The Power of Proper Priorities -- Bishop Dale C. Bronner
Transcript
00:00 This is Bishop Dale Broder. Thank you so much for joining our YouTube channel today.
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00:28 Well our foundational scripture today comes from Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33.
00:34 In the New Living Translation of the Scriptures notice there these words,
00:39 "Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously and he will give you everything you need."
00:50 It's real simple, "Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously and he will give you everything you need."
01:05 I'm talking today from the subject simply the power of proper priorities. The power of proper priorities.
01:14 Another way to sort of reinterpret this into modern day English would be to say,
01:21 "After spiritual renewal comes economic revitalization."
01:29 After a spiritual renewal comes economic revitalization.
01:35 Why do I say that? It's because if you'll go back and read the few verses leading into this,
01:41 Jesus had just spoken about the fact that you cannot serve both God and be enslaved to money at the same time.
01:51 And he talked about not being overwhelmed by the worries and the anxieties of the world
02:00 concerning your clothing, what you shall wear, your food, what you shall eat, and your drink, what you're going to drink.
02:08 So we have to realize that there is something that Jesus is in the midst of, of trying to help focus our real priorities.
02:17 And he's letting us know because we're seeking reputation, we're seeking jobs and positions, we're seeking scholarships,
02:24 we're seeking to be recognized, but he says, "Seek first." First.
02:30 There's an order of priority here. Seek first the kingdom of God. Seek God's kingdom, his way of doing things in the earth.
02:39 Seek that first and live righteously. God's righteous way, his order of doing things.
02:46 Seek God's way of doing things and then he'll give you everything else you need.
02:52 He's letting us know that this is really a keystone principle.
02:56 It's almost the same way as when God gave Solomon a blank check and told him, "Ask for anything you want."
03:05 And he asked simply for an understanding heart that he might be able to judge the people righteously.
03:10 And because he asked for the right thing in the right order, God said, "I'm going to give you everything else."
03:16 You didn't ask for money, but I'm going to give it to you.
03:20 You didn't ask for notoriety and stature and status, but I'm going to give it to you because you asked for the right thing.
03:25 And this is the power of proper priorities, that if you get first things first, keep them right in the right perspective,
03:33 God will give you everything else. It opens up the door that leads to every other blessing that you could ever desire from God.
03:40 So he's just saying, "Get the first things first. Do first things first."
03:46 And our priorities in our culture now are so jacked up because it says, "Serve yourself."
03:53 Instead of serving others, we're not put here to please and aggrandize our own flesh.
03:59 We're here to be able to serve other folks. We're here, we're born on purpose, with purpose, and for purpose.
04:05 And if you think that it's just about you to be able to have your little nice house and your children and your job, your career, your reputation, your social media followers, it's not about you.
04:19 It's through you. It's not, "Look at me," it's, "Look at what God did in me. Look at his grace and his mercy for me. Look at what the Lord has done."
04:30 It is marvelous in our sight. I mean, you ought to be able to realize that we are really, we are not the way we are the ones pointing to the one who is the way.
04:41 We're a sign, we're a billboard, not saying, "Hey, hey, hey, look at me," but read and notice what I'm pointing to.
04:49 Because there's one that's coming after me that is greater. I want to point to you, you know, if you like what God has done in my life, I want to introduce you to the one that actually made all of that possible.
05:00 He says, "Keep it first. Don't ever start thinking about you smelling yourself because you've done a few things right and got a few blessings and a few accolades.
05:10 You better point it back to him." That's our responsibility is to point this thing back to him and say, "Look what the Lord has done for me. Look what he's done in me. Look what he's done through me."
05:22 But look at him, look at him. We are pointing to him. And if we ever get that priority twisted, well, we begin to worship the unholy trinity of me, myself, and I.
05:34 And my God, we're in such a self-centered, egotistical, egocentric generation right now where people are stuck on themselves.
05:46 We are so stuck on this self, but we better turn the camera around.
05:56 May I explain this to you that when you look out of the window, you're able to see others, but the moment that silver, money, gets in it, you can no longer see others.
06:11 When silver is added to glass, it turns it into a mirror, and you can only see yourself.
06:18 When God designed us to be able to see others, whatever God has shown you in you is not for you, it's only supposed to be through you.
06:28 And so God wants to use us to be able to bless it. That's why you got to get your priorities right. Keep it. It's not about you, it's through you.
06:35 It's not about you, it's for you. That the God of all comfort who has comforted you has comforted you so that you can bring comfort to other people.
06:43 If you were living out there in the world looking for peace, now, because you've now encountered the Prince of Peace,
06:51 it is saying now that you introduce other people who lack peace, who are trying to get peace from a syringe and peace out of a bottle.
