How will MY Life END?

How will your story end? How will it end? There's a folder or a box with your name on it. The fear you never say out loud. Every ancient treaty ended with a curse. Every single one. It ended with a curse. Well, I said every single one. One didn't. There's a folder somewhere, somewhere in your house though. And it's got your name on it. ICOD. ICOD. They call that box. In case of death. What's the will? The power of attorney. The papers from the funeral home. Because you had a friend once say it's kinder to your kids to settle it all in advance. Settle it all ahead of time so they don't have to. And I agree. You signed every page. You filed it. And you haven't opened it since. Because opening it means asking one question none of us want to ask. How does my story end? How does my story end? Not the paperwork. The real question. You know, you have these questions that come into your head. Well, will I go out afraid? Will I be fearful? Will it hurt? Most of modern society, most of modern society, they want to know that. Will it hurt? It's reasonable. If you're afraid of pain, will it hurt? And then the other thing is this. Will I be alone? You know what the number one thing? I just read this. The number one thing people ask for in that last rally before they die. That last, the last words, they call it. Most people. According to a study of hospice nurses, most people they ask for their mother. Will I be alone? Will the things that I got wrong while I was alive? The things I did wrong. Will they be the last word on my life? Will that be what I'm known for? And what's waiting on the other side of my last breath? Maybe you're the husband who still hasn't made a will because you can't stand the image, the thought, of your family going on without you. Maybe you buried a wife, maybe you buried a husband, maybe you buried a child. And you have been afraid ever since. Maybe you're carrying a diagnosis that nobody else knows about yet, or a precious fear. It's a diagnosis that has at the end of it a time frame. Hebrews 2 verse 15 names that fear. It says, a person can spend a whole life in slavery. Do it. Not just the last, not just the last week, a whole life. Quietly bent around the dread of the ending. This week we watched the greatest prophet Israel ever had walk toward his death. We heard him set life and death in front of a nation and plead with them to choose. We heard God promise he'd never let them drop. And on Friday we watched Moses, Moshe, climb a mountain, look at a land he'd never enter, and then die. The five books of Moses end with a funeral on the wrong side of the river. But tonight, you're gonna see why that funeral is good news for Moshe or Moses and for you. This is True Word, Faith for Life with Dr. Sean. I'm Sean. S-H-A-W-A. If you're watching on any other place other than uh the YouTube channel, True Word Faith for Life with Dr. Sean. It's one with about uh right around 4,000 subscribers, maybe just a little over. And yeah, if you haven't yet, go there, click on subscribe, uh, click on the little bell. You come to the actual where you are now, you know. Uh you click on the little bell for all notifications, click on that thumbs up while you're at it. Wrote a book, True Word, Faith for Life. I know, hard to believe. It's my second book, and I believe it'll really, really help you. You don't have to buy it. I don't, you know, it's up to you. I think it will. It's helped a lot of people. I think it'll help you too. So welcome to the you find yourself here at the Sunday summation and deepening, where we look back at that prior week, that whole week back there. We go deeper than any single morning had time for. And if you're new, if you're new here tonight, we get a lot of new people. First of all, I'm glad to have you. You picked a good night. This week we finished Deuteronomy and with it the whole Torah. We are through in only a hundred and I don't know how many days. Because we don't count as the day count, we don't count Sundays. So, you know, that's a lot. Because we start day 135 tomorrow, if that tells you anything. And we don't count the Sundays. And we do a Sunday every Sunday at 6:30 Eastern Standard Time. Pretty much every. Well, we finished Deuteronomy and the Torah. How about that? The first five books of Moses. You've probably heard if you've never been around Judaism or any Jews, then you've probably heard people talk about Torah. And you've probably heard people say, Well, we're not we're not subject to Torah because we're under the age of grace, not the age of the law. Well, that's Torah. First five books of the Bible, and that is our foundation. And it is thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, Miss Susan, for letting me know that. You're a sound tech. Check you out. She says, Music is a hair loud. This is a whole different, uh, whole different. I curated all of this, and some of the music uh that I brought in is a little bit louder. Um, some of it is just one instrument, and so sometimes they push that. Um anyway, hopefully it's it's fixed. I turned it down three notches. I go one more notch. I don't think anybody will be able to hear