Author: Carolyn

I am a Christian, a sinner saved by God's amazing grace. Much like my life, my blog is a work in progress. The main objective I have for this blog is to "proclaim the praises" of the One who called me out of darkness and into His marvelous light! (1 Peter 2:9)

Heaven is for Real

Carolyn

Over the last week or two, I’ve read several online articles from pastors that I esteem about the new movie Heaven is for Real. Each one seemed to be a warning of some sort about the movie and advising against seeing it.

I had read the book after its release a few years ago because a number of my daughter’s friends were reading it and she wanted to read it. I figured it was probably fairly benign — if it wasn’t accurate, it probably wasn’t harmful — but I did want to read it myself. It happened to be around the time of the death of a close friend of ours when I was also reading Heaven by Randy Alcorn and thinking about heaven more. 

While I realized the book was written quite simply and might not be true (though I found myself wanting to believe that a “pastor” is telling the truth, but also realizing that a not-quite 4 year old can be into make believe and perhaps there could be many other explanations), the book, combined with Randy Alcorn’s book which is far more biblical, did make me think bigger thoughts of heaven and wonder more about heaven in a way I had not before.

However, I will tell you this. Before I ever read it, I knew heaven is for real because I have God’s Word, the Bible. I knew without a doubt where my friend Jeff was because he had trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation from his sins, had accepted God’s free gift of grace, and had followed Jesus. I also knew how we have access to heaven – through faith in Jesus Christ, His death on the cross and resurrection, not because of any works that we can do.

If you’ve been reading my blog lately, you know I’ve been studying Galatians which gives us the true gospel of God, the gospel of grace. There is no ambivalence about its truth. We see the apostle Paul writing to the Galatians because they are turning away from the gospel as others are trying to pervert it. Paul is bold to speak the truth because he recognizes his own salvation and apostleship and this gospel are all from God, not man, and Paul is therefore God’s “bondservant,” living to please God, not man.

In Galatians, we see Paul (formerly “Saul”) recount the story of his life and dramatic conversion. The one who had persecuted the Christians would become the one persecuted. This gospel truth was worth living and dying for, worth being bold to speak about and to warn against false gospels, gospels that add or take away from the one true gospel of Jesus Christ.

It was with all of these things in my mind as I considered seeing the movie Heaven is for Real. Because my daughter had the day off school yesterday, she wanted to do something fun together and suggested the movie. As before with the book, I didn’t expect it would be harmful — if this child’s account was not true, it might be encouraging in some way.

However, whatever truth the book may have held, it all seemed lost in this movie. I realize we can’t expect a movie to necessarily give a clear gospel presentation, but if you are going to tell about heaven, shouldn’t you tell the true way to get there? The fact that the movie gave another gospel is what was so distressing to me.

Church was about hearing a homily or some good thoughts from the pastor whose faith was unsure and uncertain. The pastor was shaken by the thought that his son might have gone to heaven as though the thought of heaven prior to that wasn’t even real to him! We see him reassuring a woman that her older son who had died would be in heaven because of love. Really? Was Jesus’ death on the cross unnecessary? Are we left wondering how we can get to heaven with no assurance more than love?

Toward the end of the movie, the church service becomes all about the story of the boy going to heaven. What is church? What is true worship of Jesus Christ? This movie did not give you glimpses of that. A holy God, a sinful people, a Savior – Jesus, Son of God, fully God, fully man – coming to die for our sins, His death and resurrection that we just celebrated this weekend. Salvation through faith in Jesus, and true worship of Him! All of it missing from this!

Suddenly, this all seemed completely unbelievable. I wanted to stand to my feet at the end of the movie and tell everyone not to believe it! There is a way to heaven, and it is through Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

We have the living Word of God to show us the way. We don’t need a young boy’s unreliable word from a near death (not even death) experience. It could nonetheless be encouraging perhaps if it could be confirmed as truth, but this movie does not match God’s Word, which is reliable and true.

Before seeing the movie, I wanted to think it would at least be an encouraging, uplifting kind of thing, if nothing else. But it wasn’t. Jesus was not exalted in this movie. As our pastor says in his book No Other Gospel, “God has designed things to exalt his Son at the cross. Any gospel that doesn’t center on the cross of Jesus Christ is not truly God-centered.” We didn’t see Christ exalted. How can heaven be considered without Christ?

Praise God this morning for pastors who preach the Bible and the true gospel of God, for churches that are gospel-centered and Christ-centered, for pastors willing to warn us and direct us by the Word of God! I left the movie realizing with sadness how many churches are lacking in this, giving warm thoughts, feel good thoughts, things humans might want to hear, but not teaching the Word. I was also sad thinking how easily people are led astray and turn aside to other things that sound good or to things that “tickle the ears.”

