R10.9! I hope this finds you well and encouraged. Praise God for the weather, eh? (but keep praying for rain!). Please read all of the below, blessings for your weekend, see you Sunday! 1. Remember this week were having a special focus on Compassion, who do a wonderful job sharing materially and spiritually in poor countries. There will be a particular chance to take on the responsibility of sponsorship, but even if thats not you right now Compassion is a ministry I want you to know about and build a relationship with that you will take with you when/if you go elsewhere. See you Sunday for a great night!! compassion.au/ https://youtube/watch?v=9x7ixSlwSjU 2. If youre not serving on a roster in any shape or form, I want you to ask yourself why. Church each week is like a regular family gathering. If you never do the dishes or mop the floor or whatever eventually its bad form. The new roster is not too far away, make sure youre putting your hand up. In the meantime, you can always just offer after church if you see someone doing stuff by themselves. 3. Last week I spoke about stewardship. See column below. But about redeeming time on the net, here are some places you should go before facebook/farmville/youtube/the net sewer (you should never go here!). - thegospelcoalition.org/ - desiringgod.org/ - https://bible.org/ - publicchristianity.org/ - Heaps of others... comment with your suggestions! 4. Back when flares were cool and goals at the footy were toe-poked, Pink Floyd had a song called Time. It always struck me as pretty sage, telling of the apparent endlessness of time when you’re young, such that you ‘fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way’. As billions can testify, however, this only goes so far: ‘And then one day you find ten years have got behind you. No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.’ As time goes on, ‘every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time. Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines.’ In the end, ‘The time is gone, the song is over, thought I’d something more to say’. Of course there are older poets lamenting the brevity of life. Psalm 103 is but one example: ‘As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more’. Do you feel this? You should! This is a constant reminder in God’s word to us - that our days are limited (numbered) and that we therefore need to use them well. It’s put this way in Ephesians: ‘Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is’ (5:15-17). The word for ‘make best use’ is literally ‘redeem’. The idea is that we rescue time we spend from bad use to good use. Last week at unechurch as we spoke about being a steward of what God gives us we focussed on money (into which a fair bit of our time is converted), but time is worthy of attention as well. In obedience to the Lord, then, you should ask yourself as you use time, ‘Am I walking obediently here? Am I being wise? Am I working hard at knowing what the Lord’s will is, so that I use time well?’ Hint: He’s told you everything you need to know for the above in His word (2 Tim 3:17). A quick suggestion- do a time audit. Seriously. You may be shocked at the time you fritter and waste on the net or in front of the box. How would you go about redeeming that time? Possible answer 1: turn it off. Possible answer 2: Google a good preachers sermons (eg: Simon Manchester, Tim Keller, John Piper). Remember though, the ultimate antidote to the slipperiness of time lies not in our own efforts, but the grace of Lord of time. Read Psalm 103:15-19.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 06:39:37 +0000
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