The Price of Procrastination!

now i shall see him in that home above oh i'm in the glory land yes i'm in the glory land is amen [Applause] [Music] glad i know you [Music] i'm glad you know me we praise our god we're one big family we'll lift our hands to reach the sky and i am so glad you gave your life say it again yes i'm glad i know you i'm glad you know me we're one big family yes we are yes we are we lift our hands to reach the sky reach the sky and i am so glad so glad so glad you gave your light on calvary for you and me i'm glad i know you i'm glad you know me i'm glad you know me we praise our god we praise our god we're one big family yes we are we lift our hands we lift our hands and i am so glad so for you and me all right [Music] [Music] all of those who could would you please stand at this time [Applause] please repeat after me this is the day that the lord has made [Applause] i will rejoice and be glad in it one more time with enthusiasm this is the day that the lord has made i will rejoice and be glad in it let us proud this time father god in heaven the creator of heaven and earth the father of our lord and savior jesus christ we once again come by before you at this time thank you heavenly father for this day thank you lord for your son jesus christ and thank you lord this opportunity to fellowship one more time we pray father that you will forgive us in our sins forgive us of our transgressions and help us the lord to strive to be obedient to serve you in spirit and in truth we do pray father that you will guide our minds and guide our hearts as we listen to your word being preached today we pray father that you open up our understanding and help us the lord to receive with meekness then grab the words which is able to save our soul father god in heaven and forgive us all of our sins bless those who are sick and shut in especially those of the household of faith it is in jesus christ's name that would do back this prayer and all the people said amen you may be seated like to welcome each and every one of you to our sunday morning worship service and we pray that you will listen and that you will receive god's word in your heart that it will provoke you to be doers of his word and not hers only those of you who are with us for the very first time we would like to welcome you you are not a guest here at the figaro street congregation we ask that you listen and that you receive god's word and help to be doers of his word and not hers only at this time we turn it over to our song good morning again this time we're going to sing something most of us know how about that we hope you enjoy the worship this morning and we're glad to have you all in the household of faith this morning amen jesus my heavenly king loves me i know raises to get my singing and i love his face rapture will never [Music] don't you know that i love myself and he loves me too loves me don't you know that i love myself amen the next election is just a little talk our other leader will racist in praise with this song come only i once was lost in sin but jesus took me in and then a little light from heaven it made my let us tell them all about our troubles might be filled and just a little talk with jesus makes it right now let us have a little talk with jesus let us tell them all about our troubles and just a little talk talk with jesus [Music] good morning church family could you please stand for the responsive reading our responsive reading for this morning will come from the 95th division of psalms verses 1-3 and i ask that you please repeat after me psalms 95 verses 1-3 o come let us sing to the lord let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation let us come before his presence with thanksgiving let us shout joyfully to him with psalms for the lord is the great god for the lord is the great god for the lord is the great god and the great king above all gods let us pray father god in heaven we thank you this morning that you are god we know father that you are great and that you're in control of all things father we appreciate so much the love you have for us and how you sustain us each and every day and this morning dear lord we want to put away the things that may be distracting us anything technical father anything that may be a distraction anything that we're thinking about that may be on our hearts right now father we just want to put those things away and give you glory on glory honor and praise this morning dear lord i at least want to sing songs to you this morning to lord we want to reflect on how good you've been to us throughout this past week you've given us health you've given us strength to lord and he provided for us throughout this past week we're praying this morning the lord that you watch over those who are ill among us those who are grieved this morning their lord please guide them and give them the care that they stand in need of comfort and strengthen them dear lord that they may be focused on you today and that they may be able to continue going on with their daily lives father we're just praying that uh for we're praying for this country there lord that you'll watch over and guide us the things that we do praying for the leadership of this nation father that you'll give them wisdom and understanding father help them as they lead the people that they're doing the way which will show compassion and love towards those that they're governing father we're asking this morning to please forgive us the things that we've done against you throughout this past week throughout this day father even in this morning we know that we've had thoughts we've done things we said thanks father that may be contrary to your will and we're praying today father that you'll forgive us of those things and help us to keep moving forward father just continue to guide us and keep us throughout the furtherance of the service we're praying for those who are watching online that their hearts will be picked by the things that are being said today and for those from the audience this morning father we're just praying that hearts will be open the minds be opened father to the words we'll be spoken we thank you we love you we ask you all these things in the name of your son jesus we pray amen [Music] and i keep bringing my fighting [Music] soldier [Music] by the service that i sometimes awake at night jesus [Applause] i live awake at night [Applause] jesus [Applause] jesus is is don't you know that jesus says he will fix amen [Music] scripture reading for this thursday morning is found in the gospel according to matthew chapter 25 verses 1 through 13. again that's matthew chapter 25 verses 1-13 and if you have it it reads just follow then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom and five of them were wise and fire were foolish they that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them but the wives took oil in their vessels with their lamps while the bridegroom terry they all slumbered and slept and at midnight there was a cry made behold the bridegroom coming goya to meeting then all those virgins arose and trim their lamps and the foolish said unto the wise give us of your oil for our lamps are gone out but the wise answer saying not so lest there be not enough for us in you but go ye rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves and while they went to buy the bridegroom cane and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut afterward came also the other virgins saying lord lord open to us but he answered and said verily i say unto you i know you not watch therefore for you no neither the day nor the hour wherein the son of man coming i just read