Millions of copies of this book sold. People eating it up. But what of the Word of God? Let that inform us, teach us, be the thing we measure other things against. Study it, know it, believe it. It is reliable and true. By faith in Jesus, through His finished work on the cross, His death and resurrection, we have life, both now and eternally. That’s a message that should excite us, bring us to our knees in worship, and one we want to share with others.

A Place to Pray

Carolyn

I am taking a break from the verse for the day to think about today, Good Friday. We are in the week that is the centerpiece of the Christian faith. We hopefully live every day with an awareness of what Jesus has done for us and live in light of that, but this weekend is a special time to reflect.

Take time this weekend to read from the Gospel accounts (in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) to remember what Jesus did not just for the whole world, but for you.

One thing I was thinking about the last day or two is the value of having a place to pray. We see throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry that he made it a priority to go away to a quiet place to pray.

Mark 1:35, “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.”

In Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, and Luke 22:39-46 (parallel passages), after they have celebrated Passover and the Lord’s Supper, we read that Jesus came to a place called Gethsemane and told his disciples to stay in one place while he went over to pray. Jesus fell on his face and prayed about the things that were about to take place, his betrayal and crucifixion. Three times Jesus returned to his disciples to find them sleeping.

Jesus tells them, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41).

They have arrived at the most significant time in human history, and they slept, unaware yet fully of what was to happen.

I wonder if Peter had taken time to watch and pray if he would have later denied Jesus. Certainly Peter’s flesh was earnest and desirous of defending and acknowledging Jesus (Matt. 26:31-35), yet even after having been told by Jesus that he would deny Him, and saying he wouldn’t, Peter went on to deny Jesus three times (Matt. 26:69-75).

Watch and pray that you might not enter into temptation. That’s a good reason to pray.

We see Jesus’ life of prayer as an example – rising early, going to a quiet place, praying. If the Son of God needed to pray, don’t we? He faced temptation (Matt. 4), and he could have stepped away from the mission he was here to do. But He prayed, He did His Father’s will, He sacrificed so that you and I could be saved.

Can we likewise pray, do our Father’s will, and live our lives for Him?

I encourage you to find a place to pray. Of course, the Bible tells us to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17), being prayerful and alert at all times (Eph. 6:18), but we also need focused time to pull away and pray. The best time often seems to be the morning, before the day begins, but it can be any time. In Matt. 6:6, Jesus tells us, “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

So we go to a quiet and private place, we spend time in prayer, and the Father rewards us! That’s another good reason to pray – for the reward! Maybe that sounds self-serving, but it’s just taking God at His word. He says He will reward us. That reward could be peace; it could be having our hearts and will aligned with God’s; it could be seeing God work in powerful ways as He answers those prayers in supernatural ways, oftentimes ways we wouldn’t have expected, but better than our ways. While I don’t know what the specific reward is, there is a reward.

I want that reward; don’t you? I want freedom from temptation, don’t you? I want my weak flesh to be made strong by the Spirit of God; don’t you?

As always when I finish these posts, it feels incomplete. I know there is much more that could be said, much more in God’s Word about prayer, many more reasons to pray (it gives peace, shows our dependence and confidence in God, etc.). There is much, much more that could be said about Good Friday that we will hear tonight at church when we go to worship. God Word is rich and full and always supplies us with more than we could ever take in. These are just little nuggets of truth, but let’s study and know God’s Word, let’s believe it, let’s follow Jesus and live it, and yes, let’s pray.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we praise you for the gift of prayer, for access to the throne of grace through Christ. We thank you for this Good Friday, this day in which Jesus carried our sin in his body on the cross and took our punishment, paid our price, so that we can know You, Lord, so that we can be free from sin and death and live abundantly now and eternally with You. May we take advantage of this privilege you give us to pray and be people of prayer. I pray now as you taught your disciples to pray, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us as debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matt. 6:9-13)

Verses for the Day – Galatians 2:1-5

Carolyn

I am being stretched! For those who don’t know, this “verse for the day” project started out as a way to send an email each day to my children to encourage them in their faith. At first, I did random verses, but was convicted to do more of a study to keep the verses in context.

This has required much more from me. I find myself having to work harder and study more to put together a post. I’m trusting that my theologian husband will correct me if I am misunderstanding something! Truly, I am fascinated by God’s Word and what I am reading and pondering.

Today we move into Galatians 2 with the first five verses:

“Then after fourteen years I [Paul] went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. 2 And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. 3 Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4 And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), 5 to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.” (NKJV)

Most of the notes I read seem to think that Paul is talking about 14 years after his conversion. He has gone up to Jerusalem by revelation, something that the Lord revealed to him to do, to communicate to them the gospel he has preached among the Gentiles.

