Ps Darin Browne brings life changing messages from Ignite Christian Church Woombye, Australia, packed with scripture and powerful teaching that will change your life forever!
Episodes
Sunday Sep 18, 2016
Sunday Sep 18, 2016
Kairos Moments in a Chronos World?
Do you know what I am talking about?
Let’s pretend that your banker phoned you late last Friday and said he had some very good news. He told you that an anonymous donor who loves you very much has decided to deposit 86,400 pennies into your account each morning, starting the following Monday morning. That’s $864 a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year.
He adds, “But there’s one stipulation; you must spend all that money that same day. No balance will be carried over to the next day. Each evening the bank must cancel whatever sum you failed to use.”
With a big smile, you thank your banker and hang up. Over that weekend you have time to plan. You grab a pencil and start figuring; $864 times seven equals over $6,000 a week times fifty-two. That’s almost $315,000 a year that you have available to you if you’re diligent to spend it all each day. Remember, whatever you don’t spend is forfeited.
So much for “Let’s Pretend”.
Now let’s play “Let’s Get Serious.” Every morning Someone who loves you very much deposits into your bank of time 86,400 seconds of time—which represent 1,440 minutes—which, of course, equal twenty-four hours each day.
Now you’ve got to remember the same stipulation applies, because God gives you this amount of time for you to use each day. Nothing is ever carried over on credit to the next day. There is no such thing as a twenty-six hour day (though some of us wish there were). From today’s dawn until tomorrow’s dawn, you have a precisely determined amount of time. As someone has put it, “Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you want to, but you can spend it only once.”
Time is something we feel we never have enough of, yet we give it away so easily. Someone once said, “Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.”
Time is a precious commodity… We all want more, and we all get the same amount. It's how we use it that really becomes the precious commodity, isn't it? It's what we achieve with it.
So what does the Bible say about time, and how can that impact our lives and cause us to use our time more effectively in our modern, it,e poor society?
THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING!
There are 3 Greek words for time and each holds a different meaning.
CHRONOS
CHRONOS time is what we mainly consider to be time… Hours, minutes, seconds. Hence we talk about a specific time or time frame, such as in
Acts 1:6-7
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
God set this type of time up. It is governed by the rotation of the earth around the sun, and it's something we measure, and we keep to.
We live in a time based world. We live in a CHRONOS world. You have appointments, planes to catch, bills to pay, TV shows to watch, church to attend… And all of this is the time based CHRONOS.
AION
AION is used to refer to an age, a cycle or a season, a span of time, for example a man’s lifespan. It particularly has reference to eternity or forever…
Matthew 12:32
And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
John 6:51
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
KAIROS
KAIROS time is probably the most interesting use of the word for time. It refers not to hours, minutes, days and years, but to a specific time when something significant happens. For example, 9-11 is a KAIROS moment in our history. Germany invading Poland in 1939. Roe vs Wade which opened abortions up. Not hours, minutes and days but times of significance, where history is made, destiny is determined and life is not the same afterwards.
In the Bible, this word is used of the occasions when God steps into time and space and does something incredible. The Red Sea, Jericho, Paul’s conversion experience, the cross. These moments can happen in history, in a nation, in a church or an individual’s life.
It is without doubt the most exciting time to live in. Obtaining this building is a KAIROS moment for our church, and there are more to come! But how can you Kairos Moments in a Chronos World?
Finding Kairos Moments in a Chronos World
In a CHRONOS world, the seconds tick by, and we cannot reverse it, slow it or stop it. The seconds become hours, the hours days, the days weeks, then months, then years then decades.
One day you're studying at college, and before you know it the kids have grown up and gone their own way. You're muddling along in a career, just making a living, just existing out of habit more than anything.
What does your life look like? Has it passed you by, or is it passing you by? If you had your time over again, what would you do differently?
KAIROS was the different meaning of time, and it refers to specific, God ordained times throughout history, sometimes called the right time or the right season. These are times of significance.
Titus 1:3
and which now at his appointed season (KAIROS) he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,
KAIROS time has no past, present or future… It is based around significance.
So the real question is, “How do you find these KAIROS times in a CHRONOS world? How do you find God ordained significant when you live in minutes, hours and days?
SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE...
Can You Find Kairos Moments in a Chronos World
Time marches on, and you cannot stop it, reverse it or even slow it.
How do you usually spend your CHRONOS time, and can you Kairos Moments in a Chronos World?
According to a study in US News from 1988, In a lifetime the average American will spend:
Six months sitting at stoplights
Eight months opening junk mail/email
One year looking for misplaced objects
2 years unsuccessfully returning phone calls or waiting “on hold”
4 years doing housework
5 years waiting in line- Centrelink
6 years eating
18 years working
23 years sleeping
9 years watching TV or videos
The Bible describes time in this way…
Ecclesiastes 3:1-4
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance, etc.
Everything has a time, and time is important to us because we are so locked into it. The farmer plants in season, the football season is preset, church is on Sunday, Tuesday night is Masterchef. Yet the God we serve transcends what we call time.
