“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away ” (Revelation 21:1-4).
If today’s verses don’t give you reason to hope, I’m not sure what will. We cannot begin to fathom what Heaven will be like. We know there will be great beauty. Oh, the sights we shall behold! There will be a happy reunion in Heaven with family and friends gone on before. Praise God, these verses also convey what won’t be there. First and foremost, in Heaven we will want to see Jesus. He is our Hope, and we will want to kneel at His feet. On days when pain and suffering may take its toll, think of Jesus wiping away your tears. May the hope of Heaven and all He has in store for us, help us continue to serve Him until He comes to get us.
Sue Winchester
Missouri
PRAY TOGETHER: Today’s PreThanksgiving focus is prayer for Future Dreams.
Pray that God would call missionaries to unevangelized areas, to fields white and ready for harvest.
Howard and Patsy Gwartney: Inset: Former Home Missions Director, Roy Thomas.
Patsy Gwartney, home missionary to San Tan Valley, Arizona, writes:
In 1970, Free Will Baptists hired Roy Thomas to promote home missions. To convey his message of “A missionary in every state for a church in every city,” Daddy glued a map of the United States onto a cardboard frame. Different colored dots on the map represented Free Will Baptist churches. We saw clumps of red dots (established churches), and occasional green and blue dots in remote states (former and present Home Mission works). But we mainly noticed all the white space.
Daddy’s map made an incredible impression on my family. At age 15, my husband saw it and determined to someday start a FWB church. We’re now planting our second church in Arizona, with the help of my mother, daughter and son-in-law. Our other daughter and pastor son-in-law are teaching the vision of the map to their children and casting it within their congregation.
I would love to see Daddy’s dream fulfilled. We would then have the men and the message to spread the gospel across the entire globe.
