How to Make This Life Count

THE TEXT: Acts 20:17-38 – ONE BIG GOODBYE.

How to make this life count.

• Make it about building God’s more than building your life and .

| Acts 20:18-24 |

• Make it about careful ; not just casual .

| Acts 20:28 |

• Make it about more than .

| Acts 20:35 | Matthew 6:19-24 | Psalm 49:16-20 | Ecclesiastes 5:15 |

• Make it about more than .

| Acts 20:18, 37 |

What’s in it for me?

• Guaranteed .

| Psalm 62:12 | Matthew 16:27 | Romans 14:10 | 1 Corinthians 4:2-5 | Ephesians 6:8 | Revelation 4:9-11 |

• A with fewer .

| Acts 20:19-21, 26-27 |

• A that are never the .

| Acts 20:36-37 | John 14:1-3 | 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 | Revelation 21:4 |

Small Group Questions

What do you think?

Take a minute and re-read the fill-ins from Sunday’s message to jog your memory. What struck a chord with you, challenged you, or raised a question for you?

The story of your life.

1. Pastor Kyle asked about some of the deepest “gnawing questions of the soul.” Let’s settle them now.
   1. Tacos or Burritos?
   2. Chick-Fil-A or In-N-Out?
   3. Pepsi or Coke?
   4. Android or iPhone?
   5. Cats or dogs?
   6. Mountains or Beach?
   7. High tech or low tech?
2. On a serious note, last Sunday we discussed “How to make this life count.” As you reflect on your life, what is one way you feel you have made an impact? As you think about your future, what is one way you feel the need to adjust some things to make even more of an impact moving forward?

Digging Deeper in God’s Word.

1. Imagine following in the shoes of a great leader who made his or her life count. Joshua had to do that when he succeeded Moses. Many would have crumbled under that pressure but Joshua did not. He went on to make his life count too. Read his commissioning in Joshua 1:1-9 and respond to the following prompts/questions.
   1. Have a few members of the group recap the story using their own words.

   2. In what ways does God encourage Joshua to make his life count? What can we glean from this about making our lives count?

2. Another commissioning of a famous biblical leader was when Elijah picked Elisha to succeed him. Read it together from 1 Kings 19:15-16, then 19-21 and respond to the following prompts/questions.
   1. How is Elisha’s commissioning/anointing different from Joshua’s?

   2. What can we learn about God choosing to use us to make an impact from this story?

3. One does not need to be a “big leader” to make an impact. Quite the opposite. How do the following verses encourage us to make an impact in daily life?
   1. 2 Chronicles 16:9.
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   2. Philippians 2:3-7.
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   3. 1 Peter 4:10.
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   4. 1 John 2:1-6.
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Personal reflection and application.

1. Have everyone share one thing someone else said in this discussion that struck a chord with you.

2. Pray for one another (preferably men with men and women with women).