Running To Win 15 Minute Version

Dave McAllister: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Consider this: the only thing between us and eternity is time. How we use that time defines our effectiveness for God. Today, more about the five steps we can take to change our lives forever and make them count in the time we have.

Stay with us. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Now, to wrap up part six in a series on managing God's gifts, here is Pastor Lutzer. His topic today: Managing Our Time, Making Every Moment Count.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Now what I'd like to do in the next few minutes is to give you five steps that you can apply that will change your life forever because there are so many people who are disorganized when it comes to spiritual matters. They are not at all in any realm of discipline. They think that somehow spirituality is going to happen by osmosis, but it doesn't.

The only thing between us and eternity is time. The only thing we have to work with until we see our Lord face to face is time. So the question to you and the question to me is, how are we going to use it? That's the question.

Let me give you five steps. Number one: determine what you want to become. Determine what you want to become. I'll tell you why we have to begin there. Let's just forget that this is a message and let's pretend that we are talking face to face now over a cup of coffee in a restaurant. Just you and me. You're looking into my eyes and I'm looking into yours. I have some questions for you.

Do you really want to know God? Do you want to really have a passion for God? Do you want to love God more than you love sin? Is there something within you that says, "When I stand before Jesus Christ, I want to have something to be able to offer to say that I did something productive and significant and fruitful for His glory? That I became a woman or a man of character and a man or woman of integrity and commitment and focus?"

Do you really want to say that? I think that you do, or you probably would not be here. But that's where time management begins. If we don't know what the goal is going to be, how can we possibly know about steps A, B, and C? If we are content with our disorganization, spiritually speaking, if we are content with our lack of Bible reading, if we are content with our lack of prayer, if we are content with our lack of witnessing, everything else that I've said so far and what I'm going to say in the next few minutes might as well not be said.

In this first point, I want to stir within you some holy discontentment and to say, "I only have so many years. Why should I be idle? I want to use them productively for Christ." That's where it begins. That's number one: decide what you want to become.

Number two: stroke from the schedule. Stroke from the schedule everything that belongs to the unfruitful works of darkness. Do you understand the battle that you're going to be in? Do you understand how Satan is going to rise up and say, "No, no, no"? We're not talking here simply about time management. We're talking about spiritual conflict.

Those who are involved in secret sins or addictions or unfruitful works of darkness, you can imagine that Satan is going to say, "No, this time has been mine in the past and it will continue to be." So what you need to do is to say, "Oh God, come to deliver me and take out of my schedule all those things that lead me into debauchery and out of fellowship with You."

You can have a heart that is hot for God. You can have a heart that has been cleansed by God. You can come to church with a great sense of worship and expectation and leave with a sense of cleanliness and joy and then turn on the television and watch a sensual program, and an hour later all of your passion and love for God has been drained and there's a cloud between you and God. We have to stroke from our lives everything that is the unfruitful works of darkness.

Number three: now what we need to do is to add those disciplines that are honoring to God. To add those disciplines and to realize that if we're going to buy out the time from its evil bondage, we're going to have to recognize that there will be some extra time just along there.

Have you ever thought of how godly we would be if all of the time that we spent on the internet and television were spent in Bible reading and prayer? Really, seriously folks, we would glow in the dark. So what do you do? You add the spiritual disciplines. You get yourself a devotional guide and you begin to read the Bible systematically, perhaps only a chapter or two a day. There are many fine devotional guides that will help you along this line.

If you ever miss a day, you don't wait until January the first to get started again. You simply say, "I've missed a day" or "I've missed two days" and now I'm going to pick it up where I was and I'm going to continue. You calmly continue. And you begin to pray through the scriptures as we've been teaching you how, so that you can now pray with a sense of freshness and a sense of ease.

Every day as you come into the word of God, you're saying, "What new way am I going to be able to pray for my friends and my family and for the missionaries and for Moody Church? What new way am I going to be able to pray for them now because I've been reading the word and I'm going to be praying these scriptures back to God?"

Then you carve out time from even things that are not sinful but that you enjoy doing and say, "God, I love You so much I'm willing to say no to something to say yes to You." That's really what our wives want. Those of us who are married, we know that they not only want our leftovers in terms of time. What they would like to do is to see us say no to something that we like to do but to say, "I love you more than I love this activity, so you come first." That's what God wants too. So you add those things that are pleasing to Him.

