TIME MANAGEMENT: PASTOR EZEKIEL A. ODEYEMI – RCCG JANUARY HOLY GHOST SERVICE 2021 (PSF HOUR)

RCCG JANUARY HOLY GHOST SERVICE 2021 (PSF HOUR)

THEME: GOD BLESS YOU

MINISTERING: PASTOR EZEKIEL A. ODEYEMI (ASSISTANT GENERAL OVERSEER (AGO) IN CHARGE OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING AND PASTOR IN CHARGE REGION 10)

TOPIC: TIME MANAGEMENT

DATE: 8th JANUARY,2021

BIBLE TEXT: Psalms 90:12

I want to thank God for the Privilege to give this Particular Message at this time.

This is a Message that I believed will transform your life, it is a Message I believed God is bringing your way at this time to challenge your thinking, to challenge the way you have been doing things and to open your eyes to the realities of how to Manage Time.

I will be speaking for the next thirty (30) Minutes on Time Management.

Now I have discovered in life that life is not all about resources available to you, life is not all about the Circle you belong – Life is about Managing Time.

I have seen People who have Resources, who are Skillful but who could not achieve their Life Purpose because they are not discipline in the way they manage Time.

I am trusting God on your behalf today that the next few minutes will transform your thinking, will transform your life and will transform the direction in which you travel – Amen.

OPENING PRAYER

Blessed Father we appreciate You and Honour Your Name.

We give Glory, Honour and Adoration for Who You are.

We Thank You because You are the One Who has sent us here on Divine Assignment.

You sent us to the world for a Particular Purpose.

Our Lord, God of Heaven; You have created Time for us also with which we should manage our lives.

Blessed Father we Pray that as we examine this important topic today, everyone of us, our lives will become better and we will be able to fulfill the Purpose with which You sent us to the world.

At the end of everything, we Pray that all the Glory will be returned to You and these Your children who are monitoring this Program at this time even reading now on the Label of DMC inclusive, they will return with Testimonies.

Thank You Heavenly Father.

In Jesus Mighty Name we Pray – Amen 

I will like to start with stories.

I will like to share with you stories of some People who discovered their lack of discipline to manage Time when it was too late and these stories will likely wake you up to realities.

The first one is a man I like to identify just as Assistant Manager in Charge of Personnel.

And listen to the Story: He said I used to be Self-employed until recently. One thing led to the other and before long I find myself in job Market again.

Up till then I could not put my finger on the Main Problem – I have attended many Deliverance Services to deal with the Spirit of Poverty.

This continued for Years without any substantial Change, until one day my Line Manager called me to his office yesterday and gave a brief Synopsis of his opinion about me.

My Boss, I have to call you for this brief but unimportant meeting because of your Career in tune since your resumption in this office – I have seen you as a Young, Intelligent and Highly Resourceful Individual but my observation about how you carry out your assignments has forced me to conclude that it might not be long before you find yourself on the job Market again.

He Paused and looked at my face – By now my Palms are already wet and you could almost see the drop of sweat coming from my body.

If anything I don’t want to land in that same Position anymore. I knew what he meant.

He continued, inspite of your Skills and Potentials, you find it difficult to turn in your report at right time and you will always have one excuse or the other. If this continues I will not have an option but to show you the way out.

This is his Stitch in Time and I will want your absolute cooperation.

He concluded there and then I discovered the greatest Problem have been dodging myself from all these Years; I just couldn’t manage my Time well. 

If instead of managing your Time well; you begin to go from Deliverance Session to other, you might discovered that you might just be wasting your Time.

This fellow discovered that what he needed to do was to learn how to manage Time.

May I tell you some of the Problems you have about your career, some of the Problems you have about your Vision, about your Dream, about your tommorow, about the future you desire for yourself – Some may simply be a Problem of not knowing how to manage your Time.

Let’s look at a Pastor in Charge of a Youth Parish – I called the Place “Glorious Center”.

Let’s listen to his story: My first opportunity to lead the Congregation in Praise and Worship was exhilarating.

After the Service, the Parish Pastor called me outside and showed me the Program – I overshort by fifteen (15) minutes.

I couldn’t understand why that should be a Problem at least the Spirit took Control.

Then I was given the opportunity to Preach once in a while – Each time my Pastor has to warn that I don’t have to read hundred (100) Passages of the Bible to make my Point. But he is not becoming too strict about these things so I thought.

So one Sunday; one of the Supreme Officer’s of the Province showed up, just before the Service and informed us that we are to Set Up a New Parish in the next three (3) Months.

My Pastor called me later to get myself Prepared for this Assignment as I will be the Pioneer Pastor for this Church.

