As a church, we've learned a lot about death over these last 6 weeks- how we should look at death as gain, embrace aging and suffering, the importance of grieving, and how to live our lives in light of our future death. It's been a...
This past weekend as we wrapped up our winter series, "A Theology of Death," Matt briefly talked about what happens after we die and the intermediate state as well as Jesus' return and the new heaven and new earth. We showed this graphic during the service...
This past weekend, we wrapped up our winter series, A Theology of Death. Along the way, there was a great deal of content to take in from the various teachings. We learned that rather than being a great unmentionable, death provides us opportunity to glean...
In this final week of the Theology of Death series, Matt Williams began by recapping where we’ve been regarding the topic, reminding us that death is not a matter to be ignored, but rather one that should be integrated into our daily thinking. This week,...
Hope is a glorious grace to which blessed effects are ascribed in the Scriptures, and is effective in the support and consolation of believers. By it, are we purified, sanctified, saved; to sum up the whole of its excellency and efficacy, it is a principal...
1 I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. 2 Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath! 3 Death wrapped its ropes around me; the terrors of the grave overtook me. I saw only trouble and sorrow. 4 Then...
Losing someone you love can be difficult. You may feel like there aren't many people who can understand the deep hurt you currently feel. This can be a confusing time when you feel isolated and have many questions about things you've never faced before. If you've...
Praise for Judgment and Salvation 1 O Lord, I will honor and praise your name, for you are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now you have accomplished them. 2 You turn mighty cities into heaps of ruins. Cities with strong walls are turned to rubble. Beautiful...
Paul is writing 2 Timothy from prison knowing that his death is imminent. This weekend, as we discussed what it looks like to live in light of death, we turn to what Paul has to say in 2 Timothy 4:5-8. He begins by reminding Timothy...
1 Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of...
"A good reputation is more valuable than costly perfume; and the day you die is better than the day you are born" (Eccles. 7:1). The day of a godly man's death is better than the day of his birth. This is as contrary as possible...
The Final Judgment 11 And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. 12 I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And...
For the choir director: A psalm of David. 1 I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and...
Jesus Predicts His Death 20 Some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration 21 paid a visit to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. They said, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus.” 22 Philip told Andrew about it, and they went together...
In the course of the last one hundred years, perhaps no one has had a more profound impact on our culture’s understanding and treatment of grief than researcher and psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. Having researched the grieving process through the experience of family members and patients...
Death is a dramatically spiritual and critically important topic to address and each of us will become personally acquainted with it at some point in our lives. In the midst of the great confusion, fear, and pain around this topic, Scripture offers us guidance for...
Paul Meets the Ephesian Elders 13 Paul went by land to Assos, where he had arranged for us to join him, while we traveled by ship. 14 He joined us there, and we sailed together to Mitylene. 15 The next day we sailed past the island...
Bereavement is a universal experience. Grieving is not a fault or a problem; it is a healthy process. Cultures accept it as normal, creating mourning rituals to help people deal with death. Christians, like others, should expect to grieve, just as godly people in biblical...
Comfort is not desirable only as it pleases us, but also as it strengthens us, and helps us in our greatest duties. And when is it more needful than in sickness, and the approach of death? I shall therefore add such directions as are necessary...
1 I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he comes to set up his Kingdom: 2 Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently...
A prayer of Moses, the man of God. 1 Lord, through all the generations you have been our home! 2 Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God. 3 You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust,...
The Raising of Lazarus 1 A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. 2 This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick....
In week three of our continuing series on A Theology of Death, Matt Williams taught through the often difficult reality that none of us are getting younger. How do the ideas of aging and suffering couple with our call as believers to grow in a...
By Chrystie Cole “It’s my body and no one has a right to tell me what I can or can’t do with it.” This is the foundational argument behind many of today’s most heated topics such as abortion, suicide, and death with dignity (the right to...
The Resurrection Body 35 But someone may ask, “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?” 36 What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. 37 And...