Priorities of Time Management

8/5/10

This is a message to youth ministry leaders on the importance of managing your time well to stay effective in the call of God for you life.

Mark 6:30-31

1) Jesus  “The apostles returned to Jesus” (V30) – The first priority of time management is to spend time with Lord.  He is your highest priority so He should receive the first of your time. Tips to Daily Times with the Lord

a. Schedule a time to pray as if it is an appointment.

b. Do not get ambitious with your goals.

c. Have a plan. Catch up when you are behind.

d. Do what you can.

e. Fast until you spend time with the Lord.

f. Be accountable for your time with the Lord.

g. Keep a notepad for distractions

2) Ministry “from their ministry tour” (V30) – Ministry is not something that you do with whatever free time you have left over after you are finished doing everything else.  Ministry should also not be done instead of spending time with the Lord or done without rest. Tips to a Routine of Ministry

a. Do not do anything that does not serve a Kingdom purpose

b. Do not put ministry on hold while you do other things, because ministry is people and they will move on without you.

c. When ministry is a priority, you must have convictions about when you will work and study, and then plan around those times.

d. Understand the tradeoff between hanging out, ministry, and other responsibilities.  Most people miss ministry opportunities, not because of work or school, but because they are not willing to give up social time for work or school, so ministry is what suffers.

e. Decide at the beginning of the week how much time you believe you can invest in your ministry, and then schedule that time into your week.

3) Rest  “rest awhile” (V31) – Believe it or not, rest is an important part of time management.  When you are rested you do better with the time that do have, and it is a myth to believe you can “do it all.” Red Bull does not replace order, peace, focus, and being led by the Spirit of God. It just keeps you awake.  Tips to a lifestyle of Rest:

a. Identify the signs of a lack of rest. “Jesus and his disciples didn’t even have time to eat.”  When you are not performing the basic functions of survival, then you are too busy doing something else and need slow down.  This includes:

i. Paying your bills

ii. Grocery shopping

iii. Keeping your home and vehicle clean

iv. Routine Maintenance for you body, home, & vehicle

v. You are not able to work out or eat helthy

b. Learn how to say “no.” The key to saying no is knowing your limitations, and boundaries.  Everything is a trade off.

c. Budget your time.  Making a time budget is the same in investing your time in what you believe is important instead of wasting it on what someone else thinks is important.

d. Create a habit of going to bed at a decent hour. Just because you can stay up does not mean that you should.

e. Learn that hanging out and media is not rest.  Having the TV on from the time you arrive home until the time that you leave is a sign that you do not understand what rest is.

Conclusion (Mark 8:34-37): The greatest priority of time management is eternity.  If you manage all of your time well on earth, and don’t understand that eternity is the most important part of time, then your time has been a waste.   A wise investment in eternity often looks like a waste in this life, and what looks like a wise investment in this life is often a waste when you look at it in eternity.

Time Budget

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1 Corinthians 5:12-13 - “It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.”

What we say: “Judge not less you be judged,” “the same measure you use to judge others will be used to judge you,” or “take the log out of your own eye.”

What God says: “It certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside of the church who are sinning.”

The mix up: The problem here is understanding of what it means to “judge” someone, and knowing when it is the right time to “judge.”  ”Biblical judging” is not murmuring, complaining, gossiping, or pretending to know the motives of others you disagree with.  These are all sinful and dangerous behaviors that only reveal the pride of heart of those engage in these habits.  We also cannot have people constantly pointing out everything that others do wrong as if they are the designated slow motion reply camera for the Holy Spirit.

WRONG JUDGING – Let’s be clear, there is such thing as being critical and judgmental in a wrong way.  This is when someone is not “sinning” (like the example given here in scripture), but judgment and criticism is passed on their motives and intentions without the use of scirpture.  It is not your place to pretend to know the secret thoughts and intentions of someone that you don’t like.  This is the wrong kind of judging that often leads to gossip, slander, and strife.

CORRECT JUDGING – You cannot fault a blind man for tripping over a chair, or a deaf person for not hearing an alarm clock.  In the same way, we cannot be surprised when those who do not have Christ sin.  That is why Paul says here it is not his responsibility to judge those outside of the church.  On the other hand, believers who venture into the waters of compromise and sin need to be warned before their actions bring harmful consequences to themselves or others. Three ways faith is destroyed when those in compromise or sin are not warned:

• Wrong attitudes and action are learned by new believers, causing them to fall away
• Reproach is brought on the name of Christ in the hearts of outsiders, causing them to reject the faith
• Those living in sin will eventually destroy their own faith if not rescued

When the scripture says, “It certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside of the church who are sinning,” it saying when you see someone living a life in contradiction to scripture, you have a holy obligation to point them in a better way.  The key here is when it says, “who are sinning.” This does not release anyone to condemn others, or put them down, but it does empower you to lovingly assist those who are in sin with the authority of scripture (not just your opinion).   Just because it is uncomfortable, does not mean that it is wrong or even unnecessary!  Do not misunderstand and think that constructive Biblical criticism based on the word of God is not good.  We all need it! Confrontation is not easy, but it becomes impossible when we do not understand it is for our own good!

