Heaven, Home

The message about yet another death in our family this morning brought new grief. But, I am not without hope because I have the hope of eternity.

What awaits us? What is this hope of which we speak?

Heaven! 

Isaiah caught a glimpse of Heaven and it changed his life.  When the Lord allowed him to see the wonders of the Throne Room of God and the angels that worship God perpetually, he was overcome by the realization of his sinfulness and cried, "I am doomed because I am a filthy man!" (Isaiah 6)  And, in response to his confession, God made him clean, fit for holy service.  

               

Paul tells of being lifted up to Heaven, seeing visions that were too holy to describe.  Those visions sustained his faith through a life of unbelievable difficulties in his ministry and near the end of his earthly journey allowed him to face his pending execution with this hope:  "now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return." (2 Timothy 4:8, NLT)

               

John, in that book of unveiling, The Revelation, tries to describe other worldly visions with this world's language.  He gives us language that shapes Heaven for most Believers, including such ideas as

streets of gold, gates of pearl, and streams of pure water.   Who can really fully understand all that John means with statements like these? God "took me away in the Spirit to an enormous, high mountain and showed me Holy Jerusalem descending out of Heaven from God, resplendent in the bright glory of God. The City shimmered like a precious gem, light-filled, pulsing light.  ... The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate a single pearl. The main street of the City was pure gold, translucent as glass." (Revelation 21:10-11, 21 The Message)

There is much for us to anticipate as we ponder the quick glimpses of that beautiful City of God that we find in the Bible. But the most glorious, the most wonderful truth, is in the promise: "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:3-4, NIV)

When we are welcomed home, the gaps in our knowledge will close, the distance in our love will be gone. Yes, we will know Him fully. Oh, what joy!  In that holy place, the pain and troubles will be gone, an almost impossible dream, for us. Jesus will dry our tears and take away every regret, remove the possibility of disappointment, and we will enjoy relationships with God and others that eliminate loneliness. No wonder John’s vision includes an outpouring of worship that he says was "like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God."  (Revelation 19:1, NIV)

Ah, my friend, Heaven is not an escapist dream that comes to relieve the tedium of life.  That home is not just ‘happy talk’ to help us cope with death’s fearful approach.  I do remember a time, long ago, when I did not understand heaven, brushing off those older saints who wanted to talk about it, claiming that there was “too much living right here and right now to 'waste' time thinking about Eternity.” What a

foolish boy I was.  Heaven is for now.   A Christian who does not have Heaven in view on the horizon of life will wander from God’s purpose and even lose heart when the questions outrun his answers.  On one of the most difficult nights in their lives, when He was about to be crucified, Jesus reminded His friends - “Don’t be troubled. You trust God, now trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s home, and I am going to prepare a place for you." (John 14:1-3, NLT)

Keep the hope of heaven alive and in focus, Christian friend, whether you are 19 or 91!  
Knowing that we are on our way home, keeps us steady, gives us reason to press on.

The word from the Word is from Paul, who urges us to remember eternity, to set it in our hearts.  "We keep getting reports on your steady faith in Christ, our Jesus, and the love you continuously extend to all Christians. The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope. The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it.

It doesn’t diminish or weaken over time. It’s the same all over the world. The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth

of what God is doing, you’ve been hungry for more."   (Colossians 1: 5  The Message) Isn't that rich?

Plant your heart in Heaven.  Invest yourself in God's work, as Jesus said, "laying up treasure" that is beyond the reach of decay, rust, or thieves! 

One of these days, we are going Home!

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O That Will Be Glory

When all my labors and trials are o'er

And I am safe on that beautiful shore

Just to be near the dear Lord I adore

Will through the ages be glory for me

O that will be glory for me

Glory for me glory for me

When by His grace I shall look on His face

That will be glory be glory for me

When by the gift of His infinite grace

I am accorded in heaven a place

Just to be there and to look on His face

Will through the ages be glory for me

Charles Hutchinson Gabriel

© Words: Public Domain

Not Ashamed!

Will (not his real name) was in the grip of alcohol, so much so that he jeopardized the safety of his children, nearly destroyed his health, and came close to losing his marriage – then he met Jesus. He told me about his baptism in a river in which he saw a vision of dirty water flowing away from him, his old life gone. The man I know now loves God and others, is gentle, and is free of the slavery. He is one of hundreds that I have known who found new life in Christ; some with similar dramatic change, others with a more subtle shift from serving Self to loving God. That is why I am a person committed to making Christ known, to preaching the Good News of transformation.

With Paul, I make this declaration - "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17, NIV)  Mock the simplicity of inviting others to ‘come to Jesus’ if you will, but I have no reluctance to share His offer of life!

I know that something powerful happens to us when we receive Him, by faith, as Lord and Savior. Beyond therapy, which can be valuable; beyond learning new patterns of life in discipleship, which is important to growth – everyone of us can have an encounter with the living Christ, acknowledging that we are lost, confessing our alienation from our Creator, and accepting the gift of transformation from death to life that comes through Him.

Paul writes about ‘salvation’ and does not intend that we think of that as a single moment of prayer, at the end of a church service or with a friend who has presented us with Christ’s truth. Conversion, that moment when we are, in Jesus’ words, “born again,” is an amazing change in direction. Salvation is a way of life, resulting from the powerful life of the Holy Spirit Who takes up residence in us, leading us to wholeness, to restoration of our relationship with God, our Father. We are both ‘saved,’ in an eternal transaction and we are ‘being saved’ as an ongoing experience.

