JESUS CAME ON TIME
Jesus came right on time and will come again right on time.
Galatians 4:4, But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
UPS, USPS, FEDEX, nor any other delivery company has anything on the Lord. He has never been late or early. He is right on time; all of the time. When you think He’s late; He’s on time. When you think He’s early; He’s on time. When you have given up; He is just getting started.
Hey friend, take a little free advice, don’t give up on God! Jesus came the first-time, right on time. Jesus is coming again, right on time. And He will be right on time in your situation!
THE HOUR IS COME
Whatever God gives you to do, do it as well as you can. This is the best possible preparation for what he may want you to do next. -Macdonald
John 12:23, And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
Yes, these are some troublesome times we are living in. Abortion is okay. Homosexuality is widely accepted. Unforgiving hearts, fornication, disobedience, and the lists goes on and on. It’s like a live version of God’s Word is playing out right before our eyes!
You know what that means? It means we should uplift the name of Jesus even higher than we did last year, last week, even higher than we lifted the name of Jesus yesterday! The hour is come that every Child of God needs to let the Light of the Gospel shine brighter than ever before! The hour is come that we should glorify Jesus so that many will repent and trust Him as Saviour before it is too late!
TIC TOK
To the philosopher, time is one of the fundamental quantities. To the average man, time has something to do with dinner. -VanHorn
2 Corinthians 6:2, (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
The clock is ticking away; a second, a minute, an hour, a day, a month, a year, and before you know it you’re an old man wondering where all of the years went. One thing about it, time does not stand still! When you happy, the days fleet away. When you’re sad they seem to drag along. None the less, the clock still ticks.
What are you doing with the time God has given you? Are you investing it wisely? Do you put the time to good use? Do you grasp the moments to tell others about Jesus or do you pass them by with out a care? Make a conscientious decision this morning to tell someone about Jesus today. Share what He has done for you. It’s as simple as that. As one old Preacher said, we are just beggars telling another beggar where to find bread. The bread we have is the Bread of Life! Share it today!
I’VE GOT PLENTY OF TIME- NOT.
Do not believe that you are standing still; you are not. Your pulses each moment beat the funeral marches to the tomb. You are chained to the chariot of rolling time. There is no bridling of the steeds or leaping from the chariot. -Spurgeon
Psalm 90:12, So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
New Year’s Day is here and another year has passed. What did we do with the 8,760 hours the Lord gave us last year? Did we take some classes to enrich our knowledge? Did we increase our 401K in this awesome market? Did we spend time with friends and family? We need to understand, early on in our life, that we only have so many heartbeats in this life. We ought to use each beat to point others to Jesus! We ought to invest each one in something that will last throughout eternity. Evangelist C.T Studd penned a poem some time ago entitled, “Only one life”. For the final passage of each stanza he commented, “Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
We cannot do anything about this past year and we don’t have plenty of time. What we can do is ask the Lord to help us understand how valuable life is because we recognize that we are not guaranteed tomorrow.
LESS TIME OR WRONG PRIORITIES
Psalm 90:12, So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
The older I get the more it seems as if I have less and less time. Less time to pray, Less time to read my Bible, Less time to share the Good News of the Gospel, Less time for family, Less time for friends, Less time to do the most important things in this life. But the older I get I have also realized the things I find important, I will make time for!
Is there something robbing your time of prayer? What about reading His Word? What about spending time with friends and family? What about sharing the Gospel? What about going to church? Maybe, those things you think are important are not as important to you as you make them out to be! Maybe it’s time to reprioritize!
Did you plan on going to church this morning? If not, reprioritize! GET UP, GET READY, and GET GOING!
BE DEVOTED
The mark of a saint is not perfection, but consecration. A saint is not a man without faults, but a man who has given himself without reserve to God.
Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God. Joshua 14:8
We are all devoted to something; our family, our pets, our job, our leisure time, we spend time on so much but how much do we invest in? There is a difference between spending time and investing time. Spending time is when we give of our time in things that have no lasting goals. However, investing time is when we give of our time in things that will have eternal purposes. We invest time with the kids going to church. We spend time with the kids on the ball field. Sure you can take that time on the field and turn it into things that are eternal but for most it’s just time on the field!
Do we, like Joshua, have a devoted heart that we would say, “I wholly followed the Lord my God.”? If we do, we will be investing time with our loved ones, a lost, dying, and hurting world, and most importantly we will be investing time with our Saviour!
