Heaven...

Heaven is a wonderful place.

Filled with Glory and Grace.

I want to see my Savior's face.

Heaven is a wonderful place!

Genesis 14:19

"and he blessed Abram, saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most HIgh, Creator of heaven and earth."

2 Kings 2:11

"As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind."

Psalm 14:2

"The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God."

Matthew 7:21

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."

Mark 16:19

"After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God."

Philippians 3:20

"But our citizenship is in  heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ."

Revelation 5:13

"Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:  "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever!"

Praise God!

Worship is very personal. It is God-centered.

Worship is about singing, praying, praising God, reading His Word. It is about taking communion, serving others, having your heart and attitude in the right place.

How do you know if you are worshipping in spirit and in truth? Look at your heart. Are you open to what the Bible says? Are you trying to obey God? Are you examining yourself, checking to see if you are on the right track? Is your heart right with God? Do you strive to honor God in everything that you do?

"You must be holy because I, the LORD, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own." Leviticus 20:26

"Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. " Ephesians 1:4"

"But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God--who chose you to be his children--is holy. " I Peter 1:15


Worship is a time of JOY! A time to offer THANKS and ADORATION!

"Worship the LORD with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. " Psalm 100:2

"The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my victory. He is my God, and I will praise him; he is my father's God, and I will exalt him! " Exodus 15:2

"I will praise him from the bottom of my heart: "LORD, who can compare with you? Who else rescues the weak and helpless from the strong? Who else protects the poor and needy from those who want to rob them?" Psalm 35:10

"The Spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us everything he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. This is just one more reason for us to praise our glorious God. " Ephesians 1:14

"And from the throne came a voice that said, "Praise our God, all his servants, from the least to the greatest, all who fear him." Revelation 19:5

Worship

Definitions of worship:

–noun

1. reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.

2. formal or ceremonious rendering of such honor and homage: They attended worship this morning.

3. adoring reverence or regard: excessive worship of business success.

4. the object of adoring reverence or regard.

5. (initial capital letter) British. a title of honor used in addressing or mentioning certain magistrates and others of high rank or station (usually prec. by Your, His, or Her).

–verb (used with object)

6. to render religious reverence and homage to.

7. to feel an adoring reverence or regard for (any person or thing).

–verb (used without object)

8. to render religious reverence and homage, as to a deity.

9. to attend services of divine worship.

10. to feel an adoring reverence or regard.

—Synonyms
3. honor, homage, adoration, idolatry. 7. honor, venerate, revere, adore, glorify, idolize, adulate.

How do we set about to worship God? How do we bow at his feet? What pleases God when we worship? When should we worship? An intriguing topic.

(worship)
occurs 311 times in 301 verses in the NLT

"When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. It was during his lifetime that people first began to worship the LORD." Genesis 4:26

"Stay here with the donkey," Abraham told the young men. "The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back." Genesis 22:5

God said to Jacob, "Now move on to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to worship me--the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother, Esau." Genesis 35:1

"You must worship no other gods, but only the LORD, for he is a God who is passionate about his relationship with you. " Exodus 34:13

"Their worship is a farce, for they replace God's commands with their own man-made teachings.' " Matthew 15:9

"But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way. " John 4:23

Jacob the Deceiver

This year, I am reading the Chronological Bible. It has been an adventure so far in Genesis. I know we all know the stories in Genesis. You study them as a kid in Sunday School. Then, when you start teaching kids about the Bible, you learn it all over again!

Jacob has been the topic lately. His name means "Deceiver" and he certainly was! He gives Esau a meal in exchange for the Firstborn Birthright. He steals the Firstborn Blessing from his father Isaac by pretending to be Esau. ( I always wondered, if Esau gave him the birthright, would that not have included the Blessing? If so, I guess the boys never told their parents about the new arrangement!)

He escapes the wrath of Esau by fleeing to his father's family to find a wife. On the way there:

10 Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. 11 At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone for a pillow and lay down to sleep. 12 As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from earth to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down on it.

13 At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, "I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I will give it to you and your descendants. 14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will cover the land from east to west and from north to south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. [fn1] 15 What's more, I will be with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. I will someday bring you safely back to this land. I will be with you constantly until I have finished giving you everything I have promised."

16 Then Jacob woke up and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn't even aware of it." 17 He was afraid and said, "What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God-the gateway to heaven!" 18 The next morning he got up very early. He took the stone he had used as a pillow and set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. 19 He named the place Bethel-"house of God"-though the name of the nearby village was Luz.

20 Then Jacob made this vow: "If God will be with me and protect me on this journey and give me food and clothing, 21 and if he will bring me back safely to my father, then I will make the Lord my God. 22 This memorial pillar will become a place for worshiping God, and I will give God a tenth of everything he gives me."

