Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: Westgate.
How's everybody doing?
Yeah. Are you ready to worship?
Worship our risen Savior?
[00:00:13] Speaker A: Right.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: All right, let's stand together and sing.
Father, let your kingdom come.
Father, let your will be done on earth as in heaven, right here in my heart.
Father, let your kingdom come.
Father, let your will be done on earth as in heaven, right here in my heart.
Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us, forgive us as we forgive the ones who sinned against us.
Forgive them. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Let your kingdom come.
Father, let your kingdom come.
Father, let your will be done on earth as in heaven, right here in my heart.
O Father, let your kingdom come.
Father, let your will be done on earth as in heaven, right here in my heart.
Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us, forgive us as we forgive the ones who sinned against us.
Forgive them. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Let your kingdom come.
It's yours, it's yours, all yours, all yours. The kingdom, the power, the glory are yours.
[00:02:26] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: It's yours, it's yours, all yours, all yours forever and forever.
The kingdom is yours, it's yours, it's yours, all yours, all yours.
The kingdom, the power, the glory, it's yours, it's yours, it's yours, all yours, all yours forever and ever.
The kingdom is yours. Father, let your kingdom come.
Father, let your will be done on earth as in heaven, right here in my heart.
Father, let your kingdom come.
O Father, let your will be done on earth as in heaven, right here in my heart.
On earth as in heaven, right here in my heart.
[00:03:42] Speaker D: Amen. It is good to be here with you this morning. You may go ahead and grab a seat if we have not had the opportunity to meet. My name is Rob Zimmerman. I'm lead pastor here at Westgate. And I'm thankful that you have chosen to worship with us today.
We know for many of you, maybe you are new this morning, it's your first time here, or maybe you have just been with us for a few weeks, maybe a couple of months. We know that inevitably, as people are checking out of church, they love to kind of just sit back, have the. The opportunity to kind of take it all in, see if this is the place where God might plant you. But I wanna say to you this morning that when you come to that place of saying, you know what? I wanna get connected, I wanna take that next step. The best way to do that is to fill out a connection card. Our connection cards can be found in the pew in front of you. And if that's a step you'd like to take this morning, we'd invite you to fill it out. And at the close of our service today, you can take it out to our main lobby and there is our guest center. And we have some people there that would love the opportunity to answer any question about the church, our different ministries, how to get connected, but also would love to give you a small gift just to say thank you for worshiping with us today. And so I'd invite you to kind of check that out as you leave as well.
One of the best ways to stay connected with everything that is going on here around the church is to download the Westgate Chapel app. If you haven't done that, you can do it by going to your app store type in Westgate Chapel Toledo, and that'll get the app for you. But you'll get all of the stuff that is going on, especially as we come kind of move to the end of this school year, which seems to be almost upon us already.
But we've got it full of information about different ways to get connected events that are going on this summer. So please be sure to check that out. A few things that we did want to make sure that you were aware of this morning. One you'll see in your sermon notes if you grab those on the way in. There is just a thank you from our student ministries department.
They have been preparing for their large fundraiser for this year called Bol Arama, and a number of businesses, but also individuals has stepped up to help support and to be sponsors for this event. And so we just wanted to say thank you to each of you that are supporting our students as they raise funds for mission trips and for retreats all throughout the year. You have been a generous church in the way that you pour into them, but even more support them in their spiritual growth with the Lord. So thank you for doing that.
Another thing we want to make sure you're aware of is if you're looking for an opportunity to serve, have we got an opportunity for you coming up on May 2nd. We love to call it the Don't Let Randy Bite the Dust Campus Care Day.
And essentially Randy doesn't want to be the one that is the only person that shows up for this.
But as we move from winter into spring and summer, there is some general cleanup that needs to be done around our campus here in the building. And so we've got a great Campus Care Day. In the past, we've had numerous individuals, families Life groups come out and serve. This just be a great project to serve, but also just to care well for Randy and for our facility. And so if you have the opportunity to be involved Again, that's Saturday, May 2nd from 9am to noon. And you can register either through the events tab on our website or through the Westgate Chapel app.
One other thing Randy wanted me to mention this morning. Randy oversees our seniors ministry, keenagers. And if you're a part of Teenagers, you would know that this next week, Thursday. Yes, look at that. Somebody is excited about Teenagers. I love it.
Normally you would meet this next Thursday, the 16th, but because the pregnancy center fundraiser is going to be happening here that evening, they have a setup that they're doing throughout our entire building. So we wanted to make sure that you got the message that Teenagers is going to be pushed back one week this month only to the 23rd. And so please be sure to mark that on your calendars if you are going to be a part of that.
Now with that being said, one of the exciting things we get to do in our service this morning is welcome a number of people into membership. And so I'm going to turn things over to Pastor Adam.
[00:07:53] Speaker E: All right, Good morning Westgate Chapel. My name's Adam. Just get to serve here as executive pastor of ministry. And one of the exciting things that I love doing a couple times a year is working with people that want to become members here with us at Westgate Chapel in our church body. I just want to go ahead and invite some of them up this morning as well as any staff or elders in a few minutes.
Membership here at Westgate Chapel serves a few purposes.
I think first and foremost, when you become a member, it is the church saying to the member that we recognize your faith and your desire to follow as a disciple of Jesus in a way with a commitment into a local church body.
And it's also the individual, the members saying, hey, we recognize that you are a gospel preaching, Jesus loving, teaching church and we want to make a commitment, you know, publicly with that. Membership also allows you to be a part of our voting body when it's time to vote. Also membership is needed for any kind of leadership or teaching position here at Westgate. If you want to serve in a teaching capacity, you have to be a member. So this time around we have 21. Not everyone is here this morning some of them were already here in first service with little small kids.
One service is what they could do except for the Brooks and they're here both, both times.
And some of the requirements of becoming a member is to attend our Westgate 101 class. Our Westgate 101 class is a four week class that's open to anybody. But you get to learn about the history, the mission, the vision of Westgate Chapel as well as our denomination, the Christian and Missionary Alliance.
We go through our statement of faith, we go through membership expectations and in general have opportunity to get to know each other. How they can get plugged in further the different ministries here at Westgate Chapel.
That class, we're starting it again next Sunday. So if you are interested in learning more about Westgate, you don't have to become a member just to attend the class, but that is a requirement to be a member. So if you also are interested in becoming a member here at Westgate, then this class will begin next Sunday. And you can sign up on our website and through our app. And let's meet some of these great folks up here this morning.
