What Happens to You After You Die?

So glad to be here with you. It's been a long time. Long time since I last spoke here. But it's also been a long time since the start of the church here in the Minneapolis and the Twin Cities area. I wish I could have brought my wife with me. We got close, but we still plan to take a trip to southern Minnesota.

She needs to see her half-brother, who's 93 years old, in blurs. And we have other people to see and want to visit with some of you. But not this time. She is not a gear grinder. I am for some reason. So I have my son with me, Michael, and we have enjoyed this visit and this trip up here. There are so many people to thank that I don't even want to start, because I know that people are mentioned. I have been criticized for thanking people that I miss the most obvious one, usually.

But I want to thank all the people who've hosted us, who've invited us. Thanks you for being able to speak here, the music, everything. And also for the preparation of the fantastic gear grinder. Last year, up in Two Harbors, it was just a phenomenal event. And actually, with the sermonette, it was entitled about gear grinders. And I hope that my sermon does not bother you, because the title is, What Happens to You After You Die?

I'm not kidding! There may be some connection, because there are points from Mr. Jezvold, and there'll be hopeful points from me. I do want to talk about some things, because this is a question that we have asked all ourselves. It's the question, and the title of a Beyond Today telecast, that is by far the number one listened to, or number one clicked into, Beyond Today program. And that is, What Will Happen to Me After I Die? It's got over a million and a half people who have downloaded and seen it.

When the lights go out in our life, when our bodies are lifeless, you know, where will we be? And the reason I'm talking about this sum here is because here in Minneapolis, and of course after being here and starting as I did, my first service here was in August of 1965. August of 1965 in Laidlaw Hall, 59 years ago. And I met people, saw people, some of... We have almost a brand new group here, but we have people that I have seen the children of. And it's just seeing all this proceed year after year, but changes have taken place and people have died.

People have died recently. You all know who they are, because we could mention one after another. And every time I get notification that so-and-so has died or another funeral has been performed, a sadness grips me of somebody who I had known or somebody who is a child of somebody who I have known, and it's very sad.

My father was one of the first deaths in the church in Minneapolis. This was back in 1967. He...when the church was starting here, he died. That was 57 years ago. I can hardly believe it. And on August 19th, just a few weeks ago, was the 40th anniversary of my mother's death. And many of you have remembered her, Nina Kubik. So we have these memorials, we have these memories.

They're bittersweet of people who've lived a life that we have appreciated. We also have bittersweet memories and knowledge as we study the Bible, and what does it mean, and how do we apply it? What is the truth? I think it's important for us to understand that the core of the Gospel message does revolve around an afterlife. If there is no afterlife, if there is no resurrection, what's the point? In fact, the Apostle Paul makes that very statement.

Afterlife, eternal life, and our destiny is the core understanding of the kingdom of God, and that is the resurrection. And the Apostle Paul was obsessed with that topic, and obsessed with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If there was no resurrection of Jesus Christ, we could not be resurrected. He calls it the hope of the Gospel. The Apostle Peter calls it the living hope. Now, what does resurrection mean? What does the word resurrection mean?

We break it down to three syllables, or three parts. The first part is re, which is again. Sir, that means from below, and erect to stand. So it's again from below to stand.

That is one of the main doctrines of the Church from Hebrews chapter 6, that we will again, from below, will stand. We aren't going to a heaven. We're not going to any of the popular teachings that we understand, or we won't just vanish, but we will again, from below, to stand. And I want to talk to you about this phase, this part of our life, in our existence. The Apostle Paul was continually confronted with death. Death was all around him.

In fact, he may have been resurrected even physically at a particular time from being buried under rock. But he always spoke of the fact that he was looking forward to life ahead, and this kept him very motivated. In Philippians chapter 1 and verse 12, well, verse 19, he talked about continual, continual dangers to his life. He was always assured, though, and the dangers that the Apostle Paul had were nothing. What we're going through were nothing but the dangers that the Apostle Paul had. Someone here in the opening prayer, I believe, was saying that we are thankful to God for the peace that we have. And believe me, we have peace right now in this country.

You don't know. We don't understand fully of all the horrible things that are happening in the world.

