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LUKE 12:35-37

"YOUR CONCEPT OF LIFE"

I. EVERY MAN HAS SOME CONCEPT OF LIFE.
        A. This concept directs my attitudes and actions.
        B. Concepts often expressed.
                1. Life is a journey.
                2. Life is a race.
                3. Life is an education.
                4. Life is a game.
                5. Life is a fight.
                6. Life is a joke.
        C. With each concept, a goal in view.
                1. With journey final destination.
                2. With race, the finish line.
                3. With education, the graduation.
                4. With game, the final whistle.
                5. With fight, the final victory.
                6. With joke, the punch line.
        D. The ultimate is the inspiration of the immediate.
                1. Make sure I take the right roads.
                2. I want to pace myself to win the race.
                3. I want to study required courses
                4. I want the right game strategy.
                5. I develop battle plan to subdue enemy
                6. Build up the anticipation.
        E. Some may not have expressed concept figuratively.
                1. They live to amass wealth.
                        a. Life is a game of Monopoly.
                2. They live for pleasure.
                        a. Work is a necessary, unpleasant interruption.
                        b. Life is a party.
        F. Jesus here declares true concept of life to those who would follow Him. "Men, 
           waiting for their Lord."

II. WHAT IS THIS CONCEPT?
        A. A duration of time till my Lord comes.
                1. All men's lives bounded by birth and death.
                2. When I accepted Jesus as Lord, boundaries changed to the day I accepted
                   Him till He comes for me. "For to me to live is Christ."
                        a. The things before Christ are now blotted out, advantages or
                           otherwise. "Those things..."
        B. The goal is out of sight.
                1. I may not finish this sermon.
                2. My Lord may come at any moment, and I will be changed in a twinkling of an
                   eye.
                3. Every man has immediate goals - graduation, the finished product,
                   retirement. My immediate goal is to convey this truth.
                        a. I know I can be interrupted at any time by the realization of my
                           supreme hope.

III. THE EFFECTS OF THIS CONCEPT.
        A. Fear is checked, "My Lord is in control."
        B. Your life is never disturbed.
                1. I am expected to be interrupted at any time.
                2. The life that is always disturbed is the life that is seeking never to be 
                   disturbed.
        C. Jesus for forty days trained disciples in this concept.
                1. They never knew when He would appear.
        D. Life is waiting, looking, longing for Him.
        E. It causes greater diligence to all my tasks.
                1. My Lord may come at any moment, I want to open the door immediately for Him.
                        a. I want to be more diligent to get my message across.
                        b. I want to be honest and upright in this business transaction.
                2. I want to be watching for Him.