The Most Important Priorities of Life | Doug Batchelor

welcome for any who might be visiting the hilltop adventist church we're so thankful that you're here today and uh worshiping god always want to welcome those who are still worshiping with us online of course we've had friends who are online members worshiping with us online since long before the pandemic so i want to greet those as well today we're going to be talking about what i think is one of the most important subjects because we're talking about priorities so what could be more important than a priority right and i think that the key to success in life is aligning your priorities appropriately i think that in in eternity looking back we'll see that people's eternal destiny turned one way or the other and it pivoted on understanding what the priorities are not understanding those things can be uh eternally fatal a scripture i'm sorry the sermon title rather is living by spiritual priorities and i'd like to invite you to go to a scripture we're going to open with it's in first kings chapter 3 and verse 3 first book of kings now king solomon has just become king david has passed away and in early on in his kingdom he was showing his his love and his dedication for the lord and you can read in i love this part first kings chapter 3 and verse 3 and it says solomon loved the lord and that's one of the most important things you could read solomon loved the lord walking in the statutes of david his father and then it says in verse 4 the king went to gibeon to sacrifice there there's no temple yet solomon of course built the temple for that was a great high place and solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar he wanted to begin his reign showing his love and dedication for god at given the lord appeared to solomon in a dream by night and god said ask what i shall give you so god says what do you want ask and you know just this is way better than finding a genie in a bottle that gives you three wishes of course that's not true this is a god saying what shall i do for you what is the first thing that you would seek what would you ask for to get a blank check from god what do you ask for solomon he responds in a wise way verse 6 you've shown great mercy to your servant david my father because he walked before you in truth in righteousness and uprightness of heart with you you've continued this great kindness for him and you've given him a son to sit on the throne as it is this day now oh lord my god you've made your servant king instead of my father david but i'm a little child i don't know how to go out or come in and your servant is in the midst of your people who you have chosen a great people too numerous to be counted because that's what god had promised abraham here's his request therefore give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people that i might discern between good and evil he wants to know the difference between right and wrong for who is able to judge this great people of yours and the speech pleased the lord that solomon had asked this thing then god said to him because you've asked this thing and you've not asked for long life for yourself nor have you asked for riches for yourself nor have you asked for the life of your enemies but you've asked for yourself understanding to discern justice behold i've done according to your words see i've given you a wise and an understanding heart so that there is no one there has not been anyone like you before you nor shall there be like you any that will arise after you i've also given you that what you did not ask for both riches and honor so there shall be none anyone like you among all the kings all your days so if you walk in my ways and keep my statutes and my commandments as your father david i will lengthen your days i've given you a wise and understanding heart giving you riches and honor and i'll give you a long life how did all that come by having the priority of what did solomon ask for i've got this kingdom i need to know the difference between right and wrong good and bad to judge your people he sought first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and because he sought first the kingdom of god and his righteousness everything else came to him because he had his priorities right you can see why this is such an important theme if we get our priorities wrong everything else goes wrong now i struggle sometimes with priorities in fact in preparing for the message today i thought like a good pastor if you're going to study and preach about a word look the word up so i get online and i type in the word priority and it pops up you know merriam-webster's got this definition thing i go to but in order to watch that for free there's ads on the side and you know there's an ad on the side that says you know a surefire way to get rid of age spots or something i'm looking i'm going click and then when i'm learning about the age spots it says have you heard that elvis presley has been reincarnated as a jungle sloth i thought well i don't believe in reincarnation but that's pretty interesting i gotta find out what the world are they talking about click now that didn't happen exactly like this but that kind of thing has happened to me before anyone else you're trying to study and you get distracted from the main thing and they call it click bait they got these crazy things it says find out what really happened to the brady bunch well that's from my era i thought did something happen i don't know and you don't want to be you know not knowing these things and so i've got a strong curiosity and all of a sudden i find myself clicking in 10 minutes later i'm going what did i come here for oh yeah priorities i was going to look up the definition for priorities and i wasted 10 minutes of things that just really didn't matter heard about a uh hunter he was a bear hunter and and someone