Time Doesn’t Shout – Part 1
Transcript of FLOT Line Episode 603 aired on March 19, 2017
Good morning and welcome to The FLOT Line. I’m your host Rick Hughes and for the next few
minutes I’d like to ask you to stay with me. As usual, it will be a time of motivation, some
inspiration, education, everything done without any type of manipulation because we don’t play
games. We’re not here to con you, we’re not here to trick you, we’re not here to recruit you. This
show is simply about giving you some accurate information, no human speculation but accurate
information from the canon of Scripture, the plan of God, the Word of God. Hopefully, if I give
you the right information, it will help you verify and identify God’s plan for your life. If you
want to orient and adjust to the plan, you have the freedom, you have the privacy to do so. My
job as host of The FLOT Line is to give you the information. Remember, The FLOT Line is
about 10 unique problem-solving devices, 10 things found in the Word of God, invisible assets
that God left us. As believers in Jesus Christ when we operate in the spiritual life and we learn
these wonderful problem-solving devices, then we have the opportunity to grow in grace and to
represent Jesus Christ, even in our lifetime. Problem-solving devices like how do I deal with the
problem of sin and this is rebound, problem-solving device #1. If I confess my sin, God is
faithful and just to forgive me. What about the filling of the Holy Spirit? This is how I solve the
problem of my sin nature that is within me and is against God. It never has obeyed God and
never will the Bible says. Galations 5:16 says,
“If we walk in the Spirit we won’t fulfill the lust of
the flesh,”
so I have the option of allowing the Holy Spirit to control my life when I rebound.
When I confess my sin then I’m filled with the Spirit and then He is in control of my life. What
about the unseen difficulties and the tests that I face? I have the problem-solving device of the
faith-rest drill, standing on the promises of God, using them as a shield to protect me from
worries, a shield to protect me from anything that I may face in my life that I don’t really have an
answer for, remembering that God said in 1 Corinthians 10:13,
“There’s no testing overtaken you
that is not common to man.”
Remember there are 10 unique problem-solving devices, I just
covered three of them. This is what the show is formulated on. When you learn these 10 unique
problem-solving devices then you stop the outside sources of adversity before they ever become
the inside sources of stress. This is why we always say adversity is obviously inevitable and
stress is completely preventable. You don’t have to have stress. You don’t have to have this in
your life. Worry, fear, anger, bitterness, these are not things a Christian has to have. He has the
option of moving on, using the Spirit-filled life where he doesn’t ever have to do these sorts of
things. We don’t have a whole lot of time here on earth.
If you’re getting a little up in the years
you might realize that time doesn’t shout, it just runs out quicker than you think.
The kids
that I know between the age of 20 and 40 don’t really think about time. They’re too busy having
families, working, and achieving their goals. One day they look up and it’s their 40th birthday or
even their 45th birthday and they go, “My goodness, where did all the time go?” I remember my
oldest daughter when she was 18 and went off to college, I stood in the driveway and realized,
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I’m 18 years older. Where did it go? Time doesn’t shout, it just runs out quicker than you think.
We have to have time to function in the devil’s world don’t we? We live in different time zones.
If I call my oldest daughter in New York, she’s ahead of me. If I call my other daughter in
California, she’s behind me. It can be confusing to say the least. The military guys go by 0100 to
2400. You ask a military guy what time it is and he’ll say 1600 hours. You’re thinking “What
time is that?” This measure of accuracy that we have to be punctual comes from the Royal
Observatory in Greenwich, London called Greenwich Mean Time. I bring all of this up to
express something that I think will be interesting to you. That is that during our time on this sin
infested planet, it is critical that as humans we adhere to certain principles, that we have certain
traits in our life related to the time. Obviously, if we hope to have a happy time while we travel
through, well then we have to start with the first and most important thing. The Bible uses a
couple of words for time and this is one,
kairos.
Here in 2 Corinthians 6:2,
“Now is the accepted
time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.”
