Daily Archives: March 31, 2013

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Charles Stanley – Our Heavenly Existence

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Thanks to cartoons and movies, many people have the wrong impression about heaven. They imagine gaining wings, donning white robes, strumming a harp, and flying around on clouds. But is that how we’ll spend our time? No. Let’s discover what Scripture says about a few of our activities in heaven.

We will praise and worship the Lord.

Read Revelation 4:1-11. What surprises you about this heavenly scene?

Sometimes believers are guilty of having a worldly concept of worship—mainly that it is boring. But heavenly worship will be more exciting than we can imagine.

When you have a chance to worship the Lord, give Him your full attention. Express your devotion and admiration to Him. You’ll most likely get a taste of how wonderful praise will be in eternity.

Consider how you worship. Which do you resemble more, a participant or a spectator?

Write a prayer, asking the Lord to let you experience more joy in worshipping Him.

We will glorify God.

Is this just another way to say that believers will praise God in heaven? No. According to “Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology”, “glorification” involves first the Christian’s moral perfection, in which the believer is made holy and blameless. Second, the body is made glorious—immortal, imperishable, powerful, and spiritual. Third, glorification includes the Christian’s participation in the kingdom of God, even to the point of reigning with Him. Finally, believers partake of the Lord’s glory (2 Thess. 2:14; 1 Peter 5:10).

On earth, our ability to radiate the indwelling presence of God is limited by our sins and spiritual immaturity. In heaven, those obstacles will be removed. We will shine with all the radiance, beauty, glory, and majesty of the living God.

Why will our inner character be like Christ (1 John 3:2)?

How does Matthew 13:43 describe glorified believers?

We will never fully resemble Jesus this side of heaven. But we should be growing more and more Christ-like as we mature.

We will serve God.

Our Father made us to create, achieve, and serve. In eternity, we’ll be engaged in God-ordained assignments. Before you picture yourself toiling away in misery, remember that work doesn’t have to be tedious, frustrating, or boring.

In the Garden of Eden, God gave man a task (Gen. 2:15). Adam’s job of cultivating the garden was pleasant. But when man sinned, a curse fell on the earth.

What did the curse include, according to Genesis 3:17-19?

What implication does this have regarding work?

What does this verse reveal about the good deeds God calls us to do?

How does this knowledge impact the way you think about serving Him each day?

Describe the life of believers in eternity, according to Revelation 5:9-10.

What two groups will believers judge (1 Cor. 6: 1-3)?

Read Luke 19:16-17. How is the faithful servant rewarded in this passage?

How does one earn the right to “govern” in eternity (Matt. 25:23)?

What has the Lord called you to do with your life?

Does it encourage you to know a reward awaits you for faithfully completing God’s assignments? Why or why not?

In describing our eternal home, Revelation 22:3 says, “There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him.”

The way we prepare for serving God in heaven is by serving Him now. Together with church attendance, giving, and prayer, service is an important expression of our devotion to the Lord.

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

If you are unsure about how God wants you to serve, pray about it. Each morning, ask Him to guide you into the good deeds He’s prepared for you.

We will reign with God.

You already know that we won’t be idle in heaven. Does it surprise you to know we will rule with the Lord?

It’s not clear from Scripture what our reign will include. But the level of responsibility given to us will be proportional to how faithfully we serve while on earth.

Remember the parable about a master who entrusted money to three servants? The money symbolized a person’s time, talents, and other possessions. According to how each servant invested the money, he was rewarded or punished (Luke 19:11-27).

Closing: Heaven will be far more exciting than we can imagine. In this brief study, we haven’t been able to address everything God’s Word says about it. So, as you read your Bible, particularly Revelation 4-5 and 21-22, watch for descriptions of our eternal home.

Prayer: Father, thank You for the amazing glimpses of heaven You gave us in Your Word. Help us remember this world is not our eternal home. We want to be faithful, obedient stewards, fulfilling Your calling on our lives. Amen.

 

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Our Daily Bread – Knee-Deep In Daffodils

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Luke 24:13-34

The Lord is risen indeed! —Luke 24:34

When the first flowers of spring bloomed in our yard, my 5-year-old son waded into a patch of daffodils. He noticed some debris from plants that had expired months before and remarked, “Mom, when I see something dead, it reminds me of Easter because Jesus died on the cross.” I replied, “When I see something alive—like the daffodils—it reminds me that Jesus came back to life!”

