Well, good morning, saints. Praise the Lord for His mighty grace.
I do not think there is any way to describe or understand the grace of God. I think our brother said it well: the most that we can do is really accept it, and be so grateful and thankful for it. It is certainly undeserved. But the Lord Jesus loves us, and that is why we are here this morning. We gather together because He loves us, and we want to return that love to Him and to one another.
So this morning, we are so grateful. Grace is such a prominent part of God’s heart.
Lord, we come to You this morning. We thank You for the grace that has been extended to us; Lord, the great love that You have poured out on us; Lord, the great burden that has been lifted from our souls. Lord, the great grace—it is a part of our lives every day. We thank You for it, Lord, and we ask this morning that Your grace be extended to this time, this time in which we share in Your Word.
Now, Lord, You are very clear: it is not by might nor by power, but by Your Spirit that things are accomplished. So we come this morning and ask that Your Spirit, Lord, would speak; that Your Spirit would hear; and Lord, make it real in our hearts this morning.
Lord, we look to Thee. The deaf and blind come to Thee, that we might hear and see. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Well, this morning I want to begin with a couple of verses. One is a theme verse for the conference: Revelation 1:9.
I John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus…
I am certainly glad that the apostle John is my brother and companion. Praise the Lord for that. Such a dear brother.
And the verse that is on my heart for this morning is from Revelation 1:3, the last part of that verse: “The time is at hand.” The time is at hand.
The time, brothers and sisters, for the conference is at hand. The Lord has been merciful to us once again this year.
As I was considering the time being at hand for the conference, I remembered that there has actually been a spiritual process to this journey that we are on toward the conference time.
It began with a time of consideration and reflection. Brothers and sisters, it has been an honor and a privilege all of these years.
Kenny keeps track of it. How many years, Kenny? Forty? Forty what?
All right, 1975: first family conference, first Christian family conference. So that has been a long time. I am one of the ones who has been privileged to have been here all of those years, and by His grace and mercies, I have been able to be at all of them. It has been a real joy down through the years.
But we are grateful to the Lord. The Lord has used us mightily, even in our midst, to help us build together, to be built together, to have His purpose together, and to have His word concerning His eternal purpose go out through the entire world. We have had a small part in that.
You know, I was reminded of Ezra’s encouragement to the remnant that had returned to rebuild the temple of God. I feel like, brothers and sisters, down through the years, the Lord called us out from all the religious entanglements to go back and truly build His house.
Well, Ezra’s encouragement was this—Ezra 9:8, I think:
And now for a little moment grace hath been showed from the Lord our God,
to leave us a remnant to escape,
and to give us a nail in His holy place,
that our God may lighten our eyes,
and give us a little reviving in our bondage.
I just feel like that kind of sums up these years. All these years, it has been by His grace. Brothers and sisters, I say once again, it has been a joy. It has been a joy to be a part of all this.
So we reflected on the mercies that the Lord has extended to us. Once again this past year, we began to seek the Lord Jesus, seeking Him concerning whether we should have a conference again this year and, if so, what was on His heart.
So we prayed and fellowshipped together. In view of the time and the hour in which we live—which we know is the time just before His return, the last hour—we sensed the need for endurance. That is what came to our hearts: this matter of endurance.
Endurance in keeping the word of His patience, that we might be ready for His return. Not only ready for His return, but such a people, with such a heart, so given to the Lord, that we might even hasten His return. That was on our heart.
In December of last year, we met together with other assemblies. As we shared and prayed together, the Lord in His grace brought us to one heart and one mind as we gathered.
Our heart was this: should He tarry, we should proceed with a conference. Should He tarry.
Now, His tarrying, brothers and sisters, means that we are not ready. We need His Word. We need to hear His Word for this hour in which we live. That is what this conference is about. We need to fellowship in His Word. We need to be together. That is what the conference is about.
So we decided that we would proceed, under the headship of Christ, into another conference. Brothers and sisters, we still have to say, “Should He tarry.” Even today, even as close as conference time is, our words are, “If He should tarry.”
