Sermon
Teach Us to Number Our Days | January 4, 2026 AM
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
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Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look
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us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
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You know, we're typically pretty good about counting things,
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aren't we? When it comes the issue of
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counting things, it's something that we do often.
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You know, you log into the bank account and you count how much
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money you have or, well, how much money you owe.
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All right, That's something that we're familiar with doing.
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If you turn on sports radio or you look at ESPN or one of the
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many sports channels that are out there, they're constantly
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counting the top five quarterbacks.
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The top ten in college basketball, Who's really the
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best in college football? Who should be in the playoffs
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and who should be out of the playoffs?
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Ranking and re ranking and counting.
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You see it all the time. We rank businesses and
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restaurants when we visit them, don't we?
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One star to five stars. And some of you might have gone
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on the Google after a bad experience somewhere and you
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said I'm going to give them one star.
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In fact, if I give them no stars, I would give them no
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stars. We're counting and ranking in
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those types of ways. We count steps, we count
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calories, we count sleep cycles with our apps and well, counting
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calories, something I haven't been doing lately, I think.
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But in general, you understand businesses count sales and
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profits and losses and all these different things.
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But of all the things we number, perhaps the most important thing
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to number is the thing that we don't often think about, and
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that's this numbering our days. I'm not talking about time
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necessarily in and of itself, because we do count a lot in
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regards to time, don't we? We all wear or many of us wear
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watches and certainly we carry our cell phones with us and they
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always have the time on it in fact.
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I feel like sometimes I need to have my phone on me, not because
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I need to check texts or get calls, but just because I simply
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want to make sure I can tell the time when we're in office at
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the. School in a car, anywhere we go,
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it seems like there's a clock nearby.
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For some reason the church thought it was a good idea to
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put a clock right in the back to make sure that actually I put it
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there, but still to make sure that we are at least.
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I know what time it is because we don't want to go way, way too
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long. Amen.
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OK, That was a trick. All right.
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You're supposed to say no, pastor, go as long as you want.
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No, never mind. But I agree with you.
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We want to know what time it is, how many times a day.
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Do you just want to check what time it is?
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You need to see what the time is.
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In fact, the most common question we probably ask is
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this. Do you have the time?
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You know what time it is, but we're going to see today from
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this Psalm written by none other than Moses.
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Believe it or not, we're familiar with David's psalms
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mostly, aren't we? But Moses writing this Psalm,
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Psalm chapter 90, is not necessarily the issue of telling
Psalms 90 chapter mention
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time or counting time, but the fact that we need to number our
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days. What does that mean?
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Why is it important to us, and why do we need to consider it
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here today, particularly at the beginning of 2026?
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Would you stand with me for the reading of God's Word?
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Again, we're in. Psalm chapter 90 and we'll begin
Psalms 90 chapter mention
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reading in verse #9 For all our days are passed away in thy
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wrath. We spend our years as a tale
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that is told. The days of our years are three
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score years and 10. And if by.
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Reason of strength, they be 4 score years, yet is there
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strength, labor and sorrow for it is soon cut off and we fly
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away. By the way, if you're not sure 3
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score, 4 score that some of you were thinking 4 score and seven
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years ago, that's probably what you're thinking of.
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It's talking about 70 years, 3 score and 10 or 4 score being 80
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years, about the average length of life maybe that we could
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consider. Who knoweth the power of thine
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anger? It says in verse 11, even
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according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
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Look at verse 12. So teach us to number our days,
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that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
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God wants us to number our days for what reason?
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So we can live in a way that is. Wise in God's eyes and not
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within our own life. And we'll look at what that
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means for us this morning as we consider the issue of numbering
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our days. Would you be seated?
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And we'll pray together. Heavenly Father, we do thank you
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for this morning. And we thank you for our guests
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and visitors who are with us today.
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We thank you for returning visitors.
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We thank you for how you bless this church.
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We think of those who are not able to be with us today.
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And I think of several who are dealing with the flu or flu
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light symptoms. I think of our brother Vince,
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who's recovering from surgery and others.
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I, I always hesitate to name names.
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I don't want to miss anyone. But at the same Time, Lord, be
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with those who are watching, those who are unable to be here,
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Lord, those who are here today, Lord, may your word do what only
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your word can do Lord, mine. My own thoughts and my own words
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are so limited, Lord, they're, they're so meaningless in so
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many ways. Lord, it's your word that
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changes lives. And may that be what people here
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today. And may that be what makes a
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difference in people's lives today.
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And we do ask it in Jesus name, Amen.
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I mentioned just a few moments ago, this Psalm is an
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interesting one for no other reason.
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If only then the fact that the author is Moses and Moses was
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not necessarily the person that we think of or the person who we
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think of when we think of the book of Psalms, because we often
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think of David, don't we? The sweet psalmist who wrote so
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many of the Psalms. But there's one and one only
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Psalm that is attributed to Moses in the 150 psalms that we
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find in this book. And you're looking at it right
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now, Psalm number 90, and interestingly enough, it says a
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prayer of Moses. And by the way, above verse #1
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do you see? It doesn't have a verse number
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there, but it says a prayer of Moses, the man of God.
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That verse there, if you would, is verse 0, or we would call it
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a prescript instead of a postscript, meaning this.
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It is part of the Bible. That was not supplied there by
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your publisher. That was not supplied there by
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someone else. It's actually part of the
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biblical record. And so we're reading this.
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It's not that your Bible publisher thought, hey, maybe
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Moses wrote this and I'm going to put that in there.
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But we know that this is. Inspired from the Lord that this
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was written by Moses and how is he titled there in that verse 0
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if you will, he's called the prayer of Moses the man of God.
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Now the title man of God is actually not found that many
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times in the word of God. It's very rarely used and it's
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saved for some of the choices of God's servants, for instance,
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David or Elijah, Elijah or a very few rare others.
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And this alerts us by seeing that Moses is a man of God, that
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this is a man who's about to give us some very keen spiritual
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insight. This is a man who lived for not
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70 or 80 years, but actually lived for 120 years.
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And could we put it this way? He saw some things in his life.
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He lived 40 years in Egypt and then 40 years in the backside of
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the desert watching sheep, and then 40 years wandering around
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the desert with the sheep of the people of Israel.
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He spent 120 years, and during that time, particularly in the
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last 40 years, he handled himself as a man of God.
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In fact, the New Testament presents Moses as a supreme
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servant in the Old Testament. He was faithful, he was
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authoritative, he was prophetic. Putting it this way, when Moses
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speaks, we ought to listen. I know we can say that all the
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word of God, I mean, where should you not listen out of the
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66 books that we find in the Bible.
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But yet when Moses speaks, he lived in such a way that there's
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something about us when, when we see that he's identified as a
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man of God, there's some things that he gets by the inspiration
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of the Spirit that we need to understand here today.
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Now, Moses made a lot of different requests to the Lord
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in the 40 or so years he was truly serving the Lord.
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He made a lot of different requests.
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Perhaps maybe the most famous or infamous of his request was at
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the burning Bush. Do you remember after he had a
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back and forth conversation with God a little bit, What was his
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request? Lord, send someone else.
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By the way, God was willing to work with Moses while he was
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working through some of his difficulties.
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You know, like I'm slow speech. Will they listen to me?
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Who should I say sent me? The Lord was very willing to
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work with him while he was dealing with some of those
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difficulties. By the way, this isn't my
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message, but can I take a time out and say this?
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The Lord is willing to work with you with some of your
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difficulties as well. Did you know you have some
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difficulties? If you don't, Sir, just ask your
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wife. She'll tell you what your
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difficulties are. All right, did you know you have
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some? We all have them, don't we?
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We all have difficulties. The Lord is willing to work with
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us if we come at those difficulties with an honest
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heart. But here's where he got
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crossways with God when he said this.
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Lord, we ascend someone else. What was he saying, Lord?
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I don't want to do it. Listen, you can have these
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issues that you're trying to work out with the Lord.
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Here's something you don't want to tell the Lord.
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No. Could I give you a nickel's
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worth of free advice this morning?
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Don't tell the Lord no when He's working on your heart.
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Don't tell the Lord no when you are reading His word and He's
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impressing upon your heart. There's some things that you
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need to change. Yes, you need to grow.
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I need to grow too. Yes, there's some things that we
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might have apprehensions about. I have those two.
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The Lord is willing to work with us in those things.
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But listen, have an open heart. Don't tell the Lord no.
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And that's what Moses did. By the way, you know what it
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said after that? The Lord got angry.
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Why? Because he said no.
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But as Moses began to grow, he asked some very interesting
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requests of the Lord. For instance, Exodus chapter 32
Exodus 32 chapter mention
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verse #32 after the golden calf incident he said this If thou
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wilt forgive their sin and if not Lord.
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Blot me, I pray, out of thy book, he requested.
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Lord, if you won't forgive them, will you curse me and forgive
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them? We want to talk about a man with
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a heart. It's a man with a heart, he says
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in Exodus 33, the next chapter, he says, I beseech the Lord,
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show me thy glory. And what a wonderful text that
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is. Exodus 34, the very next
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chapter. Let, my Lord, I pray thee, go
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among. Us for it is a stiff necked
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people. Lord, will you please go with us
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because I can't handle this on my own.
