In my last post, titled DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY (and listed below), I referenced a short piece from my files called “TEN RULES FOR HAPPIER LIVING”. Before I continue (and as it is very brief), I repost it here. as you read it, pay particular attention to number ten on the list.
1. Give something away (no strings attached)
2. Do a kindness (and forget it)
3. Spend a few minutes with the aged (their experience is a priceless guidance)
4. Look intently into the face of a baby (and marvel)
5. Laugh often (it's life's lubricant)
6. Give thanks (a thousand times a day is not enough)
7. Pray (or you will lose the way)
8. Work (with vim and vigor)
9. Plan as though you'll live forever (because you will)
10. Live as though you'll die tomorrow (because you will on some tomorrow)
Little did I know just how much how God was going to drive that point home over this past weekend.
On Saturday evening, we hosted our 15th annual Wild Game Supper at our church. Our speaker this year was Dr. Sammy Gilbreath. In addition to being an avid outdoorsman, Dr. Gilbreath serves as the Evangelism Director of the Alabama State Baptist Convention. Suffice it to say that the Lord has given him a tremendous gift for communicating the Gospel.
I share this because he stayed over on Saturday night and spoke during our Sunday morning worship service. The title of his morning message was, of all things, “LIVE LIKE YOU ARE DYING!” How is that for timing?!
In this brief message, he shares his testimony of having to confront his own mortality much sooner than he had ever expected. The message he shares is well worth viewing. It is short, candid, and quite thought-provoking. For all these reasons, I thought I would post it here today.
If your time permits, I encourage you to watch it. (It is less than 30 minutes in length.) Having done so, take to heart the things he has to say. Their relevance is undeniable.
To view the message “LIVE LIKE YOU ARE DYING” (the same message as preached this past Sunday at our church, only here preached earlier at the First Baptist Church of Gardendale, Alabama back on February 1, 2015 (apparently a sports emphasis Sunday), click here:
http://www.truthcasting.com/Gardendale-First-Baptist-Church-AL-2-1-15-Message-Live-Like-You-Are-Dying--114381.sermon.
Dr. Gilbreath is right. Ultimately, we are all dying! So make the most of the time God gives you in this world... live each and every day to its fullest! For when our time in this world comes to an end, as it surely will, it will be too late to live otherwise.
As the Apostle Paul puts it in his New Testament Letter to the Ephesian believers (chapter 5, verse 15-17, New Living Translation): “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. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.”
And then, as both the Apostle Paul and Dr. Gilbreath would surely admonish, go do God’s will!
VIDEO SOURCE: http://www.truthcasting.com/Gardendale-First-Baptist-Church-AL-2-1-15-Message-Live-Like-You-Are-Dying--114381.sermon.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: http://biblehub.com/nlt/ephesians/5.htm.
SEE ALSO: https://alsbom.org/sammygilbreath/.
1. Give something away (no strings attached)
2. Do a kindness (and forget it)
3. Spend a few minutes with the aged (their experience is a priceless guidance)
4. Look intently into the face of a baby (and marvel)
5. Laugh often (it's life's lubricant)
6. Give thanks (a thousand times a day is not enough)
7. Pray (or you will lose the way)
8. Work (with vim and vigor)
9. Plan as though you'll live forever (because you will)
10. Live as though you'll die tomorrow (because you will on some tomorrow)
Little did I know just how much how God was going to drive that point home over this past weekend.
On Saturday evening, we hosted our 15th annual Wild Game Supper at our church. Our speaker this year was Dr. Sammy Gilbreath. In addition to being an avid outdoorsman, Dr. Gilbreath serves as the Evangelism Director of the Alabama State Baptist Convention. Suffice it to say that the Lord has given him a tremendous gift for communicating the Gospel.
I share this because he stayed over on Saturday night and spoke during our Sunday morning worship service. The title of his morning message was, of all things, “LIVE LIKE YOU ARE DYING!” How is that for timing?!
In this brief message, he shares his testimony of having to confront his own mortality much sooner than he had ever expected. The message he shares is well worth viewing. It is short, candid, and quite thought-provoking. For all these reasons, I thought I would post it here today.
If your time permits, I encourage you to watch it. (It is less than 30 minutes in length.) Having done so, take to heart the things he has to say. Their relevance is undeniable.
To view the message “LIVE LIKE YOU ARE DYING” (the same message as preached this past Sunday at our church, only here preached earlier at the First Baptist Church of Gardendale, Alabama back on February 1, 2015 (apparently a sports emphasis Sunday), click here:
http://www.truthcasting.com/Gardendale-First-Baptist-Church-AL-2-1-15-Message-Live-Like-You-Are-Dying--114381.sermon.
Dr. Gilbreath is right. Ultimately, we are all dying! So make the most of the time God gives you in this world... live each and every day to its fullest! For when our time in this world comes to an end, as it surely will, it will be too late to live otherwise.
As the Apostle Paul puts it in his New Testament Letter to the Ephesian believers (chapter 5, verse 15-17, New Living Translation): “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. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.”
And then, as both the Apostle Paul and Dr. Gilbreath would surely admonish, go do God’s will!
VIDEO SOURCE: http://www.truthcasting.com/Gardendale-First-Baptist-Church-AL-2-1-15-Message-Live-Like-You-Are-Dying--114381.sermon.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: http://biblehub.com/nlt/ephesians/5.htm.
SEE ALSO: https://alsbom.org/sammygilbreath/.