told them that we've got a really good bear dog and these bear dogs you know their job is to track and to tree the bear for the hunter so he takes his dog out on its first run and he sets off through the woods and he the hunter brings him to where he knew there was a bear trail the dog sniffs around he gets the scent of the bear and he takes off running pretty soon there's a crash off in the brush and the hunter can tell he's on the heels of a of a bear but as the dog is running off after the bear a deer runs across he spooks a deer and it jumps across the trail the dog looks at he smells the bear but he figures a deer in hand is better than the bear in the bush and so he turns he starts following the deer and in the process of chasing after the deer then a rabbit goes across the trail and you know what he does rabbits are more fun and then there's a squirrel and when the far the hunter finally catches up with his dog he's barking down a mouse hole starts out hunting for bear in the trees and he's now looking for mice in the holes and it's a progression of distractions from the priority of the mission the devil is working full-time to distract the church with click bait to get us going from the bear to the mouse so we're not really pursuing what is important i remember years ago when i went to three abn i was maybe 30 years ago and started doing some taping they had in their old satellite room i'd stay in the guest room they had a sign above the door and it said the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing so that's profound the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing and that of course would be jesus friends amen i don't know about you do you sometimes have problems focusing on what is really important and we get distracted by things that don't really have eternal consequences by the way a priority i did look it up something that is regarded as more important than another now in the message today i'm going to go through about a dozen different priorities and you might say pastor doug if there's a dozen then none of them are really priorities you think if there's a priority it's one thing but i'm talking about different areas in our lives and in the scripture and these are all backed up by bible number one priority take care of your body now you might be thinking why would you pick that first because if you lose your mind none of the other priorities matter right if you die none of the other priorities matter you experience life and you fulfill all the other priorities in your body and so one of the most important things you can learn is take care of yourself so that you are around to evaluate and process the other priorities first corinthians 3 16 and 17 don't you know that you are the temple of god and that your the spirit of god dwells in you if anyone defiles the temple of god god will destroy him for the temple of god is holy which temple you are be careful what you eat be careful what you drink make sure you get enough rest you need to sort of take control of your schedule and your health so that you can serve god with all of your heart and love him and serve your fellow man but you got to start with that natural love for yourself take care of yourself and i i have to work on that all the time as a priority and some people get angry with me because i say i need to rest at a certain time or i'm no good to anybody and i need to eat at a certain time sometimes i'll be at the office and they'll say can we have one more meeting that will last half an hour and i go no why you got something else yeah lunch and i'm religious about it because i eat breakfast at lunchtime so i'm pretty hungry you can ask the people in the amazing facts office to see 12 o'clock it's rare if doug is still here he's going to go eat his bowl of cereal which brings me to another point sometimes out of love for god and my fellow man i turn down invitations to eat because you can't always be eating out all the time and have control of your health and even though a lot of people are great cooks it's just you know you never know and it's always different and if you know your body you've got to be on a schedule so take care of yourself get appropriate rest that's why the sabbath is so important take care of your body ephesians 5 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourished it and cherished it just as the lord does the church first corinthians 6 20 you were bought with a price glorify god in your body and in your spirit and i talked about rest eating and drinking appropriately you need to exercise if you've got a job where like me you have a sedentary job and so many people used to work on the farm they don't anymore they work at a desk you need to be religious about saying i'm going to have set times where i'm going to get up and i'm going to walk or i'm going to run or i'm going to do something to make sure my heart is pounding and i'm getting that aerobic exercise and take care you'll live a lot longer and that is the number one priority in in many ways is take care of yourself now the other priorities i'm sharing they may not be in the exact order they're just a little bit random but they're all important another one number two prioritize your time because while if you lose your house if you lose your money you lose your clothes you can buy more if you lose your time you can't buy anymore you've only got so much time and so you need to be careful how you spend your life because what you do with your time is what you're doing with your life you ben franklin said time is the stuff that life is made of if you waste your time you are wasting your life now this is something i think uh is really important in our day and age because especially with the young people there is a critical moment in your life when you're young when your minds are so sharp you don't know how sharp your minds are you don't realize