Episode 82: Earth: The Only Heaven for Unsaved; the Only Hell for Saved

Jacob Paul: Welcome to the Truth in Love podcast with your hosts Kimberly Faith and John Mac. The Truth in Love podcast seeks to present God’s timeless truth through the lens of his remarkable love.

Kimberly Faith: Dad, here we are again.

John McLarty: Well, it’s just a blessing, Kim, all these podcasts. I love doing podcasts with my lovely daughter.

Kimberly Faith: Well, dad, I love doing it with my wonderful beyond words description father. Well, I have to tell you that this podcast came about, based on a message that I heard, in church at Westside Baptist on Sunday from a missionary from Kenya. He was a missionary to Kenya.

John McLarty: Interesting.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. And a really well spoken gentleman. Evidently, his daughter and son-in-law are stationed at Fort Leonard Wood where I live, and he said something, and I didn’t write it down word for word, but the general gist of it was this. And he said, for the unsaved, this earth is the only heaven they will ever experience. And for the saved, this earth is the only hell we will ever experience.

John McLarty: I have never thought of things that way, but that is profound.

Kimberly Faith: It really is.

John McLarty: That is true and thought provoking.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. Yes. And it was so thought provoking for me, number one, that I remembered it. And number two, that it really made me think, God, you know, what do you want to teach me through this message? Because you know how when you hear something and you think, okay, this is really rich, but you’re not really sure in all the multifaceted ways it is rich?

John McLarty: And that’s how the word of God is.

Kimberly Faith: Yes.

John McLarty: It’s multifaceted. 

Kimberly Faith: Yes. 

John McLarty: And a good message from the word of God. A lot of them, I think, I need to review that. There’s more than my brain could catch in one go.

Kimberly Faith: That’s a really good point. You know, our little brains are capable of, I mean, we have these great minds that God gave us. But, you know, I was thinking about just the weight of these words and how that affects our daily life, my daily life. And, so when I was praying about this podcast, I kind of thought about this in three segments. Number one, what is the heaven on this earth? You know? And where did it come from? And then number two, you know, what does that look like for the unsaved, those who have not been born again? And then what does that look like, and what should it look like for those who are born again? And so kind of like to just dive right into that. Does that sound like a good plan to you?

John McLarty: Yeah. And I’ve thought a lot about that just reading through a lot of Psalms. The Psalms are full of the abundance of this earth. 

Kimberly Faith: Yes.

John McLarty: And I, just think about it, I’m in the middle right now of teaching a study on the body, soul, and spirit. So it’s the physical world and the spiritual world. And the physical world is where God has given us such a glimpse of himself. And we experience God through this physical world. So many aspects.

Kimberly Faith: 100%. I was sitting out on in the backyard this morning, and I, you know, kind of this, the impetus behind this podcast actually came to me this morning, sitting out in the backyard doing a little earthing, putting my feet on the ground, and I was listening to the Holy Spirit just led me to Psalms a 103 and a 104. And so I like to use my Bible app and just listen to God’s word sometimes and, you know, do my morning earthing and when I actually get to do that, when the sun comes up. And as I was listening to the Psalms, I was listening about this, I was thinking about this,  the beauty of light, the light of dawn breaking through darkness. You know? I could hear the birds. The birds were just all around me singing. I was just thinking, this is God’s chorus. You know?

John McLarty: And by the way, for our listeners, it’s a wonderful spring day. So the birds are chirping. The weather’s perfect. 

Kimberly Faith: Yes. 

John McLarty: So that’s great. I love that you were out there watching the sunrise.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. And it was like, I was just thinking about you know? And I love, like, this I  love to go to the ocean and just the smell of the ocean. I love to

John McLarty: And the power of the waves.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. The power. And I love a pine forest, the smell of wild roses. I mean, these are all things that God made for us to enjoy. And, you know, these aren’t coincidences. These are so intricate and so just magnificently made. There’s no way they could be coincidences any more than we always use the example of my cell phone. You know? There’s no way that would be a coincidence. That took engineers. That took ingenuity. And, but in the Psalms, I’d like to just kind of read some excerpts from Psalms 103 and 104 as we talk about the magnitude of how God provides for all his creatures, which is the, quote, heaven on earth, the taste of heaven that we get on this earth.

