HEAVEN! I Can’t Wait To Be There!

HEAVEN!  Can’t Wait To Be There!                                      By Kelly Durant 8-9-15 Re 4-25-2021

Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

2. How many of you have ever had a dream about heaven? Have you been flying like an angel? You are not alone! Thousands upon thousands of books and testimonies exist of people who have dreamed about heaven! And there are those who temporarily died, and come back to life, and witnessed heaven! Well, frighteningly, some others have reported they witnessed hell! 

Heaven is what we all look forward to, and because Jesus spoke about it, it gives us hope of a much better existence than the one we have to endure. The Old Testament was not very clear about what the spirit world held for us in the future, or how heaven would be. But here it’s made clear by Jesus, John 14:2 “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you”. I’ve always thought, why do I need a mansion on earth? I prefer the one in heaven! What gain is there to invest so much in this decaying material world and then one day you will leave it all behind? You and I are just pilgrims just passing through this temporary place. Wise people invest in heaven!

1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”  In other words, some of the people that have had a little glimpse of heaven in a dream or vision, have really not seen anything yet! It is going to be even better than all your dreams combined!

3. Why am I bringing up the subject of heaven? Because everyone wants to know about it! I have never met anyone yet who does not like to talk about heaven! (Well, some atheists deny heaven’s existence even though they accept science’s rendition of a multidimensional universe and how sad for them as they are missing out!)Try to bring up the subject of hell, and see if people like to talk about it! It’s not very popular as some people know it is a real place for the wicked and they are afraid to seek God to know if they are one of them! Everyone wants to go to heaven, do you not agree? But if they would go there or not, that’s between Jesus and them and what they are doing with their life. We can have a role in offering salvation and heaven to them, by offering them Jesus love, but each person decides for their self. We all need to be reminded of heaven as often as possible so we live happier in the present because it is our hope and future reality! It is where our Christian loved ones are!

What is the heaven of your dreams? How do you want heaven to be anyway? The verse of today describes something beautiful… “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible! I can’t wait, can you? That’s the way the world should be! Free from pain and suffering!

Imagine a perfect world where all creatures live in harmony and love and live in happiness forever! Imagine getting a new resurrected heavenly body that never will hurt, get sick, or die. And all the suffering we see today will all stop! Rev 7:16 “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.”  This is the way I want the world to be, the heaven I want to live in! Imagine, nothing hurts or bothers you, there is only the love, beauty, and the light of God’s presence! Now that is a utopian paradise!

4. Another favorite verse of mine is in Isaiah 65:25 “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord”.  I thank God for the book of Revelation as it describes heaven in a way that most of us as clueless thinkers have never thought of. It is described it as a physical place with beautiful elements which we value here on earth.  Heaven will exist in a time and space continuum but in Revelation 10:6b it states, ”That there should be time no longer.” We interpret that to mean measuring time would be meaningless as all things are maintained in an eternal state in a heavenly dimension we are not familiar with yet. String theory says 11 dimensions exist, maybe there are 12, who knows but let’s explore the number 12 in heaven. 

”Rev 21:19-20 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

I wanted to start a rock collection of all 12 of these stones but I soon realized that it is not in my budget!  One time I wanted to calculate how far man could get if all nations gathered up all the precious stones on earth to build a wall such as this one described in Revelation which is 1,500 miles long, or 6,000 miles in it’s total length & it has a width (?), and the height is 216 feet high! I am sure that on earth we cannot even construct 10 feet of it given earth’s limited resources! And don’t forget the streets of gold!

5. Heaven is the eternal City of God that we all are anxiously looking forward to get to! Hebrews 11:16 “But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” Man starts out in a garden then ends up in a City. I really do not fully understand why God needs heaven to have streets of gold and with precious stone walls, but what it appears like is heaven will be electrified! Energy will radiate and vibrate throughout the whole structure. Why is this a legitimate assumption?

Revelation 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. Lightning is electric and all the other shakings provoked by it! 

Everything has a purpose, and apart from heaven being eternal in its physical composition, it will contain elements of what we are familiar with here along with things we are to learn about. I have had dreams of being in heaven and what I recall is less about the beautiful surrealistic surrounding nature, and more about the indescribably feeling of peace and joy. John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

6. God is omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, and He can transcend the laws of physics which he established, and with Him the eternal can be maintained over any material. I know that God has precision and reason behind His architectural design in that unknown world. Only Christians are blessed with the Word of God revealing to them the beauty of heaven. Other religion’s versions pale comparatively, and their renditions of heaven often are disappointingly false concoctions of carnal man’s desire of pride! 

Recall how the High Priests in the Old Testament had 12 precious gems on their breastplates representing the 12 tribes of Israel. God esteems us, his people, to be compared to these beautiful colorful, light emitting stones. Quartz and similar stones capture sound and radio waves, and the mysteries of God are still not yet understood by our tiny 3 pounds of grey matter!  

