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YLF Booklet Teaching Notes by Rev. Dick Fisher, Founder of YLF These are notes I use when I teach You Last Forever to groups in person or by Zoom. Give everyone a booklet and read aloud through the booklet one page at a time for your group. Use these notes to comment on the page that was read before moving on to the next page. Continue until you have taught the whole booklet to the group. This is a fun way to teach the Gospel in about an hour. Make extra YLF Booklets and YLF Cards available for your audience to give to others. Request copies from our ministry or print your own copies unchanged as given in the printer’s proofs on www.youlastforever.com Introduction For a dozen years I worked as a hospice chaplain for thousands of people who had 6 months or less to live. A dying person has already made one transition when he/she was born into this world. Now they were getting ready to make another transition at death which will change them and their surroundings. Jesus frequently used physical examples to teach spiritual truth. Similarly, your own body from the moment you were conceived is a lifelong object lesson to lead you to spiritual life and growth in the Lord. The YLF Basic Outline for the Christian is: I. Conception (receiving physical life) corresponds to regeneration (receiving spiritual life) for Salvation. II. Prenatal growth preparing to be born into this world corresponds to Spiritual Growth in the Christian who grows spiritually preparing for death and heaven. III. Birth corresponds to Death and then the Resurrection with significant changes in a person’s body and location with each transition. The YLF booklet teaches much of the Bible without people having to know the Bible beforehand. The YLF booklet explains the YLF card. Read the booklet for your own understanding and to share these truths with others. YLF Booklet pages: 2 and 3 Three circles show the phases or timeline of a person’s existence: the womb, this life, and eternity. These basic points are obvious to most people. You will always be you. You were an idea in the mind of God before you were conceived, then came your prenatal growth, birth, stages of growth and decline in this world death, and eternity. Spiritual changes include spiritual regeneration and receiving eternal life. God told Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” (see also Psalm 139:13 – 16) We see the same person or identity going through many changes. I am the same person God planned, and my mother conceived. I will still be that same person when I die. Pages: 4 and 5 Life and being made in God’s image are gifts passed down through many generations since Adam and Eve to us. (Genesis 5:1-3) Your mother, the source of your physical life, nourished you before you were born. Your body was continually cleansed in the womb. This is a picture of the spiritual cleansing from sin that we need to have life with God. The pre-born baby is being prepared for a world and life he cannot see, understand, or describe before being born. Pages: 6 and 7 Read aloud the comments of the preborn baby. This is a favorite page in the booklet. People laugh at the baby’s comments. Especially humorous is the baby’s comment that once he/she is born all his/her problems will be over. A preborn baby shows how foolish human reasoning can be for understanding the present and projecting into the future. Compare what the preborn baby is saying with the arguments people raise against God, salvation, eternity, and divine judgment. This page is preemptive apologetics to show the foolishness of not thinking biblically. Pages: 8 and 9 People can think whatever they will, but reality will correct their confused or rebellious thinking. The confused ramblings of the preborn baby end at being born into this real world. Purple represents your dignity as one made in the image of God to reflect His glory forever. (Rom. 11:34ff. I Corinthians 10:31) This is a key point to make as we have so many forces such as evolution and transhumanism that ignore and deny man’s divine origin and make up. (I Cor. 4:7) Remind people of their personal dignity as the image of the three Person God or Triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). God knows everything and He has given us intelligence. God is Spirit and He has made humans with body and spirit. God is the All-Creator God who has given humans the gift of creativity. God is holy and perfectly righteous and has given each person a conscience to know right from wrong. Purple also represents sin and suffering. The Fall of Adam brought Mankind into a condition of sin and misery. Everyone is suffering in some way and may share with you the source of their pain. A guilty conscience and fear of death plague many. Job 5:7 says, “Man is born for trouble as sparks fly upward.” Pages: 10 and 11 This first line asks a probing question about persevering in life despite all the suffering and hardship people encounter. Ecclesiastes 3:11 reminds us, “God has placed eternity in each person’s heart.” Desires for Paradise may indicate a desire to get back to the Garden of Eden or move on to a perfect world. Eternity in our hearts is seen in Rom. 2:7 as people seek “glory, honor, and immortality.” Some ask, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18) Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life for our deepest longings and needs. (Jn 14:6) Pages: 12 and 13 This page describes the life every unbeliever lives before they become a Christian.