Tag Archives: Heaven

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Questions from Onward: Heaven and the Reign of Christ

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As part of our Onward series, we’re taking questions from the congregation related to ideas that come up in our sermons, class, and small groups discussions. Some questions will be covered in our Engage & Equip podcast, and others will be discussed here on the blog, so keep your eye out for more posts in both places!

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Today’s question came after the first sermon of the series, focusing on the kingdom of God:

“Please explain the differences between Christ’s Millennial Reign, Heaven, and the New Heaven and New Earth.”

I’ll discuss each of these terms and how they’re related to one of the main themes of our series, having a kingdom mindset. Continue reading Questions from Onward: Heaven and the Reign of Christ →

Learn and Grow

On Things Above

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The normal assumption in secular culture is that the more heavenly minded a person is, the less earthly good they are. People assume that spiritual people are detached, impractical, and increasingly out of step with real life and the needs of the real world. They have always thought that, but have always been wrong. Jesus brought the purposes of heaven to earth, and in Colossians we learn why and how being of real earthly good requires us to be more heavenly minded, not less.

Join us on Sunday mornings starting June 29 going through Colossians, focusing On Things Above.

In addition to understanding Colossians, as our pastors, Nic and Lloyd, preach, they will model how to read an epistle (the letters in the New Testament) on your own.

Learn and Grow

Trivial Misreadings

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Isaiah 40:3-5 – 3 A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.  4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Bob Grahmann preached two weeks ago from Isaiah 40. I never really liked Isaiah 40:3-5.

I spent several years as a wilderness leader climbing mountains and paddling rivers. Mountains and valleys are basically my favorite things in the natural world. I know it’s going to sound like a shallow objection, primarily because it is, but the mental picture that the coming of Christ was glorified by all of life’s topography being erased bothered me. And for some reason, I equated this with heaven – that somehow this passage was saying that heaven isn’t a place where the mountains are high and the valleys low but instead is a place of flattened-out sameness.

Continue reading Trivial Misreadings →