You're listening to KFI on demand. Every now and then we have callers or
as we try and move through things on the show, and I get to
chat chat with some of you folks off the air talk about heaven and the
timing of all of it in scripture, and what is heaven going to be
like? And that's such a wonderful question and difficult to answer in many ways,
because you know, you talk about heaven and you open up a lot
of doors to the unknown as far as humans and what you experience on Earth
and how it will be tied to what you experience once you're in eternity and
in that state with God. Now, the word in the Greek that's translated
to heaven means to lift or to heave, and this really is an interesting
way of looking heaven to lift up or to move you into that state of
grace with God. But there's something magical about heaven, and I say that
in the not in the metaphysical sense, but in the state of wonderment where
there's a lot that you don't know about Heaven. Throughout scripture, there are
things that are talked about, but you can't really place a true understanding on
heaven because heaven is unlike anything you've experienced here, and that to try and
wrap your mind around what you're going to be doing, because some people go,
gosh, you know, last thing I want to do is sit around
listen to someone play harp on a cloud all day. That sounds boring,
but there is no comparison to what you experience here. Every day you're you're
looking at it as if there's a clock going by ticking every moment and you're
just going, oh, well, you know, there's there's no baseball in
heaven, or there's not much to do. That's not what it is.
You see, every experience you've had on earth, everything you've experienced that you've
enjoyed on earth, is just a peace apart of joy. It's not actual
joy. It's been said that happiness is just a momentary feeling of joy due
to a happening. So imagine the source, the core source of that joy.
And that's what heaven is. The Heaven is the fulfillment of all hope.
There's no need for even those experiences of happiness, those desires you have.
It's the fulfillment of all of that. Every moment of your life has
spent searching for something or trying to find that that happiness. You know,
I've said this before, but Scripture never promises you happiness on earth. The
only thing you're called to on earth is to do what's right, to be
in a state of righteousness. Let's it now. Righteousness has its privileges.
While in that state, life does move better, more efficiently, because that's
how the Father designed it. But as you go through these experiences in life
and you're looking for joy or you're looking for happiness and these things, that
Heaven is the fulfillment of those. You couldn't wrap your mind around it if
you wanted to. You can read descriptions that the streets are lined with gold,
and that's really metaphorical. It's trying to let you know that even the
ground, the very ground you're walking on, is precious to symbolize, to
let you know that everything is different from what you might expect. And there's
those that use kind of anthropomorphical, very human language about heaven and think,
well, Okay, it's just going to be one big family reunion. And
that's not true either. It's not just being and I love that language.
Just being in the presence of God as if that were not enough. To
be in the presence of God, to share an understanding with God, while
in the presence of God, to be in the truest state of worship,
the deepest, most intense, reverent love with God is beyond your comprehension.
We've talked about the analogy on the program before about if you were to try
and explain the intensity and the beauty of love making in marriage to a four
year old. Now, why you would be sharing that with a four year
old is beside the point. But if you were to try and explain the
intensity of two people coming together in love, in the bonds of marriage,
coming together as one in the most intense an intimate expression of love ever,
the child would look up at you with a strange look on their face and
say, well, can I bring chocolate? Can I bring my toy?
Because a child can't comprehend the beauty or intensity of that kind of intimate moment
and shouldn't be able to. But to an adult, you'd look and you'd
go, oh, my gosh, you don't even know how much better this
is than chocolate or toys, And that beauty, that intense beauty, cannot
be understood shared or appreciated by a four year old. Similarly, that the
beauty and intensity of Heaven is so beyond any experience you've had on earth that
there's no way to really compare it. Sure, you see the glory of
God in things in creation, you've experienced blessings, and you've experienced some joy,
But to try and compare that to being in the presence of true holiness
and wholeness, being complete, not not wandering, not searching, not wanting,
not hoping, but in that state of completeness is beyond anything you've ever
experienced. Could you imagine trying to trying to understand the heat of the sun,
the true heat of the surface of the sun, based on the hottest
day you've ever experienced while on earth. It just it doesn't measure up.