In Genesis 17, God established his covenant with Abram. God would multiply Abram exceedingly and make Abram the father of many nations. God made an everlasting covenant with Abram and his descendants. The sign of the covenant was that every male child would be circumcised. This sign of circumcision would continue generation to generation.

At one point, I studied the word “covenant” in the Old Testament. It was an interesting study, and I Iooked back at some of my notes today. The first mention I found of the word “covenant” in the Bible was in Genesis 6:18, followed by Genesis 9:9-17, which describe the Noahic covenant. It was between Noah and his descendants after him. Never again would God flood the earth or cut off all flesh with a flood. The sign of this covenant was a rainbow. God would look on it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh on the earth. Even today, when I see a rainbow, I remember that covenant.

In Genesis 15:18, God made a covenant with Abram to give him and his descendants the land.

You could continue to trace the thread of covenant throughout the Bible. An everlasting covenant sounds like a pretty big deal, doesn’t it?

Now in the New Testament after Jesus’ resurrection with the apostles having been sent out to make disciples of all peoples and nations, there was conflict over this sign of circumcision.

As we’ll see, Peter had been sent to the Jewish people, while Paul was sent to the Gentiles. In Romans 1:16-17, Paul tells us that the gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. So though the Gentiles/Greeks had not been part of this initial covenant with Abram, they were offered salvation through Christ, and Paul is making the point that they do not need to be circumcised to be saved. For salvation comes by grace through faith in Jesus, not by any works we can do.

Paul points out that Titus had not been circumcised, indicating that the Gentiles did not have to follow Jewish law to become a Christian. Salvation is God’s gift to those who believe in Jesus. False brethren were around, though, who tried to tell them otherwise, who tried to add circumcision as a requirement to the gospel.

In Galatians, Paul is defending the true gospel of God against these false brethren who want to bind the new converts with legalism instead of giving them the freedom and liberty found in Christ.

This issue is mentioned several times in Paul’s letters, and he is very passionate about clarifying the pure and true gospel of Christ – that it comes not as a result of works or of the law, but through Christ, by grace, through faith, as a gift, given by God. Paul is laboring for this gospel, and doesn’t want those labors to be in vain, to be set aside by thinking something else must be done to be saved.

These verses tell us Paul does not submit for a moment to those who would steal their liberty in Christ, so that the truth of the gospel may continue with them.

PRAYER: Lord, these are heavy verses. I don’t know if I’ve understood them all completely correctly, but I do pray that we would know and love and cherish your gospel – the truth that we are sinners, but through Jesus, through your gracious gift, we can be saved. Jesus came to earth as a man, fully God and fully man, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, taking our sin and shame and the punishment we deserved, and rose from the dead validating all that He said and did. We will celebrate Sunday this resurrection after we remember on Good Friday the sacrifice Jesus made and the cost he paid so willingly for us, so that by faith in Jesus, we can be forgiven and walk in new life, in fellowship with God. We rejoice in this gospel, that it comes to us so freely, that we don’t have to earn it, that we don’t have to do something to attain it, we just believe. Thank you, Jesus. May we also defend your gospel, as Paul did, and be willing to share it with others who need to know this truth. Awaken their hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit to know you, too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Verses for the Day – Galatians 1:18-24

Carolyn

We’re reaching the end of Galatians 1 today with these verses:

“Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.23 They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.”

I am helped today by reading No Other Gospel by Josh Moody (Crossway, 2011) and various online commentaries.

In verse 17 and these verses, Paul details where he traveled following his conversion.

Paul is noting that in Jerusalem, where he went after three years, he saw none of the other apostles besides James and Peter, and notes the length of his stay (15 days). He points out that before God he is not lying.

Why does he stress that he telling the truth? Was he being challenged about what he has said?

One of the key themes of Galatians is the conflict between the church authority and the authority of the gospel. Here Paul is establishing the authority of the gospel over the authority of the church. Paul was given the gospel by God, not by Peter or other apostles or some sort of organized meeting of men. He’s pointing out he didn’t see them early on, and when he did, it was only two of them and not for a lengthy stay. Paul knew the gospel as it had been revealed to him by God.

Different churches may try to put authority in man or something given by man, but the true gospel of God comes from God and is authenticated in his Word. This is the gospel that changes lives.

As we see in verse 23-24, though the churches in Judea had not seen Paul’s face, they had heard that he was preaching the faith he once tried to destroy, and they glorified God in Paul.

God’s gospel, given by God, brings glory to God, not to man. You have probably seen that when you hear an amazing testimony of a powerful work of God in the life of someone who has been saved and changed by the gospel. You are amazed at God through the testimony, giving praise to God, not to the person.

