Time is very precious, Use it Wisely

Greetings, because of Jesus and His authority, by His name, because of Him. I really like that idea of we're here because of Him and also rejoicing there's people interested in following His teachings and doing His will and I can fellowship with that because I don't know, somebody sometimes says we have this lofty idea, well I have this lofty idea that I think I have a discernment about these things and I can understand these things but why so few people can discern this and then how can I trust that how can I trust that we we're doing this in the right spirit and we're doing it in the right in the right way but um but I just rejoice that I think there is some strength in having others a lot of strength in others pursuing the same thing there was a time in my life when I didn't know any single other person that was pursuing it the way we're pursuing it now just the way it was and I feel like God tested me and tried me to see if I would back off of that conviction and I don't know how well I came through that but I somehow came through so far well if y'all liked Matthew 5, 6, and 7 so well I guess I could just read it again I thought of reading 5, 6, and 7 and I decided I would only read 6, I will still read it so but so we'll see what happens I was thinking of you know well I like this impression that Taylor tried to give us and I want that is my desire that we can impress each other about the seriousness of Christ and and this is not a play this is actually real this is his words are so make such a difference that it's gonna be like a house crashing and a house standing that's the difference if we're doers of his word we may not even understand everything but if we if we press on his word I trust that we'll stand I feel like I've done that in my life and I probably have to continue that way pressing on into that kingdom because and I don't understand everything what happens if we do this what happens we don't do that do we want to try that or do we want to press into the kingdom even though we don't understand and I think a lot of these things actually do make sense to us there's so many common things that just apply to to our life and I think like I've often said that I think these teachings of his reach right into eternity and fit in there as well though the old did not it had to be there had to be a new covenant and it was there for a taskmaster it says he was there to bring them to Christ it was there for many other things it's for example what happens when we disobey and I know there's many more and my thought was um I don't know what's the subject but time what do we do with our time when I looked up time I think there's like 800 some in the bible and they all had to do with a moment mostly had to do with a moment like now occasion it's you can say lifetime which means kind of what a person exists that's a lifetime but time was usually used as a very narrow time uh just a moment and that's the time we have it's time for gathering here it's time for uh a birth there's time for death and there's time for um all kinds of things so my challenge today is going to be what are we doing with our time are now if we we can use our time we god has I think this is something that god has given us right now he has given us time it may not be this coming hour but we have this time it may not be tomorrow so as I was thinking about this um god always wants us to use our time in a in a good way and with in our thoughts and our being careful and being being um diligent and use wisdom and and many many other different ways that we can god encourages us to use our time and the thought that uh Daniel threw in about self-control I don't think we can keep I would just guess we couldn't keep any of his commandments without self-control that is certainly a part of it means control it means that we have self-control we control we're not slaves if we're slaves to sin we're slaves to sin but god doesn't want us slaves to these things he wants us to be free and I was thinking something reminded me of um um well I I thought of this different times but something reminded me of this that eve the danger of adding like the pharisees had added I think when Duane was talking about adding all their definitions to the sap of the definitions to how far they can walk and all these the tithes and I've wondered already if Adam told Eve don't touch that you know you maybe if you touch that tree you'll die I don't know what he said for sure but when satan came to her he said we're not supposed to touch that tree that was not what god had said and I wonder if when we add things if they by by nature or default will cause us to stumble it will put a burden on us that we can't bear and the pharisees they they were doing that same thing and we know we know that today we can very quickly be doing that same thing adding burdens that are hard to bear and we ourselves do the things we like to do but we like to tell others what to do and I wonder if there's just a downfall in that of when we start adding well I know when we add in a certain way I think it's very destructive but like Eve I had to think well was that good or was it bad but something something about it seems to come out bad and so I think we need to be very careful about adding and taking away it the bible is written in such a way that we feel almost compelled to put directions to it in many little ways and I'm not sure if that's so that we yeah I'm I guess I won't get into that but there's so many places where we just add or take something away that's there sometimes I think it's it's human error and it's there's ways of figuring some of that stuff out but so many times we we feel like if we add something it'd be so much better is it really can we actually add to what Jesus taught and and and it's going to come out okay I don't think so so I have been going to get into Matthew 6 but being that everything's red so I guess I'll just really quickly go over like the feeling I've had um let's see how they've been hearing I just feel like the beginning is just such a such a place for us to start like being poor in spirit no if we're proud in spirit are we going to get along are we going to seek truth are we um I think we're just going to have to humble ourselves and those that mourn this I think this is talking about the same spirit like just just being sad about um just being sad about maybe our humanity or or