Welcome to the Further Gospel Podcast, where we provide sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Kosti Hinn. And whether you're listening to this on your favorite podcast platform or you're watching on our YouTube channel, I'm thankful you've joined me for this episode. We're kicking off a new year, and with that comes the opportunity to take inventory of our lives from our habits, spiritual life, relationships, work ethic, goals, financial management, and priorities. Wise and effective Christians circle the wagons on their own life, if not monthly at least, quarterly, definitely annually, I would recommend that. And so as 2025 kicks off, I want to encourage you with a new series. This is like a new series for the new year. And we're going to dig into five T's, as in the letter T for a strong 2025. These can be resolutions you add to yours. Maybe these are ones that involve some of what you've already set. I'm not big on resolutions as though they are the be all end all. And if I don't do resolutions, you know, my life won't change. If I don't goal set, people can get pretty obsessive, but I would say this resolutions can be very helpful. Looking at your life and saying, you know, this year, Lord, I'm resolved to see these areas grow and develop. This is very healthy practice. Each of these T's has a potential to make or break you. I'll say that, and I think that's true. And each one is part of God's will for your life, and it's touched on in scripture. So let me give you the list and then we'll cover the first one in this episode. And then I have nine ways to implement this first one. I'm gonna fire through them so quickly. Uh if you want to go back, listen to it, write them down, whatever that is. But there'll be a lot packed in our brief episode. First, time, as in how you use it. Second, talent, as in your skills and your spiritual gifts. Third, your temple. This is the totality of who you are, not just physically, but spiritually. And then you have, of course, your treasure. This is your stewardship of resources like money and possessions. And then last but not least, your trust. These are your relationships, who you run with and who you let get close to you. I have a number of things I go through each year. I take inventory of these five T's every single year. I've used the five Fs as well for setting goals. Those are for me personally, faith, family, finance, fitness, and friendships. How you break all those down uh is up to you. But what you end up with is a regular intentional assessment of the most important areas in your life. And like maintaining your home or a vehicle or your lawn so it doesn't die, we need to be changing the oil, checking the pipes, cleaning out the dryer vent, if you will, pulling the weeds consistently in the lawn or the garden, or we break down and get overgrowth. If that's you, or if you've been cruising so far, but you have no systems for consistently taking inventory of your life, this five-part series is going to help. And if you do this already, let these episodes challenge you and push you and affirm you forward in this new year. All right, the first T is time. I want to say it this way: strategize your time. So that'd be the resolution. Resolution, strategize your time. You say, why do you use the word strategize? Well, if you want to have the best year of your life in all the ways that matter most, you need to be stratizing your time. This is thinking through and planning how you're gonna use it. You gotta plan how you plan to use your time. What are you gonna prioritize? What gets the most of you? Everybody gets the same 24 hours in a day, but how you map those out is gonna make all the difference in the world. You can make more money, but you can't make more time. It's a limited commodity, and that's what makes it so precious. We just had our sixth child, and she's already three weeks old on the day that this episode releases. I have tried as hard as I could already to stop the clock. It keeps running. And I keep reminding myself that I can't change that, but I can make the most of it by being wise and strategic with time. And so this year, plan to use your time strategically. You can't stop the clock, but you can think through how you use what you have. I've heard John MacArthur say, you're never more like God than when you forgive. And he's absolutely correct. I would say likewise, you're never more like God than when you make plans and use your time wisely. God planned creation. He ordered it, he organized it, he gave man a job, he planned for redemption, he ordered the coming of his son. He has prepared all things that are unfolding according to the counsel of his will. Jesus said, I go before you to his disciples, I go prepare a place for you. God is a planner. God used and uses his time perfectly and wisely. Now, we don't use our time perfectly. I know that's obvious, but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't think about how we use our time. And to the best of our ability, just like we're gonna sin, doesn't mean we just go, well, who cares? Do whatever. Just like we won't be perfect with using time and we still seek to do it well, just like you're never gonna be perfect in your life, but you don't just want to go on sinning, you try to grow spiritually, we should use our time well. And by the grace and strength that God provides, we can do his will with it. Now, being strategic with your time is biblical. It's what every Christian should be focused on, and it is God's will. I've mentioned that a few times. God's will, God's will. Ephesians 5, 15 to 16 is attached to this statement that comes on God's will, where it's knowing what the will of the Lord is. But it's good to memorize verses 15 and 16 on time. Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil. Let me just break this down for a second. Making the most. It's a phrase that translates take full advantage, buy up, some will mention. Some commentators will say it means to buy it all up. What does that mean? Capitalize on the way you use time. Take full advantage of it, use it wisely. And then there's that phrase, be careful how you walk. One translation will say, walk circumspectly. And even that word has a sort of onomatopoetic nature to it. Circumspectly, like circumvent, look around, circle the wagons on your life, take inventory, zoom in on how you're using time. If you want to be successful at anything, you need to use time effectively and wisely. If you want to have a spiritual, successful spiritual life, and by successful I mean fruitful. If you want to thrive in the way that matter matters most, then you gotta take a good hard look at what you're using your time to accomplish. How you use your time will reveal what you prioritize. Use of time reflects our fundamental beliefs. And so look at your Sunday through Saturday. What consumes your time is what you're consumed by. And I hope that's either affirming for you or convicting. So to help bring this into some specific actionable steps, here are nine rapid fire steps you can take to use your time wisely this year. Number one, don't just do things right, do the right things. Don't just do things right, do the right things. A lot of Christians do things right. They've got great character in what they do. That's wonderful. Don't ever stop. But what separates those who use time effectively and those who don't are those who go beyond just doing things right. They do the right things. I can't tell you how to do that for your own life because I'm not you. I'm me. But I look at my own life and I think I want to do things the right way. Yes. But when I do the right things, I bear fruit in certain ways that I look and go, wow, that was the Lord. That was exponential. That was maximized. I always use the illustration, the five loaves and two fish. I'm like, I'm bringing my five loaves and my two fish. Lord, I'm trusting you to multiply it. And in that, God will, and He does, but you got to be doing the right things with your time. Two people can be very righteous and very upstanding and moral and do things the right way, but one does the right things with their time, the other does noble things and sweet things and and mundane things and and nothing wrong things. And they do them the right way and they have character, but they weren't being effective and maximizing their time. And so are you doing things that help you achieve what is most important to you? Number two, calendar everything. I've been doing this for years. If you see my calendar, you'll see it filled in block after block. I have everything from a workout to commuting kids to school to date nights, meetings to study, podcasting, filming, everything in between. I even go back and I'll put something in my calendar if my schedule changed. And an example of that recently, I had something calendared. I wanted to do, I needed to do it, but something came up that was more important. And when I weighed the two, I knew I needed to do the other thing. It was more people-related shepherding. And so I had the 90-minute conversation. And then I went back and I put that in my calendar so I could see where I spent the time. That way I don't get to the end of my day or week and go, I've got to finish this and that and the other. Where did the week go? I can look at my calendar and say, oh, I need to spend three hours on this because, well, I said yes to those two things that were very important. I don't regret it. God used it. I need to do what I needed to do, and I'll trust the Lord to fill in the gaps. I always say this with our team and our staff. I we pray, Lord, cover our gaps with grace. If I only had this many hours to utilize for that, okay. That's just where you got to trust God. But did you do the right thing? Well, look at the calendar. Are you glad you did it and what came of it? When I need to work after hours to finish a doctoral paper, write a chapter for a book. Maybe for you, you've got to knock out a few emails or pay some bills or go online and research something because during the day or during a certain block you couldn't. Well, duty called, do what you got to do, but now you know why you're doing things. And so you're not going to put on Netflix or go out. You're going to do what you need to do. Why? Because you've chosen that scope of work and you've followed the calendar and you are justifying it because you know it was the right thing to do. Uh, another helpful aspect of this is justifying things you need to move. For example, I'll move something if I need to for major shepherding issues. And I can also tell someone, hey, I can't do that because I'm in my final leg of study for Sunday. And I can see on the calendar, I've got no more slots left to study. I need to do this and I may delegate. I can go back and see if I've been faithful or not based on my calendar. So for you, use Apple, Google Calendar, or one of your favorite apps. I'm sure somebody just now got upset. Google or Apple. No, I use this app. Praise God. Drop it in the comments and put a link on there and share what's helped. My wife and I send invites to each other for things. We have preset vacation blocks, something I started doing a number of years ago because my wife lovingly came to me and said, Hey, you are presetting ministry trips, church calendar, all sorts of things. And then you're you're putting a vacation in like at the very last second. And sometimes it stays and sometimes it doesn't. It seems like ministry can move a lot of things around. And I said back to her, yeah, that's yeah, I got nothing. And she said, What are your thoughts on setting our family vacations first ahead of time and then making everything else sort of bowed of that? Unless, of course, it's an emergency