DeathClock.com tells me I have until June 7, 2048. Type in deathcounter on google and watch it go…it has real time deaths ticking away…(start snapping fingers)
The unnerving reality of watching this counter go is that at some unknown point, your life …my life…will ultimately collide with it. Leaving behind grieving family and dear friends in its wake. It leaves everything behind, houses, cars, jobs, money, trophies, titles, achievements, goals, desires, fame…death is a sure thing…unavoidable…waiting, watching, ever moving closer with unchanging precision until its final second of arrival...STOP SNAPPING! (Exhale)
House MD clip
Is there something more? Or is death the sum of all we have been living for?
Whether you sit at Whitehouse, here at Perrysburg, or in your chair at home watching from the internet…your time has been determined.
I am going to keep this short and to the point, just like life☺
There is someone who has cheated death, conquered sin and as a result, beat down a new path of existence. There is someone who has offered an alternative.
Imagine being diagnosed by a doctor, given 30 days to live…but then they turn to you and offer you an option. What if they told you there is a chance for a new start on life. What if it were explained to you that they could provide you with a new body, soul and mind…disease free, sin free, one without pain or heartache, one without tears or sorrow. One that would never break down, one that is truly living?
What if they told you this wasn’t the end, but merely the beginning?
Would you take that offer? Would you choose to live like that? Or would you reject it and stay the course of your own decisions, based solely on your own power to provide a life through your own means, answering only to yourself?
Would you take that offer? Now imagine that offer didn’t come from doctors, who are fallible, or scientists, whose resources are finite…but from God, who created all that is.
Life and death is the only human struggle that means anything.
The question of death is the only answer that can truly bring life. The understanding of death brings a profound answer to how we live our lives. It changes everything. It encompasses meaning, hope and purpose.
So what does the bible say about death?
We need not be afraid if God is with us. It’s in the Bible, Psalm 23:4, TLB. "Even when walking through the dark valley of death I will not be afraid, for You are close beside me, guarding, guiding all the way."
To be "absent from the body" is to be "present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8). This is the clearest of truths in the mind of Paul, and one of the most comforting assurances for the child of God. Death for the Christian is not so much an exit out of life as it is an entry into the Lord’s presence in a very personal sense.
John 14 Jesus says “I go and prepare a place for you, so that where I am, you may be also”. Death for the Christian means eternal life with God. Lee will have much more to say about heaven in a few weeks.
But what does death mean for those who chose not to accept Jesus Christ?
In the Bible there are two options…heaven and hell.
Bertrand Russell (atheist philosopher)“ there is one very serious defect in Christ’s moral character, and that is – he believed in hell…I do not myself feel that anyone who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment.
What does the bible say about hell?)
1. Not of this world, realm or creation: Jn 18:36; Heb 9:11,24; Rev 20:11=2 Pe 3:10
1. A place of unquenchable fire of Gehenna: Mk 9:43,45,47; Mt 5:22,29,30; 18:8,9; Jas 3:6
1. "Away from God’s presence": 2 Th 1:9; cast into outer darkness: Mt 22:13
G. Worse than drowned in sea with millstone hung around neck: Mt 18:6 (Jesus)
A. A place of everlasting destruction: 2 Th 1:9; Phil 3:19; Heb 10:39
4. Weeping and gnashing of teeth: Mt 13:42,50; 25:30
C. Duration of punishment is forever, eternity
Some Christians believe different things about hell…
Some take it literally, that there will be literal gnashing of teeth, worms physically eating the body, nothing but darkness, eternal burning in a lake of fire…screaming!
Some take it metaphorically, claiming that hell is certainly an eternal state of torment and separation of God, but the actual punishments are not clear in the bible…
While others believe those who choose not to turn to Jesus are simply annihilated and cease to exist.
It depends on hermeneutics, that is simply, how you choose to interoperate scripture.
I personally believe the bible points to a place of everlasting torture, a stark contrast to heaven…a place separated from God, filled with agony and endless suffering.
Hell is a hard pill to swallow. This isn’t cheery…but Jesus talked about it, a lot. People say that a loving God wouldn’t banish anyone to hell….you have to remember, a loving God gives a choice. Where you have a choice for good, you must have a choice for evil. Where you have heaven, you must have hell.
Some also want to know about a place called purgatory, a place between heaven and hell. Purgatory is a doctrine, which originated in medieval Catholicism and is taught in the Roman Catholic tradition. Purgatory, as taught, is a place where the souls of the faithful dead endure a period of purification and cleansing from sin, prior to their entrance into heaven. This is a doctrine that the protestant church rejects since there is no biblical foundation for it.
When you die, according to the bible…there is only heaven or hell.
There is one more element to the afterlife…one that scripture says a lot about.
Judgment. Those that are saved are rewarded for the good they have done in Christ, while those who have rejected Jesus will be judged for the sin in their life.
Jesus will be the judge. Lamb that was slain, the only one worthy to open the scrolls in Revelation.
Unbelievers will be judged! Rev 20:12
Every sin will be remembered and brought up. Matt 12:36
The secrets of peoples hearts will be made public Rom 2:16, Luke 12:2-3
Imagine what this would look like, feel like…you don’t have any more chances. You can beg and plead all you want to, people scream and shout to God why they rejected Him, they’ll apologize with begging…imagine that scene…then imagine them being condemned to hell for eternity. Now imagine it being someone that you love in this world that has not accepted Jesus Christ. THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN.
Last call. Last chance. The last call we’re all familiar with gives one last chance…one last drink, one last dance. This one is final. What’s your decision?
You have got to make a decision! To NOT make a decision and die, is to have made a decision.
TO NOT MAKE A DECISION IS TO REJECT JESUS AND HIS SACRIFICE.
OFFERING IN A MOMENT
We are given hope beyond the grave through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone. That hope fills us with joy, with gladness, with reassurance, with an inheritance that will never fade or pass away!
(UPLIFTING)
There is a new joy found in living, a reason to smile, a reason to dream, a reason to breathe, a reason to forgive and a newfound purpose to why we are here…to share that hope with those people God has brought into your life. That’s why we’re here, to let that undeserved grace be known!
Life after death with God is not earned by who you are or what you do…it’s offered through what Jesus has done! The only thing in the universe that is living. Cry out to Him, He hears you when you’re calling, He will catch you when you’re falling.
All you need to do is place your faith in Jesus Christ to insure your place in heaven for all of eternity. Open up your heart and let Him in, He stands at the door and knocks…He offers an inheritance that will never pass away.
Call out to Him…I am yours! I am yours!! Say it with me, I AM YOURS!!!!!
