Understanding Times and Seasons

In this teaching, Pastor Ronald Gabrielsen speaks about the importance of understanding time and seasons in life. Time is one of the most valuable gifts God has given us, and wisdom is not only knowing what to do, but also when to do it. Through Scripture and practical examples, this message will help you recognize the season you are in, use your time wisely, and trust God’s timing for your life.

Bible teaching by Ronald Gabrielsen, pastor of International Christan Fellowship Lublin

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

And we are just thankful to God for the privilege we have of being able to sow into them the things that God has given us, the time that they are here, so that when we send them out again, that then they will be sent more with more than just uh education, but that they will be sent with something greater than that, and that is spiritual value, amen. I know that the media team they like to have it dark, but I would actually like to see people when I talk, so maybe we can uh get the lights a little bit off, uh at least so that I can see people. Sorry, media team. Uh I like to see people, amen. Do you like to see people? Amen. Uh Owen, he started a very interesting topic uh last uh Sunday about time and seasons. I don't remember exactly how the title was, something like that. Protocols of yes, that's right. That sounds very uh how to say African Protocols of Times and Seasons. So uh I am European, so I will be talking about understanding times and seasons. But that's good, amen. We are a fellowship with people from all over the world, and we want to celebrate all those differences, amen. Thank you. Uh so I want to be talking about understanding times and seasons, and I can also just say one of the really good way uh reasons to be in the WhatsApp group, as you many of you know, is that the notes will be posted there. So uh as I preach now, the Vida team they will be posting the notes from the preaching in the WhatsApp group, so that if there is something I don't get time to say, then you can read it there, amen. And also I would like to appreciate Michael and uh Koham Lublin, the work that they have been doing. Amen. I know that uh many of you have been there, so that is great. So, but let's get into the word understanding times and seasons. You know, most people they go through life and they don't really think about time. You know, the time that you spend, they go through their everyday life, they go to school, they come home, they study, they maybe they work, they come home, they eat, they sleep, they get up again the next morning, they go to work, they do almost kind of the same routine again and again, never really stopping to really think about you know what I'm actually spending my time on. Uh as I was preparing for the preaching today, I went in and I checked on Google or the new uh Oracle Chat GTP. Uh so I checked how many hours people, young people in general, use today on their phones. And I see a lot of people on the phones, but you know, that is they are not on Facebook, it's because they are at least some of them, they're actually doing uh media ministry, so that's good. But you know, I found out that the average, I mean, some some surveys had like eight to nine hours per day. Uh, the more how to say uh lower they said five five hours, that was the lowest that I saw of the different service uh service that have been done. Five hours per day spent looking on the phone. Now, I don't know how it is with you, how many of you have this kind of very the times the time thing on your iPhones? So that you know, after you have used it so and so much time, how many do you am I the only one? Now suddenly I felt very guilty here. You know, we have this because the reality is we use maybe Facebook, you know, five minutes there, uh ten minutes there, or Facebook, that's for old people, I know, sorry. Uh Instagram and TikTok and all the other things. You know, but we use five minutes there, ten minutes there, and we never really think about it. But do you know? If that is true, I mean these are the lowest numbers that I found, five hours per day. That means that within a year, you will use 76 days on your phone. That is like 21% of your year is spent looking on a screen. Uh you know, when when I when I read it, I was you know, suddenly I started to feel a little bit guilty myself. And of course, there are things, you know, we use the phone, not that all is bad, you know, phones can be a really useful tool, but it's a very good example of how we we how to say waste time very often, even without thinking about it, because it's five minutes there, it's ten minutes there, maybe 15 minutes there, and five minutes there, and without realizing it, time's just heaping up. Like, if you want a very good suggestion, I I did this for some time ago. Uh I I you know I tried to, when I prayed, I didn't pray so long, but I said that at least 10 minutes I will be able to pray, and then I did that several several times during the day. I just took 10 minutes and prayed. So then I just put my alarm, of course, on my phone, but you know, put alarm and then I prayed for 10 minutes and then I continued to work. And of course, that's possible to do when you work from home, so then it's uh maybe a little bit more convenient. But so throughout the day, I had