2006-12-31 - Just enough time - Ecc 3 1-15
Message: Just Enough Time Newport Baptist Church
Scr: Ecc 3:1-15 Date: 2006-12-31
Intro: you have the same 24 hours in a day as everybody else, the same 24 hours that the prime minister has in his day and he has a country to run. God doesn't give some people 30 hour days and other people 10 hour days, every one of us gets 24 hours in our day, and every hour has 60 minutes in, and every minute has 60 seconds in it. We all get the same amount of time in our day, and each one of us will determine how we are going to spend those hours.
· Someone once said, "we waste our time as if it were as worthless as money." But you can always make more money, time when it's gone it's gone forever.
· Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes 3 that there is a time for everything in our life. This may seem like a simplistic approach in a hurried frantic hectic lives, but the Bible tells us that there is time for us to do everything necessary in life but we have to decide what is important enough for us to take time for.
· Many of us are like the lady who had a poem on her fridge, and someone once asked her what it was and she said "it tells me how I need to reevaluate my life, it starts with, Lord slow me down, but I haven't had time to read the rest.
· Everyone of us has an equal amount of time, the only difference between us is how we choose to spend it. Each week brings 168 hours, no more, no less. We'll spend about 56 of those hours sleeping, 28 hours eating and attending to her personal needs, and another 40 to 50 hours earning a living. That means is 30 to 40 hours a week that we get to choose what we want to do. The problem is we often permit the urgent things to crowd out the most important things in life.
· Ever seen those expert jugglers that can spin plates on those Little sticks. Debbie and I went to school with a friend of ours who does juggling and entertaining for living and he once saw him perform and he had about 20 plates spinning simultaneously. The pace was frantic he had to continually move from right to fight not spending much time of any of them are just working to keep them all upright they wouldn't fall off and smash. I think we feel like that sometimes. We juggle our families and their careers, our social and our moral obligations, but children are parents our spouse the bills fixing the car mowing the lawn doing the laundry homework and even church. We do it all as fast as we can in an effort just to keep the plates all spinning the tour finally so exhausted that we can't do it any longer and it all comes crashing down
READ ECCLESIASTES 3:1-15
Explanation – Solomon! –Had started out his reign asking God for wisdom, which he was given along with wealth and power.
Ironically, he abandoned wisdom –
700 wives, 300 concubines – think of all those mother-in-laws
came to the end of his life and wrote ecclesiastes 1:2 – meaningless!
TS – Not much time
3:1 For everything there is an appointed time, and an appropriate time for every activity on earth:
Life is short! 75 years -27375 days to live what will we do with it?
This morning I want us to think about two things…. First… time is short… second, because it is… make a choice
Time is short
a) A Time for All Events in Life v1-8
b) Man is Ignorant of God’s Timing v9-11
c) Enjoy Life in the Present v12-13
d) God’s Sovereignty v 14-15
A group of friends went deer hunting and paired off in twos for the day. That night one of the hunters returned alone, staggering under an eight point buck.
"Where’s Harry?"
"Harry had a stroke of some kind. He’s a couple of miles back up the trail.”
"You left Harry laying there, and carried the deer back?"
"A tough call," nodded the hunter, "but I figured no one is going to steal Harry."
2) Make a Choice – 2 choices – our way or God’s way?
a) Choose our way – Time is short – eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die? Hollywood! Michael Jordan getting a divorce after 16 years!
i) Challenge – read the whole book of ecclesiastes!
ii) Solomon Realized that real meaning was not found in wisdom, pleasure, work, advancement, riches.
(1) Had wisdom
(2) Had wealth
(3) Had relationships – 700 wives!
iii) Ch 1v2 – Meaningless!
b) Choose God’s way
i) Solomon - Ecc 12:13 – Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter; fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
ii) Real meaning for life is found in God alone
(1) There is enough time to accomplish everything that needs to be done. But it won’t happen unless we go get it.
(2) I saw a sign once that said: “God has put everyone on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now, I’m so far behind, I’m going to live forever.” But that’s not true – if we fail to accomplish what God planned for our lives, we die anyway!
(3) How many of you want to do something with your life that LASTS? Well, here’s a great place to start: Ecclesiastes 3:14 “I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever.”
iii) Choose God
(1) Problem and solution - Romans 3:23-24 - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
(2) How - Romans 10:9-13 - if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
(a) Life! Time! Make a choice!
iv) Gain the victory –
(1) Romans 8:37 No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us! 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(2) Fans of the American Wild West will find in a Deadwood, South Dakota museum this inscription left by a beleaguered prospector: "I lost my gun. I lost my horse. I am out of food. The Indians are after me. But I’ve got all the gold I can carry!"
v) MAKE A CHOICE!
Conclusion - Time is short! - priorities are crucial. Priorities determine:
1. Your success vs. failure.
2. Your fulfillment vs. emptiness.
3. Your home in heaven vs. hell.
4. Your effectiveness vs. frustration.
Its almost funny when the primary things are made secondary. Victor Borge told about a couple going on vacation, standing in line waiting to check their bags at the airline counter.
The husband said to the wife, "I wish we had brought the piano."
The wife said, "Why? We’ve got sixteen bags already!"
The husband said, "Yes, I know-- but the tickets are on the piano!"
The end of 2006… some of you are surprised to see it… some are saying where did the year go… some are thinking about the resolutions they made last year and failed to keep…
This is the year I turn 37… I expect my wife is bracing herself for my mid-life crisis… apparently its due to happen soon J
My son will turn 12 (almost a teenager!), my daughter, 16 (driving and dating?????)
I’m at the point in my life where I’m beginning to realize just how short life really is… how much it matters how I spend it…
Make a choice my friends. The rat race is not going to go away… the spinning plates appear to multiply the older I get… perhaps its time to let some fall…
Which plates will you spin?
Time is short… make a choice…
If you haven’t yet invited Christ to save you now is the time… make a choice
If you have made that step, how will you serve him?
Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, wrestled with time and the choices he had made and came to a conclusion
Solomon - Ecc 12:13 – Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter; fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
Prayer –