Redeeming Time: Abiding in Christ for Impact
Summary
### Summary
Today, we began our new series, "Habits of a Healthy Heart," by focusing on the crucial topic of time. Time is the great equalizer; we all have the same 24 hours in a day, yet how we spend it shapes our legacy. Reflecting on the average American's time allocation, we see that much of our life is spent on sleep, work, and leisure. However, the real question is, how will we be remembered in 100 years? While our names may fade from memory, our actions and how we use our time can have eternal significance.
Jesus teaches us in John 15:1-6 that to make our time count, we must live our lives out of our connection with Him. He is the true vine, and we are the branches. By abiding in Him, we can bear much fruit. This passage emphasizes that apart from Jesus, we can do nothing. Abiding in Him is not a passive act but an active process of growth, refinement, and transformation. God, as the vine dresser, trims and cuts away parts of our lives to help us flourish and become who He created us to be.
God's trimming process involves refining the good areas of our lives to make them great, while His cutting process removes the dead weight and unhealthy distractions that hinder our growth. This can be challenging, but it is an act of divine love aimed at helping us redeem our time and live purposefully. We are encouraged to infuse Christ into every aspect of our lives, whether at work, home, or leisure, making every moment an opportunity to shine His light.
Ultimately, the call is to stay connected to Jesus, allowing Him to shape and mold us. By doing so, we can redeem our time and make a lasting impact for God's kingdom. Let us live our lives out of our connection with Jesus, abiding in Him, and see how He can use us to do amazing things.
### Key Takeaways
1. Time as a Legacy Builder: How we spend our time shapes our legacy. While our names may not be remembered in 100 years, our actions and how we use our time can have eternal significance. By focusing on meaningful activities that glorify God, we can leave a lasting impact. [33:28]
2. Abiding in Jesus: Jesus teaches us to abide in Him, as He is the true vine and we are the branches. Abiding is an active process of growth and transformation, not a passive state. By staying connected to Jesus, we can bear much fruit and fulfill our God-given purpose. [36:37]
3. God's Trimming and Cutting: God, as the vine dresser, trims the good areas of our lives to make them great and cuts away the dead weight and unhealthy distractions. This process, though challenging, is an act of divine love aimed at helping us flourish and redeem our time. [43:15]
4. Infusing Christ into Daily Life: We are encouraged to infuse Christ into every aspect of our lives, whether at work, home, or leisure. By making every moment an opportunity to shine His light, we can redeem our time and make a lasting impact for God's kingdom. [01:01:08]
5. Staying Connected to Jesus: The call is to stay connected to Jesus, allowing Him to shape and mold us. By living our lives out of our connection with Him, we can withstand life's pressures and be used by God to do amazing things. Abiding in Jesus ensures that our time is used purposefully and effectively. [55:05]
### YouTube Chapters
[0:00] - Welcome
[06:28] - Connecting with Asbury Church
[07:10] - Upcoming Events and Announcements
[08:26] - Preparing for Worship
[31:29] - Introduction to "Habits of a Healthy Heart"
[32:23] - Time Allocation in Our Lives
[33:28] - Legacy and Time
[34:15] - Making an Eternal Impact
[35:33] - Living Out of Our Connection with Jesus
[36:37] - John 15:1-6: The True Vine
[39:28] - Jesus as the True Vine
[41:32] - Path to God Through Jesus
[42:24] - Abiding in Jesus
[43:15] - God's Trimming and Cutting Process
[46:19] - Iron Sharpens Iron
[47:55] - Removing Unhealthy Distractions
[50:52] - Letting Go of the Past
[55:05] - Staying Connected to Jesus
[01:01:08] - Infusing Christ into Daily Life
[01:03:14] - Final Encouragement and Prayer
[01:04:53] - Time of Response and Prayer
Study Guide
### Bible Study Discussion Guide
#### Bible Reading
- John 15:1-6
- Hebrews 12:1-2
#### Observation Questions
1. According to John 15:1-6, what does Jesus mean when He says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser"? How does this imagery help us understand our relationship with Jesus?
