Hearts Set on <\/p>\n
In his classic devotional book titled The Saint\u2019s Everlasting Rest, English Puritan pastor and author Richard Baxter (1615\u20131691) wrote:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are not our hearts continually set on heaven? Why dwell we not there in constant comtemplation?\u2026Bend thy soul to study eternity, busy thyself about the life to come, habituate thyself to such contemplations, and let not those thoughts be seldom and cursory, but bathe thyself in heaven\u2019s delights.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our Daily Bread, July 28, 1997<\/p>\n
C. H. Spurgeon<\/b><\/p>\n
The renowned 19th-century English preacher C. H. Spurgeon told this story about King Cyrus, the man who conquered Babylon and freed the Jews from captivity: A visitor who was admiring Cyrus\u2019 gardens said it gave him much pleasure. \u201cAh,\u201d said Cyrus, \u201cbut you have not so much pleasure in this garden as I have, for I have planted every tree in it myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spurgeon then commented, \u201cOne reason some saints will have a greater fullness of heaven than others will be that they did more for heaven than others. By God\u2019s grace they were enabled to bring more souls there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those words should cause all of us who know the Lord to do some serious thinking. How many people will be in heaven because of us? Our desire should be that when we reach our eternal home, some will say to us, \u201cI\u2019m so thankful for you. It was your testimony, your life, your invitation to accept Christ that accounts for my being here today.\u201d The apostle Paul anticipated the joy in heaven of seeing people who were there as a result of his ministry (1 Th. 2:19\u201320).<\/p>\n
Yes, heaven\u2019s joys will be the fullest for those who have helped lead others to Christ. So do all you can to bring to Jesus those who are lost in sin. That\u2019s how you can lay up pleasures in heaven! – RWD <\/p>\n
Our Daily Bread, September 10, 1997<\/p>\n
Who Will Be There?<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 The abode of God (1 Kings 8:30) <\/p>\n
\u2022 The abode of the angels (Mark 13:32)<\/p>\n
\u2022 Believers will be there in due course (1 Pet. 1:4). <\/p>\n
The New Testament uses striking imagery to bring out the wonder and loveliness of heaven (gates of pearl and a street of gold\u2014 Rev. 21:21). Heaven means eternal joy in the presence of God.<\/p>\n
The Shaw Pocket Bible Handbook, Walter A. Elwell, Editor, (Harold Shaw: Wheaton , IL, 1984), p. 351.<\/p>\n
End of the Journey<\/b><\/p>\n
Light after darkness, gain after loss; Strength after weakness, crown after cross; Sweet after bitter, hope after fears; Home after wandering, praise after tears;<\/p>\n
Sheaves after sowing, sun after rain; Sight after mystery, peace after pain; Joy after sorrow, calm after blast; Rest after weariness, sweet rest at last;<\/p>\n
Near after distant, gleam after gloom; Love after loneliness, life after tomb; After long agony, rapture of bliss; Right was the pathway, leading to this.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Appreciation of <\/p>\n
Appreciation of heaven is frequently highest among those nearing death. Suffering both increases our desire for heaven and prepares us for it. John Bradford (1510\u20131555), less than five months before his fiery departure from life for preaching the gospel in violent times, wrote to a friend of the glories of heaven he anticipated:<\/p>\n
I am assured that though I want here, I have riches there; though I hunger here, I shall have fullness there; though I faint here, I shall be refreshed there; and though I be accounted here as a dead man, I shall there live in perpetual glory.<\/p>\n
That is the city promised to the captives whom Christ shall make free; that is the kingdom assured to them whom Christ shall crown; there is the light that shall never go out; there is the health that shall never be impaired; there is the glory that shall never be defaced; there is the life that shall taste no death; and there is the portion that passes all the world\u2019s preferment. There is the world that shall never wax worse; there is every want supplied freely without money; there is not danger, but happiness, and honour, and singing, and praise and thanksgiving unto the heavenly Jehovah, \u201cto him that sits on the throne,\u201d \u201cto the lamb\u201d that here was led to the slaughter, that now \u201creigns\u201d with whom I \u201cshall reign\u201d after I have run this comfortless race through this miserable earthly vale.<\/p>\n