to you the gospel according to matthew chapter 25 verses 1-13 may god bless those who take heed to his word and do as well will you now please stand for the main prayer please [Music] eternal god our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name it is the father econ has bowed thank you for the privilege of allowing us call upon my name and to cut to them prayer father we come father thanking you for the many blessings of life that you bestowed upon us most of all we thank you for your son jesus christ whom you're allowed to come live and die and shed his blood for all mankind this we're eternally thankful for father we thank you for our health our families our friends our jobs [Music] we thank you for your grace mercy and peace joy and love which give each and every one of us and we thank you for being members of the church of christ we thank you for brother hawkins and his family we thank you for brother damon sandler and his family we thank you for each and every leading brother and their family and we thank you for each and every member in their family we thank you father for allowing us to have fellowship one with another and then father we just want to continue to thank you for all blessings of life that we take for granted day in and day out we just want to say thank you father we pray for all that are here this day we just ask father you listen look down and just bless your children father thaw that you know that they stand in need uh we pray for those that may be on their way as well as traveling to other destinations we just pray and as fathers just watch over all your children and allow them to arrive at their destinations father without any hurt harm and danger to come unto them we pray for those that that are sick and afflicted mindful those that are sick do this coronal virus we just continue to pray as father you just look down and just heal your children father whatever whatever disease or sickness that that they may be experiencing at this present time we just as father will you please heal them [Music] we pray for those fathers that are bereaved over losing loved ones mind for the fisher family and many others father who have lost loved ones we just continue to pray and ask father you just strengthen them and cause them to look unto thee for that strength and for them to continue to work out their soul salvation and feeling and trembling we pray for the churches of christ all over this world father we know many of your children are sick and afflicted and hurting we just ask father you just look down and just heal them father and allow them to recover with the reasonable portion of health and strength we also pray father where you have them continue to be in the same mind same accord and the same judgment and for them to have no vision among themselves we pray for your preachers and teachers father who preach and teach your word on a regular basis we just ask father you continue to be with them and have them to preach and teach your word in a way that meets with your approval we pray for your elders and deacons as well father those whom you allow and choosing to lead your flock we're just praying that's why you help them to make decisions father that the decisions that they make will be beneficial to our father we pray for all your members as well father we just ask will you just help us continue to grow and to become stronger remain faithful and to continue in the faith until the end father this we do pray and ask for we pray for those fathers whom we come in contact with our jobs and other means who do not share with us in our religious convictions we just pray and ask father when you open their minds and hearts father that they too may come to learn to know what your will is for them and what their duties are unto thee father before us eternity delay we pray for those around the world father who are in positions of authority and leadership we just ran as father you be with them and help them in the decisions that they make that they make decisions that will benefit our father this we do pray and ask for we ask father as thy will is done in heaven to also have to be done in earth we ask father you give us day by day our daily bread we ask father you please forgive us for our sins father as we forgive those who trespass against us and we ask father will you deliver us from temptation and from the evil that's around us we continue to pray for patience father as ours patience with us teach us to have patience with others we pray for the things in which we hear say see think and do we just ask father you help all of us continue to say hear see think and do those things which be pleasing except on thy side we also ask father just can you continue to humble us father and cause us to be more obedient to our word father that we may become better servants in that kingdom we pray for our uh brother sadler who will come shortly and break open unto us bread of life we just pray and ask father you help him to remember those things in which he studied that he may impart them to all of us father that we all could say it was good for us to be here and now father we just ask this prayer and that you please answer and accept our prayer in the name of your son jesus christ amen [Music] just before the minister arrives we're going to try this song again we're trying to bring in here it's called i shall wear a golden crown some of you don't know what some of us do it's not in the book the words should be up here and if it works it works if it doesn't we'll move to another song before the speaker amen amen let us look to our voices in praise watch ye therefore you know not the day will win the lord shall call your soul away if you labor striving for the right then in the morning [Music] foolish virgins mean well jesus was coming he never said when so keep your lamps so trimmed [Music] amen man that was sounding good let us list my voices in this last song before the speaker and then we'll have our lesson oh what did i do with it everybody is oh we everybody oh yes we will everybody will be happy over there amen [Music] [Applause] uh before i begin we have an announcement and some of you may already know it that the church website is down at this time and we're working on working on it with a hosting company to get it restored as quickly as possible and so online giving is temporarily down so checks can still be mailed to the church or you can hold this week's offering until next week um also you will be able to view the services on the church website since it's down so the only way to view this service this morning is going to be through um youtube and facebook so this one to be able to make you aware of that some people are aware already if the site has been down for a couple of days this is not something that we're responsible for but the hosting company that's responsible for the site um is having some issues with that and so they'll get it together and we'll be back up again soon um i want to thank the eldership and the leaders once again for another opportunity to come before you to bring a message to you from the lord brother hawkins asked me a couple weeks ago if i could stand him for him because he said that he was going to be taking a trip to the promised land and i thought he was going to israel but he said no he was going to texas [Applause] so he's in the promised land right now and he'll be returning this evening and we talked to him this morning on our prayer class line and he's asking for prayers also for traveling grace as he returns to us i want to thank the brothers who've been part of the worship service so far this morning for the song leaders and