Time Management Priorities
Living on Borrowed Time Series
NOTE: As people enter the Worship Center, each person is given a paper plate. In this message, we’re instructing everyone to write down what their life priorities are. Then when they are offered an opportunity to do something that costs them a considerable amount of time, they are to look at their paper plate of life priorities. If it doesn’t match up, then they can say, “I’m sorry, but my plate is already full.”
INTRO:
- Have you ever said: I don’t have time to do all that I want to do…Let me give you an encouraging word today…YOU’RE RIGHT.
o USA TODAY: Experts got together to find out how much time was needed to do all that a human being wants to do. (They surveyed and factored in time for how much time was needed for exercise, hygiene, work, commuting, household chores, eating, entertainment, spiritual development, and family time)
o When they added all those things together, they found that a human being needs 42 hours a day.
- If you are frustrated because you don’t have enough time to do what you need to do…Welcome to the human race.
- You may not have the time to do all that you WANT to do…but you do have enough time to do what you NEED to do.
o Because what you NEED to do is what God wants you to do…and if you capitalize on what you NEED to do…God will make sure you have the time to do it.
- ILLUS: Jesus was in ministry for only 3 years:
He had to revolutionize the meaning of the OT law.
He had to introduce the gospel (a message that was totally unique).
He had to change the 2000 year old mindset of the Jewish culture (They thought that a relationship with God was based on what you do)
He had to change the perspective of an entire world on sin, salvation, and spirituality.
He had to die for the sins of the world: past, present, and future.
He had to become the founder and the head of a brand new entity called the church
o John 17:4, “I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work that you have given me to do.”
o He may not have finished all the things he wanted to do…but he finished all the things God wanted him to do.
ILLUS: Spinning Plates – You can only focus on one at a time, and if you get too many you’re going to have plates crashing all over the place.
Look at your Plate you were given – as we go through this message, I want you to think about the priorities that you need to have in your life.
- We all have our plates full – but we need to make sure that we have our plates full with the most important things.
My Plate:
Build Leaders to Live on Mission for Christ
Redeem the Time with My Wife and Children
Amplify God’s Word through Preaching and Writing Resources
Navigate Church Health Systems and Church Growth Strategies
Disciple others to Become Disciple-Makers
Oversee Personal Growth and the fulfillment of God-given goals
Nurture a Deeper Walk with God
- When I first got started in ministry – I thought that great leaders were great at everything (that’s the perception you see in books, movies, etc.)
o And so I set about trying to turn my weaknesses into strengths.
o So really, for the first 10 years of my ministry – I tried to just get better at things that I’m not really good at.
o God revealed something powerful to me: My fully exploited strengths are of far greater value than my marginally improved weaknesses.
o Your weaknesses never become strengths because compared to your strengths they will always be weaknesses.
- We read in the book of Acts how the church was struggling to meet the needs of everyone in it’s growing congregation – the Apostles / Pastors were doing all the preaching and doing all the ministering.
- But then they appointed 7 men to be the deacons of the church – to handle the ministry care of the church – so that they could focus on the biggest priorities of their life (prayer, study in the Word, and teaching).
- When they did this (kept priorities) – the church started exploding in growth once again.
ILLUS: Recently, Lifeway Research asked 200 pastors to provide an hour-by-hour calendar of what they do each week. The study included 101 pastors whose churches were in the top 5 percent in conversion rates. The rest were pastors of churches that didn’t have high conversion rates.
What they found was fascinating. The pastors of high-growth churches spent most of their time in prayer, study, and teaching. (In fact, that’s similar to the description of the apostles’ ministry in Acts 6:4.) The other pastors were all over the board with their pastoral activities. Effective pastors focus their ministries on what’s most important.
- Devoting a little of yourself to everything means committing a great deal of yourself to nothing.
o Robert J. McKain said, “The reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first.”
There are many things that you could do, but there are those few things that you must do.