John Gilmore, Probing Heaven, Key Questions on the Hereafter, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989, pp. 26-27.<\/p>\n
More Beyond?<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 One time Spain controlled both sides of the narrowest part of the Strait of Gibraltar. At that narrowing of the two land masses (Africa and Europe), there was a huge marker called the \u201cPillar of Hercules,\u201d and prior to Columbus\u2019 voyage in 1492, it carried a three word Latin saying chiseled into stone: NE PLUS ULTRA, which, translated, said, \u201cNo More Beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Coins, like stamps, can tell us about a country. They celebrate victories, praise founders, sloganize ethnic styles, and advertise scientific breakthroughs. \u201cNo More Beyond\u201d was the standard belief of that time. No one would dare question the prevailing conviction that the western horizon contained nothing new.<\/p>\n
\u2022 After Columbus\u2019s discovery of a new world beyond Spain, recognition of the revised outlook was pressed into its coins. Coins were struck with a simple Latin slogan, two words: PLUS ULTRA: which meant \u201cMore Beyond.\u201d Coins in circulation in Florida in 1796, still had that slogan!<\/p>\n
John Gilmore, Probing Heaven, Key Questions on the Hereafter, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989, p. 65.<\/p>\n
Home in <\/p>\n
I am home in heaven, dear ones; Oh, so happy and so bright. There is perfect joy and beauty In this everlasting light.<\/p>\n
All the pain and grief is over, Every restless tossing passed. I am now at peace forever, Safely home in heaven at last.<\/p>\n
Did you wonder I so calmly Trod the valley of the shade? Oh, but Jesus\u2019 love illumined Every dark and fearful glade.<\/p>\n
And He came Himself to meet me In the way so hard to tread; And with Jesus\u2019 arm to lean on Could I have one doubt or dread?<\/p>\n
Then you must not grieve so sorely, For I love you dearly still. Try to look beyond death\u2019s shadows; Pray to trust our Father\u2019s will.<\/p>\n
There is work still waiting for you, So you must not idly stand. Do it now while life remaineth; You shall rest in Jesus\u2019 land.<\/p>\n
When that work is all completed, He will gently call you home. Oh, the rapture of that meeting; Oh, the joy to see you come.<\/p>\n
Author Unknown<\/p>\n
Whatever Happened to Hell?<\/b><\/p>\n
The following are some of the cults listed by John Ankerberg and John Weldon in Facts on Life after Death. Listed also is each group\u2019s divisive opinion about both heaven and hell along with its founder\u2019s quotations.<\/p>\n
1. Christian Science, founded by spiritist Mary Baker Eddy, teaches that \u201cthere is no death.\u201d They believe that \u201cheaven and hell are states of thought, not places. People experience their own heaven or hell right here on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
2. Edgar Cayce, a spiritist and New Age prophet, said that \u201cthe destiny of the soul, as of all creation, is to become One with the Creator\u201d and that no soul is ever lost.<\/p>\n
3. New Age cult leader Sun Myung Moon of The Unification Church believes that \u201cGod will not desert any person eternally. By some means…they will be restored.\u201d<\/p>\n
4. Mormonism, founded by occultist Joseph Smith, argues, \u201cThe false doctrine that the punishment to be visited upon erring souls is endless…is but a dogma of unauthorized and erring sectarians, at once unscriptural, unreasonable, and revolting.\u201d<\/p>\n
5. Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, founded by Charles Taze Russell maintains that the wicked are forever annihilated because \u201cthe teaching about a fiery hell can rightly be designated as a \u2018teaching of demons.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
6. The Church of the New Jerusalem (Swedenborgianism), founded by spiritist Emanuel Swedenborgh, emphasizes that God \u201cdoes not condemn anyone to hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
7. Eckankar, a New Age religion founded by Paul Twitchell and Darwin Gross, insists that \u201cthere is no death\u201d…and that there is no eternal hell.<\/p>\n