for brother derek pierre for the scripture reading and the prayer that he gave i know that when derek prays he's kind of like me you get caught up in the prayers sometimes and it moves you and you don't plan on it but sometimes the lord works with you as you're praying and he's a humble brother and i just really appreciate him and the work that he's doing here and he's just an encouragement to so many of us and i just want to thank him publicly for all the work that he does here if you will turning your bibles once again to matthew 25 uh verses 1-13 i'm going to read this again from the new king james version [Music] matthew 25 verses 1-13 [Music] and it reads then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom now five of them were wise and five were foolish those who were foolish took the lamps and took no oil with them but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps while the bridegroom was delayed they all slumbered and slept and at midnight a cry was heard behold the bridegroom is coming go out to meet him then those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps and the foolish said to the wise give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out with the wise answer saying no but there should not be enough for us and you but don't rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves while they went to buy the bridegroom came and those who were ready went with him to the wedding and the door was shut afterward the other virgins came also saying lord lord open to us but he answered and said shortly i say to you i do not know you watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the son of man is coming the price of procrastination is the title of this lesson this morning the price of procrastination one of the challenges of this life is learning to use the time that we have wisely not allowing the time to get past us but we haven't accomplished many of the things that we had hoped to the apostle paul said in ephesians chapter 5 verse 15 see then that you walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise redeem the time because the days are evil in other words take advantage of the opportunities and the time that you have right now because the time we have is limited time allows us to prepare ourselves for upcoming events time allows us to make necessary arrangements time allows us to make choices because we have options but we've all wasted time because we felt like there would always be an abundance of it if i use up my time today there'll always be some more time tomorrow and because of that belief a lot of the things that we should take care of we allow to slip assuming that there'll always be another opportunity to do so procrastination is defined as to delay to postpone taking action to put off something until another time at some point in our lives we've all delayed and taking care of our business the things we know we should take care of we didn't we waited because we knew we had more time to eventually get around to it and so we procrastinated we procrastinated about paying that bill that was due we procrastinated about doing our taxes we procrastinated about starting that exercise program we procrastinated our starting that diet we procrastinated by setting up that doctor's appointment that's way overdue we procrastinated about visiting somebody we procrastinated about sending that sympathy card or that get well card we procrastinated about bending or mending those broken relationships we procrastinated about telling somebody that we love them we procrastinated about looking for new jobs we procrastinated about following our dreams and now years have gone by and we find ourselves in the same situation and sadly we procrastinate about taking care of our spiritual health and our relationship with christ in all these cases we're hoping the opportunities will present themselves again but there's no guarantee as we look at this parable i believe that we'll notice three things that'll help us with our procrastination first we'll notice the responses now we'll see the realization and lastly we'll see the repercussions how do we respond to the events that require us to prepare ourselves this parable told by jesus gives us a comparison of two different ways one way is to be diligent make preparations and handle the situation in a timely manner the other way is to delay in preparing and hoping that it all just works on the end one way subscribers being wise the other way to scribe is being foolish this parable sits in the midst of several parables that jesus told and what's known as the olivet disc discourse a lengthy message he gave in the mount of olives as his impending death was drawing near the context of the passage that jesus has been answering his disciples questions about the end of the age so he sits and tells him of the end times and the second coming in matthew 24 30 he talks about the son of man coming on the clouds with heaven with power and great glory and verse 36 states but of that day and hour no one knows not even the angels of heaven but only my father and verse 44 he states therefore you also be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect the emphasis on the section is on being ready at all times don't let your guard down do what needs to be done to be prepared and to be ready then he gives a comparison of those who are ready and those who are not ready in matthew 24 45 he compares the faithful servant to the evil servant the faithful servant is doing what his master expects when he returns to the household but the evil servant is the one who because the master is delayed and is returning starts to act out and beat his fellow servants and the drink can get drunk he knows his master will eventually return but because of his delay he feels he has more time but in verse 50 tells us the master of that circle will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he's not aware of so again the theme is to be ready jesus makes another comparison to matthew 25 14 when he compares the profitable servants to the unprofitable servant the master gives each servant a certain amount of talent and money based on each servant's ability the master sets off on the journey to a far off country and he's gone for a very very long time eventually he returns expecting that all the servants have been working and making a profit for him with the money that he's given them two of the servants have been busy and returned to baptist money with a prophet he calls these servants faithful because they handled their business and used their time wisely but the one servant doesn't take advantage of the time and the talent that was given to him it returns to the master the exact amount of money the master gave him the master tells me matthew 25 verse 26 you wicked and lazy servant you knew that i reap where i have not sown and gathered where i have not scattered seed so you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers and at my coming i would have received back my own with interest and then we have this parable of the ten virgins sandwich in between those two parables again jesus makes a comparison comparison between wise virgins and foolish virgins in this parable there's a wedding taking place and in this culture the bridegroom would go to the bride's house for the wedding ceremony once the ceremony was completed the couple along with a big perception of people walked back to the bridegroom's house for the marriage feast and that feast could last up for a full week these ten virgins of bridesmaids would be part of that procession heading to the bridegroom's house and they're waiting for him to come by so