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Sermon Nuggets Mon Feb 16
Theme: Times and Seasons
Verses Eccl 3:1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
God has a Pattern-
One man rushed into a suburban railroad station breathlessly and asked when does the 8:01 train leave? "At 8:01" Well its 7:59 by my watch. 7:57 by the town clock and 8:04 by the station clock, Which am I to go by? "You can go by any clock you wish but you can't go by the 8:01 train, for it has already left."
Time is important in our culture. We are much more time conscious than at any other age. Computers are continually being upgraded for milliseconds are too slow. Clocks rush and whirl, and control our lives. The question remains, "Are we following the right clock?" God does not follow our timing. We are in subjection to his timing. Someone said life is like a coin, you can spend it any way you want, but you can spend it only once. You can never repeat it.
Time changes things. More correctly I should say that things change with time. When I returned to Detroit the last time it was no the place I remembered it as a child growing up. The big back yard shrunk considerably, new freeways and buildings were put up. Little tiny trees were now huge and overgrown. Some large trees were gone. Neighbors are mostly gone. What happened to it all? Time passed and things change.
But there are things we can take security in. Time. It has a pattern. We can trust that in 24 hours a new day will greet us. We can pattern our lives around 7 days and call it a week. We measure our Holidays by months within a year. This is all part of a gift from God to bring consistency in our inconsistent lives.
The writer of Ecclesiastes has a beautifully written view of time in Hebrew poetry that reveals important truths of time. Time is in the hand of God. The question is, "Are we?" Whose clock are we going by? For we can rush around with wrist watches on but as far as eternity goes, many don't have the foggiest idea of what time it is. Solomon explains some things from God's time table.
There is right time for doing things, and there are wrong times for doing things. All things are under God's sovereignty. Are you walking in the plan and will of God for your life? Are you running and functioning according to God's time table or yours? As hard as man tries to control his life he is not its master. There are reasons for things that happen to us.
There are two words Solomon uses: time and season. As they are translated for us one emphasizes an opportunity or moment that is important. The other seems to emphasize the sequence or chain of events on the other. Both are of God.
You don't have to be a philosopher or a scientist to know that time and seasons are a regular part of life no matter where you live. Were it not for the dependability of God-ordained natural laws, both science and daily life would be chaotic, if not impossible. There is an overruling providence in our lives. From before our birth to the moment of our death, God is accomplishing his divine plan.
The consistency of the world’s rotation allows within a day to be the God divine pattern for our life on earth. The seasons also are ordered by God as we rotate around the sun experiencing the pattern of summer, winter, spring and fall (not in that order). From that pattern we govern our days, work, and life. With consistency there are things that we plan, like birthdays, and holidays, and times of planting and harvest. We see our body needs sleep within a day. Work patterns are organized around the clock that serves us 24 hour segments.
From beginning of creation it seemed there were two main divisions of daily time- Gen 1:5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning-- the first day. Gen 1:14-18 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so.
God made two great lights-- the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night…And God saw that it was good.”
In spite of the many changes there is also the awareness that tomorrow is a new day given to us by His grace. Today is a day that is a gift. You have 24 new hours. It is not an accident. It is from God. It was patterned after His creative time table. The 7 days became a week. The week was divided up so Sabbath was a day of rest. The weeks turned into months also regulated by the rotation of the moon. The months into years.
The pattern of God’s world into which we are born is seen as good. It shows us not only his creative genius, but consistency upon which we can depend the functioning of our lives.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Tues Feb 17
Theme- Times and Seasons
Verses- Eccl 3: 1-3 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
God Has a Plan
Everything has a purpose and place according to God's plan. God has a plan for your life.
There are 28 events mentioned, 14 pairs of contrasts. The contrasts of events in life highlight the cycle of balance in our earthly experience. This beautiful portrayal of the seasons of life becomes one of the more loved portions of the Old Testament. Lets look at four contrasts today.