8. Lucis Trust and the Arcane School\/Full Moon Meditation Groups, established by New Age spiritist Alice Bailey, argue that \u201cthe fear of death is based upon…old erroneous teaching as to heaven and hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
9. The Love Family (The Children of God), founded by spiritist David Berg, views hell as a temporal purgatory: \u201cThe lake of fire is where the wicked go to get purged from their sins…to let them eventually come…out.\u201d<\/p>\n
10. Rosicrucianism, an occult philosophy, declares that \u201cthe \u2018eternal damnation\u2019 of those who are not \u2018saved\u2019 does not mean destruction nor endless torture,\u201d and that \u201cthe Christian religion did not originally contain any dogmas about Hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
11. Unitarian Universalism confesses the following: \u201cIt seems safe to say that no Unitarian Universalist believes in a resurrection of the body, a literal heaven or hell, or any kind of eternal punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n
12. The Theosophical Society, founded by medium Helena P. Blavatsky, declares, \u201cwe positively refuse to accept the\u2026belief in eternal reward or eternal punishment.\u201d Hence, \u201cDeath\u2026is not\u2026a cause for fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
13. The spirits everywhere proclaim their allegiance to cultic teachings, declare Ankerberg and Weldon. \u201cRamtha,\u201d the spirit speaking through medium J. S.Knight, claims \u201cGod has never judged you or anyone\u201d and \u201cNo, there is no hell and there is no devil.\u201d \u201cLilly\u201d and other spirits channeled through medium Ruth Montgomery argue that there is no such thing as death\u201d and that \u201cGod punishes no man.\u201d <\/p>\n
To Hell and Back, by Maurice S. Rawlings, M.D., (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publ.,1993), pp.81\u201383.<\/p>\n
Three Wonders in <\/p>\n
John Newton said that when we get to heaven, there will be three wonders: <\/p>\n
1. Who is there<\/p>\n
2. Who is not there, and <\/p>\n
3. The fact that I\u2019m there!<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Donald Trump<\/b><\/p>\n
Early in 1989, when (Donald) Trump\u2019s bank account was still bulging, a writer asked Trump the inevitable question about what horizons were left to conquer. <\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, I\u2019m genuinely enjoying myself,\u201d Trump replied. \u201cI work and I don\u2019t worry.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about death?\u201d the writer asked. \u201cDon\u2019t you worry about dying?\u201d <\/p>\n
Trump dealt his stock answer, one that appears in a lot of his interviews. \u201cNo,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m fatalistic and I protect myself as well as anybody can. I prepare for things.\u201d This time, however, as Trump started walking up the stairs to have dinner with his family, he hesitated for a moment. \u201cNo,\u201d he said finally, \u201cI don\u2019t believe in reincarnation, heaven or hell\u2014but we go someplace.\u201d Again a pause. \u201cDo you know,\u201d he added, \u201cI cannot, for the life of me, figure out where.\u201d <\/p>\n
Donald Trump, investor and businessman quoted in Pursuit magazine in an adaptation from the book What Jesus Would Say, by Lee Strobel, Zondervan, 1994.<\/p>\n
The Mason Jar<\/b><\/p>\n
The old mountaineer had lived a full but not exactly saintly life and now was on his deathbed. He summoned his weeping wife. \u201cSara,\u201d he said, \u201cgo to the fireplace and take out the third stone from the top.\u201d She did as instructed. \u201cReach in there,\u201d said her husband, \u201cand bring out what you find.\u201d <\/p>\n
Her fingers touched a large Mason jar, and with some effort she pulled it up. The jar was full of cash.<\/p>\n
\u201cSara,\u201d said the old man, \u201cwhen I go, I\u2019m going to take all that money with me. I want you to put that jar up in the attic by the window. I\u2019ll get it as I go by on my way to heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n
His wife followed his instructions. That night the old mountaineer died. After the funeral his wife remembered the Mason jar and went to the attic. There was the jar still full of money and by the window.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh,\u201d the widow sighed. \u201cI knew I should have put it in the basement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Hear the Bells<\/b><\/p>\n
