Pulpit Notes: Promise of Eternal Life

Known to all as a brilliant scientist, Thomas Edison was also known by his closest associates and family members as being very precise in his observations and statements. I find this very intriguing because on the night of his death, Mrs. Edison leaned very near to her husband because she sensed he wanted to tell her something. There, with great radiance in his smile, Thomas Edison assured his wife, “It’s so very beautiful over there.”

Very near the beginning of His ministry, Jesus read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

I believe that from the very beginning of His ministry, Jesus knew where His journey of obedience and faith would lead. Jesus knew the cost of obedience.

Why then did He go? Because He knew it was His Father’s will, and because He knew there was more to this life than we can ever know or even begin to comprehend. He knew that all of life belongs in the hands of the Creator who has a plan for your life and mine. He knew of the beauty of the Kingdom of God.

What do you seek today? Do you seek good news? Do you seek to know that your brokenness is not in vain? Do you seek freedom from all that imprisons you or oppresses you in this life? Do you seek favor from the Lord, or comfort from all that causes you pain or grief?

If you seek something this world cannot offer you, then rejoice, for today is the Lord’s day. It is a day acceptable to the Lord — a day of possibilities which can be lived with an overwhelming confidence in the salvation and forgiveness and redemption of Jesus Christ made available to you and me. Today is a day in which we can joyfully serve God and humanity, certain of the eternal glory that awaits those who put their trust in Jesus.

In Christ we can look at life and death, and everything in between, with a confidence and hope which this world can never understand. Indeed, we have hope, for Christ has not only come, He will come again! Today let us strive to witness and to serve as obedient disciples of our Lord ever confident of His promise of eternal life.

“And this is what He promised us — even eternal life.”  (1 John 2:25)

Soli Deo Gloria,
Conrad

Reverend Dr. Conrad C. Sharps
Senior Pastor