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It seems so convenient that many preachers are blessed with revelation on some of the most pleasing and popular parts of scripture. I wish I could be released by the Holy Spirit to only preach on the things that are most appetizing to those who may listen.  Instead, I find myself puzzled by the difficult, and dare I say “problematic,” passages of scriptures.  This leads me to investigate portions of the Bible that challenge what I know about God, and cause me to question what I value, understand, and believe.

Maybe that is why some do not take the adventure to study these parts of the Bible.  It’s not that God has not released them, but they have not released themselves… released themselves to question, debate, and ponder.  It is a brave and even stupid thing to question.  Brave to question yourself, and stupid to question God.

When you refuse to investigate the difficult to understand, and seemingly contradictory portions of scripture you make a decision to question God, and not to question yourself.  You question God in that you can’t understand why He has allowed this to be in scripture (because it contradicts what you want God to be), so you doubt its significance and relevance by not not studying it, processing it, and eventually sharing it.  When you do investigate these types of passages you make the brave decision not to question God, but to question yourself.

Ask yourself this, “Am I willing to change what I believe if my search leads to a conclusion other than what I already have,” or “Am I going to already conclude what I believe about God and then search the scripture until I find something that brings me to  that conclusion?” Can I say, that perhaps that is how heresy is born? By questioning God and not questioning yourself.  The Bible is a tool that God should be using to form us, not something we should be using to form God.

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Life is easier when you have the Book of Proverbs at your disposal. My life has not been the same since I started reading Proverbs over 13 years ago.

Proverbs 1:2 – “Their [proverbs] purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise.”

It is hard for me to put into words how much the Book of Proverbs has changed my life.  I began reading the Bible at about 11 years old, thanks to the encouragement of a Sunday School teacher.  I became completely fascinated with the stories of the Old Testament, the Psalms of David, the miracles of Jesus, and event the “acts” of the Apostle.  One thing it took me time to appreciate though was the Proverbs of Solomon.

The little nuggets of wisdom never seemed to appeal to me until I was 15 years old.  Up until this point, I had a sovereign respect for God that would cause me to pray at times, read my Bible at others, and even sometimes choose to be holy.  The best way to explain my Christian experience as an early teen was mediocre and full of compromise.  Not passionate and purposeful.  This all changed when I began to read Proverbs.

It was sitting in a Bible class at Christian School that I was first exposed to the infinite value of this book.  Learning the intention of proverbs is  to make me wise, successful, and equipped with the knowledge of God was an invitation I could not ignore (Proverbs 1:1-7).  I realized that God was standing in the streets of my life and shouting for me to stop and give Him a hearing through this book (Proverbs 1:20-33).

It only took me three chapters for Proverbs to change my life, and launch me into an entirely different existence as a believer.  The clear call of chapter one, the universal application of truth in chapter two, and the epic poetry of chapter three opened my eyes to world I was unaware of before, and a relationship with the Holy Spirit that had escaped me until this point.

Proverbs 3:14-15 – “For wisdom is more profitable than silver, and her wages are better than gold.  Wisdom is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.”

This is the verse that taught me to purse God.  Before this I knew how to receive from God, and knew that I was to “try” to be obedient.  When I read the words, “nothing you desire can compare with her” something clicked for me.  What was I desiring?  What is it that I really wanted out of life?  After thinking about it, I realized even though I considered myself a Christian, God was not even close to the top of the list of things that I desired.  This confronted the self-righteousness and hypocrisy that I had lived with, and was the sad side-effect of learning about God, without developing a desire to pursue God.  I learned to know God without pursuing Him, and therefore didn’t know him at all.  I was only collecting the postcards that others were sending me from their travels with Him.

That day began my pursuit of God, my relationship with him, my sanctification as a believer, the beginning of life long habit of applying scripture to my life to solve problems, and even the beginning of receiving one of the most  precious treasures I have in life – the rhema.  I would say that I would not have a relationship with the Holy Spirit without the Book of Proverbs.  I cherish every verse of this book with the deepest and gratitude to God.  I love Proverbs!

