1. Facing the Future What is death?

2. Facing the future: What is death? Death is certain Death is taboo Death is not a subject to be avoided! Ecclesiastes 7:2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart. 1 Cor 15:26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

3. Physical life and death Genesis 2:7: the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being

4. Spiritual death and life Genesis 2:17 you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.

5. Spiritual death and life

6. Spiritual death and life (Rom 5:12) … sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned (Rom 6:23) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

7. Spiritual death and life (Eph 2:1-5) As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world … But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.

8. Spiritual death and life (Col 2:13) When you were dead in your sins … God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins… Sin brought death…forgiveness of sin brought life.

9. Death: a divine appointment (Heb 9:27, NLT). each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment.

10. Death: its significance Death is God's limit on creatures whose sin is that they want to be gods … We are not gods; and by death we learn that we are only human. Our pretensions are destroyed. D A Carson, How Long O Lord? p111.

11. Death: its significance … it will come not as and executioner but as an usher. It will come not as an end to life but as an entry to eternity. Then we will see Jesus, and we will weep at his scarred feet until he lifts us up and dries out our tears. Then death and dying, sin and sinning, tears and crying, will be no more, and we will shout for joy, “ Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? ” Andrew Lansdown, “ Death ’ s Single Sting ”, The Briefing Issue 220 p13.