First Baptist Gulfport

Sermon: Be Faithful with Your Time (Matthew 25:1-13)

Summary:
Whoowns our time? When we are young it seems everybody owns our time but us: parents, teachers, coaches, all adults. As we age and grow, a shift takes place which often begins with an employer dictating how we use our time followed closely by spouse and family. For some, the progression moves to business ownership and the associated time demands. For others it’s job and career. Other stages in life might include caring for adult children and even one’s own parents. There are myriads of time demands placed on everyone and no two lives are identical but make no mistake, everyone will give an account to God of what they have done with the time they have received.

You are responsible for valuing your time as a gift from God. You are responsible for your attitude toward time demands in your life. You are responsible and will be accountable to God for how you invest your time. All of it. Even right now!

Make the early months of 2023 an exercise in faithful evaluation and stewardship of your time! Steward your time in such a way that you will hear the Lord say, “Well Done, good and faithful servant!”

"Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can’t buy more hours. Scientists can’t invent new minutes. And you can’t save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you’ve wasted in the past, why not start being faithful with your time today?"
—Denis Waitley

"The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time."
—Abraham Lincoln

"The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is."
—C.S. Lewis

• You are a steward of your time. You are accountable to God for how you spend your time. How you use/allocate/invest your time.

• Be intentional with your time. Know where you spend it and for what purpose.

Time is one gift from God that is the same for everybody!
Your treasure, talent and testimony are unique to you! Time and Jesus are the same!

Use your time to glorify God.

If everyone in the church will give proportionately of their time, there will always be enough to do what God calls us to do and hundreds and thousands will be blessed!

If everyone does not give proportionately of their time, there will never be enough to do what God calls us to do and hundreds and possibly thousands will miss the blessings God has for them.

“Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back.”
—Harvey Mackay

“How did it get so late so soon?”
― Dr. Seuss

Sermon Application Questions
1. How much time do you have? How much time do you need? Do you regularly need more time? How can you get “more” time?
2. Have you ever done a time study (personal or work)? What did you learn? What did you change?
3. Would a time study would help you budget your time and prioritize?
4. God has given everyone the same 24 hours a day. How much time do you allocate regularly to give glory to God? To serve others in Jesus name?
5. No one knows when the Lord will return. Not the day nor the hour. How does this truth impact how you spend the time you have?
6. What are some things you will do this week to be more faithful with the stewardship of your time?