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What Happens When You Die?

Louie Giglio

7 Days

What Are You Bringing to God?

Day 7

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Have you ever been to a party where you forgot a gift? Have you ever brought a gift but realized that what you really wanted to bring was something greater? On our last day together, Louie Giglio shares with us the importance of considering ahead of time what it is we will have to bring before Almighty God at the end of our time on Earth.

Let’s get started.

Summary

Louie mentioned it, but every illustration we try to put around eternal matters eventually falls short. Even so, his story of the party and the gift can be such an apt metaphor if we’re paying attention.

If you don’t plan well enough, you end up bringing something less than what you meant to.

It’s not that different from cramming for an exam or giving less effort than you want to be known for at work. Said another way, failing to prepare is preparing to fail.

Now, it’s important that you know that we aren’t talking about your salvation. There’s no effort you could make to earn your eternal place with God. Recall what Paul wrote about Salvation in Ephesians:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:8-10

What we are talking about today is simple. What story will you have in Heaven? What will you be able to say that you did with the gift that Jesus gave His life to purchase for you? What will you have done with your time? Will you have wasted the moments that He bled for, or will you have leveraged each and every second to bring Him Glory?

“Use the dash today for what will change forever. Life is short. Eternity is long.”

What's Next?

This is the last day of our track together. We pray that you have begun to see your life through the lens of eternity. Take the next few minutes to first say a prayer of thanksgiving to God for Jesus’ gift of life. Then, be honest with yourself and answer the following questions:

How would you describe how you are using your life right now?
What lessons from this track will you take away from these days?
What needs to change in your life starting today?

Scripture References

16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

6Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.

7For we live by faith, not by sight.

8We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

9So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.

51Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—

52in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

53For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.

54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

13Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.

14For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

15According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

18Therefore encourage one another with these words.

20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care.

11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,

13their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.

14If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.

15If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

9not by works, so that no one can boast.

10For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Louie Giglio

Louie Giglio is the Visionary Architect and Director of the Passion Movement, comprised of Passion Conferences, Passion City Church, Passion Publishing and sixstepsrecords, and the founder of Passion Institute.