What Is My Record In Heaven?

               As I read the scriptures in John 8:12-14 quoted below, “What A Day That Will Be” was playing on my CD player.  I got to thinking, “What Is My Record In Heaven?”  When that day arrives that “Jesus takes me by the hand,” what will He say to me concerning my life?

2 Corinthians 5:10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

I know He will judge me for my reward here on earth.  I am aware of most of the really wrongs I have committed.  I believe I have asked for and have received His forgiveness for those.  (Okay, Bro John what are you talking about?)  I believe most of my guilt is failing to follow His lead, failing to stop and ask Him prior to proceeding,  failing to present the Gospel to someone He specifically guided me to, and failing to speak or teach the consequences of a specific sin when someone in the congregation needed to hear it.

              Jesus tells us, “Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true;..”  Jesus came from our Heavenly Father, and His record is true.  As God, Jesus walked sin free on this earth.  (You and I cannot claim our life as sin free.)  I know prior to my Salvation, I never considered my lifestyle as sinful.  I knew I had some moral faults, but sin was something I never considered.  After I accepted Jesus as my Saviour, I was appalled daily as to what I was doing was sin.  Consequently, I was repenting daily, and was having trouble shedding some of those sins.  (I guess it took about two years to cleanse myself of a lifestyle of sin.)  I am not sin free now, and I know it.

Romans 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

God gave me eternal life because I became a disciple of Christ.  I accepted Jesus’ blood and He became my Passover Lamb.  Now with the blood of Jesus on my heart, God sees me as one of His Son’s disciples.  (I walk and talk with my Jesus, my Savior.)  One day I will extend my hand, and He will walk me home. 

              Until then, “What Is My Record In Heaven?”  Can you as a born again believer improve that record?  Yes, you can.  Get on your knees and ask forgiveness for the mess you have created.  Get up with the attitude that God will help you, (and He will), and begin to clean up your life. 

Romans 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

God will always help us.  However, He requires us to renew our mind (lifestyle).  We have to improve.  It takes effort on our part.                                        

Bro. John R. E Chastain

John 8:12-14  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.  (13)  The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true.  (14)  Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.

A Nation of Believing Unbelievers

(Isaiah 29:13 KJB)  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

            I can hear you now, “Bro John that title is an oxymoron.”  I would like from my heart to be able to agree with you.  However, as a Pastor, I on occasion see sides of people’s lives that others may not see.  (Do understand I am not excluding myself.)   I see people who profess Christ, with zeal, yet refuse to come to Church to worship the One they claim.  Others, we hear just their talk, not necessarily or always crude, but God defaming in any case.

            Our President no longer believes we are a Christian nation and has publically so stated.  Yet, poll after poll tells us we are a nation of Christians. But the problem is, what kind of Christian are we?  I am not talking about cult groups who claim some Jesus who never was, I am talking about what most of us would call, “Mainstream Christians.”  

            This is where we get back to our verse: Isaiah speaking and writing God’s Word, tells us that we draw near to God with our mouths, but our hearts are somewhere else.  You see, we as a nation believe God, just as Israel did.  We believe that God put Jesus on that “Old Rugged Cross” to die for our sins.  We also believe that Jesus forgave on that tree, and He also forgave us on that tree. We believe what it takes to get saved, to have a home in Heaven.  Yet, when Jesus told us this,

(Luke 6:46 KJB)  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?  Jesus asks us why we claim Him and why we are not willing to do what He has asked us to do.  We as a nation fail to go to Church faithfully.  We fail miserly at supporting our Churches financially, and in our presence at Church.  Our Churches are failing, not because of lack of membership, but failing because “Believing” members don’t attend nor do they support their Pastor or their Church.

            Yet, when a catastrophe comes, we find Church attendance up and our blasphemous Congress on their steps singing, “God Bless America.”

            We are a Nation of believers who apparently approve of abortion, and who believe that those who won’t work must be supported.  We are a nation who calls on God when it is tight, but when has that voice been heard since our recession was put at our feet?  

            How long are we to allow these horrendous people to govern us, and we as Christians stand by our belief that God will take care of it, and folks He will, just like He allowed Nebuchadnezzar to claim Israel when they refused to listen to or obey the Word of God preached by Isaiah, Jeremiah and other Prophets of God.  

            America is there, we listen to the voices of the homosexuals (Sodomites), we listen to those who call on a woman’s right to murder her baby.  (It is only a fetus.)  We listen to the concerns of those who are claiming this global warming (It isn’t).  

            I pray and seek God will not allow what I believe He is telling us is coming, the downfall of this great country.  Yet, where is the revival, and where is the repentance of those who claim God, but refuse to worship or Glorify Him?  Oh Lord where are they?

