Because Life is Short…
“So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.” Ephesians 5:15-16 (NLT)
“Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.” Psalm 90:12 (NLT)
“Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:14 (NIV)
“Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.” Psalm 39:4-5 (NLT)
Life at its longest point is short.
“I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,, I strain to reach the end of the end of the race and receive the prize of God…” Philippians 3:13 NLT
Here's What Lasts Forever:
God- Isaiah 40:28
God’s Son- Hebrews 13:8
God’s Word- Isaiah 40:8
God’s Faithfulness- Psalm 117:2
God’s Kingdom- Psalm 145:13
God’s Kindness- Isaiah 54:8
God’s Love- Jeremiah 31:3
Salvation- Isaiah 51:6; 1 Corinthians 9:25; 1 Peter 1:4
Heaven- Psalm 23:6
Here’s What Doesn’t Last Forever:
Our Accomplishments- 1 Corinthians 3:15
Everything on Earth- Zepheniah 1:18
WHAT DOES GOD WANT ACCOMPLISHED ON PLANET EARTH?
God wants all people, in all places, at all times to come to know and experience His love for them in Jesus Christ. And our response is to love Him back and demonstrate that love through obedience.
“The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.”
2 Chronicles 16:9 NLT
“God showed us how much He loved us by sending His only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” 1 John 4:9, 10 NLT
“Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love has been brought to full expression through us.” 1 John 4: 11, 12 NLT
What Do We Sacrifice to God So the World Can Come to Know and Experience God’s Love?
First, Give God Your Influence.
Second, Give God Your Affluence.
You let His work be the focus of your life.
And when great focus and great sacrifice are combined, then the world will be changed.
“And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then, finally, the end will come.” Matthew 24:14 NLT