Ecclesiastes Chapter 3. Let's look at Ecclesiastes Chapter 3. Way in the Old Testament. On Wednesday nights as we go through the Bible, we didn't make a date yet, but we will eventually. Let's look at verse 1. Let's look at these verses right here. Ecclesiastes 3, verse 1. The Bible says these words. It says, "...to everything there is a season, a time, and a time to every purpose on the heaven, a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to plug up that which is planted, a time to kill, and a time to heal, A time to break down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to get and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to cast away. A time to rent and a time to sew. A time to keep silence and a time to speak. a time to love and a time to hate, a time to war and a time of peace. What profit had he that worketh in that wherein he labored? I have seen the travail which God had given to the sons of man to be exercised in it. He had made everything beautiful in his time. Also he had set the world in their hearts so that no man can find out the work that God make it from the beginning to the end. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank You, Lord, for this passage of Scripture. It is a time and a season for everything. And Lord, You put us here for a reason. You have a plan. And in this season of time, Lord, we are to do Your will and glorify Your name. So help us, Lord, to work for You, to serve You from our own hearts. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. So we continue our theme. You may be seated. We continue our theme. Make my life count, Lord. I think that... Let me put it this way. Is that you? I mean, some people live in this world with no aim. They have no aim. They just go through life and they do the best they can. They don't have an aim. It's good to have an aim in life. Right? It's good to have an aim. I have an example. When I first got married, my aim, I wanted to buy a house. That was my aim. And I put that aim in my wife's mind too. We want to buy a house. I could not stand apartments. Still can't stand apartments these days. But you might be comfortable right there where you are. That's fine. There's an aim. If you have an aim in life, life is different. You have a goal, you have an aim, something to reach to. So, I think if we look at God, if you look at Him and say, Lord, make my life count for you. That's an aim. You want to live a life that glorifies God, to be a big thank you to Him, and that you aim for life. So if we point that, things would change. So the subject of time is an interesting concept here. All of us here are subject to time. All of us are subject to time. Before God created the heavens and the earth, there was no time. And even today, God is outside of time. But we are limited by time. He said, well, look at how you're aging. You know, that's time taking a toll on all of us. Time is taking a toll on all of us. You see a picture when you were a kid? You still look like that person? Or you changed? Some people change dramatically. They're like, who's that person? Others look, you know, kind of, Similar to that, you know as they get older, but we subject to time and time takes a stole on all of us. So We like to think that we are masters of time What are you not we not for an example? We met this morning that time is gone What we did this morning here at church, it's done It's history You see, because you cannot go back and say, if I had done this. Here's one thing, when I first stopped preaching, I used to go, maybe I should have said this, maybe I should have said that. You know, I said what God put in my mouth to say. That's it. That time, that opportunity, it's gone. So we think we masters of time, but we're not. We even have digital clocks these days to measure time out precisely to the narrow second. But we don't really understand time. There are times when time seems to go to rush by, and other times when it seems like the clock is standing still. I mean, look, sometimes I work like this. You look at the clock, you're like, oh, it's already lunchtime. Oh, my word. Then you have lunchtime and really from the morning, for me especially, from the morning to lunchtime is a lot more hours than from lunchtime until I go home. And sometimes it feels like the afternoon, it's like, seems like the clock goes up and just... Two seconds up, three seconds down. Seems like it is a move. It just lingers, you know, like, wow, God's really slowing time down here. But we think we can control. We cannot control time. So there are times when we are very much aware of time, such as when we are working on a project or a deadline, racing the clock, fighting against time. Ever been there? And those are wonderful times when we just let it go and we don't watch clocks and just let the time go and we don't care about the time. That's the times of just rest. So Benjamin Franklin wrote this way, does thou love life? then do not squander time, for time is the stuff life is made of. So today I want us to look at three biblical