All right, so turn to your Bibles, if you would, to Ecclesiastes chapter...
What book is that?
Oh, is that the New or Old?
Old Testament.
I haven't got there yet.
Hey, there you go.
I've got a way to go.
That's right around the corner.
Is it? OK.
The historical books, which that is the history of the children of Israel.
And then we go into poetic books, which the first poetic book is the book of Job.
The second one would be Psalms.
The third one would be Proverbs.
And then Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes are the words of Solomon, the second king of Israel.
Ecclesiastes chapter 3, I'll go ahead and read the whole chapter,
and then we'll expound on what it is God wants us to know.
Ecclesiastes chapter number three, the Bible reads,
To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven,
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to pluck 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 run 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 men to be exercised in it.
He hath made everything beautiful in his time.
Also he hath set the world in their hearts,
so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
I know that there is no good in them,
but for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life,
and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor,
it is a gift of God.
I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever.
Nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it,
and God doeth it, that man should fear beforehand that which hath been is now,
and that which is to be hath already been,
and God requireth that which is past.
And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment,
and that wickedness was there,
and the place of righteousness that iniquity was there.
I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked,
for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.
I said in mine heart, concerning the estate of the sons of men,
that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts,
every one that befalleth them, as the one dieth so dieth the other.
Yea, they have all one breath,
so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast,
for all his vanities all go unto one place,
all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward,
and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better than that a man
should rejoice in his own work,
for that is his portion, for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?
So, we just finished what, you know, some arguably talk about is
the wisdom book of Ecclesiastes, the words of Solomon,
the wisest king in Israel at the time.
Solomon was brought up with his father David, you know.
He was obviously taught a lot of wisdom.
Now, obviously he was given supernatural wisdom after the fact,
when he became king, because God asked Solomon a question,
and said, what do you want that I give you?
And he asked for wisdom, so that he can help rule the children of Israel.
And, you know, God said you didn't ask for gold,
you didn't ask for the next of your enemy,
you didn't ask for other things, but because you asked for wisdom,
I will give you gold in the next of your enemy, and things like that.
So, what this chapter is emphasizing is a lot of compare and contrast.
A time to hate, a time to love, a time of peace, a time of war.
There's a time and a season for everything the Bible says.
So, ultimately the message that I want us to understand today
from the Word of God is time management.
You know, obviously we've been having a lot of free time in our hands
in the last month and a half, because of the events
that have been going on.
And, with or without, you know, epic events,
we can find our lives in times in which we can manage ourselves.
I just got a job not that long ago, where I am now a warehouse manager.
Obviously, we all have management experiences in our lives,
whether you're a child, or you're an adult.
Management of your time is an emphasis that the Bible has us to understand
that is very important.
For instance, the Bible teaches, you don't even turn there in Ephesians 5, 16,
it says, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Our time here on this earth is short in comparison to eternity.
You know, even the Bible says if a man live out the length of his days
in a good old age, it's three score in ten years.
So, a score is twenty, three score and ten, you know,
Abraham Lincoln's name is four four and seven years ago,
or I don't know what the quote goes, but he talks about a score
being twenty years.
So, seventy years is what God says is a good life expectation
of someone who just lived their half-natural life.
And obviously, people can live past their seventies,
and some people don't even make it to their seventies.
So, we've got to understand that we need to redeem the time
because the days are evil.
And if we understand as Christians, as Bible-believing Christians,
that the time is short, then we need to make the most best use of our time
for the glory of God, that He can be glorified in everything.
Now, I'm going to explain to you three biblical principles
of time management that can help us to better utilize our time
in every aspect of our life.
Because we as Christians know we are in the world,
we are not of the world.
Though we are in the world, we do have to get by day to day
with work, chores, school, fill in the blank.
And we don't want to go overboard on anyone in the spectrum.
And that's why we see Solomon doing these compare and contrasts
of like, there is a time of peace and there is a time of war.
There is a time to love and there is a time to hate.
So basically, we can understand more what it is and when it is
we can invest our time management on things that are of eternal value.
There is things that we invest that have no eternal value at all
and it's not even necessarily sinful.
Brushing your teeth has nothing to do with eternal glory.
But we brush our teeth so we have clean teeth
and we need to make sure we dedicate a time to brush our teeth.
I mean, dentists say that like a minimum of five minutes a day
should help your teeth help.
Good, I lost the ball in that when I was growing up.
But brushing your teeth is something we need to set aside
to manage our time to be able to have good teeth.
And there are other things.
So the first thing I want us to learn about time management
is investing in spiritual things.
I'm going to expound what I believe to be the most important
to the least important.