several, you know, of these 10 minutes gaps, and then you know, I started to calculate, okay, so how much does this actually add up to? And suddenly I realized, like, wow, I am actually praying a lot. The difference was that I was praying in 10 minutes intervals all the time throughout the day. You know, the thing is very often we are not really conscious about what we spend our time on, and that is a little bit of what I want to talk about today. Uh the first verse that I have is from Proverbs, Proverbs 14, 8, that says that it's the wisdom of the prudent to understand his ways or to know his way. It's the wisdom of the prudent to understand, to know his way. Not only to be aware that time is passing, but to really understand what I'm I'm filling in with that, you know, in that time. Because in reality, I mean there is this saying time is money, but you know, time is a lot more than money. I think probably time is the most underestimated value, riches that we daily just throw away. How important is time? Well, when time stops, you stop. Basically, time is your life. Your time is the life that you have been given here on this earth. Now, I don't know how time operates in heaven. I know that the Bible says that one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day for God. So I'm not exactly sure how time operates in that realm. But I know that here on life, here, here, here on earth, time is the life that you have been given, which makes time very valuable. You can lose a hundred slotties and you can get a hundred slotties back. You can lose your job, you can get your job back. You can maybe even lose friendships, and even though maybe that is painful, you can get friendships back. But when you lose ten minutes, those ten minutes are forever gone. You will not you can you can cry, you can weep, you can repent, you can do all those ten minutes are forever passed into history, which means there is nothing in your life as valuable as time, which is sad why so many people are so careless when it comes to their time. Because if you are careless with time, do you know what that really means? You are careless with your life.

unknown 9:12

Let that sink in a little bit because that is the reality.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

If you are careless with time, you are careless when it comes to your life because your time is your life. Am I speaking to someone here? I'm speaking to myself, I know. Because so often it's so easy to get consumed or distracted or drawn into all we live in we live in a world that there is just so much things craving our attention. I mean music, films, uh uh social media, which is uh kind of ironic. I don't think there's anything more antisocial than social media, but yeah, I will not get into that here. But you know, there are so many things that are crying out for our attention, which I believe really understanding time is more important than ever. We need to understand time and we need to take things seriously when it comes to time. Time, time will run on, you know. Whether you are prepared, time will fly. You cannot say, Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait, you know, I I'm not ready yet. No, no, no. Time will continue. Whether you are prepared, whether you are ready or whether you are not ready, time will keep on moving. If you are tired and say, No, I really need a break now to rest, time just keeps moving. You can say, Oh, but I'm hurting, I'm, you know, I'm I'm struggling. Time just keeps moving. Whether you are ready, whether you are not, whether you are hurting, whether you are happy. You know, it's very good, you know, when it comes to songs, we can rehearse, except that actually this weekend there were so many things happening that uh we actually didn't get time to rehearse. One of them was my wedding anniversary, so 22 years. But you know, I can't rehearse for life. Life is real time. There is no getting ready. I mean, you get thrust into life. You didn't even ask to get born. You are just thrust into life, and now life is moving, whether you catch up or whether you are ready or whether you feel prepared, life just keeps moving. That's the reality that we live in. And you can try to fight it, but in reality, that will be very hard. Because time will not pay attention to whether you feel it's fair, unfair, or whether you are ready or not ready. It will keep moving. Which means the smartest thing you can do is to learn to flow with it. There is basically no other thing you can do than to learn to flow with it. It's the wisdom of the prudent to know its ways, to understand life, to understand times and understand, as we will be talking about today, seasons. Because seasons is a very big part of that. One of the first reminders that I have that we can get up on the wall to kind of try to narrow in on what I want to say. Uh some of the things I want to want you to take with you is the first reminder is be careful what you allow to consume your time. Because what you can what consumes your time drains your life. And what drains your life may eventually rob you of your destiny. I don't know how many destinies who have been robbed because of waste of time. You know, when you see someone who is excellent, maybe playing an instrument, I can guarantee you, behind there there lies hours of rehearsing. Hours of practicing. Maybe