Emphasizing the Priorities

We started a new year, calendar-wise, by the way that man counts time. We started a new year, calendar-wise. January 1st. Is your house, your life, in better order at this point in time, your spiritual condition, that it was a year ago? Or will your life, your spiritual house, your spiritual condition, be in better condition a year from now, in 2023, than it is now? Will it be in any better condition a year later, if there's extra time to use? Is there any valid reason in our thoughts and our motivations being exercised that shows God it is to our prophet and to His that He extend our time? See, why should God give us extra life if we won't use it right, use it properly to its intended purpose? Why do we want life? Why ask for extension? Any God-designed purpose? Turn with me to Isaiah, please. Isaiah 38 In Isaiah 38, that special report came, and there was no doubt. It was from the Supreme Being of the universe. So it was dogmatic. There was no wiggle room. There was no doubt. It was a sure report. Isaiah 38, verse 1 And you know, it's like he came in and he got right to the point. Thus says the Lord, this is from God, Hezekiah, Set your house in order, because you shall die and not live. Again, how much more sobering a report could you receive than that? And you have Hezekiah's reaction in verses 2 and 3. Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed to the Lord, And said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, And have done that which was good in your sight. Hezekiah is considered one of the righteous kings of Judah.

And Hezekiah wept sore. In the Hebrew, Hezekiah wept with great weeping. His life's over. He knows this is sure. There's no doubt about that. What kind of thoughts and concerns fill the thought processes of our minds? We've all got minds. We're intelligent. We think. We exist. We're beings. What kind of thoughts and concerns fill the thought process of our mind? What type of focus mentally and spiritually do we have? Because we all have it, whether it's good, bad, in between, better, best, bad, whatever. We've got it. What concerns do our mental energies and therefore corresponding physical energies go for? I used to, at one time, get a regular daily newspaper. Those are kind of going the way of the dinosaur. In print, that is. You get them online. But there were certain sections that I would go to and read of human interest. Comics were always real good because those cartoonists are some very sharp, insightful people. I would go to some of the syndicated columns like Ann Landers, whatever, because just an insight into people and their concerns. I remember, one, somebody wrote in to Ann Landers and said, Dear Ann Landers, which way do you hang the toilet paper to roll off, over or roll under? And I'm thinking, give me a break. You know, maybe it makes a practical difference a little bit, but you're really concerned about how to hang the toilet paper. It bothers you enough. Must have had an argument with our mate or something over it. And wrote to Ann Landers. Anyway. What impresses God and gets his attention is what you emphasize. Don't you think about that for a moment? What impresses God and gets his attention is what we emphasize, or that is, what we prioritize. What our priorities are. Where we place our interests, and to what degree of emphasis, all of that is of prime interest to God. I want to go back to Hezekiah here. You know, God gave him an answer. He gave him another answer. He changed the scene. He changed the report. Verses 4 and 5. You can almost picture Isaiah has delivered the message. Hezekiah turns his head to the wall, and he's praying his heart out. And Isaiah's leaving the palace. And before he can get completely out of there, God taps him on the shoulder and stops him to send him back.

Then came the Word of the Lord to Isaiah, verse 4, saying, Go, say to Hezekiah, thus says the Lord, the God of David, your Father, your forefather, I have heard your prayer.

I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add to your days fifteen years.

