Sunday, June 1, 2014

Grieving with Hope

I Thessalonians 4:13-18
The passing of a loved one is always a traumatic experience.  How can we properly respond to our own personal losses and display the kind of faith that Paul speaks of in this passage?  Hope in God’s promises are our strength and stay.
To choose to love is to choose to grieve due to the temporal order of our world.

I. Grief is a Private and Personal Journey Romans 14:2-3,5a

The heart sets the level of grief and we cannot change that.
There are no such things as identical losses.
Response to loss is dependent on the total circumstances of our lives.

II. Grief is a Prerequisite to Healing from Loss  Matthew 5:4

The Tunnel of Grief brings you out in a different place than where you went in.  You arrive at a “NEW NORMAL.”

III. Grief is Best Processed through a Heavenly Hope  I Peter 1:3-5

God’s Eternal Provision
  • Physical Death - Ecclesiastes 8:8
  • Intermediate State  Ecclesiastes 12:7
  • Rapture and Resurrection of Believers  Matthew 24:40-42
  • The Great Tribulation  Revelation 8-9
  • Judgment Seat of Christ  II Corinthians 5:10
  • Second Coming of Christ  Revelation 19:11-16
  • Great White Throne Judgment  Revelation 20:11-15
  • New Heaven and New Earth  Revelation 21-22
§  Perfect Creation - 21:1-2
§  Perfect Fellowship - 21:3-8
§  Perfect Protection - 21:9-27
§  Perfect Freedom - 21:25 
§  Perfect foundations - 21:14
§  Perfect Size - 21:16-17
§  Perfect Beauty - 21:18-21
§  Perfect Security - 21:23-25, 22:5
§  Perfect Provision - 22:1-2

§  Perfect Purpose - 22:3-5 

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