(Eph. 2:1-3) Denying God and breaking His commandments is the same evil and foolishness that we heard in the comments of the preborn baby. Through Adam’s first sin the whole human race was corrupted, separated from God and subject to God’s righteous judgment. These two pages depict every person who is not a Christian and it shows what Christians are saved from. (Romans 5:12-21) Everyone in this life is being fed from the world to come. From the corruption of original sin, people separated from God naturally feed on the Devil’s lies and toxins. (Eph. 2:1 – 3) Pages: 14 and 15 The consequence of sin is death and separation from God forever, however the Son of God came to earth as the angel announced to the shepherds in Luke 2:10f., “Fear not, for I bring you glad tidings of great joy which shall be for all the people; to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Matthew 1:21 records, “You shall call His name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins.” Romans 5:14 tells us that Adam was a type or foreshadowing of Him (Christ) who was to come. Romans 5:19, “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.” Have someone in the group read John 3:16, 17. Pages: 16 and 17 The credentials of Jesus show us why you and I should believe in Him to save us from the guilt, power, and penalty of sin. As a hospice chaplain, I shared Jesus’ credentials with a patient named George. He came from a church background, but he had traveled the world and was not ready to say that Jesus was the only way to heaven. George became increasingly anxious as he neared death. Again, I talked with him to place his trust in Jesus for salvation from his sin. When he trusted in Christ to save him, he died peacefully a few days later. Read or recite Hebrews 2:14, 15; II Cor. 5:21, 17; I Cor. 15:3, 4 and John 1:12, 13; 14:6). These credentials of Jesus give us hope in Him as we face death every day, and the judgment of God. (Hebrews 9:27) Jesus is the one and only Savior sent by God. (John 14:6; Acts 4:12) The many Old Testament predictions that God was going to send the Savior include these: Genesis 3:15; 15:4 – 6; 49:10; II Samuel 7:12, 13; Isaiah 53. When Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, his supernatural conception and birth were attended by angels, the natal star, dreams, and wise men from the east. (Matt. 1; 2; Luke 1; 2; Rev. 12:5) With respect to Jesus’ miracles, you can name a few or ask the class to name some. Jesus claimed to be God in the seven “I am” statements in John. (11:25; 14:6). Jesus was crucified for claiming to be God. (Matt. 26:63 – 66) Affirming Jesus perfect obedience and sinlessness, God the Father commented at Jesus baptism and transfiguration, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17; 17:5)) Jesus is the perfect Savior because He is both man and God. As the perfect sinless man, he had no sins of his own to die for, so He could be the substitute for sinners and pay the ransom for their sins. The blood or death of sacrificial animals could not pay for human sin, only Jesus could do that. Jesus also had to be God because only God could exhaust the infinite wrath of God against sinners. (II Cor. 5:21) The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the key credential for believing in Jesus as Savior. Paul, the apostle reasoned in I Corinthians 15:17, 19, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, you are still in your sins…. If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most to be pitied.” Evidence for Jesus’ resurrection from the dead includes: 1) Jesus appeared at least 12 times after he was resurrected as recorded in Matthew 28; Mark 16:1 – 8; Luke 24; John 20, 21; Acts 1:1 – 11; and I Corinthians 15:15:4 – 8. 2) Jesus appeared to as many as 500 people at one time I Corinthians 15:6 3) Jesus appeared at various times for 40 days, almost a month and a half according to Acts 1:3. Pages: 18 and 19 READ ALOUD the Joys of receiving Jesus Christ to include Forgiveness, Salvation, Eternal Life (Jn. 17:3) Jesus said in Rev. 1:17f., “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the Last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” Read or recite John 11:25, 26; Hebrews 2:14, 15. Everyone will last or exist forever. Being a Christian does not mean you will exist any longer than those who go to hell. (See Dan. 12:2; Matt. 25:46) Jesus in John 17:3 tells us what eternal life is, “This is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Read John 11:25,26 with the ending question that Jesus asked Mary, “Do you believe this?” Augustine said to God, “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.” Find your rest in your