... -Ment enables us to live in the moment. At-One-Ment exists at the point of At-One-Moment. This is the promise of the gospel. This is the promise of John 3:16. Trusting in the atoning death of Christ on the cross brings us the experience of eternal life, of life lived with God in the “now.” That’s why I say “now” moments are God moments. What “God” moments, what “now” moments, have you already experienced in your life? The moment you knew you were in love The moment of a child’s birth The ...
... to the body, Christ is to the spirit. Without blood, the body dies. Without Jesus Christ, the spirit is dead. There is more to life than the physical. Real life is in the spiritual and that is why Jesus came. He said, "I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of." (John 10:10, MSG) That is why if you don't have the Son, you don't have life. Therefore, let me ask you a question. What are you trusting in to take you to heaven? If are trusting in… Baptism ...
... there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:13-14). The basic call of Christianity tells us that we do not live alone; we are a community. Thus, we have a responsibility to assist our brothers and sisters in their efforts to find and live the recipe of eternal life. We might not think it is our job; we may be too preoccupied with ourselves and our immediate family, but Jesus' message of service to our brothers and sisters is crystal clear. While there are many paths in life, and at times we might feel we are in ...
... with God. We do not sow our present body for the future; rather we sow a seed that matures later. God will give us a body as he chooses. Then the apostle gives a series of contrasting ideas that show the difference between this life and the eternal life God has promised to those who believe and follow his pattern of life. First, he says what we have today is perishable, but in the next life all is imperishable. The finitude of this earthly life is transformed to the infinity of life eternal. All we know ...
... all along? To get to heaven after all the unpleasantness was finally over? If that's the case, why does anyone bother with living? Why don't we all just end our lives so we can go to heaven and live happily ever after? Because heaven isn't the goal. Eternal life is. Jesus' final instructions to his disciples don't even mention heaven. He doesn't tell them to go out and tell everybody how they can get to heaven. He told them to go out and teach other people about the Jesus way of living in this world. And he ...
... were all the Scriptures taught us, we would despair. But we also see another word from the Bible that blazes like the sun into our dark dungeon: "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him might not perish, but have eternal life." God loved us so much that he provided a way for us to pass from the tyranny of Death to the Kingdom of Life, the rule of God’s own beloved Son. John said of Jesus, "In him was life and the life was the light of men" (John 1 ...
... -- all of which came from that few hours Jesus spent with his disciples the day before his crucifixion. The actual story of Easter is not in these chapters. That story is told in Chapter 20. But the right word for Easter is here: verse 3 of Chapter 17: "This is eternal life that they know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent." And verse 26: "I have made known to them thy name, and I will make it known, that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." The ...
Living is a thing we do, now or never, which do you? Yesterday is a memory, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift, that’s why we call it the present. Jesus said, “What shall it profit a man to gain whole control and lose his own soul?” Life, what a wonderful four letter word. Life, what a gift. Life, what an opportunity. Life, what a trust. It is one of those things that matters in the light of eternity. I’d like to take this brief time to share with you my thoughts on living a life that really ...
... the prophet tells us to set things right (1:18), a time as Joel told us on Ash Wednesday to return to the Lord (2:13b), an opportunity as individuals and community to choose the correct path and begin to walk it toward God and eternal life. This season of grace, itself a sign in the liturgical year, is filled with special symbols that provide direction and purpose to our lives. Ashes speak of our mortality; palms allow us to walk the triumphant road with Jesus into Jerusalem. The disciplines of prayer ...
... the essence of the kind of religion that put the quality of eternity into life. It was, he said, in the whole-hearted loving of God and neighbor. I freely admit that I may be as confused as the next person about eternity and the nature of eternal life. The limitations in my understanding are highly visible to me. I am still struggling, for example, with the words of the old Sunday church school song that spoke of "when the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more." I am plagued with visions ...
... were you safe? You are safe by grace. The same way you get into the family of God is the same way you stay in the family of God, and it is all by the grace of God. But notice that eternal life is something given now. Jesus did not say "and I will give them eternal life," He said, "I give them eternal life." Eternal life is not something you get when you die, it is something you have when you believe. It is not something you will get in the sweet by-and-by, it is something you have in the nasty now-and-now ...
... said in the passage that we are going to study today. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is ... it. II. I Can Know I Have A Permanent Relationship With God Jesus goes on to say in verse 28, "And I give eternal life to them." (John 10:28, NASB) Every word of that statement is crucial to your understanding the kind of relationship that God wants ...
