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Now, let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Would you open your Bibles please to 1 Peter chapter 4? How would you like to spend two years of your life making phone calls to people who aren't home? That's about as miserable as it can get, right? But did you know that time management experts tell us that we, as Americans, on average, We'll spend two years of our life.
Calling people back who never seem to want to pick up. That's a waste. We will also spend six months of our life at traffic lights waiting for them to turn green. Miserable. We'll spend eight months opening and reading junk mail.
Now, when I read that, I thought, not this boy. I don't even. Entertain junk mail, I just throw it away immediately.
Now I've throwing away bills before doing that. But I kind of consider them junk mail sometimes. And all told We will spend Five years of our life waiting in line. Grocery lines. Disneyland lines are five years by themselves.
Time. Yeah. Time is something we are aware of. It is something we count. We have little devices on our wrists so that we can be on time.
People appreciate it when the pastor ends on time. We market. We have increments of time, seconds and minutes and hours and days and weeks and months. All combined to make a year. In our Western civilization, we follow a solar calendar.
There's 365 days in a year. or to be more precise, 365 days. Uh five hours, forty-nine minutes, and twelve seconds. Or if you prefer, 8,766. hours.
Or, if you prefer, $525,949. Minutes, don't ask me about seconds. That's a year. You will have 79 of those In your lifetime. That is the average lifespan of the American.
79. Years. of time. I bring that up because One of the key thoughts of Peter in this paragraph of chapter four of his book. is about time.
Because time is a gift. It's a gift, but it's an elusive gift. When you're young, you think you have time that will just go on and on. You have oodles of it. And you've Get a few years under your belt and you realize Time moves quickly.
It is thought by most Bible commentators that Peter Has his own lifetime in mind as he writes these words. that he believes his martyrdom is right around the corner. And feeling that, he mentions in this paragraph time twice. Because we're to be aware of it. Like Moses who wrote in Psalm 90, Teach us to number our days that we might gain a heart of wisdom.
Think of time like a coin. I found a coin, I found a large one just for the sake of illustration. Your life is like this coin. That's time. It's the only one you got.
You decide where you're going to spend this. Don't let anybody spend it for you. This is your life, your time. for you to spend as you wish. But here's my admonition to you.
Just spend time. Invest your time. Certainly don't waste time. And don't even spend time, but learn to invest your time. We even have a common phrase in our vernacular.
We call it killing time. What'd you do yesterday? Nothing, I'm just killing time. What we mean by that, it was just sort of hanging out, doing nothing helpful or beneficial. But as Henry David Thoreau once said, You can't kill time without injuring eternity.
Time matters.
Okay. In 1 Peter chapter 4, time. is one of the key thoughts of Peter. Here's another key thought before we even read the text. The will of God.
He also mentions that twice.
So here's the overarching theme of this paragraph, which we're about to read. In whatever time you have left, Use it to do the will. of God. Let's look at 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 1, down to verse 6. Therefore, Since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind.
For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased. From sin. That he should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime.
Some translations simply say we've spent enough time Doing the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries. drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it's strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this reason, the gospel was preached also to those who are dead.
That they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God. In the spirit. I titled this message with a question. Are you just counting time or are you making time count? Using what we just read, I want to suggest four ways.
I'm really making time. Count whatever time you have left. There's four ways. to make your time count. Number one, Resist sin.
That sounds like something a preacher would say: resist sin. But look at what Peter says. Verse 1: Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, He had just talked about the sufferings of Jesus. Arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh. has ceased.
From Sam. That little phrase, arm yourself, is a military phrase. It's a military phrase of being prepared. Picture, if you will, a soldier putting on his gear and getting ready to go into battle. That's the idea of the phrase.
Arm yourself.
However, Our preparation is to take place not outwardly as much as inwardly. Notice what it says: arm yourself with the same. Mind. We would say, get your head in the game, get your mind in the battle, get mentally prepared for the fight you're about to get into. That's the idea.
For the believer The battle always, always begins in the realm of the mind. Before it goes anywhere else. It's in our thought life. Mm-hmm. That's the only thing that's not the same.
In chapter one, if you recall, Peter in verse 13 said, Gird up. the loins of your mind. Be prepared mentally. Behavioral scientists for decades have told us that human behavior is determined by the subconscious mind. The writer of Proverbs agrees in Proverbs 23, verse 7: as a man thinks.
in his heart.
So is he.
So what kind of a mind do we need?
