Time

In this message, we look at the stewardship of time, and its value now in light of eternity. Click here for the recording of this 12/28 Service, and you can fast-forward to 24:24 to get to the start of the sermon.

Psalm 31.15:

My times are in your hand;

Introduction

1. Time is the distance between events

2. It is a non-renewable commodity- once the day is over, you never get it back

3. Time is something you never have enough of

4. Generally, the older you are, the more you value it, because you have less of it than you ever had
   ”youth is wasted on the…”

• Personal conviction- it is a sin to waste time

• The proper use of time is a mark of intelligence, and the improper use, well…

Time in the Bible

• Et- time (of an event); time (usual); experiences, fortunes; occurrence, occasion

• Chronos- units of time- seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, millennia, eternity (many have no sense of eternity)

• Kairos- seasons of time, summer, adolescence, child-bearing years, empty nesters, the golden years

If we use time properly…

• When we are young- we benefit ourselves
  ex- trade school or college; a marketable skill; a work ethic, hustle; you turn all that into a living

• When we are old- we benefit others
  ex- investments, inheritance, the passing on of wisdom

• Wisdom is the product of good decisions, which is the product of experience, which is the product of bad decisions- Dobbins

Time wasters

1. Mindless TV

2. Much of social media

3. Shallow conversation

4. Unnecessary meetings

5. Multitasking

6. disorganization

7. Lack of delegation

8. Lack of prioritization

9. Lack of maintenance

10. Giving your time to things and people that don’t matter

A filter for the proper use of your day

• “If I knew that today were the last day of my life, how would I want to spend it?”

A sense of urgency and the important

• To few of us live with a sense of the urgent,

• and the important

• Ralph’s death has led to a renewed sense of both in me- hence, my Christmas eve remarks

• Cultural Christianity has a way of diminishing both

• Some of us don’t have as much time as we think

Plenty of time

• I got up on Sunday morning, went to the church at ten
  I listened to the words I'd heard time and time again
  The preacher spoke of simple lives, it seems he spoke of mine
  But I was young, and I have plenty of time

v2

• I walked on down life's pathway, living as I wished to live
  How to beat the other fellow how to get what life could give
  Making money isn't sinful, having fun is not a crime
  So I'll just wait, ‘cause I've got plenty of time
  

Chorus

• Plenty of time to decide where I'm bound
  To eternal darkness, or to heaven's grounds
  I'm just a young girl, not yet in my prime
  So I'll just wait, ‘cause I've got plenty of time

v3

• Before I knew what happened, life scenes had passed away
  And millions stood before God's throne, for it was judgement day
  Now eternal darkness beckons, and the name He calls is mine
  But I just thought, that I had plenty of time
  

reprise

• Eternity waits, I've got plenty of time
  To think of all the days, that Christ could have been mine
  Now my chance is over, earth's days have left behind
  now here am I, with plenty of time…
  Now I've got nothing, but plenty of time

Some practical advise for the Christian use of time

1. Are your times really in His hands?

2. Jesus said to live in, and focus on, the day- yesterday is gone, and tomorrow is not yet here, Mt 6.34

3. Either learn from the past, or repeat its mistakes

4. Be judicious about to whom, and to what, you give your time to- some are nothing more than time suckers

5. Plan, and hold it loosely

6. Organize- the more important it is, the more likely it is done before noon

7. See the way you use time as a form of worship

8. How will we use 2026 to advance the Kingdom on the 30 corridor here at Cornerstone? In your family?  In your life?