Live Like You Were Dyin' Series

Live Like You Were Dyin’

Life is valuable. “Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.” Psalm 90:12 (LB)

Don’t turn over a new leaf. Turn over a new life.

“Life is a dash between two numbers on a tombstone, and everybody should enjoy that dash” Dr Neil Shulman (Movie Doc Hollywood)

Dash - Separating a beginning and an ending. What do you see? That 1 or 2 inch mark stands for a whole life.

Life is fleeting: “LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away. My life is no longer than the width of my hand. An entire lifetime is just a moment to you; human existence is but a breath.” (Psalm 39:4-5 NLT)

18 times a minute you breathe, 25,920 times a day FREE of Charge

When you think about it, we don’t have much control over many things in life:

Born, Parents, Time period/culture

Death - Only God knows - Our lives are in His hands

One thing we do have control over

We get to decide how we are going to use our dash - How we will spend that time?

“You do not know what will happen tomorrow! Your life is like a mist. You can see i for a short time. But then it goes away.” James 4:14 (NCV)

The greatest enemy is not death, but a life unlived!

William Wallace said, “Every man dies; but not every man lives”

What Really Matters Most in this Life (Prioritize)

God matters.

(Philippians 3:7-8) “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ…”

(Luke 12:20-21) “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

(1 John 2:17) “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

2. The People in your life matter.

God gives us people to love and things to use, not things to love and people to use

Focus on your relationships and express your love to those closest to you.

(Galatians 5:13-15) “Serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”

(Matthew 25:35) “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

(Ecclesiastes 4:12 NLT) “A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.

Live Like You Were Dyin’

1. Live With Passion

Passion is the spark of life. Without it life has no meaning. It means object of desire, deep interest, zeal, fervor, enthusiasm.

“So love the Lord your God with all your Passion and prayer and intelligence and energy” Mark 12:30 (Message)

"To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.'” Luke 7:31,32 (NIV)

Jimmy Durante said, I sing so pretty I make myself cry

•Jesus is saying we played the music of life for you, but you didn’t dance. you didn’t enjoy life. You were always waiting to live. you were stuck!

•Then when the pain and problems came your way, you didn’t cry, you didn’t experience life. you tried to avoid risks at all costs.

•Go ahead DANCE as though no one is watching you, LOVE as though you have never been hurt before, SING as though no one can hear you, LIVE as though heaven is on earth!

•You may be extroverted or introverted, it doesn’t matter - God made you to feel things deeply.

•Jack London eloquently described this kind of life: “I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy permanent plant. The proper function of man is to live, not exist. I shall not wast my days in trying to prolong them, I shall use my time.”