Somebody here before service decided to speak about Ukraine. Well, I don't know where to even start and begin or to end about the horrors that are happening in Ukraine that we are very much, very personally involved with. Family that have died, people who have been rocketed, people who continually, we have no knowledge about what will happen next week. What's happening in Gaza, what's happening in Israel in the Middle East? 40,000 people being killed since last October 7th when the horrible attack took place. The Apostle Paul said, I know that through your prayers and the help of the Holy Spirit, this will turn out for my deliverance, even all the bad news that took place.

As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be ashamed, but that with full courage, now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death, for me to live as Christ and to die as gain. I am to live in the flesh. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet which I choose, I cannot tell. I'm hard-pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and to be with Christ, for that is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. So he writes this, and he even summarizes it in other ways throughout his writings about the fact that he lived in a dangerous time, but then it all figured out, he had all understood that whether he lived and suffered in this lifetime for the benefit of serving people, or whether he was to die and to be with Christ this next moment of consciousness, he was okay with that. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 8, 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 8, we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed or perplexed, not given to despair, persecuted, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying on in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, for that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. He was preoccupied with the subject of death and life. He had a vision of the future, though, always. It always put this next dimension of eternal life into his writings. There was a moment when the apostle Paul was brought to, and that is in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 2, starting with verse 2.

The apostle Paul had so many challenges in his life. I just can't understand how he could continue to do all the things that he did, how he escaped so many things. And finally, at the very end, he was martyred. He was martyred along with most of the other apostles, but they always had on their mind that the next moment of their consciousness, they would be in a different dimension. He writes this, and I write this, I speak about this because it is something which gave him courage to go on. In 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 2, I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven, whether in the body or out of the body I do not know. God knows. He talks about this man 14 years ago. He's actually talking about himself. We say, come on, Paul, we know what you're talking about. We know we're trying to be honest, trying to be modest, but we know it's you. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise, whether in the body or out of the body I do not know. So he had a vision of some sort. He had a video in his mind that God showed him. God knows, and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. So what he's saying is that what I saw and what I experienced was something that I can't possibly explain to you. And what could he have seen? What could he have seen?

You probably saw God, Jesus Christ, and as the Apostle John wrote in 1 John 3, we'll see him as he is. We'll see him in a different dimension.

He saw the 24 elders. He saw myriads of angels, millions, hundreds of millions of angels.

And above all, he probably saw himself. He was in this thing. He said, look at my body. I don't have these aches. I don't have these pains. I'm not wrinkled. I'm not what... I am different. This is so awesome. I can't possibly explain all this to anybody. I can't explain it to you how wonderful it is. And why did I do this? Verse 10, For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. He says, I am able to continue on in this miserable life, and especially his continued work. And when I am weak, then I am strong. There were other instances where the future was shown. The transfiguration that Christ took three of his apostles up to the mountain transfiguration. And almost the entire book of Revelation is a story about an afterlife, or it's a life that we have not experienced yet, but it's revealed to us.

But what I want to focus in on my message today is about the teaching of the resurrection as one of the doctrines of the church. I won't be going into all the resurrections that we speak about, but the fact that you will be resurrected and how it's going to happen and why it's so important.

1 Corinthians is a book that reveals doctrine and practice in a way that was reactionary to certain events that took place in the church at that time. The book of 1 Corinthians gives us probably the best understanding about how to keep the Passover. This was 30 years after Christ was here on the earth. 25-30 years after Christ was here on the earth, he explains how to keep the Passover. And it was a reaction to the fact that some of the people there did not keep the Passover in a proper manner, in a proper spirit. They got drunk. They ate at the wrong time. There are all kinds of problems with it, so he straightens it out. 1 Corinthians 11. He also straightens out issues relating to church services and how they were to be conducted. Length of hair, speaking in tongues. Various things that were issues of the church at that time are spoken of as a reaction. And in that reaction, he gives them understanding of what the truth is.

The same goes for the doctrine of the resurrection, which is 1 Corinthians 15.

And in this chapter, he gives five aspects of the resurrection.

He gives five teachings, five specifics about the resurrection that are important to know, that are put together in this one chapter. There are other places where he talks about the resurrection, in 1 Thessalonians 4 and other places as well. So what are those five points?

If you turn to 1 Corinthians 15, and that's where we'll spend the rest of the time here this afternoon.