Secondly, there was a time of preparation and planning. It was a time to consider, and now it became a time to prepare and to plan.
Brothers and sisters, we did not just get into planning and forming committees. We did this under the headship of Christ, truly, that Christ might be our Head in all the plans and all the things concerning the conference. We always feel that it is important that Christ be kept in His place as Head of His church.
Then, by His grace and mercy, the facilities at Longwood were still available for the time period that we wanted to have this conference. Brothers and sisters, we might take that for granted, but it is not always the case. In fact, we have had to change that at times. But this year, the time we wanted was available.
The Longwood staff is still amenable to our being there, and not only that, they desire to have us there. The staff, particularly Irina—I have to mention her—really cares about us and about having our needs met: the housing we need, the facilities we need, the food we need, the services we need, the maintenance staff. Everything is available for us by the grace of God, and we thank Him for that.
The Lord has raised up those who will minister the Word of God. There are going to be five brothers this year, the teachers. The Lord has raised up those who will teach and help our children and our teens, and take care of our babies.
That is quite a task right there, to be able to do that, but the Lord has raised up those to do it. It has been His conference, not ours.
All the administrative activities—registration, transportation both to and from the conference and while we are there, the audio, the video, loading the truck, getting the truck—that is my responsibility. Setting up the campus takes quite a bit on Saturday, but we do it by His grace and through His love.
We set up for the children’s classes. We do not go down there and find everything already set up. We have to set up for the children’s classes. The Lord is arranging all that. I am thankful also that there will be those who will help with luggage once we get the conference going.
So there are a lot of administrative activities that the Lord has to provide for, and we are thankful for that.
So there was a time to consider, a time to plan, and there has been a time for prayer. Brothers and sisters, that time for prayer is not limited. It began with prayer and will continue in prayer until it is ended. Persistent prayer.
You know, we are going to pray again tonight. Prayer is so important.
God is sovereign. We know that. We are thankful that He is the Sovereign One. But it seems to me, and it is pretty clear, that He chooses not to move until He hears the prayers of the saints.
He waits for the prayers of the saints. He waits until our heart comes into alignment with His heart, until our burden comes into alignment with His burden. That is why prayer is so significant.
Our brother John, time and time again, told us, “The real work of the conference is in prayer,” and that is very, very true.
I think the Lord would want us to continue to pray, as we will all through this time. I was reminded of 1 Peter 4:7, the Lord’s words to us:
But the end of all things is at hand:
be ye therefore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer.
I think that is the charge to us as we go into this conference: all things are at hand. Be sober and watch with prayer.
So there has been a time to consider, a time to prepare, and a time to pray—and that time to pray continues. And now, the time is at hand.
Now let me ask you: are you ready for the conference? Are you really ready?
You know, so often this time kind of sneaks up on us, does it not? All of a sudden, it is here. Are our hearts really ready? Are we really ready to meet the Lord there together? Are we ready?
Well, brothers and sisters, as we have been praying over these months, it seems to me that there are at least four burdens that have come out under the overall burden that the Lord’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That is the prayer: God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
First—and there may be others—is the Word of God. We have been praying that the Word of God would be direct and powerful, would come in the power of the Holy Spirit, and would be fruitful. That has been our prayer, brothers and sisters.
That may seem pretty typical to us, but it is very important, for nothing is done without the Holy Spirit’s power and working. Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit.
Hebrews 4:12 expresses this burden well:
For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword,
and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit,
of both joints and marrow,
and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.
That is what God wants to do through His Word in our hearts.
You know, this Scripture in Hebrews refers to the sacrifices that were made as they would bring the lamb to the altar and the priest would begin to carve up the lamb. So precise were their carvings, so skillful, that they say you could put all the parts back together and not recognize that it had actually been cut up.
But the point is, brothers and sisters, Paul—or whoever wrote Hebrews—told us in this Scripture that it cuts down even to the marrow of the bones. In other words, at the joint, when they began to cut through, they got down to the marrow in the bones.