Well. It was pretty hot, it's about one hundred and twelve I remember,
and not so much. It was a dry heat, so it wasn't
too bad, And there's no comparison. Now, magnify that beyond a number
that your head could even count. And that's what heaven is. It's this,
It's this place, the dumb and stile of God, that you will
be able to share in should you choose to live your life for God.
And that's a really really heavy and amazing thing. It's outside of time.
It's not bound by time. It's not bound by the pains, the suffering,
the ugliness that take place on earth. All of those things will be
gone. And it's not something that words will simply describe or that you will
go, Okay, that makes sense. It's so far beyond that, and
you shoot for that and you live your life for that, knowing that to
be in the presence of God in that way is beyond anything you've experienced here,
and everything good that you've experienced on earth is just a taste, just
a little taste of what heaven will be. Chuck, Welcome to the Jesus
Christ Show. Thank you very much. I love your show. Oh thanks
Jack. How can I help you? Well, it's a question about prayer,
and I know that sometime I got learned that you could put the other
prayer with using the acts format. But it's not about structure, it's more
about content. My wife has had a long problem with abdominal pain from multiple
surgeries, and you know, when she's in pain and it's it's tough,
and so when I pray. You know, I want to pray to have
her get better, but I don't know is that I'm not sure exactly how
to pray to God about this. I think I want her to have strength
to handle it comes and also for me, but I'm not sure exactly how
to ask God to help. Well. The first of all, the X
acronym is for those that don't know, stands for adoration, with confession,
with thanksgiving, and supplication. Right, that's what you're speaking about, I
am, yeah, okay. So that's a formula that some people use or
that children are taught or new believers are taught to kind of give them structure
and understanding of the prayer. And this basically is based loosely on Matthew six
and what is referred to as the Lord's Prayer. So these things can be
helpful for people to kind of understand what you do, not forget certain things
to kind of structure a prayer. But the reality is all you ever care
about and should care about is God's will. Right, That's great. So
really that's that's the focus and letting God know your will. The weird relationship
with prayer is this that if it's it's to glorify God, not to get
what you want. So if you were walking down the street and a tree
fell down and you said to the person you were walking with, I made
that tree fall down, they'd go, no, you didn't. But if
you said I'm going to make that tree fall down and then it falls down,
they're going to think maybe that's the case that you had something to do
with it. So in just a moment, I want you to hang tighten
just a moment, I'll explain why that's important, why that ties into prayer.
You were chatting with, Chuck, Are you still there, Chuck,
thank you for whole thing. Now. You were talking about and I'm sorry
to hear that your wife has a chronic illness, and most importantly that is
what I want us to focus on. But you were asking about prayer and
the difficulty that you have with prayer. I was explaining about the illustration of
somebody walking down the street and a tree falls over, and then they turn
to the person there with and say, hey, look I made that tree
fall over. No one would believe that. But if you say I'm going
to make that tree fall over and it falls over, then people are they
give more credence to it and wait to it. So likewise, with prayer,
it's not so much that you're trying to tell God what to do or
even what you want per se. It's to glorify God if he chooses for
that to be the outcome, so that God gets the credit. And it's
a strange balance, but really you're not there to change God's mind, and
you won't change God's mind. It's to let God know where that what you
believe, to let others know what you believe, and really the ultimate goal
is God's will correct. And I can hear that you're breaking up there,
Chuck. I'm sorry we had to put you on hold over the break and
he's on a cell phone. But ultimately I want to leave you with that,
Chuck, because I know I can hear the phone breaking up, but
that when you pray for your wife or anyone else, I focus on God's
will and kind of use it as a time of letting your heart, you
know, open up to God and express the pain that your wife is in,
the pain that you are in, not that God doesn't know, but
so again so that you're in connection and in tune. A prayer is there
to tune the human to God's will, not God to the human's will,
and people get that, you know, twisted. So you're praying for your
wife's health and recovery, not so you can change God's mind, but so
that God gets the glory if he chooses that. And that's really what it
comes down to. And in that process, your will is being Your will
is being in tune with the will of God by what God grants or doesn't
grant, or decides or doesn't decide. Jeff, Welcome to the Jesus Christ
Show. Hello. First of all, I wanted to tell you that I
really enjoyed the first part of the show where you were talking about how we
treat other people, the decisions that we make, and how important it is
to make good decisions about that. I really enjoyed that. I thought it
was a good word. My question is about the afterlife and when we go
to heaven, when we're with the Lord for eternity, do we still have
free will at that time? I have a hard time finding that in the
Bible. And if we do, would there be a possibility that we could
ever have another Garden of Eden answered it, that would occur? Great questions.