1 Thessalonians 15. Now, I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand. He said, I want to remind you of it. By which you are being saved. Now, there are two things about the gospel. One is that it's something in which we stand, something that is part of our daily life, and something that we kind of work with, and something that gives us understanding. And also, by which you are being saved, the gospel of salvation, and you get there through the resurrection.

If you hold fast to the word I preached to you unless you believed in vain.

Paul begins by reminding the Corinthians of the gospel that he preached to them, which they received and which they lived. The gospel is the foundation of our faith, and Paul succinctly summarizes it. So, number one, the resurrection is the foundation of the gospel.

The resurrection is the foundation of the gospel. If we don't have a resurrection, we have nothing.

These verses highlight the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection is not an addendum to the gospel. It is central to it.

And without Christ's resurrection, our faith is futile. Number two, the importance of the resurrection. There was a problem already in the Greek world as it was mixing with some of the doctoral error of what was back in Jerusalem. And that was that some people believed that there was no resurrection. Some people actually believed and attended services, were maybe even calling themselves Christians that believed that there was no resurrection.

He's absolutely bumfuddled by this. Now, if Christ, verse 12, is proclaimed as being raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

See, he's reacting to this statement. How can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? Now, in Greek philosophy, Greek thinking, plus in even some of the sects of the Jews, there were some that believed that there was no resurrection. Interestingly enough, the sect that was sponsoring or had the chief priest in Jerusalem, Joseph Caiaphas, was a Sadducee. And the Sadducees believed that there was no resurrection.

And so he says here that if there's no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

He said, this is not a myth. This is not something that we kind of just hope that something that happened, Christ resurrected the dead, like this controversy. No, Christ was resurrected. This is the core of our gospel. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain. Come on. Do some of you actually believe that there is no resurrection?

That's nonsense. We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise, if it is true that the dead are not raised.

For if the dead are not raised, verse 16, not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins.

You are still in your sins. I'm reading, by the way, from the ESV, the English Standard Version. It's a version that we have adopted more as one that we turned to as one of our top versions.

Of course, we use the New King James as a default for our publications and our quoting, but then there are others. Do you know that there are 130 different translations of the Bible into English alone? 130. Over 3,200 translations of all other languages, whether it's the entire Bible, but in the English language there are over 130 different translations. And so there are some Christian denominations and groups that believe there is no resurrection. One group that basically has all kinds of different views is the Unitarian Church. Unitarian Church, some believe that there is a resurrection, others don't. They believe that you've got to do as much as you can in this lifetime, because that's all there is. And the only thing that's immortal about you is the memory that people will have. I thought to myself, oh, come on, this is so discouraging and so depressing, just to think that if we just do all we can right now in this lifetime, that there really isn't anything beyond this lifetime. Actually, some of the work that I started with LifeNets had been with Unitarians, because they were activists. They were people that wanted to do big things.

They had the whole church out there. We had a warehouse in St. Paul that we stored things and sent them to Malawi, and they had just a lot of activity. They raised a lot of money.

They were very good to us, because they wanted to do as much as they could in this lifetime. That was their mission. But they didn't believe in the resurrection.

I had one person that found me on the web, found that the people that we worked with in Ukraine were very close to a village where his father came from in western Ukraine. He came to Los Angeles, and this man was his son. This man was retired. He was the retired district attorney for the city attorney for Long Beach, California. He did a lot of things. He wanted me to set up a fund for scholarships in Ukraine for the people from his dad's village. He did a lot of things. He donated a great deal of money for equipment, and he was just so enthusiastic about that. He was a Unitarian. He had no premonition or any thought about a future life, but he was excited about doing all he could in this lifetime. Well, with me, I like both worlds, this world and the world to come. But this kind of thinking was creeping into the church at Corinth.

Number three, the third aspect of the resurrection, that there is an order to the resurrection.

There's an order to the resurrection. Verse 20, But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. So he explains, first of all, came through Adam, and then he was human. Also came through the personification or the embodiment of God in Jesus Christ. For as in Adam, all die, in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order. There's an order to it. Christ, the first fruits.

