Video Sermons 1 Thessalonians

Do you have this Hope — 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18

Feb 25, 2024

Summary of Sermon

My mom recently passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. She went home to the Lord peacefully one Saturday afternoon not too long ago. Her passing was both a happy and a sad occasion. Sadly, my mom is gone; she will not be able to see her children and grandchildren any longer, and even though she is sick, at least she is here. We are also happy because we know where she is.

In our text we are told that we do not have to mourn as those who have no hope, we will see our loved ones in the Lord again. They are said to have ‘fallen asleep’, there is every expectation that they will rise again. The thief on the cross, Mark 15: 27-32, was told by Jesus that he would be with Jesus that day in Paradise. No waiting, no purgatory, just with Jesus right away. In Matthew 27: 52-53, the graves open at Jesus’ resurrection and some of these folks visited their loved ones as they were passing through.

If you are a child of God, saved and redeemed in Jesus, then our bodies die, but we are immediately with the Lord. Do you have this hope? Without the salvation we have in Jesus, there is no hope. Those without Jesus die and are immediately in a place of torment according to Luke 16: 19-31. So let me ask you one more time, do you have this hope of being alive with Jesus once you die here on earth? The minute my mom died, she was no longer sick, her memory was perfect and her pain was gone. I pray that you have this hope.