Anglican Church of Canada Online Lectionary
1 Corinthians 15:51-58
Behold! I tell you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers,
be steadfast,
immovable,
always abounding
in the work of the Lord,
knowing
that in the Lord
your labor is not in vain.
Mystery. There isn't an adult alive who doesn't have a memory of a spectacular night sky with some adult we love, looking at the stars and wondering what life will bring. What spouse, what children, what path, what Plan?
When I was just a little, I asked my mother, what will I be? Will I be pretty? Will I be rich?
Here's what she said to me: Qué será, será, Whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see.
There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another.
41 There is one glory of the sun,
and another glory of the moon,
and another glory of the stars;
for star differs from star in glory.
1 Peter 4:10
As each has received a gift,
use it to serve one another,
as good stewards
of God's
varied grace
Hebrews 4:14
Seeing then that we have a Great High Priest,
that is passed into the
Heavens
Jesus the Son of God
Let us hold fast
our profession.
Mystery. 12 gates of Heaven.
2 Corinthians 12:2
I know a man in Christ
who fourteen years ago
was caught up to the third
Heaven
—whether in the body or out of the body
I do not know
God knows.
Gates of God
The Second Temple exists above Temple Mount,
yet below the Muslim
Haram al Sharif Al-Aqusa Mosque
And explored in 1856 by photographers
giving Photos to the Library of Congress
Charles Wilson, Police, Scotland Yard
1864, Wilson's Arch
.jpg)
Why do we have 12 Gates of Heaven?
We know Scripture tells us everyone will meet Jesus. The Almighty God, our Father, created, maintains, upholds the entire Universe. He is capable and all knowing to call Jesus, "The Gate." Why would He have 12 gates? We could guess the mystery. We might say 12 Tribes of Israel. 12 Apostles. We don't know. This is a mystery. Not probably, but ... 12 levels of Heaven, only Dante's, "Inferno," calls Heaven 7 Levels.
Let's take time to cloud gather, and pull down mists of ideas about the 12 Gates of Heaven. A teaching analogy, a parable, a teaching tool, but not concrete Biblically based.
We will hold on to these actual Scriptures as we just put forth guesses.
Genesis 1:2
The Spirit of God was hovering
over the face of the waters.
Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness,
and all these things will be added to you.
Hebrews 10:24
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love
and good works
Malachi 2:5
My covenant with him was one of life and peace,
which I gave to him;
it called for reverence,
and he revered Me
and stood in awe of
My name.
When we consider Heaven, we are in Scripture to remember this verse:
2 Corinthians 12:2
I know a man in Christ
who fourteen years ago
was caught up to the third
Heaven
—whether in the body or out of the body
I do not know
God knows.
Gates
and
Gates
and Gates
with some Trumpets?
When we chose the path, the gate:
We decide in preschool if we are caring, huggy, huggable.
We decide to be honest in about 2nd grade. A trumpet era.
We start deciding, about 3rd grade, who will be our friends. And again in 6th grade. And in High School. And, again in college or work.
About 10th grade, we learn about substances for ourselves. Then again, after High School is finished.
In our early 20s, we decide what sexual morality is guiding us. And face some life-changing decisions. Even today, High School decisions are a smaller group. Life is changed, how our parents instructed us in the increasing volume of water type information, data of new ideas.
In our 20s, we are deciding about philanthropy. From varying degrees of compassion to corporate.
In our mid-20s, we look at our parents, deciding if their parenting style is one we respect. Again, but with more mature life skills. About in this time frame, we decide again about substance and appropriate levels. This time in life, we should begin to disassociate with a peer pack and have some individual thoughts. Or not. If we feel more comfortable rowing in the same directions.
In our 30s, we have responsibilities we will begin to face forever, or fade out. Comfort or stability becomes an issue. The age group is beginning to worry they are in their mode for life. About now, people are asking themselves how to parent about belief, sex and substance. Children are adorable and a huge joy.
In our 40s, we begin to worry about aging. Are we old. Have we tapped out in our potential. Do we want the same things the group, the herd, want? People are surprised to realize, life is not as surprising with events and news. Nesting era is established. Now is the time we have dreams rise, fall, shatter or settle. But 40s are not usually at the aging age. It's an illusion, along with the finish line of dreams.
50s are an adjustment of growing or grown children. Prepare for empty nest. Extended families become smaller, usually. People are moving to their type of Tepee in finances, ideals, luck, success, work ethic, athletics, interests and hopes for life span. Careers are either easier or work is being sought, to find a job or better job. Parents begin to look scary in health needs. About the time, people begin to decide Who God is ... to them.
And from here, it's a grab bag. Will you continue to exercise. Read. Pray. Hope. Try. Will your Spiritual Life lead to more Hope? Will you take from Heaven, give to Heaven, be more Heaven on earth or takey takey shakey shakey moi. Will you take vitamins, keep regular hours, continue keeping the yard and house upkeep. Find Joy in life that has had routines and patterns. Hope. Love. Faith. Give.
If, with if, and if if. We want to summarize this:
The question would be.... what is fueling you?
Why? Along the way, we will have less or more self-esteem. Not always from within, there are some pretty unpleasant aspects to humankind. Jesus said, "He knew mankind and He did not trust Himself to them." Abuse. And abuse doesn't jump up and down saying mean, mean. Sometimes abuse is the blunt truth, used to really get to the deep down gut. And then will give you a nice hug. To help control you again, later. For grins or self-promotion. To take a beautiful trust and make a lie. Rick Warren did a powerful sermon on looking at what is the truth in our intimate lives.