Then at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God, the Father, after destroying every rule and every authority and power. Now, these Christians kind of need to know what the rhythm of this is and how it works. Of course, we understand the first resurrection. We understand the second resurrection. We understand that God will bring people from the dead and how the whole process works. We know so little right now about the greater dimension. The greater dimension that is just right at our scope. When we come to the resurrection, I am looking forward to the time when I will enter that dimension. I'll fall asleep, as those who are around us have fallen asleep. Just the way I went to bed last night, and the next thing I remembered was waking up at Chuck Zootz's house, not knowing where in the world I was.

But I didn't think about the six hours or so that I was asleep. I woke up to a new world.

That's what we'll do, is in the resurrection. At that time, we will rule with Christ, and we will see Him as He is, and we'll be reunited with our loved ones. That is so important. In the resurrection, the first thing that I want to do is really look up my parents. You know, if we can't see our loved ones after resurrection, what's the point? I don't want to see a lot of people I don't know.

I want to see those who I loved, see my parents. My dad, I remember the last time I saw him was when he sent me off on a plane to go to Ambassador College. The last time I spoke to my mother.

I want to be able to continue those conversations. I really do.

And that's what we will be reunited and have that great joy. I look at the people who have died in this congregation, just the recent death here that Andy Lee performed the funeral. Of people that we've known. We've known from when they were little, as they were growing up, as their families.

Looking forward to the time when we can be reunited. The Minneapolis church has been so much a part of my life. We left our family, left our old church, and those relationships to bond and form new ones here. I want to be able to have those bonds brought back in the resurrection.

Some have gone through bumpy rides. Some are different places. Some have taken a detour in life, whatever. But I'm looking forward to the time when God will bring us together and bring our loved ones together. And we can meet with people that we had known, that we had broken relationships with, and that we will restore them. To me, that's the exciting part of the resurrection.

God has something very, very special that he has in reuniting people. This is the core of the gospel.

This is the core of the kingdom, the resurrection, and Jesus Christ putting all things under his feet. And we then go on. Ruling with him. The fourth aspect of the resurrection is the resurrection body itself.

Verse 35.

But someone will ask, how are the dead raised?

Okay, how does that work? With what kind of body do they come?

You're a foolish person. What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. So that's a very important aspect about being raised. You have to die first. It's just the way it is.

And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or other grain.

But God gives it a body as he is chosen to each kind of seed, his own body.

My wife is quite a gardener. Every place we have moved to, she just digs up the earth, you know, puts gardens in, and plants flowers. Well, this year we planted cucumbers and tomatoes. We kind of didn't do too much with our new place. But we do like cucumbers.

So we went and ordered these cucumber seeds. And here's a little package. You know, we ordered from who knows where. It comes from Amazon. We opened the packet up, and there are 15 seeds. 15 seeds. You can barely see them. It's a bed. We pay money for these things.

They're so tiny. But they were a special kind of cucumber that Bev wanted.

Well, we planted those things outside of our sun deck. And then as we're sitting here eating, we see this plant growing. Not all at once, but we see this seed that was nothing.

All of a sudden, the plant grows and trying to get into the house. It binds. I can't believe all the energy that's in there, all the things that were in there. It was nothing. It had to die. The early seed is gone completely. But in it was all the DNA, all the information necessary to make this the cucumber, the beautiful plant. They had beautiful blossoms on it, and extra special cucumbers that we had the last one just the day before I left. So that's the way it works. The resurrection only takes place after the seed dies. And so the Apostle Paul explains this in this chapter as the fourth point regarding the resurrection.

For not all flesh, verse 39, is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There's one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars, for stars differ from stars in glory. One of the things I enjoy about the resurrection that I love about creation is how much we learn about eternity, how much we learn about God's plan and the way that he's working with us, his essence, his nature. You know, and where is God?

How close are angels to us? Are they here in this room? Are they with us?

We'll understand God in a far greater and more wonderful way. One of the booklets that we have that really delts us into this dimension, into this zone, is our booklet on angels. It talks about the work of angels. There's two booklets that I feel like we have produced over time that have been kind of new to the Church of God community. One was the one on angels that speaks about this dimension in the world, and the other one is on grace, that talks about grace in a way that has not been described usually in a specific way in the Church of God community. Anyway, here we go back to the resurrection. Verse 42. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable. What is raised is imperishable.

So the people who have died here are put to rest. Their DNA is preserved.

And then, when the resurrection, when the time of Jesus Christ's return, happens, they will be brought to a glorious life. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown in natural body. It is raised in spiritual body.

