Cross Creek Community Church, Pastor Dave Martin January 10, 2010

“Getting a Handle on Time”

“Crossing Into Victory” Series Part 2 of 5 ~ Eph 5:15-17

 

Review… Cross into Victory by “Getting a Handle on God’s Word”

• You may have an inner desire for a new direction in your life.  Victories seem to elude you…
• Struggling in your personal daily walk with the Lord, never seems to be enough time in a day…
• Why can some people accomplish so much while others never accomplish much of anything?
• Why some people are highly organized while others are disorganized when it comes to time?

 

Various N.T. Greek words for “Time”

‘C.T. Greek words for Time"honos’ – Refers to marking of hours, days, months, years

‘Kairos’ (kii-ross) – Time marked for a purpose, opportunity, with an eternal perspective

‘Hora’ – time or period fixed by nature… There are actually many Greek words for time (counted 27)…  

 

Romans 13:11 And do this, understanding the present time (Kairos - the season Christ will return-eternal perspective). The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

 

I.        Time Given Us is…

Ø Precious – it’s a gift from God

Psalms 139:13-16 ¹³ For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. ¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, ¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

NLT says, ¹⁶ You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

• God was there when you were conceived… you are specially created for a purpose… all your days…
• God created time and placed man into it.  Giving us 24 hours to live every day… to be used wisely
• We are creatures of time until we die or meet the Lord then we step into eternity (no time)

 

Ø Limited – in it’s duration

Job 14:1 "Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.

Psalms 90:10 The length of our days is seventy years-- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

• Examining your life carefully you will quickly see how fast time goes by.  Our time is limited.
• Our life had a distinct beginning and a distinct physical ending – my time is limited.
• My time and what I do with it is the most valuable commodity I have… yet we can waste it
• In Heb 9:27 God tells us it’s appointed unto man to die then after this the judgment

 

·         Average life expectancy in the world is 68 years and in America it’s 78 (with best health care)…

• Being reported married couples will pay $2000 extra… favors single/unwed people… secret
• In spite of the best health care, physical death always wins in the end… no respecter/person

·         Every day there are 153,000 deaths or 6400 per hour or 107 people per minute …

• With almost 6.7 billion people these numbers are hard to imagine…

·         Time is short and Limited!  Millions of Cemeteries attest to this fact

 

Ø Spendable

Psalms 90:12 Teach us to number our days aright, (why?) that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (So we may grow in wisdom NLT)

 

·         We’ve been given 365 days… 8760 hours… 525,600 minutes per year to spend wisely

·         Realizing that life is short helps us use the little time we have more wisely and for eternal good.

·         Take time to number your days by asking, what do I want to see happen in my life before I die?

·         How can I grow in wisdom?  What small step could I take toward that purpose today?

 

o   It is the most precious of possessions... No one can take it from you. It is unstealable.

o   No one receives either more or less than you receive.

o   Moreover, you cannot draw on its future.  It’s impossible to get into debt with time!

o   You cannot waste tomorrow; it is kept for you. You cannot waste the next hour; it is kept for you.

o   You have to live on this twenty-four hours of daily time given to you by God.

o   We shall never have any more time. We have, and we have always had, all the time there is.

o   Because time is limited, be very careful in your use of it.

 

Getting Handle on Time Bandits…

·         Procrastination – laziness, putting off what we should be doing… no sense of purpose… always hoping someday my life will change (but it never does)… always running late… staying busy… time bandits…

 

·         Sports / Pleasures – so busy running the kids to everything… maybe shopping till you drop… maybe spending hours watching 3 or 4 football games in a row with Sunday Ticket… time bandits…

Proverbs 14:8 The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.

