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The Christian life is one of repeatedly encountering the patience of God. Perhaps the one area of our lives that we are most reluctant to yield over to God’s sovereign control is our death. Yet, even here, we will find God’s grace and patience to reveal His glory.
Observations:
- God knows
- Your life and your death are designed to glorify God
- God will give you the grace you need when you need it
- Jesus is coming again
- Until that day, we need to keep telling the story
- The path to the grave and through the grave is found by following Jesus
Conclusions:
- Your death matters
- The deaths of other believers are influencing your life
- To give your life to Jesus, is also to give your death to Jesus
Application:
- Step up
- Give your death to Jesus
- Die while following Jesus
Psalm 139:16b
“All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Psalm 116:15
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants.”
Psalm 91:11-13
“For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.”
Deuteronomy 32:39
“See now that I myself am he! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.”
Job 1:21
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
1 Peter 4:16
“However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.”
John 14:3
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
Psalm 23:4
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
1 Corinthians 15:55-58
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
Romans 14:7-8
“For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”
Hebrews 11:13 & 39-40
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth… These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”
Philippians 1:12-14
“Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.”
Mark 8:35
“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
Revelation 1:17-18
“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”
1 John 4:16-18
“Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”