they can join the procession but apparently the bridegroom didn't come at the expected time so the procession went into the night so these virgins needed lamps and the lamps needed oil to help wipe the way to the marriage feast the text says that of the ten virgins five of them were wise and five of them were foolish what made them wise and what made them foolish it was based upon their response to the event just waiting it was not something that was the last minute their preparations have been made it had been planned out and they knew about it knowing that they were part of this procession the virgins had a different response the wise virgins were prudent prudent enough to have oil ahead of time for their lamps so they prepared themselves wise as defined as being thoughtful intelligent mindful of one's interest the other virgins made no preparation at all so they were called foolish foolish is defined as being silly stupid dull one lacking understanding and discernment they were forced because they took their lamps with no way to like them they were forced because they knew ahead of time what was needed but they delayed discernment helped us to make proper choices with our time maybe without a lack of concern or laziness or doing something else they thought was more important at the time but they procrastinated and made no provisions their response was to put off the tasks that needed to be done growing up my brother and i had chores as we were kids and one of our responsibilities was to keep the yard clean and my father expected the rv clean by the time he got home from work my brother responsible for picking up after the dog in the yard and my job was to sweep the driveway clean up all the leaves and so each day he told us when he comes home he wants to see that yard cleaned up and we knew that my father worked 50 miles away in oxnard and it took him an hour to get home every day and so he was like clockwork every day he would be home at 5 30 and so we knew in our hearts that we could play around and procrastinate at least until 5 20 because we knew that there was no need to rush because he wasn't going to be home before 5 30 and so we play basketball watch tv do whatever we needed to do but at 5 20 we would get out there and get the work done in time but sometimes we would lose track of time and time to get away from us and before we knew it our father we pulled up in the driveway and we hadn't gotten around to the work and the task at hand and so he would let us know he would lay into us but the fact that we didn't do we were asked to do that still didn't help because sometimes you still wouldn't get out there and do the work that was required we'd be down the street playing knowing that as long as we get home by 5 20 we'll be okay and some days we'll come home at 5 20 and unfortunately his car would already be sitting in the driveway because he came home in an hour that we weren't expecting and so again he would lay into us about how we felt in that dome we were supposed to do our response to the task that needed to be done was like the foolish versions there was a lack of concern there was laziness there was a desire to do something else than what was required and there was there was the consideration of what the consequences might be some research suggests that nearly 20 of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators 20 of us consider ourselves chronic procrastinators these are the students who stay up late sunday night working on a month-long assignment due the next day the people who have trouble paying their bills on time the people who constantly are running late the people who are always it seems like always unprepared and there's a variety of reasons why you procrastinate poor planning fearful of the outcome feeling over burden lack of confidence poor concentration feeling uncomfortable with the tasks that you're asked to do and inadequate motivation any of these sound familiar inadequate motivation all of these are reasons why you procrastinate but they can't be excuses for not taking care of what needs to be done especially taking care of our spiritual lives it's dangerous to keep pushing your spiritual commitment yet we do it every day and we see examples in the bible are the same jesus asked people to follow him and some responded by making excuses and procrastinating trying to push the commitment off until a later time luke 9 59 says then he said to another follow me but he said lord let me go and bury my father jesus said to him let the dead bury their own dead but you go and preach the kingdom of god and another also said lord i will follow you but first let me go and victim for well who are at my house but jesus said to him no one having put his hands to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of god but then there were those who responded follow jesus immediately mark 1 16 says and as he walked by the sea of galilee he saw simon and andrew his brother casting a net into the sea but they were fishermen then jesus said to them follow me and i would make you become fishers of men they immediately left the next and followed him when he had gone a little further from there he saw james the son of zebedee and john his brother who also were in a boat mending the nets and immediately he called them and they left their father's epidemic with the hired servants and went after him these are the ones who responded wisely and the five virgins in this parable responded wisely because they didn't blame prepared themselves ahead of time they made provisions for the upcoming event matthew 25 5 says but while the bridegroom was delayed they all slumbered and slept because the bridegroom was delayed and coming all 10 virgins decided to rest some people can take a break and relax because they're taking care of their business and they don't have to worry about that the wise versions were set and ready to go but when you haven't taken care of your business yet you shouldn't feel comfortable kicking back and relaxing there should be a sense of urgency but the things need to be done and take care of the task before it's too late sometimes when i have a task that needs to be clean i can find any and every excuse to not get it done when i have to go in my office and i need to study i know i need to study but always there's something that will distract me and take my attention away i'll sit down to the computer and now is the time now so i think i need to clean up my emails and so i start scrolling through them and seeing what i can find clean out knowing that time is ticking away or i look at my shelf and i realize that those books look kind of crooked maybe i can adjust them now and get those all in order knowing that i still have something important to do or i'm thinking who's on facebook right now so i start scrolling seeing what's on facebook and getting caught up in that and then i can think of i wonder what's on tv right now any and everything should distract me from taking care of what really needs to be done so time keeps ticking away until we notice that hours and days have passed without us accomplishing what needs to be done so the foolish virgin's response to the task that needed to be completed was to delay and to slumber and sleep instead but if you continue to slumber eventually you're gonna run out of time you're gonna wake up to the reality of your situation and that leads us to our second point the realization at some point there's a realization that our response to a situation was foolish and left us unprepared when you keep procrastinating eventually you're going to get caught off guard and you have to pay the price for it when i just