WEBVTT 00:00:04.679 --> 00:00:06.900 Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity 00:00:06.900 --> 00:00:09.660 Sermons. This week we are continuing our sermon 00:00:09.660 --> 00:00:12.960 series called A Matter of Time, where we're talking 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:16.320 about what time is, why it matters, and how we 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:20.300 can make use of it. We all have the same 24 hours 00:00:20.300 --> 00:00:23.399 in the day, but it never really feels like enough. 00:00:23.579 --> 00:00:25.699 We always feel rushed. Things are out of balance. 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:29.550 We don't know how to best spend our time. So 00:00:29.550 --> 00:00:31.730 in today's sermon, Rob is going to unpack for 00:00:31.730 --> 00:00:34.649 us what it means to make the most of our time. 00:00:34.750 --> 00:00:38.189 How do we make more time? How do we set our priorities 00:00:38.189 --> 00:00:46.369 so that we have enough time for everything? Today's 00:00:46.369 --> 00:00:48.829 readings from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 00:00:48.829 --> 00:00:54.490 6, verses 25 to 34. Therefore I tell you, do 00:00:54.490 --> 00:00:57.210 not worry about your life, what you will eat 00:00:57.210 --> 00:01:01.119 or drink. or about your body, what you will wear. 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:04.480 It's not life more than food, and the body more 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:07.859 than clothes. Look at the birds of the air. They 00:01:07.859 --> 00:01:11.640 do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and 00:01:11.640 --> 00:01:14.920 yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you 00:01:14.920 --> 00:01:19.140 not much more valuable than they are? Can any 00:01:19.140 --> 00:01:22.140 one of you, by wandering, add a single hour to 00:01:22.140 --> 00:01:26.659 your life? And why do you worry about clothes? 00:01:27.260 --> 00:01:30.340 See how the flowers of the field grow. They do 00:01:30.340 --> 00:01:33.959 not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even 00:01:33.959 --> 00:01:36.719 Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:40.879 one of these. If that is how God clothes the 00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:44.319 grass of the field, why is here today and tomorrow 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:49.599 is thrown into the fire? Will he not much more 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:53.640 clothe you, you with little faith? So do not 00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:57.640 worry, saying, what shall we eat? O what we shall 00:01:57.640 --> 00:02:01.879 drink, O what shall we wear? For the pagans run 00:02:01.879 --> 00:02:04.819 after these things, and your heavenly Father 00:02:04.819 --> 00:02:08.099 knows that you need them. But seek first his 00:02:08.099 --> 00:02:10.939 kingdom and his righteousness, and all these 00:02:10.939 --> 00:02:14.520 things will be given to you as well. Therefore, 00:02:14.699 --> 00:02:18.240 do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:21.599 worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:26.930 of its own. The word of the Lord. If you were 00:02:26.930 --> 00:02:30.569 here last week, you know that we kicked off a 00:02:30.569 --> 00:02:32.789 brand new teaching series, which we're calling 00:02:32.789 --> 00:02:36.770 A Matter of Time. And if you missed last week, 00:02:36.810 --> 00:02:39.009 then hey, you know, don't worry, you dodged a 00:02:39.009 --> 00:02:41.469 bullet, because what we basically talked about 00:02:41.469 --> 00:02:43.969 last week is that, hey, you're going to die. 00:02:44.969 --> 00:02:48.189 And your time is running out, and it's running 00:02:48.189 --> 00:02:52.289 out faster than you think. And yet, rather than 00:02:52.289 --> 00:02:55.169 deny that fact, rather than avoid it, the Bible 00:02:55.169 --> 00:02:59.830 tells us that wisdom is found, and wisdom begins 00:02:59.830 --> 00:03:03.590 when people realize that their days are numbered, 00:03:03.629 --> 00:03:07.430 and they make the most of the time that they 00:03:07.430 --> 00:03:09.770 have. So that's what we learned last week. Now, 00:03:09.810 --> 00:03:11.289 this week, we're moving on to something a little 00:03:11.289 --> 00:03:12.930 different. We're going to talk about making time. 00:03:13.229 --> 00:03:15.270 And you might say, Rob, I don't think you can 00:03:15.270 --> 00:03:17.909 make time. In fact, didn't last week, we learned 00:03:17.909 --> 00:03:19.689 that nobody can make time. You've only got a 00:03:19.689 --> 00:03:21.349 certain amount of time and that's it. And that 00:03:21.349 --> 00:03:24.719 is absolutely true. But we use this phrase, making 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:28.479 time, in a different way, don't we? We say, I 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:31.080 want to make time for things that are important. 00:03:31.180 --> 00:03:34.460 Or I want to make time for, you know, the things 00:03:34.460 --> 00:03:37.780 that are like valuable in our lives. And so, 00:03:37.780 --> 00:03:40.419 yeah, making time is just another way of saying, 00:03:40.539 --> 00:03:44.979 you know, prioritizing certain things in our 00:03:44.979 --> 00:03:48.500 lives. Now, I want to begin by showing you a 00:03:48.500 --> 00:03:51.939 little demonstration up here. And some of you 00:03:51.939 --> 00:03:54.039 will have seen this demonstration before. In 00:03:54.039 --> 00:03:57.439 fact, there was a leadership guru by the name 00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:00.620 of Stephen Covey who wrote this book called The 00:04:00.620 --> 00:04:03.800 Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. And 00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:08.159 he died in 2012. But back in the day, he used 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:11.259 to make the rounds and do conferences and workshops 00:04:11.259 --> 00:04:13.500 all the time. Some of you maybe even were at 00:04:13.500 --> 00:04:15.860 a conference with Stephen Covey when he came. 00:04:16.009 --> 00:04:18.449 through. And anyway, Stephen Covey, he had like 00:04:18.449 --> 00:04:21.069 this little illustration that he did to talk 00:04:21.069 --> 00:04:24.069 about, you know, the importance