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Numbers 14 verse 19 pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of
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this people. Moses was a man who was
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acquainted of making requests to God, but perhaps his most unique
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of all requests is right here in Psalm chapter 90 verse #12 where
Psalms 90 chapter mention
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it says this So teach us and could we even?
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Put it this way. So teach us Lord.
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I'm not trying to add to the Word of God, but it's obvious
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that He's speaking to the Lord here.
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In fact, you see it at the very next verse.
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Oh, teach us, Lord. Or to what number our days?
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His request was this. Lord, I need.
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You to help me with something. I need You to help us with
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something. We need to be able to number our
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days now to understand exactly what we just read here in verses
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#9 through 12. It actually helps us to go all
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the way back to the beginning of the chapter.
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So only 8 verses. So I want you to follow along
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with me from verse #1 and going to verse #8.
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Because there's a contrast that's taking place here.
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The verses we're about to read show both the permanence.
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And the power of God, listen, it shows the permanence.
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What does that mean? He's always there, He said,
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well, what happened at the beginning?
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Well, he was there. Well, what would happen at the
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end? Well, He'll be there after the
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end, you say. Well, that doesn't make any
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sense. That's called eternality.
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That's called his permanence, and then His power, the great
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power of God. Look at it here in verses one
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through 8. Lord, thou has been our dwelling
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place in all generations before the mountains were brought
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forth. And that word before my Bible I
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have circled before the mountains were brought forth, or
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ever. Thou has formed the earth and
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the world, even from everlasting to everlasting.
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Thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction
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and sayest return, ye children of men and talking about the
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fact that that men will be judged and there's a returning.
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Returning to what? Well, returning to dust.
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I would say ashes to ashes and dust to dust.
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That man was made out of the dust of the earth.
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And man returns to the dust of the earth for 1000 years.
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And I sight our but as yesterday.
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When it is past, there's a watch in the night.
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Thou carries them away with a flood.
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They are as asleep in the morning.
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They are like grass which groweth up in the morning it
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flourisheth and groweth up in the evening.
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It is cut down and withereth. For we are consumed by thine
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anger, and by Thy wrath are we troubled.
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Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins, in
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the light of Thy countenance so. What do we see in those eight
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verses that we just read? We can't obviously treat them
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all here this morning and dig through all of them, but I do
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believe what we just saw in verses one through a the
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contrast with the text we read at the beginning of the message
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shows the contrast between the eternality of God and the very
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temporary nature of man means this God always has.
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Been God, always will be, but we're here for a short time.
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And it also shows the contrast between the strength of God and
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how fragile man is. So who are you calling fragile,
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pastor? How many broken a bone in your
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life? You'll find out how fragile you
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are, aren't you? I've never broken a bone, all
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things considered. I still find myself to be pretty
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fragile, all things considered. Especially emotionally fragile.
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No, no, I'm just kidding. Maybe I'm kidding, but anyway.
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This is what I do know. You want to find out how fragile
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you are? Why don't you fast?
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We just struck oil. All right?
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You know what happens? You know what's amazing?
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I'm not a breakfast person. I've said this before.
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I'm not a Big Breakfast person but when someone tells me I
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can't have breakfast I want it all.
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Do you know what I'm saying? Well Mr. Rivera, you got to fast
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for this blood work. It's going to be till 11:00.
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I don't normally eat breakfast till or have anything till 11:00
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anyway. But when you tell me I can't,
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now I got to have it. Why?
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Because we're fragile, right? That's who we are.
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But listen, we may be fragile. God is not fragile.
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We may be temporary, but God is permanent.
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We may be here. For a moment and gone the next
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in the eons of time, if you will, and the time that we have
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here since God created the world and until whenever the trumpet
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sounds and but we do know this. God has always been.
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And that brings us to our text. And Moses, first of all, says in
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verse #9 that our life is like a tale.
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And by tail I mean TALE like a story.
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Now, we'll say when I very first preached from this text, not
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this message, but I preached from this text, I want to say,
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Diane, I mean, we've just been at Westgate for, for probably a
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few months, I want to say. And so I was 2223 years old.
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And I remember preaching from this text.
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And I remember saying that, you know, that your life is like a
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story. And what will your story of your
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life be like? And I remember preaching that,
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you know what? It's not a bad message
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necessarily, but it's not really what the text is trying to say.
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You know, our life is as a tale and meaning this.
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It's like a story and it's a short story.
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It's here 1 moment. And it's gone the next.
