One Month to Live: A NoRegrets Life Main Idea: Is it really possible to live life without regrets? Discovery Questions 1. Go around the group and share a highlight of your summer! This week we begin a new series entitled One Month to Live. This series is based on the book One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a NoRegrets Life by Kerry Shook, pastor of Woodlands Church in The Woodlands, Texas. The premise of Kerry s book (and this series) is simple: if you knew that you only had one month to live, how would live your life? Probably all of us would make changes in how we lived if we knew how short our time on this earth was. But since in reality none of us knows how long we actually have, why not start to live that way now? In this series, we ll cover four biblical principles that will help us make the most of our time here on earth no matter how long we have left. In this first message, these principles were briefly introduced. The main focus, however, was on a passage written by the Apostle Paul towards the end of his life. It s clear from this passage that as Paul reflected on his life, he had found a key to live a life without regrets. For today s Discovery Questions, we ll take another look at this passage and see what we can learn from it about living a noregrets kind of life. 2. Read 2 Timothy 4:68. As Paul reflects on his life, what does he say about his past (v. 6), his present (v. 7), and his future (v. 8)? 3. In the introduction to his book One Month to Live, Kerry Shook writes the following: If you knew you had one month to live, you would look at everything from a different perspective. Many of the things you do now that seem so important would immediately become meaningless. You would have total clarity about what matters most, and you wouldn t hesitate to be spontaneous and risk your heart. You wouldn t wait until tomorrow to do what you need to do today. The way you lived that month would be the way you wished that you had lived your whole life. a. Discuss this idea as a group. What stands out to you? What do you think about this idea of living as if you only had one month to live? b. Have you known someone who lives a life of real purpose and does it well? What does that look like? What are some of the things that keep people from living with purpose?
4. a. Suppose you ve been told you have just one month to live. What thoughts and feelings do you have? b. Knowing that our time is limited would necessarily cause us to refocus our lives on what matters the most. If you knew that you had one month to live, what are some things you re focused on now that might suddenly seem less important to you? Where would you choose to focus your time and energy? c. If you had one month to live, are there any areas of your life that you would want to make sure are resolved in your final days? What would those things be? What stops you from resolving those things now? 5. a. Give your group a couple minutes of quiet to quickly write down 5 things each of them would change about their life if they knew they only had one month to live. Go around the group and have each member share one of these five things. b. What one or two action steps could you take this week to make the change that you shared? Have group members write down one or two actions steps. If members are comfortable have each group member share their action step(s) with the group. How could the group or a prayer partner support you and pray for you in this? Leader Guide on Next Page
Leader Guide (Please be sure to have some blank paper and pens/pencils available for your group this week.) 1. Go around the group and share a highlight of your summer! This is a lighter question designed to get the conversation going. Spend about 57 minutes on this question. This week we begin a new series entitled One Month to Live. This series is based on the book One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a NoRegrets Life by Kerry Shook, pastor of Woodlands Church in The Woodlands, Texas. The premise of Kerry s book (and this series) is simple: if you knew that you only had one month to live, how would live your life? Probably all of us would make changes in how we lived if we knew how short our time on this earth was. But since in reality none of us knows how long we actually have, why not start to live that way now? In this series, we ll cover four biblical principles that will help us make the most of our time here on earth no matter how long we have left. In this first message, these principles were briefly introduced. The main focus, however, was on a passage written by the Apostle Paul towards the end of his life. It s clear from this passage that as Paul reflected on his life, he had found a key to live a life without regrets. For today s Discovery Questions, we ll take another look at this passage and see what we can learn from it about living a noregrets kind of life. 2. Read 2 Timothy 4:68. As Paul reflects on his life, what does he say about his past (v. 6), his present (v. 7), and his future (v. 8)? Paul writes 2 Timothy from a jail cell near the end of his life, imprisoned for sharing the gospel. For v. 6, Paul looks at his present circumstances and realizes that his current imprisonment will likely lead to his death. He uses two images to describe his upcoming death. The first poured out like a drink offering comes from the book of Numbers, and the Jewish tradition of pouring a glass of wine near the altar during an animal sacrifice. Paul is likely here referring to his death as a martyr for the Christian faith; when Paul dies, it will be like giving his life as a sacrifice to God. The second image that Paul uses is an image from sailing / boating. When a ship would pull up the anchor to leave port to travel to a new destination, it was called a ship s departure the same word he uses when he says that the time of my departure is near. Here Paul is reflecting on the fact that the end of his current life is the beginning of a new journey. As Paul looks to his past (v. 7), he comes to three conclusions about his life: o He has fought the good fight his life has not been easy, but he has persevered and stayed strong in the midst of difficulties.
o o He has finished the race here Paul is referring to the ministry that God gave him during his life to tell others about Jesus; by Paul s own estimation, he has accomplished that task and completed what God wanted him to do. He has kept the faith this refers both to Paul s diligence in protecting and preaching the word of God and to his maintaining his faith despite the hardships he has faced in life. As Paul looks to his future (v. 8), he knows that he will receive a reward for his life. Paul refers to this reward as the crown of righteousness, and likely by that Paul means that when he stands before God, he will be vindicated for the choices he has made in this life. From the world s perspective, Paul s life has been a failure; his decision to follow Jesus landed him in prison and will ultimately get him killed. But Paul believes that when he stands before Jesus, Jesus will vindicate the way that he lived his life and the choices that he made, for Paul always lived with Jesus in mind (see Acts 20:24). Spend 710 minutes on this question in its entirety. 3. In the introduction to his book One Month to Live, Kerry Shook writes the following: If you knew you had one month to live, you would look at everything from a different perspective. Many of the things you do now that seem so important would immediately become meaningless. You would have total clarity about what matters most, and you wouldn t hesitate to be spontaneous and risk your heart. You wouldn t wait until tomorrow to do what you need to do today. The way you lived that month would be the way you wished that you had lived your whole life. a. Discuss this idea as a group. What stands out to you? What do you think about this idea of living as if you only had one month to live? b. Have you known someone who lives a life of real purpose and does it well? What does that look like? What are some of the things that keep people from living with purpose? Answers to all parts of this question will vary. Spend about 7 minutes on this question in its entirety. 4. a. Suppose you ve been told you have just one month to live. What thoughts and feelings do you have? b. Knowing that our time is limited would necessarily cause us to refocus our lives on what matters the most. If you knew that you had one month to live, what are some things you re focused on now that might suddenly seem less important to you? Where would you choose to focus your time and energy? c. If you had one month to live, are there any areas of your life that you would want to make sure are resolved in your final days? What would those things be? What stops you from resolving those things now?
Answers to all parts of this question will vary. For part b, we can think of answers like, I would care less what people think about me and spend more time doing the things that I like or I would spend less time at work and more time with my family. For part c, we imagine that relationships would become much more of a priority in our final days. Therefore, we would want to do what we could to reconcile broken relationships, to tell people how much they mean to us, etc. We would also want to make sure that our family and friends are taken care of when we re gone. Often, we don t resolve these things because we re afraid to think about death, and put off those things until we re forced to confront them. Spend 1012 minutes on this question in its entirety. 5. a. Give your group a couple minutes of quiet to quickly write down 5 things each of them would change about their life if they knew they only had one month to live. Go around the group and have each member share one of these five things. b. What one or two action steps could you take this week to make the change that you shared? Have group members write down one or two actions steps. If members are comfortable have each group member share their action step(s) with the group. How could the group or a prayer partner support you and pray for you in this? Spend 710 minutes on this question in its entirety.