of prioritizing 00:04:24.069 --> 00:04:26.329 and making the most of our time. And it went 00:04:26.329 --> 00:04:27.810 a little something like this. He said, you know, 00:04:27.810 --> 00:04:31.209 imagine that this jar is your life. This is the 00:04:31.209 --> 00:04:34.470 time that you have in your life. It might be, 00:04:34.470 --> 00:04:36.550 you know, the time you have this week, might 00:04:36.550 --> 00:04:38.689 be the time you have today, might be the time 00:04:38.689 --> 00:04:40.189 you have this year, might be the time you have 00:04:40.189 --> 00:04:42.230 for your whole lifetime. I don't know. But you 00:04:42.230 --> 00:04:47.360 can imagine that the jar is your time, the time 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:51.000 available to you. And then he had a bunch of 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:54.680 small rocks and he would, you know, dramatically 00:04:54.680 --> 00:05:00.170 pour the rocks. in and and he would say like 00:05:00.170 --> 00:05:04.730 these small rocks they represent all the the 00:05:04.730 --> 00:05:08.350 kind of things that you do with your time and 00:05:08.350 --> 00:05:11.129 some of those things might be total time wasters 00:05:11.129 --> 00:05:14.189 you know you waste your time others of these 00:05:14.189 --> 00:05:17.490 things might be good or fun or there's nothing 00:05:17.490 --> 00:05:20.850 really wrong with them but all of these little 00:05:20.850 --> 00:05:23.709 rocks even though they take up your time the 00:05:23.709 --> 00:05:27.279 truth is none of them are, you know, ultimate 00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:30.639 things. So these rocks, you know, I would say 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:33.699 for most of us, you know, half of these rocks 00:05:33.699 --> 00:05:36.310 are just social media. right it's just all the 00:05:36.310 --> 00:05:38.449 time we spend you know scrolling through instagram 00:05:38.449 --> 00:05:41.370 or scrolling through uh tick tocks or whatever 00:05:41.370 --> 00:05:43.910 the case may be or maybe it's netflix you know 00:05:43.910 --> 00:05:46.769 with the amount of television and the streaming 00:05:46.769 --> 00:05:49.529 media that we watch you know that's it's you 00:05:49.529 --> 00:05:51.470 know again it's not like it's horrible but just 00:05:51.470 --> 00:05:54.470 it's not an ultimately you know important thing 00:05:54.470 --> 00:05:56.970 in our lives you know maybe it's surfing the 00:05:56.970 --> 00:05:59.689 internet maybe it's online shopping maybe it's 00:05:59.689 --> 00:06:02.269 gaming i know you know a lot of people spend 00:06:02.269 --> 00:06:04.569 hours and hours and hours gaming and gaming. 00:06:04.670 --> 00:06:07.550 Maybe it's watching sports, watching hockey, 00:06:07.709 --> 00:06:10.430 watching baseball, watching FIFA World Cup is 00:06:10.430 --> 00:06:12.610 coming up, watching the NBA playoffs that are 00:06:12.610 --> 00:06:16.750 on right now. Others, you know, again, and I 00:06:16.750 --> 00:06:18.209 don't want you to get the wrong idea. These things 00:06:18.209 --> 00:06:21.269 might, they're not bad things. They just take 00:06:21.269 --> 00:06:23.189 up time and they're not ultimate things. So maybe 00:06:23.189 --> 00:06:24.850 it's like you're one of those guys who just likes 00:06:24.850 --> 00:06:27.470 to tinker in the garage for hours and hours and 00:06:27.470 --> 00:06:30.149 hours. Takes a lot of time, right? That goes 00:06:30.149 --> 00:06:34.490 in this jar. Or maybe you like to like play rounds 00:06:34.490 --> 00:06:37.069 and rounds of golf all the time. Beautiful, wonderful, 00:06:37.149 --> 00:06:39.910 but you know, takes up a lot of time. Maybe you 00:06:39.910 --> 00:06:42.529 like to keep your lawn like really, really manicured 00:06:42.529 --> 00:06:46.430 and perfectly cut. And hey, that's not bad. None 00:06:46.430 --> 00:06:49.949 of these things are necessarily bad, but they 00:06:49.949 --> 00:06:54.089 just aren't that important. Those are the little 00:06:54.089 --> 00:06:58.649 rocks, okay? Then there are the big rocks, right? 00:06:58.709 --> 00:07:01.370 The big rocks, these are the things that actually 00:07:01.370 --> 00:07:03.689 matter to you and matter to you a lot. If I was 00:07:03.689 --> 00:07:06.129 to ask you, you know, what matters most to you, 00:07:06.250 --> 00:07:09.290 you would say things like, well, if you're a 00:07:09.290 --> 00:07:12.629 parent, for example, you would say. my kids. 00:07:13.050 --> 00:07:16.819 So if I have only so much time in my jar... I 00:07:16.819 --> 00:07:18.660 want to make sure I put time in there for my 00:07:18.660 --> 00:07:21.120 kids. Or if you're married, you would say, well, 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:23.860 yeah, I have to spend some time with my spouse. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:26.319 And so you put that in there. Or you would say 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:27.899 something, oh, maybe you're not married, but 00:07:27.899 --> 00:07:29.879 you have other important relationships in your 00:07:29.879 --> 00:07:32.519 life, you know, friendships. Yeah, those have 00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:35.279 to go in the jar because those are really important 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:38.420 to you. Maybe you've got a job that is really 00:07:38.420 --> 00:07:41.019 important and life -giving to you and you want 00:07:41.019 --> 00:07:43.339 to prioritize that. So yeah, the job's got to 00:07:43.339 --> 00:07:45.399 go in there. Or you're a student, you're at school 00:07:45.399 --> 00:07:47.379 and you're... Studies are important and getting 00:07:47.379 --> 00:07:50.199 good grades is like essential. So you gotta fit 00:07:50.199 --> 00:07:53.199 that in there. You gotta make that fit in there 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:57.670 somewhere. And then, of course, a lot of people 00:07:57.670 --> 00:07:59.730 would say, well, their spiritual life is important 00:07:59.730 --> 00:08:03.589 to them. So that needs to go in the jar. Or other 00:08:03.589 --> 00:08:07.149 things like your mental health or your physical 00:08:07.149 --> 00:08:10.209 health or eating well or exercising and all that 00:08:10.209 --> 00:08:12.769 stuff. So these are the big rocks. These are 00:08:12.769 --> 00:08:15.529 the things that actually