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I believe that's the context when you look at everything
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that's being spoken of here, how temporary the nature of man is.
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Our life is like a tale. Your life is a story, but it's a
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short story. Just as a tale is told in a
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short fashion. Your life will come and go.
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And so that's why Moses first of all says our life is like a
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tale. And then it says that our life
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is well time. In verse 10, the days of our
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years are three score years and 10.
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And if by reason of strength they be 4 score years gives
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their strength of Labor tomorrow, for it's soon cut off,
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we fly away. Now let me be clear about when
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it talks about the 70 or 80 years saying that our life is a
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70 or 80 year time time span. This is a general principle.
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This is not a promise. We do not.
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See that we are guaranteed by the word of God to have 70 or 80
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years. You say well.
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Can you give us an example? Moses 120 years, right?
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He lived for 120 years and we don't always know exactly how
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life. Manifests itself.
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It's amazing to me and and so sorrowful to me when a parent
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has to bury a child. The awful incorrect order of
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life as it would seem to be particularly a very young child.
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We also know that there are some who live to be 100 or more.
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Just a few days ago, I believe was Dick Van Dyke, who just had
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his 100th birthday. Unfathomable.
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To me that that's even possible. But yet we see here that it says
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as a general principle that our life could be somewhere around
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70 to 80 years. It's saying this even if your
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life is 70 to 80 years to be cut off in a moment, that we all are
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finite in the time that we're here.
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Our life isn't just a story. It's a clock.
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It's a clock that's ticking downward.
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You know, sometimes you see the sands of the hourglass and you
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see the last sands go out of it. The difference for us is we
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don't know how much sand is in that hourglass and we don't know
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when it's going to come out. Listen, your life has been
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appointed a time. The Lord knows the time.
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We don't know the time, but you can be sure you have been
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appointed a time. But this leads us to the
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teaching in verse #12 And he says this teach us to number our
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days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
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We need to know that we make the most of the days we have so that
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we can be wise in that which we do for the Lord.
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And the fact that Moses says teach us means that it's
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something that we we have to learn because it's not natural.
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It's not natural to think of us about how much time we have
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left. It's not normal for us to think
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about the days that we have spent in our life.
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I think of myself now being 43 years old.
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I think we'll, as this looks here, I'm more than halfway
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through my life now. I don't know if that's the case
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and I don't know it either way, but I know this.
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It's a distinct possibility. And I think about that and I
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wonder, what have I done with my life?
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What will I do with my life? You see, the numbering of our
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days helps us to understand that each day has value.
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The numbering of our days ought to make us live in a way that is
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wise, Charles Spurgeon said. Of all arrhythmical rules, this
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is the hardest to number our days.
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Men can number the herds and droves of oxen or sheep they
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own. They can estimate the revenues
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of their manners and farms, They can with a little pain number
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and tell their coins. And yet they are persuaded that
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their days are infinite and innumerable and therefore do
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never begin to number them. We just saw last week, well, for
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the few of you that were here, a lot of you watched online last
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week, but we just saw last week that there was a man who had
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goods, there was a man who owned things.
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And he said this, I've got barns, but it's not enough to
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hold all I have, he says. So I'm going to tear down the
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barns and I'm going to build bigger barns, but then what?
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Did Jesus say of that man? He said, you fool, he says your
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souls could be required of you and you have not made the proper
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preparation. You thought that life was going
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to be forever. You thought life was about the
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here and now. He did not number his days and
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what did he do? He did not apply his heart to
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wisdom. And that brings us all to this
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thought, which I want us to dwell on for a few moments this
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morning. Since your days are numbered,
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you need to live your life for the one whose days are without
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number. Since your days are numbered,
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you need to live your life for the one whose days are without
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number. That contrast is seen right here
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in Psalm chapter 90. He has no end.
Psalms 90 chapter mention
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We do, so we live for Him. He has all power.
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We don't have much power, So what do we do?
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We live for him. We apply ourselves to wisdom.
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And so there's three things that I think 3 principles I want us
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to look at from this text very quickly this morning.
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I'd encourage you to write them down, particularly as we look
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down the barrel here at a new year, January 4th.
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We've got so much of the year ahead.
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Consider these things this morning.
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First of all, know this, and it sounds cliche, but it's found in
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the Word of God. Every day counts.
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Every day counts. And by counting, I mean that
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every day matters. There's something at stake.
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Every day the Lord allows you to wake up in the morning.
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There's things for you to do, there's things for you to learn.
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There's people for you to serve. There's souls that you need to
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give the gospel to. There are things that you need
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to give, and there's things that you need to receive.
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Listen, every day counts. Meaning every day matters.
