Ponder The Path Of Your Feet
I.
It’s a strategy of the
enemy to get you consumed and preoccupied with this earthly life (meat that
perishes), to get you so swallowed up in it that you lose sight of and have no
time for your Heavenly purpose and call; To fill your life with earthly things
until your life is so full that there no room left for your Kingdom purpose; To
get so busy with this earthly life that you miss your heavenly purpose
A. Three
witnesses/scriptures that warn us about this very thing
1.
John
6:26-27-Jesus said DON’T be allow your life to be occupied by something that
means nothing
2.
Luke
12:23-Peoples lives were being occupied with providing for themselves and Jesus
this more to life than that, seek first the Kingdom
3.
Colossians3:1-2-Being
consumed with this earthly life and giving no thought to your heavenly purpose
and call is being earthly minded
4.
Genesis 2,3-This is a
such a big part of the enemy’s strategy; it’s one of the first thing we see
happen after the fall of man
B. *You can be busy on the
earth with stuff that means little to nothing in Heaven; You can busy, but not
achieving anything of lasting value
1.
Ecclesiastes 6:12(AMP)-For who [limited by human wisdom] knows
what is good for man during his lifetime, during the few days of his futile
life? He spends them like a shadow [staying
busy, but achieving nothing of lasting value]. For who can tell a man what
will happen after him [to his work, his treasure, his plans] under the sun
[after his life is over]?
a. A shadow moves around a
bunch, but doesn’t accomplish anything; It’s possible to be busy, busy, busy
with stuff here on the earth that has little to no TRUE VALUE; it’s not only
possible it’s happening everyday all over the planet and with believers too
2.
Psalm39:5-6(TLB)-Help me to realize how brief my time on
earth will be. Help me to know that I am here for but a moment more. My life is
no longer than my hand! My whole lifetime is but a moment to you. Proud man!
Frail as breath! A shadow! All his busy
rushing ends in nothing. He heaps up riches for someone else to spend. So, Lord, my only hope is in you.
a. The only hope you have to
not live this type of vain busy life is the Lord and to get involved in what he
sent you to do
b. People get worked up and
upset about stuff that means nothing (KJ-They are disquieted in vain; AMP-Surely
for futility and emptiness he is in turmoil)
3.
James 1:10(TLB)-But a rich man should be glad that his
riches mean nothing to the Lord, for he will soon be gone, like a flower that
has lost its beauty and fades away, withered—killed by the scorching summer
sun. So it is with rich men. They will soon die and leave behind all their busy activities.
C. Wasted time is time spent
on something that has no lasting value, no Kingdom value
1.
Isaiah 65:2 Voice-I kept extending Myself to a people who
don’t care a whit. All day long
I opened my hands to those who constantly work against Me, Those busy
pursuing their own rotten path, inspired by their own rotten schemes
2.
People
who don’t care what God has for them to do and are busy pursuing what they want
to do, are wasting time
D. Many on the earth are
busy making lives for themselves down here and to them life is all about this
earthly life and they have no idea what’s valuable up there and what’s coming
1.
Matt24:37-41-Voice-As
it was at the time of Noah, so it will be with the coming of the Son of Man. In
the days before the flood, people were busy making lives for themselves: they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, making
plans and having children and growing old, until the day Noah
entered the ark. Those people had no idea what was coming; they knew nothing about the floods until the
floods were upon them, sweeping them all away. That is how it will be with the
coming of the Son of Man.
2.
Many
people walking the planet are busy endeavoring to make a life for themselves
down here and that’s all their life is (House, family, car, clothes, vacation);
They have no idea that there’s more to life than that and they have no idea
what’s coming; we’re going to stand before God and give an account of what we
did with our time on this earth and not every believer will here well done and
the rewards in Heaven will not all be the same
E. The enemy loves to
distract you from the one thing that does matter
1.
Luke 10:40 (Amplified)- But Martha was overly occupied and too busy and distracted
with all of her serving responsibilities
a. She didn’t see what was most important, she
didn’t see what was truly valuable and because of that she was easily
distracted away from what really did matter; She was busy doing something that
wasn’t all that important to Jesus
b. In many cases what’s
causing people to waste time is they don’t known what’s valuable and what’s not
and because they don’t they invest precious time and energy and resources into
something that’s not very valuable at all
2.
