Sermon nuggets Weds Oct 29
Theme Praying for Believers
Verses- John 17:24 "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
Reunion
A number of years ago Mission executive Rochugna Pudaited, an Indonesian delegate to the Asian congress on Evangelism in Singapore, was asked what he felt to be the reason for the great spiritual awakening sweeping through his country. “When some of the missionaries left under Sukarno’s rule, the national Christians began to mix together more freely and found they believed the same thing after all. This gave them a new sense of unity. They began to work together and to pray together ignoring organizational boundaries imposed upon them, I am afraid, somewhat artificially. When those barriers were removed the Holy Spirit began to work. The remarkable things which then took place in their lives were seen openly by unbelievers and many of them were attracted to Christ.”
Jesus prayed that we be one because it reveals the unity and oneness of God and His love and it shows the word that Jesus is real, and they believed He was sent by God. He further instructs them they the world will know we are Christians by our love.
This unity is a reflection of the unity that will be in heaven. Father in the Son, the son in the Father, Jesus in us and we in Christ. This is the love that Jesus has and is seen most graphically in the fact that Jesus wants us to be with Him where He is going to the Father.
We had already talked about the glory of Jesus was the cross. He taught, “No greater love has anyone than this, that one lay down his life for another. “ He showed the world the Father through His life, His teaching, His example, and His love while on earth. Our glory is showing the Christ like character. Certainly our unity as Christians with one another is centered around who Jesus is and what He has done for us. But the Jesus that unites us is the Jesus of the Bible, not some made up reflection of ourselves. If folks do not accept that fact that Jesus was the pre existing creator of the universe we would have no unity. We are unified around His divinity, His atonement, His bodily resurrection, His personal and visible return to the earth. Anything short of that is creating a false Messiah and we cannot have unity.. Truth and error cannot be unified, that which is clearly and plainly revealed in the Scriptures be boldly and strongly taught. Of course, there is room for minor differences of opinions and interpretations. IT would be the plan of Satan for pride to bring disunity in our differences and make unclear things reasons to divide and fight among ourselves.
Perhaps because I grew up in a large metropolitan area and far away from my mother’s relatives, we had few family reunions. We lived too far away and didn't have the money to afford getting together often. My father’s family was smaller and since we were the only Christians it was uncomfortable for him when they got together. But when I went with mother one in her later years to a get together of three generations with a larger reunion with her cousins and other relatives it was a wonderful time for her to talk with people she hadn’t seen in years and meet people who were our relatives that she had never met. She looked forward to going, and enjoyed her time there. She talked about it long after we came home.
In heaven there will be a great family reunion and the joy will be the guest of honor, Jesus Christ before the Father of us all. It will be wonderful. Jesus cannot wait to be with everyone He loved and purchased for Himself to meet each other for the first time. There will be unity of faith and for His glory. He looks forward to the time we can all be together with those we knew and those who influenced our lives but haven’t met yet. This reunion we will be our chance for the first time to see Jesus for whom He is in all his glory. We will understand more clearly how wonderful He is. I enjoy things better when others I love are around me. Jesus is aware that when we see His glory we will be blessed. Everyone who saw the revealed glory like John in the book of Revelations, were in awe and wonder. Jesus wants you to be with Him so you can see Him as His is, not how he was on earth. We will be the bride prepared for the bridegroom. It is an anticipated time. Those that went to heaven before have experienced some things we have not witnessed but only read about. Why would we wish them back? They departed from their earthly bodies and their souls are with the Lord. They also anticipate a more complete body at the time of the resurrection. But presently they are with the Lord.
This reunion is long in the planning. There will be nothing scheduled that would require we must leave. Jesus prays that this will be our anticipation as it is His. He is looking forward to that and wants that hope to be an encouragement to us until we meet again.
Pastor Dale