Joining this morning we have Stephen and Melissa Farmer and they're standing in different order than they did first service. Evan and Chloe Brooks. We have Lindsey and Ben Hopkemaier, Pat Cubbage, Mindy Devoe and her kids, Gabe and Aubrey.
Right, excellent. And we have some pictures of the others that were either here in first service or actually couldn't make it. So Carol Homko, Ben and Lizzie, they actually are here in the flesh as well, but they just wanted to submit a picture.
Cody and Kayla Monfort and Shannon and John Claussen and then Libby and Blake Alberts and Jamie and Ryan Hill Avery have also are joining our church membership this morning.
[00:11:13] Speaker D: So Rob, awesome. Well, we are so thankful for each of you and just your desire to connect in here at Westgate and to be a part of this body of Christ. And this morning we just have a statement commitment that I'm gonna read and if you're in agreement with it, I'd invite you to say I will at the end.
Will you, as a member of Westgate Chapel, promise to commit yourself to serve Christ faithfully as a member of this church family? Will you commit yourself to Westgate's vision of being a Jesus centered community that is known for intentionally sharing God's love with our neighbors and the nations? Will you personally seek to grow in your relationship with the Lord by daily studying God's word, seeking him in prayer, striving to abstain from acting upon sinful desires, and by depending on the Holy Spirit for all that you need?
Will you commit to actively engage with other members of this church family through regular church Attendance and by pursuing close knit biblical community where you are growing alongside of others, will you commit to generously stewarding your God given time, spiritual giftedness and financial resources for the purpose of honoring and serving the Lord in our church, in our local community and in his worldwide mission to reach the lost?
Will you take personal responsibility for the spiritual health and the unity of our church family and will you submit yourself to the elders of this church whom God has given authority to serve as overseers and shepherds? If you will commit yourselves to these things, please respond by saying, I will.
Awesome. Let's pray together. Father, thank you again for this morning and the opportunity that we have to be together as a church family and worship you. I thank you, Father, for each individual that is up here who is coming into membership. I thank you, Father for the journey that you have had them on and their lives growing with you and knowing you. And Father, I pray that as they continue to connect into the life of this church, Lord, that they would continue to take new steps of growing deeper in their relationship with you, moving to places where they are yielding more control, but even more God. I pray that you as well would bring out all of the gifts that you have planned for them through your Holy Spirit and that you would use them mightily, Father, to not only build up your church, but to reach their community and to reach our world with the good news of the Gospel. Father, we thank you that you have given us a church where we can gather, where we can worship, where we can encourage one another and Father, where we can serve you with all of our hearts. And so this morning we give you all the praise and all the glory and the honor. We pray this together in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Would you again welcome each of our new members into membership this morning?
And as our elders also welcome them, I'm going to invite you to stand, turn, find someone you haven't said hello to yet this morning and welcome them to our service.
All right, you guys know how long I preach, so I got to stop this.
Let's.
That's true.
Adam. Adam just looked at me and said, we're going to be here till one. If you let him keep talking, that's not because of you, that's because of me. So we're going to, I'm going to invite you, you can grab a seat. As we continue in our worship, we're going to come to our time of taking the Lord's Supper together.
And so if you, hopefully if you grabbed your elements, you can pull those out. If you didn't grab them on the way in. We should have some ushers coming down the aisles with those elements. Just slip your hand up and they will bring you. Bring those to you.
You know, we. We just went through a really awesome, awesome Easter week where we got to spend time focusing deeply on all that Christ has done and accomplished for us.
And as we gather again together this morning, you know, I was impressed throughout Easter just with, like, we create all this hubbub, if you will, of excitement and preparation for Easter.
And yet the glorious news of what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross in his death and then in his resurrection is not something that only exudes that excitement one time a year. Amen. It should exude that excitement every single moment of our lives.
We live every single day in light of that truth that Jesus died and rose again, paying the penalty for our sin, so that we could be reconciled to God, giving us the hope that one day we will spend eternity with Him. That's glorious, is it not?
Today, as we move into our time of musical worship, we want to pause and remember that gift that he's given us in His Son, Jesus.
As we come to this time of communion, I'm just going to invite you to bow your head and close your eyes.
And before we take the Lord's Supper together, I just invite you to right where you are, just quietly pray by yourself.
Giving thanks to God, remembering and thinking through all that he has done for you in Christ's death and resurrection, remembering the ways that God has shown you his love and his mercy and his grace, so tangibly, and allowing that be the thing that draws your heart closer to Him.
Maybe as you remember, you'll also see, man, there's some sin that I've had in my heart and in my life.
Maybe the Holy Spirit will bring that to mind. And I just invite you in this time to also use it as a time to just say, God, I confess it to you and I ask for your forgiveness and I leave it at your feet that as we come to this time of the Lord's Supper, that we would come with humble and pure hearts, acknowledging our need for God, giving thanks to him for his love and his grace and his mercy. So let's just pour that out in prayers of worship to the Lord.
The Apostle Paul says in First Corinthians 11, I receive from the Lord what I also pass on to you.
The Lord Jesus, on the night that he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
Let's remember the Lord together.
Paul continues. And he says in the same way, after supper, Jesus took the cup, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this when you whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me. And then Paul adds and says, for whenever you eat the bread and you drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord death until he comes again.
Let's remember together.
Father, we praise you and we worship you this morning.
Thank you for showing us just how much you love us through Jesus.
Thank you for the promise of salvation and the hope of eternity with you.
God. I pray that as we reflect and we remember all that you have done, that it would draw our hearts to a place of deep worship. Not just in the words that we sing, but in the way that we live our lives every single day. For you, in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Would you stand and worship with us?
[00:20:15] Speaker C: With just one word you calm the storm that surrounds me with just one word the darkness has to retreat.
With just one touch I feel the presence of heaven with just one touch my eyes were open to see My heart can't help but believe there's nothing that our God can There's not a mountain that he can't move Praise a name that makes a way there's nothing that our God can do with just one word you hear what's broken inside
[00:21:16] Speaker D: me
[00:21:19] Speaker C: with just one word and you revive every dream.