- Here are some suggestions of things that you need to prioritize:
- A habit you must break
- A goal you must accomplish
- A project you must complete
- A relationship you must restore
- A relationship you must end
- A debt you must retire
PROP: So how do we align our lives to match up to our God-given priorities? Here’s a few things you need to know:
1. Your Passions determine your Purpose
Take your Bibles and turn to Nehemiah 6.
- The story of Nehemiah takes place in 444 B.C., during the time of Artaxerxes I (King of Persia)
o Nehemiah worked for King Artaxerxes in Susa which was the capital of the Persian empire.
o Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the King – that basically means that Nehemiah served as part of the King’s security detail. He would make sure that the King’s food and drink wasn’t poisoned.
- Nehemiah 1:2b-3, “I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”
o Vs. 4, “As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.”
- The passions and burdens that God places on your heart often reveal the purpose God has for you.
o Nehemiah heard about his city Jerusalem and that the walls surrounding it were in ruins.
o After some time in prayer, Nehemiah asks the King if he could go back and bring some organization and leadership to his people and see if they could get the walls around Jerusalem rebuilt.
o King Artaxerxes said, “I’ll tell you what I’ll do… I’ll make you the Governor of Judea and I’ll give you whatever you need to get your people back in good shape.”
o When our sole passion is to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives, God will supply and provide what is needed in order to fulfill that calling.
- You either evaluate or you stagnate.
o When we don’t stop and assess the purpose God has for us – we’re going to feel overwhelmed and stall. You first determine your God’s purpose for you and then begin choosing your next steps.
Why do you need to discover your purpose? Because you don’t have time to do everything.
- You have to settle the question what matters most.
- You have to clarify your values.
- You have to know what’s worth living for and what isn’t worth living for?
- Just because something is prior doesn’t mean that it should be a priority.
Job 34:4 says this “We should choose to follow what is right. But first we must define what is good.”
- Have you ever done that in your life?
- If someone were to ask you right now right now “Name the five values that you’re building your life on,” could you list them?
- If you can’t how in the world can you build your life on these values if you haven’t even identified them?
If you don’t figure out what’s important in your life, if you don’t figure out what’s valuable to you, if you don’t figure out what your priorities are… other people will be happy to determine them for you.
- And they’ll be glad to fill up your life and schedule with their values and their priorities and their issues.
- So you have to decide.
Do you want to know how God gets our values that are all out of whack back into perspective?
I hate to tell you this but He does it one way. Through a storm.
- He uses a storm to get our attention.
- A health storm, a financial storm, a relational storm.
- Some kind of problem that helps us realize my values and priorities are totally whacked out. And get them back the way God says.
2. Your Purpose direct your Priorities
- God’s purpose for Nehemiah was that he rebuild the wall that surrounded Jerusalem.
- There is a verse in Nehemiah that absolutely changed how I live my life…
o Well, the region of Jerusalem was surrounded by these warlords. They would rob the people and treat Jerusalem like a stomping ground.
o Nehemiah basically said, “If I don’t get anything else done here… the one thing I’ve got to do…we’ve got to get the wall rebuilt around this city. It would give his people security and national pride.”
- Well, the warlords didn’t like this. If Jerusalem gets their walls rebuilt, they might become a force to be reckoned with.
- The leader of the opposition was a man named Sanballat
o He had a lot of influence in the region and he wanted to stop the wall from being rebuilt.
o He sent armed forces to attack the workers on the wall. Nehemiah had to arm the workers with a sword.
o Finally, they got to the point where the walls were almost complete and Sanballat figured, “What I’m doing isn’t working.”
o In Nehemiah 6, we find Sanballat trying to distract Nehemiah from his work. He realizes, “There’s no way I can stop this unless I stop Nehemiah”
o Nehemiah 6:1-3, “Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, to Geshem the Arab, and to the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall, and that no breach remained in it, although at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates, then Sanballat and Geshem sent a message to me, saying, “Come, let us meet togheter at Chephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me. So I sent messengers to them, saying…
o Now, what Nehemiah said to these messengers was something that really transformed my life in a big way…It’s one of those verses that just really jumped off the page to me… and I repeat it to myself so often as I think about Time Management Priorities:
o Here’s his message to them (vs. 3): “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.”
o Will you repeat that verse with me: “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.”
o Repeat one more time
- There is something in your life…
There is a wall in your world…
o And you need to climb up onto that wall and be intentional about devoting all of your attention to that wall and when distractions come, you need to say, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.”
