Where, O death, is your victory
What a week!
Ø We have seen the death and destruction firsthand as it was happening. We have seen the drama of life close-up. Many of us have been glued to our Televisions.
Ø Many of us are afraid or you will be in the coming days. War? Maybe a war that will affect the whole earth. Jerry are you concerned? I have had thoughts about it. If it gets bad enough I would have to go too.
Ø I have also seen the greatest and largest Gospel preaching in all time! Billy Grahams memorial service.
Ø This has brought out in the open the WORST and the BEST of man.
I could not have seen a better example of what we have been talking about when we talk about home ministry!
How we act in the times of fear and troubles will say it all about what we believe.
1 Cor 15:45-58
45 So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. 50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (NIV)
