[Faith-talk] FW: [thefamilyoffaith] Billy Graham - Three Ways toUse Time Wisely

[fswilliams049 at aol.com]

This was a very powerful message and I really got work to do for the Lord.
Felicia

--------------------------------------------------
F rom: "Eric Calhoun" <eric at pmpmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2011 12:48 PM
To: <faith-talk at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [Faith-talk] FW: [thefamilyoffaith] Billy Graham - Three Ways toUse 
Time Wisely

>
>
> Original Message:
> From: "thefamilyoffaith" <TheFamilyofFaith at tampabay.rr.com>
> To: <thefamilyoffaith at yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [thefamilyoffaith] Billy Graham - Three Ways to Use Time Wisely
> Date:
> Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:08:11 -0400
>
>
>
>
> Three Ways to Use Time Wisely
> Billy Graham
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
>
> More than 75 years ago Henry Luce wanted a name, in just one word, for a
> weekly newsmagazine that would describe the passing events of the day. He
> chose the word time.
>
> The Bible says, "The days of our lives are seventy years" (Psalm 90:10,
> NKJV). Time is a mystery. We sense its passing in our consciousness. We
> measure its progress with delicately adjusted instruments. We mark its
> flight and read the record it leaves behind. But the one thing we cannot 
> do
> is define it.
> The Bible teaches that time and life are tied together. It seems that the
> whole universe is organized for measuring time. Nature is like a huge
> clockmaker's shop in which thousands of timepieces are ticking. Pulse 
> beats
> indicate the fleeting moments; the rotation of the earth marks the passing
> of day and night; the phases of the moon, the moving on of the months; the
> revolutions of the planets, the march of the years.
>
> Geology studies the wrinkles written by time on earth's brow. Astronomy
> studies the clockwork of the heavens. Archaeology, peering about among the
> relics of the ancient past, traces the footprints of time in the ages gone
> by.
>
> At this time of year we speak of Father Time and visualize an old man
> with a long white beard who is holding a scythe in one hand and an
> hourglass in the other hand. But time is a thief. Time steals strength 
> from
> our muscles and youth from our faces. Time robs us of our health and 
> strips
> us at last of everything that we have.
> THE MEANING OF TIME TO CHRISTIANS
> To the Christian, time has a moral significance and a spiritual meaning.
> Let us consider time in three ways.
>
> First, time is a trust. What are we doing with it? Are we frittering it
> away, letting it slip through our fingers, squandering it in wanton waste?
> Or are we treasuring it, using it to maximum advantage, filling every
> minute with 60 seconds' worth of service to God? The Apostle Paul counsels
> us to "redeem the time" (Cf. Ephesians 5:16). Time cannot be relived; it
> can only be redeemed. Let us treat time as a trust.
>
> Second, time is a test. Suppose I were to ask you what you propose to do
> at 1 o'clock yesterday. You would think I had lost my mind. You might
> reply, "Don't be silly. I cannot decide what I shall do at 1 o'clock
> yesterday, because I've already decided that issue."
>
> But suppose I were to ask you, "What do you propose to do at 1 o'clock
> tomorrow?" You might answer, "I may do this, or I may do that."
>
> Time past is time over which we have no power, but time to come lays upon
> each one of us the possibility of moral and spiritual choices.
>
> As life goes on, there are billions of events happening in every moment
> of historic time. To those billions of events we contribute our quotas.
> What is the next contribution that you will make? In the next instant you
> can tell a lie or commit other sins, or you can choose to use that time to
> serve God and to lay up treasures for eternity.
>
> Time in itself is neither good nor bad except as we make it so. But it
> becomes a crucial test, sifting us through and through, minute by minute.
>
> How are you reacting to that test? How does it affect you? Are you
> growing daily in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter
> 3:18)? Do you take advantage of every opportunity to study the Scriptures
> and to pray? Do you take advantage of every opportunity to witness to 
> Jesus
> Christ?
>
> Third, time is an appointment. Time has been given to us for the purpose
> of glorifying God in this life. Time has been given to us to have an
> encounter with the living God. However famous a person may be, or however
> great his wealth, or whatever his contribution to literature or science, 
> if
> he has not come into a vital conversion experience with Jesus Christ, then
> that person has lived in vain.
>
> Thus time is an appointment with Christ, and the Bible says, "Now is the
> accepted time" (2 Corinthians 6:2, NKJV). God has given us a moment in
> which we can come to know His Son Jesus Christ. We can come out of time 
> and
> enter eternity with Him. From now on, everything we do can be done with
> eternity in view.
>
> A story has been told about a party of men shipwrecked and adrift in a
> small boat on a stormy sea in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. After floating for
> several days, the men one night saw the light of a passing ship. But how
> could they attract the attention of those on the ship? How could they make
> them aware of their desperate plight? They had a lantern-but only one
> match.
>
> Someone in the boat had to accept the responsibility of striking that one
> match. That solitary match was all that stood between them and the liner
> that was steaming by. What was to be done? They decided to cast lots, and
> the heavy responsibility fell upon the youngest sailor.
>
> With a prayer on his lips and with trembling fingers, he struck the
> match. For a moment the flame flickered as though it would go out.
> Shielding the match with his cupped hands, the young sailor put it through
> the open door of the lantern, lit the stub of the candle and quickly 
> closed
> the door. On the liner the lookout man spotted the light and informed the
> captain, and soon the men were saved.
>
> Amid the stormy seas of life and against the background of eternity, the
> present moment flickers like the flicker of that lighted match. What will
> you do with your moment?
>
> Ebenezer Erskine wrote that in the summer of 1708, he "got his head out
> of time into eternity." That was the hour that he accepted Jesus Christ as
> his Savior. That hour was his existential moment, his life's crowning
> instant. Will you keep your appointment with Jesus Christ?
> THE END AND THE BEGINNING
> As the world moves from crisis to crisis, a moment will come on God's
> clock, and that hour is about to strike. The Bible tells us that the end
> will come but that the end also will be the beginning. When Jesus Christ
> comes again, it will be the end of this world's system of evil and the
> beginning of God's reign throughout the earth.
>
> But before that hour strikes, our world is in for crisis after crisis.
> There will be wars and rumors of wars, revolutions and riots everywhere.
> People will betray each other as the deceitfulness of their hearts comes
> out into the open-crucifying Jesus Christ afresh.
>
> The hour is late. The time is coming when people will call upon God, but
> they will not hear an answer. They will look for God, but they will not
> find him (Proverbs 1:28).
>
> Today is your day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Today you can accept
> Jesus Christ as your Savior. You can put your faith, your trust and your
> confidence in Him. He will change your dimension of time and put you into
> eternity with Him.
>



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