Speaker1: [00:00:01] Well. Good morning. Welcome. Welcome to Grace Live Church. So glad to each one of you here this morning. Those of you who are joining us by way of Facebook or YouTube or how you're joining us or listening at another time on another platform, we're glad that you're here with us today, and we are going to talk about some things in our last service that we're going to be together here at Grace church that I know of. I'm available tomorrow if y'all want to get together. But anyway. So but our last service here together 2029. How how wonderful it is. God has done some amazing things. In the year 2024. You say? Well, it wasn't my best year. Well, it's not over yet. It's not over yet. I mean, what can God do in one day? In one day? And so, you know, there's things that we need to think about concerning the new year that's coming in here. And in a couple of days, I mean, we know this, that all things are made new. He didn't say all things are made easy. He said all things are made new. And so how many of you might have run into some things in 24? That wasn't all easy. Well, but all things are possible. He didn't say all things are possible if they were easy. He just said all things are possible. So he when he says that he's already qualified it. So there's nothing.
Speaker1: [00:01:21] If all things are possible, then there's nothing that's impossible to you. Is that right? Amen. So, in other words, to lay hold of what God has for us in 24. We gotta let go. Or 25. We gotta let go of whatever we need to let go of in 24. We can't drag our past into our, you know, into our new year and hope for a better outcome. If there's things, you know, the Paul said, forgetting those things which are behind and pressing toward the mark. Some people don't press. Some people get depressed. They get discontented. They get discouraged. They're in the disease. But if you're in the distance, you're going to be in all the misses. You're going to miss everything that God has for you. So anything that didn't turn out just as lovely as you want to, then we're going to forget about that. And we're going to begin to press on and we're going to see all things made new. And in 2025, you know, how you exit is how you enter. If you exit a place depressed and hopeless, you don't enter in full of joy. You got to make a decision. You got to make a choice. You got to cut things off. You got to tie things off. You got to walk away. Not everyone's going to agree with you. Have you figured that out? Not everyone likes you as much as your mother likes you. I mean, you know, your mother had to like you, I suppose.
Speaker1: [00:02:37] Well, she didn't have to, but she probably did. Not everyone's going to always agree with you. People who don't respect you can't receive from you. Amen. People who don't respect you as a person cannot receive anything from you. Amen. Amen. So we just love them and keep on moving forward. Amen. Now I have I have a very purposeful meeting service today and we might cover a good bit of ground. If you're making notes, I don't think you'll be able to make it in the time that I'm giving it out, but that doesn't matter. We got so many ways to go and get it again. There's no excuse for it. And so if you're looking for a title, it's it's called a new year, a new you aligning time with purpose, a new year, a new you aligning time with purpose. I didn't grind this out. Last night before the sun went down. I kind of ground grind it out through the week to get it where it was. Felt like God wanted me to go with it. And we're going to talk about time and purpose, but I think, you know, it looks like I didn't realize it until maybe last night. Look at this morning. I think I have more in here about time than I do purpose. But but we'll get to purpose. And the reason why this is important Is because we have to understand the time.
Speaker1: [00:03:56] We have to understand the season that we're in. I've watched a lot of people through the years who, who, who didn't understand their season. And every one of us here has a season of life. We have a time and we have to discern what is your season in life. And if you don't, you'll then you'll miss discern and then you'll, you'll you'll miss your opportunity. I mean, there's things that you might have did in life. And they were fun to do and and we did that. But, you know, you might have been bungee jumping, you know, in your teens and your 20s and 30s, but it probably won't look that cool for people in their 90s. And if you just started in your 90s, you know something, you might get a catch and you get along and they might not ever be able to work it out. It's because you did it in the wrong season. There's people who move or or they don't move. Or do they upsize or downsize? Sometimes they miss their season because they're unwilling to change. Change is always going to be here. But that's the one thing that that most people they have the hardest time with because we're creatures of habit. We we sometimes we complain about things, but we're comfortable sometimes with even being uncomfortable. We like to talk about what we like, but we're not willing to do as much about it.
Speaker1: [00:05:06] But I'm not talking to you because people here don't. They don't like to think that way anyway. So. Anyway, so a new year, a new you, a line in time with purpose. I'm going to give you some scriptures and, and so we're going to talk about probably more about time than we do purpose. But we'll get to all of it. James 414 says, James says what is your life? For your life is a vapor that appears for a little time, then it vanishes away. So he asked the question, so what is your life? What's it going to be about? What's it going to look like? He wants you to understand that in the in the scheme of things, that our, our time here on earth is very brief. Very brief. Sometimes we we understand that. Sometimes we say, you know, time just seems to fly. Those other times it seems like a day won't end. Like a week won't end. But it's really not true. The thing that we have in common with the, the, the good people on the earth, the evil people, on the people on the earth, the people that's homeless, the people that's rich, the people that's poor, the people that's mediocre is we all have 24 hours. We all have that in common. It doesn't matter what part of the of the earth that you're on. On this planet. We all have 24 hours. We have different time zones, but still 24 hours.
Speaker1: [00:06:26] And so James asked the question of us and what he's saying is, do you understand time? Do you understand your season? Do you understand how much time that you have? Do you not understand that your time on earth, in the scheme of eternity, will be just like a vapor? And then job 1402 in the ERV says, our life is like a flower that grows quickly and then dies away. Our life is like a shadow that is here for a short time and then it's gone. I mean, how many? You know, we sometimes we watched our shadow follow us. But it didn't follow you that long, did it? All you had to do is make a jig and a jig and it took off. Ecclesiastes 311 says, he has made everything beautiful in his time. And God has set eternity in the human heart. Yet no man has fathomed what God has done from the beginning to the end. We're going to get into that statement and others a little bit in just a few minutes. But I want to say this, that God has creative purposes, if you will just allow me, because I want to get a lot of material to you so that we can hit 2025 running. This is not supposed to be inspirational as much as it is thought provoking today. We need all of it. We need Inspiration. We need information. Some people need to be.
