Season & Time

Appreciate everyone making it out on a very rainy Sunday to be a part of our service today. Appreciate everyone tuning in online as well. We're so glad you guys are part of our service and what God's wanting to do. You ever stop sometimes when you're in the middle of a worship set like we were just in, and think about the words that you're singing? You ever have a, a moment where maybe you feel guilt because you don't fully mean what you're saying? The song we were just seeing: Everything changes, yes, and then praying, let your kingdom come. Are you ready for that? Think about it. Are you, are you ready for his kingdom to come, or has this world still got a hold on you? Be careful what you sing, because to sing without truly engaging means some of what comes out of your mouth could quite possibly be a lie.

I know, heavy stuff to start the message off. It and, man, Pastor got up, we were feeling good about ourselves, we were worshiping, engaging, you just come and kick us in the teeth. I only say it to you because it was affecting me, because I've been guilty sometimes of being engaged in what was being, what the words were as I was singing, but then guilt came in because I had to ask myself, Kevin, do you really mean that? Do you really mean it all when you say or sing, God, I surrender all, God, I give you all, God, you're Lord of my life? Do you mean it? I hope you do. I hope you do nothing else, really think when you're singing that the words matter that come out of your mouth. It matters.

We're going to go to Ecclesiastes chapter 3 for my sermon today. I would like to say that it's good to see that our snowbirds have finally returned. The Moors are home. So glad you guys are here. Love seeing you guys. Ecclesiastes 3, it's a very familiar passage. In fact, there's probably a good portion of you in here could almost quote this. Read this way, verse number one: To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, a time to heal. A time to break down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace, a time to refrain from embracing. A time to get and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to cast away. A time to rend and a time to sow. A time to keep silence and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time of war and a time of peace.

I want to focus back on verse number one. Simply says: To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. And I want to preach this morning very simply titled, Season and Time. Season and time. Jesus, I thank you for being with us today, for your presence is here, Lord. And where your presence is, all things are possible. God, I ask for the next few moments, Lord, your anointing to rest upon us to receive your word and what you have for us today. In Jesus name we pray, and let the church say amen.

The writer here in Ecclesiastes, which most all of us know and understand and believe to be Solomon, it's interesting, he refers to himself in this writing as the preacher. He begins to tell us at the very beginning of this chapter that there are seasons, and I feel like most of us in the room understand that life brings seasons to us. And there's a truth that I know, and I've lived long enough at this point to say it with faith, and that is, seasons come and seasons go. There's no such thing as an eternal season in this life. Seasons come, and, and I may like the season that I'm in now. For some of you, you're summertime people. My wife, she's a summertime girl. She loves summer. She loves being outside. Many of you probably the exact same way: you, you like the warm weather, you like the long days, you like the ability to go out and do outdoor activities. It's just part of what makes you happy when you come in the summer.

Now, in my transparency this morning, summer is my least favorite of the seasons. Sister Pam and I have this conversation oftentimes, because she also enjoys the warmer weather. But my order of seasons, in order of what I like down to what I like the least, would be fall, winter, spring, summer. That's how I choose my seasons. I love fall. There's something magical to me about the fall time. I like when there's a little bit of a chill in the air and the colors come into the trees, and I like the events that take place during the fall time. It brings about certain hunting seasons that are great and grand. It brings about, uh, certain sport activities that I like and, and enjoy watching. And, and it also is heading towards Christmas time too, and that's great in itself. So for me, fall, winter, spring, and summer is the order in which I pick. But that's just me. Everybody has the ability to pick the seasons that you want to pick.

I'm thankful to live in an area where we do get to experience four seasons. Some people live in parts of the world where there's not four seasons. They don't experience the things like we do here in Tennessee. Matter of fact, sometimes we experience all four seasons in one week. I'm glad that seasons don't last forever. If you're in a difficult season of life, it can seem, and as you're going through those, like time almost stands still. Was there a witness in the house? Anybody been in a difficult season in life, and it felt like, man, it went on and on and on and on and on? But it doesn't last forever. You may say to yourself, it can't get any worse, and sometimes you prove yourself wrong. It does get worse. Yeah, so be careful what you say. As I said earlier, words matter.

Sometimes our favorite seasons go by too fast. For me, it seems like fall lasts about six minutes. I wish it lasted longer, but it seems like we usually have one good crisp, beautiful morning, and then it all goes away, and ugly gray shows up, and it's winter. But for the six minutes we have it, I really like fall.

The writer here is talking about, no matter what season you're in, seasons change. She's saying to us that for everything in life there is a season. And the word that he uses there, the actual word that's translated, is zaman, z-e-m-a-n, meaning a set time or an appointed time. But I find it interesting that Solomon didn't just use one word as he's making this first plea, or first laying out of chapter three. He also says the word time. Now, if season and time were meant to be interchanged, it seems as though he would just have used one word, but he didn't. He used two different words, and they have two different meanings. The word translated time is simply spelled e-t-h, meaning a time or event or a moment where something begins to make perfect sense.