Now, at this point in time, Hezekiah is thirty-nine years old. That's awfully young to die. And you add fifteen years to fifty-four. That's still pretty young to die. But fifty-four is a whole lot better than thirty-nine, isn't it? You get your kids grown. You have opportunity to know grandkids. And I suppose that if Hezekiah kept a calendar like we keep calendars, I am assuming that he could go forward fifteen years, and on, let's say, the exact day, fifteen years later, he could put a check mark the day that concludes fifteen years. It was probably exact. But anyhow, I will add to your days fifteen years. What was His prayer? It's in the same chapter. What did He pray? What was the heart and core of His prayer when He was crying with great weeping with His head turned to the wall as He lay on His deathbed? Verses 18 through 20. Verse 18, He says, For the grave cannot praise you. This is part of His prayer. This is part of the heart and core of what was on His mind, His motivation, His interest, His priority. And He prayed to God, For the grave cannot praise you. Death cannot celebrate you. They that go down to the pit cannot hope for your truth. The living, the living, those who live, who go on being, the living, the living, He shall praise you. As I do this day, the Father to the children shall make known your truth. Notice what is acknowledged in verse 20. He may have added this a little bit later, but it's something he realized, obviously, especially with Isaiah's return. The Lord was ready to save me. Of course, He did. Give God a reason for sparing your life. Give God a reason for extending your life. As Achaia did, he was a righteous king. We're considered God's righteous people, especially as we seek to obey Him. And our righteousness is in and through Christ and the opportunity. But let's follow up on that a little bit. The living, the living, He shall praise you as I do this day. The Father to the children shall make known your truth. Let's follow up on that a little bit. Psalm 104, verse 33. Psalm 104 and verse 33. This is what David wrote. David said, I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. You can't sing to Him when you're dead. I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have any being. You have no being when you die. You don't think, you're not aware, you're not conscious. There are no works in the grave. There won't be again until a time of resurrection. David said, I will sing praise to my God while I have any being or my being, while I have my being. Psalm 146, verse 2. Psalm 146. Verse 2. David wrote, While I live, I will praise the Lord. I will sing praises to my God while I have any being. And then Psalm 63, verse 1. Psalm 63, verse 1. O God, you are my God. Early will I seek you. And that doesn't mean necessarily that you've got to get up real early in the morning to do it. Not that there would be anything wrong with that whatsoever. But early, it's talking about prioritizing. First things first. That coming first, or that is of the first importance to you. Early will I seek you. And that may include, depending on your schedule and all, it may include a very early time in the morning.

Early will I seek you. My soul, my being, thirsts, has appetite, has a thirst for you. My flesh longs for you, like in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is, where water is so precious, and you're so precious. My contact, my relationship, you, with you. And verse 4, here in Psalm 63, verse 4. Thus will I bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name.

Verse 6, when I remember you upon my bed and meditate on you in the night watches, when I wake up in the wee hours of the morning and sleep has left me for the moment or for the hour, I meditate on you. When I sometimes, late at night, walk the ramparts of the castle, I meditate on your ways. I remember you. You're in my mind. You are a constant presence. Verse 8, verse 8. My soul follows after, follows hard after you. Your right hand opposed me. My soul follows hard after you. I pursue you. See, he made God, and what God is doing is top priority. He emphasized the priorities.

Isn't that really, in one nutshell, of a statement what we're supposed to do? Emphasize the priorities? And are we emphasizing the priorities? Ever since I was a child, because my beginning involvement with the church, with the truth, was from childhood on, which I count as a tremendous blessing, the foundational side of it, the comprehensive view of life.

I've heard certain terms, and one of the terms I've heard all my life is the work of God, the work. We shorten it to just the work many times. Or we'll expand it a little bit and say the work of God, because we're talking about the work of God, and something that I have understood, and I think all of you do too, for a long, long time, is that the work of God is twofold. Number one, it's what God is doing with and through the collective body of believers, the collective body of individuals, the work that the church is doing as a collective body, the work. But also, number two, what God is doing in each individual, the work that's being done in each one of us.

A split sermon that Bob Dick did years ago at the General Conference of Elders.

His thrust was, his theme was, his main point was, what he built the entire message around was, we must be, we must be a work before we can do a work. Each of us must be a work of God before we can do a work. And he was talking about priorities.

I think about how God, and by the way, if you'd like a title, just title this, because what I'm talking about is emphasizing the priorities. If you want a title, Emphasizing the Priorities with the emphasis on the word emphasizing, I think we know the priorities.

