"New Direction for a New Year"
Text: Eph. 5:15-17 & Selected
"New Direction for a New Year"
Using Time Wisely
Cross Creek Community Church
Pastor Dave Martin – December 29, 2002
God’s Word is Powerful, Relevant, and Life Changing!
What was the year 2002 like for you? Filled with joy and peace or anxiety and stress?
New Years is often a time for making new resolutions. Promising yourself to give up some bad habit or to develop new good habits or maybe changing your lifestyle.
It may be a time of trying harder at something, or a time of re-establishing broken relationships or maybe a new exercise routine or possibly a desire to lose 10 pounds.
Some here this morning may have an inner desire for a new direction in your life. You may be a Christian and yet secretly struggle in your personal daily walk with the Lord, needing a change.
You may be here searching for an inner peace and joy that God promises those who walk with Him and yet your life is filled with bitterness, struggles and sin.
This morning let’s look at three basic steps to a new direction for our lives.
Ephes. 5:15-17 Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
1. Realize my time is LIMITED.
Be very careful, then, how you live
God is eternal; He created time and placed man into it. Giving us each 24 hours in each day.
Each of us is given a possible 8,760 hours to live and to use in this coming year. How will you live?
The Lord tells us to be very careful – Be skillful, wise, on guard, looking very closely how you live.
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.
Psalm 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.
Time marches on, it can never be slowed or stopped by you – it is out of your control.
Who decides how you spend your time? YOU DO!
It is the most precious of possessions... No one can take it from you. It is unstealable.
No one receives either more or less than you receive.
Moreover, you cannot draw on its future. It’s impossible to get into debt with time!
You cannot waste tomorrow; it is kept for you. You cannot waste the next hour; it is kept for you.
You have to live on this twenty-four hours of daily time given to you by God.
We shall never have any more time. We have, and we have always had, all the time there is.
Because time is limited, be very careful in your use of it. There are time robbers in the world!
The #1 “Time Stealer” today is TELEVISION.
The average American watches 4 hours per day or 2 months non-stop viewing per year!
Parents have meaningful conversation with their children 38 minutes per week while the average child watches 1,680 minutes of TV per week! (44 times more TV than conversation with parents)
50% children 6-17 have a TV in their bedrooms (mostly unsupervised).
Getting Control… How do we go about taming this one-eyed giant?
Strive for a Spiritual emphasis in your life.
Go for a day or whole weekends without.
Visit people - friends, family, etc.
Invest in worthwhile books, projects, etc.
2. Choose to use my time WISELY.
--Not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Oh how we need Godly wisdom in the year 2003! Fear of the Lord is foundational to wisdom.
God tells us fools despise wisdom and discipline – will you accept or reject correction? A choice.
The days are evil. Things are getting worse. Global terrorism, threats of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, financial crisis on wall street, these are the days of evil and wickedness.
We need wisdom to choose to use correctly the time God has given to each of us.
God says, Living as wise and not as a fool (unwise). Redeeming the time – utilizing time wisely!
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…
Proverbs 1:29-31 Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.
Life is made up of a sum total of choices we have made through life. Our heart determines them.
Don’t live 2003 filled with yourself and your vain choices – we need God’s wisdom.
Psalm 90:12 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
More Things = More Choices = More Overload = Less Time
We often 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, stress, anxiety, moodiness – they can rob us of our joy.
Wise and unwise choices of life involving…
Commitments – Often we are so busy running and fulfilling our commitments to my spouse, children, work, church, leisure, etc while they slowly rob us of precious time.
Possessions – we have a built in desire to acquire more and more possessions. Newer and better car every 4 years, remolding our home, wanting every new gadget that comes along. Along with these things come more choices, more stress, less time.
Information – Television programs, redundant news programs, Internet super information highway, computers, video games, DVD, movies = less time.
Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Lord, teach us to number our days aright to gain a heart of wisdom! (Ps 90:12)
Be very cautious in 2003 of time stealers and wasters – fear the Lord, seek wisdom!
Making the most of every opportunity, using time wisely is a choice we must make!
3. PRIORITIZE my life to God’s will.
17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
Romans 12:2 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.
We live in a world bent on stealing your time. Don’t conform to the world’s pattern.
Renew your mind in Christ – fulfilling God’s perfect will for your life. Don’t be foolish but understand what the Lord’s will is. How can we discern God’s perfect will? Walk in Him!
What is most important in my life?
Education Career School Family
Church God Sports Fitness
Money Character Other Fame
Popularity Power Prestige Reputation
Health Pleasures Leisure Possessions
How are your priorities? Three type of people…
Some of you already know that you’re priorities are out of order.
Some feel pretty good about where your priorities are, with room for improvement.
Some people are totally convinced that their priorities are just fine – you’ve arrived!
Speaking of priorities, a group of friends went deer hunting and paired off in two’s for the day. That night one of the hunters returned alone, staggering under an eight-point buck. “Where’s Harry?” “Harry had a stroke of some kind. He’s a couple of miles back up the trail.” “You left Harry laying there, and carried the deer back?” “A tough call,” nodded the hunter, “but I figured no one is going to steal Harry.” Priorities The Jokesmith, Christian Clippings, p. 27
How can I prioritize my life to God’s will? Take a few minutes and think about tomorrow.
Write down by priority the most important things you need to do tomorrow...
1.
2.
3.
4.
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!
God’s Biblical Priority is…
1. GOD
2. FAMILY
3. CHURCH
4. OTHER (everything else)
If our Lord tarries and at the end of 2003 we look back – How will we see our lives?
Filled with regret or joy? Bitterness or thankfulness? Spiritual growth or Spiritual bankruptcy?
#1 on your list for 2003 is God, then family, then church, and then the many other things.
You can’t control the length of your life, but you can have something to say about its width and depth.
If we truly desire a “New Direction for a New Year”, align our priorities with God’s will. Then watch your life begin to change!
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? Will you choose to make the most of 2003?
Continue automatic PowerPoint Slide Show
Let’s Pray
Note - (Complete Message and PowerPoint(You have to see to appreciate) are posted on our web at crosscreekcc.org)
