Scripture Reading

PSALM 62:9

Psalm 62:9LIFE IS SHORT

Life is Short• “Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you're alive, it isn't.”-Richard Bach

1 Corinthians 15:32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

Revelation 2:10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

What is the point of life?

Life is Short•So what should I do?

•What is the Biblical View? Ecclesiastes 12:1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;

Live It up?

You can…

Trust Science?You can…

Fear, self-pity?

You could…

Ecclesiastes 12:1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;

Life is Short

You are not your own

• Psalm 100:3• Ephesians 2:5

Memory Affects Conduct

• 1 Sm.1:19 • 2

Chr.24:22Youthful Piety

• 2 Peter 2:14

• 2 Tim. 3:14-15

We will all succumb to old age

• Physical: 2 Sam 19:31-35

• Fading capacity for joy: Eccl. 12:1

• Less time to repent and seek God: I Peter 1:24-

25

Life is Short1. Recognize that life passes by quickly.

2. Realize we only have so long to work for God.

3. Know that our purpose doesn’t consist in things.

4. Know that we only have so long for Forgiveness and Repentance.

1. Recognize that life passes by quickly:Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 39:4-5 “O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! 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!

• Therefore, let us seek wisdom from God for He knows us better than anyone and His instructions will settle our minds.

Life is Short

Life is Short2. Realize we only have so long to work for God:

James 4:13-17 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—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. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Life is ShortMatthew 25:14-15 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.Matthew 25:19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

Life is Short3. Know that our purpose doesn’t consist in things.Luke 12:15-21 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Ecclesiastes 5:15 As he came from

his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came,

and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-19Behold, what I have seen to be good and

fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has

given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept

his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.

Life is Short4. Know that we only have so long for Forgiveness and Repentance:Acts 17:30-31 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Mark 11:25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Life is ShortPsalm 49:1-10 Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together! My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre. Why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me, those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches? Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit. For he sees that even the wise die; the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others.

Life is ShortPsalm 49:11-20 Their graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places to all generations, though they called lands by their own names. Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish. This is the path of those who have foolish confidence; yet after them people approve of their boasts. Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd, and the upright shall rule over them in the morning. Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell. But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases. For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him. For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed,—and though you get praise when you do well for yourself— his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see light. Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

Life is Short2 Corinthians 6:2 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.