The first thing you have to orient and adjust to is
you must believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior, not tomorrow, not yesterday, not a month
from now, today. The reason is you have no guarantee, you have no written contract that
says you will be here tomorrow.
At least I don’t think you do. If you have a written contract
from God that says you will be here next week, I salute you but I haven’t seen one of those yet.
“Now is the day of salvation.”
A quote out of Isaiah 49:8 where it says in the Old Testament,
“In
a favorable time I have answered you and in a day of salvation, I’ve helped you,”
so today is the
day for you. If you’ve never trusted in Jesus Christ and never believed in Him, why would you
put it off? It is the right time. In Genesis 6:3 this is from God, He said,
“My Spirit will not
always strive with man, for that he is also flesh and yet his days shall be 120 years.”
I haven’t
seen anybody 120 years old but I know from Deuteronomy 34:7 that Moses was 120 years old
when he died.
“His eyes were not dim
[he didn’t need glasses]
and his natural vigor was not
diminished.”
I don’t know what this means other than he didn’t need any help from any doctor
for anything. He was a thoroughly functioning, full man.
You have to remember this, God only
gives you so much time.
We will talk about this. You see, we can waste time. It is very critical
that we understand these things about time so that we know what we are like, these traits that are
necessary as we move through planet Earth. I don’t know how much longer you’re going to be
here. I don’t how much longer I’m going to be here, but I can tell you at least six different things
that are critical for you and me to have.
We must have punctuality. We must have patience.
We must have priority in our life. We must have prudence. We must have perspective. And
we cannot ever afford to get into procrastination.
I told you that the Bible uses two different
words for time. As we go through these six things you’ll see them, but let me just tell you what
they are to start with. The first Greek word for time is the noun
chronos
. It refers to a measure of
time like the clock time. It’s the quantitative time, what time is it, 7:02, 6:05, you’re talking about
a specific time. Then there’s another word,
kairos,
and this is a noun also. It is translated time and
it refers to a moment of time measured by the quality. It’s qualitative time, like the day of
salvation. If it was at 10:06 AM, then you would have
chronos.
To the self-centered person it’s
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really hard to get over yourself and to the procrastinating believer, it’s time to get on with the
program. If you’re going to make the best use of your time on earth, beginning with believing in
Jesus Christ as your Savior, there are things that you must remember, things that you have to
adhere to. This is why precise time or
chronos
is critical. It’s critical for all of us because without
chronos,
without precise time, no one can be punctual.
Punctuality is one of the traits that
every believer must have.
It’s critical in the mature believer’s life. You can read about it in Acts
2:46-47 where it says,
“So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread
from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God,
having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily.”
They continued daily,
they had a routine. None of us can function in life without a routine.
This is one of the signs of a
well-disciplined person, he has a routine and is always punctual.
“Daily with one accord,”
in
other words with one mind. What mind should I have? I should have what Philippians 2:5 says,
“Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.”
This is called divine viewpoint.
“Daily
with one accord,”
studying in the temple. They studied the Scripture available to them,
especially concerning the prophecies of the Messiah. And “They broke bread in the houses.” In
other words they took their meals together. Everything had to be punctual. It wasn’t the old term,
willy-nilly. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that before. It doesn’t mean they just showed up
when they wanted to. They had a specific time. Remember, Christians were being persecuted in
these times. They studied the Bible, the Old Testament Scripture at a specific time. They ate
together at a specific time. It says “They had gladness and joy, praising God [their right
priorities] and they had favor with the people and the Lord added day by day.” I don’t know
about you but maybe in your church they meet at a specific time. Maybe you meet at a certain
time for Sunday school, a certain time for worship, maybe a certain time for whatever. For years
my church has met for Bible study and worship at a precisely correct time and I scheduled my
life around this time and I imagine you do to. I believe that one indication of maturity in a
person’s life is punctuality. This is a trait that all mature people have, punctuality. I’d like to give
you some principles on the virtue of punctuality.
First of all, punctuality secures confidence
and appreciation from others with whom you associate.
