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[0:00] Good morning. Open up your copy of God's Word to Ephesians chapter 5. I want to start off by just kind of extending a real, you know, a genuine welcome to returning college students.

[0:16] For many of you, this is your first time coming around and maybe your second Sunday. But we have always had a very special place in our hearts at this church for college students.

[0:28] And as you look out over the congregation, there's, I would say, a lot of the core members of our church are former college students that were here at some point.

[0:39] And either got married and stayed here or just chose to find a job around here and to continue investing and being on mission in this area. So we've always had a very soft spot for your demographic.

[0:55] And actually, some of the leaders of this church, including myself and Nathan and Wes Shalnut, we met at North Georgia.

[1:07] And Nathan was actually the second person I ever met in Dahlonega. Kind of odd that he would never leave me alone like after that. And still, we're still here. And so very grateful for how God used those years in my life.

[1:22] And though the message today is going to be particularly for college students, it is going to go across the board. No matter where you are, no matter how old you are, no matter what stage of life you're in, it's still going to be very applicable to you.

[1:37] And it's going to be very easy to draw the application for where you are. But just because many of you are returning college students, we will have this message in a lot of ways directed at you.

[1:50] But as I've said many times, college is a crossroads for many of you. It's the first time a lot of you have been away from home. It's the first time you're forming your opinions on what you actually believe, what life's about, and a lot of big decisions being made about your job, your career, your relationship situation.

[2:12] So many big changes that you're undergoing. And it's such a pivotal time for professing Christians to either fall away a lot of the time from the faith or really grow deeper in their faith.

[2:26] That's typically what you see. You don't see many middle ground people in that area. It's a great time to grow spiritually. And so that in mind, I just want to lead us in prayer just for a second.

[2:40] Ask God to help us as we've been doing. Father, I just want to submit to you that apart from the power of your word being applied by the Holy Spirit, we have no hope of believing the truth from your word today.

[2:58] And I pray that you would help us to worship you through our listening to your word, by treasuring it, loving it, and when we leave here to live it out by grace, Lord, wherever we go.

[3:17] So just be our teacher now. Hold our attention. If we're hungry, let us forget our hunger. If we're tired, let us forget how tired we are. And just be able to focus in on what you would have to say to us today.

[3:29] And help me, Lord, a broken, feeble man who's not even the best public communicator, just to throw himself at your mercy and to ask you, Lord, to beg you to teach your word to your people today.

[3:45] In Christ's name, amen. So the message today, I'm going to be speaking on redeeming the time or making the most use of the time.

[3:57] And it's a message that's very particularly dear to me. And a lot of you will know why, but I'll talk about it more later. But you've turned to Ephesians 5, and usually I would just choose to use a larger text.

[4:14] But today, I just want to focus in particularly on two verses. Now, Paul, the Apostle Paul, wrote the letter to the Ephesian church.

[4:25] And in the first three chapters of it, a lot of that is him spending time telling them who they are in Christ, telling them about what God has done for them, about how they are the church, and how God has saved them and made them his own, about salvation.

[4:41] And then the latter three chapters mostly are about, in light of that reality, here's how you should live. And that's how we kind of find ourselves in chapter 5. So he's talking about Christian living now, living out who you are in Christ.

[4:55] So let's look at chapter 5, verse 15. Paul says, Look carefully, then, how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

[5:15] So I want these two verses to kind of burn into your mind. In our text, we see that God has allotted each one of us time.

[5:28] Let's focus on that word time to kind of get rolling here. But the time he's using here is not the word chronos, which means like a clock time or chronology.

[5:39] It's actually kairos, which means a season or opportunity, a fixed period within a time when you're giving divine appointments to live for God and to do something for him.

[5:53] We call those divine appointments a lot of the time. And they're prearranged, providential times that God gives us to be faithful to him. They're windows of time that are opened up by God for us to use.

[6:09] And eventually, those times will also end and close. You won't have it again, in other words. And so, there's a lot of examples like that in the Scripture.

