40 Days To Live Part 1: Living in the Moment

in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit and god amen we thank you our dear heavenly father you are the lover of our souls and lover of all mankind and we thank you that you brought us here today to express your love for us and to draw us deeper inside your love we pray lord that you would really allow us to hear your voice today and allow us to really live every single day as if it's truly our last one and get the fullest out of every day and not count on tomorrow because who knows what's going to happen tomorrow help us this day dear lord to live the kingdom of heaven and to live in your peace and in your joy and in your comfort and in your rest we ask this the name of our lord our god our savior and our king jesus christ for the intercessions and prayers of all of your saints hear us lord as we pray thankfully our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us an evil one through christ jesus our lord thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever amen okay good to see all your shining faces on this nice beautiful winter slash spring kind of day you guys are good you brave the elements like i said in the liturgy a whole quarter inch of snow to get here okay so because you braved the quarter inch of snow and the sunday morning traffic okay we have a great topic that we're going to talk about today a real upbeat chipper one we're starting a new series today which as you've heard me say announce and you see in your hand out there it's called 40 days to live in this series we're kicking off today and it will run throughout lent corresponding with the holy 40 days of lent and and our goal in this series is basically simple is to learn what it would be like to live life knowing that my end could be right around the corner what it would be like to like what my life should look like and would look like if truly i knew my end was right around the corner once upon a time there was a man who was sick and he went to the doctor to get checked out doctor spent some time with him and after evaluating him he realized the guy had a lot of problems okay so he did all kinds of tests and this and that and it was pretty serious situation that he was in so before telling the results to the patient he called the man's wife and he said if you don't mind i'd like to speak you know with your wife outside for a moment so he went to the wife and he spoke to her outside and he said to her that the disease that your husband has is very serious okay and it and it's fatal and he can't it's something that can't be overcome unless he goes through a very rigorous treatment schedule so she says okay what's the treatment says it it can only be treated by making sure that he eats three very healthy home-cooked well-rounded meals every single day because his immune system is down he has to eat healthy he has to eat well cooked home-cooked meals in addition dirt and dust is going to be a concern to him he may like have some allergies and things like that so the house has to be kept pristine and crystal clear in addition noise is going to affect him adversely so there can be no yelling and no screaming when he's around if you do that he can live if not he doesn't have a shot she returns back in the room and she looks at her husband says the doctor says there's no hope we're here to talk in this series about what life would be like if you knew when you were going to die and if you could plan for it now here's the thing in case you didn't know my death date is august 14th 2061. that's the day that i'm going to die and i know this because i went online to www.deathclock.com i answered some questions height weight smoke don't smoke skydive don't skydive whatever answered a series of questions it did some computations and it told me exactly when i'm going to die august 14th 2061 so that means i have approximately 27.5 million minutes to go it gives you in seconds but i divided by 60 to get you up into minutes right there so the good news for me is this series doesn't really apply to me okay because i don't have 40 days to live i apparently have 9-61 uh 61-9 50-something 52 years to go okay 52 and a half years to go the thing is you laugh and you joke about this but let's be honest most of us live this way most of us live our lives according to deathclock.com which says based on my age based on my habits based on my family history this is when i expect to die and most of us are like basis of operation in life is that i have 30 more years 40 more years 50 more years whatever it may be well here's my question to you as accurate as sourcesdeathclock.com probably is my question to you is how much are you willing to wager that this is accurate and that you do have those 52 years are you willing to wager your eternity on it and willing to bet the rest of your eternity on the fact that you will be here until 2061 or whatever computation it spits out for you a smart man wouldn't bet that he would be around this long man i wouldn't even bet that i'd be here tomorrow are you willing to bet your eternity something as important as eternity that you will be that you won't go down today in the car on the icy road on the way home that you won't get a disease sometime this week that you won't hear the word cancer sometime in your future you won't get a heart attack i'm not wishing it upon anyone and i'm not saying it's going to happen but what i'm saying is are you willing to bet your eternity that you are immune from all that stuff if we're honest most of us live our life this way banking on deathclock.com to be accurate and hoping for eternity's sake that it is here's the thing the more valuable something is the more careful i should be to wager it so eternity is not something that you can bet here and there okay because of its eternal value it's something to make sure that i'm right before i put it on the line it is an inescapable fact of life whether you like to admit it or don't like to admit it the truth of the matter is is that your time here on earth is limited every person in the world will admit this that our time is limited hebrews 13 14 says for we for here we have no continuing city but we seek the one to come here on earth we don't have a continuing city we don't have anything that's going to last and that's why we seek the one