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All right, so Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and we focusing at the beginning of the chapter there Famous passage and I'm actually be starting a series on this as well If you look at verse number one about says to everything there is a season and a time To every purpose under the heaven he starts list off all these various times in life and you know the first the second verse though says a time to be born a time to die a time to plant and a time to Pluck up that which is planted it goes on and on and on and it's more Focusing on that first phrase of a time to be born and a time to die and we're gonna go through as we go through Week after week, and I don't know this may not be something I do every single week So you're not gonna have to necessarily hold me to that But I do want to end up getting through these and I might combine some that are more similar together But for right now for this morning We're gonna be focusing just on a time to be born in a time to die Time to live in a time to die it says a time to be born and a time to die and I think there is a little difference there, but what we're going to be doing is Looking at first of all, I'm gonna be making we're looking at the physical application because of course This applies 100% physically. There is a time to be born a time to die. That's part of life Everybody who's alive on this earth was born at one point. They have one birthday and then they're gonna die Once there's it happens one time. It's a natural order of things There is a time for every purpose under heaven and the time to be born time to die And then we're also gonna look at the spiritual Time to be born as well or a time of death and that's something that you're gonna either have one or the other So in this physical life, basically essentially everyone who lives is gonna have both a time to be born and a time to die There is the exception for those who are alive and remain at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ But we're not really going to worry about that exception generally speaking everyone has a time to be born time to die physically, so We're cover some truths about this just birth in general being born turn back if you would to Genesis chapter 1 The natural things obviously for a time to be born and I started thinking about birth There's a lot of misconception this world just about birth and having children and there's a myth out there of this You know man-made climate change and global warming There's all this other nonsense and people want to tie it to how many people there are on the planet and that the world's becoming Overpopulated and and everything else and this is what the the Georgia Guidestones if you remember before they got destroyed Thank God they they were pushing this agenda this New World Order agenda of reducing the population and You know that that idea obviously doesn't stand the test of time See, you know God wrote his laws in stone, you know, those laws still remain today and alive You know those Georgia Guidestones those houses are gone. You might be able to find something like that in Wikipedia, but they're they're gone They're they're toast. They don't exist The Word of God stands forever But the in Genesis chapter 1 we're going to look at God's command To be fruitful and multiply and this is not only found in Genesis 1 But this is found all throughout the Bible God created the heavens and the earth and he created for them to be inhabited God wants this earth to be inhabited to be used to be filled He doesn't want to just it just a whole bunch of empty space, you know There's there's these people who are these these earth lovers like these the people have made Mother earth their goddess and want to worship the earth Who think that like mankind is just ruining everything and you know mankind is not just real There's a lot of evils and sins that comes from from human beings But God intended for man to have dominion over the earth and God intended for human beings to reproduce and to multiply on the earth not just to sustain their own you know 2.2 children to keep the population at just one constant state but to actually Multiply and that's why God balances out that birth with death. There's a time to be born. There's a time to die We're never gonna ultimately never get out of balance there's always things that happen that will impact Population its natural occurrence of events. There's going to be disasters There's gonna be times where maybe there's a lot of people end up losing their lives, but we ought to have times Like all the time where there's people reproducing Look at verse 27 in Genesis chapter 1 the Bible reads So God created man in his own image in the image of God created him male and female created He them those are the two genders, by the way male and female And they were very different from one another Adam was the male and Eve was the female and they did they didn't pick and choose what they were by the way God made them that way God made Adam the male and God made Eve the female like I feel like we're in kindergarten Why should this even be a subject matter to a bunch of adults in church, but we live in such a perverted world there's there's so many weirdos and crazy queers out there that just want to Defile everything and reject all manner of truth even to the most fundamentals of male and female God created male and female he didn't create non-binary didn't create what whatever others I don't even know what all the stupid things are that are out there It's not fluid It's male and female Let's move on from that. I think I think we got that established If you don't have that established you might not be in the right church, I'll put it that way Verse 28 and God blessed them and said unto them be fruitful and multiply and Replenish the earth and subdue it Replenishing the earth it means there's going to be like there's going to be you know life and death It's going to happen and once he wants man in general mankind. He wants Adam and Eve to go forward be fruitful reproduce multiply It's not just well, I'm one so I'm going to be one It's not just