The lord doesn't want us ignorant; he doesn't want us moving forward in our Christian life year after year passing and we and we're just as ignorant as we were 10 years ago about the scriptures. No, he wants us to move forward. That's why Paul repeatedly says in various books that he writes in the bible; he says grow in the grace and knowledge of the lord Jesus Christ grow up in your faith.

He says don't remain infants that continually feed on milk but grow up in your faith mature in your faith so that you can eat solid food which is for the mature and also become those that teach and give away what you've learned.

So right out of the gate, Paul is saying I don't want you to stay in this place when a childlike.

We have newborns in our church. We know that they don't know very much and that's appropriate, but when they're 25, if they only know what they know now when they're 25 we know that something's wrong and so Paul is saying grow up you are new believers, but I want you to grow up in your faith.

By the way, if you want to grow up in your faith, just be in this book every day read it study it memorize it journal your quiet times as deep as you want to go as fast as you want to go, with some limitations, the Lord is going to take you on this incredible walk with the Lord.

So I want to encourage you as your friend and your pastor, let's keep growing, let's not be ignorant and let's mature in our faith.

Paul says not only do I not want you to be ignorant, but he specifically says the one particular area that he doesn't want to be them to be ignorant regarding and it has to do with those who have fallen asleep now this is a euphemism as we know for death.

Interestingly, in the Greek New Testament, this word is used for two types of people; those that are actually sleeping like night time getting up in the morning and only for believers who have died in the faith. It is never used of unbelievers who have died, it's only used of those that have died in the faith.

We've got some examples of this even in the Old Testament.

~ We've got king David, he's described at his death as having fallen asleep.
~ We find Jairus daughter falling asleep, Lazarus falling asleep, Stephen the first martyr of the church described as falling asleep.

Why? Because through the teaching of Christ and the teaching of the apostles on this very important issue of what happens to a person when they die, Jesus makes it very clear, when a believer dies he refers to it as falling asleep, which is really hopeful because when somebody falls asleep it's like they're going to wake up again that's the idea.

Do you know that this concept, though it's in the Old Testament, it is a very clear Christian, Judeo-Christian concept? So much so that the early church coined a phrase or a term that didn't exist until the beginning of the new church and the work of God through the church and they coined a term for a gathering of people who were asleep, and it's called cemeteries. Cemetery means a sleeping place.

You ever go to a cemetery? When I go to a cemetery I think of dead people but the word cemetery itself which was coined by the New Testament church to describe what Christ said about dead believers. It is just a nap time. It's a bunch of kids taking a nap until the coming of Christ, it's a place of rest and repose and sleeping.

I want to tell you the bible tells us that it's appointed for men to die once and after that comes judgment.

Every one of us, barring the rapture of the church, will go through this process of death but for those that believe it's just a nap that's all it is and it's a transition. It's really exciting as we talk more about this this amazing event that takes place when a believer dies and how God is going to resurrect us, and we'll talk about that in a moment.

If you want to hear more about what Bob talks about next, be sure to watch the entire message here https://youtu.be/np3mXdbbgkw

Blessings,

Bob and Becky Hallman
The Epic Life
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