How Do You Determine Your Priorities?
There are three big questions you should ask to determine your highest priorities:
1. REQUIRED: What is required of me in this role?
- This one is all about the essential tasks and objectives you’ve been given in your position. What must get done? What is a necessary part of the job?
2. RESULT: What produces the greatest results when I do it?
- When you examine the activities you engage in, which ones result in the most fruit? What do you do that people agree—you are very good at that task?
- John Maxwell says, “You are most valuable where you add the most value.”
3. REWARD: What is most fulfilling when I do it?
- As you reflect on your projects and tasks, which ones are deeply satisfying? What are the tasks that you love and would enjoy even if you weren’t paid?
Your Purpose Ought to Determine What Your Priorities Are!
- When you don’t prioritize according to your purpose, you will live a life that is frustrated and fatigued.
- Often the little things in life can trip us up!
- ILLUS: a tragic example of that is the Eastern Airlines Jumbo Jet that crashed in the Everglades of Florida.
- The plane was the now famous Flight 401 bound from New Your to Miami with a heavy load of holiday passengers.
- As the plane approached Miami International for landing, the light that indicates proper deployment of the landing gear failed to light.
- The plane flew into large, looping circles over the swamps of the Everglades while the cockpit crew checked to see if the gear had not deployed or if the bulb had gone out.
- While the flight engineer tried to remove the light bulb, it wouldn’t budge and the other members of the crew tried to help him.
- As they struggled with the bulb, nobody noticed that the plane was losing altitude and the plane simply crashed into the swamp.
- While an experienced crew of highly educated, high priced pilots fiddled with a .75 cent light bulb, the plane with all it’s passengers flew into the ground.
STUDY JESUS:
"In many ways, the entire life and ministry of Jesus was about setting priorities and adhering to them.
- When He said, 'Let the dead bury their own dead,' Jesus spoke to the need not to be distracted from the real and most important goal, even in those emergency situations that claim our attention (Matthew 8:22).
- And perhaps His most famous and telling statement of all, 'Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you' (Matthew 6:33), brilliantly sums up the entire message of Jesus.
- In other words, get your priorities straight and everything else will fall into place." ~ Bob Briner
Success is ... (A three-fold tier)
Knowing your purpose in life;
Growing to your maximum potential;
Sowing seeds to benefit others.
Because Jesus developed priorities based upon His purpose ...
1) He successfully dealt with distractions.
- "Lazarus, a close friend of Jesus, became sick. Mary and Martha, his two sisters, sent word to Jesus to come. However, 'when He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days still in the same place where He was' (John 11:6).
- Mary was upset: 'Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died' (John 11:21).
- Again, Jesus deliberately delayed His coming. He kept His own schedule. He tenaciously held to His agenda. He did not allow the emergencies of others to get Him off track. He guarded His list of priorities” ~ Mike Murdock
- Jesus knew that even though people around Him didn’t understand what His mission was, He was not to forget it Himself.
- As Christians, we have to set our own agenda and not allow people, places, or things to interfere.
2) He wisely responded to Personal Rejection.
- One of the most enlightening and freeing truths you can ever learn is the simple that fact that approximately 20% of people will never like you.
o The Pareto Principle (80/20) rule applies to our relationships too!
• 80% of your health problems are caused by 20% of what you eat
• 80% of a companies profit comes from 20% of their products
• 80% of your relational frustrations are caused by 20% of your relationships.
- They did some studies on this and found that you can be the most accomplished artist in the world – and yet 20% of people aren’t going to like your art.