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If our life is a tale that is told, listen.
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We need to know that every word in a story, story matters.
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What? What happens if you waste 10% of
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the words in the story? Well, depending on where it is,
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where those words are taken out, you might have a quite a
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different story, can't you? I think of the old English
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teacher joke. I was an English teacher for a
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while about the difference between the sentence I ate comma
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grandma and I ate grandma. Now you think about that for a
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second. I ate comma Grandma or I ate
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grandma no comma. With one sentence you were
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telling grandma you had supper. The other sentence you're
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telling grandma she is the supper.
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That comma matters. Doesn't I ate grandma not No, I
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hate grandma. You know that's not right.
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Listen, what I'm saying is even every punctuation mark matters,
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and the life that you have and the life that I have every.
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Day matters. Every day counts.
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Don't waste the days that God has given you.
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Find something meaningful to do for him every day, even if it's
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small, knowing that your life belongs to him.
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Listen, show people Jesus Christ, Psalm, second
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Corinthians chapter 3 verse 2 where he said your epistle
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written in our hearts, known and read of all men.
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You know what that verse is saying is that there's a lot of
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people that will never read the Bible, but they'll see you and
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you'll be the closest Bible that they've ever seen.
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What would they get from you? Will they get the true word?
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Will they get some other word that maybe pushes them further
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from Christ? Listen, make every day count in
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how you live for the Lord. Listen, clock in and clock out
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of your job with purpose, knowing that you're serving the
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Lord. You say, well, I'm not serving
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the Lord. I'm serving this huge
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corporation. I'm not serving this Lord, the
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Lord. I'm serving this boss I don't
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like. Listen, you are serving the Lord
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through your testimony and through your ethic.
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Yes, you can show Christ even in the job site.
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Yes, make every day count. Go to school with meaning, do
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your chores and make repairs with His Spirit.
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Since every day counts, show Him every day to everyone in
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everything that you do. That doesn't mean you get to
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hand a track to everybody you talk to.
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It doesn't mean you get to extend the name of Jesus Christ
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to everybody you talk to. But it does mean this.
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You can show people Christ through your countenance.
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You can show people Christ through your decisions.
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And listen, if you waste a day today, guess what?
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There's another day tomorrow. Don't just decide that you
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wasted the day for the Lord today and you're going to waste
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the next week to make yourself feel better.
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Bad about wasting today. Do people really do that?
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Listen, I can tell you this that you start eating healthy and you
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have a bad day and you're like, you know what?
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It's Monday had a bad day, so I'm going to start next Sunday.
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That's what we do, isn't it? But every day counts.
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You mess up today. Well.
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Confess it to the Lord and make tomorrow count.
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You know what Satan wants you to do.
-
He wants you to make sure you waste today and then keep
-
wasting tomorrow and the following day and the following
-
day and the following day and the following day.
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And you're always going to tell you along the way how no good
-
you are and how much a waste you are and how God's wasting His
-
time on you. And this is what He's going to
-
tell you. Listen, make every day count for
-
Him. And if you missed making today
-
count, listen, make tomorrow count for him #1 our life is a
-
tale is told. That means that every day counts
-
#2 every day is a currency, Every day is a currency.
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Say, well, Pastor, what does that mean?
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Well, really, it goes along with the last point.
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But I would say this, that every day is a currency.
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It's a commodity. It's something that you hold
-
meaning. This yesterday has already been
-
spent. Tomorrow's not in your account
-
yet. Do you know what you have to
-
spend today? Well, what am I going to do
-
tomorrow? It's not tomorrow.
-
You know, I'm not saying preparation and planning is a
-
bad thing. I encourage you to prepare and
-
plan. We just talked about this last
-
week and we looked at it where Jesus said that the fact was
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that if you were going to build a tower, you ought to count to
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make sure that you had enough money to build the tower.
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If you were to go to war, you probably ought to make sure you
-
have more soldiers than the other people that you're going
-
to war with. That planning and preparation is
-
good. But listen, it only goes so far.
-
You can only serve the Lord today.
-
It's a currency, and if you waste today, listen, it's gone.
-
That's why it says we must number our days and apply our
-
hearts to wisdom. Are you willing to spend the
-
currency of today wisely? Could you imagine if I had $100
-
bill up here and I just, I have to imagine that, I guess.
-
So could you imagine $100 bill I have up here and I have a
-
shredder and I say, you know what, we've got a party coming
-
up here at the church. I think we've got a bridal
-
shower and then we got we got baby shower in different order,
-
but they're coming up. We need some confetti.
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Let's put some $100 bills in here.
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All right. They passed their cheaper ways
-
to make confetti than with $100 bills.