principles that will help us or help you with this thing called time and help you to make the best of your time or your time count. Because one thing is for sure, we do waste a lot of time, even though we all have 24 hours in the day. But there are a lot of times that we don't think about it, but it's time wasted. For example, we say like this, I really don't have time to read my Bible. I just don't have the time. How do you get time to do that? You make time. That simple? You make time. I'm very busy, but you make time. You prioritize your time that God gives. Same 24 hours. In that 24 hours, we prioritize our time. But there's one thing that is stealing time from our minds today. You know what it is? That's right. I mean, Facebook is a very popular one, but I'll tell you what. You know how many social media sites are out there? You are going to lose your mind if you're going to have an app for all of them. Because it keeps coming. And you know what? Before you know it, you spend two, three hours emerging that thing. I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm just saying if we prioritize our time and see how we can get hold of the time that we have. Because when the time is gone, it's gone. When the day is over, it's over. So, you know, it's prioritizing time. And of course, we have so much entertainment that entertains us so much that we got into a point we lose focus of what life is all about. Listen, it's wonderful to go outside and be productive, do something. I would like to do something with my hands better than sit on the couch and do nothing. Or have a television entertain you. Because that's what it is. But I mean, sometimes you need a couch day, don't you? Sometimes I like a couch day. But anyway, let's look at this from several points tonight. Number one, your days are numbers, so number your days. You got that? Your days are numbered, so number your days. Look at Psalm 90 verse 12. Look what it says. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts into wisdom. So this is a very practical verse in scripture, but unfortunately many people don't even look at it in a way to try to understand it. It literally says, because your days are numbered, learn to apply wisdom into your heart. Your days are numbered, so number your days. And what we mean by this is the principle of time. We need to understand that our time is limited and our days are counted. I don't know when you depart. I don't know when I'm going to depart, but it might be shorter than you think. So if our days are shorter than we think, we should have wisdom. How would we do with our day? Because when you depart, that's it. I don't know who's going to be here by next year. All of us here. I don't know if I will be here. I don't know if you will be here. We don't know. He said, well, I'm still young. It doesn't matter. So your days are numbered. They are. So number your days. There are only so many hours in the day and there's only so many days in your life. Time is a limited resource. So as with all limited resources we have, you need to treat it with care if you're going to make your time count. I think the best thing we can do with our time is to give it to God. People say, I miss out in life. No, you don't. We think we miss out in life. Folks, let me put it this way. I lived in the world. I know what the world offers. I didn't grow up in a Christian home. And when people says to me, Oh, you know, I don't want to miss out in life. I know what they're saying, but that has foolishness at a high level. It is foolishness. You know, I, Lord, help me to a number of my days to make my time count for you. Listen, how can you go to church all day on Sunday? Oh, praise the Lord, I can't make it there. Somebody said to me the other day, said to me, well, you know, we have church, this is somebody that goes to church. It's like, we go to church in the morning, but our pastor wants us to spend time with the family the rest of the Sunday. One minute. Sunday is what? The Lord's day. So it's not family day, it's the Lord's day. You make another day of the week as your family day. And that Sunday you give it to the Lord. My family day, I try to make it on Fridays. I go to work. Where I come from work, I try to spend time with my family. That's our family day or a family evening we call. We do something together as a family. But to say that, you know, and that's the excuse we see. No, the Lord's Day Sunday is the Lord's Day. And we take that day apart to give thanks to him and worship him. That's a wonderful opportunity that we have as his children. So, your days are numbered, so number your days. Letter A there, there are only so many hours in the day. Look at Genesis chapter 1 verse 5 if you go there. Go to Genesis chapter 1 verse 5 and let's see what the Lord says there. So we're going to let you go to Bible verses tonight like I did last week. So let's go to Genesis chapter 1 verse 5 so you can see for yourself. So, look what it says there. Genesis 1-5. And God called the day the light day, and the darkness he called