MESSAGES
Demands of Commitment-Part III
From Egypt to the Promised Land
Overcoming Obstacles part - II
Overcoming Obstacles Part -III
Receiving the Promises of God -I
Receiving the Promises of God - II
Reformation: Going Beyond the Obvious
Well Done is Better Than Well Said
When the Church is Gone - Part II
When the Church is Gone - Part III
When the Church is Gone - Part IV
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TAKE TIME FOR GOD MATTHEW 6:25-34 Jesus here talking
to His disciples urges them not to worry about those things that
we call the necessities of life, food, clothing, water, and a
place to stay. He reminds them that none of God’s other
creatures worry about such matters.
Man whether saved or unsaved for the most part has not
quite figured out how not to worry.
But worrying is not what I want to focus on today.
Verse 33 says “But seek you first the In the hustle
and bustle of life as we live it, it is sometimes difficult to
find quality time to spend with God.
We get caught up in the many things that we must do each
day to keep life moving along as smoothly as possible.
We try to work, be students, participate in family activities,
fellowship with friends and be faithful, participating church
members all at the same time. Each one of us wears many different hats and
often we must switch hats many times within the same day. We live busy lives and our lives just get busier
and busier with each day. Spring
is here and summer is fast approaching.
For many of us spring and summer are great times of year. Not only is it warm and bright outside and many
look forward to vacation time, but many like spring and summer
because there are more daylight hours which translates for many
into more time to do stuff. Some
will say more family time, more time for outside events, more
time for fun activities. But few will say more time for God. In fact God probably gets shortchanged on time
in the summer. I want to
urge you this summer to “Take
Time For God.” Make an effort to slow yourself down and focus
on God. Refuse to race
through another summer. Put
the brakes on and take time for God.
I want to urge you to:
1.
Take time to ponder God’s
word. Joshua 1:8 As Joshua is commissioned by God to take
over as leader of the Children of Israel after the death of Moses,
God speaks these words to him.
Joshua is told that he is to meditate on the Book of the
Law both day and night. Many Christians neglect the Word of God. They may rush and read a few verses each day,
or even read the Bible just during Bible study or Church. Very few Christians take the time to ponder
God’s word as we should.
If we meditate on it, we will eventually do as it says
and when we do as it says we will have the promise spoken there;
“then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall
have good success.” PSALMS 119:11 David said he hid the word in his heart.
When you hid something you do not put it out in plain sight.
You store it away in a place of safety.
May Christians leave what little word they know right out
in front of the enemy so that he can steal it from them. How do
they do this? Well they fail to move the word from the surface
of their hearing or reading it down into the depths of their heart. MATTHEW 13:20-22 Reading the word without taking time
to meditate on it and ponder over its meaning we are simply casting
good seed on stony and thorn infested ground.
On the stony ground the seed can take no root.
To take root, the seed must be able to penetrate the ground,
breaking it up. If the
seed begins to germinate and the roots are forced to stay on the
surface of the ground, the roots will dry up in the heat and the
seed will die. If we simply
read the word without studying it, when the fiery trials of persecution,
temptations and misfortunes attack us, what we have read in the
word will not sustain us, because it never took root in us. It will die in the heat of persecution and we
along with it. It the heat
of persecutions, trials and temptations does not make the word
ineffective in our lives then the worries of this life will certainly
choke it out of us. To give the word roots we must learn to meditate
on it, to study it. What
does 2 Timothy PSALMS 119:44-48 Look at the blessing David says that
he experienced as a result of focusing on God’s word continually. He experienced freedom, mentally, emotionally
and physically. He could
speak of the work of God in his life even to high officials without
be ashamed. He was able to do as God requested in his word.
He drew hope from the word. The word became his comfort in the day of his
affliction. It renewed
his life. To be successful Christians we must take time
to ponder God’s word.
2.
We must take time to practice
God’s ways. Isaiah
2:3 God desires to teach us His ways so that
we can walk in them. He
says in Psalms 32:8 “I
will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should shall
go: I will guide you with mine eye.”
