Grieving With Hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

What would you say to someone who was dying?

In our culture, due to our general discomfort with the topic of death, we try to avoid being in this situation at all. We confine that to the few people who work in hospice, professional clergy, and medical professionals.

But the truth is, all of us are in the process of dying. And therefore we're around people who are dying all the time. Ignoring that fact is helpful for many of us in dealing with the discomfort, but it doesn't change reality. And it certainly leaves us vulnerable when death rears its ugly head in life, as the war in Ukraine makes clear.

This week at Grace we'll be studying 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 together. Paul tells them to encourage one another in the face of death with the hope that comes from the death, resurrection, and return of Jesus.

In the message this week, we talk about how you can do that: both how you can encourage others and be encouraged yourself.

Look forward to seeing you Sunday at Grace!

In Christ,
Pastor Bob

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But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

- 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18