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Somebody would say, why are we tithing at this church?
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They just put $100 bills in the like.
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That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.
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Listen, why would you do that? Listen, that money was made to
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be spent. And if it's not spent today, it
-
will be spent eventually. But listen, your days are like
-
$100 bills that if you don't spend it today, you might as
-
well shred it. It's done, it's gone.
-
That conversation that you need to have, listen.
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Have it today as the Lord allows that.
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Person that you need to witness to talk to them today, that
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person. That you need to reconcile with.
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Try to reconcile with them today.
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I know it's not always that easy, I understand that, but if
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there is any possibility of it, don't put it off till tomorrow.
-
Spend the currency of it today. The Bible talks to us constantly
-
about making sure that we use the currency of today.
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Psalm 118, verse 24. This is the day which the Lord
-
has made. Let us rejoice and be glad to do
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Hebrews 313, but exhort one another daily while it is called
-
today, lest anyone of you be hardened through the
-
deceitfulness of sin. You know what it says.
-
If you're going to be an encouragement to somebody, you
-
know a good time to be an encouragement to somebody today.
-
You know, I really want to encourage.
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I was thinking about you. I mean, I didn't call you or
-
text you, but I was thinking about you.
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Well, don't just think about them, call them and text them
-
today. Listen, the whole thing with
-
thoughts and prayers. I was thinking about you.
-
Listen, don't think about me. Pray for me.
-
Put the thoughts off to the side.
-
Just give me the. Prayers, all right, because I,
-
to be honest, I don't know how much I want you thinking about
-
me, all right, but I do want you.
-
Praying for me. I want you to pray.
-
I need. You to pray for me.
-
But it says, when do you do that?
-
Today, in the day that is called today.
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Joshua 2425, perhaps the most famous verse in the Bible that
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deals with today. And if it seemed evil unto you
-
to serve, the Lord, choose you. This day, whom you will serve,
-
whether you're gods which are served that your father served
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on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, and
-
whose land you dwell. But As for me and my house, we
-
will serve the Lord. Joshua said this.
-
We're making a decision today, he said.
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Well, I'm going to make a decision tomorrow.
-
Well, you're making a decision today not to.
-
And so you've made a decision by not making a decision.
-
Hey, Pastor, could you say that again?
-
I don't know that I could say it again, all right.
-
But I do know that you can put you can say I'm not going to
-
decide to do anything with today.
-
And listen, you just waste it. You shredded it, it's gone.
-
It's done. There's nothing to do with it.
-
Say, why wouldn't waste $100 bill that way?
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Why would you waste a day like that, which is so far more
-
valuable than $100 bill? You know, they produce a lot of
-
things for $100. You know what they don't
-
produce? Time.
-
Jim Elliott, missionary to the unreached people of Ecuador,
-
believed obedience to Christ was worth any cost.
-
In 1956, he and four of the missionaries were killed when
-
attempting first contact. His journal line is often
-
quoted. Listen to this.
-
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he
-
cannot lose. That's deep.
-
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, meaning the things
-
of this life to gain what he cannot lose, the things of
-
eternity. Jesus put it this way.
-
They're not out for yourselves. Treasures on earth for most, and
-
moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves breakthrough and
-
steal. So instead lay up for yourselves
-
treasure in heaven. The ends with this, for where
-
your treasure is, there will your heart be also, meaning
-
this. The more you number your days
-
and the more you lay up your treasures, the currency of these
-
days the right way, you know your heart will be where it
-
needs to be every day. Excuse me?
-
Every day counts, every day is a currency #3 and finally, every
-
day is a countdown. Every day is a countdown.
-
Remember 3 score years and 1070 or 80 years as a principal.
-
Not a promise, but we do know. This it's a reminder that our
-
time will be up someday and we don't know when the buzzer will
-
sound. You watch a any Sport on
-
television today and they have right there in the bottom of the
-
screen or right there in the corner of the screen.
-
What do they have? The clock, you know when the
-
game is going to end reasonably so depending on how many fouls
-
or penalties or stuff there may be going on, but you have a
-
reasonable understanding of how long the game will go.
-
Now, remember when I coached girls basketball coach, high
-
school basketball, that we would go to a lot of gyms and most of
-
these gyms were pretty, you know, small and pretty Spartan
-
in the way that they were set up.
-
And if you were lucky, you had one electronic clock 1, and it
-
was only on one side of the gym. There's a problem.