That's many times not where we slip or slide or drift or fail. It's emphasizing them. It's not a knowledge issue. We know what the priorities are, but the need is to really emphasize those priorities. So I'm talking about emphasizing the priorities. See, God's work is finished in some, isn't it? Ecclesiastes 9, verse 10, This day will come if this age goes on long enough, and I would add that because the age will go on for a time, yes. And if it goes on long enough, I will fall into this category because death will claim me. Please ask these 9-10, whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, do it with emphasis, do it with diligence. Why? For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave where you go. I will praise you while I have my life, while I have my being, while I live. I will meditate on you, I will seek you. I will put my life to the purposes and to the purpose for why I exist, for why you created because, as Mr. Armstrong said, as long as I draw breath, I must grow. He said that in the last year of his life. There is no knowledge, or work, or device, or wisdom in the grave. I mean, that's finished time. And some have been consistent with their priorities. See, priorities involve a sense of proportion. They involve first things first. And guess what? That takes some planning. That takes some thought. That takes some effort. And it takes some constant emphasis. Years ago, there was an elder in Atlanta, and some of you here will remember this elder, Bill Wilkinson. His widow June lived to be in her 90s. I forget. I think he was two, three years ago. Time gets away, maybe longer, that she died. But she lived to be in her 90s. He was a very dedicated, loyal elder. And June was a very dedicated, loyal, and sweet wife and servant of God.

They had a pattern, a daily pattern. He would get up at a certain time each morning, and he would get up earlier than her. And he would go into his study, go where he could maybe make himself a cup of coffee, go back there in his study, and have his prayer and his Bible study before he was going to have to go off to work, you know, a little bit later on. But he would get up earlier than her. They had it timed. He would get up at a certain time. He would go back there to have time with God. And then, at a certain time, she would get up, allowing for him to have so much time, and she would go to the kitchen and start fixing breakfast.

And then, she would come in and get it, or she might let him know, but again, they had it down to a pretty good schedule. So she would get breakfast fixed, and then here he would come, and he would eat breakfast, and they'd have a little bit of time together, and he'd go off to work.

Well, one morning, he got up. As the pattern was, went back to read, study, have some prayer time, time with God. When it was time, she got up, went to the kitchen, she started fixing breakfast. She got it fixed. It was time for him to come. He didn't come. Well, maybe he's taking a little bit longer, you know.

But breakfast is beginning to get cold and all, and, well, hmm, she went to check on him.

His Bible was open, and he was face-down dead. He died either of a massive heart attack or stroke. And if I remember correctly, I think he was 58. I don't believe he had even hit 60 yet.

What a way to go. What a way to go. Is there any doubt in anyone's mind that they'll both rise together in the first resurrection? No. Those of us who knew Bill Wilkinson and his wife June, and then, of course, his widow June, no, don't think there's any doubt at all. He died practicing his priorities.

I've got 15 years to live. You could say that if you were Hezekiah. Think about it. If you were Hezekiah, he could go to his family. He came off of his deathbed.

He could go to his family and he would say, Good news! Good news from God! I've been given 15 years to live. I'm going to see my kids grown. I'm going to get to see some of my grandkids. I've got 15 years. He could have walked over to the calendar, gone ahead 15 years, and put a check mark. You could say that if you were Hezekiah. What if that's the amount of time we have left till Christ returns? I didn't say it is. I don't know. But I want to make the point. What if that is the amount of time we have till Christ returns? This is 2022. Take 15 years on. That would take us to 2037, wouldn't it?

If someone came that had the authority that you knew they were bringing it from God, and no one has that authority, you wouldn't trust. If anybody came and said, Hey, I'm a prophet and we've got 15 years, I wouldn't believe them. But the point I'm making is, if that were to be the amount of time that we have left till Christ returns, 2037, and if somehow we could know that for a fact, what would our individual personal reaction and follow-up be? Would it be, Phew! Boy! I'm glad we've got 15 years. Boy, that's a relief. I can relax. I can waste some of that time now. I can just kind of be wasteful and not worry about it too much, not concern myself too much. Or, would it be thankfulness that there's time yet to grow, to develop, to learn how to serve and share and relate? And would there be a certain sense of urgency and the sense that I want to use this blessing of extra time that God has given? Would we personally emphasize the priorities in our life? And if somebody feels like, well, 15 years is a long time, then that person is still encased in the natural, youthful conception that life stretches on endlessly. Remember when you were a kid, a child, a small child, an hour? Boy, that's a pretty good block of time.