when other friends just went out partying, they were sitting home spending their time differently. When others were maybe just doing all kinds of silly things, they were practicing. Why? Because they knew what they want, they knew where they wanted to go, and they knew what it would take to get there, so they spend their time accordingly. When it comes to, even when it comes to, I believe in grace, absolutely. But you know, when it comes to the things of God, time matters. Whether what you spend time on matters. And there are three things I think it's very important to look at, and we will look at those three things before we get into understanding season. One of them is that time is life in motion, and we talked a little bit about that already. Understanding that time is not just something we measure on a clock. It's not, you know, I mean, of course, we have clock and you know the fingers going around and around, but you know, time is basically life, and in in many ways, the time that you have been given is kind of like the blank canvas that God has given you. If somebody gave you now a blank canvas, you were to decide what colors you started to paint there. The tragic thing is that many people they they have no idea what they want to paint. They just take some colors and splash them in there and you know, hope something good comes out. But then you have some people who are it's the wisdom of the prudent to understand its ways. Then you have some people who look at that blank, that blank canvas, and they go, What do I want to put in there? What are the colors I would like to put in there? And you know, God honors when He sees people that are conscious about what they want to fill that. There is a saying that says, Your life is a gift from God. What you do with that life is your gift to Him. What is the painting you will be presenting to God at the end of your life? You need to think about that because life will not wait for you to think about that. Life has already started. I mean, maybe that comes as a big surprise to some of you, but you know, your life has already started. And you need to pay attention to what is it that I am putting on my canvas. That doesn't mean that rest is not important. I think rest is very important. Sometimes rest can be the most productive thing you can do. In some kind of way, it's kind of interesting to see that when God created man, he didn't say the first thing that man did was to rest. We do the opposite. We work till we are totally exhausted and then we rest. And then we work again till we are totally exhausted and then we rest. God says, no, no, no, that's not the way I want you to live. I want you to start with rest, and then you get ready for the day that is coming, and then you do that day based on the rest that you have already done. That's a different paradigm. You can wake up tomorrow and you can run through the day tomorrow doing all kinds of things, and you can come to the evening and you can be totally exhausted. Or you can this evening before you go to bed, you can go down and you can sit down and you can think through what do I want to fill the blank canvas of tomorrow with? And you can pray, let the Holy Spirit speak to you, and you can let Him start to give you a picture of the next day. Then when you wake up Monday morning, which is a glorious time, you know. I know some of you have to go to school on Monday. Monday is my favorite day. Amen. Somebody says amen. Who was saying amen? But you know, if you tonight get ready for tomorrow, and then you start tomorrow with a night of sleep. So when tomorrow comes, you are not unprepared. You wake up and you know exactly what you are going to fill that canvas with. Yes, surprises might come, absolutely. That's part of life, but you have already seen tomorrow, and you are starting to paint that picture that God already has shown you. But that's a different topic. So, time is life in motion. Uh, the second one that we have also been looking at is that time moves forward, whether you want to do or not. It's going to come move, and we need to understand that about time. Because very often we think, nah, I will, you know, I will just want to waste some time now and then I will think about that later. I don't want to think about that now, so I'll just do whatever now and then I will think about it later. Yes, you can do that, but just be aware that time will not wait for you. Time will keep moving, whether you are ready or not. Maybe you need to wait because you need to rest. As I said, that's very fine, that's good. But you just realize time will keep moving. So when you waste half an hour, it is your own life you are wasting. And you know, many people they die instantly by violence, maybe, but there is a lot of people, they die a little bit daily by the decisions they make, by the by by not being aware of what they use their time. So, decision by decision, the life is fading away. And I'm not saying this to be dramatic, but but I want you to be conscious about the time that you have been given, because your time is precious. Your time is precious to God because He has things that He wants you to do here in life, He has things that He wants to do, and He wants you to join in those things. But so many people they miss their calling. Why? Because they didn't take time, they didn't use their time wisely.

