Heaven and Hell

We were talking this morning about heaven and hell and thinking tht the Bible doesn't spend a lot of time talking about hell. At least, it doesn't seem to give as much of a description of hell as it does heaven. You can look at the Book of Revelation, especially chapters 4 and 5 and see a lot said about heaven and what is going on there. We also realize from other Scriptures that we are going to have a place created for us by Christ Himself as He mentioned in John 14:1-6. Revelation goes on to say what is going to be in heaven and some of the things that won't be in heaven. Revelation 21:1-2 says, " And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." As we see the things said about heaven, we can also come up with what's not going to be there such as those who had not made a decision for the Lord Jesus Christ. The final judgment shows all of those souls being cast into the lake of fire. Other passages of Scripture do describe this place as being a place of torment, of burning yet not being consumed with the flame, of darkness, of gnashing of teeth. Obviously what is present in heaven won't be in hell. So, God will not be in hell comforting those who are assigned there by their own failure to receive Christ while they were alive. God will not be granting pardons to those who have spent time in hell such as judges do here on earth. Jude's description of wandering stars and darkness demonstrate the loneliness that will be prevalent among the inhabitants of this place. There is no description of hell as being a place filled with people having the greatest party of all time. No, on the contrary, it will be a place of torment, separation, darkness and where souls will wish to die, but they cannot. The awfulness of hell should be an incentive for believers to spread the word to as many people as possible. After all, here is the only chance for people to escape this coming judgment but many will decide to go merrily on their way in this life comforted in the fact that they are the captain of their destiny only to find out too late that they were on the wrong road. Take two columns on a piece of paper and write down one one side, what will be in heaven and on the other column, what will be in hell. Now, logically look at the list. Which would you choose? Heaven awaits those who have trusted in Christ and if you decide to make your own route, the end will be hell, for you will have made the wrong choice. Praise God today that He has provided a dwelling place for believers to be with Him forever.

The Drooping Heart

I have worked in an Assisted Living Facility, often referred to as an ALF, for the past 14 months. We have about 90 people living there along with about 40 in our skilled nursing and long term care facility, plus ICF. It amounts to people whose average age is around 85.5 years old. Naturally, these are those people who were born before the Korean war, before World War II, before the depression and mostly, before prohibition. Some, were born before World War I.
But, there is a new generation coming to the nursing home. In the next 10 to 20 years, more and more of the "baby boomers" will find their way into facilities like the one where I am presently employed. What might be rather cute will be the number of sagging tattoos that might be present upon the bodies of those men and women who come to the facilities to spend the rest of their lives. The once perfect red hearts will now appear to be drooping just a tad. The eagles and the devil masks will be looking like they were done by Picasso and the ships will be sinking in the oceans of folded skin.
Woodstock will be giving up it's people to the rollaters, the wheel chairs, the walkers and four pronged canes. Motor homes will be replaced by motorized wheel chairs or scooters. It's going to be interesting to say the least. So, enjoy the tattooed heart before it begins to droop, but prepared for when it does.

To Do or Not To Do? That is the Question!

I could always tell when my father meant something as a command or as an option to do something. It wasn't too hard to figure it out. I didn't have to ask him, "Is this something I have to do or can I not do it at all if I don't want to?" It was always pretty clear to me. It was also just as clear in the military. When a command was issued you knew right away what it was and you knew without a doubt that you were to obey or suffer the consequences. There are also many instances in the Scriptures where God speaks to us in a "command" type of language. In other words, what He is saying is not an option to decide to do or not to do. When He speaks a command, it is something that we are to do. There are some easy ones in the form of the Ten Commandments. Through the ages, we have given this group from Exodus 20 the title, "Ten Commandments." This means that we understand that these ten items are not options, nor wishes but that they are commands for us. We also notice that there is not the word "wish" or "hope" associated with them. God didn't say, "I hope you will worship me" or "I wish you would not covet your neighbor's wife." No, they are given in plain command form. Now, here is another group of commands. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
We can see right at the beginning that several commands have been given. We are to trust, lean not and to acknowledge Him. It is pretty straight forward and not too difficult to translate nor to understand. We have been commanded to trust the Lord with all of our heart. That means that we are to trust Him in everything that we do. While this is easy to say it is often something that does not happen. Our natural man has the tendency to want to trust his own devices rather than to trust God for anything. The second is equally true. We will have a tendency to lean to our own understanding rather than to lean towards God. So, as you go through the day, remember that we are to be trusting God and seeking His will in everything that we do and also, at the same time, not just leaning to our own ways. Follow God in all that you do and you won't go wrong. Praise God today that His commands are clear, brief and very easy to understand.

