There is No Reason to Die!

Ezekiel 34:12 - As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.

Pastor Dave Johnson, Community Bible Church in Eagle River: There is no reason for anyone to die if you'd only believe the Word. He was preaching out of Ezekiel 34:11-31. 

That's quite a statement. I was looking online for a church I might attend while I'm out of town this coming weekend. I saw this church listed, checked out their website, and determined it could be just the place. Simple church, sing from hymnals, have three services a week. So I listened to part of a sermon from the senior pastor. 

Pastor Johnson went on to say: Our life will parallel what has already happened. If we read the Word and believe it we will see, when things happen, as we have studied in Ecclesiastes, that there is nothing new under the sun. Aren't we supposed to learn from our past, from both successes and mistakes? Is there any reason why couldn't apply the same principle to God's Word? It was, after all, written as an example for us. We seem to continue making the same mistakes. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (‭Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭6‬)  Jesus, God's own Son, paid the penalty for our sin with His life. BUT...from His death, we can receive life. Hallelujah!

Hah! Success comes from knowing Jesus. Mistakes come from not! 

The opening scripture above is in the Old Testament and speaks of Israel. But it can certainly speak of the Good Shepherd and people today. “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?" (‭Matthew‬ ‭18‬:‭12‬) That's what Jesus would do for anyone.

The Word of God is truth. It is life. It is the bread of life: And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." (‭John‬ ‭6‬:‭35‬) We are to seek God for our daily bread. Jesus is that bread; He is the Word...made flesh. This Word of God is the river of life: And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (‭Revelation‬ ‭22‬:‭1‬). It is the living Word: For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (‭Hebrews‬ ‭4‬:‭12)

While at the time of this writing I hadn't listened to the whole sermon, I got a lot just from his opening statement. If we believe all this Word, there is no reason to die! But...we need Jesus to secure that eternal life. We need to have been born again, as Jesus Himself tells us we must be. Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3) We need to be in relationship with Him. If these statements don't make sense, Google them! I'm sure there will be many explanations and even one that might touch your heart. If your church doesn't teach you this thing about being born again...

When we truly begin to believe the Word, our spiritual life changes. Without the Word, without Jesus, we have no life. We have no hope. We might see things in the world that disturb or anger us. If we believe the Word we know these things will happen before Christ returns. We will begin to recognize the intensity of all that is taking place...but we can rejoice knowing that He is returning. This life on earth is always temporary. All of us will die. And one day the world as we know it will die. As in the days of Noah...

If we have Christ we have eternal life. Remember, He was the door to that ark Noah built. It saved Noah's family. It's open now, but some day it will be too late. It will close. It will happen in a twinkling of an eye. This earthly life will fade away but we can have that hope of heaven before us. 

The world will deteriorate, already is. The Church will be persecuted, as might be the next step some desire to get God totally out of the way. Like the persecution of the Church, a persecution of the body of believers...if they hold fast to the truth of God's Word...if they don't compromise...if they don't allow society to dictate what it believes should be right. Believers will be scoffed for some of these ideas and this will happen. Some might think life has always gone on, why should anything change? But things will change. It's why the Word needs to be understood. 

Know the Word, understand it, believe it and you have gained wisdom. But it comes only from knowing Jesus. He imparts the power of His Holy Spirit for that knowledge. Along with the knowledge you have gained life...you do not need to die! In Christ you have life. Like God did for Israel, took them out of captivity into a new land and new life, so Jesus does for us. Only this life ahead will be eternal.

Ezekiel 34:13 - And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country.

The Flesh Profits Nothing

John 6:59-71

These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"

When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" But Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.


Jesus has just talked about the eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood for eternal life. A difficult subject for many. Jesus spoke of a spiritual eating and drinking...a receiving only of Him as the way to eternal life.

His teachings sometimes seemed way out there, against the things people had learned and strived to maintain. He went against the flow. He came to turn the world upside down. And don't we know that today evil is considered good and good evil. And there are people today who find the words of Christ unpalatable and inconceivable. "Does this offend you?" We see for some it does.

When the Spirit of God works in the life of an individual the world view of things changes. Eyes are opened to the truth. Jesus is the truth and all He has said is truth. It cannot be disputed! He never changes, nor does His Word. If we receive Him and His Word we receive the truth and eternal life. If we scoff at His words, do not heed them, consider them of no account, we reject Him and we reject a chance at eternal life.

We might call ourselves Christians because we know who Jesus is and believe He was and has done all He said, but we go about our lives without regarding Him daily. To those people Jesus will say, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’" (Matthew 7:21-23)  This is sobering.

Jesus asked His own disciples if His words offended them. He knew not all would continue to follow because His words would become too hard to understand. And if we don't understand something sometimes, can't we just shrug our shoulders and walk away from it all? Many walked away...and many will walk away.

The Spirit of God opens eyes. Why all eyes are not opened is a matter of our own desires, our own
wills. We choose whether or not to take God seriously. And like the example shown of some of Jesus' followers, we will walk away because it's just too hard, His words are too hard to hear...or
understand. God calls all but not all will respond. It's called free will which God has given us. As has been brought up several times in church, there is only one way which is right. There are five references to this in Proverbs. Jesus is the way, truth and life. No one comes to the Father but through Him. That's why God sent Him and why Jesus spoke, to draw all men to Him.

His center twelve disciples knew. Twelve out of how many? They understood. There will be a few in the grand scheme of life also. They stayed and believed. They knew He spoke the truth and believed He held eternal life in His hands. He chose them...and He also knew that in order for all the events that needed to take place as prophesied in the Old Testament, one disciple had to betray Him. Yet, it was Judas' decision. The lure of money was greater than his love for Jesus. And it caused him much grief when he realized what he'd done.

The flesh profits nothing. What we deem so important in our lives is not what will give us eternal life. Only Jesus does. If our attention is on Him, He will show us what is truth that we may have life.

What grief there will be someday when those who have not taken the Lord seriously realize the outcome of their decision. Jesus still calls today. A decision can be reversed before it's too late. Lord, open eyes, minds and spirits that they might answer Your call today.

Proverbs 16:25 - There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

Not Forsaking the Assembly

Hebrews 10:24-25 - And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

For weeks I have had this go through my head. I have been part of a new church for six months now. While I am accepted and I'm very glad to be where no nonsense preaching is done...love amidst the hard words of Christ...no glossing over the hards words of truth...I am struggling a bit with fitting in. I know this is where I am to be. God directed me there. He laid the foundation two years, maybe more, before I even realized I would leave one church for another.

But there are established friendships which I seem to be having a difficult time entering into. Maybe six months isn't enough time. Maybe, on the other hand, this is God's will for me...to not be so wrapped up in friends and growing closer to Him. He did, after all, remind me after I worried about leaving all my friends, that it's not about the friends I would be leaving, but about following where He was leading me.  Matthew 12:48-50 - But He answered... “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

So, okay, I am seeing two thing here. It's about following Him...and His friends are His followers. I know these people in this church are His followers too, and they are friends. So where's the problem? I can only believe that God will be continuing to direct my path and help me to see what all is going on. I'm sure it has to do with me and a change that needs to take place in me. I'm seeing this outside of church too. Directions I need to take. Words I need to speak. Fears I have to get over. Oh, praise God for the excitement in that!

It's so all about Him. Though I'm not certain where He is leading, I can do nothing but trust Him. There may be a major breakthrough for me along the way, one I cannot possibly fathom! Hah, I have been waiting for a major breakthrough for years...perhaps it won't be major but little by little, without my even recognizing it! Just like Him to do that.

I just know that while I question this feeling of aloneness in the midst of a congregation, I am also reminded that we are not to forsake the assembling together...God has appointed us to do so and it is where He is glorified in the midst of it. It is where we are instructed/instruct, encouraged/encourage...and perfected in Him (certainly what I need...don't we all). We are all needed with whatever we have to offer.

The part of that scripture that caused me to dig deeper was as is the manner of some. I found this explanation. It mainly deals with the Christians in Jesus' day, those who were turning radically from one religion to follow a man who turned religion upside down. It ends with a thought on today's thinking:
(1) some may have been deterred by the fear of persecution, as those who were thus assembled would be more exposed to danger than others. (Jews turning to Christianity...which even happens today.)
(2) some may have neglected the duty because they felt no interest in it - as professing Christians now sometimes do. (Today some have no interest in Christianity or any religion or blatant rejection of it.)
(3) it is possible that some may have had doubts about the necessity and propriety of this duty, and on that account may have neglected it. ("Christians" like I was who believed in Christ but didn't feel a need for a church.)
(4) or it may perhaps have been, though we can hardly suppose that this reason existed (back then), that some may have neglected it from a cause which now sometimes operates - from dissatisfaction with a preacher, or with some member or members of the church, or with some measure in the church.  (Needs no explanation.)  (Barnes Commentary)

I'm seeing that in the days ahead we cannot go on on our own without the assembly, rooted and grounded in at least the same beliefs. We need to know there are those around we can turn to in a time of need...or be there in the time of someone else's need. Who am I to say I can do this on my own? I know I cannot. I know I need the assembly. I learn from Christ but am strengthened by others here on earth as well...if I open my mouth to speak of the weaknesses I have, the doubts, the sin areas in my life. It's called corporate worship.

Colossians 3:16 - Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.