- You can be New York Times bestselling author and still 20% of the people aren’t going to like your book.
o What happens to a lot of us (who are people-pleasing perfectionists) is that we feel like we have to please the 20% who aren’t going to go along with them anyway – and that shuts them down from being creative or making the right decisions.
o The best artists, authors, and leaders know that they have to start creating and leading for the 80% who love their work rather than the 20% who don’t.
o It doesn’t mean that you don’t listen to criticism – it means that about 20% of the people in your life at any given time are not wired to understand you or how you work. That’s fine.
o You value the 20% but you work hard to serve the 80% of people who already love you!
- "On several occasions, the Gospels tell of Jesus' leaving a place where He knew He was not wanted—like Gadara, where the people asked Him to leave, and He did.
o He instructed His disciples to do likewise. They were to leave any city that did not welcome them and 'shake the dust of those cities' off their feet."
o His purpose allowed Him to handle rejection.
3) He willingly suffered pain. – He was able to “pay the price.”
- Knowing that the culmination of His plan had to be accomplished in Jerusalem, and even knowing that the ultimate sacrifice would be required of Him there, He set His face like a flint for Jerusalem, say the Scriptures (Isaiah 50:7).
- Jesus was resolute. Whatever the consequences, He would go to Jerusalem and carry out His plan.
- Prioritizing allows you to suffer for a moment in order to enjoy the fruit for eternity!
- He was willing to go through a season of pain to create an eternity of gain.
4) His priorities were filled with Passion.
- "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." ~ Colossians 3:23
- Passion is power. You will never have significant success with anything until it becomes a passion with you. A passion is when something consumes your thoughts and time. Your life must be driven, not by the whims of the people, but by God-given purpose.
- "Jesus said to the Father, 'I have glorified you on earth by completing down to the last detail what you assigned me to do.'" -John 17:4
- You will only be remembered in life for your passions. It is your inner fire that makes you different.
Paul said in Philippians 3:13, “This one thing I do.” –NOT, “These 40 things I dabble in.”
- I think the saddest thing in the world today is for a person to have misplaced priorities.
- ILLUS: A woman said to her husband as he was leaving for work one day, “Sweetheart, don’t forget that we are moving today. Don’t come back to the old address.”
- The husband answered a little testily as he drove away, “You don’t need to remind me…don’t you think I can remember that?”
- But sure enough, this man was so absorbed in his work that he drove back to the same house that evening. But this time the door was open, the paper was in the yard, and the house was empty of furniture.
- He said to himself, “Oh no! She said I would forget, and I did. To make matters worse, I don’t remember where we’ve moved.”
- Just then he saw a little boy on a bicycle and said, “Do you know the family that used to live here?”
- The boy said, “Yes, sir!”
- The man said, “Would you happen to know where they have moved?”
- The little boy looked at him and said, “Daddy, Mama said you would forget.”
- I submit to you that this man was a man with misplaced priorities.
o LISTEN: We ought to say NO to at least on thing each day so we can say YES to something more important.
3. Your Priorities dictate your Productivity
Spending more time on our priorities means spending less time on other things.
- Jim Collins, author of Good to Great suggests that we create a “stop-doing list.”
- It’s tempting but naïve to think that we can make more time for everything just by working efficiently.
- If you are going to add something, you need to subtract something.
- Look over your schedule from the last week and ask yourself: “What specifically would I have given up in ordre to get the extra 3 or 4 hours I’ll need?”
LOOK AT YOUR PLATE
- It doesn't matter whether you are an employer, an employee, or a student -- basically 80% of what you do, anyone can do!
o I know…that statement didn't exactly make you feel very valuable, did it? But it's true.
o Think of your daily schedule and the time you invest in answering the telephone, checking your email, sit and take notes in a meeting, make the widgets, fill out the reports, etc. Basically, anybody can do 80% of what you do.
- Now 15% of what you do -- anybody with some modicum of skill can do those things as well.
o This might include running an Excel spreadsheet or Adobe Photoshop or AutoCad, etc. With a little training, virtually anybody can have the skills that you do 15% of the time.
