Our theme for this month: “Laugh Again”

Our Bible verse for today: “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Laughter is good for you.”

The other night I was leading a marriage enrichment Bible study and suddenly one of the ladies in the group starting imitating Homer Simpson. I don’t know why. Maybe she’s going through menopause and has sudden uncontrollable outbursts of weird behavior (I’m kidding). But whatever the reason, right in the middle of a serious discussion about how a woman can build up her husband with words of affirmation and encouragement she comes out with “Doh!”

According to Wikipedia when Homer Simpson says “Doh!” it means “Homer injured himself, realized that he has done something stupid, or something bad has happened or is about to happen to him.”

I’ll leave you to guess which of those definitions that woman might have felt applied to her use of “Doh!” with respect to the topic under consideration of her affirming and encouraging her husband. But whatever her intended meaning, the moment was hilarious. One couple was laughing so hard I thought they were going to pee their pants.

After I finally regained control of the class we all agreed that laughter is good for us – especially when it comes to strengthening the bonds of close relationships. Life is hard and sometimes it gets heavy. Many of us are way too serious. We all know people who trudge through their days, wearing their circumstances like a heavy old coat, seldom smiling much less laughing. But that’s not how we’re supposed to live. It’s not what God intends for us. Like Solomon tells us in Proverbs 17:22, laughter is good medicine, but a heavy spirit dries up the bones. A heavy spirit makes us sour and grumpy and difficult to be with. Laughter lightens things up. It makes us feel better, it makes us nicer to be around, and it causes other people to want to be with us.

All this month we will explore this idea of laughter as good medicine. We will consider what the Bible has to say about laughing and being happy, and we will also think the importance of intentionally expressing joy. Laughter and being joyful is good for us.

By the way, did you hear the one about the feminist who demanded to know why we always say “Amen” at the end of a prayer rather than “Awomen”? The Pastor told her it’s the same reason that we sing “Hymns” instead of “Hers”.

May you day today be filled with joy and laughter.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

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Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Live like you’re headed to heaven.”

In the end, salvation is about spending eternity with God. The three phases of the salvation process accomplish that for us. If you have already placed your faith in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins then phase one is a done deal for you and your salvation is secure. You are now in the second phase of being sanctified as God prepares you for eternity, and you are headed towards the third and final stage, the consummation of your salvation. But as you read this, you are somewhere in that second phase.

So, what impact should your new and fuller understanding of the entire doctrine of salvation have on how you live now? In his book “Heaven” author Randy Alcorn uses the phrase “Heaven-influenced living”. This is what Paul was writing about in Philippians 3:13-14. Our conduct should be influenced by our understanding of where we’re headed. The Apostle Peter wrote of this also in 1 Peter 2:9-12:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.”
And also in 2 Peter 3:11-14, “… it is clear what kind of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness as you wait for the day of God and hasten its coming.”

We are the people of God, saved by grace through faith in Jesus, called to be a holy people who bring honor to our heavenly father, people who live with the knowledge and understanding that we are just passing through this world on a journey towards our real home in heaven.

I encourage you to live each day with the certain knowledge that you are a child of God headed for a glorious eternity in a perfect paradise prepared for you by Jesus Himself. Let your thoughts, words, and deeds be governed by that great truth. Be joyful, be kind and merciful, and share with others the good news that they too can have salvation through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s the impact our understanding of salvation should have on how we live now.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

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Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “God, you are my God; I eagerly seek you. I thirst for you; my body faints for you in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.” Psalm 63:1 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Our longing for God will be fulfilled.”

Psalm 63:1 is one of my favorite expressions about longing for and seeking after God. Psalm 42:1-2 is another: “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so I long for you, God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?”

Two other expressions about longing for God that I have always appreciated come from the minds of great Christian thinkers. The first is from Saint Augustine writing sometime around 400 A.D. “You have made us for Yourself, oh Lord, and our heart is restless, searching, until we find our rest in You.”  The other comes from the French philosopher Blaise Pascal writing around 1650, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of man which can only be filled by God.”  

All of those four expressions are consistent with what Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:11 that “God has placed eternity in the heart of man.” God has created human beings with an innate understanding that He does exist. We also have a deep longing to know and experience Him. That’s why every culture that has ever existed in the history of the human race has always had religious beliefs. All cultures have had a belief that there is a spiritual world, there is a God (or gods), and that there is more than just this life. That’s simply how God has designed us – to want to know and experience Him.