it at all. But uh hopefully, hopefully you can hear it. Hopefully you can hear me and all of that. Anyway, thank you for that. Hello to everybody in live chat. Um last week we had thousands and thousands of people listening live and thousands more listening on playback. And one of the mornings we had 4.3 thousand, 4,000 uh um at the live and a couple hours after, and by the time it was finished, um well, more people can listen to it, 4.3,000. So I'm thankful for that. Um, tell your friends, share the links. That's what makes a difference. And quite honestly, uh sharing the um sharing the link and and clicking, but but you've becoming a subscriber, it's free. It's free. There's no, there's no obligation to it. That is huge. Clicking on that little bell is huge because that's how, oddly enough, that's how YouTube, the algorithm, says, okay, yeah, we want to send this to other people. Mr. Martinez Martinez, thank you very much for joining us. We're glad to have you. Amen. Glad to have you. Glad to have all of you new and folks that have been here forever. Um, we were at Virginia Creek Ministries and we enjoyed Virginia Creek Ministries this morning. We were blessed to be able to preach there and but a good crowd this morning, and it was it was lovely, amazing people, and uh an amazing place. What an amazing place. I love preaching there. So anyway, we're really honored, really honored to be there. So I hear people talking about Torah. It's the first five books of of the Bible, first five books of Moses. And if you were here all week, tonight ties the knot. If you missed a morning, you won't be lost. We'll walk the whole road together. On Friday, though, Friday was a tough one. I I said going into it, I dreaded it coming. I knew it was coming, and I dreaded it. Because Moshe is uh, you're you're most you're most welcome, Mr. Martinez. Um Moshe was, you know, to me one of the very greats. And his whole story just is is incredibly inspiring to me. And um, I really appreciate him. And and in heaven, I'm gonna look him up. So I just want to shake his hand or hug his neck. I don't know if he's into hugging or not. He's probably gonna not be because all the people wanted to hug on him, you know what I mean? Glad I didn't get washed away in the rain. Oh my goodness. I've got to post some uh some videos, some pictures of before the storm and videos of just before the storm. Not even the storm hit. It was crazy. Uh it's amazing. The the ocean met the uh intracostal waterway, the Atlantic intracostal waterway. It's wild. It's just wild. We've seen it many times in different hurricanes that have been here. It blows our mind. Live on the coast, man. It's a it's a high risk deal, but thank you very much. Our prayers go out to everyone affected by it. So on Friday, though, is it was a really challenging thing because I asked uh I asked the audience to bless one person by name and bring that name here with them tonight. Type it in the chat right now or in comments below uh if you if you did that. First names only we don't need to know the whole deal. And we'll pray over every one of them before we close tonight. And if you didn't, if you didn't see that, you know, go back and listen to it. We're on every podcast platform there is Spotify, iHeartRadio, all of them. We're on all of them. And so you can listen. Um, you can listen. Uh um, it's it's audio only, so you can listen anytime. And and if you have any of those, Spotify, iHeartRadio, iTunes, all of that, I'm on all of it. Amazon music, you name it, I'm on it. You can catch up uh through that and then meet us if you can in the morning. We have folks that get up at four in the morning. We have other folks that are they work all night and they're just going to bed. And so, yeah, it's really powerful. Powerful, very, very powerful. Um, my brother got hit in a mobile Alabama. He's okay though. Good, good, good. Yeah, Mobile is in a tricky spot. Tricky spot. Neat place, though. Incredible churches there in Mobile. Um, and let's see, you put Mary, Miss Tammy. I'm not sure what that is that something I'm supposed to. I must have asked a question or something. So here's here's the road we walked. By the way, thank you to everybody there in the chat. Thank you to everybody who um who is taking time out of your of your evening to listen to this. And if you're listening on playback, thank you to you too. It means a lot to me. You could do whatever you wanted with your time, and I'm just happy and honored that you would uh that you would do it. I mean, it's just incredible. Incredible. So here's the road that we walked. Monday, Deuteronomy 27. By the way, hi Sean, spelled correctly. Good to see you, and I'm glad your brother's okay. Um, Monday, Deuteronomy 27 and 28. Israel split between two mountains. Wow. Six tribes on Gerazim for the blessing, six on Ebao for the curse, and the Levites calling the words across the valley. 54 verses of curses, the longest such list in Scripture. But before a single curse was read, God had them build an altar on Ebaul. Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you. Yes, you're see, I knew it Miss Tammy would be the one she typed Mary. And because I said, type a name to pray for, yeah, thank you very much. Thank you for doing that. Yeah, it's tricky, I know. It's it's uh it's a tricky thing, but that's what we asked for on Friday. To bring that name here, put them in, and we're gonna pray for them. Remind me, Tammy. Please, you know my brain. So I just find this amazing that before a single curse was read, and I mean verses of curses, you know what I mean? It's incredible. We don't we just don't see that. God had them build an altar on a ball before the mountain of the curse, the Baal. And he said to eat there and rejoice. Then Tuesday, Tuesday, chapters 29 and 30, Moshe or Moses told them they'd be scattered to the ends of the earth. Then he rang one Hebrew word like a bell. Shuvah returned. From the ends of the earth, from there, God would bring them home. And he said it all in front of them. Life and death. Choose life. Then Wednesday, chapter 31, the old leader said, I am not going with you. And God made a promise for every empty chair. Lo Yadarpeka, Yo Lo Yadakaba, Yader Pika. He won't let you drop. And Moses or Moshe wrote the word down so it would outlive him. Then Thursday, oh my goodness, Thursday, chapter 32, Moses sang, God is the rock. When the nations were divided, he kept his people for himself, the apple of his eye, and hovered over them like an eagle with the same word Genesis uses for the spirit over the waters. And then he went looking for the nations too. And then we get to Friday. Oi, Friday. I was a boo-hooing on Friday. And some folks that I talked to after said, Oh man, I had to go through some tissues. Friday was a tough day. Thank you, Susan. Miss Susan says my mother, Mary Lou. A hundred and two. Closer and closer to heaven. And farther from this life. You are most assuredly helping her to finish well. Friday, good lands. When you listen on playback, if you were a person who you you weren't, you just learned about us, and you go and you listen to Friday, you know, I did a lot of. But every time I tell that story, it gets me. Just gets me. I have such a heart for Moses. Moshe. That's his real name. He wouldn't know what. If we called him Moses, he walked in this room right now and trying to join the podcast. I mean, I would hand him another set of uh. I'd just hand him the mic. Let's be honest. I'd just hand him. No, this is yours now. You go ahead, you do your thing. But if I called him Moses, he wouldn't know who I was talking to. That's a made-up name, Moshe. That's his name. Moshe. So far, we have two Marys. We have Mary, Miss Tammy, and we have Mary Lou. Miss Mary Lou was Miss Susan. So so far I got two Marys, and they're the only ones that have typed in a name, so be thinking. Chapters 33 and 34. With Psalm 90. I know we jumped ahead, but we had to. Moshe blessed the tribes. He climbed Nebo, Mount Nebo. He saw the land. And he died at the mouth of the Lord. God buried him himself. And then centuries later, Moshe stood inside the land, face to face with Yeshua. A curse, a scattering, an empty chair, a song for the nations, a life that never reached the land. Wow. Five mornings. And under every one, the oldest question there. The oldest question there is, does death get the last word? Oh, we think about that an awful lot. Don't we? It's normal. That's normal, right? Does death get the last word? Well, I always like to break it in threads. Five threads. You'll notice I seem to like five. Thread number one, the curse was answered before it was spoken. Deuteronomy 28 doesn't flinch. Verse 66. Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. That's Hebrews 2, verse 15, written down centuries before.

Oh.

Amen. Don't jump to the New Testament. Because some pastor said, hey, skip over that Old Testament, don't matter anyway. No, no, no. You don't understand the New Testament until you understand the Old. It is so very important. And the curses end in verse 68 with the saddest line in the book. The Lord will bring you back in ships to Egypt. The Exodus, the Echodos, run backward. That's what death feels like to us. Everything God rescues us from. Coming back for us. But look at chapter 27, verses 5 through 7. The altar was already standing on Ebal, burnt offerings and peace offerings on the mountain of the curse, and the people eating and rejoicing there. Before one curse was read aloud, God put a sacrifice on the very spot where the curse would land. In the 1980s, an Israeli archaeologist called Adam Zertal dug out a large stone, so it was a huge stone structure on Mount Ebal from Israel's earliest days in the land. He believed it was this altar. Others call it a watchtower. And debate is still open. But the text doesn't wait on the shovel. The sacrifice came first. Miss Susan, how's that music now? Is it better? Now thread number two. No place is too far for him. No place is too far for him. Oh, we struggle with that one, don't we? We do, we struggle with that one. For God. It's not too far. We're not too far gone. Deuteronomy 30, verse 4. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. From there. Not from somewhere closer. From there. Perfect. Thank you, Sean spelled correctly. Barb.

Barb.