well, I'm one so I'm going to reproduce and have another one no multiplied, right? He says and replace the earth and subdue it subdue it subdue the earth Get dominion over the earth. You don't just have to leave everything exactly the way it is Look, I enjoy nature as much as anyone else does we just wear our camping trip It was nice to go out and enjoy the lakes and enjoy we can enjoy the mountains enjoy the woods and have areas Obviously, you don't want to just destroy everything but you do get dominion over it It kind of drives me nuts when there's there's huge places you're just like not allowed to do anything You're like not allowed to pick up a rock You're not allowed to pick a leaf off a tree or something You know, it's kind of people get ridiculous with that No Man is designed and got and and actually given authority by God to have Dominion Over the earth to subdue the earth to have Dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fall of the air and over Every living thing that moveth upon the earth God has given that Dominion to the man and obviously Human beings are much more Valuable in God's eyes than the fish of the sea then the birds and everything else that you know people want to Protect so dearly to the point where people lose their mind and start start Looking at animals as if they're human beings and treating them better than human beings in some cases And that's just totally backwards as well. And again, look I have pets. I love my pets There's no, you know, I'm not against having animals as pets. I'm not against animals, but God, you know, we need to have a godly Mindset on what they are and what they're for Who's in charge and not having inordinate affections for anything in God's creation? Everything needs to be in its proper order Verse 29 and God said behold I have given you every herb bearing seed Which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree and the witch is the fruit of a tree yielding seed to you It shall be for meat and to every beast of the earth and every fowl Of the air and to everything that creepeth upon the earth where in there is life I have given every green herb for meat and it was so flip over to Genesis chapter 9 Mirrors chapter 1 that's day one. It's a view crates man and gives them dominion over everything says hey be fruitful and multiply Multiply have babies Have Birthdays Time to be born Genesis chapter 9 verse number 1 the Bible says in God blessed Noah and his sons and said unto them Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. So again, you know God had brought forth that flood and there was a Destruction and then he's telling Noah and his sons To be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth flip over to Genesis 35. We're just looking at a few examples here a lot from the book of Genesis But Genesis that word comes from you know, the creation comes from a start from a beginning, you know the Genesis is Ties in with birth as well Genesis 35 verse number 9 the Bible says and God appeared unto Jacob again when he came out of Paid an aram and blessed him and God said unto him thy name is Jacob thy name shall not be called any more Jacob But Israel shall be thy name and he called his name Israel and God said unto him I am God Almighty be fruitful and multiply a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee and Kings shall come out of thy loins So it's not just for the first people you say oh God's only tell them to multiply because those are those are people That were like the first one so that mankind can still Exist and not die out. It wasn't just for those two. Obviously we saw those two examples But all throughout the Bible it's a blessing to have many children It's a blessing when Rebecca was leaving her family to go get married unto Isaac the blessing was hey be thou the mother of Thousands of thousands, right? It's like millions Just the blessing when she's departing is hey we hope you have you've reproduced and just have many many many children God's blessing Jacob here when he names them Israel and he says, you know what? You're gonna be free fruit be fruitful multiply and a nation. It says and a company of nations So that's a blessing It says and a company of nations, so that's many nations are going to be spawned through Israel here and That's a blessing to Give birth the Bible says in Psalm 127 verse 3 low children are in heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb Is his reward as arrows are in the hand of a mighty man? So children of the youth happy as the man had this quiver full of them They shall not be ashamed but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate it is a blessing to have children It's a blessing from God People today unfortunately view children just as a burden and And Their their affections aren't on the things of the Bible that we need to check ourselves all the time and make sure That we have godly desires that we view everything in a godly way in a biblical way So when when when things come up when politics happen when people are voting for stuff when when there's agendas trying to be pushed compare everything to scripture And you know when people are complaining about having children and everything else You know why that is it's because people are selfish Because they care a lot more about themselves Now I'm talking about the desire. I'm not talking about actually having children actually having children is a different story the Bible tells us Repeatedly in turn if you go to Genesis 29 that God is the one that opens the womb Okay, and don't ever forget that either There are some people that look children are a blessing and that's a fact amen But there's not everybody is going to have the same number of children No matter what if you're married and you're trying to have children and you want to have children you have a desire to have children Not everyone is going to have Children or the same number of children or whatever because God is the one ultimately that's going to open up the womb and And we have to understand that the Bible says in Genesis 29 verse 31 and when the Lord Saw that Leah was hated he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren barren means you can't have children So God was trying to even thing or to help Leah basically he's showing compassion on Leah because that whole debacle with with Jacob marrying he wanted to marry Rachel, but then he was given Leah So he marries Leah, and then he still wants Rachel the wife So then he gets both of them and then now they're fighting with each other because you know having multiple wives never a good idea It was never Endorsed by the Lord God and you know made male and female didn't he didn't make like multiple women and say okay here you go Adam here's all your wives He created Adam and Eve and they too became one flesh they too Right became one flesh started a family and That's the way it works. So in this situation though because that happened and you know Jacob ended up having more than one wife and Leah was the one that was hated but Leah was the rightful wife when Leah was the one that that they constantly got married you know got married and constipated the married marriage with and Even if it wasn't what he expected it wasn't what he had intended or wanted necessarily it happened And there's no going back once you've once you've gone forward in marriage so he should have been happy with that wife and and accepted that and left it at that but that's not what happened and I want to get too far off off the trail here with that story but God sees that Leah's behave our husband so he opens up her womb and Rachel's the one who's barren and The thought there is that that should open up the heart of Jacob towards Leah Because you know when you have children you you love them I mean, it's it's another source of Relationship and and love that happens there and knowing it's a blessing that children should be drawing Them together and then just flip over to chapter 30 in verse number one The Bible says that when Rachel saw that she bared Jacob no children Rachel envied her sister and said unto Jacob Give me children or else I die and Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel and he said am I in God's stead who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb so Rachel's getting mad at Jacob for not having children. He's like Who do you think I am? He's like, I'm not God God's the one that opens the woman and you know in the earlier in the previous chapter. It said that Rachel is barren Well, this is an issue where you know, if you're seeking children, you have to you have to go to the Lord for that You have to go to God and we have to trust God and his timing also the Bible says you know talks about With Isaac That he was praying. You know, he had gotten married in there praying. He was praying for children It took 20 years for that prayer to be answered You think about Abraham? Abraham and Sarah, I mean he didn't have the child of promise Until they were already past Age of having children Sarah was already passed a miraculous birth that they gave birth to Isaac But it was already, you know something that that shouldn't have happened naturally but God opened up the womb because God can make all things happen and I believe that even you know, We ought to have that faith in God and have a strong enough faith in God That you know, we think we're just getting off of this prayer challenge We're still in the middle of it, but it's ending and I preached on prayer You know We read the passages on how powerful God is and how strong God is to be able to to heal people I bet if you believe that you believe who believes that God is able to heal anybody today and Can still do it just as much as any other time throughout history that God is able to heal Completely today They met the Bible says so Right in the New Testament the Bible says so even after the Acts of the Apostles the Bible talks about us Hey, look, he did in the Old Testament, you know people called on the Lord and asked him for help and God answered the prayers So why couldn't he do it today? And even it look if medical science if some doctor tells you you've got one day to live Do you think God can heal that person and just grant him 20 more years of life if he wants to? it Can happen and it has happened So if a doctor tells you you can't have children Well, who's the one that opens up the womb who can provide for that to happen Go to the Lord, he's the one that opens the womb Genesis 30 look jump down to verse number 22. The Bible says in God remembered Rachel and hearken to her and opened her womb It's good news now look we don't always have the births when we want them Isaac didn't and I said it's easy to read over that and I don't have that I don't have the scripture reference right now, but 20 years can go by 20 years a long time to be waiting Long time I mean and I and I remember I remembered like how much when my wife and I got married how much she you know Was really wanting to have have children and and how much it weighed on her especially in Not having children, but it didn't take that long after we're married to have a child. It's still just it was just this like this doubting and fear and Anxiety are we gonna have any children or just you know, is this even gonna happen because well, let's see we got married in 2008 and Our first child was born in 2010 So That's not very long till it's really not very long to wait but when you're in that situation You feel a lot of that anxiety and pressure, but here's the thing We need to just trust in Lord and You know in my situation we didn't have to wait but in Isaac's situation he did have to wait a long time in Abraham's situation he had to wait a really long time and Some families are blessed with one child some black family the bus with two or three with four or ten with twenty What do you know whatever the case may be? And everything's different, I mean you look at especially the you know, we call them the fathers of the faith Abraham Isaac and Jacob They had various number of children Abraham had one legitimate child right between him and Sarah Sarah you could say had one child You could look at Rebecca had Jacob and Esau Right So it's it's it's you never know what what you're gonna be blessed with But the the point is and the reason why we look at verses like