how poor we are or how many sins we've we have and had and we mourn and then if we're meek we won't hurt the earth somebody mentioned that anyway I think this is a a very good foundation for us to to go on if we if we can get the whole of that we're going to get a hold of the rest of the scriptures too if we miss this part we're going to get in there some other way if this is the door and we go in some other way there's going to be lots of conflicts and lots of problems I just think it's noteworthy um and like Jesus teachings often are there's so clear so um easy to understand um and then he he starts in with not not trying to have a name or try to have our piety practice before others and give our alms so that others can see that we're we're really helping people and we're we're um we're trying to show that off and praying the same way it's talking about the same spirit and fasting I thought somewhere in here with the same spirit this is a real trap for most humans um he is wanting the honor of man and um and just just somehow being recognized I'm something am I not don't I am I not really isn't God really blessed because of me aren't the people real glad to see me am I not pretty important this is something that man really portrays and in very subtle ways in the pharisees a lot of that was I think was because they they wanted that honor and they wanted and they're not the only ones but it was something they really practiced so we have these clear clear instructions not to store up treasures um I would like to bring this time and some of these things together like we spend our time what storing up treasures on earth you know there's a way when when it's right clear here how we store treasures in heaven and we might get concerned that our car might get broken in we might get concerned our money is going to get taken from us we might think the country is going to go broke one of these days and the banks are going to be worthless where's our treasure if our treasure is in heaven will it matter if the countries fall apart if man puts us down if we have no honor if we have treasure in heaven and we're even killed for his sake we can go to where our treasure is but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust corrupts and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there your heart will be also so when we keep Jesus teachings and we walk in his love we lock in his commandment we walk in his power we walk in his authority this is putting treasure in heaven and I think one plain plainness says if we give money to the poor is storing up treasure in heaven if I'm not mistaken but I believe all his teachings are storing treasure in heaven and then he just simply says well where our hearts are there's there's or where our treasure sits where our heart is that's what that's what we think and worry about so what what does this got to do with our time our time is now the things that we do now today are are what makes the difference we we can we can now today at this moment we take a hold of these words and we we do them this is what makes the difference whether we're built on the rock this is the difference whether we have treasure in heaven the eye is the lamp of the body so if your eye is healthy your whole body will be full of light but if your eye is unhealthy your whole body will be full of darkness if then the light is in you is darkness how great is that darkness and the reminder we cannot serve two masters so there again this time are we using um okay so we got many many different choices today that in the past history has not been quite that there have not been that many as we have today um if you want to wanted to go somewhere you walk or maybe a horse perhaps in the wagon or a ride but quite often walking was pretty popular today we got to figure out how to have gas how to have insurance how to have this how to have that um it gets very complicated and we can get caught up in this so all these things that we have tend to get us caught up and and if we're if we're doing things for i think we can use all these things today that we have for good we can travel to another country in a matter of hours whereas it would have taken maybe a year maybe not even make it some people still don't make it today but uh it was more dangerous it was very difficult it was very difficult to go from one state to another and much more difficult to go from one end of the country to the other that was a long hard journey but if it's for the lord so be it that's okay so my encouragement would be like with with our families with the things we touch every day the things we have um that we use these things carefully and diligently and with wisdom and with thought there's also things like people most people spend time with people used to at least maybe there's modern things it's become less but um we can spend time with our families we can spend time with families we can spend time with our spouses with our children with our brothers and sisters and our our spiritual brothers and sisters our neighbors again are we wisely using our time with with these things are we do we think about this i think i think we need to think there's there's consider god said uh come reason with me i forget who he told that to but there's an old testament somewhere he was tired of saying it to isaiah yeah or the or the people anyways he reasoning us is thinking is taking thought back and forth he um in some ways reason with job or tried to but joe backed off really quickly he was not very smart he realized he's not very smart he's not very gifted he's not very he had nothing and he covered his mouth i will not speak anymore this is the this is what we need before god too we want to when we hear jesus teachings that why i take a wipe add or take away from it if god holds us to these things he's going to hold us to these things and we we can encourage one another to be serious about them using our time to do to do those kind of things um i know we all have our thoughts i'm not sure how many sometimes i have these thoughts when i'm somewhere else some thoughts oh this is really really something and then i should write it down immediately and i don't so i forget some of these thoughts of um some people call it the quality of time with children um you know the time we spend if our phones are competing making us there's a competition for time uh let's let's think about that there's even one person i