[0:00] As we start here today, I'd like to start with you with a confession that always gets people's attention as an opener. The confession is that in my 20s and in my early 30s, I wore busyness like a badge of honor.
[0:13] I wore busyness like a badge of honor. People like to ask all the time, have you had a busy week? And I would always say yes, very gladly. And many of us do that. But then I came to the realization that being busy is the lowest bar in regards to being productive.
[0:28] It's the easiest thing to get to is busyness. And so if you've noticed over the last few years, when somebody asked me, have you been busy? Not for your sake, but for my sake, I try to answer the same way every time, which is to remind me this.
[0:42] I'll say, yes, busy is easy, but being productive is hard. And I've been trying to make a distinction between the two of busyness and being productive. Because just because you're busy, that doesn't mean that you're diligent.
[0:54] It doesn't mean that you're faithful, nor does it mean that you are fruitful. However, as much as we all say that we hate to say that we're busy all the time, we're afraid to be anything else.
[1:06] We're afraid to say that we're busy all the time, but we're actually afraid to be anything else. I know that I'm not alone. This is seen in the tens of thousands of books available online about how to be more productive.
[1:20] It's also seen in the negative sense in a mental health crisis in our nation and people just not knowing what am I supposed to be doing with my life. I don't know, but if I drive faster, maybe I will get there.
[1:31] And so there's a busyness about it. But busyness can't be the key to productivity. You might know that from experience, but you also know it from God's Word. Because the Bible speaks about people in the book of Jeremiah that were practicing sin.
[1:44] And it says about them in Jeremiah 9, 5, that they wearied themselves in committing iniquity. They were so busy about doing evil that they wearied themselves in the process.
[1:56] Or we've seen in scriptures where people are busy with the wrong priority. And this is the two sisters with Martha and Mary. Martha was certainly busy, but she wasn't busy about the things that she should have been about.
[2:10] Or Jesus gives a parable. And he says that a king sends out an invitation and invites people into his home for a meal. In Matthew 22, verse 5, it says, But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm and another to his merchandise.
[2:25] That there's pictures of the Bible of in our busyness, we miss out on invitations from a king. In a very spiritual sense, we often do miss out on an invitation from a king in our busyness.
[2:36] So in this passage here, first thing that I'd like for us to see, where we're told to walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, is that we need to give careful attention in the steps that we take and redeem the time.
[2:49] So this word, circumspectly, it tells us that it's accurately or carefully. So with time, it brings a constant place of decision. At the end of verse 15, you say, not as fools, but as wise.
[3:01] Every time we use time and it comes to us, you know, you don't really manage time. It's always moving like a river. You can only manage your purpose with the time. But it comes. We all get the same amount of time given to us.
[3:13] But as time moves on, we're constantly faced with the decision. Are we going to live as a fool or are we going to live as the wise? This idea of having a deliberate or an intentional walk is all throughout the Bible.
[3:26] In Jeremiah also, it tells us that there's a group in that same chapter that they walked after the imaginations of their own heart, that the way in which they lived came out of a heart where they weren't giving over to the wisdom of the Lord, but they were just living of their own evil imaginations.
[3:43] In this passage in Ephesians and other passages, Colossians 4, we're told to walk in wisdom towards them that are without, redeeming the time. We're constantly called as God's children to pay attention to that next step you're going to take and to make sure that it's given unto the Lord.
[4:00] For you 90s kids, you're told to stop, collaborate, look, and listen. All right? In this passage here, some of you would get that reference, but Colossians 4 just says, Now then, as we see here, see then that you walk.
[4:12] See then. Pay attention, church. Pay attention to all those that are hearing this book being read. See then the way that you live your life. If you're like me and Andrew, and you took some time to evaluate your schedule, your habits, your investments in the year, that's a good thing to do.
[4:30] That is a holy endeavor. Or should I say, that can be a holy endeavor, and it shouldn't just happen at the beginning of the year. Quite often we should periodically. On Sunday, right now I'm asking you, stop and evaluate the way in which you're living your life, the steps that you are taking.
[4:47] There's three lies. There's many lies, but there's three big lies that I encounter when I think about productivity. Talk to other Christians about it. First of all is this, that talking about productivity isn't very spiritual.