And then there came a time when you got a little bit older, well, a day is a long period of time. And a week, why? You know, it's Monday morning school time, and Friday afternoon when I climb on the bus to go home, it's never going to come. A week is so long. And then the day comes, a month is not very long. And as they say, and it's true, have your time works, have whatever transpires between us and our heads and our beings in time, the older you get, the faster time passes, and you've got less of it to pass.

The years have a way of getting by. If I go back the other way, the way we think humanly, linearly, if I go back 15 years, why, I was only 56. If I go forward 15 years, well, I'll only be 86. You know, 15 years is a pretty good segment, but it goes by so fast. Time just simply has a way of getting by, and too many times, with nothing in its wake to show for it, unless we are deliberately and continuously emphasizing the priorities.

You know why some people make New Year's Day resolutions? So they'll have something to break the next day. Think about it. Now, I don't know how many people in the nation made New Year's resolutions last Sabbath, but I know some did. It's interesting, this issue of priorities and emphasizing the priorities. Let me read you what the top five resolutions were in 1939. Now, if we had 15 years left, that would be almost a century from 1939.

If we went to 2037, being shy two years, that would cover a century of time. But it's a long period of time to go back to 1939. In 1939, one out of every four Americans made New Year's resolutions, and the top five were... Number one, you think things change? People are different? Uh-uh. Number one, save more money. Number two, improve my character. Number three, better myself in business. This is 1939. Number four, stop smoking. Now, there are fewer older people that are smoking these days, but the younger ones are making up for it.

And number five, number five, be more religious, go to church more often. What's really changed? You think about it? Not much, except things just gotten worse. You know, it seems that more and more people have the goal of today, the goal, the purpose of today. Just living, just living as though longevity itself is their goal and objective. But is that the purpose of life, just to see how long we can live? Doc, just keep me alive. Whatever you have to do, no matter what condition I'm in, or what quality of life or lack of, just keep me alive.

And a lot of people are just scared to death of death. Now, I've had to deal with, you know, death has been germane to the ministry. When I was in Paducah, in those four congregations, in twelve and a half years, I had to do like forty-something funerals. Pretty amazing how many I've had to do in these three churches since I've been here.

I never, ever, able to get away from that subject fully because it kind of lives on my doorstep in that sense. And I realize that there are a lot of things worse than death, and especially for the true Christian to die as an unfinished product. For the true Christian not to put their priorities straight and keep them there. But it just seems that today more and more people have that goal of just living as long as they can.

And if that's the case, and it was a contest, guess who wins it? And nobody will ever top it, unless it's in the millennium, possibly. You know, maybe. But nobody will top it. Methuselah. Methuselah. Six... nine hundred and sixty-nine years old when he died. Methuselah. Nine hundred and sixty-nine. And let's see here. I believe Genesis 5. And I believe it's verse 27. And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years and he died. It's always been a little bit of an interesting question.

You know, we have made the statement that there was room on the ark. Not only Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives, eight people, were spared. It wasn't because there wasn't enough room for some others to be on there. There was room. There was extra room. Which, again, for anyone else who would have been on the ark, been taken on the ark, it would have made an extension of life. Methuselah died the year of the flood. What we don't know is did he die in the flood waters, or did he die before the rains came and the fountains were broken up?

We don't know. There's no way to dogmatically know. But it's just interesting. Maybe he just died peacefully before the flood came. But what we do know is he died in the very same year of the flood. And I hope that it was the case that he just died before the flood came. But in that same year, did he die not attending to priorities? I don't know. Someday, you know, we will. But see, our life is giving us for putting something lasting into it.