Now, here is what is important: the marrow of your bone is the life of your bone. If the marrow dries up, your bone becomes brittle and breaks. The marrow is the life of the bone.
Is that not what we are desiring? That that sharp two-edged sword of His Word get down to the marrow of our life—to get down into the very life of our soul.
Brothers and sisters, we want that two-edged sword to be effective even to the marrow, the very life of our hearts. This is what God wants.
I hope and pray that we are prepared in our hearts as we go, that this would be our personal desire: “Lord, take that sword of Thy Word and work deep into my life, down to the marrow.”
Is this what we want? Is this what you want, really? That the Word of God be so sharp and powerful that it really gets down to the things that need to be taken care of in our lives—things that will release us and prepare us for His soon return.
Secondly, the second burden that I think has touched us so much in our prayers has been the heart: a ready heart, ready to receive His Word.
You know, the farmers understood this. During the winter months, the ground gets kind of crusted and hard. In the spring, they have to plow the fields to break up that hardness, that it might receive the rain and the sun that will give life to the seed.
Brothers and sisters, we need soft hearts. We need pliable hearts as we go into this conference. Is our heart soft and pliable? Are we open to the Lord? Or are we still kind of like Martha, busy about many things, and have not taken care of our heart that it might be soft and pliable in the Lord’s hand?
I think Psalm 42:1 describes the kind of heart that the Lord is seeking:
As the hart panteth after the water brooks,
so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.
A longing heart for the Lord, as the deer pants after the water brooks. May we have a heart like that as we go into the conference. Brothers and sisters, these things are needed in preparation for what the Lord wants to do.
As we were praying the other night, I was really touched by one of the prayers: “Lord, we expect great things.” But for great things to happen, there have to be soft hearts.
Psalm 119:2 should give us great comfort:
Blessed are they that keep His testimonies,
that seek Him with the whole heart.
Not a half heart, three-quarters, or even ninety-nine percent, but the whole heart. May the Lord give us a whole heart for Him, brothers and sisters.
That does not mean perfect; it means whole. What does that mean to you and me? I think it means that we give ourselves to the Lord.
Brother Jim spoke on consecration last week: giving yourself totally, putting yourself on the altar, and saying, “Lord, whatever You need to do, whatever You need to show me, Lord, do it. I give my whole heart to You, Lord, without reservation, because I trust You.”
I think it is much like Abraham having to offer his son. The only way he could do that, brothers and sisters, was because he knew the Lord so well.
He trusted in the Lord so much that he knew whatever the Lord wanted was what was needed and what was best. He offered his only son there on the altar. I think the Lord would have us offer our whole hearts on the altar as we prepare to go.
Thirdly, that our eyes be opened.
I think of Job’s words as I thought of this. Job 42:5 says:
I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear;
but now mine eye seeth Thee.
Job had a great unveiling of the Lord Jesus Christ. The culmination of all that he went through, through, I think, thirty-eight chapters—finally, we get to that chapter. He went through the loss of everything. His whole life was turned upside down.
But what was the end of the matter, brothers and sisters? All the tribulations, all the trials that he went through had one purpose: that his eyes might be opened to see the Lord. That was it.
I think every one of us here knows that the times in our lives that have made the greatest difference were when we had a new unveiling of the Lord Jesus Christ to our hearts.
May the Lord do that this year. May He open our eyes just as He did with Job. This is revelation, brothers and sisters, that I am talking about. May we have revelation.
You know, revelation is much deeper than mental understanding, or even enlightenment, like we get on a verse sometimes and say, “Oh, I understand that much better.” It goes deeper than that.
When we have revelation, we see the Lord in such a way that it alters us. We are caught; we are captured. We can never go back like it used to be. I think some of us have had times like that. May the Lord be merciful and do mighty things this year at the conference.
You know, Matthew 20:32-33 is a great illustration. There were two blind men, and the Lord was coming by. The blind men heard the excitement and said, “What is going on?” They said, “Well, Jesus is coming.”
They began to cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us. Jesus, have mercy on us.” That was their cry.
The Lord looked upon them, and He said to them, “What would ye that I should do unto you?”
