Death and Hope
Notes
Transcript
Welcome
Welcome to First Missionary Church—whether you are in the room, or watching online, even halfway around the world as some of our missionaries might—we welcome you to our Easter Service.
My name is Pastor Rick, and I serve here as the senior pastor at First Missionary Church, and we pray today that you will find HOPE in Jesus Christ—and b/c of Jesus Christ.
Jesus says this
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
My hope and prayer is that if you don’t believe you will find and follow Jesus, and if you do already, you will be encouraged and motivated to share Jesus.
Let’s pray.
Intro to Video
Today, we are going to be watching an interview that I had the privilege of doing with 4 of our local funeral directors. and special thanks to Nicole Dynes on staff who filmed this and edited this. We appreciate it!
These funeral directors are the kind of people you are just DYING to meet...
Yes, my jokes are really that good :)
There are a few reasons why I wanted to involve them in an interview:
Reason #1: These are people that you will look to when you have a family member or friend die, and they will be with you at some of the most vulnerable moments of your life. it is good for you to recognize and be familiar with them and I hope you reach out to them after today and get to know them.
Reason #2 I want to talk about death, because unless Jesus comes back, all of us will face death—and I am convinced that we need to think and talk about death MORE. That would do us good spiritually NOW. and who better to talk about death and those who work in this field, helping families.
Reason #3 I also want to talk about hope because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ—we are blessed with funeral directors in our area who love Jesus and who care deeply about Him and you and believe in hope b/c of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
so let me introduce them, and then we will watch together. (these will be from left to right)
Brayden Liechty from the Liechty Funeral Home.
Located on the north edge of town here in Berne, this is the newest funeral home in our area, and he has said they started their funeral home at the perfect time—right when Covid began.
Jon Zwick from Zwick & Jahn (Jan) Funeral Homes. they have locations in Berne, Decatur, and Monroeville
and then Shannon Glancy (daughter of Jeff Glancy) from Downing & Glancy Funeral Homes. Many of you know the location in Geneva, but they also have locations in Montpelier, Warren, and Van Buren, IN
And then last but not least Ryan Hirschy is here from Haggard-Sefton Hirschy & Zelt Funeral Homes, located in Decatur. NO, they are not a law firm but a funeral home.
so let’s watch together...
Wrap-up
So Death---and Hope...
Let’s talk about death.
Just as they mentioned on the video—death is uncomfortable to talk about it.
we don’t like to think about it, talk about it, or attend funerals.
Sigmund Freud said “no-one really believes in his own death.”
However, just as they mentioned in the interview, the more you are prepared, it makes a difference now…and for eternity.
So how can we be prepared for death?
They all talked about the practical side—of pre-planning, which I would encourage you to call up one of them and do that ASAP.
but let me talk about the spiritual side.
the biggest way you can be prepared for death NOW is knowing the author of life—Jesus Christ.
and how do we do that?
If you are a follower of Jesus, these are great REMINDERS that we need EVERY DAY.
If you are not, listen carefully. God—Man—Christ—Response..
God - Know that there is God—the ruler and Creator of the world
11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
God is worthy of worship and our life—b/c He made all things, including human beings. and He is a good king. when we live under His beautiful authority life goes well. That’s how He made us to flourish. but there’s a problem.
Man - Know that we are sinners or rebels.
Isaiah 53:6 (NIV)
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;
God made us to live under Him with Him at the center of our lives.
but we all reject that and live with us at the center of our lives.
the Bible calls this constant rejection of God’s kingship—it calls it sin.
and if all of us are trying to live with each of us at the center of our lives—you can see how this would create absolute chaos in the world.
3. Man - know that we deserve God’s justice.
27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
b/c of our sin—the world is broken.
b/c of our sin there is suffering
and b/c of our sin there is death—the reason that death exists—is b/c sin exists. and this makes sense—if we turn our backs on the author and Creator of life—the only result is death. and we were not originally made to die—this is why death is an enemy.
you see, there are really 2 deaths:
when you physically die (that’s how most of us think about it)
and if you don’t know Jesus—there is the 2nd death—where you spend eternity away from God
and b/c of our sin, we will all stand before God and His judgment when we die.
in some ways we want this—we want a God who brings justice to this broken, hurting world, to the war in Ukraine, to injustice...
we just don’t like to admit that we also need that justice. but this is the plain truth of God’s Word.
4. Christ-- but there is good news-- God sent his Son Jesus to die for us.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
(that’s talking about Jesus)
God didn’t say good riddance or good luck and leave us in our sin. He gave us a way to avoid His judgment and be forgiven. to have new life in Him. to put Him as the center of our lives.
He did this by sending Jesus Christ.
Jesus lived as our representative on our behalf. He always followed God.
and He died as our substitute on the cross—we celebrated that on Good Friday—on the cross—so much was happening. the Lord laid on Jesus all of our sin and punishment, past, present, and future. Jesus took the punishment of death we deserved.
this is grace! it gift..
5. and the even gooder news—is this: Jesus rose from the dead. He is our risen king.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Jesus Christ physically, bodily rose from the dead.
b/c He did—we are assured…our sins can be forgiven…we can spend eternity in paradise—heaven with Jesus…we can declare it is finished—the work Jesus came to do really happened. we don’t have to stay in our sins; we don’t have to face death alone or separated from God forever or really in fear—the resurrection of Jesus GUARANTEES THAT! He will set the world right
and we can enjoy a relationship with God at the center of our lives NOW!
6. YOU HAVE A CHOICE TODAY — WILL Jesus be my king or myself?
If you live YOUR way, then you are the boss; you are the king. but it leads to horrible consequences in this life, and in the life to come. you will face chaos now i believe and you will face God’s judgment when you die.
or you can life JESUS’S WAY. where you surrender to Jesus.
you trust in Him to save you from your sins.
and you trust in Him to be forgiven.
and you say “from now on—you call the shots.”
what’s it going to be?
if you would like to begin or recommit your life to Jesus...
close eyes, bow heads and pray this after me:
Dear God, I know that I am not worthy to be accepted by you. I don’t deserve your gift of eternal life. I am guilty of rebelling against you and ignoring you. I’m sorry, and I need your forgiveness.
Thank you for sending your Son to die for me so that I may be forgiven. Thank that you rose from the dead to give me new life.
Please forgive me and change me, so that I may live with Jesus as my ruler. Amen!
now—if you prayed that prayer...
let me know...
maybe you are just struggling with so much in life…would you pray with me:
Dear God, thank you that Jesus rose from the dead. because of His resurrection, I know that my sins are forgiven. I know that my life is secure in you. I know I can have hope now. in Jesus’ name amen.
call worship team forward...
Call Brayden Liechty forward
—express appreciation
—only 1 of 4 could be here—b/c many of them are either working or had to sing at their church (Ryan Hirshcy)
—but we are thankful Brayden could be here and hopefully will we can get a few more of them here next week
—it’s amazing that 4 funeral directors…technically competitors all agreed to do so and all love Jesus...
--
next week…we are going to look at a little bit more of this interview—as we focus on grief. How do you and I grieve? How do we help those grieving? How does the resurrection of Jesus make a difference in this grief?