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You have the same 24 hours in your day as the most accomplished and greatest men and women in the history of the world. Then why do you still feel like you don't have enough time to do what you want to do and be who you want to be? Between all the busyness of life it feels like we just don't have the time. But what if it was possible to make more time. I think we can. And I think I know how.
Through a look at biblical precedent, and the value of community, and a few dad jokes, "Making Time" is timely look at timeless principles and a great resource for you, your family, church, or small group.
The Host: I am.
Too.
Busy.
No scratch that.
I don't have.
Enough time.
I need some more time.
Can I get more time?
Can anyone get more time?
Is that a thing?
I would like to spend
more time being a husband.
A, dad.
Neighbor.
Coworker.
I want to spend more time on my faith.
I want to spend more time
taking care of my stuff.
Or maybe I'd like my stuff to
take less time to care for.
I want to be good at my job.
And not waste time at my job.
I went to go down the
wrong path fewer times.
Or go down the right ones first.
I went to learn how to make more time.
This is making time.
A series.
Where I try to make more time.
time.
for the good stuff.
Audrey: Chapter One...
Can I Make More Time?
The Host: Here's today's big idea.
I think you can make.
More time.
By being in community.
The reason I don't have time to do and be
all those things, being who I want to be.
Is because I am trying to do it alone.
I do my devotions alone, reading alone,
praying alone, do my shopping alone.
Usually buying stuff.
That's for me more than
anyone else, I exercise alone.
I go to work alone.
Even when I spend my time
doing stuff for other people.
I am doing stuff for them.
Rarely.
For us.
I go to work, to earn for my family.
I take my kids to school and soccer.
I take them to church, drop them off while
I go to my own church, I sing worship.
I listen to the preaching and then.
I go home.
After I pick up my kids.
It is such a part of our world
and our culture, that this
might be happening to you.
Here's how you can tell.
If your day would be easier.
If you would get so much more done.
If everyone would just leave you alone.
Then you might be.
Isolated.
What do I mean by isolated?
Great question.
An isolated person is someone
who is not essentially connected
to part of a community.
You may be around other people.
You may have lots of friends.
But is your community, your group, part
of how you live your life's purpose?
Are you a part of how your
group, lives its purpose.
Biblical times and most of history
and honestly, a lot of the world were,
and are, more communal than we are.
And a lot of that is assumed
and implied in the Bible.
They were families and tribes
and societies rolled into one.
Converting to Christianity in
the New Testament might've meant.
Getting kicked out of your family.
So the church needed to offer
something even more valuable.
And once you're in the church,
sin and division would ultimately
get you kicked out of the church.
Which was a bad thing.
Voice of the people: But community
and fellowship take time to build.
And it isn't easy.
So what if I don't have time to do that?
The Host: I'm going to pretend that
in here now let's just read the Bible.
Okay.
Voice of the people: All right.
Hannah: Ephesians 5: 15 through 16.
So then be careful how you walk, not as
unwise people, but as wise making the most
of your time, because the days are evil.
The Host: Where were we?
Ah, yes.
The big idea.
You can make more time.
Another way of saying making
the most of your time is.
Getting the most of your time, stretching
your time as far as it will go.
Getting more for your 24 hours
than an unwise person.
Voice of the people: What is this?
Just talking about productivity,
getting more stuff done in the day.
The Host: Great question.
No, let's keep reading.
Hannah: therefore do not be foolish,
but understand what is the will of
the Lord and do not get drunk with
wine in which there is debauchery.
But be filled with the spirit.
Speaking to one another in Psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs, singing and
making melody in your hearts to the Lord.
Always giving thanks for all things
in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ to our God and father.
And subject yourselves to one
another in the fear of Christ.
The Host: Singing and being thankful
is not productivity material.
It's one pizza away from a dinner party.
The entire book of
Ephesians is about unity.
It begins with a statement that
God's whole point in sending
Jesus was to unite all of us.
With each other and.
God.
Under Christ.
The first half of Ephesians is
about the theology of unity.
How Christ remade has to fit
together, each individual uniquely
called and complimentarily gifted
to fit together into a unit.
As a result of Jesus' sacrifice.
We are being shaped and
molded by the spirit of God.
The things that divided us,
could keep us apart no more.