In my first film series, \u201cFocus on the Family,\u201d I shared a story about a 5-year-old African-American boy who will never be forgotten by those who knew him. A nurse with whom I worked, Gracie Schaeffler, took care of this lad during the latter days of his life. He was dying of lung cancer, which is a terrifying disease in its final stages. The lungs fill with fluid, and the patient is unable to breathe. It is terribly claustrophobic, especially for a small child. <\/p>\n
This little boy had a Christian mother who loved him and stayed by his side through the long ordeal. She cradled him on her lap and talked softly about the Lord. Instinctively, the woman was preparing her son for the final hours to come. Gracie told me that she entered his room one day as death approached, and she heard this lad talking about hearing bells. \u201cThe bells are ringing, Mommie,\u201d he said. \u201cI can hear them.\u201d <\/p>\n
Gracie thought he was hallucinating because he was already slipping away. She left and returned a few minutes later and again heard him talking about hearing bells ringing. The nurse said to his mother, \u2018I\u2019m sure you know your baby is hearing things that aren\u2019t there. He is hallucinating because of the sickness.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mother pulled her son closer to her chest, smiled and said, \u201cNo, Miss Schaeffler. He is not hallucinating. I told him when he was frightened\u2014when he couldn\u2019t breathe\u2014if he would listen carefully, he could hear the bells of heaven ringing for him. That is what he\u2019s been talking about all day.\u201d <\/p>\n
That precious child died on his mother\u2019s lap later that evening, and he was still talking about the bells of heaven when the angels came to take him. What a brave little trooper he was!<\/p>\n
Focus on the Family, September, 1993, p. 3<\/p>\n
Unknown Region with a Well-Known Inhabitant<\/b><\/p>\n
We know very little about heaven, but I once heard a theologian describe it as \u201can unknown region with a well-know inhabitant,\u201d and there is not a better way to think of it than that.<\/p>\n
Richard Baxter expresses the thought in these lines:<\/p>\n
My knowledge of that life is small, The eye of faith is dim, But it\u2019s enough that Christ knows all, And I shall be with him.<\/p>\n
To those who have learned to love and trust Jesus, the prospect of meeting him face to face and being with him forever is the hope that keeps us going, no matter what life may throw at us.<\/p>\n
Your Father Loves You by James Packer, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986, page for September 23.<\/p>\n
Happily Ever After<\/b><\/p>\n
As I get older, I find that I appreciate God and people and good and lovely and noble things more and more intensely; so it is pure delight to think that this enjoyment will continue and increase in some form (what form, God knows, and I am content to wait and see), literally forever. In fact Christians inherit the destiny which fairy tales envisaged in fancy: we (yes, you and I, the silly saved sinners) live and live happily, and by God\u2019s endless mercy will live happily ever after.<\/p>\n
We cannot visualize heaven\u2019s life and the wise man will not try to do so. Instead he will dwell on the doctrine of heaven, where the redeemed will find all their heart\u2019s desire: joy with their Lord, joy with his people, and joy in the ending of all frustration and distress and in the supply of all wants. What was said to the child\u2014\u201dIf you want sweets and hamsters in heaven, they\u2019ll be there\u201d\u2014was not an evasion but a witness to the truth that in heaven no felt needs or longings go unsatisfied. What our wants will actually be, however, we hardly know, except the first and foremost: we shall want to be \u201calways…with the Lord\u201d (1 Thess. 4:17).<\/p>\n
What shall we do in heaven? Not lounge around but worship, work, think, and communicate, enjoying activity, beauty, people, and God. First and foremost, however, we shall see and love Jesus, our Savior, Master, and Friend.<\/p>\n
Your Father Loves You by James Packer, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986, page for May 14.<\/p>\n