-
You got to play both ways. So if we were at home, we always
-
made sure that we got the side where we saw the clock in the
-
fourth quarter. If we were away, they always
-
made sure that we got the side where you couldn't see the clock
-
in the fourth quarter. And so if we were very close and
-
we need to make sure we need to make a last second bucket, you
-
know what I had to do? I had to stop coaching and I had
-
to do this 10/9, 8. I had to count because I could
-
see the clock. None of them could because
-
they're back towards the clock and if you were against the
-
other team and they really want to get into your head, all of a
-
sudden people in the crowd and people in the other bench are
-
going. 479. Two, and they didn't know.
-
But listen, if they hit the buzzer could sound and they
-
could hold on to the ball and didn't even know it was time to
-
shoot and it was too late. So listen, do you know what I
-
told them? Now listen to this.
-
I had to tell the girls this. Don't listen to the other
-
voices. You listen to my voice.
-
I'm the coach. I'll tell you when the time's
-
up. No one else is going to tell you
-
one time. It is in fact, they're going to
-
try to tell you some other time. But I'm the one that will be
-
honest enough. I'm the one with the information
-
that will tell you when time is up.
-
Now, listen, I'm not trying to suggest this morning that if you
-
walk closely enough with God that He will give you the time
-
of your days. By the way, God is merciful and
-
gracious enough to not tell us when our time is.
-
You think you want to know that? I don't.
-
I'm not trying to suggest that this morning.
-
But I'm saying this. If you walk with God and you
-
follow His countdown, if you will, you'll be where you need
-
to be and you'll do what you need to do and you'll get
-
accomplished and you get accomplished if you listen to
-
his voice and not the voices of the world.
-
Know what the voices of the world tell you?
-
Don't go to church. You're wasting your time.
-
You're wasting your time. You're coming to to listen to to
-
some preacher who's standing up with his really weird looking
-
suit jacket and he's got that's why the church had to give him a
-
love offer. He's got another suit jacket.
-
You know what I'm saying? Christmas gift and you're going
-
to waste of your time. Why are you reading your Bible?
-
No waste. You know what you could do with
-
your. You know what you could do with
-
that? 15 minutes or or so, or however
-
long it is. In the morning when you're.
-
Having time with God you waste your time why would you pray
-
what a waste of time why would you fast what a waste of time
-
why would you try to reach other people for Christ what a what a
-
waste of time why would you prioritize your life to.
-
Live in a way that's pleasing to God.
-
Why don't you just please yourself?
-
That's what everyone else is doing.
-
Everyone else just wants to please themselves, and you're
-
missing out by trying to please the Lord.
-
Why would you do that? It sees all these other voices
-
are saying, do all these other things.
-
You know what some there will be a time when the Lord says time.
-
And you know what you'll have? You'll still be holding onto the
-
ball and it'll be too late. And the Bible says that there
-
will be tears as we approach heaven.
-
You say, pastor, that doesn't make sense.
-
I don't have time to go there. But the Book of Revelation says
-
he'll wipe every tear from our eye.
-
I always wonder why we're crying.
-
There's probably a lot of reasons for it.
-
I have to imagine one of those is the things that we knew we
-
should have done, but we were so worried about the here and now
-
and we'll be an eternity and look at what we had and say that
-
was so fleeting. It was momentary and we wasted
-
our life for things that don't matter.
-
Do you know if? You were on the.
-
Forbes 500 list and you're in heaven.
-
By the way, anyone here on the Forbes 500 list?
-
If you do, make sure you tie. All right, good, I'm in.
-
I see that hand. All right, good.
-
But I do. I do know this.
-
In heaven you could be a pauper and you're on equal ground.
-
That's right. That's right.
-
You live this life with nothing, you say?
-
Well, well, do you find that in the Bible?
-
I'll give you one worse. There is a man who lived his
-
life so badly, had sores all over himself.
-
He had nothing. He he, he begged for crumbs off
-
of a man's table. And that man was so rich that he
-
lacked nothing. But the Bible says that man
-
defended turning hell and Lazarus had comfort.
-
By the way, I don't believe that's a parable because
-
parables don't give names. There's a reason Lazarus was
-
mentioned as being in paradise and the other man mentioned
-
being in hell because he still had family that was spoken of in
-
that parable. Listen, it's real.
-
Count your days. Every day is a countdown the
-
Lord. And listen, we don't know when
-
the Lord will reappear again for his second coming.
-
We don't know if we'll go, as my preacher used to say, by the
-
undertaker or the upper taker. But we do know this.
-
Your time is short. Say, pastor, what are you
-
saying? Saying this, if you don't know
-
where you spend eternity, you don't wait another day.
-
Don't wait another minute. So I have questions about
-
eternity. I don't know where I'll spend
-
eternity. You know what?
-
The answer will not be in a catechism.