06:59 You introduce them to peace who's a person, the Prince of Peace.
07:04 And so when we do that, it becomes a wonderful thing.
07:08 I love this quote by C.S. Lewis that said, "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, it is of ultimate importance,
07:18 and the only thing it cannot be is moderately important."
07:24 The gospel can never be just moderately important. It has to be of ultimate importance.
07:34 Jesus must be Lord of all or he won't be Lord at all.
07:39 You just can't come in and just give him a little piece of you. He has to have all of you. He refuses to share you with another.
07:48 We have to surrender our preferences for his purpose.
07:54 It's not about us, it's about him. It really is about him.
08:01 And the good news is that when people seek him, they can find him.
08:05 Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 29 says this, "But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him.
08:16 If you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul, if you seek him with all of your heart and all of your soul, not part of it,
08:26 that's why you've got to give him all of you, he's going to be Lord of all and not Lord at all.
08:31 Whenever you pursue God with your whole heart and your whole soul, you will find him."
08:40 And it was Marcus Aurelius that reminded us that the true worth of a man is to be measured by the objects he pursues.
08:48 It's true of women too. Whatever a person pursues, I'm telling you,
08:53 your real worth is measured by the objects of whatever you are pursuing.
08:58 What are you chasing after? What are you chasing after?
09:03 And it just blesses me whenever I find God chasers.
09:07 You're chasing after him with all of their heart, following after him saying, "Lord, I want more of you, more of you, more of you, less of me.
09:15 May you increase in my life, may I decrease. May you increase, may I decrease. May you increase, may I decrease."
09:22 What are you pursuing in life? Is it career? Is it opportunity? Is it position? Is it seniority?
09:28 What is it that you are pursuing? Is it attention? What is it that you are pursuing?
09:35 And I remind you of this, you reveal what you value by how you spend your time.
09:46 You reveal what you value by how you spend your attention.
09:52 Because there's a difference between time and attention. Not everybody that you give your time to has your attention.
10:00 It really bothers me and irks me when I spend time with somebody, they've asked for a meeting with me, and then they're there on their cell phone.
10:09 I've got their time, but I don't have their attention. Whatever, whatever you give your time and your attention to, we've got more time than we have attention.
10:20 I was observing a table full of young people the other day at a restaurant, and all of them sitting there together, and nobody opening their mouth to speak to one another because everybody was on their digital distraction.
10:34 Doing their own little things, I'm like, "You could be at home and FaceTime each other for this. You don't even have to be together, y'all are not even having conversation anymore."
10:43 It bothers me that when we have lost the capacity to be able to share ideas and we start exchanging images.
10:51 And we don't even talk to one another any longer. What's consuming your time? What is consuming your attention?
11:00 You show what you value by what you give your time to. You show what you value by what you give your attention to.
11:07 And you show what you value by what you spend your money on.
11:12 Those three things. Put it back on the screen.
11:15 You show time, attention, money.
11:19 It's your money.
11:21 It's whatever you are actually giving, how you spend your time, how you spend your attention, how you spend your money.
11:30 That really shows exactly what you value.
11:33 You know why? Because your priorities reveal your values.
11:39 Your priorities reveal your values.
11:42 Your priorities reveal your values.
11:46 Your priorities will reveal whatever you value.
11:50 And I love the words of Jim Rohn who said that, "If it's a priority, you'll find a way, and if not, you'll find an excuse."
11:58 Isn't that interesting?
12:00 Isn't it amazing how you can find an excuse for everything that you don't want to do?
12:04 Have you ever noticed that when it comes time for prayer, people can find an excuse?
12:09 "I can't make it. I got sleepy. I forgot all about it."
12:14 It's just amazing.
12:16 Whatever you value, whatever is a priority, if it's a priority in your life, you'll find a way.
12:21 If it's not, you'll find an excuse.
12:24 But I want you to realize that there are certain things in terms of priorities.
12:29 You ought to at least, I mean you can have a wide variety of priorities, but you ought to have three top priorities.
12:37 And to really know exactly what those three top priorities are.
12:40 Because the moment that you have too many priorities, nothing is a priority.
12:46 So you have to be able to narrow it down. You have to narrow it down.
12:49 I remember I was counseling couples years ago. This was 30 years ago.
12:54 And I asked the wife to share some things that she wanted her husband to change.
13:04 After she got to about 38 things on her list, I said, "No, no, no, sweetheart, I appreciate your effort.
13:14 And I see that you really have it."
13:19 And this man told me, he had told me ahead of time, he says, "My wife is very, very historical."
13:24 I said, "You mean hysterical?" He said, "No, historical."
13:29 She doesn't forget a thing. She remembers, she brings up all of my history.
