More than this life

John 14:1–7 ESV

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Introduction

Series Recap

The last couple of weeks we have been talking about More..

Two weeks ago we talked about how god wants MORE from us, in terms of going further in relationship with him..

And Last week we talked about how God has MORE for us in terms of the purpose for our lives.

And tonight, is the final installation in our series..

Tonight

Tonight were going to talk about one final MORE that god has in store for us..

and that is that there is MORE than this life

in fact, this life is only the beginning according to scripture..

because the bible teaches us that we have an eternity awaiting us when this life is over..

So

So Tonight I want to talk about what comes after this life..

Whats Further, beyond death..

and this is going to be a little more apologetic in style than the last couple weeks..

In other words

Were going to ask some questions, and find some answers

Difficult

and I know the topic of death and the afterlife is difficult and a little awkward for us to talk about some times..

But i believe If we will dig in will give us a greater understanding of death and help us in a couple ways:

-it will help us as we navigate those who go home before us..

-It can give us some peace about what happens next..

-and it will help us as we talk to others about Heaven.

so lets get started

Illustration

The never ending line

(Set up a really long line with a small bit marked on the end for this life..

Lets imagine that this line represents existence..

The beginning of this line represents your birth..

The beginning of your conscious life

And this small marked area represents your life hear on earth.

The bible says that the average life of a person is 70 years, 80 if your blessed..

but even if you lived to be 100, lets say this section represents your life..

and after that section.. This line continues..

and it goes on, and on, and on, and on…

It goes out the door..

and out the building..

and down the street..

and out of Cleveland..

and goes on, and on, and on, and on..

and honestly its has no end..

this line represents our existence in the spectrum of eternity..

and once it begins, it never ends..

Its just goes on, and on, and on, and on..

as we start asking questions

I want us to keep this in mind…

and i want us to remember a couple things about this..

First

First, Remember The lines has two parts..

Ask: What are the two parts

Answer: Life of earth, and life in eternity..

Second

These parts are interdependent

in other words, the details of life will determine your eternity..

and what you believe about your eternity will determine the way you live your life.

they work hand in hand with each other..

Questions

So Lets start with the question…

Lets start from the beginning..

What happens when we die?

have you ever thought much about what happens when we pass away?

most people don’t think about this subject unless we are facing death or have lost someone..

Ask: So what do you think happens when someone passes away?

What is eternity

Ask: How would you define eternity?

Where do we spend eternity

Ask: Where does the bible say were going to spend eternity?

How is our eternal destination determined

Ask: How does the bible say our eternal destination determined?

What can I take with me?