20 Aug

Married in Heaven?

Posted by sandhillspastor in Eternal Life, Heaven, Marriage.

This week, I’ll share a few thoughts from my Sunday message. The text was from Matthew’s gospel, and based on Jesus’ response to a question concerning marriage in heaven. I have observed that there are many people with ideas about heaven that just are not found in the Bible. I pray this will shed light on at least one of those.

Some religious leaders, Sadducees by name, came to Jesus with a story about a woman who had been married to seven different men, all brothers. Their question was, “Who’s wife will she be at the resurrection?” These men did not believe in the resurrection, that is why they were sad, you see…

Anyway, Jesus answered them with this: “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:29-30).

Marriage was ordained by God for the purpose of procreation, that is to produce children who would grow up to be godly adults. It is strictly for this life and in the earthly realm. In heaven there will be no place for man/wife relations, nor any need for any new life to be born there. There will be no exclusive relationships there. Jesus said we will be like angels. The angels do not marry.

I’m certain that we will know old friends, acquaintances, and family members, but all our focus will be on worshiping God, and the Lord Jesus Christ. That will be heaven, and that is the Truth.

In the apostle John’s vision of heaven recorded in Revelation, we read, “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!'” (Revelation 19:6-7).

Sharing His Truth in love,
Pastor Jerry

13 Aug

Tested in the Furnace

Posted by sandhillspastor in Uncategorized.

Occasionally, I will read something that I like to pass on to you. This week, I’ll share a devotional thought from C.H.Spurgeon, a preacher from the 1800’s. He had these observations on the trials and tribulations that affect God’s people. The scripture used is the last part of Isaiah 48:10… “I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” (KJV uses chosen, instead of tested).

In these days of drought and instability in the markets, with political upheaval and a general feeling that things might be out of control, I believe we need these words of encouragement. Now, the idea of God testing us in the furnace of affliction is not something we want to hear, but there are positive things that come from this.

In the Old Testament book of Daniel, we find in chapter 3, that Daniel has three friends who are thrown in a furnace for refusing to worship the pagan king. The fire does not burn the three men, and the king, Nebuchadnezzar, sees not three, but four men in the furnace.

Now to Spurgeon’s comments: “Let affliction come. God has chosen me to be in it. If it is poverty, God is in the house already, and he has chosen me. Sickness may come, but I have a healing ointment–God has chosen me.

The fourth man in the furnace is understood to be Jesus. When we are in the furnace, he is beside us. In our quiet room, He sits there beside us. In poverty, in our lonely house, with its bare walls the Lord of life and glory is there, consecrating those walls. No matter the trial, whether it be poverty, illness, loneliness, or any other “fiery furnace”, the Son of God is there with His people.

“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12).

If you are a Christian currently undergoing trials of any kind, God has promised to see you through it. If you are not a Christian, let me share a word of testimony from a person who recently placed their faith in the Lord Jesus: “I still have the same problems and pressures I had before, but the burden is lighter.”

Praise God for His presence in the lives of those who love Him!

To Him be the glory,
Pastor Jerry

6 Aug

Pedigrees

Posted by sandhillspastor in Christian Living, The Good News.

Since last we visited, there has been some rain. Some folks got larger amounts than others, but it is all appreciated. I’m writing this morning from Lake George. I came yesterday after the worship service at Rose. We put up a new rain gauge awhile back, and I was interested to see how much it had rained here. Big disappointment! The wind had blown it down, so no record of any rain.

I occasionally read through some of the posts on the popular Facebook “buy, sell, trade” groups. Often, I am amused by what people put on those pages. In a recent discussion over dog registration papers, someone commented, “Papers are very important, they are proof of pure blood.”
Pedigrees are important to dog people, horse breeders and cattlemen. The Jews of Jesus’ time were concerned with pedigrees, too. It was very important to them that they could prove they were descendants of Abraham. They believed this would be their ticket to heaven.

The apostle Paul at one time placed much stock in his Jewish pedigree, along with his education, and position as a dedicated follower of the Hebrew God. After his conversion on the road to Damascus, while he was seeking to imprison Christians, his views changed. These are his words from Philippians 3:4b-9.