Today we can know and experience Him by means of a personal relationship with Jesus as Savior and Lord, and with the Holy Spirit living in our heart. That relationship goes a long way towards filling the God-shaped vacuum in our hearts and satisfying our innate longing for God. It goes a long way, but it still falls short. There is still that longing, that sense that there is still much more of God that I don’t know about or understand. The longing is still there.

But in heaven the limits and restrictions between God and His people will be removed. Then we will see Him as He is, and being in His presence will be our primary joy. It won’t be our only joy – as we have learned in this series we will spend eternity exploring and enjoying a spectacular perfected creation – but being in the presence of God and seeing Him as He really is will be the best thing about eternity. There will never be a time when you are not aware of His presence, and the longing for Him which you have always had will be fully filled. You will see God and know Him as He really is.

Tomorrow we will conclude by considering how this new and fuller understanding of salvation, which we have gained through this study, should impact how we live now.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “… the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.” Romans 8:21-22 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Eternity will not be boring.”

No, eternity will certainly not be boring. We will have lots of interesting and wonderful things to do – and the new earth will feature prominently in our activities. As Romans 8:21-22 reminds us, the old earth and all of creation has been marred by sin and is therefore spoiled in many ways. But the new creation will be perfect and we will spend all of eternity enjoying it. In his book “Heaven” author Randy Alcorn made an important observation about God’s creation. He wrote, “… by finding happiness in God’s creation, we will find happiness in him.”

This is an important and helpful observation. It tells us something about eternity, but it also provides insight that is helpful to us now as we enjoy life on the current earth. Perhaps you’ve heard it said that we will spend eternity worshiping and praising God. That’s a true statement, but a big part of that worshiping and praising will consist of simply enjoying and appreciating what He has created.

God’s creation is His beautiful and wonderful handiwork. His creation is a source of joy and pleasure for Him. When we His people enjoy and appreciate what He has created, that’s a form of worshiping and praising Him. That’s true now in this lifetime (even in a fallen and broken world), but it will be even truer in eternity as we enjoy and appreciate a redeemed and perfected creation forever.

Also, when the current creation passes away it’s not that God is going to replace it with things that are entirely different, but rather that God will make all things new. He will take what exists and improve it to the point of perfection. The current creation is a reflection of the creation to come. It will be similar but perfect. Think for a moment about how much you enjoy God’s current creation. When you appreciate and enjoy what He has created, that is an act of worship and praise. That will be true in eternity too but to a much greater extent.

In eternity you will be with friends and loved ones enjoying the perfect existence you have always longed for. You will laugh and sing; you will eat and drink; you will rejoice and enjoy endless pleasures; you will marvel at all the good and perfect things our wonderful God has created. If you’re enjoying God’s creation now, you will really enjoy it then!

Tomorrow we will think about what our relationship with God will be like in that day, and then we will end our series with some thoughts about what impact all of this knowledge should be having on how we live now.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf will be together, and a child will lead them. The cow and the bear will graze, their young ones will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like cattle. An infant will play beside a cobra pit, and a toddler will put his hand into a snake’s den. They will not harm or destroy each other on my entire holy mountain, for the land will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is filled with water.” Isaiah 11:6-9 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Will pets be with you in heaven?”

So, will Fluffy the cat and your favorite dog be with you in heaven? I hope so. I love animals and I have loved every pet I have ever had. I would love to know that they will be in eternity with me.

The passage in Isaiah 11:6-9 describes a time in the New Eden and it is filled with animals. That shouldn’t surprise us, because God has always valued and enjoyed animals. Animals are not more important to God than people are, but they are important. He created them before He created us. And when He sent the great flood during the time of Noah, He saved many more animals than humans. In this scene in Isaiah we see a time when there is no longer any animosity among God’s creatures. Animals that were once dangerous are now tame; snakes that were once poisonous are now harmless; creatures that used to be natural enemies now graze together in peace; and human children are in the picture too.

So there’s little doubt that animals will be with us in eternity. But will “my” animals be with me? Will I see Duffy, Lady, Missy, Kiki, and Roxy the dogs? How about my cats Midnight and Sam? And let’s not forget Henry the duck.