There are seasons that happen to us in life, a season for good and a season for bad, but even inside the seasons there's also a time. There is a moment when everything begins to reveal itself, and you can begin to have a better understanding of what the season was really about. Clarity comes into the picture, and you begin to understand the things that you've been suffering or going through, or the things that you've enjoyed and brought happiness to your life. All of a sudden, there's understanding that comes in.

We see this in scriptures. For instance, when Mordechai is giving his famous speech to Esther, you see the same word being translated here, eth, in Esther chapter 4 verse 13: Then Mordecai commanded the answer to Esther, think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether hold us thy peace at this time, then shall their enlargement and deliverances arise to the Jews from another place, but thou in thy father's house shall come and be destroyed. And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Mordecai was not talking about the general season, but rather this specific moment that she was in. She was saying, or he was saying to Esther, everything that you've been going through and all the experiences that have led you up to this moment, you haven't been able to explain them. And Esther, I haven't had a good explanation either. Things haven't made sense. But could it be, Esther, could it be that everything that you've been going through and all that we've been suffering and everything that we've been facing, could it be that it all put together, this moment right now, just for you?

Life does that for us. Life often times, if we are searching, we'll bring clarity into moments of time and seasons of life for us, so that we have a better understanding of why we've been going through what we've been going through. I love it when things come together that way. Your life is not an accident. It wasn't because of the season that you're in and the time that you've come to, but God has kept his hand on you. God has kept his hand on you. It's not by accident that you're here today. I don't believe in accidents. I don't believe in coincidence. I believe in divine encounters with the Almighty God, and I believe and fully understand and acknowledge today with my faith that God has brought us to this moment today in this sanctuary.

I don't know everybody's story, and I don't know everybody's season. I don't know what everyone's going through in this room right now, but I understand this: there's a God who's above us all, whose ways are higher than our ways, and there are lots of times we don't fully understand all that he's orchestrated and put together in our life. But I've lived long enough, I've went through enough seasons, I've weathered enough storms at this point in my life, to bring you this with full faith and understanding: that there will come a time when things begin to make sense. You may not have that understanding right now, but I'm encouraging you and I'm asking you to stick with it and stay with it. There will come a moment in your life when it will come together with clarity.

It's important that you understand there's a season. Not talking about spring, summer, fall, and winter — we understand that there are these kind of seasons in life, and they happen, they're important to us. But I'm talking about the seasons of life. What Solomon the preacher is talking about in this chapter is telling us that there are seasons that build up and there are seasons that tear down. There are seasons to plant and there are seasons to reap. But the preacher also tells us that there's a time for every purpose under heaven. And more than likely we have heard it said this way: timing is everything. Timing can be very important. You don't believe me, just ask the cook who's in the kitchen. Is timing important? How long they leave something in the oven, how long it is cooking on the stovetop. That's why they have cook timers that are there, so that we can be aware, because timing is everything. If you don't think timing is important, ask a drummer how important timing is. Matter of fact, ask all of us listening to the drummer. When the drummer is not on the right time, it's painful for those things to happen. Ask the batter at the box, when the ball's being pitched at over 90 miles an hour, how important timing is, if he's ever going to be able to strike the ball. Timing matters. And in life, timing matters. Timing matters in our relationship.

I learned early on in my marriage, there are sometimes it's good to keep your mouth shut. That's a handy piece of advice for some husbands today. I'm not charging extra for that. It ain't even in my notes. But there's some times you should be able to walk in and just look and go, nope, not a good time. Not a good time. I should be getting some amens for some wives right now. Yeah. Sometimes you just don't go in. He just, no, no, no, no, I'll just stay out here. Good idea.

When the children of Israel left Egypt, they were heading to the Red Sea. God had orchestrated everything they had been going through. The plagues had come out. He was doing a work in and around the children of Israel. It wasn't just for them, but he was also letting the world know that he was the God who was in control. He was taking the very gods that Egypt worshiped, and he was using their thoughts against them. Now, for the children of Israel, they're, they're kind of tucked over in their little corner, their little spot there in Egypt, but God was doing something on purpose. Timing was very important. But the moment comes when he leads them out, and Moses and his, his band get together, and they're marching out of Egypt, and they're heading towards the Red Sea, and they reach a moment where their Red Seas in front of them and Pharaoh's armies behind it. Now what's going on? It's a very interesting season in this moment, because it feels like God has worked his divine hand and he has provided a way of escape, only to lead them up to a dead end — so it seemed. But to me, it was not a dead end, because we know how the story works. God actually parted the Red Seas, but everything had to work according to God's plan, because we know when we see in the scriptures there, but there came a moment when God allowed a strong wind to blow for a period of time, so that it parted the waters and the land dried out. They've actually had scientists evaluate this, and there is a spot in the Red Sea where this is actually possible to happen, at the very location where they marched across.