Creator and Redeemer. Whoever calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved from the guilt and punishment that their sins deserve. (Romans 10:13) Reviewing these joys of receiving Jesus Christ as one’s personal Savior and Lord sets the stage for the prayer on P. 21. Page: 20 and 21 This prayer is good for new believers and mature believers to pray anytime. AChristian’s hope is not in his/her having prayed a sinner’s prayer. Nor is a Christian’s hope in his believing or his repenting. No one believes or repents perfectly. Our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ who is the object of any Christian’s faith, repentance, and prayers. Jesus Christ is the One who saves us. Read the prayer aloud and ask for people to confess or reaffirm their faith and hope in Christ. You may even ask the people to read the prayer in unison. They may sign and date the prayer if they want. Pages: 22 and 23 This page shows the parallels of having physical life inherited from Adam and having spiritual or eternal life through the last Adam Jesus Christ. (Read I Cor. 15:45-52; Romans 5:17, 19) Every person is body and spirit or soul and therefore needs physical and spiritual life. Think of standing with your right-hand holding Adam’s hand and your left-hand holding Christ’s hand. You are between the two most important men in your life. With your arms stretched out, you form a cross which summarizes your salvation through faith in Jesus’ death for you. Through Adam you are a human being. By faith in Jesus Christ, you are a child of God. Adam and Christ are the two most important men in the lives of everyone. You live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year as a human being. You eat, drink, think, and sleep. A person eats, drinks, sleeps, and thinks not to become a person or prove that he or she is a person, but because they are a person living out their human nature. However, that human nature has been corrupted through Adam’s first sin and we need the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Likewise, a child of God worships, prays, serves, gives, witnesses as he/she lives out their new nature in Christ 24/7/365. (II Peter 1:3,4; Ephesians 4:22 – 24; I Corinthians 2:9 ff) Faith acts as a spiritual umbilical cord whereby you feed on God’s Word by God’s Spirit with God’s Church. Just as a preborn baby must stay attached to the mother, the Christian must continually live by faith. Read or recite Ephesians 2:8, 9 and Hebrews 11:1, 6. The Church acts as the spiritual placenta or super organ providing for Christians while they are living in this world just as the preborn baby is sustained by in the womb by the placenta. Outside the visible church there is no ordinary possibility of salvation. You are Body and Soul and need physical and spiritual food. Man does not live by bread alone but by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God. (Dt. 8:3; Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4; Psalm 1). Read the Bible daily. Use the means of Grace (Bible, Prayer, Sacraments, God’s discipline) and see God remake you in the image of His Son. (Luke 6:40; Rom. 8:29; II Cor. 3:18) What shows you and others that you are a living soul in communion or fellowship with the true and living God? How are you living out your nature as a child of God? Always be ready to meet the Lord. None of us know when we are one day short of being full term and out of this world. Read and live by Romans 14:7 – 9. You Were Made to Last Forever teaching will be relevant for Christian life and growth as long as people are born and die before Jesus our Savior returns. May you be blessed and an eternal blessing to others as you live and share the Gospel. Reflect on your life considering Daniel 12:2, 3 “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. And those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” A Closing Note from Rev. Dick Fisher, Creator of You Last Forever The Apostle Paul wrote in Col. 4:17, “And say to Archippus, ‘Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.” This verse spurs me on to fulfill my calling to bless the World and Christ’s Church through You Last Forever. Join me in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. May You Last Forever teaching and materials help equip you as you serve the Lord and everyone who will last (exist) forever in Heaven or Hell

A Creative Biblical Map for a living soul in relationship with the living God

