Sermon Tone Analysis

Opening

How many hours do we have each week?

My 168 hours a week is exactly equal to your 168 hours a week

Have you watch the movie of Justin Timberlake in 2011 entitled “In Time”?

In that movie, people are killing each other to gain more of “time”

I don’t believe that any of you here will dare to kill in exchange for “time”, but, many of us here are dying to have more time

As your alarm clock wakes you up in the morning, you start keeping watch of time through out the day

In most days we are on our toes trying to beat time | trying to beat our schedules

BREATHE!

Did you know that most Americans only have 8 hours or less per week on leisure?

No one in this room are living a balanced life, though, it’s everyone’s goal to live a balanced life

People are working very hard to keep things balanced

BREATHE!

God loves BALANCE

The entire universe is in perfect balance

The planet earth is in perfect balance, if our planet is tilted even just by 1 degree on either side, we will either be toasted or frosted

Our human body itself, created by God is in perfect balance

We have 11 systems in our body and they are in perfect balance with each other when created by God

Circulatory

Digestive

Mascular

Respiratory

Skeletal

Reproductive

Nervous

Nervous

Urinary

Urinary

Immune

Endocrine

Exocrine

Engineering is also about balance

If a bridge or a building is not balanced, it will collapse

So with our lives, if we are not “LIVING A BALANCED LIFE”, we will collapse

BREATHE!

Pericopes:

Jesus loves BALANCE

When He was anointed by a sinful woman with an alabaster jar of perfume, the Pharisee once more incited doubts about His divinity being the true Son of God for not knowing that this lady who anointed Him was a sinful woman (Luke 7:36-50)

So Jesus answered Simon (a pharisee, not His disciple) using another parable (parable of two debtor)

One person owing a money lender 500 denarii, and the other 50 denarii, and they both do not have the money to payback, so the money lender forgave the debts of both

Jesus asked, who among these two will love the money lender more?

Simon, the Pharisee answered, “I suppose the one who had bigger debt forgiven”

You are right, Jesus said

Jesus loves balance, He equates debt, forgiveness and love

BREATHE!

Again, at the house of Martha and Mary ()

Mary sat down at the Lord’s feet listening to everything He said, while Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made

Then Martha started complaining, Lord tell Mary to help me out

But Jesus said

Luke 10

Jesus loves balance, He equates work & rest in His presence

BREATHE!

God is concerned about your balance in life

If you live unbalanced life, you’re out of God’s will

How do you balance your time?

Text: Living a Balanced Life

Jesus said in , My yoke is easy and my burden is light

If our burden is heavy, it’s not from God

Even though our problems are heavy, they become light if we are with God

We don’t say... “God, I have a very big problem”, but instead we say, “Problem, I have a very big God”

It is not God’s will if things are difficult for us

On the contrary, it is God’s will for us to live a balanced life

BREATHE!

There was a lot of mixed emotions when we bought our house early this year

As responsible stewards of God’s blessings, we went over our finances, we’ve gone through our numbers

Knowing God’s will is like understanding a constellation up in the universe, we have to connect the stars

God’s will is revealed to us through prayers, time spent in the Word, listening to sermons, attending Life Group meetings and simply being silent in His presence

God speaks to us using TCP:

Timing

Circumstances

People

I personally believed that it was God’s will for us to purchase that house, however, for a couple of months (March & April), I was thrown out of my balance

I am guilty and I confess, that in those two months, I was kinda thrown off balance | off course

I deviated from my healthy balanced routine

Some of my time serving the Lord was snatched by the process

The process also stole my time to workout, that’s why everyone noticed me dragging my bulging belly all over the place

I got sick multiple times within a short period, and I was even rushed to ER stealing my wonderful time with the church family during the summer camp

I was guilty, and I was convicted by the Spirit

By God’s Blessings, I Bounced Back to Balance

and I’ve learned 7 Biblical Principles in Living a Balanced Life

And I want to share half of these principles to you today, and the other half on next Sunday

BREATHE!

1. Build my life around Christ

Your life is build around something

It could be your work, assets, career

The center of your life is very important

Solid center means solid life

If you feel that you’re life is falling apart.

it is because you have a faulty center

Just like balancing your car wheel

The hub holds the pieces together

Whatever you put in the center of your life will influence your life

It all starts from inside out, outward not inward

2. Accept my Humanity

Stop trying to pretend that you’re God

That you can meet every need

That you can solve everyone’s problem

We have to recognize that we have limitations and we are human beings

When you play God, you always end up overworking

2 Corinthians