One reason we know Jesus rose from the grave is that, according to the gospel of Luke, He approached two travelers headed to Emmaus 3 days after His crucifixion. Jesus walked with them; He ate dinner with them; He even gave them a lesson in Old Testament prophecy (24:15-27). This encounter showed the travelers that Jesus conquered the grave—He had risen from the dead. As a result, the pair returned to Jerusalem and told the disciples, “The Lord is risen indeed!” (v.34).

If Jesus had not come back to life, our faith as Christians would be pointless, and we would still be under the penalty of our sin (1 Cor. 15:17). However, the Bible tells us that Jesus “was raised to life for our justification” (Rom. 4:25 niv). Today, we can be right with God because Jesus is alive!

I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today;

I know that He is living, whatever men may say.

I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer,

And just the time I need Him He’s always near.

—Alfred Ackley © Renewal 1961. The Rodeheaver Company

The empty cross and the empty tomb provide a full salvation.

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Alistair Begg – Weep for His Pain

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With his stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5

Pilate delivered our Lord to be scourged. The Roman scourge was a most dreadful instrument of torture. It was made of the sinews of oxen, and sharp bones were intertwined among the sinews, so that every time the lash came down, these pieces of bone inflicted fearful laceration and tore off the flesh from the bone. The Savior was, no doubt, bound to the column, and thus beaten. He had been beaten before; but this from the Roman soldiers was probably the most severe of His flagellations. My soul, stand here and weep over His poor, stricken body.

Believer in Jesus, can you gaze upon Him without tears as He stands before you, the mirror of agonizing love? He is at once fair as the lily for innocence and red as the rose with the crimson of His own blood. As we feel the sure and blessed healing that His stripes have wrought in us, does not our heart melt at once with love and grief? If ever we have loved our Lord Jesus, surely we must feel that affection glowing now within our hearts.

See how the patient Jesus stands,

Insulted in His lowest case!

Sinners have bound the Almighty’s hands,

And spit in their Creator’s face.

With thorns His temples gor’d and gash’d

Send streams of blood from every part;

His back’s with knotted scourges lash’d.

But sharper scourges tear His heart.

We may long to go to our bedrooms and weep; but since our business calls us away, we will first ask the Lord Jesus to print the image of His bleeding self upon the tablets of our hearts all the day, and at nightfall we will return to commune with Him and sorrow that our sin should have cost Him so dearly.

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Charles Spurgeon – The march

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“And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.” Numbers 10:35

Suggested Further Reading: 2 Chronicles 20:1-30

“Rise up, Lord, Father, Son, and Spirit, we can do nothing without thee; but if thou wilt arise, thine enemies shall be scattered, and they that hate thee shall flee before thee.” Will you and I go home and pray this prayer by ourselves, fervently laying hold upon the horns of God’s altar? I charge you, my brethren in Christ, do not neglect this private duty. Go, each one of you, to your chambers; shut your doors; cry to him who hears in secret, and let this be the burden of your cry—“Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered.” And at your altars tonight, when your families are gathered together, still let the same cry ring up to heaven. And then tomorrow, and all the days of the week, and as often as we shall meet together to hear his word and to break bread, cry, “Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.” Pray for your children, your neighbours, your families, and your friends, and let your prayer be—“Rise up, Lord; rise up, Lord.” Pray for this neighbourhood; pray for the dense darkness of Southwark, and Walworth, and Lambeth. And oh! If you cannot pray for others because your own needs come so strongly before your mind, remember sinner, all you need is by faith to look to Christ, and then you can say, “Rise up, Lord; scatter my doubts; kill my unbelief; drown my sins in thy blood; let these thine enemies be scattered; let them that hate thee flee before thee.”

For meditation: This call to prayer, which comes at the very end of the “New Park Street Pulpit” reminds us of some important lessons—the battle is the Lord’s, the armour is God’s, but the responsibility to pray still rests with us, God’s people (Ephesians 6:10-20).

Sermon no. 368

31 March (1861)

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John MacArthur – Applying the Disciples’ Prayer

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“Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen” (Matt. 6:13).

The implications of the Disciples’ Prayer are profound and far-reaching. An unknown author put it this way:

I cannot say “our” if I live only for myself in a spiritual, watertight compartment. I cannot say “Father” if I do not endeavor each day to act like His child. I cannot say “who art in heaven” if I am laying up no treasure there.

