Living Like You're Dying | Ecclesiastes | Jonathan Pokluda

SUMMARY
Do you have a bucket list? What do you want to do before you die? It could be anything at all. As we continue studying the book of Ecclesiastes, JP shows us that God has a bucket list prepared for each of us and that we should live like we are dying (and will live forever).

KEY TAKEAWAYS
-We do not know what tomorrow will bring.
-Mortality causes us to be reflective.
-Weddings are fun and celebratory, but everyone is distracted. At a funeral, the focus is crystal clear and you have everyone’s attention.
-Remember death awaits us all.
-In America in 2021, we are bad at death. We’ve outsourced it in a way that is completely foreign to other cultures and all of history.
-You do not know how much time you have left.
-It is really hard and sad when death strikes. We mourn because we were made to live forever. Death was not present in Eden before the Fall and it’s not in heaven either.
-Find joy in living.
-God does not want to rip you off. He is a good God, and He loves giving good things.
-What do you enjoy doing? Can you do it to the glory of God? (doing something in faith and without sin). Go do more of those things!
-Learn to enjoy serving others.
-Do you use your words flippantly or thoughtfully?
-You can be wise and live prudently, but even then, you don’t know what life has in store. Before Jesus returns, pain and death will come to the wisest people at times.
-Live with wisdom.
-Live a life not for God’s approval but from God’s approval.
-We don’t have to experience all this earth has to offer before we die because we will have forever and ever and ever to experience this earth in its glorified form.
-Don’t wait to live like you are dying. Surround yourself with Scripture, share the gospel with every person you meet, and give as generously as you can.

MENTIONED OR RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
-Suggested Scripture Study: Ecclesiastes 9; Ephesians 2:10; Colossians 3:23; 1 Corinthians 3:19; Psalm 111:10; 2 Corinthians 5:19
-Sermon: Submitting to Authority