Time and Relationships- Aug. 21, 2022
Kevin Peck (00:00):
I can tell you when you’re hurried, you know, when you are hurried, I know when I’m hurried, love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible love always takes time. And time is the one thing hurried people don’t have
Hannah Hunter (00:17):
Hey beautiful people. Welcome back to Sundays with gathering I’m Hannah Hunter, the director of digital reach here at the gathering place in Palm beach gardens. This week, we’re continuing our series on the art of neighboring, and we’re blessed to have brother Kevin Peck bring us the message on the time barrier, overcoming the obstacles of excuse, hurry, and distraction in our lives so that we may love those around us. Well,
Kevin Peck (00:39):
Good morning church in the book, the art of neighboring and specifically the topic that I’m speaking on today, time barrier, the author begins with the sentence. The number one obstacle to neighboring well is time. Let me repeat. And I want these words to resonate with you. The number one obstacle to neighboring well is time. Pray with me, please, Almighty God, let me decrease. And you increase may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts. Be acceptably in your sight ohLord our strength and Redeemer. You see two, three months ago, when I met with pastor Mike, a few days later, someone said, it’s hard to say no to pastor Mike and is true. <laugh> I never thought when he said I’m building a preaching team, that it would be in August. I thought he’s gonna be two years a year from now and get my life together. Get things straightened out then less than a month ago, he, John gave me a book. This is the book that we’re gonna be preaching from. Oh man, this is quick. So here I am today. So you might be wondering, how did I get here? It’s not because of my own doing any, you know, not because I’m a great speaker or anything like that. It’s just because it’s, it’s hard to say no to Pastor Mike. <laugh> I know he’s listening. So I’m making sure that he gets this message across <laugh>.
Kevin Peck (02:32):
As I prepared for this message and specifically the topic time barrier, the obstacles that prevents us from neighboring wealth and the main one is time.
Kevin Peck (02:48):
I start to ponder on the definition of the word time. And today I wanna share with you two definitions. One is the Oxford definition. And secondly is what I think is the biblical definition. See, I didn’t, I didn’t use Mirriam Webster. I looked at her definition too, but I, I use Oxford. We’re going back to England. Oxford said that time is the measured or measurable period during which an action process or condition exists or continues. But in the Bible, if you turn with me to Genesis chapter one, and I want you to take your Bibles out from the pew, or if you carry your Bible with you to worship today, I know we are, it is gonna be on the screen. And I know that we have our devices, but I’m encouraging you. If you have your Bible, please take it out. And we’re gonna read Genesis chapter one, verse one through the five.
Kevin Peck (03:54):
Let me know when you have it ready here. Here beginneth in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was over the surface of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, listen to what God said, let there be light. And there was light. God saw that the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day and the darkness. He called night and there was evening and there was morning, the first day, simple definition, night and day time.
Kevin Peck (04:41):
And with that, he gave us a command, great command. We call it in the church to love him with all our heart, mind, soul, body, and strength, and who can say the other one. Remember this is an interactive thing today. What’s the other command. Love thy neighbor. As thyself, I love this church. They know their Bible. Love that neighborhood as ourself. And with that second command, that is what we’re talking about in this book and in the sermon series, loving your neighbor as yourself or loving your neighbor. And so with this time, this, this, this barrier, this obstacle of time, I have three hurdles. See, I love sports. I’m gonna use term hurdle, not, not, not 10 as in the 110 meter hurdles, only three. I’m only giving you three hurdles that you have to negotiate today in order to love, or to eliminate that obstacle of time and to love your neighbor.
Kevin Peck (05:39):
The first is make no excuses. You see we’re good at it. I’m speaking to myself here. I make excuses. Why don’t I know my neighbor. They’re obnoxious. <laugh> you see, as I was thinking about this, I asked myself the question, why don’t I know my neighbor? Why am I not loving my neighbor as I should? And these are the questions that I came up with. And I want you to think about your own excuses as I go through mine, they’re obnoxious. They play loud music. They’re drinking outside a smoke weed. They’re not Jamaicans. All these excuses. <laugh> what is your excuse? You see the greatest example of loving our neighbor is found in Jesus. The one who we called our savior. If we’re, if we’re so-called Christians, Jesus did not make excuses. I’m sure you’re familiar with the story about the woman at the well and Jesus retreated to that.
Kevin Peck (06:44):
Well, and he was sitting there or standing Bible did not say so, but this woman came by night. As we all know, and Jesus did not make an excuse. The first thing Jesus said was, give me some water. No excuse. He didn’t. He didn’t look at her and send, because remember she was outcast. She was not Jews and Samaritans were not friends. They did not plant Gogo line. According to Jamaicans, they did not cross borders Jews on this pew, Samaritans on this pew. But Jesus said, give me water. I don’t care about your condition. I don’t care that you’re not Jamaican. I don’t care. You play loud music. Give me water. So I’m encouraging you not to make excuse. If Jesus did not make excuse, then I don’t need to make excuse. I need to make an effort to get to know my neighbor, even though I think they’re obnoxious, I need to make an effort to get to know my neighbor.