Which brings us back to - What is Fueling Your Soul.
If we find God to be unpleasant, have we really fond... The Lord? Or maybe, we had the idea God would cramp our control and comfort. Then The Lord has Not been discovered. The Lord is Love. Compassion. He wants your life to recognize the gifts He loadeth upon us daily. Sometimes this is, in difficult times, the spine... to believe goodness is there and will return in full throttle. Sometimes we find comfort in Love from our past. Sometimes, we are the Comfort God brings to others. Useful and meaningful lives. Not the tide of ebb and flow, but the journey, making us find inlets, harbor, deep water sailing and the Direction. The Direction is Jesus Christ The Lord.
People get bored, then unhappy, then they want a solution that is not going to benefit themselves in the long run. And damages the good soul of "self steam." Depleting the Fuel that gets us to look to the Lord. With God, we worry for this and that, but God keeps telling us, we are going to find He daily loadeth us with benefits. We will be able to sometimes suffer through and then understand in hindsight what we learned. With sobriety, willingness to look at all the seats of the table, God gives to everyone, we learn God is providing us with solutions to be the solution. God is comforter, Comfort, Help and Helper. We become this to help others. Helped people of God help others.
God gives Gifts, but they are like Easter Eggs. These gifts don't show up, necessarily, when we look.
The Pond. No matter what level in life one achieves - - - there will be as many struggles as the Scriptures. I promise. Orcas will hunt whales. Not just shrimp, shrimp find what is nearby to eat. Whales do this as well, we call it krill.
All of this applies to all of us.
All fall short of The Glory of God.
Oh, but who really changes? What can we possibly hope for?
Winston Churchill was a grave disappointment to his famous father and mother. And he took all their sorrow, to find the time to find his real interests. He found bravery, courage and determination.
Lincoln failed up until he was needed. Lincoln could have stopped trying.
My uncle hated Christians.
The stuck up, the false righteous, who are intolerable. And my grandmother said she would never give up praying for her son. A decade and a half after my grandmother went to Jesus' Heaven, Jimmy decided to flip channels one Sunday morning and found Jesus was talking to him, to his heart and soul. All the unhappiness he had from being special needs, unwanted first adoption and knowing he was different, fell away and he found Joy. No more shaking with anger. 7 decades.
A man we knew for 2 decades.
Told us after years about, divorces, divorces, divorces. Discos. Stupid purple hat with a feather. Bars. Bars and bars. Deadbeat dad. Ruined lives of women who trusted him. Children woke up to find themselves, without a home or father. Child in a terrible cult, just as a career was about to happen.
And crying out to God for his sorrow in his miserable life and choices. His anger, he finally found a career and realized, he had plowed under, under, under - - all in his life who had loved or trusted him. The emptiness, after full was found. And God loved him. Loved him as he would weep and weep, reading the Bible as God forgave, even Ahab. His last wife, who helped him gather up the children. Grown. Some refused and, literally, spat on him. Praying every day to hope for Heaven. The joy in learning to parent, adult children, who would forgive him. The giving. The cooking. The Jesus Redemption. Expanding into step-grandchildren. Stepson who went into the Ministry. The branches of the Tree of Heaven, offering shelter under the branches. Where all the birds could come and have rest.
The bitter, divorced and deserted Navy wife.
Realized she would never have children, due to her deadbeat, Navy husband. After a decade and a half, found a homeless man sitting on the doorstep of her small apartment. To find it was her ex-husband, who had burned his bridges and was dying of brain cancer. How she hated him. And then found all the love she ever had, to help her ex-husband die in Jesus. Remarriage to an older man, took her 5 years to understand she was in a user, slavery, lying righteous, slave woman worker. Then, just exactly the same, as when her Navy husband left, just a little apartment and the workers with her who had seen every opportunity dry up and blow away like tumbleweed. Always a Christian. And one day, a man walked into the office and started telling her about an idea he had, that week, to make a career. In her forties, she married, as a woman who had no living husbands, to her forty-year-old husband - never married. Began a hugely, successful mortgage company, and surprise, had a son! The life a Christian woman had hoped for as she married at age 19.
All of these new lives, with Light. Jesus holds us when our knees - won't.
Abba, Father,
We come together to pray
and ask You to be present,
hear this prayer, please,
in Jesus Christ.
Dwell in me,
Dwell in us,
Dwell in those we Love,
Help us to seek You first.
And we will finish well, in Jesus Christ.
Help us to find and bring
to become
more Heaven
to this earth.
Your Plan, Your way,
Your Son is best.
Establish us on your path,
help keep us near You
and on the path.
Your Wonderful Plan.
You Include All in Your Plan.
Encourage us in Love
Encourage us with Your Joy.
Jesus, teach us to follow You
more closely in Your Word.
Correct us in Your Love
to remain with You.
Help us when the path isn't seen
Protect us to remain with You.
Your Love is
where I want to be.
Forgive me for my
flaws, weakness and sin.
Because You are God of Love
and I need you in my life.
Help us with our needs
today
and You will help us tomorrow as well.
Bless Israel with peace,
Bless families with living, loving hearts,
Reawaken God being first.
Bless this Nation.
Bless the Nations who need You.
In Jesus,
Amen.
Psalm 118:24
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, in word or deed,
do everything
in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks
to God the Father through Him.
Psalm 136:1
Give thanks to the Lord,
for He is good,
for His steadfast love
endures
forever.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves †
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment