Scripture Listings for sermon "What is Heaven?"

 

 

As your humble servant was researching what would be presented during the Eternity Road series, the first step is to take a look at pertinent scriptures. Here is a list of scriptures about heaven. Not exhaustive, by any means, but these are the ones I was working from. We send them along for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

Mackster's Thoughts on Prayer and Fasting

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This is the Voice of One.

        

I learned a lesson one night during one of my fasting periods. The lesson? Don’t watch a Food Network cooking show during a period fasting! I got hungry! That’s when you want to be watching the news, so that way you can loose your appetite.

Ok, let's get to it. As we enter into a congregational time of prayer and fasting, remember a period of fasting is doable. There are many different ways to conduct a fast. Fr'instance, instead of a dusk to dawn fasting from food that I usually do, I have been challenged to fast the entire three days from diet pop. No Diet Pepsi, no Diet Dr. Pepper. Sends a shiver down your spine, doesn’t it?

 As you are probably aware SpringCreek Fellowship is preparing to conduct a three day fast later this month. It will begin Sunday, July 23^rd and conclude during a concert of prayer at the church at 6:30 Wednesday, July 26^th.

        

Here are some points to remember:

1: Whatever you give up for the three day period must be something you love! Diet Dr. Pepper, which is the Magic Elixer of Life, is a good example. I am sure there are periods in my adult life when I’ve gone three days or more without pop. But I can’t remember when! So not only must it be something you love, but something that is with you regularly, if not daily.

2: It’s nobody’s business. There will be no whining! Remember the instructions Jesus gave us in Matthew 6 that no one should know what’s going on. Get dressed. Get a shower. Act normal! No milking this for sympathy! We SpringCreekers know what’s going on, since like the church at Antioch in Acts 13 we are doing this together. But other than that? Well, it’s our little secret! Of course postings in social media will indicate generally that there is a fast going on, but that’s about it. Maybe this will pique someone’s interest in our church family?

3 This is for a purpose. There must be prayer, more prayer than usual. Don’t know what to pray? May I recommend reading the Psalms to God, as your prayer?  After this then just talk to God. We as a congregation are asking our Heavenly Father to show us the direction he wants our church family to follow going forward. We feel that we are at a tipping point in the history of SpringCreek. That’s why we are making a special entreaty to God, to show us the way, to open the right doors and to close the right doors before us.

We will be bringing more thoughts and things to remember as the time gets closer. Just bear in mind that SpringCreek Fellowship is an awesome congregation of saints. We all want our church family to grow and prosper, and there is no better way to do that than to humble ourselves before God, and then see the great things he will do through us.

Stay tuned for more thoughts. This is the Voice of  One.

        

Pastor Keith Mackey

The Voice of One

 

Isaiah 40:3 ³ A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
    the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
    a highway for our God.

This is the Voice of One.

Question: How seriously do you take the sermon? As you sit there in church on any given Sunday, do you take what is spoken and apply it to your life, or is it just something you listen to and promptly forget?  

One thing that we strive to do (and successfully, I think) is present a sermon that gives us all something we can grab hold of and actually use to help us through the long and winding road of life.  

But you know it and I know it: a lot of folks don't take it seriously enough.  

Today we have the tale of two church members who took a sermon very seriously. In fact, they took it too seriously!  

A buddy of mine, Brent Scott, who is a Sheriff's Deputy in Johnson County, Arkansas relates something that happened this week. It seems that one of his fellow deputies was dispatched to a local hospital where an individual had sustained some rather serious injuries in a fight. Indeed, his jaw was broken and immediate reconstructive surgery was required. He didn't want to press charges against the other fellow at first. However, that all changed when he was told how much this surgery was going to cost!  

But here's the kicker. Here's where it gets interesting. What were the two fighting so violently over?  

It turns out they were church members fighting over something the pastor had said at the previous Sunday's sermon. 

