The Joy of Heaven

Last night I was having a conversation with my mom about Christ and His death on the cross for us. We were listening to worship music and both were in that state that you should constantly be in. That state is meditating upon, and being satisfied in the Person of Jesus Christ and His death on the cross. My mom was saying that the cross had become so much more real to her after seeing a shadow of Christ’s death on the cross while she hiking. Meditating upon the death of Christ is what satisfies us, and makes us have joy; this only because He lived, died, and rose again, for us.

The joy that Jesus was scourged till He could see all of His bones, beaten, hit in the face, crushed, bruised, spit-upon, mocked, had a crown of thorns twisted into His skull, carried a cross beam weighing over 100 pounds up to Golgotha, where His precious hands and feet were nailed and pierced through, then was raised up outside of His home town on that cross, as His filleted back was going up and down, scraping against the hard splintery wood, for 8 hours straight. But this does not compare to what our Lord actually did for us. He was forsaken by the Father. On that cross Jesus took the wrath of God that we deserved for our sins. He was separated for the first time for the Father and the Holy Spirit; that perfect union of the Trinity was broken, for us. Jesus did not only take our physical death but He took our spiritual death. Hell was poured out upon Christ on Golgotha for us.

This is joy. That God takes the damnation that we deserve, and instead of giving us the judgement of hell He takes it for us.

By now your wondering why I went through Christ’s death for us when this post is clearly about the joy of heaven. Why’d I do that? Because that is the joy of heaven. John Piper states it like this:

“The critical question for our generation— and for every generation— is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?”

Absolutely not. There is no joy without Jesus there. A heaven without Jesus is hell. The joy of heaven is that wrath deserving, hell-bound, rebellious creatures are redeemed because of the death of their Creator. And our Creator will have the marks to prove that we are His.

When we finally return home, the joy is that Jesus will look at us and we will see Him face to Face. And we will see Him, as a Lamb slain( Revelation 5), and we will fall down before our King, and never stop praising Him. Never stop loving Him. Never stop thanking Him.

Come to Jesus today. He wants to save you from eternal hell, and satisfy your every desire in Himself. Meditate upon His deep, deep, love for you today.

Prayer:

Father, praise You. Thank You for loving us so much that You sent Your One and only begotten Son that all who believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life. Thank You Lord Jesus, for everything You have done. Help us to know You and meditate upon You and Your love. Thank You that You are the joy of heaven. And that we will look upon You, our Savior, our God, and our Lord, and see what you have done for us, and praise You forever. Thank You Jesus. Holy Spirit thank You that You pour the Love of the Father abroad into our hearts. Would You do that today, we receive You now. Thank You Lord. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Faith vs. you

Today were gonna look at Hebrews 11:25. To gain a bit of context, we will look at verse 24 first.  ^“It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” Chapter 11 of Hebrews is most commonly called, “The Hall of Faith”. It goes through people such as Abraham, Sarah(his wife), Noah, Rahab, and plenty of other very important figures in the Old Testament. The Author displays how by faith, God used these men and women in radical ways. Today we are going to be talking about Moses, and how by faith God used him mightily.

Moses grew up as an Egyptian and as son of Pharaoh’s daughter. The privileges of being apart of Pharaoh’s family would be amazing. You would have rank, power, pleasure, and wealth. Anything that Moses wanted he could have until the day he died! But he did not chose the fleeting pleasures of sin. Moses saw his people, being beaten, spit upon, mocked, and mistreated. It was by faith that He chose to be identified with God’s people, and not Pharaoh’s household. “and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the short-lived pleasure of sin.”(Hebrews 11:25). Moses saw the people of the One True God being hurt, mocked, and mistreated. And rather than enjoying the hedonistic lifestyle of the Egyptians and all of their sinful pleasures, he suffered with God’s people by faith in God.

Now how could Moses know that this is exactly what Christ would tell His people to do? Moses lived 1500 hundred years before Christ, and Moses tells of the Lord in all of His actions. “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.”(Matthew 16:24). That displays Moses perfectly. He denied himself. He said to himself, “Self, i consider you dead and gone; you have been put upon the cross; crucified. I will suffer with my brothers and my sisters. For I identify myself with Christ, not you oh crucified thief, hang there till dead.” That took power. Moses could not have denied himself solely upon his strength, no; he trusted in YAWEH, the God of above all Gods. He had the power of the Holy Spirit.

