133: Sam Ryan - When is the Perfect Time

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Welcome to Good Christadelphian Talks. I'm Levi. And I'm Chris. And I'm Brian. Thank you for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our daily news feed. We post a new episode at the start of each week, with a short intro beforehand to kind of set the stage for the talk you're about to listen to.

2. 0:33

   And now, let's talk more about this week's talk. This week's class is by Brother Sam Ryan. He gave it at the Adelaide Young People's Group, which they call Suburban Young Peoples, and their class in October. Suburban Young People have been doing a series on Ecclesiastes, and the series is on YouTube. And someone suggested this class for us, and I really, really enjoyed it and am excited to share.

3. 1:12

   Before the class, Ecclesiastes 11 is read. We've cut that part out, if you'd like to read Ecclesiastes 11 to refresh yourself. But the really interesting thing, and I was texting Chris and Brian about this, is I think the reason that this class is so easy to listen to is Brother Sam uses a lot of kind of props, physical examples, and actually stories, like personal stories and anecdotes, just some really, really good illustrations for the really difficult points that he tackles.

4. 1:47

   And you'll see he has about three or four really hard concepts, as Ecclesiastes brings up. And he explores them, I think, in really interesting ways. But it's the props and stories that make the class really good and so easy to listen to. And this is something that Bob Lloyd would do, and I think something all of us who are ever in a position to present a lecture needs to consider, is using these stories and props and examples to illustrate the points that you're making is really a benefit to the audience.

5. 2:24

   It's a lot harder to lose attention in a class when someone takes a break from making a point to say, and I have a story about that, and it's something that I try to actually spend time when I'm preparing a class, like adding in personal anecdotes, because I know that they're really powerful teaching and memory tools.

6. 2:44

   So you'll see Brother Sam does that really well in this class. One example, and I also needed to say it on the intro here, is he uses a string, a piece of rope. And you can, you see it if you watch it on YouTube, but the clip here in the podcast, it still makes sense, but that's what he's talking about.

7. 3:05

   He says, I have a rope here, and he's got a rope that was a small section that's red and a large section that's white, and he'll make that point. So here is Brother Sam Ryan, really great class on when is the right time.

8. 3:25

   That, young people, was 20 seconds of your life. 20 seconds that I just took that you'll never get back. Sorry about that. And it's spent. It's done. You know, life is short. We hear that a lot. And you just spent 20 seconds of it watching me click.

9. 4:06

   But a bit happened in the world whilst I was clicking then. You know, 36 people died. 36 real people. Mums, dads, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters. 36 real people died in that time that I was just clicking.

10. 4:27

    84 babies were born. 84 new lives were, have come into this somewhat strange existence that we're in. And many other things. All in that 20 seconds.

11. 4:44

    Time is the indefinite, continual progress of existence. And events that occur in an apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present into the future. Well, that's the dictionary definition of time. You know what? Time is something that people throughout all ages have struggled to fully comprehend.

12. 5:12

    Time is the most undefinable yet paradoxical of things. The past is gone. The future is not come. The present becomes the past. Even while we attempt to define it. That was by Charles Caleb Cotton. He's probably dead too. Time does that, unfortunately. In fact, he actually did die in 1832, which is a lot of clicks ago.

13. 5:39

    But somehow the concept of time is weirdly something which actually sits quite comfortable with young people. Because, you know, our past is pretty short for most of us. Our present is often quite busy, quite exciting. And our future kind of feels infinite and full of promise, doesn't it? So we don't really stress too much about time passing, do we?

14. 6:12

    But we spend time at precisely the exact same rate as everybody else. And we have no idea how much we have. You know, as followers of Jesus Christ, we have an incredible blessing that we know the ticking clock has different ramifications for us. Sure, we could die at any time. We know that.

15. 6:35

    But death is not forever for a follower of Christ. And we sit here now with the knowledge that soon Jesus Christ is going to return to the earth and raise the dead. And what an awesome thing that is, that we have that hope in our hearts. So the theme for Suburban this year has been Words of the Preacher.

16. 7:00

    Based on the book of Ecclesiastes. And I'm sure you've had a really good year. A really interesting year looking at this from a lot of different angles, I guess. And it's not a very standard Bible study, is it? You wouldn't say.

17. 7:15

    But it's really awesome. I find that Ecclesiastes really brings out some, what I would call really thinky topics. You really got to think about them. You can't read this book without having questions. If you've got questions, it means that you're engaged, doesn't it? And that you'll look for answers. Not just academic knowledge, which some of our Bible studies can be.

18. 7:42

    Nothing wrong with that. Still an awesome study. But how good is it when you really have to think about something? It's more powerful, isn't it? Or it can be annoying. It can be really frustrating. Or it can change your life. You know, the words that the preacher wrote were designed to make you think.

19. 8:03

    To make you ponder, doesn't it? Make you take a step back. Take a deep breath, really. And try and wrap your head around the big questions of life. And Jesus used a similar tactic in his parables, didn't he? He made the people think. He made them engage. Didn't just brain dump a message.