Psalm 127 children here at church Lord Lord So we we should celebrate birth As much as we celebrate life the time to be born. It's something that's good It's not something that we should be going to church. It's not something that we should be going to church Life the time to be born it's something that's good It's not something that we should be going. Oh, no, you shouldn't people shouldn't be having babies and usual There's too many people is too crowded people who say that they live in really dense cities Like go out just drive a little bit Drive an hour out of the city just an hour. How about maybe even 30, but you know, I don't know just drive Drive out here We've got it we've got our map just just start driving out a little bit And you'll start to notice. Yeah, I guess it really isn't that overpopulated And that's it's not just Georgia it's every state I mean you could go anywhere and Find tons of open land Drive across the country it gets really boring You start going through Texas and Oklahoma and I mean you go through Iowa Nebraska Like there's just it's just open and there it's like flat you go through the Midwest. It's flat. It's open. It's just like Nothing as far as the eye can see Not overpopulated birth is a good thing physical birth. So we looked at physical birth right having children How about spiritual that the time to be born turn if you were to John chapter 3, of course There was a time to be born again We all have the natural order things is to have a physical birth everybody does But the more important birth is the spiritual birth The Bible says in John chapter 3 in verse number 3 Jesus answered and said I'm very very I say to thee except a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God Nicodemus saith unto him. How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time in his mother's womb and be born Jesus answered verily verily I say to thee except a man be born of water and of the Spirit He cannot enter in the kingdom of God that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit Is spirit marvel not that I said unto thee you must be born again The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell Whence it cometh and where whither it goeth So is everyone that is born of the Spirit the physical birth you can see it's it's right in front of you Obviously it happens physically in your in your sight the spiritual birth He says it's more like the wind you can't see where the wind is coming like what if there's a gust of wind You can see some trees moving Maybe you can see a flag blowing, but you can't see the wind It comes and it's goes you don't see where it's coming from and you know That's the spiritual birth. You can't see it It's not something you could just observe with your eyes that spiritual birth that's taking place inside somebody But it's there And we know that's there we take it by faith that it's there Jesus said that it's there and Jesus said that you have to be born of the Spirit in order to see the kingdom of God If you want any chance of going to heaven you need to be born of the Spirit Obviously the Bible tells us in John 1 12 how we can receive that says but as many as received him that then gave you Power to become the sons of God even in them that believe on his name believing on his name Makes you become a son of God you become a son when you're born So when you're born again spiritually become a child of God Now let's keep reading here in John chapter 3 because when you become when you have that birth, that's when you receive life That's when you receive eternal life John 3 verse 9 about says Nicodemus answered and said unto him How can these things be Jesus answered and said unto him art thou a master of Israel knowest not these things? Verily verily I say unto thee we speak that we do know and Testify that we have seen and ye receive not our witness if I have told you earthly things and you believe not How shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? You're saying I've already told you about things on earth. You're not even believing me on those things So how are you even gonna believe the things that you can't see? Verse 13 and no man at the Senate up to heaven But he that came down from heaven even the Son of Man which is in heaven and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life There's a time to be born and a time to die The good news is is that you know, of course the physical birth and physical death will happen probably to all of us But the spiritual birth when you have that born when you're born again, you don't ever have that death It's just a starting point with no ending point and that's great news The Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 5 17 therefore if any man be in Christ He is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are Become new and then in Romans 6 verse 3 the Bible says no you not that so many of us as we're baptized into Jesus Christ We're baptized into his death Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ Was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life so that that death of the flesh Jesus went and paid for our sins and and this physical flesh We should be we should be dead to this flesh Mortify the deeds of the flesh so we could live in that newness of life in that new birth So we could live in that newness of life in that new birth to serve God now, those are a time to live How about a time to die? physical death like I mentioned is is Going to happen to all of us while says there's a point on a man wants to die and after this the judgment so The physical death I have a reference here from from Deuteronomy 34 And that's why I point this out real quick we already read Romans 6, but I'm gonna Keep your place there if you're in Romans 6 just keep your place there. Oh if I had you turn there now I don't think I did Deuteronomy 34 we're gonna read about the death of Moses Bible says in verse number one and Moses went up from the plains of Moab onto the mountain of Nebo to the top of Pisgah that is over against Jericho and the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead unto Dan and all Naphtali and in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh and all land of Judah unto the utmost sea and the south and the plain of the valley of Jericho the city of palm trees Unto Zohar and the Lord said unto him This is the land which I swear unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Jacob saying I will give it unto thy seed I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab According to the word of the Lord and he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab over against Beth Peor But no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day and Moses was 120 years old when he died his eye was not dim nor his natural force Abated and here reason why I turned to this story for Deuteronomy 34, so there's a few things that pop up here Obviously the natural state there's a time to be born as a time to die just in general for all human beings But when you're living in the will of God That even at that time to die is a special time. You know that it's of the Lord. So when Moses died it was of the Lord Specifically it says hey look he was a hundred and twenty years old, but his eye was not dim He wasn't like normal people who are a hundred and twenty years old where they start to lose their eyesight They start to go blind they start to have other ailments that just go along with your body physically aging And I believe this is because he spent so much time so close to the Lord You know so he got so close his face shown and but it says here that that his eyes weren't dim nor his natural force abated Abated means like going away Then his natural force didn't go away like his his life didn't just get sucked out of him just because of old age And you think you see that happen a lot I mean people become more decrepit the older they get when you get in your hundreds Especially you know people are typically kind of stooped over It might be really hard for them to even move and get up and walk and they might spend a lot of time Sleeping and napping and just not doing very much at all because their natural force is just leaving them there They're they're not having the strength to do things again, but Moses was not that way God kept most of Moses didn't die even of old age Because his natural force was not abated Moses died because the Lord took him because it was time for the children of Israel to pass over and Moses wasn't allowed to pass over So it's time Aaron passed similarly remember. He was God God called Aaron to also Die to go, but see the death when you're saved It's a you're just transitioning from this physical world into heaven into that spiritual world Which is great? So there's like nothing to fear Moses had nothing to be afraid of if anything he just would have wanted to go and that's why He's like can I just see that promised land and God answered that prayer and let him see it It's just just let me see it with my eyes I've worked you know he worked all these years and led the children of Israel and wandered the wilderness Just let me see what it looks like what what was it that? I was going you know that the the destination that we're trying to reach and God opened up his eyes Let him see that and he was able to pass in a fantastic way because he was following the Lord and it says that And this is another point. I don't want to just pass over it says And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab who buried him God buried him And this becomes a point of contention with with the devil For some reason he argues with Michael the Archangel about the body of Moses everything else look the Bible tells us that God buried Moses I believe it now This also brings up a point where thing about a time to die What should people be doing with the bodies afterwards well we clearly can see if God is burying someone That's what we ought to be doing That's what we ought to it's it's the biblical thing to do to bury them We see it with Abraham we see him securing a place for for Sarah we see it all throughout the Bible We also see it there in Romans chapter 6 What what what is the purpose of it say well? I understand why would God do that? Why should we bury the dead? Why does it even matter? It does matter because here's why because it's a picture This is why it met now ultimately Does it matter as far as the physical the physical body Does that really matter like like at the resurrection is it gonna matter if someone's body was burned versus buried no When God raises people from the dead at the coming of Jesus Christ the first resurrection It doesn't matter if someone's body was cremated It doesn't matter if someone's body was cremated Or if it's been in the ground because you think about what if it's been in the ground for a thousand years or two thousand years Or three thousand years and there's floods and everything else I mean the comp the physical composition you're going to go away Even the bowl like like everything just will go away or return back to the earth so that physical matter That's not you know God is able to pull together that matter In his wisdom to be able to raise someone back from the dead even if they've been dead for thousands of years So whether a person has been cremated or they drown in the ocean or the you know Whatever has happened to a person that is no impact on the resurrection That's why I make that clear first of all and second of all You don't have any choice of what people do with your body at the end of the day if someone wants to do something different Even than what you say if I say hey when I die I want to be buried and then someone else comes along and just burns me I can't control that so why would that have any bearing on what happens to me at the resurrection Nothing to do with that nothing whatsoever Right and look I understand especially these days too because it gets real expensive to bury people And I know sometimes there's a burden on families and I've had I've had this conversation multiple times with people You know you could at least be comforted knowing that if that's what happens You know because sometimes other family members are involved and then you're not able to do what you want to do And there's money thing and everything else and people end up doing