Week 9

H is for Heaven.

“H” is the last letter in our FAITH outline. Heaven is where we’ll spend eternity with Jesus. Jesus says in John 14:3: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also. That word “if” could be better understood as “since”. It is a conditional statement. It’s means that He is already going and since He is going then…

If we are to spend eternity there, what is it like? It seems a lot of people believe Heaven is what they make it to be. If you like ice cream, then you’ll have all-you-can eat ice cream. If you like sports, your Heaven will include a big screen TV with the sports package. Is Heaven what you make it out to be?

That is our selfish view of Heaven. Like now it is not about us. It is about the one who created us. I believe that our desire will be to worship God. Don’t get me wrong it will be a great place where all hurt and sin is wiped away. Originally God made a place that He was pleased in, Genesis 1:31. Sin messed that up and I believe he’ll make a restored earth. The way he originally intended it to be.

We don’t have to wait until we die to experience Heaven, that eternal live starts now with Jesus. Because of our sins, our live are limited (Romans 6:23), but once we repent of our sins and put our trust in Jesus, we have a promise of eternal life. We don’t have to worry what will happen when we die. God makes us a new creature.

John 10:10 say: I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. This doesn’t mean that we somehow we’ll have a perfect life after trusting Jesus. We don’t somehow get that dream job, hit the lottery, and our life will be free from all troubles. That abundant life is an eternal life. We have the assurance of knowing that when we die our eternity will be spent in Heaven.

People think that when you become a Christian, all the sudden life is boring. I know just the opposite. It is not that we “have” to stop doing certain things. It is that God gives us a new heart. We are a new creature. We now have new desires. What is better then having new desires and being able to do them? I think of it like this. I think running a marathon is torture, but some people love the idea and live to run them. Their desire is to run that marathon. When their desire is fulfilled then that is a good thing. Same thing with being a Christian, our desires change. We want to go to church and worship God, we want to do what is right. We want to share Christ with others. When those desires are fulfilled then we are happy.

Our Visits

Josh and I went door knocking on a road behind the school. Our desire was to tell people about the new services and if we got a chance, to share the gospel. We knocked on a lot of doors and left a lot of flyers, but didn’t get to talk to many people. The only person we really go to speak with was already saved. We didn’t share the gospel, but we did get the info out about the new services and we also had a great time of walking and talking.

Prayer Request

Pray that opportunities will come up during the week for me to share my faith. At the beginning of class we discuss some “life witnessing” experiences we have, and I realize that I haven’t talked to anybody. Pray for our new church services at the school. Pray that they’ll be able to reach the lost in that area.

Week 9

Jehovah’s Witnesses

What if I told you the end of the world is coming on a certain date. That day came and went, and no end to speak of. I set a new date. That day came and no end of time. “Really this time I’m for real” and set a new one. Still the end is not here. What if I then told you that you misunderstood me and this is the last and final date. Guess what? Not that date either. I wouldn’t be very trust worthy would I?

This is exactly what the Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) have been doing. They’ve made predictions for the end of the world or the second coming of Christ in 1879, 1914, 1925, 1940, and 1975. In Matthew 24:36 it says But of that day and hour knoweth no [man], no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. No one knows when Jesus will return, but they still keep trying to predict it. What is bad is Jehovah’s Witnesses believe everything the Watchtower tells them. The Watchtower is the publication from the main headquarters and is used as a study tool. This is their authority. They are not allowed to think on their own and interpret scripture.

Another place the JWs error in is the Trinity. They don’t believe that God can be three coequal, coeternal Persons. They don’t believe the Holy Spirit is God. They say it is like electricity. Here are some references that attribute personal traits to the Holy Spirit: Acts 13:2; Romans 8:14, 26,27; 1 Corinthians 12:11; Hebrews 3:7 and Revelation 2:7. Also in the Trinity they don’t believe Jesus as God. They do say that is was created as a god and call him a “mighty god”, but not God Himself.

