No Stranger by Gene Kissinger

Death is no stranger to me. 

Redeeming the time brothers podcast:

 A podcast by Gene Kissinger and Norman Kissinger, two brothers who spent their lives in ministry and raising large families. Our desire is to provide a digital place for those who long to belong. We want to bring multiple discipleship tools across multiple platforms to bring about a Rapture Ready body of believers so that when Jesus Christ comes back he will not have difficulty recognizing his own kids.

 

 the nightlight that I have for you tonight is out of Isaiah chapter 46, 

 

 hearken unto me, O house of Jacob at all you remnant of the house of Israel, which were born by me from the belly which are carried from the womb, and even to your old age I am He even to the foreheads or the gray heads, will I carry you I have made and I will bear and I will carry and we'll deliver you.

 

What a good God to offer to take us from the place of birth. To birth us, to carry us until they bury us. That's a good God. 

     I want you to know that death is a part of life, inextricably linked to life. When I was a pastor, as a pastor in the same community for nearly 30 years, I can't I can't ride down a road without looking at a house and thinking that there is somebody in that house that I either preformed a marriage or was there when they were celebrating the birth of a child, or when somebody in their family was buried. In other words, I was there. Sometimes I was there before The mortician was. When the family went through the trauma. They gave me a call and I came in and I cried with them and prayed with them. Remember a little Tevin. Tevin only lived to be about four years old. He was an amazing little man. His little mama She was the best little mama you could ever imagine. I mean that God couldn't have made a better mama than her. She loved her little baby. He had a he had a disorder that caused a hardening around his heart. And it was constricting his heart. Eventually, that's what took him.  His Mom fought for his life. I mean, fought for his life. I remember getting the call that he passed, and I drove over, came to the house in the middle of the night.  I just held him. She had not yet called  the mortician.  I just held his little body and rocked him he had passed already, He was an arms of Jesus, already in heaven. 

     

     I've helped carry people's loved ones to the hearse.  I'm no stranger to death. I've seen it. I've been Been in the room when people have passed have held their hands and cried with the family when the line went flat and There was no more breath. I'm not trying to be morbid about it but death for the believer is a doorway to heaven.  When I did little Tevin's service, I used the quote that Ronald Reagan gave when the challenger exploded. Just a matter of seconds after it lifted off.  He said "seven brave souls have slipped the surly bonds of Earth and touch the face of God". 

   Tevin slipped the surly bonds of Earth and touch the face of God.  May Scarrow slipped the surly bonds of Earth and touch the face of God. So many of my friends, they've slipped the surly bonds of Earth and touched the face of God. Death is a friend for the believer. Death comes into the room and and he's one to escort you to a better place, he escorts you to heaven to be with God. That's only true if you have a saving relationship with Jesus. It is only true if you know Him as Lord and Savior. It's only true if your heart is right already. I'm afraid too many of us we live not ready. We live unprepared for that most important trip of all. If you knew you're going to make a trip and it was going to be sudden, you didn't  know exactly when it was going to happen. You would live with your bags packed.  You'd live you live with your stuff in boxes, because you'd be ready to make the trip. because it was important, and the trip is going to be an exciting trip. But the most important trip of all most people are not ready for, they've not yet trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I'd like to encourage you to do that because you never know when death will come knocking on your door and you'll be ready for that hour.

My Never Again List. Pro 18:21

My Never Again List

Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Proverbs 18:21 KJV

Becuase our tongue acts as a rudder of sorts directing our lives what we say is of the paramount importance.  People are always speaking Life sentences or desth sentences. Choose life.  Below are some daily scripture affirmations paste them in your cell phone or computer and read then out loud every day.

 My Never Again List” taken from Don Gossett’s book, What You Say Is What You Get.

“My Never Again List”

Never again will I confess “I can’t” for “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13)

Never again will I confess lack, for “My God shall supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

Never again will I confess fear, for “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

Never again will I confess doubt and lack of faith, for “God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3)

Never again will I confess weakness, for “The Lord is the strength of my life.” (Psalm 27:1) “The people that know their God shall be strong and do exploits.” (Daniel 11:32)

Never again will I confess supremacy of Satan over my life, for “Greater is He that is within me than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)

Never again will I confess defeat, for “God always causeth me to triumph in Christ Jesus.” (2 Corinthians 2:14)

Never again will I confess lack of wisdom, for “Christ Jesus is made unto me wisdom from God.” (1 Corinthians 1:30)

Never again will I confess sickness, for “With His stripes I am healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Jesus “Himself took my infirmities and bare my sickness.” (Matthew 8:17)

Never again will I confess worries and frustrations, for I am “Casting all my cares upon Him, who careth for me.” (1 Peter 5:7) In Christ I am “care-free.”