it until you get old that when you're young you don't have to think hard to think you know you're just it's real easy and you're able to learn take those prime years of your life and fill your mind with good things store wisdom in your mind because it's a little harder later and yet i see so many young people squandering hours of time texting frivolous nothings on their phone and surfing through clickbait and playing video games and they do it for years and then they get to mid life and you wonder why they're you know as far as maturity they're sort of imbeciles because they've not taken those valuable years they've wasted the time that god gave them and it's a distraction of the devil now also for those of us that are older exodus 18 14. jethro moses father-in-law comes to visit his 80-year-old son-in-law so jethro's he's up there himself they've come out of the land of egypt this is in the book of exodus as i mentioned chapter 18 verse 14 and and moses is now judging the people he's got this nation of slaves are a little disorganized you know the egyptians aren't telling them what to do anymore and and there's about two million of them we don't know but they had like 600 000 soldiers so you do the math if there's other old and young and women and children and they're lined up all day long moses is sitting there and he's listening to the various disputes and he's trying to tell him what god wants him to do and jethro comes to visit his son-in-law and he watches in amazement all day long as he sits there and he does that and he doesn't interrupt but at the end of the day he pulls his 80 year old son-in-law aside he said what is this thing that you're doing verse 14 exodus 18 for your people why do you sit alone and all the people stand before you from morning till evening and moses said to his father-in-law well because the people come to me to inquire of god when they have a difficulty they come to me and i judge between one and another and i make known the statutes of god and his laws so moses father-in-law said to him the thing that you're doing is not good both you and this people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out it's not good for you this is the health issue again he said moses you're going to wear out physically that's not a good idea some of us think that we've got to be in charge of everything and if you try to be in charge of everything you'll do nothing very well that was profound if you try to do everything you'll end up doing everything poorly and so he said this is not the way to do it he said why don't you get two million people is there no other wise men in the whole country no one else knows the lord but you said pick out rulers of thousands and hundreds and fifties and tens and and delegate responsibility and you can then use your time more carefully for the things that god has called you to do and so it's important to prioritize how you use your time ephesians 5 15 see then that you walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time because the days are evil we're surrounded by all kinds of evil distractions and we need to prioritize our time redeem the time we've wasted time make the most of the time you have left and learn good things and serve god psalm 90 verse 12 lord teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom as i was mentioning to the young people fill your minds with things that are going to help you and help others and whatever you learn in this life you take with you into eternity so never stop studying next one focus on eternity when you're thinking about priorities keep the eternal perspective of what really matters jesus warns us back in the days of noah matthew 24 37 that's how it will be in the coming of the son of man as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and given in marriage none of those bad in themselves until the day that noah entered the ark and they did not know until the flood came and took them all away they did not prioritize seeking first god's kingdom they took became preoccupied with the cares of life and eternity caught them unprepared this is what jesus is saying they're doing you know eating and drinking you got to do they're building buying and selling planting and next thing you know eternity and they weren't ready luke 21 34 jesus said take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing and drunkenness and the cares of this life so that day comes upon you unexpectedly every day realize this could be your last day i know that's sort of a somber thought right that could make you a little moody if you're just always thinking could i die at any moment but i think in the big picture you need to realize it's true that none of us knows exactly what our expiration date is and that get life is a gift and some of us play russian roulette with eternity and we figure well i should make it to you know 75 or 80 that's what the average is so i'm going to goof off until then and you know the lord kind of catches a lot of people unprepared so live your life with the eternal perspective of seeking first god's kingdom and his righteousness and plan on that when you think about what's happening in the world today the way some people are living their lives someone said it's like straightening the pictures in a house on fire or rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic as it's sinking that's misplaced priorities and the devil tries to distract us with things that don't really matter so many people in the world are so distracted it's amazing to me how many people are preoccupied with hollywood and what the movie stars what the sports stars are doing and they just spend all their time living vicariously some other fantasy life and those people's lives are pretty out of order as it is and it's just a big distraction he gets us so focused on something that doesn't really matter that jesus says the thing