13:34 And here she was, she had 38 things and she was still looking up in the sky trying to figure out the rest of what was wrong with him.
13:42 And after I saw her list, I said, "Sweetheart, let's," I said, "No, no, no."
13:46 I said, "Let's reduce this down to the top three."
13:48 I said, "He can't work on all of this at one time."
13:51 I said, "Let's start with three. Let's start with three.
13:55 Just three of the most vital things to you right now. Put those three things down."
14:00 And I had him to put down. He wrote his three, bam, bam, bam.
14:03 Just one, two, three. Can you all say with me, one, two, three?
14:06 That's your, you need to get three top priorities every day that you're going to work with.
14:11 If you really want to maximize your time and your attention, you ought to have three top priorities.
14:16 What do you need? I know you've got ten things to do.
14:19 But focus on three.
14:21 Because your focus, the area of your focus is the area of your fire.
14:25 Do you know that the word focus literally means fireplace?
14:31 And the moment you lose your focus, you lose your fire.
14:36 You lose your fire. The moment you lose your focus, you lose your fire.
14:41 So get three things that become your priorities.
14:44 Let me tell you this.
14:46 There's this thing that's called first moments. First moments.
14:50 First impressions and first moments.
14:53 I use first moments because in the first moments of every new activity, it reminds me to reflect back to God.
15:00 I first wake up in the morning, I think about God. He's my first thought.
15:04 He's my first, in my first moments, in my first waking moments, I think about God.
15:08 I give Him priority in my time and the focus of my attention.
15:12 I focus on Him.
15:14 The tithe is not just 10%. It's the first 10.
15:17 It's not just the tithe, it's the first 10. It belongs to the Lord.
15:22 It's the first 10. You show your priority.
15:25 By what you do with your time, your attention, and your money.
15:29 If I really want to know a person's priorities, I can check your bank statement and I can check your calendar.
15:35 And those things will actually tell me what you really value in your life.
15:40 But think about first moments, first moments, and first impressions.
15:44 Think about that. How God will bring something to your mind at first, the first moment.
15:49 In the first moment of every new activity, you get in your car, "Lord, I thank you.
15:53 Thank you for this day that you give me travel and grace today."
15:55 The first moment on the plane, the first moment on the bus, the first on the train.
15:59 Think about Him. Reflect. When you first sit down in your office, when you first turn on your computer to go to work,
16:04 "Father, I thank you for productivity in this day."
16:07 Begin to put God in your first thoughts, first impressions, your first minutes.
16:12 Let it bring you back to God.
16:15 Secondly, one, two, three. Here's the second thing.
16:18 Second impressions. Second thoughts.
16:22 Have you ever been in a situation where you were going to do something in your second mind and say, "No, you better not do that."
16:30 Have you ever set your mind on doing something and then this other thought came to you and said, "Uh-uh.
16:37 Uh-uh. You better call this off."
16:39 Tell him you ain't going. Tell her you're not going.
16:43 And it's that second thought. You get ready to sign something, you start having, "Uh-uh.
16:49 Don't go into business with him. Don't sign this deal with her."
16:55 My God, I'm telling you, one, two, three, the second impressions.
16:59 God will do something with the second. He'll either confirm that what you're doing is of Him
17:05 or He'll convict you to say, "Don't touch this because there's a danger that is here and I'm trying to protect you."
17:11 And if you only just go with your first mind, you'll miss the second thoughts that the Holy Spirit is bringing to you.
17:18 Say, "Uh-uh. I know you bought the ticket, but cancel it.
17:23 I know you bought it, but cancel it. I was invited, I told you to Uganda and we had the ticket and I was going.
17:31 And I got a second thought of the Holy Ghost, "Uh-uh. I know that they need ministry.
17:37 I know that I was gifted. I know that I carried a deposit, but God said, 'Uh-uh, uh-uh.'"
17:42 And the very man that I would have been in the car with, the only other American who was going,
17:48 my pastor, bishop friend there that invited me there to minister, sent me a telegram and said,
17:55 "I'm sorry, but your friend who came here from America, he was in the car ahead of me,
18:01 an 18-wheeler drifted across the road, head-on collision, died instantly."
18:05 I would have been in the car with that man.
18:09 I listened to a second thought that says, "Don't go."
18:15 I'd already had the ticket. I could have rationalized, "Lord, I've already bought the ticket.
18:21 They need the ministry. You put a deposit in me, I'm going."
18:25 But I listened to a second thought.
18:28 Some of you wouldn't have been in the pickle that you're in now had you listened.
18:33 Though you had given them your number, your Instagram handle, they slid into your DMs.
18:43 And had you just listened to the second thought, "Well, some don't feel right about this.