to come and we live in light of the one to come and not just for the sake of the one that's right here be honest you know that you're going to die and everyone knows they're going to die but be honest if i tell you you're going to die no one wants to hear that the fact that our life is limited which is just logic common sense everyone agrees on no one wants to talk about it and no one wants to think about it because somehow the thought of my mortality scares me it paralyzes me it makes me feel like i can't do anything so therefore we do is we just push it aside well look here the goal of knowing your mortality is not to paralyze you and handicap you but in fact to do the opposite to free you to free you to be able to live your life to the fullest if i gave you a thousand dollars and i told you here's a thousand dollars invest it however you want you have some stocks that i'm telling you i guarantee you will not be here next year and other ones that i'm telling you will be here for 10 years 20 years 30 years 40 years 50 years a wise person like it's easy invest in the one that's going to be around well when we talk about our life here on this earth is limited it's not to scare you it's so that you use your valuable commodity not just money but your time to invest it in the city that will last and not in the one that's here most people on this earth are living for this city and investing in this city that's why when you talk about this city is not going to last i don't want to hear it i don't want to think about it a survey was taken of a thousand people they asked a thousand people if you could know the day you are going to die would you like to know that information in advance 96 percent said no 96 percent said no i don't want to know when my death is going to be why why because they're living for the city today as we kick off this series here's my prayer for the series for me and for you psalm 39 verse 4 and 5. lord make me to know my end you may want to underline that one because that's the key to this series lord make me to know my end and what is the measure of my days let me know what the end of this life is and what the end of my life is and let me to know the value in what is here and measure of my days that i may know how frail i am indeed you have made my days as hand breaths and my age is as nothing before you certainly every man at his best state is but vapor king david here figured out the truth about life is that life you compared it to two things there as hand breaths do you know what a hand breath is this like the span of your hand the breadth of your hand okay and if you're from egypt this is also a measuring device okay people measure things and hand breaths okay i'm not joking okay and they'll tell you that you know this wall is approximately you know 75 called ships and they tell you 75 ships bizapped this up it's an exact measure okay 75 hand breaths exactly and they go to home depot and tell them give me 75 hand breadths of whatever it's a very precise measuring tool king david is saying that my life is like a hand breath another place he says at its best state is but a vapor it that's my life that's our life that's our life on this earth at best and my prayer is that i would realize that and i would live in light of it that they wouldn't handicap me that wouldn't scare me i would accept the truth and i would live in light of that truth again back to the investing guy the more information that's accurate the more you can make better decisions well all we're talking about in this series is the accuracy of the data about your life and then you go and make the best decision possible based on that information if you want to know what does it mean that my life is a hand breath or my life is like mist or a vapor i should say go to the hospital and visit someone who's terminally ill go visit someone who knows they have two months to live and if you've never had the chance to do so i would invite you to you know come join a ministry here that goes and visits sick if it's something that you've never done it's eye-opening to see someone who is truly living 40 days to live or even less than that to live someone who knows they're going to die you go talk to that person they know that their life is but a missed they know that their life is but a hand breath and what you'll see when they know that information and they've accepted it and process that information the information that we run from and we push aside when they have processed it and accepted it their life is different radically different all of a sudden the grudges aren't as much of a big deal anymore when you realize my life is but i missed all of a sudden the money and the material and the clothes and the hair in the car has a lot different meaning those people hear the word repentance hear the word keeping vigil here fasting and praying has a much greater diff greater meaning to them than it does to us why because they have accepted the truth that our life on this earth is but a hand breath or a vapor at best look a fact is a fact your life will end your life will end that's a fact it's inevitable the question is not whether or not that's true the question is what is it going to take for you to accept it and live that way are you going to wait for the terminal disease to come to you to realize that your life isn't going to last forever are you going to realize it for it to come to someone one of your loved ones to realize that it isn't going to last forever what i want us to do today like an intro to the series i want us to discuss three turning points okay three turning points that i want us to make today that will set the stage for the rest of this series three things that we need to change about the way we think our attitude about life three turns we need to make and it's going to be based on james chapter 4 verse 13 to 17. says come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such city spend a year there buy and sell and make a profit whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow wow for a book that was written two thousand years ago that sounds very applicable and relevant to a lot of the people in this room maybe i will go to this city for a year make some money sell some this and that and then go back it sounds very very relevant for what is your life it