The Fields Are White To Harvest

             As we read the scripture below, and we take note of our surroundings here in the Panhandle of Texas, we see that the “…fields…are white…to harvest.” The cotton pods are burst and white as snow.

(John 4:35)  Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest?  behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

              The fields are white with cotton, which was sowed a few months ago, and now the reaping is in progress.

              When you and I “sow” the gospel, we might not be the one who does the reaping.  Yet, we are to go out “preaching” to all we find, sowing God’s Word, never once expecting to always reap what we have sown, but we may reap what others have sown before us.

              Most of us expect results at the first door, and at the second, and so on, and soon disappointment rears it’s ugly head, and we comment, “Door knocking just doesn’t work any more.”  I will admit it seems harder.  There are so many things going on: all the school activities, the televised national sports, hunting season, and whatever is going on down at the Ritz.  All of these must be contended with, no doubt.

              However, we must understand it is the Lord’s work.  We must seek His council and allow Him to direct us.  If we as Hosea tells us will “sow [ourselves] in righteousness,” or if we, “walk the walk and talk the talk,” then we shall “reap in mercy”, and gather God’s blessings.  He tells us He will “rain righteousness” upon us.

              When was the last time God rained a shower of blessing on you?  Some days it seems like an occasional sprinkle, or a day, or maybe weeks of drought. Where do we put the blame?  Probably not at our own feet.  We will proclaim, “I have sure had a hard row of “Bad Luck.”  Another excuse is, “I sure haven’t been blessed by God lately, and I think He has forgotten me.”

              Rest assured, neither Luck nor Mother Nature exist.  Secondly, if you know God, He has not forgotten you.  It may be you have forgotten Him.  We reap what we sow.  Are you sowing your heart out to God in prayer?  Are you spending time in your King James Bible, hearing what God has to say?  Are you faithfully attending your local New Testament Church you know, the one you belong to?  Are you tithing, regardless of whether you attend or not?  Are you supporting Missions, and your Church with special offerings?

              Search your heart and answer those questions from that search, not from your pride, and when you get the answers, maybe then you will know why God has not rained righteousness down upon you.

              “For it is time to seek the Lord.”  Do understand tomorrow never comes.  If you put off today what you can do, you will continue to put it off day after day, week after week, for an eternity.  The time is now, just do it.

Bro John R. E Chastain

(Hosea 10:12)  Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

The Rainbow, God’s Covenant

           Read our scripture below, noting the phrase “…I will remember my covenant…” When I think about how God has made so many Promises, Promises, Covenants, and that He has kept all that “…shall come to pass...”    then I consider, (that is think about), all the promises I have made God, and can only think of a few that I know to this date I have honestly, without backsliding, kept.

            Then I consider what our Government is doing.  They are at a point of taking another guarantee away from us, the ability to write a contract between two parties, and know what will transpire.  Our House and Senate are at a point of allowing “Special Interest Courts” to re-write contracts to favor one side or another. 

            Coming back to God and knowing He has never altered His Covenant by removing or altering them to our detriments, what He has stated he will do, or has done, or is in the process of being done.  He has improved His Covenant, and in doing so we were given Jesus the Christ. Jesus’ blood is another Covenant from God.  It allows me to have a means of putting His blood on my heart, and Jesus is my Passover Lamb.  With Jesus’ blood on my heart, when God is looking to judge, His blood on my Heart will tell God I am of His Son.

            Isn’t it great to know we have a true living God, a God who isn’t a lying politician, just telling us what we want to hear?   We know He is what He claims to be.  Jesus is God’s Word, He is the “…only begotten Son of God…”  God placed Him on the cross for our benefit.  Purposefully, God hung His Son to die as our Saviour.  We don’t need Congress or an attorney to go to God and ask Him to give us back our rights as a Christian.

              So the next time we get rain, look to the sky, look for God’s Covenant, and remember what He has done for us.  Then thank Him for what He has done.

Bro. John R. E Chastain

(Genesis 9:13-16 KJB)  I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.  14  And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:  15  And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.  16  And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

What A Day

            As I read Revelation 22:12-14 below, I am reminded of that song, “What A Day That Will Be,” and won’t that be a grand day “When My Jesus I Shall See.” That is a day I look forward to, being physically with my Jesus “…when He takes me by [My] hand…”

              We as Christian’s know about this “coming day,” yet our friends and our relatives may not know.  They may not even know a Heaven exists, consequently, failing to know about “There is coming a day.”  

              Salvation is hard for some people.  It requires work, work to get up earlier and get to church on time.  Salvation is hard for some because they may not be able to hang out with the same crowd.  Salvation is hard for some because all the Preacher can talk about is spending “my” money.  Salvation is hard for some because they don’t want to sit next to some “hypocrite.”  (They haven’t looked in a mirror lately.)  Salvation is hard for some because they must clean up their act before God will approve of them.

