THE PASTOR’S POINTS
Bible Teaching Ministry of
CEDAR LODGE BAPTIST CHURCH
Thomasville, NC
a fellowship of faith, family and friendships
Dr. Russell Brownworth, D.Min., Pastor
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June 20, 2004
A Father’s Day message
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So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12 (NASB)
I love what the fabled American humorist Will Rogers said, “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.”[1] One of the primary reasons that statement makes so much sense is the nature of time. Time is only by permission of God. That is because the Creator of all we see and know also created time.
For us time is a non-renewable resource. Once a moment has passed, it can never be renewed…it is gone! Time can be extended in the sense that we can eat better, quit our bad habits and maybe live a few more years; but time can never be recaptured.
The fact that God gave us time is reason enough that we must treat it with the same approach to all of life which is our gift. That approach is summed-up in our statement of the fifth pillar of building Kingdom families about using time wisely:
Pillar #5. Using Time Wisely
Time is a resource given to each person by God. My use of it, especially in matters related to my family, reflects my esteem for God. One day, I will give an account to Him for how I have spent the time He entrusted to me. As I order my life in concert with His will, I will discover that I have sufficient time for personal growth through prayer, for the study of God’s word, and for fulfilling every God-given responsibility related to my family.
Time! Have you ever heard anyone wish he had less of it? Have you ever heard anyone over the age of 30 say how slowly it passes? People use time, waste it and spend it. Einstein had a theory of it, and people even study how others use it. There is even an international Association of time-use researchers.
Ever wonder how adults spend their time? One study showed how 18-64 year-olds spend their minutes each day. Included were, Sleeping, working, watching TV, housework, travel, eating, socializing, recreation, childcare, dressing, washing, reading, relaxing, etc. Significantly, perhaps, worship and devotional activities did not appear in the studies.[2]
Time is non-renewable, once-gone, forever lost. The sayings are legion:
You cannot cry over spilled milk.
Yesterday is a cancelled check, tomorrow a promissory note; only today is ready cash.
What’s done is done.
So, what can be done with time? The Bible tells us that time is redeemable (Ephesians 5:16)! How do you redeem time? One definition of “redeeming” is literally to “buy back” something. It is what happened when Jesus died for our sins. We were lost, captured prisoners of sin. Jesus bought-back our liberty with his blood.
On this Father’s Day it is a fitting subject, how to glorify God in the time with which He has blessed each of us.
I believe the key for redeeming time is found in two texts placed side-by-side:
12So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.Psalm 90:12 (NASB)
15Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16making the most of your time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16 (NASB)
The key is wisdom; notice that the concept of being wise appears in both texts. The turning of that key is prayer. Psalm 90 is a prayer directed towards God. If you want to be a person who counts where it counts, you must be a person of prayer.
A man who wants to be a Father, and not just listed on the birth certificate needs to be a man of prayer.
A Mom who would truly have her children arise and bless her[3] must be a woman who spends time on her knees.
A young person who wants wisdom to navigate through life in a very scary world must learn to pray.
And, for you post-parenting grandparents, if you would have God’s truest calling, prayer is what your family needs more than anything else you will leave when you leave.
How to Redeem the Time By Being a Person of Prayer
1. Be Devoted To It
Prayer is not an avocation like fishing or watching the races. There are a lot of things to which you can give your devotion. If you consider prayer in that category, you will never be a person of prayer.
To devote one’s self to prayer is what David Brainerd did. Brainerd was a missionary to the Native Americans. His diary tells of nights of prayer in spite of a debilitating illness which took his life at the age of thirty. God brought revival among the Native Americans along the eastern seaboard on the wings of Brainerd’s prayers.[4]
Daniel devoted himself to prayer. The moment a decree was signed forbidding prayer to anyone other than Darius [the king], Daniel went to his home and prayed three times a day as he always did before (Daniel 6:10).[5]
To be a praying father means your children are held up before the throne every day, many times a day. It means devotion!
2. Be Directed By It
I have been told by more than a few folks throughout the years of how “God just doesn’t seem to answer my prayers”. One person years ago made an appointment, came to see me and laid out her tale of woe. She said, “Pastor, I just don’t get it, I asked God to straighten out my husband and son, and it just doesn’t seem to work. What am I doing wrong?” When I pressed for what she had been praying, I found out she did pray every day, but she rarely opened her Bible. She was surprised when I told her she was having a “one-way” conversation. She was so busy talking to God she had never done any listening.
How do you listen? When you go to the Lord, you must open not only your heart, confessing your sins and laying out your requests; you must go with an open mind and an open Bible. God’s Word speaks to you, IF you let it!
A man who would be a wise man is a man who will allow God to teach him how to number his days. I have to confess that I am an easy mark for systems and routines to solve my time use problems. I am always on the hunt for a better way to calendar and schedule my time usage. But I find it is only when I spend the first part of the day in prayer (with my Bible open and my mouth shut) that real wisdom kicks-in! Devoted, directed, and…
3. Be Dependent On It
To be dependent on prayer is to lay your life before God, and then burn the bridges behind. It means we place ourselves in a position of trusting God with everything we are, have and hope. It means we surrender in such a way that if God doesn’t show up everything is lost.
In a sermon one preacher talked about being “fourth quarter Christians”.[6] Everyone on a football team is aching and bruised after three hard-fought quarters of running, hitting and being hit. It is common to see some members of the team holding up four fingers as the last quarter starts. They are saying, “This is it; no holding back, we’re going all-out; the fourth quarter is OURS!
To be a fourth-quarter Christian means I am going to raise both hands, palms empty and upward to my Heavenly Father and let Him know each day is His, and I will be nothing in it unless He puts something there.
I want to be:
· wholly-devoted,
· fully-directed and
· totally dependent on my connection to Jesus.
That’s a really simple time-management process; and the best!
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[1] Will Rogers, Leadership, Vol. 2, no. 1.
[2] Reported in American Demographics, July, 1990. "To Verify," Leadership.
[3] Proverbs 31
[4] Adapted from Tom Elliff’s, Unbreakable: The Seven Pillars of a Kingdom Family, Broadman &Holman, 2003
[5] Ibid.
[6] Be A Fourth Quarter Christian by Rick Lance, on SermonCentral.com