do matter and the things 00:08:15.529 --> 00:08:21.310 that matter most to you. And the thing is, here 00:08:21.310 --> 00:08:24.060 is the problem. And this is kind of... Again, 00:08:24.220 --> 00:08:26.360 Stephen Covey was the one that did this. When 00:08:26.360 --> 00:08:28.980 it's all said and done, you look at it, and a 00:08:28.980 --> 00:08:31.639 lot of people say, you know, I can't fit all 00:08:31.639 --> 00:08:34.399 that into my week. I can't fit all that into 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:39.279 my year. I can't fit all that into my life. There's 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:43.860 just not enough time, we say, in my day, my week, 00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:49.299 my month, my year, my life. And so we actually 00:08:49.299 --> 00:08:53.009 end up not spending. enough time with our kids 00:08:53.009 --> 00:08:55.330 and we end up not spending enough time with our 00:08:55.330 --> 00:08:58.289 spouse and we end up neglecting our health and 00:08:58.289 --> 00:09:00.850 we end up neglecting our our spiritual life and 00:09:00.850 --> 00:09:03.429 all these other things that are important and 00:09:03.429 --> 00:09:07.169 here's you know at the end we we look back on 00:09:07.169 --> 00:09:10.690 our life and we we say oh shoot you know there 00:09:10.690 --> 00:09:15.190 just wasn't enough time And one of the reasons 00:09:15.190 --> 00:09:17.590 that happens is, well, there's a couple reasons, 00:09:17.730 --> 00:09:20.769 but one is that the urgent will always crowd 00:09:20.769 --> 00:09:25.230 out what is important, right? There is no shortage 00:09:25.230 --> 00:09:27.990 of things that urgently come at you every day. 00:09:28.029 --> 00:09:30.309 Every time your phone dings, notification, notification, 00:09:30.730 --> 00:09:32.549 notification, it's in your face, it's coming 00:09:32.549 --> 00:09:35.509 at you over and over again. The phone rings, 00:09:35.669 --> 00:09:39.940 someone's knocking at the door, right? urgent 00:09:39.940 --> 00:09:42.679 things. If you're not disciplined in choosing 00:09:42.679 --> 00:09:45.000 what's actually important, then yeah, all those 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:47.299 urgent things are just going to overwhelm you. 00:09:47.340 --> 00:09:49.600 Whatever grabs your attention is going to fill 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:52.679 your day. Another way to kind of put this is 00:09:52.679 --> 00:09:55.659 if you don't choose your priorities, somebody 00:09:55.659 --> 00:09:59.039 else will choose them for you. Your phone will 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:00.980 choose for you. Your boss will choose for you. 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:04.639 You know, advertisers will choose for you. Your 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:07.200 friends, you know, that seem to have way too 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:08.759 much time on their hands doing all sorts of crazy 00:10:08.759 --> 00:10:10.940 things. They will keep inviting you and they 00:10:10.940 --> 00:10:13.799 will ultimately choose how you spend your time. 00:10:13.940 --> 00:10:16.539 So the whole point of Stephen Covey's demonstration 00:10:16.539 --> 00:10:20.220 is basically to say this. Stop and ask yourself, 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:24.019 what are your big rocks? Right? In other words, 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:25.940 what are the things in your life that are really... 00:10:26.409 --> 00:10:30.070 and truly important. Because if your priorities 00:10:30.070 --> 00:10:33.909 are not clear, then something's going to suffer. 00:10:33.990 --> 00:10:35.629 And what usually suffers? Your relationships 00:10:35.629 --> 00:10:38.549 suffer. Your health suffers. Your spiritual life 00:10:38.549 --> 00:10:41.309 suffers. And the sad thing is then you can come 00:10:41.309 --> 00:10:44.090 to the end of your life or end of some season 00:10:44.090 --> 00:10:46.250 of your life, and you can look back and realize, 00:10:46.389 --> 00:10:49.610 wow, man, you know, I wish I could go back. I 00:10:49.610 --> 00:10:51.210 wish I could go back and do that again differently 00:10:51.210 --> 00:10:55.509 because, you know, I put the wrong things. in 00:10:55.509 --> 00:10:59.190 first and i didn't make room and i didn't make 00:10:59.190 --> 00:11:03.110 time for what really were the important things 00:11:03.110 --> 00:11:06.929 to me now no shame here right because we've all 00:11:06.929 --> 00:11:09.889 been there we have all done this but here's the 00:11:09.889 --> 00:11:12.330 thing that that stephen covey does in his demonstration 00:11:12.330 --> 00:11:14.600 he says Think, what if you did it a different 00:11:14.600 --> 00:11:17.940 way? What if instead you put the things that 00:11:17.940 --> 00:11:20.679 are most important to you into your time first? 00:11:20.940 --> 00:11:24.600 So you, yeah, you put in your relationships first. 00:11:24.620 --> 00:11:27.440 You put in your faith, you know, your relationship 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:30.960 to church and your spiritual life. You put in, 00:11:31.059 --> 00:11:34.200 you know, your school and your studies and your 00:11:34.200 --> 00:11:36.360 marriage and all those things. What if you put 00:11:36.360 --> 00:11:40.980 all those things in first? What would happen 00:11:40.980 --> 00:11:44.320 then? And then in very dramatic fashion, he takes 00:11:44.320 --> 00:12:06.220 these other things. Let's see. Come on, baby. 00:12:09.419 --> 00:12:14.759 There you go. Room to spare. Room to spare in 00:12:14.759 --> 00:12:18.240 there, right? And so the point that he's, yeah, 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:20.120 there is room to spare. Look at that. And someone 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:21.919 even told me after the service that sometimes 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:24.000 what Stephen Covey would do next is he would 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:26.620 take like a pitcher of water and he would dump 00:12:26.620 --> 00:12:28.879 that in there. And that would, you know, fill 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:31.440 up all the other gaps too. Whereas if you did 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:34.059 