18:49 Uh-uh. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Not today. Not today, devil."
18:55 A second thought, I'm just telling you. First impressions, turning your hearts toward God.
19:00 Second thought, "Don't sign this. Don't marry."
19:08 Just a second thought.
19:11 One, two, three. First thoughts turn toward heaven.
19:15 Second impressions where God is either confirming that you should do something or sending a conviction that you should not.
19:25 Thirdly, the third dimension.
19:30 The first dimension is length.
19:34 That speaks of how far you go.
19:36 The second dimension is width, is how wide you reach.
19:41 But the third dimension is depth.
19:45 It determines how deep you go.
19:47 May I say this to you?
19:49 That the real gifts of God are never on the surface.
19:53 All real treasure is buried.
19:56 You have to launch out into the deep.
19:59 You've got to go to the deeper things of God.
20:01 You've got to say, "Lord, unveil this. Show me the other layer of revelation that is under this."
20:07 Have you ever been to a situation where you've read this scripture all of your life, and all of a sudden now God is showing you a depth?
20:14 We call it in-depth.
20:17 And now we are seeing deeply into it.
20:20 It is better, instead of just going far and wide, it's better to go deep.
20:25 It's better. I would rather have a little bit with understanding to where I have gone with some level of depth in this thing.
20:31 I may not know the whole Bible and be able to quote every chapter from Genesis all the way down to Revelation.
20:38 Maybe I can.
20:40 But even if you've got all of this mass of width and length, if you don't have any depth of understanding,
20:50 it's about the depth of what you are able to understand.
20:53 It is when you speak out of the depths of your spirit.
20:56 It is when you speak out of the deepness of the deposit of what God has done in your life.
21:01 Is anybody understanding what I'm saying in this place today?
21:04 It is when you have lived richly and you understand this thing deeply because God has brought you through a storm or through a sickness,
21:12 and it didn't cause you to start doubting God.
21:14 It caused you to dig your claws deeper into God and said, "God, for you I live and for you I die.
21:21 And if it were not for you, God, on my side, I wouldn't have made it.
21:25 You sustained me through the brokenness of relationship and through the abuse and through the abandonment.
21:30 God, you were with me."
21:32 And when you have a deep understanding of God, when the storm begins to come, your roots begin to grow deep down into the ground,
21:41 and he begins to undergird us.
21:47 One, two, three.
21:50 You turn your thoughts toward God.
21:52 Secondly, you get a second thought of the conviction or the confirmation of the Holy Ghost.
21:57 And the third is the third dimension of depth.
22:00 It speaks of depth.
22:02 Not about how far you can go.
22:05 Not about how many people that you can reach.
22:08 Because when you have masses of people, you can impress people from a distance, but you can only impact people up close.
22:19 That's why I'm excited about these young evangelists that are in this place today, to be able to do discipleship on a small, up close.
22:26 When Jesus took 12 men in a small group, it wasn't a mega church.
22:32 It was a small group.
22:34 And he was able to talk to 12, 11, 12 folks, and one of them was a devil.
22:43 But leave that to God. Let the wheat grow up with the tares.
22:47 And you just plant, you just water, and you let God bring the increase.
22:53 And you don't ever know where you are in the process.
22:56 Let God be God.
22:58 And impact the lives of people up close, personal, the way that Jesus did in dialogue and conversation with people.
23:08 Talking about the power of proper priorities.
23:13 But there are certain things that must be a priority for every believer.
23:17 And let me just say this, love is foundational.
23:20 You notice 1 Corinthians chapter 14 in verse 1?
23:23 Notice what it says.
23:24 "Pursue love, chase after love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy."
23:31 But even before prophecy, he says, "Pursue love."
23:34 "Pursue love." Let that be the preeminent thing. "Pursue love."
23:38 And earnestly desire spiritual gifts.
23:40 He said you can desire all of the gifts to work miracles, but I don't want you working a miracle if you don't show any love.
23:45 If you don't have the character of the kingdom of God, if you don't have the love.
23:49 Jesus said that, "By this shall men know that you are my disciples, that you have love one for another."
23:54 "Pursue love." Chase after love. Don't go after the gifts, go after the love.
23:59 Go after the love. Then after you've got the love in your heart, then you can pursue the gift.
24:04 But he says, "Pursue love." "Pursue love." Go after the love.
24:08 In Galatians chapter 5 and verse 22, it talks there, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance."
24:18 All of those things. And the Bible says, "Against such things there is no law."
24:22 But notice, the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is, is love.
24:28 Because love is the preeminent fruit.
24:30 And all of the other fruit of the Spirit grow out of the fruit of love.