... Tell your best friend to cool it with the swear words. Find new ways to love and forgive friends and members of your family, beyond what is expected. Go BASE jumping with Jesus, and you will find eternal life. And even if you fall, God's Spirit and the Body of Christ are there to catch you. What would eternal life look like? I'll give you one example: Two brothers worked together on the family farm. One was married and had a large family. The other was single. At the day's end the brothers shared everything ...
... doesn’t want more joy in this life? This is the kind of life God created you to live. But joy doesn’t come from winning the biggest chunk of cheese in the rat race. Joy comes from focusing on the things that are important to God. A focus on eternal life frees us from anxiety and frees us for generosity. When we look at the life of Jesus, we don’t have to question God’s existence and His purposes anymore. God’s purpose is for you to live eternally in God’s presence, where there is peace and joy ...
... death. Jesus is not only the door to the more abundant living now, but also the door through which we go on the way to life after death. I met a man on a plane one day who, when he found out I was a minister, shared his reservations about eternal life with me. "I've been a Presbyterian church member all my life," he said, "and I've even served on our church council, but I've never been able to believe that Jesus came back to life after death or that anyone else can." As we talked, it became increasingly ...
... The risen Lord himself calls us to live in his joy now and forever. That is what it means to participate in the joy of eternal life. Easter Day presents us with an opportunity for a joyful new beginning which can enable us to make sense out of our past and to ... it is the end of life."3 Because Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead and we have through him received the gift of eternal life, we find a way up and over that wall of rock. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, ...
... is all. No reason. No reward. Just loves us. Loves you. Loves me. No matter who you are. No matter how you have lived your life. No matter how great your sins are. God loves you. Now. In this very instant. Believe it and it is yours. Believe it and eternal life is yours. Believe it and you are born again, born again with a new kind of life that triumphs even over death and the grave. In John 3:17, 18, we read: For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might ...
... My beloved, what is the “one thing” that keeps you from Jesus Christ? What is the “one thing” that keeps you from giving your life to Him today? This rich young ruler was zealous but without a knowledge of God and man. His question, What must I do to inherit eternal life? was the wrong question. He should have asked, Lord, how could a sinner like me ever stand before a holy God? It is not what I can do, but what God will do. He kept that law because you could not keep it, and when you come to Him by ...
... anything away from you; He is trying to give everything to you that really matters. When you follow Jesus you just get on the road that takes you to the greatest riches of all, the greatest wealth of all, the greatest possession of all, which is eternal life. In a way there is a cost to eternal life. You’ve got to give all that you are to all that Jesus is. Now, this young man is at a crossroads. What is he going to do? What happens in the end is why he is the biggest loser. III. Decide To Pay the Price ...
... John 4: 9-10 says, "God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice ... of God, God incarnate, who came that you might have His life when you take Him into your heart, at that moment, you have eternal life. Think about this - tomorrow morning we will awaken in our different homes with our families and we will exchange gifts. We will not wake ...
... for your sins by trusting Christ as your Savior and express your desire for Christ to be the Lord of your life. Once you know what you need to know and when you do what you need to do, then and only then you can know for sure you have eternal life. Jesus called His followers to be fishers of men. If you are a follower of Christ, that makes you an Ichthyologist. Do you know what an Ichthyologist is? It is someone who studies fish. Let me tell you one last thing I have learned about fish. There are about 30 ...
... in hell. There is no companionship in hell. There are no relationships in hell. In essence, hell is the place of eternal solitary confinement. Jesus also said hell was a place of eternal punishment. "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25:46, NASB) Hell is the only place in the universe where there is no hope. Here in this life, we can always say, "We'll get you next time" or "There is always tomorrow" or "Wait ‘til next year." In hell, there is ...
... not answer them! Leave all the rest to him; he will do all things well. It’s the person who makes the place, and gives us courage and confidence for entering that place. This is the central truth of this text and all that our Lord reveals to us of eternal life. I have an experience in mind that helps me in this regard and want to share it with you. When I was ten years old I distinguished myself one fine August day by falling headlong from one of those long, one-rope swings that boys love to rig up on ...
... life before, and he can do so again - also in your life! He can do this for everyone who truly wants to have that treasure which moths and rust do not consume and where thieves cannot break into and steal. He desires for us the treasure of eternal life in heaven, a treasure with blessings already in this life from him who has promised, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is fixed on Thee." (Isaiah 26:3) This encouragement should impel us to draw daily upon God’s word by diligently studying it ...
... God demonstrated that he loved us even more than his Son! That was a love beyond amazing! There is a word about life in this sentence: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." It speaks about the value that God, in his grace, places on each of our lives. He considers us of more value than his only Son. Such is the value of our lives to God who made us. "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn ...