Priorities (Short lesson: “Nothing Undone”)

(Joshua 11:15) As the LORD commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses.

Review from last week:

1. Life is too short to do everything you’re supposed to do.
2. That means something must be left undone.
3. You show me what you leave undone, and I will tell you what kind of Christian you are.
4. Most of us leave the important things undone and do the less important things.
5. The reason for that is, big things never clamor for you time.
6. So the important things must be done on purpose.

Priorities:

1. God comes first (Matt. 6:33)

• If we do not have God first in our lives, everything else will fall apart.
• This includes our personal time with God: Bible reading and studying, prayer, church attendance, etc.

2. Family (Eph. 5:21 – 6:4)

•  Submission to each other
•  Wives, your husband comes first
•  Husbands, your wife comes first
•  Children, obey your parents

3. Church (Heb. 10:25)

•  The local New Testament church is God’s chosen institution for our time, and, as such, we should be faithful to it.

4. Work (Gen. 3:17-19; 2 Thes. 3:12)

•  We are to work to provide the necessities for family and ourselves.  This does not require working for wants.

5. Others (Gal. 6:10; 1 John 3:16-19)

•  The Bible is clear that we need to make time for others in our life.  If we have the ability to help someone in their time of need, we should do it.  It will help build good relationships and lead to a good example for Christ.

6. Self (2 John 8; Rom. 14:12)

•  We should be at the bottom of the list, but we should still make sure that we are on the list.  A person that does not take time for himself sometimes will tend to become discouraged and discontented with his life.  Some recreation is needful, but it should be in moderation.