What Happens When You Die?

Main message: Eternity is real — heaven and hell are actual realities Jesus warns about — and that truth should shape how we live now: letting go of what we can't take with us, reordering priorities, and urgently sharing the gospel with others.

Key points:

• Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16) contrasts a life lived for luxury and indifference with a life of suffering ignored at the gate; after death Lazarus is comforted at Abraham’s side while the rich man is in torment, separated by a fixed chasm.
• Hell is described as real suffering — emotional (weeping and gnashing of teeth), relational (isolation), and spiritual (separation from God) — and Jesus’ warnings are an act of love like a parent’s warnings.
• Heaven is pictured with table/feast imagery and the promise that many burdens (pain, mourning, shame, physical limitations) will be removed (cf. Revelation 21:4); John switches to describing what’s not there so we can understand.
• If we truly believe eternity is real, our daily lives should change: release bitterness, reprioritize time and money, stop “remodeling the temporary cabin,” and live with an eternal perspective.
• The rich man’s final concern is for his family to be warned; the sermon urges repentance and faith in Jesus (salvation as a free gift) and emphasizes the urgency of witnessing to loved ones.

Scriptures mentioned: Luke 16, Revelation 21, James, Moses and the Prophets