Quiet Your Heart to Hear God Speak Through His Word and Redeem Your Time

This past summer, I had the opportunity to sit down and to begin to write about all the different things that I thought over the 38 years that my wife and I had been married were instrumental in our marriage. Those things that were of benefit to me, benefit to Lori, those things that really helped us become effective in our relationship. So I sat down and I would just begin to write principle after principle, verse after verse, all the different things that the Lord had taught me through the 38 years that we've been married together.

And upon doing that, I came up with the outline that's before you this evening, and we've been covering since September, going through all these different principles from A to Z as to what are these issues in the marriage that are absolutely essential. And that's why they're listed there. Now, the question will always be, well, they're really not how-tos in your marriage, and they're not, because they deal specifically with character development. Because I found that the biggest problem in my marriage was not my wife, it was me.

The biggest obstacle to overcome in my marriage was me. It wasn't my wife's attitude. It wasn't her lack of response. It wasn't her indifference at times. It wasn't anything else other than me. So once I realized that working on me was the major issue, I began to realize that once that was set in the right direction, my marriage went in the right direction. Because it was me that was the issue, and it wasn't Lori. And the same is true in your marriage. So the principles that we give you are principles for everyday living that help build into your life the kind of character that God wants you to be so that you can best represent him as his ambassador, as his representative.

And so as I began to write all these things down, I began to realize these are obstacles I had to overcome in my own personal walk with the Lord so that I could eventually be the kind of man my wife wants to be married to. The kind of man that can lead my wife. The kind of man that can be instrumental in her growth. The kind of man that will move her on to maturity. So all the principles that we've already gone over, and you can go back on the website, and you can download them, and you can listen to them if you haven't listened to them already, are all principles that the Lord has taught me over all these years that need to be effective in my life in order for my marriage to be what it needs to be, in order for my family to be what it needs to be.

I might be able to lead my family in the right direction. So always remember that the biggest problem you will ever have is you. It's nobody else. You might think it's your wife or your husband. You might think it's your kids. You might think it's your boss. You might think it's your coach. You might think it's your neighbor. That's not the issue. It's always you. And once you can begin to master the inner man, once you can begin to walk in the way that God wants you to walk, you can deal with all the other issues because God has dealt with you.

And when God deals with you, you can be effective for him. And tonight we're gonna cover, like we did last week, two principles, Q and R. That's where we are in the alphabet. That's where we're going. In the first one, dealing with quieting your hearts before the Lord, that you might be able to listen to his word.

And the other deals with redeeming the time because the two go hand in hand. Let me begin with something I've shared with you, not recently, but years ago.

It goes as follows. It says, once there was a man who dared God to speak. Burn the bush like you did for Moses, God, and I will follow you. Collapse the walls like you did for Joshua, God, and I will fight for you. Steal the waves like you did on Galilee, and I will listen to you. And so the man sat by a bush near a wall, close to the sea, and waited for God to speak. And God heard the man, so God answered. He sent fire, not for a bush, but for a church. He brought down a wall, not of brick, but of sin.

He sealed the storm, not of the sea, but of a soul. And God waited for the man to respond. And God waited, and God waited, and God waited. But because the man was looking at bushes, and not hearts, bricks, and not lives, seas, and not souls, he decided that God had done nothing. Finally, he looked to God and asked, have you lost your power?

And God looked at him and said, have you lost your hearing? Now, just a little insight in terms of what we're expecting God to do. You know, we expect God to do something sensational. Something spectacular. So we keep waiting for God to send the great sensational thing our way. But remember, God is not in the business of turning people's heads, but transforming people's hearts. That's why at the triumphal entry, that there was great praise for God, Luke 19 says, not because of his message, but because of his miracles.

