Tis The Season To Live And Give

INTRO.- ILL.- Someone described the seven ages of man in these ways: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills, wills.

Spills - Infancy.

Drills - Childhood. We get drilled about doing this and that.

Thrills - Teen years perhaps. I’m not sure they are all that thrilling, however.

Bills - Adult living. Work. Marriage. Raising children. And lots of bills.

Ills - When our health starts to decline.

Pills - One for arthritis. One for high blood pressure. One for this and two for that.

Wills - I haven’t made mine yet.

The inspired writer of the book of Ecclesiastes wrote, "There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven."

I can’t say there is a season for every activity under heaven. However, there are so many things in life that I haven’t done and I really don’t care to do.

ILL.- Take, for example, the "Survivor" TV show. Did you ever watch it? In one show several years ago, a local African native brought out a cow, poked a hole in the side of that cow, and blood started pouring out of it like someone turned on a hose. They filled some tin cans with that blood and two women drank it.

Uh uh! Ain’t no way I’m going to do that! Not for anybody. Not for a million bucks. I don’t think God meant for us to try everything in life. I’m a survivor of sorts, but I’m not going to be one of those kind of survivors.

Eccl. 3:2 "A time to be born and a time to die..."

A TIME TO BE BORN. Why were you born? When were you born? Where were you born? To whom were you born?

Hopefully, you were born and not hatched. Some people act like they were hatched because they act more like animals than humans created in the likeness of God.

A TIME TO DIE.

ILL.- I try to go visit our Miss Billie every week, several times a week. And a time to die is very evident to me when I look around that nursing home. Some of those people have that SOL appearance. By that, I mean "sick of living." Many appear like they are ready to die or perhaps want to die. NOT MISS BILLIE THOUGH.

Of course, we know that no one is ready to die unless they believe and trust Christ as their Savior. Their faith won’t be perfect because no one has a perfect faith. That’s what grace is all about. We’re saved BY HIS GRACE!

A TIME TO BE BORN AND A TIME TO DIE.

Do you know what time it is? It’s a time and season for many things. It’s the time of the year when most people get excited. It’s the holiday season! We just finished Thanksgiving and we’re heading toward Christmas!

ILL.- One time a rabbi, a priest and a Christian minister were talking about how each of them celebrated Christmas. The minister and priest said that they give thanks for all of God’s blessings and on Christmas morning they open their gifts.

"We do it a little differently," the rabbi said. "On Christmas morning my entire family goes to my brother’s department store. We look at the empty shelves, and then we all join in singing ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus.’"

What’s the Christmas season all about? It’s about our Savior, Jesus Christ, but it’s not about making money. Not for us.

It’s about being thankful. It’s about families being together. It’s about sharing with one another. It’s about loving one another. But most of all, it should be about Jesus!

PROP.- I want to share two ideas about the importance of this season.

1- Tis the season to live and give

2- Tis the season to reach and teach

I. TIS THE SEASON TO LIVE AND GIVE

ILL.- One woman said, "My husband and I have managed to be happy together for 20 years. I guess this is because we’re both in love with the same man." Many people are in love with themselves and they only live for themselves.

ILL.- Actress Shirley MacLaine said one time, "The most pleasurable journey you take is through yourself...the only sustaining love involvement is with yourself... When you look back on your life and try to figure out where you’ve been and where you’re going, when you look at your work, your love affairs, your marriages, your children, your pain, your happiness... When you examine all that closely, what you really find out is that the only person you really go to bed with is yourself... The only thing you have is working to the consummation of your own identity. And that’s what I’ve been trying to do all my life."

What a mixed up woman she is! Shirley MacLaine is consumed with herself. Her philosophy is, "All I really have to do is take care of me. All that is important in life is me." WHAT A SELFISH WAY OF THINKING AND LIVING. She is like so many people in our world.