Moses My Servant Is Dead: Are You Prepared to Die?

In this Sunday Morning Service, Pastor Chris Parker opened a new study in the book of Joshua, preaching from Joshua 1:1-2: “Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan.” From these opening verses he drew two great truths. First, God’s work does not depend on God’s man. God buries His workers, but He carries on His work – it is a privilege that God allows sinners saved by grace to be part of His plan, but His purposes are never interrupted when His servants pass off the scene. Second, unless the rapture comes first, every one of us is going to die – and the believer must learn to view death by faith, not by sight. Turning to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Pastor Parker reminded the church that we are not looking for signs but listening for a shout, and that those who sleep in Jesus are with the Lord. He surveyed the Bible’s teaching on death as separation – spiritual, physical, and eternal (Genesis 2:17; Revelation 20:14) – and walked through the attitudes of the saints toward death: Elijah who asked God to take his life, Job who declared “yet in my flesh shall I see God,” Jesus in Gethsemane who prayed “not my will, but thine be done,” and Paul who testified, “I am now ready to be offered” (2 Timothy 4:6) and “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21-23). From Genesis 25:8, he traced the four steps in Abraham’s death – he gave up the ghost, died, was gathered to his people, and was buried – showing that God is not the God of the dead but of the living, and that everyone who leaves this earth continues to exist somewhere. The message closed with a searching invitation: death is appointed to every man, and the decision that determines whether we meet Christ as Savior or as Judge must be made on this side of the grave. Are you prepared to die?