- Now, before you throw in the towel and quit your job, understand this -- the 5% principle involves the 5% of the things you do, that only you can do! Nobody else in the world can do this last 5%.
o You see, only I can be a husband to Carrie. No one else can do that.
o Only I can be Daddy to my son and two daughters. I'm the only father they will ever have.
o Only I can grow spiritually and professionally. I can't hire someone else to grow for me.
- There are certain things that only YOU can do and in the end when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ -- it is that 5% that you will be accountable for!
o God won't hold you accountable for whether or not your company made it into the Fortune 500.
o You won't be held accountable for how well your employees performed.
o You will be held accountable for your 5% because that's what only you can do.
o And that's what I encourage you to invest in.
As you think of this 5% Principle when it comes to time management, let me also give you 5 words that can destroy your life and your future. Those five words are very simple: "I Don't Have The Time." We delude ourselves into thinking, "I don't have the time to pray. I don't have time to be silent before God. I don't have the time to read my Bible or to go to church."
- When you shortchange your 5% responsibilities, you've just paved the way for the enemy to shortchange the lasting influence of your life.
Invest more time this week into your top 5%!
- Here’s the rest of Nehemiah’s response: “Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”
o In other words, how does spending time with you benefit the great work that I’m doing?
- Vs. 4, “They sent messages to me four times in this manner, and I answered them the same way.”
o Every time they invited him to come down off the wall, he would give them the same message.
- Here’s what’s significant for us – if Nehemiah had come off the wall and met with Sanballat and his friends – they would have probably taken his life.
- Did you know that there are things in my life and your life – that if we do not complete them – they have the potential to ruin our lives as well.
- Raising Small children – I’m doing a good work and I cannot come down.
o This is the greatest work that God has called me to do and I am not coming down.
- Men – you need to look at the picture of your wife and kids on your office desk and say, “You know what, there’s a lot of ways that I can make more money…I can take more business trips, I can work longer hours… But I am doing a good work, and I cannot come down.
- There’s a significant role that you play and you cannot get distracted.
o You know what the breach is in your wall – you’re smart enough to figure that out.
CONCLUSION:
- QUESTION: When it comes to managing your time – are you going to be proactive or reactive?
o Do you focus more on just getting through the week instead of planning ahead and reaching a goal?
- The issue is not: Will my calendar be full but what will fill my calendar?
o The issue is not prioritizing our schedule but scheduling our priorities.
- When you walk out these doors, or when you shut down that iPad or whatever device you’re using to watch this message.
- Nothing out there in the world has changed…the only thing that can change is you.
- You need to write down those priorities and then say, “I’m going a good work, I cannot come down.”
- My plate is already full.
FURTHER RESEARCH:
- ILLUS: Charles Schwab (millionaire) hired man named Ivy Lee to come and help him become more productive.
Lee gave him a plan of underwhelming simplicity. He said, “Each evening, write down the six most important things you should do on the following day. List them in order of their importance. The following morning, come into work and do whatever tops the list. When you’re finished move to the next.
Schwab said, “How much do I owe you for this advice?”
Lee said, “Use it for several months and then decide on the value of my plan and send me a check.”
Several months later, Lee received a check from Charles Schwab in the amount of $25,000.”
- You’d be amazed at how productive you’d be if you would recognize each day as a gift from God.
Just because something is prior doesn’t mean it should be a priority.
- Growth requires your focus
- - There are 3 things we’ve got to do…
- o Evaluate – what are my priorities
- o Eliminate – Kick out the non-priorities
- o Delegate – Don’t do anything that someone else can do
- • PASTORING: I must develop the message and God will develop the ministry.
- • If I take care of the depth, God will take care of the width.
FURTHER RESEARCH:
- Was the task of these 7 deacons any less “spiritual” than that of the apostles? NO
- Was their responsibility any less crucial to the success and progress of the church? Absolutely not! (Both groups were indispensable to the church).
- But it wasn’t until they were positioned correctly that their impact was fully felt.
- Because of the Apostles newly directed ministry…2 new leaders surfaced: Stephen and Philip
o Stephen: powerful witness of the gospel and became the first martyr
o Philip became a traveling evangelist and was able begin reaching others outside of the region of Jerusalem.