“If anyone thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church, as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ…I consider them rubbish…not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that is which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”

A lot of people today are placing great stock in their “religious pedigree”, whether it is their denominational connection, family tradition, church membership, the level of their giving, or serving in the community. These are all fruitless endeavors if we are depending on them to gain favor with God.

Here is the bottom line: Our relationship with God is not based on our bloodline, it is based solely on the blood of Jesus Christ, shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Period.

What have you done with Jesus. do you claim him as your only Savior? Is your concept of salvation based on His blood or on your “bloodline”?

Simply His,
Pastor Jerry

30 Jul

Appearances

Posted by sandhillspastor in Christian Living, Hypocrisy.

July is almost history. I personally don’t care to see another one this dry or this hot. As of this writing, I believe the fires in the Niobrara river canyon are fully contained. That is a matter of praise, and many thanks go out to all the firefighters, volunteers of all kinds, and a multitude of prayer warriors. There was much loss of property, but only a few minor injuries among all those people. More praise for their safety through all of this.

Now for a devotional thought: A funny thing happened on the way home from church today. The pastor got an unexpected shower. I must explain, then I’ll get to the lesson.

As we left the church, “someone” decided we could save some steps later, if we would move and restart the lawn sprinklers. It went well as we moved the ones in the church yard. When we go to our own yard, someone was having trouble getting the spike on the bottom of the sprinkler to stick in the ground. I took responsibility, knelt down and stuck it into the ground and adjusted the spray arc. As I got up and started for the house, “someone” turned the water on full force, and without warning I was getting a direct hit in the back. The good thing is the water was warm from the sun shining on the hose. We had a good laugh, and I got cooled off as the water began to evaporate out of my shirt.

As I result of this, I spent some time this afternoon making sprinkler repairs. We have couple of impulse sprinklers (aka Rainbird wannabe’s) that have never worked right. It should be no big surprise that lawn sprinklers do not always perform as advertised. What product does live up to its billing these days?

Many Christians don’t always perform as advertised. Other folks expect certain things from those who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ, but too often we don’t live up to the name. I find myself in this group more times than I like to admit. The genuine Christian’s faith will show in his actions, in his words, and in his treatment of other people. The apostle James said, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?” (James 2:14).

I was able to do some minor repair and make a couple of adjustments, resulting in more fully functional sprinklers. In the same way, when we don’t live up to our names as Christians, if we will put ourselves in God’s hands, he will lovingly make the necessary adjustments that will restore us to like-new condition.

In His hands,
Pastor Jerry

23 Jul

Refreshing News

Posted by sandhillspastor in Christian Living, Faith, The Good News.

Hello friends,
Another week begins hot and dry. A wildfire rages in an area of our state that we consider home. Although we do not have property in the immediate area, those folks are our neighbors. We continue to pray for God’s intervention in that situation.

Elsewhere, there was an attack on innocent movie-goers in Aurora, Colorado. I’m sure there are very few, if any, who have not heard of that evil act. Often, it seems chaos is all around us, and everything is out of control.

Sometimes our souls seem to reflect those same conditions. We may feel we are either in a period of extended drought, or in the middle of a chaotic situation that is out of control. When that happens, we are reminded that the Lord invites us to experience “springs of living water”, and the peace that passes all human understanding.

I’m not going to try to explain the “whys” of all the things we’ve experienced in recent days. There are a lot of other more qualified people doing that already. What I will do is direct you to some scriptures that have helped me in times past.

From the Psalms first of all: “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken” (Psalm 62:1-2). “This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.” (Psalm 34:6-7).

These are the words of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 11:30. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

From Philippians 4:6-7…”Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ.”

Finally, from Revelation 7:17 concerning those who come out of the great tribulation: “For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

In His tender care,
Pastor Jerry

16 Jul

Sonlight

Posted by sandhillspastor in Christian Living.

We are still looking for that cooling trend in the weather. Also, abundant rainfall would be very much appreciated. It’s times like this that test our faith and our patience. However, as I am fond of saying; If I’d known there would be a test, I would have studied!

We were looking out one of our windows on a recent morning and noticed some streaks on the glass. If you have washed many windows, you know that streaks happen. I remarked, “wasn’t that window recently washed?”