night, and the evening and the morning were the first day. So, first of all, there are only so many hours in the day. Folks, how many hours is in a day? 24. Are you sure? There are so many hours in a day. 24 hours in a day. What do you do with the 24 hours that God gives you? Some people waste it away. Some people spend the day sleeping. Don't get me wrong, it's good to sleep. But some people sleep all day long. Some people use the day for wickedness. It's what they do. What about have that time with God and say, I have 24 hours a day that God gave me. When you wake up in the morning, God gave you those 24 hours. What am I going to do with those 24 hours? You have to work. That's right. You have to work. That's part of what we do as human beings. We work to survive. Another thing is, okay, what can I do with all the other? Because ultimately you work about 8 hours in a day, right? About 8 hours. Can you have your mind set on God during those 8 hours? Yes, you can. Can you be a testimony of God's goodness and love to you on those eight hours? Yes, you can. Can you quote scripture in those eight hours? Yes, you can. It's about making your time count and how you reach people. So there's only so many hours in the day. But what can you do with 24? Can you multitask in 24 hours, in those eight hours? Yes, you can. You say, I cannot multitask. Listen, even when you focus on the job, your mind thinks about other things too. So, there are so many hours in the day. So first of all, there are only 24 hours in the day. Last time I checked, there was 24 hours. That is God's design. When God created the world, He created the world, He created the earth, the sun, the moon, and the stars. He created the earth to a span of time. And of course, we have 24 hours in the day. What we do with 24 hours. So each person on planet Earth gets the exact same amount of time each day. Get this. It's what we do with the time that differs. It is amazing that two different people can make such different use of the same amount of time. Ben Franklin said it this way, lost time is never found again. And that is true. The earth spins around, and when the day is done, the day is gone. You will never get it back. There are only so many hours, like I said, in a day. What matters here is what you do with the day, to do with your day, the 24 hours that God gives you. So unfortunately, too many people waste most of the 24 hours that God has given them. And they do it over and over again. So may we learn to say thank you, Lord, for every 24 hour day. Because when you wake up, when your eyes wake up, and it's by the grace of God that you and I wake up. Because when you go to sleep, You don't even know who you are. You're just sleeping there and you hope for the best. Right? He said, Lord, protect me as I rest. You don't know what's going to happen when you're sleeping. You know, when you wake up in the morning, Lord, thank you for 24 hours, for this new day you've given me. Yesterday, that time is gone. So you have another 24 hours. Let it be. There's only so many days in your life. There's only so many days in your life. So look at what it says in Psalm 139, verse 6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto it. Each of us only gets a certain amount of time. Let me put it this way. All right, folks. Who does exercise here? Hey, you got a lot of people exercising here. Who does lift weights here? All right, good. Who eats vegetables day in and day out? I'm one of them. So everybody wants to be healthy, right? So we can live longer, right? It happened, folks. See, that's a human thinking. That's human thinking. I think if I exercise, if I run, if I do this, the old healthy things don't get me wrong. It's good to be healthy, right? He wants a living pain anyway. Nancy, right? He wants a living pain. But I tell you what, it does not add an hour to your time on earth. You have an appointment which you make and the day of departure is the day of departure. You will leave when that day comes. You cannot add anything unless God give it to you. There's one person in the Bible that he was sick, asked God for time, God gave him another what, 15 years, whatever it was, or 10 years, something like that. But God is the one who added those days, not him. I cannot add a second to my life on earth. When the day of departure come, I gotta go. So, listen, I'm not telling you should not exercise or eat vegetables. Go ahead and do those things. I'm telling you, those things don't add a second to your life. So, if God gives you 70 years, that is about 26,000 days, That may seem like a lot, but compared to eternity, it's just like nothing. Keep in mind that each day that passes by is one last day of our departure. The sad thing is many people don't think about it. For example, We have our schedule to go to Florida in May. It seems like far away. Like, I don't mind. I have six weeks away. You know what? Each day gets closer. That's what happens. Same thing about our departure for heaven. Each day it gets closer. It's one day less. You know what? And heaven