Resouce<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Immortality, the Other Side of Death, G. R. Habermas, J. P. Moreland, Nelson, 1992, pp. 144ff.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Liberating Ministry From The Success Syndrome, K Hughes, Tyndale, 1988, pp. 153ff.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Description of, J. Karl Laney, Marching Orders, p. 53.<\/p>\n
19th Century Polish Rabbi<\/b><\/p>\n
Anonymous writer, about an American tourist\u2019s visit to the 19th century Polish rabbi, Hofetz Chaim: Astonished to see that the rabbi\u2019s home was only a simple room filled with books, plus a table and a bench, the tourist asked:<\/p>\n
\u201cRabbi, where is your furniture?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is yours?\u201d replied the rabbi.<\/p>\n
\u201cMine?\u201d asked the puzzled American. \u201cBut I\u2019m a visitor here. I\u2019m only passing through.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo am I,\u201d said Hofetz Chaim.<\/p>\n
Christopher News Notes<\/p>\n
Pie in the Sky<\/b><\/p>\n
We are very shy nowadays of even mentioning Heaven. We are afraid of the jeer about \u201cpie in the sky,\u201d and of being told that we are trying to \u201cescape from the duty of making a happy world here and now into dreams of a happy world elsewhere.\u201d But either there is \u201cpie in the sky\u201d or there is not. If there is not, then Christianity is false, for this doctrine is woven into its whole fabric. If there is, then this truth, like any other, must be faced, whether it is useful at political meetings or no.<\/p>\n
C. S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain<\/p>\n
Heaven\u2014A Bribe<\/b><\/p>\n
We are afraid that Heaven is a bribe, and that if we make it our goal we shall no longer be disinterested. It is not so. Heaven offers nothing that a mercenary soul can desire. It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to. <\/p>\n
C. S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain, Christianity Today, p. 46<\/p>\n
Gallup Poll<\/b><\/p>\n
In 1991 a Gallup poll showed that 78 percent of Americans expect to go to heaven when they die. However, many of them hardly ever pray, read the Bible, or attend church. They admit that they live to please themselves instead of God. I wonder why these people would want to go to heaven.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Are We Ready?<\/b><\/p>\n
In an article title, \u201cAre We Ready for Heaven?\u201d Maurice R. Irwin points out that only 34 percent of the American people who call themselves Christians attend church at least once a week. He says, \u201cWe sing, \u2018When all my labors and trials are o\u2019er, and I am safe on that beautiful shore, just to be near the dear Lord I adore will through the ages be glory for me.\u2019 However, unless our attitudes toward the Lord and our appreciation of Him change greatly, heaven may be more of a shock than a glory.\u201d <\/p>\n
Our Daily Bread, July 31, 1992<\/p>\n
Snails<\/b><\/p>\n
There is an old legend of a swan and a crane. A beautiful swan alighted by the banks of the water in which a crane was wading about seeking snails. For a few moments the crane viewed the swan in stupid wonder and then inquired: <\/p>\n
\u201cWhere do you come from?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI come from heaven!\u201d replied the swan.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd where is heaven?\u201d asked the crane.<\/p>\n
\u201cHeaven!\u201d said the swan, \u201cHeaven! have you never heard of heaven?\u201d <\/p>\n
And the beautiful bird went on to describe the grandeur of the Eternal City. She told of streets of gold, and the gates and walls made of precious stones; of the river of life, pure as crystal, upon whose banks is the tree whose leaves shall be for the healing of the nations. In eloquent terms the swan sought to describe the hosts who live in the other world, but without arousing the slightest interest on the part of the crane. Finally the crane asked: <\/p>\n
\u201cAre there any snails there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSnails!\u201d repeated the swan; \u201cNo! Of course there are not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen,\u201d said the crane, as it continued its search along the slimy banks of the pool, \u201cyou can have your heaven. I want snails!\u201d<\/p>\n
