REDEEMING THE TIME

is near:
2. Galatians 6:9 - 10 9And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. 10So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith.
3. Four things come not back: the sped arrow, the spoken word, time past, and the neglected opportunity. - Arabian Proverb
4. 2 Corinthians 6:2 2For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
C. We should redeem time because of the brevity of life
1. James 4:13 – 14 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
2. Some has listed the seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills, wills.
3. Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
4. Do you realize how quickly time passes and flees from us? In a lifetime the average American will spend: Six months sitting at stoplights; Eight months opening junk mail; One year looking for misplaced objects; 2 years unsuccessfully returning phone calls; 4 years of doing housework; 5 years waiting in line; 6 years eating. (Survey of 6000 people polled in 1988, U.S. News and World Report, Jan 30, 1989, p. 81.)
5. Only one life twill soon be past – only what’s done for Christ will last.

III. How do we redeem the time?
A. By being alert
1. Ephesians 5:14 Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
2. When it comes to being on the alert and ready at any moment to do the job, it’s hard to beat the Pony Express. This historically famous mail service between St. Joseph, Missouri, and California depended on constant movement and readiness. Relay stations were established every ten to fifteen miles. A rider would shout aloud as he approached a station, giving the station master very short notice that he needed to be outside waiting with a fresh mount. Even when a rider came to the station where he was to spend the night, another rider was already mounted and waiting, ready to grab the first rider’s bundle of packages and continue the trip.
3. Sloth is not to be confused with laziness. A lazy man, a man who sits around and watches the grass grow, may be a man at peace. His sun-drenched, bumblebee dreaming may be the prelude to action or itself an act well worth the acting. A slothful man, on the other hand, may be a very busy man. He is a man who goes through the motions, who flies on automatic pilot. Like a man with a bad head cold, he has mostly lost his sense of taste and smell. He knows something’s wrong with him, but not wrong enough to do anything about. Other people come and go, but through glazed eyes he hardly notices them. He is letting things run their course. He is getting through his life. – Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking, A Theological ABC, (Harper, San Francisco, A Division of Harper Collins Publishers, 1973), pp. 89-90
4. Ephesians 5:17 Therefore