Now listen to this. We need A militant attitude toward sin. We need an aggressive stand. toward sin. We can never get used to it.
We can never grow comfortable with it. We need a militant attitude. Toward sin. Or, as Paul put it in Romans 6, do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies that you should obey its desires. Hey, if you don't make time To battle sin?
Sin will take time away from your life. We should resist sin. Not Only because of what it does to us. We should hate sin and resist it because of what it did to him. It killed him.
Notice what it says: Therefore, since Christ suffered for us. In the flesh. When I look at the cross, and this is the time of the year where we march toward Good Friday and then Easter, and we're contemplating the cross and all that Jesus did for us. When I look at the cross, I am looking at what my sin. Did to my Savior.
I need to arm myself with the same mind. that Jesus had. What mind did Jesus have when he came here? When Jesus came to earth, he had a militant attitude towards sin. As proven by his steadfast movement toward the cross, he came to deal with sin.
He came to die on a cross. No wonder it says in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. Like a soldier marching into battle. It's where he was going to deal with the problem. La Sin.
You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. Everyday friends like you help connect people around the world to the life-changing truth of God's Word through clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching. Our world constantly tells us we need something more. But the book of Colossians reminds us that everything we truly need is found in Jesus Christ. That's the heart of Pastor Skiff's resource, Expound Colossians.
As he walks verse by verse through this powerful New Testament book, you'll discover why Christ is supreme over all things, how to recognize truth in a world full of competing voices, and what it means to live each day firmly rooted in Him. We'll send Expound Colossians as our thanks when you give $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithgift.com slash offer.
Now let's return to today's teaching.
So we have a relationship with sin, we all know it. We all struggle with it. In that relationship, what should be our goal? What is the ultimate aim? It's in the text.
The answer that I'm asking this question about is right in the text. But let me ask you: what is our ultimate aim? aim and goal when it comes to sin. It's just stop doing it. It's to cease from it.
Look what it says. has ceased from sin. That is my ultimate goal. Newsflash. Ain't gonna happen.
on this earth. Not going to be fully done conquering that problem till you and I get into glory.
However, If ever there was a battle worth fighting, it's this battle. If ever there was a fight... that you need to be engaged in it's this fight You've heard it said before, choose your battles carefully.
Well, here's a battle you need to fight. And you need to win. You need to win more of these battles than lose them. As God spoke to Cain, he said, Sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must master it.
James in the New Testament said, resist. The Devil. Jesus to the twelve apostles, pray that you enter not into temptation. And then he taught us to pray. Deliver us from the evil one.
All of that is. is resistance talk. Military language. Fight it, resist it, push it away, win the battle.
Now, just a quick note before we move on. Suffering will help you do that. If there's another benefit to throw out and say, suffering is good for this, this is it. Because Suffering, you know this to be true, gets your attention like nothing else. And when it has your attention.
It cuts away. Things that are worthless. Things that are superfluous, certain activities you got engaged in. Suddenly, when there's a huge amount of suffering, that stuff just. Doesn't mean that much to you.
It tends to get cut away. We all have rough edges. And God uses suffering to transform and smooth and temper our lives.
So resist sin. You want to make time count? Put that on the palate. Resist sin. Here's the second.
Relish God's will. If the first was negative, this is positive. Resist sin, that's negative. Relish or enjoy God's will? That's positive.
Verse 2. That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for men. Four. The will Of God.
Now it gets right to the heart of what you and I will do with the rest of your time. How will you spend the rest of your time? Let me put it to you this way. The best of your time. is when you use the rest of your time to invest your time.
in doing the will of God. Again, the best of your time is when you use the rest of your time to invest your time. in doing the will of God. Let God's will be your lifelong pursuit. You want an adventurous journey, you want a satisfying journey.
Make sure the will of God is number one in your pursuit. To quote what Jesus himself said, seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you. Did you know that the will of God for your life? is the most Important and exciting thing about your life? You might be good at a lot of things, but the most exciting thing about your life.
is when you discover What God wants from it.
Somebody once said there are two most important days in a person's life: the day he was born. Number one, and number two, the day he finds out what he's born for. What does God want? out of my life. Discover that.
Make that your pursuit, your ambition.
Now let me just throw out a warning here. A lot of times, when you say these words, find the will of God for your life, people, Christians especially, like to mysticize that. They think that you discover God's will by sort of sitting in a corner and just. Humming and Getting an impression. Maybe God's going to speak a voice to me.
