Yitro יתרו “Jethro” Exodus 18:1-20:23

What was Jethro’s advice to Moses? What is Time Management? What does the Bible say about time? How can we be better managers of time? Are you just busy or effective?

Exd. 18:13-26 The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. 14 When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?” 15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God; 16 when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.” 17 Moses' father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. 19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God,

20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. 21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 22 And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. 23 If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.” 24 So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. 25 Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 26 And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves.

“Time management” refers to the way that you organize and plan how long you spend on specific activities (Mindtools.com) “Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity.” (Wikipedia)

The survey also revealed which websites keep employees most off-task. Not surprisingly, socializing on Facebook occupied 41 percent, while 37 percent use LinkedIn, and 25 percent are shopping at Amazon. Other destinations include Yahoo and Google+ and to a lesser extent Twitter and Pinterest.- (Forbes)

Greater productivity and efficiency. A better professional reputation. Less stress. Increased opportunities for advancement. Greater opportunities to achieve important life and career/ministry/family goals.

Missed deadlines and broken promises. Inefficient work flow- wasted time. Poor work quality- making more mistakes. A poor professional reputation and a stalled career/ministry/family goals. Higher stress levels. “Being busy isn’t the same as being effective.”

[Psa 39:4-5 ESV] 4 "O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! 5 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! Selah [Jas 4:14 ESV] 14 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 vanishes. [Psa 90:12 ESV] 12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Recognize the urgency of the times to avoid time wasting, selfish and even sinful use of time. [Rom 13:11-14 ESV] 11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Yeshua Messiah, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Make careful and wise choices about our most limited resource- TIME [Eph 5:15-17 ESV] 15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. “There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important things.” - Brian Tracy author of Eat that Frog

Put God FIRST- including focusing on His Kingdom and Laws [Mat 6:33 ESV] 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. [2Co 6:2 ESV] 2 For he says, "In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Goal Setting People tend to neglect goal setting because it requires time and effort. What they fail to consider is that a little time and effort put in now saves an enormous amount of time, effort and frustration in the future. “If you fail to plan then you are planning to fail.”- Unknown [Hab 2:2-3 KJV] 2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make [it] plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. 3 For the vision [is] yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Prioritization Most people have a "to-do" list of some sort. The problem with many of these lists is they are just a collection of things that need to get done. To work efficiently you need to work on the most important, highest value tasks. This way you won't get caught scrambling to get something critical done as the deadline approaches.

1.Things that are important & urgent 2.Things that are important but not urgent* 3.Things that are urgent but not important 4.Things that are neither important nor urgent [Ecc 3:1 KJV] 1 To every [thing there is] a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Managing Interruptions Analyze and Conquer Interruptions Put Your Phone to Work for You (Not Against You) Don’t let another’s crisis become your crisis Learn to Say "No" "Available" and "Unavailable" Time Uncontrollable Interruptions

Procrastination Procrastination is as tempting as it is deadly. The best way to beat it is to recognize that you do indeed procrastinate. Then you need to figure out why. Perhaps you are afraid of failing? (And some people are actually afraid of success!) Prov. 12:24 NLT Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and become a slave. Prov. 20:4 NLT Those too lazy to plow in the right season will have no food at the harvest.

Scheduling Much of time management comes down to effective scheduling of your time. When you know what your goals and priorities are, you then need to know how to go about creating a schedule that keeps you on track, and protects you from stress.