it the other way, it just didn't fit. The point 00:12:34.059 --> 00:12:37.679 he is trying to make is this. Put... the big 00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:42.000 rocks in first put the the things that are really 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:46.600 important make time for them right because the 00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:51.259 secret the secret to getting more done in your 00:12:51.259 --> 00:12:54.240 life is not just to keep adding more i gotta 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:57.320 get more done but actually it's about prioritizing 00:12:57.320 --> 00:13:00.879 correctly and and when we change our priorities 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:03.299 and we decide ahead of time what is actually 00:13:03.299 --> 00:13:04.899 most important then we actually find there's 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:07.240 more room in our life than we thought for some 00:13:07.240 --> 00:13:08.919 of those other things. Or another way to put 00:13:08.919 --> 00:13:12.139 it is, we actually don't have a time problem, 00:13:12.419 --> 00:13:15.399 he says. The problem we have is around prioritizing. 00:13:15.399 --> 00:13:17.940 We have a prioritizing problem. You don't just 00:13:17.940 --> 00:13:21.080 naturally drift toward the things that are most 00:13:21.080 --> 00:13:24.240 important. You have to schedule it. You have 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:27.899 to prioritize it. It makes me think of that great 00:13:27.899 --> 00:13:31.220 line from the book of Ecclesiastes. Yes, yes, 00:13:31.259 --> 00:13:35.000 there is a time. For everything, everything important. 00:13:35.259 --> 00:13:38.879 But it comes down to prioritizing, not just adding 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:43.179 more, but prioritizing more in our life. Now, 00:13:43.220 --> 00:13:48.240 I could end the sermon there and go home and, 00:13:48.259 --> 00:13:51.960 you know, you know. That wouldn't be a complete 00:13:51.960 --> 00:13:54.440 loss because there's something important for 00:13:54.440 --> 00:13:56.440 us. And we could all benefit from going home 00:13:56.440 --> 00:13:58.740 and writing down on a piece of paper, you know, 00:13:58.759 --> 00:14:01.320 what are the most important things in our lives 00:14:01.320 --> 00:14:03.559 and how can we make sure that we put them first 00:14:03.559 --> 00:14:06.960 and prioritize them. But we are not here today 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:10.000 at Trinity Streetsville to hear about the gospel 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:13.379 according to Stephen Covey. We are here to hear 00:14:13.379 --> 00:14:16.820 about the gospel according to Jesus Christ. And 00:14:16.820 --> 00:14:19.659 Jesus actually has something really important. 00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:22.700 important to add to this and to say about this 00:14:22.700 --> 00:14:27.100 and we cannot miss it and that is this you know 00:14:27.100 --> 00:14:31.340 throughout the whole Bible we are told something 00:14:31.340 --> 00:14:34.200 very important about this process. And that is, 00:14:34.279 --> 00:14:38.500 we are supposed to, as followers of Jesus, we 00:14:38.500 --> 00:14:44.620 are supposed to put God in the jar first. God 00:14:44.620 --> 00:14:49.259 needs to be both the first rock and the biggest 00:14:49.259 --> 00:14:53.039 rock in our lives. In other words, God is meant 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:58.649 to be the number one. priority in your life and 00:14:58.649 --> 00:15:00.190 it's interesting because there's a few places 00:15:00.190 --> 00:15:02.549 in the bible where god is even referred to as 00:15:02.549 --> 00:15:05.509 a rock like in psalm 18 for who is god beside 00:15:05.509 --> 00:15:11.429 the lord and who is the rock except our god now 00:15:11.429 --> 00:15:15.669 the thing is if you put god first the same kind 00:15:15.669 --> 00:15:19.529 of thing happens here everything else finds its 00:15:19.529 --> 00:15:23.440 place around him that God rock, when it goes 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:26.519 in first, it takes priority over everything else. 00:15:26.600 --> 00:15:31.059 And it becomes like the center around which everything 00:15:31.059 --> 00:15:35.120 else in our lives ultimately fits. Now, the Bible 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:38.879 never uses the word prioritize. And in fact, 00:15:38.899 --> 00:15:41.000 I don't even think the word priority or prioritize 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:44.179 is maybe even in the Bible. But it uses another 00:15:44.179 --> 00:15:47.879 word to talk about, I think, the very same thing. 00:15:47.960 --> 00:15:53.169 And that word is the word to seek. To seek. And 00:15:53.169 --> 00:15:56.730 when you hear the word seek, you might think 00:15:56.730 --> 00:15:58.690 of, oh, you know, that's what you do when you 00:15:58.690 --> 00:16:00.429 lose something and you have to go find it. Like, 00:16:00.470 --> 00:16:03.110 I lost my keys. I'm trying to seek them. Or you 00:16:03.110 --> 00:16:07.190 play hide and seek. But the Bible actually has 00:16:07.190 --> 00:16:10.490 a much deeper way of understanding that word 00:16:10.490 --> 00:16:14.629 seek. In fact, the Greek word for seek is zetao. 00:16:15.350 --> 00:16:18.029 And it means not just to, like, find something 00:16:18.029 --> 00:16:21.419 that's lost. It means to pursue something. It 00:16:21.419 --> 00:16:24.860 means to aim your life at something. It means 00:16:24.860 --> 00:16:30.919 to orient your decisions around something. So 00:16:30.919 --> 00:16:36.419 when Jesus says, seek first, zeteo first, the 00:16:36.419 --> 00:16:40.519 kingdom of God, he is saying, he is saying, orient 00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:45.220 your life, prioritize your life, pursue God. 00:16:45.379 --> 00:16:48.019 But Jesus actually goes even a little further. 00:16:48.179 --> 00:16:52.350 He says, seek first. So he like emphasized seek 00:16:52.350 --> 00:16:54.909 first. And that's another Greek word, proton. 00:16:55.610 --> 00:16:57.970 So if you put those two words together, zetao 00:16:57.970 --> 00:17:02.570 and proton, seek first, seek first. And if you 00:17:02.570 --> 00:17:04.150 were to kind of translate that, I think into 00:17:04.150 --> 00:17:06.609 like just plain old English with something like 00:17:06.609 --> 00:17:12.990 this, make the kingdom of God your primary pursuit. 