Keep On Living | Touch of Joy Ministries

Synopsis of Keep On Living

We are about to slice a piece of the bread of life, the Word of God.

And today?s slice comes from Rev.21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a beautiful bride prepared for her husband. 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, ?Look, the home of God is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever.? 5 And the one sitting on the throne said, ?Look, I am making all things new!? And then he said to me, ?Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.? 6 And he also said, ?It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega ? the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give the springs of the water of life without charge! 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

As the title of today?s message says, Keep On Living?. I mean keep on living both now?.. and then. Today many people think it is maudlin or morbid to talk about death. We spend much of our time resisting and denying death as a reality of our human existence. We believe medical science will somehow fix the miracle drug, which will cure all human diseases and we will be able to live longer and longer.

We have beautiful funeral homes, caskets, chapels, memorial services and floral arrangements and music. There is peace and beauty in that, but there is one reality that remains? and that is the certainty of death.

A pastor friend said to me? ?I have asked families of persons who were dying if I could talk to them about the reality of what was happening in their lives and I have been denied. Not because the person dying was not ready to deal with the reality, but the family was not.

Central to the message of the Christian faith is that there is a way of openly and honestly dealing with death. We do not have to push down into the depths of our being it?s reality, or push it away as far as we can. We can look at it in the perspective of Easter. With faith in the resurrection, not only of Jesus Christ as our lord, but in our own resurrection.

There is a practical side to the reality. When death comes there is a state of shock because of the finality of it. It does not matter if it happens suddenly or after a long illness. It is simply hard for us to deal with the reality of it and to turn loose and accept what has happened. I am convinced, however, that it is a gift from God. God helps us not to have to absorb the full reality of what has happened all in one moment; we absorb it gradually

I have good news. To be loosed from the pangs of death is not simply to talk about eternal life and immortality for those who have died. To be loosed from the pangs of death also says something about those of us who continue living and have to deal with the reality of that death.

To listen to this message click on the arrow below.

Source: http://touchofjoyministries.org/2012/09/08/keep-on-living/

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