20. 8:26

    He really, really made them think about it. And that's where it becomes really powerful. So tonight's topic I've been asked to speak by Mitch and his crew was, When is the perfect time? Based on Ecclesiastes 11 verse 1 to 6. Considering our actions without the ability to see the future. We can't see the future.

21. 8:52

    None of us can. How easy would decision making be if we could see the future? Decisions would be a piece of cake, wouldn't they? Think of how you'd tackle some of life's, you know, big decisions. For example, despite the sunny forecast, I know it's going to rain this afternoon. And I'll be outside for some of it.

22. 9:15

    So I'm not going to bother curling my hair today. Or perhaps this girl I've got a crush on is going to be running late to suburban tonight. I know that because I can see the future. So she'll have to come in after the hymn, quickly sit down. So I'm going to sit there.

23. 9:31

    So she has to sit right next to me. Bazinga. And I'm sure there's other occasions it would be amazing to see the future. But they're arguably the big two.

24. 9:43

    But we can't see the future, can we? It's impossible. So we just sit somewhere near the door and hope that she gets all the red lights on Hampstead Road. But seriously, time is a really tricky thing to grasp, isn't it? We look forward to things a lot. We look forward to things that are ahead in time.

25. 10:05

    Do you find that? Like, for example, the weekend. There's five days leading up to that weekend that we just wish away. And then when it gets to the weekend, we want the weekend to go forever. It seems to go away quicker because we're enjoying it. And before we know it, it's boring old Monday again.

26. 10:22

    And it's this same cycle of sort of looking forward. And as young people, I guess there's always big milestones ahead of you, which keep you feeling like time is forward, time is ahead. And you haven't really spent too much of it yet. We tell ourselves this, don't we? You know, I'm at school, but I don't have a girlfriend yet.

27. 10:47

    I'm at uni, but I haven't started working yet. That's still ahead of me. Okay, yeah, I've got a girlfriend, but it's not like we're engaged. That's still ahead. Yeah, we're engaged, but, you know, marriage is still ahead. Yay, married, but it's not like we've got kids yet or anything. Yay, my wife's pregnant, not due till March next year.

28. 11:10

    Still ages, right? Well, that's where I'm at. And most of you may be similar. Back a couple, back a few, some may be further on. So I guess the question is, how much should we think or stress about where we are in life, how we're spending our time, and what is actually happening with time?

29. 11:29

    What really is this life that we're living now, this existence, all about? You know, Jesus says, take no thought for tomorrow, what you shall eat, what you shall drink. Tomorrow will look after itself. It's got to be one of my favourite quotes. It doesn't make me a better project manager, letting tomorrow look after itself, but it definitely makes me a better sleeper.

30. 11:53

    So when we consider Ecclesiastes and when is the perfect time and decision-making and all these things, you'll find you'll get a lot of different opinions from different people. It's not a real dogmatic sort of topic, is it? You'll get a wide range of views on how to live from people who make different decisions, knowingly or unknowingly, based on things like family culture.

31. 12:21

    Ecclesial culture. Or probably most importantly, their direct friend group culture. Let's just take a step back for one second. I want to just do a quick demonstration, which you may have seen before on YouTube or something. There's nothing new under the sun, so that's the preacher. But it's a powerful and good perspective on how we should base our decision-making on the time that we have now.

32. 12:56

    Let's get my props. Okay. So here I have a simple piece of rope. And this red bit on the end is our entire life. This is our life. From birth right here, right through to death. You know? And on here, there's some little lines. You probably can't see them from there, but trust me, they're there.

33. 13:23

    It's a little timeline. So obviously we have birth here. Then we have about here, you know, becoming a teenager, going to youth groups, all of that sort of stuff. Here, starting to get a little bit more responsible, getting a job.

34. 13:40

    Okay. Big one here. If we are so blessed, getting married and having kids. And then this one here is sort of like the kids have sort of finally grown up, left the nest.

35. 13:55

    And then this one here is retirement. And then from here through to here is retirement. The good time. And then death. And I say the good time, but retirement never ends well.

36. 14:11

    So some people's red bit is a bit longer. Some people's tragically much shorter. But there we have it. That's our time on earth. It's precious. Okay. Well, what's this white bit? What's this white bit I've got here that just sort of keeps coming and coming and coming? So here we've got our bit.

37. 14:35

    Well, this white rope is still our timeline. But this is the kingdom of God. And it's a long timeline. In fact, there's so much under here. It actually goes forever.

38. 14:54

    There's more and more and more. And that's our timeline. So we've got a few short years here as mortal humans. And then we've got eternity ahead of us. In the kingdom of God. Forever. And that's your existence, young people, right there. And yet, how easy is it for us to just be so concerned about this red part?

39. 15:21

    We can be consumed by it. It's all we think about sometimes. Oh, man. I just can't wait for this bit here. That bit to that bit is going to be so good. You know what? I'm going to work so hard through here. Save, save, save, save, save. Put in all the hours so that that bit there is really enjoyable.

