Join us as we begin a new sermon series,

Creating Margins: Making Time for What’s Important in Life

According to Tim Chester, “Our Christian lives can be full of good intentions to do more for God, but time and again those good intentions are sapped by the pace of our lives.”

Think about it, even at our church, people who already have full diaries are often urged by preachers to pray more, to serve more, to care more, to spread the Good News and to campaign for justice. Paid employees in Australia work an average of 32 hours per week, sitting at about #25 on the list comparing hours worked in OECD countries; that’s well behind UK, USA, NZ and of course many Eastern European and South American workers. Yet we often hear workers complain, “I have so little time!” Owners/managers work much longer hours in Australia, and then there’s all our unpaid work to add in to the equation. Even our “time off” is often hard work – gym, transporting kids, shopping, travel to see family/friends, etc.

The Old Testament commended work (Prov. 6:6-11) and it commended rest (Exodus 20:8-11) but in the New Testament, all our activities, health and relationships are to have a new centre, Jesus Christ (Col. 3:17). So how shall we manage our busy lives? Our new sermon series is called Creating Margins and will help us to think about our time with a new sense of what’s really important in life.

Topics

23 April | The Tyranny of Busyness | Sermon | Sermon Notes | Balance Diagnostic Tool

30 April | Priorities Without Pride | SermonThe Killer Ps

7 May | Reorienting Obligation | Sermon

14 May | Time to Serve Others| Sermon

21 May | Time for Family | Sermon

18 June | Time for Work | Sermon | Sermon Notes

25 June | Time for Rest | Sermon

2 July | Time for Friendship | Sermon

9 July | Time for Spiritual Discipline | Sermon

16 July | Time for Celebration

23 July | Time for Generosity

Resources

Busyness Questionaire

Meditation on Psalm 130

Meditation on Psalm 131

Crazy Busy by Kevin Deyoung

Crazy Busy Study Guide

Margin by Richard Swenson

The Busy Christian’s Guide to Busyness by Tim Chester

First Things First by Stephen R Covey

Too Busy Not To Pray (and study guide) by Bill Hybels

The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard

Spiritual Disciplines can help

Table of Spiritual Disciplines