Skip to content 6. Biblical Priorities: What Must I Put First? Sep 7 · 27 min ...more
September 7, 2023 · 27 min · Life Redefined
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Rev. Paul Jeyachandran leads the Intentional Disciple Making Church (IDMC) Movement, which is all about calling churches back to its disciplemaking roots. Visit us at idmcmovement.com
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0:00 Shall we give the Lord a clap offering, Church? Hallelujah. What a joy and a privilege for us to study the Word of God together. Praise God. Today is Pastor's Appreciation Day that is0:11 being celebrated all over the world. And I want to make a special mention. Thank you so much for your notes of encouragement, for the gifts, and for all the messages that0:23 we have received. I really want to thank the Lord for you. 1 of the things that is truly humbling is this that sometimes leadership roles are very0:35 lonely roles, where many times you hear from people only when things don't work. But if things are working and things are a blessing, many times people just stay quiet. But in0:47 this kind of season, it is important for you to write, to let the staff, the pastoral team know that you are praying for them, you're thinking about them, and this is very much0:59 needful of the hour. So if you're watching us from another church, I want you to take this time to actually write a note of thanks to your pastors and to your pastoral team and to the church staff because they want to1:11 hear from you. Praise God. But 1 of the things that I live by is this the principle that just as every church needs a pastor, a1:22 pastor also needs the church. In other words, the church needs the pastor to pray for them, to shepherd them, to lead them, to feed them, to intercede for them. Yes. At the same1:34 time, the pastor also needs the church because God uses the church to grow him as a man of God. And I'm deeply thankful to the Lord for IDMC Church because this is where God1:46 has planted me for the last 22 years. And in this country, in this church, I have grown as a man of God. And I'm deeply thankful to everyone who calls IDMC your home1:57 church for being a blessing in my life and in my family. Praise the Lord for you. Praise God. And I want to take this time to also appreciate all our team. Our pastorals2:09 team is 1 of the best in the world. I'm so privileged to work with them because they are sold out for a couple of things. They are sold out for the Lord Jesus Christ. They are truly2:21 authentic in their own discipleship unto Jesus, and they pursue the intentional disciple making of all nations with a passion. So I'm so thankful to the Lord for them. Not only that, it is2:33 a joy to work together with them. And we carry a lot of weight as a team, and we punch about our capabilities. But the Lord has graced us to2:45 enjoy the journey. So I want to take this time to thank the pastoral team, the church staff team at IDMC. We love you. Thank you so much for staying on and2:56 working together and partnering together in serving the Lord Jesus Christ and building His Kingdom. God bless you. We love you, and we are praying for you. Thank you. This morning,3:09 I'm continuing on my sermon series on Life Redefined. Today is the sixth message called Biblical Priorities What Must I Put First?3:21 I'm going to take you to a passage of scripture, but it's also a topical sermon in terms of helping you understand how to live by godly priorities.3:32 Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for this day. We thank you for the wonderful privilege that we have as a church, Lord, that we can study the Word of God together. And even3:44 in this moment, as we open the pages of Scripture, give us a listening ear and a heart that is willing to obey your Word. Holy Spirit, be our teacher. In Jesus name. And people of God said, Amen and Amen.3:56 And husband and wife was fighting. And as they were fighting, they didn't want to speak to each other. But the next day, the husband had a very important meeting and he didn't want to be late.4:08 So he wanted to request the wife to wake him up at 5 a. M. He didn't want to ask her help. He didn't want to speak to her. So he wrote a note and said,4:20 Wake me up at 5 a. M. And left it on her pillow, and he went to sleep. The next day morning, he woke up at 9 a. M. And he was so furious that his wife did not wake him up. So he was4:32 searching for where she is, and then he saw a note lying next to him on the bedside table, Wake up, it's 5 a. M. I want you to listen to me. You know, sometimes4:44 these petty fights become so important that we miss the big picture. I want you to listen to me carefully. In this series, we are examining what is of4:55 ultimate importance. 