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May 11, 2021 2:00 am
Some people don't face the issue of time honestly, thinking they'll always have plenty of time, but that's not the case. In the message "Just Counting Time or Making Time Count?" Skip shares several ways that you can make your time on earth count.
This teaching is from the series Rock Solid.
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When you're young you think you have time. That will just go on and on your Google you get a few years under your belt and you realize time moves quickly. It is thought by most Bible, satyrs that Peter has his own lifetime in mind as he writes his words that he believes his martyrdom is right around the corner, feeling that he mentions in this paragraph time twice as were to be aware of if you heard the same time is more valuable than money can accumulate money only given so much time today on connect with Skip Heitzig Skip asked the crucial question what will you do with the time you have left. Now we want to tell you what an encouraging resource that inspires you to live with unyielding confidence in God, you know. Proverbs 31 go to passage that describes the ideal Christian woman in life. To be honest that ideal can be as intimidating as it is inspiring.
Here Skip I said, with more can I just tell you it's exhausting to just read that letter law.
However, women could you ever do that. Let me say first of all, you can't do that in a day is not giving the 24 hour description of the virtuous wife.
This is a woman over time to know some of the most incredible women in the Bible and in history to inspiring resources, six message CD collection from Pastor Skip on prominent women in Scripture.
The book 7 women by best-selling author Erica Texas. This bundle is our thanks when you get $35 or more to help expand the Bible teaching outreach of skintight sake charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
Call now to request these captivating resources as our thanks for your generous gift 800-922-1888 were given online securely connectwithskip.com/offer okay. First Peter chapter 4 Skip Heitzig starts to time. Time is something we are aware of it is something we count you have little devices on a riff so that we can be on time appreciated when the pastor ends on time.
We market. We have increments of time, seconds and minutes and hours and days and weeks and months all combined to make a year in our Western civilization.
We follow-up solar calendar. There's 365 days in the year or to be more precise, 365 days five hours 49 minutes and 12 seconds or if you prefer 8766 hours, or if you prefer 525,949 minutes ago asked me about seconds. That's a year you will have 79 of those in your lifetime.
That is, the average lifespan of the American 79 years of time I bring that up because one of the key thoughts of Peter in this paragraph of chapter 4 of his book is about time because time is a gift. It's a gift, but it's an elusive gift when you're young you think you have time. That will just go on and on your Google's of you get a few years under your belt and you realize time moves quickly.
It is thought by most Bible commentators that Peter has his own lifetime in mind as he writes these words that he believes his martyrdom is right around the corner and feeling that he mentions in this paragraph time twice as were to be aware of it, like Moses, who wrote in Psalm 90 teach us to number our days, that we might gain a heart of wisdom. Think of time like a coin. I found a coin I found a large one just for the sake of illustration. Your life is like this coin. That's time it's the only one you got. You decide what you to spend this don't let anybody spend it for you. This is your life, your time for you to spend as you wish. But here's my admonition to you don't just spend time investor time certainly don't waste time don't even spend time and learn to invest your time.
We even have a common phrase in our vernacular, we call it killing time would you do yesterday nothing just killing time we mean by that. It was a sword hanging out doing nothing helpful or beneficial.
But, as Henry David Thoreau once said, you can't kill time without injuring eternity. Time matters so in first Peter chapter 4 time is one of the key thoughts of Peter here's another key thought before even read the text. The will of God. He also mentions that twice.
So here's the overarching theme of this paragraph, which were about to read in whatever time you have left use it to do the will of God.
Let's look at first Peter chapter 4 verse one done verse six. Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he was suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men before the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime some translation simply say we spent enough time doing the will of the Gentiles.
When we walked in lewdness lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties and abominable idolatries in regard to these they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation speaking evil of you. They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. I title this message with the question, are you just counting time. Are you making time count using what we just read.
I want to suggest four ways really making time count whatever time you have left four ways to make your time count number one resist sin. It sounds like some a preacher would say resist sin.
Look what Peter says, verse one.
Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh you just talked about the sufferings of Jesus arm your selves.
Also with the same mind, for he who was suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that little phrase.