40. 15:42

    That'll be great. You know? Oh, man. I'm really stressed. I want to save here. But I also want to travel here, which is going to spend this. But I want to have a nice house. Find the perfect partner. And I really want to be successful in my job. So I'm going to have to do something here.

41. 16:00

    Like, are we kidding? Look at all this white rope. And this. You know, it's crazy because the Bible teaches us that what we do in this bit, this little red bit here, determines if we're going to exist for millions and millions and millions of years forever. Staggering, isn't it? And why would we spend this little red part trying to make ourselves as comfortable as possible, enjoying myself as much as I can, you know, in this little bit?

42. 16:39

    You know, Paul says, I'm going to live my life for this mission. I'm going to live this whole red part in the hope of this white timeline to come. I'm going to forget about all the stuff I could enjoy in this little bit. I'm not going to be looking around. Paul says, I'm like a runner.

43. 16:57

    I'm going to be staring ahead at the finish line. I won't waver from my core so that when I come to Christ, I can look him in the eye. I can come before Jesus. I won't have this red bit again. That'll be spent. We don't get this red bit over. We only get the one shot.

44. 17:15

    And it can end at any second for any of us. This is sort of just the average. We don't know what our timeline is. We get one chance of this, then comes eternity. So, you know, let's not be fooled. Let's not spend our life just focused on this bit. You know, people might judge your decisions and they might say, oh, you're pretty silly because this bit there that you're talking about doing that, that's really going to affect this.

45. 17:45

    You know? And you can go, no, you're the silly one because this bit here, like, affects all of this. It's pretty dramatic. And, you know, it's a foreign concept to people in the world because everything we have in this world right now is designed to enjoy right now, to please us right now.

46. 18:05

    You know, there's no thought for tomorrow. Have fun. YOLO. You only live once. That's their mindset. And Paul goes, I'm not going to look around at this stuff. Yes, it's tempting. Of course it's tempting. You know, it's tempting for all of us. Of course it is. And everyone else is doing it. You know, everyone's living their lives for this red bit.

47. 18:30

    It's only natural. But it's a crazy deception from the world that this red bit is all that matters. You know, in Romans 8, verse 18, Paul says that the sufferings in this red bit, the perceived sacrifices that you might have to make to become a disciple of Christ, here in this red timeline, well, hey, young people, they're not even worth comparing.

48. 18:57

    Not even worth comparing to the glory ahead of us in this never-ending white rope timeline. Not even worth comparing. And he says in Corinthians, Paul says we can't even comprehend how amazing the white rope will be. And yet some people choose to make it just all about this red bit and all about this.

49. 19:31

    All for the sake of a bit of fun here or whatever it is, they give up all of this. So choose the white rope, young people. Choose God. Because right here in your timeline, he has chosen you. And he wants you to be a part of this incredible timeline. Choose life. So back in Ecclesiastes 11, our small section for tonight is this little bit in 11, verse 1 to 6.

50. 20:04

    It's a funny little section. But it's got a few gems in it. Now, I don't at all claim to be an Ecclesiastes expert. I don't claim to be perfectly inside the head of the preacher, Solomon. And fully understand what he's getting at. But I think he'd want us to read this and to ponder.

51. 20:28

    That's what it's all about. Let it sink into our minds and make us have questions. Give us things to speak about. You know, light the fire in our hearts in our search for wisdom. So verse 1, cast your bread upon the waters. You'll find it after many days. So straight up, we've got a funny little concept, casting bread upon water.

52. 20:54

    Only time I've done that is feeding the ducks. And I don't think that's what is being said. Because we know that bread isn't good for ducks. Actually, that would have been the perfect segue into my duck story. That's a little bit later on.

53. 21:10

    There's conjecture on the exact meaning. But the general consensus is that it's referring to being generous. Perhaps might have come from a time when the poor sailors, hungry sailors, would come into shore.

54. 21:26

    Sometimes their journey went longer than expected. They didn't have GPS. Yes. And they'd be ravenous. And when they came to the docks, they'd be dying of hunger. And people would come to the docks ready for them and give them bread. And that's one thing of what he's talking about. But what the preacher here is basically saying is, is be generous and people will be generous to you in your time of need.

55. 21:51

    It's pretty sound advice, really. So as followers of Jesus, we know if we have two coats, we give it to him who has one. So verse 2 goes on, Give a portion to seven or even to eight. For you know not what disaster may happen on the earth. So here he's encouraging us to give when we have, basically.

56. 22:17

    So seven to eight. It's just like a Hebrew term, which is similar to when Jesus said 70 times seven. It's a similar concept. It just means as much as you can. For you know what disaster may happen on the earth. And that, young people, is a direct prophecy of COVID-19. Nah, just joking.

57. 22:40

    Could be for some people, but I couldn't do a talk in 2020 without a Rona mention. But simply put, verse 1 and 2 are just saying that because life is short, because once you're dead, your opportunities to help, to support, to connect, to impact other people are gone. That's it. So it doesn't always mean generous with money either.