Speaker1: [00:07:52] They need perspiration or aspiration. But today's more information is thought provoking. So God created every person on the planet to do something special, something unique, something that he wants done on Earth. Now, I didn't say what you want done on earth, I said, but God created every person and had a design on us. And in Ephesians one verse 11 and the message it said, it is Christ that we find out who we are. It's in Christ that we know what we're living for long before we first heard of Christ. He had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living. Part of the overall purpose. He is working out in everything and everyone. So long before time began, he was looking at you and you wasn't looking at him. He had a plan for you and you had no plans about him whatsoever. And so there's something that he wants done in your lifetime. There's something that he wants you to do. There's something if that if you don't do it, no one on earth will be able to do it just like you, because no one will ever be you. You may have things similar, but they'll never be. They'll never be done just like God intended them to be done if you don't do them. So purpose is when you know, and purpose is when you know and understand what you are born to accomplish. When you know and understand why you're here and what you're born to accomplish.
Speaker1: [00:09:22] It's been said that the greatest tragedy in life is not death, but a life lived without a purpose. Where are the richest people in the earth? They tell us. Well, it's not the Cayman Islands. It's not in the Bahamas. The richest place in the whole world that tell us is the graveyard where dreams go to die? Where people who never understood their purpose and lived a natural life all their life. Never ventured out and found the reason of why they were here. Some of them people were to write books. Some of them were supposed to be nurses. Some were supposed to be doctors and lawyers. Some were supposed to be real estate developers. Some were supposed to write poems. Some were supposed to do a lot of things that they never got to. Never even discovered that because they got busy doing something called life. They fell into a groove. And they maintained that groove their whole life, and they lived their whole life to live a natural life. And the end came quicker than what they ever knew. And then they went to their deathbed many times with regrets. I've been with people, obviously as a minister, with people, and not a whole lot of people. I'm thankful for that, but I've been with people when they would speak to me at the end of their life, and it was a sad thing when they began to tell me their regrets, the things that they thought was important.
Speaker1: [00:10:57] But when at the end they realized it had no importance at all. No one's going to care about your golf swing or your golf score. No one's going to care that you caught the biggest fish, or killed the biggest deer or the biggest rack. No one's going to care about that because it means nothing. It means absolutely nothing. It has no eternal value. So without God, life has no purpose. Would you all agree with that? Really has no purpose at all. Without God, there's no without meaning. Because life has no without. God has no significance and it has no hope. I was reading a couple of places in job, job seven and six in the Living Bible and job 716 in the TeV, And it said job complained. Imagine someone complaining. But job complained he had a few problems for a little while. Theologians said it lasted about nine months. Most people will live it out in two lifetimes. But nine months? Then he everything he had double. Job said my life drags by day after hopeless day. He said, I'm tired of living. Leave me alone. My life is fleeing away. I would say that was a bad day for job. He was one of those dis days. Discouraged. Depressed. Right? His life. His wife was telling him, you know, you know, this is awful.
Speaker1: [00:12:23] I mean, the God that you love has done this to you. Just curse God and die. Not a lot of good counsel there. He told her to maybe that's who he was telling to leave me alone, I don't know. Maybe he meant leave me alone or your life will be fleeing away. I don't know. But life on earth is a temporary assignment. I hope you get that. Your life, the time that you'll be here is a temporary assignment in Psalms 39 four inches the NLT. It says, Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered in that life. That my life is fleeing away. Psalms one 1919. The TeV says I'm on earth, but just for a little while. There's three truths. There's there's several them. But I'm going to give you three truths to make maybe the best use of our time on earth. They're real simple. Number one is we need to compare to eternity. Life is incredibly brief compared to eternity. Number two, Earth is only a temporary residence. This is actually not even your home, is it? And number three, you won't be here long, so don't form attachments. And then we should ask God to help us see life on earth. The way that he sees life on earth for you. That could help us immeasurably. You know, David prayed in Psalms one 3916. In the message translation he said, Lord, help me to realize how brief my time on earth would be.
Speaker1: [00:14:07] Help me to know that I'm here. But for a moment. But for a moment. David said, you know, the Bible uses terms such as to give us our time on earth, as the Bible calls us aliens, pilgrims, foreigners, strangers, visitors, travelers. I don't know if you ever thought of yourself as an alien, but you are. You're a foreigner. You're a stranger. Your time on this planet is as a traveler. David said in Psalms one 1919, again, I am but a foreigner on earth. So that's why we don't form attachments. That's why when you go visit the family, you know, in the next state over, you don't take everything in the house. You just take a few things from the house because you're going to be there for a brief time. Generally they say, how long are y'all going to be able to stay? Yeah. But anyway, Peter said in first Peter 117 in the GWP he said, if you call God your father. Live your life as temporary residence on earth. He said, If God is your father and you have understanding about such things as purpose and time. He said, if you call God your father, then you would know how to live your life as temporary residence on earth. We're not setting up shop, guys. And I believe the Bible is very clear on this. The Bible says that we are ambassadors for Christ, that we must never lose sight of that understanding.
Speaker1: [00:15:38] That way we won't betray our king and we won't betray his kingdom. How many know we've been bought with a price? Amen. The Bible says you don't belong to yourself, that you died with him. And you must be raised to a new life. Not your old life, but your new life. Not your old self, but your new self, because everything has become new. So we're instructed, we're instructed to walk into the newness of life. The Scripture says, The Christ life, the in him life, the by him life, the through him life. Catherine said, God is not looking for gold in vessels or silver vessels, but he's looking for yielded, willing vessels. That's what he's looking for. He's not looking for special people. He's not looking for someone who won the Olympics. Got the bronze or silver or the gold. He's looking for ordinary people who will yield to him, who is willing to walk with him. In first Peter 211. The message that says, friends, this world is not your home. So don't make yourself cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Wow. In first Corinthians 731, in the passion it says, we are to live as those who live. We are to live as those who live in the world, but not absorbed by it. For the world we know is quickly passing away.
Speaker1: [00:17:02] That's a mouthful. Second Corinthians 418 says, the things which we now see here today will be gone tomorrow, but the things that we can't see will last forever. Can you see a common theme of everything that I'm reading is telling you what is real and what is eternal, and what is temporary, so that we can form the right mindset to understand that our time here is very brief. So he begs to differ with this and says, so what are you going to do with that time? That is very brief if it is brief. C.s. Lewis said these things, realizing that life on Earth is just a temporary assignment should radically alter your values. He was talking about eternal values. He said eternal values should become the deciding factors for your decisions. Continued, he said, in order to keep you from becoming too attached to earth, God has filled you with a certain amount of discontent and dissatisfaction in life that you're not completely happy because we are not supposed to be. Earth is not your final home. You are created for something much better. That's why you're not completely happy because you're not home. He said a fish would not be made happy on land because it's made for water. He said an eagle would not be satisfied if it was cooped up because it would not be allowed to fly. He said you'll never feel completely satisfied on earth because you're made for more.