is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away instead you ought to say if the lord wills we shall live and do this or that but now you boast in your arrogance all such boasting is evil therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it to him it is sin key verse last verse to him who knows to do good and does not do it to him it is sin to him who knows that his life vanishes is but a vapor but doesn't live that way to him is it a sin three turning points today that we need to accept based on the fact that our life will come to an end number one first thing we need to do is turn when into now i need to turn my winds into nows for most of us we think in terms of when for example when such and such happens then i will whatever when my life is exactly the way i want it then i will do this this that which i know i need to do when for example my career is stable then i will invest more in church right now my career is not stable i know i should be at church more i know i shouldn't work on weekends i know i know but when it's stable then i will be more regular in church when the economy picks back up then i will tithe when the economy then i will tide when my kids are grown up then i will go back to paying attention to my husband or my wife after the kids are gone when they are i'm done with them then i will this or the flip side when i'm married then i will truly experience the joy of god and live all those promises that the bible says when then when and then thinking here's the problem when usually doesn't come when rarely comes the when that you have set as the the barrier between you and whatever you know you need to be doing very rarely ever materializes so we need to turn the when into now we need to turn the when like i said when my career stabilized then i will invest in church into now i will invest in church the when i am married then i will fulfill no now i will fulfill get rid of the winds turn them into now's why because in case you haven't noticed time flies is it just me or does time go faster is it possible the time goes faster today than it did when we were kids is that possible because if it is it's certainly true time flies i'll tell you how god taught me this lesson recently not recently probably a couple months ago i was playing basketball a group of guys here from the church and all of a sudden i looked around and i realized i'm the oldest guy here i've never been the oldest guy there i've always been one of the younger ones and when it hit me especially was when at the beginning before the game started i was stretching okay i used to be the young guy who laughed at the old guy who had to stretch okay and i'm playing with a bunch of young guys all in five six seven years younger than me and i'm the stretching guy who's doing like this and i'm one takes 20 minutes to stretch i'm thinking when did i become so old time flies time flies your when is never gonna happen and if you're waiting for your when i'm telling you i blinked one day i'm making fun of the stretcher guy old guy i blink next day i'm the old stretcher guy that's being made fun of by the young guys when is never going to happen recently this past summer i had a chance to do some uh like i read a book and i took a course thingy in like time management okay and i shared that with you guys remember in the whole living with purpose series i talked about how time is the most valuable commodity how we utilize our time to the best and one of the things that i did in that exercise over the the span of that month was i evaluated a lot of things in my life okay and i kind of examined how i spend my time how i utilize my time and kind of where where my my life is spent one of the things that i realized in doing that little exercise was that me like probably most men okay i'm notice i'm very goal or task oriented okay like i have tasks and i want to get done tasks and i want to do a and then i want to b and then i want to c at the end of the week i want to look back and i want to see all the tasks that i've accomplished this past week i'm task oriented i was reading in the book a line and it said that you can be so focused on tasks or goals that you miss life in the moment okay that phrase struck me you can be so focused on tasks and goals that you miss life in the moment what that means is is that i will finish a task and instantly i'll be so focused on the next task that i forget or i even not even on my my mind to enjoy and live the moment as it is it's this thing inside me which says can't be unproductive finish a task go find another task to do finish that task go find another goal go find something else to achieve by doing so you never actually live in the moment you're always chasing something so i remember i wrote down this sentence this phrase and this is my advice that i want to give to each and every single one of you be all there i'll explain what that means be all there what god told me a way to correct the winds and make them nows to correct the goal-oriented task-oriented thinking is no matter where i am be all there if i'm with my wife and we're together be all there don't be with your wife and with the tv don't do that be all there don't be with the kids and with the text messages be all there when you're with the kids be with the kids and same with your with work when your work be all there don't be divided and don't be here and there be wherever you be be all there and when i started to think that way and actually some of you can even attest to this recently some of the things that i doing when i'm sitting with someone in confession or counseling someone's sitting with me when i'm sitting with someone i'm all there and i don't respond i don't even look this thing buzzes i don't even look because i'm all there okay and this could be and someone's like i didn't respond to my text all i needed was yes or no look man i'm trying to be all there and when i'm with you you wouldn't want me texting someone else so i'm trying to be all there my advice for you is whatever you're in be all there you're with wife be all there you're with kids be all there you're at work be all there you're in service be all there you're in church be all there don't be half here and half there be all there said in bible terms colossians 3 23 whatever you do do it heartily as to the lord and not to men something