Planning Your Life and Living According to Your Plan

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Planning Your Life and Living According to Your Plan</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id457.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Whats In The Suitcases of Your Life?"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id462.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Planning Your Life (Part Two)"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Church Ministry</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org"><U>stan@stanbaker.org</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>"Planning Your Life and Living According To Your Plan"</B></div> <div> <B>Berean Bible Church, June 27, 2004 </B></div> <bR> <div>      Tony Schwartz wrote about workaholism in <I>Fast Company</I> magazine (a business and leadership magazine). His work was focused on helping workaholics change. He wrote, "Several weeks ago, I flew to Florida on a Sunday at dawn to collaborate with my business partner on a project related to our work helping executives <I>counterbalance stress with recovery</I>. We worked until late that night and resumed again early Monday morning, pushing hard until 2 PM, when I flew back home to New York. I worked on my laptop on the plane without ever looking up, made calls on my cell phone in the car while driving home from the airport, kissed my daughter hello when I arrived, and raced upstairs to respond to my accumulated email messages. At 6 PM, I changed clothes, got back in my car, and sped to an important business dinner. It lasted until 10 PM, and on the way home, I called my partner by cell phone to debrief him. We were still talking as I pulled into my driveway. Intent on finishing the conversation before I went inside, I stayed in my car. His voice began to break up, so I got out of the car and began walking around to see if I could get a better connection. The next thing I knew, my car was rolling down our lawn, headed straight for a stone wall 30 feet away. Horrified, I began chasing the car as it ran over azaleas [...] and rosebushes. At the last possible moment, I reached in and yanked the emergency brake. The car jerked to a halt just two inches from the stone wall. I believe in the power of metaphor. When I recovered from my shock, the message seemed inescapably clear: I was on the verge of hitting the wall myself, and I had better pay attention." (Tony Schwartz, Fast Company, April 2001). </div> <div>      Some of you are on the verge of hitting the wall yourselves, because of the pace of your life. Our lives can so easily get out of control. Conveniences were supposed to make life easier, make us less busy, but it hasn't worked out that way. Most of us are busier and more stressed now more than ever. If a guy who helps executives deal with stress almost hits a wall, so will the rest of us. </div> <div>      I believe God wants us to live our lives <I>for him</I>, with <I>balance</I>. To review, God has been so generous to us, and he intends for us to live with a spirit of generosity, and he promises to bless us when we do. We learned that life is too short to do anything but live for God. So we have to <I>make better choices</I> about the activities and possessions that help us live for God. We must plan our lives and finances, because it is too easy for us to drift into wastefulness of our time, money and lives. This is true whether you currently have too much to do, or too little.</div> <bR> <div> <B>I. The management of your time and money matters to the God of the universe. </B></div> <div> A. Because of your salvation, devote yourself to doing what is good (<A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Titus+3:3-8" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>Titus 3:3-8</U></A>).</div> <div>      Our salvation motivates us to use our time do things that please God. Is he happy with your schedule and activities and commitments? What are you devoted to?</div> <bR> <div> B. What you do with your life, your time, your money, will be evaluated, according to God's intended standards for your life (<A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=2Cor+5:9-15" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>2 Cor 5:9-10, 14-15</U></A>). </div> <div> <B>  </B>   Time and money are limited resources, which God intends for you to use wisely. You have to answer first to God, then to your family, then to your Christian brothers and sisters about your schedule and investments of your time. Talk over your responsibilities with them.</div> <bR> <div> <B>II. Know what to say "yes" to and what to say "no" to. </B></div> <div> <B>     </B>You are as busy as you choose to be. You make agreements with yourself and with others. Organizing expert Julie Morgenstern says managing your time is like organizing a closet; you can only fit so much in, and you get to decide how messy or organized it is. What do you make time for? How do you decide what is important? Here is some guidance directly from the Scriptures. You need to make time for the following things.</div> <div> A. Time for God, for worship, and spiritual growth. </div> <div>      2 Peter 3:18 says, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen." (2 Peter 1:5 says, "make every effort" to grow). Mark 1:35 says, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." If Jesus, God in the flesh, took the time to be with his Heavenly Father, how much more so should we?