Think On These Things ~ I Corinthians 6

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? 

Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 

Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 

So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? 

I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, 

but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? 

To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? 

But you yourselves wrong and defraud–even your own brothers!

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,

nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be enslaved by anything. 

“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”–and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 

And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 

Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 

But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 

for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

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Think On These Things ~ Philippians 3: 8-21

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my 
Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I 
may gain Christ 

and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that 
which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies 
behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will 
reveal that also to you. 

Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 

For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the 
cross of Christ. 

Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on 
earthly things. 

But our citizenship is in heaven, and  from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 

who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even 
to subject all things to himself.

Think On These Things ~ Philippians 2:1-11

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 

complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 

but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 

so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Think On These Things ~ Colossians 1:9-17

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 

so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 

being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 

I Can Only Imagine

Does anybody remember an extremely popular Christian song in the late eighties by singer Ray Boltz called Thank You? The story behind the song is that he wrote it for his pastor in appreciation for his service to the Gospel and it painted this picture of how, once in heaven, all the ways our stories are interconnected will be as clear as the crystal sea we’ll be walking beside.

As an adult I am quite skeptical about the theology behind the song…it makes quite a bit of hoopla about an individual and their works and I am just not sure that’s the way it will go down but that really isn’t my point.

My point is that much has been said about heaven and what it will be like and frankly, there is much speculation and we simply won’t know until we get there. So our speculation seems pretty silly but I do think it is in our nature to ponder and wonder and dream so why wouldn’t we ponder, wonder, and dream about heaven? I just think we need not get overly sentimental or attached to what we think it will be like no matter how much the song tugs on our heartstrings.

All of that came to mind yesterday because a simple reading of a passage of Scripture in our service. Rob started a new series on the book of Romans and part of his sermon centered on the books author, Paul.

One of the Scripture readings was the story of the stoning of Stephen and that is where my imagination collided with the idea of heaven and what it will be like. 

For just a moment I wondered, if there are such meetings in heaven, what it must have been like for the Apostle Paul to come face to face with Stephen.

To borrow from another overdone and sappy song, I can only imagine.