Can faith get you through losing a loved one?

[Music] to give them an invitation and not just information and I could give you a number of stories of how that worked out I've been in ministry flow time being a Christian for over 20 plus years and and by God's grace um he's used our family in ministry and outside of ministry to do this but I want to give you how this works out what does this come and see how does it look in a person's life with my favorite disciple of all time my wife Rita we're gonna take you back a little bit 20-plus years twenty seven to be exact nineteen ninety right is that twenty-seven years ago I think so alright so Rita and I met in college our very first college class I came to know the Lord just a couple months before that as a senior in high school and when I met Rita she was not a Christian she was not a believer she had a much different background in history of growing up than I did my family came to know the Lord through a number of events and Rita did not have that same background so the first time that she ever heard the gospel was at our house on Thanksgiving in through through myself and through our family so 18 plus years she never heard the gospel until then so so she came to our house and she met our family throughout the years him and she said man no reason why she and say this to me but in her mind's like the only reason why you guys believe Aaron is because you've never had any problems in your family it's been smooth sailing you've never had any issues in your family unlike me she came from her family or family divorced nor some alcoholism and stuff and she had a pretty rough go and and and she thought well that's the only reason why you guys believe in Christ and then as you know on Christmas Eve my junior year my mom went out to a party and she died on Christmas Eve she had an allergic reaction at a Christmas party and she died on Christmas Eve and then it was at that point where Rita saw the devastation the the trial that the part one of the bigger trials that I've ever gone through walk and and she got to see that even though we were devastated even though that we were you know hurting and had pain we also had this piece in this joy because my mom knew Jesus and she saw this emote both these emotions through me and she's what she saw was that that event that circumstance I was so tough didn't push us away from Jesus but she saw it even make us more more dependent on Jesus and His Word she saw that even on this devastation that we were rejoicing we were actually celebrating because we knew my mom she died him you know Allergy Asthma she was in heaven and she didn't want to come back she also saw that when we talked about this that it was yes it was a loss but I always used this phrase and talking to people even to back then it's like the little boy was at a funeral and they were saying now sorry about your loss sorry about your loss and a little boy said hey something's not lost if you know where it is we knew that my mom was in heaven so there was joy there so she got to see all this an experience it's not only the word but she also got us to see it lived out in our lives that Jesus was our rock and from her observing this this is the thing of art the faith working in our family that brought Rita to a turning point towards her life with Christ she saw that the thing that upheld us was God's Word was Christ was the community around us and that she didn't have anything like that if something like that happened to her and that drove her to Christ and she realized the only person that could give her that strength that peace that comfort that joy in such a brutal circumstance was Christ so the Lord used that see the point is my the Lord used my family and I to invite Rita into our lives to come and see to taste and see that the Lord is good even in the worst some of the most dire circumstance and by God's grace he used that to start to change her life and for the past 26 years Rita and I have been sharpening one another through this come and see we have been growing in Christ and into his image through the daily grinds and the daily joys of living in a Genesis 3 world and ever since that we've been we didn't keep it to ourselves but we kept inviting others come and see come and see and experience this Jesus so who in your life who in your life have you invited in to come and see and experience Jesus recently or maybe is there someone in your life right now maybe it's somewhere that where you work or it's a family member or it's a friend who in there that maybe someone has put in your path that you need to invite in just like Jesus hey what are you seeking hey come and see come and see and experience Jesus you see this has been the foundation of the cross and as I I said since 2009 and it'll be continued to be the foundation of the crossing in 2017 that we want to have people experience Jesus through our lives both the highs and the lows [Music]

Channel: thecrossingfc

Views: 3,299

Keywords: The Crossing Church, Faith, Church, Fort Collins, Death, Jesus, encouragement

Id: YpbooioPjjs

Length: 5min 32sec (332 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 24 2017