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May 6, 2020 2:00 am
Do you remember your parents waking you up, saying, "Rise and shine"? Jesus too will call everyone who has died to rise up. In the message "What's Next...for Everyone!" Skip explains that some will rise up to suffer, and some will rise up to shine.
This teaching is from the series What's Next?.
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You know that no one is in heaven, nor ever will be in heaven who is not born again.
Jesus said, unless you are born-again you will never see the kingdom of God is not a brand of Christian belief. It is Christian belief and new birth is what leads to this new life is no way that I have asked you. I know you're all alive kind of life do you have Jesus is the only one who can give us true life. Listen to this quote by JI Packer game. Should we have in life to know God. What is the eternal life of Jesus. Get to know God. What is the best thing to know God today on connect with skip-Skip share some crucial truths concerning your future, encouraging you to lean on God when you're unsure what the first Skip was loved by you to check out an exciting project from his wife like it's hard to make sense out of everything going on in the world. That's why I'm excited to announce the launch of my wife Lenny is podcast called all the things journey with Lenny and her cohost Lindsay, my asses in this unscripted podcast as they learn about different issues, engage in fun conversation and tackle some pretty hard hitting top subscribe to all the things today.
Whatever you listen to your pockets, then Skip here in Revelation chapter 20. As we got into the teaching with Skip if you ever think about your own death if you say no you're not alone.
Most Americans don't think much about their own death. In fact, the CBS poll revealed that most Americans spend very little if any time at all thinking about their own death in that whole three out of four Americans believe in either heaven or in hell that 75%, 66% believe in both heaven and hell. What's most fascinating to me is that of those who say they believe in heaven and hell 82% expect that they will end up in heaven at the end of their lives were is only 2% actually state. They believe they would end up in hell. It is a difficult thing to think about is not an easy or palatable subject to talk about death. Why should I do that I'm too busy living my life. However, there is a growing trend of people gathering together to face that inevitable topic of their own death. In fact, there are so-called death dinners where people will gather together over dinner to talk about death. I think you might lose your appetite doing that. There are also things called death salons where you will discuss death of her craft beer and death caf�s where you talk about death over tea and cakes, and there are now over 100 cities in America that features such establishments.
Not only that but the trend is beginning to spread online with the popular YouTube series I found called ask a mortician.
The ideas that you write and you send in a question for a mortician will answer your question via a video tell you about what death is like and what the process of embalming and other things like that are like and there are even courses you can take in college now that it one time never even appeared as an option.
Now they are an option courses on fan ontology or death and dying. You say who would sign up for such a class while at Rutgers University in New Jersey. They offered the first class on death and dying and they had to close it off at 100 students because 400 almost instantaneously signed up for were fascinated with the subject and I think it's a good thing to talk about. I think it's a good thing to think about because when we asked the question, what's next. That might be the answer for some of us because we don't know when or where death could happen will Revelation chapter 20 is what I call life boiled down to its irreducible minimum is the smallest common denominator. It's a set of experiences that are common to everyone when life is stripped down to its bare essentials when everything else is taken away. Every other experience is what you have left. We all live we all die. We will all be raised to be evaluated.
That's life boiled down to its basic components. In Revelation 20. We have two scenes, two separate scenes that take place a thousand years apart from one another with two different groups at the same time the experiences are common experience. So in verse four we read about the souls who were beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, and they live in they rain for a thousand years. During what we discussed last time we were together in the series.
The millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ.
So even after they die their souls continue to live, awaiting the resurrection, so they lived. They died, they will be raised and they will be rewarded a few verses down a thousand years later, it all happens over again, this time with a different group or group of unbelievers called the dead. In this passage there alive for some period of time in history, but they all die for a number of reasons. Natural causes old age, heart attack, stroke, cancer, or murder. Whatever it might be death occurs.
So they lived. They died and they will be raised to be sentenced by God and eternal judgment. So will look at these three experiences and discuss them based on on this section of Scripture. Let's look at the Scripture to begin with verse four of Revelation 20.
John writes in I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them and that I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands and they live and reign with Christ for a thousand years, but the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he was part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ shall reign with him a thousand years, so a thousand years transpires because in verse seven it says now when the thousand years had expired and the verses following that tell us about a rebellion that will occur in the End of Days don't have enough time to discuss that as well go down to verse 11 then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them and I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life and the dead were judged according to their works, by the things written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them and they were judged, each one according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. So a common experience for everyone. Everyone lives.