Their response was, “Lord, open our eyes.” Lord, open our eyes.
May we cry out like these blind men, realize our condition, and say, “Lord, open my eyes.”
Oh, what a wonderful day that was as their eyes were opened. What did their eyes see, brothers and sisters? Jesus. Jesus. Lord, open our eyes.
Fourthly, as we go into the conference, we must continue in faith to acknowledge the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord is on the throne. May our spirits lay hold of that. He is in authority, and He has power to do all things. We do not have power. Even as we share and minister in the Word, it is ineffective unless the Lord moves.
He is the authority of the universe, and He is the authority of your life and my life. He is the authority, and He has power to act in any way that He pleases.
But brothers and sisters, what did He want to be known as? When Moses asked Him, “Who should I tell these people? What should I tell them? Who am I talking to?” the Lord said:
I AM THAT I AM… Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
He is the great I AM, brothers and sisters, and we need to remember that as we go into this time. He is the great I AM. He is over all things.
We declare His lordship over all the ministry, over all the activities, over all the brothers and sisters, over the elements, over the weather, and over every condition.
May all of these be brought into full subjection to our Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, we have been asked to cooperate in prayer and stand with Him in His lordship and in His authority, saying, “Lord, bring all things into subjection unto You. And mostly, Lord, bring my heart into subjection to You as we come.”
Lord, You can speak with power, and You can do all these things. But without Your blessing, there will be no fruit. So, Lord, we ask that You bless our time, that it be a blessing—a great blessing—not only to us, but to You Yourself.
So, brothers and sisters, the fourth thing is this: the Lord is on the throne. May we keep Him there as we go into the conference.
So, brothers and sisters, the time of the conference is at hand. The time is at hand. Are we ready?
I think if we were honest, we would probably say, “Well, Lord, not as ready maybe as I should be, or even as I thought I was. Oh, Lord, I do not know, but Lord, Your great grace is sufficient. Lord, redeem these few hours before the conference, that I might truly be ready.”
But, brothers and sisters, not only is the time at hand for the conference; the time is at hand for the Lord’s return—the time in which He will call those overcomers up and begin His process of coming back to this earth.
Brothers and sisters, time is very important to the Lord. John, in Revelation, said, “The time is at hand.” Brothers and sisters, are we ready? Oh, are we ready?
You know, being aware of the time in which we are living is absolutely vital and critical. If we are unaware of the time in which we live, we will miss what the Lord is doing, and that is sad. The Lord wants us to be aware of the time. It is extremely important.
1 Chronicles 12:32 is a very familiar verse to us all:
And of the children of Issachar, men that had understanding of the times,
to know what Israel ought to do.
Do you have understanding of the times? Do you know what we, as His people, ought to do?
The children of Issachar were men who had understanding of the times and knew what Israel ought to do.
You know, these were listed when the Bible was listing the mighty men of David. The sons of Issachar were part of those mighty men who had been with David. They wanted to bring David to the throne, and they fought alongside David to bring him to the throne.
But when this listing is made in the Bible, they are preparing to bring the ark to Jerusalem. I think that is significant—the place where the listing is made. It is just before they begin to bring the ark to Jerusalem, and they are preparing. David had his mighty men with him.
Brothers and sisters, you want to be a mighty man of God? I think you have to be aware of the time.
It was time to bring the ark back to Jerusalem. That was God’s heart, because we know that the ark represents God’s presence on this earth. That is what the ark meant. God’s presence was going to be in Jerusalem, the center of the earth in God’s estimation and in God’s design.
They were mighty men, and they knew it was time to bring the ark back.
Brothers and sisters, is this not the hour in which we want to bring the ark to this earth? We want to bring God’s—Christ’s—physical presence back to this earth. Is this not what the mighty men were about: to see that the ark was in its rightful place?
I think that is what the time we are in is about: to draw the physical presence of our Lord back to this earth. We need to be aware of the time in which we are in and the purpose for which we are to serve.
