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Now let's get into the show. I was gonna come up with a really compelling hook for this episode, but I sat down, started looking at TV, and then I forgot. Talking about procrastination coming up tomorrow on the Clear Vee Today Show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. Welcome to the Clearview Today Show. Thank you so much for joining us here in our studio with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah.
If you're listening for the very first time today, we want to say welcome. Thank you for tuning into the show, and we're going to let you know exactly who's talking to you. Dr. Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. Dr.
Shah, we're talking about planning for our future. And one of the things that you know. Can we talk about this tomorrow? I was just going to say, yeah, like, let's do this tomorrow. We've been talking about planning our future.
We've been talking about how to plan. Do we plan with God? We forgot the. One of the options is, let's just not plan it. Yeah.
Let's just, can we just not plan it? We'll plan it later. We've got time. Dr. Shah, how many times in ministry have you seen people fall victim to procrastination?
Well, I have fallen vic victim to procrastination. In fact, I still sometimes do. And it comes f for me, it comes from My weakness for doing things right. And when I know that I'm going to do something right. I know it's going to take time.
I know it's gonna take time. It's gonna be. The You know, it's gonna take some effort, it's going to take some research, it's gonna take some writing, some putting things aside. I gotta focus on this. I'll do it tomorrow.
I need to spend the day thinking about it.
Well, I'll find something else to do. You know, one of my favorite episodes. I'm sorry, parents, if you don't like SpongeBob. When SpongeBob is writing that paper. I don't know.
That's a classic. Who came up with that storyline? But that was so good. That was so funny. I was like.
How do they know about my life? Who have you been talking to? He starts riling and then he's like, He's in the chair. That is a great episode. I have done that myself.
He has to feed the snail. He has to go make a sandwich. Absolutely. Can't write a paper if I'm hungry. Yeah.
And it is because. We know that writing a paper will require work, thinking. Research. Uh editing so Okay, I just I'm going to wait. You shared this with us as a team.
It's been maybe years ago at this point, and it revolutionized the way I thought about my work because I'm natured a lot in the same way. Like, if it's going to take a lot of work and effort, I'm going to punt that because I got to be able to sit down, I got to be able to focus. What I like to do, and what I've learned about myself, is that I'll trick myself into thinking that I'm being productive by accomplishing smaller, easier tasks first. Yeah. Because it feels good to cross those off of a list.
I'm like, man, look at how much I was able to accomplish when really that was just like. Mm-hmm.
Okay, I've done a lot of things and none of them were really impactful. And I've not put, I've not done the thing that I needed to do. And for good reasons, because I knew they were going to take a lot of intense dedication and work. As a team, I think it helps specifically with us that we all know each other because you guys know I'm wired very differently where it's like, if I'm procrastinating, it's because I'm just not interested in this thing. I don't want to do it at all.
There's a part of me that sort of likes this where it's like, if I want something or if I'm interested in a project, it's the only thing I think about all the time. And I need everybody else to get on board with what we're doing here. I mean, this show when we first started became one of them is where I'll get really obsessive about it. But then there's other things that like I have to do or other things that like it's going to be good for the ministry that we're doing if we do this. And if I don't want to, that's typically when I'm procrastinating.
Like, okay, let me let me think on it. Let me pray about it. It's, it's not that it's going to take a lot of effort. It's just that it doesn't appeal to me. And a lot of times you, Dr.
Shah, you've helped me with the why rather than the how and to get to get those on board. But I think the all of us work together because we do understand what where the procrastination is coming from. You know what I mean? For me, it comes down to what is at stake. If pushing this.
task to tomorrow or next week or when things settle down. If you're going to, in the process, lose. lose people, lose money. lose your health, Then you cannot afford to keep punting this forward. Yeah.
You cannot afford to keep kicking this can because it's not going to work like that. In fact, you will have so much more So many more damages in the process. Either you get with it Or everybody else is going to have to now join in and pay for this. Those are the things that really move me. Mm-hmm.
If I don't get this done. Other people are going to have to pay for this. And then I go, Yep, okay, it is what it is. Let's handle this. There are times that I have kept things to the last minute and then under the time crunch I have accomplished it.
And great. It it was okay. But I but I wish I had I had done that earlier. Yeah. Yeah.