[6:20] Example, in Isaiah 55, 6, God is calling his people to repent of their sins and come to him for forgiveness. And he's saying, there's a time that I'm going to allow you to do that.

[6:32] And then it'll stop. But he says, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while his name is near. That's a kairos. Also, in Psalm 69, David prays, oh, Lord, my prayer to you is in an acceptable time.

[6:49] So, there's these little segments, windows, seasons of allotted time that God gives you to do something specific, something special. And after that's over, it will be lost.

[7:02] So, I want you to think of the college years as a special kairos in the span of the kairos of your lifetime.

[7:14] All right? So, big picture your life, small picture, this season of life that you have in school. And the next phrase I want you to look at, so we've talked about time, is the phrase, making the best use of the time.

[7:29] It's another awesome Greek word, but it also implies to redeem or purchase for one's use. It's also using Colossians 4 or 5, the same word.

[7:40] But the imagery here is of someone going to the marketplace. And you catch something, something catches your eye, and it's something very valuable, something that draws your attention.

[7:51] And you go to it, and the seller tells you that this very valuable item is available for purchase at this price only now, only in this moment.

[8:03] And it will soon go off the market, and it won't be available for purchase anymore. So, your choice is either to purchase it immediately or to walk away and lose that opportunity to buy it again.

[8:17] You can't go back to the marketplace the next day or next week and expect to find the same item for sale. So, you have to be swift. You have to act immediately. You have to take advantage of that.

[8:28] You have to purchase it, redeem it for your use. Because when you leave, it won't be there again. You can't procrastinate. It's a transaction that you have to move on or walk away from.

[8:41] That's kind of like what the weight of this phrase, making the best use of the time or redeeming the time means. So, God is saying to us in this passage, very simply, redeem the best use of the kairos, this season of allotted time that God has given you for eternity.

[9:01] Redeem it for eternity. Because it will come and go like the wind, and you won't be able to get it back. Some of you say, I hate stuff like that. I hate impulse sayings that I have to just make a quick decision on.

[9:14] You're very indecisive. Well, hopefully this message will challenge you to at least be decisive in this way, to make the best use of the time God has given you. So, just a quick overview of these two verses, and then we'll get through some points.

[9:29] And when you're used to having points, we'll have points. But a text overview, okay? An observation of this text, you'll see a few connections. Just look at it with me, these two verses.

[9:41] It says, you've been given a kairos and a lot of season of time by God. You can choose to either waste it or redeem it.

[9:53] Redeeming the time, according to our text, means walking carefully in wisdom with eternity in view. And wasting the time means walking the opposite, carelessly in foolishness with only this present life in view and not eternity.

[10:12] So, I want you to think about that. And he throws in there, why? Because the days are evil. There is so much happening around you to lull you to sleep, to make you think that this life is all there is to it.

[10:28] That eternity is not on the horizon. They're clouding your vision. And so, with this in mind, we want to take a look at just three things that will help you redeem the time or make the best use of the time that you've been given in this special kairos of your life.

[10:49] I want you to remember that word. I'm going to say it a lot today. Strange words are different and they stand out to you and hopefully you'll remember it. Instead of just saying, remember the time. So, kairos. Number one.

[11:02] Very simple. Why you should redeem the time. Life is short. Life is short. You need to beware in some cases, not every case.

[11:15] I'm not a doomsday-ish type person. But a lot of universities will seek to daily indoctrinate you to adopt a secular humanistic worldview that basically says, life is not about God.

[11:30] Life is about you. You are the center of the universe. And therefore, you should live in a way that makes you the center of the universe. It's about the here and now. And there's many voices that are presenting that anti-God worldview to you.

[11:45] And the following system of the world will say that college is a means to help you attain those things. Self-fulfillment and your own desires.

[11:58] Education is a means to success. Education can be a blessing. All right? But knowledge itself is useless unless it's used in a way that honors Christ and helps others.