Why am I telling you this? Because there was a divine time appointed when they were supposed to arrive. Maybe they decided they wanted to get out after the first plague, but the timing wasn't right. God was still doing it work, and he had a plan all along. They probably didn't understand after the second plague, after, after waters turned to blood, after bowls are coming out, after things are dying all around him: God, why are you taking so long to deliver us? Because the timing's not right. I have an escape plan for you, and it's a great and a marvelous and a miraculous thing that's going to take place. But if you arrive too soon, you're going to be stuck. That's a good word for somebody. You're trying your best to get out of a situation, and I'm telling you, God is still working. He hasn't forgot where you are and what you're going through, but he has a plan of escape for you in your life, and you have to wait until the moment's right, or the waters won't part. Kind of showing us that we have to go through seasons.

28 seasons listed here in chapter three. Seasons that have beginnings and seasons that have endings, but I want you to note, they don't last forever. 10 years ago, you were probably not in the season you're in now, and in all likelihood, 10 years from now, you're not going to be in the season you're in now. That should be good news for you, especially for those of you who are struggling in this moment, who are dealing with circumstances and situations that you're not happy with and you don't like. I want you to know, it's not going to last forever. Things change. Life brings new seasons. If you're in a good season, everything's going your way and the sun is shining, you've got a bumper crop, I want you to enjoy every moment of it, and I'm so happy for you. But listen to this preacher's words: this too shall pass. But if you're in a heart, if you're in a storm, if you're in a trial, if you're in a struggle, and you've worn your knees out in prayer, and you've cried enough tears to fill a bathtub, listen to this preacher: this too shall pass.

Seasons come and seasons go. Seasons are a part of your life, to shape and mold and make you into who it is God desires for you to be. And oftentimes, you and I end up drifting off course in the bad seasons, when those are the times they're drawing the closest to God. We missed the point. We've all felt discouraged. We've all had moments where things haven't gone our way. We've been through difficult times, and, and in moments when we felt like the best option was to throw our hands up and just give up and say nothing's going to change. We've been depressed, feeling like nothing's ever going to work out the way we wanted to work on. But we managed to press on until there was a breakthrough in our life. I'm here to, to encourage somebody today. And I'll maybe, maybe we could do a visual representation — and listen to my words carefully before you react. Somebody needs some encouragement in their spirit today, and I feel like the church can provide that encouragement. So, if you as a person, as an individual, or even as a family, have went through and weathered a strong time of struggle, a storm, something that pushed you back, it was very besetting, but you came out on the other side, and you can say with faith, with trust, with hope in him, that God is good and faithful, will you stand to your feet right now?

Now look around this room. There are those who are declaring, there were times in my life where it seemed like I was sinking in depression and despair, but I held on, because there was something inside of me that said, God is going to get me through. And now you're seeing amongst you a great cloud of witnesses who are saying, my God is faithful, my God is faithful, my God is faithful. It was tough, yes. It was difficult, yes. But my God came through, and I'm on the other side. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, thank you.

A few years ago, we had Dr. James Hughes and — with us, wonderful family weekend, we brought him in. I love my opportunity to spend a little time with him and just have a chance to kind of pick his brain a little bit. He, he dropped a little knowledge on me. There was a few things that he mentioned that really just stuck with me. One of the things he said was that over 70 of people who were in the middle of filing for divorce, ready to call it quits, things were over, but over 70 percent of those who decided to stick with it, just two years later were happy and thankful that they didn't go forward in what was going on. Now again, I know everybody has their own set of unique circumstances that they deal with, and there's a lot of stuff that goes on, and divorce is ugly, and it's, it's, it's hurtful, it's painful. You know what's bad is, because human beings are involved with it. But to me, something stuck out to me, that there was something about weather in a storm that brought some people together. I know there's other factors that go into it. I don't pretend to have it all worked out. But for some reason, that number just stuck out to me, that just two years later, over 70 of the people who were headed to divorce decided to stick it out for just a little while longer, and they got on the other side of that season. They got through the other, other, other rough spot that was going on in their life. Because here's the deal, guys: the things you're facing right now are going to be different than what you're going to face 10 years from now. And something that may seem like it's so overwhelming in this moment, something that seems to be pushing you back into a place that you, you feel like you're overrun, that you're never going to have a chance to get your head above water — it's not going to last forever. It's not going to go on for eternity. There will come another season in your life.

