What Time Is It? Day 2

Dannah Gresh: As you make day-by-day decisions, are you keeping a long-term perspective? Here's Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: In your buying and your selling and your use of time, in your family relationships, in your marriage, whatever you do, live in light of eternity. Realize that this is just a moment here. The form of this world is passing away, so we're not to get carried away with temporal concerns. We're to have eternal priorities.

Dannah: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Lies Women Believe, for Wednesday, December 9, 2020. I'm Dannah Gresh.

“What time is it?” Yesterday we began exploring this important question with Nancy. A few years ago, Nancy took a look at the world situation and delivered this message called, “What Time Is It?” Sadly, it feels like the world situation has gotten even more intense since Nancy first spoke these words. The purpose of Nancy’s message was to call God’s people to be serious about pointing people to Jesus during a time of crisis. That’s why we pulled this series out of the archive. We wanted the timeless principles Nancy offered to shape the way we view current events in our day. If you missed the program yesterday, you can hear it at ReviveOurHearts.com. Here’s Nancy with part two of the message “What Time Is It?”

Nancy: For a couple of days I'm asking the question, What time is it? We started into that yesterday. We said it's a time, according to Ephesians 5, to walk carefully, to be wise, to be filled with the spirit. Why? Because the days are evil. And the days are evil, but it's not a time to be afraid. It's not a time to hunker down in fear or cowardice. It's a time to trust the Lord, to be confident in Him, because He's got the whole world in His hands, and our times are in His hand.

And then we said, it's a time to seek the Lord, to cry out to Him, to believe Him to do what only He can do in our world.

I want to continue today considering "What time is it?" and, again, just look at some other Scriptures that direct our thoughts and help us understand the times in which we live.

We know according to Romans chapter 13, verse 11, that it's time to wake up. 

We know that the days are evil, but we also know that it's time for us to be alert. Romans 13:11, the apostle Paul says:

You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

This universe is not static. It's moving in a direction under the hand of God, foreordained, predestined by God toward an end when "every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord," and our salvation, our redemption draws nigh. It's nearer now than ever before.

So this is not a time for us to be groggy or sleepy. This is a time for us to be alert and wakeful. Jesus said it over and over in the gospels, "Wake up! Be alert! Don't fall asleep! Keep your eyes open! Be on your guard! Look out!" Don't just get lulled to sleep by what's going on around you.

I find we can get lulled to sleep even by the bad news because you hear so much of it. And, again and again and again, some of those things about the evil days that we talked about yesterday, you think, I've heard this before. You can lose your tender heart, your sensitivity, your concern, your burden. And it can just kind of wash over you like, "Oh, we've heard this, but we don't live there, we don't experience that." You can get lulled to sleep. But the apostle says it's time to wake from sleep.

Scripture teaches us that the time is late; time is short. And you see this throughout the Scripture, but let me just point your attention to one passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. The apostle Paul is talking about marriage and singleness and divorce and relationships. Then he says in verse 29 of 1 Corinthians 7: "But this I say, brethren, the time is short." That means we don't have a long time left. Well, Paul was saying this in the first century after Christ. That was 2,000 years ago. Was he right, or was he mistaken when he said "the time is short"? No, he was right. He was inspired by the Holy Spirit.

You say, "Well, 2,000 years ago, that doesn't seem like very short. People have always said the time is short." The time is short! In light of eternity, 2,000 years is like two days, Peter tells us. So he says: 

The time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none, those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess, and those who use this world as not misusing it. For the form of this world is passing away (vv. 29–31 NKJV).

He's saying: Whatever you do—in your buying, in your selling, in your use of time, in your family relationships, your marriage, whatever you do—live in light of eternity. Realize this is just a moment here. The form of this world is passing away, so we're not to get carried away with temporal concerns, but we're to have eternal priorities.

You see this same thought in the book of Revelation. The first chapter and the last chapter make the same point. Revelation 1: "The time is near" (v. 3) "The Lord sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place" (v. 1 paraphrase).

