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South Bay SDA Church

Jeremy Arnall

Communion Service

1 morning in 1888, a year no doubt that we as Seventh-day Adventists are familiar with, Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, awoke to read his obituary in the paper.

The obituary was printed as a the result of a simple and careless error on the part of the journalist who got the the obituary mixed up with the brother who had actually died.

Any man would be disturbed to read his own obituary in the paper but Alfred was was shocked and overwhelmed and disheartened because he saw himself according to the paper as the dynamite king.

The dynamite king, the great industrialist who had made an immense fortune from explosives.

So that's the story that the obituary gave.

This, as far as the general public was concerned, was the entire purpose for which Alfred had existed.

Not of his true intentions, you know, to break down barriers that separated men and ideas for peace were recognized or given serious consideration.

He was simply, and according to the paper, a merchant of death.

And for that alone he would be remembered as he read the obituary with horror, he resolved in his heart to make a clear, to make clear to the world the true meaning and the true purpose of his life.

This could be done through the final dispersion of his fortune, his last will and testament, an endowment of 5 annual prizes for outstanding contributions in physics, chemistry, physiology, or medicine, literature, and peace, and later was added economics.

This would now become the expression of his ideals for the world.

The result was the most valuable of prizes given to those who had done the most for the cause of world peace.

It is today called, of course you know well, the Nobel Peace Prize.

So I ask you, if you were to die today, What would be said of your life in the paper?

It's been said, at least by some, that death renders life meaningless.

Perhaps this is the case for the soul who never met Jesus, but if you know Jesus, it's but an intermission, a pause in the story, a break, and then comes the grand crescendo that goes on and on throughout eternity.

Life begins for the Christian, not at the second coming, but at the second birth.

The title of the message this morning is Dead or Alive?

Dear Lord, please, would you speak to our hearts, help us to comprehend the reality of our need, help us to discover more clearly where we are in this life and death piece.

And most of all, to make sure that at the end of the day, our life is in your hands.

We ask this, we ask for your spirit, that you'll hide me behind your glory, that through the ministry of your spirit, you'll anoint my lips, that you'll anoint their ears, and that you will anoint each 1 of our hearts collectively today.

You know, as Seventh-day Adventists, we are quite thankful to know what happens when you die.

This is clearly from scripture, but it's rather confusing today.

So many are back from a funeral and you hear so much different jargon being thrown around and as people try to comfort 1 another and sort of in an awkward fashion people say things and sometimes it ends up leaving 1 more confused or hurt.

But I want to just give you in rapid succession just a few texts.

The first text, just write these down, OK?

In case you didn't hear, take out a pen and paper or take out your smartphone, and let's stay on task here.

We're just talking about 6, maybe 08:10 texts that if you know in the rapid succession, you can be ready at a moment's notice to explain really what happens when someone dies.

There's comfort in this and you don't have to just give the text and boom, boom, boom.

You can actually fill in between and you'll find a beautiful story emerges.

Dirt plus breath equals a soul or life, okay?

Dirt plus breath equals a soul, equals life.

And soul, I would say it equals a soul because so many people don't know what a soul is.

It's just life, but need to speak in their language.

We're jumping all the way to the other end now.

Now I kind of inserted an explanation there.

It's actually in the Bible reads dirt minus spirit, a separation of the 2, equals death.

Now I don't want to get too far into this because this is not the point of the message.

And if you separate, if you need to explain that, you just take them to Job 27.3.

Job 27.3 says the Spirit of God was in my nostrils.

You know good and well that that's not a soul.

So the Spirit of God, the breath of God was in my nostrils.

So Ecclesiastes 12 7, dirt minus breath equals death.

The dead know nothing and they're no longer able to love or to hate, so forth.

Next text, John chapter 11, verses 13 and 14.

At the second coming, I mean, I'm sorry, Jesus speaks of 2 resurrections, the resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the wicked.

Obviously we want to be a part of those who are the righteous because they are resurrected to eternal life whereas the wicked are resurrected to condemnation.

And then 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, what is it, 16 to 18, 14 to 18.

When Jesus comes in the clouds of glory, that will be the resurrection of the righteous.

Because the righteous will rise first and meet the Lord in the air.

Therefore, let us comfort 1 another with these words.

There's comfort in this message of what happens when you die.

But this morning I want to speak to that in light of what we're about to participate in.

I want to speak to this because we are we are very clear, I trust, I hope that these passages paint a clear picture that when you're dead, you're no more, you're gone.

And that may be painful for those who think they're in heaven, but give it some time, let the Spirit do its work, and they'll discover that indeed this is comforting, as Paul said, that we have this blessed hope.

But I wonder, this important teaching with regards to death, do we apply it also to our spiritual lives?

We understand, you see, that it's a nap between the mortal life and the immortal life, unless Jesus comes while we're alive, And it's an important teaching, for it's 1 of the 2 primary deceptions that Satan is using in these last days to deceive the world.

That we need to understand and teach this point, yes, but not only should this teaching protect us from spiritualism, but it should make us pause and reflect on our conditions now.

In other words, let us apply this truth to our spiritual life and reflect on the question, are we dead or are we alive?

Ephesians 2, 1 to 5, and you at you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he has loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

For by grace you have been saved." You see, much of the Christian world today teaches the immortality of the soul.

That is, that when you die, you don't really die, but your soul ascends to God or descends into hell.

Thus is embraced the lie of Satan, of the serpent in the garden.

But not only is this lie, hear me carefully, not only is this lie being taught with regards to the soul or the person, but in some ways it appears to be accepted and embraced in the spiritual realm as well.

And yet, Paul is clear, you're either dead or you're alive.

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