Redeeming the Time

1. Redeeming the Time • See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (Eph. 5:15-16). • Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. (Col. 4:5).

2. Everything Belongs To God • Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. (James 1:17). • The earth is the LORD'S, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein. (Psalms 24:1) • For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild beasts of the field are Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness. (Psalms 50:10-12). • For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Cor. 6:20).

3. Proper Use of Possessions • And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” (Luke 12:15). • Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. (1 Cor. 4:1). • Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own under-standing, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven. (Prov. 23:4-5). • While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Cor. 4:18).

4. Called To Account For Stewardship • Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ “So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.’” “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-21). • Matthew 25:1-13 –The Foolish Virgins

5. Proper Use of Our Bodies • Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Cor. 6:18-20). • Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Matt. 7:12).

6. Proper Use of Our Opportunities • Matthew 25:14-30 – Parable of the Talents • Don’t Dwell on Missed Opportunities: • Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead (Phil. 3:13).

7. Proper Use of Our Knowledge of God • But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. (1 Thess. 2:4). • Meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. (Col. 4:3-6).