graduated out of college i didn't have any dental insurance and i had a crack filling in my tooth that eventually fell out and instead of going to the dentist right away to take care of it i kept procrastinating and procrastinating for days and then weeks because it wasn't important to me at that time because it wasn't bothering me there was no pain there was nothing that was going on but then there came a realization and awakening about 2 a.m in the morning when i woke up and shot up straight in my bed and it felt like somebody had taken a nail and driven it straight in the top of my mouth and the pain was just so excruciating i just tossed and turned all night long so the thing that i had been delaying and procrastinating about now that was top priority and so i woke up the first thing in the morning and called my dentist and got down to the dentist's office right when he opened up all this time i've been procrastinating but now i was aware i was realizing what i've been procrastinating about the pain got my attention and this was something that could have been taken care of easily and quickly and probably without a lot of money at the time but because i procrastinated unfortunately i got infection i had to have a root canal had to get a crown paid a lot of money all that because i kept procrastinating kept putting something off that needed to be done and so there's a realization that it was foolish to not respond to the situation quickly and there's a realization by the foolish virgins that their procrastination has left them unprepared for the event procrastination doesn't seem to bother us until there's an awakening and a realization of the cost of our procrastination that bill you keep ignoring the pay doesn't get your attention and still they start putting on late fees to it and if that doesn't get your attention then they start cutting off your services they're talking about repossessing what you own in other words i can procrastinate doing something and not feel any effects of it until the due date comes and then that's when it gets my attention i've got five weeks to work on the project and i procrastinate for four weeks and six days and on that night of the sixth day that's when it hits me and i realize how much trouble i'm in the closer i get to the due date there's a realization that i'm unprepared and i had time but i allowed the time to get away procrastination doesn't bother us until time is up and there's a realization that we can't do anything else to help our situation late to change anything too late to study too late to prepare for the test too late to pay the bill too late to get things in order too late to prepare for a disaster too late to buy insurance too late to purchase what you need too late to make things right because a troubling feeling would you realize that you think back on the time you had how easy it would have been to make some adjustments in your schedule to take care of the important business but you realize that too late i can guarantee that all of us here this morning have something that we've been putting off if you think about it we keep pushing it off until tomorrow or next week or next month but eventually a date is coming a date's coming where the circumstance is not going to allow us to make any more changes any more updates or to try to resolve the issue and realization is going to hit us at that point that we have the time but we didn't use it properly and i think about the realization of these foolish versions i think it hit them in verse six of our texts in verse six there's an announcement that the event the virgins were waiting for is now here there's no more time to get ready the time is up it says and at midnight a cry was heard behold the bridegroom is coming go out to meet him i can just imagine if they were shot when this event came upon them they knew they weren't ready this verse is reminiscent of first thessalonians 4 16 where it says for the lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of god and the dead of christ will rise first then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the lord in other words time's up the events upon us there's no more getting ready when time's up there's either a feeling relief because you took care of business or a feeling of fear and panic because you know you've been prepared you delayed hoping for more time it's a terrible feeling when you walk into a classroom an instructor says put away your books and take out a pencil pop quiz i think the foolish virgins panic because they knew they're predicament knew the predicament they were in matthew 25 7 says and all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps show me your lamp means to put it in order and get it ready but they realize they haven't prepared ahead of time to have their lamps ready one of the issues of procrastinators is the feeling that it's all just going to work out in the end somehow somehow it's all going to come together and somebody's going to solve the problem for me and it'll all work on the end somebody was off the issue or help us out in the jam we fought ourselves in and that was the foolish versions they looked around to the wise for help verse 8 says and the foolish virgins said to the wise give us some of your oil if our lamps are going out the wise answer is saying no unless there should not be enough for us and you but go rabbit to those who sell and buy for yourselves sometimes we rely on others to handle the business that we should be taking care of ourselves i didn't want to take the time out of my schedule to do what needs to be done so now i want you to help me i had time but i didn't use it properly and so i wanted to burden you and ask you to give me what i stand in need of it's like being in school and you spend all evening work on your homework trying to get it done you stay into the night working on it and the next morning somebody class didn't do their homework says can i get the answers from you how willing are you to do that sometimes we don't prepare ourselves and some things left to do for ourselves people can encourage us they remind us to get it done they can lecture us but ultimately we'll all have to take care of it for ourselves each person will have to give an account of their life in the end what did you do with the time that god gave you what did you do with the money that he bless you with what did you do with the talents that he gave you did you use them on yourself or did you use it to bring glory to god second corinthians 5 10 says for we must all appear before the judgment scene of christ that each one may be may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done whether good or bad when our response to a task is to procrastinate and to delay there comes a point of realization that we should have prepared and that leads us to our final point the repercussions the repercussions for not being prepared there's consequences for our delays it's a terrible feeling when you know that you should have prepared and you had time to prepare but you procrastinated and now you have to suffer because of it early my career i worked at a company [Music] where they wanted us to identify areas in the company where we could improve and so they brought in consultants and the consultants are going to help each department figure out a plan of what issue is in their department that needs to be solved and each department was responsible for giving a 15 to 20-minute presentation on what their problem was and how they solved it and so we got busy or the company got busy all the different departments working on this meeting in groups talking about it brainstorming figuring