And maybe you're going through a winter time right now, where it's dark and bleak and gray and ugly outside, and there doesn't seem to be any life all around you. I'm asking you to hang on for a little while longer, because spring is going to come. Winter can never stop spring. Winter can never stop spring. Eventually the sun will come up again, and life will break for. Think about this: when we — September 22nd is coming. Anybody know what September 22nd is? It's the first day of fall. It's the first day of fall for me, hallelujah. And it's the first day of fall for you. It's the first day of fall for your friends, and it's the first day of fall for your foes. Nobody can stop fall from coming. It's just going to come. It's a season, and it's on its way. You can deal with reality. You can try to tuck your head and hide. You can, you, you can go through denial, if that's what you want to. But guess what — February 22nd, fall will be here. Everyone shares fall together. But not everyone lives in here is going to experience fall. What I mean by that is, when we're experiencing fall, there on other places on this earth, they're experiencing spring. Now I know that's bizarre. Many years ago, we, we brought in a, a couple to, from Uruguay, to be our Spanish pastor, and we began to talk about seasons. And in Uruguay, Christmas is in the middle of summer. Now that, that, that's hard for us, even though sometimes we have summer-like weather in Tennessee for Christmas. But they, they had summer. Their, their Christmas tradition was to have a big barbecue in the yard. Now that, that's really hard for us to get our head around, because even when it's still 70 outside, we'll have our Christmas sweaters on and we're going to drink eggnog. Yeah, I'm struggling today. Y'all, hard group. See, there are seasons that happen, but everybody is not always experiencing the same season. You know, sometimes geographically we experience the same seasons, but I want to go down a little bit deeper. Let's talk about spiritual seasons that come into our lives. They don't always happen at the same time. Seasons change. The season you're in now is not going to be the season that you're chained, you're always going to stay in, because change is a part of life. For better or worse, your season's going to change.

And when I think about someone who went through a lot of changes in their life, I think about David. How many times have you read through the Psalms and read the words that David penned? Sometimes the Psalms are really good, and they would say things like, God, you're a good and you're a mighty. You are my refuge and my strong tower, whom I run into. And there's other times when, when you look at it, he's saying, God, where are you at? I can't find you anywhere. It's like your face has been turned from me. Oh God, I, I've messed up. I've gone away. I've gone astray. What's going on? David's going through different seasons of life. There are times when God feels so close, as if I could reach out and touch him, and being in his presence. And there are other times when I feel like, God, where in the world have you gone to? I don't feel like I've changed anything in my life, but your presence seems far from me. Seasons come and seasons go, and to everything there is a season, and a time under every purpose under heaven.

You win some and you lose some. Life happens that way to us. And I feel like one of the biggest things we struggle with in our day and age, and our microwave world, and our fast food society, in our social media driven culture, we struggle — and I've mentioned this a couple times just in the last month, but it's overwhelming, the, the information coming in based on this one thing, and that is perceived perfection. There is a perceived perfection in our world today, where everything has been, been polished and filtered and placed out there for us to view, as if no one ever has a problem in their life. They see the stuff that's there, and you and I both have seen this ourself, where things have been touched up and airbrushed and photoshopped and fixed, to the point that we look at what individuals are doing in our lives and we say to ourselves, why can't I have that life? We're stuck with the reality of knowing that things don't work out in our life the way we want them to always. We struggle with imperfections, and we, and we deal with difficulties when things don't go the way we want them to, when relationships are broken, and, and, and finances are in, in disarray, and, and all those kind of things put together. But yet I'll get on Instagram or Facebook, or whatever your social media preference is, and I'll see people's lives posted up, these perfect little snapshots that are there, little 60-second videos that seem like everything in their world is perfect, and it seems they do it over and over and over again. And I'm living with reality, where the kids are screaming, running around, and I haven't had a time to wash clothes in two weeks, and we're, we're re-wearing our underserved, and I'm struggling to even put the Spaghettios on the kitchen table for people to eat, and it all changes, past due and bills are racking up, and, and, and the dog is — and we go through all this stuff. But yeah, we get on there like, oh, look at them, oh, they, they're, there they are again. They're, they're kayaking now. They're hiking up Mount Everest. Oh, look, they got this golf. They got a new this, and they got a new that. And we look for a moment, and we're liking, but we're hate-liking. You're there and you're pushing that button, you're like, oh, this is so beautiful, doing all this in there. And the whole time, it seems as though my season keeps getting harder and harder and harder, and everything in my life's not turning out that way.

And, but, but we all know how this works, because we've all done this, right? We've lined our kids up and we threatened to kill them and pull their toes off. You're going to smile for this picture. We're going to look like we're having the best time. And everybody's there, and then all of a sudden, the moment as soon as it's done, nobody sees it. This is perceived perfection that's out there. It's a real deal. It's causing people to, to go into these deep depressions in their life, because they feel like, that's the life I'm supposed to have, that I should never have a winter time in my life. It should always just be spring and summer and life and goodness and happiness. I want you to know something: that's not real. It's not real. The preacher in Ecclesiastes 3 was telling you, there are seasons and times of life. There are good times and there are bad. There's times to plant and there's times to harvest. There's times to gather and there's times to throw away. It doesn't always sunshine. Sometimes it rains. Sometimes it snows. Sometimes hailstones fall down on you.