00:17:13.849 --> 00:17:18.940 Make God. And God's way, the kingdom, and God's 00:17:18.940 --> 00:17:21.519 plans, the kingdom, God's commandments, the kingdom, 00:17:21.619 --> 00:17:25.140 God's vision for the world and for you, make 00:17:25.140 --> 00:17:29.359 that the big rock in your life, the thing around 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:35.339 which you organize and arrange everything else. 00:17:36.839 --> 00:17:39.240 Seek first the kingdom of God. Now, it isn't 00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:41.880 just Jesus who says this. You look through the 00:17:41.880 --> 00:17:45.240 Bible again, Psalm 63. You, God, are my God. 00:17:45.880 --> 00:17:48.420 Earnestly, I seek you. Earnestly, I prioritize 00:17:48.420 --> 00:17:51.039 you. Earnestly, I pursue you. I'm not, you know, 00:17:51.079 --> 00:17:53.900 just going to find some place in my life to tuck 00:17:53.900 --> 00:17:56.200 you, God. No, I'm going to put you at the center 00:17:56.200 --> 00:17:59.740 of my life. Earnestly, I am pursuing you. Or 00:17:59.740 --> 00:18:03.180 how about Proverbs 28? Those who seek. The Lord 00:18:03.180 --> 00:18:07.059 understand what is right. That's a beautiful 00:18:07.059 --> 00:18:08.700 thing to say because what it basically means 00:18:08.700 --> 00:18:10.920 is when you seek God, when you put him first 00:18:10.920 --> 00:18:14.200 in your life, then he begins to shape your understanding. 00:18:14.420 --> 00:18:16.359 He begins to shape your thoughts. He begins to 00:18:16.359 --> 00:18:19.160 shape your decisions. He begins to shape your 00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:21.180 priorities and your thinking and your whole life. 00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:26.240 Seek him first. Put him first into the jar. Or 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:29.960 how about this one? Psalm 119. I seek you with 00:18:29.960 --> 00:18:33.480 all my heart. Question, how many things can you 00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:39.700 seek with all your heart? One. If it's all your 00:18:39.700 --> 00:18:42.599 heart, you can only seek one thing that way. 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:46.339 And the psalmist says, make sure it is God who's 00:18:46.339 --> 00:18:49.039 got that priority and that place in your life. 00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:54.359 Just Him. Just God. Now, you might say, well... 00:18:54.839 --> 00:18:56.799 But what about all the other important things 00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:59.559 in my life? And of course, there are other important 00:18:59.559 --> 00:19:01.099 things in your life. And even Jesus acknowledged 00:19:01.099 --> 00:19:02.900 that. Jesus says there's things like, what are 00:19:02.900 --> 00:19:05.930 we going to eat? That's kind of important. that's 00:19:05.930 --> 00:19:08.250 a rock. It needs to go in your jar somewhere. 00:19:08.329 --> 00:19:10.509 You got to eat, right? Or what are we going to 00:19:10.509 --> 00:19:12.769 drink? That's important. It's got to go in there. 00:19:12.849 --> 00:19:14.569 What about what we're going to wear? Of course, 00:19:14.569 --> 00:19:17.809 that's important too. It also has to go in there. 00:19:17.869 --> 00:19:19.690 And we spend a lot of time and a lot of energy 00:19:19.690 --> 00:19:22.670 worrying about those things. What Jesus is saying, 00:19:22.869 --> 00:19:26.569 he is not saying that those things are bad. He's 00:19:26.569 --> 00:19:28.509 not saying, don't put those rocks in. You don't 00:19:28.509 --> 00:19:31.190 need those. He is just saying, don't put those 00:19:31.190 --> 00:19:34.539 rocks in first. Don't make them the priority. 00:19:34.920 --> 00:19:38.339 He even says that's what Gentiles do. That's 00:19:38.339 --> 00:19:40.759 what pagans do. And a Gentile or a pagan, just 00:19:40.759 --> 00:19:42.319 so you know, they kind of sound like really scary 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:45.220 words, but basically it's just a person who lives 00:19:45.220 --> 00:19:49.759 as if God doesn't exist. Meaning there are some 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:52.180 people out there. Maybe there's even some people 00:19:52.180 --> 00:19:54.059 here today. Maybe it's even us from time to time 00:19:54.059 --> 00:19:57.839 who put food and clothing and security and material 00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:03.170 things ahead of God. fill our time jar with material 00:20:03.170 --> 00:20:05.970 stuff first we said let me get these things look 00:20:05.970 --> 00:20:07.970 after first let me get these all in there and 00:20:07.970 --> 00:20:11.390 then maybe at the end i can fit god in there 00:20:11.390 --> 00:20:16.450 somewhere right but these are all important things 00:20:16.450 --> 00:20:19.869 and jesus knows these are important things all 00:20:19.869 --> 00:20:25.309 he's saying is zetao proton seek first the kingdom 00:20:25.309 --> 00:20:30.200 of god well when you do that that's when All 00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:31.940 these other little pebbles, they somehow seem 00:20:31.940 --> 00:20:39.359 to find a place, right? All these things will 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:42.400 be given to you. All what you need, your food, 00:20:42.519 --> 00:20:44.980 your shelter, your drink, your clothes, your 00:20:44.980 --> 00:20:48.480 security, your material needs, they get looked 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:54.579 after. When you seek God first, everything else... 00:20:55.460 --> 00:20:59.059 finds its place. But if you don't seek God first 00:20:59.059 --> 00:21:03.380 thing, even God gets bumped out of your time 00:21:03.380 --> 00:21:06.019 jar. So like last week, we talked about, man, 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:08.380 time is short. You don't know how many days, 00:21:08.420 --> 00:21:12.539 how many years you've got. What Jesus is saying, 00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:15.559 no matter how many days or weeks or years you 00:21:15.559 --> 00:21:20.819 have, put God first in your day. Put God first 00:21:20.819 --> 00:21:25.089 in your week. Put God first in your year and 00:21:25.089 --> 00:21:28.309 in your whole life. Let him become the center 00:21:28.309 --> 00:21:31.470 around which everything else orbits and is organized. 