58. 23:02

    You know, some of us don't have money. It might mean time. Be generous with your time, with your care, with your support, with your friendship. Be generous with your friendship. Support in many ways.

59. 23:17

    He's just saying, make those red zone moments count. You know, verse 3 starts a little section which makes us start to think about the various concepts of cause and effect. And also time and chance. And it goes on to talk about the limits of analysis. Verse 3. If the clouds are full of rain and they empty themselves on the earth.

60. 23:48

    If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth. If a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. So I think this is contrasting blessings with disaster. And the fact that we have no idea of the timing.

61. 24:08

    You know, the clouds raining, that's a sign of blessing. It waters the earth. It brings life. You know, it brings forth food. And who of us can tell when the cloud is full? Not us. Not even the weather forecasters can get it right. Quite simply, when the clouds fall, it will rain. We don't know the time.

62. 24:26

    It's the same in our lives. We can have unexpected blessings at any time. We don't know when this will happen. And the tree falling, well, that's a disaster. No one predicts it, the preacher says. If it falls on your house, unfortunately, that's where it falls. He's saying that blessings or tragedy can strike at any moment.

63. 24:49

    You know, and we can't see the future. But as humans, we love to know why and how, don't we? We love to analyse, to extract data, and use this to improve or change. Whether in sport, you know, analysing it to an inch of its life, to see where improvements can be made, where things went wrong.

64. 25:10

    And I think it's because it feels like it gives us control, when really we're nothing. We're not in control. But that might be why we overanalyse. And, you know, you'll see it if there's a serious car crash. The car crash team investigators will close down the road for hours, and they'll tape out the points in the road where the first point of braking was, and where the impact was, and take all the measurements and get all the angles, to take the data back to form a report, you know.

65. 25:45

    And these things are important. But people love to feel in control. To know the how and the why, especially in tragedy. You know, it can be a point of contention for some. It can be really encouraging for others. Some people like to see God's providence working in the most micro of ways. You know, everything that happens in my life is for a specific reason, and directly controlled by God.

66. 26:21

    And that's how some people think about God's providence. Some people will think that that mindset might somewhat reduce our free will, and like to have a bit of a balance going on between God's direct intervention combined with time and chance.

67. 26:41

    And then some people, I mean, you can't put everyone in three boxes, but just vaguely speaking, some people believe that God has set the wheels in motion, all the laws of the universe, what happens in this life is all ultimately controlled by God on a macro level, in a sense that he created the universe and all the laws that make everything tick.

68. 27:04

    But the nitty-gritty things are not necessarily direct intervention from God. Now, I'm not down to speak on providence tonight. It's a fascinating topic. It's something that I have looked at. You can speak for hours on it and only scratch the surface. But it's also not something I would be dogmatic on. Very sensitive subject, which people have all different views on.

69. 27:32

    It's not black or white, right or wrong sort of topic. But it's an incredible concept to think how the God of the universe who created all things is intervening or involved in our life today, despite us being so insignificant in the scheme of things. So my personal view is God directly intervenes very little with our free will.

70. 27:56

    Sure, on a macro level, or a big picture zoomed out, he's at play constantly in our lives. But then on a micro level, I'm not so sure 100% of the time with every little detail. Of course he can at any time. And he will if he needs to. But my gauge on it is generally he allows life to happen.

71. 28:18

    You know, like is he involved in every little thing? Like when we drop our phone and smash it, when we stub our toe, is that God telling us a message? Or even where does it stop on the line if we, you know, buy a car, buy a house, get a job, lose a job, crash our car?

72. 28:34

    It's sort of a funny thing to sort of decide when and where it's directly a message from God. You know, are we all like Job where everything that happens, good or bad, is God directly challenging us? It's very, very interesting to think about. But you know, if we're micro-analyzing every single thing that happens, we may be looking for God perhaps in places he isn't, and this might not be helpful for our faith, searching for the wire.

73. 29:06

    And this is what the preacher is warning against, I believe. People over-analyzing circumstances of their life and then this actually being detrimental to their faith because they feel like they want to be in control rather than letting God be in control. And sure, we ascribe things to God and this might be helpful.

74. 29:27

    There's no hurt for most people seeing God in every single little thing. But through the laws of the universe that God has set at creation, I do believe we experience time and chance. And you've probably looked at that in another study this year. There's a really cool quote by C.S. Lewis which considers the relationship between God's direct involvement in our decisions and our free will, which I like the way it's put.

75. 29:57

    And it's basically saying if God is directly involved in all our lives at the whole time with all our decisions, why is there so much evil and war in the world? The quote goes like this. If God thinks this state of war in this universe is a price worth paying for free will, that is, making a live world in which creatures can do real good or real harm and where something of real importance can happen, instead of a toy world which only moves when he pulls the strings, then we may take it that God believes it's a price worth paying.

