Season?

“Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” (2 Tim 4:2-7)

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itchy ears.”

“And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.”

“But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist; make full proof of thy ministry.”

“For I am ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.”

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”

These scriptures above are packed with truth for what we are looking at today. I want to break this down in my own way of seeing where we are in the season. Please do not take what I say as a directive on what we are to do. I am doing this for me, but sharing as I go.

It says: “Preach the word, be instant in season.”

Here I see that we are to be INSTANT. I take that to mean we are in the season to be instant, not to hold back. All truth must be told.

I do not believe that we are supposed to minister the same way we do out of season.

Out of season is explained in the rest of that verse above:

“out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”

(2 Tim 4:2-7).

So Far: If you read the scriptures before all this in the whole three-chapter section, it looks to me like this is where we are. We are in season—the season of seriousness and to hold nothing back. I do not believe this is the time to argue with brothers of the same faith, as in verse 2 of chapter 4. There is a time (before) when we are to reprove, rebuke, exhort with all LONGSUFFERING and doctrine.

I believe the time we are in now is serious and must be applied that way. The time is short, and the world will not take in any sound doctrine but shall chase after their own lusts. We see this now, and the time we have left is very short.

In verse five, he says: “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”

He is also saying that his time has come and that he is ready to be offered. This is a serious time, and I believe he is preparing his followers (church) to take up the torch.

He says we are to be afflicted and we are to endure them.

We do this by trusting in the Word of God and holding on to what we learned in the beginning.

Our faith must stand the test of this time we are in. It will grow as we stand with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Instead of tidbit arguments, we are to preach the truth. Loud and clear.

The arguing among brothers could bring each other down, change their hearts, and make them go backward.

Fighting, name-calling, and thinking each is right are not the way to preach in this time, I don’t believe.

You can correct me if I am wrong, because I am going by how the Lord is leading me in these late hours.

We know that this is the time when lies and false doctrines will explode. They will continue to do so no matter what we do or say, so arguing each other’s case is not profitable. Each person will come to the truth if they are in Christ.

We are seeing blasphemy out there in the world like never before, and this is one sign of the late hour we live in.

Even in the churches themselves, they shall deliver shocking statements, ripping the Word apart. We know this. We cannot stop this, and it will continue.

This is the Lord doing His strange work. He will bring every liar, every wolf, to the forefront for His own purpose. God handles all this; we do not.

If we waste time among ourselves arguing, we are wasting precious time that we could be speaking about the Cross and the truth. This is where I am, taking it all in. I am not saying I am right, but I cannot allow myself to get sidetracked on squabbles between brothers.

If you read chapter three, you’ll notice it uses strong, powerful words.

Instead, I believe that each of us is to examine ourselves and prepare for what is coming.

It is not moving slowly as some might think. Things are happening quickly, and very soon, we will be at the point of no return, with no absolute freedom to even share. We will face brutal persecution, and it is at the door.

Already, just in a week, we have seen even Substack change, turn from what we once had. It is another example of how quickly things can turn.

I am going to devote my time and all my mind to the Lord and follow Him in likeness, but also in bold truth.

He used boldness.

Paul used boldness. Not just passively posting little things and details. I think it is time to be bold, and to be bold together, as long as we can still communicate.

When John the Baptist came and preached, he was preparing the way for the coming Messiah. What did he send as a message? He sent out, “Repent now and be baptized.”

He was opening the door for Jesus to appear among the people.

I look at us today, and I cannot help but see the same thing: the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is coming, and we are to prepare the way. People do need to “repent”. They need to see their sins as they are. Not just that Jesus is good and saves. Of course, He is good and saves, but they need to see their sins.

But John was bold, demanding they look at the sins that make them fall short of eternal life.

What is the difference now? They need to know these things.

They have lived in their sins long enough while the church has been quiet.

We should have been preaching this for years now, and yet the churches and Pastors kept quiet to please the people. The people have been pleased LONG ENOUGH!

They have become so pleased that they have entirely forgotten that a God is watching them. They think everything they do is hidden!

When Jesus came, what did He preach?

People always say, He preached kindness and all that. Yes, he did. But think how he preached to the Pharisees and those who refused to accept Him!

And how many people followed the Pharisees in that belief?

How many cheered at the cross!

The people were no different than the Pharisees who had him killed.

They rallied the crowd together, stirred them up.

We see the same things today.

This is what we have to address boldly when we are to take our stand.

Praying

I also believe it is time to stay in prayer without ceasing for all our brothers and sisters.

That means us, brothers and sisters, as well as God’s people all over the world.

God does amazing things with our prayers. When we pray for others, we don’t even know.

Let us pick up the torch with the time we have here.

Let us present ourselves as a living sacrifice for Christ, willing and delighting in picking up the cross.

That is where He is taking us.

We see the deception in 2 Timothy (chapter 3). We know how the world is at this point.

We see the Nations in distress and in chaos in Luke 21.

Matthew 24 describes the people whose hearts grow cold.

Notice that the hearts have ALREADY grown cold.

Where is the love?

Where is the “love, even the worldly love they used to have? Even that is gone now.

Just read comments on news and such, and you will see that even the “world’s love” that has always been around, it has grown cold. This is huge and a sign.

The hatred is devilish by all means, devilish.

In Luke, we are told that when we see all these things, we know the Kingdom of God is near.

What is the Kingdom of God?

Do we want to believe that we will be swept up in an early rapture and will escape every evil thing? I do not.

We see everything changing to insanity and hostile takeovers of people globally.

We are the first people to see this kind of thing “globally.” We have only seen these things in a country, here or there. Now, it is worldwide.

Deception is worldwide now, and it won’t be long before none of us will be able to get any truth at all. Between the ruling ones and new technology, all information and truth will be withheld from us, and we will be fed only what they feed us.

All countries and cultures are in a landslide fall.

Every piece of anything they held to before is disappearing. World-wide.

What happens when we can no longer get any news from other countries? That is coming, and I think it will be very soon.

We know that the time is close and at hand, so we are to wake up, stand up, and speak up.

We are to prepare our minds and hearts right now to think only of heavenly things and Christ.

We are the people with the truth of these last days, and we are held accountable.

Take the time now to pray without ceasing and ask the Spirit to fill us. In the Lord’s timing, He will drench us full.

We are to live as an example of one who loves the Lord and follows him.

But we are also to pick up that cross that belongs to us.

He is taking us back to the cross.