Oh, they were willing to hail him as their king as long as he healed the blind, raised the dead, fed the 5,000 plus, or the 4,000 plus. As long as he walked on water. As long as he did the spectacular, they were all in. But the message, not so much. And you see, God speaks through his word. And God wants you to hear him in his word. That's the only way God speaks. But yet, if you don't quiet your heart to listen to him speak through his word, you're gonna miss what he has to say. The Bible says in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. God restores the soul of a man and a woman besides still quiet waters. He wants to replenish the inner man. But you have to be willing to spend time with him, alone with him, and listen to him. A.W. Tozer, in his book, The Divine Conquest, says this. He says, in my creature impatience, I am often caused to wish that there were some way to bring modern Christians into a deeper spiritual life painlessly by short, easy lessons.

But such wishes are vain. No shortcut exists. God has not bowed to our nervous haste, nor embraced the methods of our machine age. It is well that we accept the hard truth now.

The man who would know God must give time to God. He must count no time wasted, which is spent in the cultivation of his acquaintance. But we find in our day and age, probably like any day and age, I don't have time to be acquainted with my God. I don't have time to get to know my God. We live in this fast-paced society. We live where anything we want is on that little phone that we hold in our hand that gives us access to anything we want with the click of a button. And we think that that's how Christianity is, that all of a sudden we just push the right verse.

We look at the right book. All of a sudden, zap, everything changes. It doesn't work that way. It's never worked that way. And so we must give time to the Lord. And there are two spiritual disciplines that talk about the quietness of a man's heart. Two spiritual disciplines that ring true. One is silence and the other is solitude. And they're like twin brothers or twin sisters, depending on how you wanna take it. They look the same inwardly, but outwardly they manifest themselves differently. For the discipline of silence is a rest, of man's lips.

And the discipline of solitude is a rest of man's life. We rest our lips so we can learn to listen. We rest our life so we can learn to love. But we must rest both lip and life. We must engage in the discipline of silence and of solitude. In fact, if you were to do a in-depth study of the life of Christ, you would realize that the number one discipline that Christ practiced in his humanity was the discipline of solitude.

He was always escaping to the mountains. He was always getting off by himself. If the son of God in the incarnation had to spend time alone with his father in the quiet solitude on some mountainside beside some lake in some arena, it is absolutely necessary that we do the same. In fact, it's imperative. And you'll give all kinds of excuses as to why you can't be silent and to why you can't be in solitude. Nobody likes to be alone. I mean, just walk down the street. Everybody has headphones in. Everybody has AirPods in.

They're always listening to something. You get in your car, you turn on the radio, you plug in your phone to listen to some music that you've downloaded. No one likes to drive in silence. I love driving in silence. I think it's remarkable, okay? Except I have too many people honking at me and yelling at me when I'm driving. But outside of that, I love silence. I love being quiet at home. We had eight children. Our home was noisy. Our home was busy, right? Well, now I only have one left. And the one that's left is the quietest of the eight.

Thank God. And yet I love the quietness, the silence, the solitude. I love those times. But we live in an age where people always have to have something in their ears, have to always be listening to something, doing something. The busyness of our lives has led to the prayerlessness of our lives. We forget that. We get involved in so many activities. We become so busy. We don't want any downtime. You have to learn to relish downtime. You have to learn to relish solitude, alone. And I wanna give you some principles tonight that will help you understand that and help you understand why it is so extremely important.

In times of silence, we can really learn to listen to God. When I talk about silence, I'm not talking about praying. I'm talking about silence. To listen to God speak to us through his word. What is the way that your children show you great disrespect? When you're speaking to them and they wanna talk over you, when you're speaking to them and they're not listening, you're speaking to them and they're saying, yeah, but, but, but, but dad, but mom, but, they don't be quiet. Highest form of disrespect because they think they have an argument.

They think they can defend themselves. But because they're not listening to what you have to say, right, they're living with a rebellious attitude towards your words. They have to learn to sit quietly and listen to you speak. Whether it's disciplinary action, whether it's character development, whether it's instruction, whatever it may be, they must learn to listen in silence. Well, the same is true spiritually. What do you think God goes through when we just constantly keep interrupting everything he's saying to us?

