The 5-Minute Christian: Assessing Life Priorities and Growing Spiritually

By Vince Mooney

"Following Christ isn't something that can be done halfheartedly or on the side. It is not a label we can display when it is useful. It must be central to everything we do and are."

-Francis Chan 

The world distracts us and demands our time and energy. Can we accomplish all that is asked of us or do we simply not have

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Jul 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685565947

Vince Mooney

The author was called away from twenty-five years in manufacturing leadership to ministry. He does not claim to be a qualified writer, but God does not call the equipped; He equips the called. Vince is a humble servant of the Lord who is active in his church and community, and he has led many discipleship groups as well. Vince seeks to share the treasure of Christ as he follows the direction of the Holy Spirit.

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The 5-Minute Christian

assessing life priorities and growing spiritually

Vince Mooney

Trilogy Christian Publishers

TUSTIN, CA

Trilogy Christian Publishers

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive

Tustin, CA 92780

The 5-Minute Christian: Assessing Life Priorities and Growing Spiritually

Copyright © 2022 by Vince Mooney

Scripture quotations marked BSB are taken from the Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible. Copyright ©2016, 2020 by Bible Hub. Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without written permission from the author. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

Rights Department, 2442 Michelle Drive, Tustin, CA 92780.

Trilogy Christian Publishing/TBN and colophon are trademarks of Trinity Broadcasting Network.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Trilogy Christian Publishing.

Trilogy Disclaimer: The views and content expressed in this book are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views and doctrine of Trilogy Christian Publishing or the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 978-1-68556-593-0

E-ISBN: 978-1-68556-594-7

Dedication

For my beautiful and loving wife, Deanna Mooney, who encouraged me to radically act on God’s calling to embrace my purpose and God’s calling. Her caring and serving heart for others is God’s light emanating through her on the world. I thank God every day for bringing her into my life.

Acknowledgements

I want to thank my Lord and Savior, first and foremost, for chasing me down as His lost child and filling me with His Spirit. This is the greatest treasure anyone could ever possess.

To the publishing and production team at Trilogy, I thank them for their guidance and professionalism in my second book project with them. I thank them for making a difficult process look easy for a new writer. I further thank them for trusting my message to align in the collective sharing of the Word of God to the world.

To my church family at the Craig Christian Church, I thank them for welcoming me into their family as I have cherished the connections made in the Body of Christ there. I pray God does great things through the hearts for Him in that congregation.

To my brother in Christ, Mundo Hernandez, I thank him for inspiring me with his story and his passion for Christ. Not only is his story inspiring, but his fire for Jesus is amazing. Jesus goes where Mundo goes, and you’ll know it when you cross his path.

To Donna Myers, my mother-in-law, who could never be mistaken with a 5-minute Christian. Her tireless heart for the well-being of others, consistency in prayer, and her dedication to basking in God’s Word make her an example for many to follow.

To Debbie Davidson, I do not see her that often, but I receive scripture from her daily. Debbie is tireless in her efforts, and her heart overflows with God’s love and compassion for others.

To my brother in Christ, Tom Muniz, who has an amazing study of the word combined with the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Tom’s excitement and optimism are a true testament to the fire burning bright for Jesus.

I thank my dear brother in Christ, James Ryan, who has a tireless heart for prayer and the Bible. He is to me the innocence of a child of God as well as a warrior to be reckoned with on Christ’s battlefield—a powerful combination for God’s kingdom.

To my dad, Thomas Mooney, who gives and gives and gives more to all those he loves. Never has he or does he ask anything in return. There never was a child who ever did without anything that my dad could offer them.

Contents

Preface ix

Introduction x

Part 1. Measuring the Pulse of America: What’s Wrong and Why

Chapter 1. Our Heart Resides Where Our Time

Is Spent 3

Chapter 2. Our Money and Our Comforts 12

Chapter 3. Freedom of Choice 18

Chapter 4. Honk If You Love Jesus 23

Chapter 5. Our Unsettled Hearts 31

Chapter 6. Seeking Our Relevance 39

Chapter 7. Labels and Traditions 44

Chapter 8. All the World’s a Stage 54

Chapter 9. State of Christianity 59

Chapter 10. What Treasure Do We Seek? 74

Chapter 11. Christianity Is Not Cool 81

Chapter 12. Unaware of Satan’s Strategies 87

Chapter 13. Going It Alone 107

Part 2. Our Misguided View

of Our Lives on Earth

Chapter 14. Life Happens 115

Chapter 15. Blindness of the Meaningless Things

in Life 120

Chapter 16. Just Getting to the Finish Line 124

Chapter 17. America’s Parallels to the Revelation

Churches 132

Chapter 18. Do We Really Believe? 143

Part 3. Restoring God’s Glory

Through Our Lives

Chapter 19. Knowing the Goodness of God 153

Chapter 20. The Bread of Life 156

Chapter 21. Seeking to Live Our Purpose 161

Chapter 22. Building and Sustaining a Relationship

with God 166

Chapter 23. There Is No Me in Christianity 172

Chapter 24. Jesus Is in the Boat 178

Chapter 25. God’s Will Versus Our Prayers 185

Chapter 26. Seeking to Look Like Jesus 192

Chapter 27. Promoting the One and Only Truth 198

Chapter 28. Being the Light 203

Chapter 29. Fishers of Men 208

Chapter 30. Our Purpose Fulfilled 216

About the Author 220

Preface

I, the author, was convicted to write this book by the Holy Spirit. After coming to Christ, one begins to grieve what they see around them as it appears the world, in large measure, has turned away from Christ. Even the professing Christians seem to desire the label of Christian without actively following in the footsteps of Jesus. I see in both of these categorizations exactly who I used to be. Now I am convicted to be a servant for God to use in chasing down His lost sheep just as He once chased me down. I wish to encourage spending most of one’s time in building a relationship with God, the most valuable investment of time one can invest in for eternity. I pray for world revival and for the Spirit of God to come upon mankind with the power that can only come from God. I hope to meet you all in eternity as my brothers and sisters in Christ. May God be glorified to the ends of the earth.