is a wonderful place. So, not like, oh, I'm going to heaven. No, I'm going to heaven. So, there are multitudes of people in this world that don't care about dying. Neither are making any preparation for their departure when life is over. They are simply living for here now without making any plans. And if you try to reach to them, you know what they say? I am okay. I'm fine. I really don't need this religious thing. They don't understand what they're doing. You know, they're wasting their time here on earth. And they're going to a worse place when they die. But they think this whole thing is a joke. Really? So the Bible teaches us to view our lives as brief as a quickly passing. Get this, it don't matter what we try to do here on earth to survive, every person have an appointment with our maker. And no one will be able to avoid that day or that appointment. It's not say, like I tell you this week, I had an appointment with my doctor last Thursday. I called on Wednesday and I said, I'm sorry, I can't not make it. I need to reschedule this appointment. And we did reschedule. I really couldn't make it, so I rescheduled. We cannot do that with the day we depart from this world. We cannot call heaven and say, by the way, God, I can't make it. You know what? I just want to reschedule that. And the Lord's going to say, okay, okay, I understand. I'll give you another. Let's say, oh, today is April 10th. I give you until like September. Let me schedule for September. It don't happen that way. You cannot reschedule, cancel the appointment. You and I, all of us have an appointment with our maker. A day that we will depart as we like it or not, as healthy you want to be. Healthy people die too, folks. Look what it says, actually go to Hebrews chapter 9 verse 27 Hebrews 9 27 So I want you to see that for yourself Because some people think they're in control of time Look what it says. Are you there Hebrews 9 27? As it is appointed unto men once to Die and after this the judgment you see that But there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, the Bible says. So don't think you're a Christian, oh, I'm going to be judged by God. No, you are saved, you are clean, you're going home. But those who don't have God as their Savior, look what it says, it is an appointment appointed unto men who want to die. So each one of us has a day of departure. Your days are numbered, so number your days. Look what it says in Psalm 39, Some people think they're everything in a bag of Fritos. They think they're everything in a bag of Fritos. Guess what? It's just a little sickness, and their whole world falls apart. We're not that strong, folks. We're not. I read recently about a new device, a new device scientists are working on called the death test watch. It is a watch like you wear on your wrist that measures the vitality of your cells inside your body and basically tells you how much longer you have to live. Now, this is really going on. So, going to have to work in their marketing. I mean, I don't know how this, you know, God is in control of time, not people. What do you want for... That would be interesting for us to say, to put that in a Christmas thing. When somebody asks, what do you want for Christmas? I want to watch to mark my time, see how long I have. But I tell you what, if we listen to the words of God, We would know that our time is limited. We have a limited time here. So don't think God wants you to think that you are in control of time because you know we're not in control of time. God gets the final say how long you will live anyways, but he does want you to number your days. All right, that you may again gain a heart of wisdom. So knowing that your time on earth is limited will help you to make wise decisions concerning the time you have left. As coach Vince Lombardi says one time, I never lost a game, I just ran out of time. That's the way to put it. I never lost a game, I just ran out of time. Didn't have no more time, so we lost because of time. Isn't that true? It is, because he come to the last seconds, he still try to win the game, but guess what? No more time left. So number one, we see your days are numbered, so number your days. Number two, there is a time for everything, so manage your time well. So the second principle is this. There's a time for everything, so manage your time well. Let's look at verse one right there of Ecclesiastes. Look what it says. To everything there is a season, a time to every purpose on the heaven, a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to plug out that which is planted, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to break down, a time to build up, a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance. See, it's beautiful poetry right here and beautiful reminder that there is a right time and a right season for everything, isn't it? There are seasons that we have, we just cry. There are seasons that are just joy. These are all seasons of life. Sometimes those seasons come too quick. You cry and you laugh, you cry and you laugh. There