June, 26, AD2011, “Make Time Every Day” Pastor Ben Willis

Leviticus 26:1-13 [NLTse]

1 “Do not make idols or set up carved images, or sacred pillars, or sculptured stones in your land so you may worship them. I AM the Lord your God. 2 You must keep My Sabbath days of rest and show reverence for My sanctuary. I AM the Lord.

 3 “If you follow My decrees and are careful to obey My commands, 4 I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. 5 Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain. You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land.

 6 “I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear. I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land. 7 In fact, you will chase down your enemies and slaughter them with your swords. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand! All your enemies will fall beneath your sword.

 9 “I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people. And I will fulfill My covenant with you. 10 You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest! 11 I will live among you, and I will not despise you. 12 I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be My people. 13 I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.

Our Father in Heaven has made all human beings different, unique really. We look different, we talk different, we do different things, for different reasons… But one thing that is the same for each and every one of us: [Hold up a clock] We all get 24 hours each day; we all get 7 days each week; we all get 52 weeks each year…

Even so, we use our time differently, and yet there are some patterns. According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics,

  • Employed persons worked an average of 7.5 hours on the days they worked; (including those who work full-time and those who work part-time)
  • 2.35 hours were spent on household activities such as housework, cooking, lawn care, or financial and other household management;
  • 5.45 hours were spent engaged in leisure activities, such as watching TV (2.7 hours), socializing (.75 hours), exercising (1.6 hours), and reading or playing games or being on the computer (1.25 hours);
  • And that’s the day, if you leave everyone 7 or so hours for sleeping…

Now, these are only averages, and they don’t take into consideration those who are retired. They’re representative, not necessarily real: After all, I know a man who spends more than 8 hours most days watching TV; I know a woman who spends 6 hours a day in front of Facebook®, though not all at the same time; I know of someone who spends 12 hours most days at work, commuting an hour each way on top of that! Your daily schedule might match up nicely with some of these figures, or not at all…

Across our daily 24 hours, it’s estimated that Americans are exposed to more than 3,000 advertising messages – whether on billboards or the radio and TV, on buses and bumper stickers, texts, emails, internet banners, up and down shopping aisles, on storefronts, and throughout magazines, even at the bottom of golf-hole cups (for the benefit of those of us who golf)!

You and I are under attack. The Devil wants to keep you and me busy: Working, chilling out, doing chores; too busy for God. The Evil One wants to distract our minds from eternal things, to fill our thoughts with lesser things: Bad priorities; corrupt morals; self-centered thoughts; lustful and greedy desires. To lessen our character; lessen our faithfulness; lessen our convictions; to make us less…

The Lord’s given us His Word to help us fight this battle! But it takes time to read or listen to…

The Bible contains the entire purpose of God, all things necessary for His glory, all things necessary for human salvation, all that we need to know about the life of faith and living by faith. You don’t need an advanced education to sufficiently understand what the Lord has for us in its pages: Ordinary reading, and simple study practices so that clearer passages can help explain those more complicated, are all anyone needs.

We are bombarded by other truths, other ways, many, many counterfeit lives! But it takes time to read or listen to God’s Word…

The Lord Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, tells us the Scriptures are food. In Deuteronomy 8:3, speaking to the Israelites about the vital importance of listening to and acting on God’s Word, Moses writes, “Yes, [the LORD] humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

Obeying God – standing for Him, enjoying Him, speaking for Him, following Him, acting for Him, loving Him and knowing His love – is more important to our overall welfare than good nutrition. We feed on life, we feed on eternity, when we read the Word of God.

But it takes time to read or listen…

The Lord Jesus the Messiah, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world, used the Scriptures to fight off the temptations of the Devil. While Jesus was hungry, the Devil tempted Him, saying, “Since You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” But the Lord replied, quoting what we just read from Deuteronomy, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” So the Enemy quoted the Scriptures, taking the Savior to the highest point of the Temple, saying, “Since You are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘God will order His angels to protect You. And they will hold You up with their hands so You won’t even hurt Your foot on a stone.’” But the Lord Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the LORD your God.’” And when the Evil One showed Him all the nations of the Earth and said he would give them to Him of He would bow down and worship him, the Messiah said, “Get out of here, Satan! For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the LORD your God and serve only Him.’” (See Matthew 4:1-11)

Christians get tempted. And sometimes Christians overcome their temptations; and sometimes Christians do not, often paying a sad price. But we would always stand and overcome, wouldn’t we? To know and share and enjoy His victory?

But it takes time to read (or listen to) the Scriptures. It takes time to go from back to front, from Letters to Prophets, or wherever or study takes us so we can understand…

The Prophets record that God spoke to them, and the apostles write that the Holy Spirit spoke to them, and Christians, too, want to hear from the Lord – directing our steps, comforting our hearts, making sure our confident hope, joy, and peace!

And the Bible is the Word of God! But we can let ourselves get distracted. We can let lesser things gobble up our Time. And it takes time to read (or listen to) His Word…

We want to do what’s right. We want to do what’s best. Our welfare and the welfare of our families and all those who are affected by our words, actions, and decisions depend on it. And the Psalms sing, “The instructions of the LORD are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.” (19:7)

[Hold up the Bible]

The Bible tells us who we used to be, what has happened to us since we’ve trusted Christ, who we are now in Christ, and God’s plans and purposes for us into the future. The Bible teaches us about love, encouraging us how to face every circumstance and respond – even to our enemies. The Bible…

AT THIS POINT IN THE SERMON THE PASTOR WAS INTERRUPTED: HE’D RUN OUT OF TIME…

Take the time. Make the time, every day: Read, listen to, study God’s Word.

 

 

First Presbyterian Church, Milford, PA