There is a time to be born and a time to die. We have no control over when or where we are going to be born. We have little control over matters regarding our death. Even some who seek to commit suicide are unsuccessful and bear the ramifications of those actions.
Under certain circumstances Doctors will indicate time of birth by inducing labor in a pregnancy, or by cesarean section. Medical science will have increasingly at its disposal machines and equipment that prolongs life, sometimes beyond what might be one considered clinically dead. Morally and ethically our society has been debating as to when life begins at conception or at birth with abortion and life questions. It is a means of debate at what point do you consider the person dead, or continue with life supports?
I am glad for many advances in medicine, but we also need to arouse some caution, for the issues of life and death are in God's hands.
The Bible teaches us it is appointed unto man once to die. God knows when that appointment is, just as you planned your birth and when and where you were to come into this world.
My father had a fear of flying. My mom would try to convince him by quoting the Bible verse, "it is appointed unto man once to die." She would then explain if it is his time to go he can't prevent it and if it isn't, he is not going to die. He replied, "Well it might not be my time to go, but it might be the pilot’s time. I’m not flying!"
"The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power, to tell just when the hand will stop - at late or early hour. Now is the only time you own! Live, love, toil with will; place not faith in tomorrow for the clock may then be still."
Another comparison Solomon relates to the harvest- there is a time to plant and a time to sow. We still cannot control the weather. Rain snow and frost keep us from fields. Yet we rejoice at planting time. We must make preparation for now for what you want to receive in the fall harvest.
Our lives are like that too. God allows times for us to plant and someday we will reap the results of what we have planted. You plant and sow evil and rebellion and sin, you will reap the results of what you've planted. If you plant goodness and love and kindness you will reap those results. If you live to yourself you will reap the consequence of that, and if unto God those rewards will be yours. Young people should think this is usually planting time. For many older people they realize the harvest is closer. We just never know. Are you ready? Jesus tells us the fields are ripe for the harvest, We need workers and missions.
There is also a time to kill and a time to heal. Perhaps this has aspect of war in mind, perhaps what is referred to is disease and plagues were some die and some live. But there are many applications and illustrations.
I think of the shepherd who tenderly cares for the lamb and sheep brings it to maturity to health and just the right size only to sell it to the market and have it killed for meat.
Sometimes in churches there is a time for taking out the cancer and sin and disease but cutting off members who are not living for God and causes disruptions to the fellowship and ministry. There are times for reconciliation and revival and healing and forgiving.
There are times for tearing down and for building up. Times to do away with the old and bring in the new, buildings but certain traditions too if their time has served it's purpose. Things just do not remain the same.
I think of the time when we start as a missions to Swedish people There was the time when Swedish was the right language and a time when it was no longer the right language. People change. Maybe in our own lives there are things that need to be thrown out and other things need to be implanted and allowed to grow.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Weds Feb 18
Theme Times and Seasons
Verses- Eccl 3:4-8 (There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:) ….a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
Perplexing
Just when people think they have figured out the puzzle of life experiences pop up for which they seem unprepared. As soon as some have figured out the formula for peace and pleasure and passion something happens to disrupt that.
Not only do we experience the joys and sorrows of this world, part of the plan of God is to be in the center of our lives regardless of wht is happening on the outside.
There is a time to weep and a time to laugh. Life has mixture of pain and sorrow along with pleasure and excitement. I have not met a family yet that doesn't experience tragedies and difficulties as well as joys and happier times. In the musical drama, Fiddler on the Roof, one of their romantic songs, "Sunrise, sunset” expresses this-“Sunrise, Sunset, swiftly fly the years; one season follows the others, laden with happiness and tears."
There are times of mourning and times of dancing. There are times of grief and sorrow and emotional pain. The times of dancing and celebration are those times in our lives when we want to express our joyful emotions. But just like the joy of births there comes the sadness of death. There are funerals and there are weddings; there are births and there are divorces. It happens. God is the one constant in our inconsistent world.
