Avioiding Costly Mistakes - Procrastination

Avoiding Costly Mistakes at All Costs - Procrastination
Acts 26:28
Pastor Don Jones
West Glendale Baptist Church



Last night I got a wild hair around 7:00 P.M. I wanted to fix a mechanical pencil that was broken and refill a ball point pen. These had been broken for the past 6 years but at that moment they were all that I had on my mind. I finished a good 45 minutes later victorious and filled with pride at my accomplishment. I even picked something off the floor with my left hand. No small feat when your hand only makes a claw on most days.

The trouble was that the message wasn’t typed. It was in my mind, outlined on paper, illustrations selected, but not typed. Deb was waiting to do the Power Point and again I had put myself under the gun and unfortunately, her. I had perfectly good reasons. I had spent hours counseling individuals this week. It is something that I don’t normally do but considering the problems were of a life and death nature, I needed to take the time.

We are going to finish the series, "Avoiding Costly Mistakes At All Costs". The final message will center on the costly mistake of procrastination. I am sure that most of us are aware of this in our own lives to some extent. I lost 45 minutes doing something I really didn’t need to do. It cost me and my wife valuable time. My concern this morning is that you not allow this costly mistake of procrastination, cost you an eternity with God.

I am also 400 years behind the Reverend Anthoney Walker who used the term for the first time in his sermon on the "sin" of procrastination. The word itself comes from the Latin word procrastinatus: pro- (forward) and crastinus (of tomorrow). It is by definition the deferment or avoidance of an action or task which requires completion by focusing on some other action or task.

For the person procrastinating this may result in stress, a sense of guilt, the loss of productivity, the creation of crisis, and the chagrin of others for not fulfilling one’s responsibilities or commitments. The psychological causes of procrastination vary greatly, but generally surround issues of anxiety, low sense of self-worth, a self-defeating mentality or laziness. Procrastination can be a persistent and debilitating disorder in some people, causing significant psychological disability and dysfunction.

Traditionally, procrastination has been associated with perfectionism. There are different types of procrastinators including the relaxed type, the tense-afraid type, and others. Today we are going to look at scriptures dealing with spiritual procrastination. Open your Bibles to Acts 26.

Cue slide - The Accusations

The apostle Paul had been accused by the Jewish leaders of spreading all kinds of sedition. He had been preaching in Jerusalem. A riot broke out and the Jews wanted to kill Paul. The centurion in charge sent Paul to Caesarea for his own protection guarded by 200 spearmen. Chapter 24 starts with,

Five days later the high priest Ananias went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they brought their charges against Paul before the governor. When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented his case before Felix:

The charges leveled against Paul are found in 24:5-8. These charges were going to follow him throughout his journey to Rome. The Jewish leaders said,

We have found this man