The Life Everlasting

This Sunday, November 20, is the Last Sunday of the Church Year.

This week’s sermon is Walk: Delivered and Transferred.

This week’s readings are:

Malachi 3:13-18

Colossians 1:13-20

Luke 23:27-43

Psalm 46

Message: The Life Everlasting

What happens when we die?

-        Materialistic/Atheistic – Nothing

-        Hinduism/Buddhism – Reincarnation

-        Gnosticism and some Eastern Religions – Incorporated into God (or the Force)

-        Some other form of afterlife – usually connected to your deeds in life

o   Valhalla/The Fields of Elysium

o   Punishment – Hades/Sheol/Hell

o   Spirits wandering the earth

-        Christians

o   Heaven

§  Luke 23:43 – “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

o   Resurrection

§  1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 - ¹³ We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁵ For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.[1]

 

Things that are clear about when we die:

-        We go to be with the Lord.

-        We await the Last Day/Resurrection.

Ideas that Christians have held.

-        Soul Sleep

-        Death to Immediate Resurrection

-        The Rapture and Millennium

My stance: Humble Trust

-        Life after death? Yes.

-        Heaven? Yes.

-        Resurrection? Yes.

-        What is that experience like? I don’t know.

o   The Bible is not particularly clear or concerned.

o   Try to not say more or less than what God’s Word proclaims.

o   Trust in Jesus – the Firstfruit from the Dead

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[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scripture references are The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.