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Every one of us is given only one lifetime on this earth. Only one chance to prove our worth and only one opportunity to serve God with everything within us. That is very sobering when you stop and think about it. Moses wrote in the 90th Psalm:

The average life is going to be between 70 and 80 years. The current average by the way is 77 years, so once again modern data proves that God's word is true! That means that when you turn 20 years old, your life is already a fourth over! James equated our life to a vapor or a "mist."

Our life appears for a short time and then vanishes away. When you place the time that you will live on earth against eternity -- forever -- then our life is but a drop in the bucket to the rest of our lives. Whether you realize it or not, you will one day live forever some place: in either heaven or hell, and that destination depends upon the result of the choices that you have made in this short one life that you have to live.

I'm not trying to scare you into something today but merely trying to make you realize that often or not we get up and go about our business and do not think about eternity or how the choices that we are making that day affects our final destination. But life is not what it appears to be. There is more riding on your life than just having fun for the day.

Ask Solomon. He was the richest king that ever lived. He had zillions of dollars and the finest looking women from all over the world. He had a palace to live in that made the Trump towers look like a rat hotel. He had God-given wisdom to understand many things about nature and life, but he fell for the trap that all there was to life was to be successful financially and find pleasure. He fell for the trap of routine comfort that gets so many people even today. Solomon drifted from God and spent years wasted on doing whatever he felt like doing. Not really caring about pleasing God or not, but just living to have a good time and getting richer. Not one of us will ever experience the extravagance of living that Solomon had: the world's richest man lived life to the fullest! If anyone ever experienced the finest that life had to offer, it was Solomon!

But as an old man, Solomon began to write the Book of Ecclesiastes and about his struggles about what was the point of living. He starts out his book by saying that he has found "all of life is vanity." That means "empty" or "non-fulfilling." In the book he talks about how that he lived for pleasure and yet now he is an old man struggling to find his way back to the God that he loved so dearly in his youth. He talked about how important that he thought his career and money were. He talked about how important he thought that having the prettiest women and the finest clothes were. He talked about how important he thought that just "having a good time every day" was. But even though Solomon had all of those things, when he got to the end of his life, the only word that he could use to describe what fame, fortune, lust, and extravagance had given him was "vanity." Emptiness. Loneliness. A sad feeling that he had wasted his life. And so the man who had everything that life had to offer him, concludes his book with these words:

Solomon said "I have learned the hard way: the whole point of living is not to be famous, wise, rich, or successful. The real purpose of living is to have a relationship with God!" That is the true purpose of life: to grow closer and closer to the God of the universe; to fear and please Him; to reach others with His precious Word! If you live your life with any other thing as the primary objective, then you will end your life with vanity -- emptiness -- a feeling of regret at having wasted your life. You may enjoy the rat race now, but if getting more things in life, or toys, or experiencing pleasure is what you spend the most time thinking about and acting upon, then you will end up feeling like Solomon did. He experienced life on a level that you and I will never get to in this lifetime and still came up with the conclusion that all is vanity: the only thing that is rewarding and that will bring a sense of fulfillment at the end of your life is to love God and serve Him with everything in you! To worship Him and Him alone and live for Him with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength!

All of us will come to a time in your life when you really question "what is it I am living for?" What is the purpose to my life? If Jesus and his church and Word is not the focal point, you are going down a road that will lead to nothing but heartache and sadness. When I study the scriptures I find mighty men of God who questioned their reason for living and purpose of life. Their names should be familiar to you: Job, Jonah, Jeremiah, and even the mighty prophet Elijah all stopped in the middle of their lives and realized that they were living for the wrong reasons! All of them made the right decision to put God first and ended up being doubly blessed, and mightily used by God to reach their generation. Not all of them were preachers: God may never call you to step behind a pulpit, but there is a purpose for your life beyond what this world tells you. God is wanting someone to stop and take stock of what the purpose for your life is. What is your main point of living? Is it God's plan or what you or the world wants for your life? I know that we must have jobs and we must raise our families, but what is the primary focus of your life?