One of the problems that People like me have, and I think people on this team have. is that we have so many good things There are In the pipeline, that it's almost impossible to get. Anything done because we're like, oh, this is important, and so is this, and so is this.
So, how do I rate this? I can't. They're all number ones. If at the most it'll be number one, number two, number one, number one, number one, maybe number two. They're not like number one, number two, number three, number four, number eight, yeah, ten.
Right. It's not like that. Yeah, we don't have. I mean, I think you're right. I don't think other than like, you know.
Putting the songs on Planning Center, printing music for people, like there's not really many low-priority things that we do here. No, and I think that's that has served us well because we are making a huge, huge impact. I would say all over the world constantly. I mean, we're harvesting things. Yeah, we're seeing the Greek New Testament, yeah, right?
We're seeing albums come out, we're seeing video documentaries, local history, 250th anniversary. I mean, we're producing a documentary for that. I mean, that's uh, that's huge, monumental involving some very, very powerful people who are. You know, talking to us and we're interviewing them. We're actually traveling early next week to go and film for that.
That's right.
So it's a lot of our stuff is paying big dividends, and it's all. By the grace of God. I'm not just like, let's go and add the tagline in there. No, I really truly believe it's God's hand is upon us. That's right.
So we are seeing a lot of benefit come through that. What I am trying to caution people who are listening to us or watching us. is don't Don't Start doing Wasteful things. Like Ryan said a few moments ago, I start doing small tasks because the big one is so intimidating and so daunting that I'm like. Let me hold it off till next week.
And I get it. But don't do things that will not do absolutely anything for you. Like Scrolling on the phone, right? Yeah. Hours and hours and hours of watching.
Instagram Reels and Snapchat and TikTok and YouTube because that's not going to pay anything. Yeah. Your life is not enriched. Not. It's not going to help one bit in that process.
Now the small tasks may pay off somewhat. It's like, okay, I went ahead and finished the planning center, or I went ahead and made those four phone calls that needed to be done. And I got that critical, but I got it done. But here's something that I've learned from you, Dr. Shaw, and I think this speaks to people who are in maybe a ministry setting or a leadership setting that are listening to this: is that there are lots of things that are time sinks for us, meaning that we sink a lot of time into them that could be handled by someone else or by a volunteer.
Yeah. And I think a lot of people, and that was a hard learn, I think, for the team. And it's something we still struggle with. We still spend our time doing, myself included, we still spend our time doing things that volunteers could handle. But I think it comes down to: is this a skill that I still have to learn or am I afraid to tackle that big thing?
So I'm just, I'm just so swamped with all these little things, I can't do it. And I think for all of us, it's just a skill that we have to learn to teach volunteers to do these small things. I don't think that anyone on our team is afraid to tackle these big projects. And I think that's why. You know, it might be, we might still be learning how to do it, but I think that's why we're learning, you know, is so that we can spend that time investing in these big, big projects like the Clear View Today Show or the Greek New Testament or all these other things that you mentioned.
So, Dr. Shaw, the person who's listening to this who is struggling with procrastination and has realized that, or maybe is realizing it for the first time listening to this episode. How do we grapple with this? How do we process that we are a procrastinator and begin to move forward?
So let's go back to James because James says something very powerful, and he takes it to another level. And unless we take it to that another level, we're just going to talk about. Uh it we're simply moving like files on a on a desk. We're not really accomplishing anything. We're not putting them in the file folder.
We're not properly categorizing or classifying them. We're simply moving them, shuffling them on the table. James says in James 4, 17, therefore, To him who knows to do good and does not do it, To him it is sin. Mm. Sin.
So when you know what is right to do, And you don't do it. Then it becomes sin. Yeah, but Dr. Sha, it just feels more like a bad habit. It feels like it's just something that's hurting me.
It doesn't feel like a sin when I'm a personate, right? Yeah, sorry. James says otherwise. Yeah, if you say, one of these days, man, are we going to go to church? Let me clean the garage first.
I can't go to church with a dirty garage. Yes, of course. And my car, man. It needs to be washed. My clothes.
I don't have any church clothes. Or some other silly thing. Get into the church now. Yep. Start doing some ministry now.
Start your daily devotions now. Hey, you know. You know, I've we we built a new deck and I haven't even sat out there. You know what today? I'm going to sit out there.