Milrae’s response: “Yes, it was, and it looks pretty good until the sun shines on it.” (No, I’m not saying who washed it.)

It is true also, that most people live pretty good lives, and like that window, to others we may look pretty clean. The test comes for us when the Son shines on us.

We get in the habit of living what seems to be the good Christian life, and we even compare ourselves to others. We imagine that we may be a little bit nicer than someone else, or to be fair, I might find at least one person who is more “righteous” than I. But guess what? The one to whom we must compare ourselves is the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Scripture tells us He is the “light of the world.”

Further, we are told: “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God” (John 3:19-21).

There is only one to whom we may compare ourselves. When held in His light, every character flaw, every sin and wrong deed is revealed for all to see.

When we are exposed to the light of the Son, what do people see? More importantly, what does God see?

Just thinking,
Pastor Jerry

9 Jul

A Lesson From the Hayfield

Posted by sandhillspastor in Christian Living, Eternal Life, Faith.

Does anyone remember the song “Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer”? It made it to #6 on the Billboard chart in 1963. If there ever were days like those, I think they are behind us. This year, it is more like “the crazy, busy, endless days of summer. I know it doesn’t rhyme well, but it’s the best I can do.

After another hot week, there is a hint of cooler weather for a few days, but no mention of any rain. Prayers for relief from the heat, and for rain are very much in order.

We celebrated the Fourth of July in Ericson, watching the parade and spending the rest of the day with two of our long-time friends from “home”. As I get older, air conditioning appeals more to me than sitting outdoors on a hot summer day.

Since it is haying season in our part of the world, I’d like to share an observation from the hayfield that I made a few years back. When mowing the hay, the person operating the mowing machine tries to mow cleanly. He or she wants to do a neat, clean job so that when the neighbors drive by they will see only a cleanly mowed field, not patches of standing grass. When the job is done, it may appear that all the grass was cut off evenly, but when the rake comes along the next day, what has been hidden will be revealed. Every mistake the mower made will be exposed for all to see.

There are millions of people who are trying to live clean lives, to do good and not make mistakes. They believe that if they do all these things well, God will surely let them into heaven. The problem with this thinking is that at the judgment day, all the exterior things will be taken away, and all the sins and mistakes will be revealed. It will be plainly seen that no one is that good.

Entrance to heaven is based solely on a right relationship with God the Father, and the only way to that kind of relationship is by placing our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11-12a reads, “No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light.”

It is of utmost importance that we build on the foundation of Jesus Christ, anything less will not stand the test at the judgment.

Just thinking,
Pastor Jerry

2 Jul

True Freedom

Posted by sandhillspastor in Christian Living.

Summer is totally here! Hot seems to be the weather word these days. Some real rain would be much appreciated, and the answer to many prayers. We spent a couple of days at our Rock County place early in the week. It was almost too hot to go outside and play with the new tractor. Maybe I should have spent the extra bucks for one with a cab and AC?

We will celebrate the birthday of our country on Wednesday. The emphasis will probably be on liberty and freedom. Those two words identify part of what makes America great. Almost daily, we are reminded how easily these can be lost, if we don’t remain vigilant. In fact, in light of recent news stories, we may have just lost some of our liberty and freedom.

The Bible speaks of freedom and liberty. To be liberated, according to the dictionary is to be “set free, as from oppression, confinement, or foreign control.”

Freedom goes hand-in-hand with liberty. Here are two definitions of freedom: 1. “The ability to exercise choice; free will.” 2. “The right of enjoying all the privileges of membership or citizenship.”

Jesus said, “The truth will set you free” (John 8:32). The truth he speaks of here is the truth of the gospel. The good news that Jesus Christ came to die in our place and set us free, or liberate us, from the bondage of sin.

We who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ’s finished work on the cross, then, are not enslaved to sin and guilt, but are free to live as citizens of heaven, and followers of Christ. And, as one Bible teacher has said, we are free to do as we please, as long as we do it within the framework of God’s will.

So, as you celebrate America this week, remember that as Christians, we have liberty and freedom in Christ, and these are promises of God. He is not a politician and He does not fail to keep his promises.

