Getting To Know God --- God is ETERNAL LIFE…So What?

Class Outline:

---

THE CREATOR CLOCK

 

Pastor Rory Clark

Barah Ministries

www.barahministires.com

 

Hi there!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark.

 

I have a question for you…

 

What Do You Know About God?

 

These ten-minute lessons introduce you to God and they make you aware of the things that are unique and special about your CREATOR…and we use The Creator Clock to help you remember the Lord’s essence.  Tick Tock…what time is it on the Creator Clock?

 

CREATOR CLOCK SLIDE pointing to twelve o’clock

 

It’s Twelve O’clock…

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God is ETERNAL LIFE…So What?

 

We’ve learned quite a bit about God by taking a tour of the Creator Clock.  We know that…

 

CREATOR CLOCK SLIDE…pointing to eleven o’clock

 

…at eleven o’clock on The Creator Clock, God is OMNIPOTENT.  What does it mean, exactly, that God is OMNIPOTENT?  It means that the Lord Jesus Christ has ALL the power…the power over all things…the power at all times…the power in all ways.  Job, Chapter 42, Verse 2 says…

 

JOB 42:2

“I know that You can do all things, Lord, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”

 

<CREATOR CLOCK SLIDE pointing to twelve o’clock>

 

At twelve o’clock on The Creator Clock, God is ETERNAL LIFE.  What is eternal life?

 

Most people, when they think of eternal life, see it as a future event.  For believers in Christ who are uniformed on the subject of eternal life, they simply think that they are going to live with God in heaven in the future.  Well they’re right…they ARE going to live with God in the future.  But that’s not what eternal life is.  See many believers long for heaven now…they hate the trials of this life and they pine and sigh, hoping that one of these days all their suffering will be over, and they’ll just get to “chill” with God forever.  That will happen…although I doubt that God is going to have all of us believers sitting on our butts for all eternity in heaven.

 

For many unbelievers, they don’t think there is an eternal life.  They think you come to earth…you live…you die…and that’s it…there is no heaven…there is no hell…you’re just done…so you better live it up while you are here.  That’s not correct.  There is a heaven…Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verse 3…

 

Ephesians 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in union with Christ…

 

There is a hell…Matthew, Chapter 13, Verses 40 to 42…

 

Matthew 13:40

So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.

 

Matthew 13:41

The Son of Man will send forth His elect angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks (unbelievers), and those who commit lawlessness (the unrighteous and ungodly ones…the ones who reject a relationship wit Christ)…

 

Matthew 13:42

…and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that (literal) place (the Lake of Fire) there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

Hell is place created by God for those who want nothing to do with Him.  The soul once born never dies.  You get to choose where it spends eternity.  You can spend eternity WITH God…or SEPARATED FROM God.  It’s your choice.

 

So what IS eternal life?  It’s the Greek word ZOE…and it means a life of abundance…the resurrection life…the Christian Way of Living.  John, Chapter 10, Verse 10…

 

John 10:10

The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy; I (the Lord Jesus Christ) came that they (whosoever) may have (the eternal) life (the ZOE life…the resurrection life), and have it abundantly.

 

Eternal life is a present tense experience.  It is the right now life for believers in Christ.  It is a life that can withstand any trial…any tribulation.  It is a life of abundance.  It’s a life of hope.  It’s a life of joy.  The ZOE life is the exact same life God has…and the “SO WHAT?” concerning eternal life is that God offers us His abundant life free of charge, to experience right now.  If you are a believer in Christ…you have the EXACT SAME LIFE GOD HAS, right now!  That’s an amazing life.  In John, Chapter 17, Verse 3, here is an excerpt from the Lord Jesus Christ’s prayer to His Father, explaining the eternal life…

 

John 17:3

THIS is ETERNAL LIFE, that they may know You, the only true God and Father, and that they may know Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

 

Eternal life is spent getting to know God in a deep, intimate and personal way.  Eternal life is a relationship.  That’s what Christianity is all about…a RELATIONSHIP with CHRIST!  Christianity is not about rules…it’s not about sin…it’s about RELATIONSHIP!  The eternal life can’t be reduced, as it is reduced by religion, to an over focus on our personal sins…an obsession about our mistakes and a guilt reaction concerning how much we’re disappointing God.  That’s a miserable life.  The eternal life can’t be reduced to a legalistic life of following the rules, because God knows we are absolutely not able to do that!  The resurrection life…eternal life…is a life of freedom…spent enjoying a RELATIONSHIP with the Sovereign God of the Universe…the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

What is the status of your eternal life…the intimacy between you and God?  Your eternal life is that intimacy.  You’re either intimate, or you’re not.  Philippians, Chapter 3, Verses 9 to 11…

 

Philippians 3:9

…and may I (Paul) be found in (union with) Him (real intimacy), not having a righteousness of my own derived from following the Mosaic Law, but having that righteousness which is a free gift through faith in Christ…the righteousness which comes from God the Father on the basis of faith alone in Christ alone…

 

Philippians 3:10

…that I may know Christ intimately and that I may know the power of His resurrection life to overcome resistance and that I may know the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed (in the past) to His death…

 

Philippians 3:11

…in order that I may attain to the exit resurrection from the dead (the rapture).

 

Tick Tock…what time is it on The Creator Clock? 

 

<CREATOR CLOCK SLIDE pointing to twelve o’clock>

 

It’s twelve o’clock…God is ETERNAL LIFE.  Your eternal life is your intimacy right now with the Lord Jesus Christ, the one and ONLY God…and it your enjoyment of the abundant life that He is sharing with you as a result of your union with Him.  What’s the “SO WHAT” of having eternal life?  Stop worrying and start living!

 

If you like these short lessons, visit our website at barahministries.com.    That’s

B-A-R-A-H-ministries.com.  We have two different one-hour lessons per week to edify your spiritual life. 

Keep on getting to know God.  I’m Pastor Rory Clark.

 

Pastor Rory Clark

Barah Ministries

www.barahministires.com