00:21:31.750 --> 00:21:36.650 Now, the question is, yes, but how? I hope you're 00:21:36.650 --> 00:21:39.950 nodding your head. Yes, Rob, I agree. This is 00:21:39.950 --> 00:21:42.930 absolutely true. I have to do this. How do I 00:21:42.930 --> 00:21:46.450 actually put God first? How do I make sure he 00:21:46.450 --> 00:21:49.309 is a priority in my life? The answer is there's 00:21:49.309 --> 00:21:51.549 a hundred ways. There's a thousand ways you can 00:21:51.549 --> 00:21:53.960 do that. I thought, though, today I can give 00:21:53.960 --> 00:21:58.460 you three ideas, three places to get started. 00:21:58.680 --> 00:22:01.700 And maybe all three apply to you. Maybe two do. 00:22:01.779 --> 00:22:04.200 Maybe one do. Whatever. You can decide. But here 00:22:04.200 --> 00:22:06.799 is one way to make sure that God is the first 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:08.799 and biggest rock in your jar, and that is to 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:14.720 give God the first part of your day. When you 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:17.079 get up in the morning, somehow find a way to 00:22:17.079 --> 00:22:20.670 say to God, God, the priority of this day. This 00:22:20.670 --> 00:22:23.509 day I'm about to enter into is you. And so I'm 00:22:23.509 --> 00:22:25.589 putting you first. I'm going to give you the 00:22:25.589 --> 00:22:29.049 first few minutes, the first 15 minutes, the 00:22:29.049 --> 00:22:31.430 first half hour of my day. And that might look 00:22:31.430 --> 00:22:34.390 like, you know, saying prayers at the beginning 00:22:34.390 --> 00:22:36.049 of your day, the first part of your day, reading 00:22:36.049 --> 00:22:37.829 your Bible at the beginning of the day, the first 00:22:37.829 --> 00:22:40.750 part of your day. sitting in silence, doing some 00:22:40.750 --> 00:22:42.670 journaling, or doing all those things, you know, 00:22:42.690 --> 00:22:45.710 prayer, Bible reading, silence, journaling, whatever 00:22:45.710 --> 00:22:51.029 it is, it's a way to say yes to God at the beginning 00:22:51.029 --> 00:22:54.970 of your day. And I will say, and many of you 00:22:54.970 --> 00:22:56.730 know this, I'm just telling you stuff you already 00:22:56.730 --> 00:22:59.869 know, that if you do that, if you say yes to 00:22:59.869 --> 00:23:01.809 God at the beginning of the day, it is so much 00:23:01.809 --> 00:23:07.160 easier to say no to other things That come at 00:23:07.160 --> 00:23:10.240 you throughout the day. Things that are far less 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:14.660 important. I will be honest with you. When I 00:23:14.660 --> 00:23:17.180 have done a good job of this. And I haven't always 00:23:17.180 --> 00:23:19.779 done a good job of this. And I still don't always 00:23:19.779 --> 00:23:24.240 do a good job at this. But when I do. Put God 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:26.720 first in my day. Before the work starts. Before 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:28.579 the phone calls start. Before the meetings start. 00:23:28.680 --> 00:23:31.079 Before people are knocking at my door. Then I 00:23:31.079 --> 00:23:36.000 always feel like. Today was way. More productive. 00:23:36.339 --> 00:23:38.160 I don't know if that's your experience, but I 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:40.819 just feel like throughout that day, I moved a 00:23:40.819 --> 00:23:43.599 different way. Like if distractions came at me, 00:23:43.640 --> 00:23:45.619 I was able to quickly figure out, is this an 00:23:45.619 --> 00:23:47.480 important distraction? Something I need to deal 00:23:47.480 --> 00:23:49.900 with? Or is this unimportant? Something I don't 00:23:49.900 --> 00:23:52.880 need to deal with? You know, and at the end of 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:55.480 the day, if you didn't get everything else, if 00:23:55.480 --> 00:23:56.759 you didn't get everything on your to -do list 00:23:56.759 --> 00:24:00.180 done, there's something about since you started 00:24:00.180 --> 00:24:01.779 your day with God at the center, that at the 00:24:01.779 --> 00:24:02.859 end of the day, if you didn't get everything 00:24:02.859 --> 00:24:05.400 done, you can say, I'm okay with that. I'm okay 00:24:05.400 --> 00:24:06.759 with that. Obviously, I wasn't supposed to get 00:24:06.759 --> 00:24:09.099 that done. But what I did do is I put God first 00:24:09.099 --> 00:24:11.680 and all that other stuff. Well, as Jesus said, 00:24:11.779 --> 00:24:16.519 tomorrow, let tomorrow worry about itself. Okay, 00:24:16.619 --> 00:24:19.700 so that's the first thing. If you want to prioritize 00:24:19.700 --> 00:24:22.900 God in your life, put God at the start of your 00:24:22.900 --> 00:24:24.640 day. Give him the first part of your day. Now, 00:24:24.660 --> 00:24:27.220 here's the second one. You can also give God 00:24:27.220 --> 00:24:32.460 the first day of your week. You know, what's 00:24:32.460 --> 00:24:34.339 the first day of the week? Sunday. It's the first 00:24:34.339 --> 00:24:36.819 day of the week. I always felt as a kid, Monday 00:24:36.819 --> 00:24:39.460 was the first day. We always said it was the 00:24:39.460 --> 00:24:42.259 weekend, right? So Saturday and Sunday were the 00:24:42.259 --> 00:24:43.740 end of the week. Monday was the beginning of 00:24:43.740 --> 00:24:46.200 the week. But no, no, look at any calendar. Sunday 00:24:46.200 --> 00:24:49.460 is the first day of the week. And in fact, it's 00:24:49.460 --> 00:24:52.819 the day of resurrection, right? Acts 20 says 00:24:52.819 --> 00:24:56.329 that the early church met. On the first day of 00:24:56.329 --> 00:24:59.430 the week on Sunday. So just like giving God the 00:24:59.430 --> 00:25:02.470 first part of your day helps you prioritize all 00:25:02.470 --> 00:25:05.410 that's coming at you that day. Giving God, making 00:25:05.410 --> 00:25:09.569 time for God on the first day of your week is 00:25:09.569 --> 00:25:13.109 a way of prioritizing God as you head off into 00:25:13.109 --> 00:25:16.430 a brand new, what is sure to be busy, busy week. 00:25:16.609 --> 00:25:21.169 What I'm getting at here is