And here's a concept that is not in the American mindset, especially in the day and time when medical science, in understanding the body, and knowing how to work with the body, and disease, and germs in a way, to be able to extend life, which again, don't get me wrong. I'm not against that, because there are things that can be done that help a person to continue to live longer. And that's good and right and fine. But the American mindset doesn't think in terms of, oh, well, it's better to live 70, 65, 55, etc., and die successful in life's true reasons than just drift in time for 95 years.

Now, I understand, folks. You have to be called. You have to respond to be truly involved, invested in the truth of God and what the real reasons and purposes for our existence and to have opportunity to truly, in a bona fide, genuine way, be in Jesus Christ, be truly forgiven of your sins, and receive God's Holy Spirit. But isn't that where we are, or supposed to be? Isn't that the category we're in? And do we want to fall into the mindset that it's too much the mindset of this world? I don't think so. I want to live as long as I can. I really do. I want to live as long as I can. And I pray to God to grant me life, and grant Angela life, and grant us all life. I want to live. I like life. It'd be something weird and wrong if we didn't like life. I want to be around for my loved ones. I want to be around to serve God. I want to be around to grow and learn and increase. But I well realize that when it's all said and done, it's better to live 80 or 70 or 60 or 50, whatever, successful in life's true reasons than just to drift. And if we wanted extra time and God gave it to us, what would we do with it? See, mankind doesn't use his time properly. He uses it to get worse and make things worse all around him.

Think about this. Mankind was living 1,000 years before the Flood. That was the basic lifespan of a human being. If he wasn't murdered, slaughtered, eaten, whatever.

Methuselah living to be 969, he may have been the oldest man recorded. Adam lived to be 930, but the oldest man recorded was only 31 years shy of 1,000. And maybe some lived to be 1,000. But the basic lifespan of mankind was 1,000 years. And yet this is what God says about mankind who were living basically 1,000 years. In Genesis 6.5, this statement is made as to what it all produced. They had life spans. Their lifespan was basically, if you just round it off, you could say their life spans were every bit of 10 times greater than our life spans.

And yet, it says of them, Genesis 6 and verse 5, and you know the Scripture, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it says in verse 6, And it repented the Lord, he was sick at his stomach, he was emotionally down over it, the emotional impact upon him.

It repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. They were using basically a 1,000-year lifespan to accomplish nothing lasting, but that got to be turned more and more and more to the corruptions where God said, I've got to destroy them. And then after the flood, God began to shorten mankind's lifespan until he brought it down to around 70 to 80. Here's what's interesting about to me Psalm 90 and verse 10.

These are written by Moses. Moses was a man of 120. He would have lived to maybe be 130, 140, 150. We don't know. It just says that when God took him up on that mount and let him look over the Jordan to the promised land that he was not going to be allowed to go into, and then God put him to sleep and God buried him, he was still very virile in energy and vim and vigor at 120.

It just shows the inspiration behind these words that God was inspiring him to write this, that the days of our years are three score years and ten are 70. And if by reason of strength they be four score, or that is 80, yet is their strength, labor, and sorrow for it is soon cut off and we faint away. The average lifespan of the American male, especially Caucasian, is somewhere around 77 to 79. And even that, a lot of it is due to the medical advances. Now, God shortened man's lifespan. And you think about it, a hundred years is more than enough time for anyone if it's being used properly.

I find it interesting in Isaiah 65 and verse 20, that the last great day, the eighth day, the time of the general resurrection, the second resurrection, it says, There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that has not filled his days for the child. Talking about the babe, the resurrected babe shall die a hundred years old. Of course, the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed. Now, I don't think that means that somebody is resurrected, they died at age 70, and now they get 30 years.

Now, I think that means they get a hundred years, they get the same span of time. But there's a hundred year period because the child would die a hundred years old. The infant, the baby that's resurrected, will have a hundred years, that period of time. And a hundred years is more than enough time for anyone if it's being used. Could I say, could any of God's people, those called, enlightened, in Christ, with God's Spirit, that have been called and given opportunity, could any of us say, or could I say to God someday, you know, I'm 71, if I died next year or I died ten years from now, could I say to God, God, you cut me short?