I can see the passion of the Apostle Paul as he is writing these words to a congregation that was beginning to slip in their understanding. They need to be brought back into really the focus of what the gospel message was and who they were, and to be encouraged as for them.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

Thus it is written, the first Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural, and then the spiritual.

The first man was from the earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven.

As was a man of dust, so also are those who are the dust.

And as the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.

Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man in heaven.

We are made an image of God. We will become part of God's family in a very, very great way, and we will see him as he is. And this is what we should be thanking God for every single day.

The Apostle Paul never lost this particular perception and image of the future.

He saw himself there with God. Then finally, the finale, the fifth point, the victory through Jesus Christ.

Paul concludes this chapter with a triumphant declaration of victory. The death is swallowed up in victory.

One reason why I wanted to give this message about 1 Corinthians and his totality, because I feel like we need to think about life and death outside of a funeral. At a funeral, we hear these words. We have these cherry-picked scriptures, you know, the showstopper scriptures talking about the great things of the resurrection. But we need to understand more of the background and how it's laid out and what's all involved. I tell you this, brothers. Verse 50, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable or corruptible in the King James Version.

We can't, right now, as we are, inherit the kingdom of God. That is that world, that kingdom, that is just ahead of us. Now, one thing that's been very, very exciting to me with the James Webb Telescope is just all the things that they're finding that are visible in certain things that are invisible, that really just are, scientists, astronomers are saying, there's more there. We just don't measure it. We just don't know it. They're just more there. They're finding it with dark matter that 80% to 80-90% of everything in the universe is not even invisible. I find I used to be just a real astronomy freak. You know, when I was a little kid, I'd go to the library and get every single book about astronomy. I was so excited about telescopes, astronomy. I found out that the largest refracting telescope was in Lake Geneva area. I told my parents, please take me there. I want to see that telescope, you know, at the University of Chicago. But anyway, what I'm saying is that so much more has been found out about creation.

There are dimensions that scientists are beginning to calculate. They can't see them, but they're calculating about what's out there. And that's where God lives.

Where is God? Where is His throne? People say, well, is it Andromeda?

You know, Andromeda Galaxy? Does he have a special spot where he's at? No, God is in a completely different dimension. That dimension will be clear to us, but we can't explain it. It's just like if we were only two-dimensional people, all we understood was length and width. Then somebody explained, well, this is how tall it is. I don't know what you're talking about. I can't relate to that. I can't relate to height, because I'm a two-dimensional person. But do you know that astronomers have now calculated out 10 dimensions? You know, in God, there's a lot more dimensions to that, but we don't need to know about that right now. But we'll find that God is right here. The angelic world is here. It's not a scary thing, but there is another dimension. And God is working with you. That we don't understand right now. God tells us what we need to be doing. A lot of it has to do mostly with our reverence and obedience to Him, our understanding His will, our loving Him, and making sure that there's only one will that's His will, and not the will of anybody else.

And the reason that He has that particular point about your will be done is because from the very beginning there was an alternative will that was introduced in the Garden of Eden. And that's why we pray about the most important things in our daily prayers. Praising God for all that He does, praising God for everything we see. I praise God for living in the United States of America.

I praise God for having peace in my lifetime. But also I thank God and pray for His kingdom to come.

I pray for His will to be done, to make sure that I'm on His side, that I don't be doing things from another spirit, another world, that I obey Him. I also pray that I not be born, that I not be delivered, that we delivered from sore trial, from temptation.

And at the very end, that deliver us from the evil one. These are things that we do in our lifetime. And if we get a perspective of the things that we should be doing with a God that's ahead of us, that when we wake up after our death, that we will be coming and we will be in that world, and we will see Him as He is.

Verse 54, when the perishable puts on, the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. And he quotes from Isaiah, O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of the sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. What a finish! What a finish!

To this chapter that the apostle Paul writes about death, which is an enemy, which is bad news. Anytime we hear about the death of somebody, it's always what? Bad news. Well, the gospel is good news. And so the resurrection is a very important part of that good news, and that's what we look to.

So that's how he ends with this particular chapter, which has become kind of a primer for understanding the whole process of resurrection, for understanding the foundation in the gospel, its importance, the order of the resurrections. Also, we can get into deeper about who the white throne judgment people are. Talks about the nature of the resurrection, sown as something perishable, but rises up in perishable, and ultimately ultimate victory, where the sting of death is gone and the things that cause it.

