Wasted Time

Bible Reading: Psalm 39

Key Verse: Verse 5 - “Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.”

Key Words: Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreadth   (the span of the hand)

Life on earth isn’t long, so we should make the very best of it for God’s glory.

How would you like to spend two years making phone calls to people who were not home?  Sounds absurd? According to a one-time management study, that’s how much time the average person spends trying to return calls to people who never seem to be in. Not only that, but we also spend six months waiting for the traffic light to turn green, and another eight months reading junk mail.  These unusual statistics should cause us to do time-use evaluation.  Once we recognize that simple “life maintenance” can chip away at our time in such huge blocks, we will see how vital it is that we don’t busy ourselves “in vain” (Psalm 39:6).

Psalm 39 gives us some perspective.  In David’s complaint to God, he said, “Thou hast made my days as a handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee” (verse 5).  He meant that to an eternal God our time on earth is brief.  And He doesn’t want us to waste it.  When we do, we throw away one of the most precious commodities He gives us. Each minute is an irretrievable gift - an unredeemable slice of eternity.  Sure, we must make phone calls, and we must wait for the light.  But what about the rest of the time?  Are we using it to advance the cause of Christ and to enhance our relationship with Him? Is our time well spent?

                                                                                                     Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:  

✞ Use time wisely, for you cannot get it back.

Your Fantastic Future

Bible Reading: Matthew 25:14-30

Key Verse: Verse 11   – “His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”

Key Words: Well done

From my vantage point there is no generation in history which has had such a fantastic future as do the youth of today.  They have greater opportunities for learning, greater tools to help accomplish goals (i.e.: computer, Internet, etc.), and thanks to a tense world situation, a greater motivation to accomplish something constructive

The tragedy of all this is that too many of our youth are sacrificing their fantastic future for the fun-filled present. This leads me to a portion of Scripture found in Matthew 25:14-30 where Jesus is talking about the future kingdom.  In that prophetic story, He lays out three principles for success that every young person ought to apply to their life. Every parent should help their own youth in the application of these principles as well.

Principle #1: We start as servants before God makes us rulers.  Matthew 25:21, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” God’s pattern has always been to start at the bottom and work up.  It makes you appreciate what you have a whole lot more than having it just handed to you.  (I’ve seen over the years that the government isn’t the only one that gives out welfare money; parents do as well.) Joseph certainly started at the bottom.  He was a servant in Potiphar’s house. Worked up through the system (through God’s intervention) and became the governor of Egypt.

Principle #2: We start with a few things before we are entrusted with many things. Matthew 25:21b, “Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many.” Let me tell you about a British youth of a century ago. He was saved at the age of 15 and began immediately to serve the Lord by passing out tracts around his neighborhood.  When he was 16, he taught a Sunday school class. At the age of 17, he pastored a small church of about 40 members.  As he was faithful year by year, the congregation grew and at the age of 30, Charles Spurgeon was speaking before thousands each Sunday. He was faithful with a few, and God blessed him with much.

Principle #3: We start with work before we experience joy.  While I do believe in having fun, you spell service W-O-R-K. It is not fun to learn Algebra equations or musical scales, but once you learn them, you have opened the door to enjoyment.

  

                                                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:  

✞ Apply the principles listed above

A Set Time

Bible Reading: Nehemiah 2:1-10

Key Verse: Verse 6 - “And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.”

Key Words: and I set him a time

Nehemiah gave his word to the king that he would return to Jerusalem at a set time.  No doubt, Nehemiah was true to his word and did return to Babylon at the “set time.”

There is a small island in Indonesia called Sumba.  On the eastern coast of the island, there is an area called Tanjung Undu, which in English means, “The Island of the Undo People.”  After extensive research on this area, I have decided that this is where I would like to live.  Due to an atmospheric anomaly, and the way the rotation of the earth affects that part of the world, the people of this region have been gifted with a genetic Undo function that allows them to quickly and easily take back the last thing they have said without anyone knowing it was ever said: A husband speaks harshly to his wife, no harm done, just use the Undo function. Two neighbors gossip about what the pastor’s wife was wearing on Sunday; no sin committed, just use the Undo function.  A word is spoken in anger between lifelong friends; no relationship broken, just use the Undo function.

 But since we have no Undo function, we need to be true to our word.

                                                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:  

✞ Be prompt.

✞ Meet deadlines.

✞ Be true to your word.

This Day in History

Bible Reading: Zechariah 2

Key Verse: Verse 4 – “And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein:”

Key Words: Run, speak to this young man

The following was taken from the book The Day in Baptist History by Wayne Thompson and David L. Cummins:

“John Waller was one of the more able preachers of his time.  As we have seen, before his conversion, his capability in profanity earned him the sobriquet of ‘Swearin Jack.’  His ability in the pulpit in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and pointing out the errors of the dominant religious system of his day attracted the attention of the religious civil authorities.  Besides spending a total of one hundred and thirteen days in four different county jails for preaching, Waller was subject to severe physical abuse.  John Waller gave the following account of one such attack that took place in Caroline County, Virginia, during a worship service in a home.

“‘While he was singing, the Parson of the Parish would keep running the end of his horse whip in his mouth, laying his whip across the hymn book, etc. When done singing, he proceeded in prayer.  In it he was violently jerked off the stage; they caught him by the back part of his neck, beat his head against the ground, sometimes up, sometimes down, they carried him through a gate that stood some considerable distance, where a gentleman gave him something not much less than twenty lashes with his horse whip.  After they carried him through a long lane, they stopped in order for him to dispute with the parson. The parson came up, gave him abominable ill language, and away he went with his clerk and one more.  Then Brother Waller was released, went back to singing praises to God, mounted the stage and preached with a great deal of liberty.’

“Another time he was preaching, a huge fellow pulled him down and dragged him by his hair. A second, as stout as the first, ran to rescue Waller. One took hold one hand and the other of the other hand so that between friend and foe poor Waller was about to lose both arms.  The hurt remained with him for many weeks.

“On November 8, 1793, he moved to the state of South Carolina.  John Waller’s daughter had married Elder Abraham Marshall, a Baptist evangelist and son of the well-known preacher and planter, Daniel Marshall.  Some speculate that she was Waller’s favorite daughter and he desired to be near them.  Also, good land could be purchased cheaply there, and he felt that his labors had come to an end in Virginia.  Waller’s work in his new home was blessed as he helped to establish two churches, but his ministry never had the impact of his ministry in Virginia.

“He preached thirty-five years, baptized more than two thousand persons, assisted in ordaining twenty-seven ministers and in constituting eighteen churches. His last sermon, at the funeral of a young man, was taken from Zechariah 2:4, “Run, speak to this young man.”  He addressed the young in feeble, touching strains, saying that it was his last sermon.  He spoke until his strength failed and then tottered to a bed from which he was carried to his house.  He died July 4, 1802, in his sixty-second year.”

  John Waller represents the men and women who paid a dear price for religious liberty.  He carried the scars of his scourging to his grave, which is in the Waller-Hackett family burial ground in Abbeville County, near Greenwood, South Carolina.

                                                                                                        Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:  

✞ Praise God for men and women who make a spiritual difference in our country.

A Time for Everything

Bible Reading: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Key Verse: Verse 1 – “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” 

Key Words: To every thing there is a season, and a time

We read in Ecclesiastes 3:1, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”  If you were to read Ecclesiastes 3:2-8, you would read a list of twenty-eight things which have a “time.”  Everything has a time.  Yes, even to God, promptness is important.  We read in Ephesians 5:16, “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

One of our members sent me the following regarding punctuality:

1. I could never think well of a man’s intellectual or moral character if he was habitually unfaithful to his appointments.  (Emnons)
2. Method is the very hinge of business; and there is no method without punctuality.
3. Appointments, once made, become debts.  If I have an appointment with you, I owe you punctuality; I have no right to throw away your time, if I do my own. (Cecil)
4. I have always been a quarter of an hour before my time, and it has made a man of me. (Lord Nelson)
5. Want of punctuality is a want of virtue.  (J.M. Mason)
6. I give it as my deliberate and solemn conviction that the individual who is habitually tardy in meeting an appointment, will never be respected or successful in life.  (W. Fisk)
7. Every child should be taught (Proverbs 22:6) to pay all his debts, and to fulfill all his contracts, exactly in manner, completely in value, punctuality at the time specified.  Everything he has borrowed, he should be obliged to return.

William Shakespeare said, “Better to be three hours early than one minute late.”  One’s promptness does affect his testimony.

An airline pilot flying over the southeastern U.S. called the local tower and said, “We are passing over at 35,000 – give us a time check.”  The tower said, “What airline are you?”  “What difference does it make?  I just want the time,” replied the pilot.  The tower responded, “Oh, it makes a lot of difference.  If you are TransWorld Airline or Pan Am, it is 1600.  If you are United or Delta, it is 4 o’clock. IF you are Southern Airways, the little hand is on the 4 and the big hand is on the 12.  If you are Skyway Airlines – it’s Thursday.’