[12:11] Okay? So just because you know a lot doesn't mean you're a wise person at all. Sometimes it makes you a fool. Scripture actually says, knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

[12:22] One of my heroes of the faith, Jim Elliott, a missionary who was martyred in Ecuador, he wrote this while he was in college at Wheaton.

[12:36] And he was just kind of laying like, why am I doing it in school again? Sort of thing. Sort of like, why am I here? And he actually wrote this really quick. Just remember this. Wisdom comes from God, not from PhDs.

[12:49] PhDs. Wisdom comes from God and not PhDs. And they're going to, the system of the world, the fallen world, is going to seek to make you buy a certain package, a bill of goods.

[13:04] And it kind of goes something like this. Now hear me out. Just follow me. This is the propaganda that at least Western culture tries to sell a lot, particularly to young people in college.

[13:16] It says, you were here in school. And if you work hard, you get a degree. That degree will lead to you getting a good job, which will also give you a good salary, good money, good benefits.

[13:31] Then you can buy fancy vehicles and a big house and acquire more toys and possessions. Get married or don't get married. Maybe have kids, but if you do, only enough, that's not going to get in the way of your personal consumption, personal happiness.

[13:52] And then eventually you can put your kids through college and help them accomplish the same goal you just did. And you eventually quit working, retire by another house in the mountains or on the lake or on the coast, and then just spend the latter hours and days and years of your life just kicking back, doing nothing.

[14:20] And believe me, the message here is not retirement is wrong or evil. I kind of hope that I will one day. But I work out with a man at the gym.

[14:31] He's in his mid-60s. He's one of those guys that just puts me to shame. Like, I'll get off, like, the bench press machine, and he, in, like, his 65 years old, will sit down and put on, like, 20 more pounds of me.

[14:42] And I'm like, come on. So he's that kind of guy. But he was a former ranger and also worked in law enforcement. And currently he's the Lumpkin County manager.

[14:56] Stan Kelly is his name. And I love this man because he's such an example. And we have many other examples in our church of older people who are using their retirement well for Jesus.

[15:11] But he told me, like, Clay, I am scared to death to join a lot of my friends who are just settling down, retiring, throwing all their money into their stuff and their toys and maintaining that stuff in their toys.

[15:26] I just don't want to join them. That's what he told me. He's like, I want to use my retirement well. Like, God has given me help at this age in my life to use for him. And so he's doing two things in his retirement, or three things.

[15:41] He's being a faithful member of his church. He's giving as much as he can to missions going to unreached peoples. And he himself is going to unreached peoples. He's been to Nepal.

[15:52] He's been, I think, three times to Nepal in the last few years. You know, God's given him that help, so he goes. He's like, I don't want to go out just doing nothing, you know, when my legs kicked up.

[16:05] That's how we all should want to finish. But that's the sell that they'll tell you. Like, that's the goal. That's the goal. Is just get to this point in your life where you can just enjoy all you've worked for.

[16:17] And I've seen it. It's a miserable thing to watch retired communities just do nothing. And as the world just is being destroyed all around them, when they have such potential to help.

[16:29] Also in college, you're kind of built with a certain invincibility. Most of you are 18 to 25 years old. Physically, most of you are in the prime of your life.

[16:41] You feel invincible, young, fast, smart. Can go all day long and sometimes all night too. And however, you know, you have to think, though for most of you, you have many years ahead of you.

[16:57] But for some of you, you might not. The grim reality is that you can't ignore as that life ends. And your life will end.

[17:08] My life will end. And you can't turn a blind eye to it. God says, you are not invincible. You are not immortal. You will die.

[17:20] You will leave this life behind. And no one can take your place. Like you're going to pass away. We are physically going to pass away one day. And God's word is filled with this imagery.

[17:33] Let me just read a few to you. Job 8, 7. For we are but of yesterday and know nothing. For our days on earth are a shadow. Let's write that word down.

[17:44] Shadow. Job 14. Or unto you, A man who is born of woman is few of days and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers.