If I were to say that, God would say, now first of all, I think if I said, God, you cut me short, it would speak to something in my attitude that's not quite right. And I think God might say, He certainly could say, He would be right to say, if He said to me, you had time. You just did not use it. You had time. You just didn't use it.

So again, what are we doing with our time? Because at this point, we do have time. Anybody that hears what I'm saying is alive. I don't think anybody's asleep in the year. We have time, don't we? And we could ask ourselves, are we trading it off by failing to emphasize the priorities, the things that really count? Are we trading it off for all the pursuits and cares and pleasures that aren't lasting? I want to watch the National College Championship game Monday night. Unless something comes up that I have to deal with, I plan to watch it. Alabama and Georgia.

I'll enjoy the game. Frankly, I guess it's kind of win-win for me, whichever one wins, because I had a daughter that went to Alabama. I live in Georgia, so I can live with it either way. Nothing wrong with that. But at the championship game where last night, after sunset, I went to watch it, I'm not going to go deer hunting on the Sabbath. I'm not going to go to football games on the Sabbath. There are things I'm not going to do. And I used to love to hunt. I don't get buck fever anymore. I see too many of them in my yard. And they're a nuisance now. But, you know, there are pursuits and cares and pleasures that aren't wrong, and there are those that are. And there are those that aren't wrong that you have to pursue properly at the proper time and placement and proportion, or they become a priority over what really is priority. And then again too, are we moving so fast? And a flurry of activity that we're shallowing out. We don't have time or desire to be deep anymore. See, Satan, the way Satan does society, it's like we're on a treadmill. And if you've ever been on a treadmill, if you want to up it, you literally can. You can increase the speed on the treadmill, you can also elevate it, and you can make it tougher and tougher to keep up on it. That's the way life is in society. Society moves faster and faster and faster, and with more and more elevation, and it becomes more and more of a struggle. And how many people are just on the run so much, as Americans, on the run so much? And church members too. So much in a hurry or haste that we don't have time to deal with the top priorities. There are words of Jesus Christ that we don't really have to take too seriously. I mean, He said so many things, you don't have to take everything seriously. Now, if I may be allowed to speak foolishly, I've set that way to make the point. Do we really take seriously Luke 21? Christ Himself said in Luke 21, this is verses 34-36, He said, take heed to yourselves. He wasn't talking to the Pharisees.

He was talking to His disciples. Take heed to yourselves. Verse 34, Luke 21. Lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with excess. And, yeah, drunkenness. Alcohol has been a major problem in society, and it is a major problem in society. And sadly, it has been way too big a problem in the Church of God as well. Now, take heed to yourselves. Be vigilant that your hearts don't be overwhelmed with excess.

And we live in a day and an age of all kinds of excesses and drunkenness and cares of this life. Now, let's see. Cares of this life. You need a vehicle for getting around, getting to your job, getting back.

You need clothing. You need a roof over your head. You need food. You need shelter.

You've got to pay bills. You can go down the line.

There's all kinds of things that have to do with cares of this life and legitimate cares of this life that you do have to tend to.

But don't get overwhelmed with the cares of this life.

You have things that you have to take care of, but you've got to keep them in proper perspective and proportion.

That's why Christ said, Seek the kingdom in His righteousness first and these things will be added. Now, if you go sit on the curb and just play lazy, no, you've got to do.

But you've got to do within the configuration of what keeps first things first.

You can't be overwhelmed by the cares of this life. And we've got more and more people that are getting scared of what's coming and what's got to be dealt with.

So that that day comes upon you, unaware. So you get so caught up in that you're losing a lot of the insight and discernment that God gives through His Spirit. You're getting caught like a snare. He says, Because as a snare shall it come upon all of them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

But He says, You watch and you pray as a habit, as a pattern. Watch therefore. And the watching starts first with yourself.

