Do You Want To Live Forever? Series

INTRODUCTION

SLIDE #1

• What do you want out of life? Do you want fast cars, a big bank account, and a vacation home somewhere?

• Is there anything wrong with wanting these things?

• Is our goal to get to heaven when our life is over or are we just sailing through life without giving our eternal destiny a thought?

• Do we want our lives to count for something or do we want to get to the end of the line and realize we wasted the life God had given to us?

• Do you realize that when you die the only thing that is over is your physical life?

• Our souls are eternal, one day when this life is over, our soul will go to be in the presence of the Lord in heaven or it will end up in hell for eternity.

• The question for us today to answer is “Do You Want To Live Forever?”

• We have two choices, we can LIVE with Jesus or we can exist with Satan.

• There is a big difference between living and existing. There are many people this very day who are living life and there are many who merely exist.

• The only place to find true life is though Jesus!

• The last few weeks we have looked at some items that we need to do in order to be in a proper relationship with Jesus.

• Now for the next three messages we will look at things we need to avoid in order to be in a proper relationship with Jesus.

• Today we are going to focus on the issue of loving the world. John is going to encourage us not to love the world.

• If you want to live forever, there are some things we need to do and be on guard for.

• Let’s read 1 John 2:12-17 this morning. SLIDE #2

SERMON

If you want to live forever:

I. DANCE WITH THE ONE WHO BOUGHT YOU. 12-14

SLIDE #3

1. He bought you to bring you!

• I used to go to my school dances, Jr. High dances were pretty traumatic for me, inevitably, the girl I “took” to the dance was not the girl I ended up with at the end, it was not because I took anther one, it was because she would find someone else. The girl forgot that I was the one who paid her ticket to get in. I paid for her to go so she could go with ME!

• Why did Jesus die on the cross for you? Did He sacrifice His life to loss you to another? NO!

• He bought you so He could bring you home to spend eternity with Him. He wants you to life forever with Him, but for that to happen, you need to dance with the one who bought you!

• John is writing this to us to encourage us to remember Jesus.

• CLICK #3

2. John compares different stages of spiritual maturity with the different stages of life. Look in verse 12-14. He starts off by calling us little children

John is using children, young men and fathers in a figurative sense to help illustrate the spiritual growth process. CLICK #3

a. Children

• In verse 12 and 13 he uses two different words for “children”. IN verse 12 it appears that John is addressing all who are saved. He uses this word in this way around a dozen times. This word has more of the flavor for one born into a family.

• When we first give our lives to Christ through baptism, we are born again; we are born into the family of God!

• The second word used for “children” in verse 13 deals more with a child who is immature and in need of instruction, these distinctions are a bit blurred at times in the New Testament.

• After we are born-again, we need to be instructed and nurtured on the faith.

• Children represent new converts.

• As we deal with “spiritual” babes, we need to handle with care, just like we would with a small child. CLICK #3

b. Young men

• After we have gotten a bit older, we are able to handle more responsibilities.

• These are people who have taken their spiritual instruction and done something with it, they are growing up on the Word of God and it is making them strong and vigorous!

• When we are young, we tend to be stronger and ready to take on the challenge before us. CLICK #3

c. Fathers.

• This word represents those who have been in the faith for a long time and have reached a high level of maturity. We picture the one who is able to teach their children something because they have the wisdom and experience from living life.