out what needed to be done everybody except for my department because we got a manager that procrastinated he didn't want to do it and so a lot of groups were practicing making charts overhead street sheets our boss wasn't doing it and so he was to leave this project but he just wouldn't do it and so days went by weeks went by and the deadline was coming but we still weren't doing it i think we met once to talk about it but we never really got into it so eventually the week was coming where the presentation was going to be upon us and unfortunately we had a health situation in my family where i couldn't be there and i was out for a full week by the time i got back to work the presentation was over and i asked my co-worker how'd it go how did we do he said we didn't do it because our boss didn't show up and i said well do they have the presentations he said yeah everybody all the departments gave their presentation but we didn't give ours and i just thought that was interesting and a few days went by more days went by and i kind of feel like well they just forgot about it since we missed it it's no big deal until one day over the loud system in the office i heard my name i heard my boss's name i heard my co-worker's name telling us to all come down to the training room and my boss said don't worry it's no big deal and the five of us walked down into the training room not expecting anything and i turned the corner and the room is packed with about 75 people all staring at us and the ceo stands up and he says you guys missed your presentation and so now you have the chance to do it and so start your presentation and i've never been so panicked in my life there's a prize for procrastination and i looked at my boss and he looked at us and he said i'll take care of it and we sat on the front row and he stood there and you tell that he was panicked because he had nothing and so he opened up the folder they had nothing in it and he looked at the audience on the top of his at the top of his head he tried to make up a presentation about something we hadn't talked about or brainstormed or anything and everybody knew that he wasn't prepared and it just looked bad and so he thought that he got way with it because he thought he could delay and put it off and not worry about it and nobody would say anything but eventually the bosses called him on it his boss is calling on about the expectation of what was needed but he didn't deliver on it and so he didn't get away with it a few days later he and the company parted ways because he wasn't prepared and so he had to stuff the repercussions of not being prepared and procrastinating all this time we were called on in a day and an hour that we weren't expecting it we thought everything had passed over and everything was good but it wasn't and so we need to be prepared and unfortunately live our lives that way we know there's an expectation on our lives we know we should live lives and be ready we know we should be going in the word our relationship to the lord what we don't know is when we're going to run out of time we don't know the day or the hour the lord's going to return or when our lives will be over and just like my boss thought he had gotten away with it by ignoring his bosses sometimes we think that we're going to get away with the jew by ignoring the lord that it's all just going to work out in the end but jesus gets warning after warning in this section that there'll be repercussions for not doing what he asked matthew 25 10 says and while they went to buy the bridegroom came and those who were ready went with him into the wedding and the door was shut the wise versions were ready the preparations were done and it's a good feeling when you know you completed something and taking care of your business now you get to reap the benefits now you get to reap the benefit i'm not stressing the benefits of being done the benefits of being able to enjoy yourself the wise virgins were able to join the wedding fees for the bridegroom because of their response and how they had prepared themselves but the foolish virgins suffered the repercussions of their procrastination while they ran around trying to buy oil and make preparations the door to the wedding was shut and they were begging to get in matthew 25 11 says afterward the other virgins came also saying lord lord open to us but he answered and said shortly i say to you i do not know you the event they have been waiting for and anticipating was taking place without them can i only imagine how they probably talked about this event the wedding their friends they were excited about attending it and being a fellowship with everybody else but it wasn't going to happen all because they failed to prepare themselves we procrastinate and don't make spiritual preparations we set ourselves up for repercussions i don't hear the most tragic words that will ever spoken i never knew you apart from me you who practice lawlessness that's why we can't waste time with everything except what god wants to do and what's truly important and that's having a relationship with christ spend time now preparing because time will eventually run out jesus warning was in verse 13 watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the son of man is coming if our response to christ is to procrastinate there's going to come a day of realization that it's too late to make any preparations and then we're going to suffer the repercussions of our actions because i study prepared for this lesson it scared me and i mentioned angelique that um it's scary because i do procrastinate a lot of times the things i know i need to take care of i don't take care of them and so i'm rushing around trying to get things done not in all things but in some things i do that and it's a struggle sometimes we make assumptions that there'll always be more time to take care of the things that need to get done but i know and you know that's not always the case james says for what is your life it is even as a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away and i don't know if you realize how blessed we are to still be on this time side of life we still have the opportunity to make decisions if we don't lay we have a small window of time to make decisions that will affect us for all of eternity whether we live to be 70 80 90 years that's only a small amount of time compared to all of eternity and so what we do in that small amount of time is going to affect us for all eternity but if we keep procrastinating and pushing off making decisions to follow christ that short window of time is going to quickly go away and it's going to run out we can procrastinate about a lot of things in this life but the one thing we don't want to procrastinate about is getting our spiritual life right with god don't wait don't waste time in doing that prepare now for the event that's going to be coming maybe here's morning and you have a problem with procrastination procrastinated by spending time in study and in prayer you procrastinate and spending time with god and all your spiritual life is suffering now because of it you've allowed things in this world in the business of life to be a distraction has prevented you from taking care of what's really important this morning why not use the only time that you have right now to repent and rededicate yourself to the lord perhaps you're here this morning and you've procrastinated about becoming a child of god you put off your salvation you keep putting it off you know what you should do but you keep pushing off to another day you have opportunity this morning by hearing the gospel message that jesus christ died for your sins