America the Time is Now Promotion - San Antonio, Texas

It's good to be back in this part of South Texas again. The question might be exactly why am I here and what is my purpose. We'll take a minute to explain that. As you know, in a little more than five weeks, we will be back in San Antonio with the Beyond Today television crew staff, the presenters.

Somebody you know very well, Gary Petty, will be here at that time. Steve Myers and I and Victor Kubik are President of the United Church of God, Peter Eddington and our staff. We are going to be putting on a one-night public appearance campaign called America the Time is Now. I think all of you have been made familiar with the brochure that we put together that announces this particular event that is going to be done in San Antonio, in Houston and in Dallas during that one-week period, one night in each city.

America the Time is Now. I think these have been distributed to you and made available. We certainly hope that you will make these available to any friends or family that you might know who would be interested in attending this public appearance campaign. We were talking about getting things ready and promoting it within the areas because the participation, involvement, prayers of the congregations in these three cities will be extremely important for the success of them.

Victor Kubik decided that he would go down this weekend to Houston this weekend and on trumpets. I'll be here today and then up in Dallas for the Feast of Trumpets to just to encourage and to explain what we are doing and the purpose for these with you and the congregation so that there is an even higher level of awareness of why we are doing this and what this is all about. I'm well aware, as we all are at the office, especially here in San Antonio, you have had a number of Kingdom of God seminars in recent months.

I know when Gary Petty was here, he had a number of those. So you have not been remiss in doing that. From what I understand, there has been some new growth as well. That was the Kingdom of God seminars. It was kind of the last effort that we made in an evangelistic manner to reach out to our viewers and our audience.

About a year ago, an effort was made in Cincinnati called the Why Were You Born campaign. We had a one-night presentation there about a year ago now. We learned a lot from that. In retooling the event idea, we decided to go a little bit bigger, come to Texas and do something here in a different format where all three of us would be on the stage.

Last year, Gary Petty presented by himself. This year, all three of the presenters will be on stage each night in these three locations with a message that we've been working on for quite some time. We put the title on it called America, The Time is Now. In our discussions, we came to a conclusion that if we're going to go to Texas, you better have a fiddle and a band. No! If you're going to go to Texas, you better have something to say.

That's essentially what we came down to. I made that point. I know if you go to Houston, they've got a personality over there that packs them into his auditorium, an evangelical preacher that has national prominence. You have at least one here in San Antonio that I've watched over the years, Mr. Hagee. Texas is a unique spot, and you better have something to say.

We have put together a message that we hope, indeed, will say something that speaks to the condition of our world right now, especially America. But at the same time, it's a unique message that puts people's minds into the Scripture and into an even more significant message beyond prophecy, beyond any type of a warning message, which is important. But we put them into the heart and core of what the Bible shows to be the purpose for our human life. And we want, essentially, when they walk out of the auditorium, this place here, and in Houston and Dallas, the night after they hear our presentation, we want them to have heard a different message than they would have heard in any other religious venue.

And we are working toward that, and I think that they will. It has to be different because our message is different, and there is a unique message and understanding that God has given to us. And so, in one night, in a very short, limited amount of time, we endeavor to do that. And say something important and make them think and recognizing that we will have that one opportunity. We have our good news audience, subscriber audience, that we are going to invite, and we have already sent two letters to them. We'll send a third, and we are doing a limited number amount of other promotion through advertising to at least make people aware of beyond today, the message America, the time is now, with our limited resources.

But we are going to do that as well. And then we are certainly hoping that you will do your part, and as you can, invite others to attend who will benefit from the message and whom you would like to have here as well. So we hope that you will do that. Now, as I said, you have done Kingdom of God Bible seminars. Others have done that as well. We have a history of evangelizing in the Church of God, United Church of God, our history.

The idea of America, the time is now, for some of you that have been around a number of years, might ring a familiar bell. 45 years ago, there was a campaign held, I believe one was held actually here in San Antonio, America Listen. Anybody remember that? I remember it. I wasn't here in San Antonio, but I saw it in Nashville. 45 years ago, 1970. I'm starting to date myself. I recognize that. 45 years ago, America Listen. When we chose this name, I was well aware, as well as our staff, that there was a connection. We've altered it a bit, but the time is now.