John McLarty: Great way to start.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. So I kind of wanted to, let’s just read some excerpts from Psalms 103. And you want to read 1-5?

John McLarty: Sure. And I just again, I’ve just been reading Psalms over and over again and other parts of the Bible, but I think I’ve been reading daily in Psalms. And then I’ve also been looking at Nehemiah and Ezra. But, yeah, here’s Psalm 103:1-5. Praise the Lord, my soul, all my inmost being. Praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.

Kimberly Faith: One of the things that Psalms 103 kind of focuses on more than, Psalms 104 is more directed at creation itself, but Psalms 103 ties in God’s goodness to all those things that are almost intangible, like love. You know, they aren’t like it’s not like we see love. I mean, we actually do. We just kind of see love. But joy, the things that we experience emotionally and not just physically, strength. You know, you can’t quantify, this is what strength looks like unless you see somebody do something, but the strength is from God. And, you know, he kind of goes on in Psalms 103:8- 13 and says, the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him, as far as the East is from the West. So far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. I feel like Psalms 103 is emphasizing God’s nature and his attributes.

John McLarty: It’s so interesting. He uses things we can relate to. He’s talking about our soul. 

Kimberly Faith: Right. 

John McLarty: Speaking to our soul. But he’s using terms like as far as the East is from the West, and as a father has compassion on his children.

Kimberly Faith: Absolutely.

John McLarty: So he’s using physical examples we can think of to show us these spiritual truths.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. When we understand, like God is so good, dude. I mean, his word is so, I hate to say dumbed down for us, but you know what? Because it’s brilliant, but it’s put in a way that we can understand.

John McLarty: Relatable.

Kimberly Faith: Relatable’s a better word. I should not use that context of God’s word being dumbed down. I think He has to dumb it down for us, though. And it is relatable. We understand what compassion means. We understand what love means. We understand what these things look like. And so Psalms 103 really gives us this beautiful example of God’s nature, how he is.

John McLarty: Right.

Kimberly Faith: His love, his compassion. And then Psalms 104 kind of jumps into the awe of his creative power and his ongoing sustenance. And, I mean, let’s just read some of these excerpts from Psalms 104, because I think everybody that has been outside can understand this. It doesn’t matter where you live. If you have been outside, you have observed these things about the Lord.

John McLarty: Well, I’ll jump into this one because I love this. But it starts off, Praise the Lord, my soul. So again, this physical splendor we’re seeing is speaking to our souls. 

Kimberly Faith: Yes. 

John McLarty: And I love that. Praise the Lord, my soul. Lord, my God. You are very great. You are clothed with splendor and majesty. The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment. He stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.

Kimberly Faith: Oh my gosh. That’s so good.

John McLarty: I love that. 

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. 

John McLarty: Rides on the wings of the wind.

Kimberly Faith: We think about you know, you think about the sun, and we can’t touch it. We can’t get near it. We can’t get any more near it than we are right now or we’d burn up. Right? 

John McLarty: Right.

Kimberly Faith: And you think about light in general, with all the light, the sun, even the reflection of the moon, and I mean, all the things that we enjoy. And it’s so magnificent. It’s hard to even, I  mean, this almost does a great word, a great job, I’m sorry, helping us imagine, you know, what our eyes already see and crediting God with that. And what’s interesting to me is that all this creation and we’re going to read some more of Psalms 104, but all this creation that God made, it was for us.

John McLarty: And that’s an amazing thing about it. And it’s not this bland, boring creation that we can just barely survive in. Can you imagine living on the moon? 

