BIBLES * Bulldogs * & Beards

V2 - In Hope. In Christ, Christian have the blessed Hope. Does that mean a blessed maybe, or a blessed perhaps? What assurance does the Christian have that God will do what He says He will do? So, absolute assurance based on the Word of God.

How can Christian’s practice Christ’s presence in the time of death? - Remember the unbreakable promises of God.

2.To prepare for death we must remember the many blessings of the world to come. Hebrews 12:23 - and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, “What a privilege to come to that assembly of saints.” So Pastor, Heaven is an assembly of Christians - isn’t that what church is? Why would someone that calls themselves a Christian but does not go to church want to go to Heaven?

3.To prepare for death we must learn to live now in the knowledge that this world is temporary.

1 Corinthians 7:31- and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. (passing away/death) Is the world as we know it, dying?

As we get older we go it seems that I go to more & more funerals. Shouldn’t every funeral that we see are remind people that today is the day of salvation?

1 Corinthians 15:31b - I die every day! Do you think that Paul said, “I die daily,” because every day he deliberately put his life in jeopardy for the cause of Jesus Christ? Spurgeon quote: “To die daily, it will be necessary that you come every day, just as you did at conversion, to the cross of Christ, as a poor guilty sinner, and rest in Him. … Methinks, dear friends, this is the way to die daily; and if you can always live as an empty sinner filled with the fullness of Christ, as a lost sinner saved wholly by a precious Saviour, you are then fit to live and fit to die.” Is it possible for the lost to “die daily”? Spurgeon quote, “In order that a man should be willing to die daily he must be a saved man, he must have his sins forgiven, and he must know it by infallible assurance, or else death will be to him of all things the most terrible.” Those who are in Christ can smile at death and rest in the peace of God.

1 Corinthians 13:12 - For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. We have a lot of (silly) questions about Heaven, but what should Christians focus on?

Jesus divides, whe re do you stand? Christians have been set free from the bondage of sin and the fear of death, the lost do not. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone, standing on Scripture alone.

CHRISTIANS HAVE THE UNMISTAKABLE PEACE OF GOD, the lost do not.

103 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 15 As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. 17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and His righteousness to children's children, 18 to those who keep His covenant and remember to do His commandments. 19 The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/biblebulldog0/message