The time is now. What is that time? Now, let me tell you one little story. Some of our crack media staff decided, after we came up with this title, to get out on the Internet and do a little Googling. They came up with all kinds of letters and information from that period of 45 years ago in the church, where our personality had gone out and done the America Listen campaigns. From old good news magazines to member letters and such, I have a copy of this one that was written on July 22, 1970, by the personality that did those campaigns, explaining why that was being done. 1970. Our young media staff, 20-something kids, dug this up. One of them walked into my office at the home office about that time, and they sent it around on the email. He kind of put this in front of me and said, okay, what's this all about? Why are you doing this now? What's the purpose of this? Why do you get all worked up about America? The time is now, when you did it 45 years ago.

As he said, Ronald Reagan came and went. America resurged in power and economic power, global military power, and we're still here, and America's still strong. Why, after all these 45 years? People think today, don't they? Especially young people. There's a lot of information out there. So I said, sit down. I'll tell you why we're going to do it again.

You're already setting, so I'll tell you why we're going to do it again. Let's talk about that today. Let's talk about why we would do this 45 years later. I was there 45 years ago. I went to Nashville, Tennessee before I went off to Ambassador College, and I sat on a Sunday afternoon, and I heard one driving in person. And you had one here in San Antonio.

We're coming back a generation later. A lot of things have happened in the world, in the church, in your life, and in mine. Why would we presume to do something like this again?

Very simply. Because our time is now. Your time is now. My time is now. Our time is now.

And that's the point I want to get across here, to us here this morning in my talk.

Our time is now. If America, the time is now, is the message we want to get across to any who will listen, to any whom God will bring to us to hear what we have to say, for you and I, sitting in the church of God after all these years, and maybe even just a few years for some of you, maybe even a few months, some of you here, the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the kingdom of God has come to you and to I, to me now. We're here.

We have been living this way for a very long time, and will continue to do so, I pray.

I plan to finish out my life living this way of life, because it is my time. It is your time. In terms of judgment, calling, opportunity, that God, by His grace and His mercy, has extended to each one of us, this is our time. And what we do, what we know, and what we want to share with any that God gives us opportunity to share that with, is the same message of forty-five years ago, or fifty years ago, or beyond, or even two thousand years ago.

It is the same message of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the kingdom of God. And the world goes on. And as I was explaining to the media staff and the one who came into my office and put this down in my desk and said, why? Let's understand. I said, let's understand.

The world today is even more dangerous than it was forty-five years ago today. We want to prepare for a time that is ahead of us, signified by the holy day we will keep on Monday, the Feast of Trumpets, just a few hours ahead of us.

Let's turn over to Revelation 11. This is part of the expanded explanation that I have asked that question of why are we doing this now and how does it fit when we did it forty-five years ago. Let's walk through a few steps here this morning together, look at a number of scriptures, and understand how and why our time is now.

In Revelation 11, verse 15, it writes, Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying, We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come, because you have taken your great power and reign. The nations were angry, your wrath has come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that you should reward your servants and the prophets and the saints and those who fear your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth.

This is the great event that the Feast of Trumpets signifies. A time ahead when that trumpet will sound, Christ will descend, the dead in Christ will rise, the resurrection of the dead and immortality will take place as 1 Corinthians 15 describes, and the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord, and a new age will be truly inaugurated from that point forward. That is what is going to come to this earth at that time.

And we have been called to understand that today. That's why we keep the Feast of Trumpets.

We keep it with that understanding, with that significance that is fully expounded throughout the Scriptures. That has been a motivating factor, in a sense, the Feast of Trumpets and the Atonement, Tabernacles, 8th Day that flow here in this Fall Festival grouping.

All lie ahead of us in the fullness of their meaning and revelation.

But for us today, we recognize that we are not quite there. Not quite there yet. We look for that time when that trumpet shall sound. We know that there is a period yet that we must go through. Revelation 5, verse 11. This image, this scene of the throne of God that John had here has a proclamation, a song, if you will.

I heard the voice of many angels, verse 11, around the throne of the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard saying, blessing and honor, glory and power be to him who sets on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. It's a praise. It's like a song.