Watch you therefore and pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.

So if I said, God, You didn't give me enough time. Heywood, I know, he could say and probably would say, You had enough time. You just didn't use it.

So are we wasting our opportunity? That's what this life in time is for for us. And this life runs out eventually.

What's important is that it serve a lasting purpose while we have it. I want my time to count.

Even daily, when I get up in the mornings and I go into the day's affairs and activities, I want to finish the day and be able to look back over the day and feel like I accomplished something in that day that's worthwhile.

Something that contributes to my purpose for existing, for being a servant of God, for being a brother in Christ, for being a husband with a spiritual sister, for being a father with blood children and spiritual brothers.

All my children are baptized, carry God's Spirit. But I want to know that that day was redeemed by being used properly. We have this life, really, for such a short time.

Oh, it's so clear in my mind, so clear, clear when I left home. The memories are so sharp, the events and all, when the numbers on my age were 117.

And now those same numbers are there again. They're just split. And how fast it's going from that point to this point.

You know, everything about this world of matter bears out the temporary nature of it. From our cars that don't last forever to our clothing that doesn't last forever, unless it's polyester, then it's got a chance of lasting half of eternity.

This life is a renewing process. Even our bodies. This life is a renewing process through life renewing systems until one system or more fails enough not to renew.

And on a cosmic timeframe, we're just borrowing air and water and soil and being for a brief spark of time. Rush Limbaugh is dead. He won't have to say all that is yet to come.

But he would say a lot of things tongue in cheek, but that were also true. He would talk about having talent on loan from God.

Well, think about that. Where do our talents and our gifts and our abilities come from? Whether through genetics, nurturing, background.

And a lot of times when you do put in the work to develop something, you've got a talent or ability there that you put the sweat in to develop, but that's part of your basic makeup through genetics or whatever.

But however you want to say it, yeah, we are borrowing, in a very true sense, air, water, soil, being for a very brief spark of time. You know, the eye and the light, the brilliant sunshine out there, for instance. The eye and the light that gives us light all come from God for a time, for a season, He lets us use it.

What do we put it to? What use do we put it to? What are we investing in? What are our priorities? What are we emphasizing? And are we emphasizing them? You know, years ago, at the Feast of Tabernacles, in Panama City Beach, I gave a sermon titled, Counting Down to the Kingdom.

There's two tracks we run on. You run on your own personal track, which is a countdown. And the age is counting down.

And for many of God's people, their personal age has ended before the age has ended.

We never know if our personal age, which is a countdown, and the age is a countdown, if they'll coincide together at the point of Christ's return.

But the bottom line is, time will terminate. We're on a countdown.

And I think about, okay, design our lives for a good finish. Design our lives to be a finished product.

And you know, the interesting thing is, in the meantime, you've got a better quality of life. You've got more peace of mind, more calmness of spirit.

Life is more enjoyable. We talk about quality of life. We actually have more quality of life in the meantime.

And when we finish out that race properly, we come into that category, or let's say the labeling, that God puts on such, and you find it in Psalm 116, verse 15.

And I'll just quote it. Psalm 116, verse 15.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.

The death of His saints is precious because they're now signed, sealed, and ready to be delivered at the resurrection.

This life is the preparation for eternity.

I plan, and I do what I can to see that my hope to live as long as I can, as far as my part in it, is not neglected.

I'm concerned about, I watch what I eat, I watch what I put in my mouth, I try to get decent sleep, I try to get exercise, I try to do what I can.

I plan and hope to live as long as I can.

And I plan to live in readiness daily.

I mean, I think about Mr. Martin, Ken Martin.

He served on the Sabbath. He was serving that week. And all of a sudden, he was gone.

81 years old. I don't think he had any idea that morning, this is my last day.

But he was living in readiness that it doesn't matter as far as the resurrection is concerned.

Because his next thought, his next awareness, he'll be rising to meet the returning Christ. How long will we have time? How long will you and I at the most have time?