[17:57] He flees like a shadow and continues not. Psalm 103. As for a man, his days are like grass. He flourishes like a flower of the field.

[18:10] For the wind passes over it. And then is gone. And his place knows it no more. There are so many passages that say the same kind of thing.

[18:20] Your life is a vapor. Your life is a shadow. Your life is a breath. And we tend to be blind to that. But I'm telling you, It's a gift if you can grasp that at an early age.

[18:33] Because you can use all the years ahead to redeem the time. To know that there will be an end. Your life had a definite start.

[18:45] And will have a definite end. So, don't deceive yourself. It's foolish for you to deceive yourself into thinking that this present life is all that there is.

[18:57] And that this life is ultimately about the here and the now. So, do whatever you can to pursue it and enjoy it. And if you have to knock people down to do it, do it. That's the goal of life.

[19:08] But those are all broken cisterns. Jeremiah 2.13. They're things that you want to put your life into and pour your life into.

[19:18] But they're broken. And they're going to let you down. That's where you need to have your hope in the living God. And Him alone. The goal of this life is not money, wealth, possessions, toys, clothes, and nice vehicles and big houses.

[19:34] It's just going to absolutely and totally let you down. Think about how many hours that you spend watching TV or being on social media.

[19:47] Which a new statistic says that you almost spend three hours a day on social media. It's just sad. Playing video games, going to the gym or library. There's so many things that aren't bad endeavors.

[20:00] But if the goal of your life is to pursue those things, then you're going to be severely disappointed. I actually saw an article a while back that we've gotten to this point, okay?

[20:15] Parents are hiring coaches to teach them to help raise their kids so their kids aren't dependent on iPhones. That's bad.

[20:25] It's things like, go take a walk. Go throw a ball with your kid outside. It's things like that. And that's just to the point where we are now. And we're wasting and squandering the special keros of our life.

[20:37] We won't get it back. So that's foolishness. But wisdom says it is wise for you to recognize and embrace that your time on earth is short. Don't let that scare you.

[20:50] Like, see it as like, okay, now I know what life's about. I have the right perspective. I can come and see how to make the most of my life. Because when you're ready to die, that's when you're really ready to live.

[21:00] I kind of sounded catchy, but I didn't mean it that way. When you're ready to die, you're truly ready to live. And wake up and realize that each morning you get out of bed, God has sustained you while you slept.

[21:13] And by His grace, He'll help you get through the day. And He's doing it for the purpose of you knowing Him deeper and you making Him known to other people.

[21:24] If you're not doing that, you're wasting it. You're wasting the keros. And you're doing it and you can do this in all that you do to make Christ known to other people. And recognize that your time at school is meant not just to help you succeed in life, not just to consume and enjoy, but it was made to glorify Christ.

[21:46] Thomas Case, a Puritan who was thrown in prison for preaching the gospel, this is something he wrote about redeeming the time. Most men study rather how to pass away their time than to redeem it.

[22:02] They waste precious hours as if they had no more. They had more than knew what to do with. Our season is short and we make it shorter. How sad a thing it is to hear men complain.

[22:14] Oh, how shall I pass the time? I'm bored. But oh, when trouble comes, when the sword is at the body, when the pistol is at the breast, the knife at the throat, death at the door, how precious one of those despised hours be.

[22:33] Evil days cry with a loud voice in our ears. Redeem the time. In life, threatening dangers, when God threatens, as it were, we can think of redeeming the time for prayer, reading, meditation.

[22:46] We can gather up the very fragments of time so that nothing can be lost. Please, God, teach our souls wisdom of redeeming the time. Yeah, so Gary read earlier from Psalm 39.

[23:02] Hope that stuck out to you. But it talks about how asking God to help us know the measure of our days, help us to realize how transient we are, that we are but ham breaths.

[23:15] We heap up wealth and it goes, disappears, right? So that's the first point is life is short. And it's tied to the next point.

[23:26] Eternity is long. Very catchy, did they? Life is short. Number two, eternity is long. And according to our passage, it's foolish for you to think that there's not another life and another world that's waiting for you after this one.