If they can trust you, they will
appreciate you. Paul the apostle did much evangelizing to the Jewish synagogues such as in Acts
13. These synagogues were started under the Babylonian captivity when they had no temple.
They would meet much like going to church for us today. They would assemble on the seventh
day in the synagogue when there was no temple to read the Law, go over the Law, study the Law.
They had to be very punctual and Paul knew what time to be there and what time to shut up. This
is one of the things that I always ask whenever I’m speaking anywhere. If I’m speaking to a group
of students or I’m speaking in a school or at church, my first question is, “What time should I
shut up?” There is nothing worse than a long-winded preacher that doesn’t shut up when he’s
suppose to. He goes on and on and on. We’ve all been there. We’ve all wondered what planet that
dude is living on. Punctuality is appreciated. If you’re saying, “That’s right, I’ve got to get to
Luby’s for lunch,” this is not why we’re talking about it. We’re talking about the discipline of
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punctuality. If you’re worried about where you’re going for lunch and you’re going to have to
wait in line a little bit longer, then you’re worrying about the wrong thing. Punctuality is critical
in the military, absolutely critical. This is why they have their own time standard 0600, 1800,
whatever it is. There is a unit that I’m well aware of called the 170th Special Operations Aviation
Regiment stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. This group of select military aviators can
deliver any special operations unit such as Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, Marine Recons, they
can take them to any chosen site in their sphere of operation. In other words, if a Navy SEAL
says, “I need to go to this longitude, this latitude, and we need to be there at 12:06 AM,” well,
the SOAR, what they call the Night Stalkers, can get them there. They’ll plan it out and they’ll
get them there within ±30 seconds, very punctual, because in the military, lives depend on
everybody in the unit being punctual. It is critical for virtue in the military life as well as in
civilian life. Punctuality instills a system of respect and concern for other people and none of us
could function in civilian life without being punctual. I’ll tell you something else, another point.
Any pastor worth his salt will always be punctual. He’ll show up on time and he’ll stop on time. I
have to be punctual. When I’m recording these radio shows I’m looking directly at the clock and I
know what time I have to stop talking. If I go too long, then they won’t be able to air the show
because I went over my time limit. Punctual people will always make the most of the allotted
time God allows them to have. The Bible tells us this about making the most of our time. Listen
to Ephesians 5:15-17,
“Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,
making the most of your time.”
What was my point there? Punctual people make the most of
their allotted time,
“Because the days are evil. So then, don’t be foolish, but understand what the
will of the Lord is.”
Now let me look at a few of these words. The first one,
“Therefore, be
careful how you walk,”
the first word walk. This is the Greek word
peripateo.
I know, you’re
saying “Why are you telling me this?” Because it doesn’t mean to walk.
Be careful how you
walk means to regulate your life by taking advantage of opportunities.
It’s about how you
live your life. It’s your lifestyle. “Therefore, be careful how you live your life,” is what it’s
saying. Be careful of the daily decisions that you make.
The first and foremost daily decision
that every believer must make is to take in the Word of God on a daily basis.
We must feed
on God’s Word every day. Without this, you’re not going to grow very much. Then,
“Therefore,
be careful how you live your life, not as an unwise man lives his life but as wise, making the most
of your time.”
Making the most of your time
means to buy up or to rescue from loss, to make a
wise use of your time. Take advantage of your time. What does this mean?
I have to realize who
the enemy is and what his tactics are.
How do I learn these things? I learn them in Bible class.
My pastor is going to teach it to me. He’s going to teach me Ephesians 6:11,
“Put on the armor
of God,”
so I
“can stand against the strategy of the devil.”
If he hasn’t taught you this, how do
you know what to do? You see, when I make the most of my time I have the ability to see
through the distractions that Satan may send my way and I can recover from the defeats that I fall
into when I allow my flesh to control my life. I make the most of my time. I don’t waste my time.
This is what you have to do. The verse says,
“Be careful how you live your life, not as unwise
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men live their life, making the most of your time because the days are evil. So don’t be foolish,
understand what the will of the Lord is.”
Suneimi,
the Greek word, means to understand and to
comprehend by putting two and two together and to realize that it comes up to four. There are
certain things you have to understand. Now this is an innocuous word, understand. This doesn’t
sound very spiritual does it when God says He wants you to understand what His will is. Listen
to Jeremiah 9:24,
“Let him who boasts, boast about this. That he understands Me and he knows
Me.”
This is what God is looking for. There are a lot of people that know Him. Yes, maybe
people in your church that know Him but there are not a lot of people that understand the God
they know.
This is what can set you apart from other believers, you understand the God
that you know.
Proverbs 1:2 says,
“To know wisdom and instruction and to discern the sayings
of understanding.”
Verse 5,
“A wise man will hear and increase in learning and a man of
understanding will acquire wise counsel.”
If there is anything God wants you to do, it’s to
understand His plan. It is not vague. It’s not hard. It’s not impossible. It’s very simple,
“To grow
in the grace and the knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”
(2 Peter 3:16), until you
replicate Him. Satan has a masterful plan and he actually uses organized religion to mislead
people into thinking that they are serving God. He deludes the grace plan of God, especially in
salvation and confuses the protocol plan of God in the Christian’s life. Where did I get this? 2
Corinthians 2:11, Paul warns us,
“Do not let Satan take advantage of you by not understanding
[there it is, here’s your word again]
how he manipulates people and how he misleads the
gullible.”
Believers in Jesus Christ must not only understand God’s plan, we have to
understand Satanic strategy as well.
Satanic strategy is designed to confuse the believer and
the unbeliever. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4,
“If my gospel is veiled, it’s veiled to those who are perishing,
in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so
that they might not see
the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
This is one thing Satan’s
going to seek to do to obscure the gospel. We are to, as Ephesians 5:17 says,
“Understand the
will of the Lord.”
The primary will of God can be summed up, it’s very simple. In Mark
12:30-31 someone asked Him, “What is the number one mandate Jesus?” Jesus Christ said,
“Love God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of
your strength. And to love your neighbor as yourself.”
This is the primary will of God for you:
personal love for God and impersonal love for others.
Both of these are tremendous problem-
solving devices. Then there’s a secondary consideration for us to look at in Micah 6:8, an Old
Testament passage,
“He has told you, old man, what is good and what does the Lord require of
you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Mark 12:30-31 is
our motivational and functional virtue in life while Micah 6:8 is our practical application
from the renovated thinking we get when we learn the mind of Christ.
If you can’t be
punctual to show up at church on time, to show up at Bible class on time, if you can’t be faithful
to come in the first place, then you’re never going to learn these concepts because to be quite
honest with you, some people would rather learn a lie than learn the truth because it’s more
appealing to them. 2 Timothy 4:3-4,
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound
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doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in
accordance with their own desires and they will turn away their ears from truth and turn aside
into myths,”
things they would rather hear taught than what’s taught. This is true in America
today.
Punctuality is a critical trait in the life of a mature believer. It demonstrates his
dedication, enthusiasm and consistency.
When you show up on time it demonstrates to others
that you enjoy what you do and you look forward to the day’s challenge in front of you.
Punctuality produces freedom from irritation, freedom from anxiety, and this is a trust area
because people just don’t trust anyone or appreciate anyone who’s habitually late and habitually
inconveniences other people. I can assure you as I wrap up this segment of the study, God is
punctual. In Job 5:26-27,
“You shall come to your grave at a full age, as a sheaf of grain ripens
in its season. Behold this, we’ve searched it out and it’s true. Hear it and know it for yourself.”
God chooses the time and the manner and the place of your departure and He will be
punctual about it.
Think about these things. Ponder on these things. Contact me if I can help
you. I hope you’ll come back and join me next week, same time, same channel, and we will press
on with this study of these virtues and traits in the mature believer’s life. Until then, this is your
host Rick Hughes saying thank you for being with me on The FLOT Line