But when I go to expound on them
I'm going to explain the least important to the most important.
So the first thing is spiritual matters.
We need to find ourselves managing our time to invest in things of spiritual matter.
Reading our Bibles, going to church, preaching the gospel, and so on and so forth.
But a second thing that we need to invest in as people is our family, ohana.
Obviously our family is a big part of our life
and we need to never neglect our family.
Now obviously there are so many circumstances of different family dynamics
but nevertheless family is that thing that will go with you all the way to the end
and I've had a saying told me from my sister a long time ago
and at the time I didn't understand it
but obviously it makes so much more sense and has to do with wisdom.
One time my sister was coming back from California back here in Hawaii
and a friend of mine was also coming back at the exact same time, my friend Colin.
And when they both got here I went to go see my friend Colin above by her sister
at the airport to introduce him.
And my sister understood but she came up to me and she's like
you know I was kind of bummed out you didn't come and see me at the airport
because you know I've been away from Hawaii for so long
and you're my brother and I wanted to see you
I know I will see you in the future but I was hoping to see you at the airport.
And my friend Colin the same thing he's been gone for a long time
and I went to go see him but here's the thing he's not my family
though he's a good friend of mine.
And Fana told me this my older sister she says
blood runs thicker than water.
And you know at the time I'm thinking in my mind like what do you mean by that but I get it.
You ever heard the term fair weather friends?
You know friends that are not necessarily
you know a man that has friends must show himself to be friendly
and we need to invest in our friendships
but more than friendship would be family.
And there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother
but we're going to go into that as time goes on.
So the first thing is spiritual matters
the second thing is our family
and the last thing that I'm going to show is basically any and everything else.
Work, fun, activities, entertainment and all these other things
and nevertheless you need to find time to invest in things like your work
like entertainment, like hobbies and things like that
because you know a famous quote from a director was
basically all work and no play make jacks go crazy.
I don't know if you've ever heard of it from The Shining?
I think that's where it's from.
The one character he's all about work he's all about work
and then he goes crazy.
We need to find time for relaxation.
God doesn't want us to only just be these robots that are strictly working
and then we go to family, work, home, sleep, work, home, sleep.
No, we need time for relaxation.
We need time to have fun
but it is not the most important thing in our lives.
It is the icing on the cake of our life.
If you would look down at your Bible in Ecclesiastes
you could see an example of that found in verse 4.
It says a time to weep and a time to laugh.
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
Obviously laughter, dancing are things that have nothing to do with eternal glory
and just having good fellowship and fun times
is important to just have relaxation.
To be able to recharge our batteries
and you know there's a way to have clean good fun and even dance
but we just want to make sure that it is not the driving force in our life.
I just want to have fun everywhere I go all the time.
Some people when they look to build a career or a life
they're just thinking I just want to have fun all the time
and it's like you know unfortunately you didn't get that from the Bible.
You got that from your own heart
and you know the heart is desperately with you
and who can ultimately know it?
You know I know, when you ask a kid what do you want to eat?
What's the first thing that's going to come out of their mouth?
Cake and ice cream.
Because they only live on cake and ice cream.
They're going to die.
They're malnourished.
You know it's important to have cake and ice cream.
I preached a message a couple months back
called the spiritual diet of Christians.
Basically God lays out a diet for us to be able to function
and the Bible talks about that we eat for strength not for pleasure
but there is time for God to use us for food or pleasure.
I mean the famous quote of God to the children of Israel
and I'm sure all of you know this
I'm going to give you a land full of milk and honey.
Milk has nothing to do with strength gained for an adult.
Oh yes for a baby they need to survive off of milk.
But you don't need honey to survive.
Honey is not going to keep you alive, sustain you.
But honey is an enjoyment.
It's a sweet.
God wants us to enjoy you know the labor, the works of our labor.
He wants us to enjoy your cake.
But it is not the priority.
It is the icing on the cake.
So number one I'm going to expound on is everything else.
And I'll expound on family and I'll expound on spiritual matters.
Number one let's do the turn to check on James.
James is towards the end of your Bible.
The Epistle of James.
James chapter 4.
Let's go ahead and start reading in verse 13.
Look what it says.
James chapter 4 verse 13.
Go to now ye that say today or tomorrow
we will go into such a city and continue there a year
and buy and sell and get gain.
Whereas ye know not what shall be ye on the morrow.
What is your life?
It is even a favor that appears to us in time.
So notice the first part in verse 13.
It says let's go into such and such a city
and buy and sell and get gain.
This is an entrepreneur trying to go into a foreign land
into somewhere else buying products and basically
selling them and wholesale and gaining gain.
He says let's go do that.
Let's go invest in something of this world.
But notice it says in verse 14.
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.
For what is your life?
It is even a little time and then vanishes away.
Now obviously this is referring to work.
For us we should work.
Men we ought to provide for our family.
The Bible teaches very clearly you don't need to do it there.
But in verse 15 it says if any provide not for his own house
and especially for those of his own house
he is worse than an infidel.
Infidel just means an unbeliever.
So if any provide not for his own house
he is worse than an infidel.
It is our job and duty as men to be able to provide for our families.
Now obviously when the curse fell on Adam and Eve
Eve was given the curse of being in pain and child rearing.
But man was told that you will work by the sweat of your brow all the days of your life.
So God designed us to provide for our families through the sweat of our brow.
We are to work hard as men.
This is what I'm saying.
Work is a priority in our lives to be able to provide.
And you know in our lives you need to find time to invest in a career to be able to provide for.
Get the skills to pay the bills.
Basically what I'm saying.
If you're all work and no play you're going to go crazy.
But nevertheless you need to work.
The Lord says six days shalt thou labor and one shalt thou rest.
So obviously the rest is not an emphasis.
It's the six days of work.
And he's not saying work from six to eight at night.
He's saying work.
And obviously the Bible teaches I have not seen the righteous forsaken
neither his seed begging bread and if we seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness all things shall be added unto us.
Things like clothes, food, housing and all this stuff.
But first we invest in the things of God and you know if we acknowledge him in all our ways
he'll direct our paths.
He'll guide us into the way that we can learn skills to be able to provide for our families
or so on and so forth.
But let's say you have a job you know like I said I just got a new job but I don't know.
Let's say you are a carpenter.
You know just because you go into a field in general labor doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to make a vow
to grow, to take a career or to be able to one day provide for a family
or even a little love for yourself.
Because if that's a red fruit for Timothy then the man provides not for his own
and or also for his own household.
I mean there are people who aren't married.
There are men who just are out in the forest and they have low expenses obviously.
Be yourself and love yourself out of yourself and there's nothing wrong with that.
But if you plan to have a family, if you plan to support and provide for someone
you need to be able to in a sense make more money.
Now here in Hawaii we should understand this that the cost of living is very expensive.
So work is a thing in Hawaiian culture that we have always understood is of the most important.
Some people live on two incomes, dual incomes, free incomes.
There's a time where my wife and I had five jobs amongst each other in the early part of our marriage.
I would work three and she'd work two and just high-fiving each other all the way through.
And that was part of life living here in Hawaii.
But you know what, unfortunately my mistake is I was not seeing the important
and even in the first year of our marriage investing in each other.
The Bible talks about that when a man gets married he's not even to go to war for the first year
but rather to fulfill the deed of a husband to a wife for the first year.
That before, after that then go ahead and go to war, invest in a vineyard, do all these other things.
But the most important aspect of my life outside of the Lord Jesus Christ is my family.
My wife became my family.
The Bible teaches that a man shall be father and mother and cleave unto his wife.
She is now my family and she is believing in me and trusting in me to provide for her.
And I'm trusting her to provide for me in other ways.
Things like what a woman is designed for, things like nurture, things like just honoring me and things like that.
And there are so many more aspects.
You know the Proverbs is 31 women.
There's something wrong with women making money.
But the Bible teaches that she is able to provide for her own, not that it's her duty to do that.
It's our duty as men to do so.
Jesus Christ is the head of the church so every man is the head of his wife.
And the children are under their parents.
There's this structure that children listen to your mom and dad, wives listen to your husband, husbands listen to Christ.
So there's this chain of what is of time and management importance.
First seek the kingdom of God, his righteousness, all things will be at an end to you.
Invest in your job, invest in your career.
So that means when you are working a job, don't just try to be a labor man your whole life.
Don't be a McDonald's employee your whole life.
You can't provide for your own on a McDonald's employee.
Now if you grow to a manager position, great.
If you work McDonald's and Burger King, hey you're making more money.
But nevertheless, you're now becoming diversified.
You're learning multiple skills.
You're like two different jobs.
And something that I've been learning lately is there are times to slow down to speed up.
If that makes sense.
The turtle and the hare analogy.
You know the hare wants to go fast in life and get everything now.
The turtle slows down and he gets there quicker in the end.
So there are times when you can invest in knowledge in your career.
Maybe study to if you're that carpenter to get your own carpentry license to make your own business to be able to make better money.
Or become a journeyman and you work more.
Or specialize in the skill.
So on and so forth.
I'm not going to sit here and expound on work only.