-
The answer will not be in a self help book.
-
The answer will not be with a new age gurus.
-
The answer will not be within yourself.
-
You know, just unlock the the, the, the person inside of you.
-
No, I'll tell you, I want to lock the person away that's
-
inside of me as I like the flesh.
-
I need to lock him away. I need he needs to die daily.
-
The Bible says read Romans 6-7 and eight.
-
Find out what you're supposed to do with that.
-
But I will say this, the answer is in this book and the gospel
-
message. There's some of you that have
-
been struggling with this. For a while.
-
So we've been struggling that whether the was the answer
-
Catholicism or is the answer in the Baptist Church or is the
-
answer in the Presbyterian Church or is the answer in the
-
Bible church, the answer in the non denominational church.
-
The answer you've missed is in Jesus Christ.
-
That other stuff we'll work out later, but the answer the
-
Gospels in Jesus Christ and that you're a Sinner and only he can
-
save you and that if you do not accept him that there is a very
-
real penalty for those sins that you will have to pay.
-
But Jesus already paid it for you.
-
So he wants you to take the free gift of salvation for those of
-
you that are saved. The message is this number your
-
days make every day count. Why?
-
Because well, he counts every day has value.
-
Why? Because he has the ultimate.
-
Value. Your days are numbered, so you
-
need to live your life for the one whose days are without
-
number. I'll give you this story and
-
I'll be done. Consider the story of a man
-
named William Borden. I've read this several years
-
ago. Some of you I I know living in
-
the South. Borden Dairy.
-
Borden milk was, was the milk that everybody drank.
-
But William Borden was the heir of that $1,000,000 family
-
fortune in the late 1800s. It was worth about 2 billion.
-
It is worth about $2 billion today, equivalent of what that
-
company was owed. He earned his undergraduate
-
degree from Yale and a graduate degree from Princeton Seminary.
-
Against all worldly logic, he left his millions and followed
-
the call of God to an unreached Muslim people group in western
-
China. He gave his life to Christ at
-
the young age and upon graduating from high school, his
-
parents rewarded him with a tour around the world.
-
He ventured across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, and God
-
began to burden his heart for those who had never heard the
-
gospel of Christ. Williams own passion to follow
-
Christ was growing, he said, under the preaching of Doctor RA
-
Torre, a well known evangelist of the day, and felt the Holy
-
Spirit calling him to commit himself fully to Christ.
-
He wrote the words No reserves. His father was adamant that his
-
son attend university and so he obeyed his father's wish and
-
enrolled at Yale University. William began meeting with a
-
friend in the mornings to read the Bible and pray together and
-
soon another student joined them, then another.
-
The number of students showing up for morning prayer meetings
-
began to multiply and over the course of a few years what began
-
as a small group became a campus wide movement.
-
Some report that by the end of Williams first year.
-
At Yale, 150 students gathered in groups for prayer meetings,
-
and by a senior year, the movement grew to 1000 students.
-
Can you imagine that at Yale in New Haven, CT?
-
Could you imagine? That also during his college
-
years, he helped found Yale Hope Mission, seeking to rehabilitate
-
drunkards and others in need near the docks of New Haven.
-
The spirit of God stirred and burdened Williams heart
-
concerning the specific unreached Chinese so much that
-
he decided to pursue a master's degree from Princeton Seminary
-
and then sailed directly for China.
-
Upon graduation. He had several prestigious job
-
offers, but his mind was still set on China.
-
Borden then wrote the words No retreats.
-
William followed through with his plan to sail overseas and
-
obedience to God's call on his life.
-
Before going to China, he first spent time in Egypt learning the
-
Arabic language in preparation for his ministry to Muslims.
-
It was there they caught spinal meningitis.
-
William died one month later was buried in Cairo.
-
He was 25 years old. After his death, these three
-
phrases were found written inside of his Bible.
-
No reserves, no retreats, no regrets.
-
You say that man wasted his life.
-
He was 25 years old and died. And my response to you would be
-
this, 100 plus years later we're still talking about him.
-
There was a woman who wasted an alabaster box.
-
It would have been about a year's worth of salary.
-
And Jesus said, as long as I'm spoken of, this woman will be
-
spoken of in her sacrifice. It's not a waste.
-
Listen, when you give your life to the Lord, it is never a
-
waste. Listen, I'll say this and I'll
-
be done. He'll take better care of your
-
days than you will. So give your life to Him in
-
salvation, or continue to consecrate your life to Him on a
-
daily basis once you're saved. Thank you for listening to the
-
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
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If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
-
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
-
[email protected]. Or you can visit us this Sunday
-
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
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May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.