2. In the sermon, what were some of the statistics shared about how the average American spends their time? How do these statistics relate to the concept of legacy? [32:23]
3. What are the two main actions God takes as the vine dresser, according to the sermon? How do these actions help us grow spiritually? [43:15]
#### Interpretation Questions
1. What does it mean to "abide" in Jesus, based on John 15:1-6 and the sermon? How is this different from a passive relationship with Him? [36:37]
2. The sermon mentioned that God trims the good areas of our lives to make them great and cuts away the dead weight. How can this process be seen as an act of divine love? [43:15]
3. Hebrews 12:1-2 talks about laying aside every weight and sin. How does this passage connect with the idea of God cutting away unhealthy distractions and past mistakes in our lives? [50:52]
#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on your daily schedule. Are there areas where you feel you are not using your time effectively for God's glory? How can you start to redeem that time this week? [01:00:06]
2. Think about a specific area in your life where you feel God might be "trimming" or "cutting away." How can you cooperate with this process instead of resisting it? [43:57]
3. The sermon emphasized the importance of staying connected to Jesus to withstand life's pressures. Is there a specific distraction in your life preventing you from focusing on Jesus that you want to change? How can you minimize that distraction this week? [56:40]
4. How can you infuse Christ into your daily activities, whether at work, home, or leisure? Share one practical way you plan to do this in the coming days. [01:01:08]
5. The sermon mentioned the importance of letting go of past mistakes and sins. Is there something from your past that you need to let go of? How can you take a step towards releasing it this week? [50:52]
6. Identify one person in your life who might benefit from seeing Christ's light through you. How can you intentionally shine His light in your interactions with them this week? [01:02:20]
7. Reflect on the concept of legacy. What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind, and how can you start building that legacy through your actions and use of time today? [33:28]
Devotional
Day 1: Time as a Legacy Builder
How we spend our time shapes our legacy. While our names may not be remembered in 100 years, our actions and how we use our time can have eternal significance. By focusing on meaningful activities that glorify God, we can leave a lasting impact. Reflect on the average American's time allocation, which includes sleep, work, and leisure. The real question is, how will we be remembered in 100 years? While our names may fade from memory, our actions and how we use our time can have eternal significance. Jesus teaches us in John 15:1-6 that to make our time count, we must live our lives out of our connection with Him. He is the true vine, and we are the branches. By abiding in Him, we can bear much fruit. This passage emphasizes that apart from Jesus, we can do nothing. Abiding in Him is not a passive act but an active process of growth, refinement, and transformation. God, as the vine dresser, trims and cuts away parts of our lives to help us flourish and become who He created us to be. [33:28]
Ephesians 5:15-16 (ESV): "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil."
Reflection: What is one specific way you can use your time today to create a lasting impact for God's kingdom?
Day 2: Abiding in Jesus
Jesus teaches us to abide in Him, as He is the true vine and we are the branches. Abiding is an active process of growth and transformation, not a passive state. By staying connected to Jesus, we can bear much fruit and fulfill our God-given purpose. Abiding in Jesus means living our lives out of our connection with Him. This connection is not passive but requires active engagement, growth, and transformation. Jesus emphasizes that apart from Him, we can do nothing. By staying connected to Him, we can bear much fruit and fulfill our God-given purpose. This involves daily practices of prayer, reading Scripture, and seeking His guidance in all aspects of our lives. [36:37]
John 15:4-5 (ESV): "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."
Reflection: What daily habit can you start today to strengthen your connection with Jesus?
Day 3: God's Trimming and Cutting
God, as the vine dresser, trims the good areas of our lives to make them great and cuts away the dead weight and unhealthy distractions. This process, though challenging, is an act of divine love aimed at helping us flourish and redeem our time. God's trimming process involves refining the good areas of our lives to make them great, while His cutting process removes the dead weight and unhealthy distractions that hinder our growth. This can be challenging, but it is an act of divine love aimed at helping us redeem our time and live purposefully. We are encouraged to infuse Christ into every aspect of our lives, whether at work, home, or leisure, making every moment an opportunity to shine His light. [43:15]
Hebrews 12:11 (ESV): "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
Reflection: What is one area of your life that God might be trimming or cutting? How can you embrace this process as an act of divine love?
Day 4: Infusing Christ into Daily Life
We are encouraged to infuse Christ into every aspect of our lives, whether at work, home, or leisure. By making every moment an opportunity to shine His light, we can redeem our time and make a lasting impact for God's kingdom. Infusing Christ into daily life means making every moment an opportunity to shine His light. Whether at work, home, or leisure, we are called to live purposefully and reflect Christ's love and grace in all we do. This involves being mindful of our actions, words, and attitudes, ensuring they align with our faith and glorify God. By doing so, we can redeem our time and make a lasting impact for God's kingdom. [01:01:08]
Colossians 3:17 (ESV): "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
Reflection: How can you intentionally infuse Christ into one specific area of your daily routine today?
Day 5: Staying Connected to Jesus
The call is to stay connected to Jesus, allowing Him to shape and mold us. By living our lives out of our connection with Him, we can withstand life's pressures and be used by God to do amazing things. Abiding in Jesus ensures that our time is used purposefully and effectively. Staying connected to Jesus means allowing Him to shape and mold us. By living our lives out of our connection with Him, we can withstand life's pressures and be used by God to do amazing things. This involves daily practices of prayer, reading Scripture, and seeking His guidance in all aspects of our lives. By doing so, we ensure that our time is used purposefully and effectively, making a lasting impact for God's kingdom. [55:05]
Jeremiah 17:7-8 (ESV): "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."
Reflection: What is one area of your life where you need to deepen your connection with Jesus? How can you start doing that today?
Quotes
1. "How we spend our time, what we spend our time doing over your lifetime will add to that legacy of how you will be remembered. But here's the question, and I'll just admit, I've asked this before of you all, and it's a somewhat depressing question. In 100 years, who will be remembered, right? In 100 years, who will be remembered? Think about this. In 100 years, we will surely be gone. And so will our children. Our grandchildren will be in their latter years and perhaps gone as well. Will we be remembered then? Who is going to remember us? Probably not. Our name will probably fall somewhere within a family tree, but we really, our name might be there, but we won't be remembered." [33:28] (46 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2. "However, we have a chance to make an impact. We have a chance to make an impact on the lives of others that will be remembered for all of eternity by the one true God who we all have to give an account to, right? We have a chance to claim our time, to do things that actually matter, to redeem our time, to not just simply having a perspective on that chart of how everything's kind of broken up within our day and our week and our lifetime, but actually looking at our time and seeing how we can redeem it. How we can use it all for the glory of God as we think about how we spend our time. Let's make it count, this side of heaven. Let's make our time count because our actions will echo into eternity." [35:33] (52 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "Live your life out of your connection with Jesus for us to get this right, to stay true north. We must stay connected to the one that can actually keep us focused. Keep us in that eternal perspective at all times. So how do we get there? What does this actually look like? What does this actually look like for us for that we're going to be reading out of John 15, one through six is Jesus has a simple and yet complicated response, right? It's simple, but it's really hard to put it into practice. But with him, all things are possible." [36:37] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "He is the son of God. He is the Messiah. He is the king of kings. He is the Lord of lords. And when he said this last statement, I am the true vine, all the good Jewish boys and girls would have been doing a double take like, wait, what? What did you? Wait, you just called yourself the true? Vine? And they would have done that because Israel was always seen as the vine or the vineyard of God. This is painted for us all throughout scripture, but Isaiah 5 is the famous one, the song of the vineyard. And here, Jesus is saying, yes, I realize Israel is painted as the vine, but I am the true vine. I am everything Israel is not. He is the true Israel." [39:28] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "The path to God doesn't go through Israel, which all good Israelites would have believed. The path goes through Israel. It is all about him. It is all about following, going to temple. Being a good Jewish boy and girl was what it's all about, to be that citizen. But rather, he's declaring, it goes through me. The path to God goes through Jesus. You don't need to be a citizen of Israel to be right with God. You need to be a disciple of Jesus. He's ultimately saying, as what we've already talked about, is live your life out of your connection with Jesus. As he's saying to them and he's saying to us, live your life out of your connection with me." [41:32] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
6. "Every part of your life that is helping you become more like Jesus, he trims. Every part of your life that is helping others become more like Jesus, he trims. Every part of your life that is helping others see Jesus in you, he trims. Think about all the hats that you wear within a given day. A spouse, a parent, i.e. Uber driver, right? Son, daughter, leader, co-worker, friend, and hopefully a member of Asbury Church. Think about those hats that you have to wear. How time is given out to all these different positions and hats that you wear." [44:28] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
7. "God takes away the things that don't belong. God takes away the things that weigh us down in life. God takes away the things that keep us from bringing who God created us to be. Now think about your life as I am sure there are things in your life that shouldn't be there that may be little shootouts. Things that are forming into branches within your life shouldn't exist, but they do see God is in that process of cutting that away, helping us to flourish. And what could those things be? It could be unhealthy distractions, and I'm sure maybe those things are popping your head of what those unhealthy distractions might be in your life." [47:55] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
8. "God is so determined to shape you and make you into something better, more beautiful, than you are right now. He is determined to make you more like Jesus each and every day. God is so committed to this that he has God's commitment to you is greater than your commitment to comfort. God is committed to you. Your God's commitment to you is greater than your commitment to comfort. Let's face it. This is what we do. This is why God says, I am going to come in and trim. I am going to cut in and cut away because we will always. Gravitate to easy or the comfortable and yet God, when we say yes to him, he is going to mold us." [53:10] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
9. "When we look at this, they're all the same, but there is a difference though. When we choose to disconnect, to step away from God to say, you know what? I got this. God, I got this. I can do this under my own power. When the world starts to come at us and we feel crunched and we feel self coming in, we feel the things that we're possibly clinging to of how time is coming at us. We feel drained from all the things that we're possibly clinging to. All the different demands and everything else we have is that when that happens to us, what happens? Crunch. They look the same, right? Everything on the outside looked the same. And yet when the world's pressures happen, when time started to crunch in, it crumbled." [56:04] (47 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
10. "When we remain, when we abide in him, this is what's possible. There might be some dents in the can. There might be some bruises, discoloring, but we're still here. We're still here. And this is what God promises for us. Promises to, to each and every one of us and to get this, to stay just like this with the bruises with the dirtiness that might happen. Yet God cleans us off through the sacrifice of his son on that cross, right? This can can easily get cleaned up. And so can we, and it comes back to this point that we made. I made at the very beginning is live your life out of your connection with Jesus, because when we don't, we are testing to be a disaster, to get crumpled." [57:48] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
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