Speaker1: [00:18:28] Because Earth is not your home. He said you'll enjoy happy moments on life on earth, but nothing, I repeat, nothing, can compare to the glory and splendor that awaits you in heaven, living in God's presence. To live this way with an understanding of what we're talking about, of purpose and time, it will require of you a commitment. Commitment is a choice. It won't be thrust upon you. No one will make you do it. God certainly won't make you do it. Hayden Robinson said, you invest your life in something or you'll throw it away on nothing. Sobering statements. Time is a universal gift. It's the most precious commodity that we have today. You have nothing any more precious than time. It's time is a gift. From who? God. The question is, how will we utilize this precious gift? Because we can't get it back. Psalms 9012 says, teach us to number our days, that we may gain a harvest of wisdom. So the psalmist says, Lord, teach us to understand our season. Teach us to understand our time on earth so that we gain the heart of wisdom to live accordingly. As an illustration, you've heard this before, that it says, imagine that each day someone gives you $86,400. But actually what I'm talking about is 86,400 seconds in a day. But if it was $86,400, it has stipulations. You can't carry it over. So you would have to spend it wisely. In other words, you can't spend half of it and say, I'm going to give it tomorrow and go shopping.
Speaker1: [00:20:18] No. It's gone. Some of us think we could spend $86,400 a day, and we probably could for several days. But even after a while that would become tiresome. You wouldn't have time to play with the toys because you have to keep on spending. You wouldn't have anyone to play with because they're at work or doing something different. But the fun and joy and the satisfaction that we thought that we would have would become mundane. You see, you can't live in one house at a time. You can only drive one car at a time. You can only. You can eat a steak every day, but you can't eat three of them at one time. You can eat them one, two and three. You can't be on three different vacations at one time. You only have one life to live. So what will you do with your one and only life? So knowing this, then we should reflect daily on how we spend our time. The question is, are you investing your time of things, of eternal value. Eternal value. The Bible says redeem the time, doesn't it? Redeeming means buying back what matters most or buying up what matters most. How do we make the best use of our time? Well. Ephesians. I'm sorry. Second Corinthians six. I'm sorry. Second Corinthians five, verse ten. And the ESV says it this way.
Speaker1: [00:21:48] This is a very how many believe the Scripture is true, and if it says something, it's going to happen. How many believe it will happen? Amen. Watch this. Think about this. Second Corinthians 510 says, we must all appear. Not might appear. We will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And each one of you will receive what is due for what you've done in your body, whether good or evil. We will all stand before him and give an account of what we have done, whether good or whether it's evil. Now listen to the amplified. I never read this. If I did, I'd just I didn't. I'm sure I read it, but you know, when you're thinking about a certain subject, then you see that part because you're thinking that way. The amplified says it this way. That same verse for we will be called to give an account, and we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one will be repaid for what you have been, what you have done in the body, whether good or bad. That is, each will be held responsible for your actions, your purposes, your goals, your motives, the use or the misuse of your time, opportunities and abilities. Have you ever read that? I don't know if I've read it, I don't know. We will give it a time. We will give an account of our actions, our purposes, our or goals.
Speaker1: [00:23:19] Your motive for doing it. And then the misuse or the use of your time, the opportunities and your abilities. And he'll wait. Your answer and he's always right. So Ephesians 515 to 21in the ESV. I told you today might be thought provoking. Ephesians 515 to 21. The ESV says, look carefully, then, how you walk, not as unwise but as wise. Make the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Don't be drunk with wine, whereas this is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart. Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. So our use of time defines our lives and it determines our eternity. You know, he said, be filled with the spirit which is fulfilling destiny in you. Think about it. Be filled with the spirit, the spirit, the Holy Spirit, which is the fulfilling of destiny. See, you can't go anywhere driving on empty friends. It won't work. Ephesians 516 says, redeem the time, because the days are evil. Redeeming means make the most of your time. It means by every opportunity. I'm throwing a lot at you today, but we can go back and pull it apart.
Speaker1: [00:25:10] Colossians four five says, walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time. Notice wisdom is how we walk. Wisdom is how we live. I had a keen sense of preparing for this message. I had a keen sense of standing before Christ, give an account of several things, he says. And even as you're preparing this, and I'm showing you things and bringing things to you that I want you to talk to the people about, I knew I would have to. I would give a greater account for the one who studied and put it together to deliver it, because this he says, this is not a sermon. He's talking about 2025, where he has great plans and not just 2025, but your whole life. But you see, most people never get to that. Most people are too consumed with their life that there's nothing left to them. You know that when you look around, you don't know where people are. They're wore out. They've used all their life to do life. Christmas and Thanksgiving has wore them out. Then when they get down to the thing that matters, they can't be there because they have nothing left of them. That's a misuse of time. That's a misuse of values. Am I wrong? I'm not. I'm not mad. I'm just saying. I mean, it's just I mean, it's just fortunate that you don't ever have any of those problems that the other people have that you have to decide between.
[00:26:51] Well.
Speaker1: [00:27:01] So we need to intentionally make decisions that impact eternity. He wants you and I to redeem the time, to make the most of all the time that you have. Rather than waste our time on frivolous pursuits that leave no lasting impact on future generations. Redeeming time is decluttering your life. It's prioritizing what matters most. If you want to see what matters most, just let the church say, we're going to have a prayer meeting and see who shows up. Very few people who are always praying can't hardly wait to get to a prayer meeting because they've learned the joy that they have of praying, and they're thrilled when they get to pray with others. People who love the Word of God love to be in church. I mean, it's not I'm not just trying to make it about in church, but I'm saying but people who live there, they look for the time to come together. Not like me. And I'm just so tired. I just got to take off. I don't feel that good. Where are we going? Out of town. Well, see, people shut down. That's what the Lord told me back in 2005, you know. And I won't go through all that. But he just said, you know, he said. He said. And he said, next year in January, I'll talk to you more about this. That was in 2005. He said, this is what I want you to do, but didn't tell me where I'd be doing it at.