was buried and rose again into life three days later if you believe that gospel message you can repent of your sins confess that jesus christ is the son of god and be baptized for the mission of your sins and god will give you the gift of the holy spirit be like the philippian jailer who didn't procrastinate when it came to a salvation acts chapter 16 32 says then they spoke the word of the lord to him and to all who are in his house and he took them that same hour of the night and washed their stripes and immediately he and all his family were baptized he didn't delay what needed to be done if you're here this morning and you need help if you need prayer let us know you can let us know this morning we'll pray for you if you're watching us online you can reach out to us through facebook or youtube as we said our church website is down right now but reach out to us through our social media memes and we'll pray for you this morning thank you for your attention this morning and i pray that something was said that'll benefit your life in the days ahead and the weeks ahead and hopefully you'll consider the things that you procrastinate about and work harder as i'm trying to to overcome procrastinating wasting time because i know the time is short and we don't know when time is going to run out thank you and god bless [Music] [Applause] and tenderly jesus is calling calling for you and for me see on the porters he's waiting and watching [Music] watching for you and for me [Music] come on come on you jesus is calling calling [Music] come home [Music] jesus is calling calling home [Music] we have three responses that have been received in service and we have some that are online but before i get to the ones that are online i would like to give those who are here and at my right an opportunity to stand and request any prayers anyone to my right you got it and that's luis wright heart failure thank you we have one in the back in the center [Music] what is your mother's name sir mother-in-law he said that's bailey oh thank you thank you do we have any to my left oh there is one more in the back sorry one more [Music] thank you [Music] caleb they're traveling back from the national news conference today just passing for traveling yeah [Music] [Applause] yes [Music] oh this was it thank you okay i'll read the ones that we have right now oh there's one more in the back oh i'm sorry [Music] [Music] okay somebody's gonna okay so oh god i got it thank you that's what i was about to eat thank you thank you thank you so here we have uh her request from annette williams and it says general prayers for problems and there's been a death in the family that says the baby sister died last night [Music] we have uh tawanda thomas thomas and she's just uh requesting general prayers repenting of sins problems with the family healing and repressed and she said she's thankful for blessing and um just asking prayers to continue training and and success in careers as well garth williams is also uh coming to let us know to just pray for the uh wonder john family and says she's beneath of nisi nash and it was a death another death so the uh one the jones family we have more coming thank you thank you um this was one that we heard in and for uh peggy grace and this was for the for the mother who uh we just heard mother-in-law who had a stroke and now we have uh dj spencer do you think sir there you go [Music] [Music] all right [Music] you believe that jesus is the son of god [Applause] [Music] and now for our online prayer requests we have mary crawford who's requesting general prayers and prayers for daryl jr as well we have uh with this was written claudia smith who's requesting prayers for the freeman family and james freeman in general as he continues to recover we also have another recovery prayer that's for the royal family edmund royal senior had a horrible fall and he's preparing for recovery he's been evaluated health as far as another prayer request linda hart we have also those requested prayers it's just more more depth going around so please please keep these people in your prayers devonna johnson request prayers for uh mr rodney she says the neighbor lost his mother [Music] we also have those who are uh who are online who were just thankful and and uh wanted to give god thanks for the things that they've been experiencing and also requesting general prayers that was uh dj johnson again she's thankful for her daughter reaching milestones and a lot of you are parents and you know reaching those milestones when your daughter or your family member reached that milestone is very important and you just want to continue to pray for their growth and also uh continue to pray for understanding uh such understanding and strength in that area as well do we have any more did i miss anyone let us go to god in prayer father god we thank you we thank you for the time that you have given us we pray that we don't take this time for granted we pray that we don't procrastinate we're so thankful for dj spencer who recognized what needed to be done who didn't procrastinate and who is ready to put your son on we pray that we can strengthen her and we can continue to walk with her and build her up as she continues to walk with you lord we pray for all of those who are going through the bereavement process the fisher family the one to jones family mr rodney who lost his mother-in-law and we also pray for family that lost the little sister annette williams those who have lost loved ones it's it's never easy lord even if it's yesterday or years ago sometimes it weighs heavy on the sword and we just ask that you give us the mindset to to take that take that weight off of us and leave it with you help us to find the positive and just to think of the happy times and and lord we just pray that if they were in you that they they made it to that to see face and lord that comes back to us more help us to do our job and bring more as brother frank said we need the church to grow lord we need more people teach more people bring more people to your son so they can be baptized too as well lord there are so many of us who are on the healing path our brother james freeman edmund royal senior and many others out there are recovering from physical ailments and lord let us not forget the mental ailments too some of us are going through it because of covet the mental things that are involved with that lord just just be with us all mental and physical recovery lord lord there are so many things that that are just in general lord that we may not speak it but you know it because you know our hearts lord you know what we're going through and you know what the people require we just ask that you be with all of those individuals devona johnson mary crawford tawanda thomas be with them and whatever they're going through and be with us as we support them give us the words to say give us the mindset to do what is necessary to show them that they are cared for and that they are loved as our brothers and sisters in christ lord we ask that you just continue to be with our churches of christ who travel to the youth conferences continue to help us to inspire the youth to reach their potential in you and we just pray to you bring our brothers and sisters back home safely lord lord we just so much is so much even you can feel the tension lord every time we turn around somebody's leaving and we just ask that you continue to continue to help us to deal with that to deal with that emotion lord father if i forgot any names or anything that was written please forgive me you already know the prayers before they're even written down lord they already came to you