I have endeavored to keep this as original as possible,there are a lot of quotes and stats used and unfortunately I do not have my original notes to show credit. It is in no way an attempt to use other peoples notes or points without giving proper credit.
The Obituary
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
The easiest time to sum up a life is at a funeral and sum it up we do. The average obituary is be left out by those who write my obituary. What things that were so amazing to me will be deemed too ordinary to describe in that moment. Now I understand that neither time nor space will allow the writing of every thing that could be written and no one is being unkind while putting together this necessary description of a man’s life, yet I wonder, what are the highlight reels at my funeral going to look or sound like?
You may think that I am being morbid but please hear my heart. Thus far I have lived 51 years on this earth and am at a point now where I value things differently then I did even a few years ago. Life used to be slow but I ran fast, now life is fast and I run slow. I have had some incredible experiences in my short life, I have been to many amazing places and have seen so many beautiful things but most of those will never be written about.
As difficult as it may be, please allow me to write your obituary today. Please remember that I am not allowed the time to give all of the glorious details of the life you are living, I have been allotted but a few moments to sum it all up.
I. You were born
This is no small statement, for those of you who are 40 years old or younger According to World Health Organization, every year in the world there are an estimated 40-50 million abortions. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day.
In the USA, where nearly half of pregnancies are unintended and four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion [1] , there are over 3,000 abortions per day.
To say that you were born is to say that you were spared for a reason. You have a reason to live. You could have been one of that staggering number who were not allowed to live.
You are not an accident you are a life of great importance and no one but you can do what you can do. We look at life too flippantly, we count it as nothing. We have thugs and murderers who kill for the mere thrill of it. Our computer games and gaming systems have baby sat a generation and far too often these baby sitters are desensitizing.
"Stop Teaching Kids to Kill," says retired Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, author of On Killing, On Combat and Warrior Mindset
Sandy Hook massacre has been building for years. And there is much, much worse yet to come. (They are NOT "shootings," they are massacres... five died in the "Boston Massacre," which touched off the American Revolution ... six murdered in the "St. Valentines Day Massacre" ... many times more were murdered in Sandy Hook, and we hide the reality from ourselves by calling it a "shooting" ... "shooting" is what happens on the range ... a "shooter" is the guy who got lucky during deer season! These are brutal mass murderers, committing savage massacres unlike anything seen in human history.)
This has all been building up for years. Consider the stats on officers murdered in the line of duty in the United States:
'08: 42
'09: 48
'10: 56
'11: 72
Anyone see a pattern here? Medical technology is holding DOWN the murder rate. The number of murdered cops should be going down every year.
These are criminals who practiced killing cops since they were 6 years old, every day of their lives, playing Grand Theft Auto, and now they are primed to kill cops as adults.
An "M" (mature, 17 and above ONLY) rated game is the same as an "X" rated movie! The people who manufacture the game say so. Their own industry says so!
A "T" (teen) rating means no child under 13 should play the game. Period. It is a very tragic, horrendous situation when adults let their children immerse themselves in M- rated games! Just like, sex, gambling, porn, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, guns and automobiles: these are all things that adults must not give to kids!
Not all of the kids who play these sick games will become killers, but they will all be desensitized to human death and suffering, intentionally and realistically inflicted by themselves, for their own entertainment...
These violent games make objects out of people. The man on the corner is an object that unless you remove it you will be hindered from reaching your goal, the child in the hallway is an object, you must remove it. May God help America!
Our political leaders have devalued life.
Our president is the most pro-abortion president in the history of our nation, he said, "I've got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old, I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."
Mister, babies are not punishment, they are not an object to be discarded in the waste can, they are God’s gift to a mother and father who loved each other enough to stand before a minister of the Gospel and commit their lives to marriage. They are not an accident, you are not an accident, you were brought into this world with destiny and purpose.
“It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.” ― Mother Teresa
Those who have bought into the lie that life is not sacred have no problem moving from children to the elderly. If they can devalue a child's life, they can devalue the life of an elderly person.
You were born...
II. You lived. “a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”
Luke 12:13-21 (KJV)
13 And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.
14 And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?
15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.” ― Allen Saunders
“Life's hard. It's even harder when you're stupid.” ― John Wayne
The word of challenge that you should hear if you are young, a word that will be echoed by everyone in this church who is my age and beyond is this, learn to enjoy life and take lot’s and lot’s of pictures. Freeze frame every moment.
III. We die
I admit that this point is very morbid, but it is as simple as I know how to make it. They tell us, when we are dying that our lives will flash in front of us. What will that movie look like? Mister, it has been said but it bears repeating, “I have never heard a

dying man say, I wish I would have spent more time at work.” The memories that you leave behind are the ones that you will make today.
How foolish it is to face this point as though it will never happen to you because whether you are 1 or 101 you are just as I am, one heartbeat away from this most dreaded event.
IV. We are going to be judged.
a. How will God judge us?
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
As a Christian, God will judge our works. When you die as a believer you go immediately to what is commonly referred to as the Bema seat. Some teach that God will judge us by comparing the good works with the bad actions and that as long as you have done more good than bad, you will make it to heaven. That is not scriptural. The judgment seat of Christ is where all Christians are rewarded according to their works but for the unbeliever it is not so. The unbeliever has no need of judgement because they have already chosen their eternity based on their rejection of Christ while on the earth. You see, to not accept and follow Him is reject Him. As a follower of Jesus Christ, you never taste death, you simply go to sleep here and wake up there, you exhale here and inhale there, you blink your eyes here, and open them there.
Finally, tragedies like this cause me to look hard at my life and this is the conclusion that I have arrived at:
Don’t take life for granted
Don’t take family and friends for granted Don’t take Christ for granted
Don’t take eternity for granted
