I dare you to die!

WWW.TheDavidAlliance.com

6-24-19 Monday

 

You know as a kid I listened to a lot of Metal, hard rock and Hair metal… Little did I know it actually taught me some pretty good lessons…

Take for instance the classic Metallica song for whom the bell tolls. If you actually understood the the meaning behind it… it is a great wake up call. 

For whom the bell tolls, time marches on - 

You ain’t getting out of here alive… and every second gets you closer to that reality! 

 

 

TDAGiantslayer@gmail.com

 

Jason from Menards in Madison… Hey thanks for listening and thanks for finding Kyle who was wearing the Giant slayer t shirt. 

 

Reading from John Ortberg’s book, When the Game Is Over It

All Goes Back in the Box (Zondervan, 2007):

Lisa Rotgrak is the author of a book called Death Warmed Over, a

combination cookbook and sociological study of funeral meals and

rituals. She starts it with the story of a man dying at home in bed.

He could smell the aroma of chocolate chip cookies--his

favorite--baking downstairs. He wanted one more cookie before he

died.

 

He dragged his body out of bed, rolled down the stairs, crawled into

the kitchen, and reached out a trembling arm to grasp one final

cookie, when he felt the sting of a spatula smack his hand. "Put

that back," his wife said. "They're for the funeral."

 

The rich fool had many cookies, and he thought they were all for him.

"This is what I'll do," says the rich fool. "I will tear down my

barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and

my goods."

 

One more barn. One more crop. One more cookie. Then one night out

comes the spatula. "Whack" "They don't belong to you. They're

for the funeral."

 

Ask not for whom the spatula whacks. It whacks for thee.

 

FOR WHOM THE SPATULA WHACKS.. TIME MARCHES ON..

 

Are you ready to die?

We typically ask ourselves questions like are we ready to retire? Are we ready to get married? Are we ready to have kids?

BUT ARE YOU READY TO DIE?

 

Well if I say yes, does that mean God will take me right now? Probably not… but it’s still a good question. However it actually leads us to an even better question: Are we really living?

I am going to assume most of you have a solid relationship with God and your future in heaven is secure: if not take time to ask God to take control of your life and then seek to know him more… BUT ANYWAY…

 

Here are three things to practice living in order to be ready to die.

  - Let your wife, kids, family and friends know you are ready to die. I many times tell my boys things like “regardless of what happens to me, I am ready to die, so live in such a way that you meet me in heaven when you die”. I want those closest to me to know I am at peace when it comes to dying regardless of how and when. I am always ready to meet Jesus. And I let them know why… I have a relationship with God the father through the work of Christ on the cross. 

   Maybe the greatest example of life, is dying the right way.

 

Secondly I want to try everything I see Jesus do in the New Testament… at least once. I want to try to multiply food (I multiplied gas) I want to command weather (I did) I want blind eyes to see, lame to walk, dead to rise, Walk on water (I did that…Ok, I was barefoot waterskiing) cast out demons, (did it) preach, teach, rebuke the religious etc… Yes we all have a bucket list to some degree… I have a bible list. Will I raise the dead… I haven’t yet- but I have tried. But I don’t want to ever wonder if… 

You want to make your bible reading time more exciting start writing down what Jesus does and check them off when you try it… then check them off when you do it.

 

 

Third- practice dying. I have had this opportunity. After colon cancer, then liver cancer, a brain tumor… I have had many opportunities to practice dying. I have talked about how my wife will survive, life insurance, my funeral plans- songs I want played etc.. I have told my boys how to live after my death, what to think and how to take care of their mom. 

See I have had the luxury of being given a time in which to expect to die (BTW they have things call “lifeclocks” that countdown your life to the tenth of a second) But we as men like being prepared for emergencies… what greater emergency than death. Are you ready? Practice! I can’t think of a better motivator! 

 

In the words of the famous missionary Jim Elliot “when it comes time to die… make sure that’s all you have left to do”! 

 

Now what’s todays challenge?