[23:45] Even for those of us who know Christ, like, man, we so easily are lured into so many different traps just to waste time and do nothing. And I'm not talking about resting.

[23:55] I'm talking about laziness, apathy, disengagement, those sort of things. So we can grow very nearsighted because the days are evil.

[24:08] It says in verse 16, it's trying to get us to forget about eternity. Remember, life is about the here and now. And we need frequent reminders to wake up.

[24:20] That's why we need each other in the church to help remind ourselves, look, this life is going to come and go. So hold your hand in Ephesians 5, but flip to 1 Corinthians 3 really quick.

[24:33] 1 Corinthians 3. This is one of those passages that kind of can sober us a little bit. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 12.

[24:46] And so the Scripture speaks of a judgment one day for unbelievers where they'll be judged basically if they are in Christ or not.

[24:58] We will not really face that judgment. But it is very clear that even as the people of God, even those who are found in Christ will face another type of judgment where we'll give an account for how we've been faithful, for our obedience, things that we have done to honor the Lord in this life, which is kind of scary.

[25:20] 1 Corinthians 3, verse 12. Paul says, Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest for the day, capital D, will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire.

[25:40] And the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.

[25:52] If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. You ever heard someone say, Man, I just want to get into heaven.

[26:03] That's not really like the right attitude at all. Be concerned. But look at that last part. It's like, yeah, some people will be saved. Some people will enter into God's presence, but they're going to suffer loss.

[26:15] I don't know what that means. But maybe holy regret, as one writer called it, wishing that you had spent more focus on redeeming the time than wasting the time.

[26:30] Wishing like I wish I had taken care of all these opportunities that I had instead of squandering them. But, the work that we do that will last for eternity will be rewarded, and those that have squandered it will lose it.

[26:47] So, one of those very sobering texts. That is foolish to think that there's not eternity on the horizon, but it's wisdom, it is wisdom for us to realize that this life is going somewhere.

[27:01] Like, after we breathe our last, we will step into another world. God has set that beginning and the end of this time on earth. So, we need to maximize the kairos, maximize the kairos.

[27:17] I'll read this to you really quick. 2 Corinthians 4. One of my favorite passages, I guess, I kind of used the eternal type language. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 16 says, So we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away.

[27:36] Our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

[27:50] As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient. For the things that are unseen are eternal.

[28:04] Ah, let that, hmm, we've got to put our minds and our hearts in this type of language. What you see is not going to be here one day. What is unseen is going to be eternal.

[28:16] This outer self is wasting away. It doesn't matter. I don't care if you go to the gym five days a week. I don't care how good you look now. I go to CrossFit.

[28:26] Well, you can cross whatever you want to cross. You're going to die one day. You're not going to look that way forever. We need reminders this life is transient and the eternal weight of glory is before us.

[28:41] Likewise, Paul said in Colossians, seek the things that are above, not the things that are on the earth. So, life is short, eternity is long, and then thirdly, in light of those two things, thirdly, redeem the time.

[28:59] Make the best use of the time, the best use of the kairos, the sacred time that God has given you. Remember that. That when you wake up every day, remember, there's not a moment to spare.

[29:13] there should be freedom, but there should be urgency. Okay? I'm not saying beat yourself up every day to do a certain thing, but there should be a weight on you that just says, I've been given another day to live for Christ.

[29:30] Christ. And so, everything that's given to you, the money and possessions that you have are given to you, young people and older, really, are given to you so you can use them in such a way that people can look at that and say, those things aren't that person's treasure.

[29:48] Christ is. Relationships, family, friends, significant others are given to you so that you can live with them in such a way that shows that Christ is your treasure, but they are not your treasure.

[30:03] So many things, so many opportunities that you'll never get replaced or replicated again. So, seize that moment. This is so important to me because most, many of you know this, but I was born with a lung disease called cystic fibrosis in the early 80s.

[30:25] And, at the time, the age expectancy was 18 when I was born. And, no cure, only treatments for that. And so, I lived a pretty normal life a lot of the time and until I got up to my latter teens, the disease really started to hit me.

[30:45] But I don't begrudge God because He used that to humble me and show me that I was not immortal. That I was not the awesome dude I thought I was.

[30:58] My dreams were I wanted to be, I wanted to play sports in college and I wanted to go into the military. I wanted to be an elite soldier or actually the Marine Corps because that's my family.

[31:13] So, that's what I wanted to do. That's like the path I carved for myself. And God just shut it down. I remember when 9-11 came around, I had several really good friends go and join the military and I remember just sort of feeling left behind.

[31:35] But, that was early in my walk with Christ and it's as if God was saying, you're going to stay here and you're going to fight a different kind of fight. and in my flesh just didn't like that but my spirit rejoiced.

[31:51] And I was really kind of bummed that all my dreams had been kind of shot down but also just aware that God was doing something, I just didn't know what. And one of my best friends who was, his name was Dustin Scoggins, he showed up one day at my house, well never mind, he got a DUI before he was a Christian so he couldn't drive so I was always picking him up.

[32:13] But I picked him up and he threw this hat at me and he had this made but it basically says on it the Lord's Marine Corps. Like this is the battle you're going to fight.

[32:25] You're not going to get engaged in all this other stuff. Forget about it. And ever since then I've seen it that way even though at times I still struggle to believe.

[32:36] And when I got to Cali and I came up here to North Georgia in Dahlonega, this was a book that I read called Don't Waste Your Life. By John Piper. So you should pick up this book because it's about what we're talking about.

[32:49] How do you make the most of the time? How do you redeem the time and not waste it? So these kind of thoughts were heavy on my mind in college.

[33:00] I was very sick. I had to go in for treatments pretty often. Somehow I managed to graduate. I remember being in the hospital and my doctor gave me a pass to go and graduate and come back to the hospital.

[33:14] So I walked with all my crazy friends. And eventually, as most of you know, I had to get a lung transplant in 2008.

[33:28] And somehow I survived that. The surgeon said that it was the worst pair of lungs he ever had seen. he had done a lot of transplants.

[33:40] And I also got severely sick, like bad infection within the first six months of my transplant. It nearly killed me. And I don't have any memory for a month.

[33:52] And I was on life support. And then after that I was just sort of drug out of my mind and don't remember anything. But at one point I was in the CICU at UAB Hospital in Birmingham.

[34:06] And I was in there with two other patients. One girl and one guy. Around my age. One was waiting for a lung transplant.

[34:19] And one had CF and had received the transplant but was not doing well at all. kind of the same thing. And so for about a week we just kind of fought to make it through.

[34:33] My parents met their parents and hung out with their parents and talked to their parents. My parents tried to share the hope they had in Christ with those other parents. And for some reason they both died and I'm still standing here.

[34:49] No control over that. But that weighs on me. why? So God chose to extend my life through my transplant and now I feel that weight to redeem the time.

[35:10] In the first year of my marriage just a few years ago I got really sick again and had to go to the hospital in Birmingham and my wife Kathleen was with me and we walked down the hospital ward.

[35:25] the lung transplant unit kind of where I was for so long. And looked in the rooms and saw people on life support. Seeing people that had just received transplants.

[35:40] There's tubes coming out of them just laying there in the bed. And it just broke me. I think that was the last time I actually just bawled my eyes out because I just remembered Lord. That could still be me.

[35:56] Why did I make it out of there like Lord help me not to fall asleep. Let me not waste this life. And even though God has chosen to paint this to me in a very vivid way it's no less true for you.

[36:11] Like every day is a gift from the Lord to redeem for his use. And I know that the Lord loves me and that I'm accepted fully in Christ that I can't earn his love no matter what I've done.

[36:25] But I still want to redeem the time. Eternity weighs heavy on my mind. So look back at Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5 verse 15 and 16 again.