this cremation route Look if that happens it happens Okay it has no eternal impact But what we should be doing The method we should be following is doing a burial And the reason why is when we see God burying Moses So God shows that example like literally himself with Moses We see the example in the Old Testament with other people doing the same thing It's not just a meaningless tradition Look at Romans chapter 6 I'll read this again in verse 3 Know ye not that so many of us as we're baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father Even so we also should walk in newness of life For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death We shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection So it's a sign or a symbol of showing a planting When you bury something in the ground you bury seed in the ground That seed dies but then it takes root it brings up new life And as our physical vessels we have the hope of the resurrection So what you do is you plant the physical body in the ground like you would a seed In the hopes knowing that that body is going to come back to life one day At the resurrection at that first resurrection when Jesus Christ comes back This is the meaning behind doing that is we know that our bodies will be resurrected one day So just as you plant a seed it brings forth that life and comes back and comes up and comes up bigger and better Well the body is the same way and it's a sign showing the hope of the resurrection That's why we bury the dead So the time to be born a time to die Now a couple other issues I want to bring up before we look at spiritual death Turn if you would to Mark chapter 12 In real basics here life and death are some of the easiest concepts but also some of the most profound concepts But they're very simple I mean they're exact opposites of each other life and death It's like good and evil there's one that's preferable and one that's not Life is preferable You don't want to be alive you want to have life versus death you don't want to be dead Very simple and straightforward These are the concepts though that ought to be considered when it comes to issues like euthanasia or assisted suicide And people like being put to death And I'll tell you what that's coming and if we ever get to the point to where everything becomes socialized in our government And all the healthcare is doled out by the government These things will be much more real and much more prevalent of determining who gets care and who's going to die and who's not going to die And often time you know sometimes people get faced with these situations And a lot of times money comes into play and it makes things hard and it clouds judgment on what should we do What should we do with someone who's dying What should we do with someone who seems to have this Here's what I believe and I think this is what would be biblically right is that you know we should do everything to fight for life To stay alive to do whatever we could whatever it's going to take Hey if I end up indebted for the rest of my life with just physical money It's worth it all to save life if we're able to make sure that life can continue Now similarly though and this is there's a slight difference here I believe on someone who's like you know someone who's being assisted suicide That's just wicked and wrong you shouldn't be trying to take your own life ever helping someone else to end their own life Because we promote life not death But there are situations especially with the technology around these days where people can be their bodies can be maintained Even after the person is is gone right And these are situations where it's not easy to make that judgment call On let's say like pulling the plug right or having hospice and this is where I think we could look at everyone has a time to die Right we always want to fight for life and strive to do what we can in in pretty much every situation to try to try to make sure we hey let's try to keep people alive But we also have to just recognize at some point death is inevitable and there comes a time where you're going to have to be able to just let go and let things happen the way that they normally would So it's one of those things where you got to look at the situation obviously we don't want to just people get too a little bit too out of bounds with that And we'll start taking that too far into being more proactive in someone's death right That's not the way we should be we should always be fighting for life we have a high value of life of God's creation of life But at the end of the day you can't keep people physically alive forever there is a time to die also Now the physical death is nothing compared to the spiritual death Now I will say this too when it comes to having that you're born again turn to First Thessalonians chapter 4 And there's been people recently in our church who have had family members pass away and that can be a difficult time The good news is for those who are saved it's literally just a temporary parting And the Bible gives us a lot of comfort in First Thessalonians chapter 4 The Bible says in verse 13, but I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep Asleep means they've died they passed out their body is in the grave that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him So those who were saved but physically died in this in this world they referred to as asleep in Jesus Says God's gonna bring them with him for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the air in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord wherefore comfort one another with these words so we're gonna be comforting and knowing that those who went on before us those family members that were born again that were saved you're going to get to see them again you're gonna get to see them again in the flesh even because they're gonna be resurrected when Christ comes back and you're gonna have that opportunity to ever be with them and to ever be with the Lord so that is good news the Bible says in Mark 12 verse 26 and it's touching the dead that they rise have you not read in the book of Moses how in the bush God spake unto him saying