Arm yourself as a military phrase it's a military phrase of being prepared picture if you will, a soldier putting on his gear and getting ready to go into battle. That's the idea of the phrase. Arm yourself. However, our preparation is to take place, not outwardly as much is inwardly notice what it says. Arm yourself with the same mind. We would sake get your head in the game. Get your mind in the battle get mentally prepared for the fight you're about to get into. That's the idea for the believer. The battle always always begins in the realm of the mind before goes anywhere else. It's in our thought life.
That's why in chapter 1. If you recall, Peter, in verse 13 said, gird up the loins of your mind, be prepared mentally behavioral scientist for decades of told us that human behavior is determined by the subconscious mind. The writer of Proverbs agrees in Proverbs 23 verse seven as a man thinks in his heart, so is it so what kind of a mind. Do we need to listen to this, we need a militant attitude towards him.
We need an aggressive stand towards him.
We can never get used to it. We can never grow comfortable with it. We need a militant attitude toward sent or as Paul put it in Romans six.
Do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies that you should obey its desire hate it if you don't make time to battle sin. Sin will take time away from your life. We should resist sin not only because of what it does to us.
We should hate sin and resist it because of what it did to him. It killed him.
Notice what it says. Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh when I look at the cross. I am looking at what my sin did to my Savior. I need to arm myself with the same mind that Jesus and reminded Jesus have when he came, Jesus came to earth.
He had a militant attitude toward sin as proven by his steadfast movement toward the cross he came to deal with sin. He came to Diane across the letter it says in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem.
Like a soldier marching in the battle where he was going to deal with the problem of sin, so we have a relationship with sin. We all know it we all struggle with it. In that relationship.
What should be our goal. What is the ultimate aim it's in the text.
The answer that I I'm asking this question about is right in the text, but let me ask you what is our ultimate aim and goal when it comes to sent it's to stop doing it. It's to cease from it what it says for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. That is my ultimate goal. Newsflash ain't gonna happen on this earth, not to be fully done conquering that problem to you when I get in the glory. However, if ever there was a battle worth fighting this battle. If ever there was a fight that you need to be engaged in its despite you've heard it said before, choose your battles carefully will. Here's a battle you need to fight and you need to win you need to win more of these battles and lose them as God spoke to Cain. He said, sin is crouching at your door.
It desires to have you but you must master it.
James in the New Testament, said resist the devil, Jesus, to the 12 apostles. Pray that you enter not into temptation, and then he taught us to pray deliver us from the evil one.
All of that is his resistance pockets military language, fight it, resist it, push it away when the battle noticed a quick note before we move on suffering will help you do that.
If there is another benefit to throw out and say suffering is good for this. This is it because suffering you know this to be true. Get your attention like nothing else. And when it has your attention. It cuts away things that are worthless things that are superfluous certain activities you got engaged in. Suddenly when there's a huge amount of suffering that stuff just doesn't mean that much.
It tends to get cutaway. We all have rough edges, God uses suffering to transform and smooth and temperature live so so resist sin you want to make time count put that on the pallet resist sin. There's a second relish God's will of the first was negative.
This is positive resist sin that's negative, relish, or enjoy God's will.
That's positive. Verse two that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men but for the will of God. Noah gets right to the heart of what you and I will do with the rest of your time. How will you spend the rest of your time we put into this way the best of your time is when you use the rest of your time to invest your time in doing the will of God. Again, the best of your time is when you use the rest of your time to invest your time in doing the will of God. Let God's will be your lifelong pursuit you wanted adventurous journey you want a satisfying journey. Make sure the will of God is number one in your pursuit to quote what Jesus himself said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added in.
Did you know that the will of God for your life is the most important and exciting thing about her life. Might be good at a lot of things, but the most exciting thing about your life is when you discover what God wants from everyone said their two most important days in a person's life the day he was born. Number one and number two the day he finds out what is born for what is God want out of my life discover that make that your pursuit, your ambition now me just thought a warning here a lot of times when you say these words find the will of God for life, people, Christians especially like to misted size that they think it discover God's will, but service in the corner and just humming getting an impression maybe gods misspeak a voice to me or believe it or not some of tried, I would open my Bible that day and I'm just going to go like this go like this just to point to some random verse trusting the Holy Spirit will guide my finger Becomes God's will. Be very careful there some strange text in this book and Judas went out and hung himself go play roulette with this book have other story I told it to you before about a farmer who thought he should be an evangelist. He was working as field one day he plopped down by the side of the train is looking up at the clouds and he looked and he saw the clouds form what looked to him like two letters large P in a large sea and he thought he see Pete PC preach Christ.