think we should have more time than for one person but uh i guess here's where the blessed and the beauty of oneness comes together we're one we can together use our time together for others we don't have to like i don't have to spend all my time for one person or like a husband and wife they're one and they don't have to spend all the time for themselves they can actually together spend their time for others i think we have that same ability as as a brotherhood as brothers and sisters we can somehow blend this time that we have and we can we don't waste it on each other we're together using it for others and families can do that as well anybody can do it unless you use your time where it's most profitable and that's why i picked matthew six finally and not just six i have five six and seven this is these are the these are the these are the living words from the father and jesus said he he he said everything came from the father and he came here to do his will to show us a way and i believe he kept these things he he was he was he was willing to humble himself and become a servant he came from heaven but he humbled himself and became a servant he served he used his time he only used kind of three years of his time in a strong way and those three years of doing the will of the father i don't think he was not doing the will of the father before that or after but in that time well i guess what i'm trying to say is we don't have to have much time we don't have to have 90 years um that thief on the cross how much time did he have it was a very short time from the time he humbled himself that we know of him was maybe a few hours and we still speak about him his time was not wasted our time is never never wasted when we use it for god and in keeping in keeping these things i somehow there is a danger of i i think there's a danger of being legalistic about his jesus teachings and they become cruel and hard they become divisive but in our heart we think we're in track i think these things are possible i'm not able to explain that fully right now and anybody can explain or have a topic on it sometime i'd be glad to i'm one of those people that likes i like to know how things work and maybe everybody does i don't know but i always wonder why people do what they do and why why i perhaps do what i do or what safeties we can have how we can pursue this this light i think the simplicity of it is that when we do what jesus says we will stand the storms we may not even understand what storms are coming but they will weather us through because they are built they that is building on the rock and it will stand so when we use our time wisely with thought and with carefulness diligent with wisdom discernment self-control use our thoughts taking every thought captive might be a challenge for us to think about how often do we let our thoughts wander off and we don't take them captive and then they're off wandering in places where they shouldn't be and then there's sin and i don't i can't remember if it's jesus or the apostles but in the new testament says that we need to take every thought captive again there's probably this we could say well i could challenge everybody have we been taking every thought captive this morning none of us probably have a hundred percent but there's there's there's something about a direction a man takes that will will end up being his destiny and if a man purposed in his heart to follow god i i think there's safety and this is where my joy comes in of being here together and that we can challenge one another in these ways and i i don't really have anything new to share to anybody really i it's we all we all knew we all knew everything i said so but i don't know the men and i ministers used to say we're forgetful hearers and we forget and so we go through a life and things come up and we kind of forget and then we get upset and then we think we need this or we need that and and we worry about the future and we worry some people worry about the past and these are not good things to worry about jesus so let us not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will bring worries of its own today's trouble is enough for today so i thank god that we can live now live the time here and when i think of i sometimes have to remind myself and maybe others that can we can we handle right now or can we is it so terrible right now that we can't do the right thing make the right choice for this minute and well yeah we can we can make this minute and what if we continue walking in that light in that way pretty soon our whole life is gone and praise be to god if he was toward the light so let's make let's take thought of our time that's just another emphasis i guess like take thought of what we think take thought of other people take thought of god's will take thought of you know there's many things we could go on but um we have this time and uh that's my thought for now god bless you and feel free to share amen thank you brother i there's a number of places in the bible where it speaks about a double witness and the double witness was a confirmation um i think on monday no probably tuesday i started i started trying to gather my thoughts on what i was going to share and um i started out for a few days working on the subject of time so i find that really interesting that you you wanted to share that that's what you shared and then i just it was going to be too much or i just i don't know i'm not sure but i just ended up putting it to the side and i didn't want to worry about it i didn't want to sometimes i kind of get um i want to have something nice to but at the same time i can get over overwhelmed with with it too and so i just set it to the side and then i i didn't have anything up until last night and i just i said i'm not even worried about it i thought actually what i would do is just come here with nothing and see what happened because i always i always just really admired people that can do that i thought i'd just put myself into that awkward situation and see what happened but this morning i woke up and and i felt led to share that other thing but anyways to a few things that i that i did come across about time is well there's that scripture redeeming the time for the days are evil like there is it is something that we can redeem um it's really important that we do redeem it like you said and and another thing about time is is there's there's a right time