that really matters we rarely think about i heard about this man that he worked in a factory that sold electronics and they had expensive electronics and so whenever the employees left they had hundreds of employees whenever the employees left the business they had to pass through security that would make sure they weren't prolonging the products well in the same factory they had a lot of shipping coming in and shipping going out and in that process they ended up with extra shipping packing material they didn't need so they were they had just tons and tons of styrofoam peanuts you all know what i'm talking about so one of these employees went to the boss and he said you're throwing out all these extra styrofoam peanuts he said i could use them i make bean bags and i'd like to take some home and put them in beanbag chairs and stuff he said you can have all you want so just tell security so at the end of the work day once a week he would take wheel barrel filled with these styrofoam peanuts by security would say we got to check this and this guy security guard going he reaches around he'd feel through the styrofoam peanuts make sure he wasn't stealing any electronics and then he'd wave them all through and then you'd have all these styrofoam peanuts stuck because of static electricity to his arm and you take him off and next week he comes again with another wheelbarrow full of styrofoam peanuts and he said i'm taking a stick this time he takes a stick and he kind of goes around says okay you're good to go he does that for several weeks and they found out the guy had stolen seven wheelbarrows everybody was looking for electronics that's it's a big diversionary trick and this is what the devil does he diverts our attention from the things that really matter priority in worship now i'm talking to the choir literally here because you're here to worship god but it isn't just once a week as important as this is but really everything in the last days is going to be about worship it's going to be about those who worship god and those who worship the beast just as the battle in between cain and abel was over true in false worship the big battle in the last days is going to be about worship and yet i know people that say they're christians and they're members of the church they do not have family worship they don't have private devotions and they don't come to church or they come irregularly you know once every two or three weeks or and they've got lots of excuses when they say well i couldn't come our hamster had the hiccups and so we had to stay home we didn't know what might happen to him and and you'd be surprised i said we missed you oh well you know friends it's got to be a priority the bible tells us you can read here in hebrews 10 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting that's what i'm doing right now exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day capital d the day of the lord approaching exhort one another we need to come together this is a commandment the commandments in leviticus 23 3 six days shall work be done but the seventh day is the sabbath a solemn rest a holy convocation now i know that with the recent pandemic and the medical concerns and there are valid reasons for us not to all cluster together praise god that's beginning to evaporate and we're turning to some sense of normality but some people got in the habit of just staying at home watching online and it wasn't because they're weak shut-ins these are lazy and god wants us to come together you know what really impressed me is even during this once we opened up and started having services albeit they were you know measured in careful sanitary services i saw some old folks who were in the high risk category before the vaccines were distributed you couldn't keep them away we said you know you folks might want to stay home not me not on your life i'm going to come together all my i'm going to come and worship god and you'd see them and get out of their car and the parking lot all the handicapped parking was full or something by the young healthy people they get out there and they're hobbling with great difficulty to get here and then you talk to some family and they've got the hamster with hiccups or it might rain in a week so they're not sure people do what they want to do have you noticed that people find a way to do what they want to do do you think that if you don't have enough faith to get to church once a week you're going to have enough to get to heaven if worship is not a priority to you now what do you think is going to happen when the real test comes in the last days and there's a battle over worship and you can't buy or sell and you're running for your life if you can't make it to church what group are you going to fall in i just don't want you to deceive yourself friends it's got to be a priority now if it's going to be a priority then priority of worship i read king henry vi of france he asked the duke of alva if he noticed the recent eclipse and the duke said no i have no time to look up some people are so preoccupied with what's happening here they have no time to look up priorities in devotions now this is connected with worship but i'm really talking more about your your personal devotions now first timothy 4 13 till i come give attention to reading exhortation doctrine what paul said to timothy you know the story in daniel chapter six daniel is uh being told that if he's caught praying to anyone but king darius for 30 days he's going to be killed going to the lion's den well daniel had a habit of personal devotions he probably read where king david said in psalm 55 17 morning evening and at noon will i pray and lift up thy voice and so he had regular times of prayer and even though he knew a death decree had been signed for anyone who dared to pray to anyone but the king daniel as his custom was let me read it to