I will be sitting today on the deck. Yeah, that's right. We haven't had a family time.
So today we're not going to go to church. I'm gonna make breakfast for everybody. I'm gonna make like 50 pancakes. There'll be pancakes sitting on the kitchen counter for days. Why?
Because family time is important. That is a sacred. We got to protect that. Yes, right. Hey, look.
We'll go get back in church. That's right.
Yeah. One day. We'll do it one day. But I'm going to make a big breakfast like granddaddy used to make. Can't go to church on pancake day.
No. Start going to church now. Start sharing the gospel now. Start tithing.
Now. One of the best things I think that has ever happened in my life, and I know it annoys people. I know for a fact it annoys my wife, but I have learned the power of right now. Because I've learned too many times when it's not right now, I'm going to forget it. It's not going to happen.
But I also feel so free. When I just do something now, it never feels, I mean, maybe sometimes it does when it's those hard things, but I never regret doing something right this moment. You know what I mean? Yeah. I encourage our people, our staff, to man, make a list.
prioritize things, rearrange them on a on on a so-called totem pole first, second, third, fourth and start tackling them. When I get home tonight, I'm going I have like three or four tasks that I have to get done. There's a reference letter that I'm writing for a young lady. She's asked me that like three weeks ago. I haven't been so busy, I haven't had a chance to write it.
And every time I see her, I say, hey, it's coming. She's like, I know. She's so sweet. I'm like I can keep doing that to her. I have to get it to her.
So I'm going to take care of that today. You know, it's funny. In yesterday's episode, Ryan, you talked about, you know, how does God feel as our father when He sees us procrastinating? Like, I think of the way that I look at my kids when I'm like, hey, I want that Plato cleaned up. Yeah.
Now I've made it clear what I want. for them to be like, okay. And then go like watch TV, go get a snack. Yeah. Like.
Sorry, guys. I don't know if I miscommunicated, but I expected immediate obedience when I give that. This is a real life thing that happened in my household this week. I told both of my boys, so our sons live on live. Their rooms are on the upstairs floor.
Everyone else, the girls and Elizabeth and I are on the downstairs floor, but the boys are on the upstairs floor.
So a lot of times things happen in their room that we may or may not be aware of for a while. I told the boys, I said, Hey, I want all of the dirty clothes that are in your room, in a hamper, in the laundry room. Make it happen. Like, absolutely. No problem.
We got it, Dad. We'll do it. Did it do it? No. They went to the living room and both sat down and picked up an Xbox controller.
Oh. And I said, gentlemen. What are we doing? Home playing Xbox. I was like No, no, no, we're getting dirty clothes.
That's what we're doing. Oh, you want to do it now? Yeah, we were going. Yes, I wanted you to do it now. This wasn't like when you feel like it or when you get a personal invitation in the mail.
This is right now. But when it's me following God's will, well, God understands I got so much going on. He understands how I'm uncomfortable with the conflict that's going to happen from that. I think he's going to get it. We don't think about it.
That's a good one. Yeah, seriously, we don't think about what God is going through when he says, hey, when I give you, when I tell you what the right thing to do is, I expect obedience now. Do it right now. Yes. You know, in the Bible, in the book of Acts, it talks about a man by the name of Felix.
You know, and this man was quite interesting because he. Paul was witnessing to him, and Paul was talking to him about You know, sharing the gospel with him. And this man kept rejecting, kept rejecting. I want to read from that passage right now, if that's okay with you guys. Absolutely.
So. This is in Acts chapter Paul It says in verse 10, then Paul, after the governor had nodded to him to speak, answered. Inasmuch as I know that you have been for many years a judge of this nation, on and on Paul goes on, and then he shares his testimony with him and talks about. Jesus Christ and The resurrection of the dead that is coming, and on and on and on, Paul goes. And then it comes down to Verse 22.
This is Acts 24, verse 22. But when Felix Heard these things. Having more accurate knowledge of the way, he adjourned the proceedings and said, When Lysias the commander comes down, I will make a decision on his on your case.
So he commanded the centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty. And told him not to forbid any of his friends. to provide for or visit him. And after some days, when Felix Felix came with his wife, Drusilla Who was Jewish? He sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
Now as he reasoned about righteousness Self-control. and the judgment to come Felix was afraid. And answered Go away for now When I have a convenient time, I will call for you. Hmm. He was afraid.
that with this Conviction regarding righteousness and self-control and judgment. Remember, all this is in the context of the gospel. Righteousness, that we are unrighteous before God. Self-control, that we are prone to sin, judgment, that there is a day God has appointed on which He will judge the world through Jesus Christ. He was being convicted and He was afraid.
And He said, Just go away for now. When I have more time, But I can think about these things. Yeah. I'm going to call for you. I'll circle back via email.
Yeah, and let's talk. Yeah. You made me very angry when you said that. The sad part is He was also trying to get some money out of Paul, like a bribe. Wow.
Yeah, which. Of course he didn't get. And then in verse 27, it says, But after two years, Portius Festus succeeded Felix. And Felix, wanting to do the Jews a favor, left Paul bound. Good grief, two years.
Yeah, two years he procrastinated. Wow. And as far as we know, he never ever became A Christian. Let's take a quick break. Hi, it's John here from Clearview Today.
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So thank you for that. Thank you to Mighty Muscadine for sponsoring this episode. Let's jump in. You know, that's something that, you know, I hadn't even thought about as we're sitting here talking. We're talking about procrastinating with our tasks or procrastinating in the things that God wants you to do in life, but the way that people procrastinate with the gospel in Christ.
You know, Dr. Shaw, we did a show several months back on witnessing to a young person in a pizza shop. You know, and I remember us talking about it, and I think we even said on the show that this person said that he said, Look, I'm not going to make this decision today. And I mean, I get it. But at the same time, we also know that tomorrow is not guaranteed.
That's right.
What if today, what if someone's listening to this show right now? And they're not a Christian. I think a lot of our audience is Christian, but suppose someone that they're not, and they're saying, well, you know, I'm not going to make that decision today. I don't know. I don't know if today's the day.
I've actually had someone tell me before in sharing the gospel with them that they were waiting for God to tell them when it was the right time to accept.
Now is the day of salvation.
Now, now is the salvation of the time of salvation. Not tomorrow, not next week. Do it right away. Because you have no guarantee that you will even see tonight or tomorrow morning. or the end of the week or the month or the year.
Make the decision. To receive Jesus as your Savior today. And if you're saved, praise God. Make the decision to stop that bad habit today. Make the decision to be a better husband today, or a better wife, or a better parent, or a better Son or daughter.
Make that decision to forgive someone today. Make that decision to volunteer to serve in your church today. Make the decision to tithe today. Make that decision to talk to that person. you've been meaning to talk to about Jesus Christ.
Talk to them today. Yeah. Because you have no guarantee that you will see them tomorrow. He said, What do you mean? I'm going to die.
No, they may die. Who knows what may happen to them?
So, whatever you can. Find a way to do. Do it in the moment. Do it.
Now, this might be a weird question, but if you had six months to live, what would you get done? Yeah. What would you do? You know what I mean? Personally, if you ask me.
I'll be very, very honest with you. If I only had six months to live. I would Do exactly what I'm doing right now. Yeah. Yeah.
That's awesome. Yeah, there's nothing that I would be like. Oh. I need to radically change.
Now, there are a few things I may do, you know, like make sure everything is good with my insurance policy, make sure things are lined up with the funeral director, whatever.
So, those are things I will definitely do. But other than that, I Don't think I would change radically anything. I'll still get up and. Preach. Still plan my next series, which is to the book of James.
I will still continue with the Greek New Testament project, which is just about done. Ready to go to the printing press, I mean, with the final samples, final draft. I will still continue doing this radio show, this podcast, this video podcast. I will not stop that. Maybe even quickly finish off some of the books that are sitting in the pipeline, which we're hoping to finish in the next week.
Get it done. Finish. Done. Here we go.
So That Pretty much, I'm going to continue doing what I'm doing because I don't have anything that's sitting there like. I need to get to it.
Now, of course. as I mentioned, insurance or funeral director expenses, those are things. But nothing else comes to mind. But no drastic shifts. No, no, it's like I'm going to stop drastic.
I'm going to do this, I'm going to start doing that. Yeah, I think it speaks to the level of success that God has given you for your faithfulness of doing in the right now that you don't have that white whale that you're chasing. Yeah. That all the things that God is doing in our church and in our ministry. It's not that they're dropping into our lap, but we're discovering them.
