The End Help! Help! Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me! The The Oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh. How dare you touch me? Do you want me to be unclean as well? I shouldn't even allow you to beg at my gate. Forgive me, sir, forgive me. I have not eaten in days. I wondered if I might have some of the scraps that fall from your table. Scraps will fall from my table. What then with the dog seat? I have business to attend to. Here, burn this. It's infected. He is finally here. My favorite brother. What do you want from me now? We've spent no expense today. I can see that. There was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. Oh, God's sake. Oh, God's sake. Oh, God's sake. Oh, God's sake. Oh, God's sake. Oh, God's sake. Oh, God's sake. Oh, God's sake. And the time was fulfilled for both men to die and pass from this life. to the next Wow I Thank you. Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me! Arms. Welcome. Father Abraham? Yes. Yes, I am Abraham. Welcome to paradise. Paradise? Yes, I am. Paradise! We've been preparing a banquet in your honor. Yes, yes, come. Father Abraham! Father Abraham! Have mercy on me! I saw you with Lazarus. Send him to me! and he might dip the point of his finger in the water or touch my tongue. I'm in agony from these flames. Son, you remember. In your life you received your good things. And Lazarus here received his bad things. Now he is being comforted and you are in agony. Please. Please. Besides all of this, there is between us a great chasm affixed. If someone wishes to come from here to you, they cannot. And no one can cross from you to us. Father Abraham, there is one thing I ask of you. Let Lazarus go to my father's house, for I am my brothers. Let him tell them, warn them, so that they too do not come to this place of torment. They have Moses. They have the prophets. Let your brothers hear them. No. No. But if someone from the dead comes to them, they will repent. No, if they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded the one rises from the dead. Leave. Now. Leave. Now. No. Leave Now Now Now No Lazarus, come to the place your father has prepared for you. We can divide his estate now. We'll all be rich. That is what he would have wanted. Where do you think he is now? He was rich in this life. I'm sure he'll be rich in the next. Thank you. While no man knows what heaven and hell will actually look like, the story powerfully illustrates how serious God is about loving Him more than money and possessions. There are many applications of this story, and here are a few that I've discovered that you can apply to your life. First, God never condemns wealth in this story, but He strongly rebuked the rich man's use of his wealth. The rich man lived a life serving his own selfish desires, and thus had all of his good things on earth. These are words that should cause anyone to purpose their life in such a way to avoid this same judgment. Financial goals should never be for the purpose of having an easy, comfortable life lived for ourselves. Second, God gives us money and possessions to meet our needs, but more importantly, the needs of others. Christians should handle their money and possessions in ways that reflect an eternal perspective. Living to please God, not ourselves. Now this is the great distinction of living according to God's economy and not man's. We should be praying and asking the Lord to show us people we can help and be kind towards. We are called to show God's love to those who cannot repay us in any manner. All of us should consider who God has placed outside of our gate. and then be intentional about using what we have to be generous with all that God has entrusted to us. Each day you make financial choices that will determine the kind of legacy you'll leave on this earth. If you want to be more purposeful about your legacy and prepared to stand before Christ and hear, well done, good and faithful servant, your companion guide has some suggestions about practical things that you can begin doing now. Finally, heaven and hell are real, and the only way to be with God in heaven after you die is to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I encourage you to turn away from your sins, confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and purpose your life to please God during the short days you have on earth. I'm Lazarus, written about in the Bible. You can learn about me in this true story in Luke 16, 19 through 31. What did you learn from this true story? How can you apply this story to your life? Let me tell you some of the things that I have learned from this experience. What God has taught me. I was a very poor man. In fact, I was so poor that I was sick and had no one to care for me. Even the dogs treated me like a scrap to be eaten. My condition left me feeling insignificant and hopeless in the world. But my trust in God did not waver. And to my great delight, when I opened my eyes in heaven, I learned that I was not insignificant to God. He knew my every thought. He even knew how much I had wanted to meet Abraham all of my life. So he sent him, Abraham, just to welcome me home. When Abraham, the very father of our faith, greeted me, I was overwhelmed with joy. How could one so blessed by God care for me, one so seemingly abandoned and useless to God Have you ever felt overlooked forgotten insignificant God has not forgotten you No matter where you are, who you are, or what problem you may be facing, I have learned no one is out of God's sight. My story proves that nothing can separate us from God's love. the rich man was consumed by all his riches, influence and comforts he treated his own pets better than he treated me he loved the things of the world and enjoyed them throughout his life there were days when I questioned if God knew that he would not even share the scraps of his table with me I now know that God was watching the rich man never lost his pride and arrogance even after he went to hell Did you notice that he demanded that I serve him since he was used to being served by others? Hell is full of people who want to be served. But since he had been served on earth, Abraham told him that he had already enjoyed his pleasures and they were over. I learned how important it is to God that we each serve others while on earth, especially those who are weak. and suffering. My story is a direct look at how God wants us to use money, possessions, and influence. It is clear that we are given a short time on earth to be tested as to how we will use what God gives us, for ourselves or for others. It is not wrong to have possessions or to be poor. It is wrong not to be willing to serve others. Jesus Christ said that even he came to serve, not to be served. If you use money and things God has given you to serve others, he will be well pleased, no matter how much you have. You may be wondering about hell and heaven and what will happen after you die. Christ will come at the last day to judge the world. On the day of judgment, the wicked shall be cast into hell, a place of dreadful and endless torment. But the righteous shall be taken to heaven, a glorious and happy place where they shall be forever with the Lord Jesus Christ. There is so much more God wants to teach us. Our next story continues your journey. I have the privilege of introducing you to the truths that will equip you to make the most important decision of your entire life. First, God loves you and wants you to know Him. The verse that most clearly expresses this is John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. God wants to have a personal and close relationship with each of us. Unfortunately, we're separated from Him by our sin. Romans 3.23 says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Each of us has sinned, and this has created a gap between us and God that cannot be bridged by our own efforts. But there is good news, the gospel. Jesus Christ is God's provision to bridge the gap. He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. Romans 5.8 tells us, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And in John 14.6, Jesus told us that He was the only bridge when He said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me. This relationship is a gift from God. Ephesians 2.8 and 9, for by grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. We only have to confess and turn away from our sins and ask Jesus Christ into our life to be our Savior and Lord. Now, if you're not certain you have this relationship, I encourage you to turn to Christ right now. I invite you to bow your head and close your eyes. Please pray silently in your heart or out loud with me if you prefer. Father God, I need you. I confess my sins and turn away from them. I invite you, Jesus, to come into my life as Savior and Lord and make me the person you want me to be. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me the gift of eternal life. Amen. I want to encourage you if you prayed this prayer. Jesus Christ is in your life and I want you to get to know him well.
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