24:35 Because otherwise it should say that the fruit of the Spirit are.
24:41 But fruit is because there's only really one fruit which is love.
24:46 And out of love you'll find everything else you need.
24:50 The fruit of the Spirit is love. It is, love is the preeminent fruit.
24:56 And out of the love comes joy.
24:59 And out of the love comes peace.
25:01 And out of the love comes faithfulness.
25:05 Out of the love, you're faithful to God because we love Him.
25:09 You have joy because you understand that you are loved.
25:13 You love Him and He loves you.
25:15 My joy, peace.
25:18 It's not the absence of the storm, it's to realize that the one who loves you is present with you in the storm.
25:25 It's, love is the preeminent gift.
25:28 Let's remember that we must put first things first and love is the preeminent gift.
25:33 Success is a result of doing first things first.
25:36 And when we mess up, we become misguided, it's because we start doing second, secondary things and tertiary things first.
25:44 Keep the first things first.
25:47 And don't confuse the urgent with the important.
25:50 Not everything that is urgent is important.
25:54 Keep the urgent where it is and keep the important.
25:59 Focus on the important.
26:01 I would say it to you this way.
26:05 This is what I do in my own personal life.
26:07 I'll just give you one of my life hacks.
26:13 I zoom out so that I get the big picture of heaven.
26:18 I want to zoom out, I need a telescopic view.
26:22 The Bible is a telescopic lens.
26:25 The pulpit is a telescope.
26:27 It's not a crystal ball.
26:30 It's a telescope.
26:32 Telescopus, it's a distant look.
26:36 It allows me to see something in a far off place and so I'm able to look.
26:40 So zoom out so that I can get the picture of the kingdom of God that this is bigger than me.
26:46 We need an outward look, you need your binoculars on.
26:49 You need a telescopic view so you look down the vista of time.
26:54 And you're able to see things that people are not able to see.
26:57 There has to be, when you get ready to evangelize somebody,
27:01 people don't make decisions for Jesus when you feel like you've got a whole lot of time.
27:07 And so every time that I get ready,
27:10 and one of my greatest strategies as a younger person,
27:12 sharing the gospel among high school students,
27:15 when I was a high school student,
27:17 and in college, is that I always created urgency.
27:21 Now I don't know, I might have scared some people straight.
27:27 But there is an urgency to the gospel.
27:30 And people don't make a clear decision until there's urgency.
27:37 Because you don't know how much time you've got.
27:41 So there has to be urgency.
27:43 So I zoom out and get the picture of the kingdom of heaven.
27:49 And then I begin to zoom in to know what I need to do now.
27:54 Zoom out to get God's kingdom.
27:56 Thy kingdom come, on earth zoom in.
28:01 Zoom out to get the mind of God.
28:04 Lord, what is it that you're showing me?
28:06 Show me the big picture.
28:08 I'm just one person who's fitting into an equation.
28:11 I fit into a picture of a larger scheme of things that you're doing.
28:15 There is a meta-narrative that you have over this entire universe
28:19 of what you're doing in the world.
28:21 For God so loved the world.
28:23 Not America, for God so loved the world.
28:26 God so loved the world.
28:28 Zoom out!
28:30 So that you're not so focused in on just a little bit
28:33 of where you are in your little neighborhood, in your little school.
28:36 Zoom out!
28:38 And get a picture.
28:39 Get a picture, get a picture.
28:41 It has helped me in traveling to nearly a hundred countries around the world
28:45 to zoom out and to see that God is bigger than just America.
28:48 That God is moving into some other places when we have snuffed our noses
28:54 and turned up our noses and become so self-sufficient.
28:58 But God is looking for people who will still be dependent on Him
29:01 to say, "Lord, I need you."
29:03 I need you.
29:04 I need you.
29:06 I need you, God.
29:07 I need you.
29:09 Zoom out to get the understanding of the kingdom of God.
29:13 Thy kingdom come on earth.
29:16 Now zoom in and say, "Lord, based on what I've seen there, what do I do here now?"
29:21 Zoom out to get God's perspective.
29:24 Zoom in to know what you do next.
29:27 Does that help you?
29:28 I want you to understand the power of zooming out to get the mind of God
29:32 that this affliction is just for a little while.
29:37 If you're in something and it feels like this is too much for you to bear right now,
29:41 you need to zoom out because you're zooming in too much.
29:44 You need to zoom out and get the big picture and show what God's in the process of doing.
29:50 You zoom out, you get God's mind.
29:52 You zoom in, and you get God's strategy for what you do in this small space that you have right now.
29:57 I zoom out. I zoom out.
30:00 And I ask this question, "Is this going to matter five years from now?
30:03 Will this matter 10 years from now? Will this matter 20 years from now?"