[5:00] That's a carnal way of thinking. The Bible tells us that we ought to see in Matthew 5, 16, that the world would see our good works and glorify the Father, which is in heaven. I like how one pastor of late said it.
[5:12] He says, We think that because we're Christian, we do not have to be concerned about productivity. On the contrary, our calling as Christians is the highest calling there is.
[5:23] And the idea of being productive is not the invention of capitalism, it is the mandate of Christ. Our Christ has told us to live holy lives that are honoring unto Him, that we be defined as productive according to God's Word.
[5:38] So first of all, productivity, the first lie would be productivity doesn't deserve its attention on a Sunday morning, but I would beg from Ephesians 5 and from the commands of Christ that it does. Secondly here is that being concerned about productivity, it's just really a hobby for professionals.
[5:53] There's a certain group of people that they write books for, but me as a stay-at-home mom or me as in this line of work or me doing this, that's not really for me. That's only for a certain group of professionals. But I remind you from our series in Titus that we're told that all believers are peculiar people, that we have been set aside, that our lives should live out the distinguishing marks of what it means to be a Christian.
[6:17] And so we should be evaluating our walk and how we spend our time. And then lastly, the lie is productivity is just about getting things done. All I need to do is get things done. That is higher productivity.
[6:28] But what Miguel did in the video before and what we're told to do in the scriptures in Hebrews 10 is that when we come together, we're supposed to encourage one another to consider and to provoke one another to love and to good works.
[6:41] It's a love and a good work. We're supposed to encourage each other in the matters of our heart and also the way in which we're living our lives. So I believe this is very much a Christian conversation from God's Word that consider in 2024, will we be productive with our lives?
[6:55] The possibility is here in being unwise. Wherefore be you not unwise, verse 17, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
[7:07] We're given some insight through the book of Ephesians. In Ephesians 4 it says, having understood, understanding the darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart.
[7:21] We're given a picture of people that live life in blindness and in darkness. You can imagine if we were all, if you've ever been in a cave where you couldn't see in front of you, when they turned out the lantern, there was just nothing you could see.
[7:32] Well, you could be in that cave for some time and you could learn to get around and you could remember where the water is or the best place to sleep and you could live with it. But if somebody came in with a flashlight in just a relatively short amount of time, they're going to know far more about that cave than the people that have lived in darkness for years.
[7:50] This should not bring an arrogance to us as believers, but it ought to bring a great appreciation for the Word of God. We have been given incredible insight on how to be a father, on how to be a husband, and how to live our lives and it sheds light upon it.
[8:05] We're no longer in darkness, but we're people that are now living in life and we should be excited about this. Anybody in here want to give an example of an unwise way that you spent 2023?
[8:15] Well, let's just acknowledge that there were and that in 2024, there'll be many decisions on how to use our time and they need to be redeemed and given unto the Lord.
[8:26] And then as we walk, we need to recognize that there's certain seasons of life. This passage says, it calls upon us here as we walk in this season. Therefore, walk worthy of vocation, verse 4.
[8:39] In vocation 5.16, it says, redeeming the time because the days are evil. That use of the word time there, it speaks about a season of life that we've come to.
[8:50] Use the different seasons, use the different opportunities as unto the Lord. That's something that's new. It's something that is a time-constrained opportunity. So what does redeemed mean?
[9:03] That's a word that you might see on the side of a Coke can. If you redeem it and give it back, you'll get 5%, something you should hear about. In Sunday school, we speak a lot about redemption, but it simply means the buyback, to buy something back, to take it and give value here to it.
[9:18] It's the opposite of what we often like to say, I'm just killing time. We use that so nonchalantly, what a horrible thing that we'd ever do, to say I'm just killing time. And we have in here today, I could ask you to stand up and I would ask you, what are some reasons that we should redeem time?
[9:34] And from the scriptures, we have many good reasons. We should redeem time because it's limited. We don't know how much we have. It's appointed on the man once to die. We don't know how much time that we have.
[9:45] Benjamin Franklin said, do you love life? Then don't squander time, for that is the stuff that life is made of. So time is precious because it's a limited commodity.
[9:55] It could end unexpectedly. As James will tell us, it's a vapor, and none of us know where we're at in that vapor, but we know that it's short. We should redeem the time because in time, there's decisions that we have to make.