With just one touch I feel the power of heaven with just one touch my eyes were open to see My heart can't help but believe there's nothing that our God can't do there's not a mountain that he can move oh, praise a name that makes a way there's nothing that our God can do there's nothing that our God can't do there's not a prison wall he can
[00:22:10] Speaker B: break through do you believe it to
[00:22:13] Speaker C: praise the name that makes a way there's nothing that our God can do.
I will believe for greater things there's no power like the power of Jesus Let faith arise Let all agree there's no power like the power of of Jesus I will believe for greater things there's no power like the power of Jesus Let faith arise Let all agree there's no power like the power of Jesus I will believe for greater things there's no power like the power of Jesus Let faith arise Let all agree there's no power like the flower there's nothing that our God can't do there's not a Mountain that he can't move or praise the name that makes a way there's nothing that our God can't do.
Come on now. There's nothing that our God can't do there's not a prison wall he can't break.
Oh, praise her name that makes a way there's nothing that our God can do.
[00:24:46] Speaker A: Sam.
[00:25:26] Speaker F: Here is where I lay it down Every burden, every crown this is my surrender this is my surrender?
Here is where I lay it down Every lie and every doubt this is my surrender?
And I will make room for you
[00:26:02] Speaker A: to do whatever you want to?
To do whatever you want to.
And I will make room for you to do whatever you want to.
[00:26:21] Speaker F: To do whatever you want to.
[00:26:28] Speaker B: Here is where I lay it it down Every burden, every crown this is my surrender this is my surrender Here is where I lay it down every
[00:26:48] Speaker A: lion, every doubt this is my surrender?
And I will make room for you to do whatever you want to?
To do whatever you want to.
And I will make room for you to do whatever you want you to
[00:27:23] Speaker B: do whatever you want to.
[00:27:27] Speaker A: And I will make room for you to do whatever you want to.
To do whatever you want to.
And I will make room for you you to do whatever you want to.
To do whatever you want to.
Jesus.
Have your way here.
Shake up the ground of all my tradition. Break down the walls of all my religion? Your way is better.
Your way is better.
Shake up the ground of all my tradition. Break down the walls of all my religion? Your way is better Only your way is better.
[00:29:01] Speaker B: Shake out the ground of all my tradition?
[00:29:05] Speaker A: Break down the walls of all my Our religion. Your way is better.
Your way is better.
[00:29:17] Speaker B: Shake up the ground of all my tradition. Break down the walls of all my religion.
[00:29:25] Speaker A: Your way is better?
Oh, your way is better.
And I will make room for you to do whatever you want to?
[00:29:42] Speaker F: To do whatever you want to.
[00:29:47] Speaker A: And I will make room for you
[00:29:54] Speaker F: to do whatever you want to?
To do whatever you want to.
Here is where I lay it down you are all I'm chasing now this is my surrender.
This is my surrender?
Here is where I lay it down you are all?
[00:30:25] Speaker A: All I'm chasing now.
[00:30:27] Speaker F: This is my surrender.
This is my surrender.
[00:30:37] Speaker B: Hallelujah.
[00:30:38] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:30:47] Speaker D: Maybe seated. Let's pray together.
Lord, may the words that we sing be so true.
The deepest desire of our heart, God, is just to surrender all that we are to you.
We do so, God, because of the incredible grace and love that you have shown to us through your son, Jesus Christ, that while what we deserve is Separation from you, punishment because of our sin.
We thank you, God, that you and your great love sent your son Jesus into this world to die for us, that we could be reconciled to you, giving us not only the precious gift of salvation, but the hope of eternity with you.
And Father, this is what moves our hearts every single day to come to this place, of surrendering all that we are, of being willing to just be transparent with you and say, lord, are there areas where I screw up and there's areas where there's sin? Would you change and transform me? It's the thing that drives us each and every day, God, to live our lives seeking to give you our best.
Not because we're trying to earn your favor, but Father, we just simply want it to be our act of worship because of what you have done for us.
And so, Father, I pray that today, as we gather together, as we sing songs of praise, as we get into your word, that again, Lord, that you would be glorified as your people together seek you, and to surrender all of our hearts to you.
An expression of that, Father, now is as we give our tithes and our offerings this morning, Father, it's a clear expression of our hearts, of our dependence upon you, you, our belief that you will provide for us, but also our desire, God, to be a part of the work that you are doing so that more people in this world will know your son.
And so we pray, Lord, that you would take these gifts, that you would multiply them, but not only that, that you would continually be changing and transforming our hearts and that we would live generous lives in all ways, God, that can be used by you for the purposes of your kingdom.
We love you and we worship you with all of our hearts. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
We're going to take our morning offering. And so if you're here on the center aisles, we have our offering buckets, if you can grab those. And we're just going to pass them out across the room in the balconies. They're in the corners and you can pass those in.
We'll just worship the Lord through the taking of our offering together.
[00:33:26] Speaker C: Sa.
[00:33:59] Speaker D: Well, as we prepare to jump into the Word together, I'll just invite you to pull out your Bibles. Hopefully, as you walked in, you were able to grab some sermon notes. You can use those to follow along this morning.
But before we jump in together, I just want to give you one other quick announcement as a reminder that today, following this service, we are having our New People party.
New People party. Whether you're new here to Westgate this morning or in the past few weeks or even in the past few months. If you have never come to a new people party, we would love to invite you to come. It's an opportunity to meet our pastoral staff, to get an opportunity to ask questions, learn a little bit more about our church, and enjoy a great lunch together. It'll go for about an hour following the service, and so even if you haven't registered, we would love for you to come. So we invite you to join us again. That'll be immediately following the second service today over in our refinery, which is just across the atrium.
Now, I have shared with you guys before that growing up as a young boy, being a pastor was not my first dream.
Somewhere around my junior senior year of high school, the Lord began to put a call on my heart to be a pastor. But as a child, there were two things that I desperately thought I might want to do and be. Does anybody know the first one?
Nope, not a baseball player. I wanted to be a weatherman. Same thing, right? No, I wanted to be a weatherman.
I was seriously, like, in love with weather stuff. There was a weatherman where I grew up in Southern California, Christopher Nance, who came out and he came to my school and did this, like, whole presentation on clouds, and I just fell in love with it. Then as I got older and watched shows like Storm Chasers, I wanted to chase tornadoes because that seems really smart to do and exciting.
And so, you know, that was kind of like one of the things that I first thought I would love to do. Got older, heard how much school it takes, and I bailed. But do you know what the second thing was? Anybody a dad?
