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And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Revelation 5:8

Luke 15: 1-7

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

So he told them this parable:  “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Jesus Rocks! We sometimes have such a wrong view of what Jesus was (and is) like. If Jesus was here today he’d be out in the shopping centres inviting people to know him. He’d be in the pubs, betting shops and supermarkets talking to people and inviting himself over to their house for dinner! I doubt very much that he’d spend all of his time with “church people”. Why? Because they already know him! They’ll be spending eternity with him (which I gather is quite a long time). That’s why while he was on earth Jesus took a few of his close friends and went out as a small group sharing his love, forgiveness and healing power with anyone who would take the time to listen.

And you know what? That bugged the “righteous” people. They thought he was polluting himself by spending time with those “sorts” of people (sinners). Yet we know that Jesus is a friend of sinners (Praise God!) and his concern is for those who don’t yet know him. That’s why he sent his disciples “out” (out of the church, out of their comfort zones, out of their families, out of their homes, villages & nations)… so that they (we) could reach those who were on the road to hell. Not to condemn them, but to save them!(1) As the bible says that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (2) That’s Christ’s promise to every person who repents. No matter what they have done in the past!

Plus every time a person who has been living their life away from God, repents and decides to follow Jesus, the whole of heaven rejoices! (like it says in the verse above) There’s a party going on with the angels for every single sinner who seeks Jesus for forgiveness! It’s amazing. That’s God’s heart for the lost, and for every person who is saved! Every individual is so important to God.

Is your heart in-line with God’s?

Are you seeking to share Christ with those who are currently living lives apart from him?

Has their been a party in heaven for you yet, or are you still living your life without knowing Jesus as your Saviour?

Time is short. Now is the time to make those choices!

1) John 3:17 : For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

2) Romans 10:13: for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Luke 23:39-43

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

As we approach Easter I wanted to spend a few moments looking at the extravagance of Jesus’ amazing grace and to remind ourselves of the cost of the cross.

These few verses above really sum up Jesus’ love, grace and forgiveness. Everything that Jesus lived out on earth was summed up here whilst he was in total agony hung on that horrific cross, doing a terrible, beautiful thing for mankind.

Jesus was hung between two criminals. One of whom believed that Jesus really was who He said He was, this criminal proclaimed Jesus’ innocence in front of the people who mocked him, he also openly acknowledged his own sin admitting that he himself deserved to die for his deeds, unlike Jesus. Then he turned to Jesus and humbly asked Jesus to remember him. The other criminal had the same opportunity but instead chose to mock Jesus.

The amazing fact is that the criminal who asked Jesus to remember him put his faith in Jesus right there and then on the cross, and was forgiven straight away! Jesus told him that he was to be with Him in paradise that very day!! There was nothing else that he had to do to be saved! The criminal didn’t have the chance to go back and live out a holy life, or to prove himself worthy of being allowed into heaven – that’s the beauty of it! It was (and is and always will be) all about Jesus and the truth that our salvation comes only through Him – because He paid the ultimate price, He made the once and for all sacrifice for all of our sins. We don’t deserve it, just like the criminal – we’ve all sinned and we all deserve punishment, but Jesus in his love took our punishment on himself. Salvation is a “free” gift to us, but we must always remember it was at such a cost to Jesus.

Yes it is true that once we are forgiven, a sign/result of our salvation is us wanting to turn our lives around, to stop sinning and to do good. Otherwise we are not taking the sacrifice that Jesus made seriously enough. We should want to thankfully and humbly serve our Lord because of what He did for us. It’s not the “doing good” that gets us saved though, it’s just our response to Jesus’ amazing grace!

It’s all about Jesus. There’s nothing more we can do – Jesus did it all.

Read the whole Easter story:

Luke 22 : The last supper, the betrayal & arrest of Jesus, Peter disowns Jesus, The guards mock Jesus, Jesus accused by the chief priests and teachers of the law

Luke 23 : Jesus before Pilate & Herod, the trial, the crucifixion, the death of Jesus, Jesus’ burial.

Luke 24 : The resurrection, Jesus appears to disciples, the Ascension.

A few weeks ago I spoke a bit about being God’s children , now I want to expand on this further and talk about being sons of God. Whether you are male, or female, if you are "in Christ" you are God’s son, which also makes you an heir. Not sure if you are "in Christ" ?? Check out Knowing God .

Our inheritance starts with our salvation, eternal life with God, through the death (and ressurection) of Jesus, who took our sin and replaced it with His righteousness. We have been promised an amazing inheritance, and at such a cost to Jesus.  Isn’t it amazing that God would choose to adopt us as His sons even though he is God and he is perfect, and we are created and not at all perfect!

I couldn’t choose which verse I wanted to use this week! There were so many good, encouraging verses to choose from! In the end I decided that rather than doing all the talking, I would let the scriptures say most of it. If you are alone, why not try reading these out load to build you up!

Galatians 3:26-29
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Galatians 4:6-7
Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

Titus 3:4-7
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Romans 8:16-19
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.