[10:08] Jonathan Edwards, great evangelist, there in the Great Awakening, one of the themes of his messages was, a happy or miserable eternity depends on your use of time.
[10:20] Meaning, with the time God has given you, will you make the right decisions concerning Christ? How we spend our time is something we will carry with us into all eternity.
[10:32] The song that they sung, this old story that has rescued us, will sing about it for all time. We're making decisions that affect eternity. And so that makes it incredibly valuable.
[10:44] Then lastly, one I'll give you here before we get back to the passage is we redeem time because it belongs to the Creator. It's His. It was given to us, but it belongs to Him.
[10:54] And because of that, that is something that makes it incredibly precious. It's a gift from God. But you know, none of those things are what's given in this passage here. It doesn't say redeem the time because it's precious or redeem the time because it's limited.
[11:08] But it gives what, maybe a new motivator that you haven't considered. And it says, redeem the time because the days are evil. Just like a season, there's a temporary nature to this opportunity that is in front of us.
[11:20] Started off this morning in the high school, middle school class this morning. And I was asked, talking to them about different seasons. You know, what is your favorite season? Some people said fall. Some people would say college football season.
[11:32] Somebody said pumpkin spice season, all right, of coffee. And I would say the McRib season at McDonald's, all right, don't judge me. You should. It's horrible. Shouldn't eat it, all right.
[11:42] But whatever season it shows up, you have this limited opportunity. When I go through a drive-thru and there's a picture that says, for a limited time, I'm like, yes, I would like one of those, all right. I don't care what it is, but I want one of those because I may never have another chance to have it.
[11:57] There's something about adding that word limited to it that makes it move up and our value system that is here. Those are our comical reasons, but we have some other ones. How many of you in here remember when you could pray in school?
[12:10] You went to public school and they prayed. Would you raise your hand if you're still able to in here? No, I'm just kidding. All right. You're not that old. All right. So there are several in here that raised their hand. They remember that. Young people, how many of you remember that in your school there was a ministry called the Fellowship of Christian Athletes that meets on Friday mornings where Christians get together and pray?
[12:30] How many of you remember when that's true? All of you raise your hand. Do you know in the same way that those older people raised their hands and there was a season where they could pray? It's very likely that in the future there's going to be a time where you would raise your hand and say, do you remember when you could have this in your school?
[12:47] It's limited. It's a season. Redeem it. It's an opportunity in front of it. Those of you in here raising kids, right now you have your kids in an environment that you can influence for the cause of Christ but one day they will be grown and they will be out in a world that is opposed to them.
[13:03] Redeem the time. It's an opportunity. It's a season that you have here. Why is it we undervalue time so much in our lives? We've said all those things how it's precious.
[13:15] We all agree to it. There's no argument about the things that I said about being limited in nature but sometimes we just don't treat time with the value that it deserves. I would see that. I look at my time at the beginning of the year and I see every hour as precious.
[13:28] I see the decisions as precious but something as the year goes on that I'm more willing to give up the time and treat it like it's less precious. Last week there was a sub-theme to our service and it was Legos.
[13:39] Legos showed up several times in the offering devotion and Pastor Bo brought it back to us. I really expected to see some Legos in the offering plate this morning, alright, as much as was said about it. But I consider that with my, I believe Stephen made mention of it but you know we have at our house we have buckets of Legos, a huge bucket of Legos, alright, and if I was to try to sell it to you I might get $30 or $40 even for it on Facebook Marketplace.
[14:05] It's just a big bucket of miscellaneous Legos. But for some reason that if you take those Legos and you give some instructions to them and you provide a picture of what it will be, this box right here is of greater value than that big bucket of Legos.
[14:23] And why is that? It's because it gives meaning to it. It has some instructions. There's a picture in which you can see to work for and so you don't want to lose one of those Legos.
[14:34] You ever have that? The kids open up the little packages and the thing that you say all the time is don't lose one of your Legos because at the end of it when they built it they're going to be so upset that they're missing that one type of Lego because you see each one of those Legos as precious because there is a purpose for it.
[14:51] You know, when you and I ignore the one who gives meaning to our lives, when we ignore the God of Heaven, we ignore the book in which He has given us, then we're only left with one or two options.
