Hustle – Part 5

Review

Last month, we introduced a new series called “Hustle.”

It calls out the hurried tempo of our lives.

And it asks us to invest time with God.

Which in turn aligns our pace and priorities to match the Heavenly Father’s.

So, This message places a strong emphasis on slowing down so that we can prioritize our time with God.

But we had to put this all in a much broader context.

So, We looked at the Industrial Revolution and its impact on our fast-paced, technology-driven lives.

The Industrial Revolution was a “process of change” that shifted our economy from one based on agriculture and handicrafts to one based on industry and machine manufacturing. (encyclopedia Britannica).

When you farm and make things with your hands, life moves at the pace of nature.

Technology is a response to the limitations of the natural world

Humanity creates technology to improve the natural world but without addressing the root cause of the world’s disorder.

Wounds from the past, especially from childhood, can fuel our drive toward success.

Many successful people are wounded.

Two Major Judgments

2 Peter 3:1–2 (ESV): ¹This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, ² that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,

A Generation of Mockers

2 Peter 3:3 (ESV): ³ knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.

2 Peter 3:4 (ESV): ⁴ They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

You’re not your true self until you find Christ.

Don’t Forget the Meaning of the Rainbow

2 Peter 3:5-6 (ESV): ⁵ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, ⁶ and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.

2 Peter 3:7 (ESV): ⁷ But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

2 Peter 3:8 (ESV): ⁸ But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

God’s Not Slow. He’s Patient.

2 Peter 3:9 (ESV): ⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Luke 16:27–31 (ESV): ²⁷ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— ²⁸ for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ ²⁹ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ ³⁰ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ ³¹ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

2 Peter 3:10 (ESV): ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Matthew 24:38–39 (ESV): ³⁸ For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Stay Woke

Matthew 24:42–51 (ESV): ⁴² Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. ⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. ⁴⁷ Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, ⁵⁰ the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know ⁵¹ and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024