This fable has a deep truth underlying it. How many a young person to whom God has granted the advantages of a Christian home, has turned his back upon it and searched for snails! How many a man will sacrifice his wife, his family, his all, for the snails of sin! How many a girl has deliberately turned from the love of parents and home to learn too late that heaven has been forfeited for snails! <\/p>\n
Moody\u2019s Anecdotes, pp. 125-126<\/p>\n
Made for Another World<\/b><\/p>\n
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. <\/p>\n
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, New York, Macmillan, 1960), p. 119<\/p>\n
Caricature of <\/p>\n
The caricature of heaven as an eternity of idleness has no basis in Scripture. Instead, the N. T. conception unites the two thoughts of being with Christ and of service for Christ. This blending is definitely set forth in the last chapter of Revelation where we read of \u201cthose who serve Him, and see His face.\u201d Here the life of contemplation and the life of active service are welded together as being not only compatible, but absolutely necessary for completeness. But remember that if there is to be service there, the exercising ground is here. I do not know what we are in this world for unless it is to apprentice us for heaven. Life on earth is a bewilderment unless we are being trained here for a nobler work which lies beyond the grave. <\/p>\n
– Alexander Maclaren<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Mysteries of Godliness<\/b><\/p>\n
I once led a man to Christ who loved the sunny country of common sense, but he could not put up with the mysteries of godliness. He kept shoving common sense at me, while I kept trying to show him that the mysteries held the meaning of faith. One day he said, <\/p>\n
\u201cPastor, you know this new eternal life I have\u2014well, I\u2019ve been thinking about it. What are we going to do all day long for eternity?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll praise the Lord,\u201d I said. <\/p>\n
\u201cForever\u2014for ten million years we\u2019re going to stand around and praise the Lord?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWell, yes,\u201d I said, although heaven was beginning to sound like cable television. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor millions and millions of years?\u201d he said. \u201cCouldn\u2019t we just stop now and then and mess around a while?\u201d <\/p>\n
I kidded him about his \u201cdumb questions,\u201d but I have to admit similar questions of my own at times. How meager our understanding of praise\u2014and heaven! <\/p>\n
– Calvin Miller <\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Wrong Side of <\/p>\n
A little girl was taking an evening walk with her father. Wonderingly, she looked up at the stars and exclaimed; \u201cOh, Daddy, if the wrong side of heaven is so beautiful, what must the right side be!\u201d <\/p>\n
Charles L. Allen in Home Fires<\/p>\n
Ineffective Christians<\/b><\/p>\n
If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. <\/p>\n
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity<\/p>\n
George MacDonald<\/b><\/p>\n
One day when George MacDonald, the great Scottish preacher and writer, was talking with his son, the conversation turned to heaven and the prophets\u2019 version of the end of all things. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems too good to be true,\u201d the son said at one point. <\/p>\n
A smile crossed MacDonald\u2019s whiskered face. \u201cNay,\u201d he replied, \u201cIt is just so good it must be true!\u201d <\/p>\n
Disappointment With God, PhilipYancey, Zondervan, p. 97<\/p>\n
Marco Polo<\/b><\/p>\n
As Marco Polo, the famous Venetian traveler of the 13th century, lay dying, he was urged by his detractors to recant\u2014to withdraw the stories he had told about China and the lands of the Far East. But he refused, saying, \u201cI have not told half of what I saw.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Christopher Columbus <\/b><\/p>\n
In Valladolid, Spain, where Christopher Columbus died in 1506, stands a monument commemorating the great discoverer. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the memorial is a statue of a lion destroying one of the Latin words that had been part of Spain\u2019s motto for centuries. Before Columbus made his voyages, the Spaniards thought they had reached the outer limits of earth. Thus their motto was \u201cNe Plus Ultra,\u201d which means \u201cNo More Beyond.\u201d The word being torn away by the lion is \u201cne\u201d or \u201cno,\u201d making it read \u201cPlus Ultra.\u201d Columbus had proven that there was indeed \u201cmore beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Age 120<\/b><\/p>\n