In the transformation that comes from receiving the Gospel of Christ we become participants in God’s very nature, knowing something called ‘righteousness.’  Let’s not allow old caricatures block our understanding. To be righteous does not mean that we lose our ability to laugh, to know joy, that we must become staid, buttoned-down, uptight religious zealots. Through Christ Jesus we are declared ‘righteous’ – acceptable to God who is perfect and holy because He extends His mercy to us – and becoming whole and holy as we grow in His grace so that old ways are replaced.

Let’s not lose sight of a critical phrase that comes next – ‘by faith, from first to last!’ We cannot focus on our own perfection, hoping to change ourselves. The sinful nature trips us up every time we think we are smart enough, mature enough, to please God.  The life of the Spirit is poured into us when we respond to His invitation with faith, believing and receiving, what God provides in Christ. What joy! What power! What transformation!

Are you living the Gospel? Don’t confuse the question with being religious. Just trying to be nice, going to church, and attempting basic morality may be admirable but those things cannot make you or me right with God, and to the extent that we attempt to live the ‘Christian’ life in our own strength, we will likely end up only feeling more guilt.  The Gospel (Good News!) is that Christ Jesus came to save us – offering us new life, releasing us from the old ways, inviting us to become participants with Him in the divine life.

Here is a word from the Word. Lord, use it to inspire us to greater faith and deeper transformation. Amen.

" It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. …  immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! … Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. " (Ephesians 2:1, 4-5, 8-10, The Message)

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Who You Say I Am

Who am I that the highest King

Would welcome me

I was lost but He brought me in

Oh His love for me

Oh His love for me

Who the Son sets free

Oh is free indeed

I'm a child of God

Yes I am

Free at last

He has ransomed me

His grace runs deep

While I was a slave to sin

Jesus died for me

Yes He died for me

In my Father's house

There's a place for me

I'm a child of God

Yes I am

I am chosen not forsaken

I am who You say I am

You are for me not against me

I am who You say I am

I am who You say I am

Ben Fielding | Reuben Morgan

© 2017 Hillsong Music Publishing Australia (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055

Remember and reflect!

 

9/11/01 - 19 men full of hatred for 'the Great Satan' - America – set out on missions of destruction. 3000 people died and this country was changed. They killed in the name of Allah, their hatred and rage fueled by religious fanaticism and fear. It is not just fringe adherents of Islam that practice hatred in the name of God! We do well to remember, to reflect, and to resist the radical fringe of haters.

Where does religious hatred come from? It grows in a very fertile soil -fear - of a changing world, of those who are 'different,' that what we value is being destroyed. All of experience some level of angst when the world around us changes, don’t we?  We wonder about what we have given our lives to. We ponder the kind of world our children will live in. Sometimes it seems like the most precious things to us are being ripped from us. When we stoke those fears, feeding them with endless bad news, conspiracy theories, and mix in political and/or religious rhetoric, we risk becoming belligerent; hateful!

Jesus speaks directly to his followers, forbidding hatred! He says “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own." (Matthew 7:1-3, The Message) We read His words about the two Great Commandments - "Love God with your whole being, and love others as you love yourselves!" There is no room for hating in those commands, is there? Only God can judge and only He can condemn. Why? Because He alone has the full knowledge of the motives and ways of others.

But, "Jerry, when we see the reality of sin and evil, we must respond to it, right?" Yes, absolutely. We would be fools to pretend that we are living in a world that welcomes the ways of Jesus Christ. God is ignored by many, with godless choices shaping our nation. There is a real Enemy of God who actively resists all that is good. The Evil One is sowing his seeds of destruction. But we will not overcome him by using the tactics of hatred and violence. Our response must be different. We can boldly speak to sinful behavior, while holding out the hope of redemption through the love of Jesus!

Ponder Jesus’ words, so often forgotten or laid aside in moments of fear. “You have heard that the law of Moses says, ‘If an eye is injured, injure the eye of the person who did it. If a tooth gets knocked out, knock out the tooth of the person who did it.’ But I say, don’t resist an evil person! If you are slapped on the right cheek, turn the other, too. ... You have heard that the law of Moses says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust, too." (Matthew 5:38-45, NLT)

There is but one thing that allows Christians to overcome their fears, that gives them the ability to ‘turn the other cheek’ in the face of hostility. It is knowing the complete security of God’s love, that nothing in this world, no one, at all, can separate us from the promise of God to save and keep.

9/11 changed America – and not necessarily for the good. Christian, it is our call to resist the fear, to unite where there are divisions, to encourage and to be people of hope. On this anniversary of an attack fueled by religious hatred, let’s renew our commitment to change the world with the profound message of God's love shown us through Christ Jesus.

Our word from the Word is anchoring Truth that lets us do the work of the Kingdom of God.

"No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:37-39, NLT)

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The Power Of Your Love

Lord I come to You

Let my heart be changed renewed

Flowing from the grace

That I found in You

And Lord I've come to know

The weaknesses I see in me

Will be stripped away

By the pow'r of Your love

Hold me close

Let Your love surround me

Bring me near

Draw me to Your side

And as I wait

I'll rise up like the eagle

And I will soar with You

Your Spirit leads me on

In the pow'r of Your love

Lord unveil my eyes

Let me see You face to face

The knowledge of Your love

As You live in me

Lord renew my mind

As Your will unfolds in my life

In living ev'ry day

By the pow'r of Your love

Geoff Bullock

© 1992 Geoff Bullock Music (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)

CCLI License # 810055