76. 30:39

    So he's suggesting that God allows humans to make decisions on their own free will and this results in evil, unfortunately, in the world at times. But perhaps this is the price God is willing to pay to find people who will truly respond from the heart and make choices based on their faith in his power to save rather than puppets on a string or robots.

77. 31:04

    You know, God wants real responses, young people. He wants real responses from human beings with the free will to choose and that's what makes it powerful. It's a great perspective for us to have. For us to bring God real glory, we must make our own choices, respond to him in love and then he's proud of us.

78. 31:27

    He wants us to show repentance. He leads us into love and understanding, appreciation of his ways, appreciation of support and love, things which sometimes can't be defined in the absence of trial, loss and suffering and that's why these things happen to us. And he wanted all these things that we hold so precious to be real and he counted that the price worth paying for that is this awful world we live in today.

79. 32:00

    So then, how can we quantify God, how much God is involved in our daily lives then? Is it, we know he's invested in us, he knows our thoughts, he loves us so much that he gave his only son, we know that. But can we attribute everything as direct judgment or direct blessing from God?

80. 32:20

    Or is it as we have here, the rain falls and blesses whenever it does, the tree falls and curses somewhat randomly, time and chance happens to all. Well, just to sort of summarise on this little dabble into providence, I guess, I think what I found really helpful is Brother Robert Roberts' summary in his book, The Ways of Providence.

81. 32:44

    It's a really good read I recommend on this fascinating subject. This is what Brother Robert Roberts says. God has control of all chance, but not all chance is controlled. It is controlled when God's purpose requires it, but not all natural things are divine. In fact, few of them are. Now, if we cannot make out which are and which are not divine, we need not be concerned.

82. 33:13

    Sufficient for us to think that God may be at work where things seem natural. So it's helpful for us to be aware that God in his awesome power can intervene at any time in our lives, and he will when it's with his plan, and this can be a huge comfort to us. But the rain falls on the just and the unjust, and we have this short time on earth now to respond to his love, to grow our faith and character in the bad times, and to share our joy and blessings with each other in the good times.

83. 33:51

    You know, it's encouraging to know that God is in control of all things. Romans 8 verse 28, Paul says, And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. So it doesn't mean all things will be good all the time.

84. 34:14

    They weren't for Paul, were they? But they will work together for good in the long run. Our response to our circumstances we're in is what matters. So verse 4, the preacher goes on to say, Sorry. He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. So he's basically saying, if a farmer is over-analytical, then he would never sow, would he?

85. 34:48

    If they were that risk-adverse. There's always going to be an element of risk being a farmer. You know, they don't know if the 200 grand of seed that they've just sown is going to reap any profit. What they do know is they have to have a crack. If he doesn't sow, the preacher says, he definitely won't reap.

86. 35:11

    You know, if he's too worried about the perfect conditions, the perfect time, he'll never sow, and there'll be nothing to reap. We all know the parable of the sower in Luke 8. Jesus said, The sower went forth to sow. Some fell on the stony ground. Some fell on the wayside. Some fell on the thorns.

87. 35:30

    And some fell on the good ground. Now, Jesus didn't say, The sower went forth to sow, analysed all the data, and sowed only on the good ground. No, the seed was scattered at every opportunity. You know, and each one of us here, young people, are farmers. Each one of us here are sowers.

88. 35:51

    And this is what the message of this little section is. We have the opportunity now, in this red bit, to sow the seed. To teach people about the saving work of Jesus Christ. To let people know there is a hope in this world. To tell people of the coming king. And who knows?

89. 36:17

    You may be able to help someone join the white rope by doing so. You may just save someone's life. It's pretty powerful. Is it risky? Yeah, well, could feel embarrassed, I guess. Rejected, maybe. Maybe. Maybe not. Probably not. Maybe. But our job is to plant the seed. To seize our moments. And God will give the increase.

90. 36:48

    Verse 5 and 6 talks about this. Verse 5. And you do not know the way of the Spirit. The way the Spirit comes to the bones in the womb. Of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand.

91. 37:08

    For you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good. So, verse 5 touches on providence, use the example of new birth. The miracle of birth. It's still a mystery to man. Sure, we can break down the mechanics, but how to make something breathe the breath of life.

92. 37:35

    It's still a mystery to mankind. God's power is something we will never fully comprehend. And verse 6 just reiterates to us, sow the seed. You know, God works in mysterious and wonderful ways. We don't know how God is working in each of our lives either. What scenarios he has set up for us to plant the seed, to seize our moments.

93. 37:58

    We had a sow in the morning and the evening, he says. We don't know exactly how God's working. We don't know what scenarios he's set up for us to plant the seed. We don't know the right time. We don't know the perfect time. So, sorry, that was my topic, but I can't tell you when is the perfect time.

94. 38:20

    You know, our job is to just take the opportunities that we're getting, to seize the moments we have in this short life, to tell people about this incredible hope we have. And what holds us back? Is it not knowing when the right time is? Can be. Is it perhaps us feeling a bit awkward, you know, the fear of rejection, fear of being rejected by people who believe that life is just all about the red bit?

95. 38:48

    Perhaps. I love those jumpers I see young people wearing from a camp or something, which says, I'm not ashamed of Christ, written right across the back. That's awesome. You know, young people, I feel with preaching, we can easily get stuck in the mindset of the timing's just not right and that the right time will come.

96. 39:14

    Do you feel that? I know I do. You know, if I get a chance to have a real good chat with them, I'll be able to explain my beliefs properly. If I just gave them a snippet now, it might come across wrong and I'll lose my chance with that person. So I'll wait for a better time.

97. 39:34

    Have you thought this? I've thought this. Look, it can be valid, but it can also be dangerous. It can be a bit of a cop-out. You know, I've had someone that comes to mind that I've known for probably four to five years and I've deflected many, many moments and wow, five years has passed and he wouldn't even know what I believe.

98. 39:59

    I'm sure I'm not alone in this. If I am alone, it's a really, really good thing, but I'm guessing some would relate to this. What are we afraid of? Well, awkwardness, I guess, potentially becoming unpopular or isolated. You know, I find that's often not the case though with people I've spoken to about my faith.

99. 40:23

    At worst, you sort of get a disinterested or humanistic sort of you-do-you sort of attitude. But I feel like sometimes in our life, in the truth, we can get bogged down in these things. Freedom in Christ can sort of morph into like a weight on our shoulders almost. But if we just take a step back, we have the gospel, the good news.

100. 40:51

     What is the gospel? Is it a negative, unpopular, outdated rules on how to live in this red bit? Far from it. It's the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. Life-changing, liberating, exciting news. You know, you have it, I have it. The secret to eternal life. All of this white rope on our timeline ahead of us.

101. 41:15

     The power of resurrection. People we know that have died will be raised from the dead. You know, Jesus Christ died for you and I and we hold the hope of eternity through God's grace. And this is an incredible thing that should so far outweigh any human emotion about feeling ashamed or scared of rejection.

102. 41:41

     You know, you live for Christ in the red bit, you live with Christ for eternity. How is that negative? But, you know, it's a real struggle that we have to confess our faith to all. and we just have to, we just have to sow that seed. Paul says, I love Paul, Paul says in Philippians, there is nothing that I shall be ashamed but that with all boldness.

103. 42:08

     And sometimes I think that we perhaps just need a bit more boldness, don't we? A little bit more confidence. Joe and I have this walk we do. It's not far from our house. It's a little trail which snakes along the creek. It's beautiful. There's often amazing bird life, wildlife and trees at this time of year.

104. 42:30

     There's all wildflowers. It's fascinating. We love it. We're walking along there one Sunday morning and Joe spotted this duck. Had about six real fresh ducklings like, I don't know ducklings but I'd say two days old.

105. 42:46

     And they were trying to follow their mum upstream. And they'd be fine in some spots but there'd be some spots where there's like a rock or a stick creating a little waterfall and they were sort of struggling and it was pretty funny and cute and all of that. So we took some videos and we climbed back on the path and kept walking along the path.

106. 43:05

     And not far along there was this lady with a couple of kids, complete strangers, walking towards us. And I didn't say anything but I just knew there is no way that Joe would not be able to tell these people about these fresh ducklings. Sure enough, complete strangers, hey guys, you've got to take a look down there, the funniest cute little ducklings.

107. 43:25

     Some really, you've really got to have a look. And they went down and had a look and loved it. And it just struck me how confident and at ease Joe was to tell complete strangers that exciting news. And yet sometimes I feel somewhat hesitant to tell people about eternal life, about living forever, about the resurrection, you know, about our King Jesus Christ.

108. 43:53

     The good news of the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, it should be bursting out of us, shouldn't it? It should be, it's absolutely incredible. And sometimes that human feeling, that fear of rejection is what holds us back from sharing the good news or for standing up for something which we know is right.

109. 44:12

     You know, no one's going to rebuke you for telling them about ducklings, but we may be rebuked for talking about our faith. But really, will we? I guess it's that unknown that can sort of hold us back, can't it? You know, I think we should pray for confidence and we should pray for courage.

110. 44:30

     because the difference between one of those mini moments, and we all know what they are, they're different for every person. I'm sure we experience them at times and you just know when you've missed a moment to tell someone about Jesus. But the difference between those moments sinking in and us missing them is huge.

111. 44:54

     It could save a life. We have to just sow, as the preacher says, at all times. I coach a footy team and my mantra is seizing your moments. So it works in quite well with tonight. But it's a good concept. There's 36 guys on the field at one time and there's only one ball for two hours.

112. 45:19

     So there's players who are better than others, but the reality is you're not going to have possession of the ball for, or be able to influence the play for the whole two hours. You'll just have these little moments, maybe 10 per game, and the whole team relies on you to just seize that moment and have an impact.

113. 45:38

     Before the game, I'd write three words on the whiteboard or I'd have them printed off. Identify, commit, deliver. Identify. So mentally register that this is your moment. If you're not switched on and not concentrating, you won't even get past that first step of identifying a mini moment and it'll be gone. And this takes forethought.

