by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Psalm 39<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. So many things in this life are beyond our grasp to comprehend. <\/p>\n A. We attend a funeral to see that someone who was once full of life and energy is now\nstill, lying in a casket. Why did it happen?\n B. We want explanations that sometimes can’t be given. But someone will respond,\n“Perhaps it was his time to go.”\n
C. Is that what God tells us, that there is a set time for each of us?<\/p>\n
II. To live is to die<\/p>\n A. Living means that eventually each of us will die, barring those who will see the Lord’s\nreturn – Hebrews 9:27\n B. David once had an opportunity to stop Saul from seeking his death by killing Saul as\nslept – I Samuel 26:10\n
1. Did David imply that there was a set day?<\/p>\n 2. No, because he listed out other ways Saul might die that did not require David\nmurdering him in his sleep.\n
III. Understand that life is short<\/p>\n
A. David desired to know the length of his life – Psalm 39:4-5<\/p>\n
1. He was not asking to know when he would die<\/p>\n
2. He wanted to keep in his mind that life is short<\/p>\n
B. We all hear of people who drastically change behavior after a close brush with death<\/p>\n C. We all need such an attitude because our choices in life would greatly change if we\ntruly knew how little time we have left\n
D. Life is not infinite. There is a limit to our life spans – Psalm 90:10<\/p>\n
1. Notice again, that our health practices will impact a person’s life<\/p>\n
2. The limit of 70 or 80 years is not hard fast, but a general rule of thumb<\/p>\n
3. Even with our medical advances, the average life span is still near 80<\/p>\n
4. God has placed limits on our lives – Job 14:5<\/p>\n
IV. Our actions can shorten an already short life<\/p>\n A. Behavior affects the length of life. The wicked can’t live out half their potential – Psalm\n55:23\n
B. Righteousness generally lengthens life, wickedness shortens life – Proverbs 10:27<\/p>\n C. The wicked are selfish. They don’t think about the impact their own shorten life has on\nothers – Job 21:21\n
D. It is possible for the wicked to die before their time – Ecclesiastes 7:17<\/p>\n
V. Are we prepared to leave?<\/p>\n A. Eventually there will come a time to leave earth; just as there was a time for us to\narrive – Ecclesiastes 3:1-2\n B. We don’t know precisely when it will be our time, but we can be certain that it will\ncome.\n
C. Just as one day we are certain this world will come to an end – II Peter 3:10-11<\/p>\n 1. Just as we never know when a thief might target us, we never know when our\nlife will end or our Lord will come – I Thessalonians 5:1-4\n 2. But it remains that we are certain that the day will arrive. So how should we\nbehave?\n
D. Are you ready? – II Corinthians 5:9-10<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalm 39 I. So many things in this life are beyond our grasp to comprehend. A. We attend a funeral to see that someone who was once full of life and energy is now still, lying in a casket. Why did it happen? B. We want explanations that sometimes can’t be given.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32],"tags":[109],"class_list":["post-63645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-death"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4012,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-a-set-time-for-someone-to-die\/","url_meta":{"origin":63645,"position":0},"title":"Is there a set time for someone to die?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is there a set time for someone to die? You often hear people say, \"It was just their time to go.\" Answer: It is a fact that living means each of us will eventually die, barring those who will see our Lord's return. \"And as it is appointed for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59016,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-be-around-someone-who-has-done-evil\/","url_meta":{"origin":63645,"position":1},"title":"How do you be around someone who has done evil?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I've been reading through your website and have found your work interesting. I was wondering if you have some advice for me in a situation relating to my boyfriend and his family. Recently my boyfriend's stepmother filed for divorce against his father. Scripturally, both parties are in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95460,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-we-help-someone-in-time-of-loss\/","url_meta":{"origin":63645,"position":2},"title":"How Can We Help Someone in a Time of Loss?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 6, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson A woman has a miscarriage. A middle-aged man is laid off at work. A family's house burns. Parents lose a teenage son to suicide. A child is diagnosed with cancer. A surviving spouse must now go on without the other. Responding to loss A common response to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68250,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/am-i-wrong-to-associate-with-someone-who-steals\/","url_meta":{"origin":63645,"position":3},"title":"Am I wrong to associate with someone who steals?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have some friends who live in a senior retirement home.\u00a0I met one of them about a year ago and was introduced to some more of his friends. I also live in the same retirement home. I am the only one who is a member of the church of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92044,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/buried-with-him-and-raised-with-him\/","url_meta":{"origin":63645,"position":4},"title":"Buried with Him and Raised with Him","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The action of real baptism is very misunderstood today. People see a man dunking another person in the water and think it is a strange initiation rite, but there is much more to it than what you see with the physical eye. What is supposed to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90873,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-we-help-someone-in-times-of-loss\/","url_meta":{"origin":63645,"position":5},"title":"How Can We Help Someone in Times of Loss?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson A woman has a miscarriage. A middle-aged man is laid off from his job. A family's house burns. Parents lose a teenage son in a traffic accident. A child is diagnosed with cancer. A surviving spouse must now go on without the other. Responding to loss A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}