In our text, we read the words of Jesus that powerfully begs the question:

We have a generation of Christians who do not want to "take up their cross and follow Him." They do not want anything to do with trials or self-denial. The idea of not doing something that they want to do just because the Bible hints that it displeases God is foreign to them. But you will never be truly like Jesus Christ until you have "denied yourself." Jesus Christ's flesh did not want to die on Calvary any more than your flesh wants to stop doing sinful things. But to be a "Christian" is "to be like Christ." We are not really a "Christian" unless we are willing to "follow" in his footsteps! When it came time to choose between money and career and God's plan, Jesus chose God's plan and walked out of the carpenter's shop that Joseph had spent years developing. When it came time to choose between staying close to His family or the will of God, Jesus left His hometown and widowed mother for the plan of God. When it came down to choosing to pursue his fleshly desires to be normal and marry and buy a house and have children or follow God's plan, Jesus chose God's will and died on Calvary!

God may not require such extremes in your life, but what is hindering you from really becoming all that God has for you? Is it family members and their beliefs? Is it a career that is more important than the plan of God? Is it fame that drives you each day? Is it to have the things that this world says that you should have? Do all of those things take precedence over the will of God and learning about Him and praying and praising the God of the universe? If it is, then you are trying to "save" your life. You are trying to preserve or protect the life that you want! But Jesus said that if any man tried to save his life, he would lose it! But if you will surrender it to Jesus and make Him your main reason for living, then you will save your life! Jesus said about houses and land and money: "seek ye first the kingdom of God and all of these things will be added unto you!"

Jesus went on to say that what good have you done if you have gained the whole world and lost your own soul! He was teaching His disciples! He was talking to and warning those who were His closest followers! Verse 18 of that chapter says that the disciples had come to Jesus privately to ask Him some questions! Jesus was saying that it was possible to really believe in Him and know that He was the saviour and yet lose out with God because other things become more important to us than Jesus Christ and His kingdom!

Jesus went on to say that if a man will not make the kingdom of God his focus, then that is a sign that he is "ashamed" of Jesus and His Words. Jesus said that when He came back for the church, that He would likewise be ashamed of those people! Listen to me very carefully! If my sermon is making you very uncomfortable today, then that is a sign that God is talking to you! But do not take the words of Jesus very lightly today, because how you respond to these words will determine how Jesus responds to you when the Rapture of the church takes place! If you'd rather not apply these words to your life and would rather leave them alone, then Jesus will leave you alone when it comes to catching His church away!

This sermon is actually an extension of the love of God, because He does not want you to fall for the trap that Solomon fell into and have to learn the hard way! If you will sell out and allow the things of God to be number one in your life, then despite whatever happens, you will be able to look back on your life with a gladness! You will not have to experience the feeling of dread or emptiness that Solomon faced! You will be able to look cheerfully back at your life and say "I served the Lord with everything in me!" I made His house and His kingdom priority in my life, and now I know that He will make me a priority when He comes back for His church! Don't be like Solomon and waste your whole life! Learn from his mistakes! The point of your life is to serve God with everything in you! God is the God of a lifetime! He desires to bless you abundantly for the remainder of your life, but you must make Him the God of your life! He will not play second fiddle! He must be priority!

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For the rest of my sermon, I would like to focus on one of those men who had a mid-life look at what the purpose of their life was: the great prophet Elijah. Elijah was a great man of God and he overcame some very serious trials. He remained faithful to God to the very end. The cool thing about Elijah's life is that he did not die. God came down and took him in a whirlwind of fiery chariots and horses and carried him off to heaven! What a way to go!

God also told Elijah ahead of time that He was going to take him this way. Elijah even knew the day of his departure. In our text, we read all of the events of that fateful day. I find it curious that Elijah visited five certain areas on the day of his departure. They are in order: Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, Jordan, and Heaven. So I began to study why Elijah would to those four places and careful study reveals that these five events in Elijah's final day represent five stages of our lifetime with God. Let me show you how they correspond to you:

Gilgal represents a beginning. It was so named by Joshua because it sounds a lot like "take away" in Hebrew (In corresponding with the Israelites arrival into the promised land, God "took away" the manna and they ate from the crops of the area) It was the first campsite in the promised land by the Israelis. The first Passover in Canaan was also held at Gilgal. It became the base of the first military operations for the conquest of Canann. It later was the site of King Saul's coronation when Israel decided that they wanted their first king. It was also the site of Saul's rejection by God and David's welcoming back after Absalom's rebellion. Gilgal then always represents a first experience that becomes the beginning.