I'm just saying when it comes to managing our time, we need to find what is worth investing.
We have a short period of time here.
Life is but a vapor.
As we saw James just said a moment ago in chapter 4 verse 13.
Go to now, ye that say, today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain.
They want to get gain.
They want to make a financial increase.
Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow.
For what is your life?
It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and vanishes away.
You know that's what I'm trying to get at.
There's nothing sinful investing in the things that are of this worth.
Profit, your family, friends, so on and so forth.
So number one thing we need to have the emphasis on for time management is fun.
Make sure after you're done working you go on a hike, you go surfing, you hang out with friends, family.
Invest in fun after you've worked hard throughout your day and week and year and so on and so forth.
But the next thing I want to go into is family.
Now turn if you will to 1 Timothy chapter 5.
1 Timothy is just a couple of books to the left.
1 Timothy chapter 5.
Look down at verse 14.
Notice what it says.
I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
So I've spoken enough about men and our duties and our time management.
But now I want to speak about the concept of women and young ladies.
You know the Bible is teaching right here.
I will therefore.
That's just basically saying I want this for you.
I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
Women's job is to invest in the family.
You've all heard the saying, whoever rocks the cradle rules the world.
Now obviously in the home the mother is the house maker.
The one known family is ultimately complete without a mother, without a wife.
The wife is the one that keeps the home.
She's the one that supports everyone, nurtures everyone.
The Bible teaches that if you nurture a child in the admonition of the Lord, he'll be able to grow therein.
And elsewhere it talks about how in a family, ladies are going to have to keep that kind of glue that keeps everything together.
Men may go out and bring the bacon but women are basically making the bacon so we can all survive.
And some people don't like that but you know ultimately what does the Bible teach?
Turn if you would to Ephesians chapter 5.
Ephesians chapter 5.
Look down at your Bible at verse 22.
It reads, Ephesians 5, 22.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husband as unto the Lord.
So let me ask you this wives, when you look at your husband, do you see the Lord Jesus Christ?
Are you submitting yourself unto them as you would unto Jesus Christ?
Because there are times where I, you know, my wife's not perfect, none of us are perfect but I may tell her to do something and she may not look at me as Christ.
She's like, you, you don't tell me what to do and so on and so forth.
But I say, hey, wait a second, if Jesus Christ told you this, would you do it?
Now, like I was saying, no one's perfect, we're not without sin but nevertheless the Bible is teaching us very clearly where should you invest your time in?
In your husband, in your parents, in your wives.
And it says, it continues to go on, submit yourselves unto your own husband as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the saver of the body.
Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wise be to their own husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.
Can you pause there really quickly?
You know, everyone thinks I may be attacking them, like, oh, David, who are you to tell me how to act as a wife?
Man, are you loving your wives?
You know, it's obviously easy for us to get busy with investing in that business or in that career,
but are you stopping as my mistake was and not investing even in your own wife?
Finding time to let her know how I love her unconditionally, it says, for the husband is the, or it says,
therefore as the church is subject to Christ, so let every, no, 23, even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the saver of the body,
therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wise be to their own husbands.
Husbands, love your wives.
And notice it pauses with a comma there, which is not the end of the thought, but it's pausing you there.
It's saying, love your wives.
You know, don't provoke them unto wrath, but rather be there for them.
You know, and there are times where I'm finally off.
I have time to spare.
Extra time, right?
You know, something that a lot of people like to do is go out to eat as a romantic night out, or they may go and do something together,
but sometimes, you know, depending on the situation, even just making a meal for a wife may be something that they enjoy.
You know, if you have a lot of kids in your household, finding grandma or aunt or uncle to watch the kids and just saying,
hey, let's have a romantic night in, let's you and I, I'll make you dinner, I'll massage your back, fill in the blank,
whatever they like, then you can do that for them, just to show them that, you know, they are what is most important.
Your children are important to invest in, but the closest relationship we should have in our lives, outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, is our spouses.
You need to love your children, but nevertheless, your children will grow up and move on and do their own thing and have their own life,
but your wife will be there and your husband will be there for them again.
They are the ones that we, the closest relationship outside of the Lord, should be our spouses.
Leave, father and mother, and clean up your wife.
But as we point out, it says, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word,
that he might present to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
So ought men to love their own wives as their own bodies, for he that loveth his wife loveth himself.
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourished and cherished it, even as the Lord of the church.
For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his life, and they too shall be one flesh.
This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Nevertheless, let every one of you be, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
Remember, what is the greatest two commandments that Christ said?
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.
It just said, nevertheless, every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Love your wife as yourself.
And in doing this, you'll fulfill the law.