We sing that today, in one sense, in our lives. As God has called us and the blood of that Lamb has forgiven our sins, washed us clean and reconciled us before God and justified us, and through faith we then enter into a relationship with the Father that we have been walking in for many, many years for many of us. We sing this song right now. It is a praise. Christ is in the center of our life as he has come to live within us. As Paul said in Galatians 2, 20, the life that I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who is in me. Christ said, I will not leave you orphans and fatherless. I will come to you on the night before his death. And he has, to those who through faith have accepted his sacrifice and begun that journey. And we sing this song, but the whole world doesn't quite yet sing it. We anticipate the day when all living will sing this song.

And so we read this today recognizing that in a sense it is our song. And Christ lives in us and strengthens us and gives us faith on our journey through our ups and downs, in all of our needs, in our dark moments. And as we walk the high roads of life, it is in a relationship with the Father, with Jesus Christ that is made possible because Christ is the worthy Lamb that is slain from the foundation of the world and makes that possible.

And so we look for that time when the whole world will do that. And in the meantime, we recognize that we're not quite there. And before we get to that moment when all will say this, and when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord, we've got a rough passage to go through yet.

There is a difficult time that we must pass through before that will take place. In Matthew 24, Jesus the Lamb foretold this. In Matthew 24, beginning, He says, For then there shall be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no nor ever shall be. A very brief one-verse summation of a time of trouble called here a great tribulation, a period of world travail and time of trial. That other prophecies go into far greater detail here. And He has talked about wars and famines and false religion and deception. In verse 22, He says, Unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened.

And that Christ Himself spoke these words on all of that prophecy to His disciples makes it all the more meaningful than even what may be Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel or Amos gave in their prophecies from that period. And because Christ gave the revelation, and it is His revelation, there is even greater detail there. But this summarizes a very difficult period of time that even at the very darkest moment is embedded the hope.

In verse 22, that flesh will be saved. The days will be shortened and human life will not be exterminated. Now, science fiction and modern culture today is big on post-apocalyptic ideas, books, movies, and scenarios. Whenever Hollywood comes out with their latest scenario of a world gone berserk and only a few survivors making it through, they tell a big tale and they dramatically tell it and graphically tell it with all the animation or the graphic computerized effects that they can do. And it presents always a very bleak, hopeless world after some nuclear catastrophe or the machines take over. It is to the Bible that we have to go to actually have the true hope that those apocalyptic scenarios are not going to be as they are portrayed. That flesh will be saved and this world will be renewed.

But there will be a time of apocalypse. There will be a time that the world will have to pass through.

And so, if we look at our time right now, 2015, and the world around us, there is a great deal to obviously be concerned about. And part of my explanation to this young media staffer in our office was that the world today is far more dangerous than it was in 1970.

In Romans chapter 1, Romans the first chapter, the Apostle Paul describes his world and his time.

Romans chapter 1, he describes the first century Roman world in such a graphic detail that it speaks even down into the headlines of our culture today in Romans chapter 1.

And he was writing this 2,000 years ago. But in Romans 1 beginning in verse 16, he says, And Paul lists this quote in verse 17 from the book of Habakkuk chapter 2, which is a book that is one of our themes that we will talk about in the personal appearance campaign here in a few weeks. This is a quote out of Habakkuk chapter 2. Paul, like the quote so well, he uses it two other times in his writings, once in Galatians and once in Hebrews.

The just shall live by his faith. When it also comes down, the just, you, me, living in September 2015 can only live by our faith. No matter what the world is doing, no matter what is the latest popular cultural craze, no matter what is the latest idea and trauma that the world goes through and that takes us deeper into sin, all we can do is live by our faith that we have been called to, because we have been called now. This is what God said to Habakkuk back in that small prophecy.

It is what Paul said to his world 2000 years ago that you will live by your faith.

And for a member living in the Roman world, that was a very tall order.

He goes on in verse 18, he says, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. Slip in whatever you want to slip in in terms of a cultural, religious, or political headline today, where truth has been suppressed, where there is unrighteousness, and where God's word reveals his wrath against such sin. Because that may be known of God, he said, is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. He goes on to show how God could be seen even then and known by the creation, by the invisible attributes that are clearly seen, and the power of God could be seen. And that man then was without excuse. In verse 21, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. The Roman world was a very dark period of time, even while it was the height of the Roman Empire.