are seasons of pain. So get this folks, life is made of moments. God gave us 24 hours in each day and we all have the opportunity to create lasting moments. It is true that time passes by so fast, so fast that half of the things we do, we don't even remember. If I tell you, can you give me detail what you did last week from Monday to Friday? Every little thing on the day, would you be able to? You won't. You will remember some things. But most of the things, you're going to grasp for straws. Because we're only allowed to remember some things. Let's backward the clock to the moment you were born. And if I say, can you remember everything you lived and you did all the way till now? You can't. You will remember some little things. You know, I remember when I was a kid, I did this. What about other things? So we can't remember. We're limited. Our mind is limited by so much. I mean, I have things even my kids, my kids said, remember that when we did this? And I was like, I don't. I don't remember. But there are things that I remember they don't remember. So God gives us this opportunity. So I believe that if we live with the right priorities, the right goals, and the right vision, we will live a fulfilled life, a life of gratitude and joy all the way to the end. What can we do to accomplish this? Number one, or letter A, seek God's kingdom first. Look what it says, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all those things shall be added unto you. So how you make your time count? Seek God's kingdom. Don't give up. Be encouraged. Keep doing it. There's a time for everything. So you need to manage your time well. This begins with prayer and the Word of God and make sure your priorities line up with God's priorities. Some people spend their whole life climbing up the ladder and then they get to the top only to discover they were leaning against the wrong wall. The wall on which we should lean is the letter called Jesus. That's the right letter. You know, some people think only if I get there and when I get there goes, oh, that's it. I was the wrong place. So seek first the kingdom of God. You know how we prioritize our time. That's the way I put it. I think I'm right. Start your day with God. Start your day with the Lord. You get out of bed, if you have five minutes, if you have 10 minutes, if you have an hour, whatever time you have that you think, prioritize your time. And you say, I already read the Bible 20 times, read it 21 times. Read it 22 times. Here's one thing I do, I read my Bible every year, I go through my Bible. So, Pastor, where are you? I'm in Second Kings. I keep on going. God wants us to prioritize and so Jesus is what I need in my life. So start your day with God and end your day with God. But don't forget God in between. Because you can make a difference in other people's lives. Use your workplace as a place where you can share God with others. Give them the Word of God. Give them Scripture. Tell them about the Lord. Jesus is what you need in your life and my life. We need that. So Jesus is what the people of this world needs as well. So get this. Life without God is aimless and hopeless. It's a life that leads to destruction. It's a life that has a sad ending. It is a life without any hope at all. And you say, Pastor, but people don't want to hear it anymore. They make fun of you. Yeah, spit on Jesus' face. What do you expect? Right? They put a crown of thorns in his head and they crucified him. What do you expect? If they did that to Jesus, what do you think it's going to do to you and me? So, I mean, we shouldn't let that stuff take the joy of our hearts. Listen, folks, life is hard. You agree with me? Life is hard for all of us. If we sit around, be honest with ourselves, we'd be the most pitiful bunch, talking about our problems. Everybody has problems. Some more than others, but everybody has problems. That's what life is made of, problems. So what are you going to do, let problems overtake you? No. Problems, kick you to the side, move on. Another one, hey, what are you going to do? It's like kicking a ball. So you need to make God your first priority in life. So as Jesus said in Matthew 6.23, So we need to make sure that the tasks on your calendar lines up with God. Are you loving God today and serving others? Are you working hard every day to provide for your family? Are you getting adequate rest and exercise? Do you make personal time each day for the word of God and prayer? Do you pray for your brothers and sisters? Do you pray for your church? Do you pray for the lost? Do you worship regularly with your church family on a weekly basis? Bible says, seek ye first the kingdom of God. God should be our number one. Listen folks, if God is our number one, and if we're going to make our time count, wherever you go, God goes with you. You don't take vacations from God. I don't take vacations from God. We need time of rest, but we should always go to God. I tell you what, what people don't understand is this. The local church, it is very important in the lives of believers. We