We all must have a beginning! It starts for you at your personal "Passover" when you partake of the Lamb of God by Repenting, being baptized in His name, and moving into the promised land by receiving that precious promise, the Holy Ghost! That is when God "takes away" your sin! That beginning of being born again becomes your basis for the first conquests in your life because you realize that if God can do away with my past, surely He can help me with my future! It is the spiritual site of the removal of a king like Saul because you pull free from being ruled by this world and it is also the spiritual site of the welcoming of a good King, only you are not welcoming King David into your heart, but one of David's great, great, great, grandsons who is much greater in all ways: Jesus Christ! Gilgal represents your beginning in God!

Elijah next went to Bethel. Bethel represents a personal relationship with God. It literally means "House of God." Abraham first built an altar at Bethel, and it was at Bethel that Jacob wrestled with God and had his life changing, character transforming, name altering, experience. When King Josiah led a revival of worshiping the one, true living God, he rebuilt the altar at Bethel. It was to Bethel that the Jewish people who were released from captivity returned to worship. Bethel then signifies being in the presence of God, it signifies an altar and thus the beginning of a true prayer life, it signifies learning how to truly worship God!

You need to have a Bethel in your life! It is not enough to just begin at the New Birth and being born of the water and the Spirit! You must develop a relationship with God where He talks to you and you with Him! Where prayer is not a drudgery but a pleasure, where faithfulness to the house of the Lord is important to you because it is an opportunity to meet with and learn about God, and where you really learn what it is like to get lost in worshipping God! Have you ever really worshipped God so much that you forgot about those standing around you? That you forgot about time? That you ceased caring about what someone else thought of your actions? If not, then you have never had a spiritual Bethel in your life! But when you go to Bethel, you will find that it is a life-changing experience! It will change your character and habits! It will even give you a new identity far beyond what you imagined is possible! God wants to the God of a lifetime but you must have a spiritual Bethel -- you must develop that close communion with Him!

From Bethel, Elijah went to Jericho. Jericho represents a major victory over old battles in your life. Jericho was the oldest and strongest fortified city on the planet. Through obedience to God's Word, Joshua and the Israelites conquered it and the walls fell down.

After you begin to establish that close communication and daily communion with God at Bethel, God wants to give you great victory over something that has been a strongpoint of the enemies in your life that nobody thinks that you can overcome it! I don't know what your Jericho is, but nothing is too hard for God! It might be alcohol, unbelief, past abuse, or a disfunctional family. It might be a massive situation in your life that you know not one thing that you can do will get you out of the mess! But God can! How? Through obedience to His Word! If Joshua had not obeyed the Word of God and simply walked around the walls of Jericho for seven days, they would not have seen the walls fall! It doesn't matter how crazy it sounds, if you want victory over your Jericho, you must obey God's Word. Don't question it! Don't say "it doesn't make sense." Even if it doesn't, if you will obey, God will give you the victory!

There was a curse placed upon anyone who rebuilt the city. Joshua said that if anybody ever rebuilt the city of Jericho, that they would lay the foundations of the wall in their first born and the gates in the bones of their youngest son. It was years later that we find a man named Hiel decided to rebuild that city and while he was building the foundation of the walls, his first-born son died. While he was building the gates, his youngest son died:

I'm preaching to some of you whom God has already wrought a major victory in your life! You know what your Jericho was and you know that God alone gave you the victory! Whatever you do, do not go back to it! Do not rebuild it! If you do, you will lose your family in the process! You must have a victory over the Jericho in your life! Jericho is what was keeping them back from all of the blessings of God! It must be completely destroyed!

Jordan represents an entrance into the supernatural. For example before God began to fight those battles in Canaan's land, they crossed the Jordan river by a supernatural means when the priests carrying the ark of the covenant caused the waters to recede. The Jordan river was where the leper Naman was miraculously cleansed. The Jordan river area was where John the Baptist began to announce the Messiah. It was at the Jordan river that Jesus was baptized and everyone heard an audible voice from heaven beginning a powerful 3 1/2 years of ministry! It was at the Jordan river that Elijah crossed over to be taken up into glory by a chariot of fiery horses. It was the Jordan river that Elisha parted immediately after Elijah's translation to perform his first miracle.