Oh, the loss. Mother that suffers the loss of his father. She feels lost in this world. Oh. I have a dear friend. She has gone on to her reward and she's joined Mr. Vic, and many of you have heard me talk about Miss Linda, Miss Linda Anzulis. Oh, how I miss her. She was in her 80s. Love story of the century, 63 years. She was with, and she prayed. She prayed at the wedding, standing there. She prayed at the wedding. She said, God, I will serve you with my whole life if you just give me 50 years with this man. And he gave her 63. And she and he they were having their morning coffee and they were sitting in their recliners right next to each other, looking out at the cardinals and all the animals that Mr. Vic fed, and all the birds that he he had come in, and all the flowers that he planted. And he just he he was amazing. And Mr. Vic said to Miss Linda, would you mind, would you mind getting me another cup of coffee? And then while she was out getting him another cup of coffee, and she came back in with his cup of coffee. He had closed his eyes to this world, not sick. He had closed his eyes and passed away. And oh how she longed for him. Until it was her time. I am friends with with her sister and her niece and and others. They are an amazing family. The yearning. Grief. The price of love. So the words from there, wow, not from somewhere closer. Hey, look, man, let me just get myself cleaned up here. I got all these problems. I got all these hurts, habits, and hangups. Let me get them handled first and then I'll come. Oh, I'll come, I'll get there. I'll come a little bit closer. Because you know what, God, I don't, I don't, you're not going to move. No, no, he says, from there. And from there, he will take you. Moshe meant the edge of the known world. When Moshe was speaking of what God was going to do, he says, He's talking about the edge of the known world. But for most of us, the farthest place we can picture isn't a country, it's the grave. And his word doesn't change from there. In the first ten verses of that chapter, Shulv rings seven times. Maybe you'll remember. Israel returns and God returns them. The road home runs both ways. Just before that, chapter 29, verse 29, the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. You don't need every answer about the other side. What's on the other side? We don't need to know all that. What he has revealed is enough to walk by. Then thread three. Every leader dies. Well, not every. Because God doesn't. Chapter 31, verse 2. I am a hundred and twenty years old today. The man Israel always leaned on was leaving. Then verse six. And he will not walk away. Every hand you've ever held will someday let go. But his hand will not. In Hebrews 13. Thank you, Miss Susan. Thank you very much. In Hebrews 13, verse 5. You might want to write these down. By the way, I forgot to mention, when I say you might want to write these down, you can if you want to, but TrueWord, FaithforLife.com. True WordFaithforLife.com. What a treasure trove. What a resource for you. All free. The only thing it costs you on that website, if you want to buy it and nobody's making you buy it, is my book, my second book, True Word, Faithfor Life. But on that website, there is a free blog. There's also a free player of audio only, but free player of every episode. And but on that website, there's a thing on the upper right called blog. If you click on that little blog block in the header, it will drop down. And then you pick the one from the prior Saturday. But usually I post them yesterday is when I post them, uh, the Saturday before the Sunday. And oh man, oh man, oh man. I've made them such that they could be used. Uh the study guide could be used in any uh seminary or or university. They're built to that standard. Um, full bibliography, full uh it's annotated, the whole deal. It's all there. Every resource that I've used throughout the week, you've got it there. I know. And then and then we have some questions and some answers, and you can use that for your Bible study, you can use it for your small group. You're more than welcome to do that. I made it so that it's copy and pastable. The only thing I ask is that you copy the copyright information. I don't charge anything for it. I just want that to go along with it. Anyway, fact remains that every hand we've ever held will someday let go. And some of those people that you brave folks have named, those hands, those hands at some point let go. And sometimes it's their life ends or your life ends. Hebrews 13, verse 5, hands that it's it hands that same promise straight to you. Moshe or Moses knew he couldn't stay. So he wrote. He knew he was leaving this earth, so he wrote. He put the word, capital W in the priest's hands, and he taught the people a song. The leader dies, and the word goes on. Well, thread four. The God who wounds and heals. In the song of Moses, chapter 32, verse 39, God says something that would have stunned the ancient world. See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no God beside me. I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. Well, in Canaan, death was a death was thought of as a god. The clay tablets from Ugurit call him Mot. And his name means exactly that. Death. One lip on the earth, one lip in the sky, and a tongue that reaches the stars. He swallows. In the myth, even Baal, the the Baal, the storm god, goes down into Mot's mouth. Death swallows us all. The Song of Moses says there's no moat or death to hand you over to, no rival throne. The hand that holds your death is the same hand that holds your life. Now, thread five. The man who died outside the land. Oh my. Chapter 34, verse 7. Moshe was a hundred and twenty years old. His eye wasn't dim, and his strength hadn't left him. He didn't wear out. He died, Alpi Yahweh, at the mouth of the Lord. The rabbi said, by a kiss. God buried him with his own hands. Can you imagine? His whole life fit in one line. Verse 10. Oh. The Lord knew him face to face. That's what verse 10 says. The Lord knew him face to face. Then in Matatiahu or Matthew 17, verse 13, Moshe stood on a high mountain inside the land, alive, talking with