We’re Out Of Time | Joanna Young-Radke & Pastor Chip Radke

We Are Out of Time

There are moments in life that stop you cold. A phone call you did not expect. A headline that hits differently than the others. A set of last words spoken by someone who knew, in an instant, that everything was over. Recently, the final transmission from a small plane before it went down carried three words that have been echoing ever since: "We are out of time."

Those words were not meant to be a sermon. But they became one.

Because here is the truth that most of us spend our entire lives quietly avoiding: we do not know how much time we have. Not one of us. And yet we live as though tomorrow is a guarantee, as though surrender to God is something we can schedule for a more convenient season, as though eternity is a subject we can revisit later when life slows down.

It never slows down. And later is not promised.

The Signs Are Speaking

In Matthew 24, the disciples came to Jesus with an urgent question. They wanted to know when the end would come and what signs would signal his return. His answer was not a date on a calendar. Before he ever mentioned wars, famines, or earthquakes, he issued a warning about something far more subtle and far more dangerous: deception.

He said that many would come claiming to speak truth, and that many would be misled. He was not describing a distant, obvious threat. He was describing something that sounds good, feels right, and lines up with everything we want to believe -- except the word of God.

This is why a personal, rooted relationship with Scripture is not optional. When truth is filtered through whatever is popular, comfortable, or emotionally satisfying, we become vulnerable to believing almost anything. The truth does not change because culture does. The word of God does not become less true because someone finds it offensive.

Jesus also said that in the last days, the love of many would grow cold. And coldness rarely happens overnight. It is gradual. It begins when prayer becomes something we only reach for in emergencies. When worship becomes attendance rather than offering. When the word becomes familiar background noise rather than living instruction. Little by little, things that once stirred the heart stop moving it. Things that once brought conviction stop registering at all.

That drift is one of the most dangerous places a believer can live -- not in open rebellion, but in quiet, comfortable distance.

Itching Ears and Hard Hearts

Paul warned Timothy in 2 Timothy 4 that a time would come when people in the church would no longer tolerate sound teaching. They would seek out voices that confirmed what they already wanted to believe, teachers who would tell them what their itching ears wanted to hear. They would reject truth in favor of whatever felt affirming.

That time is not coming. It is here.

We live in an age when anyone who does not like what one preacher says can find another. Anyone who does not want to hear about repentance can find a message built entirely around blessing. Anyone who wants to avoid the harder edges of Scripture can find a version of Christianity that never challenges anything.

But God is more concerned with transforming us into the image of his Son than with keeping us comfortable in our disobedience. The parts of Scripture that challenge us are not obstacles to faith. They are invitations to freedom. And James 1:22 makes it plain -- hearing the word without doing what it says is a form of self-deception. Knowing what the Bible says and living what the Bible says are two entirely different things.

You can sing about the goodness of God and still resist his authority. You can recite Scripture and still refuse to surrender. You can believe in the return of Jesus and still live as though this world is all there is.

The Days of Noah

Jesus pointed to Noah's generation as a picture of what the days before his return would look like. They were not doing anything dramatically wicked in that moment. They were eating, celebrating, making plans, living ordinary life. The problem was not what they were doing. The problem was what they were ignoring.

They were so consumed with the rhythm of daily living that they were completely unprepared for what was coming.

Does that describe us? We make plans for careers, families, vacations, and retirement. None of that is wrong. But somewhere in the middle of building the life we are living, we can neglect the Lord who gave us life. We can become so focused on recognizing signs in the world around us that we stop recognizing the warning signs in our own hearts.

Noah did not wait until the rain started falling. He obeyed when God spoke. Readiness is not a last-minute scramble. It is a way of life.

Today, Not Tomorrow

James 4 describes human life as a morning fog -- here for a little while, then gone. It is not a comfortable image. But avoiding that reality does not change it.

Tomorrow is the hiding place of disobedience. Every time we tell God "not right now," we become a little more comfortable with the delay. Every time conviction rises and we push it aside, our hearts grow a little harder. Hebrews 3:15 says it plainly -- today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.

When the Holy Spirit begins dealing with something in your life, that is not punishment. That is mercy. That is an invitation. The right response is not to put it off until a more convenient moment. The right response is to open the door.

Romans 13 calls believers to wake up, to recognize how late the hour is, and to remove the things that belong to darkness. Not eventually. Now.

Are You Ready?

The question is not whether Jesus is returning. He is. The question is whether we are living in a way that reflects that we actually believe it.

We are out of time for treating repentance as something to get to eventually. Out of time for a faith that never changes how we live. Out of time for knowing the truth and refusing to walk in it.

The time to surrender is now. The time to forgive is now. The time to get serious about your relationship with Christ is now.

There is still room at the cross. But do not wait until you are out of time to find it.