Robin Norwood in her book, “Why Me? Why This? Why Now?” writes, “A very wise old friend of mine who has just celebrated his 100th birthday said to me about a recent news broadcast he recently heard about 73 people losing their lives in a plane crash: “Don’t they know we can’t lose our lives? We can only lose our bodies. They should say 73 people lost their bodies today.” The body dies but the soul lives on, it’s just a matter of where.
The problem in our world is the same that they experienced during the period in which Jesus lived on earth. People don’t believe in the afterlife. Well, not many anyway. The Sadducees, a religious sect who were a part of the ruling body of Israel, were “sad you see” because they didn’t believe in the resurrection of life after death. But Jesus, on the cross, and God in the days to follow showed us something different. He showed us that His love for us was strong enough to not only sacrifice His one and only Son on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins, but that He could also defeat the power of death so that we can spend eternity with Him.
And since Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to heaven, He has been preparing a place for all who will acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior. Heaven, a paradise not of this earth but one created for us to enjoy for all eternity.
This Sunday we’re going to examine another statement of Jesus while he was on the cross. Recorded in Luke 23:43 we see Jesus tell a man dying beside Him that he would be with Him in Paradise. Oh, how those words are life changing. And they are offered to each one of us, as well.
Let me ask you a question, “Are you living your life as if you’re going to die and cease to exist, or are you living as if you’re going to spend eternity with Jesus?”
John
Below are graphics with information attached. Click on the graphic to find out more information.