Yeshua. Now I want you to lay all five side by side, each of those threads. The curse met by an altar, the farthest place met by from there, the dying leader met by a God who won't let go. Death, the swallower, met by the God who makes alive, and the man who died outside the land standing in it. Five mornings, one answer. Death doesn't get the last word. Say it again. Death does not get the last word for those who believe. There's a theological center here, and I want you to start with how ancient covenants ended. And look, I'm just going to tell you, yes, I teach differently. It is a different deal all the way around, because I want you to know my specialty is ancient Near Eastern language, culture, and context. I want you to know, in order to understand the whole Bible, I want you to understand our foundation. I want you to know. I want you to know all about these people. These people are amazing people, but they were living a whole different life than we're living now, right? So when we pick up the Bible and we apply today to them, well, that's not fair to them. Well, how could those dumb apostles, how could them dumb disciples, how they they walk with Jesus every day for three years? Three years they were with him, every day, close up with him. How could they not know? Well, we we didn't have this. We didn't have, we didn't have all kinds of things. You know, it was a crazy time, and and and it was a it was a crazy, the context was wild. Early days, very sanitized now, but it wasn't then. It was wild. So I want I want to start with how the ancient covenants ended. Deuteronomy is shaped like the treaties of the world, Hittite treaties from the 14th and 13th centuries BC, Assyrian loyalty oaths from the seventh. Now scholars now argue over which era matches it best, but the pattern holds a great king. A history of what he's done, stipulations, witnesses, then blessings, and curses. Watch the witnesses. Ahittite treaty summoned the thousand gods of Hati to stand witness, along with the mountains and the rivers. Now, Deuteronomy 30, verse 19. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today. Moshe calls the sky and the ground, because there's no other God to call. And in every one of those treaties, the curses are the last word. The Assyrian king, Esarhaban, he had a treaty from 672 BC, sounds like Deuteronomy 28 in places. It asked the gods to make the rebels ground like iron. Deuteronomy 28, verse 23, the earth under you shall be iron. And when a vassal broke faith, that was the end. No treaty we have from that world offers the rebel a road home. Then read Deuteronomy 30, verse 1, verses 1 through 6. When the blessing and the curse have come upon you and you return, the Lord your God will restore you. And verse 6 The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. That you may live. That you may live. God Himself promises to do what Israel could not do. No great king in the ancient world ever wrote that clause. That you may live. They didn't write it because they couldn't. Oh, the curse is real, but the curse is not the end. The rabbis heard it in the song. They heard it in the song, in the Talmud, the Tractate Sanhedrin. They read Deuteronomy 32, verse 39, slowly, I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal. You might think God kills one person to give another life. No, no, it doesn't work that way. No, they said, the wounding and the healing happened to the same person. So the killing and the making alive happened to the same person. Resurrection, they said, right there in the Torah. Oh, he was killed. And he was made alive. That hope never left Israel. For nearly 2,000 years, observant Jews have prayed the Ameda three times a day. Its second blessing ends. Berukata ta' donai mechyeh hametim. Blessed are you, Lord, who gives life to the dead. Mekiah, the same root as verse 39. I make alive. Ezekiel saw it. Chapter 37, verse 12. I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people, and I will bring you into the land of Israel. Resurrection and the oh come on, don't somebody taking notes, don't miss that one. Maybe run a circle, take your pen, do it around it like that. Oh man. Don't miss it. It's right there. It's right there in black and white. It's in black and white. You cannot miss it. Don't miss it. Don't miss it. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. Resurrection and then the land. Moshe didn't lose his crossing. It's just further down the road than Nebo. Now the word underneath it all, Deuteronomy 30, verses 19 and 20. I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life. Loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him, for he is your life. In Hebrew. In Hebrew. It's hard for me to say. And here are translations, they part ways. The ESV says, for he is your life. The New American Standard Bible says, for this is your life. The complete Jewish study Bible says, for that is the purpose of your life. That little word, that little word, who can point back to God Himself, or to the loving and to the holding fast. Look at that verb. Look at the verb for holding fast. It's the word from Genesis 2, verse 24, where a man holds fast to his wife. Either he is your life, or clinging to him is your life. Both readings land on a person. Chapter 32, verse 47. About God's word. It is no empty word for you, but your very life. Yochannon or John heard it. In him was life. John 1, verse 4. Oh, death can take your breath, but it cannot take your life. Your life is a person, and his name is Yeshua. Yeshua. Now watch every thread of this week gather into one person. Yeah, I know. I know. People say it to me all the time why would I ever want to learn? This is what they say to me, is how they say it. This is my impression of how they say it. Why would I ever want to learn the Old Testament? It seems like a waste of time to me. It's just done over with. Don't mean no, never mind. Anyway, I'm just gonna read up on the New Testament and stay up in the New Testament. Testament because the New Testament is that's more fun to read anyway. Plus, it don't have as many big words and crazy words like that. And I don't like all the killing