Since we have been crucified with Christ, we do not live, but Christ lives IN us (by the Holy Spirit). This life that we now live is by FAITH (trust) in the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself up for us. (Galatians 2:20). Trust in Jesus today. Ask Him to give you greater faith than Moses, and ask Him to fill you with the Holy Spirit until He controls you; then, self will finally be dead and gone. If we indeed reckon ourselves crucified with God, ourselves will die. Christ died upon thew cross, and so do ourselves. It will hurt, be bloody, and horrendous, but you will die. And once you died you will rise as Christ has risen. You will resurrect into glory in a new body as Christ has done. But this can only be done by the power of our God; The Holy Spirit. He is the one who kills ourselves and our sin. It is His strength that strengthens us, His Living Water that quenches our souls, His breathe of Life that permits us to breathe in, and out. We need Him!

I will end this post with Luke 11:13: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” The Father is awaiting for you to ask Him to fill you up with Himself, but are you going to receive? Friends, we need Him . Receive Him into your hearts today, and God will pour Himself into you heart today.

Tim Keller Quote of the Week

This week were gonna look at a quote from Tim Keller:

“The basic premise of religion– that if you live a good life, things will go well for you– is wrong. Jesus was the most morally upright person who ever lived, yet He had a life filled with the experience of poverty, rejection, injustice, and even torture.”

Every other religion in the world apart from Christianity says you must do better. They say if you’re a good person and live a good life, you’ll have one, as Keller puts it. But let us look at Jesus: He lived a perfect live. He was perfect! Why didn’t He live a happy, joyous life filled with wealth? He was perfect! But it says in Isaiah 53:

He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him,
and no beauty that we should desire Him.
 He was despised and rejected by men;
a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

 Surely He has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”

So, if you think if you can be a good person and make it to heaven, you’re wrong. If you think you are a good person who does good things then good stuff will happen to you, you’re wrong. Jesus would not have died if you could simply just work your way to heaven. He did not die to say that if you have a good life, good stuff will happen to you. What the cross says is that we have been really really bad, but God has been really really good to hell-deserving wretches.

What Keller is simply saying is that even if your perfect, you aren’t promised a easy life. Jesus says, “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”-Matthew 7:14. Jesus knew the narrow way. For He is the narrow way. If you follow Him you will have eternal life. You are not promised riches, you’ll actually most likely be poor, rejected, hated, and killed for your faith. But it is better. It is better than the open, easy path of iniquity that says if you do good, you’ll get to heaven, and because of the good things you do you’ll get good things. It is better than that because if Jesus is your ultimate treasure, ultimate love, and ultimate everything, that is more than enough.

Give yourself to Christ today, He awaits to give you ultimate joy in Himself.

Daisy Love Merrick’s Memorial Service

Last weekend, about 6000 viewers live and online celebrated the life of Daisy Love Merrick. As i have said before, Daisy Love was the sweetest girl i’ll ever know. She was filled up to overflowing with the love of God and the joy of the Lord; though she had cancer four times, with 30 rounds of chemo, and 6 major surgeries. Jesus used this girl in such a powerful way. Many people have gotten saved from her story, and have come to know Christ as Lord through her precious life.

People wonder why things like this happen. The sweetest 8 year old girl dies from cancer. People say, “Why God!? Why would you let this happen!? We can know that this is not what you say to the God of the universe. Instead, as the Merricks do, and as we should, we need to ask The Lord to simply be with us. For in His presence is the fullness of joy. And that’s where Daisy is right now.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
Daisy believed this and so do we. More than ever.
Please watch the service if you’d like, it’s one of the most influential messages i’ve seen in my life.
Daisy Love’s Memorial

This is Amazing Grace

One of my favorite songs i have been listening lately to is ” This is Amazing Grace” by Bethel Live. From beginning to end, this is just a fantastic song. Here’s some of the lyrics that are in particularly good.

Chorus:
This is amazing grace
This is unfailing love
That You would take my place
That You would bear my cross
You would lay down Your life
That I would be set free
Jesus, I sing for
All that You’ve done for me

How good is that?

Verse 1:
Who breaks the power of sin and darkness
Whose love is mighty and so much stronger
The King of Glory, the King above all kings

Who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder
Who leaves us breathless in awe and wonder
The King of Glory, the King above all kings

i can’t say much more about the song, you are just going to have to listen for yourself! Listen to it below!