Hereditary Heaven – Part 1
Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the Lord which He had done for Israel [Joshua 24:31].
I recall a church I pastored over twenty years ago. On my first visit to become acquainted with the good folks of the church, and they in return to become acquainted with me, I enjoyed a meal with an elderly couple. This couple had been a part of that congregation for so long, they for all intents and purposes owned it! Or so it seemed in their eyes.
Actually the husband was a rather reserved fellow, sitting back and allowing his wife to bask in all the glory to be had. He was content to be left alone and to leave everyone else alone. ‘Twould’ve been a grand accomplishment for her to have done the same. Alas, but it wasn’t to be so, not by a long shot.
Anyway, as we sat at the dinner table enjoying the food, this dear woman flapped her jaws more in the pursuit of self-flattery and egocentrism than she did for the purpose of eating. I preferred to use mine to eat, and so I chewed and took it all in…regrettably. She gave me the lowdown on the entire congregation, one-by-one, and threw in the last several pastors to boot. Ah, but there was one redeeming quality in that church…her!
Well, before she was through, she gave me an example of how one of those pastors was impossible to stomach. According to her, he had the unadorned chutzpah to talk about the blood of Jesus on Christmas! Do you believe it? On Christmas! She wanted him run out of town on a rail, but not before spending a week in the pillory and then dressed in tar and feathers.
She was setting me up, you see. Before she agreed to vote for me as the next pastor, she wanted to know whether I would do her bidding or insist on feeding the good church folk with the pure, unadulterated Bible. So her next step was to look me straight in the eye—much as the Queen of Hearts did to those who soon lost their heads—and queried, “You wouldn’t do that, would you? You wouldn’t talk about the blood of Jesus too much, even on Christmas? And then she leaned back in her chair and took a nibble of food, while she waited to hear me timorously say, “No, I won’t do that.”
I took my time and permitted her to gloat over her perceived victory of painting the candidate into a corner and committing him to do her bidding. When I finished chewing my food and swallowing, I then allowed the suspense to build up further by taking a long drink of tea. At last I looked at her with a smile and calmly responded to her bait, “No, ma’am, I wouldn’t talk too much about the blood of Jesus…because you can never talk too much about the blood of Jesus!” And then I added, “The blood of Jesus is the axis around which all of Scripture revolves. We must die to self and be born again in Jesus.”
We will take a respite at this time and continue the story in our next study. You won’t want to miss it. The ending feeds us on a lot of spiritual nutriment which is good for the soul.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
I recall a church I pastored over twenty years ago. On my first visit to become acquainted with the good folks of the church, and they in return to become acquainted with me, I enjoyed a meal with an elderly couple. This couple had been a part of that congregation for so long, they for all intents and purposes owned it! Or so it seemed in their eyes.
Actually the husband was a rather reserved fellow, sitting back and allowing his wife to bask in all the glory to be had. He was content to be left alone and to leave everyone else alone. ‘Twould’ve been a grand accomplishment for her to have done the same. Alas, but it wasn’t to be so, not by a long shot.
Anyway, as we sat at the dinner table enjoying the food, this dear woman flapped her jaws more in the pursuit of self-flattery and egocentrism than she did for the purpose of eating. I preferred to use mine to eat, and so I chewed and took it all in…regrettably. She gave me the lowdown on the entire congregation, one-by-one, and threw in the last several pastors to boot. Ah, but there was one redeeming quality in that church…her!
Well, before she was through, she gave me an example of how one of those pastors was impossible to stomach. According to her, he had the unadorned chutzpah to talk about the blood of Jesus on Christmas! Do you believe it? On Christmas! She wanted him run out of town on a rail, but not before spending a week in the pillory and then dressed in tar and feathers.
She was setting me up, you see. Before she agreed to vote for me as the next pastor, she wanted to know whether I would do her bidding or insist on feeding the good church folk with the pure, unadulterated Bible. So her next step was to look me straight in the eye—much as the Queen of Hearts did to those who soon lost their heads—and queried, “You wouldn’t do that, would you? You wouldn’t talk about the blood of Jesus too much, even on Christmas? And then she leaned back in her chair and took a nibble of food, while she waited to hear me timorously say, “No, I won’t do that.”
I took my time and permitted her to gloat over her perceived victory of painting the candidate into a corner and committing him to do her bidding. When I finished chewing my food and swallowing, I then allowed the suspense to build up further by taking a long drink of tea. At last I looked at her with a smile and calmly responded to her bait, “No, ma’am, I wouldn’t talk too much about the blood of Jesus…because you can never talk too much about the blood of Jesus!” And then I added, “The blood of Jesus is the axis around which all of Scripture revolves. We must die to self and be born again in Jesus.”
We will take a respite at this time and continue the story in our next study. You won’t want to miss it. The ending feeds us on a lot of spiritual nutriment which is good for the soul.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
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