If you are busy you need
to ask yourself, “I’m busy doing what?”
a. Say it: I will not allow the enemy to fill my life with a bunch
of earth stuff that has no kingdom value
b. A lot of what is filling
people’s lives is not sin and in and of itself is not bad and that’s the
deception in it; If you get too much of that stuff in your life to the point
that all that stuff occupies your life, then you are missing it and in sin
3.
1 Corinthians 6:12-Don’t’
seek what’s permissible, seek what’s profitable
F. We’ve been unaware of
just how much getting you earthly minded is part of the enemy’s strategy and it
is so much a part of his strategy because if he can get the body of Christ
earthly minded then He can keep God’s kingdom from advancing
1.
God’s
kingdom will advance more rapidly when people get Heavenly minded and discover
their Heavenly purpose and get in their place and stay on their post and do
what God sent them to do
2.
When you got born again
you didn’t just come into a new family you enlisted in an army and you need
your marching orders
a. As your father God wants
you to be healed and prosperous and strong and debt free because He loves you,
but as your Commander in chief he wants those things for you so that you can
complete your assignment-Heb2:10,Isaiah55:4
II.
Ponder the path of your
feet and redeem the time
A. We need to ponder the
path of our feet and consider and give thought to how we are spending our
time-Proverbs 4:25-27
1.
We
need to focus on kingdom things, the plan of God for our lives; GW-Your sight
be focused in front of you; Voice-Your focus fixed on what is front of you
2.
Ponder-To weigh – Weight
has to do with value; Weigh what you’re doing with your life, with your time?
a. Path-Track – The track your life is on, the track you’re on
weigh it, consider it, give thought to it
3.
Ways-Path, Course of life; Established-Fixed aright, directed
aright – That means you’re not
directing it, God is
a. We need God and His
wisdom because he knows what’s valuable, what’s priority, what’s important and
what is not
4.
27-Don’t
be distracted from what’s right, what’s weighty, what’s important to something
not important at all (Evil-Bad in
terms of value)
a. (MGS)-Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow
distractions
5.
Ponder
the path of your feet and let all your ways be ordered aright; Turn not to the
right hand nor to the left
B. Ephesians 5-If we are
going to redeem the time, it’s imperative that we ponder the path of our feet
1.
11-Don’t
waste time doing things that produce no fruit and mean nothing in Heaven (Unfruitful-Without profit, advantage,
without fruit
a. MSG-Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, barren pursuits of
darkness-Expose these things for the
sham they are.
b. Time can be wasted, time can be lost when it is being
consumed by vain, useless, futile things; It’s not just your time; it’s your
focus, your energy, your resources being gobbled up and WHAT is gobbling them
up
1)
The
enemy wants all your thought, attention, energy and time to be consumed by
stuff that doesn’t matter
2)
You don’t have unlimited
thought, attention, energy, time and there’s only so much of you to go around;
The inner man has to be renewed day by day-Each day you need new strength,
refilling-2 Corinthians 4:16
3)
The
enemy wants to you to spend all your thought, attention, energy and time on
earth stuff that doesn’t matter and have you give no thought, attention,
energy, time to your Kingdom purpose
2.
13-If you’re doing stuff
that’s wasting time and has no kingdom value the only way you would know is by
the light God gives
a. We’ve asked God to show us
what’s important, what’s not, what’s valuable what’s not
3.
14-People
are unaware that their time is not being redeemed, but it’s being lost, wasted
on useless stuff
4.
15-Pay attention to how
you’re conducting your life, to what you’re doing with your time
a. AMP-Look carefully then how you walk. Live purposefully worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and
witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people), making the very most of
the time [buying up each opportunity] because the days are evil
b. Voice-So be careful how you live; be mindful of your steps. Don’t run around like idiots as the rest of
the world does. Instead walk as the wise!
c. A fool pays no attention
to what he does w/ his time; he tumbles through life giving no thought to what
he’s doing with his time
5.
16-Redeeming
the time-Don’t let your time be lost, Don’t lose your time, Don’t waste it
a. MSG-Make the most of every chance you get; TLB-Make the most of every opportunity you have; VOICE-Make the most of every living and
breathing moment; JB-Make the best
use of your time
6.
17-The only way to not
waste your time is to make sure you are always in the will of God, doing the
will of God and to do that you have to know the will of God, what He wants,
what His plan is
a. VOICE-So understand and be confident in God’s will and don’t live
thoughtlessly; TLB-Don’t act
thoughtlessly, but find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to do; MSG-Don’t’ live carelessly,
unthinkingly. Make sure you understand
what the master wants; ERV-So don’t
be foolish with your lives, but learn what the Lord wants you to do