See, it's important for you to know the season you're in. Look at your neighbor and say, it's important another season. You got to know. If you don't know the season you're in — and I'm really starting to get to the good point right now, so don't check out on me — you need to know the season you're in, because if you don't understand the season you're in, you'll get frustrated. And when you get frustrated, it's really easy to throw the towel in.

Tennessee springtime, right? How crazy is that? It's 20 degrees on Monday, 84 on Tuesday, 71 and rainy on Wednesday, 30 and sleet and snow on, 70 on Friday, 87 and humid on Saturday. You don't know what to do. This spring, I remember going out, come right back in the house, just like, what are you doing? I'm like, I don't have enough clothes on. It's freezing out there. Next day, go out with the same attire I had on the dad day, go outside, come back. What are you doing? I'm dying. I can't breathe. I don't know what to do. It's like, it's, it's like multiple personalities of weather. Life does that. But know what season you're in.

How about when you're raising kids, or small, right? Remember, how many got a little — how many have youngins under them? The majority of your, you already got your hand up. Had anyone the question? Yes, you're exactly what I'm talking about. You, you have this, right? There's a lot of y'all there, and I love all these young fans, but look, it's hard to be social when you got all of them under five. They don't get it. They're seasons. I've talked to several couples that we just, every time we try to go out to eat, is it, is just craziness. And we, I'm like, why would you go out to eat? Like, why would you torture yourself like that way? Why would you waste your money and disturb everybody else? Just stay home. There's a time when my macaroni and cheese at home is fine. It's not going to last forever. Eventually they do learn. Eventually they can go out. Eventually that process happens. Then they turn into teenagers, and that's a whole other message by itself.

If you're not prepared for the season you're in, you're not going to last. And you're just going to stay frustrated. Understand the season you're in. It's not that, it's not that what you haven't — listen to me, this is a good one, write this one down: it's not that what you have is not sufficient. It's just not sufficient for the season you're in. Okay, now think about this. If I go home and I get my snow gear out for going snow skiing, and I put on my insulated pants and my insulated jacket, and I got my insulated neck gator and my beanie on my head, and I put on my gloves, and I'm going out there, and I go outside today, and I'm like, let's go, let's go throw the football around — I ain't gonna last. Some of y'all already sweating just thinking about what I said I was gonna put on right now. If I go out in the middle of winter, and I got on my, my little athletic pants and my little, you know, quick dry running shirt, and I run outside, how long am I going to last now? It doesn't, doesn't have anything to do with how adequate the stuff is, right? It is, it's sufficient, but for the wrong season. Okay. Some of you, you're getting frustrated in the season you're in, and it doesn't mean that you're insufficient. You just don't have what you need for the moment you're in. You know, it may have been real good for the season you just left, but it's not going to get you through the season you're in now. That's why you have to understand the season you're in. If you're going to be successful in this life, you have to understand the season of life that you're in, or you're going to frustrate yourself. You're not going to get anywhere.

If you're trying to plant when it's time to harvest, you're going to get frustrated. It's not going to work for you. If you're trying to harvest when it's time to plant, you're just wasting your time. When you're being obedient to God and you know he has you in a season of planting, but you see your friends, and they are just raking in this harvest — you know God's called you into ministry, you know God has something important for you, and you see what they're doing over there — but that's not the season God has you in. God has you in a planting season. God has you in a growing season. God has you in a season where, where you're trying to get your roots established, so that you can learn the weather. If you try to skip and go fast forward to harvesting, you're not going to have anything to harvest. That's why it's important to know where you are, because if God says plant, then plant, even if everybody else is harvesting. He's not going to hold you accountable for that season over there. He's going to hold you accountable for the season you're in right now. And if it's planting time, the best thing you can do is plant.

Galatians 6 verse 7-9: Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever man soweth, that shall also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall the flesh reap corruption. But he that sort of spirit shall the spirit reap everlasting life. Verse number nine: And let us not be weary and well doing, for endue — what was that word? Season. Don't get weary. Don't get weary in the well-doing. Don't get bogged down in the planting. Don't get bogged down in the rooting. Don't get bogged down in the, in the structuring phase of what's going on, because if you get bogged down, you won't ever reap. But if you stick with it, stay with it, if we, you will reap if you faint not. Don't give up. Whatever season you're in, seek his face and allow him to direct you, and you will reap if you don't think. Proverbs 3 and 5: Trust in the Lord all in the heart, and lean not unto — oh, that's why it's important. Because, you know, you may get out, yeah, I'll get out there right now, and I can, just like I said, I can have my snow gear on, I can strap my ski boots on, my skis and my poles, go right out there in the front yard now. I may slosh around the mud a little bit, but I'm going to look like a complete and utter fool. And I'm not above looking like a fool, but it's not going to get me anywhere. In my heart of hearts, I can want to ski on the slopes, but there's nothing there. It's the wrong season.

