Let’s stop the reoccuring theme! Funerals!

Well I didn’t think I was of a ‘certain age’ and really that has nothing to do with it, but I sit here and recount the funerals this year!  Too many friends and family have gone in 2011.  I am sorry for the losses and yet again another loss, my cousin, 49 years old died last week with heart failure.  (Read News Story)

It just makes it all too important to know where you will go when that time comes!  Where will YOU go?  Is there a God?  See my previous post for some expansion on this as well, but think about this… (What do you say at a Funeral)

• God doesn’t send you to Hell, you get to choose!
• Grace from God is a free gift (you can’t lose the gift, you can’t screw it up, you just have to accept)
• What do you have to lose if you choose to believe in Jesus and follow his teachings? (think about this a minute)
  • Most of the other religions of the world teach peace, love your neighbor, be good to others, etc
  • Belief in Jesus and following him a man who came to earth sent from God and rose from the dead is the only or should I say pivotal difference in the central figure of any other religion (the raising from the dead)
  • What do you have to lose?  a hangover? not getting laid? a missed opportunity to cuss? drugs? – what is the real hold up?
  • Are you scared you cannot measure up? Stay committed? – let me refresh the beginning part; free gift, can’t lose it, just accept it = belief + faith (action) and it is good.  I mean heck if you are Jewish the “christian bible has the Tora incorporated in it”.  Never does following Christ, accepting him or believing him cause you to deviate, deny or disregard the ‘One True God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob’ in fact it reinforces that believe and actions.

I didn’t mean to make this a sermon, but I really want everyone to be able to experience the Joy of a funeral and not just the sorrow of the fact that you will personally miss the person.

Try this on for size:

⁹If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says^[a], “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:9-13