Ok, so here's the title of today's sermon: Five Un-Christian Things You Should Do.  In fact, I'm going to give you five unchristian behaviors that I want you to start putting into practice right away. But come back, come back. Don't leave right now. What we're going to look at today are five traits that today's Christian culture looks down on, and I say unchristian because these are not considered Christian behaviors by churchgoers in general. However, as you'll see, these traits, these behaviors actually are part of a true Christian's life and walk towards God's Kingdom. There's a similar listing put out by Phil Cook, an author and blogger that I follow from time to time.  He called it, "Five Non-Christian Habits Christians Need to Learn."  And it sparked the idea for this sermon today.  In our discussion, please get ready to take notes on 5 unchristian things you should do. These are behaviors that many of us have been taught to stay clear of, but as you'll see there's a flip side to each of them.  I would suggest to you today that without you and me living these five unpopular Christian traits, our conviction for God's way of life is compromised.

In 1846 the Supreme Court of South Carolina addressed the subject of morality. Unfortunately in our nation today and around the world, we are seeing a sharp decline in Godly values. When you hear what used to be considered the standard of morality, you'll see how far down we've slipped. Here's a fascinating quote from the case of The City Council of Charleston vs. S.A. Benjamin. S.A. Benjamin was a Jew who'd been taken to court for selling goods on Sunday in Charleston which the court called the Lord's Day, and it was against the law to sell goods on Sunday in Charleston in 1846. Now I doubt that you'd hear this statement from 1846 about morality in our courts today. Here it is. It's from the United States founding Court, Supreme Court of South Carolina and I've got the case number and all that but you can google it if you wanted to. Here's what the Supreme Court said, "Christianity has referenced to the principals of right and wrong." (That's where the call of right and wrong comes from.) "It is the foundation of those morals and manners upon which our society is formed. It is their basis. Of course, many people today would deny that the basis of our laws of society today have any root in Judeo Christian beliefs. But the Supreme Court says, "Remove this and they would fall. Morality has grown upon the basis of Christianity. What constitutes the standard of good morals? Is it not Christianity?  There certainly is none other. The day of moral virtue in which we live would, in an instant – if that standard were abolished – lapse into the dark and murky night of pagan immorality. Christianity is the foundation of those morals and manner upon which our society is formed."  Of course, you don't hear that coming out of any Supreme Courts today do you? But it's true and it's a great quote. True Christianity should be the foundation and bedrock of our society and morality.  So, what are the five unchristian things which are really not unchristian that you should do?

#1 Confront – But aren't we supposed to love one another? It's a tough question because it brings out intense emotions in people, ranging from being called judgmental to being legalistic and opening a wide door to getting into everybody else's business – as the Scriptures says, and as we say in Australia, to be a busy body – to be a sticky beak.  Many people would say that confronting does not work because it drives people away.  Whereas love works instead they say, because it makes people feel comfortable and want your help. Love is much better. Can we help people change by simply loving them? Would that actually be not loving them at all? We've been taught to be meek and humble, to be like Moses the meekest man that walked the earth, not to put our ideas forward, not to be confrontational.

Let me give you an example. Let's say you're with your teenager and you find drugs under the bed. You go to your teen and say, "I found these drugs in your room. Your mother and I would prefer that you didn't do drugs, but the choice is yours. Whatever you decide we'll stand behind you." And then fourteen years later you wonder why your adult child is now a prostitute on the streets trying to make enough money to score another hit.

Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, said, "When you confront a problem, you begin to solve it." It's the same in our Christian lives. Old Testament prophets and early church leaders weren't afraid to call people out, to call a spade a spade. When it comes to our Christian life we have to stand on the side of truth because the outcome for us is critical.  The apostle Paul trained Timothy to be gracious, but firm with doctrine.  In our own lives, we too have to insist on Godly behavior. Yes, we are expected to be kind and considerate and gracious and loving, but when evil happens or a friends behavior is out of line, we can't be afraid to say something or as this point is here – to confront. In Sergei Bondarchuk's Soviet film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's book War and Peace, the narrator in the film declares, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." So there is a time to take a stand, to confront. Notice 1 Timothy 1:3-7, I mentioned Paul's words to Timothy and here are some of them:

I Timothy 1:3-7  As I urged you when I went into Macedonia…he says to Timothy....—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, …take a stand here for the truth…4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. 5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, …yes…from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, 6 from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.

So, teach no other doctrine. What are we to do? Teach the truth. Avoid idle talk and address false doctrine but do it in a spirit of love from a pure heart, we read in verse 5 from sincere faith. Notice 2 Timothy 1:13 now –

2 Timothy 1:13 Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

Once again, hold fast to the truth, to sound words but in faith and in love. We should never treat someone in a way that we would not want to be treated. We treat one another with love, yes. That is the greatest of all, but that may require holding fast to sound words, to the truth pointing out a problem and maybe even a sin. Notice Romans 12:17, if you'll turn over to Romans 12:17 when we stand up for what is right, when we confront what is wrong it's for the best in the long run because evil is overcome with good.

Romans 12:17, 21  Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men and if it's possible as much as it depends on you live peaceably with all men...v.21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

When we fail to confront evil it inevitably overcomes us or the person involved. There's a cause for every effect. Evil is overcome with good. Evil will not triumph if good men act on Godly principle. The writers of the Gospel accounts record numerous confrontations between Jesus and the religious leaders of His day, especially concerning the Sabbath. His healings on the Sabbath and His teachings about the Sabbath stood frequent controversy and conflict. We're going to turn over to Luke 6 here and take a look at a passage. Immediately after the dispute with the Pharisees over the disciples plucking grain on the Sabbath – here Luke records it – Jesus found Himself in another confrontation over what could and could not be lawfully done on the Sabbath day. The Pharisees had intolerant regulations that went so far as to forbid giving aid to someone who was ill on the Sabbath unless a person's life itself was in jeopardy.  In other words, you didn't help and in the synagogue on the Sabbath Jesus met a man with a withered, shriveled hand. The man had a severe handicap but it wasn't life threating you see.

Luke 6:6-11 Now it happened on another Sabbath, also, that He entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him. 8 But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, "Arise and stand here." And he arose and stood...so this was a public healing here… 9 Then Jesus said to them…said tothe Pharisees,… "I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy? 10 And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man "Stretch out your hand." And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. 11 But they were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

I think it's in Matthew it says they discussed how they might kill him – murder! Their calloused hardened minds were incapable of grasping the most fundamental intent of God's law of love. Unable or maybe unwilling to answer Jesus question in v.9 they remained silent. In front of the entire synagogue Jesus completely healed the man's hand, but far from rejoicing at the blessing given to this man, the Pharisees wanted to kill the Man of God. And so in a loving and Godly manner confront sin in an appropriate manner when it crosses the path of your life. Stand up for what is right.

#2 Conflict – This is an interesting point. Can we always stay away from conflict? Actually, conflict is inevitable. Let's go back to Timothy again, this time 2 Timothy 3 starting in v.10. If you're like me, you don't like conflict. It's hard to make the phone call or schedule the appointment to address a problem. It's a lot easier to just let it go, however conflict is bound to cross our paths sooner or later. Paul even tells Timothy that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

2 Timothy 3:10-12  But you…Timothy… have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, 11 persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

