Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and the testimony they had given. They cried out with a loud voice: “Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood? So they were each given a white robe, and they were told to rest a little longer until the number would be completed of their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters, who were going to be killed just as they had been.” Revelation 6:9-12 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “A little more about the intermediate heaven”.

In Revelation 6:9-12 we’re reading about some Christian martyrs who had been killed for their faith on earth and who have been waiting in the intermediate heaven for the fulfillment of all things.

Like much in Revelation, this passage includes some strange imagery that is not easily explained. But in his book “Heaven”, author Randy Alcorn did an excellent job of drawing some insights from this scene which helps us to better understand some important truths about the intermediate heaven. I will share a few of those insights with you this morning:

1. When these people died they obviously left earth and relocated to heaven.
2. They remembered their lives on earth.
3. They were fully conscious, rational, and aware of themselves, others, God, and the situation on earth.
4. They were free to communicate directly with God.
5. They asked God a question and they received an answer. That means that even though they were in heaven, they did not know everything – there was still learning going on. Evidently in heaven we continue to explore and learn marvelous things.
6. The fact that they were given white robes to wear could be symbolic language, but it could also indicate that each individual has a form that is something more than we would normally think a spirit would have. They were recognizable and they were clothed.
7. There was a strong sense of family ties with “brothers and sisters”.

It’s unlikely that this specific group of martyred saints were some unique group to which special truths and attributes had been assigned. All people depicted in the Bible are real people who are like the rest of us, and who are representative of the rest of us. Normally what’s true for them is also true for us. So in all likelihood it’s safe to assume that in many ways their experience is similar to what ours will be.

We’ve now spent a few days considering the intermediate heaven, but since it’s a temporary destination for us, I think we have now spent enough time there. Let’s move on to the New Heaven, the New Earth, and to our resurrection bodies. Tomorrow we will do exactly that.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord … In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:6; 8 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “The moment you die you are immediately in the presence of the Lord.”

In 2 Corinthians 5:6; 8 the Apostle Paul makes it clear that the moment a Christians dies you immediately go to the current heaven to be in the presence of the Lord. Jesus alluded to this as well in Luke 23:43 when He told the repentant thief on the cross next to Him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” And also in Luke 16:22-31 when Jesus told the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, one in heaven and one in hell, both having arrived there immediately after death, and both fully conscious. They were in the current heaven. I say “the current heaven” because as we will learn, the current heaven is temporary and will one day be replaced by the new heaven and the new earth.

The current heaven is what theologians refer to as “the intermediate” state. As author Randy Alcorn explains in his book “Heaven”, “This is a transitional period between our past lives on Earth and our future resurrection life in the New Earth. Usually when we refer to “Heaven,” we mean the place where Christians go when they die. When we tell our children “Grandma’s now in Heaven,” we’re referring to the intermediate heaven.”

The “intermediate” heaven is by definition temporary. Anything that is intermediate is not the final destination. How do we know the current heaven is not the forever heaven? Because in Revelation 21:1 we read, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away …”

What will it be like in the current heaven for us? In the Bible there are plenty of clues. First, we know that we will be conscious and aware of our surroundings. Lazarus and the rich man both knew who they had been in life, and they remembered important details about their life. From that scene we also know that we will be recognizable for who we were in this life. So there is direct continuity between our lives on earth and our lives in heaven.

Also, Jesus used the word “paradise” to describe it. Instead of telling the thief on the cross that heaven is beyond description and we are incapable of understanding what it is like, He chose to use a human word that has great meaning for us and which would create an image in our minds that helps us to understand what we have waiting for us. According to the dictionary paradise is “A place or condition of great happiness where everything is exactly as you would like it to be. Like the Garden of Eden.”

“Like the Garden of Eden”. Read the early chapters of Genesis. There we find real people in a real place enjoying a perfect existence. It was “paradise” and in some way that’s what the intermediate heaven will be like.

There’s more we can know about what our time in the intermediate heaven will be like so we will continue this discussion tomorrow.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you. If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.” John 14:1-3 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Christ has prepared a glorious eternity for all who belong to Him.”

Without question, the consummation of our salvation is the best part of salvation. The assurance and peace that come from knowing that we have been saved, and working out our salvation as we enjoy the fruit of the Spirit and the blessings of God in this lifetime, are great things. Salvation has already made a huge difference in our lives. But it is in the consummation phase that salvation comes to its glorious fulfillment for us.

Dwight. L. Moody was an evangelist who lived in the mid-to-late 1800s. Moody had nothing going for him in terms of looks, education, speaking ability, or anything else. Throughout his life he was always considered a poorly dressed country bumpkin, without cultural graces, who butchered the king’s English. The one thing he did have was a strong faith in Christ and a passion for sharing the Good News with others. His faith was so strong, and his passion so infectious, that despite all of his short-comings Moody was the Billy Graham of his day. He preached to stadiums full of people; he was sought-out by celebrities and sports figures; he had dinner with Presidents, Kings, and Queens.

When speaking about the consummation of salvation and what eternity is going to be like for those who have placed their faith in Christ he once said, “Some day you will read in the papers, ‘D.L. Moody of East Northfield is dead.’ Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now; I shall have gone up higher, that is all, out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal – a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like His glorious body. I was born of the flesh in 1837. I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit will live forever.”

“At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now” … That’s a great statement that reveals a great truth. This life gives us a glimpse, a taste, of the life to come. This life is good, but life in eternity will be good beyond description.

We will now conclude our study of “understanding salvation” by considering what the Bible tells us about the resurrection body we will one day have, and what eternity will be like in the new heaven and on the new earth.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” 2 Corinthians 5:10 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Good works done for the right reasons will be rewarded.”

As we continue to consider the consummation of our salvation, we need to understand what will happen to us at the judgment seat of Christ referred to by Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:10. This judgment involves both believers and non-believers. In 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 Paul describes the proceedings for us:

“If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work that he has built up survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved – but only as through fire.” 1 Corinthians 3:12-15

The first thing that will be determined at the judgment is whether or not a person’s name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. Did you place your faith in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins in this lifetime? If you didn’t then off you go to hell. If you did, then your interview continues and the examination goes further.

It is at that point that your life is examined and your conduct is evaluated. You are not punished for your sins. Jesus already took care of that on the cross. But your every word and action is evaluated by the Lord for its worthiness. Everything that is considered unworthy is tossed aside as worthless. Every thought, word, or action that brought honor to the Lord is rewarded.

When Paul writes in verse 15 of 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 that if a work is considered worthless you will “suffer loss”, he means that your efforts in that manner here on earth will have been shown to have been worthless and therefore you lost a potential eternal reward. When he writes that you will have been “saved as through fire”, he means that some people will make it into heaven, but their clothes will be smoking and their hair will be singed.

The point is that there is a direct connection between how we live now and what eternity will be like for us forever. Even as people who have placed their faith in Christ and who are therefore assured of a place in heaven, we will not all be of the same spiritual stature, nor will we all enjoy the same rewards. We will enjoy heaven for all eternity to the greatest of our personal capacity, but our capacities for spiritual appreciation and enjoyment will be different based upon how we lived and served in this life.

Good works done for the right reasons will be rewarded.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me … Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:34-36; 40 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “God values the little things you do and He plans to reward you for them.”

As I noted a couple of days ago, when it comes to fully understanding all aspects of the doctrine of salvation one month of devotional messages simply is not enough, especially since we’re nearing the end and we are considering the consummation of it all – this is the best part! Therefore we don’t want to rush through it. So we will spend part of the new month carefully considering what the Bible teaches us about this third and final stage of salvation – the consummation.

In today’s passage we find Jesus and believers on Judgment Day. We will consider the Judgment in greater detail tomorrow but for today please notice that Jesus is rewarding believers in eternity for actions they took in this lifetime. Note that the examples Jesus uses and the actions He commends are all small things – giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, housing to the homeless, a visit to a prisoner.

He pointedly did not mention big accomplishments like being a television evangelist, or leading stadium crusades, or donating large sums of money to Christian causes. All of those things are important, and they do need to happen, but most ordinary Christians like you and I will never lead a stadium crusade, or donate a million dollars to a Bible college. Most of us live ordinary lives that are filled with ordinary activities.

But small things matter too. In fact, small acts of kindness, compassion, and mercy constitute the bulk of Christian ministry in the world. The kingdom of God on earth grows as a result of millions of Christians performing countless small acts of blessing everyday all over the world. These things matter, they matter very much. They matter to the people on the receiving end and they matter to Jesus. So much so that Jesus says He considers those small acts of kindness to have been done directly to Him personally. He will not forget them, and in heaven you will be rewarded for every one of those acts.

How you live your life today matters. The big things matter, but so do the small things. So live in a way now that Jesus can reward you later.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “When you host a banquet, invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Luke 14:13-14 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Your actions today affect your future forever.”