need the local church. We need each other. Let it be. Find God's balance in your time. Look what it says in verse 11 of our text. He that made everything beautiful in his time, not our time, his time, also he had set the world in their hearts so that no man can find out the work of God, make it from the beginning to the end. So we also need to be careful that we do not import our cultural values of time under this whole idea of managing our time. In the United States, we tend to view time management mainly in terms of productivity. How can I squeeze the most out of each hour? What can I do? There are times when this goal, we try to accomplish this goal, we forget about everything else. That's why we have fast food restaurants. We have drive up windows because we just don't have time. Folks, sometimes you just need to sit down. I'm going, I see people. They go to the drive-thru, and by the end of that, by the time they get out of the drive-thru, they've already put, they've swallowed the food already. They're like, you know, whoop, because they don't have time. You know, their time is so limited. Listen, make time to eat. Make time to rest. Prioritize your time. God wants us, us actually to taste the food, you know? You know, like, you eat and you go, how that taste? I don't know, I forgot, it just went right in. You can't do that. Taste the food. Praise God for it. You know, you're going to eat a donut, bite the thing. Taste that sugar. You know, you're like, wow, this thing is, whoa. You know? So we live in this fast food world and where we don't have time for anything. Make your time count. Make it count. Make it right. Time is precious to all of us. Make it count. So when you get to the end of life, you say, God gave me this many years and I did it all. I did. I enjoy my time that God gave me. That's why I don't like to be entertained. I don't like TV. You know, it's just to entertain you to death and to heaven. You know, like right now you have how many channels on TV? Hundreds of channels. You know what they did? To entertain you. And you spend hours and hours on the phone the same day. Look, enjoy your time that God gives you. Prioritize it. Go for a walk. Look at the birds. You know, like, wonderful. Look at God's creation. Prioritize your time. Find balances. For many cultures, the most value of time is relational. Spend time with each other. Time changes the way they look at time. In America, we live in a high-speed train. It's like if you don't get in that train, you're going to miss the whole thing. Everyone is so consumed and controlled by time. I'll tell you what. Here's one thing that I noticed when I came here to America, and I noticed that when I went to visit Portugal. Seemed like time there is at standstill. They say it's so long. You know why? Because people are not in a rush. Here's like, hey, listen, even in Portugal, even in other countries, lunch is one hour. They even have a siesta in the afternoon. You know, I was like, we swallowed the food. We don't taste anything. And here we go again. Work, work, work, work, work. For what? Pay bills, pay bills. So. So everyone is so consumed and controlled by time, most of us are constantly doing, doing, going, going, and we forget the most important, God and family. God, our first priority. Family, second. Well, church, family. Meet with each other. That's why we have, I'll tell you what, as long as I'm a pastor here, we're always going to have Wednesday night service. Why we do that? We started the Bible, but we have family time. That's what it is. We are the family of God. We meet together. We have evening serving wine. We have family time. It's important. So, some are too busy for God. What a mistake. Some are too busy for family. What a mistake. God, His Word, His house, His people should be a vital piece of our time. Your church family, your blood family should be vital pieces of our time. Dinner with the family. We live in a country today, there's no more dinner. If you don't have dinner, at least have lunch or breakfast. Have a meal with your family. It's important. So, coffee time together is important. Sitting down, relaxing and talking to one another is important. It builds relationships. That's a time well spent. Well here at East Bay Baptist Church we have time for fellowship. Every Wednesday night we have fellowship and food. Once a month we have our potluck lunch here at the church. We may be asking why so much fellowship? You want the answer? Because we need it. As simple as that. Why so many fellowships? Because we need it. He didn't sit down and say, oh, you know, I don't want to have a church that goes, I go in, I stand up, I sit down, I sing, I say, no, no, I want to go home. No, that shouldn't be like that. We have family. God's family we are part of a local church so we do we do things in the family we reach out we will go to reach the lost but we have fellowship with one another we sit down break bread together it's part of that making you prioritize your time make your time good for the Lord and useful and now