September 23, 2011 - Are you stressed and running late? Not enough time to spend with God or your family? Billy Graham offers wise teaching on what time means to the Christian and how to use every minute you are given to His glory.
A Message by Billy Graham
More than 75 years ago Henry Luce wanted a name, in just one word, for a weekly newsmagazine that would describe the passing events of the day. He chose the word time.
The Bible says, "The days of our lives are seventy years" (Psalm 90:10, NKJV). Time is a mystery. We sense its passing in our consciousness. We measure its progress with delicately adjusted instruments. We mark its flight and read the record it leaves behind. But the one thing we cannot do is define it.
The Bible teaches that time and life are tied together. It seems that the whole universe is organized for measuring time. Nature is like a huge clockmaker's shop in which thousands of timepieces are ticking. Pulse beats indicate the fleeting moments; the rotation of the earth marks the passing of day and night; the phases of the moon, the moving on of the months; the revolutions of the planets, the march of the years.
Geology studies the wrinkles written by time on earth's brow. Astronomy studies the clockwork of the heavens. Archaeology, peering about among the relics of the ancient past, traces the footprints of time in the ages gone by.
Approaching a new year, we speak of Father Time and visualize an old man with a long white beard who is holding a scythe in one hand and an hourglass in the other hand. But time is a thief. Time steals strength from our muscles and youth from our faces. Time robs us of our health and strips us at last of everything that we have.
THE MEANING OF TIME TO CHRISTIANS
To the Christian, time has a moral significance and a spiritual meaning. Let us consider time in three ways.
First, time is a trust. What are we doing with it? Are we frittering it away, letting it slip through our fingers, squandering it in wanton waste? Or are we treasuring it, using it to maximum advantage, filling every minute with 60 seconds' worth of service to God? The Apostle Paul counsels us to "redeem the time" (Cf. Ephesians 5:16). Time cannot be relived; it can only be redeemed. Let us treat time as a trust.
Second, time is a test. Suppose I were to ask you what you propose to do at 1 o'clock yesterday. You would think I had lost my mind. You might reply, "Don't be silly. I cannot decide what I shall do at 1 o'clock yesterday, because I've already decided that issue."
But suppose I were to ask you, "What do you propose to do at 1 o'clock tomorrow?" You might answer, "I may do this, or I may do that."
Time past is time over which we have no power, but time to come lays upon each one of us the possibility of moral and spiritual choices.
As life goes on, there are billions of events happening in every moment of historic time. To those billions of events we contribute our quotas. What is the next contribution that you will make? In the next instant you can tell a lie or commit other sins, or you can choose to use that time to serve God and to lay up treasures for eternity.
Time in itself is neither good nor bad except as we make it so. But it becomes a crucial test, sifting us through and through, minute by minute.
How are you reacting to that test? How does it affect you? Are you growing daily in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18)? Do you take advantage of every opportunity to study the Scriptures and to pray? Do you take advantage of every opportunity to witness to Jesus Christ?
Third, time is an appointment. Time has been given to us for the purpose of glorifying God in this life. Time has been given to us to have an encounter with the living God. However famous a person may be, or however great his wealth, or whatever his contribution to literature or science, if he has not come into a vital conversion experience with Jesus Christ, then that person has lived in vain.
Thus time is an appointment with Christ, and the Bible says, "Now is the accepted time" (2 Corinthians 6:2, NKJV). God has given us a moment in which we can come to know His Son Jesus Christ. We can come out of time and enter eternity with Him. From now on, everything we do can be done with eternity in view.
A story has been told about a party of men shipwrecked and adrift in a small boat on a stormy sea in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. After floating for several days, the men one night saw the light of a passing ship. But how could they attract the attention of those on the ship? How could they make them aware of their desperate plight? They had a lantern—but only one match.
Someone in the boat had to accept the responsibility of striking that one match. That solitary match was all that stood between them and the liner that was steaming by. What was to be done? They decided to cast lots, and the heavy responsibility fell upon the youngest sailor.
With a prayer on his lips and with trembling fingers, he struck the match. For a moment the flame flickered as though it would go out. Shielding the match with his cupped hands, the young sailor put it through the open door of the lantern, lit the stub of the candle and quickly closed the door. On the liner the lookout man spotted the light and informed the captain, and soon the men were saved.
Amid the stormy seas of life and against the background of eternity, the present moment flickers like the flicker of that lighted match. What will you do with your moment?
Ebenezer Erskine wrote that in the summer of 1708, he "got his head out of time into eternity." That was the hour that he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. That hour was his existential moment, his life's crowning instant. Will you keep your appointment with Jesus Christ?
THE END AND THE BEGINNING
As the world moves from crisis to crisis, a moment will come on God's clock, and that hour is about to strike. The Bible tells us that the end will come but that the end also will be the beginning. When Jesus Christ comes again, it will be the end of this world's system of evil and the beginning of God's reign throughout the earth.
But before that hour strikes, our world is in for crisis after crisis. There will be wars and rumors of wars, revolutions and riots everywhere. People will betray each other as the deceitfulness of their hearts comes out into the open—crucifying Jesus Christ afresh.
The hour is late. The time is coming when people will call upon God, but they will not hear an answer. They will look for God, but they will not find him (Proverbs 1:28).
Today is your day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Today you can accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. You can put your faith, your trust and your confidence in Him. He will change your dimension of time and put you into eternity with Him.