He will teach us. He does not expect us to know and understand
the minute that we get saved all that he desires for us to do. Salvation is a lifestyle of growth, a commitment
to constant change. As
the caterpillar goes through metamorphous to become the beautiful
butterfly and that only for a brief life, we who are sinners by
nature must likewise be changed if we are to experience the life
of God. As Christians we are to walk in God’s ways
as much as we know how and what we don’t know we should like
David in Psalm 25:4 pray “Show
me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.” Far too many Christians in today’s world
practice the ways of Satan more than the ways of God. Many are self-centered, inconsiderate of other,
unforgiving, filled with hostility, hatred and greed. These are not the ways of God. As Christians we should be kind, helpful, understanding,
forgiving, sensitive and considerate of the feelings of others
and filled with God’s love.
When we practice these things we deny ourselves and give
God’s will first place in our lives.
We are then practicing the ways of God. PSALMS 128:1 Blessed or happy is the person who walks
in the ways of God. When
we know that we are pleasing God we fill at peace, we feel safe
and protected. Proverbs 16:7 says “When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at
peace with him.” We know that taking on the character
of our father and walking in his ways will please him.
When we do this we have confidence that God stands with
us in the face of any battle and that he will make even our enemies
do what is right by us.
3.
We must take time for
God by possessing his will. Colossians
4:12 Epaphras prayed that the saints at Colosse
would stand perfect and complete in all of the will of God. In other words he prayed that as the saints
ended each day, they would have the confidence in themselves that
they had done all that was required of them for that day.
We are to desire to do God’s will for us above all
else. JOHN 5:30 Part of our problem is that we think
that we are suppose to make decisions.
Once we committed our lives to Christ we surrendered the
decision making responsibility over to God.
To make our own decisions is to seek our own will.
This is why Jesus was able to please the Father and to
complete his mission. Nothing
was more important to him than knowing and fulfilling God’s
will for him. He said in John 4:34 “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.”
What Jesus is saying here
is ‘what sustains my body is doing the will of God’.
How many of us can say that?
If we are going to please God and make it to heaven then
it will be important for us to not only be able to day as Jesus
said but also to do as Jesus did. MARK 8:34-35 Jesus says here, “if you are following
me then you must deny yourself.”
That is the life that Jesus lived, one of self denial.
The cross that we must bear is a life of self denial because
it is the one that Jesus bore.
In the garden when he prayed “not my will but thine
be done what he is saying is “I step away from what I want
to do and I choose to do what you would have me to do.” Sometimes as Christians we take seeking and
obeying the will of God much too lightly.
We think as long as we are not participating in some outward
sin or as long as we are at least trying to work on our bad habits
that we are alright with God.
MATTHEW 7:21 Who is going to enter into the kingdom
of heaven. Of course the
answer is those who do the will of God.
Note that it did not say those who do not sin, or those
who are diligently working on their bad habits.
But rather it said those who do the Father’s will.
The will of God involves more than just not sinning.
It involves a commitment to denying oneself and surrendering
to God. ROMANS 12:2 We are urged to renew our minds which
will in turn cause us to change our actions and allow us to discern
the will of God. We must
take time discern and obey the individual will of God for us.
4.
We must take time for
God by participating in His work.
John 9:4 Jesus, who was without sin and did everything
right was concerned about making sure He did the work that God
had for him to do. Recognizing
that his time here was limited, he saw an urgency about working
for God. Many times we lack that urgency, maybe because
we fill that we have plenty of time or maybe because we are just
too lazy or selfish to be concerned about what God wants. Failure to participate in God’s work is
evidence of a lack of commitment and a lack of concern. JAMES 1:22-25 It is the person who does the work commanded
by the Word of God who is blessed.
It is not enough to study the scriptures and know what
they say. We must also be committed to doing the work
of God. We must take time
for God by becoming involved in His Kingdom building, by being
faithful in fellowshipping with one another, and by participating
in the work of the Church. We must share Christ with the unsaved, for this
is the call and responsibility of everyone in the church. We must let the unsaved know that God loves
them just like they are, however, to live with God forever requires
that they repent of their and confess Jesus as savior and Lord. This summer and always make sure you
Take Time For God. |