Regardless of how time was used before, becoming a follower of Jesus means we use our time differently.  We are probably used to spending time on ourselves, but we now want to now make time for two new activities:

First, Christians are called to devote Time for God

Yes, God is present everywhere, all the time, but we want to have specific time laid aside for God.  Jesus did this himself:

Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone…   (Matthew 14:22-23 ESV)

This isn’t the only example, there are many examples like it. Today, people focus time on God by reading his Word, the Bible. A key part of our community is that we base all our teaching on the Bible, and encourage you to read daily.  Secondly, focus on God in prayer.  We encouraged you to start this in our Becoming like Family series, but don’t forget!

Second, Christians are called to devote Time for others

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:36-38 ESV)

Jesus dedicated enormous amounts of time to serving the needs of hurting people around him.  Following Jesus means we are meant to focus our lives outward as well.

If all this sounds really busy, you are probably thinking we have to add these to our schedules.  These are not additions, but are meant to replace, refresh, renew, or as we have named this series, reset our use of time.  Some of the things we used to do were wasting time, and now we are invited to redeem that lost time.

What will you let go?  Budget your time.  Think of it as a limited resource, sine we can’t create time, and can only manage it.

Challenge: Watch your schedule next week.  Write down how much time you spent on each activity, then categorize it as me, God or others.  What’s out of balance?

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - November 14, 2013

Thursday - Act On It - God in Worship

Becoming Like Family

So why do Christians gather to worship week in and week out? The answer is that there are at least three very good reasons: to acknowledge God’s presence and worth, to remember that we are not alone but part of a community that is growing and learning, and to offer a visible witness to ourselves and others. But when we gather to worship for these reasons, what do we do? We celebrate! The keynote of worship is celebration. At times in its long and winding history the church has lost its sight of this. But that is what Sunday mornings are all about—celebrating who we know God is (wow—he is our Father) --celebrating what Jesus has done for us (wow—set us free from the consequences of our sin)---celebrating that can live in relationship with God through the power of the Holy Spirit (wow---we are not alone). God is a God who throws parties. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Jesus told adults to keep their eyes on the children if they wanted to know what God is like. Left on their own, adults develop strange ideas of what worship should be. …in the purely adult world, God frequently comes across as a cranky old grandfather..but children seem to know instinctively that God likes celebration. Christians are people who are called to live in community, and we are a community of learners. We need to realize how impossible it is to be a Christian on our own, not to mention half the fun. As Redeemer Church comes together, we’ll have three approaches to worship, in order: Personal: We encourage you to engage in prayer, particularly on Fridays. We also hope you’ll have personal moments of worship to thank God for what happens in your life day to day. Small Groups: As you share our challenges with friends, we hope your Friday prayers will no longer be something quiet and personal but something you share with the team. Share the moments when God was at work in your life, and pray about them! Celebration Events: Up to now, our celebration events have been just about fun, but in a few months we’ll start to host events with worship component. We want to hear from you what will help you worship God as part of a larger community. Challenge: Complete our online survey about worship here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8TS7K93 Reminder: Earlier in this series, we saw the importance of reading the Bible together in sync, so our new daily bible readings start today in our mobile app and web site.

Related Topics: God, Worship | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio

From Series: "Becoming Like Family"

This series looks at becoming “like family” with others learning to follow Jesus. We're exploring how the church is not a building, institution or event, but a community of people. It's important that explore what church means as we prepare to launch a new church in Ajax in 2014.

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