Exploring Life After Death: Hope and Eternity
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "I don't care how much money you have. I don't care how much success you have. I don't care how nice your house is and sweet your ride is. This pales in comparison to what we're going to experience one day. As a follower of Jesus, we should live with an excitement inside of us. You know what that does? That helps when you have to deal with the crying and the pain and the mourning and the death in this life. And I know that when I walk through something really hard, and we will walk through stuff that's hard in this life, it is a broken world, cursed by sin. There is death. There's pain. There's disease. There's cancer. There's surgery. There's loss. There's grief. There's disappointment. All of that exists in this life. But the one thing that Paul said is, we do not go through this life, and we do not grieve the way the world grieves, but there's a hope inside of us, and that hope is not just that I don't end up in a bad place, but that hope is that I get to experience a surreal eternity with Jesus." [01:16:07]
2. "But as you get a little bit older. And you can ask anybody here. That's lived. Ask your parents. Ask your grandparents. They're going to tell you. Life goes really fast. And the older you get. The more finite your life feels. The more fragile it feels. The more you start to think about. What happens after death. Now there's. There's a common view. That is held. I want to say. At least here in the western world. Primarily I'll just mention America. But there's. There's a common view. About what happens to us. After we die. Okay. Whether people believe it or not. This is kind of what is purported. And that is. That we all end up. At one of two destinations. Right. This is kind of the common. Kind of underlying. You don't even. It's not even spoken. But everybody kind of. Makes jokes about it. Is that we either end up. In heaven. Or we end up where. Hell. There's just two options." [40:06]
3. "You know what we discover is we don't know a whole lot about death. We really don't. And so they've been studying brains and neurological activity and things with people when they die. And they're being shocked by the data. What they're discovering is that the moment people die. Now how do you classify death? Well, back in the 50s. It kind of became adopted. That when you go into cardiac arrest. That was considered dying. Like when your heart stops beating. That would be when they would say time of death. When they could not revive the heart. Okay. But that's not just the end in that moment. But as blood would stop flowing freely to the brain. What they anticipate should happen is that the activity of the brain should shut down. Guess what they're discovering? They're discovering this. As they get opportunities to monitor. They're discovering that actually. Activity in the brain is lighting up. That for several minutes. We're talking up to four plus minutes. After someone is legally considered dead. Heart not beating. That they're discovering all kinds of activity. And things that are firing in the brain. And so it's causing. Even in the world of science. People to question. Do we understand everything we need to know about death?" [38:06]
4. "Come on, isn't that beautiful? You know, we believe that church is not just a place to go attend, but it is a source of life. That God is always transforming people and I'm so excited to be part of this community. And I just want to welcome you if you are new. My name is Tim and I have the honor of getting to lead this church. And we've been kind of in a series for the last several weeks talking about the end. The end of the world. The end of the book of the Bible. The book of the Bible called Revelation. We've been talking about the end times. And so if you are stepping into this space today or just recently, I'm just going to tell you, you missed a whole lot. And so I want to encourage you, you can go watch all the messages or stream them if you would love to catch up on this. But can I just ask a question? Has this series been helpful for any of you at all? Has it been helpful?" [35:04]
5. "I want you to think about the most beautiful place on earth. Just imagine the most beautiful place on earth for a moment. I don't know what it is for you. It could be the rolling hills of the, of Germany's countryside. It could be. The vast and majestic mountains in Colorado where the trees, the evergreens or the different trees also begin to change colors in the fall if you've ever been there, going through Vail. I don't know what it is. It could be the beaches of Fiji with the soft sand and the crystal clear blue water. The tropic environment of Hawaii. I don't know what it could be. It could be the beautiful cliffs of New Zealand. I want you to think about the most beautiful place on earth. I want you to think about the most beautiful breathtaking scene that you've ever seen here on earth. And I want you to imagine for a moment that God used up all of his creativity on this temporary earth. That doesn't make sense to me. And imagine the, the most savory foods you've ever tasted. The richest and sweetest strawberries that you've ever tried. The most ripe grape. The creamiest ice cream you've ever had. That God's ever made on this earth. I want you to think about it. Think about the ingredients that God has given us to create some of the magical meals that we have had here on earth. And imagine again that God gave the best to the temporary experiment that we call humans living on earth." [01:10:19]