              I am not saying Salvation is “earned by works,” however, the “gift of God” is easy to receive through faith.

(Ephesians 2:8-9)  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Our King James Bible clearly defines Salvation as a gift of God, and it is not of works.  So why do so many refuse?  Because all they can see is “work.”  Some even believe it is through that “work” that God will approve them.   

              They cannot imagine that God could love them at all.  “If He knows all I have done, how could He love me?”  

              They cannot understand, like Nicodemus, how a person can be “…Born again…”  How can that be?  Because our Jesus is, “…the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last…”  Yes, He knows what you have done.  However, when He died on that horrible old cross, He forgave you, (and all others.)  All He asks from you now is to believe with a sincere heart, and He will accept you, regardless.

(Romans 10:9)  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Once you have accepted Jesus, thank Him in prayer for that eternal life He has just given you.  Ask Him to help you to change: become a new creature, help you learn what your sins are, and how He can help you get rid of them.

              Ask Him today.  Don’t put it off, tomorrow may be too late.

Bro John R. E Chastain

(Revelation 22:12-14)  And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.  13  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.  14  Blessed arethey that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.  

The Beginning of Wisdom

                As I read the scriptures in Proverbs 9:8-12 quoted below, two words in these scriptures need to be [Webster’s 1828 Dictionary] defined as to their usage.  The first word is “fear” and the second word is “wisdom.”

Fear = “holy awe or reverence of God and his laws,”

Wisdom = “the knowledge and fear of God, and sincere and uniform obedience to his commands. This is the wisdom which is from above.”

When we can grasp the notion that through our “reverence [fear] of God,” we gain the “knowledge…of God,” we then have the knowledge that our “fear” is our worship and acknowledgement of the existence of God.  With this knowledge, we gain the “wisdom” that God wants us to have.

              God gives us “wisdom” to earn a living in this secular godless world.  However, this is not the “wisdom” of the “fear of the LORD.”

              How do we get to the “beginning of wisdom” that God wants us to have?  The very first step towards “wisdom” is gaining knowledge of Jesus, and knowing who He is, (knowing He is the Christ [God] and then using this “wisdom” to accept Jesus [through conviction of the Holy Spirit] as our personal Saviour.)  We are now in the possession of “the beginning of wisdom,” and we now contain the knowledge that “the knowledge of the Holy is understanding.”  We also now know that this “knowledge” allows us to have “The fear of the Lord…”

              Where within you do you dwell in this “fear” and “wisdom” of the Holy God?  Are you at the beginning of your “knowledge” of God and His Son, Jesus the Christ?  Are you now at a point in your “fear of the LORD” that you are growing in “wisdom?”  Are you striving to please God through your “fear of the LORD”?

Romans 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

              Our “fear of the LORD” is what brings us to Church, which causes us to pray and read our Bible.  Do you reverence our LORD God and His Son Jesus, or do you “fear Them” in a secular worldly way?  The only way to remove the “secular” understanding is by being under the Word of God and hearing it.  Grow your faith in our God.  Have the fear [reverence] to honor Him with your presence in Church at all appointed times, and start walking as He commands you.                                                           

Bro. John R. E Chastain

Proverbs 9:8-12  Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.  (9)  Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.  (10)  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.  (11)  For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.  (12)  If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.

It Is Good For Me

            Read our scripture below, and you might be reminded as I was of the song, “Oh Where Could I Go.”  When I stop and consider the valleys and the mountains we as a church family have been witnessing, I also think of the song Bro. Lonnie Needham sings, “The God of The Mountain.”

            Our verse tells us “…it is good for me to draw nearer to God.” As a Christian, we are facing a day when God will call us home.  We will certainly be nearer God.  However, as we see in our text we need to put our “…trust in the Lord God...” now.  

            That is the problem we all have I’ll get to know Him and trust Him when I get there.  Have any of you entered a marriage without at the very least having been introduced?  If you are saved and know without a doubt if you died today that heaven would be your home, then you have been introduced to Jesus.  But have you become acquainted with Him?   You see the problem is we have an arranged marriage in heaven, and we need to get to know our partner, Jesus, before we get there.

            I know when Sharil and I were engaged to be married; it was a time of acquaintance, a time of learning each others thoughts and ideas. When we did get married, it was another time of more intimate knowledge of ourselves, and over these 48 plus years, we have been growing in knowledge of each other.

            Our weekly Church Assembly is a time for each of us to come together, worship our Lord and Saviour, get to know Him (draw nearer), and get better acquainted with what He expects from us.  It is a time of Bible Study, and a time of devotion to our Saviour.  It is a means of strengthening our hearts, and allowing us to protect ourselves from the wiles of Satan.

(Hebrews 10:22)  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

Have a true heart, a sincere heart, and do draw nearer to Him in full assurance of faith, knowing you will never perish, but we have the everlasting peace and eternity of God.

