Living in the season of signs

by Pastor Doug Cox

Every true believer should be familiar with that very important verse in Romans 10:17. It says “so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” And because we are called by God to “walk by faith and not by sight” reading and hearing God’s word should be every Christian’s highest priority. Many have scriptures like “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” and “my God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory,” memorized and hanging on their fridge to bolster their faith. What a wonderful thing that we can have the word of God to encourage us in our daily life.
 
With that in mind I want to propose a question for you to consider. What if we are at a place where God wants us to move beyond the comfort of controlled faith? In other words, instead of cherry picking the Bible verses we like, the ones that support our desires, we should instead take the challenge of changing our life to be the way Jesus wants it.
 
In the Old Testament getting out of Egypt was a good thing for the Hebrew slaves. But following God once they were out, was a problem. He told them the promised land is yours, but they refused to believe it. Hebrews 3:16-19 says “For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”
 
What do you believe? In Matthew 24 Jesus told His followers about the difficult future of Israel and the Jewish people. He predicted the Jewish temple would be destroyed and the nation scattered, and it was. That deception, lawlessness and lovelessness would abound, and it has. He warned that wars, famine, pestilence, hatred, and false christs would arise and they have. Worst of all He warned that a time of great tribulation is coming, and it seems that is right at the door. But that’s not all. He also said the Fig Tree would come back to life. It was a prophetic word that the nation of Israel would be reborn and blossom. Israel declared statehood in 1948 and are now the eighth strongest nation. In the world. The point is all the signs Jesus gave are converging, meaning His return is right at the door.
 
What does that mean to us? In Matthew 24:34 Jesus says the generation that sees this “…will by no means pass away till all these things take place.” Moses said a generation is 70 to 80 years. Israel is in it’s 74^th year of statehood. That means Jesus could come back anytime. The question to us is, are we living like it’s true? Like His return is at the door? Or are we satisfied to see Him later rather than sooner?  
 
In Luke 18:8 Jesus wondered, “will I find any faith when I return”? We can answer yes, by living out our Christian faith in the world around us. We can be witnesses for Him, stand for truth and demonstrate a changed life. We can go to church, invite people to church, and pray from your heart that God will use us. Don’t live as though you are not living in the season of signs.