anyway. Well, you seem to not mind the killing of Jesus. Man, you gotta know, you gotta know what's going on back there. Because through all of that, there is a thread, a crimson, golden thread that weaves through every bit of scripture, old and new, and then gather into one person. The altar on Ebal, standing where the curse would land. Galatians 3, verse 13, Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. The Apostle Paul or Shaol quotes Deuteronomy to say it: Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. The curse came down, and it came down on him. The cross is the altar on the mountain of the curse. From there he will gather you. John 5, verse 25, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. The farthest place you will ever go is the grave. And his voice reaches there. He won't let you drop. He won't let you drop. John 10, verse 28, I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. Written in red, out of love for you and for me. And that red is the blessed Savior Yeshua. Blood pouring down, hung on a cross made from a tree that his father created, his blood dripping down onto the soil from which he created man. John 10, verse 28, I give them, this is Yeshua speaking, I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. I kill and make alive, John 11. Lazarus, four days in the tomb. Yeshua says to a grieving sister, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. Do you believe this? And then he calls into a tomb where they know that guy is dead because they dressed his body. Come on, somebody. Lazarus was graveyard dead. He was what? Stinky dead. Whoever believes in me though he die, yet shall he live. Do you believe this? Then he calls into a tomb of death and stench, and a dead man walks out alive. And Moshe. Moses dead outside the land? Luke 9, verse 31, on the mountain. Moshe and Elijah talk with Jesus, talk with Yeshua about his departure. The Greek word is Extodus. The Exodus he was about to accomplish at Yerusalim, Jerusalem, not out of Egypt, out of the grave. Then Yeshua went to Jerusalem or Jerusalem, and he died. And on the third day he walked out of his own grave. Remember Mut, the swallower? Isaiah 25, verse 8, he will swallow up death forever. Isaiah takes death's own weapon and turns it on him. And at the empty tomb in 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 15, verses 54 and 55, the Apostle Paul reaches for Isaiah. And for Hosea 13, verse 14, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Swallower has been swallowed. This hope isn't something the church invented. On trial in Acts 26, verses 6 through 8. The Apostle Paul or Shaol says, I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promises made by God to our fathers. Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? Resurrection is Israel's hope first. And the God who gives life to the dead hasn't let go of Israel. Romans 11, verse 29. The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Hebrews 2, verses 14 through 15. Through death he destroyed the one who has the power of death and delivered all those who fear, who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. You'll note that word, delivered, an Exodus out of the fear itself. And in Revelation 1, verses 17 and 18, Yochanan or John falls at his feet as though dead. Yeshua lays his right hand on him. Fear not, for I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive evermore.

Forevermore.

And I have the keys of death in Hades. He is your life. And he will never die again. Death isn't the end of your story. It's the river. And Yeshua takes you across. If you're watching on another platform, by the way, come over to YouTube right now. Click on the YouTube channel. It's about 4,000 followers. We're not a huge channel. Click on that subscribe button. Then click on the um the little bell. You'll see the little bell, all notifications. That's what you want. And then click on that thumbs up while you're at it. It's free. It's not going to cost you any extra. Everything's free. Come on now. I pay so you don't have to. Here's this week's step. It's bigger than any morning ass. So if you thought things were gonna get easier today, well, you're wrong. Sorry, not sorry. Here's this week's step. It's a toughie because it's about how you finish. First, I want you to choose life out loud. Every morning this week, before your feet hit the floor, I want you to pray Deuteronomy 30, verse 20, back to him. I choose life. You are my life. But that's not all. Second, I want you to do what Moshe did before he climbed. Pick one and put it on a day this week. Bless someone. Bless someone. Why is that so hard? Bless someone. It's as simple as, sometimes it's as simple as just a, I don't know, little thank you note. Writing a little thank you note, taking your pen, and and instead of sending an email or a text, just writing. I have horrific handwriting because obviously I have a brain injury and a and a um spinal cord injury, and and things don't work very well. And it's messy. But people have told me, they said, hey, I love getting one of those. I love getting your notes. You all have written me some of the nicest notes and mailed them to me. It's a blessing. It's such a blessing. You have no idea. Bless someone. Those of you who listened on Friday, you started Friday. Keep going. One more child, one more grandchild, one more friend. By name out loud. Write it down. One page the way Moshe wrote the word for the next generation. Write down what God did for you, where he carried you. Some of your stories are absolutely stunning. Write down what God did for you. Write down where he carried you. Put it in that folder. Remember that folder. Put it right there in that folder. That thing. That when they come to that folder, and you have breathed your last breath, and the tears are still wet on their cheeks. And they're trying to figure out what you would want. And they're sorting out your life. Write down what God did for you and where He carried you. You do that so whoever opens it someday finds more than paperwork. They find your hope. They find your faith written down. The next is settle something. I talked