prioritizing. Sunday 00:25:21.169 --> 00:25:24.869 worship is prioritizing what we're doing right 00:25:24.869 --> 00:25:27.509 here and right now. And so, yeah, I'm kind of 00:25:27.509 --> 00:25:29.190 preaching to the choir. Yeah, you're all here. 00:25:29.329 --> 00:25:33.369 Yeah, you've done it. Hooray. But I want to say 00:25:33.369 --> 00:25:35.329 that actually something I've noticed at Trinity 00:25:35.329 --> 00:25:38.049 and even something that we track here at Trinity 00:25:38.049 --> 00:25:41.109 with our software, our fancy software, is that 00:25:41.109 --> 00:25:44.230 even though on any given Sunday there might be 00:25:44.230 --> 00:25:46.750 three or four hundred people that come to Trinity, 00:25:48.029 --> 00:25:50.230 You know, the Sunday before, there would have 00:25:50.230 --> 00:25:52.230 also been 300 or 400 people, but they weren't 00:25:52.230 --> 00:25:55.230 all the same people. It was like a different 00:25:55.230 --> 00:25:57.849 group of 300 or 400 people. Yeah, there were 00:25:57.849 --> 00:25:59.690 some people that were there. And then the week 00:25:59.690 --> 00:26:04.329 after, again, it's like a different group, a 00:26:04.329 --> 00:26:07.569 different mix of 300 or 400 people. So it's like, 00:26:07.569 --> 00:26:09.849 yeah, we always seem to have 300 or 400 people, 00:26:10.009 --> 00:26:12.349 but it's not the same 300 or 400 people. And 00:26:12.349 --> 00:26:14.759 it actually makes you think, my goodness. My 00:26:14.759 --> 00:26:17.759 goodness, if everybody who called Trinity their 00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:21.359 spiritual home, their home church, if we all 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:24.960 said every week, every week, I'm going to put 00:26:24.960 --> 00:26:26.559 God first in my week and I'm going to, you know, 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:29.700 prioritize going to church, we would probably 00:26:29.700 --> 00:26:32.500 have to add like a... a third service or something 00:26:32.500 --> 00:26:35.099 like that to get everybody in. It's just a funny 00:26:35.099 --> 00:26:37.400 thing to think about. I don't want you to like 00:26:37.400 --> 00:26:40.079 get the wrong ideas. This isn't like the pastor 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:41.519 getting mad because there aren't enough people 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:44.619 in church, right? But yeah, the author of Hebrews 00:26:44.619 --> 00:26:48.920 says, hey, don't give up meeting together. You 00:26:48.920 --> 00:26:52.220 know, don't get out of that rhythm. It's about 00:26:52.220 --> 00:26:56.950 putting God first in your life. First in your 00:26:56.950 --> 00:27:00.410 jar and starting the week orienting your heart 00:27:00.410 --> 00:27:03.849 and your mind and your time with God first. So, 00:27:03.869 --> 00:27:07.970 you know, worship isn't a leftover time, right? 00:27:08.029 --> 00:27:13.609 It's seek God first time. Because whatever happens 00:27:13.609 --> 00:27:16.589 in the rest of this week, whatever is going to 00:27:16.589 --> 00:27:18.650 happen the rest of your week, you cannot control. 00:27:19.369 --> 00:27:23.109 But you can control this prioritizing of putting 00:27:23.109 --> 00:27:25.990 God first and worshiping. At the beginning of 00:27:25.990 --> 00:27:29.569 the week. Okay? So, give God the first part of 00:27:29.569 --> 00:27:30.990 your day. Give God the first day of your week. 00:27:31.069 --> 00:27:34.069 And then the third thing you can do to prioritize 00:27:34.069 --> 00:27:36.630 God and say, I want you to go in my time jar 00:27:36.630 --> 00:27:38.910 first, is, and this one you might be like, what 00:27:38.910 --> 00:27:40.910 is that? That seems different. But it's give 00:27:40.910 --> 00:27:44.430 God the first portion of your resources. Give 00:27:44.430 --> 00:27:47.130 God, you know, the first part of your income. 00:27:47.670 --> 00:27:49.069 Now you might say, Rob, that doesn't even have 00:27:49.069 --> 00:27:52.190 to do with time. Uh -uh. I beg to differ. Because 00:27:52.190 --> 00:27:56.390 what? is your income. Your income is essentially 00:27:56.390 --> 00:28:00.750 your time that has been converted into dollars 00:28:00.750 --> 00:28:04.009 and cents, right? You gave your time to your 00:28:04.009 --> 00:28:06.170 employer, they gave you dollars and cents in 00:28:06.170 --> 00:28:09.390 exchange for your time. So to give God the first 00:28:09.390 --> 00:28:12.150 part of your income is just another way of giving 00:28:12.150 --> 00:28:18.160 away your time, or it's actually giving prioritizing 00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:21.400 your time for God. So it's a way that even while 00:28:21.400 --> 00:28:25.400 you're at work, you can be putting God first. 00:28:25.480 --> 00:28:29.799 I'm putting you first in my life. You know, the 00:28:29.799 --> 00:28:33.500 way we spend our money is one of the clearest 00:28:33.500 --> 00:28:36.740 indicators of what is really important to us. 00:28:36.839 --> 00:28:39.779 I mean, let's be honest. If you're not sure today, 00:28:40.059 --> 00:28:43.329 you know, what do I prioritize in my life? you 00:28:43.329 --> 00:28:44.789 probably just got to go home and look at your, 00:28:44.829 --> 00:28:47.750 like, MasterCard bill, and you can figure out, 00:28:47.849 --> 00:28:49.869 yeah, well, that's what's most important. That's 00:28:49.869 --> 00:28:52.869 where I'm putting all my energy and my time and 00:28:52.869 --> 00:28:57.150 my money. The Bible says, hey, here's an idea. 00:28:57.390 --> 00:29:00.849 Give God the first part of that. Give God, in 00:29:00.849 --> 00:29:02.950 those days, the first fruits that come off your 00:29:02.950 --> 00:29:05.309 field. But for us, give God the first portion 00:29:05.309 --> 00:29:08.289 of your resource, the first portion of your income, 00:29:08.349 --> 00:29:11.849 because that is just another way to say, God, 00:29:12.319 --> 00:29:14.799 your kingdom comes first. God, your mission comes 00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:18.480 first. God, your priorities have first place 00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:24.579 in my life. It's like I said before, don't choose 00:29:24.579 --> 00:29:26.140 your priorities. Someone else is going to choose 00:29:26.140 --> 00:29:28.119 them for you. And if you don't choose to like 00:29:28.119 --> 00:29:31.019 