Top 5: Life is Good, 5/29/16

Sermon 5-29-16 favorites - Ecclesiastes 3:1-14 – it is good

There is a time for everything,    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,   a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. ¹⁴ I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will honor him

Why I love this passage.

There is a time for everything.

God is in the middle of it all.

It is good.

God made it and said it is good

Favorite Music

Fernando Ortega

Anything ELO CCR REO SPEEDWAGON

Music is such a blessing

Eccl 3.  It is good!

The raft on the ocean in the river delta [awareness]

Life is a banquet. And the tragedy is that most people are starving to  death.

There's a nice story about some people who were on a raft off the coast of Brazil perishing from  thirst. They had no idea that the water they were floating on was

fresh water.

the river was coming out into the sea with such force that it went out for a couple of miles, so they had fresh water right  there where they were. But they had no idea.

In the same way, we're surrounded with joy, with happiness, with love.

Too many people have no idea of this whatsoever.

Spirituality is about waking up to what God is doing in this world

Repent and accept the good news.

Repent! Wake up!

Random times

A time to die

Paul mcclain

Richard rohr

A time to plant.  Mom and her trees and plants

How I morphed toward this

How I was not interested in the environment

Now I am a tree hugger

Because god speaks to us thru creation

A time to heal

I celebratet the miracles of woods chapel

Sherri swanson

Jerry Hedrick

Bob Spence

Pam Dittmer

A time to laugh

Jokes

Jokes after softball

A time to mourn

Memorial day

Love hurts –a Russian soldier died, we felt nothing.  A father in congo died….

Weeping lasts for the night but joy comes in the morning- psalm 30

You can be in pain and suffer or you can be in pain and not suffer

The dancing gene

I got it

I saw the good thing at the dance

Now I look and see it.. usually

Bryan ferry sings the song- we need to dance with life

search praying for direction…. Should we buy that

CONCLUSION

Finally – Life is Good!

Romans 8:28, "And we know that God makes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

All you can see is the middle of God's work, not its end.

He knows the beginning and the end,

Just trust every day that you are in the palm of his hand

He loves you so much.

 ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 

¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. 

It is good.  It is very good.

He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

 ¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.

It’s a gift!! It is good!! 

It is good!!

Grateful: For Time, 11/22/15

Sermon 11-22-15 thankful for time Eccl 3:1-14

3 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,  a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,    a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. ¹⁴ I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

Sermon series

Grateful.  For creation, for kindness, for forgiveness, for time

I love this passage for a memorial service – when nothing else is requested

A time for everything –

to build, to laugh, to dance, to embrace, to keep, to throw out, to love

He has made all things beautiful in his time

          Oh, how many times I did not like a circumstance, only to find later

          that there was some good to come from it

God has set eternity in the hearts of men and women

          Inside of use there is something innate that knows that God exists

          Romans 1:20  ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Do you have the time? Someone would ask

Pocket watch 1500

Wrist watch – ww 1

Time:  what is it/ is not………….

Time is money.  No its not.

You can make more money.  You can never get your time back

It is valuable

It is limited

Pink Floyd-Time

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

How many days have I lived…….365 x 58 =  plus july 5-nov 22 = 21,317

Time:  spending it poorly

6 most destructive ways to waste time

1.   -Feeling guilty

Spending time being remorseful John Ferguson story

When is the best day to plant a tree? 50 years ago

2.   -Worrying

3.   -Being angry – last week w cathy’s travel

Time filled with negative attitudes takes up time that could be used for positive moments.

We can never get that time back.

4.   -Biding time

Sometimes we check out……….. get thru a difficult time.  Drinking, gambling,

Bide thru a time until we can get to a better time

Click – fast fwd thru boring life to get to the good parts

Its all the good parts

5.   -Not paying attention

It goes by fast

It gets filled with so much stuff.

Marking time autopilot

6.   -Making it about us

Our national anthem might indeed be more Frank Sinatra than Francis Scott Key: "I Did It My Way." 

Retirement………. Christians don’t get to retire.

Henry & John – Page 28

We all have our positions, don't we? And we listen from those positions. "Henry, how you've changed! You were so tall and you've grown so short. You were so well built and you've grown so thin. You were so fair and you've become so dark. What happened to you, Henry"? Henry says, "I 'm not Henry. I 'm John". "Oh, you changed your name too!"

How do you get people like that to listen?

Time:  spending it well

One greek word for time is  chronos time, from which we get "chronological" time.

Chronos Time and Kairos Time Dad’s grandfather clock          PICTURE

Ephesians 5:16  “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” KJV

Kairos is the brand of time most often mentioned in the New Testament kairos refers more to a decisive time -- the right time, the appropriate time. the moment when God intervenes

"[make] the most of the time [kairos]

kairos [timeliness] should fuel the management of our chronos.

Rather than just letting time tick away, put it to the Spirit's use

best uses of your time

1.   -Pay attention

I lost my keys.  They are right where I put them

Pay attention, kids are growing up.  Just yesterday my kids sang in the childrens choir.  Just yesterday my kids brought me Sunday school papers.  Just yesterday my kids  were in youth group.

Wake up.  Pay attention.  Its going to go by fast

A nice definition of an awakened person: a person who no longer marches to the drums of society, a person who dances to the tune of the music that springs up from within.

2.   -Savoring the time, even the painful time

-See the good

3.   -Love people

Have a life.  He is looking for a life.

What is having a life?

Knowing why you are here…… not about having money, or being married or single.

Its not about going out on Friday night.

To have a life is to touch the world for good.

And we are given a little bit of time to do so.

525,600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee. In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife. In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life?
How about love? How about love? Measure in love. Seasons oflove.

4.   -Do something constructive

Conclusion

Time!  There is so much to be thankful for. 

Life is a gift

Ecclesiastes – I have tried it all.  It is all vanity.  Except for one thing.  Honor god and depart from evil-

¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.

Rethink: Rethink Your Time, 10/12/14

Sermon 10-12-14 rethink-time  James 4:13-17

¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

Isaiah 40:6-8 [the context is very interesting: we are like grass, but there is one who is coming]

⁶ A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?”  “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. ⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. ⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

Rethink – time

The life span in Africa is like 45

In the US, we are 32^nd in the world in life span.

There is a Limited nature of time

  “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. ⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. ⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall,

2002 ski trip… everything was fine

11pm call on Saturday night about my dad

illness- advancing age

We are struck by the shortness of time

Billy Graham was asked what he was most surprised by in life. He answered, “it’s brevity”. Graham has lived a relatively long life but He still feels the sting of life’s brevity, the shortness of it…

A person with a great deal of money has the luxury of spending it frivolously.  When we have little money, we tend to behave in a much more prudent fashion.  these few days that God gives us are too valuable to he trifled away. More precious than gold they ought to be managed with great intent

From the musical RENT

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, In midnights, in cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife
In five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, a year in the life?

How about love?  How about love? [self- others- enemies]

2004 - Tim mcgraw song – live like you were dying - 2004

I went skydiving
I went rocky mountain climbing
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu
And I loved deeper
And I spoke sweeter
And I gave forgiveness I'd been denyin'

Even though it is limited, Time is often not appreciated
Are we just going thru the motions of life?
Sleepwalking - Kyle

I have some questions about your life...
Are you paying attention? Aware? Looking? Seeing? Really living?

Auto pilot is so easy to find
a woman wrote……..

I couldn’t wait to be 16 and drive a car

Then  I was dying to finish my high school and start college
Then I was dying to finish college and start working
Then I was dying to marry and have children
Then I was dying for my children to grow old enough so I could go back to work

They I was dying for them to get married

Then I was dying to have grandchildren
then I was dying and suddenly I realized that I forgot to live

Anthony demello says that spirituality is waking up!

What would it mean to choose to make the most of your time?

Wasted time

We waste time when we are not listening.

When we don’t read the directions

When we make bad decisions

When we value the wrong things

The great 19th-century naturalist and Harvard professor Louis Agassiz was once approached by the emissary of a learned society and invited to address its members. Agassiz declined the invitation, saying that lectures of this kind took up too much time that should be devoted to research and writing. The man persisted, saying that the society was prepared to pay handsomely for the lecture.

"That's no inducement to me," Agassiz replied, "I can't afford to waste my time making money."

early Christians were against card playing- and other trivial pursuits

Life is short, there is much good to do

The average life span in Wesley’s England was  37. Wesley was 88

Me visiting Mozambique

How that effects how we use our time

In a lifetime the average American will spend:

Six months sitting at stoplights
Eight months opening junk mail
One year looking for misplaced objects
2 years unsuccessfully returning phone calls
4 years doing housework - 5 years waiting in line - 6 years eating

When I started in ministry, the use of time was legislated

Blue laws

It’s a different world

I talked with someone who was bemoaning the amount of time that they spent driving kids to various practices

Sports for children has changed the landscape of America

We are racked w quilt for not spending enough time w our families –

cats in the cradle syndrome

We are racked with guilt for making our lives revolve around them

Friends, We waste our time when we are wracked with quilt.

If there is something wrong, fix it, and move on

Wasting today, pining over yesterday or tomorrow

Evangel football – Stan H – Jon Ferguson

The question for a Christian, is what is selfish time, and what is well balanced god time

Do Christians ever get to retire?

How much time do we spend on ourselves,  and how much on others?

What does God time look like

1.    An awareness that it is not Yours? Concept of stewardship.

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.

2.   A prayerful leading or acknowledgement of gods direction

3.   An applying his principles/values to our life choices

We have some choices on how we spend our time

Some is regimented – work, sleep

Some is free for us to value

Long term choices vs short term choices

One choice might eliminate the availability of another

How much time do you spend feeling guilty, dealing with regret?

What might you do for or with God?

Volunteering.  Need for volunteers.

Sunday activities have changed the landscape of those available to help with Gods work.

Later today we will have the memorial service for donna Watkins.

Raise in wheaton MO.  Population 600- So active in church and youth group.

It was the happening thing, nothing else to do in wheaton, MO

No reason not to be connected…….. pick a spot

we can be blown by every wind that comes along

we can work to keep up with the jones’s

or we can decide who we are going to be and make the hard choices

time choices for our father

what were you created for

there was a song – it was for such a time as this we were created

what is on the inside. 

How many people do I know who are in their 40s and they are talking about ministry.  I had this calling as a young person, and did nothing with it.

You know what is there.  Follow it.

make the most of your time

we can find the joy.

what a treat

I have a dear friend who told me this story and I think about it often.
He was at the bedside of his grandfather who was dying.  He was holding his grandfather's hand and his grandfather looked into his eyes and said, "life- what a treat."

Life has its ups and downs, its joys and concerns. 

And yet, through it all, runs a river of joy. 

Life is amazing.  It is good.  It is surely a treat. 

I thank God everyday for the gift of life and for the joy of knowing each of you.

Lets pray.