Theme: Believers move from death to life in Christ

Subject: Moving day

Text: 2 Cor 5:1-10

Antithesis: It is moving day. If anybody knows what I am talking about, they can testify that moving is no joke.  It is a time of stress and hurry.  Time always goes by fast when it is time to move. Not only is moving day stressful and annoying.  Moving day can be a sad day.  You are leaving the familiar.  You leave behind old friends and acquaintances.  You leave the old neighborhood.  Your just left with memories of what you life use to be like.  It is moving day.  The truck has pulled up to the house ready to go.  It is ready to be loaded up with your belongings ready to move from a place that you once cherished. It is moving day.

Thesis:  But moving can also be a blessing when you move on the greater things.  When you move there is pain in the separation but also there will be joy that comes with the new place that you are now going to be connected to.  You are moving from the old to the new, a new community.  You are transitioning into new horizons a place of new hopes and dreams.  This very fact is true for the believers who have all experience a big move in their life.  You moved from darkness into to light.  You moved from a place of unrest and confusion into place of peace.  You moved from a life of sin to a life that is saved. It is moving time today!

       And while yet we live and move about physically, God will also call us to make a spiritual move one day. The move I am talking about life into eternity. It happens when death comes.  When death comes and removes a loved one away from our midst, we feel abandoned and heart broken. We tend to ask, why this now? 

But as for the believer, we find something different when we move on to be the Lord.  No matter how much it hurts there is hope and joy.  As believers, those of us who die in the Lord will see our loved ones who died in the Lord in heaven one day.  Despite the pain and suffering that goes on, we will have eternal life full of joy and blessings.  No more pain, no more hurt and no more sickness for Gladys.

Paul, a man that knew suffering writes in 2 Cor 4:16-18:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

In other words life is temporary.  All the hurt, all the pain is temporary.  Today’s occasions show us how true this is.  Our sister fought a good fight and kept the faith. This was her time to move and she was ready.

Relevant Question: What about you?  Are you going to be ready when it is time to move to glory? 

I just stopped by here to take some of the anxiety off and give you some comfort. I hope you pack properly you won’t need a lot.  Just bring your faith and some praise.  God will dress you for the occasion.

In this section of Scripture, Paul tells us the assurance of the resurrection. He gives us a word of comfort.  This is the hope of all believers.  This is not a wishy washy hope.  But this is a hope is faith that looks forward.

Verse 1.  For we know!

A. Grammatically, this means a complete action performed by the doer. It is indicative meaning it is a fact.  For we know!  What do we know?  The problem is that we don’t know the eternal promise.  We tend to think death, is so hideous, death is separation and death the end of good things. Remember that God is the author and finisher of our faith.  He looks at our life for the end to the beginning.  Jer 29:11  “For I know the plans that I have you…” We have to trust in God’s knowing.  He is omniscience. Our knowing comes from knowing Him.

B. Tent vs. House. 

There is a big difference between a tent and a house.  One is temporary the other is permanent.  God makes both.  Why?  He makes temporary for what is going to be temporary.  Eternal for what is eternal.  We will have some that is not made by human hands but by the hands of God.  Therefore, you know what it is going to be like because God does not make any junk.  This corruptible body will be incorruptible.  Our resurrected bodies will be sickness free and stress free. 

Verse 2-4. 

Gladys got a new body made originally designed by God Himself. 

We all have desires for better.  We have a desire to lose mortal body:

A.  Groan is expression of emotion pain in this life desiring some better. 

B.  Clothed in righteous covers the mess that this has.  Being naked exposes you to everything.  God wants to clothe you.  Life is swallowed for God glory.  God want to clothe you with heaven’s rest.  He say in Matt 11:28 “Come unto they that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”.

Verse 5. 

A.      God has prepared you for heaven while you are on earth.  Rom 8:30 tells us that we have been predestined, called, justified and will be glorified. He knew us while we were yet in our mothers womb.

B.      The believer has guarantee of the heaven place.  The Holy Spirit put eternity inside of you.  And when you die in Christ, the heaven inside of you will be released in eternity to be with Jesus!

Verse 6, 7

A.  We have to confident and not weak in our faith.  Prov 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord…” We have think about where are destiny is and have more God confidence. Amen.

B.  We have walk or live by faith not by sight.  We have an obligation as being saved by God to walk upright and to trust whatever he has for us.  Walking by faith is hearing, believing, and doing as God directs.  Young people would understand God is saying when I move, you move just like that!

Verse 8

When it is time to move God gives us a new house in Glory.  He furnishes with His spirit.  We then have to walk in faith until we make to our destination, in His presence our new home in glory.  The text says to be absent from the body is to be present with Lord. I don’t know about you but I rather be with Jesus that be anywhere on this earth.  Let me tell you what you will experience in his presence:

In his presence is the fullness of joy and on his right hand are pleasures evermore.

In his presence His grace is displayed.  It is amazing, astounding and assuring grace!

In his presence His power will ever be demonstrated.  His omnipotent power!

In his presence He will show us His love in a way that we have never experience it: His everlasting love, His healing love!

It is moving day for Gloria, a day of transition to Glory.

Somebody may still have problems with moving day. 

May be I can help you this way.  The songs says “ Time is filled with swift transition, naught of earth unmoved can stand, build your hopes on thing eternal, hold to God’s unchanging hand”!  Hold to his hand!

Gladys was moved by God, moved through God to move with God.  Amen