About three months ago, we had the opportunity to take a study tour in Italy. Scott Ashley and Steve Myers and I took about a ten-day study tour along the footsteps of the Apostle Paul in Italy, and immersed ourselves into that New Testament world experience. After coming back, it just inspired me to pull together all my books on Rome, on my shelf. Since then, I've bought about a dozen more books to immerse myself into the first century Roman world, which is the world of the New Testament, and also a world, frankly, that our current age is dashing headlong back to.

In morals, in religious pluralism and deception, and a political situation as well. It's uncanny where we are going, and the world that we are seeing around us today. Paul is describing that world, and it fits where we are today. A world that does not know God. Verse 22, professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the corruptible God into an image made like man, and birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things. The idolatry of that time is the idolatry of this time. He goes on down in verse 26, and he said, God gave them for these reasons. Verse 25, they exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who was blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions, for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful and receiving themselves the penalty of their error, which was due. Again, which Supreme Court decision do you want to put in those two verses right there today? It is a description of our world. And the ultimate result is what he says in verse 28, even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting. It was a world that Paul described that did not want to keep God in their knowledge, and that's where we are today, a world that does not want to keep God in our knowledge, in his knowledge. That is our time. That is our description of our world today.

And because of that, God has in a sense given them over and allowed that to continue, and we are seeing that result at our time. We should rightly stand appalled at the Supreme Court decision that was handed down earlier this summer on the matter of same-sex marriage. The ramifications of that are yet to be determined. The unintended consequences, at least in the mind of some, perhaps, have yet to be shown in their fullness upon Western culture, and particularly in America.

It is moving so fast that people who are having to deal with it, such as a clerk at a clerk of court up in Kentucky a few days ago, sometimes I think they don't know. Culture is changing so fast, they don't know how to react to it, except by their values, their traditions, even their biblical understanding, not realizing what has changed. And yet, what has changed with that ruling should not be the only one that we focus on. 32 years ago, or I'm sorry, 42 years ago.

Well, let's go back even further. Let's go back 53 years ago. 53 years ago.

Ancient history for some in our room today I recognize. 1962, America, 1963. The Supreme Court essentially ruled public prayer had no place in the public school. Some of us will remember that time. That ruling was groundshaking for America in that day. God was beginning to be removed from the public debate and discourse. And other cultural matters were a sexual revolution, a change of the 60s that was beginning to take place, a cultural sexual revolution that began to change our country. That was bad enough. Ten years later, in 1973, the Supreme Court made another ruling called Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion. And since then, over 55 million legal abortions have been made in America alone. An entire generation of people, the babies, murdered in their mother's womb. The safest place God ever created for human life, the womb of a mother.

That was 1973 when the Supreme Court made that decision. And now they made a decision on the matter of same-sex marriage. What they have done is to enter into the realm of the kingdom of God. And it said that human law, human constitutional government, America's constitution, trumps the government and the laws of the kingdom of God. And I have to wonder myself, when will the next foot drop in terms of God's wrath upon this nation? Which brings us to our time and brings us to an understanding of where we are and what is taking place and our role. Let's look at our role in our time. Please turn back to Ezekiel chapter 3. Ezekiel chapter 3 is a guiding scripture for the Church of God that I've been a part of, and many of you have been a part of, all these years. I go back to 1963 in terms of my beginning relationship with the Church, but Ezekiel chapter 3, beginning in verse 16, is where Ezekiel is told that he is a watchman. Verse 17, God says to him, Son of man, I've made you a watchman for the house of Israel.

Therefore, hear a word from my mouth and give them warning from me. A watchman was one who stood on the walls and watched for the enemy coming upon a city. And this is a scripture that defines our time. It has really been a guiding scripture for the work of the Church in our time. When I say to the wicked, you will die, you shall surely die, and you give him no warning. Nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way. To save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. So God said, if you don't sound the warning when you see it coming on the horizon and they don't take heed, if you don't do it, I will require that at your hand. So the point is, if you see something, a danger on the horizon, a gathering storm, the servant of God, just as Ezekiel was in this age, that his time was bound to do it.