unknown 20:15

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

I remember many, many years ago, God really challenged me to use you know the free time I had to prepare teaching, and I was preparing teaching, I was preparing teaching. You know, I had tons more pre teachings than I had, you know, preaching, even though I had started a church, but you know, uh and I I didn't really understand what why, but you know, I just felt God was pushing, I should do it. Okay, so I did that. Then later, uh that the church that we had in Denmark got an opportunity to have four hours uh every week on the regional uh television station. Suddenly I needed to preach four hours every single week, and you know, if I should start to prepare a lot of teaching, then I would have been completely worn out. But because I have been storing and I have been storing in my heart, and I have been storing and I have stored up so when the opportunity came, I could just let it flow from what God had already been putting in my heart and what I have already been preparing. They say that success is when luck meets opportunity. When you when no when luck meets preparation, opportunity, opportunity means preparation. That's what I wanted to say. Proverbs also say that a perfect man never stumbles in words, so that was uh the I'm not perfect. Amen. Be conscious of what you spend your time on because time will move forward, but it You are ready for it or not. Reminder number two that we can get up on the wall. Time does not wait until we are ready. Feel prepared. It does not pause because we get tired or distracted. Time keeps moving, and the only wise choice we can make is to learn to move with it. Last thing before we get into seasons, time reveals what truly matters to you. You might say that God is the most important thing in your life. But you know, if that doesn't reflect in how you use your time, God is not the most important thing in your life. That's just the fact of life. You might say that your family is the most important to you. And so many ministries, ministers have failed in this way. Oh, yes, the family is the most important thing. And the thing they use the least time on is their family. That shows that the family is not the most important thing in their life. Because what you truly value will be shown in how you spend your time. If you truly value your friendship, we have been talking a lot about friendships on the Bible study lately. If you truly value friends, you will prioritize spending time with friends. Amen? Amen. So we will get into understanding season, and this is very close related to time. Because basically, time or life, life flows in seasons. That's how life operates. A definition of a season is a temporary period of time marked by particular purposes, lessons, responsibility, challenges, or opportunity. That is the definition of a season. A temporary period of time marked by a particular purpose, lesson, responsibility, challenge, and opportunity. You know, understanding that life moves in seasons is crucial, and that will save you a whole lot of stress. Understanding that how life operates is that life operates in season. Ecclesiastic 3.1 says that to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. You know, if we don't understand that life functions in seasons, we will be very frustrated a lot of times. Not because we are doing the wrong things. We might be doing good things, but we might be doing them in the wrong time. And when you you when you do the right things in the wrong time, it just feels like you're doing the wrong thing. It's maybe not the thing itself, it's maybe just is it time to do that? And so many people they get discouraged because they don't understand that life happens in seasons. Which means that if you are in a hard period right now, understand? Life happens in seasons. So maybe you are going through hard times now, but you know, after winter, summer will come. Maybe you are going through good times right now, and I don't want to kill your joy, but I just want to inform you that yes, you may be having a wonderful time right now, but there is going to be challenges. That's how life operates. It operates in seasons. There are seasons of joy, and there will be seasons of pain. That's part of the life that God has given us. But we need to understand that that's how life works. Because if we don't understand that, we get into pain and we feel God has left us. We feel everything is going back, you know, this is terrible, you know. And suddenly we start to think that this is how life is always going to be. No, maybe that is how this season is. But life flows in season, which means summer is coming. And I, for once, is very happy that summer is here. I know some people are complaining about the heat, but you know, I would much have, I would much rather have this heat. I mean, how many can remember January, February? Do you really want to go back to January, February? No, so don't don't complain, don't complain about the heat. Heat, you're more than welcome. We love you. Amen. Yes. So time operates in season. That's very important to understand. Uh not everything belongs to the season that you are in. There are good things that are good, but they they might not