No.
But I do love my kids.
I wanted to be an astronaut. Who did not want to be an astronaut. Right. I can remember as a young boy, my parents bought me this cool little space shuttle, and I used to play with it constantly. And then, like, any time the space shuttle was going to take off, you would find me firmly planted in front of the tv, playing with the toy, making it go up in the air, letting it glide in like I loved everything about it. And I think. I think my mom at times wanted to send me to the moon. So it fit really well. But, you know, with that, how many of you this past week have watched any of the stuff with Artemis 2 and our astronauts going to the moon? Yeah, a number of you guys. It has been pretty cool. And you can guarantee that I return to my childhood. I don't still have my little Space shuttle. But I planted myself in front of the TV to watch a lot of what was going on. I was. Watched the liftoff, and like, man, could you imagine what it would be like to be one of those four astronauts sitting in the top of this little capsule on this huge rocket, blasting off into space. Wouldn't that be exciting? Exhilarating. Oh, best roller coaster ever. Claire. Come on. Like, it would be incredible. At least I think it'd be fun. But then to be able to get into space and to see the things that they saw, wow, here are a couple pictures that I robbed from the Internet. There is this picture that they took of the world that, to me, is just incredible.
Such a reminder, you know, we think as we walk this planet, like, how big it is. And then you look at that and you go, wow, we're small.
You can even see in this, like, you can see where the northern lights are showing on the top right and the bottom. Like, it's just a beautiful picture. There was another picture that they took as they got out to the moon from behind the moon, taking a picture forward of our world. Like, you just get this sense of how small we really are. Then there was one of an eclipse that I thought was incredible. The sun passed behind the moon. And as I was watching and looking at all of these pictures, I couldn't help but think not only about how vast our universe is, but how incredible God is.
The Psalm, Psalm 19, verses 1 through 4 came to mind as you see these pictures. And, Chris, you can scroll back and scroll forward on these couple, but Psalm 19:1:4 says these words. The heavens declare the glory of God.
The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech. Night after night, they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words. No sound is heard from them, yet their voice goes out into all the Earth. And their words, to the ends of the Earth.
So incredible how the world and the universe and everything that we see declares the glory and the majesty of God.
It was cool to watch this, but even more cool just the other day to watch these astronauts come back to Earth. And I'll tell you what's more exhilarating than being in a small capsule that is made of seven panels of aluminum alloy separating you as you go. What is it? 25,000 miles per hour with 5,000 degrees of heat all around you. I mean, doesn't that sound fun?
I've often wondered, like, if on the inside they could kind of feel some of that heat, a little bit of sweat dripping down but the crazy is as they reenter the atmosphere. If you are watching the six minutes of blackout, the moment where we hear nothing and we just wait, we watch and we wait. And I can remember sitting there this week watching to see what would happen, remembering all of the other disasters that have happened in the past, even myself going, lord, please protect them as they come.
And as I was watching, all of the news reporters that were giving an account of this were saying things like, the world is holding its breath.
Millions of people are waiting in silence.
People are praying and holding their breath.
One said, you've got to just trust in your training, your systems, and something deeper.
A pilot of this, looking back on his times reentering the earth's atmosphere, said, I said a prayer and turned to God and then just kept going.
Here's what stood out to me is that they described this as one of those moments in life where everything where all control feels like it's completely out of your hands. Even the most advanced technology that we have in this world for that six minutes goes silent and all that is left is trust.
What stood out to me though, in that moment, naturally, is that how people are led in those moments where you got nothing but trust, that our hearts begin to move to think about God in our greatest moments of vulnerability.
You know, it's in moments like these where life hangs in the balance, that our most natural human response is to turn to God and to begin to wrestle with some of the biggest questions about life. Is there a God?
What happens when you die?
Is there even a heaven? And is hell real?
And if all of this is true, when I die, what will happen to me? You know, coming out of our Easter series focusing on Jesus, death and resurrection, the glorious truth of the salvation that is offered to us, our preaching team began to wrestle with what the next series would be. And as we talked, one of the things that that stood out is that we often talk in very vague and broad terms in the church about the answer to this all important question of what is it that happens after you die?
And everyone truly, I think in this life, wonders at some point what happens after we die. But the problem is that the answers we often hear are influenced more by culture and speculation or wishful thinking than by the Bible and itself.
And so this morning we're going to dive into a series together over the next three weeks that is entitled the Truth about Heaven and Hell.
And we're going to take time in this series to explore what the Bible teaches about death, about eternity, about heaven and about hell. It'll be a little bit of a different series. You know that some of my favorite preaching is, let's just go grab a passage and let's truck all the way through it. But sometimes I believe that it's important for us as well to understand theology and to understand theology that informs what we believe and also how we live our lives. So not only are we going to explore theologically death, eternity, heaven and hell, but my hope is that what we'll do is discover how the reality of eternity points us to the incredible hope that we have in Jesus. So this morning, pull out your sermon notes, follow along with me. We're gonna begin this series by looking at the question of what is it that happens when you die? What does the Bible teach us about this?
The best place for us to begin to answer that question is just very simply, what is death? And the most basic answer that I can give to you, which is no surprise to you, is that letter A. Death is the physical failure of our human bodies.
[00:43:37] Speaker C: Okay?
[00:43:38] Speaker D: We understand this to be true. And as Christians, we believe that the body is comprised of not only our physical substance, but we also have a soul that lives within us.
And we believe because the Bible teaches us that when we die, our physical body stays here and our soul departs and goes somewhere. So death is a physical failure of our human bodies. But here's the deal. What is death, letter B? Death is also the consequence of sin and rebellion against God. I want us to just quickly look at some verses that inform this from Scripture.
If we look at Genesis, chapter 2, verses 16 and 17, it says that the Lord God. God commanded the man Adam in the Garden of Eden and said, you are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for when you eat from it, you will certainly die. Remember that God has created the heavens and the earth, everything that is on the earth. He has created Adam and Eve. He has given them dominion over his creation. Creation. And he gives them one command. And that command is, don't eat from this one tree. Seems like a very simple request. But not only does he give them this command, he gives them a warning. He says, if you do this, if you eat from this tree and go against what I command, the consequence of that will be death.
