that not one thing is out of His control.

The same Lord who walked with Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego in the fiery furnace is walking with His saints
in the furnace of affliction.

He doesn't keep them out of the furnace,
He keeps them safe in God in the heart of
the flame, in the center of the storm.

4. We need to know that we are living in a time of
temptation - the temptation to compromise.

The Spirit of God is saying to us,

"Can't you see that any compromise with
evil is death?"

If your eye causes you to stumble
pluck it out and throw it from you;
it is better for you to enter life
with one eye than with two eyes to
be thrown into the hell of fire.

The name of this world is compromise. Mix a little good
in with the bad and who can condemn you? Do a few good
things to take the sting out of a lifetime of selfishness,
and who can condemn you? And, if you're living for the
Kingdom, bless your heart, that's nice, but keep a few
bridges open back to the world in case it gets too rough.

How many men and women of God who should know better have
fallen for this. They don't call it compromise. They
call it "being practical", "using common sense", and down
they go.... life after life,

church after church.

Whoever puts his hand to the plow and looks
back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.

Every time we start to compromise with the world, and
the Spirit convicts us, if we'll listen and do something
about it, we're preserved. But when we harden our hearts
and close our eyes to what God is showing us and go
right on compromising, our light goes out.

'I know your works, your love and faith and
service and patient endurance', says Jesus

to the church at Thyatira, "But I have this
against you, that you tolerate the woman
Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and
is teaching and beguiling my servants to
practice immorality and to eat food sacrificed

to idols." -

To compromise!

While the believers sit around discussing the

battle, arguing about the proper weapons to use,

the enemy continues his work and the harvest

languishes for lack of reapers.

The message of the Spirit to the church across
the earth, at this hour is,

open your eyes to what's taking place
outside the castle, and act!