After the Crusade and Revival Services; we settled down for real business, then it was not so long before our attendance began to dwindled.

We Fasted, we Prayed and we Organised Special Programs.

Then one day, I decided to have a meeting with what remained as a Congregation after the Worship Service.

Everyone who made contributions, one contribution or the other griped on one thing – “Our Pastor does not mind Time”.

You only know when you get to the Church, you cannot tell when you will leave.

My eyes were opened – I have learnt my Lessons almost too late, resources have gone the drain, many Souls have been lost, most of the New Converts have ended up in another Ministeries. I was threatened to be withdrawn from this Post, if things do not improve.

How I wish I have learnt early enough how to manage Time

I am bringing to you the third Story:

This is the Story of an Undergraduate and I know many of us can relate with this.

I do not understand why there is so much force about time, with all the time at my disposal – I’m still a Young Person, who will worry his head.

So I thought. I like to go out with my friends, watch the TV, go the Movies, we will then settle down and gist till the early hours of the morning.

During the European Soccer Seasons; you should not try to bring any other issue than the main the main.

My first Semester in University was a disaster. I didn’t know what hit me until I found myself at Counselling Centre, where those with GPA of one (1) are normally referred.

The Counsellor took a look at me and said: You look too Sharp to have found yourself at this level. Maybe you need to examine how you spend your Time.

He has just hit the nail on the head – There it was, “Time”, my greatest enemy and bane.

Looking at these three (3) Stories, some of us might find ourselves in the Category of one or the other.

Some of us might be able to relate with one (1) Person, even with all of them.

Some of us might suddenly discovered that the reason why we are where we are today. 

I like to read to us from the Bible:

Psalms 90:12 – So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto Wisdom.

In the New International Version (NIV) the Bible says:
Psalms 90:12 – Teach us to number our days that we may gain our hearts of Wisdom.

When somebody understands Time Management; he becomes Wiser.

… It is only the Wise, who manages Time well. The fool does otherwise.

In the New Living Translation, NLT put it this way: Psalms 90:12 – Teach us to realize the brevity of our live, so that we will grow in Wisdom.

… The brevity of our live!

My friend it doesn’t matter how long you live here on Earth, it is still Breath – Ninety (90) Years is Breath, one hundred (100) Years is Breath compared to what God has given you to achieve.

So, if you ever think you have so much time at your disposal; it is a Sign of lack of Wisdom.

And that’s why the Living Bible says:
Psalms 90:12 – Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are, help us to spend them as we should, help us to spend our time as we should.

Very briefly let me define Time by looking at definition given by Longfellow.

He said: What is Time?

The Shadow on the Dial, the striking of the Clock, the running of the Sound, Day and Night, Summer and Winter, Months, Years, Centuries.

DMC NOTES: *TEXT OF THE LONGFELLOW POEM

THE PSALM OF LIFE – BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist.

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the Soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the Soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe’er Pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,— act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that Perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

These are but arbitrarily and Outward Signs, the measure of Time not Time itself.

Time is the Life of the Soul – You can’t separate Time and Life. Time is Life

We only use Time to measure how long we will be here on Earth.

Every striking of the Clock is actually measuring not Time but measuring our Life.

That is why somebody said – And this is from another man (Man of God); Richard Boxer.

Richard Boxer was a Great Pastor in his time. He said spend your Time in nothing which you know must be repented of, in nothing or which you might not Pray for the blessing of God, in nothing which you could not review with a quite conscious on your dying bed, nothing which you might not safely and Properly doing if death should surprise you in the act.

And that is the reason why those who are wise, they are careful what they spend their Time on.

What you spend your Time on is the measure of the amount of Wisdom that you have gathered in life and that you are applying to your Life. It is the measure of where you will be in the nearest future.

One of the things that has helped me as a guide all my life is this thing. 

If you can’t manage the next twenty-four (24) Hours of your life, you cannot manage the next twenty-four (24) Years of your life.

Life is about every second, every minute, every hour available to you – How you spend it, Life is about each day you spend.

Life is about each day of Life.

What is it achieving for you? Is it bringing you closer to the Purpose to which God brings you to the world here or is it taking you further away?

That is what Time is all about.

Time suppose to be your servant, it suppose to be your slave, to serve your Purpose, to bring to Pass your Dream.

But if you don’t learn how to manage Time then Time becomes your Master.

And for various People on Earth, Time is actually their Master and not their slave.

That is why someone like Williams Shakespeare said in Julius Caesar and this Particular quote has been used by our father in the Lord several times.

It has helped a lot.

He said there is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the flood lifts unto fortune, omitted all the voyage of their lives, it’s bound in shallows and in Mysteries.

Time is about everything!

What you are suppose to do now cannot be left till tommorow. If you leave it till tomorrow, tomorrow may never come and you will suddenly discovered that you have wasted your Life.

The measure of your Life is Time.

I like to say very briefly – Let us look at some of those things that look Positive, when you begin to manage Time Properly.

Proper Time Management will make the following Possible:

1.You will be able to achieve better results – Not just any result but better results when you begin to manage your Time 

2. The quality of your work will improve.

When you manage Time; you won’t be rushing through Assignment.

Several People, one of the reason why their work is Poor is because they wait till eleventh (11th) Hour before they rush into it.

An assignment that is supposed to take you one (1) Week, you want to accomplish it in one (1) Hour – Impossible!

At the end of the day you will turn in a very Poor work. 

The quality of your work will improve when you Plan your Time – When you know when to start your essay; when you know when to put down your Major Points, when to develop the Points, when to revise and revise and read again. 

Many of us in offices, we don’t have enough time to read through the letters we have composed, so at the end of the day, our work, the quality of work, of course will be very Poor.

Each time anybody brings a Letter to me, I sit down to read.

Why do I do that?

Because when I have Pen my Signature on any Letter, I cannot give any excuse about the Person who drafted the Letter.

Any Letter I Pen my Signature on, I am the one who is responsible for the Letter. The Person who has written the Letter may not be diligent enough to read through but I must be diligent enough to read through, because that will determine the quality of my work.

When you begin to manage Time properly, you will discovered that the Speed of Operation will increase, you are able to achieve more, the speed at which you operate will increase. You will discovered that you make fewer mistakes – Fewer mistakes will be committed.

There is a Science of satisfaction and achievement as you are doing what you like to do. When you are managing your Time well, you will have that sense of achievement, you will discovered that you are doing what you like to do because you have Prioritized your Time.

There is increase in Productivity which will lead to higher learning.

When you are Productive in your Place of work, you will expect Promotion.

There are several of us who will complain we are not being Promoted, but if you should be working for someone who is diligent, if he looks at the quality of your work, he is not likely to take you to the next level, if you are not managing your Time well.

Your relationship outside the office will improve, as a husband, as a wife, as a child, as a friend, you will have improvement in your relationships.

This is important, listen to this – Stress Level definitely become lower.

Those who don’t manage their Time well will develop High Blood Pressure (HBP).

High Blood Pressure is a Product of many things that actually contribute to it – It is lack of Time Management.

When you manage your Time well; Meetings become meaningful and it takes less time.

I don’t like to attend Long Meetings.

I have discovered that if a Meeting goes beyond ninety (90) Minutes or at the most two (2) hours, then you will not even remember where you started and same People will sit down in a Meeting three (3) hours, for four (4) hours, for five (5) hours. It is lack of Discipline, it is lack of Time Management.

If you know how to manage your Time, you will discovered that a Meeting that you want to hold for three (3) hours can be held in one (1) hour and you will achieve much – People will remember the Points you have discussed and everybody will be able to go home and carry out the Assignment that have been given.

Meetings become more meaningful and the Organization benefit from such.

Frustrated experiences are reduced to barest minimum.

Lack of Time Management leads to a lots of frustration – A lot of it.

If you don’t know how to manage your Time well, Time begins to work against you, instead of working for you.

So that is why I need to talk about the “Tyranny of the urgent briefly.

I will be rounding up very soon – I need to talk about what we called the “Tyranny of the Urgent”.

According to Alex Makinson – Alex Makinson says: Urgency engulfs the Manager, yet the most urgent task is not always the most important – Take note of that.

The “Tyranny of the Urgent” lies in the distortion of Priorities. It is subtle cloaking of Minor Projects with Major status often under the guides of arise.

One of the effective Time Managers is ability to distinguish the “Important” from the “Urgent”, to refuse to be tyrannize by the Urgent, to refuse to manage by crisis.

Many of us manage our lives by crisis – We move from one crisis Point to another crisis Point. People jump upon us and we allow them to have their way and is not supposed to be so.

The “Tyranny of the Urgent” will make you end up being someone who is not efficient and who is not effective.

The day you realised that task must be analyzed according to their importance, that day you begin to live in the thorough Science of the world.

May I tell you: It is important for us to understand that you must manage Time.

As I begin to round up – Everybody will like to ask me Mr. Pastor: How do I manage my time. Let’s take note of the following:

1.  Commit your Time to the Lord – Psalms 31:15.

The Lord is the One who sent you to the world on Assignment and our times are in our hands.

When we put our Time in His Hands; He helps us in Time Management.

2. Proper Time Management depends on discovery of Purpose.

Somewhere along the line in your Life, you must discovered the reason(s) why you are in the world.

Anyone who has not discovered why he is in the world will be a Follower and not a Leader – You will always move from crisis to crisis; you will always live by excuse because you don’t know why you are here; you will discover that Time is not achieving anything for you; you will discover Year in, Year out, you can’t Point to something you have achieved because you are not living for a Purpose.

… Discovering your Purpose!

Joseph discovered his Purpose when he had Particularly those two (2) Dreams in his father’s house.

He knew he was going to be very Great but not until he got to Egypt; he didn’t know exactly how he will achieve that Purpose.

On that Particular day, he stood before Pharaoh in Genesis 41 and he gave an advice and counselled the King on how to manage the Resources of the seven (7) Years Surplus in order to overcome the troubles, the draught for seven (7) Years.

Until he got to that Point, he didn’t know how he will fulfill his Purpose but on that Particular day as he stood before Pharaoh – Pharaoh said: Can we find someone who is as Wise and this Great as this Man?

No we can’t?

You are the one!

I will only be Greater than you by the Throne – From now on; it is only what you tell everyone that we do here in the Land.

And this Man was able to manage seven (7) years of Surplus to overcome the troubles of seven (7) Years.

Management of Time, those who have discovered their Purpose, they also know how to manage their Time.

I Pray for you that at the end of this Particular Unimportant Ministration; your number one (1) question will be: Lord, why did you send me to the world? – Purpose!

To fulfill Purpose you must have Goals.

When you have discovered your Purpose, you must also Set Goals. You must Set Goals that will lead you to the fulfillment of your Purpose.

Goals are Specific because they have Timeline attached to them.

So, so thing, I will achieve so, so thing by so, so time.

That is why Goals are different from Wishes – Many of us live by Wishes not by Goals.

Whatever you want to achieve, you must attach Time to it.

To fulfill Purpose; you must have Goals.

Luke 4:43, Jesus was always walking with Goals in mind.

Jesus was aware that God had sent Him to Preach the Gospel everywhere, all the Cities.

So when He was achieving Popularity in one City; He knew I have not been fulfilling Purpose yet, have not reached where I’m going.

He left that Place and move to other cities.

That is why People who are living by Purpose, who knows how to manage Time, it doesn’t matter what they achieved, it is not enough – they know they have not reached where they are going.

That is why you will hear our father in the Lord saying that we have not started yet because he knew where he was going – He had already seen that and he is working towards it.

Those who have Purpose, who have already Set their Goals; they don’t settle for a little Success.

3. Another thing that will help you is to confront each day with a  “To Do List”.

You must have “To do List”.

Before you sleep at Night and I do that often, before I wind up the day, I know exactly what I’m going to do tommorow. I will itemize all that I’m going to do tommorow.

Not only itemize them, I will make sure I Prioritize them in the hierarchy of the most important and on, and on to the least important.

And I know if I can achieve some of them that are important I’m moving towards my Life Purpose.

Confront each day with a “To Do List”. You might think, I have twenty-four (24) Hours; it is a lot of time.

My friend twenty-four (24) Hours is enough for nothing if you don’t have what you want to accomplish within twenty-four (24) Hours.

4. And then let me just round up with this: Review your Goals Periodically, so that you will know whether you are moving in the right direction or whether you are filtering away your Time.

I am not saying that you should not be watching football but my friend you must always remember when those People who are Playing on the field finished Playing, twenty-two (22) Men, when they finished Playing or twenty-two (22) Women, they are the only one who are Paid not you.

Knowing how many scores, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal Football Club or Juventus, this or that, knowing the number of scores will not put food on your table.

You must be wise from this moment on.

You must know the amount of time you are going to commit to everything you do.

If you spend more time on your hobbies than on your job, then your hobbies have become your job.

Shall we Pray together.

CLOSING PRAYER

Heavenly Father, we want to Thank You and bless Your Name.

We appreciate You today because of what you have sent to us and You have taught us.

We know that with the little that we have learnt, You have challenged our hearts, You have opened our eyes, we Pray that our Will never remain the same again.

We are asking my Father and my God that all these Your children, who had heard these Words or reading them now on DMC Labels, as they are putting their Time and putting their lives in Your haond, I Pray Oh Lord God of Heaven that their lives will Change dramatically for the better.

Lord God of Heaven; I Pray that their lives will also add Value to Your kingdom.

And I  am asking Oh Lord, everyone of them will return with Mighty Testimonies of what they have learnt, of what they have been able to achieve and their lives will also impart other People on this life Journey.

Thank You Heavenly Father, blessed be Your Name.

In Jesus Mighty Name we Pray – Amen!!!

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