Kevin Peck (07:47):
That is a clear example of not making ex excuses found in that story. Jesus gave about the woman at the, well, the second hurdle that you’re gonna jump over and I’m hope you’re thinking about your excuses, cuz I’m coming back to you at the end of this message. The second hurdle that we’re gonna eliminate is the hurdle of hurry. How many of us here are in a hurry? Can’t wait for my sermon to be finished. And I’m gonna keep you here out until three. O’clock tell pastor <laugh> that’s my excuse for him not to put me up here again. Okay. <laugh> but we’re always in a hurry again. I’m speaking to myself, I’m in a hurry. Always. My family’s here with me can tell you. I try to pack everything in a day and more, but John Berg got it. When he said, hurry is a sickness. Listen to John Berg. Hurry is a sickness. And he continues. He says, love and hurry are fundamentally. Incompatible. Love always takes time. And the time and time is the one thing hurried people don’t have love takes time. And time is the one thing hurried people don’t have everything that you’re hearing. Every we have for our lives. Every example is in the Bible. Let’s look at how Jesus deals with not hurrying.
Kevin Peck (09:32):
Let’s look at Luke chapter 10, verse 30 verses 38 through to 42. Again, I emplor, if you have your Bibles, see I’m making it hard for you. You won’t come back. I’m sure. Pastor Luke chapter 10 verse s 38 to 42. This is the famous story of two sisters, Martha and Mary as Jesus and his disciples were on their way. He came to the village where a woman named Martha open her home to him. She had a sister called Mary
Kevin Peck (10:14):
Who sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that he had to be made that had to be made. She came to him and asked Lord don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself. Tell her to help me listen to Jesus’s words, to, to Martha, Martha, she didn’t call her name once. You know, when you, our daughter is here. You know, when you, um, when you say to your kids, you, you call their name twice. You know, you know something serious, you know, you know my mom’s here too. You know, they trying to get your attention. You’re in trouble. She said, Martha, Martha, the Lord answered. You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it’ll not be taken from her. He did not say that Martha was doing anything wrong. He said she has chosen what is better. See when we, when we’re hurried, we miss the point. We miss the message.
Kevin Peck (11:24):
I’m sure if I was in Martha’s shoes and Jesus is coming to my house, I would be preparing a whole year. There would be gospel music playing in the house. TBN would be on television. I would be practicing with Georgia to, you know, no fighting in the house. We’d be saying the right things. You know, everything will be, will rehearse our conversation. She did not say she wasn’t doing anything wrong. She was preparing, but she was worried. She was hurried. She wanted to get everything perfect. And Jesus is saying, relax, relax, Mary is here. She’s learning. She’s gathering the wisdom that she needs to gather. Right? So even though you’re preparing, you’re doing the right thing, but take it easy. Don’t be running around, you know, back home. They would say you’re running around like a chicken with your head cut off. Right? Take it easy, relax.
Kevin Peck (12:13):
And so we have to, if we want to have time to neighbor well, we have to remove, hurry from our lives, right? The example is there. I’m not making it up. We have to learn to remove, hurry, quiet our spirits and take some time. Jesus, if you notice, Jesus always take time away. He always retreated. There were times when the crowd needed him, what did he do? He took time away. And there were times when the disciples thought that he should leave the crowd and go retreat. And he did the reverse he attended. So you have to know, I can’t tell you when you are hurried, you know, when you’re hurried, I know when I’m hurried and this I’m reading this book, I recognize that I’m living at a frantic pace. That honestly I will never be able to sustain. So I know I have to remove hurry from my own life.
Kevin Peck (13:07):
See, I’m, I’m standing here today. I’m not standing here speaking righteous. I’m speaking, speaking here. I’m speaking to myself. Okay. Michael Jackson said the famous song and you know it, I’m talking to the man in what? In the mirror. All right. So I’m hoping that I’m not hurrying through this message today. And the third thing that the third hurdle that we’re going to jump today is that off limit distractions. And once I’m finished, then you’ll be able, you’ll have completed your 110 meter hurdles. And I’m sure you would be the winner, but seriously, the third is distractions. Now for me, this is a big one. How many of us have our devices? Headphones in walking. Good morning. Hi. Hello. We never look anyone in the eye anymore. We never take the time to stop and to say, brother, how are you doing this morning? Is there anything I can help you with? We are so consumed with distractions and the author in this book make a great illustration. He loves sports, just like me. I’m a sports junkie, everything that is called a ball. I follow right. I have all sports up on my phone. I follow every sport you can think of almost. And so my phone is always on notification because in Europe you’re six hours ahead. Right? So when I should be sleeping, there’s cricket playing there’s soccer, playing and there’s notifications going off all night.
Kevin Peck (14:58):
One of the things I had to do a couple years ago was make that decision. I don’t need to know every score. I don’t need to follow every sport. If I miss a game tonight, I can catch the, the score in the morning. And that’s just my example. We live in a world where we’re constantly distracted. We’re here right now. And we’re thinking about what we’re gonna do when we get out of worship, Kevin, please hurry up. Cause I got the rice and peas to cook.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
<laugh>
Kevin Peck (15:35):
I gotta take my, I gotta go to dinner. I have friends to see and q places to go, as they would say where all we were so distracted, our minds are constantly consumed.
Kevin Peck (15:50):
I’m encouraging you this hurdle when you live here today, think about it. What is it that I’m distracted by? If Jesus in his day took time out and you know why Jesus took time out because he made time to be interrupted. We don’t make any time to be interrupted anymore. I need to be at work at eight o’clock in the morning. Georgia can tell you. Sometimes she calls me at seven 30. She’s like, what are you doing? You’re spinning because I’m still there. I’m leaving at 7 35. I don’t make time to be interrupted. What if I’m driving down the road and someone have a flat tire, can I stop to help them? No, because I’m in a hurry. Um, we need, Jesus took time away to, to, to be interrupted. There were times when he did not expect to heal somebody or he did not expect to be called upon for some other miracle services, but he made that time to be interrupted. We no longer make time to be interrupted. 24 hours a day is planned out.
Kevin Peck (16:51):
Take, I have a planner that I work with seven o’clock, eight o’clock, nine o’clock, 10 o’clock we’re all. And we never make any time to be interrupted, but there are people out there who need, we need to make space or we need to make time to be interrupted. What if I decide to walk out my house at seven 15, keep my phone in my bag, walk over to my neighbor. As she drives out and say, is there anything I can help you with? How was your day? How was your night? Good morning. Start a conversation that might lead to a lasting relationship. I might learn something about my neighborh that I didn’t know. And then I might not think that they’re obnoxious. We need to limit our distractions
Kevin Peck (17:40):
As I come close to the end. And as you think about these removing these three things that I think are barriers or hurdles, call them hurdles, excuse my sports jargons. Right? Make no excuse, eliminate hurry, and limit distractions. And you start to formulate relationships with your neighbor. And in this series, I know when we use the word neighbor biblically, we’re talking about everyone. We come in contact with, but this book is specifically talking about those that live amongst us. And I know John, um, got into details about our neighbors last week. So this is what we’re talking about here. Those that live amongst us. There’s two things I want you to think about in the coming weeks. First, you gotta get to know your neighbor, right? And then these are the two things I want you to do.
Kevin Peck (18:45):
Who can I help? Have we ever asked ourselves that question? Who can I help? And secondly, who can I impact? Who can I help people in this? We need people out there need help. And, and trust me, you have something that can change lives. My lives have been changed by some great people that have from back home to today that have made an impact lasting impact that that will carry for the rest of my life. And also who can I help you see? There is, um, growing up in Jamaica, they teach us about no man is an island and no man stands alone. We live in a world where we say, I can do that by myself. I do it all. I need no help. Everyone needs help. All right. So you, I want you to think about that. There are people out there who need help and also need to be impacted.
Kevin Peck (19:43):
Growing up. There is a hymn as a children’s hymn. They used to let us every Sunday, there was a children’s time when you had to go up and sing a children’s hymn. It’s in the middle of the Methodist hymnbook , but I want to, I’m not gonna sing because you all would be out of here by the first verse. So I’m going to read it for you, but there’s a particular verse. I want you to say with me, he said, God, make my life a little light within the world to glow a little flame. That burneth bright. Wherever I may go. God, make my light a little flower. That giveth joy to all content, to bloom in native power. Although the place be small, God make my life a little song. That comfort death, the sad that helpeth others to be strong and makes the singer glad. But this is the verse that I want you to listen. I’m gonna ask you to say it with me after God, make my life a little staff where on the weak may rest that. So what health and strength I have may serve my neighbor’s best. If you don’t mind say it with me, please. God make my life a little staff. We’re on that. Weak may rest that. So what health and strength I have may serve my neighbors best
Kevin Peck (21:19):
Loving our neighbor is not a choice. My brothers and sisters, it is a command. God bless.
Hannah Hunter (21:27):
Hey, beautiful people. This is Hannah Hunter. I’m the director of digital reach here at the gathering place in Palm beach gardens. Thank you for joining us this week. We love getting to share our journey in Christ and community with you. And if you’re in the Palm beach area, we would love to get to connect with you in person at our Sunday worship service at 1115, for more information about our community and faith, check out our website at thegatheringplacefl.org. Thanks for listening.