[15:02] One, we go searching for our own meaning or we live life as if it's meaningless. We live life like time doesn't matter. I want to tell you that God has a wonderful picture and a wonderful plan for your life and He has a wonderful set of instructions and because of that you ought to take your time and know that it's precious and it's wonderful and that God can and is building something with it.
[15:28] So the first thing is we walk circumspectly. We've got to be intentional at the steps that we take but also if we're going to we must apply God's Word. Verse 17, Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
[15:42] You must understand what the will of the Lord is if you want to live a wholly productive life. So the natural question is what is the will of God? The will of God is not hidden in the Bible but it is hid from those who do not listen to the Bible.
[15:58] The will of God is not hidden in this book but it is hidden from anybody who will not give reverence to this book and they turn away from it. Meaning it isn't going to be found in any other place.
[16:09] But when you go to the right place to look for the will of the Lord, He doesn't hide it at all. It was shared the day and offering devotion in Romans chapter number 12 it said to us that this is the will of the Lord. It's the perfect will of the Lord.
[16:20] You present your bodies a living sacrifice. Young people, God cares about your use of your body. You cannot separate your spiritual life from the physical use of your body. So that causes the holy life.
[16:32] It causes us away from immorality. It causes us to take care of our bodies. There cannot be a separation. That is the will of the Lord. It also causes us to renew our minds. It's the will of the Lord that we would renew our minds.
[16:44] It gives us something to do with our minds throughout the year to have it washed to spend time in the word of God. It says it as clearly as anything that this is the will of the Lord.
[16:55] Another thing that is spoken about in scriptures about the will of the Lord is our use of time. It's revealed to us. The will of the Lord is revealed to us in God's word how we as believers should use our time.
[17:10] Ephesians 5, 18-21 which I didn't read to. These are the verses right after I finished reading. It says, But be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be filled with the Spirit. And it says, Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
[17:33] Verse 19 and verse 21 speaks about a holy life redeeming the Lord and how it's lived out speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and encouraging one another and submitting to one another.
[17:46] Our use of time includes other people. This can be a radically different view of productivity than the world would give you. Our use of time includes other people in it.
[17:59] The thought of redeeming time and protecting it from people. You know, you may give, some of you in here would admit, I'll freely give somebody ten hours but I'm not going to let anybody take five minutes from me.
[18:10] How many of you don't raise your hand, alright? But you know who you are in here. You can't stand when somebody wastes your time. I will give it up but don't you take that away from me. Or maybe you're at the restaurant and you're a generous tipper but if you feel like they try to take a dollar from you on that receipt it just infuriates you because you'll voluntarily give it but you don't want it taken from you.
[18:31] You know, as a pastor and it's common for us pastors we often tell stories where we're the heroes because we're the ones getting the side with stories about you that we tell. I'm going to tell one story to you today and I reluctantly got permission from my wife about it where I was certainly not the hero and I'm a villain.
[18:47] It's somewhat comical but it's also just really kind of shameful. We're newly married and I was waiting in the car to go somewhere and Stephanie wasn't in the car. Alright? That's how a lot of stories might start for a lot of us.
[18:58] Alright? And I was in the car. We weren't going to... It wasn't a life or death situation to be at. I don't know where we were going but I just lost my... Lost control of my spirit and I was angry and when she got in the car I just yelled at her and I just told her you're not going to cause me to waste my life by waiting all the time.
[19:17] And she's looking at me with her coffee like that might be just a little bit overkill we're meeting our friends at the park. You know? And I don't know what it was but she was so right. I mean honestly I was just acting like that somebody took my time and if anybody anybody ever took my time then I couldn't live a productive life.
[19:35] Galatians 6.10 tells us as we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men especially unto them that we are the household of faith. I was thinking that productivity meant simply the management of a time.
[19:48] Good time and bad time. Stephanie's taking my time that's over here and it's supposed to be over here and if I'm going to live a productive life then I have to get all the good... all the time that I can and stack it up over here and make sure all good times much time's a good time and as little time as possible the things that God doesn't care about.
[20:06] But productivity as a Christian can be so much more than that. It has to do about redeeming the opportunity that is in front of me. I should have redeemed the opportunity and showed grace unto my wife.
[20:19] That's what would have been redeeming the time. Productivity was not down the road and me showing up on time. A redemptive person a person that's been redeemed like I have could redeem the time and my life could have reflected the gospel in that moment and I could have been loving and gracious and caring for her and not would have been redeeming the time.