shepherding, it's vital life and death. It's pastoral things that I know I signed up for with you as your wife. My husband's a pastor. And I thought, that's actually really smart. And so I remember setting that, and so far, so good. We've had to move a few, move a few things here and there, but overall, she knows what's coming. I know what's coming, and I can move things around accordingly. Setting a calendar doesn't mean you'll never change. I think this is some of the fears for some of you. You go, I don't want to just get so rigid and I can't now move where God wants me and do what he wants me to do and leave room to be flexible for the Holy Spirit to lead and change my plans. Great. Listen, I keep a regular, rigorous calendar, but by doing that, I have a baseline. And then I can change things. Why? Because I've always got a baseline I can go back to. If you don't plan your time, someone else will do it for you. And next thing you know, you're on their agenda, not yours. Number three, protect your spiritual priorities. Time with Jesus, prayer, church, discipleship, small group, family worship, more. Time wasters abound, but time invested in your spiritual life will never be regretted. Number four, invest in family time. I remember an older pastor telling me once, cheat the church, not your family. And some of you go, what? What do you mean, cheat the church? His one-liner meant that when it comes to time, don't get in the habit of cheating your family. So some of you with work, listen, cheat the business, cheat your boss, not your family. What does that look like for us? Ministry, business, it doesn't matter. It's all the same. Here's the deal. Sorry, sweetheart, I can't make it. I've got to do this work thing. Sorry, guys, vacation has to get cut short. Somebody needs counseling, or we got to do this deal. Hey guys, it was a long day. I'm gonna need to stay at the office and keep working. Sorry, can't make the recital. On and on and on. Of course, I came from a mentality, as did some of you, where people turn church into an idol. Work can be an idol. Business, well, what if I spend an extra 30 minutes or an extra hour? What if I make more money? Sometimes we do this as providers, as fathers. We go, well, I gotta do this. How do you like the shoes that I buy you? How do you like the roof over your head? You know, at least I gave you the vacation for four days, and I've got to do days five, six, and seven my way. But, you know, at least you had something. We do that. And when you're at leasting your family or the people who are closest to you, listen, you have cheated them and not the other way around. So stop apologizing to work for prioritizing your family. Stop uh apologizing to everybody else because you're investing in the people who God gave you. Invest in your family. I remember years ago, you had to like walk on eggshells and apologize if you were gonna go go on a vacation or take a day off. It was like, it's all about the mission. Okay, great. I know. And and the prosperity gospel is like that, business is like that. It's like the mission. Okay, great. And the missionaries of old were the same way, and praise God, we all are. But guess where your mission starts? Your family and your home. Your children are your first disciples. Methedes, go and make disciples, great. You only have to go three feet to their bedroom to talk to them about Jesus and pour into them. And you only got to go even less. Hopefully, you sleep close to your wife if you're a man or your husband if you're a woman. Inches. I gotta go three inches. I don't even need to go 30 miles or go anywhere for 30 days or 30 years. I can pour right into my wife or my kids here. So invest in your family. There'll always be another business deal. There'll always be another church event, another potluck, another missions trip. Great. And do those, but include them in it. Yes. Invest in your family. Stop cutting them off and pushing them out as though they can't flow into those things. You will not get these years back. The best advice older people are telling me all the time as a 40-year-old pastor and father of six, you won't get these years back. And so I don't apologize, neither should you. Number five, invest in rest. You need to be calendaring vacations or rest, right in the same vein as spiritual and familial priorities. In fact, I would say rest can go right along with family time. Quality time ceasing from work is good for your soul. Take the walk, do the hike, shut off the phone, go airplane mode, take the social media break, limit the screen time, retreat to recharge. Number six, review daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. I'm always looking at things from different angles, talking to my wife. I assess ministry, I'll talk to my fellow pastors, I get a temperature on things, the ministry, the home, the marriage, the workflow, general rhythms. You need to take some time. Each day, look at your calendar, look ahead. What do you got coming up? Listen to those who love you. Listen to those who you love and make sure you're on track. And if not, well, the next point will help. Number seven, learn from your mistakes. You're gonna make mistakes. You need course corrections. We all do. I can, you can. We all can be workaholics and we get really into what we're doing, and we need someone to come along and say, hey, I'm kind of getting the scraps here. I'm not getting your best. I'm getting the leftovers. I'm microwaving what I got. A calendar is not ironclad, it's a structure and it has flexibility. You can change things still. When you're planned out, again, you've got the freedom because you got a baseline. And sometimes you'll do the wrong things. They might have seemed noble. You're gonna get taken advantage of. Sometimes I do. You have people waste your time. I call them time thieves, and you're gonna selfishly do