You'll be the one that a wife can look to you and see that you are following Christ.
Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ.
And then, you need to make sure you find time in your life to be able to get to your wife and your children.
Outside of work, work, enjoyment, pleasure, that secondary.
Family will come before that.
Now, if you don't neglect work, as we just saw earlier, if a man doesn't provide for his own, he's worse than an infidel.
But, if you came down to your daughter's dance recital of her to work, unfortunately, you thought it would hurt.
If your daughter may not have a dance recital, if you couldn't provide for her.
But there are times when you need to make time to go to the recital sometimes.
Go to the basketball game sometimes.
Show them you care for them.
If your wife wants to have a romantic night out, sometimes invest in that.
Outside of, I want to go to the beach and go surfing.
If your wife wants to go hiking, invest in that.
There are so many other ways we can apply this to our lives.
So, time management.
Go sometimes and have fun.
Go to work, enjoy, and work hard.
And teach yourself to be a little.
Why? Invest in your family.
Invest in them.
Make sure they bring up their children in the nurtured admonition of the Lord.
And that husband can invest in their life.
And the next thing we're going to go into is children.
What is it that it says in chapter 1?
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Honor thy father and my mother, which is the first commandment with promise that I may be well with thee.
For thou mayest live long on the earth.
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurtured admonition of the Lord.
So, obviously, you know, children, you need to honor your father and your mother.
Honor there doesn't only mean to, like, respect them, though that is the primary application.
It also implies that you financially support them in their later years.
If you cross-reference it with other times the word honor is bring up in the Bible.
Paul talks about the Philippian church saying, I'm glad that you honored me with your substance.
And notice it says it's the first commandment with promise that thou mayest live long upon the earth.
You know the fifth commandment, you know, love the Lord, all the fifth commandment.
One of them, I think it's from the Bible, honor your father and mother that thou mayest live long upon the earth.
It's the first commandment that if you do it, in exchange you will live a long life, which is symbolizing a parent living a long life.
And then the children, you know, the famous statement, I wiped your butt when you were a baby, now you need to wipe my butt on the way out.
So, it's just honoring doesn't just mean respect, it means also caring for them in other ways.
But children may not want to hear this. Time management, kids.
Find time to not just do your chores, not just do your homework, do extra work.
Go also mow the lawn, even though it wasn't asked of you.
Honor your father and mother.
If people decide to, you know, maybe you can make your parents dinner sometime, you know.
And parents, if it's not good, just eat it and smile anyways, because they're trying.
You know, we can help them, we can show them the way.
You know, if you bring up a child in the way he should go when he is old, he will not depart from it.
And also it does say, and we've got to remember this, any fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Our jobs as parents is to discipline our children.
We need to make sure foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, the Bible teaches.
And turn if you would to Hebrews chapter 12.
Unfortunately our world today does not believe in physically disciplining children.
But that's not what the Word of God says.
The Bible teaches that if you spare the rod, you hate the child.
That's not it, it's not what you don't want to do.
Some people think that I don't want to spank them because I love them so much.
No, it says if you spare the rod, you hate the child.
If you bring up the child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord when he is old, he will not depart from it.
If you spare the rod, you spare the child his soul from hell.
Obviously in our lives we need to make sure we have time to discipline the children when they do wrong.
And kids, you need to understand that your parents are disciplining because they hate you.
They discipline you because they love you, they want you.
As Christ would take the rod and guide the sheep.
I mean a rod is not a fun instrument to be beaten with.
And elsewhere in the Bible it talks in Revelation that Jesus Christ will rule with a rod of iron.
That he's going to come and direct his children and the rest of the world in wrath and things like that.
So we need to not spare the rod.
Rather, we need to love children and find time to discipline them.
Because, let me say this, sometimes it's easy for mom to spank the kid.
They're not getting it. Spank them again. They're still not getting it.
And then you say, you know what, wait until your father gets home.
And then now they're really scared.
Now they're like, oh no, dad is going to beat me real good.
But the thing is, sometimes when you do that, you take the emphasis off of your role mothers and wives.
That they need to also respect you, not just dad or husband, but mom and wife too.
That gives me to, as the Bible teaches elsewhere, the insubjection of their parents.
Honor their father and mother and the Lord.
And no one is perfect. No one is perfect. They're going to make mistakes.
And we need to be quick to mercy and slow to wrath, but nevertheless we don't spare the rod.
That's what the Bible is clearly teaching.
But why? Why would this happen?
Here in Hebrews, did you go to chapter 12?
Hebrews chapter 12, the first page, it reads,
But if ye without chastisement, whereof are all partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which collected us, and we gave them reverence.