But there's one more thing, one more thing, and that is here in verse 58. Now, any time that you see the word therefore, and it appears several times, quite a few times, in the Bible, when you see therefore something, you say, well, what's it getting to? Well, it says, go back and read what I said just before this. Because what I said, where whereas is, and now therefore, you know, let it be, this is where for, be a where for. He says, therefore, my beloved brothers, verse 58, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that the Lord, in the Lord, your labor, is not in vain. Those first five points were like wherefores in a resolution. Now, wherefore, you know, we know that the foundation of the gospel is a resurrection. Wherefore we know that. We know how important it is.

We, wherefore we know the order of the resurrection. We know the nature of the resurrection.

We know the ultimate victory, just like writing a resolution, wherefores. But then we come down to the therefore, and that's right here. Be steadfast. Hang on. Be immovable. Don't make anybody kick you off where you're at. We've had to go through a lot of trials in life, disappointment, even in our experience in the church. I take a look back and starting in the church in Minneapolis in 1965, my first church service. I would have never thought it would turn out this way, but it did.

But I'm still very thankful for what God is doing in his great wisdom. I'm thankful for the people we do have. I'm looking at the people now, the children of children over the years. And I know that God has a great plan in bringing us together in a way that I couldn't possibly figure. I just know that I have my responsibilities fulfilled. So I pray that I be steadfast, that I be immovable, have nobody kick me off of where I'm at in my thinking, in my service, in my responsibility as a Christian in the roles that I have had. And finally, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Are you abounding in what God wants you to do? Knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain. So whatever role you have, just a member, there's things that you can be doing, of service, of help, of giving. I'm thinking about all the people that have come through, that have died.

They have been, they've had so many various gifts of service that they have brought.

But for those who are us, the message, the lesson, is the very last verse, abounding in the work of the Lord. I've had responsibilities. I've had, I cannot believe all the things that I have been granted over the years at Ambassador College. I go back and part of my thanksgiving to God, part of my praising God, is say, God, thank you for going to Ambassador College. Thank you for finding this truth about the kingdom of God. Thank you for opening my mind to things that I would have probably been stuck with in the Orthodox Church.

Thank you for opening my mind to the greatness of your presence and your truth, the Sabbath, the Holy Days, and all these things that they picture in our lives. Thank you for going to Ambassador College. Thank you for Rocky Road, sometimes even into the ministry, but being in the ministry and being pastor of churches. Coming back to Minneapolis twice, as pastor of churches here. I look about all these things that I'm just so thankful to God. I'm thankful to God for all the relationships that I have had in a church.

Administrative. The things that I've worked with. I'm just so thankful to God. I say, help me abound in your work, knowing that your labor is not in vain. I'll conclude with Philippians chapter 1, verse 27, because this verse kind of sums up more of verse 58. Philippians 1 and verse 27.

Philippians 1 verse 27. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

So whether I come and see you or absent, I may hear a view that you are standing firm in one spirit. The apostle Paul wrote the book of Philippians from prison. It's considered to be one of the more joyful books in the New Testament. But he was in prison, and he was writing with this enthusiasm that I may hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. Why? He was quite a motivator. And not frightened in anything by your opponents.

Any time that you even want to do good, you'll have people that'll be working against you.

Don't be frightened. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engage in the same conflict that you saw I had, and now hear that I still have. So the Apostle Paul writes these things. He speaks of them in context of this life and a future life. And I'll conclude by final scripture, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

I like the way he says it here, because he's talking about a time when there were deaths in the church and people were buried and people had to be encouraged. But I would not you to be ignorant, brethren. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13. Don't be ignorant. Be wise. And how are you wise by understanding what these words mean? Understand what the Apostle Paul, the point that he's making concerning those who have fallen asleep. That's what we're talking about. All the people, if we could line up all the people that have fallen asleep in the church here, it's quite a list.

Don't be ignorant about them. God has a plan for them.

Lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. And we do have hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, this is the resurrection of Christ without which we could not have our resurrection. Even those, even so, God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus.

Then he talks about the order that takes place in the next few verses. But finally, in my last words, therefore, verse 18, comfort one another with these words.