6/12/2020 [Sunday Message] www.lifechurchmissions.com
Significance of Timetable《Ga4:4; Mt26:18; Ge21:5; 25:7,26; 26:6-7,10; Mt4:1,12,17-19; Rev22:20; Mt24:44-45; Ecc3:1-11,15》
1. We live in God’s determined timetable
1) Cannot escape time
2) Biblically, distinction is made between “chronos” (historical) and “kairos” (historic)
Read: <Gal 4:4; Mt 26:18>
<Gal 4:4> But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
<Mt 26:18> He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’”
3) Don’t dissociate both
2. Connect with time schedule
1) Emphasis and foundation (learn)
Read: <Gen 21:5; 25:7, 26; 26:6-7, 10>
5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
7 Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years.
26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
6So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”
10 Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
2) Guidance and dynamics (observe)
Read: <Mt 4:1,12, 17-19>
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil.
12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee.
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”
3) Progressive parallelism and the end times (train)
Read: <Rev 22:20; Mt 24:44-45>
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?
3. Not about waiting, but appropriateness
Read: <Ecc 3:1-11, 15>
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to
plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a
time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time
to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather
them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to
keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be
silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war
and a time for peace.
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
15 Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.
1) No change, no growth Prepare for change
2) No thoughtful act, no change Prepare to encounter more people
3) A personal but not a private faith Prepare sharing