- None of those 12 apostles had any idea what hung in the balance of their decision to give up waiting tables.
- All true leaders have had to learn to say ‘No’ to the good in order to say ‘Yes’ to the best.
- The same principle is true for you—Like the apostles, you have no idea what hangs in the balance of your decision to play to your strengths and delegate your weaknesses.
o As a leader, gifted by God to do a few things well, it is not right for you to attempt to do everything.
o Devoting a little of yourself to everything means committing a great deal of yourself to nothing.
REMEMBER: When little priorities demand too much of us, big problems arise!
- Robert J. McKain said, “The reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first.”
- Often the little things in life can trip us up!
o ILLUS: a tragic example of that is the Eastern Airlines Jumbo Jet that crashed in the Everglades of Florida.
o The plane was the now famous Flight 401 bound from New Your to Miami with a heavy load of holiday passengers.
o As the plane approached Miami International for landing, the light that indicates proper deployment of the landing gear failed to light.
o The plane flew into large, looping circles over the swamps of the Everglades while the cockpit crew checked to see if the gear had not deployed or if the bulb had gone out.
o While the flight engineer tried to remove the light bulb, it wouldn’t budge and the other members of the crew tried to help him.
o As they struggled with the bulb, nobody noticed that the plane was losing altitude and the plane simply crashed into the swamp.
• While an experienced crew of highly educated, high priced pilots fiddled with a .75 cent light bulb, the plane with all it’s passengers flew into the ground.
Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 4:34)
o Doing God’s will was as satisfying to Jesus as a good meal is to most of us.
o When you include God’s will in your planning—it will be so satisfying because you will know that His hand of blessing is on your life.
- Doing His Will must become our highest priority.
o ILLUS: A few months ago, I woke up in the middle of the night feeling a bit nauseous. I stumbled over to the medicine cabinet, found a pink bottle to take some medicine to make my stomach feel better. Right before I poured it into a cup, I saw that it said, “Shake well before using.” All of the best part of the medicine had settled at the bottom.
o This simple illustration shows how proper priorities in our lives sometimes sink to the bottom, and other things rise to the top.
o Every once in a while, God has to write across our lives, “Shake well before using!”
o We’ve got to get our priorities in line.
- JOKE: At a nursing home in Florida a resident group was discussing ailments. "My arms are so weak I can hardly life this cup of coffee," said one. "Yes I know, my cataracts are so bad I can't even see my coffee," replied another. "I can't turn my head because of the arthritis in my neck," said a third. At which several others nodded weakly. "My blood pressure pills make me dizzy," another one went on. "I guess that's the price we pay for getting old," winced an old man. "It sure beats the alternative." "Well, it's not that bad," said one woman cheerfully. "Thank goodness we can all still drive!"
o Are your priorities out of place today?
o Are you just so thankful that you can drive that you don't see the problems around you?
- The Bible says that because of the intimate relationship that God had with Moses, God “made known His ways to Moses.” (Psalm 103:7).
o If you have a growing, intimate relationship with God, He is going to let you in on what He’s doing with your life.
Set God-Honoring Priorities
- Life is not always a simple choice between good and bad, but between the good and the best.
- Don’t let the good steal the best from your day.
- Paul said in Philippians 3:13, “This one thing I do.” –NOT, “These 40 things I dabble in.”
- I think the saddest thing in the world today is for a person to have misplaced priorities.
o ILLUS: A woman said to her husband as he was leaving for work one day, “Sweetheart, don’t forget that we are moving today. Don’t come back to the old address.”
The husband answered a little testily as he drove away, “You don’t need to remind me…don’t you think I can remember that?”
But sure enough, this man was so absorbed in his work that he drove back to the same house that evening. But this time the door was open, the paper was in the yard, and the house was empty of furniture.
He said to himself, “Oh no! She said I would forget, and I did. To make matters worse, I don’t remember where we’ve moved.”
Just then he saw a little boy on a bicycle and said, “Do you know the family that used to live here?”
The boy said, “Yes, sir!”
