Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

KIDS LOVE FAMILY BEST AT CHRISTMAS

On the TV show, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?, they took a poll of 8 to 12 year olds and asked them, "What do you most enjoy about the holidays?"

A) Decorating the house B) Spending time with family and relatives C) Receiving presents.

What do you think most of the children said?

Answer: B.

The issue before us today is time.

Not only does your family matter, but your time with your family also matters!

“Do not squander time, for it is the stuff life is made of.”

(Benjamin Franklin)

“Do not squander time, for it is the stuff life is made of.”

(Benjamin Franklin)

Today I want us to think about the absolute importance of spending time with your family without neglecting the things of God or the house of God.

It has been said that we are a people who are slaves to time.

It has been said that we are a people who are slaves to time.

We stay up late, sleep as late as we can, rush out the door to school or work, gulp down an unhealthy breakfast if we eat any at all, drive in our cars while applying make up, using the electric razor, adjusting our clothes, and talking on the cell phone.

We rush, rush, rush everywhere, all day, everyday!

We work 60 hours a week and complain that we don’t have any time for our families, so we rob God of his time on Sunday to go and do what we want to do all under the false pretense of spending time with our families.

As I study Jesus’ life I am continually amazed that He never seemed to be in a hurry.

Although He had the most important and urgent job in the world, not once do we see Jesus rushing or running anywhere.

He made time for all people.

He made time to consider the flowers and the birds of the air.

He had time to put his hands on the children and bless them.

He had time to heal people and feed thousands.

He had time to stop and talk to the woman at the well, the centurion whose daughter was dying, and a man born blind.

Time was His friend.

The Bible gives us a lot of insight into how to make time your friend instead of your enemy.

We must begin by realizing that God is not bound by time or space.

He doesn’t wear a Rolex, does not have a smart phone with alarms and timers, and has never owned a calendar.

God is the creator of time and He is greater than time.

If this is true (and it is), then we need to immerse ourselves in God!

Let’s read our passage today . . .

Psalm 90:12

12 So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

12 So teach us to number our days,

That we may bpresent to You a heart of wisdom.

Today as we consider TIME I believe God’s Word teaches us 4 important truths about our time and how this time relates to our families:

I. Time is Precious!

(90:12)

God says that we should learn how to number our days.

By this He means that we need to understand how time is a valuable and precious commodity of this life.

All of us know how to number our years (we call it a “Birthday”- though some fudge on the truth as to the number of those years), but God says that every day is so precious; we should treasure it and number it as valuable for our lives.

Remember what those 8 to 12 year olds said what was the best thing about Christmas?

New American Standard Bible: 1995 update.

(1995).

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La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

Today as we consider TIME I believe God’s Word teaches us 4 important truths about our time and how this time relates to our families:

I. Time is Precious!

(90:12)

God says that we should learn how to number our days.

By this He means that we need to understand how time is a valuable and precious commodity of this life.

All of us know how to number our years (we call it a “Birthday”- though some fudge on the truth as to the number of those years), but God says that every day is so precious; we should treasure it and number it as valuable for our lives.

So how valuable is an hour?

As the business person whose flight was delayed for 1 hour and he missed his appointment in another city.

How valuable is one minute?

Ask the man who had the heart attack and a person sitting next to him knew CPR.

How valuable is 1 second?

Ask the person who hesitated for 1 second before swerving to avoid an oncoming car in his lane?

How valuable is a fraction of a second?

Ask the S.A. Spurs who were beaten by the LA Lakers in a playoff game with 4/10 of 1 second left on the clock.

Let’s learn a couple of things about the value of time and the family:

A) THE MOST PRECIOUS THING WE CAN SHARE WITH FAMILY IS TIME!

Parents, do you love your children?

Give them some of your time.

Husbands, do you love your wives and wives, do you love your husbands?

Give them some of your time!

Love is not spelled THINGS.

Love is spelled TIME!

I can honestly say that I cannot remember many things my father bought me when I was a kid, but I can tell you in vivid detail about camping trips and fishing trips.

I can tell you all about my dad coaching my Little League baseball team.

I can’t remember all the things that Leslie has given me in the past 16 years, but I do remember spending time together, going places, and enjoying time with our kids.

ILLUSTRATION: A little boy was always trying to get his dad to go outside and play with him, but he dad was too busy working.

One day the little guy asked his dad, “Dad, how much money do you make in an hour?”

The impatient dad said, “I don’t know Son, I guess I make about $50.00 an hour when I’m working.

Now please run along I am busy right now.”

After about an hour later the little boy came back into the room where his father was working with a broken piggy bank and $25.00.

He said, “Daddy, all I have is $25.00.

Would you come outside and play with me for 30 minutes?”

B) YOU CAN MAKE MORE MONEY, BUT YOU CAN’T MAKE MORE TIME!

What is more valuable, Time or Money?

Time is much more valuable than money.

Time is precious.

It may be hard, but you can always make more money.

However, you cannot make, earn, or create even 1 second of time.

A.W. Tozer wrote: “Time is a resource that is nonrenewable and nontransferable.

You cannot store it, slow it up, hold it up, divide it up, or give it up.

When you kill time, remember it has no resurrection.”

THE “T” IN TIME STANDS FOR “TREASURE”

II.

Time should be Purposeful

Notice a couple of principles about being purposeful with your time…

A) YOU CAN’T SAVE TIME- YOU CAN ONLY INVEST IT!

Though time is more valuable than money, like money time can be spent or it can be invested.

We live in an age that promises us time saving things.

We have time saving appliances.

People, especially men, like to take shortcuts to “save time.”

All our lives are spent in trying to save time to do something else.

Let me ask you for something: Where is this time you have saved?

Show it to me? Do you have a running account of it?

Where is it?

You cannot save even 1 second of time.

However, you can invest your time by being purposeful with what you do with each second!

A) THE MOST PRECIOUS THING WE CAN SHARE WITH FAMILY IS TIME!