And then we see in the last chapter of Revelation (the last chapter of the Bible),

The Lord has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. And behold [Jesus says], I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. . . . Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. . . . He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming [when?] soon" (vv. 6–7, 12,  20).

Soon . . . soon . . . soon.

Now, if we really believed that He was coming soon, if we really believed that time was short and that eternity is long, and that the form of this world is passing away, how would that affect the way that we live? How would it affect the way we use our time? How would it affect the way we spend our money?

If we believed that time is short and eternity is long and that Jesus is coming soon, it would give us a sense of, I think, at least three things, three words that have been on my heart.

First is consolation or encouragement. When we're suffering affliction, or we see others around the world suffering affliction, it gives us consolation to know that Jesus is coming soon, and that He is going to right all wrongs. These things will pass away. That brings consolation.

It also brings anticipation or hope, something to look forward to. It gives us the possibility of experiencing true joy even as we live in this broken, fallen, messed-up world. God's people can have anticipation. They can have joy. That doesn't mean we pretend like all this other stuff doesn't exist. We realize it does exist, that the days are evil. But we still have anticipation that the best is yet to come.

Consolation and anticipation, and then motivation. It motivates us to live in light of His return, to serve, to love, to give, to pray, to spend our time serving Christ, serving others, advancing His kingdom because He is coming soon.

And so we remind each other that it's time to wake up, that the time is short. It's late, and Jesus is coming soon. That gives us a sense of earnestness, and a sense of urgency, and yet peace and confidence because our hope is in the Lord who holds these times in His hands.

Now, I want to spend a few moments before we close today just talking about, "What time is it in Revive Our Hearts?"

We have said what time it is in our world, the days are evil. We've said in everything there is a time, there is a season, He holds the times in His hands, but I want to focus for a few moments on "What time it is in Revive Our Hearts."

First of all as we're sharing with you throughout this month, I'm so encouraged because this is a time of great fruitfulness.

We're seeing, day after day after day, transformed lives, changed lives. We're receiving emails, posts on Facebook and social media from around the world, just in recent days, from Australia, from Sri Lanka, from South Africa.

I got one this weekend from the woman who heads up Aviva Nuetros Corazones—our Spanish outreach ministry. Laura sent me an email, and said, Here's what is happening just over this past weekend. Here are the places, the countries in Latin America, where God was at work, where He was using our team and using others who have been impacted by this ministry to be sharing about revival and biblical womanhood." And there were just multiple bullet points, things I wasn't aware of, but it's a time of great fruitfulness.

I was in Texas for a weekend with our ministry partners, and we sat and listened to the stories of couples whose marriages have been transformed by the gospel: Marriages that were in distress because of a workaholic wife who had no sense of priority about her home. A marriage that was in trouble because a husband had made some choices and had been unfaithful in the marriage, and here was a woman deciding how she was going to respond to that.

And we heard their stories about how God used the ministry and the message of Revive Our Hearts in English and Spanish to rescue, to redeem these lives from destruction, to change their whole way of thinking, to give them a whole new set of priorities, to give them a vision for what God wanted to do through their lives. They could be on the ash heap, but God has redeemed them; He's restored them. Now He's using them.

One of those couples has been involved in counseling another couple in ministry who experienced a moral failure just within recent days, and now the couple whose life has been redeemed, their marriage has been redeemed, they're counseling this couple that's now in trouble. The baton is being passed. It's a time of great fruitfulness. I'm so encouraged. I believe that the truth is powerful. God's Word is powerful.

Sometimes, as an older woman, I wonder: Can we really still connect with younger women? Does our message sound hopelessly outdated or out of fashion? Well to some it does, but I was so thrilled to see many young women, women in their twenties and thirties who were eager to take this message and share it with others. They're vibrant. They love the truth. They're seeking the Lord. This is a time of great fruitfulness.

It's a time when God is expanding this ministry through our Ambassador Program. I've heard many stories recently how God is using our Ambassadors in different regions in this country and around the world to expand and to take the message of revival and biblical womanhood beyond where I could ever have taken it, beyond where our radio broadcasts reach, but where these people in their communities are living out this message.