The man said, “Would you happen to know where they have moved?”
The little boy looked at him and said, “Daddy, Mama said you would forget.”
o I submit to you that this man was a man with misplaced priorities.
- LISTEN: We ought to say NO to at least on thing each day so we can say YES to something more important.
Recently, Lifeway Research asked 200 pastors to provide an hour-by-hour calendar of what they do each week. The study included 101 pastors whose churches were in the top 5 percent in conversion rates. The rest were pastors of churches that didn’t have high conversion rates.
What they found was fascinating. The pastors of high-growth churches spent most of their time in prayer, study, and teaching. (In fact, that’s similar to the description of the apostles’ ministry in Acts 6:4.) The other pastors were all over the board with their pastoral activities. Effective pastors focus their ministries on what’s most important.
Paul says in Ephesians 5, “Don't be vague but firmly grasp what you know to be the will of God.” (Philips) So pastor, don't be vague with your ministry. Have a clear-cut direction. You and I are only accountable for God's purpose for our lives. If I don't get everything else done, that's okay.
I try to focus on energy management, paying attention to my energy ebbs and flows.
To do this, don’t think of your week in hour slots. Think of your week in 21 segments. You’ve got seven mornings, seven afternoons, and seven evenings. Then divide up how you’ll spend those segments.
For instance, Monday is my day off. It’s my sabbath. Monday morning is pretty much just with me. Monday afternoon is with Kay. And Monday evening has always been spent with family.
I study in the mornings. I do meetings in the afternoons. Meetings don’t take as much creativity as my study time does. Then, in the evenings, we have a rule at Saddleback that every staff member must be home four nights a week. If you’re not home four nights a week, you’re in trouble with me. More than four nights a week and you’re burning out.
But even managing your energy will do you no good if you don’t learn to be selective with what you do. You don't have time for everything. We’ve all got much more on our plate than one person can do. We’ve got to do what's most important.
God has given you just enough time to do His will. If you're under pressure, it means you’re either doing the wrong thing or the right thing in the wrong way.
How to Establish Your Priorities
In Jules Verne’s novel, The Mysterious Island, he tells of five men who escape a civil war prison by hijacking a hot air balloon. As they rise into the air, they realize the wind is taking them over the ocean, and they wonder how much longer they have in the air. As time passes, the men decide they must cast some weight overboard to stay in the air. Shoes, overcoats, weapons and other items are discarded. In time, the balloon descends toward the water and the men throw their food overboard. Better high and hungry than to drown with a full belly. Yet, they continue to drift slowly downward. Finally, one man has an idea: they could tie the ropes that hold the passenger seats and let go of the basket. This saved their life. Not a minute too soon—they spot land. The five men jump from the ropes and swim to shore. They live because they got rid of excess weight. They discerned the difference between what is necessary and what is not. They were forced to recognize their priorities.
The same can happen in our lives and leadership. We must learn the difference between what is necessary and what is expendable. A leader is a broker of talent, time, resources, people, energy and money.
Remember these realities:
1. It is not how hard you work, but how smart you work.
Working smart means you doing what only you can do, and delegating things others can do. Hard work is a virtue, but lasting leaders know how to work wisely.
2. We either organize or we agonize.
Learning to organize your projects makes us more efficient. This, in turn, saves us time and frustration. We must take the time to prepare before we execute.
3. We must choose or we lose.
When leaders fail to decide what must be done, we lose the opportunity to actually lead. We play defense instead of offense. Knowing your priorities helps you choose.
4. Your day will be filled with your priorities or with the requests of others.
Certainly leadership is about serving people—but that doesn’t mean you only react to others’ requests. You must know what your objectives are and pursue them.
6. Are you proactive or reactive?
This is huge. Most leaders start well, but eventually just react to what others want. We focus on getting through the week instead of planning ahead and reaching a goal
7. The issue is not: will my calendar be full, but: what will fill my calendar?
Let’s face it. We’re all busy. The question is—what got into our calendar? The issue is not prioritizing our schedule but rather scheduling our priorities.