2 Peter 3:8
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
The thing is, if you transcend time, what does time even matter? When you are stuck in time, in CHRONOS time like we are, we are measuring, we are worrying and we are impatient for things to happen.
But God isn't, because He is far above time. We get impatient, His timing is perfect. We live bound by schedules, appointments and time management issues, He exists above it all.
That's why the all knowing, all present, all powerful God of all creation can just flow into our lives when we least expect it, and why He sometimes takes longer than we expect also.
IT’S ABOUT TIME WE FIGURED IT OUT!
KAIROS time is not about schedules and appointments, it's about significant moments in time. It's when God decides to invade our lives, and he creates Kairos Moments in a Chronos World. In the Bible, John the Baptist proclaimed the moment when the Messiah was coming, using the word KAIROS,
Mark 1:15
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The cross was another KAIROS moment,
Romans 5:6
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
KAIROS times are special times when God steps in and does something extraordinary. It can happen once in our lifetime, or it can happen every day if you are sensitive to the Holy Spirit. You can find Kairos Moments in a Chronos World.
In John 11:6, Jesus is told that his friend Lazarus is sick, but He delays going to heal him for 2 days. Why? The CHRONOS time delay saw Lazarus’ death and allowed a KAIROS moment of Jesus raising his friend back to life!
And He can do it in your life too... He can create Kairos Moments in a Chronos World. Never despise the times when God does not seem to meet your time frame, because He may just be setting something extraordinary up for you!
He can orchestrate great things and include you if you listen to Him and Walk with Him. He can step in and do the miraculous. He can use you to do the miraculous in another person’s life. Today this KAIROS God is calling you to step out of your CHRONOS life to join Him in KAIROS moments.
Look at Esther. A young lady whose beauty placed her in the position of royalty which enabled her to save her people.
Esther 4:14
For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
But if you live in a CHRONOS world, how can you find these incredible Kairos Moments in a Chronos World? How can you dissociate yourself from the mundane, day by day, drudgery of life and become part of something great, something significant, something eternal? We should always live our days looking for those moments, those inexplicable times when His will and His way intersect with our daily walks… But most often that's not how we live, right?
Perception is a huge part of discovering these incredible Kairos Moments in a Chronos World, the right times… the opportunities to be used incredibly by God to touch people’s lives are all around, but we don't even see them! We fail to perceive them! Listen to this true account…
Charles Francis Adams, son of President John Quincy Adams and grandson of President John Adams, kept a diary. One day he entered: “Went fishing with my son today—a day wasted.”
His son, Brook Adams, also kept a diary, which is still in existence. On that same day, Brook Adams made this entry: “Went fishing with my father—the most wonderful day of my life!” The father thought he was wasting time while fishing with his son, but his son saw it as an investment of time.
Same time observed from 2 different perspectives. One saw a waste, the other saw something significant. One saw CHRONOS, the loss of hours, minutes and seconds, while the other saw KAIROS, something far beyond, something special!
So how can you set about finding these significant KAIROS moments in a CHRONOS World?
They can happen anytime! A friend calls you out of the blue and you get the chance to speak an amazing word in season. A child's innocent joy pierces a long, hard day of struggle. A coworker takes a moment to lend a hand. God is always surprising us with His perfect, KAIROS timing.
Habakkuk 2:3
For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come
and will not delay.
STEPS TO LIVING KAIROS MOMENTS in a CHRONOS WORLD…
So how can we find and live these special Kairos Moments in a Chronos World?
STAY CLOSE TO GOD
Read the Bible daily, pray, seek the Lord, because these incredible, inspiring moments are all around us, if only we will walk every moment with Jesus. It might be a phone call from a friend, or a chance meeting where you say the right words at the right moment.
Acts 17:28
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’
BE SENSITIVELY LISTENING AND LOOKING FOR OPPORTUNITIES
Be alert. Be sensitive. Sometimes things you may not even want to do can open the door for the Lord to use you to impact the life of another! You can discover these Kairos Moments in a Chronos World...
John Egglen had never preached a sermon in his life. Never.
Wasn’t that he didn’t want to, just never needed to. But then one morning he did. The snow left his town of Colchester, England, buried in white. When he awoke on that January Sunday in 1850, he thought of staying home. Who would go to church in such weather?
But he reconsidered. He was, after all, a deacon. And if the deacons didn’t go, who would? So he put on his boots, hat, and coat and walked the six miles to the Methodist Church.
He wasn’t the only member who considered staying home. In fact, he was one of the few who came. Only thirteen people were present. Twelve members and one visitor. Even the minister was snowed in.
Someone suggested they go home. Egglen would hear none of that. They’d come this far; they would have a service. Besides, they had a visitor. A thirteen-year-old boy.
But who would preach? Egglen was the only deacon. It fell to him.
And so he did. His sermon lasted only ten minutes. It didn't make a lot of sense, he struggled to make any point at all, but in the end, a strange courage stirred him and He lifted his eyes and looked straight at the boy and challenged: “Young man, look to Jesus. Look! Look! Look!”
Did the challenge make a difference? This boy grew into a man who said,. “I did look, and then and there the cloud on my heart lifted, the darkness rolled away, and at that moment I saw the sun.”
The boy’s name? Charles Haddon Spurgeon. England’s prince of preachers.
BE OBEDIENT
2 John 1:6
And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
If you do not obey, why would God open the way for you to do incredible things? You need to covenant with Him to obey, and keep obeying, no matter what. Why else would He open up Kairos Moments in a Chronos World for you?
Being obedient turns the Holy Spirit’s prompting into action. Obedience is better than sacrifice.
I remember sitting next to a guy on a plane. He wasn't talkative, he looked sad. I felt led to talk to him, and he told me he was returning home after years away living a sinful life, to his wife and now older children. He was terrified, and before we left the plane I was able to pray for him and lead him to Christ, and pray for this visit. A KAIROS moment indeed.
FAITHFULLY PERSIST, NEVER GIVE UP
Galatians 6:9
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Don't give up! Don't stop short! If you experience a KAIROS moment, keep going until the Lord releases you. Greatness is never obtained by giving up or giving in. Purchasing this building has been a struggle from day 1, but I'm glad I decided not to give up, and so did you!
GIVE SACRIFICIALLY, NO MATTER HOW SMALL
Luke 21:1-3
The Widow's Offering
21:1-4pp — Mk 12:41-44
As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others.
Here's an account from Dr Yonggi Cho, pastor of the largest church in the world...
Seeing that only a miraculous intervention of God would deliver us from a catastrophe, I joined the intercessors at Prayer Mountain. One evening while we were meeting to pray on the ground floor of our unfinished church, several hundred joined me in prayer. An old woman walked slowly in my direction. As she approached the platform, I noticed that tears were filling her eyes. She bowed and said, “Pastor, I want to give these items to you so that you may sell them for a few pennies to help with our building fund.”
I looked down, and in her hands were an old rice bowl and a pair of chopsticks. I said to her, “Sister, I can’t take these necessities from you!”
“But, Pastor, I am an old woman. I have nothing of value to give to my Lord; yet, Jesus has graciously saved me. These items are the only things in the world I possess!” she exclaimed, tears now flowing freely down her wrinkled cheeks. “You must let me give these to Jesus. I can place my rice on old newspapers, and I can use my hands to feed myself. I know that I will die soon, so I don’t want to meet Jesus without giving Him something on this earth.” As she finished speaking, everyone there began to weep openly. The Holy Spirit’s presence filled the place, and we all began to pray in the Spirit.
A businessman in the back of the group was deeply moved and said, “Pastor Cho, I want to buy that rice bowl and chopsticks for one thousand dollars!” With that, everyone started to pledge their possessions. My wife and I sold our small home and gave the money to the church. This spirit of giving saved us from financial ruin.
When you find yourself part of something great, some incredible KAIROS moment in time, rejoice and give all you have! You are blessed to be a part of what God is doing to touch the lives of men and women.
TODAY, WE STAND ON THE BRINK OF GREATNESS!
Today we have the opportunity to give again towards the purchase of our building. It has been a long, hard road to get here, but today we stand on the brink of this noble achievement.
This is our Kairos Moments in a Chronos World!
When I took office a year ago, the purchase of this property was by any measure humanly impossible. Our small body of believers would have to give more than 4 times what they had given over 7 years, in the space of only one year to even come close.
Matthew 19:26
But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Today, we stand on the brink of the impossible. This our Kairos Moments in a Chronos World!
Yet I want you to know that, as Winston Churchill said after the first allied victory of the war in Africa, this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but perhaps it is the end of the beginning. The chance to close a chapter and move on to something greater,greater KAIROS moments.
Purchasing this building is not the end game, it is simply the first major victory we faced, and by God's grace and your generosity, we stand on the brink of that victory to today. Coming up, there will be more challenges, more tests and therefore more KAIROS moments, more opportunities to stand together shoulder to shoulder in faith, to believe our God and to see Him shine His blessing and prosperity upon our service for Him.
Malachi 3:10, talking about giving says,
Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
Today we stand on the brink of greatness, on the cusp of passing this first great test with distinction. There is much more to do, so much more that God has called us to, and I have nothing to offer you but all my efforts and an undying faith and unshakable belief that God has called and empowered us to win this area and this nation to Christ.
Last offering God challenged Fiona and I to double what we gave the previous time. This was painful and sacrificial, yet I trusted God then as I do now. Today, He has once again challenged us to double even that figure, and so we shall be faithful in trusting Him again.
In addition, you may know that I basically work for free as the pastor of this church. Today, I want to also announce that I will commit myself to working in the same capacity for at least the next year. So your pastor stands before you this day ready to lay his life, his family and his finances down to serve the Lord in this place.
Right now I challenge you to join me. I challenge you to step into this KAIROS moment and and be a part of something great in God. I challenge you to join us, for today you do not give towards a building, or a man… Today you sow into your destiny and your children's destiny.
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