about it today at Virginia Creek Campground. I was privileged and honored to preach there. Settle it. Got an issue with your neighbor, settle it. Do the best you can. If, hey, look, don't stand there and argue with them. If they're going to argue with you, just say, you know what, I don't want to argue. I just I just want to settle this. Oh, it's okay if we don't agree. It's okay. We don't always have to agree on everything. I don't agree with myself half the time, by the way. Not for nothing. Settle something. If if there's somebody that you need to forgive, come on. Come on, let it go. Don't be carrying that. Maybe it's somebody from whom you need to ask forgiveness from. Don't leave it for the funeral standing at their casket. I wish I would have apologized to you. Or maybe I wish I would have forgiven you because I know your heart was broken over what happened between us. Do it in advance. I always say, send the flowers while they're alive. Make that call before Friday. And if you've never made a will, make the appointment this week. That isn't giving in to fear. It is love for the people that you will most assuredly leave behind. Tell them what you want. When the fear of the ending wakes you at three in the morning, I want you to answer it out loud. Because listen, we talked today about waking up. You reach my, I'm 61 years old, you wake up, and for some reason, man, I the mic my magic number is three. Wide awake. Pain goes, hey, I thought I thought you were sleeping a little too deep over there. Wasn't sure, so I'll wake you up. Revelation 1, verse 18, say it out loud. He has the keys. I have for you today a challenge and a choice. Here's the choice. It's the same one Moshe set, Moses set in front of a whole nation on his last day. Life and death are set before you. You can keep living in the quiet slavery of the fear of the end, avoiding the folder, measuring your life by what you will not finish, hoping the ending doesn't come too soon or too painfully. Letting the dread decide what you say, what you fix, and what you leave undone. Or, or you can choose life, not a mood, not an emotion, not a purse. You can choose life. A person. And that person's name is Yeshua Jesus. And you can let him carry you across the river when your day comes. The way he brought Moshe into the land at last. Moses didn't spend his last day grieving the land he'd miss. I think I grieved over it more than he did. In fact, I know I did. Oh, he spent his time blessing, writing and climbing toward God. A man who's already chosen life isn't afraid to look at the end. The folder or the keys, which one is it? Which one are you trusting with the end of your story? I always tell people, you know, once I got my prognosis and diagnosis, I say, Well, I'm not going to be one to be clawing at the inside of the casket. Oh, please. I know where I'm going. I know in whom I have believed, and I know that he is able. Prayer is not asking for an easy journey. It's asking for a strong back. Let's pray, Father. Lord God, Almighty King. You've been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were born, you are God, and we are dust, and our days fly away. We bring you every name in this chat tonight. Mary and Mary Lou and Stephen and Rob and Tommy and Will and Adam and AJ and Randy. We bring you every name. And even more, that the people couldn't bring themselves to type the name. We bring you every child, we bring you every grandchild, every friend who was blessed this weekend. We ask, Father, that you let these words take root. Let every one of them know that they were seen and that you see them. You see them. Some of us have lived in our own form of slavery to the fear of the end. We've avoided the folder. We've lain awake wondering how our story will finish. And we've wondered whether our failures get the last word. Almighty God, Adunai Elohim. Thank you for the altar on Ebal built before the curse was even spoken. Thank you that from the farthest place we'll ever go, you gather us. Thank you that you won't ever let us drop. Thank you that you kill and make alive, and that there's no other God to hand us over to. You are the one true God, the only, the Almighty God. Thank you that Moshe, who died outside the land, stood in it face to face with your son Yeshua, who is the only reason that I can even speak to you tonight. Father God, we choose life tonight. We choose life tonight. We don't choose an emotion. We don't choose a mood. We choose a person. Your son. Yeshua Hamashiach. Father God, thank you for the crimson and golden thread that you wove so beautifully through Scripture, pointing to Him. We choose life tonight. I ask that you take away any of our fear of the ending. And when our day comes, I ask that you carry us across the river. I pray this in the matchless name of Yeshua, who holds the keys to death in Hades. Amen. Some of you, some of you realize tonight that you've never chosen life. I talked about it today at Virginia Creek Ministries, and I said, I said, I told a story about how I was asked to preach at a particular church that they just didn't give invitations. They were very eloquent preachers. They had two primary preachers they co-co-preached, and one of them is going on to his reward, the father, and the other is the son. And they asked me to preach, and I said, I'd be happy to. And I said, But I'm going to give an invitation. Just so you know, I made a promise to God. When God said, No, you're going to do this. You either say yes or you say no. You've been saying no since you were 16. It's time you said yes. And I said yes. And when I did say yes, I said, I'll give an invitation every time that I'm honored to speak in your name. And they said, Oh, no, no, no, we don't do invitations here. And you'll be embarrassed and you'll be all alone if you're up there. And you give an invitation. I said, I'll still do it. I'd rather stand alone. And when I did the same prayer that I'm gonna offer to you, I'm offering, I offered life to them, and I'm offering life to you. I prayed that prayer. And it wasn't because of my preaching. I was early days, and I'm sure I stunk up the room. But that church that