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Friday, June 14, 2024

1956 John Deere tractor
Yesterday our neighbor John was doing some work using his 1956 John Deere tractor. Notice the cemetery across the road (our future resting place unless the Lord comes back first).

"More Alive"

Message summary: Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior (born of the Spirit)? Are you living for God? We live by faith, not by sight.  Are you ready to meet God and go home? A healthy view of death is seeing it similar to graduation. We finish the allotted course of our life on this earth and graduate to a much better and lasting place. At that time we shall be more alive than we are now!

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"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship" (Romans 12:1).

Just up the road from our house is a small country cemetery. It is where we have bought plots for the temporary placement of our earthly remains.

Walking through a cemetery is comforting for some people but it can also be scary and even morbid for others. Brooksyne's dad was a big, strong man but he did not like walking through a cemetery alone (haunting memories from his childhood).

But a healthy outlook is the following perspective as expressed on this epitaph we saw in our neighborhood cemetery:

Remember friend as you pass by.
As you are now so once was I.
As I am now so you must be.
Prepare for death and follow me.

But there is another experience that a walk through a cemetery can bring, and that is inspiration. Last night I walked through the cemetery and saw this tombstone.

We don't know this couple but they are similar in age to us and were married four months after us. Realizing the inevitability of death they had their tombstone made before either of them died which is also a sign of their commitment to their marital vows until their final breath!

I suppose if the rapture occurs before they die it would make this a rather poor investment to any scoffers who remain, but I sure don't think it will be on their hearts through eternity!

Evidence of their faith in God is expressed in the verse they use at the bottom.

A healthy view of death is seeing it similar to graduation. We finish the allotted course of our life on this earth and graduate to a better place.

The chosen verse is very thought-provoking in itself but especially so as used on a tombstone, after all, at this point they are dead. However it's actually a great faith statement as well.

Before D.L. Moody died he wrote,

"Some day you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody, of East Northfield, is dead.  Don't you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that is all-out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal; a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body fashioned like unto his glorious body. I was born of the flesh in 1837. I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit will live forever."

Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior (born of the Spirit)? Are you living for God? We live by faith, not by sight.  Are you ready to meet God and go home?

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13


Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Praying man Daily prayer: Father, I can confidently choose to live by faith, not by sight after I'm born of the Spirit because in doing so I take hold of Your unchanging, steadfast hand. You order my steps, Lord, and though I may stumble or fall along the way I am not cast down for You uphold me with Your righteous right hand and keep me on the path of righteousness. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life on this side of glory until I cross over to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.


Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

"Almost HomeWatch on YouTube   MercyMe

"Abide"  Watch on YouTube   Aaron Williams  Many songs, both new and old, have a verse expressing the inevitability of death.

When I pass through death
As I enter rest
I depend on You
I depend on You

For eternal life
To be raised with Christ
I depend on You
I depend on You

Erwin Lutzer writes, "At death we cross from one territory to another, but we'll have no trouble with visas. Our representative is already there, preparing for our arrival. As citizens of heaven, our entrance is incontestable.

Craig Heisey tombstone
Here's another tombstone in the cemetery with a great statement of faith. Craig was a friend we met in the course of being his chaplain about twenty years ago. His wife, Linda, became a workplace chaplain many years later.

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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version and a variety of other versions.



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