I know this is one of the statements and make a goat it's such an elementary statement, but these two groups live very different lives in verse four. They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, so it's a group of people who receive a resurrected body and live and rule reign with Jesus during the millennial kingdom. Verse five the rest of the dead, which is spoken about beginning in verse 11, did not live again until the thousand years were finished. So these are groups of people that have physical life, followed by death, followed by a resurrection. Now it might help for you to understand that when the Bible uses the term life there are one of three words that he uses so we have only one word to describe it so is translated when we read it in the Bible, life but in the Greek language in the New Testament, there are three different words. Listen to to to the mall. Number one is the word Diaz or if you want to pronounce it BIOS because it's where we get the term biology and attorney Diaz is a word that references biological, physical life is life focused on the externals which is by the way, were more people. Most people spend their attention their energy and their money how I look up all asked a group of people. If you could change one thing about your life what would it be the most common answer. My parents want to change the way we look, body weight, hairstyle, the way her face has a certain feature or whatever might be its appearance. Job didn't know of a conversation going on behind the scenes between God and Satan and Satan in Job chapter 2 made a statement that I believe is a true statement. He said to God's skin for skin. All that a man has will he give for his life. Most people spend their lives just on those externals and the routines of biological life. I was always interested in this illustration I heard years ago about precession area caterpillars.
It's this kind of caterpillar that will follow another caterpillar in line if you line them up, head to tail.
They just go around in circles and they keep going.
So, experiments were done placing these caterpillars on the rim of a clay pot and they put a plan in the middle of the pot of food source.
These precession area caterpillars went round and round and round and round and round till all of them died from exhaustion and starvation, not one broke ranks to get a piece of that little plant which would've been its food source. There are some people to live their lives like that to go round and round and round going to all the same routines not really giving thought to much else.
That's the word Diaz life biological and external life, but there's a second word used to describe life in the Bible is the term Sue K. Sue K is where we get our word psychiatry or psychology.
This is the inner life.
This refers to the personality. That's what we think and Jesus use this term when he said if you want to save your life. You must lose your life you must surrender your life so you see, you can be alive physically but tormented mentally you go through all the routines yet a nice meal. Everything is good today but there's no real peace of mind to listen to the third term, and that's important because it's a term that is mentioned here in the text is not the term Diaz. It is not the term Sue cade is the terms so way for life. So way so I is a theological term so way is a term that shifts the focus off of the earthbound and onto the internal and by the way the Bible uses that term 143 times in the New Testament when you think of life when this is eternal life or everlasting life.
It is the word so way.
By the way, it doesn't just mean to live on and on and on the future is rather a quality of life that we enjoy in now and into the future Jesus, that whoever believes in me hears my words and believes the one who sent me has present tense has everlasting life.
Now look at verse 15 anyone found not written in the book of life. He said term life that's the word so way not be snuffed. Sue K but so way the book of life.
How does this kind of life happen. Jesus told Nicodemus new life happens by a new birth. Jesus said you have to be born again right now. I've had so maybe it was that we you know I am a Christian but I'm not one of those born again once. Is there any other kind.
All yes you know there's many denominations within there's the born-again Kino.
Do you know that no one is in heaven, nor ever will be in heaven who is not born-again. That's what Jesus said unless you are born-again you will never see the kingdom of God, so is not a brand of Christian belief. It is Christian belief and new birth is what leads to this new life this so way so there's the question I have to ask you. I know you're all alive.
But what kind of life do you have what you enjoy. I know you a biological life.
I can see that. But what about mental life. What's going on on the inside give peace of mind and more than that you have the spiritual component of life. Are you up recessionary caterpillar going round and round up and down go to work go home. Breathe the nice meal. Happy time go and I just keep going was or something else. Another component everyone lives second basic truth, everyone dies. I know I'm sounding elementary again, but remember that pole that I quoted the beginning most Americans don't think about their own death. So let's think about.
Let's look at it, even though most Americans don't want to talk about it. The Bible talks about a 394 times fact the seminal passage will be familiar with it.
Ecclesiastes chapter 3.
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die, and it's been well said over and over and over again, even by me that the statistics on death are quite remarkable. Everyone out of one die every so far every person is been born guys I know there are exceptions though, is it what about Elijah. He was okay that's exception. The rule is its appointed and the men once to die, and after this the judgment. The statistics are thus two people die every second 102 people die every minute. 6136 people die every hour. Now the way it's going because there is such an exponential growth of humanity on the earth.