Number four: now you sign up. You sign up for some course or you take some step that will help you in the right direction. For many of you, it may be beginning to attend our Sunday school classes and bringing your children or an adult Bible fellowship. It's beginning to broaden your horizons or perhaps volunteering for some ministry.

Maybe as we think about the opportunity that we have here at the church with branch ministries and you begin to say, "I want to be involved. I want to do something that is going to get me out of my comfort zone." Taking evangelism explosion so that I'm going to learn how to witness and so that positively I'm going to have input from others in my spiritual growth because God knows how many years I have left and soon they will be gone and I must use the time wisely for His glory and for His honor.

Number five: you begin today. You begin today. Today is a good day to pray. Today is a very good day to be reconciled with someone that you know you should be reconciled to but you've not done it because it feels uncomfortable and you don't want to go over those emotional upheavals.

Today is a good day for you to say, "I am going to begin to turn off whatever needs to be turned off and I'm going to turn on to God and I'm going to be in His presence until that holy passion is kindled within my life because you and I know we will never, never overcome our passion for sin until we have a greater passion for Jesus because it's a battle of the passions." So we stay there until God does all that He needs to do in our hearts.

By the way, today is also a good day to be saved. The scripture says today if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. I speak to some of you who are listening who have never transferred your trust to Christ. You have never come to believe on Him personally. And you know that you should because you're disconnected from God. Though you admire Christ, He has never become your Savior. Today if you will hear His voice, do not harden your heart. Don't turn away from Him when He calls.

Someone has written: "The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to say just when the hands will stop at late or early hour. Now is the only time we own to do His precious will. Do not wait until tomorrow, for then the clock may be still." 1,440 minutes. A gift. A gift from God. How will we use it? Let's pray.

Our Father, as we think together today, we are so thankful to You for the gift of time. We do not know when it will run out because the hourglass is running. But we ask for a sense of faithfulness and commitment until we see You face to face.

Oh Father, many of us blush for shame for the many, many hours used frivolously, carelessly. And how shall we give an account for You? But that's past. Transform us for the future, we ask. And make us all that we should be to make those changes that would bring honor to Your name.

And by the way, if you've never received Christ as Savior, if you're here today and you've never believed on Him, did you know that even now you can pray and in the quietness of your heart say, "Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. I know that Jesus died for sinners, and today I transfer my trust to Him. I believe in Him and accept Him as my personal sin-bearer." Would you tell Him that? Father, do in us that which is well-pleasing in Your sight, and do not let us go until You have blessed us. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Dave McAllister: Really sobering, isn't it, to think that we are going to give an account to God for the way in which our time was used? And speaking about time, at the end of this month it is actually the end of our fiscal year here at Running to Win. Would you enable us to end strong so that we can continue to expand this ministry? Come alongside of us. Pray for us. Contribute so that this ministry might continue to go out on various platforms that many people may be encouraged and believe the gospel.

Now for a gift of any amount, we're making available for you a book entitled Christ Among Other Gods.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: I want you to visualize dozens and dozens of booths representing the various religions of the world. I walk through those booths, past them, talk to religious leaders looking for a sinless Savior. I said, "I'm a sinner. I need to be saved by a sinless Savior." You know what? No other religion has a Savior.

Are you able to defend Christ in conversation? If somebody says, "Well, I'm into Jesus, yes, you may be into Jesus, but I'm into a different religion," that's why I wrote the book. For a gift of any amount it can be yours. It's entitled Christ Among Other Gods: A Defense of Christ in an Age of Tolerance. It will ground your faith and you'll be able to share it with others.

Dave McAllister: That was Erwin Lutzer, wrapping up Managing Our Time, the last in a six-part series on Managing God's Gifts. Next time on Running to Win, we begin a series on Christ Among Other Gods, a whirlwind tour of comparative religions showing why Christ is supreme. Don't miss Pastor Lutzer's first message, "The Icon of Tolerance."

Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Knowing why Christ transcends all other religious founders is key to defending your faith in a confused culture. Pastor Lutzer has written a book, Christ Among Other Gods, and we'll send it as our thank you when you give a gift of any amount to support Running to Win.

Just call us at 1-800-215-5001. That's 1-800-215-5001. Online, go to offerrtw.com. That's offerrtw.com. Or write to us at Running to Win, Moody Church, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is a ministry of the Moody Church.