I'll Put Jesus First, Prayer

• I’ll Put Jesus First in Personal Time
• Ephesians 5:16
• Redeeming the Time
• Ephesians 5:14-17 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
• Do you ever say…
• “I just don’t have time”
• “I’ll be there in a minute”
• “I wish I had more time”
• “I wish there were 27 hours in a day”
• “How time flies!”
• “Where has the time gone?”
• “Some day when I have time I’ll…”
• Imagine a bank like this…
• Credits you each morning……………$86,400
• No balance is carried over to the next day
• What would you do with your unused balance?
• Are you in the TRAP?
• One thing we all have in common
• Regardless of birthplace, occupation, age, or religious persuasion
• 24 hours each day to spend as we please
• We cannot credit any to tomorrow’s account

• What is time?
• “A measurable period during which events occur” (involves process or change)
 A nonspatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future.
 An interval separating two points on this continuum; a duration

• Biblical Concept of Time
• Genesis 1:1-5 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth….3 Then God said,"Let there be light"; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

• Biblical Concept of Time
• Hebrews 1:10-12 And: “You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. 11 They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; 12 Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail."
• Following Jesus means giving Him our Time
• Luke 9:23-26 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
• Jesus calls us in an inconvenient time
• Luke 9:57-62
– 57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go." 58 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."
– 59 Then He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." 60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God."
– 61 And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house." 62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
• We can’t wait for a more convenient time
• Acts 24:24-27
– 24 And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.25 Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, "Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you."26 Meanwhile he also hoped that money would be given him by Paul, that he might release him. Therefore he sent for him more often and conversed with him.
– 27 But after two years Porcius Festus succeeded Felix; and Felix, wanting to do the Jews a favor, left Paul bound.

• Jesus takes priority over all else
• Matthew 4:18-22
– 18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.19 Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
• God has a time for everything in life
• Ecclesiastes 3:1 - To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven
• A time to be born, and a time to die
• A time to be born, and a time to die
• Your Personal Life Clock
• A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted
• A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted
• A time to kill,
• And a time to heal
• A time to break down,
• And a time to build up
• A time to weep, And a time to laugh
• A time to mourn, And a time to dance
• A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
• A time to search and a time to give up as lost
• A time to keep, And a time to throw away
• A time to tear, And a time to sew
• A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;
• A time of war, And a time of peace
• He has made everything beautiful in its time
• Also He has put eternity in their hearts,
• Our time here is allotted by God
• Psalm 139:16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.
• Psalms 39:4-5 "LORD, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am. 5 Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.

• Our time is short
• James 4:13-14 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit";14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
• Biblical Concept of Time
• Psalms 90:10-12 The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.. 12 So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
• Make the most of your time
• Eph 5:15-17 Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
(New International Version)


• Today is the day of salvation
• "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.