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be coming today we're going back to the Perfect Man series and one of the things that I have you observe when you're traveling between Sydney and the Sunshine Coast or at least you know when you live in Sydney many of you have come from big cities yourselves you know you sort of live in a big city and you don't understand you you sort of know that we live in a sort of this rat race environment where everything's being rushed and and everything's urgent everything's important when you come when it comes to Sydney one of the culture shocks of going to the Sunshine Coast after living here for so long was the slow down everything was much slower the traffic is slower you know the service at the shops are slower you know everything is just you know it doesn't matter if you kind of fall behind or or arrive somewhere late and things are just slower on the Sunshine Coast and uh you know it's kind of like that that relaxed just I don't know if it's a Sunshine Coast thing or more of a Queenslander thing you know it's just about chilling out relaxing that's why a lot of people leave the the hustle and bustle of big cities and they go to the Sunshine Coast and then anyway after living there for three years you know that slow pace uh it becomes the norm and then when you come back to Sydney or something it's rush and rush and you kind of have to get used to it once again and uh the title for the sermon this morning is setting priorities setting priorities I realized that the way we operate in whether we're in a big city or in a more smaller town like the Sunshine Coast we kind of have different views uh or levels of importance when it comes to our daily living but you know regardless of where we live you know if if you are familiar with the Bible and uh you'll probably start to notice this more after I preach a sermon but you're going to notice that the Bible is all about setting priorities putting certain things first above other things and having having a priority list of all the tasks that we're required to do and we are continuing the perfect man series I think coming into the new year 2022 it's a great time for this sermon it's not like I really planned it to fall on this Sunday hey but it's a good thing the title once again is setting priorities now I I've shared with you my my past employment where I used to work maybe more you know as a supervisor to some extent a team leader and when you hold these kinds of jobs you know you're more of a leader you're kind of you're kind of in in the fray you're putting out fires everything's really urgent when you're a supervisor you know you've got different people under you but then you take on another position you might become like a manager and all of a sudden the urgency is not so much there if you're careful it's more about planning and looking at it from a bigger picture it's more about you know looking at things further down the track rather than just putting out fires here and now but putting plans in the future so you can be more productive and more efficient in the future and you know it's really important that all of us get into the habit of setting priorities in our life doesn't matter how busy or how you know how not busy you are you know even a church ought to have priorities each individual your workplace you also have priorities you know set certain tasks that you need to accomplish and whenever you do like if you ever like read a book or you do some type of course on the importance of setting priorities one thing that is universal that is universally accepted and I believe we can look at biblical principles and I'll show you that soon is what is called the Eisenhower principle the Eisenhower principle now the Eisenhower principle is named after former president of the United States you know Eisenhower forget his first name but he basically had this he basically taught that you know you're able to put all your tasks into full quadrants and let me share with you what those quadrants are and listen brother any course you do it's going to be the same thing the same principles here okay number one the first quadrants is things that are urgent and important you know if you have a task and you identify it as urgent and important you must do it today get it over and done with okay get it done today then you have your next quadrant and that is called you're not urgent but important okay they're important things to do but you don't need to necessarily get them done today all right and so when you have that those kind of tasks to do that's more something that you want to schedule for the future maybe you want to schedule that for tomorrow schedule that for next week but understanding it's important you don't want to rush it you want to spend the time necessary because the task is important anyway okay but it's not to be rushed the next quadrant is urgent and not important urgent and not important and this is the example of putting out fires where you just constantly all you do is put out fires put out fires you put out fires but you're never really productive you don't really achieve anything you just stop everything from burning down okay and when it comes to this you're not very productive you get okay you get the job done but you don't achieve more than than necessary than uh just what you have to do for that day and this is where you want to start to delegate responsibilities you say look this is taking up a lot of my time are there other people that can do this same job uh for me you delicate those responsibilities and then you have your fourth and final quadrant and this is where it's not urgent and not important not urgent and not important this is time wasting okay so these are things like checking your social media account these are things like watching tv shows this is like you know uh video games you know not urgent not important and of course brevin you know when we feel like that we can't get enough done in our lives and you and you start to prioritize the tasks when you have things that fall under the not urgent not important category you ought to be willing to say you know what i don't need that you know you just do away with it it's pointless it achieves nothing hey but if you have time and you do accomplish all your tasks and you're and you're getting everything done yet then there's no problem with looking at you know spending some time in the things that are not urgent and not important but if you find the man i'm not getting anything done i can't get achieve anything then get rid of the not urgent and not important now let me give you an example of this how we can apply this to the role of a pastor just so you kind of get the feel for it because i really want each one of us to be able to do this in this new year i want you to be more productive in 2022 than you were in 2021 i want you to be more spiritual this year than you were last year i want you to do more bible reading this year than you've done last year i want you to do more soul winning this year than you've done last year i want you to spend more quality time with your family this year than you've done last year i want you to be more productive on your job this year than you were last year it's all about knowing how to set priorities knowing what to classify as urgent and what to classify as important now let me give you an example as a pastor and this is just a very surface level you know just so you can wrap your heads around what this might look like so what is urgent and important for me as a pastor well number one it's church service i've got to be here you know uh we got to have church so i've got to be ready i've got to turn up i've got to turn up on time i've got to be prepared and also part of that is writing sermons right you know it's urgent it's got to get done like i've got four sermons to preach a week those tasks have to get done so i can come to church service and be a benefit a service to the people of god now what could be not urgent but important not urgent but important well this would be soul winning say pastor kevin of course it's urgent yeah it's urgent but i don't need to do so winning right now okay uh you know for this sunday i'm going to dedicate this sunday to church church services the fellowship of the reverend etc etc and so something that is not urgent but important is something i can schedule for a later date and for me so when it's going to fall tomorrow uh monday morning it's best for me that's the best time that i can do it it's not urgent don't need to get done today hey but maybe it turns maybe someone turns up to church and they're not saved now it becomes urgent because i might not see them anymore okay so i might want to give them the gospel there and then but really when it comes to so anytime doors will so in i've got that planned out for me tomorrow and some other brethren are going to join me as well uh tomorrow morning and then we have what is urgent and not important now i want to be careful with how i say this you know some other eisenhower principle instead of calling it not important they call it less important because what is urgent and not important to you might be very very important to somebody else okay so as a pastor this would be the phone calls i received these would be the emails i receive where people want me to put out their fires you know they're going for a difficulty they're going for a hardship they they've got some problems and they ring me for advice and they want me to maybe take over that responsibility you know to me that is not urgent and to me personally it's not important but of course it's important to the person that's ringing that's why i'm trying to be careful with how i say it okay but this is where you're you know basically and a lot of pastors get caught up in this quadrant okay this is just putting out fires they're constantly sorting out people's problems they're constantly sorting out people's conflicts and look actually this is one of the most unproductive stages to be at okay and especially as a pastor this is why i taught on the sermon everything in its proper place so when someone comes to me with an issue let's find out where this issue belongs does it fall in my jurisdiction as a pastor then i'll deal with it does it fall in your jurisdiction does it fall under your authority then we need to make sure we put it in its proper place this is the idea of delegation where does it belong otherwise i'll be holding things that are not my responsibility and i'll be you know the other sermon that i preached was about empowerment i'm not going to help that person become empowered and make the right decisions for themselves all i do if i take on other people's problems is make people dependable upon me okay and it wastes my time where i can't be focused on the things that are urgent and are important in my life okay the next thing is where it's not urgent and not important and not urgent and not important this is where sometimes i get invited by other pastors of other churches to get together and let's have a pastor workshop and i know like 99 of those pastors are not saved that's not urgent and that's not important i don't care i don't i don't want anything to do with that i just it's got nothing to do with me i don't want anything i don't want to hang around with pastors that are not saved okay they're just going to be a bad info they're just going to waste my time amen i'd rather much spend time with people door to door that are not saved giving them the gospel than hanging around with a group of elite pastors on the sunshine coast that want to get together you know no that would be not urgent and not important what about when i get the invitation you know come and speak at our anti-vax rally you know you're a pastor that preaches against vaccinations come and come and speak at our rally reverend for me that's not important and not urgent in fact i don't have time for it okay i'd rather be doing other things than spending my times on things that are not important and not urgent now whether in Matthew chapter 6 i want to show you how this eisenhower principle actually is found in the bible okay and now that i've told you this you're probably going to start to notice this a lot more as you read your bible you know you know how it is when you point something out and then you go like if you buy a car a new car all of a sudden you see that same car everywhere you know you well you probably never noticed it before but as i show you this you're gonna start to notice this everywhere in your bible reading you know god really wants us to be people that set priorities that we focus on things that are important and urgent but it says in matthew 631 therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed for after all these things are the gentiles seek for your heavenly father know if that you need or of all these things brethren isn't important are the things that we eat and drink is our clothing is important you know our our daily needs our daily requirements important of course they're important our heavenly father knows that we need these things in fact you spend many many hours focused on this you know my my my wife preparing meals for the family or what we're going to eat what we're going to be drinking right me making sure that i've been able to provide for my family and income you know you know be the breadwinner for the family make sure that we can eat and be clothed and we've got a roof over our heads etc etc all these necessities we spend so much time on these things the bible's not saying this is not important okay but the bible's saying look we need to set our priorities there are some things that are just more important than that okay and that's why it says in verse number 33 but seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you now let's not misunderstand this is not saying that you know we should be like hippies and we all quit our jobs and we just focus on the kingdom of god whatever that looks like in your view and then god will just take care of all our needs that's not insane okay because we have plenty of passages that teach the importance of looking after your family working a job being productive etc etc etc this is all about having the right priorities okay what is urgent and what is important in this passage it's the kingdom of god and his righteousness these things are more important than what you're going to eat for lunch today okay so when you think about the kingdom of god okay this might be things like soul winning amen it's urgent it's important this is something we need to make sure we put in our in our lives okay that we schedule a time uh to to go soul winning you know i i hope that if you've not been sold on a weekly basis that in 2022 you decide you know what i'm going to figure out a time in a day that i can go solo hey maybe i can't go at the official time for whatever reasons that we organize in the church but i'm going to figure out the time that i can go and i'm going to let other people in my church know that i'll be going out this time in case there are others that can join me at the same time all right we got to try to figure out hey you know this is urgent to god this is important bringing people into the kingdom how am i going to set time for that what else church service you know coming to church it should be something that for you is just important now you know sunday morning at 9 a.m it doesn't matter if whatever okay there are some things that are more important you know if one of your family has a life-threatening issue and you need to take the hospital okay or you're suffering from covid potentially and you don't want to spread in the church of course there are some things of course that you're going to prioritize but you know church ought to be the main thing you know if you've got some sporting your favorite sporting team playing at 9 a.m in sunday morning you know you sort of say you know what that's lesser important to me than coming to the house of god because this isn't this is not just like pastor kevin's church you know and you like about the church this is the body of christ okay this is the house of god this is where i come to meet my savior this is where the holy spirit comes to teach me from his holy word and so church ought to be a priority for us yes the sundays even the midweek services ought to be important for us okay it's about making sure that we prioritize these things now if if we know that we have church on a sunday at 9 a.m you know then everything else in your life starts to revolve around that meaning you don't want to wake up late on a sunday and then end up late to church okay and if you don't want to wake up late on a sunday and have enough time to get to church you need to make sure that your saturday night is not a late one you're not up all hours of the night you're not playing video games or something whatever whatever it is what watching binging tv or something and then you don't get enough sleep and you sleep in and then you don't make it to church obviously the night to stay up late and we really shouldn't stay up any late any nights but it's not going to be a night that leads us into church service because we want to be fresh and and rested when we come to god's house to to appreciate what god has given us at new life baptist church and so these things the kingdom of god and not just the kingdom of god it says and his righteousness because sometimes we can prioritize god's kingdom but we don't worry about how how well we're living for the lord right and his righteousness this idea is the our personal walk with god this is important our personal work with god that's why i constantly encourage you guys you know the first thing in the morning i strongly encourage you wake up and spend time with your lord wake up and say a prayer wake up and sing a hymn wake up and read a portion of scripture just give the first few minutes of your day so the lord prioritize him and if you prioritize