30:06 Zoom out to get the bigger picture, and then zoom in to see how do I implement this God right now in my life.
30:14 When you zero in, you're asking, "What do I do now?"
30:20 Zoom out to get the big picture.
30:22 Zoom in to say, "What do I do now?"
30:28 And if you take care of the little thing of what you do now, the big things will take care of themselves.
30:34 If you take care of the seconds and the minutes, the hours, the days, the weeks, the months, and the years will take care of themselves.
30:44 The secret of success is always found in your daily routine.
30:48 Success doesn't come in a day. It comes daily.
30:51 The key to it is it's daily.
30:53 And I would encourage you, organize your priorities around the important.
30:58 God first. Family second. Your business, your career, your ministry third.
31:04 Keep God first.
31:06 Take care of your family. Your family is your first small group.
31:09 That was God's original plan for the small group was the family.
31:14 Then your business, your career, and your ministry, and all of these other things.
31:17 One, two, three. One, two, three.
31:20 We need both priorities and values in whatever God has called us to do.
31:25 We need priorities.
31:27 So, prioritize, organize, and focus your work.
31:30 But then values guide how you do the work.
31:35 Values guide how you do the work.
31:37 Priorities organize and focus your work.
31:41 Values guide how you do the work.
31:46 You need both priorities and values.
31:51 And to live the proper values, you have to suck it up and do things that you don't necessarily like doing.
31:59 Because when you live by priorities, you don't always feel like it.
32:04 That's where discipline comes in.
32:06 Discipline, hear me carefully, discipline is much more important than motivation.
32:13 Because you got to have discipline when the motivation wears off.
32:16 You got to have discipline when you can't push a button and watch a TED talk.
32:22 When you can't turn on a podcast and be motivated.
32:24 When you can't just turn on Bishop Bronner and get your motivation, you know, get your feel good.
32:31 You got to have a discipline and say, "Lord, I don't feel like it today, but Jesus, I need you."
32:38 I mean, just to really talk to him and to go in.
32:42 Take care of your health. Take care of your health.
32:45 Spiritually, financially, mentally, emotionally, take care of your health.
32:49 Physically, take care of your health.
32:52 If you don't take care of your health, you're not going to be able to help other folks.
32:55 You're going to become a burden instead of a blessing.
32:57 Take care of your health. Physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, take care of your health.
33:04 And then take care of your relationships.
33:06 Because if you don't take care of your health, you're not going to be able to take care of anybody else.
33:10 I'm not talking about being selfish. There's a difference between selfish and self-care.
33:16 Take care of yourself so you can take care of your family.
33:18 Take care of yourself so you can be a blessing to your friends.
33:21 Take care of yourself so you can bless the community and be a blessing in your school and be a blessing in the church.
33:27 Take care of yourself. Take care of yourself. Take care of your relationships.
33:32 And then take care of your calling, your assignment from God.
33:36 What does he call you to do?
33:38 Take care of your calling. Take care of your God assignment in the earth. Take care of it.
33:43 And I love the words of M. Scott Peck who said, "Until you value yourself, you won't value your time.
33:51 And until you value your time, you won't do anything with it."
33:57 I want you to remember this.
33:59 Value yourself so you value your time.
34:04 And when you value your time, you'll be sure to then do something with it.
34:11 Please understand that in this world, that a career is what you're paid for, but a calling is what you're made for.
34:20 Yes.
34:22 Career is what you're paid for. Calling is what you are made for.
34:29 You have to learn how to work your calling through your career without insulting the people that are paying you to do a job.
34:37 Let your light shine wherever you are.
34:40 It's light, you know, it's the way it is.
34:44 So if somebody is paying you on a job, let that light still shine.
34:48 Let them pay what your hands do, but you let your spirit communicate some other things.
34:53 Sometimes you have to go in the bathroom at work and do intercessory prayer.
34:58 You have to go into deep intercession.
35:00 I'm just telling you that the career is what you're paid for, but the calling is what you're made for.
35:05 Don't ever separate it and don't ever apologize for it.
35:08 But you serve on that job with such excellence that your boss will have to stop you sometime to say, "What is it about you? I don't even understand."
35:18 If you're showing up late and goofing off, don't even tell them that you're a Christian.
35:29 I want to encourage you today, if you really want to be able to understand the power of priorities, you've got to make a list of what you have to do.
35:37 Make a list of what you have to do.
35:39 Then make a list of what you want to do.
35:42 And then make a list of what you get to do.
35:46 Get your priorities.
35:48 There are certain things you have to do.
35:50 There are other things you want to do and there are other things that you get to do.
35:53 There are other things that you get to do.