This is posing a problem, especially in great cities where overtime people of migrated from country living to city life and what what strain that puts on the city is that we don't have any place to bury them. And it's such a strain on cities around the world.
I read several articles about this that to manage the death problem they're talking either about mandating cremation or grave recycling that sounds kinda spooky.net grave recycling is where they exhume the body that is been buried out of the ground. The hole deeper place that body further down using the ground above that casted to bury one or two other people so you would share your grave with what you become very close after death as follows. Some people actually deny death. I know that sounds bizarre but I was looking on television at a special it was called eternal life, subtitled the battle against aging. I smile at that. Because, as anybody ever won that battle. But they the television special spoke about people who don't accept aging they don't accept death and they try to counteracted by a number of things including plastic surgery in the way bad and they think it looks normal and good and their friends don't say anything because of their friends or I think all cryonics where you freeze the head or the body for a pretty hefty price.
You have a disease so you get flash frozen, and then you get thought out sometime down the line couple hundred years or so and sciences developed a cure for your disease. The file you out. You go on living. They even interviewed in this television special three people who believe they were immortal.
They look right in the camera and they said they were going to die.
These were Christians speaking in spiritual terms.
They said they were immortal, they were pretty young looking pretty good looking, but as I as as I heard him say that I said in my mind I want to see you in 25 years say the same thing but you can't say you heard it said before, there's only two things that are inevitable. What are the death and taxes right somebody heard, then said, that may be true but death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets I like. But actually, death can get worse.
Death gets worse when you die, but aren't prepared for meeting your creator. If you are not prepared and ready to meet him. That's when death gets worse. Its appointed and every man to die once, but after this the judgment.
The Bible tells us.
So what is it all mean to us in the very least, it should mean we should be prepared. We should get ready somebody was able why should I get prepared.
Because once you die it's all over.
Oh no, it's not.
That's the fallacy that the Bible corrects it's not over you only just begun is the very beginning.
Jesus told the story and it wasn't a parable by the way, it was a story of two men who died one after death was in a place of comfort. One was in a place of torment.
Jesus said, and his soul went to the place of the dead in Hades there in torment, he cried out.
I am tormented in this flame. There was a consciousness after death and that store, make no mistake, every person lives forever somewhere. The question is where this bothered one man greatly when he got into an auto accident with his own car any went off in offramp and his car plunged into a gas station pole sign of a gas station and it was a Shell gas station and the impact of the card shard that sign so severely that the S fell off the sign that said shell. It also rendered him unconscious. Can you imagine the horror when he woke up and looked up and he saw those bright letters in hell open 24 hours. Sadly, it is open 24 hours.
Sadly, it accepts new occupants constantly over 6000 people die every hour. One only wonders the percentage of those who go to heaven.
Then the percentage of those who go to hell.
Basic reality than everyone lives. Everyone dies. And here's 1/3 and final one, everyone rises wrote Revelation 20 shows two resurrection separated by a thousand years.
When a person dies. The body decays, but the soul continues to live on in a conscious state one day that soul would be reunited to that physical body that will be renewed. Restore with new capabilities like Jesus own body. That's one of Skip's messages from now we want to share about an exciting recent that should some critical light on the origins of marriage and the family.
The book of Genesis contains Bible stories that you know that there is deep spiritual significance in each of those stories creations to discover how much God loves his creation. Now he considers his crowning achievement in this very first we find out once. We want to help you uncover greater significance by cityscape height, you can understand just freshly deeper understanding stories for the very foundation scanned the book of Genesis are with your generous gift of $35 or more to help expand the vital teaching outbreak of skintight so-called out to get your copy of this site will hundred 9218 can also get on my secure connectwithskip.com/many people don't want to think about 10th for the believer isn't the end through the cross, Jesus made a way for you to spend eternity with him and we want to share that kidney people all over the world to your gift today your help keep these difficult teachings on the air some more people like you can hear the life-changing message of the gospel. So please come now to Kenneth 890 to 1819 to 18 connect.com/Doni.com/donate. Thank you and into month high. 2 cups of the guesswork on heaven and hope to have a more biblical idea of the after every single person will go somewhere someone to one place or another place and I can only think that this in advance of the great white throne judgment will be a shock to some people, Jesus and so Skip presentation of connection communication through