For Christians Only

I was asked recently, “What makes you think you are going to Heaven?” Sometimes, when responding to such questions, in an effort of humility and meekness, I am not as bold as I should be. It may be because of the wording of the question and its implication that somehow I might be good enough to make it to Heaven…and I’m not. And it is important to me that I don’t come across as someone who thinks I can work my way into Heaven or that I’ve got any kind of entitlement. I am a sinner; so are you. “There is none righteous, no not one.” I’ve often said that I am not righteous by reputation, but I am by imputation. Jesus shed His blood and died, taking my sins to the cross so that His righteousness might be imputed to me.
Do I know it all? Heavens no! No one this side of Heaven does. But I know this; I’m His, and because I’m His, when I leave this body, I will be immediately in His presence. “For to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”
So, what makes you think you are going to Heaven? I would love to see your answers.

In church this morning, Randy, our youth pastor, shared a testimony. He’s been teaching the youth from the book of Revelation. One young lady, Stacie, lives a few blocks from the church. Randy has offered to pick her up and bring her to church but she says, “As long as I can make it, I’d like to walk to church.” After teaching about the Rapture recently, Stacie asked, “You mean to say that when Jesus comes to get me I will no longer need these crutches?” Randy told her that she was right; when she goes to Heaven, she’ll leave those crutches behind and will be able to run and jump with the rest.”
I hope y’all don’t mind, but for archiving reasons, I would like to transfer some of my old Facebook posts to this site.
This is the first.
My daughter had surgery on her hip Friday morning. Saturday morning she was in PT on a stationary bike. She said she never knew her hip was supposed to work that way. She was one of the fastest girls on her H.S. lacrosse team and never realized how her hip was hindering her. Reminds me of a guy who after years of not seeing well, got some glasses. He said, “I never realized you could see all those individual leaves on the trees.” My oldest daughter was born with several physical challenges and has had numerous surgeries. Can you imagine her first day in Heaven? No pain; no limited mobility. Can you imagine our first day in Heaven? We will never realize the weight and stress of this world until that day when we’re set free… Even so, Lord, come quickly!

I just love to listen to David Jeremiah. I was listening this morning on CSNRadio.com as he talked about his new book, I Never Thought I’d See the Day. I haven’t read it yet but I’ve heard Dr. Jeremiah talk about the sad state of things in our world today. I share his grief. In fact, I called our local station last week regarding a Dr. Oz commercial they aired repeatedly at a time that children would be getting ready for school. We’ve got to realize, though, that satan is the god of this world and the prince of these airways. That’s why I’ve said before to prove everything you see and hear by God’s word (including my posts). Lost people are going to act like lost people. Sometimes, they act like the devil.  We just gotta love’em.  We can’t change them and we can’t expect them to act any differently…only God can. We should, however, expect our brothers and sisters in Christ to act like Christians and encourage/correct them when they don’t; accept encouragement/correction when we don’t; and respond to the world as Christ did. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.” Mathew 5:16.

I was just listening to a song from our upcoming Christmas program, “He’s Still the Lamb”. That’ll make a Baptist shout. As I listened, I was reminded how the priests were instructed to receive the sin sacrifice from the children of Israel. When the Lamb was brought to him, he would lift the Lamb up… and inspect it for blemishes. Only a Lamb without blemish was an acceptable sacrifice. But, you know, the priest didn’t look at the one bringing the sin offering, didn’t check him for blemishes.
Jesus is still the Lamb! And thank God He will not hold me up and check for blemishes; He has lifted up His Son, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, the One without spot or blemish!

I was wrong.  Raised in Pentecostal churches, I was certainly exposed to shouting praises to the Lord.  But, I always thought that it was in response to something that moved the congregation. I was listening to Ron Vietti on CSN radio (CSNRADIO.com) yesterday as he orchestrated praise.  He directed his congregation to “shout” to the Lord: first, “Hallelujah”, then, “Praise the Lord”, then, “I love you Jesus”.  As I heard those shouts of praise, my eyes and heart both flooded at the same time.  God does truly inhabit the praises of His people.  So, try it sometime, not in response to a feeling or to the Spirit’s moving, but just because God tells us to; and let me know what happens.  Shout!, loudly in your car, or silently in your office; God does inhabit our praises.

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”  When Nehemiah heard that the walls and gates that had once offered protection for Jerusalem had been destroyed, he was devastated.  You should read his prayer in the first chapter of Nehemiah. He understood the importance of walls of protection.  Are we equally concerned about the condition of our walls of protection.   What have we allowed to break through, through television, internet, music, movies,…  If we are to guard our hearts, we have to rebuild those walls and be careful about what we allow into our lives.

Lord, let us mourn over the destruction of the walls that once protected our hearts, just as Nehemiah mourned for the walls that once protected Jerusalem.  And give us the strength and wisdom to restore that hedge of protection.  In Jesus’ Name,  Amen.

We’re looking forward to sharing some frequent insights and inspiration.