Speaker1: [00:28:42] He was playing a trick on me, so to speak. He gave me enough information. He said, well, will you? You do understand that this is what you will be doing? Yes, sir. I'm kind of shocked. I thought I'd done that and I'm going, he said. So he let me absorb that, and I said, well, don't we need to get started now? He says, no. He said, now is not a good time. And I said, can I ask you at least what's not a good time? And that was one time he answered me. He said, in in the world and especially in United States, in the Western world, he says, this is what he said to me. I was out in the woods. I was sitting on a rock looking at a lake, knowing what I was going to do, but not knowing where I was going to go do it at gave me time to absorb that, because I really didn't think I'd be doing that again in ministry. He said, but I'll talk to you about it in the beginning of the new year. And I thought, well, I'm just sitting here for two months. Wouldn't it be better to get started now? He said, no, people aren't open to change. I said, what do you mean? He says, well, it's what it's what? In the United States you call the holidays. And generally mentally they shut down from now to the beginning of the year, and they're not open for change or thinking or thought processes until it's the new year, where they open up a little window and they begin to consider new things.
Speaker1: [00:30:03] Then they shut it down, he says, usually in about two, 2 to 4 weeks. He didn't say he was mad. He just said that's the way it is. He didn't say he wanted it that way. He just says. But he said there have the will. And so this is not the right time. Well, I could have just, you know, he could have told me. I could have went and tried to force the door open, but it would have been completely wrong. So he he was working with people who would work with him, but he had to do it in a time frame in which they would accept it. Well, there's people who don't have eight weeks to live for you to get to them. In January that we were. I almost forgot what he told me in January of that year. I was sitting in a service and praise and worship, and the Lord began to speak to me, and it was just like I was on that rock at the lake, you know, 20 minutes before. And it just started speaking, carrying the conversation on, just like he was like no time had passed, then gave me particulars and when and dates and what and whatever.
Speaker1: [00:31:03] And it was very eye opening to me. But redeeming time is choosing to declutter your life. If you're if you're going to redeem the time, and if you're going to buy back the moments, you're not going to do everything. You can't do everything. You're not called to everything. You're not called to everybody. So you so you have to make decisions. You have to make choices. You have to know your purpose. You have to know why you're here. You have to know what to say yes to. And you have to know what to say no to. And when you say no to things, sometimes it's not because they're bad or they're wrong or they're evil. It's just not your thing. It doesn't mean that you can't get involved somehow. You can't support it. But doesn't mean I mean you can't be the captain of this team and that team and run the PTA and ATP and the CEF and the Des and all that. And you can't do it. You're not called to do all that. So we have to discern. We have to have discernment. We have to have the wisdom of God. We have to know the season that we're in and we have to be willing to declutter. If you have to give an account to the Lord today for what you did yesterday with your time, do you think he'd be that pleased? Might be. Would the Lord say to you, man, you're right on.
Speaker1: [00:32:32] You're right on path. I mean, you're you're all over it, Johnny. Thought provoking it. All I said was, there'll be a time that we're going to stand, and he will demand an answer. He'll. He'll wait. He wants an answer. So we have to eliminate distractions such as unhealthy habits, unproductive activities. Sometimes we'll have to declutter some relationships out of your life. Not that they're bad people, but maybe they were there for a season, but it doesn't go forward together. Familiar verse in Ecclesiastes three one says, there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the sun. So once again, we need to know that time. And we need to know the proper season time as we know it is for an internal investment. Time as we know it. Jesus said in Matthew six 1920, he says, store up or do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, but store up treasures in heaven. I mean, I don't even know him. You could leave this earth with leave the earth with hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. And that might be okay. It depends where you left it and who you left it with. Did you know where you left it? Who you left it with? Would it be a wise investment? Did you? Do you know if it will go to fund the kingdom or give them a greater lifestyle with ease? You see what? They're my kids.
Speaker1: [00:34:22] Yeah. And you're his kid? Yeah. Sometimes you can do the worst thing you can do with your loved ones is by giving them things that they never they have no understanding of. They did nothing to earn it. They don't know the power of it. It'll do him more harm than good. It will be their undoing. The one thing to help me the most growing up is because we as kids, we we work pretty hard. I think most people in my generation did. I mean, we had a lot of leeway in our life. Bargaintown layaway. There was a lot of work. I started working at the age 12. Started at 11. Moved from Michigan. Tried at 11, but I couldn't get used to the heat. You know, out in the peach orchards. Got sick all the time. So I came back and started at 12. But the pay was good. I kept going back every day because it was a dollar an hour. Did that till I was 15. By then they'd never raised me up to a dollar and a quarter, which is pathetic, is what it was, but it was the work ethic. So when things came in my life and other people's lives that overwhelmed them, I'm like, man, this ain't nothing. I mean, I've been hauling hay, you know, for Ray Miller, I've been I've been pruning peach trees, picking them. I've been pulling off the right ones, picking tomatoes, squash, green beans, putting poles in there, and the ground for green beans.
Speaker1: [00:35:44] You know, I've been pulling corn, putting, you know, in the, you know, for the cows and, you know, getting the kookaburras out of your hair for the next four hours, you know, just for a dollar an hour. Spray and pruning, picking and just physical work that everyone was used to at that time. But, you know, I remember well, I won't say who because y'all know who they are. They were about. 20 years younger than me. 15 years younger than me. And they said, well, they said, what was your what was your next job? I said, I worked at the Elmore's at the five and dime store. I did that for the whole summer because, you know, minimum wage was almost $3 then. Man. Going from a dollar and a quarter to almost like 275, whatever it was. And they had air conditioning. I mean, that's I was in high cotton then. The only problem with it was both my parents was at work and I had no way to get there. So I just rode my bike every day, five miles. I had to go a little bit early because the manager said, you can't come in here stinking, so you had to. I come in, took a little bath and had some antiperspirant and, you know, I took a bath and I took another bath when I got there, just to be cleaned off.
