YouTube Discussions

Beautiful Eulogy

August 11, 2015

Main Point: Those who love Jesus do not need to fear death. For Christians, death is just the beginning of the greatest life we’ve ever known…life with God face to face.

The Discussion Starter:
Beautiful Eulogy is an Oregon-based Christian group that’s comprised of three guys from totally different backgrounds. Together, they produce a variety of songs from multiple genres including hip hop, folk, electronic, and simple hymns.

The song of theirs featured in this small group discussion is a live recording of one of their most popular tunes. It’s part spoken word and part song, and revolves around the theme of life after death. Essentially, this trio is communicating the fact that believers have no need to fear death. They outline the Gospel by claiming that dependency on Jesus is sufficient hope for a future spent with God in Heaven.

The lyrics move fairly quickly in the verses, but the chorus is the main point of this song. Use the lyrics included to help your students follow along.

The Video Clip:
The video can be found online at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz09EF4obYQ

Lyrics
This is actually part “spoken word” and part “song.” You’ll need to print these off for a few of the questions later in the small group discussion.

There used to be a time when we were fine
Living life with no particular religious bend
Pretending to be our own gods
Inventing our own systems of belief so as to not depend
On anything other than our own self-governing consent
Defending an impending doom with no perceived need
To concede or repent, presuming our innocence in a sense to sin;
The sting of death was only the inevitable end
Of everything we could never rightly understand or comprehend
We used to fear the unknown ’til God made himself known
And atoned, mending the relationship between God and men
Giving His life as a ransom for many when He died and ascended
And in that one event the certainty of eternal death was circumvented
Making a way for the day when history stops and time suspends
Spending eternity in fellowship that never ends
We see the greatest expression of God’s love extended in that moment
When those who were once enemies instead became God’s friends

[Hook: Odd Thomas, Braille, Courtland Urbano]

And when it’s my time to go
Go ahead and take me home
I know I’ll be with you
I know I’ll be with you;
When it is my time to go
Go ahead and take me home
Nowhere that I’d rather go
I wanna be with you

[Verse 2: Braille]

How sweet the Gospel sounds to ears like mine
Well acquainted with pain and strained relationships
Friendships that suffer from long distances
Or even worse they get severed from something more severe
And He still hasn’t wiped away all my tears yet
My cheeks get wet every now and then
Even when I give my best, I know I fall short
I get scared when the ball’s in my court
Focused on my performance, wretched and poor
It makes the message more real when I preach it
I’m not there yet so I’m reaching, reaching for a goal:
To stand before my King and be speechless
Then, never again will I question if His grace is sufficient to cover my sin
Cause death is gone, and all the effects of evil and wrong
Will be conquered when His Kingdom comes
So this is my hope and my prayer
The air that I’ll breathe in eternity with lungs that never fail me
If it pleases my Lord, and only by Your grace
Use my life ’til it’s poured out for Your sake
Until then I’ll remain where You have me
With joy when I feel unhappy
And a peace that surpasses all my understanding
My life is in the hands of Your love everlasting

[Hook x2]

And when it’s my time to go
Go ahead and take me home
I know I’ll be with you
I know I’ll be with you;
When it is my time to go
Go ahead and take me home
Nowhere that I’d rather go
I wanna be with you

Transitional Statement:
It’s a very simple song we just listened to, isn’t it. “When it’s my time to go, go ahead and take me home, I want to be with you.” The group shares a simple truth with us in their song: those of us who put our hope and trust in Jesus in this life are assured of a life with Him in eternity, as well. Let’s explore what this means for our lives right now, so we don’t miss what God has in store for us.

Divide into Small Groups:
Let’s go ahead and split up into our discussion groups, and then afterward we’ll come back together for a final word.

CLICK HERE for a quick training article on how to maximize your small groups using our small group format—a great resource to equip your small group leaders.

Discussion Questions:

AROUND THE CIRCLE: As we get started, let’s all take a second to share our names and our favorite genre of music.

ASK A FEW: The name of the band is Beautiful Eulogy. Do you know what a “eulogy” is?

ASK A FEW: What was the simple truth that Beautiful Eulogy was trying to get across in this song?

ASK A FEW: It didn’t sound like the members of Beautiful Eulogy were very afraid of death. Why was that?

ASK A FEW: Are you afraid of death? Why or why not?

ASK A FEW: They sounded very confident in their belief that they would be in Heaven with God when they died. Do you think it’s possible to KNOW where you’ll spend eternity? Why or why not?

ASK A FEW: What must a person do to make sure they spend their eternity in Heaven?

Read the following passage:

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. 11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.

ASK A FEW: This passage was written by the Apostle Paul. What was the “tent” he was speaking of in verse 1?

ASK A FEW: Based on this passage, how does Paul describe the life that is to come?

ASK A FEW: In the song, the band members sounded very confident of their eternal life. Does Paul sound as confident in this passage? Why or why not?

ASK A FEW: In the song we heard from Beautiful Eulogy, they talked very confidently about the hope they have for spending an eternity in Heaven with God. How does this remind you of verse 5?

ASK A FEW: I know you just listened to the song and watched the video, but take a look back over the song’s lyrics. Can anyone find similarities between the song’s lyrics and this passage?

Read the following passage:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

ASK A FEW: Based on this teaching straight from the mouth of Jesus, how is our entrance into Heaven based on Jesus?

AROUND THE CIRCLE: Do you have the same level of absolute confidence that the members of Beautiful Eulogy has about Heaven and eternal life? Why or why not?

AROUND THE CIRCLE: What do you need to do right now to make sure you know how you’ll spend your eternity?

Wrap Up:
I know that all of you guys are very young and you have your entire lives ahead of you, but let me remind you of the simple chorus from the song by Beautiful Eulogy:
And when it’s my time to go
Go ahead and take me home
I know I’ll be with you
I know I’ll be with you;
When it is my time to go
Go ahead and take me home
Nowhere that I’d rather go
I wanna be with you
This trio sang about their confident hope in Jesus as their only Way to Heaven. They weren’t putting their hope in themselves, their performance, their goodness, or their abilities. They were only putting their trust in Jesus. Because of that, they know where they’ll spend eternity.

The guys from Beautiful Eulogy do not fear death. The Apostle Paul did not fear death. Neither do you have to fear death.

But you have to put your hope and trust in Jesus.

The Bible passage we read talked about our tents, our bodies, being destroyed one day. That could be through old age, sickness, disease, accident, etc. But one day, all of us are going to leave this “tent.” The question is, where are you going to spend eternity?

If your hope and your trust is in Jesus, then, like the band sang, you know where you’re going. You will be going Home to Heaven to be with God forever, face to face. But if you do not know Jesus, if you’ve never asked Him to forgive you of your sin, if you’ve never repented of your sin, then sadly, you’ll never see the glorious Home God has built for you.

Instead, you’ll be separated from Him forever.

My hope is that you’ll put your trust in Jesus right now. Seriously. Right now. The Bible tells us that we can be absolutely confident that God has saved us, that God has rescued us from our sin, and that God is pleased with us. The Bible says that all of that hinges on Jesus. If we’re committed to living our lives for Jesus in THIS life, then we’ll spend the NEXT life with Him.

There is no love like the love of Jesus. He came all the way from Heaven to Earth to save you by dying on the cross. If the Bible can be summed up in one sentence it’s this: God would rather die for you than live without you.

What do you say? Are you ready to confidently secure your eternity in Jesus?

Close in Prayer

Written by David R Smith