that i discovered is that when it comes to relationships okay my wife is not here so we'll be safe here this is just amongst us okay just amongst us okay what i discovered one hour of quality time is greater than five hours of half half time so for the husbands who don't know how to meet the time requirements or whatever you want to call it go quality not quantity man trust me go quality turn the tv off put down the phone give an hour quality i also notice it with my kids as well give an hour quality and it can make up for all kinds of lack and and lacks and other things give quality be all there don't be distracted why is that so important because psalm 118 verse 24 says this is the day the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it what is the day the lord has made say it out loud what is the day the lord has made what is the day the lord has made this this day not next day this day and this is the day that he has made and this is the day that he has given you to rejoice to be glad to live this day to the fullest because what's going to happen at the end of this day it's gone it's not going to come back forget the winds live today live with nows don't live with winds tomorrow is no guarantee today is all we got said another way proverbs 27 verse 1 do not boast about tomorrow for for you do not know what a day may bring forth i think we can all agree on this one don't count on tomorrow man last week i was counting on this week on monday on tonight sunday and tomorrow monday taking my kids to a park that's what i was counting on a week ago on my day off taking my kids to a park and going to play with them can't count on tomorrow you never know what tomorrow's going to bring live today to the fullest turn your wins into nows the second turning point that i pray that we can make is i pray that we can turn our intentions into actions if truly we're living with 40 days to live then we need to turn our very good intentions and everyone in this room has great intentions the best intentions and we could build a mountain with the great intentions that we have turn those intentions into actions again back to james chapter 4 verse 17 i want you to let the word of god speak to you right now about your good intentions to make changes in your lifestyle to pray more spend more time with your family to to be a better whatever i want you to let the word of god speak to you as to your good intentions in life says therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it to him it is sin anyone who knows they should make a change and doesn't it's sin anyone who knows they should do this good and doesn't it's a sin what i'm saying is oftentimes our intentions are ahead of our actions okay our intentions are here but our actions are lagging behind what we need to do is close this gap and let the actions to catch up with the intentions so question i ask you is what good intentions and most likely you have to think very hard what good intentions that you know god wants you to do have you not gotten around to doing yet these 40 days do it we're living as people who are terminally ill forget the intentions turn them into actions the things you know god wants you to do do it you know god wants you to reach out to that lost person you know god sent that person to your cubicle who asked you that question and you know that god wants you to speak to them do it the intention to do it isn't enough you hear about the church talking about help out with this service and you say yeah i know i know i need to serve and i know i need to help out but but but but but do it knowing that you need to serve is nothing what good intentions do you have that you haven't quite gotten around to doing what person do you know you should apologize to but you haven't gotten around to doing it what person do you know you need to accept their apology but you know you haven't gotten around to doing it what relationship do you need to invest more time in but just haven't gotten around to doing it now is the time that we do that on this particular point for me personally as a priest god gives me lots of reminders about the importance of turning intentions into actions oftentimes against talking about my wife today let's go along with the wife theme oftentimes i'll come home you know after being out a long time i haven't seen my wife and whatever and she'll notice a change in me you know of course i'm always very loving but maybe i'd be a little bit extra loving a little extra appreciative maybe i would express my love for her a little bit more be a little bit more affectionate than normal and she's learned to figure me out i must have just seen something or been someplace where i saw a person who didn't get the chance to turn their intention into an action be it at the hospital someone in a coma and the loved one saying i wish i could have expressed what was inside me but now it's too late the heart attack patient who doesn't make it i wish the son who's coming from college i wish i wouldn't have said that to my dad last week i see that stuff and that stuff reminds me don't count on tomorrow don't stick with good intentions you don't know what's going to happen look if you need to say sorry go say sorry if you need to say i love you go say i love you if you need to make a change go make the change because you cannot count on tomorrow nothing is more painful nothing is more painful than to see someone like let's take a loss of a loved one sudden loss of a loved one father mother brother sister son daughter sudden unexpected whatever and then to see the regret on the faces of those around that to me is the most painful thing that you can witness even worse to see someone on their own end and their regret in their own lives why did i live so materialistic why was i so ambitious with my career why did i invest so much time in worthless things i knew i needed to make a change but i never got around to it hey i can't stomach that stuff my advice for you don't wait for the wake-up call you know when you're sleeping in a hotel you ask for a wake-up call usually the wake-up calls are very it's the right word nerve-wracking makes you feel like world war three in the room because they're responsible to wake you up and man oh man they're gonna wake you up one way shape or form or another they're gonna wake you up don't