and when we come to the end of time we can do no one said I did it all Lord and I rejoice in that we shouldn't I mean listen that's why it's important when the family meets together Don't try to miss it out. Be there. Is there nobody who would miss me? Well, you would be missed. Definitely you will. Secondly, you will lose something. Fellowship. Building each other up. So why we have so many fellowships? Because we need it. First, we got to know each other. Second, we break bread together. Thirdly, we encourage one another. I'll tell you what, I got to know all of you. Talk with you, make friends with you. Isn't that wonderful? Enjoy each other, get to know each other. Time well spent. Ecclesiastes 3.11 says, He that made everything beautiful in His time. Time is a gift from God and God has given you sufficient time to accomplish everything He has. He has called you in your life. That's our second principle this morning, tonight, I'm sorry. Number three, be careful how you live because the days are evil. Be careful how you live because the days are evil. Folks, let me remind you that the Bible says that the days are evil, so be careful how you live. Go to Ephesians chapter 5, verse 15. There's a lot of evil in our world. And be careful. Then you can get your mind wrapped up on that stuff. Then you can begin to talk and speak and live like the world does. See, that's a dangerous thing today. Some people say, well, too many services. It's too much for the pastor. This pastor is not complaining. This man right here is not complaining. You know why? Because we need it. We need it. And I enjoy being with you. love to be with you so look what it says in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 15 see then that we walk circumspectly not as fools but look what it says as wise redeeming the time because the days are evil wherefore be not unwise but understanding that what is the will of the lord i'm sorry what the will of the lord is so the days are evil that simply means that we live in a sinful world with sin where sinful choices are made each and every day. And each of those choices defile God's good gift of time. And because the days are evil, God urges us to be careful how you live. So remember that our everyday choices make us who we are. Also, our everyday choices can bring us sad consequences. There are three things I want you to see about this. Letter A, live wisely. Live wise. Make wise decisions. Think before you speak. Think before you act. Ask God to help you. You know, because we are here to be a testimony for God. You say, that's too much holiness. No, it's not. It's not. The people that you know, they need Jesus as much as you do. You say, I can go all day talking about Jesus. Yes, you can. Yes, I can. I make a purpose in my own life. I would talk about Jesus all day long. I even sing. I do. If they can't have profanity in music, and have all kinds of nonsense, I can go on and sing from my heart. And if they say, you can't sing here, and I say that, turn the music off too. One thing these days we have today is the profanity that comes through music. Where in the world are we going to? Explicit like language is like I thought I'd be honest with you. I was was Friday Friday I was in the other part of my building where I work these two guys will and it's music like I don't know What kind of music is that be honest with you? I? Have no clue. I could not understand what they were saying it was like seems like they're like Demons talking or singing whatever they were and I could the only thing I could hear was the profanity coming out of it I told him I said listen I'm going to work with you, but you got to turn that music off. Because that, that, that, it bothers me. It bothers my soul. I'm not against, you listen to what you want, but I don't want to listen to garbage you listen to. I have the right to do that. And he goes, I don't care what you listen to. No, I start singing the songs of Zion. I didn't try to be mean to them. I was like, I'm going to put the God in my heart. I'm not going to listen to that. He goes, can you stop singing? Are you tired of singing yet? I said, no, I sing until I go home. I did that with a smile. See, you make that purpose to make our time count. So Lord, I'm going to glorify you in the midst of evil. I will. live wisely look what it says in romans 3 11 13 11 and then knowing the time that now it is a high time to wake out of sleep for now is our salvation near that when we believe the night is far spent the day is at hand let us say forecast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light let us walk honestly So live wisely. The best way to live is by being wise. being wise about the friends that we make, being wise about the relationships that we make and the people that we hang with, being wise about our decision making, being wise about the places we go. Folks, you can either live wisely or live unwisely. That includes numbering our days and the things that we do. Listen, we can live with wisdom, make wise decisions. I don't go