The Power of Prayer
The IBRA has always tried to create and develop an association where members felt
like they were part of a family-type organization that truly cares about them. It is also
no secret that we are a Christian-based organization that's main goal is to serve God
wherever and in whatever arena He has placed us in.
Lately, we have been hearing many reports of hardships and tragedies that many of
our members are dealing with right now. We believe the LEAST and MOST you can
do to help someone is to pray for them, and we would like to encourage others to do
the same. Below is a list of several people, and their prayer needs, who have asked
to be put on this list. We know of more, but do not want to list them (privacy issues)
without knowing that it's okay. Please let me know if you or someone you know would
like to be added to this list. Please join with us in praying for our friends.
Grieving
The Addison Family (KY)
Nathan Batey Family (KY)
Levi Daves Family (VA)
The Whiteman Family (IN)
Linda Biggs
Chris Palmer & Family (NC)
The family of Deloris Lucas (OH)
The family & friends of Amanda Saint (MS)
Glenda Leppo (PA)
Brenda Herman (PA)
Linda Jett & Family (NC)
The Hatzman Family (KY)
The Wilson Family (OH)
Doris Smith (GA)
Gower Family (KS)
Kathy Johnson & Family (VA)
Health Issues
Bobby Bagley (LA)
Gene Cates
Cindy Jackson & Husband
Mary Lynn Hutton (Lisa Barnette's Mother-VA)
Kim Decock (PA)
Noah Adams (PA)
Norma Stone (KY)
Jodi Hardings Mother (NC)
Carolyn Shoemake (SC)
Missions
Chip & Sandy Wanner
Salvation
Kenny (FL)
Stephanie (OH)
Ashley (FL)
Richard (CA)
Gary (KY)
Horse Injuries & Tragedies
Kyndall Le Comte (AL)
Lisa Davis (AL)
Mia Shaffer's - Mac (PA)
Karen Mostoller - Joe (KY)
Job Related
James Hackworth (OH)
Joan Burns (OH)
Reason Not Specified
Bill Cochran (IL)
The Ross Carnahan Family (IL)
TRUE STORY......
Beautiful story.... makes you understand that things happen for a reason |
Gentle reminder for all…
You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, 'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California .
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: People ask me, What is the purpose of life?
And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity..
We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.
I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.
Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life..
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.
And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems:
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.
It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit.. We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.
Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.
Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD..
_____________________________________________
Using Time Well
READ | Matthew 25:14-28
As today’s passage indicates, the Lord gives us resources and abilities, and He desires that we use them well. One such gift is time.
In order to manage our days effectively, we should continually review them: What activities did we choose? How long did each one take? What were the results? This discipline will reveal what is most important to us.
In looking closely at our assessments, we can determine what drives our decisions about how to use time. Some people merely respond to circumstances for a majority of their day. They jump from one thing to the next, answering phone calls, reorganizing shelves, or doing anything that appears in their world at the moment. But this style of living misses the mark.
Other people spend their time according to desires. They want to relax, so they get home and watch television for the evening. Or they love to hunt, so they use their time to research equipment and locate wildlife in the forest. Desires are not bad, but they should not drive the bulk of our actions.
Thankfully, there are also people who live according to what they deem important. Loving God and serving others, for instance, are two biblical values that should, ideally, determine what we do with our time.
If you itemize your activities and their time consumption over the course of a week, you might be surprised at the dominating events. Each moment is a gift, so set aside a few minutes each evening to plan. Then revisit the way you spent the last 24 hours. This will help you to live purposefully.
--In Touch Ministries
Confronting Conflict
READ | Galatians 2:11-16
The Scriptures record many instances of conflict—between nations, among friends, and in families. Today we see the same types of problems. While fighting, people can say harsh and even unfair words. Their accusations create turmoil and emotional pain. What we believe will determine the way we respond to such difficulties.
Scripture proclaims God’s sovereignty over nature ( Ps. 135:6), government ( Job 12:23), and mankind ( Acts 17:25). Nothing in heaven or on earth is hidden from Him or outside of His control. How does this help us in a conflict?
First, our heavenly Father knows when people verbally attack us, and He has promised to protect us. Nothing can touch His children apart from His permissive will. Second, He has the power to work painful times into something beneficial ( Rom. 8:28). We can have hope because His will cannot be thwarted, even in bad circumstances. Finally, we are His beloved children. He is a loving Father who understands what we’re going through and remains by our side. As His children, we are not on our own.
When we believe in the Lord’s sovereign rule, our perspective on hard times changes. Instead of responding with fear, anger, or resentment, we will turn to Him in prayer and ask for guidance.
Conflict is inevitable in our fallen world. When the turmoil’s source is our mistake, we are to apologize. If others are at fault, we may have to confront them the way Paul did with Peter. But we are also called to forgive without exception. As Christ’s ambassadors, the way we respond really matters.
In touch Ministries
Isaiah 41:10 -- So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed,
for I amyour God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you
with my righteous right hand.
Matthew 18:19 -- “I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about
anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.
For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with
them.”
Matthew 19:26 -- Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is
impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Psalms 46:1 -- God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help
in trouble.
Exodus 15:26 -- I am the Lord, who heals you.
2 Kings 20:5 -- This is what the Lord, the God of your father David
says, “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears: I will heal you.”
2 Corinthians 5:7 -- We live by faith, not by sight.
Hebrews 11:1 -- Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and
certain of what we do not see.
Isaiah 40:31 -- But those who hope in the Lord will renew their
strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not
grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
2 Corinthians 12:9 -- He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
James 5:14-15 -- Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of
the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the
Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well;
The Lord will raise him up.