Never again will I confess bondage, for “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)

Never again will I confess condemnation, for “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) I am in Christ; therefore, I am free from condemnation.

Never again will I confess loneliness, Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20) “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Hebrews 13:5)

Never again will I confess curses or bad luck, for “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us…that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:13-14)

Never again will I confess discontent because “I have learned, in whatsoever state (circumstances) I am, therewith to be content.” (Philippians 4:11)

Never again will I confess unworthiness because “He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

The confession of our mouths will eventually bring forth the things we speak.

When we are baby Christians who have not yet learned this truth. God, in His grace, does not give us the things we confess or speak wrongly because they are not in accord with His will. We have not yet learned His will. He looks on our heart, and simply because we are desiring to do the will of the Father, He cancels those things that are not His will. Our hearts are speaking louder than our mouths. “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart” (Psalm 15:1-2). If we continue to speak truth in our hearts, our mouths will soon begin to line up with our hearts. However, until that time the Lord is gracious to us when our hearts and our mouths are not agreeing.

Are You Ready To Go?

As a pastor I have been with many people when they have passed away. It was a part of my calling to ready people for what comes next after this life is over. What i found was the people are designed for a world beyond this one. We are vastly more then "moist robots" we are living souls. It is telling to me that every culture has a theology of life after death, it seems universally built into the human race. There are even modern studies of NDE (near death experience) that have pointed to life after this life. Anyway that is a long way to say I helped people get ready for the final frontier, the real undiscovered county, ETERNITY. Those who died believing passed with peace and hope. What i want to say is we all need to ready ourselves for the moment of our passing. We have a unique opportunity during this current pandemic to ready ourselves for that final day whenever it may come.

The conclusion I came to during this trying time was to be ready for death at anytime but pray for healing and life. So here is my prayer.
"Dear Father, we pray a hedge of protection around all who read this. Keep the virus at bay, keep families safe, please bring healing to any who have contested the virus keep their lungs healthy give them oxygen full and free. Be with the courageous doctors and nurses who are battling against this disease. Lord we are asking for monetary provision for any who are unable to work. Meet their daily needs allow them to be able to keep their homes and transportation. Please provide.  Be with us all as we establish a faith in the Work of your Son Jesus on the Cross where he provided a way for us to get to heaven to experience real life with you forever. We ask this in the mighty name of Jesus.
Amen"

I am including a picture to illustrate how to establish a faith that can ready you for real life after this life.

Choose Life

CHOOSE LIFE

Several years ago, there was a news story about a man named Don Wyman. He was muscular and worked for a mining company. One day about 4:00 p.m. he was alone in a forest cutting down a tree when the tree snapped back in his direction and knocked him to the ground. The massive oak landed on hi left shin – shattering his bone and ripping his flesh.He tried to free himself, using his chainsaw to no avail. He did everything he could think of, but still he couldn’t get free. He realized that unless he got help soon he was going to bleed to death. He knew it would be hours before someone might figure something had gone wrong and come looking for him. So he made a courageous decision. Pulling the starter cord from his chain saw he tied a tourniquet to his leg, shutting off the blood flow to his shin. Then somehow, with his pocket-knife, he proceeded to amputate his lower leg, just below the knee.Now, on one leg, he had to find help. He crawled 135 feet uphill to his bulldozer, climbed in, started it up and drove that extremely slow machine 1/4 mile to his pickup truck. The truck was a stick shift and he had to use a metal rod to depress the clutch when he shifted. He drove a mile and a half and came upon a dairy farm where someone called an ambulance. . Don Wyman survived the ordeal. --But only because he realized that being pinned like that under that oak tree, to keep his leg might cost him his life.

So he had a decision to make. --And he chose to live. Through the whole Bible --the invitation to choose to be wise or to choose to be foolish. The book of Proverbs is almost entirely devoted to the comparison between the wise person and the foolish person

How do you feel about tough decisions…I don’t mean the easy ones like where to eat this weekend or what breakfast cereal to choose. No I mean the ones that are vital. Who will your mate be? What is your mission? The most critical of all choices: Who will be your master. Listen to Moses near the end of his ministry to the children of Israel.

Dt. 30:19-20a –19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

He seems to be saying make a choice to make wise choices…commit to making wise choices in several key areas.

Make Life a priority in a culture that is toxic and deadly.
Live in the Love of God and learn to love Him with your whole heart.
Remember to Choose blessing instead of cursing.
Always obey His voice as he speaks to you through His word.
Cleave to Him tenaciously.
Remember as you follow Him He is your life and can lengthen your days.After these basic life principles are in place. Spend your life studying these areas in the Bible so you can choose wisely in them.
· Marriage
· Relationships
· Finances
· Balance
· Attitudes
· Time
· Health
· Habits
· Work
· Study