2023 Dec 31st, Sunday Morning Service

I plan to work for Village Missions two more years and they encourage a few of the office staff each year to go to one of their conferences across the country on their dime.

Pam wants to go to the New York state or maybe

Wisconsin, and if I want that to happen, I need to

ask early

save some money

save some vacation time for site seeing in the area before or after the conference.

If I don’t take any steps of preparation,

it won’t happen,

I’ll finish my time at Village Missions and never go to those far away conferences.

Have you set some goals?

Bible reading and prayer goals

Financial goals

Relationship Goals

Vacation goals

dating & marriage goals

When the future is short

When the Dr. has bad news . . .

Some fight it!

Illus

A co-worker got a note from her Dr. something like

“Change your diet or die!”

That kind of disturbed her,

She chose to change her diet in a drastic way

With bad news, some work on their bucket list

Bucket Lists

Bucket lists are list of, before I die, goals:

some goals are great,

some goals are just plain fun,

some goals are stupid.

Not thinking about what really matters in life

Not thinking about family and friends

Not thinking about being ready for eternal life

and have too much focus on self,

If you are fighting for your life,

I know, you need a lot of focus on yourself and

you need to be your own advocate

But even in a year like that,

we can see who is too self focused

too demanding and so on.

There is a phrase I sometimes see as a bumper sticker and I really don’t like it

“I'm Spending my kids inheritance”

Doesn’t that sound like parents being juvenile

I remember my mom telling me,

She wasn’t very financially secure until she received her inheritance.

Cammeron and I probably would be struggling until we received our inheritance from mom and dad.

Along that line of thinking, it says in proverbs

Proverbs 13:22 NIV

22 A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.

And regarding dying, only God knows the day or the hour of our future death but our actions can be a factor God considers as it says in Ecclesiates

Ecclesiastes 7:17 NIV

17 Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool— why die before your time?

Common reactions to news of dying soon

Of course there are the 5 stages of grief:

Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression & Acceptance.

Pam and I knew of two families that learned about the wife having terminal cancer about the same time many years ago.

One family looked at their options,

Fought the cancer with all they had

Had a miserable time, until the wife passed.

The other family, looked at their options

Had a great time visited many friends and family members until

too tired to visit any more,

they came home and the wife peacefully died.

In hindsight the family that didn’t fight seemed to make the best choice

but each persons cancer is different,

and each persons reactions to their treatments is different too.

There were some kings in the bible who were told they were going to die

Pharoah king of Egypt experience serious diseases in his own body and serious diseases in his family after Sarai, Abram’s wife was taken into the palace.

Here is the context

Genesis 12:14–20 NIV

14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15 And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. 17 But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

So Pharoah

over abundantly,

made things right

as quickly as possible.

How close to death did Pharoah come?

We don’t know but the next king

Abimelech was told he was a dead man.

So, here is how it began

Genesis 20:1–2 NIV

1 Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, 2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.

So abimelech took Sarah and intended to marry her

but God stepped in

Genesis 20:3–7 NIV

3 But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.” 4 Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? 5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.” 6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. 7 Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.”

As good as a dead man,

did this spir Abimelech to action?

YES

Genesis 20:8–18 NIV

8 Early the next morning Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid. 9 Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, “What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.” 10 And Abimelek asked Abraham, “What was your reason for doing this?” 11 Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ 12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ” 14 Then Abimelek brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelek said, “My land is before you; live wherever you like.” 16 To Sarah he said, “I am giving your brother a thousand shekels of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.” 17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again, 18 for the Lord had kept all the women in Abimelek’s household from conceiving because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.

So these two kings were headed for an early grave,

they were warned by God and

took quick actions to avoid the grave.

Hezekiah’s dispare

Hezekiah was a pretty good king but one day a prophet of God came to him with this message.

2 Kings 20:1 NIV

1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

What did the king do next:

Work on his bucket list?

Start eating health foods?

Make a huge offering to God?

He didn’t do any of these things.

2 Kings 20:2–3 NIV

2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

I guess he wasn’t all that excited about going to heaven so soon.

He wept bitterly

which tells me he may have felt like this was somehow unfair,

all his good deeds and he was still going to die early.

I heard a pastor on Focus on the Family once who had faced cancer twice,

early on in his first bought with cancer, he felt sorry for himself

felt like God owed him the good life on easy street,

he struggled with bitterness.

Then the Lord spoke to his heart and he thought, why not me?

In this broken fallen world,

why shouldn’t I face cancer

His heart and his attitude changed greatly at that time.

God helped him through to full remission and God was there with him when cancer came back a second time.

Hezekiah did not have that kind of breakthrough but God answered his prayer and gave him 15 more years to live and

Hezekiahs attitude toward God went down instead of up.

He made some diplomatic blunders,

He had a son born in that time who later because one of the very worst kings Judah or Israel ever had,

Manasah, his son even stopped worship of the true God in the temple.

Now that we have considered:

planning for the future

bucket lists

and different ways Kings and Commoners have responded to words like

Get your house in order, your time is short, we are going to consider one more man in the bible and how he responded to the news.

Moses’s bucket list

Deuteronomy 31:1–8 NIV

1 Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: 2 “I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’ 3 The Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the Lord said. 4 And the Lord will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land. 5 The Lord will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” 7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

then Moses had the Levites read the law to the people

Moses predicted how, in the promised land, the people would rebell against God

Deuteronomy 31:1–8 NIV

It also says of Moses

Deuteronomy 31:14 NIV

14 The Lord said to Moses, “Now the day of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, where I will commission him.” So Moses and Joshua came and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.

Moses has the law read to the people

He predicts there rebellion against God when they get settled into the land

Moses reciets his song to the people

and in Deuteronomy 32 it speaks of his death on mount Nebo across from Jericho.

Yet in chapter 33 we are told the blessing that Moses gave to the people before he died, a mixture of blessing and prophecy

Then in chapter 34 we again hear about the death on Moses on Mount Nebo

how God burried him and hid the grave

how the Isrealites morned for him 30 days until the time of weeping and morning was over, and then attention turns to Joshua

Deuteronomy 34:9 NIV

9 Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the Lord had commanded Moses.

What Moses didn’t do

There is no record Moses begged and pleaded for more time.

There is no record of Moses asking for time off to go site seeing before he died.

He did finish writing down the law and giving it to the Levites to read to the whole congregation

and saw to it that it was done.

Without complaint he installed Joshua to lead the people after him.

Without complaint or dissent, Moses climbed Mount Nebo,

from there he looked across the Jordan valley to the promised land,

saw the sights God wanted to share with him and died.

I was impressed with Moses selflessness, as he finished his days on earth

as the leader of God people.

How will you and I face death,

a lot will depend on how we face life, live life

between now and then.

I hope and pray, you and I set some good goals to better our lives

the lives of our families

the lives of our friends and

our communities.

I hope this time next year,

you and I will become stronger in the Lord

even more courageous for him.

I hope your finances will be better,

with remembering to look ahead and plan

yet not forgetting to still be generous with others and

thankful for what we have

I hope your families and relationships will be stronger

with deliberate choices to invest our time and hearts in people and relationships

I hope to see our church family,

will grow in our ability and desire to share the gospel in winsome ways

and all the good churches in Dallas thriving

bringing new people to the Lord week after week.

We can only do these things with Jesus in our hears and taking some time for reflecting, and planning.