WEBVTT 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:06.639 Hi, and thanks so much for joining us on the Sierra Bible Church Sermon of the Week. 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:10.160 I hope that you enjoy this message by Nate Milman. 00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:13.759 All right. 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:16.160 Oh. 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:20.000 Good morning. 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:22.719 Jesus is Lord. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:27.199 I'm coming in a little hot this morning. 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:30.239 I had a moment at 10 p.m. 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:34.719 last night that made me rethink point two in your outline. 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:37.920 And it was one of those moments where you're just, it's kind of hard. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:41.759 And then my wife this morning's like, so what do you, what were you, what was wrong last night? 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:43.280 And I was like, well, I just had this thought. 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:45.920 And I was like, here's what I think it's saying. 00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:49.600 And she's like, yeah, if you share that, you're done. 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:51.280 Said, okay, great. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:52.240 We'll do that. 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:54.159 Um, so that's always fun. 00:00:54.399 --> 00:00:57.039 Uh it's a hard topic. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:01.600 Um, let me just frame out where we're at in case you haven't been to Sear Bible or just showing up. 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:04.719 We're gonna be in Ecclesiastes 3 starting out today, if you want to turn there. 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:18.239 But uh we're doing a series on narrow, um, this sort of illustration by Jesus that narrow is this path that leads to life, and few find it. 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:21.519 Um he also speaks about the narrow gate. 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:29.120 And in that, we're doing these different sort of snapshots of what it means to live or find the narrow way. 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:33.760 And so we've gone on to the S in SBC, which is stewardship. 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:39.200 And in that, Nate kind of framed it up last week as being managers or stewarding. 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:44.640 And typically in the Christian framework, you hear about you steward your time, your talents, and your treasure. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:49.120 So Nate said, Hey, can I get you to talk about stewarding time? 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:50.879 So that's where we're landing today. 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:55.120 And I I just want to say from the outset, this is why I didn't start right away. 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:16.879 The stewardship of our time and our talent and our treasure, it's a it's a thing in the Bible that if you sort of read the Bible, it really confronts you with all sorts of things. 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:26.000 And and and just sort of overarching this message, one of the things that confronted me with is just the idea that in 2026. 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:38.240 I feel like every time I I I teach up here, I get up here and I basically say, like, I suck and you kind of stink, and like let's get better. 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:40.960 Which is a great summary, hopefully. 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:53.199 Last night I just had this moment where it's like it's not only that I stink and you stink, it's that like we maybe we have like the picture wrong of what we're aimed at. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:03:05.360 And maybe the church sort of builds up these images, and when we see them, we go, yeah, would we would we even like recognize that that we have that image wrong? 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:20.960 And so in stewarding our time, it was just really confrontational to me to to dwell on Paul and Christ and think, these guys, what what they did with their time, we would use words to describe it that I'm gonna say in a little while that are just a little interesting. 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:27.599 And so as we go through this, I just want you to know that that's like running in the background of Nate's operating system right now. 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:30.080 And it's really combative towards me. 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:33.039 And it's like, you know, fighting. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:34.240 So there you go. 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:35.120 Let's begin. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:37.199 All right, Ecclesiastes three. 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:39.840 Let's start with Nate at 20. 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:44.159 I um some of you know, and I've mentioned before, I went to like this Bible Institute. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:48.960 It's like a fake Bible college of a Hume Lake called the Joshua Wilderness Institute. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:56.560 And in that institute, the point of the whole thing, uh, I talked about this like a year ago, is that they would make effective Christians. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:59.599 So, Steph, that's what we want to be, effective Christians, right? 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:03.680 So part of that is that they have this curriculum and it consists of these classes. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:06.719 Now, the classes are sort of what you'd typically think. 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:12.560 So there's like an Old Testament class, there's a theology class, and then they had this one class. 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:16.800 It was at 1:30 on Mondays, I remember, and we all went every week. 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:21.199 And the class was called Personal Life Skills. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:26.160 And so, you know, the first week we all kind of walk in, it's like, hey, here's what personal life skill is gonna be. 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:26.639 It's gonna be great. 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:27.600 We're gonna teach you about life. 