Overcoming Procrastination
I'll Do It Tomorrow • Sermon • Submitted
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· 21 viewsTheme: The Holy Spirit helps us overcome procrastination. Purpose: To Focus on the Powerful Nature of the Lord to take the first step. Mission: Increasing our Faith reduces procrastination. Gospel: The Holy Spirit is the main driver of motivation.
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There was a Benjamite, a man of standing, whose name was Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bekorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin.
Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else.
Now the donkeys belonging to Saul’s father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys.”
So he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and through the area around Shalisha, but they did not find them. They went on into the district of Shaalim, but the donkeys were not there. Then he passed through the territory of Benjamin, but they did not find them.
Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah.
Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines.
The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.
A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.
He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels;
on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back.
His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.
Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me.
If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.”
Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.”
On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old.
Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah.
David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul,
but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.
Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp.
Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them.
They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”
Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry.
Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other.
David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were.
As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it.
Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.
Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.”
David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”
When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”
“Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?”
He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before.
What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.
David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock,
I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.
Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.
The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head.
David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off.
Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David.
He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him.
He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
“Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.
All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.
Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.
Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.
When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.
David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent.
As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?” Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”
The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.”
As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head.
“Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him. David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”
Introduction: What do you procrastinate about? Is it a chore you have been meaning to do around the house? Homework? A project at work? Calling that family member who can be awkward or difficult? Everyone procrastinates sometimes. But let’s face it, some people procrastinate all the time.
51-Negative Emotions are the driver of Procrastination.
51-Negative Emotions are the driver of Procrastination.
1. Lieberman says, “Procrastination isn’t a unique character flaw or a mysterious curse on your ability to manage time, but a way of coping with challenging emotions and negative moods induced by certain tasks—boredom, anxiety, insecurity, frustration, resentment, self-doubt and beyond. … The particular nature of our aversion depends on the given task or situation. It may be due to something inherently unpleasant about the task itself—having to clean a dirty bathroom or organizing a long, boring spreadsheet for your boss. But it might also result from deeper feelings related to the task, such as self-doubt, low self-esteem, anxiety or insecurity” (Lieberman, “Why Do You Procrastinate?”).
The Story of Saul. - He is a foil to show us the kind of King God desires - King David.
- Israel wanted a King like the other nations
Samuel saw this as a rejection of God’s kingship, God decides to give them the kind of king they want to show them the kind of king they need.
Saul - From every indication qualifies as a king like the other nations - God chooses him.
Like a lot of people called - Saul does not think he is up to the task - “Not self Aware” lowest of the low. Hides when it is time to present him. - The rest of the story is him trying to project what others say about him.
He actually begins quite humble and not looking to take power. He is simply serving his Father and doing the mundane work of caring for sheep. He is also caring, he is concerned about his father and what he worries about.
People confirm that God has chosen the right person - By lot.
He starts well, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and God directs him mightily, but one compromise where he does not do what God tells him specifically tells him to do, and his usrpation of the role of the priest sets him on a downward spiral. The compromise cause him to waffle and second guess himself more often. He waffles between self serving actions, and God-directed actions, until the last straw where he specifically keeps spoils for himself and the army that the Lord directed him not to do. This is the point of now return and the Lord takes away his Spirit and gives Saul an evil spirit to torture him.
It is in this context of him having the tortured spirit and the un-surety of God having his back that we see him not-confident in fighting Goliath and the Philistines, and he sees in David the Confidence and the Spirit empowerment that he once had.
1. Like Saul, We often find ourselves putting off what we need to do and ignoring responsibilities.
- And why, “All of the negative feelings, in Saul’s part the evil spirits that are torturing us.
Let’s look to David at how his part of the story enabled him to not procrastinate.
52-God is All Powerful.
52-God is All Powerful.
53-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvcx7Y4caQE
54-In a 2013 study, Dr. Pychyl and Dr. Sirois found that procrastination can be understood as “the primacy of short-term mood repair … over the longer-term pursuit of intended actions.” Put simply, procrastination is about being more focused on “the immediate urgency of managing negative moods” than getting on with the task, Dr. Sirois said.
We must realize that, at its core, procrastination is about emotions, not productivity. The solution doesn’t involve downloading a time management app or learning new strategies for self-control. It has to do with managing our emotions in a new way.
This is what David has done his entire life. He has been rewarded by God each time the Lord has helped him deal with challenges - fighting off Lions, and Bears, etc. He is already going into battle with this positive outlook.
God can do this. Goliath is no match for God.
Whereas Saul has spiraled-down in his experience because his emotional outlook is, “I have to perform in the way I don’t feel, I have to become kingly.” He has forgotten how his real success came, by the power of God.
David, who the Bible has called, “A man after God’s own heart.” Is constantly looking for God in the events in his life.
What do you do to reflect on God’s work, where do you give him credit?
Holy Ghost Stories, Celebrations in coaching.
We train our emotions to see how big God is and how he can accomplish big and small things in our life. The Battle is not all up to us.
So the big thing missing in Overcoming procrastination is this Truth....
55 - The Holy Spirit helps us overcome Procrastination.
55 - The Holy Spirit helps us overcome Procrastination.
Passage about Saul winning battles and Prophesying. - It was this time in Saul’s life when he was getting it done. When he was empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Now, Here we have David being empowered by the Holy Spirit, and confident that the Lord will fight the battle.
So I would suggest this strategy first and infused into the secular strategies of procrastination management.
Have a daily conversation with the Holy Spirit.
Be honest about how you feel, about what you want to do and don’t want to do.
Ask the Holy Spirit to Speak to you - To remind you of God’s Power, to remind you how he has been with you and has helped you overcome challenging tasks before.
Ask the Holy Spirit what He wants you to do, what he doesn’t want you to put off.
Then Celebrate with the Holy Spirit every victory. Celebrate to mark it in your brain, be creative by taking rest, prayers of celebration, telling others what God has done.
Last week I challenged you to not put off discipleship. - But we may have all kinds of negative feelings about that and it seems like work, and sacrifice. How can you ask the Holy Spirit to Empower you.
Conclusion:
Reference the Reformed Confessions: The Reformed Confessions are statements of faith written to clarify the Gospel at times when the Church was in crisis. Heidelberg Catechism: Q&A 64, 86 Belgic Confession: Articles 24 Canons of Dort: Head V: Articles 12