THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
A STUDY ON THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT: PART XXV (THE FUTURE)
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 6:34
So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.
INTRO: A couple of years ago, Hollywood made a move about the end of times (sounds like a familiar topic doesn’t it). Essentially, global warming hits the world, melts the ice, superstorms are created, and almost all of North America gets covered in a new ice age. There are tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, you name it, until the hero gets rescued by a Blackhawk helicopter.
TRANSITION: Though the events of the movie are fantastic and impossible, the truth behind the movie is not. The truth is that life ends, and that for some people, there is no tomorrow.
1. TOMORROW GOES BY FAST
BIBLE VERSE: Proverbs 27:1
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
Life in scripture, can be compared to (have different people look them up & have them fill it in):
The wind Job 7:7
A shadow 1 Chronicles 29:5
The width of a hand Psalm 39:5
A weaver’s web Isaiah 38:12
A vapor James 4:14
The word “Life” is the Greek word “Atmos,” we get our word Atmosphere from that word. And how accurate is that? Isn’t are lives more like the thin later of water vapor?
It really is fragile folks, we really do need to treasure it.
FAST THINGS:
A baby’s car seat is technically only good for 6 years.
Average running shoe lasts about 350-500 miles.
One dollar bill lasts only about 18 months in circulation.
Expensive leather combat boots, only 6 months in battle (8 months in normal use).
A lightning bolt lasts only 45-55 microseconds.
“Unstable hadrons” (a group of subatomic particles) lasts for one
hundred-sextillionth of a second (10 to the negative 23 second).
77 YEARS:
Doctors say that the average American lives 77 years, or in other words…40 Million minutes:
Here is the breakdown: (for teachers, if you want to look up “40 Million Minutes” it is a dramatic vignette done by the Virtual Reality Company, the website is sited in the sources).
40 MILLION MINUTES: The Average American spends during a lifetime?
On the phone: 2 Years
In the bathroom: 3 Years
Getting dressed: 1 Year
Watching TV: 7 Years
With the God of the Universe: 7 Months, and many are much much less.
2. I LOVE YA TOMORROW
Example: Little Orphan Annie
Years ago, there was an amazing music put together that is the 2nd best movie musical of all time (in my opinion, the best is Willy Wonka, of course the original). In the movie, an orphan girl is trapped in a
brutal orphanage but gets to experience life with a millionaire (that is until she gets kidnapped by a guy named rooster but is saved by a Punjabi bodyguard).
TOMORROW THE SONG:
The sun’ll come out
Tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar
That tomorrow
There’ll be sun!
Just thinkin’ about
Tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs,
And the sorrow
’Til there’s none!
When I’m stuck with a day
That’s gray,
And lonely,
I just stick out my chin
And Grin,
And Say,
Oh!
The sun’ll come out
Tomorrow
So ya gotta hang on
’Til tomorrow
Come what may
Tomorrow! Tomorrow!
I love ya Tomorrow!
You’re always
A day
A way!
That’s a beautiful song, it makes people feel happy, comes from a great movie, and brings back to me wonderful childhood memories. But, does it match up to scripture?
ARE WE SUPPOSED TO HAVE EASY & WONDERFUL LIVES?
The following clip is from the Way of the Master:
“If we still want to cling to the message that ‘God has a wonderful plan for your life,’ we had better hide Foxe’s Book of Martyrs from the eyes of non-Christians. Speaking of martyrdom, have you ever pondered what it would be like to be huddling together as a family in a Roman arena as hungry and ferocious lions rush in? Have you ever considered what it would be like to be eaten by lions? I have. My fertile imagination runs wild. What do you give the lion to eat first—your arm? How long would you remain conscious as he gnawed on it?...
…What would you tell your beloved family as you looked into their terrified eyes? How could you reconcile the words, ‘wonderful’ and ‘happiness,’ with having the fierce teeth of a lion rip you apart, limb from limb?
Here’s the deal gang, our lives are suppose to be good, it is suppose to be in God’s will and God’s will will prevail, but there is good news…
BIBLE VERSE: Romans 8:28
8:28 And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose;
3. THERE MAY NOT BE A TOMORROW
BIBLE VERSE: Luke 12:20
But God said to him, ‘You Fool!’ This very night your life will be demanded back from you but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”
Chris Farley:
Chris Farley grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, just one hour from my house.
He used to travel up north to Lake Minocqua (min-awk-wa), I too have camped & fished there.
He attended Marquette University, in Milwaukee at the same time I was.
Farley then did improv, and became a hilarious comedian on Saturday Night Live, maybe the best in my opinion. His roles in movies were hilarious (Tommy Boy, Black Sheep, Beverly Hills Ninja). He had by 33 years old achieved a level of success and fame that few in world history ever get to.