Now we know how the story goes. Eve has a conversation with the serpent. The serpent tells some lies, tries to trick her and get her to think that it's really not that big of a deal. But even more, he wants her to believe. And she ends up believing that God is holding out on her and Adam, that somehow if they were to eat from this fruit of this tree that God said to leave alone, that they themselves could be like God, and in that they wouldn't need to be reliant on God, but they could literally be the kingdom of their own kingdom. They could be gods themselves.
Adam and Eve fall into this trick and this trap, and the passage tells us they take and they eat the fruit, and with that comes consequences and curses because of their rebellion against God. And the consequence is spelled out in Genesis 3:19, one of the consequences, where it says, by the sweat of your brow you will eat food unto until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you will return.
The consequence of their sin against God was that death was certain.
And in Romans 5:12, Paul himself reiterates this not only about Adam and Eve, but all humanity because of sin. He says, therefore, just as sin is entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death came to all people because all have sinned. In Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death.
Death is the result of sin against God. But Letter C also what we see is that death is the final outcome of living in a fallen world.
Hebrews 9:27 says, Just as people are destined to die when and after that to face judgment, Psalm 90:10, our days come to 70 years, or 80 if our strength endures. Yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass and fly away.
You see, what we're told is that death is the final outcome of living in a fallen world. And it is a consequence of sin, but not necessarily a punishment, if you will, for belief.
Remember Romans 8. One tells us, Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. What the Bible helps us to understand is that death is a doorway that we will all face in this life. Everyone has an expiration date.
But I think the most important thing that the Bible teaches us about death is this letter D. That death is a reminder of our need for God.
It is a desperate reminder of our need for God.
I cannot help but think personally that God chose to allow death to be one of these consequences of sin, because what it would be for not only Adam and Eve and all who would come after them, for us ourselves, is it would be a powerful reminder of our weakness.
Where we thought, oh, look at me, if I do this, if I don't go with God, but chart my Own course, somehow I will be like him. I will be better than him. I won't have to follow him.
But what does death do?
It is a constant reminder to us of just how weak we are, but even more how desperately we need God. I want you to think about it. When death comes near in our lives, think about how it causes us to think. Think about our need for God.
Whether you have a death scare. When I was young, in college, my freshman year of college, I got into a car accident. I was driving. There was a light in front of me that I was going probably about 50 miles an hour, a little bit over the speed limit. And as I was driving, it changed yellow. I wasn't going to be able to stop, but the intersection looked clear. So I started to speed up just to get through a little bit quicker. And a car camera turned right in front of me. And I slammed on my brakes. And I remember in that moment, before I went headlong into them, it felt like it all slowed down. You know, that whole thing of your life passes before your eyes. 100% true. And I remember sitting there thinking, I am going to die. And there was fear. I slammed into them. Luckily, I was okay. They were okay. Cars were not okay, totaled, but I wouldn't. And I sat against this fence almost in this state of shock, wrestling with. I almost died.
Am I right?
Am I right with God? Like, what would have happened to me? And all of these thoughts started flooding through my mind.
You see, when death comes near, whether it's a death scare or sometimes it's the loss of a loved one, sometimes it can be the fact that we just have aging bodies.
We start to feel all the feels of this thing is breaking down and not doing what it used to do.
It could be a bad health diagnosis that we get from a doctor.
It's in moments of understanding our mortality that we begin to start to question what happens when I die.
And at times, people will often then begin to turn their hearts toward God.
I struggled with this. And I shared with you how a number of years ago, returning from Cambodia, I was sick for over a year. And doctors couldn't figure out what was going on with me. Every test in the book that they could do, they thought it was malaria. They thought maybe I had some sort of encephalitis. Then it was cancer. I went through all the bone marrow biopsies, all of the PET scans. I did, like all every blood panel that you can think of, they took every out out of my body. And it was one of the hardest and scariest years of my life because I was wrestling again with my own mortality.
And I'll be honest with you, it shook my faith. It shook it hard.
I really wrestled with, do I really trust God?
Do I really believe that he is with me? I had this overwhelming fear of death, and my mind was. Was consumed with what will happen if I die. What will it be like?
Maybe you've been there, Maybe you've had those similar thoughts or experiences from something in your life. I venture to guess that maybe even some of you here this morning are sitting in that place right now.
And I want us to wrestle with the answer to this question as it shapes and forms us, because I want you to remember that, that death is a reminder of our need for God. And I believe that as we look, we'll see that that is actually a gift that God gives to us. So let's continue in our notes. What is it that happens when people die? What does the Bible teach us? Not what do we hear from other people or, you know, what are our great ideas that we've come up with, but what does the Bible actually teach?
Letter S the first and most important thing that we see throughout the whole of Scripture is this truth. The soul of believers goes immediately into God's presence.
This is an undeniable truth. When you read Scripture, I'll give you quickly four verses this morning, but there are a litany of verses that describe that when someone who has placed their faith in Jesus, when they die, they go directly to the presence of God. Second Corinthians 4:5, verse 8 says, we are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Paul also says in Philippians 1:21 23 for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know, because I am torn between the two.
I desire to depart and be with Christ. Which is better by far?
In Luke 24:43, we have the account of Jesus as he hangs on the cross next to one of the criminals. And as the criminal confesses that he knows that Jesus has done no wrong, Jesus answers him and says, truly, I tell you today you will be with me in Paradise. In Acts 7:59, it says that while they were stoning Stephen, that Stephen himself prayed, lord Jesus, receive my spirit. All throughout the New Testament, all throughout the Bible, we see this belief that the soul of believers goes immediately into the presence of God.
But that isn't the bottom line for everyone.
There are different doctrines that have seeped in at different times, in different places within the Church that actually contradict what the Bible teaches. And I want to address a couple of those with you. The first one is this letter B. The Bible does not teach the doctrine of purgatory.
Purgatory is a Catholic doctrine. Many of you have probably come out of the Catholic Church. And since I know that that is a big thing here in Toledo. But what purgatory is is it's a belief that after death, if you are a follower of Christ, there is a place where you go to be purified before you enter into heaven. In other words, as you live this life, there are probably still some sins that haven't quite been taken care of. And you need those things to be purified and to be made perfectly holy before you could enter into the presence of God. And so there's this belief that purgatory is the place place where that happens. But I want you to understand why it is that Protestants and evangelical Christians reject this doctrine. The first and most important is this. You can write this down just on your own. The Bible never talks about an intermediate place of purification following death for believers. Not once will you find a place where purgatory is discussed as a place where you go.
