Time is Running Out
Today is April 20, 2017 it is a Thursday and we are on our way to Ohio, on a road trip. The vision that I am writing to you is about another trip. It was a trip of compromise and a trip without a destination. Does this seem like a puzzle? Perhaps – all the visions that I have had, seem to describe a puzzle which God has already revealed about the end times, about his nature, about his ways and about his priorities. Each vision is one piece of the puzzle. Nothing is truly new, nor should anything about them surprise us. All things have in some way, already been revealed in His word. Why should I bother anyone about something that seems so obvious? The answer is this: “Time is running out.”
God showed me a vision about time. I saw a small black safe. I opened the door and looked inside. There was a small pile of gold, a little more than a handful. As I looked at the small pile, I wondered, and asked myself, “Could this last me for all eternity?”
Next, I saw a digital alarm clock. The numbers on its face were moving to the right. They were running off the face of the clock and onto the floor. The message was clear, “Time is running out.”
What does the gold represent? Why was there so little? Why is time of the essence? For the answers to these questions, we seek God, and we ask him, “What is precious? What do you value?” The answer is souls. That is it. What did God consider so valuable, that he sent his one and only son to die on behalf of us – for our salvation. Surely what God values, what he treasures are people. “I came to seek and save the lost.”
So shouldn't we value what God values? Shouldn't we value the soul of another person, more than really - anything? '"Jesus replied; 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.'" Matthew 22:37-39
Our pastor used to say, "Friends don't let friends go to hell." In effect he was saying, that we must care enough, and love enough that we share the gospel with them.
For several years, I prayed for people, and entire people groups. I have Jewish friends and former clients, along with Muslim and Hindu friends. As I prayed for them, I would ask God, "What should I do? How can I reach them? Should I call them? Should I write them a letter? He would always respond the same way - "Just pray." So I did.
Then in 2006, while I was praying, God spoke to me and asked me, "Are you still resting?" I realized that something had changed. The time had come. Now was the time for action. Now was the time to move forward to share the gospel to reach the lost. What I believe changed, was either through prayer God had prepared their hearts to receive his word of salvation, or that through prayer and discipleship I was prepared to speak to them.
Now, about the vision:
I found myself in a city just walking around, with no expressed purpose. I came to a restaurant, and went inside. It was the middle of the afternoon, after the lunch crowd had left, and the employees were sitting at a table, in conversation. As I looked at them, I suddenly became uncomfortably aware that I didn't belong there, so I quickly left, without saying a word. I continued walking until I came to a building that was wedged between two diverting streets. I then found myself in front of the door, on the corner of this pie-shaped building. I opened the door and walked inside. It was a beauty shop. Everyone was busily working and talking. Their eyes turned to me, as I entered. Suddenly, that same feeling of uncomfortableness came upon me. I felt that I did not belong there either, so I left.
Finally, I found myself on a train. As I looked around, I couldn't help but notice that everyone on that train was wearing beige. Everyone's hair was light to medium brown. I looked at my own clothes, I was wearing beige too. I thought to myself, where is this train going? Then it struck me, I was going nowhere!
After the vision, I asked myself - Why was I not wearing white? Isn't the church to be a radiate bride, dressed in dazzling white? Why was it beige? Did I compromise God's purpose for my life just to "fit in," to just be comfortable? Had I lost my desire to see the world saved?
The answer to the question was, "Yes." I was becoming complacent. I didn't share the gospel with friends, family and total strangers as I had at the beginning, just after my salvation. In my vision, I looked like everyone else on the train, and I was going nowhere, just like them. Who were these people? They were the complacent, the church goers who just went to church for themselves. My heart was becoming filled with distractions, and priorities that kept me from my total devotion to God.
How did this happen? I told the Lord that I would never forget what He had done for me. But yet, my actions did not reflect this promise. In the parable of the sower, Jesus said, "Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.......The seed falling among thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of the life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful." Matthew 13:7 and 22
I had compromised the Lord's great commission: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." Mark 16:15
By saying "I don't belong here." I was agreeing with the Lord's enemy, the devil who puts up barriers and detour signs to keep us from reaching "the lost."
I wanted to hide out, to seek my own comfort. In another parable, Jesus spoke of Lazarus and the rich man. "But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, (comfort) while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony."
What are we hiding for? Why do we not have compassion on the lost? I believe that the primary reason is the fear of rejection. Fear that we might lose their respect, lose their friendship, or lose their business.
In nations around the world there are missionaries that could very well lose their lives, for sharing the gospel. But they would rather please God, than worry for their lives. This is why Jesus said, "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars - they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
Please notice that Jesus places "the cowardly" first on the list. The cowardly are those who want to play it safe. Those who do not want to upset the status quo. Those who are more fearful of what others say, than having a healthy fear of God. Jesus said, "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it....If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." Mark 8:35 and 38
Through this vision, we understand that the great commission is for every believer, not just those who become full-time missionaries. Do you remember the gold in the safe? It was only a small amount. I wondered if it could last for all eternity. Jesus knows the answer to that question:
"I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear so you can cover your shameful nakedness, and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see." Revelations 3:18
This is a key verse, for I needed more gold in my safe. The Lord wants us to buy the gold from him. This is God's gold that has been refined in the fire. The fire used to refine the gold, is the fire of trials, troubles and testing.
I was wearing beige, I was blending in and conforming to the world. God wants us not to conform to the world, but to be transformed - to wear the dress of his bride, pure and spotless, without wrinkle. He tells us "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them." 1 John 2:15
I needed to buy salve to put on my eyes to see as God sees. I was viewing the people around me as different. I was seeing the task of building God's kingdom as threatening, challenging and certainly uncomfortable. But God sees with eyes of compassion. We must do the same.
So this message was for me, but it is also for you, the Church.
"Wake up!" Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Revelations 3:2-6
This message was specifically to the church at Sardis, but it is also for anyone who has ears to hear. We cannot be cowards, and please God. We cannot be complacent and please God. We cannot be conformed to the world and please God. We must reach the lost people around us. We must wake up and live as if time is running out, because it is.