114. 46:05

     You know, before a game, knowing what your mini moments are going to look like so that when they come, you can identify, yep, that's my moment. Be ready for it. Step two is to commit. So physically commit to the mark or the tackle or kick or whatever it is. You've got to commit.

115. 46:24

     You can't second guess. Once your brain has identified that, yep, that's my moment, now's the time to commit. Third and final step is deliver. So you have to actually use the skill and techniques that you've trained during the week and put work into to deliver in that moment. All those three things happen in a split second but when you break it down and you watch it working out on the field and guys are thinking about this, being mindful of it, it really makes a difference.

116. 46:57

     At times when players would usually lack confidence or second guess themselves, they're identifying these mini moments, making the most of them and we'll get real tangible results. You know, in life we can always have our minds that there will be other opportunities, there will be other chances but the siren goes and you think back to many, many moments which perhaps you didn't identify them as a moment or perhaps you didn't commit to the moment or maybe you did those first two pretty good, you identified and you commit but you just didn't have the skills, you hadn't done the training to deliver in that moment.

117. 47:38

     And you know, like most things we can relate lessons from our daily life, things like sport or whatever it is, to our spiritual life. Paul does this when he speaks of the runner. Actually, when I say spiritual life, I don't really like that term because it infers a different life. Every day is our spiritual life and these mini moments can happen and do happen at any time.

118. 48:03

     But I guess this one resonated with me in regards to preaching or representing Christ because we don't have 24 hours a day of opportunities but within those 24 hours there are multiple mini moments where we make a choice, conscious or subconscious, to either seize that moment or let it slip. And you just never know which seed God will water and give the increase and you know that's not up to us.

119. 48:33

     Our job is to seize our moments. It doesn't have to be some random on the street either. How many mates do you know that you see at youth groups, you catch up on weekends, you see around the Christadelphian circles but you've never really spoken to them about the Bible? You know, I've got some real good mates that I remember when I was in youth groups I had some really good mates that yeah, I hadn't really spoken to about the Bible and about our faith and it's kind of weird because that's why we're all here.

120. 49:06

     But you know, maybe I just didn't identify moments to do it or maybe I identified maybe heaps of times but I just didn't commit. You know, and if you don't commit you can't deliver. I guess young people the more we seize these mini moments in our lives the more we realise that the bad experiences we're going to experience aren't really that bad and the good experiences can be really awesome and really life changing.

121. 49:33

     And I guarantee if you go out this week determined to identify, commit and deliver in your moments to preach to friends, family or randoms you won't regret you won't regret it at all. Our opening hymn today spoke of giving everything for Christ. There's one verse in that which particularly took my interest and it's take my moments and my days let them flow in ceaseless praise take my moments and my days our days are made up of moments of opportunity time which is given to us by God.

122. 50:11

     Okay, to finish tonight I just want to tell a quick story about a young girl who seized her moments. It's based on a true story. She's a real person who lives with a strong faith. Her name's Abigail. Now she was a war prisoner. She was taken away from her family and became a servant in another country.

123. 50:34

     and she worked for the house of an army captain as a household servant among other servants. She would always go above and beyond for she would always go above and beyond and she she began to be noticed by the captain's wife. She was then promoted to the captain's wife's personal assistant and she really started to build some trust with her.

124. 51:05

     She was a real faithful girl had a lot of confidence. She would often take any opportunity to talk about God to her fellow workers. The other servants would be scared and would see her as she would speak to the master's wife and think oh you can't do that. You know this can be the same for us can't it?

125. 51:26

     You know at uni or work if we mention religion sometimes people can tense up don't they? Get a little bit awkward. But she would seize her moments wherever she could. She really wanted to tell the captain's wife about her faith but you know she knew if the captain's wife took it wrong she could lose everything she's built up.

126. 51:51

     All that trust and relationship. You know they're a different culture they have different beliefs to us it might be offensive to them so she would say nothing. and then that thought of missing a moment would eat her up. She would think about it all the time. And I know that feeling I'm sure you do too of ah I should have said something there.

127. 52:15

     So she recounts this one unique experience where she was asked to come off on a day trip out of town to assist the captain's wife with selecting some new fabrics for clothing. On the way home was the first time the captain's wife had ever really talked to her about her past and asked her a question you know about her culture.

128. 52:37

     This was completely taboo in her position as a servant. But Abigail identified this as a moment. She committed to the moment and she delivered and she told the captain's wife all about her faith in the one true God and said that all who repent and be baptized will be saved. When she got home she wondered what had happened.

129. 53:02

     Oh what have I done? Captain's wife didn't really say much actually. She was a bit standoffish. She felt like at least I had planted the seed. Then she was like oh I wonder why I haven't done anything until now. She'd been too worried about getting rejected. Build up too much trust and rapport with the captain's wife that she thought she was worried she would lose it all.

130. 53:27

     We can have those thoughts can't we? If we tell people at work or uni about our faith they might reject us as weirdos. We need a bit of confidence in that moment. As friends we need to gee each other up to seize our moments. Nothing really happened there for Abigail. Life went on for a couple of years as if nothing had happened.

131. 53:51

     She thought maybe it hadn't really sunk in and the captain's wife had forgotten about it. But she sort of knew that if anything ever happened it will be in her mind and she'll know I'm someone to talk to. And I'm big on this too. If you don't have the confidence or the conviction to tell people at work, at uni or school, that's okay.

132. 54:16

     If you can't tell them about your faith in Jesus Christ and that it will save lives, at least, at least, very least, get across to these people that you believe in God and that you're religious and then they'll watch how you live. And that way the seed is planted and if that person ever wants to know more about Jesus, they know that you're the person to come speak to.

133. 54:40

     And if you can't say the words, wear the jumper. the way you talk, the way you act, the way you try your best to be like Jesus Christ, all these things help preach this incredible hope we have. So anyway, life was ticking on normally about three years after that road trip where Abigail had seized our moments.

134. 55:01

     Suddenly everything changed. The captain came home from a war mission and had contracted a disease. And he was terminally ill. the house was full of dread. You know, it was a moment which silenced the house. And strangely the captain's wife came up to Abigail and said, can you help? You know, she knew that there was nothing medical she could do as a servant.

135. 55:30

     So she knew she was being asked to tell about her God who could save. You know, and again Abigail knew that she needed to risk everything now and seize her moment. The captain wouldn't have been used to being spoken to by a servant, let alone preached or told what to do. But with boldness she committed, she went to the captain and told him of her faith, told him that if he repented and was baptised, he would be saved.

136. 56:02

     And that if he turned to God, he would be saved. You know, initially the captain was a bit angry. what, just be baptised in water? You know, in my culture we kill a lion and have a large feast and you're telling me to wash like a humble peasant. And Abigail began to fear and think, uh-oh, I've blown it here, this is not going to end well.

137. 56:25

     But because of the relationship and the trust that Abigail had with the captain's wife, the captain's wife calmed the captain and spoke to him at length, said she had been watching how Abigail lived, how she spoke, how she was kind, how she was loving, how she always put other people first, that there was something about this girl, there was a spark.

138. 56:47

     She knew it was a true and convicted faith and there must be something to it. You know, one timely comment there led to many more conversations about God. And the words of Abigail were received by her masters with joy. And he was baptised, true story, and he also recovered from his illness and became a faithful man of God.

139. 57:10

     The whole family was converted and baptised and it was all because Abigail seized her moment, she took a risk, she saved her whole family. It's an incredible story of bravery and making your moments count. You never know how God is working in people's lives, young people. You never know who is ready to accept Christ either and who and how you will end up having an influence in their life.

140. 57:35

     Could be your boss, it was for Abigail, as unlikely as it seems. Could be your colleague or friend, but if you don't plant the seed, there's no chance of increase. Identify your many moments, commit to the moment and then deliver. forever. Now, as I said, that story of Abigail was based on a story.

141. 57:58

     Let's go there now. Turn to 2 Kings 5. Sorry. Yeah, 2 Kings 5. Yeah, I was right. 2 Kings 5 verse 5. Now, Naaman was the commander of an army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram.

142. 58:38

     He was a valiant soldier but had leprosy. Now, the band of raiders from Aram had gone out and taken captive a young girl from Israel and she served Naaman's wife. And she said to her mistress, if only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy.

143. 58:57

     And we know the story and in verse 15 Naaman says, now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. Now, I'm aware I took on some illustrative license to pad the story out a bit, but if you think about this young girl and the situation of where she had come from and where she was now, it's a great little gem in the Bible of someone seizing her moments.

144. 59:21

     She could have easily kept quiet. It wasn't even her place to say anything. You know, she could have said nothing. I have heaps of times. But you know, this girl in 2 Kings 5, whoever she was, you know, she's given me confidence to grab my moments after reading this. And how many times have people said things like, this is a crazy world we live in.

145. 59:49

     You've heard that a lot this year, I'm sure. Where's this all heading? You know, I'm sure we've had many chances to plant the seed. And maybe we didn't identify it or maybe we didn't commit. But next time, just take it. Have the confidence to take it. You know, Jesus is coming back to the earth soon, young people.

146. 1:00:10

     Our bit of red, where is it? Here it is. Our bit of red might only be somewhere around here in our minds. But we might only have to here. You know, the timeline of white rope, which goes on forever, might be a year, might be a month, might be tomorrow. We don't know.

147. 1:00:35

     But it's going to be an incredible time. So make it your goal, make it everything. You know, eternity, it's a very long time, as we've demonstrated tonight. It's forever. How you spend your moments is how you spend your life. How you spend your moments is how you spend your life. So seize your moments, young people, make God proud with your decisions and your choices, and I can't wait to share eternity in God's kingdom with all of you soon.

148. 1:01:12

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149. 1:02:12

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