[20:39] Not losing time but adding the gospel into the middle of it. As redeemed people we can redeem the time. As people that have been bought back with a price we can take all kinds of circumstances in our lives and we can say the devil meant this for harm but God's going to use this for good.
[20:56] I'm going to act in a way that is God honoring. I'll make a note to give another story in six months where I don't do something right. Alright? Then mix it up a little bit. And so secondly I want to remind you in this point here is that the will of the Lord which sounds very normal for me to say right now Sunday morning you've all met here around God's word that's not just Sunday morning vocabulary.
[21:18] In the book of James it says when a man's going in town and he's buying and selling he shouldn't say that he's going to do this or he's going to do that but he ought to say if the Lord will we shall live and do this or that.
[21:29] And that's not just simply about adding that phrase into your life it's about thinking about that. It's about wanting every part of your day to be according to the will of the Lord which means before you go into that office and make a presentation when you sit down in the morning you should be praying to the Lord.
[21:44] You know Christianity is not just a weekend hobby like pickleball for some of you in here alright? It belongs in every aspect of our lives and God cares. He cares about the business that you're a part of.
[21:55] He cares about the work that you're doing and you should pray to him and say Father in the decision that I'm making with my time today I want it to be according to the will of you. And whatever day you read this word and I pray that you do it daily on whatever day you read this word you ought to be asking in that day how to apply the truth of God's word to it.
[22:15] The will of God that you read from this word that's not hidden but revealed can be lived out in the day in which you read it and you'll be asking him to show you. And because we've been redeemed we can redeem the time we've been created for God's glory we were once blinded to this truth we didn't know we lived in darkness but the gospel has brought us to the realization that our days can bring honor and glory to the Lord and we're as peculiar people and we now can redeem the moments in our lives not just store up time and not just fight off people from taking our time but in every situation we can respond in a way that the gospel demands of our lives just quickly here before I get to the last point I'd like to take a little moment for review and I have some slides that will come up here but I'm going to call this a productivity catechism if you want to follow our notes online you can go and see it and if you don't like the use of the word catechism we'll just call it a pop quiz alright here's some Bible trivia for today about the will of the Lord and so first of all here I'll ask the question and you respond if you're able to read it here but ultimately why did God create you say it with me
[23:18] God created me to bring glory to Him next question how can you glorify God in your day to day life I can glorify God in my day to day life by doing good works alright next one here what are good works next question there's six but you are a sinful person can you actually do good works next question here in what areas of life should you emphasize good works and then lastly here with our definition of productivity what is productivity right so that's simple stuff we were teaching it today in our children's church this idea that you know your life belongs to Him so you read after and you have examples of it one of my favorite people to read after and this is about
[24:29] William Wilberforce he fought the slave trade in England but more importantly than that he just really loved the Lord he had a real love for the Lord when he walked from his house to Parliament he would quote Psalm 119 that's a big chapter y'all know that right he would quote Psalm 119 to himself and it said the banner over his life was that he lived to do good work many people have written about him they said things like he lacked time for half the good works in his mind another person said factories did not spring up more rapidly in Leeds and Manchester places there in England than the schemes of benevolence underneath his roof God used them in a very special way to fight slave trade and ultimately ended slavery in the British Empire but in his loving in loving the Lord and his whole life giving the good works he wrote a book that was used to encourage other people towards his life of good works and taking opportunities and you know what the book was about it was about justification he wrote a doctrinal book about justification and he said surely the principles of Christianity that lead to action as well as meditation surely when we think about the gospel surely when we think about what he's done for us it doesn't just lead to meditating but it leads to a life of action so you could summarize it like this based on his understanding of justification what God had done for him and his understanding of the opportunities that were in front of him which was fight the slave trade his life had no other option but to take that course and he redeemed the time the opportunity that was in front of him lastly here
[26:00] I first said we need help and I realized we need more than help alright books that I've mentioned before those are help friends are help but we need divine help if we're going to live a productive life in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord and be not drunk with wine wearing his exodus but be filled with the spirit not just an ammunition to stay away from the drunkenness of alcohol which is a good one but in this passage here we're saying as in the way that you would allow yourself to be controlled by this you should allow yourself to be controlled by the Holy Spirit and live a life that is yielding to them you know pursuing productivity and efficiency without God is unwise you can be fully committed to a cause 1 Corinthians 13 3 talks about a person that if you give everything you have to the poor and even if you were to burn your own body and you did it without charity something that God only God can put inside of you and produce it profiteth nothing you know you can't be any more given to a cause than to set yourself on fire right if we're all like hey who's going to do what we got this thing going on oh I'm going to go you know take some donations