Ephesians 1:4-6
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

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Each one of us were chosen in love to be God’s sons,  so that he could lavish his grace on us. We are sons of the King! We are royalty ! As it says in 1 Peter 2:9: ..you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood , a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

So we must hold onto the fact that even though we are of course called to be humble servants on earth, just as Jesus was, we are also royalty because our Father God in Heaven has adopted us his Sons because of our active faith in Christ Jesus (who is the "King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!"). As you go through the ups and downs of life, make sure you remember that you are a child of the King!!

Revelation 17:14-15
They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.

Matthew 25:34-35
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Praise God for his promises, for his love and for our salvation through Jesus! Praise God that we have his royalty and an inheritance through our active faith in Jesus. Praise God that he promises to “adopt” anyone into his family who chooses to accept his own son, Jesus, as their Lord & saviour.

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For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Ezekiel 18:32
I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

Sometimes people ask me why my so-called loving God would send someone to hell. This is such a hard question to deal with and usually I just don’t have a good enough answer. I wanted to think about this some more and explore it with you! I don’t have all the answers, but here are my thoughts! Feel free to share yours with me too

People say to me that they are a “good person” and why would God send a good person to hell? I think the first thing we need to tackle is people’s perception of what “good” means. In Alpha Nikki Gumble uses the image of a scale of good and bad which goes from floor to ceiling, floor being the ultimate bad, ceiling being the ultimate good, then he asks people to rate say Hitler, Mother Teresa and themselves. More often than not they put Hitler right near the bottom of the scale, mother Teresa near to the ceiling and themselves somewhere in the middle. I think that scale highlights that even though we may think we are good, we are not perfect because otherwise we would all put ourselves at the ceiling. Even mother Teresa was not perfect and on that scale the only person who would reach the ceiling (and beyond) is Jesus. We are not to compare ourselves to the world and the “average person,” we are to compare ourselves with the perfect life of Jesus. Then we will see that our “good” just isn’t good enough. God is perfect, being perfect and good and just, he cannot look on sin or accept it. That’s why he sent Jesus, so that when he looks on us, we are perfect in his sight because Jesus took our sins on the cross, exchanging his perfectness for our sin. Without Jesus in our lives we cannot enter heaven on our own merits.

The other thing I would like to talk about is this paradox – a loving God who lets people go to Hell… This is hard, but as I mentioned, God is just, he is fair, he can’t bend the rules. If he was a judge in a court of law and someone was found guilty of a crime, he couldn’t just go, well I like this person so I’m going to let him off… No! He would have to pass the right sentence, even if the person stood in front of him was his son, or he wouldn’t be a good, fair judge. (We would soon sack him for being biased and unjust wouldn’t we?) God never bends the rules for any of us, but loves each one of us the same, and so sent Jesus to take our penalty for us¹, to pay our spiritual fine, to do our stint in jail.

This verse in Ezekiel (and many other verses) speak to me of God’s anguish when people still choose death rather than to turn to him and live. He says time and time again that he takes no pleasure in seeing the death of people², whether they are “good” or even “wicked” he wants us all to turn from our wrong ways and to live³. It’s so simple – repent & live – This means to be sorry for what we have done wrong and to choose to turn around and not continue to walk in rebellion against God. He wants us to be free and living his way because that’s the best way we can live! He doesn’t want any of us to go to hell, and gives us all more opportunities than we deserve in order to prevent us from death. Yet he will not force us, we have free will to choose. And when we do choose, what a joy this brings Him to see someone saved from death and brought into life.⁴

So the real question is.. Why would anyone choose to go to hell, when we have been offered the gift of eternal life?

1) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

2) Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? Ezekiel 18:23

3) The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

4) In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Luke 15:10

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19 -21
 

Where do you think your heart is? A good question to figure this out might be: “what occupies your mind in your spare time?”

Do you worry about your finances, are you thinking about the game you are playing on the internet, are you concerned for friends/family, are you thinking about food or drink or work or a TV programme? Do you spend a lot of time thinking about how selfish that lady at work is, or how if you just had that promotion/car/house/holiday, then you would be okay/happy. What is it that you spend most of your time “mulling over” in your head? Generally that will be where your heart is too, either long term or short term, this is the thing that you are spending time thinking about and perhaps worrying over – this is what you have decided is a valuable things to spend your time on.

So where would you like your heart/treasure to be? Are you happy with the things that are currently the focus in your life? Would God praise these things as being worthy of your time and effort? Do these things “store up treasures in heaven?”

I guess people have different ideas about what “treasures in heaven” are. People talk about the crowns that God will give us for our faithfulness, for serving and for many other things we have done/been on earth. When I think of treasures in heaven I think about what I would want to have with me for eternity. And what comes to my mind? People. My friends and my family. How awful would it be to have lots of “earthly riches” in heaven (or on earth) but not to have anyone to share them with? Eternity is a long time, I would soon get bored of crowns (apologies if you think this is bad!) but I’d never get bored with having the people I love around me.

Therefore, this is where I want my heart to be on earth. I want my treasure to be my relationships with others, and of course with God. To see people I know come to God, and also people I don’t yet know, but will have an eternity to get to know! I want my heart to be after walking each day on this earth with Jesus – learning to love, serve and encouraging others. To help people through tough times, enjoy the fun times, and to spur one another on in faith.

What about you? Where would you like your heart to be? What’s God prompting you to do on this earth that will have an impact for eternity in heaven?