Greetings Flag Branch members and friends and thanks for taking the time to join me for some Fine Points from yesterday’s message “An Eerie Silence or Eternal Praise”.
In the movie “Castaway”, Tom Hanks portrays a survivor of a plane crash who washes up on shore of a deserted island. There are no other human beings there and minimal animal life. Everyone assumes he died in the crash and no one is searching for him.
At this point he is lost to the world and the world to him. He makes noise and sounds but no one hears them but himself. He makes things, yet nobody but himself knows what he made. He has ideas and thoughts but no one besides himself to share them with.
And when he dies, there will be no one to mourn his death, to remember what he did or said or to acknowledge his life. All that would be left on that island would be an eerie silence left by someone who use to live there.
If there is no God, then we are Tom Hanks and earth is the island he was stranded on. Our life like his would be limited to the earth upon which we live. No one else would know we exist and all of our efforts will go no further than the bounds of our human limitations.
No one outside ourselves would notice what we do and no one would notice or care when we died. We would leave behind an eerie silence that said someone once lived here.
The bible teaches us that the dead are silent but the living will bless the Lord and praise His name. Their praise can’t be silenced by death but it continues forever and forever. Yesterday’s message is about refuting the belief that mankind is somehow like Tom Hanks was, a forgotten unknown castaway, and the earth like some deserted island in the middle of nowhere unaware of anyone and anyone aware of it.
People are living like no one knows and no one cares about them outside of their own little world of family and friends. But Psalm 115:15-18 teaches us that God made and owns the heavens and earth and he gave earth to mankind. Man’s life is therefore not meaningless nor purposeless as it would be if there is no God.
Someone is watching and taking notice of what we are doing and has a plan for our lives. Our praise of God is not only for or nor only last for the here and now, but it is eternal and will never end.
God told Moses that He is, meaning at this very moment, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not that He was their God. In saying this God was letting Moses know that He is not the God of the dead (because the dead don’t praise the Lord) but of the living.
In other words, the praise of those who bless the Lord shall do so now and forever. Physical death as we know it will not be able to silence them. The God who placed them on this earth has ordained and willed it so. Again, He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
The dead don’t praise the Lord, but the living do. Are you alive or are you dead? I hope you are the former or you become so. Visit our News link at our website to see our latest news and announcements. Don’t forget to read and listen to our pastor’s Sunday School preview that comes out on Thursday of this week on our Facebook page, website and mobile app. You can also enjoy the SS Daily Bible Readings anytime and anywhere at our website or by clicking the link. As always, remember to fear God and keep His commandments
Pastor Jordan