Secondly, oftentimes what happens for people that believe in purgatory, what they do is they will take a text and they will try to read into it the idea of purgatory.
I want to tell you that just as a student of God's Word and somebody who studies God's Word myself, you included, the most simple reading of a text is often the correct reading of the text. If you have to read something into it to create a doctrine that is dangerous footing, it's something that really should be avoided. The plain reading of the text of Scripture never insinuates the idea that there is a place you go to be purified before you go to heaven as well. I think one of the strongest arguments is that the idea of purgatory as well, I believe, negates the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice for sin. And it is probably the most important point, what Catholicism actually teaches is that the living can influence the process of purgatory.
Now, let me explain it this way.
The Catholic Church will teach, and they have said this, I believe, since the Council of Trent, that grace and sanctification, they say, are works of Christ alone.
However, indulgences for the purpose of helping people out of purgatory which is something that they believe straddles a very dangerous theological line, no matter how you slice it. What it conveys is that somehow we living sinful human beings can have influence over another person's sanctification based on works that we do.
Now, this is an argument that happens between Catholicism and Protestantism all the time. But I would say this.
If we think that somehow our saying certain prayers for 30 minutes a day or doing masses or different indulgences will somehow speed someone's process out of purgatory, what we are doing is placing ourselves in a position that the Bible says is Christ's and Christ's alone. Christ is the only one who makes us holy. It is the work of Christ. Only Hebrews 10, 1014 says these words. And by that will we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ. Once for all.
Day after day, every person, priest stands and performs his religious duties. Again and again he offers the same sacrifices which can never take away sin.
But when this priest, speaking of Jesus as our high priest, has offered for all time one sacrifice for sin, which was his very life, he sat down at the right hand of God. And since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever. Those who are being made holy, we must understand and not be led astray from the idea that when life ends, that there is a place you gotta go to just get a little more holy. And that can be influenced from people in this world.
The idea that purgatory is a thing does not line up with scripture. Scripture fully teaches what we saw in the first point, that the soul of a believer goes immediately to the presence of God. There's another doctrine that also gets adopted sometimes by people. Letter C, and it's this. The Bible does not teach the doctrine of soul sleep. Now, this is the belief that after death, the soul takes a little bit of a nap. Anybody here like a good nap?
Anybody? I'm. I'm a nap guy. You. If you would have looked at me after Easter Sunday, preaching third service, three services here and going home, I looked dead. I literally laid down. I took the longest nap. I love a good nap. And honestly, when I think about this life and how long it is and all the toil that we go through, the idea of a good nap at the end of it sounds really refreshing.
How. However, the Bible does not teach this.
I'm telling you, soul sleep teaches that at death you enter an unconscious, inactive state until Christ returns. But is this what the Bible teaches, you see, soul sleep is most commonly held by Seventh Day Adventists and also Jehovah's Witnesses. But this is not widely accepted by the evangelical church.
What we have already seen in the scriptures is the overwhelming testimony of the Bible is that those who place their faith in Jesus go directly to the presence of God. It's not like, hey, some people take a little nap and some people do that.
It says that we go to the presence of God. There are other passages, like Luke 16, 1931. It's where Jesus is talking about the rich man and Lazarus. You guys remember this one where the rich man, it says that he's been living in his luxury. And then there is this beggar that is named Lazarus, who is very poor. He's begging, he has sores all over his body. It even says that dogs come and lick his sores and he just wants food scraps to fall from this rich man's table so that he can get something for himself. And Jesus says that both of them die. The rich man goes to Hades, to a place of punishment. And then the rich man goes to the presence, or, I'm sorry, the Lazarus goes to the of presence. Presence of God. And the conversation that ensues is that this rich man who is suffering says, if you would just dip your finger in water and put a drop on my tongue, it would soothe me from all of the agony and anguish that I am in. And not only that, he pleads. He pleads that Lazarus would be sent back from the dead to tell his family about this anguish that he is. And it is due them, if they don't give their lives to God because he believes that if that were to happen, that somehow they would believe and give their hearts to God. You see, Jesus tells this to give a picture for us and an understanding that when we die, we either go to the presence of God or as we'll talk about in a minute, for those who don't have faith in Jesus, that there is separation from God in a place of punishment.
You think of Luke 23:43 with the thief on the cross, where again Jesus says, today you will be with me in paradise. He didn't say, hey, no, we're going to take a little nap for 2,000 years and then you'll meet me there. He said, today you will be with me over and over and over again. Hebrews, chapter 12, Revelation 6, Revelation 7. The picture we have is that of the saints, those who have given their hearts and their lives to Jesus, being in the presence of God, finally, I also want to say that the Bible letter D does not teach the idea of annihilationism.
And this is one that I fear, honestly, that people are going to be misled by.
How many of you guys know who Kirk Cameron is? Anybody here? I'm going to age myself a little bit with some of you. Kirk Cameron was famous when I was a kid for being on the TV show Growing Pains.
And during this time in his life he was an atheist, but he ended up giving his life to the Lord. He actually made was a part of making the Left behind movies where talking about Jesus return.
And as an adult, he has basically been going around as a conservative evangelical Christian promoting children's books that point to Jesus. He's been calling for revival within the church. Like really good stuff. Until recently, he has shifted his views on eternal punishment. And this bothers me to my core. Here's what he says. He says hell is real. Okay, I can do that.
Those who don't put their faith in Jesus will go there. Yep, the Bible says that. But then he says eventually they will be burned up and just cease to exist, not be there for eternity.
And what he does to try to explain this is he says that when the Bible talks in the book of Revelation, that the second death that is talked about, he believes means that one day after you are sent to hell because you didn't believe in Jesus, that you'll experience the second death where you'll just cease to exist.
Now that's interesting because if you read the Bible, it says completely different. Matthew, chapter 25, verse 41, it's here on the screen, says clearly this is Jesus speaking about the time of judgment. He says he will say to those on his left, depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Emphasis on the word eternal. If you were to look at Revelation chapter 20 beginning in verse 10 and verse 15, this is what it says says, the devil who deceived them. This is speaking again at the end of time when God is bringing judgment on all things. The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night, forever and ever. And in verse 15 it says, anyone whose name is not found written in the book of life is thrown into the lake of fire.
Throughout Scripture we see that the idea of annihilationism is not taught. It is always spoken of punishment for those who have not followed. Christ is always spoken of in terms of Eternality.