It is God’s power at work through the true gospel given by God. I liked this thought:

“Once God gets hold of a man or woman, that can happen [they praised God because of Paul]. He [God] is exalted, but in exalting him, people do not praise the man; they praise God. Perhaps that’s something you can be asking God for, that people would praise God in you.” (No Other Gospel, p.73-74)

Could we ask that of God, that other people would praise God because of us, for His work in us?

PRAYER: Dear Father, we praise you for your Word and the gospel of truth that you have given us. We pray that your work in our lives would be displayed for your great glory and that you would be exalted in us and through us. We pray that you would use us to point people to you, their Savior. May we walk with you today, eyes fixed on you, and rejoice in you and the power of the gospel to change lives. Help us to pray for those around us and to consider who to ask to church for Easter, trusting you to be at work in their lives by the power of the gospel. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Verse for the Day – Galatians 1:15-17

Carolyn

It’s hard not to be filled with awe and wonder at our God as we read today’s verses from Galatians 1:15-17:

“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.”

We’ve already read that Paul’s apostleship came through God (not man) and that the gospel of God came from God (not from man). Here we see that Paul’s salvation is also from God, a gift of His grace.

Look who is doing the work in these verses:

God – separated Paul from his mother’s womb
God – called Paul through His grace
God – revealed His Son in Paul
God gave Paul a mission to preach Him among the Gentiles.

Salvation is a gift from God, not as a result of our works. As we saw yesterday, Paul, before he was saved, when he was Saul, was zealous for the traditions of his fathers and was advanced in Judaism beyond his contemporaries. Yet those works did not bring him near to God.

If you have time, stop now to read Acts 9 and the story of Paul’s conversion. A blinding light and a voice from heaven. God asking Saul, “Why are you persecuting Me?” Three days without sight. A visit from Ananias. A new calling, receiving back his sight, being filled with the Holy Spirit, being baptized, preaching Christ as the Son of God.

Look at Paul. When it pleased God to save him (not by works, by grace), God had a mission for Paul (to do good works). This mission was to preach Christ among the Gentiles, to spread the gospel of God.

Paul writes more about this in Ephesians 2:8-10.

We are saved by grace through faith, not by works, not by ourselves, but it is the gift of God that no one may boast. Though it is not by works, we are His workmanship, created for good works that God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Paul’s description of this in Galatians 1:15-16 is similar to that of Isaiah and Jeremiah.

Isaiah 49:1b, 5a: “The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name…. And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him—”

Jeremiah 1:4: “Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

God created them, called them, appointed them for specific purposes. Isn’t that incredibly exciting?! That our God, who created us, sent His Son to save us from our sins, as a free gift of God, that by faith we could be saved and know God. This is not by works; it is all by grace. It is from God, not from man. It is the gospel of God.

And then, not only that, He has things for us to do after we are saved. Our good works don’t save us, but they are given to us to do by God. When we know how much we have been saved from (sin and death), we delight in the God who was pleased to deliver us as a gift of His grace, and we long to live for Him and do His will. He has callings for us, purposes for us, that will bring us great joy and satisfaction in Him.

They may come with a cost. In Acts 9, when the Lord called Ananias to go to Saul, the Lord told Ananias, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

Paul’s call came with great suffering. The one who had persecuted the church would become the one persecuted. Paul never drew back from his call, but moved forward as led by God’s Spirit into the work God had given him to do.

When Saul met the Lord on that Damascus road, Saul was looking for people of the Way to take them bound to Jerusalem. The one who had truly been bound by his sin was now set free. He changed directions and paths immediately. That’s what salvation does. It turns us around and redirects everything, now led by Christ and His Spirit.

Our verses today tell us Paul did not go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before him. Nor did he immediately confer with flesh and blood. He went to Arabia and returned to Damascus. My Bible notes say he wasn’t looking to confer with other people to validate or receive his salvation. This very real experience on the road to Damascus was given to him by God Himself, and the reality of this changed Saul to Paul and the course of his life.

All the zeal that had at one time been directed against Jesus was now directed for Him. Paul was changed, converted, saved by grace, and set on a mission to preach to the Gentiles, and to suffer. And the New Testament records how faithfully he fulfilled his calling in the strength that the Lord gave and by the power of His Spirit.

We today benefit from Paul’s obedience and from all that God did in his life.

PRAYER: Praise You, God! You formed us in our mothers’ wombs. You provided a way of salvation for us through Christ. As a gift of Your grace, we can be saved by faith. Thank you for this gospel of God, for revealing Yourself to us with power, and for giving us callings to do as we walk in You and with You. May we walk with You and seek You and fulfill the callings You have for us in the strength You give and by the power of Your Spirit. We stand in awe of You, our great God. In Jesus’ beautiful name, Amen.