You, I feel like, I feel, I know I'm sitting on this for a minute, but I feel strong in my Holy Ghost: there's someone here who's been so frustrated with the season you're in, and the problem is, you don't understand the season you're in. You're not going to enjoy the next season until you get in this season what you need to get. You're never going to harvest in the next season if you haven't planted when you're supposed to be planting. There's no harvest there. We are not all in the same season, and we're not all in the same level of ministry.

Matthew 13, the parable of the sower tells of a hundred fold increase, a 60-fold increase, and a 30-fold increase. Why the difference, right? What does humanity say? What does human being say? Well, if I'm going to have an increase, I'm going to have the 100. Who says you get 100? Well, I work hard. I'm an overachiever. I always give my best. I excel in everything I do. That's great. That's grand. You might not excel in this season. You might only have a 30-fold increase. Well, I'm telling, if, if so-and-so has 100, I'm going to get really — oh, really? You're the one who can control these things? You're the one who can make the seed do what the seed's supposed to do? You have the ability to make it do all the process? You can do those? No, you can't. No, you can't. You are the plant. You are to water, and the Lord gives the increase. I don't care how much good intention you've got. God knows exactly what you need. Your job is to plant. Your job is to grow. Your job is to understand the season you're in. And when the time is right, you shall reap a harvest. But you're not even in control of the harvest. He's the Lord of the harvest. And so many people get so frustrated, and they miss what God's doing in their ministry, because they don't stop to be thankful for the 30-fold, because all they can see is somebody else got 100. Somebody else got this. Listen, you're not going to be held accountable for the 100 if God gave you the 30. All right. And for you to go after the hunter, you want to frustrate yourself, and you're never going to accomplish it, and in the end you're going to get so sick and tired, you're going to walk away, and you're going to miss the 30-fold blessing God gave you. Because it's not your ministry. It's not your time.

You may not know what season you're in. And when you don't know what season you're in, you can become distracted, and you'll miss the harvest because you were distracted during the planting time. Paul said in Ephesians chapter 5 15: See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. All right, why? What, what, what's he trying to tell us? Walk circumspectly. Look around. Pay attention. What's going on? Know where you are. Know your surroundings. Know what's going on. Circum, circle, respectfully looking, paying attention. Why? Verse 16 gives us the reason: you need to redeem the time, because the days are evil. And you're going to mess up. You'll be distracted in the season you're in right now, and you'll miss what God's trying to do.

I feel the Holy Ghost moving strong right now. You feel like this thing is going to overwhelm you, and it's never going to get any better, and it's going to be the thing that takes you down. I'm here to tell you, God put things in your life for a reason. You may not understand it. It may not make sense to you. It may seem to go contrary to everything you know about God. But I'll tell you this: if God has allowed a season to come into your life, there is something inside that season he is working into you, for a reason and for a purpose, because he has an expected end. And those things don't make sense to you right now. I have lived long enough to say, there will be clarity on the other side, if you don't faint.

We don't have the time to waste focusing on the wrong things. We live in this fast-paced world, this, this drive-through McDonald's, uh, drive-thru window. When we try to take those very thought patterns and place them into our relationship with God, we pull up to the, to the drive-through window of prayer, and we're like, God, I need this to change in my life, and I need this to happen right now. And pull up to the next window and roll down and expect everything to just come out in a matter a minute or two. And God doesn't operate that way. God's about planting. God's about growing. God's about needing. God's about working and tilling and putting things down. But here's the difference in the McDonald's hamburger and something that's been prepared over time. With a McDonald's hamburger, satisfy you, yeah, for a little bit. But let's be honest — church is a good place to be honest. Most of the time, when we get a few minutes removed from that experience, we regret it. Oh, I don't know why I did that. Yeah. Yeah, you look, you pull up there, right? You want it now. You want, I gotta have it, gotta have it now in heaven, and put any — what was that? Yeah, just, just something. Why? It's what happens when you want it now. You're not ready. You're not ready. When you're not ready, it brings other things into your life that you were not ready for. When you're trying to rush the process in there, the, the result you're going to get is going to be less than savory. But if you'll allow the process to take place in your life, if you allow the season to, to, to come to fruition, that everything he wants to do in your life, to come to place, I promise, on the other side, in a time, it brings out clarity, and what you gain in the long run is so much better than a short-term result.

