A Beginning And An End

Invocation texts

Psalm 100 A psalm. For giving thanks.

1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his [1]; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Rev 7:16-17

Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Invocation

(Personal remarks about the deceased)

Message

Psalms 90

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.

2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You turn men back to dust, saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men."

4 For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.

5 You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning--

6 though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.

1 Timothy 1:17 17

"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen."

Yes, it is true! God has no beginning! He has no end! There never has been a time when God was not, nor can there ever be.

Eternal, as it relates to God means = Without beginning of days or end of life.

Hard to grasp isn’t it... Everything we see has a beginning...

We had a beginning, we call it our birthday. Our marriages have a beginning, We call it a wedding. This city had a beginning, this state had a first day of existance, this nation celebrates a beginning every 4th of July.

Everything has a end as well. I know how much longer I have a car payment. I know how much longer to expect all the items I have under warranty to last - until the day after the warranty expires.

Some of you have funeral plans pre-paid because you know there is an end. If you have ever paid or received "child support" you realize it will one day end. Even this message will come to an end... eventually.

We hear of the end of life often.

A 40-year-old husband and father playing a hot game of basketball sits down pale, cold, clammy. He holds his chest and slumps to the floor. He has come to the end of his days.

An Alaskian Airliner with 290 souls aboard flies at 370 miles an hour, taking each person to their next goal, their next destination, and their next stage in life. Then a heavy two-foot piece of metal called a jack screw - which has been wearing away metal fragments for years - slips and the flat metal elevator flaps uselessly in the wind. The great airship noses into a dive and there is no next goal, next destination and next stage of life.

A good man, a friend, a father, a husband complains of blurry vision and a tumor is diagnosed. And all too soon he too is gone.

This is the way of life for man. There is a beginning and an end. There is always a beginning and an end.

But not with God!

Psalms 90:2 says "Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God."

God is eternal. God is without beginning and without end. And here is the eye-popping mystery - God created us "in his image".

The phrase "in his image" does not refer to our physical makeup or our appearance. It isn’t about our natural good looks or our native intelligence. It isn’t about the ability to construct and create 100 story buildings, mighty machines of war, complex systems that compute incomprehensible ciphers, or great societies and civilizations.

No, it refers to something much more personal, much more intense and real. Much more than mere skill or quick wit.

"In His Image" refers to the simple fact that we were created to be eternal too. Like God. For everlasting and everlasting. God made us to share all of life and eternity.

The only reason that we have lost this immortality is because of an "evil" called sin. A rebellious, self serving, desire to be our own God - giving no allegiance or love to the one who made us.