There will be people that don't like what you say. They will be people that don't like your beliefs when you go against the grain, when you go against what's considered normal in society. Many people don't regard conflict as being part of a normal Christian life but as we soon find out Satan engineers conflict for us whenever and wherever possible to try and discourage us, especially amongst those of us striving to follow the word of God. Speaking the truth, especially when it comes to God's way of life, invariable creates conflict because people don't like it. So, we have a choice – either stand up or shrink back. And I'm saying – stand up. We don't have to be stupid or insensitive about it or try to impose our beliefs on other people, but there are times when we have to take a stand. We have to be firm for our beliefs. Do you think you have it hard when it comes to standing up for your beliefs here in Cincinnati today? Do you think that if you acknowledge that you don't keep Christmas to someone who asks you what you're doing for Christmas that that's tough? Just ask the Coptic Christians being persecuted in Egypt right now. I have a quote here from Religion News, religionnews.com from the article from Sept. 5th titled, Persecuted Coptic Christians Still Hopeful. And as you know, the Christians in Egypt are suffering terribly and losing their lives for saying that they believe in Jesus Christ in what has become a very Moslem dominated area. This is from Cairo, from Sept. 5th from Religion News, "CAIRO (RNS) Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams took Britain's Christian community to task last month when he said that Western Christians need to "grow up" and stop claiming they are persecuted just because they are sometimes made to feel uncomfortable about their faith. "When you have any contact with real persecuted minorities you learn to use the word persecuted very chastely," he said.

"Persecution has undeniably become the plight of Christians in Egypt, where the same week that Williams made his comments, more than 30 churches were attacked — many of them burned to the ground — and the Coptic patriarch, Pope Tawadros II, suspended weekly public events due to safety concerns. Since then, the toll of churches that have been ransacked or worse has risen to more than 90."  And you've probably seen some of this in the news. It's actually not being reported a lot in the mainstream media right now-the attack on Christianity around the world, especially in the Middle East.

Are you honest with your beliefs throughout the whole day?  Or do you compromise a little bit in order not to create conflict? It's easy to let things slide when you're at the grocery store or at work. Do we fudge on what we know to be the truth just so that we don't seem too weird to our coworkers or our classmates? Winston Churchill was quoted as saying, "Man will occasionally stumble over the truth but most of the time he'll pick himself up and continue on."  The Proverbs address this very forthrightly. Notice Proverbs 8:6-8. Let's read Proverbs for a moment.

Proverbs 8:6-8 Listen for I will speak of excellent things and from the opening of my lips will come right things…From my lips will come the truth, notice v.7...For my mouth will speak truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips; all the words of my mouth are with righteousness; nothing crooked or perverse is in them…so I will never misrepresent my beliefs, I'll never misrepresent the truth that I know.

What about when we're with fellow church members? Do we honestly speak the truth in a loving manner in order to help one another? Notice Ephesians 4:25 where we ask, "Do we address an issue with our fellow brethren even at the risk of creating some conflict?" The apostle Paul addresses this in Ephesians 4:25 he says:

Ephesians 4:25-26 Therefore, putting away lying, "Leteach one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another...We're all brethren and so we must speak the truth with one another. Even if sometimes we may be at risk for creating a little conflict...v.26 "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, ...so it's be careful how you do it… 27 nor give place to the devil.

As v.26 notes, we speak honestly with our brother in the right, loving manner; not angrily. We do it to sharpen our relationship with our brother or sister in the church to make our lives live up to God's standard together. You're probably familiar with Proverbs 27:17 where it states:

Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend...you've heard that as iron shapens iron. Let me read to you that verse from the Bible In Basic English translation...Iron makes iron sharp so a man makes sharp his friend….So what's best for your friend, you're not afraid of a little iron against iron from time to time to sharpen one another. The New American Standard renders it...Iron shapens iron and one person sharpens the wits of another…Actually, that's the New Revised Standard version, one person sharpens the wits of another. The New American Standard says...one man sharpens another...but it's talking about your friend. It's talking about your brother.

So, remember it's not unchristian as some would suppose to risk conflict in order to protect a brother. In your public life stand up for the truth, sharpen your relationship with God and with your fellow brethren as we all strive together to live Godly lives.

