Heaven

Time and Place For Praise!

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

Blessed be the Lord from Zion, he who dwells in Jerusalem! Praise the Lord!
Psalm 135:21 ESV

If you are like me you probably read through this passage assume that God dwelling in Jerusalem was just a thing for Bible times. After all Jesus told us that the time was arriving when people would no longer worship in a geographic location. God is a Spirit and that is where we should worship.

But if we look at the book of Revelation we discover that there indeed is a place where God will be worshiped for eternity called the New Jerusalem. So where is that place and why would God change His mind?

Well maybe….just maybe it is because the New Jerusalem is not just a geographic location. It is that the dwelling place that Jesus went to prepare is you and I. It is an eternal resting place for God (and us) built of all our brothers and sisters throughout all the ages who have put their trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation. We are the tabernacle of God. Our hearts are the location He has chosen to dwell in. And together as we praise and lift up the wonderful name of Jesus – God will be worshiped in Spirit and in truth forever and forever! Now what could be more worth both living and dying for than that?!

The Face of My Father

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:31-32 KJV

“Go sit on your bed until your father get’s home!” were the most terrifying ten words of my childhood. Those long minutes or hours as I waited for the return of my stepfather from work only magnified the fears that I had of the inevitable punishment that awaited me. The last person’s face I wanted to see was his. After I became a Christian it took me quite a few years to be able to pray to the Father. Sure I said the words in corporate worship but when I was alone I would pray only to Jesus. I would say things like, “I’m only coming to you Jesus. Will you forgive me and help me?” Sometimes it felt like I was still sitting on my bed, waiting for punishment. The last person I wanted to see was my Heavenly Father. How little did I know of the tender love of a father who sent His own Son to die in my place. How much He must have wanted me to run to Him and how patient He was for me to slowly unwrap the mystery of the great -great love of His heart. He was not looking forward to coming home so He could pull out His celestial belt to punish me. Instead He had sent Jesus to die in my place so that He could wrap me in His arms. God was not listening to the long litany of my sins, becoming angrier by the second. Instead, He was preparing to freely give me anything I needed because of Jesus Christ. What a love is this? Now I look forward to His return! In fact the very first face I l want to see is the face of my true and eternal father in Heaven. All this time He has been by my side sitting next to me and loving me as His child!

This was Dad at Our Wedding (I look nervous!)

Too Heavenly Minded?

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Colossians 3:2-3 KJV

“Don’t be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good!” is a phrase I have heard a lot. It is usually stated with a knowing grin as if to say, “You’ll come around and get a grip on reality one day.” But the older I get and the closer the realities of Heaven become, the more I realize that nothing on earth is more important or more real than Heaven. In fact, today’s verse tells us not to keep our eyes on earth but urges us to set our sights and affections on Heaven because that is where Jesus is.

One day, the flowers in our gardens will die, the mementos in our China hutches will sit on a shelf in a thrift shop and the savings in our bank accounts will be spent. But the things of heaven, like the love of God for a neighbor, the joy of having sins forgiven and the peace that comes from knowing God will never grow old. One day we will close our eyes on earth and open them to see Jesus. A moment will come when we draw our last breath on earth and our first in heaven. When all is said and done, no one will do more good on earth than someone who is always Heavenly minded. May our highest goal be to sing all the verses God gives us to our song on earth, so that one day we can finish the chorus with the angels at the feet of our Heavenly Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!