We just have to talk to him. And yet the highest form of reverence is speechlessness. Listen to the writer of Ecclesiastes, Solomon. He says in chapter five, verse number one, guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice to fools for they do not know they are doing evil.

Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven, you are on the earth, therefore let your words be few. Now that's just foreign to us. Solomon says guard your steps when you go to the house of God because you're going there for a purpose. You're going there to listen.

We wanna go to talk. Solomon says you need to go listen so you can respond properly to what God has for you. So note this, the very first principle when it comes to quieting your hearts is that it expresses reverence to God.

It expresses reverence to God. Come back in chapter two, verse number 20. The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him. In other words, God's in charge, God's reigning. Here is Habakkuk, he is wondering and worrying in chapter one because God is doing something that he doesn't agree with, that somehow God is gonna send the wicked Chaldeans to come against his people Israel. Habakkuk does not agree with that. So he begins to worry, he begins to wonder, God, what are you doing?

But in chapter two, he begins to watch and to listen and God begins to speak. Finally, God says to him, chapter 20, verse number two, the Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth be silent.

In other words, I'm in charge, Habakkuk. You're not, you have nothing to do with what my plans are except that you're a prophet of mine. But outside of that, I'm in charge. Let me do what I do best, run the universe because you can't do that.

In chapter three, Habakkuk begins to worship, but not until he first listened. Not until he first was silent and heard God speak.

Zephaniah 1, 17, be silent before the sovereign Lord. Be silent. Zechariah 2, verse number 13, be silent all flesh before the Lord. Oh, by the way, that's where we get this hymn. Let all mortal flesh keep silence and with fear and trembling stand. Ponder nothing earthly minded, for with blessing in his hand, Christ our God to earth descendeth, our full homage to demand. He demands our worship, but that means we must be silent. And so in the quietness of your home, in the quietness of wherever you can be to listen to nothing except the words of God as he speaks to you through his scriptures.

It expresses the fact that you truly revere his name, that you really wanna hear what he has to say. Ever wonder why it is that we think that God's not listening? Oh, he's listening, but we're just not hearing him speak because we're too busy talking. And we need to sit and listen to what God has to say. So the very first point is this, that when I am quiet before the Lord, it expresses reverence.

Number two, when I'm quiet before the Lord, I will experience deliverance, deliverance. Listen to what the Bible says in the book of Lamentations.

The book of Lamentations chapter three, verse 25. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the person who seeks him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord. Verse 28, let him sit alone and be silent. If you wanna experience deliverance, it comes because you sit in silence. The great example of this is in the book of Exodus, the 14th chapter. We'll pick it up in verse number 10. Israel has been redeemed from Egyptian bondage. They are on their way out of Egypt. They're on their way and they come to the Red Sea and they are trapped because Pharaoh's army is beating down upon their path.

They hear him coming, they see him coming. And it says, as Pharaoh drew near, Exodus 14, verse number 10, the sons of Israel looked and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them and they became very frightened. So the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What kind of statement is that? But that's what they say. Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt?

Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt saying, leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. They had no idea about God's delivering power. Although after 430 years of Egyptian bondage, God had miraculously delivered them from that bondage, how quickly they had forgotten. So verse number 13, but Moses said to the people, do not fear, stand by and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today.

For the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent. You wanna experience deliverance? Stop fussing and start focusing on the Lord. We can grumble and we can complain about everything coming down the pike. We are the greatest complainers known to man. We love to moan and groan. We wanna bemoan our marriage. We wanna bemoan our children. We wanna groan about my paycheck or lack thereof. We wanna groan about our job. We gripe and bellyache about how thin we are, how heavy we are, how bald we are, how hairy we are.

We just can't think of anything not to complain about. But yet, because we keep fussing, we are not focusing on the one thing we need to focus on, and that's the Lord. And the only way that happens is when you just be silent. Don't say anything. Why? Because in order to experience deliverance, you need to sit silently, wait on the Lord to do what he does. We wanna manipulate the scene. We wanna coerce God as if we think we can. We wanna rub our Bible rabbit's foot, or use our Bible as a rabbit's foot, and rub it the right way, and read the right verse, and think if I read my Bible long enough, and if I memorize enough verses, and I go to enough church on Sundays that God will answer, and God will do great things.