#3 Thirdly - Be Ruthless. Now you may remember the television show from the 70's and 80's called Dallas. Here's a quote from Larry Hagman who played JR. This is from Brainyquote.com, "Dallas hit a chord back in the late 70's and 80's because it was the age of greed. Here you have this unapologetic character who is mean and nasty and ruthless and does it all with an evil grin. I think people related to JR back then because we all have someone we know exactly like him. Everyone in the world knows a JR."

Is this the kind of ruthlessness that I'm talking about? No. Be ruthless in one important area. Be ruthless with yourself. Be ruthless about finishing your race of life in an exemplary fashion. So, I'm not saying be ruthless with other people – no. Be ruthless with yourself. Notice 1 Corinthians 9:24, if you want to make a note of that or turn to it now, 1 Corinthians 9:24 where Paul told the Corinthians:

I Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
Be ruthless with yourself. Run to obtain the prize of eternal life. Don't give up. Thomas Edison said, also from brainyquote.com, "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up" and he said, "The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." Don't give up, run the race, be ruthless with yourself. Let's turn to Hebrews 12:1 and so here we read presumably by Paul as well:

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

In order to finish the race of life and secure the crown of life we must be ruthless with our time. We have to avoid sin and unnecessary distractions and time wasters. We've got to be ruthless. And so I'd say we've also got to be ruthless with our time. William Shakespeare said, "I wasted time and now doth time waste me." You see you can't get it back. Benjamin Franklin said, "Lost time is never found again." You can't get it back. Turn with me to 1 Peter 1 and let's read verses 13-19. Here's an interesting Biblical passage about how we are to spend our time here on earth during our stay here in this life.

I Peter 1:13-19 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."…Notice v.17…17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

But you notice the last part of v.17 there,… conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear... Plan your day. Conduct yourself wisely during the length of your stay here in this physical world because if you waste time, it's going to waste you. Lost time is never found again and while you may need to have a flexible plan for your day, you still need to have an outline of the most important things you're going to accomplish in the day.  List what you must absolutely get done today, what meetings you have planned, assignments that are due and other notes that you will need for the day but especially your time with God and immersing yourself in His word.  While we don't have to be strict to the point of refusing to do anything not on our plan, having a schedule can help us throughout our day be ruthless with our time. When it comes to others, we have to be gracious, but when it comes to you and your time, be ruthless.  Psalm 103:8 if you want to make a note of it, reads, …The Lord is merciful and gracious…yes, we are to be merciful and gracious especially with other people, but we have to be ruthless with ourselves. Psalm 145:8 is similar.

Psalm 145:8 The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy.

So, be ruthless with yourself and your time, while being gracious to others. Conduct yourself in the time of your stay here on earth, as Paul said, with the fear of God. Run your personal race of life ruthlessly, that you may obtain the eternal prize and win the race.

#4 The fourth point I have is – Judge. There is so much misinformation on this one. Everywhere we hear and read that we are not to judge others. We're not to judge alternate lifestyles. We're not to judge between religions and between other faiths, but society has really messed up on this one. When the Bible talks about judgment, it's talking about not judging people. It's not talking about not judging behavior or quality of work, or morality, or results. You and I cannot possible judge the intent or motivation of someone's heart or their spiritual condition before God, but we can absolutely judge external results, what we see. Tertullian, who was an early Christian author from Africa in the 2nd century said, "You can judge the quality of their faith from the way they behave." "Discipline" he said, "is an index to doctrine".  So yes, you can judge behavior and determine what's behind it.