him he'll take care he'll help you in the rest of your journey for the rest of your day for the rest of your week rest of your month etc okay so reading praying walking after the new man living a life that is holy and pleasing to the lord this is the righteousness of god that we are to seek after now let's keep going there in matthew chapter 6 and verse number 34 matthew chapter 6 and verse number 34 now i want you to notice this as well it says take therefore no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought of the things of itself sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof you know that's teaching that's basically saying what is urgent and important do it today okay don't worry about things you know things that are for tomorrow tomorrow has its own issues all right if you identify something that is important but not urgent you can schedule it for the future okay but what is urgent and important for us today focus on those things today don't worry about the things that can be taken care of tomorrow or in the future okay so we see these principles at work the eisenhower principle i don't think eisenhower came up with it you know i mean these are these are good teachings these are good things that we read about in the bible god wanted us to set priorities focusing on what is urgent for today focus on those things and then you can spend time on the other things later on but we also set priorities in our life now let me share something with you brethren as i said to you in sydney it's rush rush rush urgent urgent urgent okay important important important and if you almost feel like you can't breathe sometimes when you're when you're in that rat race in sydney okay now there is a danger of living in urgent mode all the time we're just on urgent urgent putting out fires putting out fires quick quick quick this needs to be done deadline deadline this needs to be paid this needs to be done there's a danger to that forever number one it increases stress this is why people in big cities love to go to places like the sunshine coast they feel like they can get rid of that stress all right that's a danger right increases stress and when you increase stress even though you're getting things done it leads to a lack of motivation and if you've got a lack of motivation you're not going to be as effective meaning that you're going to have more urgent things to do it just it's this downward spiral and you've got that lack of motivation and then you're going to have maybe depression you know why because you feel unsatisfied in what you're doing right you're unsatisfied unfulfilled life everything's urgent contact and i can't juggle all these things it's all falling apart it's all stress stress stress and you're not going to have the joy of just living the life that god has given you and let me speak to the mothers right now mothers you primarily have to be the ones that have to be careful about this because for a mother's life a lot of what you do especially if you're a mother of little children a lot of what you do is just urgent all the time it's either urgent and important right urgently what's urgent important for your day mothers you know making sure your kids are fed and making sure that your kids receive an education you know if a little one has a dirty nappy that becomes urgent doesn't it urgent and important you know there are some things that are urgent important but not only are mothers focused on urgent and important every day they're also focused on urgent not important all the time okay because when you've got a whole bunch of kids that constantly have your needs they're constantly coming to you uh you know this person's playing with this toy it's my turn to play this toy this person uh did this person whatever right the kids little kids everything's important to them everything as soon as something happens they're gonna run to mom they're gonna run to dad and even though it's not important to us and you know it's important to them and so mothers you're just constantly being bombarded with urgent urgent urgent urgent urgent urgent and then before you know it you've increased in stress and before you know it you're lacking motivation and before you know it you're not happy in life you're depressed and you're cast down mothers you need to learn to give yourself time away from urgent matters you know we need to teach our children that if if mom and dad are talking to an adult they've got to wait their turn yeah they just can't come with their little issues that they've come up with now here's the thing reverend if we teach our kids to be patient to wait their turn to be quiet while mom and dad are talking to an adult or mom and dad are doing some important tasks if if we teach our kids very well this principle then when they do come running yelling mom dad mom dad they're not crying wolf anymore you if they're coming mom dad you know hey this must be urgent and important i need to deal with it right now maybe when my kids have been hurt or something has happened right and so you can take what they're what they're what they're claiming to be much more serious than if they're just constantly you know just running the show you know mothers don't let your kids run the show you need a time of peace you need time to plan yourself out and when it comes to this eisenhower uh uh principle there is a sweet spot which is known as that that uh the not urgent but important okay that second quadrant not important but urgent that is the sweet spot that we all want to spend time in okay because again this gives us time it gives us time to plan it gives us time to uh reflect on on where we are all right for a mother you know you need time for your week to say hey you know what this week these are the things that i'll be cooking these are the things that i'm going to need from the grocery shop okay hey these are the subjects if you're homeschooling these are the subjects that my kids are going to work through i know what we need to accomplish by the end of the week hey these are the activities that we need to get to hey i know these are the times my husband comes home and we can spend family time together and uh you know you start planning out your week okay but you can only do that when you're not urgent and you focus on the things that are important that is important because if you plan your week out well then you're not going to be stressed as stressed as if you're just doing everything urgently urgently urgently things come up things come up you don't expect it and before you know it you're running yourself ragged all right so that sweet spot in task prioritization is not urgent and important that's where you're not stressed you know things are important okay but you've got time to work it out okay and uh it gives you time for careful planning and this careful planning it leads to higher productivity and efficiency okay high productivity and efficiency and what does that lead to more satisfaction greater motivation motivation it's the complete opposite of urgent not important okay uh that sweet spot you know it motivates you it causes you to be more productive uh to enjoy life to enjoy what you're doing and let me just give you an example for me like what is to me right now in my life important but not urgent where it's that sweet spot where i can plan ahead well right now for me it's the return back to queensland okay it's not urgent because there's nothing i can do to cross the border right now it's sometime in the future right but is it important absolutely it's important because i've got to organize myself to get up there we've got tenants in the house that need to leave we need to get our things from the church building put back into the house all right i need to start thinking about you know right now we're having two services when i get back up there when i get back to the free services a week but not only queensland i've got to focus about here hey what are we going to do blessed about this church you know who's going to be preaching who's going to be taking care of the church services and you know i've got to leave my houses out for rent and making sure that's already as well but i've got time i'm not stressed about it because it's all urgent right now but it's important and because it's important i can slowly spend time putting those things together so when it does become urgent i've got it all settled we know exactly what we're doing okay so that sweet spot you know is is where we want to be where it's not urgent and important now you can't always be in that sweet spot there's always something that pops up that's urgent but you want to make sure you give yourself some time in that area so you can accomplish more and improve in your motivation and efficiency but please turn now to luke chapter 14 and your bibles turn to luke chapter 14 because this sweet spot of important but not urgent is also biblical all right luke chapter 14 and verse number 28 luke 14 28 what does christ say here he says for which of you intending to build a tower now do you think if someone's going to build a tower a building is that important of course it's important it's a huge project right but if you're going to if you're going to do a huge project do you want it to be urgent do you want to be rushed in it of course not he says here which of you intending to build a tower sit if not down first hey priorities sit down first okay and count off the cost whether he has sufficient to finish it lest happily after you have laid the foundation and is not able to finish it all that behold it begin to mock him saying this man began to build and was not able to finish how does that happen well obviously building a tower is important but if you rush it if you don't spend time counting the cost you don't spend time counting the manpower if you don't spend time counting the work that needs to be done and a achievable time frame we can be dedicated to this brethren you're not going to get it done okay you're gonna be halfway through a project and it's incomplete and people can begin to mock you laugh at you okay why because we need that sweet spot we need that important but not urgent time so we can focus on doing great things for the lord okay the context of this is becoming a disciple for jesus christ i won't touch upon that right now let's just take the principle that we learn here we've got to learn to count the cost prepare ourselves for a great job a great work that god wants us to achieve you know becoming again i'm not trying to talk myself up reverend just things i've learned okay about becoming a pastor starting churches it's not this it's never been this rush thing for me let's get it done let's get it done right it's been time time preparing myself as a pastor time thinking about is the sunshine coast the right place where on the sunshine coast which families could be part of it etc etc and once all those things started to come together then we can make those steps in putting the house of god in place there at new life baptist church hey even even planting and studying blessed our baptist church it wasn't this immediate thing i think from from march from i thought if i remember correctly it was either february march when i started to think about this to july when we actually ended up doing it was several months where i could talk to different people talk to different families work out if it work you know what does it require from me traveling between the two states can we afford it as a church is are they often going to cover the the plane flights etc etc and hey both churches are still going praise god praise god you know because you you've got to make sure you find that sweet spot we can plan and not not feel urgent and rushed and under the pressure let's uh let me just read another passage to you you stay there in luke 14 stay there in luke 14 but i'll read to you from proverbs 24 27 proverbs 24 verse number 27 it says prepare thy work without and make it fit for thyself in the field and afterwards build thine house amen hey is building a house important of course is it a big job of course it is but before you build the build the house what do you do prepare thy work without before you start start preparing start planning and make it fit for thyself make sure you're able to accomplish the work make sure it fits you what you're able to accomplish right you don't want to over commit to something and then it all falls apart right and then you can build your house and as i said to you you know this could be the planting of the church you know the church is the house of god we don't just rush into the decision all right let's just plant the church all right what about manpower what about families who can be part of it what about preachers are there enough men to to lead the church there are so many questions to be asked before we just go and rush the house of god all right but what else is important other house i mean this is just maybe just your your regular house your brick and mortar house right um if you're going to build a house or purchase a house you know it requires work it requires planning it requires saving you know you need a deposit you know there's going to be a mortgage or there's going to be debts or whatever it is brethren you know am i able to afford this am i able to do this you know you start planning before you just jump in and build a house or buy a house you don't want to be stuck where you know you can't afford a mortgage and then you're forced to sell your house and you're still in a mortgage just you know you're still in great debt even some of the houses and cover the debt you know there are people like that stuck in that position because they did not plan ahead right they were not in that sweet spot when they decided to buy a house what else you know the bible also referenced a house as a family you know many times the bible just at the house is your family you know what before you just rush into getting married before you just rush into just having kids and listen here's the thing having kids is not really about a rush if you have a loving marriage you're going to have kids okay and look here's the thing god gives us nine months to get ready for a kid anyway okay so plenty of time to sit down and plan ahead and what the future might look like and what you're going to need but same thing brethren if you're going to get married you're going to have kids and all this kind of stuff family you know you've got to give time for that it's important a family is important a family to me is much more important than a brick and mortar house and how much time do we spend time on those things you know making sure that you know we take care as i had myself a husband you know i'm there for my wife i can be a supporter i can show her love make sure i'm there for my kids where we can spend time and and have fun together and and raise them and teach them uh things for their for their future you know these are these are priorities that we ought to have for our life but we can only accomplish and do these things if we spend time preparing ourselves for it you're there in luke 14 look at luke luke 14 verse number 31 let's keep going there it says or what king going to make war against another king sitth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand or else while the other is yet a great way off he sendeth an ambassador and desire of conditions of peace you know another advantage another reason why this sweet spot of preparing and planning for important things is important is that you don't wipe yourself out you don't go to war with what was it ten thousand and then you get demolished by an army of twenty thousand i think that's what it said there right ten thousand yeah twenty thousand okay you gotta you know can i do this can i do this task and i had to learn this on the job okay i wasn't going to war but i had to learn this on the job people would ask certain things of me and i just want to i just want to always help people i want to work hard and accomplish things and and be a support and be a blessing to other people and i would i would oh i would just basically say yes to everything hey can we get you to do this yeah no worries i'll do it and here's the thing when i said yes i thought i could do it like i thought i'd have enough time i thought i could sit down and just find that quiet hour away from everything else and get that job done then when i found myself eventually i found myself over committing you know people have asked me to do the x y and z and i've said yes yes yes and then i'm not doing it and then it comes deadline time and it's not that i'm trying to be lazy it's just i've got so many other responsibilities and i realized man i couldn't accomplish this and uh you know i had one of my managers put me aside and said look um you mean well we know you mean well you you're a hard worker but you've got to learn how to say no you got to learn how to not over commit okay and uh i know you think you're doing us a favor by saying yes yes yes but you're actually not helping the business overall if you say no we'll just find someone else that can do it okay and then you're able to accomplish all your tasks and the things that we want to done gets done but it gets done by someone else and so this is the same idea you don't want to destroy yourself you don't want to destroy your testimony by over committing thinking you got to go to war and take down 20,000 armies strong with only 10,000 and then you find yourself being destroyed okay and so this is why planning is so important you might end up destroying yourself you might end up destroying your church you might end up destroying your family you know your friends your reputation your testimony simply because everything was so urgent to you but you didn't spend time in that sweet spot planning and preparing for something that is important so learn to say no and don't over commit know your limits stop do i have enough time to accomplish this do i