And they're partnering with others and leading small groups and networking with women's ministry leaders in local churches. Multiplying the ministry. Taking the resources that we've developed and sharing them with others. They are leading True Woman 101 studies, True Woman 201 studies. Somebody told me recently about a study they're doing with the book of Choosing Gratitude. Helping women begin to think and live God's way for such a time as this.

I'm so thankful for the many new ambassadors God has given, and if you'd like to know more about that program, contact us here at Revive Our Hearts and say, "I think maybe I could be an ambassador. Give me some more information." We'd love to talk with you about that.

We're training women who are leading women's ministries in local churches. It's multiplying. They'll reach women you won't reach, I won't reach. God's using some of you to reach women that others are not reaching. That's multiplying.

It's so thrilling to see what God is doing around the world. And it's a time of great opportunity in this ministry. We're seeing such hunger, responsiveness, and this encourages my heart. Sometimes when I get weary with all that it takes to keep a ministry like this running and all that it takes to come up with new content, package it, put it together, get it recorded, and then I look into the eyes of women like you who love God's Word, who love God's truth, who are eager to receive it and then to take it and live it and spread it to others. It's a time of great opportunity.

God has opened doors for us—far more doors than we could possibly walk through. And so He doesn't intend for us to walk through all of those. We're asking Him and needing wisdom and direction, "Where do You want us to go? Which cries for help do You want us to answer?"

We've had women all over the world in multiple languages who are saying, "We need this program, we need this outreach, we need these resources in our language." We have women in Europe who are meeting, by means of the Internet, one day a month to fasting and to pray for Revive Our Hearts in Europe. They're begging us. They're saying, "Come help us. Can we translate the program? Can we translate the resources?"

We're seeing this in Turkish. We're seeing it in Chinese. We're seeing it in countries and languages all around the world. So it's a time of great opportunity, and it's so encouraging.

It's a time of great need in this ministry. A time of fruitfulness, a time of opportunity, and a time of great need.

You say, "What do you need? How can we pray for you?" I love it when people ask me that question. They say, "We pray for you. What do you want us to pray?"

Well, let me tell you some of the things we need: 

• We need wisdom.
• We need discernment.
• We need to know what God's priorities are for our ministry for such a time as this.
• We need the anointing of God's Holy Spirit on our efforts.

Because if we just record programs and write books and put tools out there in the people's hands, if the Holy Spirit doesn't come and anoint it, all is vain unless the Spirit of the Lord comes down. So I often ask people to pray for fresh oil on me, on our team, on our ambassadors, on those who are multiplying this message and ministry around the world.

• We need staff.
• We need volunteers.

And I wonder if there's perhaps some who are listening to my voice today who are saying, "Maybe God wants to use me?" The translation of our program in Spanish takes scores of people working throughout the course of the year to translate those broadcasts and those transcripts, but they're all volunteers, the ones doing that translation. Maybe God wants to use you to help with translation or some other way. Contact our ministry and say, "I have some time. I'm an empty-nester. How could God use me? Is there a way God could use me in this ministry?" We need people who say, "I want to help. I want to serve. How can I do that?"

• We need financial resources.

We're in the process of saying, "Lord, You're our major Donor"—capital "D." We look to Him. We don't look to people, ultimately, but we're saying, "Who do You want to use? 

Over the next several weeks, as we come to the end of the year, we're going to be asking you, our listeners, to prayerfully consider investing financially in the ministry of Revive Our Hearts.

Typically, 40% or more of our entire year's donations come during the month of December. So we're believing the Lord for a significant portion of this year's support this month to help us finish the year in a good place financially, but also to let us know what opportunities we can take advantage of in the coming year. So what comes in this month through our matching challenging and above and beyond that is really important.

We believe that God has placed us here in this place, in this time for specific kingdom purposes. It's not a time to drift. This is a time to be purposeful.

