Heaven on Earth
November 18th, 2009 Posted in OC, Pastor's corner, encouragement, essentials, sermons | No Comments »From the beginning of time, man has searched for peace. He has joined peace movements, marched for peace, given prizes for peace, and even gone to war for peace.
When you hear of someone being arrested for “disturbing the peace,” you have to wonder where he found any to disturb!
Some tell us to “visualize world peace” on bumper stickers, then cut us off on the freeways!
The United Nations has displayed the words of Isaiah 2:4 over its doors: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks.”
Only Christ will bring it
But neither the United Nations, nor politicians, nor people who “visualize it” will bring about the long-awaited peace on Earth that mankind so desperately longs for.
It will come only when the Creator Himself returns and retakes what is rightfully His and hangs a sign over this war-weary planet that says “Under New Management”!
Yes, Jesus is coming back again.
And God is not late, we are just a bit early. As 2 Peter 3:9 tells us: “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.”
This Thursday in O.C.
When Jesus comes back to this Earth to establish His kingdom, there will finally be world peace and much, much more. It’s a picture of our future,and it may be coming sooner then we think.
This Thursday in Orange County, “Heaven on Earth” will be my topic. I will deal with what happens after the second coming of Jesus Christ to the Earth.
It all starts at 7:00 P.M. at 2777 McGaw Avenue in Irvine. For more info, click here.
An Evening of Hope, Revisited
November 16th, 2009 Posted in Pastor's corner, encouragement | 3 Comments »We had a great night at Harvest with Steven Curtis Chapman.
Steven performed songs from his amazing CD Beauty Will Rise, which was written in the aftermath of his little girl Maria going to heaven. I shared a message based on the words of Jesus, as He reminded us to not let our hearts be troubled.
Many of us have troubled hearts. Some of us have broken ones, as well. Things did not turn out the way we thought they would.
We imagined our lives would be happy, tidy, and safe. But then tragedy hit, or pain arrived unannounced at your front door. Like an unwanted visitor, it won’t go away.
Who are you, God?
In his song “Questions,” Steven sings:
Who are You, God?
Cause you are turning out to be so much different than I imagined.
And where are You, God?
Cause I am finding life to be so much harder than I had planned . . .
You know that I believe in You
But still I have these questions.
Is He safe?
Many of us have those questions about life as well.
In his book The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, C.S.Lewis writes about a conversation between Little Lucy and Mrs. Beaver.
Lucy is very nervous about meeting Aslan, the Great Lion, and her sister Susan asks, ”Is he–quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion!”
Mrs. Beaver replies, “That you will, dearie, and make no mistake, if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
Lucy says, “Then he isn’t safe?”
Mrs. Beaver responds, “Safe? Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course, he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
That’s right, God is good. The Bible reminds us to give thanks unto the Lord for He is good!
Jesus tells us ”Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14:1) and then gives us three important truths that will bring calm to our stormy hearts.
To see this message and hear Steven Curtis Chapman sing, click here. And don’t miss the conversation that he and I had about grief.
The Parable of the Biscuit
November 16th, 2009 Posted in Parables, encouragement, family, holidays, travel, video | 1 Comment »Video: “Parables from the Cove: Something to Think About”
Billy Graham, Steven Curtis Chapman, and the Second Coming of Christ
November 14th, 2009 Posted in essentials, sermons | No Comments »We have an amazing in weekend in store for you at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, so I hope you can all be a part of it in some way. You can either come and attend in person, or watch it all live at harvest.org.
First off, this Sunday morning, we will have part four of a five-part series on the last days. The title of this Sunday morning’s message is “The Second Coming of Jesus Christ.”
Did you know that . . .
- There are more than 300 passages in Scripture that deal with Christ’s return?
- Jesus spoke of it at least 21 times when He walked this Earth?
- Statistically, one of every 25 verses in Scripture mentions the Lord’s return?
But before the second coming can take place, there must first be the battle of Armageddon.
Not long after he was inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan was astounded by the complexities of the Middle East. On May 15, 1981, he wrote in his diary, “Sometimes, I wonder if we are destined to witness Armageddon!”
When I read our newspapers today, watch the news, and read online about what is happening in our world, I wonder the same thing. We will talk about that Sunday morning.
An Evening of Hope
This is also the weekend of our special Sunday night event, An Evening of Hope, featuring music from singer-songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman and a message from me.
With the holidays upon us, many people are hurting for many reasons. Steven and I want to offer encouragement to you in song and the spoken word. We both have had the hardest time of our lives, with the unexpected departure of our children to heaven in 2008, but God has been faithful to us and we want to share a “dispatch from the valley” with others.
This is a very special event and I hope you will not miss it. Again, this will be webcast live at harvest.org.
Lunch with Billy Graham
Over at WorldNetDaily, where I have a regular weekend column, my article this weekend is on my recent lunch with Billy Graham. To read that, click here.
You can also check out my long-form weekend devotion. To see that, click here.