I watch my wife. She likes the garden, so I just pay attention to what's going on, and I've learned by default how to pick out some things. You know, I can spot peonies and azaleas. I've even learned to pick up a few different kinds of roses now. We have some David Austin — as I say that right? Yeah, those are the precious. She keeps them guarded there. Every now and then she allows me to go in and smell one, but only for a brief moment. But I watch her cultivate those things, learning that it takes time for things to come. I watched how she first plant some things, and it ain't much there. I got in trouble one time because I got my weed eater a little bit too close peony, right? Yeah. She just planted them down by the end of the driveway. I still had a little PTSD after the tongue thrashing I got after that. She had one bloom, like, and I mean, she was like down there every morning, talking to they, it, her coffee out, and she's just speaking, I love you, baby. And I got down there with a weed eater, and guess which one of the limbs the weed eater hit? The one with the bloom. And here's me here, here's Captain Oblivious, right? I didn't even notice. Oh, I know, because that was not on my agenda, right? The, the getting the yard done, that was on my agenda. And man, she went down there for her evening conversation, and it was gone. And I thought, when the kids had an accident or something. She came in the house, and there was weeping and wailing and asking. I'm just kidding. I was being a little preacher on that. Wasn't quite that bad, but I still got a little twitch every now and then. I don't even we eat within five feet of that bush now, just hand picking the stuff around it.

I brought all that up to say this: given enough time and through enough seasons, now these ones has been established for a while, they bloom. It's beautiful. It goes on, because the season's right. But along the process, I see her, sometimes she goes in there, man, she's like snapping and whacking and chopping, and I'm like, man, if I did that, you'd divorce me. But she goes in, because the master gardener knows what to do. See, there are times we have to go through pruning. There's times we have to have some things removed from us. We think it's important, right? She's in there, I'm looking like, why would you take the bloom off? But she has to take certain ones off, and she can explain it better than me, so that it'll continue to bloom. And I feel like sometimes we get so caught up, because we had a bloom. God, I got a little bloom. Here it is. It's like you let me burst forth one time, and, and then he comes out and he's like, wax it right off, and like, why did you take my bloom away? Well, so that you have two blooms next time.

Jesus is with his disciples when word reaches him that Lazarus is dying. We read and see that Jesus was close to this whole family. If you, if you've never read the story, it's interesting, John chapter 11, because you start to read it, you could almost be like, why? Because the story goes that the word comes to him that Lazarus is, is near death, and we would assume that if this is a close family, you're a close friend, that you would go, Jesus. But here's what we read in John 11 6: When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place. What, that doesn't make any sense. If we were there, and it was, it was a close friend of ours we heard was sick, I think most of us would, would be like, I want to go. I mean, I want to be there. I want to at least pray, or be nearby just in case something really bad happens. I don't want time to waste. The last thing we do is wait two more days. And it doesn't appear that Jesus is any hurry. And this goes against everything in us, because we want to just cry out as we're reading the Bible, like, you need to go, Jesus. You need to go. Lazarus is about to die. The disciples are having an argument about whether or not they should go, and Jesus is trying to explain to them that this is just a season. It's not the end. and they're not in tune with Jesus, and Jesus is frustrated, and the disciples are frustrated. And finally Jesus makes this statement. Amen, this one just hits you right in the mouth. Listen to this: And Jesus said to them plainly — all right, he's not mixing any words, he's speaking very bold — Lazarus is dead, and I'm glad for your sakes. What? What, Jesus just said Lazarus is dead, and he's, he's glad? Glad, he's happy, he's hahahaha, Lazarus is dead? Well, how did it seem like my Jesus? Or, or could it be that he knows something we don't? Could it be there was a lot bigger stakes at play than the disciples even realized? Because then Thomas was like, well, if he's dead, why are we going? Good old Thomas. Gotta love that guy. Sure, well, if he's dead, I mean, what's the point, man? We could die if we go. Jesus begins to explain, Thomas, isn't what you think. We need to go. His death is about my glory. His life, or his death, is about my glory. Your life or your death is always about his glory. The quicker you get your head around that, the more comfortable life's going to be for you. The better it's going to be. See, this was an irrefutable miracle. They didn't recognize the season that was going on, but Jesus had to do something that was going to lead to Calvary, and this is the very thing that catapulted that.

Here's something you should write down: you get on time with Jesus when you get in tune with Jesus. You get on time with Jesus when you get in tune with Jesus. Too many of you mark things as coincidence when it's actually providence. God was orchestrating it from the beginning. Stick with the season you're in, and there will come a moment when the time is right. It will all make sense.

There have been times in my life when what I was experiencing, I did not like. I was not happy about it. Did not make any sense to me, because I knew I was being obedient to God, and I was following where he was telling me to go. I was leading, or I was following his leading. He led me to the moment where I was at, when it seemed to all unravel and fall apart. But I can tell you, I stuck with it. My faith tried to waver on me, but I knew he was a good God and he was a faithful God, and that what his word said was that he would never leave me nor forsake me. He would never put more of me than I can bear, even though there's a few times I'm pretty sure I got bent in a few places. But I stuck with it, and I came out on the other side, and now I'll look back with 20 20 vision and understand that God was doing something very special that I would have missed out if I would have threw the talent and gave up. When the time is right, we will fully understand that God was making a way where there seemed to be no way. To everything there is a season and a time. Something had to be removed in order for things to be born.