Brothers and sisters, God expects us to be aware of the times. The Lord expects us to be aware of the time and to discern the times. It is time for the ark to come back. The hour is at hand.
In His first appearance, when He came to earth as a babe and was here for those three and a half years, remember the Lord admonished the Pharisees in Luke 12:56. He said:
Ye know how to interpret the face of the earth and the heaven;
but how is it that ye know not how to interpret this time?
You know that old saying, “Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning; red sky at night, sailor’s delight.” They are discerning the sky.
He said, “You can discern the sky and the earth, but how is it you do not discern the time?” He admonished them. He said, “You have missed it. You do not know what this time is. You missed the time. This is the time for Me, the Savior of the world, to come, and you have missed it.”
Brothers and sisters, because they did not understand the times, they ended up crucifying our Lord Jesus Christ instead of receiving His salvation and receiving Him as the Savior of the world.
On His last entry into Jerusalem before He was crucified, He came from the Mount of Olives and was looking over the city. The Word says He wept. He began to cry as He looked at the city.
What Jerusalem was supposed to have been was no longer. It had lost its spiritual capacity. It had lost its spiritual necessity, and the Lord wept.
This is what He told them: great destruction is about to come upon Jerusalem—and we know that occurred in A.D. 70—but this is the reason. He said, “Because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”
You are going to miss it. Jerusalem is going to be destroyed because you did not understand the time. You missed it. You did not discern the time of your visitation.
The Lord Himself was always aware of the time. During His three years, numerous times, as you read the Gospels, you find Him saying, “My time has not yet come.” He was very aware of His time.
John 7:6 says:
My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready.
And in John 7:8, He says:
I go not up unto this feast; because My time is not yet fulfilled.
They told Him, “You need to go to the feast and present Yourself. Everybody is excited about You now.” He said, “I am not going up yet, for My time is not yet fully come.” It was close, but it had not yet fully come.
But as He asked the disciples to prepare for the Lord’s Supper, He said, “My time is at hand.” My time is now at hand.
Finally, in the garden, John 12:27, He said:
Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour.
He knew the hour. “Father, save Me from this hour. But for this cause I came unto this hour.”
Brothers and sisters, why are you here at this hour? Think about that. “For this cause I came unto this hour.”
Brothers and sisters, this is the hour in which we should be preparing for His return. In our hearts, we need to get things right. We need to be overcomers. We need to be overcoming instead of overcome.
But, brothers and sisters, I want to encourage us all this morning, because I think none of us could declare that we are an overcomer. The Lord is faithful.
We need to trust in His faithfulness to do what He needs to do in our lives in this last hour. He has delayed because we are not ready. He is gracious—so gracious—even in this delay, because the only reason for that is we are just not ready.
So may we use this time to get ready, to prepare for His coming, and not only that, to have our hearts so engaged that He will be drawn back and His coming hastened.
“For this cause I came unto this hour.” Why is it you have come to this hour, just before His return?
In Revelation 1:3b, which I read earlier, it says, “The time is at hand.” I think it is obvious what time He is referring to. He is speaking of the Lord’s return. That is why He is sharing the book of Revelation with us.
“The time is at hand,” He said. There is a real urgency if you read that Scripture. You sense the urgency in John’s heart that we might receive that revelation.
He said, “You must read it. You need to read this.” Not only do you need to read it, but you need to hear it. You need to listen for the voice of the Lord as you read it. You need to take it into your heart.
Then he says, not only must you read it and hear it, you must take heed. It must become a part of your life. You must do it. The revelation that you receive requires responsibility on our part to carry out what we see.
It is like John is saying, “You cannot wait until tomorrow to receive this revelation. You need it today. You need it in this hour. Read it. Heed it.”
Brothers and sisters, we see the urgency—at least I do, as I read that—in John’s heart for the saints. This was at the end of the first century. It has been two thousand years, a little over two thousand now, and we know that the Lord can come at any time.
This prophecy is about the second coming of the Lord. He wants us to be prepared. He wants us to be ready. He wants to come back and set up His kingdom and to have His bride.
