Entertaining Eternity ("Refresh" series Part 1)

Key Verse:    2 Corinthians 4:16-18 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.

Main Point: Being mindful of and investing in eternity is the way to enjoy life and to glorify God.

2 Corinthians 5:1-8   

We will be looking at this portion of scripture to gain an eternal perspective for our lives. We will draw out 3 aspects about the need to live with eternity on our minds and hearts in order to better deal with circumstances around us.

Entertaining Eternity Means:

1. Accepting our Frailty 2 Cor 5:1-4 

We tend to fear what we don’t understand, and fear causes stress and anxiety. 

Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

James 4:14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days,That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

1 Corinthians 15:26  The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

Romans 6:23, 3:23, John 11:25 

2. Understanding God’s Favor (2 Corinthians 5:5-6)

• God has purposed this for us
• John 14:1-3
• Romans 8:28-30
• Has given us the Spirit as a guarantee 2 Corinthians 5:5

Ephesians 1:13-14  13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

3. Believing our Future (2 Corinthians 5:7-8)

Faith Heb 11:6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

• Absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:8  

Romans 8:16-18 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

• Do you believe that God loves you? That He is for you and not against you? 

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.