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: And we’re alive, but it’s just the moon.

Kimberly Faith: Right. 

John McLarty: Everything’s the same kind of.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. 

John McLarty: But we live in green grass, beautiful flowers, blue skies, white clouds,

Kimberly Faith: Variety of scents.

John McLarty: Smells. Yeah. And it’s for us.

Kimberly Faith: Think it would be good to

John McLarty:  He wants to bless us.

Kimberly Faith: Because we’re describing this heaven on earth that is the only heaven that the unsaved, those who have not received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the only heaven that will ever be experienced by the unsaved.

John McLarty: The only glimpse of God.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right.

John McLarty: The only sense of His love and 

Kimberly Faith: His presence.

John McLarty: His presence. Yes. That’s a profound thought.

Kimberly Faith: It really is. Because it really

John McLarty:  It’s a motivating thought.

Kimberly Faith: And it’s so interesting how that you know, when we’ve talked about human religions and in the concept study, how that human religions have, so many of them, especially the ancient religions, have used nature as a god. Mother nature. Right?

John McLarty: As god. Yeah.

Kimberly Faith: Gaia. All these different religions. 

John McLarty: The earth is God.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right.

John McLarty: Creation is God.

Kimberly Faith: Worshiping the sun, worshiping the moon. I mean, you know

John McLarty: Worshiping the creation rather than the creator.

Kimberly Faith: Right. 

John McLarty: That’s out of Romans. 

Kimberly Faith: And it’s so, it makes me so sad because you know, to worship the creation is to miss the whole point. And it’s a really diabolical plot by our enemy because the beauty of creation is very attractive, but it’s not meant for the creation to be what we worship. It’s meant to draw us to the creator.

John McLarty: It’s not the endgame.

Kimberly Faith:That’s right. 

John McLarty: To draw us into his splendor.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. And I don’t know. Do you want to read Psalms 104:13-15? This is actually really great because it kind of points us back to why it matters to us.

John McLarty: Oh, I love this. I love this little phrase here, because we live up on a little hilltop here in the Ozarks, so I can really relate to this. He waters the mountains from his upper chambers, causing grass to grow for the cattle and plants for people to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth, wine that gladdens the human hearts, oil to make faces shine, and bread that sustains life.

Kimberly Faith: You know, this morning, I was thinking about, I walked out on the back deck, and there’s a little bird that’s made a nest in the boxes. And she flew out and startled me. She has five little tiny eggs. And I was thinking about verses 16 and 17, talking about the trees of the Lord flourish where birds build nests and the stork has its home in the furs. You know, that little bird, you know, she’s just building her little nest. Now she picked a box not a tree, thought it was safe. But God

John McLarty: It’s kind of an inner corner of our porch. So it’s a very wise place for her to build her little nest, it’s protected from the wind.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. But all of these things that the creatures of the earth are doing were all ordained by God, the father.

John McLarty: Exactly.

Kimberly Faith: And that little bird brought joy to my heart. Seeing her little nest with her little five eggs in it, they’re just tiny. And I get to enjoy that.

John McLarty: She’s our little pet, but we don’t touch her.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. And, you know, I love the way the psalmist also

John McLarty: We can hardly go on our back porch now because we don’t want to disturb the bird. So we have to go around the house the other way.

Kimberly Faith: You know, it’s funny you say that because I feel like, you know, that’s a part of us that delights in protecting God’s creatures. And I feel like if we have as we as very imperfect people, have that kind of delight in protecting God’s creatures, how much more does the heavenly father

John McLarty: Exactly.

Kimberly Faith: Delight in watching over us and protecting us? And I love the way Psalms 104 kind of winds down. The psalmist says, How many are your works, Lord? In wisdom, you made them all. The earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number, living things, both large and small. And I think if we look at the intricacy and the beauty and the provision and the order that’s manifested, in creation, we see God’s comfort, his love, his majesty, his glory. And it’s extended to everyone, not just the people that are born again. It’s extended to every person, whether the person is a terrible person that is, you know, malevolent or whether it’s the person who has, you know, is like a mother Theresa. You know? God extends that generosity. And it’s almost like he preaches a sermon without words. God is generous. He’s saying, I am generous beyond measure. I’m creative, and I delight in giving the best gifts.

