Life Is Like...

INTRO.- One thing we all know is that life is not easy. There are hills and valleys. There are good days and bad. There are positives and negatives. There are ding bats and ding dongs who get in our way in life. There are saints and ain’ts who enter our lives for good or evil. There are good influences and bad influences. There are abundant times and there are lean times. And it’s the lean times that make you appreciate the abundant times. LIFE IS NOT AN EASY COURSE!

ILL.- Famed economist Stuart Chase once sat down to figure how many hours in the week had he truly and intensively lived? In how many had he just existed? Out of the 168 hours of the week, he found that he had been “alive” only 40, or about 25 percent of the time.

Is this true for us? I suspect there are indeed a great many people in our world who don’t get as much out of life as they should. And I think it is because they don’t know the Lord!

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” The thief who is the devil wants to take life from us but Jesus wants to give us the full life or the abundant life.

John 4:13-14 “Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Jesus is saying, “If you drink of me you’ll never thirst again!”

John 6:33 “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Jesus is the bread of God who gives us life.

1 Timothy 6:18-19 “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

We all need to take hold of the life that is truly life and it’s found in Jesus and a daily relationship to Him.

PROP.- In this message let’s compare life to certain things.

1- LIFE IS LIKE A CLASSROOM

II Tim. 2:2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. Life is like a classroom because it’s an every day learning process. Even when we’re not in a classroom we’re still learning, are we not?

ILL.- Henry Ford is quoted as saying: Anyone who stops learning is old, whether this happens at twenty or at eighty. Anyone who keeps on learning not only remains young but becomes constantly more valuable, regardless of physical capacity.

Learning is good for us, especially, if it’s good stuff.

ILL.- Thomas A. Edison, the great inventor, was talking one day with the governor of North Carolina, and the governor complimented him on his inventive genius.

“I am not a great inventor,” said Edison.

“But you have over a thousand patents to your credit, haven’t you?” asked the governor.

“Yes, but about the only invention I can really claim as absolutely original is the phonograph,” was the reply.

“Why, I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean,” said the governor.

“Well,” explained Edison, “I guess I’m an awfully good sponge. I absorb ideas from every source I can, and put them to practical use. Then I improve them until they become of some

value.

“The ideas which I use are mostly the ideas of other people who don’t develop them themselves.”

We’re all learning from others. Few of us have original ideas and because we’re learning from others, we need to learn the best and cull the rest.

If it’s something good, keep it in your heart and mind. If it’s something bad that someone has tried to pass on to you, let it pass by you. Shed it like water off a duck’s back.

II Tim. 2:2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. If you’ve learned something good in life you must pass it on to others. We all pass on stuff in life, but let’s make it good stuff! Life gospel stuff. Like scripture. Do you pass it on? Quote it as in, “Well, the Bible says...”

2. LIFE IS LIKE AN ARMY

II Tim. 2:3 Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.