And we just get so actively involved in everything, instead of just silently sitting by and waiting for God to do what only God can do. Sometimes God's just waiting for you to stop. Just stop talking. Just stop being busy. Just stop and listen as you sit in silence, waiting for God to be God. So to be able to be what God wants us to be, to express reverence, to experience deliverance, we need silence. We need to quiet our hearts before the Lord. Another reason is to exercise dependence. You see, as you express reverence, you will experience deliverance.

And the reason you experience deliverance is because you're exercising dependence, dependence. Look at Psalm 62, verse number one.

My soul waits in silence for God only. From him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold. I shall not be greatly shaken. David is fleeing from Absalom, his son, who has overtaken the kingdom, and David's the king. He's already run from Saul for 13 years. Now he's running from his son. And David is not trusting in something else or trusting in something plus God. He's trusting in God only, only God. And so he sits and waits in silence. And David's a warrior. He's a fighter.

And so he says in verse number five, my soul waits in silence for God only, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold. I shall not be shaken. On God, my salvation and my glory rests. The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Notice, he waits in stillness, in silence.

And from that silence comes great assurance. And from that assurance comes great strength. Why? Because he's learning not to trust in his warriorship, his battle skills. He's learning to trust in God only, to wait in silence for God to act only. And therefore, being able to experience the deliverance that only God himself can accomplish. Why? Because he lives in total dependence upon God. So God says in Isaiah 30, verse number 15, these words, in quietness and trust is your strength but you were not willing.

God says it. In quietness and trust is your strength. In other words, in order to trust, you gotta be quiet. You gotta be silent. And in silence and trust is your strength but you were not willing to do that. Can you just imagine that you can't experience deliverance because you don't exercise dependence. And the reason you don't exercise dependence because you won't sit in silence long enough to watch God do what only God can do. We just want to act. We wanna manipulate, we wanna coerce, we wanna change circumstances, situations.

We wanna change attitudes. I'm not talking about being responsible as a person who confronts sin and deals with those things. I'm talking about learning to depend upon God and trust him for everything. When you sit in silence and you quiet your hearts, you're able to be able to express reverence, experience deliverance because you exercise dependence. And listen, when you exercise dependence, you will always extract guidance. The famous story about that is our friend Elijah. In 1 Kings chapter 19, the great mighty prophet of God who had done great and mighty things for the Lord there in Mount Carmel in the land of Israel.

But when you come to chapter 19, Elijah's on the run. He's on the run from Jezebel. He's on the run from a woman. He's able to handle 450 prophets of Baal, but he can't handle one woman. You've got to be kidding me. He's on the run and 40 days he's on the run. So he comes to the mountain of God, Mount Horeb. You know the mountain of God. It's where Moses spoke, or God spoke to Moses through the burning bush. It's where Moses received the law on Mount Sinai. They're on Mount Horeb. So he comes to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God, it says in verse number eight.

Then he came there to a cave and lodged there and behold, the word of the Lord came to him. God's gonna speak to Elijah. And listen to what God says.

He says, what are you doing here, Elijah? That's a great question. Elijah, what are you doing? I mean, that's the question I would have. In our study of Elijah, I ask the same question. What are you doing, Elijah, running from a woman? And what are you doing 40 days down in the wilderness? What are you doing here? That's the question God asks. He said, I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword.

And I alone am left, and there seek my life to take it away. He talks about the past, and God's talking about the present. He said, well, I was zealous for you. God said, I don't care about what you were. I wanna care what you're doing now.

And are you zealous now? Because if you are, you wouldn't be here. So what are you doing, Elijah? So he said, go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord. Behold, the Lord was passing by. And a great strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the strong wind. And after the wind, an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a sound of a gentle blowing.