JWs also don’t see that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8,9). They got the grace down and believe that by the grace of God we are able to work our way to heaven.

Last time I checked a prophet had to be 100% correct. With their several missed predictions, I don’t know how anybody can trust anything that they teach especially when it is in direct contrast to the bible. When the bible has been held up as truth for so long and has been scrutinized throughout the centuries without any contradictions, how can you trust anything above the bible?

Our Visit

We had a really good visit. We visited a family from the school. The son last Sunday wanted to go to Church but they didn’t know how to get there. They left trying to find it with the son praying in the back seat. They ended up finding Victory and was there a little early for our evening services. They were going home to get the mother and never made it back.

We had a great visit with them they are believers and love the school and the son’s teacher this year. We talked to them a little about Sunday school and church. The son and the dad were going to be there for our Wednesday night services. We prayed with them and left them some church information.

We gave our bible out to a guy in the Walmart parking lot. I tried to give it out first without success. The person said they already had one but Joanna was successful.

Prayer Request

Pray that God will give us a passion for the lost, one that we loose sleep at night worrying that people are going to hell. Pray that God will put people in our path that we can share the gospel and His Word with.

Week 9

H can also stand for How

How can a person have God’s forgiveness, eternal life, and heaven? It’s by trusting Jesus as their Load and Savior. As I wrote last time in week 8, we have been going through the meaning of the word FAITH. Now it is time to make a decision. We need to remember that it is only through the leading of Holy Spirit that anyone comes to Christ. I feel this is a very sensitive subject and that a lot of people have been given a false sense of salvation when they are not saved. Many have been lead to believe that “say this special prayer and your saved”. We may want to ask questions to help them with making that decision without being too leading. I’ve heard it put this way. If a husband was unfaithful to his wife and needed to make things right would he need to have someone help him? Now repeat after me. Tell her “I’m sorry”…”I’m sorry”. Now tell her you’ll never do it again….”I’ll never do it again. That don’t make any sense and neither would someone needing to be helped with a prayer.

Now I do realize that people may have no experience prayer and may not know how to pray. That is why I like the books suggestion about reading the “prayer of salvation” something like: “Dear God, I know that You love me. I confess my sin and need of salvation. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and arose from the grave. I turn away from my sin and place my faith in Jesus as my Savior and Lord. I want to follow You with my life. Amen.” Then ask them if this is how they feel. They can then tell God how they feel or use the printed prayer on the leaflet as long they understand that it is not a magic formula.

Back tracking a little with leading up to this decision we use a “Step of Faith” leaflet. It reviews over each letter and the Bible verses that go with each one of them. This is a great tool to use. It first has a picture of Jesus on the cross and people around the foot of the cross in today’s type of clothing. It does a good job of representing that we put him there. It was because of our sins that Jesus went to the cross. The leaflet is something that we can leave with them. It has the verses that we used on it so that they’ll know it is form the bible and not just from our mouths. It is something they can study and read over as the Lord convicts them of their need for a savior.

It also has a place to record information about the visit for both them and us. It also mentions the next steps that they should follow: Baptism, Prayer, Bible study, Devotional life, Church with other believers, and sharing Jesus with others.

Our visits

We made 4 attempts. All but one was not home. The one that was at home was a minister. He was recently relocated to our area to take care of his mother-in-law. He is not currently pasturing a Church and doesn’t have a home Church either. He and his family have just been visiting around at a wide range of different style Churches. We asked the Key Question, “In your opinion what do you understand it takes for a person to go to heaven? He gave a faith answer, to receive Christ and be born again. We had a good conversation with him and invited him to visit our Church. We also prayed with him before we left.

Prayer Request

God did save someone tonight. One of the teams was able to share the gospel with a 12 year old and her mother. The 12 year old did receive Christ. Pray that she we be strong in the Lord and that her mother will be saved too. The mother didn’t speak great English; pray that the daughter will be able to explain the Gospel to her mother in a way that she can fully understand. Isn’t God great!