wait for that wake-up call be smart get up five minutes early on your own set your own alarm don't wait for that wake-up call because when god sends it don't wait for the heart attack don't wait for the phone call from the hospital don't wait for for the plane ride that goes not the way it's supposed to go don't wait for those things do it now while you still have a chance i'm thankful anytime god reveals this to me anytime god shows me a situation i'm thankful that it gives me a chance to do something about it before it is too late and i'm telling you there's nothing regret is the most difficult thing to deal with okay regret isn't is a is a thing that you don't want trust me take advantage while you got the time now proverbs 3 27 says the same thing biblically do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power of your hand to do so don't wait for tomorrow tomorrow might not come start turning point number one is we will turn our say it with me turn our when into now again i didn't hear everyone turn our when into now meaning we'll stop saying when such and such happens then i will now we will do it 40 days to live can't count on tomorrow number two i will turn my intentions into actions intentions get you nothing intentions do you no good if i know that i need to spend more time with this person spend more time if i know i need to be nicer be nicer i need to know invest less here invest less here turn my intentions into actions and the number three my from the deepest part of my heart my prayer for you for me and for every one of us during lent is that i would turn my whole heart to jesus look here don't skip by this one too quickly don't say yeah he's just going to end with some spiritual yeah i love jesus do good don't go over this one too quickly my prayer here is that i would turn my whole heart to jesus my whole life because if we're honest the majority of people in the world definitely and the majority of us here today have turned a portion of our heart to jesus have turned a portion of our life but maybe haven't turned the entire thing it's kind of like i just learned something new the other day you know when you get a flu shot okay maybe a lot of people here get flu shots maybe you know this i'm not that smart do you know when you get a flu shot they're sticking you with a needle do you know what they're putting inside you the flute does anyone see a problem with that they're giving you the thing that you're coming not to get this is not baffling anyone else like me like to me i thought i was going to get like some kind of kryptonite against fluke okay some kind of like thing that when the flu comes it smashes it but they're actually giving you a little piece of the flu not the whole flu a little piece so that your body would like immunize or some some dr mumbo jumbo that no one understands but my point is is that when they give you that flu shot they give you a little bit of the flu not the whole flu just a little bit my fear you want to know my fear that we have a little bit of jesus as well just a little bit and the same way i have a little bit of the flu my body is tricked into thinking i have the whole flu and then it does stuff we get a little bit of jesus and then all of a sudden we think yeah i got it i got it and i'm scared like i'm a visual guy okay so i'm scared that many of us treat jesus like this and we come to church on sunday there you go little flu shot of jesus thank you very much and we're kind of walking through life and every now and then thank you jesus dollar in the money basket to jesus thank you very much and then we're just kind of walking through life we have our wwjd bracelet and our cross whatever and we think yeah we're walking with jesus and here we are walking with jesus in life and then when we have a problem we turn and like this this is the problem is done back to walking just a little bit of jesus my prayer is that truly look if really we're talking 40 days to live there's nothing more valuable and nothing that you can invest your time in better during these 40 days than to turn your entire heart your life your mind your wallet your schedule everything and don't just be content with that little flu shot of jesus life is brief life is but a missed and life vanishes before you know it what we need to do is if truly we're going to live that lifestyle again you go to a person who's on their deathbed we want to have their kind of mentality i don't care about my money i don't care about you know whatever sinful habits and and relationships i'd started which i thought was so important which make me happy i don't care about that i just want you god i just want you i don't care whatever it costs me i want you i don't want you a little i don't want you like this i want all of you and i want my entire life to be with you because that's all i want why did it take being on your deathbed to be able to get there in mark chapter 12 there was a story one time our lord jesus christ was met by a man who came and asked him a good question he said what is the most important commandment of all this guy is like us didn't have time for a lot of mumbo jumbos dumb it down for me get it to me in one or two bullet points i don't have time to read the whole bible give me a synopsis lord jesus christ said the great commandment love the lord your god with all your heart all your soul all your mind all your strength and love your neighbor as yourself the guy responded and he said it makes sense and i accept that but the lord's response to him was very unique after the man heard the great commandment and he said okay that makes sense something he wasn't fully convinced about like he knew it was right and he said okay that makes sense but he wasn't fully convinced and our lord jesus christ responded to him with a very unique statement mark 12 34 now when jesus saw that he answered wisely he said to him you are not far from the kingdom of god what do you think about this answer it's a strange answer isn't it the guy said what's the most important thing jesus said love god and love others he said okay that makes sense jesus said you're not far from the kingdom of god good answer bad answer man that's the scariest answer in the bible that answer keeps me up at night makes me shiver why because here you have someone who wasn't bad who was good who