belong to that season that you are in right now. I know for many of you, you are in a season where you are studying. And I think sometimes, you know, I try not to forget that, you know, when it comes to church. You know, the season that you are in right now, study is really important. It's not less spiritual, no, in the season that you are in right now, that's part of your responsibility. And unless you understand the responsibility of this season, you are going to be struggling in the next season. But many people, maybe it sounds spiritual, but oh no, no, I just want to pray and read the word, and you neglect your studies, and praying and reading the word is very important. Don't get me wrong, we should do that through all seasons. But there are seasons where you have to say, I will do church, I will read, I will pray, amen. I will do that. But right now, my priority, my responsibility is my studies. Maybe that's not what you expected to hear when you came to church, but you know, that is life, and I can tell you, unless you take that seriously, you are going to be struggling in the next season. And we need to understand that life happens in seasons. So there is a season to study. There are seasons where you need to put away your studies and just prioritize seeking God's face, praying. There is a season where you look for a wife, and there is a season where you don't look for a wife, especially after you get married. Then that season is over, and it's hopefully never coming back again. But you know, even when you study, finding a husband or a wife shouldn't be your first priority. I'm sorry to kill your joy. Or I heard somebody say amen, so some are happy. But you know, but you know, understand there are seasons, and when we understand seasons, then we then life gets a lot more easier because then I can say, okay, I really want to spend time on this, but that is not for this season. So I will prepare so that when I come to that season, then I can maybe put away my studies and then I can do other things. There are things that I really would like to do right now, but I just know it's not time yet. It is not the right season yet, but there will come a time where I can say, okay, now it's time for that. What I'm trying to say is that when it when it comes to life, you need to know what season you are in, and you need to be able to understand that how to say, what you do in this season will affect the next season. So that's why it's important for you to understand this season so that you can do the right things in this season, so that next season you can reap the harvest from the previous seasons. Wisdom is not only knowing what to do, wisdom is knowing when to do it. Amen. Uh we don't need to read it for the sake of time, but uh Matthew 16, 2 to 3. We see that Jesus He expects us to understand time. He expects you and me to have a grasp, not only when it comes to the sky, whether the sky is red, there will be sun tomorrow, or you know, I don't know if you have sayings like that where you come from. In Norway, we say if the sky is red, there's going to be sunshine tomorrow. I have never really checked that really works or not, but uh but you know it's important for us to understand this because what I do in this season will lay the groundwork for and I need that's how life operates in spring or in summer, you can use your whole summer just relaxing, going around doing nothing. But you know, a farmer knows that if I don't use my summer sowing something, I'm not going to have anything to harvest when autumn comes. If I don't have anything to harvest when autumn comes, I'm going to get really hungry when winter comes. And if I don't have anything to eat when winter comes, probably I'll be dead by summer. I don't know about you. But I think you get what I'm saying. It's important for us that we understand that the seasons of life are connected. And how I will transition from one season to the next depends if I have taken the responsibilities of this season seriously. That is why we need to understand the seasons that we are in. There is a very good example of this, and that is David in the Bible. You know, when David killed Goliath, that didn't come just like a sudden, like random thing. Suddenly David saw Goliath and he just he saw an opportunity and he just took the opportunity. A lot of Christians they would have faced Goliath and they would have been slaughtered like sheep. Why? Not because they couldn't take him, but because they hadn't prepared. But listen to what David says in 1 Samuel 7, 17, 40, 34 to 37. Your servant used to keep his father's sheep. We think, ah, that is not an important job. That was a very important job because it was what he did in that season that was going to prepare him for the next. And when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth. That's why when he saw Goliath, he was not scared. Why? Because he had taken the responsibility that he needed to do in the previous seasons. And because he had done that, when the door opened to the next season, he could just walk straight through it. Why? Because he had been prepared. Your servant has killed both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be killed like one of them. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of the Philistines. Don't despise the trivial tasks of this season. Because it's very often the trivial tasks of one season that will make you ready to enter in when a new season opens. Maybe you are in church and maybe right now you are maybe just serving, but in your heart you really want, you feel that God has a call upon your life, and all you want is just to step into that call. I don't know how many people I have seen who haven't stepped into their call too early and it ended in disaster. Not because they were not called, but because they hadn't taken time to do the trivial things in the past season. And that is going to follow you all through. You know, life will not wait just because you didn't do your things in the previous season. Life will not go, oh no, let me rewind and just go back so that you have time to do it again. No, no, no. Life will just keep moving and keep moving and keep moving. That's why you need to understand what are the things that God wants me to do in this season. Because what God asks you to do in this season will open the doors for the next season. Amen? Reminder number four. Every season carries with it a time of preparation. The wise understand where they are and allow today's season to prepare them for tomorrow's call, calling. You know, if I spend time sowing in summer, that means that I will have some work during autumn. And that maybe feels tiresome that I will have to do the work, but then I know that when winter comes, then I can relax. And then I can just live on what I did in the previous season. And that's how life is supposed to be. We are supposed to take the responsibilities of this season so that in the next season those things can carry me through. Amen? Proverbs 24. A lazy man will not plough because of winter, he will beg during harvest and have nothing. That's the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 10, 5. He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame. I encourage you to read the book of Proverbs. And it's a very good, you know, it's 31 chapters, so you can actually read one chapter per day, and you can have it almost like a calendar in our family devotion time. We are reading through Proverbs now because I want my kids to have this wisdom in already from they are small. Amen? So read the book of Proverbs. Three. Learn to release the seasons that are ending. And you know, this is a very important thing in life, not when it comes to maybe to studies, but maybe also to when it comes to studies. Learn that there are things I do in this season that I will not be doing in the next season. That means that there will be a change. It's very important, especially maybe when people get married. You know, there is a time where the parents take care of the child. And that is right, that is correct, that is how it should be. It's very good. You know, at this time, when it comes to my children, I am responsible for them. I don't expect, well, Camilla, she is turning 18, so now she is kind of getting more independent. And oh my god, she's taking driver's license, so I know please not. I'm kind of wondering, should I give out the car keys or you know? But you know, there is a time where that is good and that's correct. But you know, there is also a time when the child needs to leave home. And when the parents have to trust that what they put into the child as they were small, now the parents need to realize it's a new season. In the previous season, I was the protector. And I think as parents, you will always be there. But there is another season where I have to say to my children, maybe Camilla is now turning 18, I will need to just trust that what I have put into her will help her through the next season in her life. And I cannot make the decisions for her anymore. I cannot protect her from her bad choices anymore. Why? Because that season is ending, and she is stepping in to a new season. Very often, sometimes so, I shouldn't say very often, I don't know, but very often you hear stories of couples struggling. Why? Because the parents are holding on to their children. Because I'm, you know, they are my children, I love them so much, you know, and I'm your parent, you know, I'm your father, I'm your mother. And they want to hold on to it, and they end up destroying maybe even marriages. Why? Because they don't understand what I do in this season is different from what I do in the next season. So there comes a season where the parents need to say, now I have to let you go, now you have to make your own decision, now you have to respond, be responsible for the decision you make. Had it been the previous season, I could have said, no, you will not do that. No, that is not what you are going to be doing. I'm your father, I'm, you know, I make the decisions here. But I cannot do that through life. And you need to realize that there are seasons in your life where you should listen to your parents, and you should always listen to your parents. I hope no one no parents are listening to the church today. Maybe I'll get a lot of angry uh emails. No, you should always listen to your parents. But there comes a time where you have to leave them and live your own life and take responsibility for your own