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:28.000 Great. 00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:28.399 Okay. 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:29.680 So, what did this mean? 00:04:29.839 --> 00:04:34.639 Well, one of the first classes I remember was about balancing a checkbook. 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:37.120 Talk about a personal life skill, right? 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:39.360 Dave here works as an accounting firm. 00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:40.879 He knows what it's like. 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:44.399 I don't know what it's like to balance a checkbook still. 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:47.439 But I sat through an hour and a half of how to balance a checkbook. 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:49.439 In fact, I saw Mary on the way in. 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:53.920 She could tell you I have no idea how to balance a checkbook because she'll call me everyone's and I'll be like, You're out of money. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:56.000 And I'm like, I need more money. 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:57.040 What am I doing? 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:02.560 This autopay is killing me because they don't teach you about what do you do with an auto pay world and balancing a checkbook. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:04.160 Anyways, I digress. 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:05.600 Let's go back to the class. 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:12.480 The next week, they had a guy come in and he said, I'm gonna talk to you about time management. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:14.480 Okay, great. 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:16.160 I guess I'm 20. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:18.240 Do I need to manage my time? 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:20.240 I kind of do what I want. 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:22.319 I don't need to be anywhere. 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:24.000 At this point, I'm at Hume Lake. 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:25.680 I don't even have a job. 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:28.480 Time management, whatever. 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:34.240 Next week, it's a guy who teaches you for an hour and a half about how to make a bed. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:38.160 Fold sheets, pillows, blankets. 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:39.600 There's multiple ways to do that. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:43.120 He was in the military, and this is somewhat important to him. 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:47.199 A few weeks go by, we learn how to change flat tires. 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:48.800 All the guys don't know what they're doing. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:51.360 The girls want to do it even though they don't know what they're doing. 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:52.319 It's a lot of fun. 00:05:52.480 --> 00:06:00.000 But another week goes by, and then sure enough, another person comes up, and these are all people that kind of live or work around Hume or visit Hume. 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:03.519 And this guy gets up and goes, Hey, I'm gonna speak to you about time management. 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:08.160 And the whole class is like, wait a second, like like six weeks ago, there's a guy that talked about time management too. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:12.720 And so we sat through the class, and sure enough, you know, we kind of started joking about it, like time management. 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:13.199 Ha ha. 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:16.160 Another weeks go by. 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:19.600 We we learned how to one guy came in and talked about personal fitness. 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:22.800 He wore like a weighted vest and would run around the mountains at Hume Lake. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:23.920 That's really popular now. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:26.800 But back then we were like, this guy is interesting. 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:33.920 What's really funny is his name was Jeff, you know, G-E-O-F-F, but you he wanted you to pronounce it G off, so that was funny too. 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:35.199 That guy was interesting. 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:36.800 But then a few more weeks go by, right? 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:41.680 We get about halfway through the year, and then another guy comes in, he says, I'm gonna talk to you about managing your time. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:50.319 And at this point, like some of us around the thing started joking, like, hey, do we have life skills today, or are we taking a class in time management? 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:51.279 What do you guys think? 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:53.279 Because we learned about it so many times. 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:58.639 What's funny is to a 20-year-old Nathan Milnik, it is seemingly not important. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:03.120 What's interesting is like the last three weeks of my life have been crazy, right? 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:07.519 We went on a trip to, we went camping at Shaver Lake with my family. 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:09.759 We went to Bend, Oregon to visit my sister-in-law. 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:13.600 I'm trying to kind of run a business that should make money that Mary wants. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:15.279 I'm teasing Mary. 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:17.040 Sorry, you didn't ask for this. 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:25.279 And then, you know, the last week, all four of my kids got sick a total of five times because one of them got sick at the beginning and then at the end. 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:29.360 And what do you think I want to read a book on at this point in life? 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:34.000 Well, it's a book about how to get rid of your kids legally. 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:38.560 No, come on, it's a book about time management. 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:47.680 Because at 43 years old, I sit there like you do, raise your hand, and go, my goodness, time is just happening. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:51.519 And I am just trying to exist through it. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:58.720 And you feel like it's this like drowning and you're breathing, and it's just going, going, going. 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:19.519 And 43-year-old Nathan responds to Ecclesiastes 3 a lot differently because Ecclesiastes 3 is speaking to this very thing: the idea that mankind has this internal confrontation in his mind, in our minds, that we are constantly confronted with. 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:20.560 So let's jump into it. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:22.399 Ecclesiastes 3 is where we're at. 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:32.639 He has just gotten done, Coalette, this teacher, has just gotten done talking about that there's a time for everything under the sun, you know, a time to be born and a time to die, and a time to plant, and a time to pluck up. 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:34.480 And this is a very famous passage. 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:37.039 But at the end of it, he says this really interesting thing. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:39.360 He's sort of surveyed the landscape. 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:47.919 And in Ecclesiastes 9, he says this what gain has the worker from his toil? 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:55.360 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:09.679 Also, he has put eternity into men's heart, man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from beginning to the end. 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:19.440 So he starts out by saying, you know, what gain can man get from doing all these things, all these well-laid plans, all these busy things we do all the time. 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:27.519 And then he kind of shifts and says, I have seen the business that God has given the children of man to be busy with, meaning I've observed this. 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:31.120 He kind of says it in like an almost negative way. 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:35.200 I've observed this, but uh, you know, it's interesting. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:47.200 And he says, he has made everything beautiful in its time, which is a wonderful sort of reassurance that everything we think is ugly potentially can be beautiful at the right time. 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:50.000 But then he says this really interesting part. 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:55.519 Also, he has put eternity into man's heart. 00:09:55.679 --> 00:10:03.120 The the old King James, don't put the new one up there yet, but the old King James says he has put the world into man's heart, the universe. 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:07.120 He says, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from beginning to the end. 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:09.440 That the interesting word there is that word eternity. 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:12.159 Also, he has put eternity into man's heart. 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:15.200 As you research that word, there's different kinds of translations that come up. 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:24.480 A couple of them are going to show up on the screen, but eternity can be sort of translated as eternity, duration, flow of time, or something like the word incessancy. 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:27.200 How many of you know what incessancy means? 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:28.639 No? 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:30.000 Yeah. 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:31.600 Jen Pepito does. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:32.159 Let's see it. 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:33.200 What does it mean? 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:36.480 The quality or state of being incessant. 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:39.360 This is informative. 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:41.440 We're doing great this morning. 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:42.399 Yeah. 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:44.720 And so you have to dig down in Google, right? 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:45.440 And go to the next thing. 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:47.039 So incessant, what does that mean? 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:51.919 Continuing or following without interruption. 00:10:53.039 --> 00:11:04.000 God has put this eternity in the heart of man that we understand that there's this continuance that's ongoing from the moment we're born to the moment we die to the moment that we're with God. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:08.879 And it's this constant flow called time. 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:13.600 It's a duration following without interruption. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:24.960 And then if you really want to get an interesting perspective on it, you could use Gemini, which is Google's AI, and it says the following comes from the Latin words meaning not stopping. 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:27.120 And that's where we're at. 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:41.519 We have minds that God has created into this world, and we perceive time as this flowing through of events, event after event after event, and it does not stop, and it's constantly going. 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:43.840 And that's the part that sometimes gets stressful. 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:44.480 And why? 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:56.240 The author of Ecclesiastes believes it's because God sort of stands outside of time and it says he cannot find out what God has done from beginning to the end. 00:11:56.480 --> 00:12:12.240 In other words, I'm stuck in Nathan Milnik at 43, and I remember Nathan Milnik at 20, and I hope that Nathan Milnik exists at 70, but there's this problem that it keeps marching forward, and I'm in it or stuck with it. 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:16.799 What's interesting is I read the NRSV, which is a fascinating translation, it's put it perfectly. 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:20.000 It says this He has made everything suitable for its time. 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:32.240 Moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:51.360 And so as we open this idea or this teaching about time management or time stewardship, recognize that one of the things we're trying to manage here is that our mind tends to dwell on the past and dwell on the future. 