ONE DAY AT A TIME

Matthew 6:25-34 (KJV)

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

I had a conversation with a younger preacher this week, on the subject of time.

He said that his week had gone by too fast.

I joked that, at my age, they all go by too fast.

He got the joke but then he asked me, “Do some weeks seem like they go by faster than others?”

I had to stop and think about that a few moments.

I said, “I suppose so. But I purposely try to slow mine down these days.”

I told him, “No matter how terribly a day is going, I know I only have a limited number of the left.”

Because of that, I try very hard to “live in the moment.”

I try to be very aware of:

·   Where I am

·   Who I am with

·   How I feel

·   What I am doing and

·   What is going on around me

I try to take it all in.

I can’t say that I do it well, or even that I always do it.

But it is my intention to savor every moment.

Even the painful ones can serve to make you feel – alive.

This practice of living in the moment is basically informed by two things:

1. A message I heard very early in my ministry from a missionary to Africa who said that the native people believed he had a god before the True God and that he wore it on his wrist.

He said the native people told him that

·   He bowed down to it many times a day and

·   He obeyed it, doing everything by the schedule it demanded of him

There is no way to get around it completely, but I do think there is a great deal of truth in that simple observance.

The second one is

2. A message I heard probably fifteen years later.

The preacher illustrated the importance of living today and not tomorrow.

He brought up:

·   A primary student

·   A secondary student

·   A Junior high

·   A Senior high

·   A young adult

·   A mature adult and

·   A senior adult

Then he said:

·   The primary student wishes he was secondary student

·   The secondary student wishes he was the junior high student

·   The junior high student wishes he was the high school student driving the car

·   The high school student wishes he was the young adult out on his own

·   The young adult wishes he was the mature adult, established in his career

·   The senior adult wishes he was able to retire but

The senior just wishes he was any of those younger than he …

He used that to illustrate how we tend to be constantly discontent.

·   When it is hot we wish it was cold

·   When it is cold we wish it was hot

·   When it is dry we wish for the rain

·   When it is raining we wish for the sun

·   Californians wish they lived in Arizona

·   Washingtonians wished they lived in California

·   New Yorkers wished they lived in Florida

·   Floridians wished they lived in, I don’t know, Mexico

About the only one who are glad they live where they live are the Texans! J

·   We get a new car and almost immediately wish we had a different car.

·   We buy a computer and immediately wish we had a faster computer

·   We buy a house and wish we had a bigger house

The preacher just said, “Godliness, with contentment, is embracing right now.”

God has us:

·   Where we are

·   The age we are

·   With what we have and

·   Who we are with

Godliness is to accept that and serve God “in the moment.”

All of that got me thinking, how much of who I am and what I think is the result of reaching I have heard.

I wonder if we appreciate how important preachers and preaching is – not only to our Christian worship, but to our life in general?

I. PREACHING SAVES THE LOST

1 Corinthians 1:21 (KJV)

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

The preaching that saves can take on a great many forms:

It can be:

·   Preaching from the pulpit in a service such as this

·   Preaching on a doorstep when a soul winner cares enough to witness to people he has never met before

·   Preaching over a table giving the plan of salvation to a friend or family member

·   Preaching through a tract, read by a heart prepared of the Lord and given to them by a concerned Christian who has tracts with him and gives them out

There is a kind of preaching that every Christian can do.

It is a kind of preaching that the early Christians would do everywhere.

Acts 8:4 (KJV)

Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.

You don’t have to be a pastor to do this kind of preaching.

·   Women can do it

·   Children can do it

·   Laymen of all walks can do it

·   You have some gospel tracts in your pocket

·   You have a soul winners New Testament on your person and

·   You kindly give those tracts away and witness to anyone who has an interest.

Romans 10:13-15 (KJV)

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Secondly

II. PREACHING MOLDS THE MIND

Romans 12:1-2 (KJV)

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The word preach is not found in this passage, but if this is not preaching, I don’t know what is.

“I beseech you therefore brethren….”

That is a passionate and emotional appeal for a response.

Preaching is, almost by definition, not merely the imparting of facts.

Preaching is an impassioned and emotional appeal to do something with what has been spoken.

Paul begs, beseeches, cries out to them, in written form.

(Years ago I preached in a church in Southern California. After the service one of the men of the church told me that he had been reading my sermons online for several years.

Then he said, I will have to read them with a lot more “energy” from now one.)

A sermon in written form is still a sermon.

It might be missing the volume, but it certainly should not be missing the passion.

Paul begs them:

·   Present your bodies a living sacrifice to God and

·   Be not conformed to this world

A change has to happen in every one of us who are saved. It’s not something that will happen automatically, it happens.

First, when we are willing

A living sacrifice

Second, when we reject the ideas of this world

Be not conformed

And

Third, by the renewing of your mind with God’s Word

Preaching is only one way that our minds are renewed through the Word of God but it is arguably the most important way.

1 Corinthians 1:18 (KJV)

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

III. PREACHING CORRECTS THE WAYWARD AND BACKSLIDING

Luke 24:47 (KJV)

And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Acts 14:15 (KJV)

And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:

Sound biblical preaching will almost always contain some call to repent.

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to swerve off the road while you are driving?

You move along at 55 or 60 miles along, glance over at billboard suddenly your tires yell out that screeching sound when they hit those vibration bars carves into the shoulder.

You drive along the road with every good intention of safely getting from “point a” to “point b.”

But all along the way there are distractions.

So the Department of Transportation has installed, here and there, road signs and traffic lights and yellow lines and other things – all meant to help you stay on course.

If those tools don’t quite do the trick, then the state provides, for your safety and protection a further service in the form of vehicle-equipped police officers.

All of this is meant for your good.

Sometimes it isn’t pleasant, but it is for your good.

Preaching does that very same thing.

It helps us to not get too off track with all the worldly distractions on the road of life.

IV. PREACHING ENCOURAGES THE GODLINESS

Hebrews 10:23-25 (KJV)

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

The preaching of the Word of God provokes us to love and to good works.

One of the most important things any of us can do as Christians is be faithful –

·   More than faithful

·   Not ever forsake

the assembling of ourselves together in church.

Preaching turns us away from sin but it also turns us towards godliness.

Finally

V. PREACHING PREPARES US FOR HEAVEN

Titus 2:11-13 (KJV)

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

The Bible says,

1 John 3:1-3 (KJV)

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

It is preaching that reminds us what our final goal is.

We live today for Christ because we know that one day soon we will live eternally with Christ.

Conclusion

I know that I have interests that are unique to me because of my upbringing.

·   I like horses

·   I enjoy wearing a cowboy hat

·   I like a pickup truck

But in every way that really matters, I am who I am because of the preaching that I have heard. (And I like who I am.)

·   Be faithful to your church

·   Be attentive to the preaching and

·   Be prayerful for your preacher

And God will bless you for it.