It’s a difficult question. The Bible does tells us that animals have the breath of life in them (Genesis 1:30, 2:7; 6:17; 7:15); and the Hebrew word used to describe that breath of life in them (nephesh) is the same one that is used to describe the breath of life in us. Also, that word is commonly understood to describe our soul. However, even with that being said, we cannot then assume that animals have a soul like ours. They were not created in the image of God as we have been. And yet, evidently they do still have a soul of some sort.

There is strong evidence in the Bible that there will be animals with us in eternity. But there is nothing that tells us anything about our specific pets. Therefore all we can do is speculate about it. In his book “Heaven”, author Randy Alcorn writes,

“Animals aren’t nearly as valuable as people, but God is their Maker and has touched many people’s lives through them. It would be simple for him to re-create a pet in Heaven if he wants to. He’s the giver of all good gifts, not the taker of them. If it would please us to have a pet restored to the New Earth, that may be sufficient reason (for him to do it).”

I don’t know if my actual pets from this life will be there in eternity with me or not. I hope so. But I do know there will be animals, lots of them. And that’s a beautiful thing.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “While he was still speaking with the crowds, his mother and brothers were standing outside wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, ‘Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.’ He replied to the on who was speaking to him, ‘Who is my mother and who are my brothers?’ Stretching his hand toward his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:46-50 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “You will spend eternity with your brothers and sisters in Christ.”

In the passage we just read from Matthew 12:46-50 Jesus was not being unkind or disrespectful towards His mother, brothers, and sisters. They were his biological family and He loved them. His comments in that passage were designed to teach a larger spiritual truth. Biological relationships are important, but spiritual relationships are more important. Your biological ties to parents, siblings, and relatives will end at the death of these mortal bodies. But your spiritual bonds to your brothers and sisters in Christ will last for all eternity.

That being the case, the spiritual bond with your brothers and sisters in Christ is more important than your biological bonds with your flesh and blood family, because it is your spiritual family that you will spend eternity with. Hopefully you biological family is also part of your spiritual family and they will therefore be with you in eternity. If that is not the case then I encourage you to make their salvation a high priority in your life. Pray for them, witness to them, and serve them in the name of Jesus. You want them to be there to enjoy eternity with you.

Yesterday, as we considered what life will be like on the new earth in our resurrection bodies, I introduced the question about who will be there with us in eternity. It will be all those who have ever placed their faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. I realize this seems like a no-brainer but in reality we don’t give enough serious thought to this important truth. As we consider the amazing eternity Jesus has prepared for those who are His, we need to realize there are many who will never get to experience it.

In this series I haven’t talked much about hell but make no mistake, hell is as real as heaven. And just as the Bible reveals a lot about the new heaven and the new earth, it also tells us a lot about hell. I could do another entire series on hell.  If someone is not with you in eternal paradise, it’s because they are in eternal hell – and the eternal hell is every bit as bad as the eternal heaven is good.

There’s still more for us to learn about eternity in paradise but before we do, please spend some time thinking and praying about those you know who are currently not headed there. Make an extra effort today to reach out to someone with the Good News that God will forgive their sins through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

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Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “But based upon his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.” 2 Peter 3:13 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “In order to understand what life in eternity will be like, we need to picture the new earth as a real earth.”

As we continue to consider what life in eternity is going to be like for us in our resurrection bodies, it really is important to understand that the new earth is going to be very much like the current earth, only perfect.

Author Randy Alcorn did a good job of explaining this in his excellent book “Heaven”: “By calling the New Earth “earth”, God emphatically tells us it will be earthly, and thus familiar. Otherwise, why call it Earth? … The word “new” is an adjective describing a noun. The noun is the main thing. A new car is first and foremost a car. A new body is mainly a body. A New Earth is mainly an Earth … The Earth spoken of in Scripture is the Earth we know – with dirt, water, rocks, trees, flowers, animals, people, and a variety of wonders. An Earth without these would not be Earth.”

It has often been written about by Christian poets, authors, and song writers, that this earth is just a shadow of the one to come, that in this world we get glimpses of the next. Biblically this is true. This world gives us a foretaste of what’s to come. Think about the things that bring you the most pleasure and joy in this world – the beauty of a sunset, the magnificence of the Grand Canyon, colorful flowers, laughing babies, the taste of ice cream – now magnify those joys and pleasures about a qazillion times and you begin to get a feel for how great eternity on the new earth in a resurrection body is going to be.