I cannot say “hallowed be Thy name” if I am not striving for holiness. I cannot say “Thy kingdom come” if I am not doing all in my power to hasten that wonderful day. I cannot say “Thy will be done” if I am disobedient to His Word. I cannot say “in earth as it is in heaven” if I will not serve Him here and now.

I cannot say “give us . . . our daily bread” if I am dishonest or an “under the counter” shopper. I cannot say “forgive us our debts” if I harbor a grudge against anyone. I cannot say “lead us not into temptation” if I deliberately place myself in its path. I cannot say “deliver us from evil” if I do not put on the whole armor of God.

I cannot say “thine is the kingdom” if I do not give to the King the loyalty due Him as a faithful subject. I cannot attribute to Him “the power” if I fear what men may do. I cannot ascribe to Him “the glory” if I am seeking honor only for myself. I cannot say “forever” if the horizon of my life is bounded completely by the things of time.

As you learn to apply to your own life the principles in this marvelous prayer, I pray that God’s kingdom will be your focus, His glory your goal, and His power your strength. Only then will our Lord’s doxology be the continual song of your heart: “Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen” (v. 13).

Suggestions for Prayer: Ask God to use what you’ve learned from the Disciples’ Prayer to transform your prayers.

For Further Study: Read John 17, noting the priorities Jesus stressed in prayer.

 

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Joyce Meyer – Operate in Wisdom

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Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unfathomable (inscrutable, unsearchable) are His judgments (His decisions)! And how untraceable (mysterious, undiscoverable) are His ways (His methods, His paths)! —Romans 11:33

Without wisdom we can make poor decisions and later wonder why we didn’t pray first. It is wise to seek God early each day before we start making decisions in order to know ahead of time what we ought to do, and then to receive the grace to do it. Wisdom keeps us from a life of regret.

Jesus operated in wisdom. When others went home to rest, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to spend time with God. And early in the morning (at dawn), He came back into the temple and taught people (see John 7:53–8:2). Jesus always spent time with the Father before facing the crowds. If Jesus needed time with God, we need even more time with Him. Walk in wisdom today.

 

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Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – To Encourage Us

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“These things that were written in the Scriptures so long ago are to teach us patience and to encourage us, so that we will look forward expectantly to the time when God will conquer sin and death” (Romans 15:4).

Tom had a “short fuse” and frequently exploded in anger when he was disappointed with himself or others. Then he received Christ and began to study the Word of God, obey its commands and walk in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

His life began to change, gradually at first, until, as he told me recently, it has now been a long time since he has allowed his old nature to express his impatience.

The story is told of an impatient man who prayed and kept praying for God to grant him the virtue he so desperately needed.

“Lord,” he prayed, “give me patience, and give it to me now!”

Patience, however, is a virtue that is developmental in nature, to a large degree. It is the result of walking in the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23). It develops out of a good heart and a godly attitude (Luke 8:15). It is spawned sometimes during times of tribulation. Remember, it is a fruit of the Spirit.

Paul writes, “If we must keep trusting God for something that hasn’t happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently” (Romans 8:25).

So patience comes from hope and trust in God. And finally, we learn patience through the study and personal application of God’s Word in our lives, as suggested in Romans 15:4, “These things that were written in the Scriptures so long ago are to teach us patience and to encourage us.”

Bible Reading: Romans 15:1-6

TODAY’S ACTION POINT:  When delays and seeming denials occur, I will exercise patience, with the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

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Presidential Prayer Team; A.W. – Head in the Clouds

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“There’s a sheep!” and “I see an elephant!” are shouts heard from some kids on a summer afternoon as they reclined in the grass, looked up at the sky and made a game of naming the clouds. What was fun as a child, though, is serious business for scientists. The major cloud types meteorologists use today, such as the poofy storm clouds called “cumulus,” are named to identify and help forecast coming weather.

The Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Matthew 24:30

Today’s scripture tells of another new type of cloud that’ll be seen someday – the “clouds of heaven” that will carry Christ when He returns. They’re described in Daniel 7:13, Mark 13:26 and Luke 21:27…and on these clouds Christ will appear and use His resurrection power to raise the dead in Christ and those living to meet Him in the air.

Will you be able to identify these clouds when they appear? Pray today you will “be ready” (Matthew 24:44) when Jesus returns. Do all you can to make sure others you love are ready, too. Intercede also on this Easter Sunday for the country’s leaders to believe in and call on God’s resurrection power to bring new life to their lives and help them address the piercing needs of the nation.

Recommended Reading: I Thessalonians 4:16-5:11