Now, when I say you and me, I'm talking about first-roots. How long will we have time at the most? At the most?

Revelation 10.6 tells us, at the most. Now, it's not a date on your calendar, but it is a statement about time for the first-roots.

Revelation 10 verse 6.

Notice this. There should be time no longer.

But wait a minute. Time no longer? The millennium is time. It's a thousand years. The last great day is time.

Time's not going to stop when Christ returns. It's going to be a thousand years.

Last great day, it's a hundred years. Time doesn't stop. What's he talking about? This is a statement to the first-fruits. There should be time no longer. Our time is up.

Read verse 7.

But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, that's the seventh trumpet. That's the resurrection. That's the return of Christ.

When he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished as he is declared to his servants the prophets. Our time is up. If somebody is faithful, they're in the grave, they come up to meet the returning Christ.

We standing on our feet, if we're faithful, our time is up. Our time is a human being. Our time is matter.

We're all of a sudden changed, transformed into a brilliant, glorious, powerful spirit being.

It's the first-fruits that time stops for, and it stops at that point.

Our salvation is always nearer than what we might want to think.

You know something? I will preach like all the apostles and God's ministers always have. That is the eminence of the times, the return of Jesus Christ.

I came here three and a half years ago. There were people alive that I was serving, sharing with, relating with, teaching, preaching to, etc.

who are no longer with us on this side of the grass. They're in the grave.

I want to think that those who were baptized, they're all going to rise.

I hope they all are going to rise at the resurrection. But the point I'm making is their time is up.

Times were imminent for them. For some of them, it was more imminent than what they realized.

For others, they had those reports. They knew they were going to die.

No, I'll preach the eminence of the times. I'll preach the return of Jesus Christ.

The urgency to get sin out, folks. Overcome.

If you've got a problem you've had for 20 years, it's time to put it aside.

Grow in grace. Grow in knowledge.

Now, time is short, and there's so much to do.

We have to prioritize. We have to continually emphasize the priorities.

We have to live in readiness, and we have to give it our might.

Our growing and our developing occurs while we live.

In closing, I brought something up here that...

Back in worldwide days, the April-May, 1987 Good News.

This magazine, The Good News of the World Tomorrow.

The April-May, 1987 issue.

Some of you may have this in your literature library at home.

This was my mother's. It's got her handwriting across the top.

She wrote some excellent articles in this magazine.

These are the four mandates.

Coming out of the world.

The world is becoming more and more corrupt in its attitudes, its views, its perspectives, its concepts, its responses, its reactions, how it goes about things.

We've got to be careful not to get sucked into that.

Coming out of the world.

Simplifying your life. Life is complex.

And all the time it seems to become more complex.

And we have to work harder than ever in terms of simplifying and keeping first things first and prioritizing.

It's a constant battle.

Coming out of the world. Number one. Number two. Simplifying your life. Number three. Preparing to teach.

We're disciples. We're students. We're to learn. We're to grow.

We are being trained to be assistants to Jesus Christ.

Every one of us is going to be a king or queen. Every one of us is going to be a priest or priestess. Every one of us. It's administration and it's education. And then number four. Emphasizing the family.

God, family, church. Emphasizing the family.

It was tough enough when Angela and I were raising our children. It's a whole lot harder now to raise kids.

And my heart goes out and my prayers and support for any of our young people are having to raise children. And, of course, we also have the vestment, as we all know, of grandkids.

In some cases, great-grands, too.

The four mandates.

And if we actually put that into practice, we're going to secure something that's very important. We're going to go into some very good company. And I will close over here in Hebrews 11, the faith chapter.

Hebrews 11, the faith chapter. Emphasizing the priorities.

It says in verse 39, Hebrews 11, And these all, having obtained a good report, you and I will obtain a good report. We will join them in this company that's labeled a group that has a good report. Having obtained, you will obtain a good report. I will obtain a good report. Having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, not yet, because it's received at the return of Christ, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. But you obtain that wonderful good report.