decisions, and that's not wrong, that's just part of life. And what I what I'm trying to communicate is to understand, to not fight, because you cannot change the changing seasons. You you cannot change it. You know, Genesis 8 says that as long as summer and winter comes, you know, as long as the earth remains, summer, winter, harvest time, it will continue. As long as the earth remains. This is like either you learn to flow with it, or you know, it will not wait for you. There is a time for you to maybe be looking around when it comes to boyfriends or boyfriends. I don't say I don't really like dating, but you know, you know, there's a time for you when you usually need to look around, but there comes a time where you need to stop looking. When you get married, you know, when I got married, I don't hang around with other girls anymore. I mean, of course, as a pastor, you kind of have to because you know half the church is girls, but you know, I'm very serious about that because I know that was the previous seasons, and I will not drag that into this season because I know if I do that, it's going to affect my marriage. It doesn't mean that it's necessarily wrong. We just need to know the right thing for the right season. And very often our frustration happens not because the thing itself is wrong, but because we do the wrong thing in the wrong season. And here is what I want you to grab away from today is to understand, to really listen to the Holy Spirit and then teach you about the season that you are in. A bird inside of an egg. A bird, when it's born, is inside the shell of an egg, and that is very good. That shell is excellent protection for that little bird. But you know, unless that bird is willing to step out of that shell, the very thing that is protecting the bird in one season will end up killing the bird in the next season. Think about that. There is a season where the shell isn't necessary. There is a season where the shell is good. But there comes a time, am I not willing at a certain point to leave that shell behind and step out? No matter how good that shell is, that shell can end up killing me if I don't understand times and seasons. We can get reminder number five up on the wall. As we end. I will not be going through all of that, but I just want to end with something the Bible calls the Son of Issachar. How many have heard of the Sons of Issachar? Some of you have. What was it with the sons of Issachar that was special? They understood times and seasons. You know, in 1 Chronicles 12, we see David, he is finally becoming king. So he is appointing the different man for different armies. He is kind of getting ready because now he will officially be instated as king. Now these were the numbers of the division that were equipped for war and came to David at Hebron to turn over the kingdom of Saul to him according to the word of the Lord. And then it mentioned a whole bunch of people, and then it comes of the son of Issachar, who have understanding of times, to know what Israel ought to do. The son of Issachar, they knew what season they were in, and because they knew what season they were in, they knew what the responsibilities were. They knew what the right things were. I am praying that God will open your heart today that you can become a daughter of Istighar, a son of Istigar, that you will be one of those who is able to look at your life now and say, okay, this is the season I am in right now, this is the priorities I need to do right now, that doesn't mean you need to discard your future. Maybe you know God has shown you things that you will be doing in your future. Hold on to that. But realize that just because God has called you, maybe, to preach in China in the future, if somebody wants to preach in China, that's a very good place to preach, so amen. But understanding that that doesn't mean that I necessarily need to move next month. If God is calling me to China, there is preparation that needs to happen. And I need to see, okay, what season am I in now? And what are the small things that I can do in this season that will make it possible for me to take the step when the door to China opens. Because that's how life works, and that's what I really want you to be left with here today. Don't underestimate the small trivial things that you do, because it's those very things that will prepare you for the next season. And if you don't har if you don't sow in summertime, you will have nothing to harvest when autumn comes. If you have nothing to harvest when autumn comes, you are going to be struggling in winter. And it's not because God hates you, it's not because God is angry at you, it's because you didn't understand times and seasons. Now God is gracious, and you know, whether we have not understood this until now, now is the time where you can say, Holy Spirit, I want to understand times and seasons. Holy Spirit, show me what it is that I need to do right now. And Holy Spirit, help me not to neglect the things I need to be doing right now. Not underestimate the small trivial things that I need to do right now that will prepare me for the future. Holy Spirit, I pray that you will speak to people and that you will show people. Show people the season that they are in.