</div> <bR> <div> B. Time for family (<A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Eph+5:22-6:4" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>Ephesians 5:22-6:4</U></A>). </div> <div>      Your family needs you, and you have to be there to influence your kids (otherwise the TV will). Rich Tatum wrote, "An article floated into my email inbox from the Ziff-Davis Network. It heralded yet another computer breakthrough from a major corporation: Sidi Yomtov, an Israeli chip designer working for National Semiconductor, developed a way to combine 43 PC chips onto a single silicon wafer -- miniaturization that makes big news in the ever-shrinking world of personal computers. The author described the pressure National Semiconductor experienced and, by extension, the stress Mr. Yomtov felt as the lead designer of the new chip: 'Coordinating a team of 90 engineers in four different time zones, [Yomtov] is at work or on the road so much that his three daughters in Tel Aviv erected a life-size cardboard cut-out of him in the family's living room. "I put my entire prestige of two decades at National behind this project," says the bleary-eyed Yomtov. "I was afraid that if it didn't work, I might not be able to show my face..." 'Yomtov, meanwhile, expects the next version of his chip to be ready in six months...' [Rich continues,] As I read that, I wondered if the cardboard cut-out was a family joke or a Band-Aid over a festering wound. How sad, I thought, that a man could be so worried about losing face [in his industry] that he risks losing his family." We have studied God's challenges for family life in Ephesians 5-6. You cannot fulfill God's desires for your marriage and family life if you don't spend time together as a family.</div> <bR> <div> C. Time for relationships and service to one another. </div> <div>      Make time for r<I>elationships.</I> Hebrews 10:24-25 says, "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching." You also must make time for s<I>ervice to others. </I>1 Peter 4:10 says, "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."</div> <div>      Pastor Randy Frazee in <I>Making Room For Life</I> told of "a well-documented study [that] shows that 'social isolation contributes to illness and death as much as smoking.' So if you feel you must smoke, for goodness' sake, don't do it alone!" We encourage you to make good choices for your health, and that includes choosing to be connected with others in meaningful relationships.</div> <bR> <div> D. Time for work. </div> <div>      Proverbs 6:6-11 says, "Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest - and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man." Proverbs 20:4 says, "A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing." God wants us to work, and he wants us to prepare for the future needs of our families, as well as pay for our current needs. By the way, our work goes beyond what we do on the job: it is all the responsibilities we have and the agreements we have made to get stuff done. Take the time to do the work you have committed to do.</div> <bR> <div> E. Time for rest and good health. </div> <div>      You need to get away to rest and you need to live with boundaries. In Mark 6:30-32, "The apostles [after a mission] gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, 'Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.' So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place." Jesus was regularly withdrawing from the crowds to be by himself. Exodus 20:8-11 tells us, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." This is an exercise in faith, to be sure. But God is able to handle the affairs of the world while we rest. Trust him - and you will be more effective in your life and work when you get regular rest.</div> <bR> <div>      God intended for us to live with balance and appropriate boundaries, which he wants us to enforce. You have to say both "yes" and "no." We are not to live with constant stress and busyness. You may need to make a minor change or a major change, so you are saying yes and no to the right things. The goal is not to be less busy, but to live our lives for Jesus Christ, while experiencing the balance he intended for us.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Questions For Thought and Discussion:</B></div> <div> 1. If you are really busy, can you trace back how you got that way? What choices where you responsible for? What commitments did you willingly accept? If your life is out of control because of circumstances beyond your control, what adjustments within your control do you need to make?</div> <bR> <div> 2. Does your family have enough time with you and with each other? Ask them and discuss it together as a family. Devise some strategies to spend more quality time together.</div> <bR> <div> 3. Have you subjected your calendar and obligations (both in time and in finances) to evaluation by a trusted group of friends? Discuss it with them, and base your evaluation on what God has in mind for the lifestyle choices of his followers.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> copyright, 2004, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> </tr></table></body>