In our resurrected bodies we will still perceive light as we do now and all of the colors will be for our enjoyment! The most important thing is that in heaven we will be in God’s house, a house that He is the architect of. And if Jesus is there, I want to be near Him! And you?

7.  Just by being in the presence of God we will have eternal light, life, and indescribable joy! The Biblical definition of hell is an eternal existence separated from the presence of God in a burning darkness! God owns all the beauty of all things created and he created and administrates the unique ‘tree of life’ that will sustain all who are allowed to partake of it forever. Why would anyone want to mess up their chance for this? John gave us the Revelation of heaven because God wanted him to see it and to write down how amazing it is!

Rev. 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. So to answer the question of many of you, yes, you will we get to eat in heaven! Fruit, in particular!

Heaven is where your memory of this past hellish earth will be over written with new beautiful experiences and you will be surround by a new group of pure loving people who are authentically holy and loving being angels many who are transformed former humans. Many of the people there you will know and recognize. Matthew 8:11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. How wonderful is that! I want to talk to them!  

8. Heaven will be all of what we could never afford here on earth, and there we will not have to make payments on it either! Jesus paid a high price to pay for it for us in order for us to enjoy it forever! John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Few people have grasped how valuable this is!

Let’s obey God and Jesus in everything, in every way, loving, serving, trusting, and worshipping! Reread Revelation 21 and 22 and be heavenly in your thoughts, dreams, and behavior! If you are not practicing heavenly manners in the present, don’t think that God will assume you will be any better in the future. Revelation 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. 

How can you and I be heavenly minded and be holy as God is? Phil 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

So keep dreaming of heaven, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace! Remember Heaven, is the place of our destiny. It is important to dream about, envision it, and look forward to as it will be our future home where God will wipe away all our tears! And remember these words I love from this old gospel song that says:

When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!

When we all see Jesus, We’ll sing and shout the victory!

Comfort: The Boomerang of the Spirit!            Kelly Durant  Re 4-10—21

 

2 Corinthians 1:4 (K J V) 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 

 

2. How many of you as a child have ever fallen down, off a bicycle, or playing sports and hurt your knee or something so bad you can’t get back up? If your mother, or a good friend is close they might say, aw, wait, I will help you clean up, don’t worry, I will help you! But amongst boys, you might be bleeding to death on a baseball field and they say, be a man, it’s nothing, get up, don’t be a whimp! Now which reaction do you prefer? Comfort of machoism? 

 

In the old days, people would help each other get from the country to the city and a farmer on his horse and wagon picked up a young boy who had a sack of potatoes to sell in the market. The farmer told him to get on the back of the wagon. The boy got on and the farmer saw he kept the bag of potatoes on his lap. He said to him, why don’t you get comfortable and lay down the bag on the wagon. The boy replied that he would keep them in his lap because he thought the man was being nice to allow him to ride, and that was enough kindness. He explained, to have you carry me is enough, if I ask you to carry the bag too, that would be abusive! Ha! But God wants us to lay our burdens down!

 

3. I choose the subject of comfort because I think everyone is feeling the heat of the hard times more than ever. On the AM radio they announced a study that was done on U.S. households and they discovered that 3 out of 4 homes were in such a stressful situation that they were on the brink of disintegration or a nervous collapse! This is either because they have no job, or if they have one, their boss expects them to do the work of 2 people! 

 

You can only live afraid, worried, frustrated, and tired up to a certain point, and then like a branch on a tree, you snap. 

I am concerned that of some of you here in the Corps might be letting your situation in life grind you down too hard! As Christians we must help one another support the everyday burdens as well as the extra heavy ones.

 

4. So does God care about our comfort? Yes! Comfort is mentioned in the Bible 119 times. Listen to just a few of the verses in the New Testament.

2 Corinthians 7:4 

Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.

2 Corinthians 7:6

Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;

 

2 Corinthians 7:7 And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.

2 Corinthians 7:13

Therefore we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all.

2 Corinthians 7:12-14 (in Context) 2 Corinthians 7 (Whole Chapter)

2 Corinthians 13:11

Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

Ephesians 6:22

Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts.

Philippians 2:1

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

Philippians 2:19

But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.

Colossians 2:2

That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;

Colossians 4:8

Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts;

1 Thessalonians 2:11

As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children,

1 Thessalonians 3:2

And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellow labourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith:

1 Thessalonians 3:7

Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith:

1 Thessalonians 4:18

Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.

2 Thessalonians 2:17

Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.

5. Do you get the idea? God sends us comfort! But how? Through the Holy Spirit and others! God uses each of us to comfort one another in all our situations.  So from the study on comfort we must ask ourselves 2 questions:

Do you allow God and others to comfort you and me as we should?