"Evidently," Brent says. "These two yahoos had disagreed over which of them the preacher was hinting about in one of his sermon illustrations. They both felt he had been speaking about the other, and how that person was living their life incorrectly. The solution to their disagreement was a wrestling match that warranted felony charges for one of the characters." 

Yes, pastors want the folks to take the sermon seriously, however in this case it appears that a disagreement over a sermon illustration has risen to the level of felony assault.   

You just can't make this stuff up! 

This is the Voice of One.   

  

The Voice of One:

Terror strikes again. It’s not the first time, and certainly won’t be the last. Of course certain ones are politicizing the issue before the bodies are even cold, spreading alarmist messages and spinning things to their own design. 

Who cares what they say? Forget them. Riddle me this: What would Jesus say? What would Jesus have us do? Prayers are being called for and lifted up, and unbelievers and God-haters have lashed out against those prayers with a brazen viciousness seldom seen. 

So let’s cut to the chase. Are these the end times? Of course they are. It’s been “the end times” since the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, when the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples in such a powerful way. But while it stands to reason that the End of Days is getting closer, and this is a terrifying prospect, nevertheless this is not an issue that should make us scared. 

Submitted for your approval, this exchange between Jesus and his guys: 

Matthew 24:3-14 ³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.

⁹ “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

In essence, Jesus told them that the Human Condition, in the fallen world, will continue and when they heard terrible, horrifying news don’t worry about it. He then predicts the terrible persecutions of Rome, and the advent of false prophets (Mohammed et al) and a warning about love gone cold. 

But notice this: Jesus said “And this gospel (good news) of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” 

Thanks to the efforts of Pioneer Bible Translators and other good groups like them, there are estimates that every last people group in the whole world will have the gospel in their language by the year 2050. Get ready! 

But what about today? Sounds pretty scary out there. Our nation is unraveling from one end to the other. Just how do we of the household of faith react? What are we to say and think when it’s all gone sour, when our nation crumbles and order goes out the window and everyone is packing heat just to get to work? 

Rather than feed the hysteria so popular now, how about finding comfort and calm (not to mention courage and faithfulness) in the words of the Holy Bible? 

The Apostle Peter writes this: 

1 Peter 4:7-10  ⁷ The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. ⁸ Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ⁹ Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰ Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

In other words, we keep a cool head, we love deeply and serve our fellow man, using our giftedness to expand God’s grace. 

Elsewhere he writes: 

2 Peter 3:10-13 ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. ¹¹ Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹² as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. ¹³ But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

Panic? Far from it. Those of us who are of the household of faith see evil working its terror, and we grieve for victims, and we ourselves are touched and hurt but we also see God working his perfect will and taking the grisly mess mankind creates and making something eternal out of it. The end of the world is a time of unimaginable horror for the world. But for us, it will be the time of our redemption. 

So instead of running around like chickens with their heads cut off, we clear our minds, we offer up industrial strength prayers, and we take our unique giftedness and use it to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, meet needs and as we do it give them the way home to God in eternity. 

Hey. It’s a lot more sexy to stockpile guns and ammo and furnish bunkers with supplies. I can't say there's really anything wrong with that.  But I have a better idea. Let’s reach out to help and lead. Oh, and let us always be mindful of the new heaven and new earth that is our inheritance. 

It’s as simple as that. Just as evil increases its efforts, so do we. No, we won’t all survive it as we think of survival. But always remember our momentary difficulties pale in comparison with the glories that await the faithful in a place where will be no mourning, no tears, just eternal bliss and love as we will reach out and touch the face of God. 

We have work to do. Let’s get to it! 

This is the Voice of One. 

Isaiah 40:3 

A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
    the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
    a highway for our God.

This is The Voice of One. 

Fox Business News made this post on Facbook: 

“Some of the people involved in the Paris terror attacks were not "model Muslims," and enjoyed drinking and partying. Some reports indicate, however, that Muslim imams reach out to young people and offer them extreme roles in terror attack to atone for their sins.”