In the Gospels Jesus repeatedly taught that our actions in this lifetime affect our future in eternity. In those lessons He wasn’t just talking about placing your faith in Him for the forgiveness of your sins. That is of course the most important action you must take for the sake of eternity. However, His lessons were also about acts of service believers engage in that produce great benefits in eternity. As Bruce Wilkinson said in his great little book “The Life God Rewards”, “Everything you do matters forever”. Your life now is having a direct impact on what your eternity will be like later.

In Luke 14:13-14 we find Jesus having dinner in the home a religious leader. There were many dinner guests, most of them important religious figures, or businessmen, or local officials. They were all being treated to a nice meal by the host, and Jesus was the guest of honor. Jesus used the occasion to teach several important spiritual truths to the guests, but he also had a special one for the host. That’s what we read in the passage above.

Jesus’ point in this lesson was not that the host did wrong by inviting his friends and family members to dinner. Nor, conversely, was the meaning that the only ones who should be treated to such a meal are the down-and-out and the outcasts of society. The larger teaching point was that when we engage in acts of kindness and compassion God will repay us for those actions – but not necessarily in this lifetime. Often the rewards God intends to give to us for such acts are received in eternity. That’s what He meant when He said, “… for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Bruce Wilkinson writes, “God will repay you for a good deed “after you are dead”. And, “Although your eternal destiny (heaven or hell) is based on your belief, the nature of what eternity in heaven will be like for you is based on your behavior in this lifetime”.

God will bless you for the good deeds you do (especially when you do them for those who cannot repay you), but those blessings often come in heaven not on earth. This is the “storing up treasure for yourselves in heaven …” Jesus talked about in yesterdays devotional.

The subject of rewards earned now in this lifetime, but which will be received later in heaven, is extremely important because it has to do with what all of eternity will be like for us. Therefore we will think more about this tomorrow.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “We receive rewards in heaven based on our actions on earth.”

Yesterday we considered the truth that our spiritual stature in heaven is determined by how much we grow spiritually in this lifetime. The truth is that we won’t all have the same experience in eternity. It will vary from individual to individual based upon how we live now. We will all thoroughly enjoy eternity in heaven – to our maximum capacity for spiritual appreciation and enjoyment, but our capacities will be different.

Another way the Bible teaches this lesson is by describing rewards each person receives in heaven based upon how they lived in this life. There are more than 100 scripture references, in both the Old and New Testaments, regarding the subject of rewards in heaven. Jesus taught about it frequently.

In Matthew 6:19-21, during the Sermon on the Mount, the illustration He used was that of storing up treasures in heaven. Most of us try to store up treasures in this lifetime. We put money in savings accounts, build up retirement funds, invest in houses and property, we collect valuable coins, and so on. Many of us put great thought and disciplined effort into storing up for ourselves treasures on earth. Jesus tells us to shift our thinking a little and to do the things necessary to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven.

What an intriguing thought. You put money on deposit in The First National Bank of Hometown USA so you will have it for the future. Is it possible to put treasure on deposit in The First National Bank of Heaven so it will be there for you in eternity? According to Jesus the answer is “yes”.

This is vitally important. We need to be investing now for our future in heaven. This subject is so important that Jesus returned to it frequently in His teachings. The body of Biblical literature on the subject is so extensive that it will require us to spend at least several days exploring it. In fact, the Bible teaches us so much about the next life – what the current heaven is like, what the new heaven and the new earth will be like, what the resurrection body will be like, and how to prepare for it all – that we simply do not have enough days left in the month to cover it all. But this is too important to leave unexplored. So, we will just have to keep going into the new month. Tomorrow we will continue thinking about rewards in heaven.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” 2 Corinthians 5:10 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Your spiritual stature is determined in this lifetime.”

The consummation of the salvation process occurs in two stages, both of which take place after the death of the physical body. Stage one occurs at the time of death when the spirit is released to join God in heaven. You will be a spirit-being (2 Corinthians 5:1-6) and at that point you will have the spiritual stature that will be yours for all eternity. The second stage occurs later, after the second coming of Christ, at which time all believers receive their resurrection bodies (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; 1 Corinthians 15:52). We will talk more about the resurrection body in a future devotional.

Life in heaven is actually a continuation of your life on earth. Your eternal life began the moment you placed your faith in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. The physical death of your mortal body simply results in a change of address. Your abode shifts from earth to heaven. There will be many differences between your life on earth and the one you will have in heaven – it will be a great improvement, but there is a direct connection between the two.

