FROM THE EDITOR

BRO. GRADY HIGGS

THE

Volume 52 Issue 5 September/October 2008 www.bmaam.net

What Time is it?

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EDITOR Grady Higgs ART DIRECTION Eternity Communications

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ow many times a day do we look at the clock to see what time it is? We check the time on the car dash, on our wrists, on our computer screens, on our cell phones, and on the wall. Why? Because everything we do is measured in segments of time. Time is perhaps the most precious commodity we have. Once it is gone, there is no way to get it back. As believers, we also need to be aware of what time it is on God’s clock. He has an eternal plan and everything in human history is moving with heavenly precision just as He planned it. Nothing interrupts, impedes, postpones, disrupts, threatens, or changes God’s perfect timing. The truth is, we are moving toward the end of time as we know it. So in answer to this vital question, “What time is it?”, let’s just say it is a TIME OF ANTICIPATION. As believers, we are waiting with great anticipation the rapture of the church. It is also a TIME OF ANXIETY. With a faltering world-wide economy, a lack of great leaders, wars, rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, famines, pestilence, unparalleled natural catastrophes, terrorism, and many other dreadful things, the world is flooded with anxiety. Are these the days of which Jesus said, “All these are the beginning of sorrows?” This is also a TIME OF ANGUISH. It is a time when we ought to be in anguish for the souls of mankind. Anguish because of their lost condition before God. Like Jesus, we ought to weep over lost souls. Somehow the church has lost her concern and anguish over the souls of men. This is also a TIME FOR ACTION. Paul wrote, “But this I say unto you brethren, the time is short.” We need to be like the men of Issachar (I Chronicles 12:32) of whom it says, “They were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.”

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This is the time for us to actively be engaged in fulfilling the Great Commission. This is the time that calls us to leave our comfort zones and obey the Master’s voice to, “GO INTO ALL THE WORLD.” The world is ripe for a harvest of souls. People are desperate for the transforming power of Christ. It is time to get involved in your local church and in your association to win the world for Christ. This is a TIME FOR ABANDONMENT! That is what it takes to be all God desires. We must take up our cross and follow our Lord, no matter the cost. Be done with self, self-ambition, self-will, and selfish plans so we can be at His disposal to share the Good News of salvation with the lost locally and globally. Do not say “Four months more, then the harvest!” The harvest is right there before your eyes. It is time to stop living life on our own time, and ask God, what time is it? He will tell you: it is time to harvest because people are starving for hope and something to believe in. What time is it? It is time to share God’s love with others, and unlike time, that’s a commodity that will never run out. n

In Memory Dr. Roy L. McLaughlin (1951 – 2008) A special tribute is due our late brother in the Lord, Dr. Roy L. McLaughlin. He was an outstanding husband, father, pastor, and spokesman for truth in moral issues of our day. Dr. McLaughlin has contributed much to the work of the Baptist Missionary Association of America, and will be greatly missed.

MEMORIALS n Maxine Duggar - Given by Mr. & Mrs. Elvis Hooton n Maxine Duggar - Given by Park Place Baptist Church n Maxine Duggar - Given by Sandra Fisher & Family n Maxine Duggar – Given by Letha & Blaine Griffith n Maxine Duggar – Given by Dr. William & Janice Payne n Maxine Duggar – Given by Charles & Thurmaleen Ward n Maxine Duggar – Given by Blanche Lewallen n Maxine Duggar – Given by Bill & Helen Taylor n Maxine Duggar – Given by Rosemary Webb n Maxine Duggar – Given by Charles & Beth Leverett n Maxine Duggar – Given by Temple Baptist Church WMA n Maxine Duggar – Given by James & Bonnie Archer n Maxine Duggar – Given by Ann Rose n Maxine Duggar – Given by John & Bettye Wilson n Maxine Duggar – Given by Linda Allder Thompson n Maxine Duggar – Given by Robert & June Clark n Archie Gathright – Given by First Baptist Church, Magnolia, AR n Mary Lou Kellar – Given by John & Bettye Wilson n Ann Simons – Given by Phil Simons n Dr. Roy McLaughlin – Given by Grady & Norita Higgs HONOR n June Lagrone – Given by Enon Baptist Church WMA, Gilmer, TX