Topic: REDEEMING THE TIME  [Church of God Mission International] ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUAL 25 July 2021

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ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUAL*

DATE SUNDAY JULY 25TH, 2021.

TOPIC REDEEMING THE TIME

TEXT John 4:34-38, EPH 5:14-20, ROM 13: 11-14

HYMN S, S & S 687, “Christian seek not yet Repose”

CENTRAL THOUGHT The believer should walk in wisdom because the days are evil.

INTRODUCTION
Time is one of
the greatest treasures
God gave to man. We
all get equal amounts
of it daily, irrespective
of our age, socio-economic
status or
spiritual state.
Each
Individual has a finite
Lifetime after which an
account must be given
to the Lord for the use
of the time spent on
the earth. So much can
be achieved with the
proper use of time both
our dreams and God’s
purposes for our Iives
as indiViduals and as
local churches, will
remain mere potentials if we do not
learn to use our time
properly. Those who
achieve much in the
realms of family, social and
professional life, and
in spiritual service, do
so largely as a result of
the Proper understanding of and
daily use of time. In
this study, we look up
to God to teach us how
to make the most of
our time.

LESSON OBJECTIVES:
Objectives of this lesson are to:

1. understand what it means to redeem the time;
2. examine what makes the days evil:
3. appreciate how the Lord Jesus redeemed the time;
4. understand the consequences of not redeeming the time;
5. know some of the things that hinder us from redeeming the time;
   and
6. appreciate the benefits of redeeming the time.

BIBLE TRUTH:

Q1. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO “REDEEM THE TIME”?
Redeeming the time for the days
are evil’ (Ephesians 5:16,KJV)
is also rendered as “Making the
best use of your time despite all
the difficulties of these days
(Philips),” Making the most of
every opportunity in these evil
days” (NLT), “Making the very
most of the time (buying up each
opportunity) because the days
arc evil (Amplified Bible). The
exhortation is to live wisely, to
refuse to be side-lined by the
increasing distractions of our
days which promote ungodliness
and unrighteousness. The
Scriptures clearly warn us that in
the last days, due to the spread of
lawlessness, it will be difficult to
live godly lives and the love of
many Christians will grow cold
(Matthew 24: 12).

Q.2 WHAT CHARACTERISTICS MAKE THE DAYS “EVIL” 2TIM.3:1-5

The scriptures warned in 2 Tim 3:1-5 But you must realize that in the last days the times will be full of danger. Men
will become utterly self-centred,
greedy for money, full of big
words. They will be proud and
contemptuous, without any
regard for what their parents
taught them…… They will be
utterly lacking in gratitude,
purity and normal human
affections…. They will maintain
a façade of “religion but their
conduct will deny its validity.
You must keep clear of people
like this” (Philips).
Clearly, a feature of the last days
is that many men and women will
appear to be devout Christians
but their lives will be driven by
self-centeredness, greed, pride
and love of money. The same
values in the world hold sway in
many churches today. Those that
are wealthy and have societal
status are given undue. prominence because of what they can give. Many Pastors find
it easier copying what other
churches are doing and are not
bothered about getting God’s
approval. Some churches are run
like businesses, the most
important measure of success is
how much comes in monthly
which permits many to maintain
affluent lifestyles while being
accountable to no one.
Hypocrisy will be the mark of the
times. Men and Women who are
expected to stand for and
propagate the truth demonstrate
in their daily lives that they
remain slaves to ungodliness. We
are warned to stay clear of such
persons no matter who they are.
These realities are even more
true in our times than when Paul
wrote the letter to Timothy.

Q3. WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ABOUT MAKING THE BEST USE OF OUR TIME (JOHN 4:34-38,9:4)

The Lord Jesus Christ lived on the earth for thirty-three and half
years but achieved so much! He
shares the secret of his success
with us in John 4:34-36
“My nourishment comes from
doing the will of God, who sent
me, and from finishing his work.
You know the saying, Four
months between planting and
harvest But I say, wake up and
look around. The fields are
already ripe for harvest”
(Philips).
We can identify at least two
principles that drove His walk on
the earth. He trained Himself to
be driven, to get pleasure
nourishment, empowerment,
fulfilment ONLY from doing
God’s will. He refused to define
himself by the world’s standard
where men measure success by
how much wealth has been
accumulated, measuring up with
their peers, achieving earthly
acclaim and glory. He kept His
focus daily on doing the Father’s
will as was revealed to Him and
the more He did, the more
strength He received for more
obedience.
Secondly, He
understood that the task was
urgent. He maintained an attitude
of urgency while going about the
Father’s business and sustained
His fervency till the end.
These principles followed by the
Lord Jesus also applies as much
to us. We are enjoined to “Seek
the kingdom of God above all
else and live righteously and he
will give you everything you
need” Matthew 6:33(NLT). The
first step towards making the best use of our time on earth is to have genuine commitments to ensuring that we enter the
Kingdom and live righteously wherever we find ourselves daily. The Holy Spirit will help
us to achieve this.

Q4. WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM PAUL ABOUT REDEEMING THE TIME?
(PHILIPPIANS 1:21 EPHESIANS 6:5-7.
COLOSSIANS 3:17,23)

Many Christians consciously or
unconsciously live their lives as
if it were different
compartments. They may
conduct themselves in church or
among brethren in a way
acceptable to most Christians but
follow worldly behaviour when
it comes to their businesses or
professions. They may also run
their family lives following
traditional customs and
practices. Hence, they may not
see anything wrong with giving
or collecting bribes, excessive
profiteering or playing “smart
tricks” on people to get money.
Paul clearly emphasized that he
had one Life to live, which must
be lived for Christ. Continuing to
live meant living in obedience to
Christ in all aspects of his life
and bringing Him glory. Death
was, to him, an even better
option as he will have the
opportunity of tasting heavenly
glory.
We gain even better insight from
Paul’s exhortation to slaves on
how to conduct themselves.
They were enjoined to do all
things as unto Christ because
they will be rewarded for
whatever good they did on earth.
We will be rewarded for
whatever good we do whether in
the conduct of family life, our
jobs, our civic responsibilities or
in daily church affairs. God will
reward us for how we use our
time.

Q5. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT HINDER US FROM MAKING THE MOST USE OF OUR TIME?

(a) Living by the world’s
principles: Many Christians are
not driven in life by the desire to
obey the word of God and fulfill
God’ s purpose tor their lives.
They strive to keep abreast with
their contemporaries or outdo
them. They are driven primarily
by the desire to be considered
successful by the world’s
standard. In this pursuit, such
persons live in compromise and
keep up an appearance of being
good Christians while living
hypocritical lives.

(b) Lack of focus and diligence:
No resounding success can be
achieved and sustained in any
area of life including ministry
without genuine and persistent
focus and hard work. When we
have God inspired focus and
commit our energies to achieving
what God wants us to do, we will
never seem to have enough time.
We will also be able to discern the
enemy’s distractions and avoid
them.

(c) Devotion to activities or
hobbies that do not help us
achieve our goals:

There are more things that can
easily distract us in today’s world
than any previous age. Devotion
to the numerous functions that
Our smart phones can perform can
easily become a time-wasting
distraction. Social media is
Increasingly cheap and can be a
lifetime distraction. Utilizing
multiple social media platforms
does not necessarily make us
better or worse. We must each
decide on what is necessary and
enough and how much time we
devote to it. Satellite Television
offers a wide array of channels
from films to sports and so on.
Anything we love can easily
become a preoccupation that
consumes time and keeps us from
making the most of our time.
The class should mention
more examples

Q5. WHAT ARE THE DANGERS OF NOT REDEEMING THE TIME?
The risk is that of living
unproductive and unfruitful lives
that do not please God. The
individual may attain much
financially, politically.
academically etc. in the world
system but did not please God.
Such an individual stands the risk
of going to hell in the end.

Q6. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF REDEEMING THE TIME?

The individual will be focused in
his Christian life, productive in his
undertaking live a fulfilled life
and ultimately spend eternity with
Christ.

DAILY LIVING APPLICATION
The Psalmist prayed that the Lord
should teach us to realize the
brevity of life so that we may grow
in wisdom” Psalm 90:12. The
Lord expects us to be very fruitful
in every area of life. This can only
happen if our primary focus in life
is to please the Lord and achieve
His purposes for our lives. This
will require that we pray for
guidance from Him and are
discerning in ordering our steps.
We will need to turn ourselves
away from walking according to
the world’s ways and value
system. This will attract God’s
blessings upon our lives in every
area making us immensely
successful and fruitful.

MEMORY VERSE: Ephesians
5:16 (Philips)
“Make the best use of your time,
despite all the difficulties of these
days..