I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob he is not the God of the dead but the God of the living ye therefore do greatly erve God's the God of the living and those people who have passed on before like Abraham Isaac and Jacob he's saying they're alive they're not dead and just like they said to Jesus in John 6 I think or John 8 when he was saying that you know Abraham rejoiced to see my day and they're like well you're not even 40 years old what do you mean you've seen Abraham he said before Abraham was I am but we said Abraham rejoiced to see my day Abraham has been long in the grave long in the grave before Jesus Christ stepped foot on this earth born of Mary right in a physical form well that's because Abraham wasn't dead he physically died but he wasn't dead so you never have that death but here's and in turn if you go to Revelation 20 we're almost done and we'll wrap it up here because just as there's eternal life there's the opposite to that eternal death there's the balance right there's a time to be born there's a time to die we have a physical birth we have a physical death there is a spiritual birth and there is a spiritual death but you're only going to partake in one of those you're either going to have the spiritual birth or you're going to have the spiritual death it's one or the other because once you get that spiritual birth you know the Bible says whosoever liveth believeth in me shall never die you're never going to see death but the reverse is true people who never are born again they're never going to see life they're never going to have life they're not going to know life they're only going to have death Revelation 20 verse 14 of course the Bible says in death and hell were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death so we have a second birth you're born again this is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire this is the dead this is the place of the dead this is where the dead go those that are alive go to be with the Lord go to see the kingdom of God those that are dead go to the nether parts of the earth they go to hell and eventually when this heaven and earth are passed away God is going to cast hell into the lake of fire where it's eternal destination resides in that lake of fire for eternity this is also though this concept of death is important to understand that is what death truly is it's being in that lake of fire and when you have you ever heard anyone say you know did God die or God died for us God died for you it is true and it's not just true because Jesus Christ physically because his body physically died on this earth it's true because God actually died in the sense that he went when Jesus Christ physically died his soul went to hell that's the place of death Jesus Christ tasted death for every man it goes beyond the physical into that spiritual death because that's the eternal destination and that's what he paid for for us to be saved so did God die yes he did the people don't understand if you say what do you mean God how could God die God exists forever when we talk about life and death we're not talking about existence because souls will exist forever everybody's soul is going to exist forever but they're not all alive some are alive and some are dead God never ceased to exist so that's not our definition of death but when he died he did die because he went to hell that's where the dead are and when we look at the great white throne judgment right before those verses in Revelation chapter 20 the Bible says in verse number 11 and I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and heaven fled away and there was found no place for them and I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works those whose names are in the book of life are not judged out of those things which were written in the books because the blood of Jesus Christ makes that judgment pass over us we don't have that judgment we've been cleansed we stand before God pure because Jesus Christ's righteousness gets imputed unto us so when God sees you if he were to see you at this judgment he's going to see righteousness he's going to see Christ's blood that's why you get a white robe because you're pure because you're clean not because you've never sinned but because those sins were were purged when Christ shed his blood for you and you received that free gift I believe when it talks about the books being opened I believe it's all about the books of the Bible God's law your works people who don't have Christ will be judged by their works and that's a scary place to be because for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God so if you're in that condition your works aren't going to do very much for you and then look at this in verse 13 and the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works hell delivered up the dead you know you know it didn't deliver up Abraham it didn't deliver up Isaac it didn't deliver up Jacob why because they're alive because they're not dead Abraham rejoiced to see Jesus is dead he's alive it's time to be born and a time to die it's a natural state of things we already have plenty of death in this world we ought to be trying to have a lot of life brought forth in this world by people not being afraid to have children not listening to the propaganda out there multiplying knowing and understanding the gift from God physically but most importantly making sure you have your eternal life settled that you have that second birth that you have a time to be born again because there is a time to die and that time to die if you don't have that second birth that time to die is going to last for an eternity let's bow our heads have a word of prayer dear Lord we love you thank you so much for all the wisdom that we received from your word I pray to please help us to be able to view the issues in this life with the understanding of the wisdom from your word that while there's a lot of wicked people out there with a lot of different ideas a lot of wicked ideas dear Lord that we'd be able to have the biblical view on things and that you would just open up our understanding increasingly every day dear Lord in Jesus name we pray amen