Hell: Part 3

Recap/ Follow up

Welcome/Recap

Traditionalist view- eternal conscious torment, punish, picture: soul is like a rock in a fire that never gets destroyed

Conditionalist view - eternal death or permanant loss of life, perish, Picture: a soul is like paper in fire

Universalist view- eternal restoration, purify, Picture: the soul is like a surgical instrument that is purified by fire

Follow up Question

What if 1 John 5:12 is not talking about eternal life?

Answer context! lets look it up (slide)

The traditionalist view and conditionalist view contradict each other, how can they cite the same verses and come to opposite conclusions?

Lets look at one verse in particular and Ill explain how each would respond. Matthew 25:44 (slide)

Conditionalist: the word eternal does not describe the action itself, but the finality of it. The word eternal can be used both ways here

Traditionalists: Eternal life means life forever and Eternal punishment means punishment forever.

Does it really matter what we believe?

No- what we believe about the doctrine of Hell does not make us go there Amen?

Yes- it doesn matter to some extent, we shouldnt just blindly believe something, but we should study it for ourselves. In addition, what we believe has the potental to how we talk to others about Hell

For Example: a conditionalist can say to an atheist, “We both agree on what happens when you die, you will cease to exist”

Cue jaw drop because a christian and atheist just agreed on something.

The conditalist can then say, but let me tell you a way you can live forever in paradise where there is nothing bad, no pain, sickness or death, let me tell you about Jesus.

Any other Questions?

Prayer: Lord I pray that you give us your Holy Spirit of Wisdom this morning as we continue our conversation about Hell. I pray that you would be moving in hearts this morning. I pray that you would change lives this morning Jesus. I pray that we would encounter the living God and look more like Him by the time we leave this place. Amen.

How do we talk about Hell and Eternity in a helpful and honest way?

How have Christians talked about hell?

We all have probably seen a couple unhelpful ways of talking about Hell before. We all have driven by a bilboard like this one (slide). We have also seen christians give Jesus a bad name by walking around with signs like these (slides)

Camp Experience: You dont want to be alone and hell while mommy and daddy are in heavan, you have to accept Jesus.

We cant just avoid it as some people have elected to do.

There has to be a better way!

What if instead of pointing people to the bad stuff, we just talked about the good stuff.

We do this when we are selling something

if Im trying to sell you a tractor, does it make sense for me to tell you how hard your life is right now or will be in the future and not say anything about the tractor?

When we talked about Eternity what if we simply pointed to God’s promises over God’s punishment?

Point to the Jesus’ promises

John 3:16 (Slide) - What if we talked about what eternal life may look like?

Remember Part 1 of this series well point them to the garden!

The Father’s House- John 14:1-3 (Slide) Contrary to some translation Jesus isnt describing a mansion for one, but one house with more than enough rooms for all. Where everyone is welcome and has a family.

Promise of Paradise Luke 23:43

Jesus says to the repentant thief that He will be in paradise

Promise of a Changed life John 4:13

note that eternal life is what comes as a result, the living water starts now and bubbles into eternity!

Promise of Presence

Josh 1:9

Matthew 28:20

Transition: Some people arent moved by a promised future, especially my generation, they want a changed world here and now,

thats when you can point them to the kingdom that here, but not fully.

a kingdom we are actively building!

Point to pictures of the Kingdom we are building! (Christians are supposed to change the world for the better) We are given these beautiful pictures of God fully reigning in his kingdom throughout scripture!

Isa 11:1-9 (Slide)

Rev 21:1-7 (Slide)

Isa 2:2-4

These are verses that are relevant today, because for the Kingdom is here and now. Jesus said, repent for the kingdom is near. The kingdom isnt just after we die, but a life commited to building what the future we will one day see!

Point to God’s Work in your life

Share your story/Testimony

“My life was one way and now its completely different and what happened inbetween was HIM”

My story

You dont need a dramatic testimony to point to God’s work- share a story

simple answer to prayer

Car brakes back in college

Doesnt have to be your story!

Frank

Walter and Nicole

Application: How we talk about this really matters!

This is one way for Christians to speak into today’s world, to share a different story in difficult times, to point to a different solution admist a sea of problems.

This is how we impact our small community here in Newville. Pointing people to Jesus!

Expand God’s family and ours!

Challenge: Talk about eternity with someone this week in a way that either introduces them to or brings them closer to Jesus!