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Over the years the 220 Conference has been a powerful experience for both leaders and believers.  Each summer thousands of young people and pastors pour into Bethany North for a life changing experience in God’s presence.  We always have such a great time, but each conference leaves us wishing we had spent more time with the leaders who attend.  The question is, “How do we focus on the leaders without taking anything away from the young people who get saved, filled with God’s spirit, and set on fire for souls while at the conference?”  Then God gave Pastor Joel the vision of two different 220 Conferences focusing specifically on the two groups of people who come to our Summer Conference each year.

There is such a great need for workers in God’s harvest of souls.  Matthew 9:37 says, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few.” Many church leaders are praying for more harvest in their services and events, but God didn’t say that there was a lack of harvest, but a lack of laborers.  Why does the devil have the biggest youth group in many cities?  It is because he has the most workers.  A lack of harvest is the result of a lack of laborers: “So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields (Matt. 9:38).”  You do not need better sermons, worship, or creative ideas.  You need more workers in the fields.

This year’s Leadership Conference is themed, “Harvest Explosion.” This is because through the discipleship of believers you will see a harvest in your ministry like never before.  This entire event is focused on leaders from start to finish.  The schedule is even tailored to keep you from missing your Wednesday night and Sunday morning services.  No matter what stage of leadership you are at, whether you are on staff as the youth pastor, or just a young person desiring to be used as a leader, there will be something for you at the 220 Leadership Conference.

Learn more at www.220conference.com.

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Here is a video we showed last night at the Rez Week Service that was held on campus at LSU.

We had a great service with student testimonies, a great band, and at the end of the service souls being saved.  I shared from the parable of the Great feast, and asked the question, “What’s Your Excuse”?  Most people don’t take the time to think about, and discuss death, but the Bible encourages us to do so:

Psalm 90:12 – “teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.”  (NLT2)

Ecclesiastes 7:2 – “Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties.  After all, everyone dies—so the living should take this to heart.” (NLT2)

When asked, most people believe in heaven, and that they are going there.  The problem is that they miss the key, and think they can make into heaven by their own merit, and not by receiving the grace of God.  Here are the main excuses I hear people give:

1. Good Person – Jesus said that there are none that are good.

Ephesians 2:9 – “Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”

1. Believe in God – Some people believe that because they believe God exists, that they will be saved.

James 2:19 – “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!”

1. Follow the Bible – Jesus said you must be more righteous then the Pharisees if you are to enter heaven!

Matthew 5:20 – “But I warn you-unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven.”

1. I go to church – God is not looking for you to go to church, but to enter into relationship.

Matthew 7:21-23 – “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven.  Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.  On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’”

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Here are some funny videos we made about funny things happening in Life Groups.  Everything is totally improv, and done in one take.  We shot all three of these before prayer one night at the south campus.  One is about a guy who comes to a Life Group, and once the group starts everyone starts to act a little “childish.”  The other two are about people who believe they are super heros sharing about the problems that they face.

Super Hero Struggles

Super Hero Life Group

Faith Like a Child

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>>> Mark 4:35-36

////////To His Disciples…

Though Jesus speaks in the midnight hour, not everyone can hear what he is saying.  It is not the desperation of your situation, but the hunger of your heart that get’s God’s attention.  There are a couple of reasons why His disciples heard him when no one else was able to.

///////Jesus in the Boat

This verse says, “they took Jesus in the boat” and then “started out.”  You can’t start out, without first making sure Jesus is in the boat. You can’t really begin your day with purpose until you begin your day with the one who created it.  The boat here represents your devotional life.  A boat is a boat whether it is in raging seas, calm water, or resting on the shore.  It does not change.  The outside conditions do not change the inside convictions.  Whether you feel like or not, or full of passion, or running on empty, you are not going to make it across the lakes and through the storms of life without the discipline of a devotional time with the Lord.  Don’t ask yourself if you should pray and read today, ask Jesus.  I’m sure he would like to be in the boat.

///////Leaving the Crowds Behind

The other reason why the disciples could here what Jesus is saying when no one else could, is because they decided to leave the crowds behind.  In the tough times, it is not your friends that you need the most.  For one, they are probably in the same situation that you are, and two they may be the ones that got you into your mess.  You cannot clearly hear the voice of God with the friendly voice of others clamoring in the background.  This only brings confusion and misdirection. If you want to know what God is saying, leave the crowds behind and get Jesus in the boat.

>>> Mark 4:36

////////Other Boats Followed…

What is the end of all this trouble?  It is that others will follow you to safer shores. The person with Jesus in his boat is the leader at sea when the waves or breaking and the wind is blowing.

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