Live Like You Were Dying
using SONG ILLUSTRATION: "Live Like You Were Dying" -by country artist Tim McGraw
REFERENCE: Phil. 3:7-16
A young soldier and his commanding officer got on a train together. The only available seats were across from an young attractive woman who was traveling with her grandmother. As they engaged in pleasant conversation, the soldier and the young woman kept eyeing one another; and the attraction was obviously mutual. Suddenly the train went into a tunnel and the car became pitch black.
Immediately two sounds were heard: the “smack” of a kiss, and the “whack” of a slap across the face. The grandmother thought “I can’t believe he kissed my granddaughter, but I’m glad she gave him the slap he deserved.”
The commanding officer thought, “I don’t blame the boy for kissing girl, but it’s a shame that she missed his face and hit me instead.”
The young girl thought, “I’m glad he kissed me, but I wish my grandmother hadn’t slapped him for doing it.”
And as the train broke into the sunlight, the soldier could not wipe the smile off his face. He had just seized the opportunity… the opportunity to kiss a pretty girl and the opportunity to slap his commanding officer!!...
and had gotten away with both!
Let me tell you, that young soldier…
-knew how to SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY!
-he knew how to LIVE WITH NO REGRETS!
-he knew how to LIVE LIFE ON PURPOSE!
-he knew how to LIVE LIFE AS THOUGH IT WAS HIS LAST DAY!
(Song – “Live Like You Were Dying” Tim McGraw)
Like the man in this song…
And like the soldier on the train…
we must take advantage of…
-every opportunity
-of everyday
-of every moment
to live life on purpose!!
Unfortunately however,
many times we get so caught up in the details of our day to day life that we just don’t take the time to SEIZE EVERY MOMENT!
You know,
We’ve got deadlines and commitments,
problems and priorities,
distractions and obstacles,
and though we really want more fulfillment from each day,
many times it just doesn’t seem to be within our grasp.
You see,
??how many of you know that no one wants just an average life?
at least not many of us are willing to admit it.
But by nature,
we want our lives to be…
-full of purpose
-and full of accomplishment.
You know,
advertisers know about the basic desires that humans have, so ??what do they do?... they produce slogans that say:
-“Who Says You Can’t Have It All,”
-“Just Do It,”
-“Satisfy Your Thirst,”
-“Life Is A Journey - Enjoy The Ride”
or I like what Paul says,
“Press on toward the goal… to win the prize!”
You see, this was Paul’s philosophy on life.
He believed and knew what it meant…
-to live life like he was dying;
-to live life on purpose;
-and to seize every moment that he had!!
and in Philippians 3 he makes this known...
Philippians 3:7-16
If we would only learn and listen from the example Paul gave us,
you know, we would learn to…
-make the most of every opportunity we have;
-and live life to the fullest;
-living everyday as though it were your last;
…no matter how busy and hectic your life may seem.
This morning, I want us to look at
3 simple ways to seize every moment in our lives:
The first way to do this is to…
1. FIND YOUR PURPOSE
If I were to ask everyone in this room today…
“What is your purpose in life?”
You know, I would probably get a lot of different answers:
-“Be a good wife or husband”,
-“be a good mother or father”,
-“do my job better”,
-“be a good teacher, nurse, mechanic, salesperson”,
and so on.
And those answers would be good,
but you know, they’re only secondary purposes.
The question is, is… ??what is your PRIMARY PURPOSE in life?
Or in other words, ??what is your REASON FOR LIVING?
Everything that God created…
-has a primary purpose,
-It has a reason for existence.
!!!!And for anyone or anything to be successful,
>it must fulfill that purpose!!!!
Let me ask you this...
??What is the primary purpose of an ink pen?
>The answer, of course, is TO WRITE.
Here is a $3.00 engraved pen that is out of ink.
It may be pretty to look at,
but it is a failure as a pen;
it’s not fulfilling its purpose.
It’s useless.
So let me ask you,
??what do you do when the time comes to sign your paycheck that you desperately need it in your bank account, and you pull out your nice engraved pen and it doesn’t work?
>You end up bypassing the nice looking engraved pen,
and you use a $.29 Bic pen THAT WORKS!!!!
And you know, that may seem like a simple illustration,
!!!but just as a pen has a primary purpose,
every individual that God has created has a primary purpose!!
!!!Our lives are without meaning,
and doomed for failure,
unless we find out
what is our purpose and reason for living is!!!
In fact, Paul stated his reason for living in ... (vs.10-11).
Paul is saying “I want to know Christ so that I may be like Him.”
!!!!Simply put, Paul’s reason for living was to be like Jesus!!
And you know, this is our reason for living also!!!
>It’s to be like Him!!!
The second way to seize every moment of our life is to…
2) FORGET THE PAST (read v.13)
In fact, there are two elements of the past that we must forget.
First: “Forgetting the Bad.”
>Paul, just like all of us… had a past to forget.
>He had tortured and murdered many innocent people.
>He had caused a lot of pain and had done much damage to the cause of Christ.
But, now he was faced with a choice; He could either:
-dwell on his mistakes and let them ruin his life and his chance for effective ministry,
-or he could forget all about ‘em and move on with his life.
Just like Paul had a choice to make, so do we.
Maybe you’ve had a bad experience just lately
or maybe you did something long ago that you regret to this day.
Maybe the memories keep coming back to haunt you and
keep you from living a full life today.
And believe it or not,
!!!Many of us in here have had a bad past!!
!!!but let me tell you, it’s time to forget the past!!!
!!!It’s time to get a revelation!!!
!!!It’s over!!
!!!It’s done!!