you from daniel chapter 6 verse 10. it says and in his upper room with his windows open towards jerusalem he knelt down on his knees three times that day and he prayed and gave thanks before his god as his custom was he had a habit to prioritize personal devotions you can read in daniel 9 he read the bible it says while i was reading the prophecies of jeremiah daniel read his bible and he prayed you might say pastor doug i wish i could do that i'm just so busy well i think daniel was like the prime minister of persia and he found time people do what they want to do i think martin luther said if i don't pray three hours a day i can't get anything done you'd think it'd be the other way around but you know it seems like god blesses the time you do have now i'm not telling you you have to pray three hours a day i'm just telling you what he said but god blesses the time you do have if you commit that time to god it's like he'll bless the other ninety percent when you're faithful with that ten percent private devotions acts chapter 6 verse 2. the disciples called the the apostles called the disciples together because as the church began to explode with growth following pentecost thousands are baptized three thousand one times five thousand another time and they had a fund for distributing food to the poor widows because the bible says you know we need to help take care of the the widows and the orphan and there was a squabble going on between the the hebrew converts and the greek converts and they're called the hellenists and the disciples were having to referee and distribute food and peter finally looked at them and said hey look this is not what jesus called us to do and let me read this to you the 12 the apostles summoned the multitude of disciples and said it is not desirable that we should leave the word of god and serve tables therefore brethren seek out from among yourselves seven men of good reputation full of the holy spirit and wisdom who you might appoint over this business they're called deacons but we will give ourselves continually to prayer in the ministry of the word what place should prayer and the ministry of the word have the apostles understood in order for us to do the work in the church that we need to do we need to have a priority of time to pray and to study the word and to preach the word and i think all of us need to make that decision in our own lives i'm not just talking about the importance of deacons here i'm talking about all of us like the apostles need to say what in our life is making us so busy that we don't have time for prayer and the ministry of the word in every member's life it's got to be a priority if you're going to be a witness you can't give what you don't have amen jesus said to mary she was sitting at jesus feet and martha said lord will you tell her to get up and help prepare dinner by the way luke chapter 10 verse 42 jesus said no i won't. i said martha martha you're troubled about many things but one thing is needed and mary has chosen that good part which i will not take away from her sitting at the feet of jesus we all need that time in devotions that needs to be a priority because here's how it works god you need to obey god you can't obey god if you don't love god it starts with love you're not going to love god if you don't know god you're not going to know god if you don't take time with god if you do take time with god to know god is to love god the more time you spend with god the more you'll love god the better you love god the better you will obey god did that all make sense it all goes back to how much time you spend with god it needs to be a priority it's not going to happen unless you make it happen but show me a church that's backsliding i'll show you a church that is neglecting their personal devotions prayer and ministry we all need to have that relationship with the lord if we're going to be ready for the last days connected with that is priority in holine oh wait no i jumped one priorities and stewardship so you're responsible for how you spend your time and the lord says you're also responsible for what you do with your stuff exodus 22 verse 29 you shall not delay to offer the first of your right produce and your juices the firstborn of your sons now does god say the last one or the first seek you first talk about priorities here the firstborn of your sons you shall give to me that's what abraham did with isaac he put his son on the altar that doesn't mean you're to kill him i'm just saying that nothing was more important than god proverbs 3 verse 9 and 10 here's a key to success honor the lord with your possessions and the first fruits of all your increase so is the plan at the end of the month after you paid your credit card and for all the things that you bought on time stuff you probably didn't need if there's anything left i'll make a donation you ever notice that when you come to church a 20 bill seems like so much but when you go to the mall it seems so small isn't that right nehemiah 10 35 and we made an ordinance to bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all of our fruit trees year by year to the lord all through the bible it talks about giving the first even in the garden of eden or just outside the garden cain and abel it says abel brought the first flames of the flock so this is something that goes pretty far back the idea that you show your love for god by making him first and that should not only be in our time and in our devotions but in our stewardship of our stuff in the way you prepare your estate if time should last and you anticipate you know i may get old and die but you probably should all do this either way stewardship have an estate plan i it breaks my heart sometimes i see people i understand love for your children but you know the bible says you need to love god even more than them and people will leave their entire