Crossover from Death to Life

QUESTION: Does anyone know our primary verse for our Youth Ministry?

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

(Jn 5:24)

QUESTION: What is Crossover?

A quick google search revealed nothing of value. But I did see alot of pictures of cars.

I also saw a lot of things about crossover events. You know, times when two or more different shows cross over and combine their characters for a joint story.

QUESTION: What were some of the most ambitious crossover movies or shows you can remember?

Google’s definition of crossover is “a point or place of crossing from one side to the other.”

It is kinda self-explanatory. Its what it sounds like. Crossing over is simply crossing over something.

QUESTION: Has anyone here ever been on a bridge?

Then congratulations, you have crossed over the river beneath it.

Whether its the line between two shows, switching sports teams, or even walking across a bridge, the idea is the same: we move from one thing to the other.

We were in one place, but now we are in a new place.

And that is the same idea in this verse, and its the same idea Pastor Jim had when he named the youth group Crossover 13 years ago.

The messages, the worship, the small groups, the games, the events, all those other things we mentioned; thats not crossover. That’s part of it.

But Crossover ultimately exists because we really believe this verse. Let’s read it again in the NLT

24 “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life. 

Jn 5:24

Jesus makes some incredible claims here. He talks about three different things.

1. Hearing and believing
2. Eternal Life and Judgement
3. Death and Life

Let’s unpack these in reverse order.

Death to Life

QUESTION: What does it mean to be dead?

QUESTION: What does it mean to be alive?

Those are all good definitions of being dead or alive. But Jesus seems to have a slightly different definition here.

According to this verse, being alive means to believe in Jesus, and being dead is to be condemned for our sins.

Just like we have physical life and can physically die, there is a spiritual life and spiritual death.

But physically, you start off alive and will eventually die. Spiritually, we all start off dead, and have the chance to be made alive, but not all will.

To Jesus, real life is about being in a relationship with God, knowing Him, and being filled with His love and power in a way that we spread it to other people, so the world continually becomes a better place.

QUESTION: Does it seem like the world is continually becoming a better place?

No, it doesn’t. That’s because by default we are spiritually dead. That means its human nature to be selfish, greedy, and to desire our own good at the expense of others. That’s what the Bible calls sin.

Whether it’s telling a white lie, stealing a candy bar, or nuking an entire civilization, sin affects humanity at every level.

The things humans have done to each other is horrible. Sometimes people even though they were doing good while they did evil.

This is the state of the world, and Jesus says it is dead. He wants to recreate the world into a place of peace, prosperity, and love for everyone. In order to do that He first has to get rid of death.

How is he going to do that?

The Bible tells us that at some point in the future He is going to remove all evil and death from the world, and put it into a place called hell. Somewhere totally separate, where that evil can never again harm God’s good creation.

That sounds great and is something to look forward too.

But there is a problem here…did you notice it?

If Jesus removes everything that is dead so goodness can thrive…isn’t He going to remove us if we are dead???

Yes. But He doesn’t like that outcome. That’s why He came, to make us alive. That’s why we gather at church to learn how to be truly alive. Our goal is to Crossover from Death to Life.

Eternal Life or Judgement

Jesus compared eternal life, or judgment. Which choice sounds better? Yeah, eternal life.

What did Jesus mean by eternal life? We talked about how someday He would remove all evil, separate everything dead from what’s alive. That’s the judgment. When Jesus will judge everyone according to whether or not they have faith in Him, whether they are alive or dead. After the judgement the world will be a paradise for ever. We will all enjoy God and never experience sadness or death again.

Thats one part of eternal life. To physically live with God forever never experiencing pain again. 

But we already said there is a difference between physical life and spiritual life. The phisical part of eternal life is in the future, but the spiritual part is now.

Jesus thinks that everyone who believes in Him is alive now. He says they are new creations. That the dead is already removed from their lives, and they can begin to experience joy and peace right now, even while they wait for God to redeem the whole world.

Eternal life is now, and not yet.

It started when Jesus rose from the dead, and is available for all believers to really experience now. Yet, it will not be fully realized until a point in the future where all evil will be done away with forever.

Even now though we have the opportunity to Crossover from Judgement to Eternal Life.

Hear and Believe

How do we do that? How do we Crossover from death to life? Well let’s see what Jesus said.

24 “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life. 

Jn 5:24

Jesus said in order to have this eternal life we have to hear and believe.

What does it mean to hear? It technically means sound waves enter your ear and give information to your brain. The way Jesus uses it here is similar, hearing the message of Jesus means you somehow find out about Jesus and His teachings.

• You could hear someone talk about Him

• Read about Him

• See the way someone lives for Him

• Have a vision

• Be inspired by a song

• Etc

There are lots of ways we hear and learn. Thats important. But it’s not enough.

Jesus said we have to hear and believe.

What does it mean to believe? It really means we decide that its true. When we decide things are true, they affect the way we live. You all came in here tonight believing those red chairs would hold your weight. You werent afraid they would break from under you.

STORY: In my house I have these kitchen stools, they are incredibly cheap and wobble like a palm tree in a huirricane.

I used to joke I never new which time I would sit on it would be my last. Now, I don’t think I have even attempted to sit on one in months. I have no believe that it will hold.

You believed that those chairs would hold you, so it affected your life that you sat on them without thinking about it.

I believed that stool would probably kill me, so it affected my life that I would not sit on it.

If you believe something is true, it affects the way you live.

And Jesus is making that same point. If we learn about God and then say we believe it, that we think it’s true, it will affect the way we live. Our lives will eaither gor to become more and more like Jesus’s, filled with increasing love and compassion, or they will not.

If they arent growing to look more like Jesus, then even if we say we believe, we really do not.

We all make mistakes, and its a life long process, but you are either growing or you are not.

To Crossover from Death to Life We have to Believe.

It’s that simple, and yet it will take us the rest of our lives. It is now, and not yet.

How do we do this?

Now lets get practical. How do we practically Crossover from death to life. 

As a church, and as a youth ministry, we have four main goals to help us do this.

QUESTION: Does anyone know what they are?

Over the next four weeks we will be talking about each of them in detail. They are so important, not just because they are the main pillars of our church, but because by practicing them we can truly Crossover from death to life.

• GROW
  • Growing in our relationship with Jesus
•  CONNECT
  • Connecting with one another
• SERVE
  • Serving others like Jesus
• SHARE
  • Sharing the message of Jesus with all people