have the manpower do i have the finances to accomplish this and that and if you don't brevin don't start that journey just say no unfortunately i can't do it i've got all these other responsibilities to take care of first can you please turn to matthew 21 turn to matthew chapter 21 please let me show you another example in the Bible about over committing yourself matthew chapter 21 please matthew chapter 21 and verse number 28 matthew chapter 21 and verse number 28 but what think ye a certain man had two sons and he came to the first and said son go work today in my vineyard he answered and said i will not but afterward he repented and went hey that's good listen his first answer wasn't good that's like hey i need you to work in the vineyard today father says look this is urgent and important it needs to get done today the son goes no so he's got the wrong priorities okay but notice he wakes up to himself he repents he goes man this job needs to get done i need to focus my priorities i need to go help dad he goes out and works at least he does it hey start in the wrong place but he actually achieves what he had to do because he prioritized that which was urgent lesson 130 and he came to the second and said likewise and he answered and said i go sir and went not that's like me right someone asked me can you do x y and z yeah i'll do it over committed and then i can't do it i don't get it done all right which one's worse which one's better obviously the first son that actually got the job done even though he didn't give the answer that the father wanted for in the first place verse number 31 whether of them twain did the will of his father they said unto him the first jesus safe unto them verily i stand to you that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of god before you far out you know jesus christ here is speaking to the pharisees look at harlots you know the what is it the publicans these sinners they go into heaven before you do why because they were actually willing to obey the will of father to believe in the lord jesus christ you know these guys these pharisees they thought yeah yeah we want to please god you know we're trying to live godly we're trying to do everything for god but they refuse to acknowledge the sign to believe in the sun and so they're not on their way to heaven the other sinners they're not living holy they're not living righteous lives but they're actually able to admit that about themselves this is man i'm a sinner i'm a harlot i'm x y and z hey but i my savior's here but i'm going to believe in the lord jesus christ and of course they're going to enter heaven first but the thought here brevin is you know if we want to just take the one of the principles here in context of what we're covering you know you don't want to be an over committed overcommitter okay don't let people down let your yeas be yeas and let your nays be nays and brevin i'm still working on this i sometimes still over commit okay and uh it's just it's just part of life you know we need to grow and we need to get better at saying no to certain things and uh you know the saying that i received in in business was make sure you under promise and over deliver make sure you under promise so yeah i'll get this done to this level right and you kind of lower the level but at least it gets done and then you actually deliver a higher level and so then people are happy right uh you said you'll do x y and z yeah you did x y and z but you did an even better job than what they expected that's kind of like the first son he under promises no dad i'm not i can't i'm not going to do it and then he over delivers he actually gets it done right uh the father not expecting the first son to to do the job and so under promise over deliver you know don't over commit yourself learn to say no this is all important when it comes to setting priorities in our life okay now let's talk about setting some right priorities let's just go through some passages in the bible just for an example you know i hope we're just going to go through some passages and i hope this kind of helps you understand how god wants us to prioritize certain things in our life and then as you go and spend your time reading your bible for this year i want you to start thinking and picking up on all these little things that god says are a higher priority than others so please go to matthew 23 please go to matthew chapter 23 for me matthew 23 and verse number 25 matthew 23 verse 25 jesus christ speaking to the pharisees he says woe unto you scribes and pharisees hypocrites for you make the outside of the cup and of the platter sorry for you may clean the outside of the cup and the platter but within they are full of extortion and excess so what's the problem the pharisees the scribes they look wonderful on the outside on the outside they're praising god on the outside they've got their long robes they look like these religious leaders on the outside they look all the like humble and they just love people they just love god you know all on the outside they seem seemingly have it all together but jesus really you're full of extortion and excess all right you're full of lust you're full of taking advantage of other people you know your selfish people verse number 26 their blind pharisee cleanse first there's a priority what comes first cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter that the outside of them may be clean also you know here's a cup reverend and uh you know we if we had a choice of this cup i've got some water in here that i'm drinking from if you had a choice and you're drinking from this that the outside of the cup is dirty but the inside is clean where the water goes or that the outside is nice and clean but the insides all dirty which one would you take which one's better for you of course the fact that the the inside is clean so it keeps the water clean it keeps what you're drinking the fluids clean it doesn't really matter too much on what is on the outside and so the priority is ought to be cleaning the inside and brevin the priority in our lives is to prioritize the inner man that god has given us prioritize the inner man now ideally as jesus christ says there it says uh verse 26 that blind Pharisees cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter that the outside of them may be clean also so we do want the outside to be clean but we first want to prioritize the inside we want the inside to be clean and then we can focus on clean the outside of the cup and of course this is about our lives brevin you know there are there are christians that are newly saved i've observed this over the years okay christians they get plugged into church and newly saved they're excited for god and they make a lot of out external changes in their lives okay a lot of outward changes i'm not saying that's wrong i'm glad they're doing that don't get me wrong i'm glad they're doing those things okay and so they'll change their you know the the tv shows and movies that they used to watch and they'll get rid of all that and they'll get rid of all their worldly junk music that they know of they'll get rid of all that no they'll get rid of all their clothes that might be immodest and and whatever they'll get rid of all that and you know they get rid of all the things they just realize you know these external things that i feast on and that i look upon i entertain myself on they clean all that stuff up and then yeah they look righteous on the outside and there's again there's nothing wrong with that i hope that's your life i hope you're clean all these exterior things in your life as well brevin right i hope you're changing your your dress code that it matches something that pleases god rather than what lines up with with the fashions of this world all right but often and again i've seen this many many times they'll clean on the outward but on the inside they've not made any changes that they're not living a holy righteous life inside you know they're not walking in the spirit they're not living that life of righteousness that god wants them to live on the inside you know sometimes young christians think if i just change all the exterior things it's going to help my inside you know no it's actually you just start with the inside first okay you start with the inner man first you know you you go to lord and ask him to renew your mind you know you go to lord and ask him to help you understand scriptures you know you go to the lord and ask him to identify the sins that are in your heart the sins that are in your mind and they start cleaning up on the inside reverend and as a natural result without too much effort when you fix the inside then the outside starts to become clean automatically okay but a lot of christians put a lot of effort on the outside they don't clean the inside they're not right with god they know they're strong with sin and then all that exterior work it all falls apart and they're back to their old ways they're back to their old ways of living they're back to their own worldliness okay because it's not sustainable to just focus on the outside no start on the inside clean the inside work on that inner man walk in the spirit understand the scriptures grow in knowledge grow in love appreciate you you know your church appreciate uh bible preaching appreciate the things that affect the inner man brethren and automatically as time goes on bit by bit little by little the outside of the clean as well and you can see how the lord jesus christ here has given us priorities okay inside first then the outside all right uh if you can please go to matthew chapter seven go to matthew chapter seven and while you're turning there i'm going to read to you some other passages of scripture but you go to matthew seven let me read to you from first corinthians 15 verse 3 first corinthians 15 verse 3 this is paul speaking to the corinthian church i love what he says he says in first corinthians 15 free for i delivered unto you first of all look when i've come to the to the city of corinth the first thing i came to you about was this first of all that which i also received how that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again again the third day according to the scriptures listen when paul confronts unsaved people in corinth what's the first thing what's the primary thing he focuses on the gospel the death the burial the resurrection of jesus christ and brethren i've made these mistakes myself i know what it's like right you might be with a friend or a colleague or whatever and you start talking that they know you go to church they know you love the bible etc they start asking you questions and you get excited hey you know my colleague my friend they want to talk about the bible and brethren i've spent hours upon hours upon hours talking to people about the bible talking to people about creation talking to people about uh god's uh judgments and and about the end times and etc etc about the king james bible and you know what those people that have spent hours and hours and hours on that are lost i never got them saved okay i mean i'm thinking i'm making these great you know advances talking to them about all these things all these you know little things that i think are important especially in the bible and i could just never get onto the gospel brethren that's a waste of our time if you've got unsaved friends relatives you know colleagues associates and and we have a time to talk about the bible the only thing you should be focused on is the gospel listen they can't understand the rest of it right the natural man cannot receive the things of god right it comes from spiritual man right these are these things are spiritually discerned and so someone has to be saved before you can tell them all about the other wonderful things that are in the bible you've got to prioritize the gospel you know uh i went slow and you guys know i had a soul winning marathon week here in sydney one of my friends from another church came and tagged along and uh he started to get really argumentative with someone at the door right because they kept telling him no jesus was not a jew he was a syrian or something okay and uh and my friends trying to basically try to debunk that you know but here's the thing you know after the first and second admonition reject reject the heretic right but he didn't know any better eventually he started to realize that i wanted to move on right i think he started to realize man i'm just wasting my time and he says to the guy okay okay look i'm gonna move on the guy at the door goes oh so did i win and he goes yeah yeah you won you won we're not here to win arguments brethren when we go door to door we're here to give the gospel first of all and if people will not receive the gospel you know first and second admonition you know they just keep changing subjects or they want to talk about any other thing in the bible except the gospel brethren it's time to move on okay they don't want to hear it go find the person that wants to hear the gospel there are priorities in our life let's not waste our time after every little issue that's in the bible with people that are not saved all they need to receive is the gospel prioritize the gospel okay so god gives us all these priorities as i said to you brethren as you read your barbers now i promise you this you're going to start to find more priority lists than you ever come across before in the bible just because i'm bringing your remembrance to these things i'm going to read to you from another passage i know you said it say there in matthew chapter seven i know you're there say there in matthew chapter seven i'm going to read to you from first kings 22 verse 5 first kings 22 verse 5 and this is about the um jehoshaphat who was the king of of um of judah and then he made an allegiance to the king of israel remember the king is i want him to go to war anyway verse number five it says and jehoshaphat said unto the king of israel inquire i pray thee at the word of the lord today okay now going to war is that an important thing and pretty important right and look there's something that jehoshaphat knew that was more urgent at a higher priority than just going to war he goes look let us inquire at the word of the lord today you know jehoshaphat says this is urgent this is an urgent matter we need to hear from god before we go and fight a war then it says in verse number six then the king of israel gathered the prophets together about 400 men and said unto them shall i go against ramoth gilead to battle to battle or shall i forbear and they said go up for the lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king and jehoshaphat said is there not here a prophet of the lord besides that we might inquire of him amen jehoshaphat had it right now he ends up making a bad mistake uh in the story but the point is he's got his priorities right right he doesn't go and listen to the 400 false prophets it doesn't give him any confidence to hear 400 unsaved prophets telling them what god wants him to do he says look i just want to hear from one man i want to hear from one prophet i want to hear from the word of god before we go and make a major decision in our lives to go fight a battle and lose our soldiers bloodshed and death what if we lose let's go ask god first and brevin when it comes to making important decisions your priority should be let's go to god first let's go to his word these are the these are the writings of the prophets these are the writings of the apostles you know with christ being the chief cornerstone remember we come to god's word before we make major i'm not talking about every little decision in life you need to go and confirm in the bible i'm talking about major issues in your life okay go to god's word first what does god have to say doesn't support that is it biblical is it sound and you know can you step out in faith in accordance to promises that god has laid out for us in the bible and if you say yes then go and do that great work okay but if you don't or you're hearing from 400 false prophets don't do it brevin okay make sure you prioritize god's word first before you make major decisions in your life you're there in matthew chapter seven matthew chapter seven verse number one what is maybe the second most famous pass a verse in the bible judge not that you be not judged amen now look what i'm going to cover today brethren the next thing here is spiritual before critical okay we need to be spiritual people before we go and point out the faults and the errors of our brethren okay spiritual before critical verse number two it says for with what judgment you judge you shall be judged and with what measure you meet it shall be measured to you again reverend you got to be careful when you start passing judgment and you start pointing out errors in your brethren okay because god's going to make sure that those same errors are going to be pointed out in your life okay whether it's the hand of other brethren or if it's just the hand of god it's just the hand of society where god allows this principle of you reap what your soul to take place in your life be careful make sure you before you start pointing out the errors in someone's life that your life is cleaned up in those areas as well that you haven't got something sticking out where people can say to you look at the hypocrite you are you know why you focus on someone else when you've got issues in your own life verse number three and why behold us now the moat that is in thy brother's eye but consider us not the beam that is in thine own eye now brethren we all have some beam or some moat in our eyes none of us are 100 perfect and without sin and so this is why it's so important before we go and try to help a brother in their faults that we make sure we clean up our lives make sure there is nothing that is obviously wrong in our lives in our families in our testimony before we go and try to pull out that moat in the brother's eyes listen before