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:54.720 And there's no issue with that at some level. 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:58.879 But notice how that informs something like the present. 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:03.440 What you've done in your past informs how you're probably going to act now. 00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:09.360 And what you're perceiving will happen in the future also probably comes to bear on right now. 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:13.279 There's a lot of famous quotes out there about this, you know. 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:16.320 I'm always starting to live. 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:19.759 I'm always living and starting to live. 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:29.279 I mean, these these sort of quandaries of philosophy that go, whoa, I'm living, but I'm not really living because I'm always living in the past or the future, not the present. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:43.759 Now, we're not going to go down this philosophical road, but I want to set up the idea that at least the author of Ecclesiastes recognizes this problem and says, God has said eternity in the hearts and man in the hearts of men, and yet they cannot perceive what God is doing from the beginning to the end. 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:51.120 And that puts God in this sort of driver's seat of all eternity and us stuck in right now, having this problem. 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:55.279 And we're called to steward that problem for the Lord. 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:57.039 So let's jump into that. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:02.879 First point on your outline is we don't get time, we get a life. 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:07.039 James 4 says this like the following says this. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:16.639 James says, Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:25.440 So James sets up this idea that there's a person, maybe it's a small business owner, and they sort of create these future plans, this future idea. 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:33.440 Hey, you know, we're gonna start a business and it's gonna be a snow cone shop in Twain Heart, and then we're eventually we're gonna open in Oakdale and then Modesto, and this is our plan. 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:37.279 And James says, interesting thing here. 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:41.679 You don't know what the future holds. 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:43.120 So he goes on. 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:46.159 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:47.519 What is your life? 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:52.799 For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 00:14:53.840 --> 00:15:01.039 And he kind of corrects us in that thought and says, You who believe you're gonna go into such and such a town and start a business, what is your life? 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:03.440 It's a vapor. 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:07.120 Here today, gone tomorrow. 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:11.120 And he proposes a different way of looking at it. 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:19.039 Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:22.159 As it is, you boast in your ignorance. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:24.080 All such boasting is evil. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:29.039 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him, it is sin. 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:32.000 Now, that last part is interesting because he's talking about two concepts. 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:35.360 We didn't read the first one, and we don't need to, but I'll explain it to you. 00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:42.399 Uh James is confronting two problems that the church was having, or two ways that Christians thought that were sort of wrong-headed. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:53.200 The first was uh in the verses before this, he's correcting someone who is speaking against, or he's he's saying that we need to be against people speaking evil of their fellow Christians. 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:53.759 There it is. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:57.519 So James is warning against this, and then he's warning against knowing the future. 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:13.519 And to both of these things, he says this interesting part whether you're the type of person who is speaking evil of a fellow Christian or is attempting to make these well-laid plans for the future, in both those instances, you're actually taking the place of God. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:16.559 He says it like this right there. 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:20.639 As it is, you boast in your ignorance, all such boasting is evil. 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:24.799 Boasting is evil because boasting is you pretending to be God. 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:32.720 We boast in our arrogance, assuming we can be like God, judging people, condemning them, or knowing the future. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:35.200 Now, why does this have to do with my point? 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:37.360 We don't get time, we get a life. 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:41.519 What we mean when we say we steward our time is that we are really stewarding a life. 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:47.600 You could say it like this: we don't get a certain amount of time, we get a life. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:54.639 Whether you get 80 years or 40 years or 10 years, that's your life. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:56.320 And that's what you get. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:02.399 And so when James is saying this, what he's saying is you might make these future plans. 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:07.680 You might have ideas for the future that either involve God or don't involve God. 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:15.200 What's interesting about that is you're sort of playing God in that because all you're guaranteed is right now, what is life? 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:17.200 You are a vapor. 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:21.039 When you realize that, you realize that what matters truly is what? 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:22.559 The present. 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:25.519 And Jesus reinforced this. 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:27.920 Think about the Lord's Prayer. 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:30.960 Give us this day our daily bread. 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:35.440 It's not give us worries about the past that cripple current action. 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:40.880 It's not give us social media influencers that make me feel like I live through them. 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:45.440 It's not give us this day our economic certainty for the foreseeable future. 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:54.319 Give us this day our daily bread is the idea that what we have is here and now, and anything else is sort of not guaranteed. 00:17:54.400 --> 00:17:57.519 And that's not like to scare you like you're gonna walk out this door and die. 00:17:58.880 --> 00:18:00.559 You might, that's true. 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:04.160 But it's it's really to look at it and go, okay, wait. 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:06.960 All I'm guaranteed is the life God gives me. 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:12.559 I don't get any certain amount of time in this whole thing called planet Earth or in the will of God. 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:21.119 And that's why James corrects this and to go back to it, it means that being a good steward of time is being a good steward of here and now. 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:25.599 And assessing God's will in that is a particularly hard thing. 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:26.559 Why? 00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:34.319 Well, if you're like me, maybe you say to yourself, uh, when our kids get older, we'll do this stuff for the Lord. 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:39.200 They're bad ages now to like do a missions trip. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:42.640 You know, you find yourself staying saying things like this. 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:47.119 And that's hard because we are in the present. 00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:51.599 Now, the good news is you all are doing a great job of stewarding your time in the present. 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:52.319 Why? 00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:54.559 You came to church. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:55.759 Right, Norm? 00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:58.720 Hey! All right, let's go home. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:00.640 This is great news. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:06.960 But I think we have to have eyes to see the present as the thing we need to be stewarding. 00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:14.400 I I this was brought home yesterday when I went to a pool at a neighbor's house with my two sons, a five-year-old and an eight-year-old. 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:16.240 The five-year-old can't swim yet. 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:26.319 So he's got a life vest on, and he was doing this activity where he keeps getting up on this raft in the pool, and he'll just he would sit there with his life vest on, he'd plug his nose and hop off the raft just into the water. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:28.720 And the first couple of times the water goes up to here, right? 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:33.599 And then it gets up to like here, and then finally he goes in over his head and he's like very proud of himself. 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:34.799 So, what does dad do? 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:37.680 Well, dad watches him five or six times and he's very proud of him. 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:38.799 That's me. 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:40.720 Then dad goes, you know what? 00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:44.079 I'm gonna get out of the pool and have a soda water because soda water sounds great. 00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:47.519 Get out of the pool, sit in a chair, got the soda water. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:49.599 What's next to me in the chair? 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:52.400 What do I start doing? 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:56.559 Yeah, man, I gotta look up what the Dodgers score is, right? 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:59.839 A real baseball team, unlike those Giants. 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:01.920 Unbelievable. 00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:06.480 And and uh oh, we just lost everybody in this example. 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:10.319 So, right, I start, I start kind of scrolling. 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:11.680 And what does my son do? 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:12.880 Dad, watch. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:17.599 Okay, Dodgers, you know, doing pretty good. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:19.359 And I go look at him, you know. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:20.240 Oh, good job, dude. 00:20:20.319 --> 00:20:23.519 And then as soon as he's like in the water and trying to get back up, I like look away at my phone, right? 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:27.119 And then when he says, Dad, watch, what do I do? 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:29.200 Good job, bud. 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:31.200 Dad, watch. 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:32.400 Good job, bud. 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:33.839 Dad, watch. 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:34.880 Good job, bud. 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:38.799 At some point, if this were like a not a comedy, right? 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:43.359 Like someone would be like, hey, you should probably say something to your son other than good job, bud. 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:46.640 Because you should probably pay attention to your son. 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:51.359 In fact, you're responsible for the present, be a good steward. 00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:59.200 And what's hard about that is when you realize that it hits you with a ton of bricks, then my five-year-old just wants to hang out with his dad. 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:12.240 And while this isn't like some profound Christian point about, you know, sharing the gospel with somebody in Africa, that little example, it's the hardest to reflect on sometimes as a parent and be like, I am missing this. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:17.359 I am missing the time God has given me with my child because it will be over, right? 00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:20.240 90% of the time I'm gonna spend with them is before they're 18. 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:22.079 That's crazy when you think about it. 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:31.440 And so it's many things like that that we look at in life and we go, ultimately, being a good steward of time is being a good steward of the here and now. 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:35.519 God doesn't give us some certain amount of time, he gives you life now. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:38.240 What you do with it is totally up to you. 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:41.359 Now, what's interesting is God wants to be involved in that. 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:48.240 That's why James says maybe we should change it to if the Lord wills, then we do. 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:56.640 Which takes us to our second point, which is the idea that God wants us to use it wisely, meaning time. 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:59.279 He wants us to steward it wisely. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.480 Okay. 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:03.920 I said at the beginning that I got a little spun out last night at 10 p.m. 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:04.880 This was what did it. 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:08.319 Point two here completely changed last night at 10 p.m. 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:10.880 Like the slides still kind of make sense, but not really. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:12.960 So we'll only put a couple of them up there. 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:17.680 Here's what didn't make sense to me last night when I started thinking about this verse. 00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:22.720 I put on the outline, God wants us to use it wisely, use time wisely. 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:25.759 For being a good steward, we'll be wise about it. 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:30.240 I shared this verse in your outline, which is Ephesians 5. 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:36.079 Let's read Ephesians 5, and then I'll explain what kind of hit me and made me rethink my existence last night. 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:38.000 Look what it says in Ephesians 5. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:44.319 It says, look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise. 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:46.079 Okay, so that's pretty straightforward. 00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:47.359 Look, look what you're doing. 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:49.759 Make sure it's wise, not unwise. 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:59.119 Then he says, This making the best use of the time because the days are evil. 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:08.960 Then his conclusion is, therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:16.000 So he ties these things: best use of time, wise not foolish, will of the Lord. 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:18.559 Now, this is an easy point to understand. 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:24.319 And the part I want to share with you this morning before I got a little interesting last night was this that there's really practical applications. 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:26.799 Like if you were just to take the New Testament and go, you know what? 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:30.160 What's a really direct way or a practical way of looking at the will of God? 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:32.319 You could just put into a search engine, right? 00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:34.640 Like will of God, and it would spit out the following. 00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:36.640 I'm not going to put it up there, I'm just going to read it to you. 00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:37.920 It would say this. 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:47.599 You pray without ceasing. 00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:52.319 You give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ for you. 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:55.680 Those are various verses from like Thessalonians and other epistles. 00:23:56.079 --> 00:24:00.559 Now, those are those are straightforward. 00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:08.640 Be sanctified, abstain from sexual immorality, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances. 00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:12.480 Very practical. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:15.279 Kinda easy to follow. 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:19.039 Not easy, but like I can rejoice. 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:20.960 I'm not having a problem with that. 00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:26.960 What's interesting is to, and this is what hit me with a ton of bricks last night. 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:32.240 I was thinking about, okay, so so the context of this is, you know, Paul wrote this to the church in Ephesus. 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:33.759 Now, hold on for a second. 00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:35.839 Paul, let's talk about Paul. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:41.680 And in my head, I go, okay, so Paul believes that a wise use of time is following the will of God. 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:46.400 Now, every one of Paul's epistles starts with sort of the idea of the will of God, if you read them straight down, right? 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:52.720 So, like if you read like I have them all here, but 1 Corinthians 1.1, Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle in Christ Jesus. 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:57.440 2 Corinthians 1.1, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother. 00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:00.799 Ephesians 1-1, Paul an apostle Jesus Christ by the will of God. 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:04.480 Colossians 1-1, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:09.279 2 Timothy 1-1, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, Jesus by the will of God. 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:19.680 You have this guy who's on a mission and he's tying it to what he did in that Ephesians 5 verse, which is the will of God. 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:27.039 He says, Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, making the best use of the time. 00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:30.960 What's interesting is that use of time for Paul involved the following. 00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:40.240 If we take Paul over here on this end of the stage, let's talk about the great things that resulted from Paul's life. 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:53.519 So many Gentiles and Jews came to Christ because of Paul. 00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:57.359 So many people since then have read you know read his letters. 00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:02.799 There's an immense body of work there in which a changed soul changed the world. 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:10.240 And you look at that Paul and you go, man, if we're talking about time management, I want my kid to be like that guy. 00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:13.359 Like I want myself to be like that guy. 00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:14.799 Mark, don't you want to be? 00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:16.960 Mark, you're Paul right here. 00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:20.400 Now what else do we know about Paul though? 00:26:20.559 --> 00:26:27.599 Somewhere in the middle over here, some use of time management, good use of time, will of God stuff. 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:29.440 He was a tent maker. 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:31.839 Was he famous for his tent making? 00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:32.960 Not really. 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:33.759 Right? 00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:38.000 You don't go to REI and find, you know, Paul's perfect pop-ups or whatever, right? 00:26:39.200 --> 00:26:50.880 You know he was a tent maker, you know what he did for a living, but that's sort of secondary and it's sort of in the middle because it was some part of maybe the will of God, or it's some part of his time management algorithm, right? 00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:54.480 That he's using to make money. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:27:01.039 But then I'm sitting there thinking last night, like, okay, so Paul writes this, make wise the use of your time. 00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:09.519 And I went to this side and I sort of got into what I've done in the past, which is 2 Corinthians 11. 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:16.240 If you've ever read 2 Corinthians 11, it's where Paul chronicles how much he should be sort of successful. 00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:21.519 And yet all these bad things have resulted in his life. 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:25.920 He says he's been beaten five different times with the 40 lashes minus one. 00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:27.839 He's been shipwrecked three times. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:30.079 He's learned what it's like to live. 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:32.799 I'm getting emotional because of what I thought after this. 00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:37.279 You know, he's he says, I learned how to live in plenty and want, right? 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:43.599 But basically, he's learned how to live, he says, in the elements and homeless, sometimes with a home, sometimes without a home. 00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:50.480 And and it's this litany of things that make his life, you go, oh my goodness, like this is a crazy life. 00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:53.680 Like, would I even recognize Paul if he was like at church today? 00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:58.000 Because he sounds like a homeless guy that would just be up here and be like, this was wild, but this is what happened. 00:27:58.160 --> 00:28:08.480 And then the crazy part where I started getting emotional was like, I was like, man, as a Christian, I'm okay with like if my kid, let's say Jude, Jude's over there, he's 10. 00:28:08.559 --> 00:28:09.200 Hey, Jude. 00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:15.440 If my kid wants to follow around this Pa, I'm good with it, right? 00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:16.559 Why? 00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:20.720 He's changing churches, he's doing missions. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:26.559 But then I thought, man, honestly, let's let's imagine this Paul comes to my to my house. 00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:28.720 This is the part where I think I fail. 00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:32.720 And he's like, hey, this was funny to me last night. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:34.640 I don't know why I'm emotional, but whatever. 00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:35.759 So this part's funny. 00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:37.440 Then then you can get serious with me again. 00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:39.759 So I imagine Paul comes to my wife. 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:42.720 This was like what I was thinking last night at 10:30 by myself in my office. 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:48.720 And I thought, okay, so so Paul shows up and he's like, hey, I want your 10-year-old to go with me. 00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:54.480 And like the last two times we've gone to like Philippi, I really don't know if you need a boat to get to get to Philippi. 00:28:54.720 --> 00:28:55.519 I didn't study that. 00:28:55.680 --> 00:29:00.319 But let's imagine that Paul's going to Philippi again and he goes, Hey, I want your son to go with me. 00:29:01.279 --> 00:29:07.519 And then he's like to my wife, he's like, you know, the last two times I went, we kind of ended up on an island. 00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:09.519 Our ship hit a rock. 00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:12.160 We kind of starved for a few days. 00:29:12.400 --> 00:29:18.960 And I'm thinking, would are my wife and I the the kind of people that would like be like, dude, take Jude. 00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:19.920 He can go on this trip. 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:20.960 He wants to go to Philippi. 00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:22.079 He wants to be with you. 00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:23.920