Resources > Devotions I See Dead People…..A Step Beyond Posted by Rev. Jeff Dixon, Senior Equipping Minister, Covenant Community Church on Nov 3, 2003, 17:53

I See Dead People…..A Step Beyond

A devotion that is a part of the KNOW FEAR collection of resources from CCC written by Jeff Dixon containing some additional thoughts about the celebration worship experience I See Dead People.

In the Celebration Worship experience I See Dead People I had the opportunity to deal with issues of life and death. One of the things that people fear the most is DEATH…yet that is an appointment that we all have. I found it amazing that there is a passage in the Bible that Jesus deals with death and a conversation with a dead man that many people have overlooked and not given much thought to….for me it became the place that I felt God wanted us to start this series on Knowing Fear.

Another element of this first worship experience was the film Sixth Sense. I enjoyed the film because of the spiritual undertones. Now don’t get me wrong, the film is not a spiritual film in the sense that you will discover great truths about faith, however, it is a film that hits on some spiritual principles…. and does deal with life and death.

WHAT WRITER/DIRECTOR

M. Night Shyamalan

SAYS ABOUT THE MEANING BEHIND THE SIXTH SENSE

     " 'Sixth Sense' is reality based fright. It comes from the fears of real people, real children and real adults; fears of loss, the unknown, of having a sixth sense about what lies beyond and fears of not understanding those intuitions.

     "Ultimately, it's about learning how to communicate those fears, whether it's communication between a doctor and the patient, a husband and a wife, a mother and a son or between ourselves and loved ones who have passed on. As we all have seen, not communicating with, or keeping secrets from people we love can destroy marriages, careers, families and even lives. That in itself is horrifying."

One of the clips that we used in worship was especially important for me. It is the clip where Cole is talking to Malcolm and makes the following statements after he reveals that he sees dead people…..

They don’t see each other

They only see what they want to see

They are everywhere

I remember when I saw the film thinking how brilliantly that describes people in the world today. Those people who have no relationship to Jesus move through life spiritually dead…. they don’t really see each other, they are too busy trying to get what they think is best for them…they only see what they want to see, which is so obvious in the attitude that so many have and the amazing ability that people have to miss the truth…and the phrase they are everywhere, we live in a world where people need to know Jesus.

This is a study that was more evangelistic than many people who are with us each week are used to. But there are moments when we need to stress the importance of how touching and changing the world with the love of Jesus works….

First, remember the world needs to know Jesus

Second, we bump into people everyday that need to see Jesus in our lives

Third, the world will respond to love….not our love…but Jesus loving and living through us….

Fourth, until we take this seriously we will just keep blindly moving through life thinking (incorrectly) that we don’t make a difference and nothing that we do matters.

What we do does matter, we are called to be impact people, we leave a legacy, and we must earn the right to be heard and be willing to share the love of Jesus with those around us….

I suppose we must learn to see dead people….see those who need to know Jesus…and then respond to them in a way that brings honor to God.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and for being a part of our Know Fear Series!