April 3, 2011

"Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”  John 11:25-26

Do you?

Do you believe that Jesus IS the resurrection and the life?

In the final analysis that is the key to overcoming the fear of life's final moments.

You can know in your mind that Jesus is bigger than life, and you can give intellectual asent to the truth that Jesus beat death, and you can acknowledge that Jesus is preparing a beautiful forever place for you - BUT, when the frigid breath of death is felt on your face, will you believe beyond doubt that He is the resurrection and the life?

Jesus asked Martha this BEFORE He raised her brother from the dead. You are two resurrections beyond where she was (Lazarus' and Jesus'). It should be easier to believe!

The Apostle Paul believed! Listen to His testimony:

^"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance^[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,"   I Corinthians 15:3-8

Do you believe this?

"But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." 

I Corinthians 15:12-20

Do you believe this?

"I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 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. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 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.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, 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."  I Corinthians 15:50-58

Do you believe this?

Bill and Gloria Gaither believe it and they expressed it like this:

And then one day

I'll cross that river

I'll fight life's final war with pain

But then when death gives way to victory

I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He reigns!

Do you believe this?



When you do, you will overcome the fear of life's final moments!

April 2, 2011

"My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” John 14:2-4

Do you have a place? Places are important. It is good to have a place. Having a place makes you feel special and significant. Having a place makes you feel as though you belong. Having a place makes you feel safe and having a place makes you feel secure.

While Jesus was here with His disciples for those three years, they really didn't have a place. They DID have a significant Person to hang out with! They were itinerates who traveled regularly from place to place. Now His time with them is coming to a end as He will soon be arrested, beaten savagely and then nailed to a cross. As He has come to town for that purpose. It is in the context of His impending suffering and death that He shares these comforting words. Certainly at a time when they should be comforting Him for what He is about to face, He is concerned for them. They left all to follow Him and have been His committed disciples for three years. Now He has to break the news to them that He will be arrested, savagely beaten and nailed on a cross on the next day. The center of their universe is about to drastically change. They are facing the fearful prospect that not only will they not have a place, they won't have a leader.

So, when Jesus breaks the bad news to them He also shares some good news, "I go to prepare a place for you."

As the disciples heard these words, they heard something that the typical modern Westerner misses. These were the words of great significance for the Jews. They are words of great joy for they are the words a newly engaged young man would says to his betrothed. Once he had asked the father for the hand of his daughter and permission was given, he would promise his wife to be "I am going to prepare a place for you". In joyful anticipation of sharing life with his beautiful new bride, he would eagerly begin building a home where they could live their lives together in marital bliss. This "place" would be a "love nest" for the newlyweds.

This is the spin that Jesus puts on death because of His resurrection and His life. Since the time He returned to His Father following His resurrection, He has been building a place for you in eager anticipation of being with you forever! Like an anxious bridegroom, He awaits your arrival. Jesus has conquered death and turned your funeral into a wedding! Such is the love of Jesus! So powerful is His resurrection that He removes the fear of life's final moments and replaces it with joy!

I pray that you will enjoy many more healthy and happy years in your place here in this life. But even more so I pray that when death takes you from your place you will arrive joyfully at His place - the place He has been preparing for you!

April 1, 2011

"Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."  John 14:6

I remember my first funeral. Elmer Larson was a very gentle elderly man who loved God and loved his family and his faithful witness quietly shouted faith. When he crossed over from this life to the next and I was called on to comfort the widow and the rest of his tight-knit family I felt totally inadequate and unprepared. Since then I have been involved in hundreds of similar situations and find that experience doesn't make it any easier. I have no way of comforting them except pointing them to THE WAY. My words mean nothing but THE WORD does! My presence helps but it is HIS LIFE present through me that matters.

What better way to comfort people than with the very words Jesus used to comfort His closest followers. When death cruelly steals someone precious to you and rips the heart out of your chest, you wonder, "How will I make it? How can I go on?"

God knew that in the valley of the shadow of death you would need a way! So, when He sent Jesus to die for your sins He made a way! When Jesus arose from the dead three days later He provided a way! Because Jesus walked through that fearful valley by Himself, and because He walked out the other side, He can walked through the valley with you! Not only did He find a way HE IS THE WAY! When that stoned rolled away on the first Easter morning, God guaranteed that no one else would ever have to face death alone - your death or the death of a loved one.

Jesus is the WAY to be delivered from the guilt, the shame, the power and the penalty of your sins! Jesus is the WAY to a personal relationship with His Father. Jesus is the WAY through the pain and problems of life. And, not only is He the WAY into spiritual life, He is the out of physical life into eternal life. He is the WAY out of fear. He is WAY bigger than death! He beat it on the cross! He defeated it in the tomb!