John McLarty: And such variety. You know, I’ve thought a lot about, you know, the whole you know, I mean, we obviously believe in creation, but the whole design of creation. If we’re just here to survive as these evolved animals, why is there such a delightful variety of foods that are so geared to our taste buds and smells? It’s just God’s goodness. It’s like, here, try a peach, or here’s an apple, or a watermelon. And there’s so much variety. Or acorn squash prepared perfectly by your daughter.

Kimberly Faith: And it’s so interesting because we were talking about this. I don’t remember if it was one of the last podcasts we talked, we just had a conversation around the dinner table. But we were talking about how the first century church got together over, they always had meals and how we’re trying to really bring that back. Because there’s something about a home cooked meal that’s number one, kind of rare in today’s culture. But sharing that with people and sharing the delight of what God has made with other people, that again, just brings us a glimpse of, I think, what heaven’s going to be like.

John McLarty: And think about something you’re really into and we’re into, and not just a meal, a tasty meal, but a healthy, nutritious meal.

Kimberly Faith: Yes, yes.

John McLarty: And so you’re not just delighting the taste buds. You’re actually feeding the body with good nutrition. 

Kimberly Faith: You’re healing the body.

John McLarty: Right. That’s exciting.

Kimberly Faith: And it is. 

John McLarty:  And there’s a spiritual parallel to all of this.

Kimberly Faith: 100%. One of the things when you said that, it made me think of is, you know, one of my kind of health goals is to not use ultra processed or even processed foods, but to use the foods as God made them and serve them and prepare them as close to as what God created, which is far more healthy than the GMO processed

John McLarty: And tasty. Exactly.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. And so that’s a side note. 

John McLarty: It’s a picture of God wanting to bless us bountifully. Just give us an abundant life.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. Yes.

John McLarty: From food to spiritual blessings. 

Kimberly Faith: Right. 

John McLarty: It’s a glimpse into the mind of God.

Kimberly Faith: And when it’s undistorted by this processing, when our physical food is undistorted by ultra processing, it’s much better for us. Just like when, this is another side note, but God’s Word doesn’t have to be filtered through 14 commentators for it to be powerful because it is quick and powerful according to Hebrews 4:12. And it’s a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. I can sit down and read God’s word, and it doesn’t matter whether I’m a scholar or I’m a brand new Christian, or whether I’m an unsaved person, it’s going to speak to me.

John McLarty: There’s a spiritual application. Have you ever heard of a sermon referred to as a canned sermon?

Kimberly Faith: Yes.

John McLarty: It’s just like, oh, maybe a traveling preacher that just pulled out another sermon. 

Kimberly Faith: Right. 

John McLarty: And it’s not reading the audience or meant for the moment. So, just relating a spiritual example of canned food. So the word of God, when I hear a good sermon, I want it to challenge me.

Kimberly Faith: Exactly. And what’s interesting is God’s word is so powerful that even a canned sermon, if he’s reading from God’s word

John McLarty: Has power.

Kimberly Faith: Has power. But still,

John McLarty: But still, you know, I’ve heard the phrase.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. I know.

John McLarty:  That was just a canned message. You know?

Kimberly Faith: Yes. And we should get it fresh from God’s word. 

John McLarty: We want our toes stepped on a little bit.

Kimberly Faith: Right. Or your butt kicked, however you want to look at it. So this idea, kind of the first movement or first part of this podcast about just the goodness of God creating a foretaste of heaven here on earth. This is

John McLarty: Amen.