WHERE DID THE TIME GO?
To snatch the passing moment and examine it for signs of eternity is the noblest of occupations. –Halle
Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Colossians 4:5
Seems like yesterday, I was holding my son for the first time. Now, he is 28 and married. Did I invest my time with my children wisely or did I waste it on things that really don’t matter? Did I invest in them in light of eternity? Did I do all I could do?
We cannot go back and change how or what we did while our kids were growing up. All we can do is start living our lives in light of eternity—today!
DO WHAT YOU’RE GONNA DO WHILE YOU’VE GOT TIME TO DO IT!
I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. –Anonymous
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. James 4:14
There is 86,400 seconds in every single day, how are we investing them in something that will make a difference in our life and the lives of others? What are we doing that means anything in the light of eternity? Who are you impacting with the Gospel? In your area of influence, how is your testimony shining through?
Child of God, we don’t have as much time as we may think, so share the Good News of the Gospel while you have time! Make a difference by being the example God wants you to be to this lost, dying, and hurting generation!
TIME THIEVES
There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time. –Napoleon
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psalm 90:12
We have a lot of gadgets to rob us of our time these days. Smart phones, computers, smart watches, video games, internet radio, and the old television will rob more time for us than you can shake a stick at. It seems as if Satan has more ways to keep us busy doing nothing than we have ever had in history.
I recently noticed a new feature on my phone; it tells me how long I have been using it each week. I was amazed at the amount of time I was using it on social network sights. So what’s a man to do, make a commitment to the Lord and adjust the amount of time spent on them!
Have you been wasting time on your go to gadget? Make a commitment to spend less time on that and more time serving others. Make a commitment to spend more time in your Bible! Make more time with your family! Get the drift? Number your days that you may apply your heart to wisdom!
HOW ABOUT A BUDGET?
When we budget our (time, talents, and treasures) we can give more.
A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. Proverbs 28:20
I often wonder about the man or woman who sets a priority on making a buck rather than making it to church. I believe they have their desires set in the wrong place, mainly on their bank account, material wealth, or pride in having a wallet full of cash to show friends.
Christian, I am often reminded of Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” You want to be able to send your kids to college, budget your tithe first and God will provide. You want to be debt free, budget your talents for God first and He will supply! You want to have the abundant life of peace; seek God first budgeting your time, talents, and treasures all for Him! If you do, you’ll have more to give to your kids, to the poor, to the Lord!
WHERE WILL YOU SPEND ETERNITY?
We have to live but one day at a time, but we are living for eternity in that one day.–Anonymous
He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 1 John 5:12
Someone once said, “You are now become what you will one day be.” Many would like to think, what they do today has no impact on what they do tomorrow. That is far from the case friend! What you are seeing with your eyes, hearing with your ears, smelling with your nose, and touching with your hands, will influence your future actions! What I smell today at the restaurant will impact what I order next time. What I see on the computer today will direct my clicks tomorrow. What I hear on the radio today will guide my tuning tomorrow. What I touch with my hands today will either keep me in check or may land me in jail.
Friend, what you do with the Gospel message today will impact you for eternity! We are not guaranteed tomorrow. We may not even alive. We may be in a accident, in the hospital, or may even be unidentifiable. Where will you spend eternity if today was your last day on Earth?
WASTING TIME
Only one life, 'twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last. When this bright world would tempt me sore, When Satan would a victory score; When self would seek to have its way, Then help me Lord with joy to say; Only one life, 'twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last.—C.T Studd
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. James 4:14
Life is fleeting away before us. We sleep it away, play it away, and work it away. People are lost and dying, slipping off into an eternity without Christ. What did you do for Jesus yesterday? What will you do for Jesus today? What will you invest for Him tomorrow? Tomorrow is no guarantee so you better get bust today!
TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK…
Do not believe that you are standing still; you are not. Your pulses each moment beat the funeral marches to the tomb. You are chained to the chariot of rolling time. There is no bridling of the steeds or leaping from the chariot. –Spurgeon
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. James 4:14
Each time a family member, co-worker, or former classmate passes I am reminded of how short life is. With each tic of the clock, opportunities are passing before our lives; for some, the opportunity to be saved. For others, the opportunity to see someone else get saved! Whatever the opportunity you have before you today, do not be so naive thinking you have another day to waste. The clock is ticking and before you know it life will be over and it will be too late to be saved or see someone get saved!