35:59 There's a saying that says that if you raise your children, you'll be able to enjoy your grandchildren.
36:07 But if you just enjoy your children, you're going to have to raise your grandchildren.
36:12 Oh my, my God.
36:16 Some of you haven't lived long enough to understand what that means.
36:21 But just remember that always keep in mind how you do what you do.
36:27 Because how you do anything is how you do everything.
36:30 It's a reflection of your character.
36:32 I love the words of Stephen Covey that says that the key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.
36:40 Schedule those priorities in your life.
36:43 When you think about real priorities, I would say this.
36:47 It reminds me of Matthew chapter 25 in verse 1 through 4.
36:51 Jesus was speaking here and giving a parable here of the ten virgins or the ten bridesmaids.
36:56 He said that the kingdom of heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
37:03 And five of them were foolish and five were wise.
37:06 And the five who were foolish didn't take enough olive oil for their lamps, but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil.
37:17 You know what this really teaches us?
37:20 This teaches us that the time to be ready is not the time to get ready.
37:29 But I want you to understand a deeper truth here.
37:33 And it is this.
37:36 That we cannot afford to focus on our lamps, our external, and neglect the internal oil that keeps the lamp burning.
37:49 But our hair is laid and our eyelashes are...
37:53 And your nail polish is popping and those shoes are matching that purse.
37:59 All of that is a lamp.
38:03 And if you don't have some oil...
38:09 It doesn't matter how flawless your skin is...
38:14 And how tight your weave is...
38:18 That's a lamp!
38:22 Your ministry is a lamp!
38:25 It's the oil!
38:27 It is the oil that is in the lamp that fuels the light!
38:35 And if you don't take care of your relationship with Jesus and your relationship with the Father and your relationship with the Word...
38:44 Your oil is going to run out and your lamp is going to go dark.
38:50 That's all that he's saying. He said, "Get your priorities right."
38:53 And my God, the lamps are magnificent!
38:57 And your lampshades and their design and their color is just popping, it's blinging.
39:04 But what does your oil look like?
39:07 Is there any oil?
39:10 The yoke is broken not because of the lamp.
39:16 It's the oil! It's the anointing that breaks the...
39:22 That's an oil, that's an oil, that's an oil.
39:26 And I'm here to tell you that we have opened so many doors to Satan.
39:30 There are so many demonic portals that are open that we've got to have so much oil in our lamp.
39:36 It's not enough to just have light, you've got to have oil.
39:39 Oil, oil, oil, because the oil breaks the yoke.
39:44 It breaks the yoke, that anointing breaks the yoke.
39:47 There has to be an unction of the Holy Ghost on the inside.
39:50 And if you've just been concerned with the external accoutrements of having such a glorious lamp
39:56 and such a decorative and ornate lampshade, that you have forgotten about your extra oil.
40:04 Because there's going to be some demonic stuff that's going to rise up in your life.
40:08 And you're going to need some oil to handle that.
40:11 You can't counsel a devil out.
40:13 You're going to need some oil for that.
40:15 When he interrupts you in your sleep with insomnia,
40:18 when he begins to come with nightmares and all kinds of feelings of depression,
40:22 you don't counsel that out, you're going to need some oil, oil, oil, with you in your lamp.
40:30 Never just use your Bible as a tool for ministry, keep it as the treasure of your heart.
40:35 It is a treasure.
40:38 The word "statio" is a Latin word for station or position or watch, "statio."
40:49 But it is often described as a holy pause, "statio," a holy pause.
40:58 A simple definition of "statio" is just pausing to be prayerful.
41:05 It's pausing to be prayerful.
41:08 It's mindful prayer, mindful prayer.
41:13 It is an unhurried moment in which we appreciate God's presence
41:18 through silent prayer or meditation on Scripture.
41:22 These are the words of Joan Chister, a Benedictine nun,
41:27 who said that "statio" is a monastic custom of stopping one thing before we begin another.
41:34 It is the time between the times.
41:37 "Statio, statio."
41:41 It's an unhurried moment where you appreciate God just through silence, through meditating on Him.
41:48 And it is interesting that both nuns and monks celebrate and appreciate "statio."
41:56 You know how they most do it?
41:58 By arriving early to worship services.
42:03 So they can sit in the presence of God and not be hurried,
42:06 like you're sliding into home bases, "Oh, I've, I've, I've."
42:10 No, no, no, they get there early so that they can experience "statio" and think about God.
42:20 This, the unhurried rhythms of grace, of how God begins to move in us and calm us down
42:26 from all of the hurry and all of the interruptions of all of the digital distractions
42:32 just to be able to quiet our minds, we need a place of "statio."
42:38 For the calm in the midst of the storm, we need "statio."