You know what I'm saying? We're not chasing that dream, that fantasy that or not even a fantasy, but that golden mist on the horizon that I've always wanted. It's the case that God is letting us discover as we're going these new great things that He's done. That's right.
And I feel like there are people who are listening and who are watching who, as they heard you describe that, Dr. Shah, that was a huge inspiration to them because that's not the way that they're living. That's not the way that they're living their life. If they were posed with the six-month question, they'd be like, oh man, there's a lot of things I would do differently. There's a lot of things I would stop doing, many things I would start doing.
What's your encouragement to them in the time that we have left? Number one, I mean, what is the guarantee? that you have Six years left. You may just have the six months. In fact, you may have only six weeks left or six days.
Maybe even six hours. Wow. I don't know. Maybe that's all I have left. Maybe that's all you have left.
So don't presume that this may not happen to you. Start living today on in a way that this could be the last few years of your life. Get your account clear with God. Make sure that there's nothing between you and him. Make sure things are right between you and your spouse if you're married.
Make sure things are right with your loved ones. Make sure things are right with your church family. Make sure things are right with people out there. You may not be able to go ask forgiveness from everybody, but forgive them. Or In your heart, repent before God and say, God, I didn't do right.
No, I don't have time. to make that trip and make sh make it right. Maybe I'll just write a note. And say, forgive me. Do it.
Start living from this day on as if you have only six months to live. Just not mean go out there and just. You know, buy a motorbike. And just go travel the world.
Okay. That's all right. Yeah. Yeah. But That's it?
Yeah. You want to go see the world? Yeah, I like to see the world. I love seeing the world, but that's not My final six months. It's not like a bucket list of see the world.
Yeah. It's about People, it's about God, it's about his kingdom. Yeah. Yeah. Why don't you speak?
Because we got about four minutes left. And maybe there is someone out there who's listening to this who says, you know, I. I hear what you're saying. I don't know if I can make that decision to follow Christ today because everything you said is to the Christian. And I'm not saying to convince that person, but do you want to give those, just in the final four minutes that we've got left, just your encouragement and your, I guess, your plea to that person?
You need to get saved today. not because you will die. Tonight? but because you have to face tomorrow. Mm.
Wow. Get saved today, not because of some fear. of dying tonight, but The anticipation of what God has for you tomorrow. That may or may not be a tweet later. No, I'm sorry.
Just keep going. I would say, yeah, you have such a great life and you are holding back. You're not able to reach all the great things God has for you unless you are rightly related to him. He's willing to give you his power. He's willing to work through you.
He's willing to help you overcome your circumstances and the trials that come into your life. If you only connect with him. And if you're saved, great. But if you're not saved, get saved. If you're saved, Then the next step is, are you truly living for him?
So don't Get on task and stop procrastinating just so you can say, Well, if I die tonight, I'm ready. No, because you have to live tomorrow. Yeah. We've got listeners and viewers who are listening and they are ready to accept the Lord. They realize that they've put this off, they realize that they've made excuses, but because of today's episode, they are ready to make that commitment.
Would you just lead them in a prayer on how to do that? Absolutely. Well, let's pray. It's a very simple prayer that says, Jesus, I believe. You are God's son.
Who died? On the cross for my sins, as promised, as prophesied throughout the Old Testament, you came fulfilled every single promise. Every single prophecy, and you lived a perfect, sinless life, died for my sins. and died for the sins of every human being. You were buried, but you rose again, and you revealed yourself to many.
And now I need you to come into my life. Forgive me of my sins. and take over my life. And help me to live for you from this day forward. As you help me, I will follow you.
And if you prayed that, now thank God for saving you. Thank God for the Holy Spirit. Thank God for giving us his word. Thank God for the power of Jesus now. working in you.
Thank God for the church body. that God has given to you. to help you do life together. Amen. If you prayed that prayer for the first time today, we want to walk with you along that journey as you begin walking with the Lord and you try to figure out what that looks like to live a life that's obedient to Him.
If you prayed that prayer for the first time, text in and let us know: 252-582-5028.
So exciting to think about people who have been procrastinating, but now our new brothers and sisters. Today is the day. What does God say? Today is today. The first day of the rest of your life, instant copyright infringement.
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