[27:01] I'm going to go put up some signs I'm like I'm going to set myself on fire like okay you're really into this thing you know I thought we might have a bake sale but you're going to light yourself on fire right and so you I can't think of a picture of a person more fully committed to something a sincere person meaning fully given to something but that can't be it Peter Drucker in one of those books that isn't the divine book said this but nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all you can't be less productive than doing something that shouldn't be done at all no matter how hard you go about it another example in Exodus chapter 18 I shared with the men on the men's retreat several months ago that just was amazing to me I couldn't imagine a person being more efficient than Moses as he was there people lined up all day from sun up the sun down just coming to him and saying give us wisdom from God's word you know honestly if you asked me what do I think the perfect ministry would look like it would be like I get to sit in one place and everybody just lines up and says what does the bible say about something that sounds like that would just be the most efficient way to live life well as he was doing that his father-in-law came along and he was helped
[28:08] Moses and he said if you do this not only will you wear away but so will everybody else he needed some outside help he needed to see something that he could not see but you need more than a father-in-law named Jethro you need a divine helper in the Holy Spirit that tells you you may be living a life that seems fully committed you may be living a life you think is trying to make more efficient but are you yielding to the work of the Holy Spirit in your life and two examples there of people fully given to something but they needed help to see the way to do it so God honoring productivity cannot be accomplished outside of submission to God's will God honoring productivity cannot be accomplished outside of submission to God's will they'd reference to him several times over the last month but Laurie Holt's uncle Dr. Sexton he always taught not only in your preaching should you teach right but there's certain phrases that you ought to use continually so much that people know this every time you say it it's always said the same way I want to say this the same way with all the years that God gives me it's this
[29:11] God is only pleased with what he produces in and through us that God is only pleased with what he produces in and through us you see he is the vine and we are the branches and so if you're saying I want to do more for the Lord but how am I going to do it I mean if Moses didn't get it right and if this guy fully given didn't give it right it seems impossible if you're telling me that these are ways that people live their lives and they're not doing it right how am I ever going to get it right I need some help well there's good news because there is help that is provided verse 16 of John says John 14 it says I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever I don't use Greek very often there's many reasons that I don't you can speak to Dr. Pelletier at Truett McConnell and he will give you a few reasons that I don't use Greek very often but one time there's times where I really want to make sure you understand and this word comforter that's used this word paraclete which you probably heard before is you need to understand that when we are given a comforter we're given one that is called to the side of another that we've been given help so this is a statement that says we must yield our lives to the Holy Spirit if we want to live productive lives that are pleasing to the Lord and all of your plans and all your habit trackers and all the things that you're given to this year you need the Holy Spirit to help you in your life and any plan that is devoid of him is not going to be one that is holy and pleasing unto the Lord because true productivity in the life of a believer is the result of the Spirit's work of sanctification in our lives recently I've got fascinated with rowing teams boats
[30:57] Carson and I last summer were at a place and we went fishing and there was rowing teams in from some different colleges and we saw that and we thought it was so neat and these rowing teams there's eight people in a boat and there's a person at the end of it that's kind of like what the jockey would be to a horse he is to the front of the boat and he yells at the people and he tells them and not only does he yell at them but he's hitting the side of the boat and he's trying to hit the pace and they'll say we're going to make 34 rows this time we're going to make 36, 28 and he's controlling the tempo of the boat in which how fast it ought to go and we're always looking for somebody to do that is the pastor of the day going to tell us we all need to speed up or is he going to tell us to slow down am I going to tell you that you guys are too busy and you need to slow down and you need to live an unhurried life or am I going to tell you you guys are lazy and you need to get with it well here's the thing me and religion and any book we cannot be the person on the front of your boat I can't tell you some of you in here today I would say it's called a Christian walk it's not called a Christian sprint