something for yourself. And you thought, well, I'm gonna do this. It's good for me, and it's this is my time. And you should have made time for others. And now you're feeling the pain of being too much about you and not enough about others. Whatever that looks like for you, review, learn, and adjust. Number eight, purge time thieves. Not trying to be insensitive here. You can apply this however the Lord leads you. I have them, you have them, we all have them. I can't say that they're always the same, okay? But here's a few. Is scrolling social media a time thief? Buy thief, get rid of it. Put the phone in another room, shut it off, give it to your spouse, a friend, whatever you got to do. Stop scrolling social media. It's stealing your time. Our video games, and listen, I loved back in the day, used to play NHL, NCAA, football, all the fun stuff, Madden. And I've got young kids. I really look forward, maybe one day, little Mario Kart tournaments and showing them dad's still got it. And I used to fire up the sticks and have a good time with my headset, and I need to put that away for a little while to take care of business where it matters most. My home, the church, the Lord. And I haven't missed them that much, although they can be very fun. And some families maybe do a game night with Mario Kart or what have you. Listen, is that a time thief, though, for you? Do you get sucked down the rabbit hole and now you're a guy with like three, four, five kids, and you're sitting in your man cave glued to the screen with your headset, and you're like, not now, and you haven't even done family discipleship. Dude, shut the thing off. Sell it, take it to GameStop, do the little buyback program. Buy thief, it's taking away what you can't get back, and then bring it back in when you can control yourself. Is it people pleasing? So you just can't say no to people. Buy thief, start facing the music. You can't say no to people. People are the idol. Now they're getting in the way of everything that matters. Sorry, can't do it. I'm gonna prioritize my time with what matters. Netflix binging multiple nights per week and then complaining you can't ever get ahead. Buy thief. You gotta make sure you purge time thieves in your life, or you're gonna be right where you are, frustrated, thinking someone has some secret to life, you know, costy or whoever else, you know, what do I do? I uh how what's wrong? Look, maybe there's some time thieves and you're not as effective as you could be. Dump them. Number nine, learn to consolidate. The more you can do at the same time, the better steward of time you will be. Let me give you just a few examples of this that I've learned through pain and failure. I love to hunt, and I could hunt during hunting season and just disappear. I enjoy it. But when I hunt with family, I have found something so beautiful and so sweet. I love hunting with my sons. I love being out with my family. I love, I used to just did some hunting with my wife. I enjoy that. Why? Well, we're enjoying something we love to do, but also together. We take vacations. We also enjoy fellowshipping with the body of Christ and certain friends in different states. And so we'll vacation near them. Why? Well, we get some family time alone and we protect that vigilantly, and we get to see our friends. We hold dear and love. And I need a podcast and film videos and study for sermons and shepherd the flock and counsel and lead a staff, all these things. So, what do I do sometimes? I'll study once. I'll be studying a big topic for a long time. And out of that study, maybe there's five or six different resources that come from it. Some people think, like, man, does all he does, all he must do is podcast, or all he must do is this, or all he must do is that. No, I I'm typically with my nose in the word of God and with my team and my staff and shepherding, and then out of that flows a lot of this. And so it's important to think of your work, your ministry, your life, your education, whatever that looks like. Consolidate. Uh, I might golf, but if I do it, I'll typically do it with men I'm discipling, or I want to get to know more. I commute to work, but I've thought, what if I listen to a sermon? Or I could call two church members on the way there and two on the way home. Now I've just called four people and instead of listening to sports talk radio, that's consolidation. And so now you're putting time to work versus watching it slip away. I don't know what your consolidation would look like, but are there ways that you could weave things into the rhythm that is already flowing in your life? If you love to work out and you've got some buddies in your life you can go on a run with and talk about the Lord, maybe you're gonna go on a date and sometimes you want to do date night alone, but some of your date nights you guys both agree and enjoy double dating. So some other couples come with you and you get to bond with people. Whatever that looks like, consolidation is one of the best ways to manage and steward time and level it up in 2025 to do not just things right, but to do the right things. More can be said. I hope this gets you going on strategizing your time. If at the very least, would you please try using a calendar, block out some blocks, set your course ahead, and start tracking the way you're using time. And at the very least, when you track it, you're gonna be able to look at it and say, I like that. Or I don't. Let's change. Do things right, yes, but make sure you're doing the right things. That's the first T. Can't wait for the next one. Thanks for listening, for watching, and for supporting. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for free resources or to learn more about our ministry or to partner with us, you can go to for thegospel.org. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. Keep on living for the gospel.