I once read a statement written by “The Old Country Preacher”, Dr. J. Vernon McGee. He was commenting on what he believes eternity will be like for us in our resurrection bodies. Dr. McGee was fascinated by outer space – the planets, stars, and galaxies. He always wanted to be an astronaut who could explore deep space. So his fantasy for eternity is to spend the first 10,000 years just enjoying being in the presence of Jesus, and the second 10,000 years going from planet to planet, star to star, galaxy to galaxy, just exploring the wonders of God’s amazing universe.

I don’t know if Dr. McGee will get to do that or not, but I think he is probably not far off in his imaginings about the possibilities that will be available to us in that day.

Tomorrow we will consider who we will do all these amazing things with.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time …” 1 Corinthians 15:6 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Jesus walked the old earth in His resurrection body; we will walk the new earth in our resurrection bodies.”

The primary reason Jesus remained on earth for forty days after His resurrection was to provide physical proof of His resurrection. His followers in those days had the almost impossible task of spreading the new Christian faith and planting churches in communities all across the land, and they were to do it in the face of tremendous skepticism and opposition. So they needed to have their faith bolstered by having personal physical encounters with the resurrected Jesus.

But that’s not the only reason He stayed on earth for that time. As was true of Jesus’ entire earthly life, one of His purposes on earth was to teach us lessons through His personal example. That’s true of His forty extra days on earth too.

In his wonderful and very helpful book “Heaven”, author Randy Alcorn proposes that, “Jesus walked the earth in his resurrection body for forty days, showing us how we would live as resurrected beings. In effect, he also demonstrated “where” we would live as resurrected human beings – on Earth.”

The resurrected Jesus walked the earth. His feet actually touched the dirt road and the dust got between His toes. He walked on a beach and felt the sand beneath His feet. The resurrected Jesus talked to people, and they talked to Him. He started a campfire, he cooked a meal for His friends, and at one point we even see Him eating. His was a resurrected body that was both physical and spiritual, and in it He experienced physical earthly things. That’s a picture of what eternity will be like for us in our resurrection bodies.

But this is different from what people normally assume will be true about our existence in eternity. We assume that eternity means a non-earth, that it is some kind of mystical spiritual ghost-like existence. But that’s not the picture the Bible gives us. Instead, the Bible describes a new earth, not a non-earth, and it is a new earth that is like the current earth in many ways and which will be familiar to us. In John 14:1-3 Jesus seems to be telling us that we will feel right at home there.

Spending eternity in our resurrection bodies on a new and redeemed earth is going to be fascinating and exciting. There will be much exploring and learning and activities to keep us occupied. What kinds of exploring, learning, and activities – and with whom? That’s a good question and we will talk more about that in the days to come.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “The dead in Christ shall rise first.”

The consummation of your salvation occurs on the day of the second coming of Christ. That is when believers receive their resurrection body that they will spend eternity in. At this point salvation is complete for all believers from all of Christian history.

However, there is a sequence to the final phase of the consummation. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 that the dead in Christ arise first and receive their resurrection bodies. Then after that, those who are still alive at the time of the rapture rise and are given their resurrection bodies. Why the delay? Why do those who are still alive have to wait a few moments as others receive their resurrection bodies first?

The Bible doesn’t actually answer that question for us but I think it’s probably a matter of fairness. Those who are still alive at the time of the second coming of Christ never had to go through the agony of physical death. They didn’t have to endure a long slow deterioration of the physical body that ended in death. They did not have to suffer the ravages of cancer or some other terminal disease. They weren’t murdered. They also didn’t have to spend hundreds or even thousands of years in the intermediate state in the current heaven waiting for the final consummation of their salvation.

The dead in Christ did have to experience those things. Whereas those who are still alive at the second coming of Christ got to skip all that life-ending stuff, the dead in Christ had to go through it. So now, in the moment of fulfillment, those who suffered, died, and waited, receive their resurrection bodies first.

I’m thinking it’s probably not really that big of a deal. I doubt that any Christians who are still alive and watching all of this happening are going to be thinking that it’s somehow unfair for them to have to wait a moment. And I’m pretty sure that none of those who did die and who are now rising first will be looking back and sticking their tongues out at those who have to wait. I think we’ll all be cool about it.

So now the consummation of the salvation process is done. You have the full spiritual stature you will have for eternity, and you are finally in that very cool resurrection body.

So now what? What will eternity be like? Well, once again it’s surprising to discover how much detail the Bible actually gives us about this. We will begin to take a look at life in eternity tomorrow.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

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