Setting Goals

Introduction

We are going through yet another end of the year. For some, this year was marked by losses; for others, by gains; for others, it was indifferent. I don’t know what this year represented for you.

What was the most important thing you learned this year?

What was the most harmful thing for you this year?

What matters is that the clock is ticking, and there is very little time left before the year ends.

But, Pastor, what’s the problem with it ending? This happens every year! It’s nothing new!

NO! It happens every year for some, but not for others. Some opportunities do not come back.

Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow. (Psalm 144:4)

“Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good. (Job 7:7)

Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?(Isaiah 2:22)

Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! (Psalm 39:5)

yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then (James 4:14)

We do not know the day or the hour!

All of us have a clock inside us!

CLOCK = TIME

Does man have the power to extend his days on earth? No.

But he does have the power to shorten them.

Brothers and sisters, God has blessed you with something very important; it is called TIME.

We are all selling, trading, offering our time:

E.g.: at work; watching a movie.

How many set goals at the end of 2024?

How many forgot their goals? Or abandoned them?

This morning I want to emphasize two principles.

Learn to set goals:

Set clear and achievable goals.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. (Philippians 3:12–16)

God is a God of organization and planning; we can see this from the creation of the world.

God planned to build the world in a symmetrical and detailed way. Only those who plan and set goals achieve success and prosperity.

You need to know where you are going! Example: a first-class airplane ticket.

Learn to plan:

How many have already said or thought that the day should have more than 24 hours?

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)

Who wrote it? Moses

Where? The desert

For what reason? He was journeying.

Why do you think he was praying like this?

In other words, he was asking God to give him the ability to perceive the passing of time, the brevity of life, and to realize how fragile we are.

Great historians estimated that Moses should have taken only 40 days in the desert.

So why did it take 40 YEARS? Time management, missed opportunities, among other things.

THE DESERT IS NOT A PLACE TO SET UP TENTS! The desert is temporary.

Jesus took 40 days.

Do you want to have a journey like Jesus’ or like Moses’?

Conclusion:

Value the time God has given you, and have wisdom in how you use it.

But be very intentional about where you invest your time.

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.(Psalm 84:10)