Speaker1: [00:37:04] Then my parents would come get me when I got off at 7:00. I did that all summer long so I could make $500 to buy my first car. And I went in every day that summer and my parents worked every day. That means I rode my bike when it rained and when it didn't rain. I rode my bike when it was lightning and thunder and when it wasn't because I had a job. It wasn't their deal to get me there. It was my deal to get me there. It was kind of disappointing because the car I bought $500 only lasted 30 days and it was gone and wasn't worth fixing. And that was quite a sorrow. But anyway, my parents helped me out and upgraded me to a $600 car. 69 Ford Fairlane with a 302 in it. It was ugly as sin, but I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't tear it up. If a 16 year old can't tear up a car, it's a good car. 302 Ford was really good cars. And that manager, I mean, he he liked me. He said I've never seen no one your age work like this. And there was another boy. He was working there, too, and you couldn't hardly get him to do anything he says. He said, why don't you be like best? He said, well, mister, he said, he told the manager. He said, well, Mr.
Speaker1: [00:38:24] Garman, I ain't scared of work. He said, yes, sir, and I know you ain't. You lay down and go to sleep right beside it. But see, this to me was, was was light and easy, taking me out of a peach orchard. You know, we used to every Monday we used to pick about 12 of us. We used to pick something like five acres of tomatoes. You started a row and you looked to the end with binoculars. And it's like from now till eternity. But he's making that big old dollar an hour break time. We got an hour and a moon pie. Really what we got. But that did more to mold me as a teenager than, you know, than anything. That's the reason I could go in and manage stores, you know, dollar stores, family dollars and friends. You know, when I was 19 years old, I was 19, I mean, 19 years old. And being a manager at a store, I was thinking, there ain't nothing to this, you know, it's air conditioning. You buy it, I'm gonna put another one on the shelf. You buy it, I'll put another one on the shelf. I had the money up to date. Take it to the bank, hire people to take your money and put it on the shelf. You don't do it, I fire you. It's real simple. I learned that in the peach Orchard. It's called work ethic. But I knew enough to know I didn't want to do it very long.
Speaker1: [00:39:47] Because I had a desire and I had a dream. And I had, and I wanted to have choices and I didn't want to get there later. I wanted to get there sooner. I had no idea this was going to ever happen. Ministry. But I'm just saying those things all your life. God has taken your whole life sometimes, and the thing that you think that you'll do may surprise you. You may not do that. It may be the training ground for what he's really called you to. And I want to say this. It may be a surprise to some of you. You may think after all these years, you know, you're you know, you know what it's all about. You may still be in training for that which he has for you. You think, well, no, I'm 60 years old. Well, ask Abraham about it. He was 75. Asked Moses. He was 40 then he was 80. God doesn't come to some people, I think until the later. He waits for them to get some sense. I mean, Abraham was 75. What did he do for a living? He carved out idols. Had a place right there on the interstate. They drive in, you know, get them an idol. Him and his dad, you know, herd the chaldees. It's amazing who God picks. But God just said I could use you. You willing to go? Where are we going to go? Do you need to know that? Well, all he knew was enough to leave.
Speaker1: [00:41:27] Most people have to have everything to know if they're going to do God's way or follow God. They have to know everything. They have to know the whole path. They have to know what it's going to look like, what they're going to go through, what they're going to get out of it. What if you never get anything out of it in this life, but you get paid for eternity for all of it? Would you still do it? Would you? If you can't make it to church, you're not going to make it through a 20 year plan. I can tell you that. Well, I had a little head cold. I'm glad I never came to church. One. Amen. Well, now watch here. So he said, don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth, but store up treasures in heaven. So use time to invest. Invest in what lasts through eternity, which is like your relationship with God and your relationship with others. You can't take your stuff to heaven. Your golf clubs ain't going with you. You can only. You can only bring people into heaven, right? Now God wants us to enjoy our life. He wants us to have fun. He wants us to have times of fun and relaxation. He wants to have family activities. He wants you to enjoy your life, But he wants you to come in a measurement.
Speaker1: [00:42:48] God doesn't want you to watch TV 12 hours a day. He wants you to live out your purpose. So we need to redeem our time wisely. The question I would ask you today, if you only if you knew that you only had a certain number of days to live, how would you spend your time? If you had 14 more days to live on the planet and you knew that? How would you spend the 14 days? Would you be doing crossword puzzles? Well, if you liked Christ, would you spend the last 14 days doing crossword puzzles? Probably wouldn't. Would you clean out the garage if you had the ability? The physical ability to do it? Would you be trimming the hedges? Would you be watching Hallmark Christmas movies 24 hours a day? If it was Christmas time? Probably not. Why? Because none of those things have any eternal value. Who would you spend your time with? Your family, your loved ones? Those that mean the most to you. You would want to invest into them. You'd want to say things that are important, right? Yeah. Why don't we do that now? Because we don't know what time we're in. We think we'll just be here forever. Will you? I have friends that's in heaven. I was kind of shocked when they went there. I know they were shocked, but they went. Now, I want to show you something this morning.
Speaker1: [00:44:20] Did this a long time ago. But it's been a long time since I've done it, so I hope I don't do it terribly, but Time waits for no one, does it? I mean, I mean, jokingly sometimes, I mean, I mean, time waits for no man or woman, but for some of us, we feel like it's sprinting, you know, taking Taken off. The average age of mortality in the United States is 77.50 years. 77.5 in the United States, women is 80.1 and men is 74 point something. I'm not saying you're average. I'm not saying what your lifespan will be. I'm just telling you. In the United States. 77.5 years is your life expectancy. Now, this is an interesting number. It didn't take me long to do this, but I was doing it for a reason. Chilton County and the in the months not over. But Chilton County had has had 40 deaths and funerals this month. This month. I want to check this month. Chilton county, all of Chilton County, three funeral homes have had 40 deaths. I took every age of every person of the 40. I had them all up and divided by 40. You know what? The average age of Chilton County. The death was this month 69.78. Now, that might have been from too much eating from Thanksgiving and Christmas, but a lot of them died before Christmas. That's just that's just December. I'm just saying.