After death has stolen a loved one and steamrolled those who lost him, these grieving people don't need poems, platitudes, philosophical statements or pat answers - they need truth! Real pain needs real perspective! I refuse to patronize those who have just had their hearts crushed. Death exposes empty speculations.

God sent Jesus to make sure that you would never have to settle for empty answers again. Jesus came to show truth so you can know truth! And this truth is not simple concepts or ideas it is A PERSON! When you are confronted with death you don't have to settle for perspective or principles you can have a POWERFUL PERSONAL PRESENCE! Jesus doesn't just know truth. He doesn't just teach truth. HE IS TRUTH - THE TRUTH!  

One reason you fear death is because you think it is the end of life. That is only true if you have not given your life to Jesus. If you are not in His way and if you are not committed to His truth, not only will you not be prepared for death, you will be overwhelmed by life! 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Jesus is not only the way to life - HE IS LIFE! He is life because He is God! You cannot have life if you do not have Him. As long as you have Him you have LIFE. His LIFE is more powerful than your death. His LIFE begins when you commit your way to Him and becomes the abundant life He promises! When the abundant life comes to an end and you body gives out, ETERNAL LIFE begins!

I am sharing with you how you can choose to not fear death!

Yesterday I shared that God is bigger than life - fear not!

Now you know that God, through Jesus, has beaten death! Fear not!

You may be thinking, "No way!"

Jesus says, "Way! Truth! Life!"



March 31, 2011

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me." John 14:1

The first thing I notice in this Scripture verse is the clear and simple statement that fear is a choice. "Do not let your hearts be troubled", He says. Why would Jesus make that statement if it were not possible for you to choose to not allow fear to dominate your emotions?

If you can choose not to fear, how does that happen?

You believe in God and you believe Jesus is the Son of God. You must believe that God is greater than what you fear! You must fear God more than you fear death. By believing that God is greater than what you fear and if what you fear most is death, then you must believe that God is bigger than death.

Doesn't that make sense?

Jesus admits as much when you understand the context of this portion of Scripture. He has just told his disciples that He is going to be dying on a cross to atone for the sins of the world, and THEN He will be going to Heaven to prepare a place for them to enjoy when they get there. Certainly, Jesus would not have promised His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for them if He believed that He would not arise from the dead. Jesus knew that God was bigger than death. He was confident that after His death on the cross He would again be alive and returning to Heaven.

Choose faith in Life over the fear of death and your heart will not be troubled! Jesus was not afraid to go to the cross because He knew Who His Father was and how powerful His Father was! Jesus feared being separated from His Father, as would necessarily happen when He took the sins of the world upon Himself. Dying as a sinner would cause Jesus to be separated from the Father. That is something He had never experienced and greatly dreaded - as you can imagine.

You fear being separated from life and that is why death holds such fear for you. But what if you were to believe that being separated from this life means being united with God and with Jesus? What if you believed that the God you love and trust is bigger than death? What would it do for your level of fear if you dared to believe that God is bigger than life itself? And not only is He bigger than life - HE IS LIFE!  Death perishes in His presence!  It is in Him we "live and die and have our being" as Acts tells you.

Let not your heart be troubled! Choose to not be fearful over death! Believe in the God Who is bigger than death because He is bigger than life!

March 30, 2011

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

A couple of days ago I talked about the two reasons for fearing death, the certainty of death - you know it will happen - and the uncertainty of death - you don't know when or how it will happen. Either of those OR both of those can be cause for fear if you don't know how to confront them.

To remove the uncertainty of death make sure that you are prepared to die today. Make sure you have received Jesus Christ as your Savior for the forgiveness of your sins. Having your sins forgiven and knowing that your name is written in the Book of Life and His Spirit dwelling in you will give you the certainty that you are ready to be in the presence of God whenever that time comes.

Having established that, to be completely free from the fear of death, understood that death you should fear. Does that sound like a contradiction? Not if you understand God's perspective of death.

God looks at death from the vantage point of life. He IS life! There is no death in Him. Death is His enemy. Death cannot exist in His presence. Therefore, death happens because you are separated from life - aka - God. That death, of course, is spiritual death because it is "in Him we live, and move and have our being". And what is it that separates us from life (God) is sin. A holy God cannot dwell with or have fellowship with a sinner and when you willfully sin you break the fellowship and your soul dies. If your body dies while your spirit is separated from God, you will die the most fearful death - separated from God - FOREVER. Fear that!

