How to Hope At The graveside

1 Thes 4:1-13

future issues meant to impact present lives; how does the concept of death and post-death affect how you live?
what is the message of this passage?
- be courageous;
- don’t grieve as if we have no hope, because we DO
  - the salvation & life through Jesus’ death and resurrection
as a Christian you live differently… and you DIE differently
- Jesus took full force of death; Bible tells us he DIED on the cross
- after Jesus’ death, believers are not mentioned as dead, they are mentioned as falling asleep
v14; “He will bring those in Jesus with Him at his return”
- spirits of believers who have passed on are already with Him…their bodies are still here
2 Cor 5:5
John 14:19
v15, John 5:25; shout and command of Lord to rise, like Jesus with Lazarus? we’ll find out when the day comes…
resurrection bodies of those already with Lord will rise first
- we will be caught up to catch up; reunion at rapture
4 instances of “with” in this passage alone
are you ready for the 2nd Coming?

Later ties in with the sermon from Francis Chan in Kerygma, where he talks about the holiness of God…and how we cannot possible fathom the holiness; how we will not be able to stand, how we will just fall to our knees in fear.

Kind of like “OMFG OMFG OMFG OMFG OMFG OMFG OMFG OMFG” moments…