In the false name of not judging, society has allowed employees to do shabby work and not get fired, projects to be ineffective, and doctrine and morality to be compromised. There's a question and answer session section on a website called Workforce.com and they try to help employers deal with issues in the workplace.  A question was left on workforce.com and the title it says, "Dear Workforce, We are beset by shoddy attendance. Should we fire everyone and recruit new workers? In the last year we have had an influx of new hires who are either unable to come to work on time or call in to report that they won't be coming to work at all. We have a firm policy on attendance and timeliness and terminate after several warnings. How should we address this issue in a way that reinforces the importance of timeliness? Are other companies having this problem? Should we just begin firing people and start the recruitment process all over again?" And it's signed by, Fed Up, Business Service in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. So then workforce.com says, "Dear Fed Up, Different companies in different industries can have challenges with people showing up on time or perhaps not at all. These challenges did not arise overnight and normally take time to develop. To solve your challenge and transition beyond the symptoms will require analyzing root causes." So yes, shabby work and people being at work on time is a big problem in business. The root cause is a general disregard for judgment and correction when it's needed of bad behavior even on the jobsite. Perhaps most of all society has allowed pastors and church leaders from other faiths to disregard moral standards without reproach; without any judgment and that erodes the moral authority in our country and around the world. When you say, "Don't judge, they can do whatever they want, it's ok as long as they don't hurt me."

There's a magazine for young people, for teens called Relevant Magazine. Relevant Magazine is very popular online right now with teens and there's an article from June 2010 by Katie Noah called Does Our Generation Ignore Morality? And it's a really interesting piece from Relevant Magazine on June 1, 2010. And Katie says, here's from the article, David Kinnaman, Barna's president (you know Barna does all these surveys of religion), "David Kinnaman, Barna's president and strategic leader says, 'Peoples moral profile (he's not talking about their Facebook profile, he's talking about their moral profile) is more likely to resemble that of their peer group than it is to take shape around the tenants of a person's faith.'" Actually, if you do look at someone's Facebook profile, you can quite often see a little bit about what they believe. But then she continues, "This research paints a compelling picture that moral values are shifting very quickly and significantly within the Christian community as well as outside of it." She continues, "Richard Beck, professor of psychology at Abilene Christian University says, 'We've become much more of a pluralistic society. All inclusive rhetoric has become the order of the day in America,' Beck says, 'as has measuring moral actions by what works for me. Today's young adults, which is the demographic that fills Becks classes have grown up hearing that different beliefs, different actions and lifestyles are not wrong, but just that – different.'" And here's a quote from a 23 year old, "We're the children of the people who threw off the hierarchy" says Seth Shaver, age 23. He says, "I think our generation is more relationally minded than principle minded." Now when you look at social media you have to agree. They're more relationally minded than principle minded and Seth adds, "Sometimes principles get in the way of relationships. We haven't quite figured out how to hold on to our moral priorities and still respect those of others, and our generation wants relationships so badly that sometimes we'll throw everything else out to get it." So that's a challenge we face in the church; it's a challenge we face in society – not to judge. Relationships are more important.

Although many American's appear, actually right now, to be growing more conservative in their personal morality, American's have become more tolerant and accepting of immoral behavior in others. And that's definitely the trend.  We say why is this? Why this conundrum? Perhaps it's because those who practice immorality constantly defend themselves by attacking and name-calling others who disagree with their immoral lives. And so they throw out names like Islamaphobe, or Homophobe, Anglophobe or Xenophobe and consequently those who publically advocate Biblical values are ridiculed and labeled as hypocrites or biggots. The message permeating our nation is that we must not judge the behavior of others, that we must remain silent in the presence of immoral behavior. Yet, if you look at history, societies have paid a heavy price for passive acceptance of evil.  History has proven this – entire societies and empires have fallen because of no one saying no to immorality. When we fail to confront evil, it inevitable overcomes even us. There's a cause for every effect. We must judge behavior and recognize sin despite what society tells us. Now, God will be their judge, yes. But we can pinpoint and avoid sinful behavior. We do not condemn a person to the lake of fire or to eternal judgment, but we can judge the behavior. Notice 1 Corinthians 6:2-3, let's turn there for a moment.