Should we not much rather be in subjection under the father of spirits they live?
For they were only, for you are flesh and body, for a few days chasteneth after their own pleasure,
but keen for our profit to be made a partaker but plainest.
No chastening for the present, seeming to be joyous, but plainest.
Nevertheless, afterwards, dealing with the feasible fruit of righteousness in the way which are exercised, is thereby.
So obviously the Bible says, we've had fathers of our flesh that disciplined us because they didn't want kids,
footprints all along the walls, hanging over the chandeliers and making a mess and going crazy.
Obviously, he did this for his own pleasure, so that there's order in the house,
but God says, I chasten you for your profit, so that you can then live a life in holiness, righteousness, and so on and so forth,
when you keep the commandment. Look what it says, it says, for verily for a few days chasten us after their own pleasure,
but keen for our profit that we may be partakers of holiness.
No chastening for the present, seemeth to be joyous.
The famous, this is going to hurt me more than hurts you.
That's what that's saying. This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.
Even God, God doesn't want to discipline us, but he has to to correct us.
See, even God has time management. He has all the time in the world to do and act as he pleases.
If you look at the Old Testament, you see a lot of God telling the children of Israel, I want you to do this.
Don't go into this place. I don't want you to do that. Please do this. And they're not listening.
He says, you are a stiff necked people. He says, because of this, I'm going to rain down wrath on you because I love you
and I want you to realize the error of your ways and so on and so forth. Time management.
What are we talking about? Managing time to have fun, managing time to have work, managing time to be good family members,
whether your mom, dad, husband, wife, whoever you are, listen to this in our family and never neglect the concept of discipline
because if you spare the rod, you will hate the child. It is important that we find time to discipline our kids when necessary.
I'm not saying come down on them like a ton of bricks. Be quick to mercy. Understand that foolishness is bound in the heart of a child.
And when you understand that, I mean, let me ask you this. You know, I stand here today a sinner saved by grace,
not able to like ultimately always walk in the spirit. I do wrong. Do you think God's written to just come down on me on a ton of bricks?
No, he's trying to get me to understand his ways. His ways are not my ways and his thoughts are not my thoughts.
So as the heaven is above the earth, so his thoughts are above my thoughts. I may think that the right thing to do is left
and he's saying the right thing to do is go right. But if you start turning left, he's not just going to like slam down on me and say no.
That's what you're doing is that, that, and then you'll understand. And you need to learn through time and reading your Bible to know what makes God happy and sad with you.
And that's the next thing I want to emphasize is the importance of spiritual matters.
We talked about other things, we talked about family, but the number one thing we need to invest in as Christians is spiritual matters.
Words of God, church, things like that, because the Bible teaches ultimately man shall not live by bread.
Every word that's repeated of the mouth of God. The Bible says that give us this day our daily bread and forgive us of our debts as we forgive our debtors.
So the bread of life, the words of God is a daily consumption. We need to be reading our Bibles every single day.
If you want to please your parents and children, if you want to please your husbands and wives, husbands, if you want to please the Lord, you need to know what he wants of you.
He tells us all the mysteries of the universe are found in this book. Any and everything you ever want to know about anything is found here.
Anything is all in the word of God. And he'll tell you if you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, you will direct your path.
And that's what I want us to understand is being in our word and being in the Bible every single day.
Turn to Matthew if you learn Matthew chapter 10, the very first gospel, the gospel of Matthew.
We've just left the Old Testament in Malachi and now we're in the New Testament.
So basically the first thoughts that God wanted us to know as New Testament Christians is right here found in Matthew.
Notice that it says in Matthew chapter 10, Matthew 10 verse 34.
The Bible reads, Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword.
We'll pause there really quickly. A lot of people see. You all right?
Yeah.
Okay. It says, think not that I have. I thought you were looking for something.
I heard something make a noise and it's not mine.
It says, think not that I have come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword.
A lot of people think Jesus Christ is this lovey-dovey, long haired, hippie, not, never can do wrong, just all about love person.
He just said, I've come not to bring peace. I came, but I came not to send peace, but a sword.
And elsewhere in the cross reverence of another gospel, it says, I brought the vision, the vision against who?
For I am come to set a man at variance against his father and again, the daughter against her mother and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
And man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Let's pause there really quick.
That's a hard pill to swallow.
He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me.
He that findeth his life shall lose him. He that loses his life for my sake shall find it.
So the Bible is telling us the number one most important thing is not my wife, is not my dad, is not my mom, is not my children.
We need to follow, pick up our crosses and follow him. And in doing this, it'll make me understand how to love my wife.