8 key questions for spiritual formation. It begins with biblical theology. Who is God? Once we understand who the God of the Bible is,5:07 it demands biblical allegiance. Biblical allegiance is who is truly the master of my life? And as you acknowledge Jesus as your Lord and your Saviour, your5:19 Master and your King, as you pledge your allegiance to Him, it defines who you are. Biblical identity. Who am I? Because biblical identity is not just based on who am5:31 I, it is based on whose am I. And this identity then gives birth to your purpose in life. Biblical purpose. What am I called to do? And we always got to5:43 remember, we got twin focus as our purpose. Twin purpose, to walk with Him and to work with Him. Hallelujah. And as you work with Jesus, you understand what5:55 is of ultimate importance in your life. In other words, it reorientates your value system, biblical values, what is of ultimate importance in my life. And as you have6:06 clarified what is important, those things that are important then becomes your priorities in life. That's why it gives birth to biblical priorities. What6:18 are the things I must put first? Listen to this story. A couple went to visit an airshow. In that airshow, there was a very old6:30 plane, and this man was offering to take the couple up in the sky and show him show them some stunts that they do and then bring them back to the ground for6:42 50 dollars for the 2 of them. But the husband wanted this experience for his wife and him, but he wasn't willing to pay 50 dollars He's a very stingy man. So he was trying to6:53 negotiate with this pilot until the pilot was fed up. And this pilot said, Why don't you just come into the cockpit? Let's go up and I'll do all my acrobatics and stunts. And if you7:05 remain quiet, that means you don't make any noise. I will make it free for you. You don't have to pay 50 dollars The husband agreed, the wife agreed. They went on the plane and they went all the way7:17 up. And this pilot, for the next half hour, did all the acrobats. He did all the stunts in the air. But this couple did not make any noise.7:29 So he landed the plane and the pilot turned around and looked at the husband and said, Mate, you deserve it. I'll give it to you for free. And the husband said, Oh, thank you. I almost7:40 made a noise. And the pilot said, When was it? And the husband said, It was when my wife dropped out of the plane in the mid air. I want you to7:52 listen to me carefully. 50 dollars, your wife. What we learned from this story, that sometimes people have messed up priorities in life.8:05 There are 2 things that people find very hard to do. And I think life coaches will help you understand this. Planning. The second thing is prioritizing. What is8:17 planning? Planning is to think ahead. And prioritizing is to do first things first. But how many of you realize planning and8:29 prioritizing is what sets apart an amateur from a professional? I want you to listen to me carefully. You and I got to learn to grow, to keep the main thing the main8:40 thing. 1 of the fundamental things even in discipleship is that we ought to major on the major, not major on the minor. So how do we do that? In8:52 order for us to major on the major and to keep the main thing the main thing, our life needs to be governed by priorities. We need to know what is it that I must put first? What9:04 are the things I must put first? Otherwise, what will happen is we will be governed by the tyranny of urgency, not living by priorities. See, want to9:16 give you a couple of examples from the scripture as I go in this session. Mark chapter 12, verse 28 to verse 31 talks about a man who came and asked Jesus this question. He9:28 said, Which commandment is the most important of all? And Jesus answered, the most important is, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is 1.9:40 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other9:51 commandment greater than these. Here is a man who is well versed in the Law of Moses, and he comes and he asked the question, What is of ultimate importance? And Jesus10:03 summarized the entire law and He said, this is of ultimate importance. In other words, again, you see here, not a sense of urgency, but a sense of10:14 importance. Jesus was highlighting what is of ultimate importance because our life has to be oriented towards what is of ultimate importance, which is to love God10:26 wholeheartedly and to love people unconditionally. I want you to pay attention to this. In everything we do as Christians, we must measure them according to this yardstick. Am I10:38 loving God wholeheartedly, and am I loving people unconditionally? Because what is of important may not be urgent. I want you to take note of this10:50 principle. Things that are important are not