Now, although deducing this from scripture will take longer than we have time
for. I want to bring you philosophically through a couple of things. The
belief is that angels are different than humans, meaning they have similarities their creations
of God. Some even some theologians, even believe that they're created in the
image of God. Yet those that fell from heaven and those that rejected God
rejected God once and only once. So although they had free will, it
was free will based on a different type of knowledge than you do as human
that you have as a human. So imagine it this way. If you
get an eight ounce glass and you fill it with eight ounces of water,
it's full. You can't put any more water in it. That's all it
will hold. Well in humanity, you're an eight ounce glass at birth that
is being filled up throughout your life. So whenever, whatever the age is
that you go to be with your Maker, that is when the glass is
filled. But to an angel is born with a full glass, that's all
they'll ever know because they're they're created in the presence of God, and everything
they'll know or understand is understood. So when they make a decision, it's
a one time decision only, so they have free will, but the decision
is made and they can't correct that decision through salvation like humans can. The
reason why humans can go back and forth during their life life is because they
are It doesn't mean that they can rebel. I mean that as they come
into new knowledge they can decide different things. Is because that knowledge is being
filled up. So having said that, in heaven, there's no need for
free will in the same way, in the same sense that the last decision
that will ever be made has been made, and that is the fulfillment of
free will. So there is no more need for hope, there is no
more need for free will. There is no more need for those things in
heaven because the final decision has been made and actualized once you're in heaven.
So everything that you've hoped for or ever, all the life experience, and
all the things that have filled your glass throughout the years, has made that
final decision for eternity with God. So there's no need for free will,
And consequently there's no need for an eden. It's not there is no other
opportunities or to go back and forth. There is none of that because the
decision has been made. It's like you know, horrible thought. But if
someone they refer to suicide as the ultimate act of freedom that ends all other
acts of freedom, there is no way either. You can't change that.
Once you've done it. It's a final act, and it's done in total
free will, and there's no way to reverse it. And similarly, when
somebody who is a full glass, meaning that they're at the point of their
graduation into Heaven, everything they will ever know in this world is known,
and the decision is made there now going into the next world, that decision
is finalized, or the consequences of the decision or in play. So if
somebody rejects God, then the consequences of that are in play. If someone
accepts God, and the consequences or the reward of that is in play,
but they are eternal at that point, and there's no need for free will
in the same way, in the same sense as here in heaven. Karen,
welcome to the Jesus Christ Show. Yes, thank you for taking my
call, my pleasure. I called about a year ago because my mom I
was trying to do some free planning because she was ninety two, and I
was advised so many times to try to do things ahead of time a little
bit so you're not caught up in the emotion and make some bad choices or
something when it does happen. So anyway, I took your advice. What
a coincidence, and really tried to follow my mom's wishes. She wanted to
be buried next to my father up North and Sacramento, and so many of
my friends had said it was so expensive to follow her wishes, but really
God made it so easy because I just was able to do it. And
you just get the money and you do it because that's what she wanted.
