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Anybody here like going to the beach? (wait) I like going to the beach. I went last week. The sun was out, it was beautiful,. I looked at the tall cliffs next to the beach. They were amazing. You’d think that they’d last forever, but I learned later that the beach I went to, used to be an official state beach but was closed because waves and storms and earthquakes had caused landslides. Those big cliffs and sand dunes are actually crumbling into the ocean.
The things around us won’t last forever. What big event happened in San Francisco in the year 1906? (wait) There was a great big earthquake and fire that destroyed much of the city. Many huge buildings were destroyed. It was a huge disaster.
There have been many big disaster movies made about the end of the world because of earthquakes or volcanoes or disease or global warming or nuclear war. And it seems like every year somebody new is predicting when the world is going to end. When I was growing up, there was a book called “88 Reasons why the world is going to end in 1988.” Guess what. That book was wrong. Then some people said that in the year 2000 the world is going to end. Guess what they were wrong too. Now some people are saying “2012, that’s the year that the world is going to end.” There was even a big movie made about it.
Well, there’s a good place you go to when you find out about the end of the world. Not the TV or movies but God’s Word - the Bible. Jesus says: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
So someday the world will pass away. But when people say, “Nothing is forever,” that’s not true, there is something that lasts forever. In our reading today, Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” God’s word will last forever.
The prophet Isaiah writes “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”

God’s Word is forever. In the beginning, God spoke his Word, cutting through the darkness and creating light. 2000 years ago, God Word’s took on human flesh when Jesus was born. Jesus cut through the darkness of sin. Today, God’s Word declares that you and I are righteous and holy because of Jesus’ death on the cross. In eternal life, Christians will praise God forever singing his Word back to him. This is God’s promise to us and we can trust it.

So you don’t have to be afraid when somebody talks about the end of the world. So what?! Even though all around us may pass away, Christians have hope because God’s Word is forever and we have confidence that we too will live forever because of Jesus. Amen.