Why is it that someone like Kirk Cameron makes a shift like this? Do you know what he said? He doesn't believe that eternal punishment.
I'm sorry. He believes that eternal punishment, punishment contradicts God's loving character and justice. Here's where I have a problem with that. Do you understand why that is such a dangerous theology?
It's dangerous because what it does is it is based more on his personal interpretation of what is suitable for God rather than what God's word teaches.
Where does this type of thinking lead?
I'll tell you where it leads. Back in 2011, there was a guy by the name of Rob Bell. He was. He was a famous pastor, author, speaker, made the big circuits. His church was Mars Hill up in Michigan, Huge megachurch, Super popular. In 2011, was at the height of kind of church fame, if you will. He was a very good teacher in terms of understanding, background and the digging down into things. But here's the problem is that he turned and he wrote this book called Love.
And when he wrote it, he claimed that one day everyone would be saved.
It's the idea of universalism, no matter how you cut it. And do you know why he believed that? What were his exact words? Because he thinks it fits the character of God's love better. It feels better.
But is that what the Bible teaches? Now this is a question that many people wrestle with. How could a loving God send people to hell?
[01:06:27] Speaker A: Hell.
[01:06:27] Speaker D: I'm not going to address it this morning. Week number three, two weeks from now, we're going to talk about that when we talk about the truth about hell and what the Bible says. But my point in this for you is clear this morning.
Your theology and what you believe to be true in all of Scripture, but about eternity, about heaven and hell, must be based on what the Bible says, not what. What feels good or right to you.
We go to God's Word to understand how he has revealed Himself to us. And in that we find the answers that we need to answer life's most difficult questions. So what do we see? We see that believers, according to the Scriptures, that when we die, we go directly to the presence of God. The Bible does not teach the doctrine of purgatory. It does not teach the doctrine of soul sleep. It does not teach the doctrine of annihilationism. But what it does teach, letter E, is that the soul of unbelievers go directly to eternal punishment.
And that is a very hard and inconvenient truth.
It causes all sorts of hard questions that we will wrestle with as we go through this series, but what I want you to catch an eye, understand this morning is that what God's word says is the most important thing for us to hold to.
So it's a big theology lesson. It's very different than what I'm used to when I'm preaching. But I think it's essential for us because not only do we need to understand what the Bible teaches across the spectrum on these issues, but we also should seek to understand the implications of the Bible's teaching about death and the impact that it has on our lives today.
And here, what I believe those implications are for us is application letter A.
The Bible teaches us this truth time and time again. Death is certain.
We live most of our lives believing that tomorrow is promised. We convince ourselves that in some ways we are immune to death coming.
We live our lives day in, day out believing that tomorrow is promised. And for some people, they don't consider their need for God. They even reject him. For others, they half heartedly do the God thing, but think there's time for me to take God seriously later.
And yet the truth of the Bible tells us, and we experience in this life day in and day out, is that our lives can be taken in the flash of an eye.
Death is certain.
One day everyone will face it.
But also letter B.
Your life is a limited time to recognize and respond to your need for God.
This should be very sobering for us as we consider death.
We have a limited amount of time that God has given to us to choose to turn our hearts back to him and to follow him, to recognize our weakness and our need for Him.
As we come face to face with our mortality. God has given us a gracious gift in death. I believe it's a reminder that we are limited and it's an opportunity for us to acknowledge our need for Him.
I'm excited to share with you that last Sunday during our Easter services, we had five people who made that decision for the first time to follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
It's exciting to see people make that decision as they come to the truth of man. This life is broken. This life doesn't give me all the things that it promises. This world, it doesn't do it.
And as hard as I try, I'm not strong enough to overcome the brokenness.
I need God. Five people made that decision. Last week. We had 16 people indicate a commitment that they want to follow Jesus more fully. This recognition of all that Christ has done for them and a desire to continue following. But even more over the last three and a half years is this church, we have seen over 200 people make a decision to follow Christ for the first time. And here's why I say this. Because, friends, I hope that it's an indicator to you that there is something that is happening, happening in our world today.
As we see the decay of the moral fabric of the society that surrounds us, and we see the world and all of its systems failing us. People are coming to Christ in droves across our country and throughout the world.
People's eyes are being opened to the brokenness of the promises that this world gives to us and recognizing that they have a deep need for God. And it's not just happening in our churches, it's happening across college campuses. Over the last many years, there have been more revivals on college campuses where people have been confessing their sin and their need for God and turning their hearts to him because they recognize this world will not give me what it promises. The lie that Satan told in the garden is still a lie today.
And yet Jesus, in his lie, love for us, didn't leave us in our hopeless state, separated from God, but was sent by God into this world to die on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin, to die in our place, that if we would put our faith in him, we could be reconciled to God, have the hope of salvation and eternity with Him.
And I venture to gather that as people across this world are having their eyes open, that there are people that are here today that have been wrestling with the truth about who God is and who Jesus is. You've been wrestling with questions about faith. You've been wrestling with the ideas of death and what will happen when I die. Maybe today is the day that you choose for the first time to yield your heart and your life to the One who loves.
He gave everything for you.
Maybe today, for some of you, is the day to make the decision to quit messing around with the Christian life and to fully follow Jesus with all of your heart.
You see, death is certain.
We have a limited time to recognize and respond to our need for God and letters. See church.
Those of you walking with Jesus daily, daily, you are surrounded by people who will spend eternity separated from God if they die.
You may say, rob, that doesn't sound new, but does the gravity of that sit on your heart?
Last summer in July, I took my sabbatical. Four weeks off.
Got away from church, got away from work. Just spent time with family, with the Lord. It was a good time.
But that first Sunday of my sabbatical while y' all were gathered here in this room worshiping together.
I decided to skip Church center and I went for a walk.
I walked out of the back of my neighborhood into Pacesetter park just to spend some time with God, talking with him, him, you know, what God showed me.
I was so overwhelmed.
The park, while church services were happening all over our city was jam packed with people from the youngest to the oldest, playing sports, doing life, running around, sitting around watching.
And as I looked at the picture that God put in front of me, I began to cry as I walked.
Because I'm in this room with you guys every single week.
It's a glorious moment to be able to worship together. And yet the Lord opened up my eyes to remind me that all around me, every single day, I'm surrounded by people that don't know Jesus.