Farley’s Death:
At age 33, he was found dead passed out in his bed (be careful on giving details here, understand the age of your audience). It was discovered that while he had the world in his hand, he struggled with obesity, that was obvious. But he also had a drug problem, one in which he sought help in rehab…17 times!
Unbelievable, the whole time the world is worshipping him for being a great comedian, he struggled just to get up in the morning. And when they found his body, he had just overdosed on cocaine and morphine, after having been with a prostitute almost out of it (if there is a MS group, leave most all of this out!).
What do you think God would say?
Repeat the Verse Again…
BIBLE VERSE: Luke 12:20
But God said to him, ‘You Fool!’ This very night your life will be demanded back from you but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”
“Death has no favorites. It doesn’t respect age, position, importance, prosperity or anything else. Young people hear me, just because you are young and have your whole future ahead of you don’t think you can’t hear those words, YOUR TOMORROW HAS BEEN CANCELLED! There may be some here today who would say, I’m a good person, I treat people fair so I should live a while yet but you could also hear those words, YOUR TOMORROW HAS BEEN CANCELLED!
This man lived without God and he died without God.”
-Pastor Dean Morgan
THIS COULD BE THE CLOSE RIGHT NOW, BUT IF YOU ARE NEEDING ADDITIONAL INFO TO EXTEND THE LESSON, HERE IS MORE COMPARISONS ABOUT THERE NOT BEING A TOMORROW.
Take a look at this…
I love my wife, I love my family, heck, I even love myself, but look at what the Bible says (I’ll make a comparison afterwards)
BIBLE VERSE: Luke 14:26-27
14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 14:27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
Are We Really Suppose to HATE my family? Christ is using a relative comparison here (and we know that it is relative because He obviously does not want us to literally hate, cause that would be sin and in disobedience to the 5th Commandment).
*Technically, if we anyone is still having the trouble with the word “hate” used in this verse, the Greek word is MISEO, which specifically means “to detest, to love less.”
Here is what is saying…
If I love my daughter on a 1-10 scale, and my love is a 9, then my love for God should be a 100!
And if I love myself as a 10 (most of us love ourselves more than anyone else if we are really honest), then our love for God should be a 1000! We need to love God so much that we would be willing to die for Him. And if we are willing to die for him, and we realize that tomorrow is already dead to us, than we are really, really free to serve the Lord anywhere, anytime, anyplace, for anything.
CLOSE: The movie did great in the box office, had some great scenes, and was exciting. Sort of like our lives I suppose. But the best question of all is the one on the movie poster. It reads “The Day After Tomorrow: Where Will You Be?” Where Will You Be?
Sources:
Comfort, Ray. The Way of the Master. Bridge-Logos; Alachua, Florida: 2006, pages 22-23.
Hebrew-Greek Keyword Study Bible, King James Version. Key insights into God’s Word, Executive editor Spiros Zodhiates, AMG Publishers, page 2190, #3404.
Kinney, Dave. Seven Today Principles for Victory Tomorrow. First Baptist
Church of Angels Camp, California: February 2004.
Morgan, Dean. What If Tomorrow Were Cancelled? South Carolina Conference
of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, February 1992.
http://www.visualrealityonline.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=40millionminutes&Category_Code=volumes1-4&Product_Count=0
NAME: ________________________________
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
A STUDY ON THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT: PART XXV (THE FUTURE)
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 6:34
So then, do not worry about _________________________, for tomorrow will worry about itself. _____________________ has enough trouble of its own.
1. TOMORROW GOES BY ____________________________________
BIBLE VERSE: Proverbs 27:1
Do not boast about __________________________, for you do not know what a day may bring.
Life in scripture, can be compared to (have different people look them up & have them fill it in):
___________________________ Job 7:7
___________________________ 1 Chronicles 29:5
___________________________ Psalm 39:5
___________________________ Isaiah 38:12
___________________________ James 4:14
FAST THINGS:
40 MILLION MINUTES (77 YEARS):
Time spent on the phone: ______________________________________
Time spent in the bathroom: ______________________________________
Time spent getting dressed: ______________________________________
Time spent watching TV: ______________________________________
_________________________________________: ______________________________________
2. _____________________________________
Example: Little Orphan Annie
ARE WE SUPPOSED TO HAVE EASY & WONDERFUL LIVES?
BIBLE VERSE: Romans 8:28
8:28 And we know that all things work together for _____________________ for those who love God, who are called according to his _____________________________;
3. THERE MAY ______________________________________
BIBLE VERSE: Luke 12:20
FAMOUS COMEDIAN: __________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________