Matthew 16:1-4 the Pharisees and Sadducees came up and testing Jesus they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven but He replied to them when it is evening you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red and in the morning there will be a storm today for the sky is red and threatening do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky but cannot discern the signs of the times an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign and a sign will not be given it except the sign of Jonah and He left them and went away it is critical for us to discern the times to have understanding of seasons and times seasons in life change times change it’s important for us to understand and discern the next season in life so that we know what to do even in business understanding business cycles is critical to prepare for the next cycle I was talking to a friend of mine who owns a family business in Brazil his father started that business many many years ago in the 1930’s the Brazilian economy has gone up and down with huge thousand percent inflation and then economic crashes and I asked my friend how did your father make it through all those times he said my dad had discernment of the times of the seasons and so when everybody else was expanding greatly he expanded less because he knew a downturn was coming and then when the downturn came he was cash rich in his business he was able to survive a downturn easily when many of his competitors went out of business then he was able on the upturn again to capture a lot of the intellectual property a lot of the physical property and machinery, equipment warehouses, buildings, space that his competitors had lost during the downtime because they couldn’t sustain it because they hadn’t discerned the times and the seasons you know Jan and I pastored a church here in the Denver area from 1988 til 1996 around 1995 the end of 1994 we began to sense the season for pastoring that local church had come to an end and the grace for us to pastor was lifting and as a result of that we realized there was a season shift coming that we would be doing something else and God was launching us into the international ministry that we have been in since then Family Foundations International but we took about 2 years to raise up another pastor and release him into the ministry in the church that God had called us to pastor so there was a discerning of seasons that we needed to understand in again economic seasons we had an understanding that there was going to be a significant market crash in 2001 Jan and I prepared for it and prospered economically in 2001 we again sensed in the end of 2007 the same thing is coming again a huge economic downturn again we prepared by removing our money from markets that we felt were potentially going to go down we prospered in 2008 by discerning the times and the seasons there are times, there are seasons economic seasons seasons in families seasons in ministries seasons in business Yeshua here is encouraging us to understand the seasons here these Pharisees had a time of visitation of Messiah in their midst and failed to discern and understand the season and the time in which they were in or in which they found themselves I believe the reason we’re reading this today is God is saying do you understand the seasons in your life is there a season change coming have you prepared for the season change coming these are things we need to take stock of I just want to pray for you today Father I pray for every brother every sister watching this video today Lord would you speak to them personally about the season they’re in the coming season and what preparation needs to be made Father are there changes we need to make in business changes we need to make in our personal habits changes we need to make in the way we manage finances are there things you want to change Father? would you speak that clearly to each one of us in the mighty name of Yeshua and today would you remember as you go through life life is not about you love God with all your heart take what God has given you and give it away to others bless people around you if you do that you’ll make a tremendous difference in the environment around you Amen