or how would i say to thy brother let me pull out the moat of thine eye and behold a beam is in thine own eye okay so you know a beam is like basically a piece of construction timber like a man like a huge piece of timber sticking out of your eye how can you go and take that moat that's in your brother's eye verse number five thou hypocrites first priorities brethren what's the priority here first cast out the beam out of thine own eye take care of your own issues first clean up your life make sure you're spiritual first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shout thou see clearly to cast out the moat out of thy brother's eye what is it saying if you don't remember the beam out of your eye you can't see clearly the moat that's in your brother's eye hey maybe your brother has no moats but you got this huge beam in your eye and you think he does and you don't realize actually that's my eye it's not my brother's eyes it's my eye all right priorities you go and fix that sort out your problems your issues before you go sort out someone else's issues you know one of my old pastors would use this analogy which i think is a great analogy you know if you're on an aeroplane and the pressure drops or the oxygen drops i should say and you know you have those oxygen masks that fall down the instruction is basically you know make sure you fit it around your face first before you help you know little children or you help other people that are struggling okay now i you say well you know what i'm just hyper spiritual i'm just very right i just love everybody and so when these masks fall down instead of me placing it on me first i want to make sure others get oxygen before me because i'm just such a great person i'm so righteous okay but yeah you know the moment you go and try to help someone else with their mask you're going to pass out with the lack of oxygen okay you're going to faint and you're not going to be a help to yourself or to them you're both going to perish that's why you first put on the mask in your own on yourself first now you can breathe now you're not going to pass out now you'll be able to have the ability to go and help other people because you've sorted yourself out first this is like salvation you want to get people saved first you need to get yourself saved make sure you're safe now you can be a help to get other people saved hey this is the same thing when you have brethren church and listen don't we all have problems don't we all have faults of course we do we all have beans we all have molds in our eyes and you know what if you're not spiritual you're going to be tempted to just be the god i'm the i'm the i'm the i'm the bean puller i'm the i'm the i'm the guy right and uh you know what people are going to notice all these other things in your own eye and god's going to bring you low okay god's going to reveal and expose you for the hypocrite that you are because you haven't first gone and sought out your own issues first you know the bible says in fact actually can you turn there go to galatians chapter six go to galatians chapter six for me please galatians chapter six and verse number one galatians chapter six galatians chapter six and verse number one i want you to think about this okay because i i look i i think the best of all of you you know i really think you all love the lord i think you all love the brethren maybe you don't i don't know but that's what i think okay i just think you just want to love the lord and just love the brethren love your life of the church you love this past thing you love my family and you love each other that's what i that's what i hope for that's what i think about when i think about each one of you individually okay and so because you have a great love then whenever someone's struggling or someone's going for some issue they got problems you're going to i'm the guy i'm going to step in there and help brother so-and-so out i'm going to help out sister so-and-so right now okay but you have to be very very careful okay because you know however you uh what was it again for what judgment you judge you shall be judged okay so be careful you don't want to be found out as a hypocrite now you say pastor kevin how do i know if i'm the right guy to go help a brother that's got a mop in his eye that's got some fault that's got some problem well galatians 6 verse 1 says brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such and one say pass that's me i'm spiritual i've been saved for 20 years i've been saved for 10 years pastor kevin i think i know a lot of bible doctrine maybe i know more bible doctrine than you do pastor kevin i think i'm the spiritual one is that how we measure spiritualness though what is that measure of spiritual how do you know you're that spiritual man to go help a brother in a fault well let's keep going there restore such and one in the spirit of meekness considering thyself right judge yourself first have a look at the mop that's in your own eye considering thyself let's also let's now also be tempted reverend who is a spiritual that should help a brother in a fault those that have the spirit of meekness okay you've got to be meek what is meekness it's the fruit of the spirit it's one of those fruits that we read about how do we develop the fruits of the spirit we walk in the spirit we spend time with the lord we spend time with the holy spirit to change our lives to bring forth these fruits in our life so that when we respond respond in a godly manner brethren if you say to me pastor kevin i don't have meekness i can't be lowly i can't be gentle with people okay i can't i don't have long suffering i'm not patient with people listen if you don't have these fruits in spirit and you know it and you know that's not me then you're not the one that should be going helping a brother in the fault because you're just going to make things worse okay you'll make things worse and then you may very well show yourself to be that hypocrite into your time okay reverend you which are spiritual are those that have the spirit of meekness those that have the the fruits of the spirit that the holy spirit has developed in their life we can know a lot of doctrine we can be saved a long time but it takes a lot for someone to spend time with the lord to be changed to renew their minds to change their hearts to be christ-like to line up with the will of god and if you're not if you're not spending time on that reverend you're not developing the fruits of the spirit then you're not the right person to help somebody in a fault priorities first clean the inner man sort out your issues fix your life okay you know what if you've got major family problems in your life you're not the right person to sort out someone else's family problems okay if you've got financial disaster in your life you're not the right person to give someone financial advice etc etc you know what i'm saying okay we need to make sure we fix out fix the issues that we have in our own lives before we go and help others spiritual before critical spiritual before critical these are the priorities that god wants us to be focused on can you please now turn to james chapter 3 james chapter 3 and while you turn to james chapter 3 let me just give you some other priorities that we can read about in the bible i'll read to you from first timothy 4 8 which says for bodily exercise profiteth little but godliness is profitable in all things having promise of the life that now is of that which is to come so should we look after this physical health yes should we look after our bodies and do a bit of exercise and make sure that we're able to accomplish work for god in these physical bodies yes we should you know we should not be gluttonous people we should not be drunkards we should not give into addictions you know and just destroy this body brethren but you know what's even more important than physical health your spiritual health spiritual health before physical health being godly godly on the inside brethren you know before you go hit the gym before you go start you know lifting weights have you read your bible you know are you lifting weights spiritually that's first that's the priority in our lives brethren spend time with the lord again work on that inner man strengthen the spirit that you have within you then if you have time okay it's not as urgent what's more urgent is taking care of that soul but then if you have time hey yeah spend some time working on that body making sure that it's profitable and can do great works for the kingdom of god i'm also going to read to you from first timothy three five and this is i guess more for pastors but maybe maybe there's a man out there that wants to get into full-time ministry one day okay the bible says in first timothy three five for if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the church of god listen if you want to become a full-time pastor one day start a church get into full-time ministry there's a priority first what's your priority