Do you personally seek to serve and comfort others you see are hurting?

 

Let’s look at the first question. Why did I start with the example of the boy and the potato sack? Because all of us quite often have more pride than what we know about! God sees all things, maybe I can see some pride, maybe others can see it too, but often we ourselves do not see it.

 

When someone says, are you going through a difficult time? Can I help you in some way? When someone offers comfort, what do we often do? We often close up like a clam. We reject comfort from others, which is God’s comfort through them sent to you!

 

6. You know God made all the creatures for us to learn from. A clam when it feels something near just closes up tight and lets nothing in! God is not pleased when we do this. People think, I can survive, I am strong, I don’t need anyone! Our enemies from the demonic world convinces us and others with evil thoughts like: I can’t share my burden or problem, people will not understand me, people will make fun of me, people will gossip, people will think I did something wrong and that God is punishing me. And that brother trying to comfort me, who does he think he is pretending to be so spiritual? Evil thoughts come when one is doing God’s work! Jesus fought them off with God’s Word, and we can too! 

 

There are many reasons why you, and someone, may reject accepting comfort, but do you see it how wrong this is? God made us weak, and His strength is perfected in our weakness! But as long as we think we can do things without God and others we will suffer a lot more than what God intends, and that will make you or me old before our time!

 

7. The next question: Do you seek to be used by God to comfort others? 

First, let’s define comfort. It is relational. It involves something disagreeable happening that another person alleviates. It is a state of feeling physically relaxed, it is relief from pain or anxiety, to cheer up someone. How can your presence do that for others? 

You may think, I am not a pastor to know how to comfort someone in pain, but God expects that you comfort them, not thinking on your abilities, but focusing on their need! Here are some ways in which we can comfort others:

 

1.Listen to them when they want to tell you about their problems.

2.Read to them something encouraging from God’s word 

3.Pray for them when they are ready in the conversation to stop talking. 

4.Bring them some food, or something they may need at that time.

 

8. These are just a few ways, but one more extremely important thing about comfort. It is a supernatural force and it comes from the Holy Spirit!

Comfort: It is relational; It involves something disagreeable happening that another person alleviates. It is a state of feeling physically relaxed, it is relief from pain or anxiety, to cheer up someone. How can your presence do that for others? 
Ask for…
Holy Spirit power!

 

John 14:16-18  16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

 

9. So when you minister to someone, you are actually being an instrument of the comfort of the Holy Spirit! And when you have felt that power, you feel like praising God out loud for the warm exciting feeling you have inside. It is giving you words to speak that you do not know from where they came from, giving you the ability to pray beautiful things you never imagined, guiding you to exact words that person needed to hear from God’s word, and you know it is supernatural.

 

Why do you think we are always asking you to participate with us in outreach, visitation, and comforting others? Because you will find God gives back to you in the same measure you are giving! We can never out-give God! Do you need comfort today? Come and accept it from God’s Holy Spirit up here at the mercy seat. 

 

Remember, God comforts you, not for you to get comfortable and lazy an do nothing. He comforts you so you will with this same comfort, comfort others. Do you want to give comfort? Start right now with those here and keep being ready each day to be ready for God’s service!

Easter: The Proof of the Power of Jesus!

Easter: The Proof of the Power of Jesus        4-4-21 By Kelly Durant

 

Luke 24:5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen!

 

2. We have the lights out. Now close your eyes. I want you to imagine yourself in the grave. You are dead! You died last Friday in April 2^nd, 2021. You have left your body but your spirit is alive. 

 

You realize you are as much alive as you were before, but you have lost the flesh and bone body in the material world. You are on your way through a tunnel where there is light at the other end, and you are realizing you are on your way to meet God and be judged.  

Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.

 

3.The question burning inside you: Will I have life again as I knew it? (Open eyes now)

 

Recall God spoke the Word and then there was light; light now exists because God spoke it into existence, and before eternal life and heaven did not exists for humanity but now it does through God’s Son Jesus Christ resurrected! Jesus changed the laws of our physical & of the spiritual world to gather resurrected human souls in heaven!

 

4. Resurrection: Luke 24:1-8 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'"  8 Then they remembered his words. 

 

In this chapter we are focusing on the prophecy of Jesus’ resurrection. How many of you believe that this God/man came out of the grave as the scripture says? To be a Christian, this is the foundation of what you believe! Notice one of the first things pointed out in verse 7 was a reminder of Jesus prophecy of resurrection! I have always been fascinated by prophecies, and you?

 

I always liked to read up on prophecies such as with Edgar Cayse, Jeanne Dixon, that predicted Pres. Kennedy’s death, and others, like Nostradamus.  

 

There is a prophecy that you will be resurrected on the last day when Jesus returns, do you believe it?  Any person that does not accept that there was a miracle of resurrection cannot claim to be a Christian! It did happen or Jesus would not have had any followers to die for him after His death! No one will die for a fraudster! 

