Category: I Don’t Need Heaven

Philippians 3:20-21 (NIV) – But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

John 14:2-3 (NIV) – My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Throughout the week, we may face many uncertainties and unforeseen circumstances that leave us insecure. In these verses, we can be certain that God is preparing a place for us in His house! As children of God, we are citizens of heaven! There are also privileges and rights that come with that, one being God’s presence with us through all the uncertainties! This is a source of huge comfort, hope and security as we await the Lord’s return.

This also means that we are temporary residents and foreigners here on earth. Let’s live our lives carefully, living for what is eternal and what will last. Let’s give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord!

Let’s spend time worshipping to “Christ Is Enough” (Click here) by Hillsong. May our hearts find rest in Him alone!

– DP

Romans 3:23 (NIV) – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…

“We all veer off the right path and we have to get rerouted. Unless we get rerouted, we won’t reach the destination that we are aiming for. This destination is the glory of God, it’s pure goodness, it’s absolute truth, beauty, goodness – it’s everything that’s absolutely good. It’s the immediate, imminent presence of God where there is just blessing, light, where there is purity, holiness, goodness. Everything that is lovely, beautiful and good. We all want that, we all thirst for that, long for that but we can’t get there because we veered off the right path somehow!

It might have been out of ignorance, out of distraction. Some of us may intentionally say, I don’t want to get on that path. I’m going to get there a different way. God says, okay, try it! But there is only one path and there is only one way, that’s Jesus Christ! Some people willfully try to get there a different way. Some people like me get distracted and absent-minded and miss our way. We all veer off the right way and we all need to be rerouted so that we can arrive at the destination! God wants us to arrive there.” [Excerpt from Pastor Jason Park’s Message at AMC]

Let’s spend time praying for those who are lost! Let’s pray that God will re-route them to Jesus!

– DP

Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV) – But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

“When we are dead, we cannot help ourselves. We cannot rescue ourselves. When we are dead, we are dead. A dead person does not need medication, better homes, careers, food to make them come alive – it sounds silly talking about that. Dead person needs a miracle! Dead person needs resurrection! In understanding our true need, God doesn’t offer temporary solutions, ways to cope in this life. He offers us New Life in Christ!!

Better homes, careers, food – That’s what we spend our lives and energy doing, but that doesn’t meet our ultimate need. Especially before we ever come to Christ, we are dead, yet we are trying to make life out of something, yet we ourselves are dead. We need what only God can give us, a new life in Jesus Christ!” [Excerpt from Pastor Jason Park’s message at AMC]

Only Jesus can rescue us from living lives of futility, seeking life where there is no life. Let’s commit ourselves to preaching the message of the gospel, the message that gives true life wherever God has placed you! Pray for your family, friends, co-workers, those who need to hear the gospel.

– DP

Romans 6:23 (NIV) – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“One acute observer of the human condition, who has noticed the disappearance of the word, is the American psychiatrist Karl Menninger. He has written about it in his book, Whatever Became of Sin? ‘It was a word once in everyone’s mind, but is now rarely if ever heard… Enquiring into the causes of sin’s disappearance, Dr Menninger notes first that ‘many former sins have become crimes’, so that responsibility for dealing with them has passed from church to state, from priest to policeman (p.50), while others have dissipated into sicknesses, or at least into symptoms of sickness, so that in their case punishment has been replaced by treatment (pp.74ff.). A third convenient device called ‘collective irresponsibility’ has enabled us to transfer the blame for some of our deviant behaviour from ourselves as individuals to society as a whole or to one of its many groupings.” [Stott, John, The Cross of Christ, pp.94ff]

When we try to get rid of the existence of sin by renaming it, we are deceived and become blind to our true problem, sin, which causes not sickness but death! Let’s not diminish the seriousness of our sins. Instead, let’s receive God’s forgiveness and enter into the joy of His salvation and eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Let’s worship to “Living Hope” (Click here) by Phil Wickham and rejoice in His salvation!

– DP

Ephesians 2:1-5 (NIV) – As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Physical death is one that we can easily recognize – there is no pulse, no more air in the lungs, no movement, no response, etc. But what about spiritual death?

God’s word tells us that when we are dead, we follow the ways of this world, gratifying the cravings of the flesh and following its desires and thoughts. We may think we are in control, but the truth is, we actually cannot live any other way. We can’t live with God or live the way God has created us to live.

We need His rescue! God’s answer to death is resurrection. He makes us alive with Christ even when we were dead in sin!

Let’s worship to “Raised To Life” (Click here) by elevation worship and declare God’s victory over sin and death!

– DP