2. Your Future: The DURATION of Your Life
The Uncertainty of Life…Shows Our Ignorance (4:14a)
“You do not know”
The Brevity of Life…Shows Our Frailty (4:14b)
“What is your life?”
We are insubstantial – “a vapor/mist”
We are transient – “appears for a little while/time”
We are gone without a trace – “then vanishes away”

3. Your Future: The DURATION of Your Life
The Brevity of Life…Shows Our Frailty (4:14b)
Life is brief like:
Water spilled on the ground (2 Sam. 14:14)
A swift weaver’s shuttle (Job 7:6)
A breath (Job 7:7)
A shadow (Job 8:9)
A swift runner (Job 9:25)
Swift reed boats (Job 9:26)
An eagle swooping on its prey (Job 9:26)
A few days (Job 14:1)
A flower that comes forth and withers (Job 14:2)
A shadow that flees and does not remain (Job 14:2)
A dream (Job 20:8)

4. Your Future: The DURATION of Your Life
The Brevity of Life…Shows Our Frailty (4:14b)
Life is brief like:
A handbreaths (Psa. 39:5)
A mere breath, at his best (Psa. 39:5)
A shepherd’s tent, never fixed in place for long (Isa. 38:12)
Grass of the field (Matt. 6:30)
Grass and the flower of the grass (1 Pet. 1:24)
A vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away (Jas. 4:14)
The existence of tomorrow is not a natural necessity
The existence of tomorrow is a daily mercy of God
The existence of tomorrow demands dependence on God

5. Your Future: The DIRECTION of Your Life
The Danger of Leaving God Out of Our Plans (4:13)
It is presumptuous to make plans without God
Presumption of LIFE: “today, tomorrow, a year” = we can continue alive at our own will
Presumption of CHOICE: “go, spend, buy and sell” = we can become master of our own lives
Presumption of ABILITY: “buy and sell, and make a profit” = we can do it ourselves, succeed by our own efforts
Leaving God out is sign of self-centeredness & secularism
God must be THE CENTER of life!

6. Your Future: The DIRECTION of Your Life
The “Evil” of Leaving God Out of Our Plans (4:16)
When we boast for what we can do and accomplish…
When we forget how frail we are in this life…
When we stop depending on God…
When we think we don’t need God in our daily plans…
When we start flaunting our independence & self-sufficiency…
“All such boasting is EVIL” = trusting in self instead of God

7. Your Future: The DIRECTION of Your Life
The “Sin” of Leaving God Out of Our Plans (4:17)
There are sins of commission – when one commits an act that violates the will of God (1 John 3:4)
There are sins of omission – when one fails to act in obedience to the will of God (Jas. 4:17)
Refusing (deliberately, willfully) to do what one KNOWS God wants and has told us to do is “sin” (cf. Heb. 10:26-31)

8. Your Future: The DIRECTION of Your Life
The Necessity of Leaning On the Will of God in Our Plans (4:15)
“If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that”
We should subject ALL our plans to the Lord’s will
When one says, “If the Lord wills,” he is acknowledging that he:
Believes wholeheartedly in God
Believes wholeheartedly that God is in control
Believes wholeheartedly that his life needs to be controlled by God’s will

9. Your Future: The DESTINY of Your Life
Your future depends on what YOU do about:
Sin in your life (2 Thess. 1:8-9)
The duration of your life (Acts 22:16; 2 Cor. 6:2)
The direction of your life (2 Cor. 5:10)
Your future depends on how YOU respond to the gospel
Believe Jesus is God’s Son (Acts 16:31)
Repent of your sins and turn to God (Acts 17:30)
Confess your faith in Jesus (Rom. 10:9-10)
Be immersed into Christ (Acts 2:38)
Live faithfully to and with the Lord (1 John 1:7)