When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Behold, a voice came to him and said, what are you doing here, Elijah? Same question. And he answers the same way. But God guides Elijah in the quietness on Mount Horeb with a still, small voice. Because God speaks that way. There wasn't anything spectacular. It wasn't that God was gonna speak in the earthquake or the fire or in the strong and mighty wind. Oh, by the way, those are all symbols of God's judgment in the Old Testament.

Earthquakes, fire, strong and mighty winds. Read about it in the book of Revelation, in the book of Jeremiah, book of Isaiah. But God would speak with the gentle blowing of the wind. And there, Elijah would extract guidance from God as to what to do next. This is how God would erect the next king, how he'd erect the next prince and prophet, and how he'd erect Elisha, the one who would follow Elijah. And God would speak to him in the silence of Mount Horeb because God does it that way. Are you wondering what to do next?

Are you wondering where to go next? Are you wondering what to say? You need to sit in silence upon God, exercising your dependence upon him by expressing your reverence toward him that you might extract guidance from him. And that's what happened to Elijah. Habakkuk, in chapter two, we talked about him earlier. He stood on the guard post, keeping watch, waiting for God to speak. Paul spent three years in the Arabian desert listening to God instruct him and teach him. Moses, 40 years on the backside of the desert, waiting for God to speak to him.

And he did, in the silence and in the solitude, in the time in which he was alone with God, and there were no distractions. God wants undivided attention. If you are unwilling to give it to him, I guarantee he'll put you in a situation where you'll have to hear him. He'll do that because he wants you to hear him speak. He wants you to know what he has to say. He wants you to listen to him. He wants your undivided attention. And lastly, in the quietness, the silence, the solitude of time with God, it's here you exhibit a resurgence, a resurgence.

In Mark chapter one, where Christ spends the busiest day recorded in the scriptures of his day, teaching the synagogue, casting out demons, people leaving the synagogue. If you've been to Capernaum with me, you know that when you leave the synagogue in Capernaum, you go right to Peter's house, and there he goes and heals Peter's mother-in-law. And next thing you know, everybody from the town is at the door, and he's healing everybody. The Bible says very clearly in Mark's gospel, the 35th verse, very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, went off to a solitary place where he prayed.

He had to spend time alone. He had to get away from the busyness of life. Everybody was demanding something from him. He had to get away. So he did. In Mark chapter six, Christ tells his men, after they come back and report all that had taken place, he says, come apart with me for a while to a secluded place. He takes his men to a place of seclusion, away from everybody else. So they learn to realize that you need to exhibit a resurgence in your life. To do that, you need to be alone and need to quiet your heart before the Lord that you might gain the energy that you need to accomplish the tasks that are before you, because they are innumerable.

You need to do that. So you need to ask yourself, where is my place of silence and solitude? Susanna Wesley had a lot of kids. And the only way she ever experienced silence of solitude was for her to take her apron and throw it up over her head in the midst of her day. When the older ones knew that she did that, they were to keep the other ones quiet, because that's when mom was alone with God. Your children need to learn to know when you're alone with God. And maybe if they're really, really young, you got to get up extra, extra early to spend your time in silence and in solitude with the Lord so that you can express your reverence to him by sitting there with your word, reading and listening to him speak.

Exercising your dependence, waiting in silence for God to do what only God can do. That you might be able to exhibit a resurgence in your life simply because you need to be replenished. You need to be restored. You need to be able to regroup. You need to be able to come together. And you need that time with the Lord. Quieting your heart before the Lord, to listen to him speak from his word is absolutely essential for your daily life and walk with the Lord. Which leads me to our next point, and that is redeeming the time for the days are evil.

Redeeming the time for the days are evil. You need that time alone because you got to buy back every moment. The verse we're using is in the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter five, verse number 15, which says, therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time or redeeming the time because the days are evil. I'm not sure that any of us would admit to wanting to walk foolishly, but we want to walk wisely. We want to walk in wisdom. And we know that God's word is wisdom.