heard who accepted who said amen but he didn't turn his whole heart to jesus and that's why he was close he said you're not far but you're not in i don't want to be close to the kingdom of god i want to be in it and this man is my greatest fear in life especially with us here in this room today we have the best church in the whole wide world we have the best of everything this is the best church in the world not because i'm a priest here because i'm a member here i've always loved this church it is my greatest fear the god is going to tell us you were so close you were in the kingdom of god every sunday you were in it you were so close you were so close to it you visited it you drank their coffee you ate that obama you listened to that you listened you were so close you were not far but you're not in man that's scary that's scary why because i just wanted just a little bit of jesus just a little bit just enough to clean keep my conscience quiet just enough that i can i can wear my wwjd bracelet and feel like i'm great go ahead cross around my neck yeah i throw some fasting in there i throw a little prayer here and there yeah i'm i'm i got a little bit of jesus i'm great man that's the scariest verse in the bible i never want to hear the words that say you are not far from the kingdom of god i mean the kingdom of god is something that i'm supposed to be in it and it's supposed to be in me i must must be around it and my fears that all of us come around it and we never make it inside that's why my advice for you don't settle for being close don't settle for being close to the kingdom of god don't settle for visiting the kingdom of god don't settle to listening to sermons from the kingdom of god don't settle for a little bit of jesus turn your entire heart look you may say don't be so dramatic let it go one of the things that i'm doing 40 days to live one of the things that that i was reading um in the book that you guys will get uh when you guys get a copy of that book is that if truly we're living like it's the last last days if truly then i gotta start asking myself and this is a question i like to ask myself now is when i preach a sermon would i preach the same way if this was the last time i'm gonna preach and now i started thinking in that way so now all of a sudden it makes a difference if this is the last time that i'm going to see you and last time that you're going to see me there's nothing more important than this message that you would stop being content with being close and that you would go head first full speed in that pool and you would turn your entire heart your entire life your all your relationships every minute of every single day that you return it to him last verse that i want to leave you with and i want this to be our memory verse for this campaign it's real easy psalm 90 verse 12. it's real easy and it's very powerful says so teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom what's the goal of this campaign what are we talking about goal is this that we can live in light of our end and we can number our days that we can live a life of wisdom then we can stop saying when and start saying now maybe you're a person who knows that that or you're a person who's always thinking when this when this when this hey 40 days to live now then not just return our wins to now we turn our good intentions our great intentions our wonderful intentions that make us think we're the greatest saints in the history of all mankind we turn half of those intentions into action we turn intentions into action we start doing things that we know we're supposed to do we don't count on tomorrow being here and most important thing that we do we turn our entire heart we don't settle for being close we don't settle for seeing the kingdom of god on the horizon we don't settle for coming and being around it is that we go full into that kingdom of god because we know that if i don't do it today i cannot count on tomorrow to be here let's stand for a prayer in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit one god amen lord as we stand in your presence now each one of us is lifting our hearts to you and saying lord teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom teach us dear lord to know what is our end to stop being fooled into thinking that we will live forever that the material things of this world that the accomplishments and the tasks are why we're here lord we know that our life is but a mist but a vapor that vanishes and that today may be but tomorrow may be gone lord we pray that you would really help us to live in light of that eternity in light of our death every single day to make the most out of this day living it as if it's our last one most of all dear lord as we stand in your presence right now we really turn our entire hearts to you we don't want to just say words and just say that we love you and sing songs and kind of come and go the same way we came lord we really want to turn our entire lives to you we want you to take over any sin any obstacle any any bad habit anything that's keeping us from you lord we put it before you right now and really pray that you would help us to live the life that you want us to live as your disciples not just pleasing our conscience but the way you want us to live bless each and every single person here lord bless them reward them sanctify them lord empower them and strengthen them to live this this life every single day for the rest of their lives or we we pray for every person who is is in our hearts that that is in need of prayer right now and we pray that you would always keep your hand over every single one of us we ask this the name of our lord god savior and king jesus christ with the intercessions and prayers of all of your saints hear us as we pray thankfully our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one through christ jesus our lord thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever amen please have a seat for one minute a few quick

Channel: OrthodoxSermons

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Keywords: 40DaysToLive1, sermon, given, at, Light, Life, by, Father, Anthony, Messeh, St, Marks, Coptic, Orthodox, Church, of, Washington, DC, on, March, 01, 2009

Id: Gpmx9QEbOEw

Length: 47min 38sec (2858 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 19 2011