Why the delay? It has been two thousand years. It was so urgent on John’s heart, and it is still urgent today. The Spirit wants us to know it is urgent. But why such a long delay?
Brothers and sisters, Revelation 1:9 says:
I John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus…
We need to see that this is the hour of the Lord’s patience. He is patiently waiting until we are ready. He is enduring all that is going on in our lives. He is working through the Holy Spirit to transform us into His image.
The Father is crying out, “Son, how long is this going to take?” And the Son is waiting for the Father to say, “It is time.” It is the hour of His patience.
We should take heed to that. How much has our Lord endured? I do not have time this morning to go into all of it, but I think, brothers and sisters, this is something that has been on the Father’s heart, the Son’s heart, and the Holy Spirit’s heart from eternity past.
He endured all of that eternity past, waiting, desiring this bride, desiring a people for Himself. Then finally, He came to Calvary.
He endured those three and a half years. Brothers and sisters, they did not understand our Lord, and He had to endure all of that. Even at the last moment, at the Last Supper, the disciples were arguing over who was going to be first in the kingdom and who was going to have the place of power. They did not understand.
How frustrating that has to be. The Lord was patient. He endured. He endured the cross, endured all the pain and suffering. He endured that hour on the cross—those hours in which He was separated from the Father.
Today He has gone back to the throne. Brothers and sisters, He is still enduring. It is still the hour of His patience, as He is working with us to get us ready. It is indeed the hour of His patience. May we cooperate with Him.
We are not ready.
But in the book of Revelation, the Lord is calling. He is calling to His church. What is the message that He leaves with His church? We need to hear this as we go into the conference:
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
He says that to all seven of those churches. Then He ends with, “He that overcometh.” He is calling that we overcome.
The rewards are many, but He says that he who overcomes will reign and rule with Him on His throne, in the government over the nations of this earth during the millennium period.
He is calling out, brothers and sisters. I cannot help but think this morning that one of the essential features of overcomers is that they are aware of the time. They are aware of the time, and they understand what they need to do.
There is an urgency about this hour that we often lose sight of in the busyness of our lives. I pray that the Lord will not allow us to lose the urgency of the hour in which we are in.
Just as the sons of Issachar were prepared to bring in the ark, the time was at hand. May we, too, become mighty men. May we, too, have it on our heart to bring back the ark.
I want to end with this verse: Romans 13:11.
I kind of chuckled at this verse because there is a Southern expression in here. At least, that is the only place I have ever seemed to have heard it—down in the South. Y’all know that I grew up down there. You can tell by my voice.
Romans 13:11:
And this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep:
for now is salvation nearer to us than when we believed.
Knowing the time, it is now high time. I like that. It is now high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
I guess they had some Southern people there interpreting the Scriptures when they wrote this in the King James. Knowing the time, it is now high time.
Now, my mother, when she said to me, “Jerry, it is high time you do something,” that meant I had better be about doing it now—not tomorrow, not an hour from now, not even a few minutes from now. You get off the couch and do it now. It is high time.
I heard that expression so much. So that is why, as I read this, I said, “You know, Lord, this is appropriate.” Knowing that the time is now, it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
Lord, we just come this morning. We thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your grace, as we shared this morning around Your table—that great grace.
Now, Lord Jesus, we pray that You would touch our spirits, quicken our spirits, Lord, that we truly become aware of the hour in which we live; that, Lord, we might set our hearts to do Your will.
Lord, we might offer ourselves that freewill offering, that You might have Your full sway; that, Lord Jesus, we might be about the business of seeing that the Lord returns, and returns soon.
Now, Lord, we thank You also for this conference. It has meant a lot to us through the years. Lord, it has been our heart that we could share with all the saints God’s eternal purpose for His Son to have a bride.
Lord, that we as Your people might be made ready, that we might be transformed into the image of Christ. So, Lord, may You have Your full sway and authority over this conference.
Lord, may You indeed get through these crusty hearts. May You indeed open these blind eyes and deaf ears, Lord. May You indeed have a response to the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Lord, we pray. We expect great things, Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.