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Our Future Perfect Community

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Do you long for the perfect community where humans live in complete harmony and mutual support? One of the most fascinating passages in Scripture is Revelation 21:1-22:5, where our destiny is explained. One part of this destiny is the idea that we will live in a city, the New Jerusalem. This will be our future perfect community. God will dwell with us in this city: “The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads,” (Rev. 22:3b-4). And Rev. 21:3 emphasizes God’s presence by stating it three times! The New Jerusalem is also the Bride of Christ (Rev. 21:9). Thus, we have the mysterious description of the New Jerusalem as both the Bride and the dwelling place of the Bride and God! Perhaps these are two different ways of Continue Reading →

weekly words of encouragement

God Will Show Us Mercy – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“With the merciful you show yourself merciful,” Psalms 18:25, ESV). God will show us mercy if we will be merciful to others. This reminds us of Matthew 5:7: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (ESV) and Luke 6:36: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (ESV). We know we are full of faults and weaknesses and so we depend on God’s mercy to forgive them all and bless us anyway. If we make a habit of letting others have their faults and weaknesses and still blessing them, then God promises to do the same for us. We also remember the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:23-35. A king forgave his servant a gigantic debt but wouldn’t forgive a small debt owed to him by a fellow servant. So the king imprisoned the first servant until he paid his debt. Then Jesus says our Father Continue Reading →

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We Have A Spiritual Resurrection Now

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Resurrection is a big theme in Scripture. In several striking passages the Old Testament promises resurrection to the righteous. Isaiah 26:19 states, “your dead will live; their bodies will rise.” (NIV) Daniel 12:2 prophecies, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will wake; some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” See also. Isaiah 25:8; Dan. 12:3, 13; Hos. 13:14. Then in the New Testament, the resurrection of the body becomes the prominent hope for believers. I Corinthians 15 is the classic passage on our bodily resurrection. But is it possible that we have a spiritual resurrection now? There is something more about resurrection in the New Testament. Ephesians 2:6 states “[God] raised us up with him [Christ] and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (ESV) What an incredible statement! How is it that we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies? When Continue Reading →

weekly words of encouragement

True Happiness Is Found In God’s Presence – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalms 16:11, ESV). Ancient Hebrews enjoyed restating an idea in different words in order to emphasize and clarify ideas. In this verse David is thanking Yahweh that happiness is found by nearness to Yahweh. He declares three ideas in the first phrase (presence, fullness and joy), then repeats them in other words in the second phrase. He states his basic idea twice in the verse; the first time he uses the words “joy” and “presence”. The second time he uses the words “pleasures” and “right hand”. He adds the words “fullness” and “forevermore” to each phrase to emphasize that true happiness is found in God’s presence. Thus, through repetition, David is declaring one of the supreme principles for life, a principle that provides comprehensive encouragement. All the things that people pursue to find deep happiness Continue Reading →

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We Are Rejected By Our Society

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Pharoah’s daughter found the Jewish infant Moses and adopted him as her son. But when Moses grew up he chose to keep his Jewish identity rather than his Egyptian identity. Obviously, Moses’ life would have been much more prosperous and enjoyable if he had chosen to be related to the Pharaoh of Egypt. But something even better gripped his heart. He wanted to be part of the people of God. He was “choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” (Heb. 11:25, ESV) This is where Moses’ story becomes our story and guides us to Christian living in an unchristian culture, where we are rejected by our society. Moses believed that belonging to God and fellowshiping with His people had to be superior to belonging to Pharaoh and his people. But this was a dangerous idea. The Jewish people were Continue Reading →