As we read this scripture and as we understand it, and I believe by the revelation of God and the unique revelation that he's given to his church throughout the ages, but to us in our time, this has an application. I've just thought that from my earliest. I still believe it. It is behind our work today. Verse 19, yet if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wicked wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity, but you've delivered your soul, you've done your job. I will not hold you accountable. Again, when the righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he will die. Because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness, which he's done, shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand.

So a righteous person can turn and go back to unrighteousness. And again, without that warning, God says, I'll hold you, Ezekiel, accountable.

It doesn't and it shouldn't take a leap of imagination if you truly understand how the Bible is put together and how God leads his servants and his church to understand how we can understand this applies to us today. It goes on, nevertheless, if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning. Also, you will have delivered your soul.

That's why we say America the time is now. That's why we do the television programs, produce the magazines, the booklets that talk about God's plan, God's purpose for human life, about repentance, about faith, about the Sabbath, about the Holy Days and how to come to know the true God and to worship the true God in an age of unrighteousness and deception. That is, the parallel of the first century Roman world. And God always offers the hope, as he does here in verse 22-21, that once that job is done and because people take warning and live, that's hope. They take the warning when it is properly delivered with the right tone and voice, they take it as hope and choose to live. When we can give them understanding of how the world is and why it is the way it is today and lead them by the hand in a gentle, proper way that does have a distinct message, has a warning delivered in a way that shows we care. We do really care.

We've proven this way of life. We've lived it. It works. We want you to share what we have come to understand in all the different teachings that we have, the doctrines, the understanding of Scripture.

When we can deliver it to people with that tone of voice that says, hey, you don't have to keep beating your head against the wall, taste and see.

Try this out. Here's how, in this small way, this part of your life can be made better. You have an addiction?

There's help. God does care. You can begin to know God. You can get and should get the help that you need to kick the habit. But covering that and ultimately leading the purpose of that, you can come to know God and have a relationship with Him because He does love you and He does care.

The Lamb of God has shed His blood that your sins can be forgiven and you can be redeemed.

The truth of redemption is a powerful concept when people are brought face to face with it.

They can be redeemed. People do some bad things today.

They go to war. They do bad things. Soldiers do that in war. That's what they're trained and taught to do. They come back and they have to put their life back together. We're quite well aware that many have a challenge doing that today. This is a military town, I know. There are other pitfalls that people fall into today. Addictions, habits that chain and enslave their lives.

And that they can be forgiven, that they can crawl out of that and make a better life.

But most importantly, that they can be, when they come to face their Creator, when they begin to think about the enormity of life, perhaps a mistake made and the need to live a better life, for them to know that they can be redeemed is a powerful matter.

That is a part of the message of the Gospel which gives hope and understanding.

Every once in a while I've run across, either in person or watching certain personalities in our media culture, who you know they're looking for redemption in their life.

Because of wasted decades with drugs, and they finally get cleaned up, and they begin to engage in good works, good things that they do. But you can also see when you really peel away the bravado of an exterior that is fabricated for the culture and for their particular popular role, you know they're looking for redemption. I've met people in the church who are seeking redemption for the dark things that they may have done in their youth.

God offers redemption. The Gospel offers that. And it's a very powerful message of hope.

At any level, through forgiveness, through faith, and to know that God can and will forgive. And when we can give that, we are walking along here in verse 21 and that spirit of one who warns someone to turn from sin or a righteous person to continue in their path and live, and have an understanding of life. That is our role. That is our job in our time.

These few verses here in Ezekiel 3 have been a guiding principle for us in our time in the church, to be a watchman and to sound that message. In chapter 14 of Ezekiel, there's another few verses we should note because this kind of gets down to the individual accountability.

Ezekiel 14 says, When a land sins against me by persistent unfaithfulness, and I think that that again describes our country today, the level of the highest court of the land to the spiritual drunkenness that seems to have overtaken even our executive leadership and legislative leadership in America to a spiritual stupor and drunkenness that the prophets otherwise describe, that again has pushed us into treaties of appeasement with those who have vowed openly to destroy us. You have to stand back and wonder, what's the source of this blindness? Well, the Scripture shows us that it's sin, it's idolatry.