In his helpful little book, “The Doctrine of Salvation”, Dr. Darrell Robinson explained it this way: “Believers will enter heaven as the same persons but as transformed persons … the persons we are at death or at the second coming of Christ we will continue to be in heaven. This life is the time for developing Christlikeness in character. All of God’s children will be true children of God and will share the same eternal life, but we will not be of the same spiritual stature. Capacity for God and for spiritual experience is an important factor for life in heaven. Maturing in Christlikeness is central in our developing a capacity for enjoyment in heaven. A Bible professor illustrated this point by comparing the Christian life to containers. One person, having developed in Christian maturity, has become like a gallon container. Another has developed a life like a pint container. In heaven each will be filled to overflowing. Each fully enjoys heaven according to his capacity for spiritual appreciation.”

The transition out of this life and into the next is where the second and third stages of the salvation process meet and converge. Sanctification leads to consummation, and the nature of the consummation is derived from the process of sanctification. How you live in this life has a direct impact on what eternity will be like for you. Jesus taught this truth as well. Tomorrow we will consider some of what He had to say about it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “It’s all heading to a glorious fulfillment”

In his book, “The Doctrine of Salvation”, Dr. Darrell Robinson likens our salvation experience to the flow of the mighty Mississippi River. The Mississippi begins as a small trickling stream way up north near the Great Lakes. As it flows south it slowly picks up volume from other sources as it continues to grow larger and larger. By the time it finally arrives at its destination in the Gulf of Mexico, it comes crashing in with all the volume of a huge mighty river.

Interestingly, the river’s path is not a straight line from north to south. Instead it winds and curves around mountains and obstacles, it meanders through valleys, and it goes up and down through various elevations by means of locks and canals. It constantly flows towards its ultimate destination, but the journey is a crooked path at best.

That’s a pretty good illustration of our salvation experience. We begin in the moment of decision with a trickle of faith and a small spiritual stature. But then we begin the lifelong process of sanctification and as we progress on our journey, praying and studying, participating in worship and fellowship, serving and being served, always growing, always maturing – we pick up great spiritual volume and we continue to increase in spiritual size and stature. Finally we arrive at our ultimate destination (heaven) fully developed and ready to be the person God has always intended for us to be for all of eternity.

The consummation of our salvation actually involves two separate events for the believer. The day we arrive in heaven the process of sanctification will have been completed and we will have the spiritual stature that will be ours for the rest of eternity. We will discuss this more tomorrow. But also, after death and arrival in heaven, there will be one more very important event that will occur that will bring the consummation of our salvation to a final fulfillment. That will be the day when you receive your resurrection body. We will talk about that in an upcoming devotional too.

Be encouraged my friends. This Christian life you are living is headed to a glorious fulfillment and I assure you, it is going to be good.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “The church plays an important role in our sanctification.”

As we conclude our thinking about the second stage of the salvation process known as sanctification, we need to consider the role the church plays. It has always been God’s plan that His people would congregate in groups, as a community of faith. There are no examples in the Bible of Christians being alone, out of fellowship with other Christians, and it having been a good thing. Jesus was in the desert alone, but that was only for forty days. John-the-Baptist lived in the wilderness, but great crowds of people went out to be with him – they had church in the desert!

As Hebrews 10:24-25 teaches, God wants us to gather together on a regular basis in order to look out for, love, support, and encourage one another. Our time together is also to be a time of teaching, equipping, group worship, and planning for works of service.

Sanctification is all about growing in spiritual maturity as we become more and more like Jesus. The church plays an important role in our growth as a Christian. Church is where we most often engage with our preachers, teachers, counselors, and friends.

The role the church plays in our lives is often subtle, and the benefits of it are realized a little at a time over a long period of time. You may have heard the story of the elderly deacon who encountered a younger man who had been absent from church for a long time. The deacon asked him why. The man replied that on most Sundays he just didn’t feel as if church attendance was doing much for him. He said: “In fact, I can’t even remember most of the sermons I’ve ever heard.”  The deacon wisely replied, “You know, I’ve been married for 55 years. My wife has prepared a meal for me every day of those 55 years, but I can’t remember most of them. However each one of those meals nourished my body and helped to keep me healthy. If I hadn’t eaten those meals I would have been malnourished and physically sick. The same is true for every sermon we hear. It nourishes our soul and helps to keep us spiritually healthy.”

We need to be in church. It’s an important part of the transforming work God is doing in each of our lives.

We will now move on to the third, and final, and best stage of the salvation process – the consummation! We will spend the rest of our time this month exploring it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is: