i want to remind you that we are about to lose a year it's finished it's gone and i want to leave a few thoughts with you and also give you a few thoughts to go forward i want us to speak to you for a few minutes on redeeming time i want to focus on the 10 keys to maximizing and redeeming time please write this statement down it may be a good place to start and that is the most common gift that god ever gave any human is time and when i use the word common i'm referring to the fact that all humans on earth the only thing that we are given that is common to everyone is time all of us are different heights different weights different colors pigmentation different economic strata different families from different ethnic backgrounds we have from different cultures but one thing we all have in common and i'm talking about 7. 2 billion people on earth have the same common commodity and that's time why is that so important because of the next statement that is what you are and what you become depends on how you use your time you and i have the same amount of time the billionaire and the beggar both have 24 hours every day the old and the young the black and the white the indian and the asian are all given the same amount of time every day so really point number three becomes very logical and that is time cannot be stopped but humans can control it you cannot stop a day you cannot stop an hour they have no respect for you but you can control how it will be used which means that even though time is unstoppable it is controllable and what you do with it determines who you become can you honestly say to yourself that you used 2013 effectively i think about time a lot because time is life and every time a year passes you are basically measuring time because a year is the passing of time in our cultures and an opportunity to redefine your priorities is why new years come let me ask you to make a note of a couple of suggestions i want to make first of all a new year is an opportunity to refine your purpose to go back and check it secondly a new year is an opportunity to redefine your life's vision to see if you are still on course or you need to adjust thirdly a new year is an opportunity to re-establish worthwhile goals and i used to turn worthwhile because some of our goals may not be worth pursuing anymore and fourthly a new year is an opportunity for you to bury the past and move into a new future i love new year's day because the very word new means that there was an old one somewhere in other words time is a blessing or a curse depending on how you manage it a couple of things about time time is life if i ask you how old are you what i'm asking you is what is your life and you would say my life is 80 years old or 30 years old or 15 we measure life in terms of time we define life by time life is measured by time because life is determined by what we do with time life is lived out in time life is qualified by time life is also the passing of time what have you become is totally dependent on how you use time life is also stopped by time when you die time stops when you die you move out of time into what they call eternity in essence death is life leaving time so we are about to cross into another period of what we call time we call it a new year and time is temporary but life is eternal we were put in time to live a portion of life and here's what i discovered about time what is time time is an interruption in eternity time is also defined in my book as a small measure of eternity time is the peace of eternity time is is a slice of forever with a beginning and an end time is the limited period during which an action or a process exists or takes place in other words time is the measure of space time itself has its own power i was thinking about this last night when i read ecclesiastes chapter 3 and you might want to read that with me verse 10 it says i have seen the burden god has placed on all men he has made everything beautiful in what in its time he has also said eternity in the hearts of men that they cannot fathom what god has done from beginning to end this statement is loaded and i don't want to touch much of it but i just want to make sure you understand the word beautiful the word beautiful there is the hebrew word that means mature which means that god matures everything in its time so there's a time for maturity in other words god created time but he doesn't live in it and therefore when god speaks to us we got to be careful god lives in forever but he placed us in time he designed time to make life easier for us god created time to give a piece of eternity a measure and he put us in it and god created time for us to live in it so that we could experience relief from eternity i mentioned this some time ago and i just say it again if you lived in eternity it's a tough place to live i used to wonder why god told adam don't touch the tree of life and when adam sinned the first thing god did was kicked him out of the garden and he put a flaming sword with cherubim and the bible says to protect the tree of life if adam had gotten to that tree after he had sinned we would be without hope because if you make a mistake in eternity it's an eternal mistake i thank god for time time is a relief time is good news look at genesis 1 14 it tells you when god created time it says and god said let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night and let them serve as signs to mark what seasons and days and years so god created time by literally designing the universe to keep time many scientists interpret the universe as a big clock and they say that someone must have wound it up they try to explain that they must have been a creator because the universe is running with such precision that the planets not only are revolving around stars but they don't clash into each other someone seemed to have said this in motion and gods had designed all of that so that they can be measured for days and years in other words god says in verse 18 this is good everybody say time is good what's the purpose for time i found this interesting first of all time was given to us to take us out of eternity secondly time has given us to protect us from forever if you had a pain in your back in eternity it will be an eternal pain thank god for time time has a beginning and an end time is also given to us to measure existence of life to define life to measure the quality of life time was given to us to account for our lives and to define the distance between our beginning and our end time was given to us to live life in doses time was given to us to measure the purpose of our life why we live i thank god for time but time has some limitations and i want to just quickly go over them job chapter 14 says and this is a verse you probably want to remember if you're still breathing verse five let's read it together out loud go man's days are determined you have decreed the number of his months and i've set limits he cannot exceed so look away from him and let him alone lord until he has what put in his time like a hired man that's in the bible god says look when i gave you birth i hired you to do something and i got a certain period of you to do it in and you can't exceed that have you noticed that the last couple of weeks or days a lot of folks been dying suddenly do you know why they ain't supposed to cross over and some of you are here tonight and maybe you're supposed to cross over but you only got one month into the next year you better get saved now look at that verse again god says what i have set limits that you cannot exceed sometimes you wonder why my husband died my wife died my child died and i outlived them it couldn't be because it was just the limit you ain't supposed to be dead yet determined time is determined write this down please very important psalm 39 verse 4 write it down i want you to say it out loud read it lord make me know my end and the measure of my days what it is that i may know how frail i am in other words i am only here for a breath of time so let me know what let me know mine and let me know my destiny let me know what i'm supposed to do with my life quickly i like this one psalm 90 verse 12 read out loud go so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom in other words let me know how long and how much i have to do so i can use my days effectively i like this one ecclesiastes 8 verse 6 read out loud go for there is a proper time on a procedure for every matter under heaven this is a deep one here in other words there's a proper way and time to do everything time is so powerful in that man in the hand of god here's something i thought was interesting too time is measured in seconds we saw that a moment ago by that video and we are amazed sometime how fast time can leave us and we measure time in minutes and hours and days and decades and and centuries but time measures life also in yesterday today and tomorrow i like this one whatever you've been through in 213 you can now say it was last year ain't that good tell you never i was broke last year hey neighbor i lost my house last year say it so you look straight and say that one hey in other words whatever happened in the past separates you from the future that's how good time is i put it this way time measures life in past present and future tell you neighbor that's my old girlfriend say it i used to be sick that was yesterday health is on the way time separates your past from your present and your future make a note of this time measures life in seasons winter summer autumn and spring because time measures protects us from living in a permanent condition you won't be a divorcee all your life time will prove that you won't hurt with grief all your life from the death of your family time will deal with that won't be sitting around because that man didn't marry you there's another man on the way with a fantastic life with plenty more money than the one he was trying to get time will sort this out give god a big praise right there some of you all praise the lord sister claudine [Applause] that boy say time changes everything nothing is permanent in time make a note of this one please and this is very important time is the only commodity on earth given equally to every human being time is therefore the only commodity every human possesses we don't possess the same amount of money we possess the same amount of time so the key to life is what you become in life is determined how you use the time you have and that's why we use terms like spending time time is a currency every human has the same amount every day and time like currency must be spent and here's the problem time is used to buy life so whatever you are you spend your time buying it even if you're broke you use your time to become broke if you're fight oh dear you use your time eating the wrong thing you use your time not jogging you see time determines everything if your marriage is under stress it's because you haven't used your time and your marriage properly time is so powerful that whatever you invest your time in you become you got one new year about to start my question is what you're going to do with the next 12 months and what you're going to buy by december 31st 2014 what are you going to look like what are you going to have or not have there are some people in your life you need to drop in 2014. why they help you in 2013.
in other words time gives you time to change relationships i put it to you friends that you can actually treat time just like money write this down you can have time stolen how many of you suffered people for two hours when you were finished you wasn't sure what happened i mean two hours of your life gone and they talked to you and you gained nothing the older i get the less time i have to just listen to talk i don't know about you but you ain't old enough yet there's a tiny period in your life where you realize i ain't got time for this people just kind of wondering your life let's talk talk about what [Applause] write this down time can be what abuse time can also be lost you can lose it just like money time can be squandered just like money you can spend an entire day have you ever said this i don't know whether they're gone yeah i know it that's right why you squandered it it didn't take you closer to your goals didn't take you closer to your vision didn't accomplish the things you wanted and you spent it and squandered it on stuff that didn't count is more important than money that's why the businessman say time is money can i put it another way write this down time can be depreciated just like money time can also be devalued every hour is important my question is what are you spending it on you can reduce the value of your life by the things you spend your time with who you spend your time with where you spend your time all day you can devalue your time can i suggest this the time can also be revalued you can actually increase the value of your time by choosing what you do with it i learned years ago if you broke and i broke use bad company [Applause] you're laughing i'm a serious brother you know you know you complain i complain and we just won't be complaining party somebody got to get out of here you ain't going nowhere i ain't going nowhere we end up nowhere i'm out of here you can re-value your time by just adjusting your relationships the books you read i mean i've seen people read them love novel books a love novel book don't take you to your goals you know sam kissed susan and they went for a cruise along the river listen man you broke you need another book clap you got to re-value your time change your library go dump some books when you go home tonight and buy all of my books in the name of jesus amen praise god now that one of my books is a waste of time do you agree with that because i use my time to produce those books and they're valuable because i use my time to give my time value people spend all kind of money on magazines and you still get problems time you can become a victim of tired write this down please you can never stop time you can also never control it you can't resist it you can't compromise with never compromise with time time doesn't adjust for you or nothing you never tell anybody you know uh tomorrow wait till i reach no tomorrow coming anyhow you can't you can't touch it uh you can never buy time you can't buy it you can never slow time down you can never speed up time until debt you are stuck in time you are victims and therefore all you have to do to make time your friend is to manage it this is what i've come to appreciate you can measure time in life i read this verse and and this bless me psalm 90 verse 10 out loud read it together go the length of our days is 70 years this is god is saying now you got 70 years then what or 80 if we have the strength yet though span is but trouble and sorrow for they quickly pass and we fly away he's okay the average age of a human god says would be between 70 and 80. okay so if you 30 guess how much you got left and 10 10 of them i'm going to be able to walk in today my father's here tonight boy i tell you i'm so jealous of my daddy he's 89 years old stand up dad this is my dad that's how i look when you're 89 he can be 90 in may 90 years old thank you dad he ready to run a marathon my wife you a blessed woman that's how old i can be i got good genes praise the lord he says you have you have about 70 years good years he says what are you going to do with them if you have 40 how many many you got left 30. what do you do with time write this down first of all you can manage it secondly you can use it thirdly you can invest it fourthly you can convert it in other words you can use time to develop and build and construct things you can you can turn your life into value by the way you use your time you can use time to fulfill your divine purpose time itself is given to you as a gift from god and so ephesians 5 says wherefore stay awake wake up wake up wake up the verse says what wake up why because you can live your whole life sleeping read the rest of the verse read it awake thou who sleepers and arise from the dead even christ himself wants to shine upon you verse 15 look therefore carefully at how you walk not as unwise but as what wise and then he says what redeem the time because the days are full of evil redeem the time i was doing this with my life for the last 40 years maximizing every minute of my life i started when i was a teenager when my friends were playing marbles i was reading the bible when my friends looking for girlfriend i was writing songs magazines i was reading scripture so don't get jealous of me i use my time differently i am a product of how i use my time how many times you read the bible this year did you ever read the bible this year so do you know god's word your life is how you use your time look at the next verse he says what therefore be not foolish but understand what the will of god is and be not what drunken with wine where there is rotten there's riot and be filled with the holy spirit he says redeeming the time using it properly making sure that you invested in a way that it benefits you uh the word redeem i want to leave with you tonight write the word deem down the word deem actually means to own something to redeem something means to own it again so when the bible says redeem time it means you had some time that you messed up you lost it you threw it away he said now spend the next year making up for what you lost that might mean you may just stay a little later cut off some friendships shut down some clubs you were part of change relationships with somebody's organizations that ain't taking you know where take an evening class to redeem me so you can't have a normal life anymore because you lost some time you got to make up for to redeem time means you got to work a little harder to redeem time means that you got to actually be more focused and more disciplined to redeem time means that you may need to throw off some things that were so nice and pleasurable to do some things that are important redeem the time i like this one here it means to recontrol time it means to repossess and reclaim time it means to fill the pledge that god promised you to fulfill to redeem time means to convert time now into value to redeem time means to fulfill or pay an outstanding debt when i saw that in hebrews it's amazing to redeem means to pay the debt that you owe not just to god but to your life if you wasted five years you have a debt to yourself you have to pay yourself back the time you lost i hope that 2014 is the year that you double up on everything glory hallelujah that you get back on course and focus double on what you're supposed to have done can i put it this way ephesians 14 says what that is why he said wake up oh sleeper make the most of every opportunity ephesians 5 15 be careful then how you live not as unwise but as wise making the most of what every opportunity because the days are full of distractions everybody trying to get your time and half of them don't deserve it i was reading the bible one time it just protected me as a teenager i've been 18 years old when i read this because you know i was like you know i want to be like you know i want to impress people i want to give i'm a lover so i give to everybody so i give to everybody who's poor i give them a guy come to me half drunk he said give me a dollar give him a dollar a guy killing me smoking grass he said i need some food i give him money one day i read the bible the bible says give with discretion do you know what that means that means you gotta assess who asking you for something including your time i want to see you why do you want to see me now let me get together what are we going to talk about you'll be amazed in my position you'll be amazed how many people want to see me and i got to be very careful a couple of times i sit with people and they say i want to see it's okay make an arrangement you know we sit down an appointment sit down and they go so what you want to talk about wait a minute you asked to see me then they'd say what the lord telling you to tell me huh no that just happened so common and i'm like what i said the lord told me to tell you go away because you you you're the one who called the meeting you got a word of prophecy for me nope but i'll give you one if you want one whatever thou do is do it quickly go this is serious people will abuse your time write this down out loud please say it take it go to take ownership and control of your time that's what it means to redeem time to convert into opportunity to fulfill your purpose that's how you redeem time in other words you design your days to create value in your life let 2014 be the year you design every day and the way you control time is by planning you got to plan your day or your day will be planned by somebody else time like all commodities must be managed time must be protected it must have a focus it must have a purpose it must have a vision it must be measurable in results i spent two hours with you now can i measure how you gained and i gained or did we just blow the wind what are you going to do with the next 12 months i'm not talking about the 12 months you you had that's gone you got one more time god's given you in other words time is putting worth on your energy can they put this down the ten keys to redeeming time that's what i want to end on write this down number one here's how did you give me time everyone should write this down i'm giving you a key to 2014 right now here's how to redeem every day number one document a plan put a plan for what you want to accomplish in 2014 put it on paper number two establish your priorities based on that plan this is very important number three pursue your passion only identify your passion and go after it in 2014.
