The Dash

I am resending The Dash. I think I sent the wrong copy before, because this version has no quotation marks, bullets, or apostrophes. I retyped this one from notepad or an old Works program. If it still doesn't work, let me know.

THE DASH

I. Almost every human being has one. Some have decayed, been vandalized, etc.

Some information can be found on tombstones, but one item is exactly the same on every marker: the dash between the dates. Chiseled out a couple inches long.

II. What is it? It¡¦s the DASH between the dates.

A. The Length of Life.

1. What is life?

a. a vapor James 4:13 ¡V 15 Go to now, ye that say, To day or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

b. a shadow I Chron 29:15 For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.

Psalms 102:11 My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am

withered like grass.

A shadow only lasts one day. At night it is ended. Work while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work.

c. a few days Job 14:1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days,

and full of trouble.

d. a flower Job 14:2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down:

he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

e. a handbreath Psalms 39:5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an

handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every

man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

f. as grass 1 Peter 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of

man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower

thereof falleth away:

g. a wind Psalms 78:39 For he remembered that they were but flesh;

a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

2. It Varies

a. Very Short Existence „³ Not even born, or not born alive.

b. Short „³ There is no respect of person with death.

Psalms 89:47 -48 Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? 48 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.

Even the young and the innocent die.

c. Mid

d. Long „³ Threescore and ten Psalms 90:10 & 12 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

3. Average

a. Male 76.7 years

b. Female 81.5 years

III. It Begins

A. With Joy „³ A man is born. John 16:21 A woman when she is in travail hath

sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child,

she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the

world.

B. Celebration & Gifts „³ Baby Shower

IV. It Ends

II Samuel 14:14 For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which

cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he

devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

A. Various Ways

B. It¡¦s An Appointment

Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the

judgment:

Job 7:1 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days

also like the days of an hireling?

Job 14:5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with

thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death

by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

C. Emotions by those facing the end

1. Denial Psalms 89:48 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death?

Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?

2. Disbelief

3. Fear

4. Desire to Extend Life Job 2:4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said,

Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.