Bro. John R. E Chastain

(Psalms 73:25-28 KJB)  Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there isnone upon earth that I desire beside thee.  26  My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. 27  For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.  28  But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.

Our Sins

           Read our scripture below, and do understand this was written to the Jews.    However, Paul tells us in:

(Hebrews 8:12 KJB)  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

So we, those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, can know our sins will not be remembered by God no more. 

            Some have told me, that to be forgiven is the equivalent of Salvation.  Jesus died on the cross, for you and I.  He died so that we might have Salvation and that we might have the opportunity to be saved from Hell.  We are told in:

(Romans 10:9 KJB)  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

            In other words that if I will believe that God raised Jesus from the grave, and confess Jesus to others, that He would save me.  There is no other requirement, nothing else to do.  Once we have accepted Jesus, and we know He is our Lord, and then we need to come to Him with a sincere heart and ask Him to help you identify your sins and help you remove them from your life.  

(Hebrews 10:22 KJB)  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

            When we go to God it must be with a sincere, true heart, then we need to clear our heart from all evil thoughts, grudges and hate.  We need to be as spiritually clean as we can get.  

            So the question remains, have you gone to the Lord recently asking for His forgiveness of your current sins?  In some of us it might need to be a daily thing, but regardless it ought to be done with a sincere repentant heart.  Knowing you have sinned against God.  What are you going to do?               

Bro. John R. E Chastain

(Ephesians 2:12-14 KJB)  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.  14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

Do You?

              As I read John 11:21-26 quoted below, I consider the statement Martha made to Jesus:  (John 11:21) “ …Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.”  

                  How many times do we as believers pose this question to Jesus?  The inevitable problem is generally, had we been with Jesus, maybe the problem would have never existed.  It seems you and I have the problem of not including Jesus in our “real” lives, just our “religious” lives.

              However, what was Martha saying?  We know Lazarus was a believer.  He died to give Jesus a sign that He is what He said He is.  The question that Jesus poses is the question in which a lot of folks struggle.  “Am I a true believer, am I saved?”  The only person on earth that can answer that question is you.

              The problem you may have is a lack of knowledge concerning Jesus.  God tells in His written Word that if we Believe, salvation and eternal Life with Jesus and His Father is ours in heaven.

(John 3:16)  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

              Here Jesus tells us that regardless of who, or what you are, you can be saved simply by believing.  The next obvious question would be, “what am I to believe?”   Paul gives us insight to that answer.

(Romans 10:9)  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

              Paul tells us two things we need to do.  The first is that we “shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,” We need to “confess” in our heart that we are sincere in our belief, then confess Jesus to others.  “What are we to confess?”  That we believe in our heart (sincerely) that God has raised Jesus from the grave.  

(Hebrews 10:22)  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

              This is a simple but powerful belief.  However, you must state this with a true (sincere) heart with the faith that God is true and not a liar.  If you believe as we have discussed, then God’s Salvation is given to you through God.  “…thou shalt be saved.”   

              So my question to you is, “Do You?  

Bro John R. E Chastain

(John 11:21-26 KJB)  Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.  22  But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee23  Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.  24  Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.  25  Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:  26  And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Our Confession

            Reading our scripture, Philippians 2:8-11 quoted  below brings to my mind a few verses in Romans:

(Romans 14:11-12)  For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God 12  So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

                                                        

To get ourselves into the context of the verses the bulletin quotes, we must see that regardless whether or not we go to Heaven,  (even those who are placed within God’s wrath, Hell,) will bow to Jesus.

              This confession must be a confession from the heart, and must be made with the Holy Spirit calling.  This confession has to be made with sincerity.

(Hebrews 10:22)  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

              If you expect to draw nearer to God, it must be done first with a true (sincere) heart.  So many have called upon His Name with a prayer that did not involve sincerity nor was it from the heart.  The Holy Spirit was absent, nowhere to be found, and there was no real desire to become a child of God.  They simply professed to comply with a Mother’s or a spouses wish.  Maybe they professed just to get rid of the Messenger; however, they did it, and one day they will confess to Him eyeball to eyeball, as they move to God’s throne to receive His wrath.

(John 3:36)  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

            So, the question is, where do you want to confess His name, here or in the hereafter.  By confessing here you will be given a Mansion in Heaven in sight of God and His Son, whereas, you failing to confess here the wrath of God will abide with you eternally.

(John 3:16)  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

            “Whosoever” tells us it doesn’t matter what you are, what you have been, nor does it require anything but to believe in Jesus.  Then and only then will eternal life in Heaven be given you.  We all have eternal life.   It is a matter of choosing where do you want to go, Heaven or Hell. It is your choice.      Confess Him today.             

Bro. John R. E Chastain

(Philippiansp 2:8-11 KJB)  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.  9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;  11  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.