WEBVTT

00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:02.799
<v SPEAKER_00>Good morning, First Baptist Wimberly.

00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:03.839
<v SPEAKER_00>This is Mike Gibbons.

00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:05.759
<v SPEAKER_00>Welcome to Monday.

00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:12.400
<v SPEAKER_00>Psalm 90 that we walked through yesterday can be difficult to take to heart.

00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:16.559
<v SPEAKER_00>None of us really wants to think about dying.

00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:23.199
<v SPEAKER_00>There is something in us that tells us it is not good and not natural.

00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:25.359
<v SPEAKER_00>And indeed, it is not.

00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:30.800
<v SPEAKER_00>It is not part of God's good, original design.

00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:33.759
<v SPEAKER_00>It is the last enemy.

00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:41.280
<v SPEAKER_00>And in our flesh, we really don't want to focus a lot of time and energy thinking about it.

00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:49.119
<v SPEAKER_00>But eventually, awareness of our mortality catches up to us.

00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:56.159
<v SPEAKER_00>And on that day, the strategies of denial and procrastination fail.

00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:07.200
<v SPEAKER_00>Whether it's the terminal diagnosis, the tragic before her time death, the close brush of an accident or an illness.

00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:11.120
<v SPEAKER_00>Any of these make us pull up short.

00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:20.319
<v SPEAKER_00>And we can no longer deny, distract, or run from the fact that death is coming our way eventually.

00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:36.640
<v SPEAKER_00>In the past, funerals especially presented an opening for faithful Christian witness to the hope afforded by union with Christ in his death.

00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:51.920
<v SPEAKER_00>That isn't the case as much anymore, but I truly believe that Psalm 90 reminds us that part of our Christian work is to proclaim the reality of death.

00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:56.480
<v SPEAKER_00>It is a central part of the gospel we believe in.

00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:08.319
<v SPEAKER_00>The tradition of memento mori, remember death, was not merely a medieval invention, it is a central scriptural focus.

00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:16.719
<v SPEAKER_00>Our culture of eat, drink, and be merry needs to hear that death can't be pushed away.

00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:22.879
<v SPEAKER_00>Luke 12, verses 19 through 20 show us this in no uncertain terms.

00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:24.159
<v SPEAKER_00>Let me read those.

00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:30.400
<v SPEAKER_00>And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years.

00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:33.919
<v SPEAKER_00>Relax, eat, drink, be merry.

00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:40.879
<v SPEAKER_00>But God said to him, Fool, this night your soul is required of you.

00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:44.800
<v SPEAKER_00>And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?

00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:49.680
<v SPEAKER_00>To proclaim death is to remind us that we are not God.

00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:53.919
<v SPEAKER_00>We are creatures made by a loving God.

00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:57.919
<v SPEAKER_00>So to announce death is to proclaim God.

00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:09.599
<v SPEAKER_00>Many times we need to feel the weight of death, which hopefully Psalm 90 did for us yesterday.

00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:23.199
<v SPEAKER_00>And after we have sat with that for a while, we then turn to Jesus, the resurrection and the life, and be grateful even more for his sacrifice.

00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:26.960
<v SPEAKER_00>This is Mike Gibbons, and I love being your pastor.