It's a drunken stupor that caused people to remove the landmarks and the way of life. But a land that sins against God by persistent unfaithfulness. He says, ultimately, I will stretch out my hand against it. There will be a day that God will do that.

It hasn't happened yet. We will go to the Feast of Tabernacles, wherever we are blessed to go this year, and enjoy the bounty of the life that God has given us and wherever we may go to do it.

Here in America, at some international spot, we have our still very comfortable lives.

The Apple computer just revealed three new, wonderful, amazing products.

Meant to make you happy and make them happy because you are going to fork over hundreds of dollars to try to buy happiness, a measure of happiness. And I've got the big one myself, so I'm not knocking anything. We live in a fabulously wealthy time. I don't think God has stretched out his hand against us yet. There is still a time for us to do our job. I forgot to call many sons to glory.

But he goes on and says, there will be a time when the bread will be cut off, famine will be upon the land, and I will cut off man and the beast from it.

But in verse 14, he says this, Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they could only deliver themselves by their righteousness, says the Lord God. And he repeats it again in verse 16. He says, Even though these three men were in the land, as I lived, says the Lord, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, only they would be delivered, and the land would be desolate.

Then and again in verse 20, Even though, for emphasis, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I lived, says the Lord God, they would deliver neither son nor daughter, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.

The just shall live by his faith. Regardless of what everyone else is doing, the just will live by faith. You have been called. Your time is now. Our time is now. And we are responsible for ourselves, because this is our time. And how we live today is an answer to the time that we live in, to all of the deception, people who believe a lie. People don't care if they are practicing a lie today. We had almost given up in our efforts, at least on Beyonce Day television, talking about how pagan Christmas is, and Easter. You know why? Because everybody knows it's pagan.

And they don't care. They know that. It's common knowledge today. Every pastor in the land knows that. But there are an infinite number of justifications as to why it's okay, theologically, spiritually, culturally, just plain because it's fun. And we were thinking about it. You know, we didn't actually do a Christmas program, a new one, to air this coming December.

But I wrote an article that will be in the November-December Good News, which will be the last Good News magazine in January. It will become the Beyond Today magazine. But on this trip that we had just made to Italy, our tour guide was a Protestant pastor who was the teacher of teaching guide on this tour. He was very, very intelligent about culture and Rome. And as long as he stayed on that, he was good. When he got off in a theology, he was a bit squirrely. But we were sitting. You go on these trips, and you're on a bus, and you get off the bus, and you go to this historic site, and everybody gathers with their notebook and pens and Bibles and a 30-minute lecture. We were in the home of the wife of the emperor Nero, down near the area of Pompeii.

It had been covered over in the eruption of that volcano back in, I think, 79 AD, to get that year right. It had been excavated. We were sitting in this courtyard, in this once rather palatial country estate. And he was talking about all the different holidays that they had in Rome. They had like 150 different holidays and festivals. And he said, which was the most significant?

And I said, the Saturnalia, December 25th. He said, right. He said, was Jesus born on then?

And the others in the group started to nod their head. And I said, no. And he said, right, no, he wasn't. The shepherds couldn't have been in their field. And went on down, you know, what we always know. And then I'm thinking, wow, this could be interesting. And then he darts off.

And I'm thinking, he gets into an explanation about other things. And I'm thinking, whoa, wait a minute. What did you say? Run the tape back. He knows it, but they don't care.

So I said, I'm going to put that into an article for the Good News and tell that, because it is what it is. And I think there's a, so I tried to make a different point. It is where we are today.

And we are living in a time where they would rather believe the lie, the truth.

Let's never forget that. But the just shall live by their faith. We will live this way, you and I.

As I said, I plan to, God willing, by His grace, live out the rest of my life this way.

It works. I love it. No regrets. Wouldn't have lived it any other way. Your life, as you feel the same way, gives answer to the statement or to the question that Christ asked His own disciples in Matthew 16. In Matthew 16, He asked them one of the most compelling questions that you could ask them. In Matthew 16, verse 15, He said to them, Who do you say that I am? He'd already asked them, What do the people say that I am? And they said, Well, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others think you may be Jeremiah.

But who do you say that I am? As He turned to His disciples, Peter answered, and He said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Your life and my life gives the same answer to date. It gives answer to that question.