There is a time to scatter stones and to gather them. Casting away stones from a field that need to be prepared for planting, or sometimes in war they would scatter stones so the enemy would have a rough time with the blockades in their way. There is the time to gather them for peace and friendship. There is a time for gather them to build buildings and fences and constructions. The need of the moment dictates what should be done.
There is a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. Certain a time for calling one another brother and sister in Christ is embracing new believers into the family of God and demonstrating the family of God in community. Times when political enemies see it is not to their advantage to squabble and quarrel, but important issues requires the coming together for the importance of the country. There are times of love making for husbands and wives and times of celibacy, times to search and give to give up searching.
There are times to keep some things and other times to throw things away. Pack rats as well as spent thrifts need to be aware of the extremes of squandering money and hoarding it as well as throwing it away and spending it freely. There is time to mend and a time to tear.
Tearing clothes sometimes symbolized anger, or wrath, or grief, or taking of serious vow or hearing the bad news, and other time when they would be mended where things are o.k. again.
There are times to be silent and time to speak. I sure wish I would be so in tuned to God that I would know those times. We sometimes use silence as subtle weapon of revenge, or escape from social interaction, and sometimes a virtue.
One tourists staying in a little Vermont town joined a small group of men just sitting on the porch of a general store and the visitors tried in vain to strike up a conversation, getting no results then he finally asked, "Is there a law against talking in this town? "No" replied one Vermonter, "Ain't no law against it, we just like to make sure it's an improvement on the silence."
There is also a time for love and time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. Is there a time for hate? Jesus said, unless we hate mother or brother meaning putting anything ahead of God is a sin. Hate evil and love the good. There is a righteous hatred and there is the rest of Christians to seek peace with others, but when peace cannot be gained and there is no other alternative available sometimes it is Gods' will to fight. When dictators takeover lands and when oppression and chaos goes unchecked, when injustice and abuse are running on a rampage then there is time for confrontation.
Do we seek to know God's plans? When life happens don’t be surprised but secure knowing that God has brought his people through and will promise to do so until this struggle and puzzle is over.
If your trust is in your circumstances, God what you and me to know it will change one way or another. Therefore we need someone who does not change but consistent in the perplexities of life.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Thur Feb 19
Theme: Times and Seasons
Verses- Eccl 3:9-13 What does the worker gain from his toil?
10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men.
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.
13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil-- this is the gift of God.
God Has a Procedure
A plan is the goal that is set before you. The procedures are the activities needed to accomplish that plan. This involves the managing and the executing of the task. There are plans within the will of God, and the procedure is the use of men and women to carry out those plans of God. We have plans and we have procedures.
God has made everything's beautiful in his time. How dumb to try to build the roof before you build the basement. It won't work to paint the walls before you put in the pumping and the electricity. If things are done in order it is beautiful in it's time and in its purpose. But best of all He has set eternity in the hearts of man. We don't understand this time table but God does.
All of the sequence is moving perfectly with eternity and Christ's second coming in mind. That is exciting unless you are not ready for His coming. We need to keep eternity in mind when we think of God's timing.
There is one thing that we all have in common. We are different in just about every other way, but the president and the farmer, the business owner and the executive and the maintenance worker all have 24 hours a day. No one has more time than any other. We can all claim equality there. Gods' procedure is a desire that those hours be filled to carry out his plan.
Acts 17:26 “For one man he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live."
We live in this generation. I see this as an extreme indication of God's grace. God has called you and me to be born in this country. No reason we couldn't have been born in the tribes of jungles and live under the power of witch doctors and idol worship. No reason you couldn't have been born a Jew and lived under the tyranny of Adolph Hitler in World War II, or a Vietnamese indoctrinated under the communistic philosophy. But born with the privilege of education, of material goods, food, beauty in land are all grace of God.