Speaker1: [00:46:08] So you can see it's a national average. 77 is I mean, numbers don't lie, do they? Now, I'm not saying that's what your life will be. I'm just saying as a national average, trying to give you an understanding about time now. So whether this is good or bad, there's good to it and there's bad to it. The average age of this church, from the nursery to the youngest to the oldest. The average age of this church is a tad over 48 years of age of this church. 48 years of age. If you took 77.5 years and let's round it out to 78, that would be the lifespan of a person. So we're going to find 78 on here. There it is. There's your life. The tape measure. That's your life. Okay. The the average age of this church is 48. So if you're over 48, I'm sorry, but I am too. And if you're under, you say I'm not that old. So the average age of this church is 48. So that leaves us now with this is now your life, excluding the box. You have 30 years and you say, well, that's kind of sobering. Oh. Not yet. It's not sobering yet. It's not. It's not really that sobering yet. 30 years is 1460 weeks you have left. You have 10,950 days. You have 262,800 hours. You have 15,778,476 minutes. That sounds impressive, doesn't it? It really does. It's not that impressive.
Speaker1: [00:48:11] But you have 30 years. The average that people sleep or rest is eight hours a day. 30 minus eight. A third of your 30 years, you're going to sleep away. Most people work a minimum of eight hours a day, Right. That's two thirds of your life. Now you have one third. You have one more eight. But in the eight that you have left. So when you take 30 and you minus eight, what do you have? Thank you. Okay. Now you slept. You slept that much of your life. Now you had this much left. If you're 48 years old and I'm talking to you. If you're 48, that's how much time you have left. But you're going to work eight more hours. What's 22? Minus eight? Go. Bye bye. I do by tens and add two back. What is it, Miss Key? I got 42. You're right. Winner, winner. Chicken dinner. Okay, that's. That's how much time you have left. Because you have to sleep. And and most people are working, right? So you have 14 years now. How many do other things other than sleep and go to work? Now I'm going to be I'm going to be really conservative because we could spend the rest of our time. And I don't have that much time to do this. But how many shop? Buy groceries? Cook groceries. Cook grass. Kill weeds. Feed dogs. Clean up the dogs. Run the neighbor's dog away, go birthdays, do Christmas right? Go to the cleaners.
Speaker1: [00:50:12] All the things that you do in life. So what you have in that eight hours that you have left, like in a day you really don't have eight hours of leisure if you're working. All right. So, Keith, we're going to use Mr. Keith because he's really sharp on this thing there. So we have 24 hours a day. Eight as an average. It may be more or less that you sleep, but it's an average, right? Keith, do you work on the average of eight hours a day? Do you average it out? Average it out? Yeah. So that gives you eight more hours. So you have nothing else to do the rest of the day do you. Now wait a minute. Did you have to get ready for work? Did you have to drive to work? Did you have to drive back to work? Are you at work? More than eight hours? Yes, because most people go nine. Because they get an hour or they get two different breaks. So they're usually 9 hours or 10 hours. Then, you know, if you're in Chilton County, 70% of the community commute. So they have 45 minutes to an hour to get to work. So they have a minimum of a 12 hour day. So you take 12 hours and you sleep eight. You really don't have four hours. And if you don't even commute and you have eight hours left, you have four hours of activity.
Speaker1: [00:51:28] And the reason I would know that is because I would ask anyone in here who works an eight hour a day, I'll ask Elliot. So. So you have 24 hours a day. You try to sleep eight hours if you can. Do you work at least eight hours? Do you have anything else to do the last day? Eight hours? You have other things that has to be done? Yes, sir. Do you do you actually have four open hours every day to just do whatever you want to? No, sir, most people don't. But I'm just saying they say you do. Oh, so 24 minus eight. Sleep minus eight. Work. Getting ready for work, right? Going to work. Traveling to work. Coming back from work. You know, cutting your grass, killing your weeds. Washing the clothes, going. Buying the groceries, cooking the groceries, washing the dishes. Doing what you do with the kids, going to little league, big league. No league. Pga. Atp. All the things that people do, do, they actually do. Most people actually have full hours to do anything they want to do. No, but we're going to act like they do. We're going to act like we got four hours. We don't know what to do with, so we can do anything we want to with it. So you have four hours times 365 days in a year. That gives you 4460 so-called. So we just say supposedly 4460 leisurely hours in a year.
Speaker1: [00:53:01] We're going to multiply that by the 30 years you have left, because everyone in here is only 48 years old. Now you have 43,800 hours left in your life for your purpose, because you have those four hours every day you don't know what to do with. So you're working on your purpose towards that. Why you're actually here right Now, if we divide your 43,800 hours into 24 hour days, how many days that you have, you now have 825 days, which means you now have if you're 48 years old, you now have five years to get it done. You you have 60 more months of your life to do what you're going to do if you're 48 years old. You'll answer to God for why you're here, what you did with it. If you're 48. Because the rest of it's already claimed you're working. You got to sleep. You got the grass. Won't quit growing. You got to go to the dentist. You got to get your hair done. You got to do this with the kids. You got to birth. You got Christian. You. So if you're 48, you have 60 months left to do what you're going to do. And you can't come here because you're too busy. Well, that's excited me so much. I just thought I'd run my personal numbers. So in less than two weeks, I'll be 63in January. I have two and a half years left in my life to do what I want, what I need to do if I live to be 78.
Speaker1: [00:54:52] So when you understand time is your most precious commodity. Then what were you allowed to get in this space and crowded? If this means anything to you that this is to just say wow, you say, well, I'm not 48, okay, you're 24, so let's just double. Let's just double everything for you. Now you feel better? Yeah, let's let's just push you way out there. Now, let me make this statement. I heard Andrew Wommack say this. I was in a meeting in Tennessee when he said this. I was in a church with him, and we were there and several years ago. But he said, everywhere I go, this is what I get because he's talking about things along the line of fulfilling your purpose. He said, if if you're here and you don't really know what you're doing, what you're called to do, what your purpose in life is really is if you don't really even know. I mean, you're working, you're doing things whatever age you are, but you really don't know what your purpose in life is. But you want to know. You don't really even know why you're on the planet. Would you come up and let me pray for you? Out of 600 people. I would say conservatively that was there. 80% of the church got up and that was people of all ages, mostly people 40 and older, who said, I don't have a clue why I'm here.