One Simple Fact - God Loves You

One can truly be amazed at the amount of material that is written on the Christian faith. Many of you probably get the catalog from Christian Book Distributors which details the books on almost every subject in connection with our faith plus the faith of others throughout the world. Not only are there countless commentaries and study helps but there are also all kinds of translations and even self help courses in Hebrew and Greek. One would think that there is now no excuse for being ignorant of the Bible and everything connected with it. I remember a book title a number of years ago which was, "No Magic Formula." That author probably thought about things in the same was as I am thinking today. When you get right down to it, there isn't a quick cure for anything other than turning to God's Word. We can know the history of the Bible and we can know how to parse the verbs in Biblical languages and we can know of the variants between this text and that text, but sometimes we forget the basic truth and the comfort that it gives in our lives. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Supposedly, an old preacher was once asked what was the most important thing he had learned over the years. He thought for a moment, and then replied, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." Now, some would say that his reply wasn't really that great. Why, even a child can know that! There lies the truth in the statement. Perhaps, we sometimes forget the love that God had and has for us in this life. I felt that way this past week. Not that it was the only time in my life, but it was a time in which I felt under educated and not able to speak in neither Hebrew nor Greek. It was then that the words came back to me from the little child's song. I can find a lot of comfort in that fact. It doesn't become a crutch for me nor does it become an excuse for a lack of study. It just tells me that this is probably one of the most important things in the Bible that I need to know. Maybe that's why Martin Luther said that John 3:16 was the Golden Text of the Bible. Praise God today for the simple fact that He loves you.

Wisdom

What is wisdom? It might be reading the directions before you assemble that entertainment center or that new bicycle. It might also be asking directions when you discover that you are lost. It might also be when you realize that you should keep your mouth closed in a certain conversation. Wisdom is more than being smart. You can find people who are very smart who are not very wise. There are probably a lot of people who are smart but lacking in wisdom, who often find themselves in trouble. God speaks about wisdom many times in the Scripture but one of the most famous verses is found in the following verse. James 1:5 says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

God reminds us that true wisdom is that which is going to come from Him. Wisdom will be that which follows Scriptural principles. It is also involved in the working out of those principles in your daily life. This means that the Scriptures will be practical to you. They will not just contain a lot of maxims that are stored away in your memory bank. They will be principles by which you can live your life. So, have you prayed to God for wisdom? If you have, you will soon find that He will give you many opportunities in which to practice the wisdom that He is giving you. You will find that your life will be criss crossed with other people. As these people get involved in your life, you will have opportunities to exercise your wisdom. There will be times in which you should speak and there will be times where you should keep silent. There will be times when you need to do nothing more than to listen, to console, to comfort, to pray. There will be other times when you will need to offer advice. The wisdom comes in knowing when you should take this or that course of action. Just remember that praying for wisdom will not make it work out in your life. You pray for it and God gives it to you, but you must work it out. You must choose when to do this or that. When Jesus worked with Nicodemus in John 3 and the Woman at the well in John 4, He worked with them in different ways. It is a good example of wisdom. One man wrote the following words,

"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference."

Praise God for supplying you with the wisdom you need in this life.

What are my thoughts for today? raining....dinner.....lesson....the same as much of the time, and oh hes, another doctor's appointment on Friday

Hope

Quite often, when people are approached about their eternal destiny, they will come up with the answer to the question about arriving in heaven, "Well, I hope so." We use the word "hope" quite a lot these days. For most of the world, the word hope is something that may or may not happen. For them, it would be good if it did happen, but it may not necessarily be so. On the other hand, for the believer, the word "hope" has quite a different meaning. Colossians 1:5 says, "For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;" We find the word used about 127 times in the Bible and that makes it very important. Biblical hope however, is quite different than the hope that comes from the world. Biblical hope is always a confident expectation. It is something that is guaranteed to take place. There is not a 50-50 chance of it occurring nor is there just a possibility that it will occur. No, the truth about Biblical hope is that it will take place just as promised in the Bible. When Paul spoke to the Colossians about the "hope" that was laid up for them in heaven, he was speaking about something that was guaranteed.
The use of the word in the Christian sense is the only case where hope is guaranteed. We can say that because we base our findings upon the fact that the Bible has always been proved to be correct and the promises that God has made in the past have always come to be exactly as He said they would, even when they might sound ridiculous at the time. For Job to say that God hangs the earth upon nothing, may seem to be a far out statement. Yet, "nothing" is a pretty good explanation of space in the universe. For centuries, this seemed to be impossible yet, it has been proven to be correct. The Hittites were long thought to be a fictitious people but during the 20th century, were found to be exactly as God said they were. All of this to say that when you have your hope in God and His plan and when your hope is heaven, you can be assured that it is a confident expectation and that it is a guaranteed precept. Praise God today for giving you a hope for the days ahead.