never gave an invitation. We were 45 minutes with people coming forward, faces stained, tears just pouring off their faces. And they were relieved. And many of them gave their life to Christ that morning. But one in particular. He was the equivalent of the secretary of deacons or the chairman of deacons rather. And when he walked forward, tears just pouring off his face. I could see the look of shock on everybody's eyes. I didn't know who he was. And I said, How can I? How can I help you? He said, That thing you said, that prayer. I've never done it. I said, really? He said, Yeah, I've never done it. Ever. He was a grown man. He was an accomplished man. And I said, dude, would you like to handle that now? He said, yes, I would. And through the sobbing, I put my hand on his back. He was sobbing as he prayed. I remember as he knelt, he had on khaki pants, and the knees were soaked from the tears running down his face. They were tears of joy and relief. I said, Why? At this point of your life. Are you giving your life to Christ now? Why hadn't you done it before? And he said, No one ever asked me. So I'm asking you. If you realize you've you've never chosen life, you've chosen comfort and control and staying busy, and trying to stay busy enough not to think about the end. But you've never chosen him. He's the only one. He's the only one who holds the keys. And right now, he's holding the door open for you right now. Right now. Handle this right now. When you're listening to this, handle it right now. Pray this with me and mean it. Yeshua, Jesus, I need you. I believe you died and you rose. You died for me, and you rose from the grave. I surrender my life to you today. Please forgive me of my sins, my hurts, my habits, and my hang-ups. Fill me, lead me. I'm yours. I pray this in the name, the heavenly name, in your name, your son's matulous name, Yeshua, Jesus. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, hey, look, if you prayed that prayer tonight, you just chose, and and look here, this isn't me telling you, it's scriptures telling you. If you prayed that tonight, you chose life, and death doesn't get the last word on you anymore. If you did that, whether you're listening live or on playback, in live chat or in down below, type I choose life. I choose life. This whole family will rejoice with you. Heaven itself is rejoicing right now if you did. I want you to tell one believer, somebody you know that's a believer. Tell them out loud. Don't text them, don't tell them. If you have to call them, if they far away, then call them. And look, if it's your family member or a close friend and they don't, for whatever reason, they don't respond the way that you thought they were going to respond. That's okay. Don't argue with them. If it's your mom or your dad or somebody like that in your family, just remember they knew you. They're not like God. Even though they're a believer, they may have forgotten that one day they were in need. Just thank them. Say when the preacher guy said to find a believer that you love, you trust that I was to tell you, that I was just to say it out loud. So I saw your face in my eye when I was praying through tears. And I chose you. Thanks for listening. And then move on. Go to true wordfaithforlife.com, contact, and tell old Dr. Sean. Dr. Sean will rejoice. All that not rejoicing they did, oh wow, make up for it. Trust me when I tell you. And look, I know people feel weird about finding churches. I've helped countless number of people find a church where they live. You'd be surprised. I have no people from all over. I got 20-some thousand people in my contacts. Believe me, I can find a church for you. No, it's not going to be perfect. Of course it's not going to be perfect. None of us are. But having a church is so beautiful. Bunch of other broken people. Just finding their way. Worshiping together. But I know this, y'all can walk the rest of the road with you. All the way to that river that you're going to cross over one day. You're not walking toward that river alone anymore, by the way. That's an awesome thing. You know, Torah ends with a funeral on the wrong side of the river. But the scroll doesn't stop there. Turn one page, and the next book opens with four Hebrew words, just four. Vay. Akray Modmoshe. Ho ho ho ho. Vaya, Akhre Modmoshe. After the death of Moses. Mot, the same word Canaan made into a god. And God's next book opens by putting him behind us. After death, the story keeps going. With him it always does. So open the folder without fear. Your story doesn't end in paperwork. It ends in a crossing. Underneath are the everlasting arms. And on the other side is Yeshua's face. Choose life. Choose life. There's a million things to worry about. Choose life. Yeah, you look at social media and you conclude the world is a mess. You look at the news, the world is a mess, so we're in deep trouble, and we are. Choose life. He, Yeshua. Yeshua, he is your life now. By the way, send this to somebody who's afraid of how their story ends. Then subscribe and tap the little bell for all notifications. So tomorrow morning, Monday through Friday morning, all of them folks right there will tell you, 7 a.m. we get after it, Eastern Standard Time. You tap that little bell for all notifications, you'll get a notification, you'll know. Tomorrow morning we open Joshua and we stand at the edge of the river. And now I'm going to pray over you. And I'm nobody special, trust me when I tell you, I'm praying over you, a blessing that's been prayed. In fact, Yeshua was praying this when he was taken up to heaven. He was mid-sentence when he prayed it. You can pray it over yourself, you can pray it over your family. Some of you are trying to memorize. And then when I'm finished, I'm going to pray it in English. So you'll know. It's not very long. But boy, does it have some power. Are you ready? Take a deep breath and breathe it in. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. If the Lord keeps me breathing and my heart beating until tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, meet me there. But until then, until then, shalom Bishem Yeshua, Veshalom Elachim.