[36:41] Look carefully then how you walk not as unwise but as wise. making the best use of the time because the days are evil. So I want to give you just three things to help you redeem the time.

[37:00] So I'm in college. Give me some things to hold on to. Give me some things to focus on to help me redeem the time. This is some application but one is grow in your relationship with Christ.

[37:15] Christ. Again for many of you you've never really taken your faith seriously until now. Even though you have great responsibilities that feel very weighty to you that probably won't be as weighty as when you graduate one day and have a full time job and maybe have children.

[37:35] There are moments of time that you'll never get back to study God's word to dive deep into the scriptures and meditate on them day and night. to realize that the Bible is God's written revelation of himself to reveal himself to you.

[37:52] So much time to pray and to sit at the feet of Jesus. And you can do this in your time in college. You can do it. You can redeem that time to grow close to Christ.

[38:04] Don't waste it. Ephesians 5 17 to read on this one word. It says, don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Okay.

[38:16] Well, I thought the will of God was this like mystical thing I was supposed to like find and chase. Like, no, don't be foolish. Know what the will of the Lord is. It's here. If you want to know what's on God's mind, it's right here.

[38:30] What he loves, what he hates, what he believes about you, what he calls you to, it's all in here. It's not out here. Don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

[38:42] What's not a word for foolish? This kind of gets me stupid. Don't be stupid. Jeremiah 9, verse 23, let me read this to you.

[38:54] Thus says the Lord, let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast in his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches.

[39:05] So, that's what they're going to preach to you. Get some money, get some wisdom, get some riches, be strong. Don't boast in that stuff. He says in verse 24, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth.

[39:27] For these things I delight, declares the Lord, and grow in your walk with Jesus while you're in school. And these other two things actually aids you in that one pursuit.

[39:41] Secondly, grow in your relationship with God's people. Over the years, we've noticed a huge pattern, a difference between students who just kind of chill out on campus, hang out with other students, maybe they're a part of a campus ministry, maybe not, that side, and those who actually say, hey, you know what, I actually belong to the church right now, so I'm going to throw myself into the body of Christ, the local church, and they grow light years ahead of those who just shot on campus.

[40:13] It's just a fact. It just is. That's how God designed it. The church is the family of God, it's his people, it's the bride of Christ. And as I said before, don't hate on Jesus' bride because it will clean your clock if you hate his bride.

[40:29] He loves his bride. And when he did die for just you, but he also died for a people that he's called you to, to be with, to live with, they're your family. This is your home, not this building, but these people, they're your family.

[40:44] And we need each other as pilgrims walking on this earth. Join a local church. Don't do the whole dating the church like I'm going to be at Christ's family this Sunday, then go to Brownsbridge next Sunday, then Passion City, then next Sunday, and then maybe try Christ's family again.

[41:02] Just don't do it. Just find somewhere that loves the gospel, that loves the scripture, that loves Jesus Christ and loves the mission of Christ, and stay there and pour your life out there.

[41:17] Young women, you need older women to learn how to live from. Like older women to say, hey, come and walk with me. Come and let me show you how to follow Jesus. Guys, you need the same thing.

[41:27] You need older men in your life. You're not going to get that on campus. There are some guys and girls too, finding their lives in so many things, and what they need is the gospel and the church can help you in that pursuit of reaching those people.

[41:47] We need older people to be around. So campus ministries are good. I was a part of campus outreach. I was on staff with them for three years. Good ministries. They're actually not in North Georgia anymore, and I say that with a heavy heart.

[41:59] But as good as campus ministries are, they are not to take the place of the local body. And any campus ministry worth anything will tell you that. No, no, no. We're not it.

[42:09] Go. Be part of the body. Go. Go. So join a local church, a healthy, good local church. We can tell you a lot of them not to go to.

[42:21] There's a few that we would recommend. You're welcome to stay here. But there are other ones as well. All right. That's the second thing. Lastly, grow in your obedience to Christ's mission.

[42:34] Grow in your obedience to Christ's mission. For those of you that are in school, most of you will never have the relational influence you have right now ever again.

[42:45] The special kairos you'll never get back. A lot of you. You're surrounded by people on a daily basis that need to see Christ, that need to hear the gospel.

[43:00] Colossians 4, verse 5, the same kind of phrase. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Open your eyes to the lost people that are all around you.

[43:13] It's that young guy who never leaves his room and just plays video games all day and night because he's depressed and he doesn't want to step out of his dorm room to face the world.

[43:25] It's that girl. Some of you know her. She won't go out unless she spends an hour getting ready first to make herself look beautiful because she's afraid of being judged and torn apart by people just looking at her all day long.

[43:42] It's that unpopular nobody that sits alone in the chow hall. It's that person trying to find their value in the dating world or the sex world or their party life. They're trying so hard and they're being destroyed because of it.

[43:58] Some of you know them. It's that girl killing herself to look good at the gym because she's afraid of how people are going to evaluate her when she steps out in public.

[44:10] Look, it's that person that always wants to speak up in class and that may annoy you at times but they're trying to say I'm smart. I have something to offer. Listen to me. They're all around you.

[44:22] Just open your eyes and pray that God gives you just eyes to see those people. They need you. They need you to bear witness of Christ and the freedom that you live in.

[44:34] They need to see that. Don't just say I'm going to wait for the summertime. I'm going to do missions overseas this summer. That's when I evangelize. If you're not willing to walk across the hall to talk to Christ, about Christ to someone, please don't go overseas this summer.

[44:49] The most faithful missionaries are people who are already being faithful right here, right now. Jim Elliott, once again, when he was in college, he wrote this.

[45:04] Father, make me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a mile post on a single road.

[45:16] Make me a fork that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me. And on your bulletin, there's a quote. Jonathan Edwards wrote a lot about making the most use of his time.

[45:30] This is one thing he said on your bulletin, on top of your bulletin. Time is short, and the work which we have to do in it is so great that we have none of it to spare.

[45:43] So I want to end with this. I want you to rest in Christ. If you're feeling like, man, I feel overwhelmed by this, you should to some degree.

[45:58] But as you study the Gospels, you will see that Jesus himself was very aware, very tuned in to the kairos that God had given him. He talked about, and John, but I looked at John, John 2, verse 4, my hour has not yet come.

[46:15] The hour where he was to be arrested and tried and crucified and resurrected, that's the time he's talking about, the culmination, the climax of his life.

[46:28] My hour has not yet come, John 2, verse 4. Later on in chapter 7, he says, my hour is not yet here. Also in John 7, it says, his hour had not yet come.

[46:43] John 12, Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I came into the world. John 17, Father, here it is, the hour has come.

[46:57] The hour has come. Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you. And then John 19, verse 30, it is finished. So the good news is even though, even though as believers, you and I both have squandered missed opportunities, we have wasted time.

[47:17] The good news is that Christ never did. And that he fulfilled perfectly all the time the Father had given him to the very end. And he brought us eternal salvation.

[47:30] So, you never can earn that no matter how faithful you are of your time. So remember this, as you strive to redeem the time, know that you are not striving to enter the love of Christ, but you're striving in the midst of the love of Christ.

[47:49] But he's already secured for you through what he did, his finished work. Yet, true faith in you will want to redeem the time. It'll be a fighter.

[48:00] It'll say, I've got to make the most of this opportunity. So don't ignore that. Run after it. Think about it. And rest in that reality that you can be in the finished work of Christ.

[48:12] Let's pray to that end. I want to close by looking at Psalm 90. Just go ahead and turn there and we'll pray from here. Psalm 90.

[48:27] This is a psalm that Moses wrote. Psalm 90. Look at verse 9. This kind of sums up well our message today. For all our days pass away under your wrath.

[48:44] We bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are 70 or even by reason of strength 80. Yet their span is but toil and trouble.

[48:58] They are soon gone and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you. So here it is guys.

[49:10]  So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Number our days.