Physical death, however, is an entirely different matter. As Jesus said to His dear friends Mary and Martha, Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

Jesus was making it clear to His Dear friends that they did not need to fear physical death. And, for a very good reason, you DON'T die. The moment your body flatlines and your physical life ceases you will immediately open your eyes in Heaven! The essential you NEVER dies! It never skips a beat or a breath and you leave one realm of living to eternally enjoy the new and eternal life. In the words of Jesus, if you are in Him, the essential you will never die! Can you get excited about that prospect? Can you feel your fear level begin to dec

rease? Can you feel you faith level rising?

If you want to fear death, fear spiritual death! Fear the prospect of dying without knowing the Lord as your Savior! You should fear being spiritually disconnected from God!

"The wages (what you have earned) of sin is death, but the GIFT (available lavish love and grace of God) is ETERNAL life!"  Romans 6:23

Get "FEARLESS" about death!

Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior? Have you received His gift of eternal life?

March 29, 2011

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles," I Corinthians 15:3-7

Death is a big enemy that creates some gigantic fear in us mortals. I think I was about 30 years of age when I first came to grips with my mortality. Before that time the idea of dying really didn't stick with me. Dying was something that happened to other people - older people. I had three young children that I wanted to see grow to adulthood and I couldn't bear the thought of my life ending before they were grown. As I recall, the idea of death and dying haunted me for several weeks until I worked my way through that fear.

Are you familiar with that fear?

One of the truths that helped me deal with this horrendous fear of dying was the knowledge that even though death is bigger than life, God is bigger than death!

How did God conquer death? Through a death! Yes, a death! The death of His Son, Jesus Christ. And even more, God defeated death by a resurrection from the dead! The Jewish religious leaders arrested Him on trumped up charges, made those stand, beat Him savagely, and then killed Him on a cruel cross. Jesus did die. But three days later he was back to life! Through His resurrection from the dead, Jesus proved that God is bigger than death! He died to take away the sin and shame so you can be free from from the fear of death! BUT THEN He rose on the third day - came back from the dead! When Jesus walked out of that garden tomb on that first Easter Sunday, He conquered death! Forever! Death could not hold Him and neither can it hold those of us who follow Him and are called by His name.

Is a death a big fear in your life? And if that fear is robbing you of your peace about dying, remember the resurrection! Remember the love that motivated Jesus' life, His brutal death, and His marvelous resurrection! In other words, remember that God is bigger than death or any of your fears about dying!

Knowing Who Jesus Is and what He did to conquer death should be enough to help you conquer your fears about death. That is the power of faith! Are you going to choose to believe your fears or will you believe in a God Who has proven He is bigger than death.

So, God destroyed the power of death by allowing His Son to be unfairly mobbed and murdered. He affirmed that He is the source of the life that dwells within you by raising His Son from the dead! And the Bible tells you that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to you through His Spirit!

His life in you through faith, is stronger than death that is working in you! And His life through you will raise you up to eternal life!

Do you have that life? Don't die with out it!

March 28, 2011

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die"  Ecclesiastes 3:1-2a

When you think about death and dying there are two things that cause you to fear - the certainty of dying and the uncertainty of dying.

Even in a death-denying culture like ours, everyone knows that no one gets out alive. Every person has a date with death. You have been to enough funerals, driven past enough cemeteries, heard enough news reports and read enough obituaries to know death is inescapable.

You spend considerable time and thought preparing for the eventuality of your death while at the same time, doing everything in your power to preserve your life.

God hard-wired us to life forever. Dying was not a part of His perfect plan for your life. So, death frightens you and the certainty of death can haunt you.

And then there is the uncertainty about death that is a bit scary. You know you will die someday but have no idea how or when.

When you board a plane it may flash through your mind, "This could be the time." You get the cancer diagnosis and you wonder, "is this it? Will I survive this or is it my time?"

There is a website on the net that claims it can determine your date of death. That should remove some uncertainty and remove some fear. According to http://www.deathclock.com/ my date to die is: Wednesday, December 17, 2036. So, if you are planning to buy me a Christmas gift that year you can save your money.

Based on this prediction I have some 811, 733,020 seconds left to live. You are on the clock, too!

It is natural to fear death because, death was not meant to be natural. God created us and designed us to live forever but because of sin, death became a reality. BUT, to be terrorized by the thought of dying or obsessed with that fear is not a healthy or helpful thing.

Knowing you are going to die but not knowing how or when can be a fearful thing for you. Don't let the fear of death steal away your zest for living. There is a way to be free from the fear of death. That is what we will be studying this week as we continue our "FEARLESS" series.

In the meantime, let the certainty of death inspire your to prepare for life - now and or eternity. Today is the first day of the rest of your life! Make it count! Live until you die - and then live forever!