Teague Bible Church

Teague Bible Church                                                                           Jimmy Petty      2014

TIME MANAGEMENT continued ….

The purpose of time management is not so that we can cram more into our schedule, but to defrag and rearrange our life to take away the wrong kind of stress and give back quality. Oddly enough, you end up with more free time than you had before. Would you be interested in that?

 

1.  PLANNING  is crucial to not wasting time or being

       distracted by worthless activity.

 

  JESUS’ EXAMPLE     John 7:6,  9:1-5,  17:4   

 

John 7:6  “,,, My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune.”

 

            9: 4  “ we must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day;

                          night is coming when no one can work.”

 

                17: 4  “I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work which

                              You have given Me to do.”

 

      Jesus was focused, but not rushed;

         He was on aware of the passing of time and used that little bit of time

              to stay on mission as you should be on your mission.

 

 

2.  It is important to extract the PRECIOUS from the WORTHLESS.

 

A. Set  PRIORITIES.   Find the precious

 

                    ( written before Lord Of The Rings- funny!)

 

Ex.  “The Lies We Believe” Dr. Chris Thurman – 

              “Lie number 6.  YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL” (youth group believed this!)

 

Ex.  Cosby show – Wonderful family both working 60 hours weeks, doctor and lawyer;

             can’t happen, something would have to give and that is

                usually “relationships”; things and activities win out.

 

Ex.  Man at Christian college-   Lawyer, teacher at college, traveled all the time. Admired for his busy life. Paid for it

                                                with his family!

 

POINT?  There will not be enough time to “do it all.”

 

   Life was not meant to be a string of meaningless activities.

 

Ex.  Mountain climbing/ Further up you go; the less things you carry.

           You must “lighten the load” to survive

 

B. Learn to say “no” to worthless things

 

Ex. Your “toxic” relative or friend wants to burn up an hour of time on the phone,

        griping, with no intention of changing anything.

 

3. As disciples of Jesus it is essential to THINK about how

      we allocate our time.

 

    “ Money comes and goes; time only comes by once.”

 

       (We want to come to the end of 2014 and say, “That was a year well spent!”)

 

 

4.  IMPORTANT is not equal to  = URGENT.

 

      The  * urgent things   tend to absorb our time so there is none left for the important! If you have no concept of “most important” vs. the “less important,” the urgent will manipulate your life. It may “seem” urgent, but what is really important?

 

{* Urgent things  =  Those things we feel like have to be done at that moment,

             not because they are truly urgent, but because we get stirred up emotionally

                  about it at the moment.  Later, on reflection, we see we missed a great

       opportunity if only we had established  a set of priorities before the

           emotion took over.}

 

Ex.  Mary and Martha   Luke 10:38-42

 

 Ex. Acts 24: 24-25

 “ But some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla,

     his wife, who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul and heard him speak about  faith in

      Christ Jesus. But as he was discussing righteousness, self-control, and the

         judgment to come, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for the

            present, and when I find time I will summon you.”

 

5. (Self- analysis question) –   Am I ‘spending time’ or

       INVESTING TIME in what will pay off

          in the long run?

 

Must be ‘people over things’ as a starting point.

 

              (What else pays off in the long run?)

 

              * You must see “helping others,” as not interruptions, but divine appointments

               *   Bible study

                 *  Build relationships, to show the love of Christ, and earn the right to witness.

                    *  Fellowship

                       *  PRAYER- (in detail later, no.9)

 

 

 

6. Every day is a GIFT from God. Be Thankful!

 

     ( You will see things others are blind to see. It is like being lifted up high on a mountain as seeing clearly the lay of the land below. Thankfulness is vision!)

 

 Phil. 4:6-8   “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication,

                          WITH THANKSGIVING, let your request be made known to God.

                             And  the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension,

                              will guard  your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

 

Usually thankful for things already done; so God helps us remember what

       He has already done, as a testimony to His care, to keep us from freaking out,

            in the  present and have hope for the future.

 

            Be a thankful person; anybody can whine.

 

 

 I Thessalonians 5:18  “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God

                                            for you in Christ Jesus.”

         

 

 James 4:13-16  

 

“Come now you who say, “today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then it vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.”

 

Be a thankful person. You can be thankful, with or without “feeling” thankful at the moment. It is not hypocritical to go against your feelings; it is hypocritical to go against the facts! You have been blessed; and you know it deep-down. Choose to be thankful!

 It opens your eyes to opportunity; gives a bigger view of situations.

 

7.  The key is to move through life with  PURPOSE and BALANCE.

 

   Colossians 4:5   

         “ Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.”  

 “make the most of the opportunity” =   lit. : “redeem the time”/  “to purchase the time”

 

Ex. Imagine if you had to start each week by purchasing, with money, sections of

              time for particular purposes.

 

 

8. Management of SELF, not time, is the problem.

It takes DISCIPLINE, (but habit soon takes over and it is less difficult- check paper attached to this one- “Habit”

 

      Ephesians 5:15-17

     “ Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of God is.” 

 

 

Gal. 5:23   fruit of the spirit is “self- control”

 

9. We have time to do exactly what God wants us to do. We need to decide if responsibilities are GOD-GIVEN or self- imposed; or imposed by the whims of others.

 

Ex.  Jesus’prayer life. With all He had to do, why did He take time to pray?

           Would not more “action” yield better results? NO!

 

          Luke 4:42, 5:16, 6:12, 9:18, 28, 11:1, 18:1 22: 31-32, 22: 39-45  

 

QUESTION:  How could Jesus be unhurried and get so much done? Prayer was priority!

 

Ex.   Blaise Pascal  1623-1662   “Why we stay busy’ ( natural , unredeemed man)

             “ Nothing is more intolerable to man than a state of complete repose, without desires, without work, without amusements, without occupation. In such a state he becomes aware of his nothingness, his abandonment, his inadequacy, his dependence, his futility. There at once wells up from the depths of his soul weariness, gloom, misery, exasperation, frustration, despair.”

 

 Sport, pleasure, entertainment and society are so often pursued not because they bring pleasure, but because they take men’s minds off themselves.

 

 

10. Make a lifelong study of how to better use your time.

 

       (Colossians. 4:5, Psalms 90:12, John 9:1-5, Ephesians 5:15-17)

 

Psalms 90:12  “ SO TEACH US TO NUMBER OUR DAYS THAT WE MAY

                             PRESENT TO YOU A HEART OF WISDOM”

 

*****************************************************************

 

ACTION STEP:  (application of no. 2 in notes)

 

Make a list of about 5 things you look back on as precious.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

 

 

Make a list of about 5 things you look back on as worthless.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.