Or Believe it or not, some have tried. I'm gonna open my Bible that day and I'm just gonna go like this and go like this, just gonna point to some random verse. Trusting the Holy Spirit will guide my finger. That becomes God's will. Be very careful.
There's some strange text in this book. And Judas went out and hung himself. Oops. Don't play roulette with this book. Hey, I've loved this story.
I've told it to you before about a farmer who thought he should be an evangelist. He was working in his field one day, he plopped down by Side of a tree, and he's looking up at the clouds, and he looked and he saw the clouds form what looked to him like two letters: a large P. and a large sea. And he thought P C P P C Preach Christ. That's it.
It's a sign. He sold his farm.
Okay. Became an evangelist. The problem is, he was just a horrible speaker.
So he's preaching one day, and his town is there to hear him. It was pretty sad afterwards. One of his buddies came up to him, put his arm around him and said, Dude. Do you think perhaps God wasn't just using PC to tell you to plant? Corn.
Plant. Corn. Be careful that you don't Make the will of God so mystical. Because you might be doing that. preaching when you ought to be planting or planning when you ought to be preaching.
Simply put, just pursue his will over against your will. Make it your ambition to discover what that is and let that happen naturally. It'll happen supernaturally, naturally. You don't have to force it. There was a guy who uh was on a diet.
Yeah. And he told his office, I'm on a diet, you guys got to hold me accountable.
So he comes to work one day with this humongous coffee cake. He walks into the office with and they scold him. They go, Wait, wait, wait, you're on a diet. He goes, No, no, no, no, no. This is the will of God.
And so he tells them the story. He had changed his route to work so that he wouldn't go by the bakery. He went the long way around on his diet. But that day he happened to forget and drove right past the bakery. He says, I'm driving past the bakery, and I look in the window, and this thing was sitting right in the front window.
I knew it can't be an accident, it's providence.
So I prayed. I said, Lord, if it's your will. For me to get that cake. May there be a parking space right in front. in front of that window.
And he said, wouldn't you know it, the eighth time around the block, There was a parking space.
Well will of God. I do want to say, however, the will of God It's never a burden. It's a blessing. I know that when people hear the term will of God, some go, oh. Got to be hard.
Jesus said, My yoke is easy, my burden is light. John said, We obey his commandments, and his commandments are not bad. burdensome.
So, the will of God is not an encumbrance, it's an enablement. that makes burdens light. You won't always know what he's up to. You'll want to. He won't always reveal it, but you can rest that he knows best.
So resist sin. Relish God's will. Here's the third. Renounce your past. In other words, Come up to a point.
in your life and maybe today will be the point. Where you look back and you say, Enough. is enough. That stuff's gone. That's the old me.
That's the old lifestyle. I got something new going on. Verse 3. For we have spent enough Of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lewdness, lust, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties. And abominable idolatries.
In regard to these, they think it's strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil. A view. What a list.
Now, last week I spoke about baptism, and did you know that in some denominations, when you go to get baptized, there's a formality. and you answer questions. If you want to get baptized into that church, The clergy wants to ask you some questions, and they want to hear your answer. And here's the first question. Do you renounce the devil?
And all his works The vain pomp and glory of this world, with all the covetous desires of the same, and the sinful desires of the flesh, so that you will not follow nor be led by them. That's the question. And they expect this answer, I renounce them. Whoa. That's the thought of this passage.
Renounce all of these things on this list. They're not good for you. They're not the will of God for you. They're not what's best for you. Remember, the best of your time is when you use the rest of your time to invest your time.
in doing the will of God. Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skiff Heitzig Weekend Edition.
Now, here's how to pre-order an exciting resource from Pastor Skip that's coming next month. Many Christians want to spend more time in God's Word, but they're not always sure where to start. That's why Pastor Skip Heitig wrote Soaring Above It All, a one-year devotional that helps you understand the big picture of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation through clear, engaging daily readings. Whether you're new to scripture or have studied it for years, this devotional will help deepen your understanding of God's Word. Pre-order your copy today, wherever books are sold.
Before we go, remember, your generosity helps share God's Word with people around the world through clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching. And this month, when you give $50 or more, we'll send you Expound Colossians as our thanks. In this five-message study, Pastor Skip explores one of the Bible's clearest pictures of the supremacy of Jesus Christ and shows how being rooted in Him changes the way you live every day. Give today at connectwithskiff.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. We'll see you next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skiff Heitzich Weekend Edition.
Make a connection! Make a connection, never fall. Of the crossing cast over. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