42:44 The time between the times.
42:47 Because our lives are more busy than ever, even though we have more time-saving devices
42:52 than we've ever had, but we are more busy and more distracted.
42:56 We're dealing with more depression than we've ever dealt with, more anxiety.
43:00 And we need just a bit of "statio" to be able to set our affections on things above.
43:09 The stuff that will stress you out and worry you is down here.
43:14 The stuff that will give you peace is when you have "statio" and you're able to zoom out.
43:22 You're saying to God, "Beam me up, Scotty. Get me out of here. Help me to see the big picture."
43:29 When I get up there, what looks like a mountain down here looks like a molehill from up there.
43:34 We are seated with Him in heavenly places because He gives us divine perspective.
43:40 "Statio" is the power of just arriving early to the service so you can quiet your spirit,
43:47 prepare your heart and say, "God, I just, I want to be in your house and just to think about you.
43:53 And all that you brought me through and kept me through over the course of this day, over the course of the week, thank you.
44:01 And for all that you have in the week to come, Lord, I trust you with my life and all that I am."
44:13 I'm reminded of the story of Albert Einstein as he left Princeton one day on the train.
44:25 He boards the train like an absent-minded professor that he was, brilliant though in his mind.
44:38 And he's sitting on the train and all of a sudden the conductor is coming through the chain
44:43 and he asks for the ticket to be able to punch the ticket to verify that every passenger who's on the train
44:49 has actually purchased a ticket to be on board.
44:53 And he comes to Dr. Albert Einstein.
44:59 And Einstein searched his vest pocket and couldn't find it and he searched his trouser pocket, couldn't locate the ticket.
45:12 He looked inside of his suit coat, he then turned to his briefcase and searched his briefcase and couldn't locate his ticket.
45:21 He looked in the seat beside him and still couldn't find his ticket.
45:28 The conductor, looking at Albert Einstein, he knew who he was.
45:35 He said, "Dr. Einstein," he said, "it's okay, I know who you are.
45:40 And I know that you wouldn't have gotten on this train without purchasing a ticket."
45:46 He said, "you're okay."
45:49 And the conductor went on down asking for tickets and punching them and punching them and punching them.
45:53 And then he had, the conductor had moved on to the next car.
45:57 He looks back through the window and he sees Einstein with his hair all discombobulated.
46:07 On his hands and knees, up under the seat looking for the ticket.
46:14 The conductor comes back to him and says again, "Dr. Einstein, I told you, you don't need a ticket.
46:25 I know who you are. I know you've got a ticket and you may not be able to find it now,
46:31 but I know you're not that kind of guy that would just sneak on the train."
46:39 And Albert Einstein nodded in great appreciation, thanking him.
46:47 And he said, "I know you know who I am."
46:52 He said, "and I know who I am, but I need my ticket because," he says, "I've forgotten where I'm going."
47:02 That information was on the ticket.
47:05 But I came to announce to you today, I know who I am and I know where I'm going.
47:15 My question for you is, do you know who you are, but more importantly, do you know where you're going?
47:25 Jesus already purchased the ticket, but do you know where you are, where you're going?
47:35 I don't want to be presumptuous, every head bowed, every eye closed.
47:38 If you're in this place, you're watching on live stream today, your life is hanging in the balance.
47:45 You'd be surprised how quickly your life can be snuffed out.
47:52 Time is ever moving, ever shifting. You can't step into the same river twice.
47:57 Everything is changing.
48:00 Tomorrow is not promised to you, it's not promised to me.
48:05 I believe in living my life in such a way that I'm going to die the next moment,
48:11 but yet being prepared as though I will live forever.
48:16 And today, if you don't know beyond the shadow of a doubt that if you were to die tonight, where you're going.
48:23 You don't have that ticket with that blessed assurance on it, letting you know where your destination is.
48:31 You might have been a stowaway on the train, because you've been around religious folks and you were born into a Christian family.
48:39 May I remind you of this, God has no grandchildren.
48:44 You must be a child of God for yourself. You're not a child of God because your mama or your daddy was a child of God.
48:51 Every tub has to sit on its own bottom. You've got to know Jesus for yourself.
48:56 And if you're in this place, under the sound of my voice or watching on live stream,
49:00 this is a time of deep introspection where you need to say, "God, I believe in you.
49:10 I've failed, I've missed the mark. I don't know if I will die tonight. I try to be good.
49:18 Lord, I've messed up. I've done some terrible things."
49:23 All of that's under the blood. When you accept Jesus, you open your heart to Jesus.
49:30 We simply repent and turn to him. And he extends his goodness and his grace to us.
49:38 We hope that you enjoyed that message. Don't forget to like and subscribe,
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