The verse that amazed me -- "IF GOD will be with me and protect me..." God had just given Jacob a wonderful promise. God HAD PROMISED to be with Jacob and protect him, and he STILL says "IF" this is true, THEN he will make the Lord his God! And yet God did not give up on Jacob. He fulfilled His promise to Jacob.

And what a blessing that this event was recorded for us. It shows us that God can find the good in us and work with it. That He does not give up on us. That God provides protection for us on our journey though life. Praise God!

John 4: 43 - 54

Jesus Heals an Official's Son

43 At the end of the two days' stay, Jesus went on into Galilee.

44 He had previously said, "A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own country."

45 The Galileans welcomed him, for they had been in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration and had seen all his miraculous signs.

46 In the course of his journey through Galilee, he arrived at the town of Cana, where he had turned the water into wine. There was a government official in the city of Capernaum whose son was very sick.

47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea and was traveling in Galilee, he went over to Cana. He found Jesus and begged him to come to Capernaum with him to heal his son, who was about to die.

48 Jesus asked, "Must I do miraculous signs and wonders before you people will believe in me?"

49 The official pleaded, "Lord, please come now before my little boy dies."

50 Then Jesus told him, "Go back home. Your son will live!" And the man believed Jesus' word and started home.

51 While he was on his way, some of his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and well.

52 He asked them when the boy had begun to feel better, and they replied, "Yesterday afternoon at one o'clock his fever suddenly disappeared!"

53 Then the father realized it was the same time that Jesus had told him, "Your son will live." And the officer and his entire household believed in Jesus.

54 This was Jesus' second miraculous sign in Galilee after coming from Judea.


His second miracle. Again in Cana. Different circumstances. First miracle, a joyous occasion, a wedding. Second miracle, a dying child.

Again, Jesus seems to say "No" when asked to perform a miracle. Yet he performs the miracle, just not in the way the Official expected. Jesus did not have to go with him to heal the child. He merely spoke the words "Your son will live."

The official did not need to see it happen to believe it. And his belief was confirmed.

Are we willing to take Jesus at his Word? Are we willing to let Jesus work in His own way, and not reject Him because things don't happen the way we want them to? We do better to trust God to answer prayers His way.

John 4:27-38

27 Just then his disciples arrived. They were astonished to find him talking to a woman, but none of them asked him why he was doing it or what they had been discussing.

28 The woman left her water jar beside the well and went back to the village and told everyone,

29 "Come and meet a man who told me everything I ever did! Can this be the Messiah?"

30 So the people came streaming from the village to see him.

31 Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus to eat.

32 "No," he said, "I have food you don't know about."

33 "Who brought it to him?" the disciples asked each other.

34 Then Jesus explained: "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work.

35 Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! Vast fields are ripening all around us and are ready now for the harvest.

36 The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!

37 You know the saying, `One person plants and someone else harvests.' And it's true.

38 I sent you to harvest where you didn't plant; others had already done the work, and you will gather the harvest."


The woman left her jar! She had come there for water. But she left her jar; she must have been in a hurry to tell others about the Messiah. Excited about the living water he offered her.

The woman saw the light of Jesus. She wanted to share this. She went to her village to share this. And they came streaming back to discover Jesus for themselves.

The light of Jesus was obvious to this woman. She took her mind off earthly things to tell others about Christ.

At this point, the Disciples are concerned about getting Jesus to eat. He must have been tired and hungry. But, doing the will of God was as essential to Jesus as eating.

We need to take our minds off earthly things. We need to get our heart and soul busy doing the will of God. Planting the seeds. Reaping the harvest.

John 4:15-26

15 "Please, sir," the woman said, "give me some of that water! Then I'll never be thirsty again, and I won't have to come here to haul water."

16 "Go and get your husband," Jesus told her.

17 "I don't have a husband," the woman replied. Jesus said, "You're right! You don't have a husband-

18 for you have had five husbands, and you aren't even married to the man you're living with now."

19 "Sir," the woman said, "you must be a prophet.

20 So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?"

21 Jesus replied, "Believe me, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father here or in Jerusalem.

22 You Samaritans know so little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews.

23 But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way.

24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth."

25 The woman said, "I know the Messiah will come-the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

26 Then Jesus told her, "I am the Messiah!"



The woman comes to the well to get water. She finds a totally different kind of water than she was seeking. She finds Jesus. She is intrigued by what he says. She wants some of the water he offers, but does she know what she is asking for?


Jesus knows the woman is really not ready for the water Jesus offers. He needs to prepare her to be ready, so he asks where her husband is. How amazed she must have been at his knowledge of her life. She is convinced that he is a prophet. She does not see Him as Messiah.

She asks another question. Jesus answers her. He has been preparing her mind and heart for what she needs to know -- I am the Messiah.

Jesus knows our hearts and lives as well. He prepares us for what we need to know, that He is Messiah. He opens our hearts and minds to the need we have for him, prepares us for becoming Christians.