A man, quoting his pastor, said: “For a church to be a great church, you must have a dream” (or a goal). If we do not have a goal, do not know where we are going. It’s like travelling without a map. It will cause us to wander aimlessly in this world. The wisest man to every live, with the exception of Jesus, Solomon said in Proverbs 29:18: “Where there is no vision the people perish . . . ” "Vision" refers to a prophetic vision; a dream; a word, as from God. (We need to let God guide our goals.) "Perish" menas "to set at nought; to let loose." (It presents the picture of having no real direction.) Ecclesiastes 11:4 tells us, “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.” You can’t always wait for “ideal conditions” to do what you know you should do. I believe that today many of God’s people are waiting for “ideal conditions” to exist before they take a stand for God and His Word. I’m not sure what those conditions are. To have an easy time of it? To have our witness of Christ welcomed by the world? To be considered “valuable” by the world? In James 4:13-17 James tells us man did some good things from a business standpoint. He designed a plan, a period (“. . . today or tomorrow '), a procedure (we will go into such a city . . . and buy and sell), and a profit (“. . . and get gain . . . ”). But this man had one problem. Do you see it? Look at vs. 15 - “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” Whether this man is guilty of procrastination or disobedience in this instance, he did not consider God’s will for his life. This is probably one area in which God’s people today are so much like the world. We make our plans -- period. Consider the rich fool with the “too small” barns in Luke 12:16-20 for a moment. Here was a man whom God had blessed greatly. And we can hear him talking to himself (vs. 17 - “. . . he thought within himself . . . ”), and four times in just two verses he says, “I will.” He is making his plans. But look at what God says (vs. 20), “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” GOD CAN OVERRULE OUR PLANS! And that is why James says in vs. 15, “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” How often do you and I make our plans contingent on the Lord’s will? Now this man failed to consider God and His will for his life in several different areas, but I am only going to consider one of them at length this morning, and THIS IS MY MESSAGE ON PROCRASTINATION! God’s people need to ask God to help us stop wasting our time and putting off what He wants us to do. We have a great waster of time (and maybe several of them) in our homes, don’t we? I know first hand how easy it is to turn the TV on, plop down in the easy chair, and vegetate, become a “couch potato.” I also know how difficult it is to get up, turn the set off, and spend time in God’s Word. Why is that? Because (Galatians 5:17), “. . . the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Procrastination may be the biggest problem that many/most of us have today. Many do not consider procrastination a sin, but what does James say in vs. 17? James 4:17: "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” Whether we just don’t do it, or just put off doing what we know to do. Delay is disobedience. In this message I only have time to mention 2 areas in which the sin of procrastination causes great troubles. They are:

I. PROCRASTINATION IS THE REASON THAT MANY PEOPLE DIE LOST.

II. PROCRASTINATION AND OMISSION ARE THE REASONS MANY CHURCHES ARE FAILING.