all i ask is that you continue to give us the mindset to not not to want it on our time but allow you to work your will let us not put that pressure on you let us just love you and let your will be done and know that everything that you do is good to us and for us lord lord you ask these prayers in your son jesus name amen [Music] [Music] this portion of our service has been set aside for the offering i will read a uh scripture from the bible and then ask the ushers to come forward to lift the collection now concerning the collection for the saints as i've given order into the churches of galatia even so do you upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as god has prospered him that there be no gatherings when i come the opportunity is presented to you at this time let us pray heavenly father we thank you for giving us the means to give back to for those who may have not we just thank you for the opportunity that we're presented with may we give so that we are not burdened and others burdens are lifted in the name of jesus we pray amen ushers are coming forward to lift the [Music] jesus collections upon your conviction to him being the son of god i do indeed baptize you in the name of the father another son and of the holy spirit for the remission of your sins amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] he is in the course of a beautiful life when songs occurred for the collection just a minute lee uh we want to remind you again that uh if you are able to give at this time a time when you can mail your uh offering to the church or drop it off at a date that they have planned so we don't want to hinder the giving in fact we want to make it a little easier okay thank you okay lee thank you [Music] i love to play [Applause] i love to praise [Applause] i love to my hallelujah hallelujah i love the praises and names sing hallelujah hallelujah i love the praises in nature sing hallelujah hallelujah i love the priest's name in the evenings we've come to another part of our service where we recognize the great sacrifice of our lord and savior as we prepare for communion we ask that you sing along with us why did my savior come to why did he choose the he loved me [Music] [Music] for me [Music] for i received of the lord that which i also that which also i delivered unto you that the lord jesus the same night he was in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he said he break it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you which is broken for you this dude in remembrance of me and after the same manner also he took the cup which he had sucked saying this cup is the new testament in my blood this do ye has also drink it in remembrance of me uh please please bye at this time father in heaven we thank you for the great sacrifice of sending your son to us to die and showing us how to live help us to live faithful and honorably according to your will these days in the name of jesus we come in amen we may now open uh [Music] he loves me so he loves [Music] he gave his precious life for me for me because he loved me so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] our announcements are as follows [Music] our brother david holmes can be heard today via the soul sessions every sunday evening but this one in particular you can hear him at 4 30 p.m 4 30 p.m that's the soul session sunday that's every evening [Music] baptism committee they're having a drive it's a towel drive a hundred white towels so if you can donate to that they're asking for each member to donate one white body towel toward the baptism ministry the figaro transportation ministry will be back up and running effective sunday october 3rd 2021 please call the church office if you needed transportation to sunday morning worship service only at this time so only sunday morning worship service and again um condolences to the fisher family [Music] passing of bruce fisher monday september 13th the viewing is thursday september 30th 2021 from 4 to 6 pm and the service is friday october 1st at 10 a.m the location for both is at the harrison and ross that's 4601 crenshaw boulevard los angeles california condolences also to kristen and johnny castillo says for the passing of christians godfather saturday september 18th services are still pending [Music] we also have the southwestern christian college the 52nd annual national dinner in 2001 the virtual fundraiser for southwestern christian college is asking for our support to donate 75 more tax deductible which will be the cost of the ticket please give your donation to your coordinator the fundraiser will run until october so please keep that in mind we still have our classes going on that are online you can still come to sunday school in the morning online or in person or you can still come on wednesday nights and online as well these are the announcements that i have for you i will turn you back over to brother saller do you have anything me do you have anything i'll turn you over to our elder elder blanket [Music] we certainly appreciate damon sadler excellent lesson well prepared and the touch upon things about procrastination i'm sure this is something that you can remember and take home with you we all have that procrastination book inside of us and we should try everything in our hearts to get rid of it uh let us keep in mind that those who did not get an opportunity to give because our website is down we are in the process of correcting that and our prayer that it would be up and running as soon as possible but if you weren't able to give it doesn't mean that you don't give you can certainly bring it by the church office you can mail it or you can give it next sunday so you're offering what you can do it that way nice and easy and please everyone be careful the devil is busy and just driving and things of that nature just keep your head like a swivel always looking around because things can happen and thanks all of you for coming encourage your other brothers and sisters who are not attending that we're open open to our membership here so thanks for coming and we would like for everyone to stand at this time [Music] we will have a song by our song leader hell and then i will close in a word of prayer [Music] is [Music] us for jesus will is [Music] [Music] jesus will carry you through before going into a word of prayer you may notice that we have a armed security guard and he'll be here from 8 30 to 12 30. we need that we in an area where things are moving and shifting around so for we don't want an event but just in case it's good to have that and going forward every sunday we will have him on our on our lot let us uh about a word of prayer heavy father we thank you for allowing us to come here and worship thee we thank you for all that you have done and a special prayer for those families that are experiencing agreement at this time and illness and things that are coming their way give them the strength to deal with it and we who are whole let us pray and encourage one another watch over us protect us as we leave here that there will be no harm brought upon any of us be with us until we meet again in jesus name we pray amen [Music] [Applause]

Channel: Figueroa Church of Christ

Views: 323

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: figueroa church of christ, church of christ, gospel preaching, gospel, preaching, faith, works, satan, god, jesus, lord, word, word of god, message, answer, heaven, hell, help, assistance, calvin bowers, minister, ministry, david holmes, vincent hawkins, david g holmes, vincent e hawkins

Id: ZSw12n-ckhI

Length: 97min 59sec (5879 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021