 

5. The Resurrection of Jesus is the main world changing event that separates Him from all the other religions of the world. Buddha did not come out of his grave, nor did Mohamed. Jesus resurrection is the proof His divinity and power from God!

 

It takes faith to believe the resurrection is real but it is more real than time itself.  All other world religions have nothing to offer compared to Jesus, and they lose their authority since they have no power over death nor did they have any prophecies concerning anything of an eternal consequence.

 

6. To contrast the futility of man, Jesus early in His teachings reminded us of our weaknesses, that we really don’t have power over much anything! Matthew 5:36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.

 

How many of you have white hair and you want to just pray and make it black again? Well, some of you have been to the beauty salon! Jesus was almost comical here in pointing out how we as humans we are not capable of anything significant! We have no control even of our own bodies, no mind over matter, no telekinesis. No one of us can even prophecy the day we will die nor how! It is very rare a person would predict the date of their own death.

 

Jesus has all the power and all control over all prophecy: all Revelation is His prophecy and not even any angel knows what He knows! Revelation 1:3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

 

7. For Easter there are 3 main points I want us to take note of.

No one had such purity and Holiness as Jesus, so much power and authority over the physical and spiritual world He created, so He is to be feared and to be obeyed and respected! He only deserves having ownership of our souls as all the power, glory, and honor are His forever and ever!

 

Point One: Luke 18:31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled”. Jesus repeated many times that He came to fulfill the ALL prophecies which written about Him by Moses, and all the Prophets. There are over 300 prophecies in the Bible predicted about Jesus, the Messiah, over an almost 2,000 year span before His time and they were fulfilled in Him, Jesus, the Messiah!

 

No other culture, the Chinese, the Hindu Indian, the Greeks or Romans have any texts that come close to matching this. God, through the prophets of His Hebrews, foretold of His coming and without a doubt these provide obvious proof that Jesus is, in fulfilled prophecy, the Son of God. His life, death, and resurrection fulfilled through His mission of redeeming & saving souls for God which are being prepared for heaven.

 

8. Point Two: Luke 24:7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ He told the future of His means of death and He came back on the 3rd day as He said! Here, Jesus did a specific miracle, a highlighted prophecy, something never done before! Resurrection after 3 days is not possible by any human person. This display of the power has never been matched! Especially after how His body was tortured, beaten, and pierced. He proved He was supernatural yet also that He was flesh and bones like the rest of us.

 

The 2 men, or angels, by His tomb immediately reminded the disciples, and women minsters of the prophecy of resurrection! “Why seek you the living amongst the dead?” they asked.

 

Believing in Jesus does not mean you just go to church and try to be a good person. Today, on Easter, it means you are in shock and awe respecting His supernatural prophetic ability, His unexplainable resurrection regenerative life power, and you and as a result you and I must love Him and confess Him to all! We must tell our family and friends what happened, that “He is alive”! as the women and the disciples did!  

 

9. Point Three: Luke 24:47 The prophecy of sins forgiven is preached to all the world! (but Jesus counts on each of us to do it!)

47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

He prophesied about Jerusalem and in the book of Acts we see the fulfillment of Christianity beginning there as He stated. Also recall before his ascension Mark 16:15 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

 

His main emphasis is that it is your and my responsibility to tell others the good news that He is alive and resurrected and that He can forgive your and my sins. But for Him saving you and me from death and hell, means more than you giving Him a “hallelujah” on Sunday, it implies you and I must be found in obedience, serving, loving, and saving others.  His resurrection and gift of eternal life is priceless! How can we ever pay Him back?! We can only give Him our lives to do His will! 

 

10. Easter means believing Jesus is God’s fulfilled prophecy, sharing the good news that sins are forgiven, and then we must praise God because eternal life exists for whosoever will follow. 

 

Jesus came back to life to save you! But He has no other hands but your hands to show others of His love. He has no other feet but yours to go out to share His gospel of peace. He only has your mouth to speak of the good news! You, and I, must tell others of His salvation or we are failing Him!

 

Today let’s remember, death is a reality for every one of us on this earth. According to science and the physical world, the death rate statistically so far has been 100% except for Jesus and a couple of old prophets! You and I will die on one day God has destined, not on a day you or I decide in prophecy.

  

11. Do not forget Romans 1:4,5   And (Jesus) who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.

  

If you have not received Jesus in your heart, mind, and soul then today, right now, is your chance! If you have believed on Jesus but you have not been telling others about Him, telling them of His forgiveness of sins, telling them of His resurrection then now is your chance to do a reset! 

 

Declare Jesus’ power to all! The power to fulfill all prophecy done by the prophets, to allow Himself to be killed and then raise Himself up, and to forgive sins through the spreading of the gospel! Let’s pray…