While I was serving as a hospice chaplain, I had my own brush with death on October 23, 2011. I was preaching at Trinity Church of Wesley Chapel Florida and collapsed in the middle of my sermon on Ps. 103. Verses 15 and 16 tell it well, “As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes, When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, and its place acknowledges it no longer.” My collapse was a great sermon illustration that I did not plan, but God did. Before I fell, I said that I was feeling funny, and I fell backwards to the floor. I was unconscious for 20 minutes while the church’s emergency team quickly attended to me. My blood/oxygen had dropped to 68% and the church emergency team put oxygen on me. They called 911 to rush me to the Zephyrhills hospital which tested and transferred me to Tampa General Hospital. Tests revealed that I had a 2.2-inch benign brain tumor between my right and left hemispheres. My wife Karen later told me that I looked like I was dead. The Tuesday before my collapse, I had a checkup with my regular doctor because my left hand would shake periodically. He concluded it was just essential tremors, but he advised me to get a CAT Scan to make sure I did not have a brain tumor. I never put doctors on my social calendar, so I did not get the scan. I felt fine and had no other symptoms. All that week, I drove, worked, and did not know that I was carrying a brain tumor that could kill me any time anywhere. Away from oxygen, or other medical help I easily could have died or endangered others. As it was, I collapsed at church where unbeknownst to me they had an emergency team that rushed to care for me as soon as I fell. It was ironic that the previous Sunday to when I fell, I happened to see an elderly woman receiving oxygen as she was stretched out on a pew. I thought that it was good that the church had extra oxygen for respiratory emergencies that old people might need. Little did I know that I would be the needy person the following Sunday. Let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he falls as I did. The Sunday I collapsed, there was a retired preacher who had an uncanny intuition that he should wear “his preacher boy suit” that Sunday, so he did. He learned when he arrived at church that I had collapsed in the early worship service. He was able and willing to lead and preach the later worship service. God had all the details of the day worked out.The surgeon God provided for me was Dr. Mark Greenberg, a mentor to elite neurosurgeons of the world. He has written and published many editions of his Handbook of Neurosurgery (1664 pages) After consulting with Dr. Greenberg, I went home to put my affairs in order. As I anticipated the surgery, I drew strength from Nehemiah 8:10 which concludes, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” I returned to the hospital on Thursday, October 27 for an eight-hour operation, plus another hour and a half to close my skull back up again. My surgery was a meningioma resection. As I was coming out from under the anesthesia, Karen said I recited the hymn by William Cowper, God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face. Karen said I would finish one verse, and she would think I was done, then I would recite another of the five or six verses. Memorize Scripture and hymns to feed your soul and the souls of others. You never know when you may need what you have memorized. I was in the hospital for surgery, recovery, and rehab for just two weeks. For several days, I experienced paralysis on my left side, and I had an eight minute seizure two days after the surgery, but I recovered from paralysis and had no more seizures. One of my daughters made a sock monkey covered with bandages and band aids for me when I was recovering in the hospital. The bandages are now gone but the monkey is a reminder for me to thank the Lord who restored me to full health. Sock monkey reminds me of a hospice patient I used to visit. He was about my age and lay on a mat on the floor at the nursing home. He could not talk but grinned from ear to ear. Like my sock monkey, he was moved back and forth as the nursing staff cared for him. In my work as a hospice chaplain and pastor, I have seen people impacted by brain issues who are not so fortunate as I have been. Four weeks to the day, I was back at Trinity Church and gave the call to worship as a living testimony of Ps. 103:1 – 5 that I had been preaching from when I collapsed. “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. bless the Lord, o my soul, and forget none of his benefits; who pardons all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from the pit; Who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion; who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.” People gave me a standing ovation as I walked back to my seat. The joy of the Lord that strengthened me for the surgery, radiated to others. When people saw me, they called me “the miracle man” or a “walking miracle”. Eight months after the operation, a nurse took my vitals and told me, “You are a recycled teenager.” As Ps. 103:5 says, “…your youth is renewed like the eagle.” At 62 years of age that sounded pretty good. Humanly speaking that was better than dying, being paralyzed, seizure prone, demented, or handicapped in any way. I see my recovery as a divine vote of confidence to serve You Last Forever Ministries as a resource to the global church for evangelism and discipleship. The Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 4:17, “And tell Archippus to complete (fulfill, finish) the ministry that you have received in the Lord.” This verse has spurred me on in productive ministry for years with You Last Forever Ministries. To God be the Glory!