necessarily urgent. The things that are urgent are not necessarily important. You and I, we need to know how to11:01 distinguish between things that are important and things that are in urgent, just wanting our attention and our time. So things that are priorities and biblical priorities11:13 are often important, but not urgent. That's why sometimes we ignore these things. We know they are priorities, but our life is dictated by the tyranny11:25 of urgency, and it's not ruled by priorities, biblical priorities. What will happen is we will gravitate towards things that are urgent, and we will marginalize things that11:36 are important. You know, spending time with God is never urgent, but it's so important. You think about it. Spending time with Him is so important, but it's not urgent, so we11:48 neglect it. We can actually get away with it for a while, But our inner soul is in declension. Our inner life gets complicated and corrupted,12:00 contaminated. As a result, it becomes restless. And then it starts to show off. I want you to think about this. Spending time with our family is often not urgent, but it's12:11 absolutely important. And sometimes we neglect spending time with our family until it becomes urgent. When it's urgent, we have to put out so much fires.12:24 We see our children going astray. We see our marriage falling apart, and then it becomes urgent. We have to put out fires. Can I humbly say this? You and I have to follow the example of Jesus.12:35 He lived with clear compass. He lived with a set of priorities. I want to take you to a passage of Scripture in Mark chapter 1. If you read from verses 16 to verse 34, you will understand12:47 that this passage describes 1 single day in the life of Jesus. And this single day is the busiest day for Jesus. He actually began the day with prayer, and then He12:59 started to minister to the multitudes. He called His Apostles. He gave them tasks to do. He healed the sick. And there were so many that came with so many needs, and Jesus fulfilled13:11 all of them. He healed them. He worked miracles. And that was a very tiring day. But the Bible says the very next day in Mark chapter 1 and verse 35, Jesus13:23 rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed. Want you to think about this. A busy day. If you had a busy13:35 day, the next day you want to sleep in. But Jesus got up early and went into the Father's presence. Why? Because that is of ultimate importance. That's the first thing that he needs to put first. He lives with a13:47 clear sense of priorities because he's serving his Master. He's serving his Lord. I want you to listen to me carefully. He wanted to hear the voice of the Father and to be dictated by what the Father13:58 considers important. Once He has met the Father, once He has heard it and has discernment of what is of ultimate importance, He comes down from that time of prayer. And look at what happens.14:11 Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him, And they found Him and said to Him, Everyone is looking for you. In other words, here is the Healer, here is the miracle worker, here is the14:23 waymaker. So we need Him to do miracles. We want Him to multiply food. We want Him to heal the sick. We want Him to raise the dead. They are here with needs. Nothing wrong.14:35 But Jesus replied to them this, Let us go on to the next towns that I may preach there also, for that is why I came to this world. Listen, Jesus14:47 declares His purpose statement. His purpose statement is not just going around and emptying all the hospital beds. His purpose statement is not just going and just healing the sick and feeding the poor. I want you to14:58 listen to me. His purpose statement is He came to fulfill the will of the Father, to proclaim that the Kingdom of God has come, that the King has come. I want you to listen to me. For15:10 that purpose, he left that town. Even though there was so much need in that town, he left that town and went to the next 1 to preach. Why? Because he lived by biblical15:22 priorities. You and I, we need to understand this. You can be caught in the tyranny of urgency, or you can live by biblical15:33 priorities. A clear set of compass that gives you the guidance to live a life that pleases God, edifies men. It is for the glory of God and for the good of His15:45 kingdom. You know, in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33, Jesus said this to us. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. If you look at the15:57 context from Matthew chapter 6, verse 19 to verse 34, Jesus is talking about the aspirations of a human heart and the anxieties of the human heart. And in this passage, He actually says, What16:09 is of ultimate importance is that you pledge your allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. You serve Him. You do not serve Him and Mammon together. You serve Him wholeheartedly. As you pledge your allegiance to16:21 Him, you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things that the Gentiles seek after, the worldly people seek after will come after you. Hallelujah.16:32 You and I, we need to understand. Seek first. That means what are the things that I must put first? Jesus calls us to live a16:44 life that is filled with biblical priorities. You know that word seek? 1 day I was meditating as I was reading the scripture and meditating, I found this16:56 passage where Mary and Joseph realized that the 12 year old Jesus was not with them as they were returning back to Nazareth. So I don't know how many days17:08 later they realized they left everything, turned around, and rushed back to Jerusalem. And the word that the Bible uses is they sought Him. That means they were seeking after him. I17:20 want you to think about this. A parents who lost their son turning around to seek after him. What kind of intensity they will be carrying?17:32 What kind of sense of urgency they will have, what kind of first things first, what kind of importance it will be of ultimate importance. They won't be on the way. They won't be stopping at Starbucks to have a17:44 coffee. They won't be stopping at a nice hawker store or a food court to eat a good meal, a relaxed meal, and fellowship with friends.17:55 Listen, there is a sense of urgency. There's a sense of this is of ultimate importance. Nothing else matters. I got to get this done. That's the sense of urgency you and I need to18:07 have in order to please God in pursuing Him, in wholeheartedly loving Him and extending His kingdom. Hallelujah. You and I, we need to understand our life ought to be lived with a biblical18:19 set of priorities. Not not with the tyranny of urgency, not addicted to the tyranny of urgency, but willingly offering ourselves to live18:31 by biblical priorities. Can I give you 6 things about priorities? 6 principles about priorities I want you to consider. Number 1, priorities don't remain the18:43 same. In other words, it depends on the stage of life you're in. Again, it depends on the maturity of your Christian walk. Your priorities will change accordingly.18:54 Priorities don't remain the same. So you got to evaluate it every season of your life. You have to evaluate the priorities you have. Number 2, learn to use planned neglect. What is19:06 learning to use planned neglect? It is mastering the art of learning what to overlook. I want you to think about this. Sometimes we are so caught up in doing certain19:17 things that we never take time to ask the question, can this be done later? Let me do first things first. See, I want to give you a story. A famous concert violinist was asked what was the19:29 secret of her success. She revealed that when she was in school, she used to live in the hostel. Every morning, she would make her bed, dust her room, wash her dishes, and then rush to practice.19:41 She found out that she was not progressing in her violin. Then she decided to go for practice first. Ignore all the rest until she finishes her practice. She was19:52 practising planned neglect and success followed. I want you to listen to me. The art of overlooking. I want you to learn what to overlook. What can20:04 be a planned neglect? But not for too long, but just in order for you to fulfil what is of ultimate importance. To put first things first. The20:16 third thing is the good is the enemy of the best. See, I want you to understand sometimes in life, the enemy of the best is actually the good things. In other words, you20:28 sometimes have to let go of the good things in order for you to actually become the best. Let me explain. Do you know that the last impurity to be removed before gold can be purified20:40 is silver? When a goldsmith is purifying the gold, the last thing he has to remove from the same ore is silver. And silver is good, but only when he removes silver, gold20:51 will start to appear. I want you to listen to me. Sometimes the good needs to go before the best can come. You know, I want to give you a story to help you understand this even better. There was21:03 a keeper of a lighthouse. He was an old man, and every month he was given a supply of oil to keep the light burning. Being a21:15 very kind old man, the villagers will come and ask him for bits of oil here and there. So he would sometimes, out of his kindness, give a goodness of his heart. He would give them21:27 bits of oil here and there. 1 day he ran out of oil 3 days before the end of the month. And that night, a storm came and a vessel was21:38 shipwrecked and he lost his job. I want you to think about this. He was a good man doing good things, giving oil to people who I need. But listen, his ultimate job was to make sure that21:50 the lighthouse was burning. The light was burning in the lighthouse. That was the reason why he was given the oil. So pay attention. Sometimes the good is the enemy of the best.22:02 Fourthly, you cannot have everything. 1 of the things you and I need to realize about priorities is you cannot have everything. You cannot wear too many hats. You cannot22:14 prioritize well if you keep doing too many things. Listen, you have to give up on your little dreams in order to achieve the big vision. You know, sometimes people are22:26 pursuing a whole lot of stuff. There's no sense of this is of ultimate importance. When I coach pastors or business leaders, 1 of the things I ask them is to clarify all by22:38 writing down everything that they're committed to doing and prioritizing the top 3 things that they will prioritize for the year, for the quarter, for the month. Why? Because these 3 things, these 3 things, if you22:50 can do it well, it will pay dividends rather than committing to doing 20 different things that you don't do well. Listen carefully. Too many priorities can actually23:02 paralyze you. Number 5. Too many things can actually paralyze you. In other words, you and I need to make sure that our priority is focused. I want to23:14 give you a principle: Focus is strength. You know, when you are distracted by too many priorities, you actually lose strength because you get disoriented.23:26 Have you ever seen lion trainer? You know, in the circus, a lion trainer, he carries a whip and then he carries a 4 legged chair. Why does he23:38 carry a 4 legged chair? You know, it doesn't make sense. He should carry a gun or something else. But why a 4 legged chair and a whip? And he can control and tame lions. Why?23:50 Because listen to this. Lion, when it looks at something, it wants to 0 in and focus. But when you show it a 4 legged chair, it gets24:01 disoriented because it's trying to focus on all 4 things at the same time, and it goes, you know? That's my blur face. I want you to listen to me. And the moment it gets24:13 disoriented, it becomes weakened and it becomes tamed. Can a big lion be tamed? Yes. How? By having too many things to24:25 prioritise. Too many priorities can actually paralyze you. On the other hand, if you focus on only a few things, it's almost like you're taking the24:36 sunlight and you're putting it through a magnifying glass. The more you focus on the magnifying glass on some piece of paper, that paper can catch fire. In fact, if you focus even24:48 more, it becomes like a laser beam. It can cut through steel. I want you to listen to me. Why? Because focus has power. Focus has strength. That's why you and I, we need to come back to that place25:00 where our life is characterised by biblical priorities. We have a value system that is dictated by the Word of God because we pledge our allegiance to our Master. He is life. He has given us life. He has given us25:11 purpose. And that purpose dictates the values of what is important. And we prioritise those things in our life. Hallelujah. And lastly, number 6, don't major on25:22 the minor. The reason why I keep saying this, don't major on the minor. You know, I've heard over the years people say, Oh, I don't want to go to that church. Why? Because they use NIV Bible. I only use25:34 KJV Bible. Can I humbly say this? Who cares which translation they use? As long as you take whatever translation you apply, even 5 percent of what that translation talks about, your life will be25:46 transformed. Instead, you quarrel about things that don't matter. Listen, people major on the major, don't major on the minor. I want you to listen to me.25:58 These things matter. The reason why most major goals are not achieved is that we spend time doing second things first. You know, there was a newspaper26:10 article that shared this story. Let me read it for you. 300 whales died because they were chasing a school of sardines into shallow waters.26:21 300 whales died because they were chasing a school of sardines into shallow waters. And this is what the newspaper, the editor wrote. The small fish26:33 lured the sea giants to their death. They died because they were chasing after small backsides. I want you to listen to me. They were chasing. These26:45 big giants were chasing after small backsides, and it led them ultimately to their death. This is the trap of not living according to priorities. You26:56 major on the minor. You know, as I give you these things, I want to sum
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Habakkuk | Part 02 | Moving From Reason to Revelation | Rev Paul Jeyachandran Paul Jeyachandran
Paul Jeyachandran
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