A widely respected man known as \u201cUncle Johnson\u201d died in Michigan at the incredible age of 120. Perhaps his advanced years could be credited in part to the cheerful outlook that characterized his life. <\/p>\n
One day while at work in his garden, he was singing songs of praise to God. His pastor, who was passing by, looked over the fence and called, <\/p>\n
\u201cUncle Johnson, you seem very happy today.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I was just thinking,\u201d said the old man. <\/p>\n
\u201cThinking about what?\u201d questioned his pastor. <\/p>\n
\u201cOh, I was just thinking that if the crumbs of joy that fall from the Master\u2019s table in this world are so good, what will the great loaf in glory be like! I tell you, sir, there will be enough for everyone and some to spare up there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Here in This World<\/b><\/p>\n
Here in this world, He bids us come; there in the next, He shall bid us welcome.<\/p>\n
– John Donne<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
What\u2019s Heaven Like?<\/b><\/p>\n
An unknown author once said, \u201cAs a boy, I thought of heaven as a city with domes, spires, and beautiful streets, inhabited by angels. By and by my little brother died, and I thought of heaven much as before, but with one inhabitant that I knew. Then another died, and then some of my acquaintances, so in time I began to think of heaven as containing several people that I knew. But it was not until one of my own little children died that I began to think I had treasure in heaven myself. Afterward another went, and yet another. By that time I had so many acquaintances and children in heaven that I no more thought of it as a city merely with streets of gold but as a place full of inhabitants. Now there are so many loved ones there I sometimes think I know more people in heaven than I do on earth.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Ben Franklin<\/b><\/p>\n
In one of his lighter moments, Benjamin Franklin penned his own epitaph. He didn\u2019t profess to be a born-again Christian, but it seems he must have influenced by Paul\u2019s teaching of the resurrection of the body. Here\u2019s what he wrote: <\/p>\n
The Body of B. Franklin, Printer Like the Cover of an old Book Its contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Guilding, Lies here, Food for Worms, But the Work shall not be wholly lost: For it will, as he believ\u2019d, Appear once more In a new & more perfect Edition,<\/p>\n
– Corrected and amended by the Author.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
The Master\u2019s There<\/b><\/p>\n
In one of his books, A. M. Hunter, the New Testament scholar, Source unknown relates the story of a dying man who asked his Christian doctor to tell him something about the place to which he was going. As the doctor fumbled for a reply, he heard a scratching at the door, and he had his answer. <\/p>\n
\u201cDo you hear that?\u201d he asked his patient. \u201cIt\u2019s my dog. I left him downstairs, but he has grown impatient, and has come up and hears my voice. He has no notion what is inside this door, but he knows that I am here. Isn\u2019t it the same with you? You don\u2019t know what lies beyond the Door, but you know that your Master is there.\u201d <\/p>\n
Christian Theology in Plain Language, p. 208<\/p>\n
The Senator<\/b><\/p>\n
Following a campaign speech, a young man rushed up to Senator Everett Dirksen and said, \u201cSenator, I wouldn\u2019t vote for you if you were St. Peter!\u201d <\/p>\n
Dirksen eyed the young man for a moment, then said: \u201cSon, if I were St. Peter, you couldn\u2019t vote for me, because you wouldn\u2019t be in my district.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hearts Set on In his classic devotional book titled The Saint\u2019s Everlasting Rest, English Puritan pastor and author Richard Baxter (1615\u20131691) wrote: \u201cWhy are not our hearts continually set on heaven? Why dwell we not there in constant comtemplation?\u2026Bend thy soul to study eternity, busy thyself about the life to come, habituate thyself to such … Continue reading “Heaven”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}