estate to lost children who will squander it like prodigals and nothing to god and it's about priorities shouldn't something go to god's work if it's really a pride if it's not then we're just you know well why are we doing all this but if if god is real if eternal life is real if jesus really died for our sins and what's more important than that priorities in holiness jesus said in matthew 5 verse 8 blessed are the pure in heart for they will see god that's what i want friends don't you matthew 6 33 our lord said seek first the kingdom and his righteousness god is calling us to holiness hebrews 12 14 pursue peace with all people and holiness pursue it make it a priority pursue holiness without which no one will see the lord now first we get that holiness in justification but then as we pursue it we have it through sanctification but god is calling us the holy lives matthew 23 23 jesus said to the religious leaders you've neglected the weightier matters of the law justice and mercy and faith and he called them blind guides you strain out a net and swallow a camel that's mixed up priorities isn't it they were straining their water unless they accidentally swallow a nat that was unclean but then they'd sit down and eat camel steak which was unclean mixed up priorities you know one of my favorite verses is micah 6 6-8 he's shown you o man what is good and what does the lord require of you but to do justly to love mercy to walk humbly with your god god is calling us to lives of seeking first his righteousness his holiness then there's a priority of love matthew 22 verse 36 teacher what is the great commandment in the law let's prioritize them jesus said you should love the lord your god with all of your heart all of your mind all of your soul all of your mind this is the first and the great commandment and the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself love for god is a priority john 3 34 a new commandment i give you that you love one another just as i've loved you now that's right there we've got our work cut out for us don't we to love each other the way jesus loves us that will always be a goal you're reaching for but we should and then you know on the screen you'll see i put a picture of jesus among the seven candlesticks because there's this example in revelation two the messages to the seven churches he says a lot of wonderful things about the church of ephesus to the angel and this is uh revelation two verse one to the angel of the church of ephesus write these things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands i know your works your labor your patience that you cannot bear those that are evil that you've tested those that say they're apostles and are not and you found them liars and you have persevered and had patience and you've labored for my name's sake and you have not become weary he says a lot of good things they're working hard they're standing for the truth they're laboring they've got patience they've got endurance all those things we need but you know what his criticism is they mixed up their priorities he said nevertheless i have this against you you've left your first love then he tells them they must repent you know what that means leaving your first love as they sin and he's calling us to repent of that it says go back and do the first works you remember how you were searching for me with all of your heart and you found me and you were excited and you were sharing me and you yeah you know you can't maintain that honeymoon all the time but you sure don't want to lose love in your relationship with the lord or in our relationships with each other so while we're talking about the importance of love that's also in the family loving your family is a priority for the believer titus 2 verse 4 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands i thought i'd throw that in there first and to love their children notice he puts husband before children y'all listening i need to include ephesians 5 25. husbands love your wives as christ also loved the church and gave himself for that's a lot of love jesus died for the church so and this is verse 28 so husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies he who loves his wife loves himself you've heard the expression happy wife happy life is that true yeah and if mama ain't happy nobody's happy you've heard that too right so we must have a priority of love i heard about this lady she said to her husband you never tell me that you love me this old rancher he told he says i told you when i married you 50 years ago if i change my mind i'll let you know so you might want to do it more often when two people get married they make a covenant of love and jesus has made a covenant of love with us love is a priority when we choose to love the lord it means forsaking all others it's exclusive and love in the family is exclusive it's a special it's a priority love am i right now all of this really goes back to a principle of priority god requires first place now does that make you think that he's an egomaniac or that he's being selfish self-centered god knows that because we came out of him and that we are designed by him and wired for love god is love if we do not love we self-destruct if we don't love god we'll try to fill that vacuum with something else that's always sin in some form or other if your heart is not focused on a love for god then you will substitute with sin so he commands us to love him not for his benefit but for our benefit of course he wants our love exodus 20 of the 10 commandments what is the first commandment you will not have other gods not only will i be first i will be only that's a priority matthew 10 jesus said he that matthew 10 37 he that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me god is telling us that he requires first place in our lives luke 14 33 so likewise whoever of you does not forsake