As Christ lives in us, we give that answer. He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

And He lives in your life today. The life that you live, you live by His faith within you, and His life within you. Our lives give testimony to that now.

And as we come up to the Feast of Trumpets here in just a few hours, the day after tomorrow, and we think about all the meaning that is wrapped up in that day, the sounding of a trumpet, sound of alarm, the heralding of the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, as we read earlier in Revelation 11.

For you and I today, we really have to realize that as we look for those culminating events of the end of the age, as we live today, the trumpet has sounded in our life.

You have heard the calling of God, the summons from God. A trumpet at some point in your life sounded. Your mind was open to understand certain things to which you responded, and faith, and repentance, and began a way of life that you're living to this day.

You heard the truth of God. You go back and I will turn there, but the story in Exodus 19, where the Israelites were on Mount Sinai, at the foot of Mount Sinai, and God said, don't come, don't touch the mountain, but when you hear the trumpet, come near. And they heard the trumpet and they assembled and came near. It's what we do. We heard a trumpet sound and we came near to God. We came near to the God that we thought we knew, but now know more fully.

The God that we sincerely sought to serve, but now we know more fully, by His grace and by His calling. The trumpet sounds it in our life, which is why, again, when we are crafting the message that we want to give in a campaign such as America, the time is now, we want people who come to hear a message that is distinct that they will not hear in any other religious venue in this city.

And if we don't do that, we will have not accomplished our job. It will not be completely comprehensive. We have literature and other means by which we can continue to help them. But we feel that those that will come one night to kind of see us in the flesh, to see you, the members, and to hear something that is promoted in this way, at least they've taken another step and we can help to continue the relationship and other means, we must do that. That is our job.

That is what God has given to us to do. And that's where you come in.

If you truly understand, as I know you do, that the trumpet has sounded in your life, and you responded, and it's made all the difference, that you would want to share that with others. And you can. And you should.

Hey, you need to hear this.

Come listen to these guys.

Or just be on any given Sabbath or on any given Holy Day. Invite someone to say, come and hear this. My minister, give his message.

Now we have to be wise and not just, you know, to all and recognizing that. But if you run across the moment of vulnerability, someone who is genuinely seeking, be able to be willing to share and to encourage and to invite.

It's made a difference in your life. If you think that someone is at a point where it can begin to make a difference in their lives, then don't hesitate. We have all been called at this time.

This is our day. Our time is now. The trumpet has sounded in our life.

And we've responded to the message of repentance that is the same message Christ came preaching when he went into Galilee in Mark chapter one and verse verses 14 and 15 preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. Saying, repent. The time is at hand. When we chose the time is now, we were working off of that statement that Jesus made in Mark 1, 14 and 15. The time is at hand, he said.

Repent and believe the gospel. The time is now.

And who knows that God is not calling others and will call others to that.

And so we come down to our day and our time now. Our time is now. To awake, to recognize the times in which we live. Scripture that means a lot to me that always kind of gives me a wake up call is over in Ephesians chapter five because it does talk about a waking chapter five of Ephesians.

Verse 13, all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore, he says in verse 14, awake you who sleep. Arise from the dead and Christ will give you light. Even we in the church need the times to be jolted out of whatever sleepiness and drowsiness we might slip toward and make sure that we are fully awake, fully alert and revived.

I wonder at times personally, this is just my own personal thought as I look at the church that we're part of, the faith of God and what God has been doing in a group of people for decades, many decades. Many of us are veterans of an experience that is far bigger than us.

Many others have gone before us and we carry on and we seek to solidify and to, as God blesses, continue and develop the same teaching, the same experience, the same message, the same truths.

For God's glory and for God's purpose, I wonder personally if we might be seeing a revival that God is doing for us. And I work toward that. Back in the book of Habakkuk, I will turn there for one section. I mentioned that this book had kind of given us an impetus, an inspiration to launch this current effort of America. The time is now.

In the third chapter of the small minor prophet, Habakkuk, he says in verse 1, this is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, but, O Lord, in verse 2, I have heard your speech and was afraid. Now, just a brief summation, the story of Habakkuk that unfolds in the first two chapters is essentially this. Habakkuk looked at his people, Judah, and he saw their problems, their sins.