Some of you have been so frustrated in the place where God has called you. But here's the deal: God did call you. You just arrived at the wrong time. You got ahead of the plan. And this isn't like being in school, where you get extra credit for working ahead. And God's economy and God's operation, you have to stay on the timetable he sets out, because everything has a purpose and a plan, in order to get you where he needs you to be. It's not about you working off your clock. It's about working on his. You see, God steps and he lives outside of time, but he does his work inside of time. For some of you, that just short circuited your brain. But don't give up. Your calling is true. Your timing's just off.

Does it get ready to close? If David would have left his home the day he was anointed king, if he would have went straight to the palace, knocked on the door, and declared, God has just anointed me to be king, I would appreciate it if you'd get off my throne — he would not have gone anywhere he needed to go. Before he could assume the throne, he had to face a lion and a bear. That led to a giant. He had to face being chased by a mad king. He had to learn how to hide in caves. He had to learn how to put together a band of misfits. He had to fight for what was taken from him. David had to learn how to encourage himself in the Lord. There was a season being anointed, and then there was a season to allow the anointing to put you on the throne. If David would have given up because he was not sitting where he knew he was promised to, he would have missed the whole thing. It was through the trials that David became the man after God's own heart.

For some of you, you're trying to bypass of everything that's going to make you the best you you could ever be. For some of you, you're praying for deliverance from the season you're in, when the season you're in is the forge, is the fire by which God is melting all the imperfections out of you. He's removing the distractions from you. He is taking away the things that you have propped up your life upon, that you should not have there. He is removing the small gods that you've allowed to be there, so that he himself can become the center of your life. You see, it's interesting, the very things we allow to come in, and the place in which we put them. He is a jealous God. He will have nothing, nothing, that he shares that space with. And when I say nothing, ladies and gentlemen, I mean nothing. No job, no money, no status, no education, no degree, no child of yours. He is jealous. Nothing takes his place in your life. And there are seasons when you are fighting against the very thing he's trying to take away from you.

Man, I feel strong in the Holy Ghost right now. I feel so strong. Last verse I'm going to read, I'm going to read the whole thing, Davey. But John chapter 5, Jesus is with his disciples, and it comes up to Bethesda there. Verse number four, Davey, put that one up. It says: For an angel went down at a certain season around this pool. If I can, if I can portray it this way: lay all of these people with infirmities and sicknesses and disease. There were crippled bunch, a whole lot of them there, because at a certain season the water would be troubled by an angel, and the deal was, the first one in the water was healed or whatever they struggled with. So you can understand why there would be always a throng of people around there, because not everybody understood when the season was. They just knew at a certain season it took place. Now, this passage goes on and says that there was a certain man there, verse number five, which had an infirmity 38 years. How about you, but that's a long season. 38 years, that's a long time. All right, 38 years that season has lasted. When Jesus walks up in front of that man, he says this: Will thou be made whole? Will you be made whole? Are you tired of laying down? Are you tired of dealing with what you're dealing with? Now listen to this man's response when the question comes. He says this, verse number seven: The impotent man answered him and said, sir, I have no man. See, in his human mind, he thought the only way this is going to happen is if man does it. I understand that there is an angelic thing. I understand there's a heavenly thing taking place in the pool, but I need you to know, I need you to know, I don't have anybody to help me.

But what this man didn't understand was, in the middle of his season there came a time when the master stood in front of him and asked the question, will you be made — all he didn't have to come up with an excuse for the answer. He saw, stood in front of him.

I'm telling you, somebody here, somebody here has been trying to figure out with your human logic how things are going to work. I'm telling you, stop it. For in this season, the Almighty has walked in, and he's asking the question, will you be made whole? You don't have to figure things out with your human mind. You only have to receive the word he speaks. And he simply says this: Rise, take up your bed, and walk.

So here's my altar call today. There are seasons and there are times. Seasons are a part of life. Seasons comes and seasons go. It's just what it is. Don't miss out what God's trying to do in this moment, in the season. Stick with what he's trying to do, and there will come a time when clarity comes. See, for me, and this is, this is my big old imagination, but this is how I see it, is that old boy standing there, and is he starting to give his excuse of why he's been there 38 years, Jesus is simply going, just rise. And all of a sudden it became clear: I've been sitting here all this time for this moment. Could it be everything you've been going through in your life has brought you simply to this moment? And I want to know, is there anybody who's willing to rise and take up your bed and walk?