James
Lesson 4: The Time of Your Life
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LESSON OBJECTIVES
Goals
1. To expose students to the truth that life is short.
2. To motivate students to view their time on earth as a time to commit to God.
3. To give students an opportunity to serve other people with their lives.
Topics
Commitment, Community, Eternal Life, Outreach, Serving, Zealousness
OPENING PRAYER (5 to 10 minutes)
GROUP BUILDING (10 minutes)
I’ have some trivia I want you to talk about in your groups. See how good you are at figuring some of this stuff out:
1. In 1900 the average human life span was 50 years. What is it today? (Almost 80)
2. The average lifespan of a male in the 400s in England was how much? (30 years)
3. The average eyelash lives how long? (150 days)
4. In a 72 year lifetime, how many times does the human heart beat? (2.5 billionish)
5. Between the ages of 30 and 70, your nose and ears can grow by as much as half an inch…True of False
(T—cartilage doesn’t stop growing)
Okay, so other than growing bigger ears and losing eyelashes, what are we supposed to do with the 75 years that we live? What are we supposed to do with the 2.5 billion beats of our heart? Today we’re going to study some verses that talk about time and our lives. Let’s get after it.
GETTING STARTED (5 minutes)
Discussion Questions:
1. What are some of the goals of your life?
2. What do you want to be when you grow up?
DIGGING IN (10 minutes)
Turn in your Bibles to James 4:13-17. As we read this, I want you to note each mention of time or reference to life.
Read James 4:13-17
Discussion Questions:
1. What does James tell us about tomorrow? (We don’t know what will happen)
2. What does James teach us about life? (It is a mist, it evaporates quickly)
3. How would you sum up what James is saying in these verses?
Okay, let’s focus in on verse 17. James tells us that life is about more than growing eyelashes.
4. What does verse 17 say our lives should be about (doing good)?
He even says that if we don’t do that good, we are sinning. That’s a strong statement, but James isn’t the lone voice in the Scriptures on this point. We’re going to look at some other passages that talk about the same thing.)
MAKING IT REAL (20 minutes)
Read Luke 12:22-31
Discussion Questions:
1. What does this passage tell us about our life?
2. What should we do/not do?
Read Matthew 25:41-46
Discussion Questions:
1. What does this passage tell us about our life?
2. What should we do/not do?
Read Luke 12:42-48
Disussion Questions:
1. What does this passage tell us about our life?
2. What should we do/not do?
We really are here to do good! And keep in mind what James says, our lives are short. To do good in a short time is a high calling. It begs two questions that I want you ask yourself and really think about:
1. How much good for others do you do?
2. What do you spend your time doing?
We’re going to finish up a little differently today. Instead of praying or thinking or anything like that, we’re going to do something. I want each of you to think about something that you can do for someone else before you leave the church doors today. Maybe it is:
• Cleaning up the trash in the sanctuary between services
• Sitting by someone who looks lonely
• Finding and encouraging 3 people who have helped you through the years
• Give someone a good shoulder rub
• Pool some money together and put it in the offering plate and mark it “missions”
• Think of something else. I’ll give you a couple of minutes
SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION (5 to 10 minutes)
This Weeks Verse
"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4:14 NIV
CLOSING PRAYER (3 minutes)
Guys, let’s close this way. You know how to feel your heart beat or pulse…do so now. Put your hand on your heart or feel your pulse. Get real quiet so we can all pick it up. Feel it?
Our lives are short. 2.5 million beats seems like a lot, but even right now we’re feeling beat after beat go on. And the Bible is true…each beat could be our last. I’m not saying that to scare you, I’m saying it to motivate you, to use every second of your life for good. Not to do so is a sin. To do so can be a great blessing to others. Amen? Amen.