Celebrating!
Pastor Jerry

25 Jun

Wrong Assumptions

Posted by sandhillspastor in Christian Living, Eternal Life.

We’re starting the week at Lake George. It’s foggy this morning. There is no rain in the forecast, but the fog keeps it from drying out any worse, at least temporarily.

We have a new tool here at the lake. Some might call it an expensive toy… We have traded our older tractor for a new, smaller one with four-wheel drive. Just the thing to help get the work done easier and faster.

Our 2012 VBS is in the books. There weren’t a large number of kids, and the helpers outnumbered the students. This is not a negative thing, the helpers also need to hear the gospel again. There were 27 at the program Friday evening, including parents, grandparents and babies. Thanks to the Hickey family for their willingness to provide this outreach in our community!

I have not had an original idea for this week’s column, so I am going to share part of an article from the Our Daily Bread devotional. It relates to conversations of the past week. We all know people who have died suddenly. In many cases we don’t know the person’s spiritual condition. One thing that becomes very clear at a time like this is that we all need to be ready for the time when suddenly, or not so suddenly, each one of us passes from this life to the next. Now to the aforementioned article:

“Some people have an assurance of salvation based on faulty thinking. They believe that church attendance, baptism, or just being good will gain them approval from God. But our thinking is faulty if it isn’t based on what God says in His Word. God says that “all have sinned” and that we are His enemies. But through the death and resurrection of His Son, we can be made right with God (Rom. 3:23; 5:8-10). By faith in what Christ has done, we can have peace with God (5:1) and the assurance of eternal life in heaven.

Do you believe it? Your eternity is at stake. Don’t trust faulty thinking but put your faith in Christ.” (Anne Cetas in Our Daily Bread)

Finally, this thought. This is something that I feel is very important: If you know Jesus as your personal Savior, please tell your family, your pastor or a friend. It will be great comfort to those you leave behind, if they know for certain that heaven is your eternal destination.

Because I care,
Pastor Jerry

18 Jun

Preparations

Posted by sandhillspastor in Christian Living, Eternal Life, Faith.

It’s Monday. I want Monday to be my day off. It usually ends up involving work in some form, but it’s a change. We’re at the lake until Tuesday afternoon.We’ll return to Ericson then, because Vacation Bible School begins Wednesday morning and will run nine to noon for three days.

The lake level is going down. Since the spring rains have stopped, the water isn’t running out, and the concrete boat ramp we poured several years ago has begun to reappear. We will take this opportunity to extend it further onshore.. While the water level was high, it was almost unusable because of the soft soil between the ramp and high ground. It may be awhile before the water level reaches those of the past few years, but when it does we’ll be prepared.

On the subject of making plans and preparing for the future, I believe many people today are making plans for their lives that end when this life is over. Most, I would venture to say, have very little regard for what happens at the end of their earthly life. I’d like to address this topic today, even though I may lose many of you at the end of this sentence. It is my responsibility, you know.

The Bible says our lives here are like a mist, or a vapor (James 4:14). I know that when we’re young, or maybe even not so young, we get so caught up in living in the present that we give little or no thought to any afterlife. In a daily devotional that comes to my desk each day, I read this from the late Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, “If you go and talk to many people about religion, you will find that they will talk to you at great length without ever mentioning the Lord Jesus Christ.”

He goes on to record a conversation in which a person talks much about God’s love, their belief in God, and the fact that they have lived a good life. When asked how all that helps, the person responds with this: “Well, I believe that if I acknowledge my sin to God and then ask Him to forgive me, He does forgive me, and I am relying on that.”

Dr. Lloyd-Jone finishes with this comment: “They seem to think that they can go to God directly without the Lord Jesus at all.”

The reality is this; while living in this world and in the present, we need to consider what happens next. One day, we will all stand before the God of the universe, and when we are asked why he should admit us into heaven, the only right answer is, “I believe in the Lord Jesus and have placed my faith in Him for my salvation.”

I’ll close with a verse you have heard many times before. Jesus is speaking: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

We may be well prepared for our immediate future, but what really matters are our preparations for eternity future. Are you ready?

Just thinking,
Pastor Jerry

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