Once you get passed a major victory that is keeping you from God's blessing, then you need to move into the supernatural! Learn to move through the waters of the Spirit! Learn to be used in the Gifts of the Spirit! Realize that you can cast out devils in the name of Jesus and you can shake families and cities with your prayers and fastings! Realize the power that was placed inside of you is not just to stay there but so that you can truly pray for the sick and they will recover! You can truly press through a bound service or depression through your anointed praise and worship! You can fight spiritually by praying and interceding for someone else. Realize that as Jesus was in this world, so can you also be! Jesus said "greater works than these shall you do!" If you are not seeing the supernatural in your life, then you have not yet reached your God-given potential! God CAN use you! God can anoint your lips to tell others about Jesus and explain the scriptures! God can use to encourage and win people for Him!

When Elisha crossed the Jordan river the first time, he did so at Elijah's side. It was actually Elijah who threw the mantle across the water and caused the waters to recede. Notice that Elisha first entered into the supernatural along side someone who had been there before and then he had to pick up the mantle and do it on his own! It is the same way with us! We must first build our faith by being beside someone else as they go into the supernatural, and then we must pick up the mantle and eventually do it ourselves! Join yourself to someone praying somebody else through to the Holy Ghost and build up your faith and before long, you will have the faith and boldness to pray someone through yourselves. Pray for someone who is laying hands on the sick and praying for their recovery and before long, you'll be able to pick up the mantle on your own and pray for the sick! Watch someone else teach a Bible study on Salvation, and before long, you'll be able to do it with the same anointing! Don't stop after Jericho! Move on through Jordan! Move into the supernatural!

The last step of that fateful day of Elijah is the most exciting! A fiery chariot and horses came from heaven and Elijah was transported through the air to heaven! One day Jesus Christ is going to do the same thing for all of those who have made Him the God of their lifetime! The fiery chariots and horses represent the Rapture of the church! One day a trumpet will sound in the heavens and all of those who are filled with this precious Holy Ghost and have kept the kingdom of Jesus Christ number one in their life will instantly be changed to a spiritual body that will live forever. The scriptures say that the "dead in Christ" shall rise first and then "we who are alive and remain will be caught up to meet them!" Jesus will appear in the clouds with a shout and as the entire world looks on in amazement, we will rise to meet Him in the air! We will then follow Him into His place in heaven! You do not want to miss that! Your lifetime here will be over, but you will be beginning an eternity in a gloried body in a place where there will be no tears or sorrow or sadness or temptation!

In I Corinthians, Paul was teaching on this glorious event and likened death and burial to the sowing of a seed:

When you want a seed to grow and bring forth fruit, what do you do with it? You plant it in the ground! The seed dies, and in doing so, it produces life! Paul was saying when a Spirit-filled believer is buried beneath the earth, he is just being planted! One day, when the trumpet sounds that saint is going to rise to a new life in Christ Jesus! Is there any thing more important than living for Jesus Christ? Is there anything in this world that is too important to not make the kingdom of God priority! Will there be any remorse by anybody that goes in the Rapture of the Church and is walking on streets of Gold? I don't think so! The God of a lifetime will also be the God of eternity! I don't know about you, but I will make Jesus Christ the Lord of my life!

The other point that Paul makes is that a seed can only produce after it's own kind. In other words, if you plant an apple seed, you get an apple tree. You never plant a watermelon seed and get beans! When they bury you and your life is through? What kind of seed will you be going into that grave? Will it be one of righteousness? Will it be one who was sold out to the things of God? Or will it be someone who started out right, but got caught up in the cares of life? Someone who was more worried about pleasures or money or fame, to really live for God like they knew they should? Will the seed of your body rise to eternal life or eternal damnation? It depends on what you are when you are planted at the end of your life!

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King Hezekiah prayed and asked God to give him more years of his life. God literally turned back the clock for Hezekiah and gave him 15 more years of his life because of Hezekiah's faithfulness to serving God. What God did for Hezekiah in the natural, He can do for you today in the Spirit. You may have wasted many, many years but do not give up! Move on in your life! If you are just at a Gilgal of beginnings, then move on to a Bethel of worship and relationship! If you have just had a great victory at Jericho then move on the supernatural waters of Jordan! But never ever forget, that the reason for your life's existence is to serve God and make having and developing a relationship with Him your chief priority. Sell out to God and see if He will not turn back the time spiritually and give you the spiritual blessings of someone who has been faithful all of their life! Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever! He wants to take you to eternal life and beyond. He is undoubtedly the God of the universe, but He wants to be the God of a lifetime!