and there's a wrong time to do something and in relation to that i think of the scripture today if you have heard his voice harden not your hearts like today is the day of salvation it's today it's not tomorrow it's it's not yesterday it's today what we do with today is really important and one more thing too is a quote it's really popular quote maybe you've heard it before but it's if i could share one thing with the children in this room that that if you could just lay hold of this quote even the young men and the young women and really lay it to heart and just think about it and ponder about it and it could really help you in the future but the quote is um procrastination is the thief of time so if you can just consider that you know what you're laying your hands to what you're doing with your time if you're just wasting it or you're procrastinating you're just you know i'll see that like sometimes i'll see my children they just it's time to do the dishes and they just want to do everything but the dishes and i try to tell them if you would just do the dishes it's easier than sitting around wasting your time worrying about having to do the dishes but anyways i i really appreciated what you shared god bless you yeah brother teo beat me to it so it's ephesians 5 verse 8 for you were once darkness but now you are light in the lord walk as children of light for the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth finding out what is acceptable to the lord and like teo pointed out i think i think it's been i think it's clear it should be clear and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them for it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret but all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light for whatever makes manifest is light therefore he says awake you who sleep arise from the dead and christ will give you light see then that you walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time because the days of evil therefore do not be unwise but understand what the will of the lord is amen brother walter time time tiempo tiempo uh why don't we just get all our secretary about worry worry and worrying i heard this said 30 maybe 40 years ago church of christ i know yeah close to 40 years ago let's get all our bills you know the bills of payments just put them on a table at nighttime and just sit over them and just sweat over them and just worry them and worry and see if they go away in the morning you know we just do some sleep and just worry over them and see see if they disappear when we could uh trust in the lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding and in the prayer group this morning i said to brother tyler as he's always maybe the last time i see you brethren you know canada's going down the tubes canada's all this the promises that he can do exceedingly abundantly more than we ask to think and so we'll see you soon brother you'll be part of this group down here permanently just a matter of time if we the large will we believe it and another thing brother walter you know you or entail you use the uh sermon amount from matthew five six and seven sermon in the plane be technical right in luke six it says when men uh shall persecute you and say revile you and speak say all evil things about you then leap with joy leap with joy you're holding up the sign and at springfield and they knock the sign down and they spit on us so when we go home we can leap for joy we're doing as well we're doing this well and we pray for those people too but we can leap for joy and we should leap for joy that we have uh trying to follow in the footsteps of the lord they persecuted him they're going to get us too the lord be magnified and everlasting joy therefore the belief of the lord shall return their heads and sorrow and morning shall be away therefore the redeemed of the lord shall return shall be is your praise This midnight and for hours still The man of sorrow's beating heart Yet he who lies in lying place shall Be not forsaken by his God This midnight and from evening's gleam Is born the song that angels know On her bright portals are the streams As streamlies in the Savior's womb This midnight and from evening's gleam Is born the song that angels know When endless life's transient dreams, When death's close arms dream, Shall o'er me roam, Blessing or dying love, Fear and distrust remove, Oh, can be safe above the ransomed soul. I will sing of my Redeemer, And His wondrous love to me, All the cruel cross He suffered, From the curse He set me free. I will sing of my Redeemer, And His wondrous love to me, All the cross He sealed my path, Made the dead and made me free. I will tell the wondrous story, How our Lord was made to say, In His boundless love and mercy, We the ransomed freely gave. I will sing of my Redeemer, And His wondrous love to me, All the cross He sealed my path, Made the dead and made me free. I will praise my dear Redeemer, His triumphant power I'll tell, How the victory in death, O'er sin and death endowed. I will sing of my Redeemer, And His wondrous love to me, All the cross He sealed my path, Made the dead and made me free. I will sing of my Redeemer, And His heavenly love to me, He from death to life hath brought me, Son of God, friend to me. I will sing of my Redeemer, And His wondrous love to me, All the cross He sealed my path, Made the dead and made me free. Once to every nation comes a moment to be signed, In the strife of truth with falsehood, For the good or evil's side. Some break up God's new Messiah, Offering each the blue or white, And the choice goes by forever, With the darkness and the light. And to sign with truth is noble, When we share her wretched cross, Ever God's great fame and profit, And His cross was to be just. Then it is the brave men choose us, While the cowards stand aside, To the altar to make virtue Of the faith they had denied. By the light of burning martyrs, Christ the living need we tread, Toiling, how new boundaries severed, With the cross that turns the bed. New vocations, speech to duties, Time makes ancient good and good, They must suffer still and onward, Who would keep the rest but truth. Though the cross of evil prosper, Yet the truth alone is found, Though her portion be the scaffold, And upon the ground be found, Yet the scaffold weighs the future, And behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadows, Fearing what's above His own. Amen.