Speaker1: [00:56:36] That's sad. Now see, my numbers are a little bit better than them. They're not just this. They're not a whole lot more. Because I do know why I'm here. And I don't have to wait till the end of the eight hours to get started, because I'm doing it during the eight hours. So I get to double mine just because I'm doing what I'm called to do. If I lived more on 78, I'd get to double it more. So if you're just working a job because that's the only one that they had, then you're not fulfilling your purpose. So I heard people nothing wrong with this. I heard people, you know, like this week say, you know, they're looking forward to retire and doing this. I heard one say, well, I'm looking to retire. This one so I'm gonna retire quicker than that. If I can do it, I'm going to do it, you know, 55. To do what? I don't know, go do something fun. I'm going to, you know, I'm going to go travel the world. So that's your purpose. God sent you here to travel the world. I'm not saying you shouldn't. You understand what I'm saying? I'm trying to get the thought. Why are you really here? He wants you to enjoy your life. Good. Go see. Go to the Grand Canyon and see the big hole.
Speaker1: [00:57:45] He's going to destroy all of it. But go ahead and see it before he destroys it. But that is going to be. Your purpose is to put as much money away as you can, so that you can get out of the grind every day so that you can go have fun to the end of your life. Yeah, that's exactly how the Bible instructs us to live. No it doesn't. So if you know why you're here, you don't want to get out at 55. You don't even want to get out at 65 or 60 7 or 70 because they're having to push you out the door, because legally, you're not allowed to be there when you're 106. Because that is your call. That is your plan, that is your purpose, or you actually own the company. People jokingly talk about why, you know, preachers preaching too long, but what? Why do we do that? Generally, if it's money we didn't today, but generally we get the money on the front end. So if we're just about money, we was like, well, we got that. That's what we came for. If that's all it was about, then people I mean, hadn't you heard people say, well, they're just in it for the money? Yeah, you can see I may be raking in millions today, but if they get it on the front end, then why are they taking so much? Because, you see, it's heart to them.
Speaker1: [00:59:02] Everything I do to me is on a heart level. It's my whole life. I love doing what I'm doing. I don't want to see if you gave me enough money to live the rest of my life today, and I didn't ever need to draw a penny for anything. And if you'd allow me, I'll be here every time the doors open. I can't wait to get here because money has nothing to do with it. We have to have money to live. That's just as long as we're on the planet. We have to have the finances to do that. But that is not my purpose for being here. Because I'm getting to live my purpose. I'm not trying to find out how to retire from it. So I get to double my time, because I'm not waiting to the eight hours to clock out to go do something I like. Does that make sense? Michelle said you've been grinding this message out for. She said, you're still working on it this morning. And I said, yeah, well, whatever. I said, when I, when I looked at my time, I mean, I kind of knew it, but I was like, oh boy. So okay, so I get to add my eight hours back, you know. Because I'm doing my purpose during the day. So I'm back to five and a half or six now. Boy, that makes a that's 72 months. That's so.
Speaker2: [01:00:29] Good girl.
Speaker1: [01:00:31] So what will you allow in there? Also, when you get a little bit older, you think about things differently. Some people find out after 50 they're mortal. They think, oh, I am mortal. I have a physical body. I won't be here when you're young. You don't think about those things as much, right? So what will you left? If it's a piece of a pie and you see the average age? I mean, in Chilton County, it was this month. It was 69 point something. You were gone. One person lived to 100. There was one lived to 95. There was a bunch of people. There was 132 people in the 40s. 50s? A lot of people in their there, but it all averaged out to be a little less than 70. What are you going to do with your one and only life? How are you going to spend the time? Now let me try to finish here quickly this morning. Life is time. Life is time. How are you using your time? Life is how you define time. Life is measured by time. Life is determined by time. Life is lived in time. Life is qualified by time. What kind of quality life you have is dependent on how you use your time. But the passing of time is called the passing of life.
Speaker1: [01:01:53] People will say in two days, Happy New Year. Or you could think happy or unhappy. 12 months you just used up because you're not going to get that back. It's gone. The tape measure keeps closing in. You're not going to get it back. So is is it happy or is it unhappy because you just used up 12 months? What did you do with the 12 months that's gone? What are you going to do with the next 12 months? Let me put it to you more bluntly. I'm making. I'm reading my own note. Let me put it to you more bluntly. It's funny to be sitting in your office and you say, let me put it more bluntly. Life stops when time stops. Your death is life leaving time. So when someone dies, it simply means they left time and they went into eternity. See, God is the God of all eternity. He created time, but he doesn't live in the time. So right now you're living in time. But when you leave the planet, you'll go from time to eternity. But right now, you're living in time at your death. It'll never be that way again. You'll live eternity. The obligation of leadership. Is at least these few things here, the greatest obligation of true leadership is to transfer your deposit to the next generation.
Speaker1: [01:03:24] Leadership success is measured by the success of your successor. True leadership is never given to one generation because God's a generation of God. Have you ever heard the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to many as afar off? If you're just if you're if you're just planning for your generation, you're way behind. You're late. Leadership that serves only as generation is destined to fail. Because God is a generational God. Success without a successor is a failure. That's a sobering thought. But success without a successor is a failure. What has God called you to do? Was it supposed to be something that was just lasted in your lifetime, or was someone supposed to succeed it? If it was business and enterprise, whatever it is that you're called to do, does the purpose for that? Was it supposed to end with you? And if not, who are you training? I don't have to have a successor that follows me here, which would be my plan. As long as I can get it in you and you share it with someone else, then it can still be called a success. But if it never gets through you and there's no successor, then actually my time in the pulpit would have been mostly a failure in God's eyes because there would have been no successor.
Speaker1: [01:05:02] People who do networking. Take a plan and a product and they work through others to multiply their time. And they multiply it to more people and they say, well, that's when the pyramid schemes could be a pyramid. Most have made a pyramid. Most people don't understand what they're talking about when they say that about a pyramid. But a networking is working together to multiply in a group of people, to multiply your time exponentially more than you could ever do by yourself. It's like franchising. You could own one McDonald's. You could own 50. I'm assuming there'd be more profitability in 50 than it would one. But can you be in 50 locations at one night time? No, but if you had the right staff and the management, then you could multiply your time and your resources. True. So when you multiply your time and your resources through Networking. Then you increase everything. You put your time and your resources and your ability, your your your vision. You multiplied it because you networked in a church where the a pastor or leader is supposed to be equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry if they're not doing the work of the ministry, if it's not increasing, it's not networking, it's just the pastor working because it's not getting through the people.