And if they don't hear of him, if they don't surrender their hearts to him, they will spend eternity separated from Him.
And do you carry that burden in your own heart for your family, for your classmates, for your co workers, for your neighbors, for the people that God brings into your circle, wherever they may be?
Is the idea that people will spend eternity separated from God and eternal punishment, is it just something you know?
Or is it a burden that sits on your heart that they must hear?
Because church, family, there is a limited amount of time that God gives in this life.
And when you are given a great responsibility to be those who would go out and to share the good news that we have received that Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for sin, My hope and my challenge and my hope for you is that maybe you would sit here this morning say, I've heard all this stuff. I know about heaven and hell, I know what the good theology is.
But has this truth sunk so deep in your heart that you can't help but find people that don't know Jesus and tell him, because the truth is letter D, death can come at any moment.
So eternity is far closer than you think.
And the question that all of us have to wrestle with is very simple.
What will your response be?
Will it move you to the place of yielding your heart and life to him for the first time?
Will it move you to a place of saying, I'm going to choose to fully follow God? I'm not going to play the church game.
Will it move you to be bold about sharing your faith with lost people?
Let's pray as you bow your head and close your eyes.
As I mentioned, I know that there are people here this morning that have never placed their faith in Jesus.
And as you come to the place of considering the truth of eternity, that those who place their faith in Jesus will one day be with him.
For those who reject him, they will spend eternity separated from him in torment.
Maybe today is a sobering moment and a reminder of your need for God.
Maybe today would be the day that you say, today I'm going to choose to yield myself to him as I recognize that this world is not providing anything that I need that is sustaining or that will last forever. But that is what God offers.
And even more, he's proven that he loves me because he sent his son Jesus to die for me.
If you want to make that decision today, to surrender your heart to God, I just invite you right where you are to pray this prayer with me in the silence of your heart and your mind. Lord Jesus, I believe in you.
I believe in you, God.
I believe, God, that you sent Jesus into this world to die on a cross to rise again to pay the penalty for my sin so that I can be reconciled to you.
I confess to you, God, that I have sinned against you and that I have a deep need for you.
And I thank you, God, that you promise that you will forgive me of my sin. And so I ask that you would forgive me of my sin and that you would come into my life. Today. I choose to follow you.
I surrender my heart to you.
Thank you, God, for the gift of salvation that your word says is mine. Today as we continue to pray, I just want to say if you prayed that prayer this morning, there's a card that's in the pew in front of you that says, I said yes to Jesus on I'm going to ask that as a step of faith and a step of just boldly proclaiming what you've done, that you would fill out that card today. And at the close of our service, our prayer team will be here at the front. Bring them that card. Let them celebrate with you the decision you made. We're excited about that. But we especially would love to give you a Bible that we've purchased specially for you. Devotional materials that can help you as you journey in your relationship with God. I would invite you to come and say celebrate that with us.
But also I just want to say, church family, I know that there are many here as we consider the truth of eternity, that we need it to motivate us to live differently. And I just want to pray this over you today.
Father, I pray that for those of us who have placed our faith and trust in your son, Jesus Christ, we thank you and we worship you and we praise your holy name for what you you have done for us through him and through his sacrifice.
But Lord, we pray that you would burden our hearts for people that don't know you.
That we would recognize that tomorrow is not promised, not just for us, but for others.
And so Lord, would you create within us a burning desire and passion to see the people that you have placed all around us that don't know you. Would you help us, Father, to go to them and to share the good news of your son, what you have done in our lives and what you can do in theirs. And we will trust you, Father, for the work that you will do to bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus, but burden our hearts, God. And we pray all of this to the glory of your name. In Jesus name, Amen.
[01:20:26] Speaker F: How great the chasm that lay between us.
How high the mountain I could not climb.
In desperation inspiration, I turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night.
Then through the darkness, your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul.
The work is finished, the end is written.
Jesus Christ, my living hope.
Who could imagine so great a mercy?
What heart could fathom fathom such boundless grace?
The God of ages stepped down from glory.
To wear my sin and bear my shame.
The cross has spoken, I am forgiven.
[01:21:56] Speaker A: The King, King of Kings calls me his own
[01:22:03] Speaker F: beautiful Savior.
[01:22:06] Speaker A: I'm yours forever.
[01:22:10] Speaker F: Jesus Christ, my living hope.
[01:22:17] Speaker A: Hallelujah.
Praise the one who sent me from free.
Hallelujah.
Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope.
Hallelujah.
Praise the one who. Who set me free.
Hallelujah.
Death has lost its grip on me.
You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope.
[01:23:13] Speaker F: Then came came the morning that sealed the promise.
Your buried body began to breathe out of the silence.
The roaring lion declared. The grave has no claim on me.
Then came the morning that sealed the promise.
[01:23:46] Speaker A: Your very body began to breathe out of the silence.
[01:23:56] Speaker B: The roaring lion declared. The grave has no claim on me.
[01:24:07] Speaker F: Jesus.
[01:24:07] Speaker A: Yours is the victory.
Oh Hallelujah.
Praise the one who set me free.
Hallelujah.
Death has lost its grip on me. You. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope.
Hallelujah.
Praise the one who set me free.
Hallelujah.
Death has lost its grip on you, have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope.
Hallelujah.
Praise the one who set me free.
Hallelujah.
Cast its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope.
Jesus Christ, my living hope.
O God, you are my living hope.
[01:25:53] Speaker B: Amen.
[01:25:56] Speaker C: Amen.
[01:25:57] Speaker D: God is so good, is he not?
He is our living hope. And again, I would just say if you place your faith in Jesus today as your Lord and Savior, our prayer team up here would love the opportunity to talk with you, pray with you, give you a small gift of the Bible. And so I just invite you to come if you have any other prayer needs as well. They would love that opportunity to minister you today. So I'd invite you to come forward at the close of our service.
Just a reminder as well that we do have our new people party happening in just a few minutes over in the refinery, so we invite you to come join us as well. Lastly, church, as you go out, death is certain, but in a very strange way, it is a gift that God has given us to remind us of our need for him, but to remind us as well that time is short.
And so go out and share the good news of Jesus with those that he has placed in your circle and trust him to do the work to bring their hearts to Him. God bless you as you serve him this week. We'll see you next Sunday,
[01:27:06] Speaker A: Ra.
