Posts tagged eternity

For you know the end of this story that is your life; and the story that is this world. It ends with the skies breaking forth like shining light; and the return of Jesus Christ; flowing with all the heavenly hosts as his train behind him. This story ends with us being raised from the dead; the perishable clothed with the imperishable; and the mortal with immortality. This story ends with us living in a Kingdom that knows no end, with our King walking among us: Jesus Christ!

And I too will look forward to the day when I, like Peter, can stand in the presence of Christ, as he shines like light, and I can look on the faces of Moses and Elijah, and we all together can say: “Jesus, it is good that we are here! Let us stay like this forever and ever and ever!”

And on that day Jesus will say, “Of course! We will. We will. Forever and ever. You with me.”

Together with Jesus forever, in a world where evil is no more. Wow. It’s enough to blow your mind. I mean, think about it.

Think about it. Amen.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

You see, having peace for the Christian doesn’t always mean having your problems taken away. It means being able to face them with the comfort and courage that comes from knowing that Christ has Risen!

So, too, with you: with whatever you face. The Lord may take it away; pray that he takes your troubles away. But more than that: pray for peace! For with peace comes the hope and the strength and the courage to encounter whatever assails you or worries you, knowing that whatever may come, the story ends with the triumph of Christ and the life everlasting!

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

Jesus telling us things like, “No one comes to the father except through me,” and “SEEK the NARROW DOOR, for wide is the path to destruction,” and COUNTLESS instances where he seems to say something VERY CLEARLY:

There is ONE QUESTION that is all important in all of eternity: ARE YOU ONE OF MINE. DO YOU BELIEVE IN ME. DO YOU TRUST IN GOD, and in me, whom God sent.

If you KNOW me, then you will have everlasting life in the Kingdom to Come. If you DO NOT, you will be in the darkness, where there is a fire that will not be quenched, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

You see? Jesus talks about this final division that will take place at his return ALL THE TIME. He even talks about it today! “I am the door,” he says. And what he means is that HE is the way to God, and the way to salvation. And HERE, then, he talks about how there are FALSE doors; and FALSE shepherds. In fact, he describes the WRONG ones to trust in lots of different ways! He calls them thieves! He calls them robbers! He calls them “wolves”! He calls them “hired hands”.

And listening to THEM, and following THEM, and listening to THEM… well, it doesn’t mean NOTHING! In fact, Jesus is WARNING against them. Why? Because “in the end it doesn’t matter who you believe in and who you trust and who you have faith in, because it’s all the same God anyway?” NO.

NO! Because the thieves and robbers and wolves only seek and steal and kill. Belief in the other God’s besides the true God isn’t some sort of “whoopsie! Well, that’s ok. You’ll get it right next life!” It leads to eternal death. And Jesus does not desire eternal death for ANYONE. THAT is why he spends so much time talking about what truly matters: FAITH IN HIM. For HE ALONE is salvation.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

You see, we have a problem: we deserve God’s eternal judgement. And the forgiveness of Jesus Christ is the ONLY solution. Those without HIM face death. The stakes are real, and are high, and are certainly frightening for those who reject the gift he has to give: the gift of LIFE.

But HERE is the truly remarkable thing: THIS GIFT IS OFFERED TO ALL. And it is offered for free! And it is given, in love, in order that we would NOT die, but have ETERNAL LIFE; and that DEATH ITSELF would be defeated: removed as our sin like a stain from a cloth; obliterated at the time of the resurrection to come.

The gift is for all!

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

Let us, if need be, face persecution so that we are not so comfortable in the world that Satan uses to blind us from reality! And let us ACT and LIVE as though Jesus WILL return, because, you know what? He REALLY REALLY WILL!

And finally, let us live, therefore, like our God lives. Let us look around at those around us… and let us love.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

He is God. He is God and he goes to die. And all that believe in him have eternal life.

Now; THAT is what is real. That is the true story of what is going on in your life. That is the most important truth that exists for you; and it is the single most important event in your existence.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

Be Thou my Jesus in the present life; be Thou my Jesus in death; be Thou my Jesus in the last judgement; be Thou my Jesus in eternal life. And assuredly Thou wilt be, 0 blessed Jesus; because as Thou art unchangeable in essence so wilt Thou be in mercy. Thy name will not be changed, O Lord Jesus, on account of one miserable sinner like me. Nay, but Thou wilt be a Saviour even to me, for Thou wilt not cast out any one that cometh unto Thee. Thou hast given me the desire to come to Thee, and surely Thou wilt receive me when I do come, for Thy words are truth and life.

Jesus came in love in order that there would BE no guilt or shame! There will not be melancholy and misery and guilt. You will come out of your graves, like you belong in that Kingdom, because YOU DO, and as we hear in Isaiah, you will come out of your tomb LEAPING GLEEFULLY like a prancing calf from a barn door, delirious in joy!

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor