Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Out of Death Comes Life

Last week was a week full of sorrow and of celebration. I had the privilege of speaking at my friend Doug’s funeral on Tuesday of last week. I had the opportunity to share and celebrate Doug’s life here on earth. There were tears along with laughter as I shared stories about Doug. The house was packed with family and friends. Everyone there was sharing in the sorrow of Doug’s death. However, we were not only sharing in sorrow of the lost of a man who influenced so many people, including myself, there was something to celebrate! So what could there be to celebrate at a funeral? Well out of Doug’s death came life! I not only shared Doug’s life with everyone, I shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To my knowledge, there were no decisions made for Christ the day of the funeral. But what happened the night before is another story.

After visitation, I spent some time with Doug’s seventeen year old son, Zach. Zach is a baseball and football play who happens to be a senior this year. I was concerned about Zach; he seemed to be taking his dad’s death very hard, so I asked him if we could talk. We discussed things about his dad and how he was dealing with everything thing. As we talked I led the conversation to spiritual things. I told him that his dad was not in heaven because he was a good man, but because he made some life changing decisions about Jesus Christ. He said he had prayed many time to God, but never had asked for forgiveness and never asked Christ to be his Lord. This opened the doors for me to share the message of Jesus Christ with Zach. When I was done sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, I told him that I wasn’t going to push or pressure him into anything. That if he wanted to think about it over night that would be fine. He had a lot on his plate to work through. He looked at me and said boldly, “What is there to think about? I want that!” And with that we prayed and Zach accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. So see, out of Doug’s death came eternal life in his son Zach.

As I have thought about this over the past week, I have thought about that statement, “out of death comes life.” How true is that statement? It is very true! See out of Christ death on the Cross we can have eternal life! There are too many people out there who are dying two deaths, a physical death and a spiritual death. But it doesn’t have to be that way. So I celebrate in the fact that not only is my friend Doug has eternal life with my Heavenly Father right now, his son, Zach, has eternal life also! And that my friend, is a message worth sharing! Who do you know that needs to hear the statement “Out of Death Comes Life?” It is my prayer that this encourages you to share the message of Jesus Christ with someone that you know! It might be the only time they get to hear it!

In His Grip,
Jacob

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