 

·         Television

o   Television is the most powerful storyteller in American culture

o   The time most students graduate from high school, they will have watched approximately 22,000 hours of television—twice as many hours as they will have spent in school.

o   By the time most children complete elementary school, they will have witnessed 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence on television…  Youthworker's Encyclopedia 2000

o   "According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube." Furthermore, 99% of American households have at least one television. (Norman Herr, Television and Health, Internet Resources to Accompany the Sourcebook for Teaching Science, 2007)

o   Most people admit to having a love-hate relationship with it. They complain about the "boob tube" and "couch potatoes," then they settle into their sofas and grab the remote control.

o   Parents have meaningful conversation with their children 38 minutes per week while the average child watches nearly 1,700 minutes of TV per week! 

o   That works out to 44 times more TV than conversation with their parents… Any wonder…?

o   Survey participants commonly reflect that television has somehow absorbed or sucked out their energy, leaving them depleted. They say they have more difficulty concentrating after viewing TV than before… Time Bandits…

 

·         Technology – doubling every 18 months… you become “out of breath” trying to keep up with latest…

·         Computers, video games, movies, ipods, smart phones, texting, facebook, myspace, web surfing

·         The world and it’s “system” keeps sucking up our precious time… Time Bandits…

Ephesians 5:15-17 ¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity (kairos), because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

His perfect will is for all men to be saved from sin… THEN to live blameless lives by faith.

 

 

II.                 Use the Time God has given us to…

Charles Francis Adams, the 19th century political figure and diplomat, kept a diary. One day he entered: "Went fishing with my son today--a day wasted." His son, Brook Adams, also kept a diary, which is still in existence. On that same day, Brook Adams made this entry: "Went fishing with my father--the most wonderful day of my life!" The father thought he was wasting his time while fishing with his son, but his son saw it as an investment of time. The only way to tell the difference between wasting and investing is to know one's ultimate purpose in life and to judge accordingly.   Silas Shotwell, in Homemade, September, 1987. 

 

Ø Be Wise – How you Live

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise

·         Do we need wisdom today to properly manage our time?  Things are becoming out of control…

·         I believe we are literally living in the Bible refers to as the “last days”… before Jesus returns

·         We must come to Christ… through His Cross we cross into Victory!

·         We MUST be WISE to Cross into VICTORY… But where does wisdom come from?  God

 

Proverbs 2:6 For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

·         The everyday choices we make hinges upon our dependence upon the Lord.  Our relationship!

·         God gives wisdom for living that includes knowledge and understanding.  Yet it can be rejected…

 

More Things + More Choices + More Stress = Less Time

• We complicate our lives with “things” producing more choices, producing more stress.
• We tend to keep making wrong choices and never realizing it until life is over.
• Overloaded with things, anxiety, pressures – they can rob us of our time & joy.

 

Ø Be Cautious – Days are Evil

¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil

Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Commitments… so busy running and fulfilling our commitments Possessions… we have a built in desire to acquire more and more possessions Information… Internet super information highway

 

Write down by priority, the most important things you need to do tomorrow…

#1._________________________

#2._________________________

#3._________________________

#4__________________________

Where does your Spiritual Life fit?

·         You will not be graded at this time – you will be grade for your answers in the future!

·         Now let me ask you this question.  Where does God fit on your list?  Don’t lie - be honest.

·         We must realize my time is limited, we must choose to use time with Godly wisdom.  To get a handle on this we must prioritize our lives to God’s will.  We need to use and exercise the grey brain matter in our heads!  We need to stretch our faith and choose to seek and follow the Lord!

 

Ø Be Seeking – God’s Perfect Will

¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

ü  Surrender Romans 12:1-2 ¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. ² Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

ü  Solitude Matthew 14:23 “…he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone…”

ü  Stillness Psalms 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God…”

 

 

We live in a world bent on stealing your time.  Don’t conform to the world’s pattern, get alone, be still.

 

In John Maxwell’s book, “Developing the Leader Within You.” A Middle Eastern mystic said, “ I was a revolutionary when I was young and all my prayer to God was: Lord, give me the energy to change the world.’ As I approached middle age and realized that my life was half gone without my changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to: ‘ Lord, give me the grace to change all those who come into contact with me, just my family and friends, and I shall be satisfied.’ Now that I am an old man and my days are numbered, I have begun to see how foolish I have been. My one prayer now is: ‘ Lord, give me the grace to change myself.’ If I had prayed for this right from the start, I would not have wasted my life.’

What kind of person will you be this year?  Don’t waste your life… get control of your time!

 

Let’s Pray