And she was a great mom for you know, I'm fifty nine, so
she was a great mom. One evening ago, about three weeks ago,
right before Mother's Day, I was at the hospital with my son, he
had a kidney stone, and I got a call from the other hospital telling
me while I was in the er with my son, telling me that I
needed to get up to that hospital because my mom was failing. She had
breathing problems and stuff. And so it was kind of weird because it was
right before Mother's Day and I was doing the mom thing with my son while
my mom was beginning to make the transition, and so I got my son
home at one thirty in the morning, and I headed up to the other
hospital on time to at least talk to my mom she was in a coma,
and just tell her it was okay and she was a great mom.
And I just wanted to tell you that I'm really at peace with following God's
directives on that because she's buried next to my dad, and it just all
fell into place and made a lot of sense. And I just feel like
she kind of she knew I was being a mom somehow, and she just
waited for me to get up there. But I wanted to thank you because
if I hadn't made that call last year to this would have been maybe a
horrible situation. And instead I'm just really at peace. Oh that's wonderful to
hear. I know that those are times of deep pain and in sorrow when
you go through the loss of somebody like a parent, and the weight of
that is too full because you're going through the emotional weight and the grieving,
and then all of a sudden you have to take care of, you know,
the mechanical things, the things that need to take place for people to
be buried and honored, and it really takes a lot of strength and God
guidance to get you through that, because it's just been kind of this weird
you know, you're dealing with paperwork and the death certificates and all that stuff,
and then you're trying to go, Gosh, when am I going to
grieve? Yeah? Oh, oftentimes it comes much later, when when you're
holding the football, as they say, and you're taking care of all that
stuff. It really comes later. But you know what, Karen, you
did it, and God bless you for it, and God bless you for
honoring your parents as it says in scripture, to the last day, and
to take care of her wishes. And I just say, God bless you
and your dedication to that. And I'm thrilled to be a part of it
in some small way because I think that it was very brave and a lovely
way to honor your mother and her wishes. It is the Jesus Christ Show.
I am your Holy host. But what a great note for my last
thoughts here on the program today, because that song is a beautiful song.
It's kind of goes in and out of two songs that goes from somewhere over
the Rainbow too to it's the idea of having a wonderful life, a great
life, a good life. And I think as we talked about many things
earlier, dealing with convenience over safety or other people and all of these things
kind of coming together, and some of the folks that we talked to is
to focus on what your part is, what part you play in this world.
Everybody always seems to be focused on what everybody else is doing. But
if you're really focused on what you were doing and how to live and to
be an example, then you're setting the pace. You are the pace car
show others as to how things should be. And if you're not willing to
do it yourself, if you're only willing to point at other people and say,
look what they're not doing, instead of just doing it and being that
example, then it doesn't matter. And it's not that you shouldn't judge one
another, or there is an opportunity to judge one another or to correct one
another, as we talked about earlier, that's important as well, to help
guide and point and convict. That should be in growth, not in attitude,
not in I'm better than you, not in my way or the highway,
I'm right you're wrong, but to guide one another, just like a
teacher or master and apprentice, you pass along the best knowledge, the and
true knowledge, the knowledge that has been gained through experience, not in an
ugly way, not in a judgmental way, but in a helpful way.
And if you you know, redo the small things, return the grocery card
where it's supposed to be, and be kind to people, be aware of
the actions that you do and how they affect others. Then things are are
just better that way. People, the whole system works better that way.
But it it's like one person stopping on the freeway. If you have one
person stopping on the freeway, it slows everybody, everybody down. So you
have to do is be that example and live in a way that others,
that puts others first, and that thinks about others, and that you're aware
of how your actions affect others, and hopefully it will be passed along.
But it's not always about what the other people do. It's about what you
do, how you interact, how you act with the world that others will
see, and in that process things flow better, life moves better, People
are happier and kinder and more interactive in a positive way. But if you're
not willing to do it yourself, you can't put that on others and expect
them to do it as well. Make today a day that focuses on those
that are willing to die and to sacrifice so that you may have the freedoms
you have. Regardless of what you're doing today and enjoying your friends and family,
think about those that are willing to do something so deep and so sacrificial
for your life, and remember these words, I Am with You Always k
F I am six forty on demand