your family your wife your children having your household together ruling over your house leading that household showing your wife love showing your children leadership you know showing a lot of price in your own family and once you've succeeded in that area then you can take care of the church of god the house of god okay there are priorities in our life reverend as i've always said to you my family is a major priority in my life if i don't have my family together the church is going to fall apart if i don't rule my own house how can i rule the house of god you know and we let let's let's consider that you know we're talking about ruling the house of god is doing a work for god's kingdom okay and let me encourage you you know i'm not saying i'm not saying don't do any work for god until you have your house in order okay you know even if you haven't got your house in order even if you're divorced and no one loves you and your family hates you listen you can still go door to door and preach the gospel i'm not trying to put a stop to that at all okay brethren but i'm trying to say to you if you want to be more effective you want to be more productive for god get your house in order god has given you your house to serve that's where you learn to serve that's where you learn to be humble that's where you learn to lead that's where you learn to love and then when you learn that in your family then you can be more effective for the kingdom of god you're in james triple three verse number 16 now i'm about to read that but let me just read one more verse to you you're in james three look at verse number 16 but i'll read one more verse i'm going to read to you from romans 12 18 romans 12 18 the bible reads in romans 12 18 if it be possible as much as life in you live peaceably with all men amen all right brethren we should be peacemakers we should be people that strive to be get peace with all men that's our church family that's our work colleagues that's our community that's our neighborhood our next door neighbors our extended family etc etc brethren we should strive okay we should put the effort to have peace uh in this world okay but i want to understand it's not peace at all costs okay and this is what we've got here in james triple three james 3 verse number 16 there we are there are priorities there's something even more important than peace okay now i i i want to live peaceably i i really do i want to have a peaceful life i want to enjoy my life and and go to home in heaven you know what i when i get old i just want to lay my head one day in bed and just pass on in peace that would be like wonderful right i don't know if that's going to happen maybe my head's going to get cut off who knows okay but i i hope i can live a peaceful life okay but james 3 16 says this for where envy and strife is there is confusion in every evil work but verse number 17 but the wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable okay there is something that is more important than peace what is it it's purity okay first pure then peaceable gentle and easy to be treated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace brethren we ought to have that fruit of righteousness we ought to be peacemakers we shouldn't be people that are just constantly in conflict constantly disputing constantly angry with people brethren yes yes let's try to live peaceably but even more important than peace is purity purity brethren you know what sometimes as a pastor i could not really i don't find this because i know what my church expects from me praise god for you guys but you know what i i know there are pastors that they're trying to just keep the peace and the unity within church but they won't preach the purity they won't preach against the filth of the lgbt okay they won't preach against the filth of certain sins you know there can be people members in the church that are committing fornication there can be members in the church that are railers there can be people in the church that are drunkards but the pastor just for just for the for the case of peace you know they don't kick those people out of church they tell people just ignore those problems and let's just serve god no first pure you know new life of the church first pure if they're people that are in great sins and they need to be kicked out of church we kick them out of the church brethren look ideally we want to be at peace with them ideally we want them to repent and come back to the house of god but first pure this is the wisdom of god first purity reverend you know some of us are saved in we've got you know families non-christian families families that are not saved and you're saved and you're trying to live righteously and you know what you should be striving to be at peace with your family that are not saved okay you know sometimes i talk to people that we families are not safe and they're arguing with their mothers they're arguing with their brothers and sisters what are you arguing about just issues about the bible you know and i said yeah but don't worry they're not saved prioritize the gospel isn't that what we covered you know just worry about the gospel don't worry about anything else of course they're going to be lost and confused about everything in the world of course they're going to be the sheeple of the media of course that's going to be the case they haven't got the renewed spirit of god you focus on the gospel but here's the thing even though you basically keep that as a focus and you try to be peaceful with them at the same time you need to remain pure you know don't let your unsafe family or your unsafe friends lead you in a life of you know an unclean life or anything like that right you know and i'll give you just a quick example in my own life again i'm not trying to boast just examples uh you know where i'd be working a job and you know i'd be you know i guess rubbing shoulders with with important people important you know uh people and and uh we do great work and then they'll be like oh you know let's let's uh you know appreciate you this week let me go and buy your beer let's go hit the pub after work and let me shout you a drink or something like that well you know what i worked hard as well as i as much as i could i try to be a blessing at work as much as i could so i can be at peace with people that i can be a blessing to people so i can i can be an encouragement to people brethren okay and i'm just trying to get along with people and because people are seeing that i'm trying to get along they think oh how can i you know what can i do to thank kevin for his hard work let's just go buy him a beer but here's the thing and look they're not it's not like they're trying to be wicked people because that's just normal for them isn't it they don't realize it's a sin drinking alcohol but you know what brethren first pure then peaceable and i'm gonna say no you know what i don't drink alcohol you know if they ask me why it's against the bible i'm a christian i'm a bible believing christian even if i even if you know even if it wasn't in the bible i hate the taste of alcohol anyway so it's not really a big temptation for me but you know what first peaceable sorry first pure then peaceable all right so make sure you you keep that as a focus let's get along with as many people as we can let's be a blessing to as many people as we can but you know what when it comes to our doctrines when it comes to our stand on god's word when it comes to our desire to live after righteousness and to live for the kingdom of god these things that are pure they come first they come first before anything else reverend and so as i said to you the title for the sermon this money was setting priorities you know i hope i've given you some examples that you can sort of think about i don't know if any of those are relevant to you today and if they are you know we've got a new year's coming up we're gonna use now okay this is your chance all right i'm gonna change my priorities i'm gonna you know make sure i spend i'm gonna think get things done today that are urgent and important and then i'm going to identify other things that are important but not urgent and then i can schedule those things i can plan for those things where i'm not rushing and then i can be more effective and more productive you know i need to learn to not uh just put out fires all the time uh with things that are urgent but not important i'm going to learn to see where i can delegate these things you know not take things that are not my responsibility and leave them in the right and proper place and you know what if i'm a gamer and i'm wasting all my time on social media and all this junk and you know what it doesn't do anything for me maybe i just need to get rid of this stuff out of my life okay i don't know i don't know where you are brevin but i hope this has been a sermon that kind of blesses you and i think as i said start of a new year's a good year to kind of think about these things all right let's pray