all he cannot be my disciple that's a priority putting everything on the altar for christ first corinthians 2 verse 2 paul said i have determined not to know anything among you except jesus christ and him crucified would you say paul had his priorities right the priority for christ was jesus and him crucified in all of his preaching prioritize the future and um what i mean by this is do not spend your time looking back we've all made mistakes we've all have regrets there's things that can just destroy us if we focus on them paul said philippians 3 verse 12 not that i've already attained or i'm already perfected but i press on that i might lay hold of that for which christ jesus has also laid hold of me brethren i do not count myself to have apprehended but one thing i do that's a priority word forgetting those things that are behind reaching forward to those things that are ahead i press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of god in christ jesus seeking first god and his kingdom amen sacrificing everything else if that's what it takes that you might make that a priority jesus asks in mark 8 36 what prophet is that if you gain the whole world and lose your soul if anything distracts you from that eternal benefit what good is it i've heard you've probably seen the fiddler crabs they look like they're fiddling they got one big arm and then one little arm interesting thing is that if they get into a fight with another sea creature an octopus or another crab they will release their arms so they can escape with their lives jesus said if anything is going to separate your right hand offends you cut it off your eye pluck it out if you're focusing on something of course this is not literal don't anyone go home and do this your foot is talking about your your vision your actions your direction is your foot he says cut it off what good is it if you go into hell with your all your body in great shape it's like i heard about this funeral someone's going by the coffin they look at the body in there and they said he looks so good it always struck me as a kind of an oxymoron so prioritize the future by the way you know crab will grow another arm luke 9 62 no one putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom so jesus is telling us there must be a priority of our vision which leads me to priority of mission we're almost done now in the book of nehemiah nehemiah has been serving the king of persia he hears about the terrible conditions of jerusalem the temple had been built but the walls are broken down there's no gates the enemies can come and go at pleasure they're being ransacked by the arabian enemies and and others and nehemiah gets permission from the king of persia to and he gets the funds to go and rebuild the walls of jerusalem and nehemiah is a man with a mission he gets there and his entire focus is he believed god has called me to build up the city by the way all of us are being called to some extent to build up god's kingdom amen he was going to seek first the kingdom of god and in the process of building the walls and they ran into all kinds of problems but he they just pushed on through their garbage in the way and all kinds of things they had to deal with he pushed on through the enemies began to get worried that he was building up the walls and they said oh you know what maybe they're not going to be such a pushover anymore they may even be a threat to us they're doing a great job building those walls again and setting up the gates and they began to tell nehemiah their enemies were they said you know we need to talk we need to talk about this and make sure you know there could be a war and we just need to talk and they're trying to do everything they can to stop through intimidation through plotting through rumors and i love what nehemiah says here this is nehemiah 6 1 it happened when san bala and tobiah and gershom the arab and the rest of our enemies heard that i had rebuilt the walls and there was no breaks left in it though i had not yet set up this the gates are trying to stop this from happening that sand ballot and geesham sent to me saying come let's meet together among the plane of ono but they thought to do me harm if anyone ever asks you to meet with them in the valley of ono what is your answer oh no right it's easy to remember this they thought to do me harm so i sent messengers to them saying i am doing a great work so that i cannot come down why should the work cease while i leave it and go down to you but they sent to me this message four times and i answered them in the same manner i am doing a great work i will not come down there is somebody who's got their priorities right said i am going to focus on building the wall let's talk about it now i'm going to build a wall i'm not come down talk to you god's called me to do this i've got a mission and the devil wants to distract me from my mission why should i stop doing this work for god and talk to you about the work you know how many people talk about mission they don't ever do mission you know what i love about this verse it reminds me of the time when jesus was hanging on the cross and he was doing a great work for us up there and his enemy said if you're really the christ come down and then we'll believe and through his silence jesus said i'm doing a great work i'm not going to come down to you he stayed on could he have come down he could have come down but because of the mission he had to save us he did not and then finally the priority of a soul the value of a soul is hard to estimate i understand that insurance companies have what they call a vsl value a statistical life you know if somebody dies in a wrongful death depending on what their age and their education and different things they get this formula they've picked out what you're worth in america unless i haven't updated this recently it's 10 million dollars is