And in doing this, this will teach you how to love me. And in doing this, this will teach children how to love.
Greater love hath no man than this, that had a man laid down his life for his own children or for his friends.
And the Bible is telling here, if you're trying to gain your life, you're going to lose it.
But if you lose your life for my name's sake in the gospel, referring to Jesus Christ, he says you will gain it.
And elsewhere it talks about, turn if you would to Mark, the next gospel over, Mark.
No one wants to preach on that subject. No one wants to talk about, you know, oh, you know, put Christ number one.
Like this isn't a game. This isn't like, oh, that's a nice thing to say. It just, it just, it makes sense to just say Jesus always first.
But are you willing personally in your life to neglect your own loved ones for Jesus Christ?
We see examples of men in the Old Testament. Moses, the great man that he was, was willing to neglect his own wife and children to do what God said, to lead the children out of the land of Egypt.
And there's other examples of prophets in the Old Testament, apostles in the New Testament.
And we see that in Mark 10. Mark 10, of course I didn't write the reference down, but it says in verse...
So basically, to abbreviate it, it's basically saying, 28 you said? 29? Oh, there it is.
So this is in reference to Peter asking him a question. It says in verse 28, Mark 10, 28, that Peter began to say unto him, lo, we have left all and have fallen deep.
Because he said, if you're not willing to leave everything, you're not worthy of it. So what's the outcome of you doing that?
And Jesus answered and said, verily I say unto you, there is no man that has left house or brethren or sisters or fathers or mothers or wives or children or land for my sake and the gospels.
But he shall receive and hundredfold now in this time houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and then the world become eternal life.
Look, it's easy for me to say, Louisa, I am not, you are not number one in my life. But when push comes to shove, when the stuff hits the fan, and my wife is telling me, I don't want to read my Bible today.
I don't want to go to church today. I don't want to preach the gospel. Who do I listen to, my wife or Jesus Christ?
When she sees me following Christ, as Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ, it is going to influence her to want to follow Christ.
So in doing this, it says, if you forsake lands, children, mothers, wives, and all these things, you will gain father, children, mother, lands, wives.
You know, I just came back from Arizona. I've been gone for four years. I've in a sense forsooken lands.
This is the most beautiful place on the planet. Why not go to a church here? What's wrong with the churches here?
Because I'm trying to do a real work for God. I'm trying to follow what I believe to be the best influences on Christianity as I humanly possibly could to bring back into the light.
To show the people of the light how to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Because I was willing to leave lands. I was willing to leave my family for the gospel sake.
Now I dragged my wife with me, because what if she didn't want to go? I'm still going.
And from doing this, when you get someone saved, when someone believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, you just gain a brother and sister in Christ that you will know for an eternity.
Notice, it says, for those who invest in things of this world, reap the things of this world, like I was saying.
Turn actually back to, if you would, to Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes that we read in chapter three.
But just one chapter before it, Ecclesiastes chapter two, it says, I'll give you a second to get there, Ecclesiastes chapter two.
If you open your Bible right in the dead smack middle, that's Solomon. Two books after that of Ecclesiastes.
This is, remember Solomon, we just read him in the beginning. He's saying there's time in the season to invest in everything.
But notice what it says in Ecclesiastes two verse seven. This is his opinion on the matter.
I got me servants, and they had servants born in my house. Also, I had great possessions of great and small cattle, above all that were in Jerusalem before me.
I gathered me also silver and gold and precious treasures, of kings and of provinces. I gave you men singers.
I got me men singers and men singers, and the delight of the friends of men, and musical instruments, and that of all sorts.
So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also, my wisdom remained with me.
And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor.
And this was my portion of all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do, and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit.
And there was no profit under the sun. What good is it that you invest in an empire on this planet? You invest in a business that becomes a multi-million dollar business.
When it burns, it is gone. It's gone. What good? Men like to leave back a legacy, you know, a business that they...
And it is true that it is good for, the Bible teaches, to leave an inheritance for your children.
But think of it like this. If we understand that heaven is forever, and this world is but for a short time, and we're pilgrims and sojourners coming as we go, the things of this world are not that important in sight of eternity.
Your business will burn. The car will burn. The dog, sorry Louisa, is going to burn. Things that are not important, the Bible teaches that the things that are seen are temporal, and the things that aren't seen are eternal.
Let's invest in each other. Family. Time management. Invest in your neighbor. Preach to your neighbor the gospel. Go down the street. Go down the road. Go to the island next over.
Preach the gospel to the lost. And this is what God will look down on and bless your doings. And in doing this, he may provide you a nice house. He may provide you a nice job.