### Quotes for Members
1. "Then I saw a new heaven. And a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And there was no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, this new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with them. They will be his people and God himself. We'll be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away." [56:35]
2. "I don't care how much good you do for the rest of your life, how much good I do. I do not want to take that chance. What I want to do is receive what Jesus did for me. So if you bow your heads with me, just close your eyes for just a moment. God, I pray for those here in this moment that maybe are feeling this. killing you, drawing them to make a decision right now. Listen, we don't do this out of fear, but we do it out as an invitation. I love that invitation in Revelation 22, 17. For those who are thirsty, the invitation, come, receive the free gift of the water of life. That is the source of Jesus's life inside of you, wants to bring life to your dead mortal body. Sin destroys, but the gift of God through Jesus brings life." [01:20:02]
3. "I think sometimes. Sometimes as followers of Jesus, we live so temporary minded that we think we're living our best life now. No, you're not. You're not living your best. But only it's going to be better. And it's going to taste better. And smell better. And you're going to feel something more deeply than you've ever felt before. I believe there's going to be a return to an Edenic state that God intended for us. That is going to be the most incredible thing you've ever experienced. Imagine harmony with all of God's creation. Imagine there's not fear with animals. And we get to. What do we get to do? We get to swing through the canopies with monkeys and chimps. Or we get to soar with eagles to mountain peaks. Or we get to run in the forest with jaguars. Or take a nap in a den of lions. Because there is no evil. There's no curse. It is just a beautiful Edenic state. And imagine we have new glorified bodies. And these bodies do not break down. And they don't ache when you get up." [01:12:35]
4. "Here's what I know. In this life, we are offered a free gift. It's free to us, but it was not free to God. The gift of eternity with him. With him his son, Jesus. We think about these two places and destinations, and I don't know if you've thought about it. Maybe you've been thinking about it recently. The truth is this. We can live with a confidence and an anticipation to say, come, when we know that we have surrendered our life to the Lordship of Jesus. When we don't just mentally believe in him, but we, with everything in us, we place our life in his hands and our future in his hands. When we believe in the work that he did for us on the cross, here's the most beautiful thing. You can live with that hope every day. I don't know about you, but I'm kind of excited about eternity when I think about it like that. Anybody else? I'm excited about that." [01:17:42]
5. "Is God there? Is God real? I've got doubts. I'm not sure. And I love what happens as John sees this new heaven and earth. There's a voice that comes from the throne that says, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people. That God is going to live with us. We're going to be with God. And can I just tell you, it is going to usher in us to the most amazing future you could ever imagine. No more guessing. You know what? You won't need faith anymore. You don't need faith anymore. You have God. You'll be right there. And what John describes happens when God lives with mankind is, can I tell you some of the best news that we have to think about when we think about this? When we think about the future. He says, there is no more crying. I will wipe away every tear. There's no more death. There's no more pain. There's no more mourning. Can you imagine a world without those things? We cannot even imagine, can we? Because all of us, all we have ever known is a world of pain, haven't we?" [01:05:18]
6. "I don't have time but I'll try to paint a picture as John does. This is what John sees. He says in chapter 21 verse 1, Then I saw a new heaven. And a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And there was no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, this new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with them. They will be his people and God himself. We'll be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away." [56:35]
7. "I don't care how much good you do for the rest of your life, how much good I do. I do not want to take that chance. What I want to do is receive what Jesus did for me. So if you bow your heads with me, just close your eyes for just a moment. God, I pray for those here in this moment that maybe are feeling this. killing you, drawing them to make a decision right now. Listen, we don't do this out of fear, but we do it out as an invitation. I love that invitation in Revelation 22, 17. For those who are thirsty, the invitation, come, receive the free gift of the water of life. That is the source of Jesus's life inside of you, wants to bring life to your dead mortal body. Sin destroys, but the gift of God through Jesus brings life." [01:20:02]