Let me ask: is your lack of promptness the brunt of everyone else’s jokes?  I hope not.

                                                                                                        Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:  

✞ Be prompt – it is important.

The Time of Life

Bible Reading: Genesis 18:1-14

Key Verse: Verse 10 – “And he said, I will certainly     

       return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, 

       Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in  

       the tent door, which was behind him.”

       

Key Words: according to the time of life

God is never ahead of schedule; and He is, by the same measure, never late.  He works out all things after the counsel of His will.  He had promised Abraham years before that he   would have a child.  The time was fixed; and because of the order of God, it was done.  God does all things decently and in order that His purpose might be fulfilled.  God is orderly with a purpose.

In his book, Harvest of Humanity, John Seamonds told this story: “A German soldier was wounded.  He was ordered to go to the military hospital for treatment.  When he arrived at the large and imposing building, he saw two doors, one marked, ‘For the slightly wounded,’ and the other, ‘For the seriously wounded.’

“He entered through the first door and found himself going down a long hall.  At the end of it were two more doors, one marked, ‘For officers,’ and the other, ‘For non-officers.’  He entered through the latter and found himself going down another long hall.  At the end of it were two more doors, one marked, ‘For party members’ and the other, ‘For non-party members.’  He took the second door, and when he opened it he found himself out on the street.’  

“When the soldier returned home, his mother asked him, ‘How did you get along at the hospital?’  ‘Well, Mother,’ he replied, ‘to tell the truth, the people there didn’t do anything for me, but you ought to see the tremendous organization they have!’”

Organization without purpose is called “useless.”

 

                                                                                                    Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:  

✞ Have order in all you do, but have a purpose as well.

The Beginning of Time

Bible Reading: Genesis 1:1-13

Key Verse: Verse 1 - “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

Key Words: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth

Harold Fortescue, a budding newspaper reporter, was sent to cover a local social function.  It was his first assignment.  He expanded himself and submitted to his editor two dozen pages of typewritten oratory.  The editor did not even glance at it, but handed it right back with the words, “Cut it in half.”  Crestfallen, Fortescue complied.  Again, the editor handed it back with the dry comment, “Cut it in half again.”  Grumbling under his breath, the youthful reporter did as he was told.  When he handed in the finished article, the editor handed it back once more.  “Now, reduce it to a single page,” he said.  The horrified reporter ventured a protest.  His boss cut him off.  “Young man,” he said, “you have evidently overlooked the fact that when the Creator of the universe gives His account of Creation He does so in ten words – ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’”

There it stands in all its naked force, the opening statement of Scripture.  No attempt is made to water it down, to apologize to a skeptical age, even to prove that God is.  The Holy Spirit simply deems certain truths to be self-evident, the first and foremost that God is.  In one sublime statement, He sweeps aside atheism by asserting His existence, polytheism by declaring Himself to be one, and pantheism by separating Himself from matter.

Peter Stoner, a mathematician, lists thirteen steps of creation in Genesis 1.  He tabulates those as the creation of the universe (v.1), light (v.3), darkness dispelled from the earth (v.4), the atmosphere established (v. 6), the seas appointed their boundaries (v. 9), the continents raised (v. 10), plant life formed, namely grasses, herbs and fruit trees (v. 11), the sun, moon, and stars appointed to function (v. 14), marine life created (v. 20), fowls created (v. 21), the age of the great whales (v.21), the creation of land vertebrates and “creeping things” (v.24), and man created (v. 26).  Those things are not only correctly named and listed in their proper order, but also Moses’ chances of writing Genesis 1 in that way by accident would amount to one chance in 31 sextillion (31 followed by 21 zeros).

Dr. Stoner gives an illustration.  He postulates a raffle with that number of tickets.  Printing them would call for eight million printing presses, each capable of producing two thousand tickets a minute, running day and night without stopping for five million years!  One of the tickets is marked.  Our chances of drawing that one ticket on the first try would be the same as Moses’ chance of writing Genesis 1 by accident.  Because Moses did not write the facts recorded here by accident and because he had no means of writing Genesis 1 as a result of human reasoning (he wrote contrary to the accepted learning of the day), he had to have written it by divine revelation.  In the beginning God did create the heaven and the earth!

 

                                                                                        Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:  

✞ Remember, if God created the heaven and the earth, He can handle your problems as well.