Dr Paul Allen

Obviously, nobody delights in the fact of someone’s death . But we rejoice in the opportunity that the death of a believer opens for communicating the majesty of Christ and the glories of the gospel while comforting the family and friends and presenting salvation by grace to those who are lost but have come to “pay their respects.”  But what about an unbeliever’s funeral? Believe it or not, we also count this an opportunity to appropriately, truthfully, and compassionately share the gospel. We can be constantly amazed at how wide the door opens for effective gospel communication at the funeral of an unbeliever. Clearly, the preacher cannot “preach someone into heaven” or give false assurances, but there is a way to carefully turn everyone’s attention to the realities of eternity and their need of the Savior. Let’s think about the challenge of an unbeliever’s funeral first . How do you preach the gospel at funerals for unbelievers?  First, you must be committed to doing it....

I understand that Christians should not fear death. Jesus died and rose from the grave.  Therefore, death has lost its “sting” ( 1 Corinthians 15:55–56). But just because the fear subsides, it doesn’t mean we are left feeling indifferent. Death has a way of jolting us into seriousness. Don’t you still get an eerie or maybe even sick feeling when you think about your own death? Some of it is just trying to grasp something so foreign to us: the separation of the soul from the body. We are unable to fathom existing apart from the only body we’ve known. The other troubling mystery is trying to imagine what we will first see and experience after death. What will it be like when we first see a heavenly being or God himself? Death is not an easy thing to meditate on, but the wise person will think about death often. Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. ( Psalm 90:12) When was the last time you prayed that prayer? A wise man thinks about his death often, a...