So I could not resist replying to this false theology of salvation by works (and evil works, no less) and I posted this: 

Keith Mackey Once again we see the awesomeness of grace offered by God through the Messiah, Jesus. I grieve for these young people who are manipulated by evil.

Which started a back and forth:

Rhonda Smithee Dongardive Yes Keith well said.

Yea Rhonda! However, there was one who was not so impressed and politely invited me to shut up: 

Jamie Nichols Keith, as I said to someone who decided to push the same god complex.... Why!? This is just as bad as the jihadist theology! No, Jesus is not the answer, just as Allah is not the answer. Respect and mutual understanding is the answer. You can believe in a god if you want but don't push it on someone else because as you can see they (those opposed to you) want the same.

Of course, I could not let that slide by unchallenged: 

Keith Mackey Why is it that athiests love to get in everybody's face, but cry fowl if an opposing point of view is even mentioned?

I thought a second, and plunged ahead with an explanation: 

Keith Mackey The existence of God is a certainty, because God is the author of existence. To believe or not is the product of our free will, but I would caution you that with choice comes consequence. Einstein, while he rejected the God of the Bible, did believe inIntelligent Design. I for one am convinced we have the identitiy of that Creator, and his name (in English) is Jehovah. As for all the bad things done in the name of religion, I would remind you that the Jihadists are not violating the precepts of their scripture when they do evil, whereas evil done in the name of Christianity is such a violation of scripture that they lose their salvation. I would appeal to you, take a non-biased look at God and you'll be very pleasantly surprised at what you'll find.

To which a couple of folks chimed in with amens: 

Jim Aubrey Jaime seems to find the need to push his non-god complex on others as he mentions not pushing a god complex. Comical

Lisa Clayton Keith is right on the truth!!

The point is that there are a lot of really bad falsehoods out there. Our responsibility is to show the folks our Christian lifestyle that is authentic and lived out with massive amounts of love and kindness, and as the Holy Spirit leads and opens doors we can lovingly (not confrontationally) show them the light of our Lord Jesus. The days are evil, but we are not and we must look for every opportunity to shine some light in a very dark world. 

This is the Voice of One. 

Isaiah 40:3 

(note: with my return to pastoral ministry, I find that I will have opportunity to make better use of social media and as part of that I'm bringing back a blog that has long laid dormant.  The inspiration for the title of the "Voice of One" is Isaiah 40:3a which says, 

A voice of one calling:

“In the wilderness prepare
    the way for the Lord)

Pastor Mackster

Making Sense of a Senseless Loss

Dudes and Dudettes: We are all (it seems) obsessed with the senseless loss of Robin Williams. If anything good could come from this it would be that folks who are in need of help will seek it out and get it.

But let's cut to the chase. We gotta get to the root cause of so much of the deadly angst in modern day life. And the root cause is that so many of us have disconnected ourselves from the root of our being: disconnected from the essence of living, if you will. We're all a bunch of stinking narcissists. There is nothing bigger in our lives than ourselves. We've fired God. 

Here is a quote seen in a discussion in one of the pastor sites. See what you think:

In a letter to E. Stanley Jones, the great Austrian psychologist Carl Jung wrote:

    Those psychiatrists who are not superficial have come to the conclusion that the vast neurotic misery of the world could be termed a neurosis of emptiness. Men cut themselves off from the root of their being, from God, and then life turns empty, inane, meaningless, without purpose. So when God goes, goal goes. When goal goes, meaning goes. When meaning goes, value goes, and life turns dead on our hands.

Jung also saw this evil within himself. He said that the man who used psychology to look behind the scenes of his patient's lives must also use it more especially to look behind the scenes in his own life. If he does not do this, says Jung, he is merely an "unconscious fraud."

(http://www.raystedman.org/new-testament/ephesians/darkness-of-mind)

Have you done that, bucko? Cut yourself off from the root of your being? Too cool or good modern or too whatever for this God business? God didn't go anywhere. Neither has the Christ. They're still reaching out. Reach back! Do it! Do it now!

This is the Voice of One.