Mastering Your Schedule

The point: Strive for increasing measures of the graces requisite for the office of an elder, never being content with a mere modicum.

The self-control of an athlete training to win a marathon illustrates the vigor and commitment required for self-mastery in a minister's daily schedule.

Now, few areas will more clearly indicate the measure of this grace than the structure and the implementation. The implementation of one's daily schedule. Now, to illustrate the vigor of this grace, consider its two forms, its two usage in the verbal form, egratuomai. And you have it used in the verbal form in 1 Corinthians 9.25 in terms of athletic discipline and mastery, 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 25. It is this quality. It is this quality in its verbal form that is exercised by the athlete in training who is determined to do something more than merely say that he ran the marathon even if it ...

6:31 - 7:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that sustained effectiveness in pastoral preaching requires an increasing measure of self-mastery related to your daily schedule.

The self-mastery of a man with normal sexual drives who refrains from ordinary outlets illustrates the power of self-control for higher ends.

Here's the picture, not of a man who was a eunuch from birth or made a eunuch by men, but who has normal, natural, sexual appetites, but some are given a gift of continence. That is the gift to control that appetite. And here the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 7.9 says, but if they have not continence.

8:15 - 8:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Conduct periodic reviews of your ministerial duties, as they are dynamic and fluid, not static.

The experience of two pastors undergoing major building programs illustrates how ministerial duties are dynamic and require periodic reassessment and radical readjustment of schedules.

performed to any degree of efficiency if a man does not have a clear understanding of and a religious commitment to his God-given ministerial duties. Further, as the factors which determine the precise nature of one's own particularized or customized ministerial duties are not static, I've already mentioned that, but dynamic and fluid, there must be periodic reviews of where we are in relationship to our duties. We've had a classic example of this recently. Both our brother Mitch Lush and Bob Carr have come through major building programs in which they found out that some of the things I told ...

19:39 - 20:53 Read in full sermon

The point: Honor your father and mother through conscious, deliberate efforts as a son or daughter.

The analogy of a pilot flying by instinct without instruments, leading to wreckage, illustrates the impossibility of fulfilling responsibilities without a structured plan.

good unto all men. You have to do good unto all men. You have to do good unto all women. You have the privilege of being an elder. So how's that for starters? Now, you've got to acquire and maintain a clear understanding of and a religious commitment to your God-given general or ordinary responsibilities. No one just automatically fills all of these roles and administers a multifaceted stewardship well by simply following his instincts. or using the term that some of you may not know but I like it flying by the seat of your pants that was a term that became popular in the second world war cert...

30:00 - 30:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Honor your father and mother through conscious, deliberate efforts as a son or daughter.

Martin shares his personal experience of his last child leaving home, necessitating a total restructuring of his and his wife's lives and schedules, demonstrating the dynamic nature of responsibilities.

of your airplane no man can fulfill all of these responsibilities as an ordinary Christian just flying by the seat of his pants how much less when added to these ordinary responsibilities we have our God given ministerial duties and these two categories of responsibility were not given to clash with one another to cancel one another but by the grace of God to be efficiently administered wisely and independently upon the Holy Spirit so then if this is to be done because everything in your own life in these various spheres of responsibility are in a state of flux you must acquire and maintain a ...

30:55 - 32:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Prayerfully establish a structured schedule that reflects a commitment to fulfill all of your ministerial and general duties.

Martin shows and describes his preferred 'Month at a Glance' calendar and a planning book used by Pastor Barker, illustrating practical tools for visual schedule planning.

I'll just show you by way of suggestion one that I found most helpful after experimenting since 1978, I believe, for the past ten years. I found it very helpful to use this Eton calendar called Month at a Glance. And the thing I like with it is it's of nice size, it can fit in the drawer, and yet it's big enough to write in your various appointments to go through ahead of time on the threshold of each semester and write in on Fridays, take the day. See how it works.

35:07 - 35:46 Read in full sermon

The point: Ensure your schedule is realistic, remembering your human frame and not expecting to perform like Superman.

The analogy of not expecting to perform like Superman and the unrealistic portrayal of ministers in biographies (never sleeping, eating, or having personal time) illustrates the need for a realistic schedule that accounts for human limitations.

and I believe rightly so I do not believe they were relinquishing their distinctive call there is a time for a servant of God to be making tents if not to support himself to help supply the needs of others and if an apostle did it then we certainly have precedent in the word of God but now when these men were thinking in terms of getting back into their regular schedules they were vulnerable to guilt because they could not as it were immediately structure back in those two or three days and be able to sit at their desks for six hours I said no if your mind's been accustomed to only working int...

40:10 - 41:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Tenaciously pursue your carefully, prayerfully, and rationally planned schedule, not letting it be at the mercy of others' whims or your own flesh's impulses.

Martin recounts a personal experience of a stranger demanding his time during sermon preparation, illustrating the need for tenacious adherence to a schedule and not being swayed by others' whims.

If you have Thursday blocked out for Sunday preparation, don't let someone's words, Pastor, I've got a terrible problem. I must see you today. Don't let such words throw you off. I had that happen just this morning.

45:10 - 45:25 Read in full sermon

The point: Shut off your phone during personal devotional time and give yourself to God-given duties without interruption.

The analogy of a soldier going on patrol despite feeling indisposed illustrates the need for tenacious pursuit of duties, even when one doesn't 'feel' like it.

See? If you've rationally, prayerfully committed yourself to general reading on Tuesday and you come to Tuesday feeling as indisposed to general reading as you could, you take yourself by the seat of the britches in the back of the neck and plunk yourself down and say, now Lord, give me the grace of self-mastery. And if necessary, pinch your cheeks until they're red, slap your face until it's red. I've done that more than once.

47:08 - 47:36 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin details four characteristics of an effective schedule: it must be realistic (acknowledging human limitations), comprehensive (covering all duties without sacrificing them)…

Jesus' attempt to retreat with his disciples for rest, which was interrupted by the crowds, serves as a prime example of the need for reasonable flexibility in a schedule due to unexpected needs.

The pressures of the ministry were so intense that our Lord sensitive to the fact that the disciples and he did not have so much time as to even have a lunch break. It says, verse 31 of Mark 6, Come apart and rest for a while, for there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desert place apart. The people saw them going and many knew them.

52:20 - 52:46 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin details four characteristics of an effective schedule: it must be realistic (acknowledging human limitations), comprehensive (covering all duties without sacrificing them)…

The illustration of a small virus incapacitating a large, strong man highlights human physical weakness and the humbling reality of unexpected illness, necessitating schedule flexibility.

And there you've planned out what you were going to do for a given week. And you end up some little virus. To me it's one of the most humbling things. How men can strut around proud.

55:15 - 55:25 Read in full sermon

The point: Be master of your telephone, using it as a servant, not allowing it to become your master; consider posting call-in hours or using an answering machine.

Mr. Dixon's advice that 'the phone is your servant, not your master' illustrates the need for ministers to control their telephone usage to protect their schedule and avoid becoming slaves to men's demands.

own house doesn't say his house rules him peace at any cost harmony at any price but you rule the household you see to it that its life and activities are so structured that under God you are enabled to establish and maintain a schedule in which you pursue your God given duties then you've got to become master of your telephone and one text that's been a great help to me in relationship to my telephone might be well to punch it out on one of these little labelers and put it right over the top of the phone where it sits on the cradle 1st Corinthians 723 you were bought with a price become not t...

60:03 - 61:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Be master of your pillow and blankets, avoiding inordinate love of sleep that leads to spiritual and practical poverty.

The metaphor of poverty coming as a robber and want as an armed man due to excessive sleep illustrates how gradual, imperceptible indulgence can have radical, destructive consequences on one's life and usefulness.

when will you arise out of your sleep yet a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep so shall your poverty come as a robber and your want as an armed man now you see when a robber and an armed man hold you up they relieve you of important and valuable commodities suddenly and radically and forcibly but he says an inordinate love of sleep will accomplish the same thing gradually imperceptibly but nonetheless really you see that a little folding of the hands to sleep oh I don't intend to be divorced of all mental vigor and spiritual life and power and usefulness I just intend to hav...

66:00 - 67:29 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Concluding with a lengthy quotation, Martin presents Jesus Christ as the ultimate example of systematic and orderly living. Christ's diligence, power of arrangement, calmness, and…

An extended quotation from Blakey's book on the public ministry of Christ details Jesus' remarkable power of arrangement, calmness, and systematic approach to work, serving as the ultimate example for ministers.

my general call-in times are 12 to 1 and 4 to 5 and they respect that and I want publicly to acknowledge the fact that I am grateful that they respect that they respect that as friends well you've got to instruct and seek the cooperation of your friends in terms of being master of your schedule now I want to conclude the lecture this morning by reading several pages from a book that Gord gave to me back in 84 on the public ministry of Christ and Blakey has a very interesting and perceptive section on the fact that this is the way the Lord Jesus lived that is he obviously was a man who lived in...

73:25 - 74:54 Read in full sermon