He may provide to you, fill in the blank, that we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. All things shall be added unto us.
And whether we get nice things or not, we don't forsake as Job said. Job made it very clear. Naked came my end of this world, and naked shall I return. For the Lord giveth and the Lord thinketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
What is most important in our lives is spiritual matters. And if you would, turn to 1 Corinthians. It's the last thing I want you to see.
1 Corinthians chapter 3 of the Romans. Romans is after the book of Acts, right outside of the gospels.
1 Corinthians chapter 3. Notice what it says in 1 Corinthians 3. According to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation.
And another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
If any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood hairs, wood and stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest.
For the day shall be clear, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall trite every man's work of what sort it is.
If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss.
But he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire.
The Bible teaches very clearly to be saved from our sins. We need to believe alone on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Once you believe on Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, you are a child of God. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. We are born into his family.
And we can never lose our salvation unless we put our faith in him. He says your sins are as far as the east is and from the west.
The Bible says elsewhere in Romans 4 that he will not impute sin unto you, because he loves his children. He died for all our sins.
And in doing this, we are going to sin in the future. Sin is not if you do in the future, it's when you do it.
You've got to understand, as Jesus said, you need to pick up your cross and follow me. You need to be able to deny yourself.
Put on the new creature, which is the born-again spirit, and put off the deeds of the old man. Meaning that it's not that you're going to do this.
But nevertheless, like I said, there's nothing sinful with brushing your teeth. There's nothing sinful with just investing in things of this world.
But the Bible is saying right here that things of this world are known as wood, hay, and stubble. But there are gold, silver, and precious stones.
And those are things of eternal value. Investing in each other. Investing in the lost. Investing in the church. Investing our time in reading our Bibles.
You'll never find yourself less benefited from reading your Bible more. And this is the last thing I'll leave you on with that thought.
Because I want you to take this thought throughout the rest of your life and read it in ear and mind.
Re-prioritize how things go. Manage your time accurately. You know, it's easy for us to wake up and turn on the news right away.
Because of events going on, or just in general. And then after you turn on the news, you want to learn a little bit more about your job.
And you read some news things about your job. And then you want to learn more about child rearing, or fill in the blank.
You know, a friend of mine taught me this a long time ago, and it was very enlightening.
Because it really helped me to progress in my Christian life. But what he would do for him and his children and his family, is the first thing he would do.
If he would stack everything how he wants it in order. So let's say, he was a locksmith at the time, he wants to learn more about locksmiths.
And let's say he reads, a teenager reads Us Weekly magazine or whatever. I think it's a dumb magazine. But let's say that's what they like.
If you have The Weekly magazine up top, and then you have your homework on top, and above that you have the Bible.
This prioritizes what's important. You want to go for your phone immediately. Go on YouTube and see all the fun weird things that are going on.
Put the phone underneath it all. Put the Bible up top. Put whatever's next important. Your family endeavors, your career endeavors, attainment endeavors.
Keep going on the bottom, and then in doing this, you'll have a right perspective to be able to go into life. To be able to help you manage your time.
If you read your Bible 15 minutes a day, you can read the whole Bible in one year.
Can we spare 15 minutes?
I know life is busy. There's a lot going on. But 15 minutes, come on. Everyone can spare 15 minutes to read their Bible.
And I'm not saying you have to be an epic reader. Just read it.
And some people have different rules of like, I read it until I get something. It's not sometimes the funnest thing to do is read your Bible. I'll admit that.
But sometimes I'm thinking to myself, I don't want to read my Bible. But I do it anyways. Because I seek first the kingdom of God and righteousness.
And then because of that, things will be added unto me. So that's what I wanted us to know. Is how to better manage our time.
You know, with what's going on, people are investing in all sorts of things. You know, my wife has been gardening a lot lately and I've been loving that.
And I've been happy about that. But I'd rather her read her Bible before she goes gardening.
I'd rather her, you know, and unfortunately churches aren't getting together right now. But in times like this, the Bible makes it very clear.
It says, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is. So much for more.
Need more church, not less church. And any and every time the church doors are open, go. Priority number one.
And then all the rest. And in doing this, we will know how to be pleasing to the Lord to help us better our future Christian lives.
And that's what I wanted everyone to know. Is how to manage our time and prioritize with His most important spiritual family and everything else.
So let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much for giving us the bread of life that we can be nurtured and nourished in your word to be able to be spiritually filled and not malnourished.
But help us to continue our week and days and months to just, you know, have good time management because we know that the days are short and evil.
And we want to make sure we invest everything we can in the short time to you of most importance.
And that way we can be better stewards of your work. And in Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen.