Do you use a Day-Timer? A Day-Timer is a calendar arranged by the hours in each day, the days in each week, the weeks in each month, and the months in each year. It can be quickly referenced so that I don’t miss or forget something I’m supposed to be doing or a place I’m supposed to be. I used to have mine in a little black notebook. Then I upgraded to a Palm Pilot. Now my calendar can be accessed from a cell phone!
Jesus said that you and I are to be spiritual “day-timers.” We are to be consciously aware of the “day”– the opportunities God gives us each hour, day, week, month, and year — to do His work. And then we are to take advantage of them!
Read John 9:1-7
I. DAY-TIMERS SEE THE OPPORTUNITY John 9:1-5
A. In Everyday Life John 9:1
- What was Jesus doing when He saw the blind man?
- What was Jesus doing when He called His first disciples in Mark 1:16-18?
- When He taught eternal truths in Mark 10:17-31? When He healed Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-52?
- What were Peter and John doing when they healed the crippled beggar in Acts 3:1-8? When Paul witnessed to the Athenian intellectuals in Acts 17:16-17?
- What do each of these examples teach you?
B. To Exalt God John 9:3
- What reason did Jesus give for the man’s blindness?
- How was this reason fulfilled by what Jesus did? See 9:6-7, 24-33
- How does Peter expand this answer? 1 Peter 1:6-7
- How was this reason experienced by Jesus Himself? Hebrews 5:8-9; John 17:1-5
- What opportunity do you see in your life to exalt God? How will you act on it?
C. To Embrace Daylight John 9:4-5
- Write out v.4 in your own words.
- What similar thought do you find in John 4:27-35? 2 Timothy 4:1- 6? Romans 13:11-14?
- What is God asking you to do now that you may not be able to do in five years? ten years? in twenty years?
- How can you take advantage of the “daylight” in the way you spend your time? your money? your energy?
II. DAY-TIMERS SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY John 9:6-7
A. To Do Something John 9:6
- What did Jesus do about what He saw?
- How are we to respond to the needs of others? See James 2:14-18; Luke 10:30-37; Mark 9:41; Mark 9:37; Proverbs 3:27-28
- List the things you are doing to help those in need.
- What is God calling you to do today for someone in need?
B. To Change Someone John 9:7
- What difference did Jesus make in the blind man’s life? See John 9:8-38
- What difference should our actions make according to Matthew 5:14-16?
- Compare John 13:35 with 1 John 3:16-18
- Name at least one person who trusts or loves Jesus more because of something you have done or said.
- What opportunity do you need to seize “while it is day” to make an eternal difference in someone’s life?