We know that God himself is wisdom. And so to extract wisdom from God, we need to walk wisely with God. And one of the ways you do that is by redeeming the time, ex agaradzo, buying back, purchasing time back for eternity's value. In other words, you are buying time for the sake of eternity. It's a transaction. You bought time to be here this evening. You spent energy. You spent emotion. You probably spent some money because you had to drive here. You had to put gas in your car. You're sacrificing time elsewhere to be here.

So you've redeemed this hour. You've bought this hour back for eternity's sake. God wants you to redeem all moments back for him. And he wants you to be able to buy them back because the days are evil. The days are not getting any better. They're getting worse. And the evil day just increases as days go by. And so we need to be able to buy back every moment, especially in your marriage, right? Think about it. You have all kinds of time throughout the day in your marriage, throughout the week, throughout the month.

And the question comes, do you redeem the time because you're walking wisely with the Lord? That you're using the moments that you have with your wife for eternity's value. We can waste a lot of time, right? We can waste a lot of time doing nothing. We can waste a lot of time doing things that have no eternal value, right? But do you redeem the time back in your marriage? Do you redeem your family time? Are you buying that back? I shared with you a couple of weeks ago about the devotionals for those of you who have children in our youth ministry.

The devotionals that were given out every week about what was covered on Sunday and what was covered on Wednesday, how to review that, questions to ask your kids, verses to expound on with your kids. Do you buy back that moment with your son or daughter each week to say, listen, this is what you learned. Tell me about what you learned. Here are some questions that are asked. Here are some verses that we can further dive into the topic that you're covering on Sundays and Wednesdays. Are you buying back the time for the sake of eternity?

How do you spend your time? How valuable is your time? How about the time with your wife, with your husband? Is it the kind of time that is really taken up because you have eternity in view, not something temporal in view? So important. The days are evil enough. So walk wisely, redeem the time. Buy back every moment for the sake of eternity. Now you say, well, you really actually want me to buy back every moment of the day for the sake of eternity? Paul said, I didn't say it, Paul said it. I'm just quoting what he says.

Make the most of your time because the days are evil. How do you redeem the time? Let me give you some principles really quickly.

Okay, number one, you got to commit your life to Christ. That's number one. If you haven't done that, you need to do so, why? Because the Bible says today is a day of salvation, not tomorrow.

So buy back the moment and give your life to Christ. Buy back this moment for the sake of eternity and give your life to Christ. Because listen, if you haven't committed your life to Christ, you're not gonna buy back anything for eternity's value. So it begins by committing your life to Christ. Oh, by the way, if you're a parent, you redeem the time with your children by helping them understand what it means to be born again, to realize that today is a day of salvation. So you explain the gospel to them.

You're teaching the gospel. You help them understand what it means to walk with Christ, to serve Christ, right? So you're redeeming the time you spend with them to teach them about the things of the gospel, to teach them the truth about eternity, heaven, and hell. So commit your life to Christ. That's where it begins. You wanna redeem the time back? You gotta, first of all, be saved.

You gotta be born again. So today is the day of salvation. Now's the time to get saved. Not tomorrow. You don't have a guarantee of tomorrow, right? In fact, things are so brief. Psalm 39, Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the extent of my days? Let me know how transient I am.

Behold, you have made my days as hen breaths, and my lifetime is nothing in your sight. Surely a man at his best is a mere breath. Think about that. Man at his best is a mere breath. Now, how do you feel about your life? You're just a mere breath. James says your life is but a vapor. The brevity of life is so important to understand. I was thinking about this past week, and I was thinking, you know, I've been here 30 years. 30 years I've been your pastor. I will not be your pastor 30 years from now.

I'm not gonna be 96 and be your pastor. I'm gonna be with the Lord. I guarantee it. I'm not gonna live to be 96 years old. I might live to be 86. That would give me 20 years. If I got that much left in me, I don't know. I might have 10 more. That gets me to 76. But I know I'm not gonna be here another 30. And I realize, wow, time has just flown by. I thought that when we began, I said, well, I'm here for life. This is gonna be great. Next thing I know, I'm 66, and I don't have 30 years left. Time is so brief.