Introduction

Are we living in the end times? I often ponder this question, as many others have, as I view society around me as a Christian in America. Aside from my own challenges to live my purpose and obedience, I wonder how God is grieving in response to my own struggles as well as the struggles of all His children in the world. What comes to view in my own country of America is an abundance of greed, power, control, idolatry, selfishness, anger, fear, and other forms of evil in our midst. Do you see it too?

What follows in this book can seem like an indictment on Christianity in America, but it is simply a call to action to be the Christian that God calls us to be. I have no room to judge as I am part of the problem. It saddens my heart to see a nation that considers itself 70 percent Christian and repeatedly not look and act that way. How would God assess America? How many of God’s children show a complete dependence on Him and a constant pursuit of relationship with Him? I think we can all agree that the answers to these questions would be an alarmingly low number. The actions of humanity these days remind me of the Old Testament book of Judges, where the times were defined as in Judges 21:25 (NLT), where it says, In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. In large part, society these days resembles one in which we do what we want and have no king that we are dependent upon for our guide. However, we as Christians do indeed have a king in Jesus, but is the real problem that we just do not prioritize Him? Have we forsaken our Lord? Do we have knowledge of Him but no relationship with Him that reflects a true change in our hearts and lives? My own heart grieves as God deserves our love, complete dependence, and faith in Jesus. God has challenged my heart, however, to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. My prayer is that I can convince all of us that our God deserves our obedience, boldness, dependence, and faith.

Why do things seem so dire? It seems that the Body of Christ is not united. It seems some take a laissez-faire approach, that we cannot fix the world around us, and we just need to exist and wait for God to fix the world. It seems others feel they have punched their ticket into heaven, that they wear the Christian label, and are coasting to the finish line. Finally, there are those that try to live their lives for their own happiness, and God is an afterthought or no thought at all.

If we are good stewards in reading our Bible, it is not just the story of salvation that we learn about. We are also called to learn from history and prophesy. It is commonly said that not learning from our history leads to the doom of repeating it. The Holy Spirit has convicted me to take a deeper look at the books of Jeremiah and Revelation in the Bible. Now, I am no prophet, but it seems as if God has had a lot to say about both prophesy and history in the Bible. Does not America resemble the Israel that claimed to love God but engaged in all forms of idolatry and other sin, only to fall to Babylon in spite of God’s warnings? Can we look at the seven churches described in the book of Revelation and see a resemblance to the churches in Ephesus, Sardis, Pergamum, and Laodicea? We will discuss this in detail later, but I urge us all to be aware that God knows all that is happening in our lives and desperately seeks our hearts to live the purpose He designed for us.

In a country that professes to be 70 percent Christian, where is the church? I am not speaking of the four-wall community church; I am speaking of the Body of Christ. Are we as Christians collectively asleep? Are we too lukewarm and paralyzed in our inaction? Do we actually have a daily relationship with God, or do we take God for granted and just assume all is right just because we believe that He is there? God has a lot to say about this, and He wants to speak through us as individuals with His Spirit. My prayers for this book are to open the ears of the church to hear what the Holy Spirit is asking of us. I suspect that the Spirit may call us to action in a wide variety of callings, and make no mistake, it will require action. My heart breaks for what has happened in America…and this has been occurring gradually since this country’s independence. This is not the effect of a single political party or presidency. This is the collective, declining influence of Christianity on the country as a whole. If we do not enter into the battle as Christians against the advance of evil, Satan will take the battlefield, no matter the disadvantaged numbers. As Christians reluctant to enter the battle or even listen to the guidance of the Spirit, where does this leave us in the eyes of our Lord? I pray that we all read this book with a willing and open heart to enter the battle as the Spirit instructs. I pray that we have a fear of our God and heed His words as instructed to the church in Laodicea as it reads in Revelation 3:16 (NIV), So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. I pray that we repent and take the battleground back for our God. Will you join me?

Part 1

Measuring the Pulse of America:

What’s Wrong

and Why

Chapter 1

Our Heart Resides Where Our Time Is Spent

Many of us have heard two common expressions that have been used in society in describing our available time by saying that we have Too much time on my hands and that I just don’t seem to have enough time in the day. As each person plans their day ahead each day, the approach is often prioritizing the time in what we want to do and what others instruct us that we have to do. We all have different demands and priorities that will fit into this plan for the day. One fact that is certain is that we can choose to use our time wisely or unwisely, and there are no do-overs for a day. I often have pondered (even in my own life) how one ultimately approaches what they plan to do for a day, and without fail, I always come back to the priority of the heart.

So, where are the priorities of the heart? As a Christian, I would hope that the one most important thing in our lives that we spend our time on is in serving and building a relationship with our heavenly Father. Why? Because it is the only eternal thing that matters. First, Jesus deserves to be the most important thing in our lives. He came to earth in human form to teach us what we were created for: to serve the will of God. Then, out of love for us in our sinful flesh, He died for us so that we may be saved from our sin. But somewhere along the line, we have become more absorbed in the world and less absorbed with the Lord. We have become horribly confused in thinking that God created us for a life in trying to serve our own purposes and getting the most out of life for ourselves. The second reason our priority should be on our God is that we know our life has a finite end on earth. However, we are promised eternal life