[32:01] Jesus walked everywhere that he went you should consider that the others in here I might tell you it's called a Christian walk it's not called a Christian sit alright you need to get up and do something but God didn't give it to tell you what pace in which to live your life you need divine help you need the Holy Spirit in your life setting the pace telling you what to do telling you where to row what opportunities to take what opportunities not to take you need divine help and you need to ask the Holy Spirit to help you evaluate your pace as I said it's called a walk not a sprint but it's called a walk and not a sit and many of us in here have let everyone except the Holy Spirit set the pace of our walk let us repent of this today one last time many of us have let everyone except the Holy Spirit set the pace of our walk and let us repent of this today does that mean you need to slow down I don't know does that mean you need to do more I don't know but I can tell you the Holy Spirit would make application to your life let's read Galatians 5.25 together before we pray this ought to be added in all your list of things to do and I got a list of them and I'm collecting them all the time for friends like
[33:15] Brother John and others that have helped me through the years but this is one that I know he and you would all agree has to go at the very top of our list as Christian people Galatians 5.25 you all have done such a good job reading along the day let's read this together if we live in the Spirit let us walk in the Spirit alright I was a little faster than you guys wasn't I let's try it one more time if we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit that's what the Christian view of productivity is and this godly view of productivity it doesn't just lead the more things getting done it brings joy into our lives because an aimless unproductive Christian contradicts the creative purposeful powerful merciful God that we love and so this picture in verse 19 and 20 it's singing and making melody in the heart to the Lord and giving thanks always for the things that God has done is there any surprise that when the good shepherd teaches us about how to use our time in redeeming that it leads to this life of melody and joy in our hearts because we have a shepherd who leads us in the green pastures and he restores our soul let's pray with heads bowed eyes closed believer
[34:30] I ask that you take a moment this is a designated time in your life to recognize that God cares about you and how you spend your time during this morning you might recognize that there is some time that you're already aware of that needs redeeming maybe it's a block of time throughout the week or maybe it's an occasion like me in the car where you say every time that opportunity comes for me to show the gospel for me to redeem the time I don't do it and you make note of that and the day you repent of that and you ask the father to help you redeem those moments of your life and you might acknowledge you're not walking in wisdom that has been provided for you if you've grown up in church as most of you have you've been given so much truth and so much light why would you ignore it why would there be things that you know that do right according to God's word that you would continue to ignore there's no reason to live like that submit your life apply the word of God to it ask yourself does your plan for productivity in 2024 include walking in the spirit and if it doesn't stop right now do not move forward but recognize the role that he has in your life and invite daily in prayer and bible reading recognizing the role that he has for you and your family at setting the pace and telling you what needs to be done
[35:49] I trust that believers are in this room are praying speaking to the Lord responding to his word for you and as believers are praying let me ask those of you in here that do not have a relationship with the God of heaven it remains broken it was born broken when you were born and you've never been reconciled that relationship has never been mended let me say this to you plainly this morning excluding God is the most the ultimate in unproductivity excluding God from your life is the least productive thing anybody could ever do with their life it says for what is a man of advantage if he gained the whole world and he was to lose himself or be a cast away or to lose your own soul more important than how you will spend your time once you live here once you leave here the day you should make plans for your eternity so let me tell you a story that we've been singing about it's the good news that surpasses all bad news the gospel story of Jesus life death and resurrection
[36:49] Jesus came to earth and became man so that he would die in your place he suffered the agony of the cross and he made a payment for your sins he rose again the third day proving that he is God and that that payment of sin had been received and had been accomplished and the very best thing that you can do in this moment of time is to repent of your sins put your faith in Christ right now not just redeeming time but you can be redeemed you can be bought back Jesus Christ has paid the price and right now on your seat you should pray to the God of heaven ask forgiveness of your sins and thank him for the purchase price of the cross to redeem you and to buy you back put your faith and trust in him if you've done that I want to encourage you before you leave the day stop by the next steps table we have literature we want to give you and to help you but more than that we have a friendship that we want to provide for you to help you walk in this Christian life Father I thank you for your word what is applicable to us today at the beginning of a year
[37:54] Lord we know it's always applicable to us as your people we want to walk in a way that is wholly pleasing to you Lord we want our definitions to be in line with that of the Holy Spirit in Jesus name I pray Amen Amen