It's so short. We have no idea how long we're going to have because your life is nothing but a mere breath when it comes to eternity. So buy back every moment for the sake of eternity. Why? Because you might not have the next moment. We have no guarantee of tomorrow. Only guarantee we have is this second right now.

Commit your life to Christ. Number two, let's hurry. Consider your life as nothing. It's always a good one. Consider your life as nothing, Galatians chapter six, verse number three.

If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. I just think that's so great, so profound. If any man thinks he's something, when in reality he's really nothing, he has deceived himself. He's deceived himself. And so Paul says in the book of Acts, the 20th chapter, verse 22, and now behold, bound by the spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.

But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself. There's the verse. My life is irrelevant. My life is not important to me. Listen, you can't buy back every moment if you think your life's important to you, because you're only gonna think about yourself. You're not gonna think about God. You're not gonna think about sharing the gospel. You're not gonna think about buying this moment back for eternity's sake, because all you can think about is you, where I'm going, what I'm doing, what I'm eating, who I'm dating, who I'm not dating.

It's all about me. Paul says, I don't think my life is that important. That's why I can just go to Jerusalem. You know, the spirit of God says, bonds and afflictions await you.

Okay, no big deal. Why? Because I'm just here to finish my course. I'm just here to do what God's called me to do. That's all I wanna do. Nothing else matters. So you can't redeem the time unless you commit your life to Christ, and you can't redeem the time unless you consider your life as nothing. Because when you do that, you realize that the only thing that matters is God, his word, his people, his glory. So you're taken up by doing those kinds of things. Number three, you're gonna wanna consecrate your life to Christ, because you gotta give your life to him and make sure you set it apart as holy.

Then you wanna clothe yourself with humility. That's point number four, first Peter chapter five. Then you wanna conduct your life in the fear of God all day long, because Proverbs tells us that twice. Proverbs 23, 17, 28, 14. Conduct yourself in the fear of God. First Peter 1, 17 says, while your stay here is on earth, make sure you conduct it in the fear of God all day long.

Living in the fear of God. Why? Because if you're living in the fear of God all day long, every moment of every day, you're gonna do what God wants you to do. You're gonna buy back those moments for the sake of eternity. Colossians four, verse number six, says this. Colossians four, verse number six, says, conduct yourself with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity or redeeming the opportunity. Same thing that Paul says in Ephesians five. He says in Colossians four, let your speech always be with grace as though season was solved, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

In other words, you need to buy back every moment so you can communicate with grace to every person you come in contact with. You wanna know why you don't communicate properly to other people? You didn't buy that moment back. The reason you say things you shouldn't say. The reason you fly off the handle. The reason you get so upset is because you didn't buy that moment back for the sake of eternity. You don't communicate with grace, season was solved. Especially with the unbeliever. Because you gotta speak to them the truth.

You wanna buy back those moments. And then lastly, you wanna comfort others with Scripture. So many verses that talk about when it comes to comforting others with Scripture. Why? Because when you buy back a moment, you're using God's word in that moment to bring comfort to those who have troubled hearts. Those who have tearful hearts. Those who have tragic hearts. Those who've gone through difficult times. You wanna be able to use the word of God in that moment to bring comfort to their lives. When you do that, you've bought back that moment.

Unfortunately, instead of buying the moments back, we just blow off those moments as if they mean nothing. And that's unfortunate. Because you only have one life. In that life, you only have a few moments. Not very many. You look at your life.

Some of you live to be 30. Some of you live to be 50. Some of you live to be 80. But when you look back on your life, you realize, wow, it's gone by so fast. So quick. And you have no idea how many moments you're gonna have. So make sure you quiet your hearts before the Lord that you might be able to listen to him speak. So when it comes time to buy back the next moment, you can do it in a way that honors him. Let's pray. Father, thanks for tonight. The opportunity you give us. Truly, your word is great.

Truly, Lord, you are great. And we have the opportunity to study your word and we are blessed. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.