And as I think about being purposeful for such a time as this, my mind goes back to one of my heroines of the faith, a woman named Henrietta Mears. She died in 1963. I never had the privilege of meeting her, but for many years she headed up the college department at a large church in Southern California. And through the course of her ministry, she was a Christian educator. She started a curriculum publishing company. She started a Christian conference center. She never married. She just spent her life serving the Lord.

And through the course of her ministry there at this church in California, over 400 young men were called into full-time Christian service—some of them whose names you would know God has raised, raised up a whole generation of men to lead the Church of Jesus Christ through the influence of this single woman, Henrietta Mears.

Back in 1947, she got a strong burden in her heart that God was up to something. She sent out a letter, and she invited young college students to come together for what she called a college briefing. She wanted to challenge them with what she felt God was up to in the world.

Here's a sample letter that she sent out at that time. I share it with you because I think it's really pertinent and as relevant today as it was back in 1947. She said:

Dear Don:

I have come back from Europe and South America with an overwhelming sense of the crisis hour in which we live. The needs of the world are appalling. I believe, Don, that you are a young man of destiny, for who knows but that "you have come into the kingdom for just such a time as this." I believe God has made no mistake and that He has a plan for you in this hour.

As never before [and I love this line], God is calling for expendables. [Expendables!] He is watching for men to match the mountains of opportunity. He is looking for youth who will say, "I will face this hour and find my place in it, and if I perish, I perish." We need men [and women] who will put God first.

I would that we had young people driven along by a mighty vision of what God could do if only He possessed them. I believe young people of today are going to do things that will stagger this generation, but all this will pass. We must have men, women to deal with things not of time, but of eternity.

Don, come and help us! We need you desperately. The task before us is for the many, not for the few.

Yours in His service,
Henrietta C. Mears

And, oh Lord, as we listen to that letter, my heart is stirred afresh. And I think of how You're looking for expendables who are willing to give all to serve, to love You and others, to pass on the gospel, to share the good news that is ours through Christ.

Thank You, Lord, for men and women who have invested in this ministry, their time, their resources, their prayers. So, Lord, we look to You, and we say, "Do all that is in Your good pleasure, and use us. We're available. We're here saying, 'Yes, Lord, to use as for such a time as this.'" We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Dannah: Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has been showing you why it's so important to seek the Lord and build His kingdom "for such a time as this." And she's been sharing some ways Revive Our Hearts has been advancing God's kingdom and how you can get involved. 

Nancy: I've been encouraged how some friends of Revive Our Hearts have heard about the needs of the ministry and the opportunities before us at this time, and they've offered to match every donation, dollar for dollar up to a little over one million dollars. In order to qualify for that match, we need to hear from you by December 31. In order to meet the needs of the ministry as we move into 2021, we're asking the Lord to work through listeners and provide for this entire year-end challenge.

As I look ahead, the need is significant, but as I've been reminded all this year, heaven rules! Jesus is our King. Jesus is our Provider. Jesus is our major Donor with a capital "D." And He’s able to provide every financial need that we have, and every financial need you have as well. So we’re trusting Him for His provision to make maximum impact in the lives of women around the world in the year ahead.

As you think about giving to Revive Our Hearts, we don’t want to do anything that will take away from your regular giving to your church. It's really important that you continue that at this time. You may have hurting friends or neighbors God is calling you to reach out to and invest in. That's important too. But beyond that, if you’re feeling the Lord stirring your heart to be part of this ministry and its work around the world, I hope you'll contact us to make your donation toward this matching challenge..

Dannah: The number is 1–800–569–5959, or visit ReviveOurHearts.com.

Nancy: Thank you for considering a gift at this time. I want you to know that your gifts and your prayers mean so much to us. But more than that, they mean so much to women around the world, whose lives will be touched and impacted because of your investment in this ministry.

Dannah: When you join us tomorrow you're going to hear from two women who minister to hurting people in their communities. Kathleen and Patsy bring the message that “Christ is King” to others, and God is at work through them in some inspiring ways. Please be back for Revive Our Hearts.  

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth encourages you to live with purpose for such a time as this. It is an outreach of Life Action Ministries.

All Scripture is taken from the ESV unless otherwise noted.

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