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "I don't care how much money you have. I don't care how much success you have. I don't care how nice your house is and sweet your ride is. This pales in comparison to what we're going to experience one day. As a follower of Jesus, we should live with an excitement inside of us. You know what that does? That helps when you have to deal with the crying and the pain and the mourning and the death in this life. And I know that when I walk through something really hard, and we will walk through stuff that's hard in this life, it is a broken world, cursed by sin. There is death. There's pain. There's disease. There's cancer. There's surgery. There's loss. There's grief. There's disappointment. All of that exists in this life. But the one thing that Paul said is, we do not go through this life, and we do not grieve the way the world grieves, but there's a hope inside of us, and that hope is not just that I don't end up in a bad place, but that hope is that I get to experience a surreal eternity with Jesus." [01:16:07]
2. "But as you get a little bit older. And you can ask anybody here. That's lived. Ask your parents. Ask your grandparents. They're going to tell you. Life goes really fast. And the older you get. The more finite your life feels. The more fragile it feels. The more you start to think about. What happens after death. Now there's. There's a common view. That is held. I want to say. At least here in the western world. Primarily I'll just mention America. But there's. There's a common view. About what happens to us. After we die. Okay. Whether people believe it or not. This is kind of what is purported. And that is. That we all end up. At one of two destinations. Right. This is kind of the common. Kind of underlying. You don't even. It's not even spoken. But everybody kind of. Makes jokes about it. Is that we either end up. In heaven. Or we end up where. Hell. There's just two options." [40:06]
3. "You know what we discover is we don't know a whole lot about death. We really don't. And so they've been studying brains and neurological activity and things with people when they die. And they're being shocked by the data. What they're discovering is that the moment people die. Now how do you classify death? Well, back in the 50s. It kind of became adopted. That when you go into cardiac arrest. That was considered dying. Like when your heart stops beating. That would be when they would say time of death. When they could not revive the heart. Okay. But that's not just the end in that moment. But as blood would stop flowing freely to the brain. What they anticipate should happen is that the activity of the brain should shut down. Guess what they're discovering? They're discovering this. As they get opportunities to monitor. They're discovering that actually. Activity in the brain is lighting up. That for several minutes. We're talking up to four plus minutes. After someone is legally considered dead. Heart not beating. That they're discovering all kinds of activity. And things that are firing in the brain. And so it's causing. Even in the world of science. People to question. Do we understand everything we need to know about death?" [38:06]
4. "Come on, isn't that beautiful? You know, we believe that church is not just a place to go attend, but it is a source of life. That God is always transforming people and I'm so excited to be part of this community. And I just want to welcome you if you are new. My name is Tim and I have the honor of getting to lead this church. And we've been kind of in a series for the last several weeks talking about the end. The end of the world. The end of the book of the Bible. The book of the Bible called Revelation. We've been talking about the end times. And so if you are stepping into this space today or just recently, I'm just going to tell you, you missed a whole lot. And so I want to encourage you, you can go watch all the messages or stream them if you would love to catch up on this. But can I just ask a question? Has this series been helpful for any of you at all? Has it been helpful?" [35:04]
5. "I want you to think about the most beautiful place on earth. Just imagine the most beautiful place on earth for a moment. I don't know what it is for you. It could be the rolling hills of the, of Germany's countryside. It could be. The vast and majestic mountains in Colorado where the trees, the evergreens or the different trees also begin to change colors in the fall if you've ever been there, going through Vail. I don't know what it is. It could be the beaches of Fiji with the soft sand and the crystal clear blue water. The tropic environment of Hawaii. I don't know what it could be. It could be the beautiful cliffs of New Zealand. I want you to think about the most beautiful place on earth. I want you to think about the most beautiful breathtaking scene that you've ever seen here on earth. And I want you to imagine for a moment that God used up all of his creativity on this temporary earth. That doesn't make sense to me. And imagine the, the most savory foods you've ever tasted. The richest and sweetest strawberries that you've ever tried. The most ripe grape. The creamiest ice cream you've ever had. That God's ever made on this earth. I want you to think about it. Think about the ingredients that God has given us to create some of the magical meals that we have had here on earth. And imagine again that God gave the best to the temporary experiment that we call humans living on earth." [01:10:19]
### Quotes for Members
1. "Then I saw a new heaven. And a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And there was no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, this new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with them. They will be his people and God himself. We'll be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away." [56:35]
2. "I don't care how much good you do for the rest of your life, how much good I do. I do not want to take that chance. What I want to do is receive what Jesus did for me. So if you bow your heads with me, just close your eyes for just a moment. God, I pray for those here in this moment that maybe are feeling this. killing you, drawing them to make a decision right now. Listen, we don't do this out of fear, but we do it out as an invitation. I love that invitation in Revelation 22, 17. For those who are thirsty, the invitation, come, receive the free gift of the water of life. That is the source of Jesus's life inside of you, wants to bring life to your dead mortal body. Sin destroys, but the gift of God through Jesus brings life." [01:20:02]
3. "I think sometimes. Sometimes as followers of Jesus, we live so temporary minded that we think we're living our best life now. No, you're not. You're not living your best. But only it's going to be better. And it's going to taste better. And smell better. And you're going to feel something more deeply than you've ever felt before. I believe there's going to be a return to an Edenic state that God intended for us. That is going to be the most incredible thing you've ever experienced. Imagine harmony with all of God's creation. Imagine there's not fear with animals. And we get to. What do we get to do? We get to swing through the canopies with monkeys and chimps. Or we get to soar with eagles to mountain peaks. Or we get to run in the forest with jaguars. Or take a nap in a den of lions. Because there is no evil. There's no curse. It is just a beautiful Edenic state. And imagine we have new glorified bodies. And these bodies do not break down. And they don't ache when you get up." [01:12:35]
4. "Here's what I know. In this life, we are offered a free gift. It's free to us, but it was not free to God. The gift of eternity with him. With him his son, Jesus. We think about these two places and destinations, and I don't know if you've thought about it. Maybe you've been thinking about it recently. The truth is this. We can live with a confidence and an anticipation to say, come, when we know that we have surrendered our life to the Lordship of Jesus. When we don't just mentally believe in him, but we, with everything in us, we place our life in his hands and our future in his hands. When we believe in the work that he did for us on the cross, here's the most beautiful thing. You can live with that hope every day. I don't know about you, but I'm kind of excited about eternity when I think about it like that. Anybody else? I'm excited about that." [01:17:42]
5. "Is God there? Is God real? I've got doubts. I'm not sure. And I love what happens as John sees this new heaven and earth. There's a voice that comes from the throne that says, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people. That God is going to live with us. We're going to be with God. And can I just tell you, it is going to usher in us to the most amazing future you could ever imagine. No more guessing. You know what? You won't need faith anymore. You don't need faith anymore. You have God. You'll be right there. And what John describes happens when God lives with mankind is, can I tell you some of the best news that we have to think about when we think about this? When we think about the future. He says, there is no more crying. I will wipe away every tear. There's no more death. There's no more pain. There's no more mourning. Can you imagine a world without those things? We cannot even imagine, can we? Because all of us, all we have ever known is a world of pain, haven't we?" [01:05:18]
6. "I don't have time but I'll try to paint a picture as John does. This is what John sees. He says in chapter 21 verse 1, Then I saw a new heaven. And a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And there was no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, this new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with them. They will be his people and God himself. We'll be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away." [56:35]
7. "I don't care how much good you do for the rest of your life, how much good I do. I do not want to take that chance. What I want to do is receive what Jesus did for me. So if you bow your heads with me, just close your eyes for just a moment. God, I pray for those here in this moment that maybe are feeling this. killing you, drawing them to make a decision right now. Listen, we don't do this out of fear, but we do it out as an invitation. I love that invitation in Revelation 22, 17. For those who are thirsty, the invitation, come, receive the free gift of the water of life. That is the source of Jesus's life inside of you, wants to bring life to your dead mortal body. Sin destroys, but the gift of God through Jesus brings life." [01:20:02]
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