Now the question is what are you going to do with these privileges that God has given to you? We are not the master's of our fates, God is. He directed you to make some choices, but relatively few. One important choice you make, are you willing to accept his plan for your life, or rebel and live unto your own selfishness? That makes difference in the procedures you follow.
God controls our times. There is plan and we can be part of it and in that plan we discover our fulfillment even in the difficult times of life. Gal. 4:4 "When the time had fully come, God sent his Son born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law that we might receive the full rights of sons."
God's procedure of this plan was redemption through the cross. God’s desire is that people may come to eternal salvation. When we see our life in light of that plan life can take on meaning as we carrying out the procedures for Kingdom living. It makes little difference if we work as an executive, a farmer, a minister, or a janitor when our value comes in knowing God and making Him known.
Someone wrote, "God's help is always sure- His methods seldom guessed; Delay will make our pleasure pure, Surprise will give it zest. His wisdom is sublime, His heart profoundly kind; God never is before his time, and never is behind."
If God gives us a task he gives us the time to complete that task. We need to get rid of that which gets in the way of completing the task.
Martin Luther was within God's procedures, of accomplishing redemption through spearheading the reformation. His cook was also in that procedure to provided services to accomplish the same purpose. But he had a different task that wasn't in the limelight. Unless the Lord builds the house those that build it labor in vain. Planning and delegating, execution and review are part of the time management but the most important component is prayer. For all his intellectual genius, dynamic personality, and highly trained skills, Luther knew that the starting place for every true accomplishment was prayer coming before the one who directed his steps.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Fri Feb 20
Theme- Times and Seasons
Verses: Eccl 3:14-15 “I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.”
God has a Purpose
The plans are the blueprints; the procedures are steps to carry out the plans. But if one is building a building, the blueprints reveal the plans. The construction workers, banks, and civil authorities are part of the procedure to see that building built. But why build the building to begin with? What is the purpose?
Why did God decide to build mankind? Why did he put creation in place? The Bible reveals the purpose of creation were to display His glory and for His pleasure. We were created to revere Him as our creator. All that is done might bring glory to God, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. The reason for His forgiveness and working with us to come to Him by faith is that we might glorify Him. Storms reveal His power. The universe displays His wisdom. The order of nature displays His control. Evil will be completely defeated and His promises will be completely fulfilled and we will then bow every knee and every one will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father.
God loves His glory which is His purpose to display it that all will marvel and worship Him. God performs our salvation for His own sake that we delight in divine love and commitment. He justifies people called by His name in order that He may be glorified, (Ezek 36:22-23,32). We are reminded that God could have started all over again if He wished with a different group of people. But His glory is displayed in His purpose, plan and procedures to bring about our redemption.
Jesus taught us to be humble about our life and our lack of knowledge of it by trusting God’s goodness. When God is in control our tragedies can be made into blessings. Charlie Shedd said, “A truly effective life does not result from getting God to help us, but when we turn our wills over to Him and ask that we might be of assistance to His purposes”.
Psalm 90:12 "Teach us to number our days aright hat we may gain a heart of wisdom.” We set our priorities on Him and not on ourselves.
Eph 5:15,16 "Be very careful then, how you live not as unwise, but as wise making the most of every opportunity or redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
The movie “The End of the Spear” that came out a couple of years ago reminded us of the story of the martyrdom of the 5 missionaries killed by savage Auca Indians in Ecuador. It revealed again how the wife of Jim Eliott and the sister Nate Saint continued to minister in the village. They were willing even to die so they would bring glory to God. Within 2 years 50 accepted Jesus Christ. It opened the door for further and greater evangelism of the world. Steve Saint, Nate’s son, told the story how through treachery and lies of one of the people they turned on the missionaries fearing for their lives. But the murderer became saved and became one of the spiritual leaders bringing a people group to eternal salvation.
Will you have been found faithful, redeeming the time and letting our days and hours be committed to him? He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything he has promised long ago through his holy prophets. His plan is use our time. His procedure is to use talent. And His purpose to bring him glory. "
Pastor Dale