Speaker1: [01:06:39] They're not discipling people. It's not growing. It's just the pastor working. It's not networking. So the goal is everything has growth on the planet. Notice you don't have to pray for your grass or your weeds to grow. It doesn't require that when you have a baby, whether it's 4 pounds or 14 pounds, if you feed it, it will grow. You don't have to have a prayer meeting. You don't have to get 15 people to agree with you. Everything is is designed to multiply, to increase, to grow. True. And so God wants growth. Even when he started the world over, he started off and there was grace. He found grace in Noah. Then even after that, he says, now, now take it as the original plan and multiply and grow, repopulate the earth once again. God is the God of increase. He's the God of growth. He's the God of the exponential. He's not the God that you do it all of yourself and by yourself. But he will require from us. What did you do with your time and your talent? You say, well, I'm just, you know, kind of spending my days doing doing these things because I enjoy doing them. You're going to get rebuked for that. I'm telling you, you're going to get rebuked for that.
Speaker3: [01:07:58] You.
Speaker1: [01:07:59] There's a part of your life that you're supposed to enjoy. And the other part is not that you don't enjoy. You see, it's 1208, and I got five more pages, and I'm not going to read them, but. Everything within me wants to. And I'm over 60 years of age. I'm not 48 because I believe this with every fiber in me. And the only reason why I want to share them is because I believe it has value and worth. And I want I want it to come into your life and produce what I know this word will produce in today's kind of message causes us to think. You look at that tape measure and you're thinking, I mean, if you're if you're 48, you've got 60 months because something else already has your other time. You can't live on this planet without sleep. But so long and you're through and you have to eat. And your wife is not going to. You can't tell your wife. I need more time to live my dreams. So you're going to have to do all my stuff. So I doubled my time. That ain't gonna work for you. She's not going to cut the grass and go to your job and do all that. So I'm just saying, out of 24, you have eight, but out of, you know, you sleep eight, you work eight, but you got to get there.
Speaker1: [01:09:15] You got to shower, you got to you got to shop, you got to, you got to do things. And I don't think I don't. So you divide that last eight into four. I don't think everybody has four. I think they're scrambling for 2 or 3. You know what most people are doing with it? They're sitting in front of the idiot tube. Because they want entertainment. They want to live their life through somebody else vicariously. But if you ask them, what book did you read? Well, they would like to read, you know, what? Do you like to be a loser? I know it's harsh, but but but do you know, this is proving that if you if you pick up a book and read it 30 minutes a day on any given subject. Can you read for five years? Seven days a week? You will be required. You'll be considered an expert in that field. If you study something for 20 to 30 minutes a day, seven days a week, for five years, you are an expert. People will pay you to know what you know. Well, I don't want to leave it to the beaver. Leave it to the beaver. I could just see you explain that to Jesus. Well, what did you do?
Speaker4: [01:10:22] Well, leave it to the beaver
Speaker1: [01:10:25] You did. Enter into the. Sea. What's not negotiable is whether you're going to have to give an account or me. He already said he was. It's just. What's that day going to look like? Right. So did we. Did we take that seriously? So. Purpose and time. Life without purpose is time without without meaning. Life is important. Life is important part of our lives because it gives order to our days and allows us to set schedules. But without purpose, schedules are worthless. It's useless to keep track of time if there's no end towards which we are moving. You don't need a daytime calendar because you're not going anywhere. God has created time as we know it for life on earth, and we measure the passage of time in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, so on and years. Centuries. Birth. Aging. It's part of your conversations. You know, we'll say, how old are you? What time is your appointment? What year did you graduate? You know, when's your anniversary? We're asking questions about time and dates, aren't we? Time is a perspective from which God operates. He's the God of purpose. And every purpose has a time. So when someone enters the realm of the planet into the physical planet, the material world, it picks up time. You picked up time when you was born. But when you leave here, time is canceled against you. You no longer have time. Eternity is duration without measure. You could say time is a temporary interruption in eternity. You're living in that interruption of eternity. Eternity has neither a beginning nor end. Because it's outside of time. Time, on the other hand, starts the minute that we're born and ends when we die.
Speaker1: [01:12:16] It's brief. It's the brief part of your existence. So once again, time is a temporary interruption in eternity. And God is eternal. Therefore, therefore, he exists outside of time. But he works with people in time. Finishing this. Ecclesiastes three one says, there's a time to every purpose. God never really actually intended for us to die, did he? That wasn't his original plan or his future plan. His future plan is for you to live forever. However, length of years is not the measure of life for God. Your age alone. How long you live will not impress God. Some people think old age, or is a sign of God's favor and an approval that you got to be that old. There are more people today living over 100 than there ever has been on the planet. Turns out when you find out who many of them are, they don't. They live in other countries where they don't. Most many of these people are of another belief. Many of them are atheist, or they see Buddha as their god. So they lived to be 100, but they had no commitment to God. It's not God's favor or approval because you ate fish and you did yoga and you got a few more years out of it. So God's question is never, will never be. How many years did you live? But rather, what have you done? In essence, God is. Life is not measured in duration, but in donation. It's not how many. It's not how many years that you had in life, but how many life that you had in the years.
Speaker1: [01:13:58] From God's perspective, from God's perspective. Well done is more important than how long you lived. How long did you live? I hope that helps someone. Help us to think. Let me see a little tape measure. Just just to give you a little bit of. So if you're 48 and you sleep and you eat and you got to go do a few things, and some of the years you got left. Or 60 months. This is your non-sleeping. Non-eating non grass cutting, not leaf raking. Birthday party, Christmas party. Washing the dog. You have 60 months to get it done. So what are you going to do with your one and only life? Let's see. If you don't know your purpose. Then you won't value the time that you have left. So we want to talk about purpose a little bit more. Then we have all the things that is in purpose because you have all this potential in you, but it's just untapped. It's just laying there dormant and God wants to bring it out. Amen. Well, 2929 verse 29, Jeremiah 2911 says, God has a plan and it's a good plan. He wants you to have a hope. He wants you to have a future. He wants you to prosper in it. So as we leave this year and we go into the next year, I hope that we can make some adjustments in our thinking and our actions, what we do and how we do it, and get on the right path. Amen. Amen. We're going to say goodbye right here. So goodbye.
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