The second half of the book
is the practice of all that.
It is about how to get
along with each other.
Whether you're different races,
spouses, employers, and employees,
parents, kids, whatever.
Paul goes into detail.
But it really comes down to humility.
Thinking of others rather than yourself.
Actually scratch that.
It is thinking of us.
Rather than myself.
Not an us versus them kind of way.
But all of us.
The problem is that.
All of us.
Is too big for me to wrap my
head around and think about in a
meaningful or practical kind of way.
It's not really gonna impact me
doing the dry cleaning if I'm
trying to think about all of us
in a global humanity sort of way.
So instead, let's simplify.
How do we.
Fit into us.
Individual humans are just pieces.
Small groups are the basic
building blocks, not individuals.
Families are what societies
and nations are made up of.
When the universe was new and fresh
and perfect right out of the oven.
There's only one thing that God
said was not good that first week.
And that was the man
hanging around by himself.
So God gave him a wife and then man
became mankind and God said it with good.
But the man and the woman sinned.
When they did it separated them
from each other and from God.
Mankind was split into pieces.
Like a drawer full of Legos.
Full of potential, but an
annoying mess at the moment.
Then Jesus sacrificed himself rose from
the dead so that he could call us family.
Voice of the people: Hey,
aren't you supposed to be
talking about making more time?
The Host: I'm getting there.
Give me a second.
Where was I?
Oh, yes.
We were made to be together.
That's how we work.
We were made to be together.
It is so important that we get it
together, that Jesus died so that
we would be together and then came
back to life so that not even death
could keep us from staying together.
And now the mission of the church
is to draw all men and women into
the love of God and be United.
So you are commanded to reach the world.
You!
Are you ready?
Go ahead.
Go and do it.
Okay.
Okay.
I realized that that is big
and kind of an abstract thing.
What's that you can't say
go handedly, save the world.
You're right.
You can't save the world.
Single-handedly but.
I've secretly been playing a trick on you.
For the past several minutes,
I've been saying you plural.
Not you singular.
"You" can't save the world, but
we can through the power of God.
And brothers and sisters, God pours out
the most power when we are together.
Why do you think it says, "for where
two or three have gathered together in
my name, I am there in their midst."
If you went to live your life
in God's power, accomplishing
miraculous things, then get together.
Get together with your family
or church group or Sunday school
or Bible study or podcast club.
That's a thing.
Get together and humbly
serve your neighbors.
Don't just serve each other.
But together, humbly serve others.
Okay.
So what should I actually
do if I want to make time?
Here's the practical part.
Start small and fun.
Sit down with your group or family
or whoever you're doing this with.
If you aren't doing it with someone,
if you're listening by yourself,
then your first step is to find
someone to go through this with.
Has everyone found a buddy yet?
Good.
Let's go.
Next, talk about your week.
What do you not have enough time for.
What are the things that you spend
a lot of your valuable time on?
It could be work projects.
It could be laundry.
It could be meal prep.
Come up with some ways that you
can help each other free up time.
For example, come up with
a small group meal train.
Meal trains, not just for
pregnant people anymore, who knew?
Each person or a couple can pick a
night of the week, and deliver a meal to
everyone else in the group that night.
That means that if there are four couples
in your group, You get three nights
off from meal, prepping and planning.
Secondly.
Talk about what you would actually
like to spend your time on specifically
in who you would like to be.
Do you feel like you haven't spent
enough time being a good parent?
Or not enough time on your spouse.
Maybe you haven't had time
to volunteer at your church.
As a group, talk about how you
can help each other free up
time to be who they want to be.
Your group.
Your community.
Your basic building block of society
is now literally making time for
you to do what you need to do.
And you're doing the same for them.
Pray together and for each other.
That you might make the most of your time.
The only father.
I want to lift up these
who are listening now.
I pray that you would unite them.
Draw them toward you
and toward each other.
And the name of your son, Jesus.
Amen.
Oh, and about that question earlier.
Voice of the people: What
question do you mean?
The Host: you know, the one I ignored.
Voice of the people: Oh, yeah.
Community and fellowship take
time to create, and it isn't easy.
But what if I don't have.
time to do that?
The Host: That's
the one.
I think we should talk
about that next episode.