!!!It’s gone!!
!!!Stop letting it get you down!!!
!!!There’s nothing you can do to change it!!!
!!!The only thing that you can do is to, “Forget it and move on!!!!” ??AMEN?!!!!
On New Years Day, 1929, Georgia Tech was playing California. Late in the second quarter, Roy Regals recovered a fumble for California, and in his excitement became confused and began running in the wrong direction.
After racing 65 yards he was finally tackled by his own player at the California 2 yard line. California attempted to punt from deep in their own end zone, but the kick was blocked and Georgia Tech scored a safety.
In the locker room at half time, Roy Regals sat in the corner with his face buried in his hands, crying. The room was silent. The Coach didn’t make his usual half - time speech, but shortly before the team was to take the field for the second half, he said, “The starting team is going back onto the field to begin the second half.”
The whole team left the locker room except for Regals, who remained in the corner with his face in his hands. “I can’t do it Coach,” he said. “I can’t play. I ruined the team.” The Coach said, “Get up Regals. The game is only half over. You belong on the field.”
??Well guess what?
>!!!Our game is only half over!!!
!!!Regardless of the past,
we still have the rest of the game to play!!
!!!So what if The Enemy Scored Off Of You in The Past!
!!!God is willing to forget about the mistakes of the first half!!
!!!And He expects YOU to do the same!!!
In Isaiah 43:25 it says, “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”
In Jeremiah 31:34 it says, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Now in continuing in forgetting the past, we must not only (1) forget the bad, but we must also:
Second: “Remember the Good things of our past,
but stop living for them.”
Many of you probably remember the old Bruce Springsteen song, “Glory Days.”
It’s about the guy who can’t quit thinking about all the fun he had back in high school.
He says, “Time slips away and leaves you with nothing but boring stories of Glory Days.”
You know, many people…
-zero in on one good period of time in their life
-and spend the rest of their lives trying to relive the past.
Maybe it was high school,
Or maybe college,
Or maybe when you first got married,
Or when the kids were young.
But I’ve found that surprising enough,
-this is the same temptation that many Christians give into.
So many times I’ve heard people say,
-“Remember the Good old days”
-“when so and so was still here.
O’ how they could pray, and O’ how so and so could sing,
and remember when the Pastor was so on fire, and so on!”
-“Remember those days!”
But you see, Paul knew that a good past was not enough to guarantee a meaningful future.
Look with me at vs.4-7.
Paul was saying, “I will not live in the past. My reason for living is to be like Jesus, and whatever happened yesterday, good or bad, is now ancient history. So I will live for Jesus today.”
One thing we can know for certain is this, is that…
“God never consults your past to determine your future.”
(REPEAT)
Now, the third way to seize every moment of our life is to not only…
1) Find Your Purpose
2) Forget the Past
3) FACE THE PRESENT (read v.13)
You know, it’s easy to live in the past.
And it is easy to dream away the future.
But it’s a real challenge to face the present!
??You know why?
because it means that we can no longer allow ourselves the luxury of saying, “Well one of these days I’ll do something about my
temper ... my commitment to God ... my health ... my
responsibility to my family ... and so on.”
In John 11, there’s a story I believe most of us are familiar with,
-it’s about when Jesus’ good friend Lazarus died.
-and when Jesus arrived at the tomb,
Lazarus had been dead for 4 days.
And then Lazarus’ sister, Martha, came to Jesus and spoke that classic phrase used by people who live in the past, she said:
-“IF ONLY”
She said, -“Jesus, if only you had been here my brother would not have died”.
Jesus then said to Martha, “Your brother will rise again.”
And Martha began dreaming about the future and said,
“I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
You see,
Martha knew that Jesus had the power in the past,
and she knew that He would have the power in the future,
but like so many of us at times,
she wasn’t quite sure about His Power in the Present circumstance.
We have no problem believing that Jesus performed many miracles in the past,
and the greatest one of them all dying on the cross, and raising from the dead on the third day.
We also have no problem believing that in the future He’s gonna do great and awesome miracles in the church.
??But why is it that we have such a hard time believing His Word in the Present Day?
Look At What Jesus Said To Her. (Read John 11:26`).
And Martha’s reply was, “Yes, Lord”: You say that this morning
Martha said,
“Yes Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
By this confession she was saying, “Jesus, Not Just Yesterday, and Not Just Tomorrow, but Today I believe in You!”
And it was at that moment…
that Martha began to face the present
and put her faith into action.
And I believe it’s time for all of us to say…
“Yes Lord We Believe and Put Our Faith Into Action.”
Yes Lord, I believe your still my Lilly in the valley,
Yes Lord, I believe your still that still small voice on the Mountain top.
Yes Lord, I Believe you walk us across our Rivers on dry land
Yes Lord, I Believe you still calm the stormy waters.
Yes Lord, I Believe you still raise the dead, heal the blind, deaf, mute, lame, broken hearted, cast out demons.
Facing the present means that…
-we put our faith in Jesus Christ, and trust Him to be involved in every part of our lives.
Facing the present means that…
-we choose to live life as it comes to us day by day.
Not in the past, not in the future, but right here and right now.
God does not want us to waste our lives away.
He wants us to “seize the moment” and live every day of our lives on purpose.
He’s given us a reason for living:
>to be like Jesus.
It’s not going to happen yesterday, so we must forget the past. We can’t put it off till tomorrow, because tomorrow may never come.
It has to happen right now, and it will –
if we will Seize The Moment and make it our own,
and just say “YES LORD, AND BELIEVE.” IF HE DID IT BEFORE, HE’LL DO IT AGAIN!!!