And instead of standing in the streets like Jeremiah did, or in Isaiah, and preaching to the people, Habakkuk takes the people to God. And he lists them to God and he says, God, help us. We're sick. You see that in the first chapter. And then God's answer is, I know you're sick, and because of that, I'm going to bring these people called the Babylonians in and they're going to destroy the country. And he can't believe it. You're going to bring these awful people. The Babylonians were the Isis of the day in that part of the world. They were the Isis of that ancient world. They were terrible, vicious, and violent. And God did bring them in.

Habakkuk had to reconcile himself that God's judgment was going to happen.

And that's why he said, all right, God says that just will live by faith. And Habakkuk resigns himself to that. And by the time he comes down here to chapter 3, he says, Lord, I've heard your speech. I've heard what you said. I was afraid. But in essence, he's saying, I accept it.

Then he says, oh, Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years.

In the midst of the years, make it known. In wrath, remember mercy.

Remember your work and revive it in the midst of the years.

And I've personally speculated, and I'll label it as that, can we not see, can we not pray for it, can we not expect a revival by God of his work in our years?

Because this is our time.

And work toward that.

And be moved to an urgency in our own lives and in our support.

I know that you and many, many others to collect a little bit together financially have supported the church very, very generously.

And faithfulness to God. That's not the support I'm talking about.

The revival that I speculate about is a spiritual revival, even beyond where we are.

That the word of God energizes us, excites us.

The prospect of sharing that message, the hope of salvation, the knowledge that God is bringing many sons to glory can motivate us to greater works of desire and zeal and prayer.

God will take care of all the rest.

I have no high expectations. In fact, I refuse in my own mind to even put a number of how many might walk into this room the night we're here or in Houston or Dallas.

I certainly would love to fill it up. We all would.

But if five show up, I'm happy. If fifty show up, I'd be ecstatic.

It's all up to God. If we do our part, and if we, as three of us that will come on stage and make presentations, if we do the best we can, with God's help, He'll do the rest. It's God that gives the increase.

We can only work with what is in front of us, ourselves, and the message, and take it, and ask God's inspiration.

And I'm confident that God will do what He's going to do, and the seed will continue to be sown.

And who knows what He has in mind?

But I do know that as this has begun to percolate among many, not only those of us that are in a sense producing it, from the works of the Church's point of view, but others who have heard and begun to understand it, and again, which is why I'm here today, it can be energizing, exciting, encouraging, inspirational, to be a part of something that is still lifting high the torch of God's Word, and seeking to be a part of a work, and to see what God is doing, and to, in a sense, look for a revival, and just to let it revive ourselves personally, and if it spreads among all of us and revives us even more, so much the better.

People are looking for answers in this world today. We have those answers. We need not be ashamed. We need not apologize for that. We have answers. God has, by His grace, given us those.

And as we continue to share that, in a world that is even that much more dangerous than it was 45 years ago, my answer to the young staff member that came in, yeah, it was bad in 1970.

Any of you ever remember a song that came out about 68 or so, called The Eve of Destruction?

Anybody know that song? It was big. Vietnam, it hadn't quite ended.

Riots in the streets, political assassination. The 60s were a rough time. 1970 didn't know. We actually entered into a very dark period of the decade. Yeah, 1980 came, and morning in America, a guy named Ronald Reagan came out of the West.

And America is still around. And yet, the dangers are even greater when you know where to look and what is really happening. And I wonder, sometimes you're going down here in this part of the Habakkuk, it portrays God as kind of striding across the nations in verse 3, 4, and 5.

God comes from Timin in verse 3, and it says in verse 4, His brightness was like the light and He had rays flashing from His hand. That's pretty big. That's pretty powerful.

And pestilence follows at His feet. Then in verse 6, He stood and measured the earth and looked and startled the nations. I sometimes wonder if God might be just kind of standing and pausing and looking at the nations and looking over the earth at this moment, all things continuing as they are, but wondering myself, what will be next? That's all in God's good time. I do see that we have opportunity and we have work to do and a job to accomplish. And the world is even more dangerous today, and the gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God is even more important, more palatable, and more helpful to those whom God calls and God is working with.