1 Corinthians 6:2-3 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?

Go over to Hebrews 5:14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

To judge both good and evil - if we're ready for meat, for solid spiritual food instead of just the milk of the word, we have to discern between good and evil. We have to recognize it and see it for what it is. Judge the results. Judge the situation. Discern between good and evil, identify sin and don't condone wrong doing.  And most importantly judge yourself in light of God's word and live a just life.

#5 Say No – Say no. This one may be similar to being ruthless with yourself and with your time which was our point #3 but it's slightly different. Warren Buffet, who's been pretty successful in business says, "The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything." Here's a comment about this from Business Week. Business Week on December 7, 2010, came up with a Stop Doing List. The Stop Doing List, it's by Michael Maddock and Raphael Louis Vitón. They start out with a quote from Warren Buffett, "The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say no to almost everything." And then the article continues, "We love lists. We love writing things down and checking them off.  In our fast pace lives, lists comfort us. They keep us on track. They confirm that we're actually accomplishing something. They allow us to stop thinking about one thing and start thinking about another. Right now people all around the world are hunkering down to set strategy for the coming year. So, we offer you a timely suggestion. Instead of making a to do list, why not make a stop doing list. In other words, focus on the essential, not just the important." And they continue, "To have either a powerful strategy or a true market position requires that leaders take the time to create a stop doing list. Before you focus on what you need to do you must create a clearing by identifying what you will no longer do." Now this article is obviously related to the business world but it also applies to us as God's people.  Obviously we can take it too far, but when we don't say no we spend our life focused on other priorities. Wrong priorities and perhaps not even God's priorities. When our lives get too filled up often the most important priorities go by the wayside. And certainly we want to serve people and serve here at church but we may have to say no to some things in our life and it's about prioritization. Let's turn over to Philippians 3:14. Here we read in:

Philippians 3:14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

That's what we press towards. Our ultimate goal is to follow God's call and make sure it's first in our life. Let's turn to a great Biblical example of saying no. Let's turn over to Luke 10:38 and see the example that Jesus Christ gave for us here in Luke 10. It's a great Biblical example of saying no, of setting priorities, of making room to put God first in your life. It's a great example of pulling out the stop doing list.

Luke 10:38-42  And you're probably familiar here with the story once we get into it...Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."

Jesus said to Mary, "The dishes can wait right now. The vacuuming can wait. Say no." And so the dishes can be done later when someone calls and needs counsel or needs help and most importantly with your time, when you can sit at the feet of our Master and drop everything else. Our Master has to come first in our life. We have to give Him time. We have to sit at the feet of the Master and learn. We have to say no on our stop doing list to some other things in order to make room for God in our life. Isaiah 55 – here's the last passage that I wanted to turn to. Here's where we say how our priorities and our to do list compares with God's to do list.

Isaiah 55:8-11 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord.
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

You see, God says that He will make sure to accomplish what He wishes to accomplish. He has prioritized His to do list with us. Make sure you're a part of God's list of accomplishments, not your own. Put God's ways first. Make sure your lifelong accomplishments are in line with what He pleases to do in you. That's what we read in v.11 that He will accomplish in us what He pleases.

There is another side of course to saying no. It's not just about priorities and not do lists and making room for God and of course that is - say no to sin, the most important thing. Avoid temptation.  Turn the other way – say no. Make room for God to accomplish His will in you. Say no to distractions. You can't say yes to absolutely everything that fills your busy day.

Obviously in all these areas we can be extreme and exhibit negative behaviors. But just trying to show a little bit of balance here in the message today because as we've seen in the Scriptures many of these areas were mastered by faithful servants of God  in ways that allowed them to follow God, to follow His call and accomplish great things like the apostle Paul.  We too can accomplish great things and be prepared to be part of Christ's bride if we confront in love, if we risk conflict for the sake of truth, if we are ruthless with ourselves, if we judge sinful behavior and sinful actions, and if we say no to activities that distance us from relationship with our Father in heaven.  So, let's get to work!