there. Why? Because I don't want to go there because it's not a good place to go. Ask God to help you and he will. Folks, these are evil days that we live in. Temptation is everywhere. The enemy comes from every place. And look at our world. Our world's messed up. Full of messed up people. And we need to be careful because we've been there too. And it's by the grace of God that we are saved. So we should not look down at them and like, oh, look at... No, no, they need salvation as much as we did. Absolutely. So we need to be careful. Paul calls our attention for the way we spend our time and how we should be watchful because the evil of each day. These commands are for right living here. We have to live right. Let it be. Make the most of every opportunity. Look at verse 10. That's a sure place that everybody's going, to the grave. Make the most of every opportunity that the Lord allows you to have. See, God wants us to make the most of every opportunity. And we have so many opportunities, folks. So many. Once again, time is a limited resource that we have. Then you want to make the most of every moment. The word translated redeeming the time is an economical term which means to purchase or redeem. Get this, time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have and only you can determine how you will spend it. Be careful, at least you let other people spend it for you. So, how do you redeem the time? How do you make sure you are spending the coin on your life wisely? You ready? Number one. First, be sure to spend time with your family and friends. Make sure you spend time with people that build you up. People that love you and care about you. Make time for those people. Make time for them. And we know the people that really love us and care for us. So there's number two. Number two. Secondly, learn to live in the present. You get this? The past is the past. Memories are there, but you cannot go there. But some people have a tendency to live in the past. Oh, the golden old days. Oh, the days that we... They're gone. Can't live it anymore. They're gone. You can't go live tomorrow because tomorrow you're not there. Live today. Make the best of your day and say, in God good for this day. So learn to live in the present. That's the time we live in. We were born for such a time as this, this day. This is our day. Tomorrow, we don't know. You might be in heaven tomorrow. Praise the Lord. So take us home, Lord. Can't go to yesterday. Yesterday is gone. So, when you worry about the future, regret the past, you are wasting the present. Listen, why am I going to worry? Can worry fix anything? No. Worry cannot fix. I'm going to worry about something happened like last year. Why am I going to worry? It's done. Why am I going to worry about tomorrow? Tomorrow I'm not there yet. So thirdly, enjoy the good things that God has given you. So what is God giving me that is so good? Oh, all right. Let's let me remind you. Oh, let me put it this way. I look at me Got my kids got a home I'm saved Got a job got food in the table This is a good things Got a place to live liberty and freedom. That's a good things to live clothes to wear shoes and It's all good things that come from the hands of God. Oh, I work for it, yeah. And God sustained you in order for you to work for it. God provides you the job, believe it or not. All those things come from God. So enjoy the good things that God has given you. Enjoy it. Enjoy the life that you're in. Enjoy it. And I believe that's what God wants us to do. Let us say, understand the Lord's will. How do you live carefully in these evil days? Be wise and to do the Lord's will. That's what the Lord wants us to do. So, make your time count here on earth. Why? Here's the question, why? Because the days are short and before you know, it's over. All right. Robert, when are you going to depart? You have no idea. That's a good answer. We don't know when we're going to depart. We will depart one of these days. Let me conclude it with this. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what is done for Christ will last. Time is a precious gift from God. Don't waste the time you've been given. Make your time count, both for now and for eternity. Folks, this life has much to offer, but nothing will compare to what a person can find in Jesus. I just wanted to encourage you tonight to make your life count for what really matters the most. Make your life count for Jesus, because that's what you will take with you. Everything else will stay here. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much, Lord, for tonight. And help us, each one of us, includes me as well, to make our life count for you. Lord, we're not perfect. We're far from that. We make our mistakes, all of us do. Lord, remind us to ask your forgiveness when we do that. and make our life count, Lord. May we live our lives focused with our eyes, our minds, and our hearts focused on You. And help us, Lord, along this journey of life. We need You, Lord, in every moment of life. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.