decide what you're going to do with your... income 00:29:31.019 --> 00:29:33.680 or your resources, believe me, there's always 00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:36.500 something that'll come along and it'll be gone 00:29:36.500 --> 00:29:41.420 before you know it, right? So we need to put 00:29:41.420 --> 00:29:44.259 God first, not because you feel pressurized by 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:47.579 the minister, not because we're at the mercy 00:29:47.579 --> 00:29:52.160 of the moment, but we have decided ahead of time 00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:57.960 to put that rock in first. And I would say, there 00:29:57.960 --> 00:30:00.140 are people here at Trinity who do this all the 00:30:00.140 --> 00:30:02.599 time. And if you were to ask them, oh, but what 00:30:02.599 --> 00:30:04.599 is that like? What is it like to give God the 00:30:04.599 --> 00:30:06.839 first part of your income? You know what they 00:30:06.839 --> 00:30:09.079 would probably say? You know what? They would 00:30:09.079 --> 00:30:12.519 probably say this. You know, my Heavenly Father 00:30:12.519 --> 00:30:15.980 seems to know all the other things that I need, 00:30:16.220 --> 00:30:20.140 and He provides them for us. You know, we're 00:30:20.140 --> 00:30:22.950 not in want, we're not in lack. We're seeking 00:30:22.950 --> 00:30:26.069 God's kingdom with our resources, and God is 00:30:26.069 --> 00:30:27.990 making sure we've got enough to eat, enough to 00:30:27.990 --> 00:30:32.089 drink, enough to wear, and all that stuff. So, 00:30:32.089 --> 00:30:38.789 I don't want anyone to hear me wrong today. There 00:30:38.789 --> 00:30:42.130 are a lot of good things in life. A lot of good 00:30:42.130 --> 00:30:47.799 things, right? Careers, experiences. Your security, 00:30:47.940 --> 00:30:50.940 right? Your family, your friendships, your hobbies, 00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:54.000 all your dreams. We're not trying to say that 00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:57.640 any of those things are bad. In fact, many of 00:30:57.640 --> 00:31:00.700 those things are really good gifts from God. 00:31:00.819 --> 00:31:04.519 The point is simply this. Don't seek them first. 00:31:05.859 --> 00:31:08.420 Don't make them the big rock in your time jar. 00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:12.099 Don't make them the first rock in your time jar. 00:31:12.200 --> 00:31:14.559 Because when you do, you're going to crowd out. 00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:19.019 what matters most, and you will even crowd out 00:31:19.019 --> 00:31:24.019 God. And remember this, Jesus didn't just teach 00:31:24.019 --> 00:31:28.839 this, he lived it. Jesus put his heavenly father 00:31:28.839 --> 00:31:33.019 first in everything he did. God was Jesus's big 00:31:33.019 --> 00:31:36.240 rock. I mean, Jesus was the rock, but God was 00:31:36.240 --> 00:31:38.839 his big rock, right? He wasn't distracted by 00:31:38.839 --> 00:31:40.859 other things. He didn't let other people determine 00:31:40.859 --> 00:31:44.680 what his agenda was for the day. He put God first 00:31:44.680 --> 00:31:47.000 in everything he did. And because of that, even 00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:49.539 though he only had like a few years, three short 00:31:49.539 --> 00:31:53.339 years of ministry, he changed the world in that 00:31:53.339 --> 00:31:57.640 time. Why? Because he sought first. God's kingdom. 00:31:58.960 --> 00:32:01.559 But, and here's the part that kind of is mind 00:32:01.559 --> 00:32:05.279 -blowing. It wasn't just that Jesus put God first. 00:32:05.700 --> 00:32:10.960 Jesus also put me first. He also put you first. 00:32:11.799 --> 00:32:14.180 He put others first. His life, did you notice 00:32:14.180 --> 00:32:16.220 how Jesus was always putting others first? You 00:32:16.220 --> 00:32:18.140 know, people in the world who the world had no 00:32:18.140 --> 00:32:22.329 time for. It seemed like Jesus had time for them. 00:32:22.390 --> 00:32:25.950 He put them first. In his death, he put you first, 00:32:26.109 --> 00:32:29.650 right? Jesus did not choose his own survival 00:32:29.650 --> 00:32:34.289 over your forgiveness. He chose forgiveness over 00:32:34.289 --> 00:32:38.329 his own life. He put us first. And in his resurrection, 00:32:38.750 --> 00:32:42.569 he put you first. He rose, why? To give you new 00:32:42.569 --> 00:32:45.930 life. God was his biggest rock, absolutely, but 00:32:45.930 --> 00:32:50.450 you were also his priority. And so here's the 00:32:50.450 --> 00:32:54.950 question. If you were his priority, why wouldn't 00:32:54.950 --> 00:33:00.210 he be your priority? Right? God is not going 00:33:00.210 --> 00:33:04.470 to force his way into your time jar. That's not 00:33:04.470 --> 00:33:05.950 how God works. He's not going to break down the 00:33:05.950 --> 00:33:10.069 wall. Revelation 3 .20 says, Behold, I stand 00:33:10.069 --> 00:33:12.910 at the door and knock. Not I'm going to kick 00:33:12.910 --> 00:33:14.750 down the door and force my way into your life. 00:33:14.829 --> 00:33:17.650 No, he's knocking. And he's saying simply this 00:33:17.650 --> 00:33:19.130 at the door. He's saying, I would like to be 00:33:19.130 --> 00:33:21.609 in your life. More than that, I would like to 00:33:21.609 --> 00:33:23.329 be the first thing in your life. More than that, 00:33:23.369 --> 00:33:26.930 I would like to be the center of your life around 00:33:26.930 --> 00:33:32.589 which everything else is arranged. So that's 00:33:32.589 --> 00:33:35.430 the question. The question is quite simple. What's 00:33:35.430 --> 00:33:40.160 going in first? It's going to be the big rock. 00:33:41.559 --> 00:33:43.640 And what would it look like for you to put God 00:33:43.640 --> 00:33:46.799 first? First in your day? First in your week? 00:33:47.799 --> 00:33:52.900 First in your resources? Because what you seek 00:33:52.900 --> 00:33:57.920 shapes everything else. And when God is first, 00:33:58.099 --> 00:34:04.359 everything else finds its place. Thanks be to 00:34:04.359 --> 00:34:09.400 God. Amen. Thanks for tuning in to this week's 00:34:09.400 --> 00:34:12.219 episode of Trinity Sermons. This sermon was recorded 00:34:12.219 --> 00:34:14.780 at Trinity Church Streetsville in Mississauga, 00:34:14.840 --> 00:34:17.900 Ontario on May 10th, 2026.