That's it.
It's a sign he sold his farm became an evangelist. Problem is, is he was just a horrible speaker. So he's preaching one day in his town is there to Herriman was pretty sad.
Afterwards, one of his buddies came up to put his arm around him and said dude do you think that perhaps God was just using PC to tell you to plant corn plant corn. Be careful that you don't make the will of God so mystical because you might be doing that preaching when you are to be planting or planning when you are to be preaching.
Simply put, just pursue his will over against your will.
Make it your ambition to discover what that is and let that happen naturally it will happen supernaturally, naturally, don't to force it.
There is a God who was on a diet and he told his office. I want to guide you to hold me accountable, so he comes to work when they were this humongous coffeecake walks into the office with and they scold in the toilet when you're on a diet goes on and on. This is the will of God.
And so he tells the story he had changed his route to work so that he would go by the bakery with the long way around on his diet, but that day he happen to forget and drove right past the Baker's of them driving past the bakery and I looked in the window this thing was sitting right in the front window.
I knew it to be an accident. It's Providence so I pray the Lord official will for me to get that cake made there via a parking space right in front front of the window and he said, wouldn't you know it the eighth time around the block. There was a parking space work will of God.
I do want to say, however, the will of God is never a burden to blessing.
I know that when people hear the term will of God symbol got to be hard. Jesus is my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Johnson we obey his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. So the will of God is not an encumbrances and enablement that makes burdens light you want. Always know what is up to you want to.
He won't always reveal it, but you can rest that he knows best so resist sin, relish God's will is 1/3 renounce your past works come up to a point in your life and maybe today will be the point where you look back and you say enough is enough. That stuff gone. That's the old me that's the old lifestyle. I got some new going on. Verse three we have spent enough of our past lifetime and doing the will of the Gentiles. When we walked in lewdness, lust, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties and abominable idolatries in regard to these they think it's strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation speaking evil of you.
What a list my last week I spoke about baptism and did you know that in some denominations when you go to get baptized. There's a formality and you answer questions if you want to get baptized into that church of the clergy wants to ask you some questions and they want to hear your answer. Here's the first question do you renounce the devil and all his works.
The vein pomp and glory of this world with all the covetous desires of the same in the sinful desires of the flesh so that you will not follow nor be led by them.
That's the question and expect this answer. I renounce them all at the thought of this passage renounce all of these things on this list. They're not good for you they're not the will of God for you they're not what's best for you.
Remember the best of your time is when you use the rest of your time to invest your time in doing the will of God.
I went to that list and I could uncover the meaning of every single word, but I think it's pretty straightforward. He simply is saying we all wasted enough time doing bad stuff.
I look to the lesson. I thought you know I'm I knew people who did those things for a living.
I was there 9 to 5 and after workouts and the party really started for them. They were radical in their sin, but I also know some of those radical centers were interrupted by radical salvation. And when they were they all said the same thing enough. I'm done enough turning point time I've had enough of the past. Some of you look at that list in verse three lewdness loss, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, abominable idolatries. Some of you here can relate to one some of you can relate to all while others of you read that list and you cannot relate to a single one you grew up in a Christian family. You look at that those overt kind of obvious gross sins.
You never did those outwardly. You did an inwardly still sin going on. Nobody saw that it was just as evil now want to say some to you. I remember when I was growing up out the goes on 1819. I knew a kid was on 16. His name is Johnny. He was raised in a Christian home. Good parents. Great kid.
All of his life.
Going to church, loving the Lord.he heard all of our testimonies hear people say yeah I used to be a drug addict making because I was used to be a mass murderer and I got turned around all of these dramatic gnarly testimony.
I remember talking to one day and he said you know what I never had those experiences. Maybe I need to go out and send a little bit and get myself a dramatic testimony.
I said Johnny you have the most dramatic testimony that God can keep a person from a young age through a lifetime. Your testimony will encourage every parent raising any son or daughter if God can do that.
That's dramatic. Even I'm thankful but we we parade often ex-cons and ex-drug addicts and famous musicians returned to Christ right all good, but the keeping power to keep a life through a life that's power. Basically, no matter how much time you spent for the flesh, no matter how much time you spent for the devil enough time was 20 years.
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