the approximate value of a soul and you know if you're real old value goes down you're real young you've got more potential there's more value unfortunately if you're in australia you're only worth 2.2 million if you're in russia you're only worth 60 000 according to their insurance companies something wrong with that but uh if you want to know the value of a soul you look at what's paid for it that's how you decide what is something worth in the business world what do they say whatever someone will pay for it that's what something's worth what are you worth what did jesus pay matthew 12 12 of how much more value than is a man than a sheep jesus tells about david risking his life to save a sheep jesus said don't fear you're of more value than many sparrows and you know i i you know i appreciate the importance of taking care of the environment i do i believe in that god put adam in a garden to take care of the garden i think god will destroy those that destroy the earth but you know jesus did not die to save dogs and cats and sheep he died to save people made in his image you are more value than sparrows and sheep greater love has no one than this to lay down his life for his friends what gives us value galatians 2 20 i live by faith in the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me so how much are you worth let's word this a different way what is the most valuable thing in the universe well it would be god and if all things were made by christ then god's son is the most valuable thing because he gave his life to save us and so the most valuable price that could be paid for you or for anything is jesus in that he gave his soul you know we're living right now in a country and even in a church where we get distracted with lesser matters the devil's got a million distractions our mission is to make sure the main thing stays the main thing and that jesus stays the priority that we keep our eyes focused on christ matthew 28 19-20 go therefore and make disciples of all nations nothing is worth more than a soul the last words of jesus should be a first priority for believers daniel tells us those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever seek first god's kingdom and his righteousness turning others to righteousness is seeking first his righteousness we've got a mission reflect his righteousness and our lives lead others to the savior amen you know i was reading a story about leonardo da vinci there's several stories when he painted that epic painting that mural of the last supper there in italy and and a friend was coming to admire his work in progress and there he's almost finished and he looked at it and he focused on the cup you know jesus blessed the cup of the wine he focused on the cup and he said leonardo that cup is so beautiful it's so vivid and he said just wonderful and leonardo took his brush and he wiped out the cup he said what are you doing he said i wanted you to see the face of jesus if the cup is distracting from jesus i don't want the cup he repainted it dull you know tells us in hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us people who are running the race they are focused on one thing the finish line amen how do they run it you lay aside every weight if anything is preventing you from running that race what profit is it looking unto jesus how do we run the race fixing our eyes not on the cup not on the styrofoam peanuts but fixing our eyes on jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him the joy of saving you and me he endured the cross despising the shame and he's now set down at the right hand of the throne of god jesus our savior is at the right hand of god god loves you he wants to save you and he say please do not get distracted by all of the the glitter and the delusions and the click bait in the world today this is one of the hardest things for the church is to make sure the main thing stays the main thing amen we'd like to fix our eyes on jesus and i'd like to invite you to stand we're going to sing together our closing song it's different from your hymnal we changed it's 547 in your hymnals and we'll also have it on the screen be thou my vision we'll sing the first second and the last verses [Music] vision [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] i ever [Music] me [Music] and i will [Music] is [Music] whatever before [Music] how many of you would like to just join me and pray and say lord help us to keep jesus as our priority your kingdom your righteousness forgive us for when we get distracted by the things that just don't matter and if there are any here who have not made that decision to say lord i want to accept you as the foundation the rock in my life then you can do that right now and join us as we pray let's ask you father in heaven we're so thankful that you've put this value on our souls that you love us so much that you gave your son that we might have eternal life lord nothing could possibly be more valuable than eternal life and yet jesus faced eternal death that he might save us i pray that each person here will make a decision to prioritize their lives with christ as the very center forgive us for the distractions lord sometimes it's just an insult that uh we ignore you and i pray that you'll help us to stay focused give us the holy spirit to show us those times when we're we're chasing rabbits and missing the main thing bless each person lord with your joy and your spirit now and we commit ourselves to you and pray this all in the name of jesus amen god bless you friends have a blessed sabbath please remember as you go that we do not take up the offering in the service ushers will be at the door for your tithes and offerings

Channel: Doug Batchelor

Views: 223,981

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Id: wowJAR_Qvfc

Length: 56min 40sec (3400 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 12 2021