Kimberly Faith: Such a blessing, but yet this reality is so sobering for those who have not been born again. You know, for those who have never received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, these earthly wonders represent the height of the joy and the only heaven they will ever taste. They’ll never know the eternal eternal reality where the Lord has established his throne in heaven in Psalms 103. They’re going to miss out on his perfect peace, his unending joy. And if they die without Christ, their end is frightening.

John McLarty: And that really strikes me deep.

Kimberly Faith:  Me too. 

John McLarty: If hell, if all that it can be. But if it was only the lack of the presence of God and none of these things we’ve just described, no pleasant taste, no sight, no rest. Think how much you know, we just talk about rest. How much after a worrisome day just to get rest. 

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. 

John McLarty: And imagine no rest.

Kimberly Faith: No rest. We’re going to talk about well, Second Thessalonians 1:9 says, as to those who are not born again who die, it says, these shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. That’s a really, really, I mean, succinct description of hell because, you know, eternal destruction is characterized by separation from God.

John McLarty: Separation from God.

Kimberly Faith: It’s not necessarily the omnipresence aspect. And we don’t really know to what degree God’s presence is going to exist in hell, whether just sustain it or what that looks like. The Bible doesn’t really tell us that. But it’s from all the goodness.

John McLarty: All the goodness.

Kimberly Faith: All the comfort, all the things that we love here today, I believe are going to be experienced to a higher degree someday, because it’s going to be unhampered and unclouded by sin. And I just think about, you know, what James 1:17 talks about every good gift flowing from him. Right? And right now in this fallen world, with all of its trials, everyone gets to experience glimpses of God’s goodness. And all these things, beauty and creation, times of love, experiencing joy and peace and kindness, relationships, acts of compassion, laughter, beauty, food, like you were talking about, and like you talked about, rest. But God gives those all to everyone now. But once you are gone, once your body dies, and then all that’s left of you is your soul and your spirit, there is going to be no more of that if you’ve not been born again.

John McLarty: Yeah. Just looking at Matthew 5:45, the Bible, the word says, God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. But being separated from that.That’s just a horrific thought. It’s separated from just the blessings of God. We experience it physically in this world. And for us, as we know God, it’s just a foretaste of something even more glorious. But to be removed from that for eternity is a tragic thought.

Kimberly Faith: Well, think about it. In hell, say eventually, Revelations is talking about Satan and his demons are going to be unleashed. They’re going to be cast there forever. Right? So you think about the description in Matthew Jesus described it as outer darkness where there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth, unquenchable fire, unending regret. You know? I mean, there’s not really, I think, a way to describe hell that is really sufficient.

John McLarty: And the non ending aspect of it.

Kimberly Faith: Right. You would get no respite.

John McLarty: No rest.

Kimberly Faith: Even here, even if you’re in jail here in our country, there are respites that they give you food. Imagine being hungry for eternity. All the gnawing things, the things that gnaw you, worry you, cause you anxiety, all those things are going to be forever and ever and ever. There’s been no satisfaction, no joy, no relationships that give love.

John McLarty: And think about just sleep. Here, you get sleep, but I’ve just heard of regimes where if you’re a prisoner, one of their tortures is just deprive you of sleep. Some of these really evil regimes, they keep you awake. And pretty soon people would like, I would rather, just go ahead and kill me. Please kill me rather than keep me awake for weeks.

Kimberly Faith: Well, and you hear the stories of prisoners of war.

John McLarty:  Right. That’s what I’m talking about.

Kimberly Faith: Right. I mean, who’ve been starved. 

John McLarty: Yeah. Or political prisoners. 

Kimberly Faith: Political prisoners. That is just, death that ends for them. That torture ends, but if they’re not born again

John McLarty: Right. It continues.

Kimberly Faith: It continues.

John McLarty: That’s a shuddering thought.

Kimberly Faith: It really is. And then if you contrast that because rejecting Christ, rejecting the gift of salvation means we’re forfeiting his presence forever, and we face the justice of judgment. You know? But then for believers, people who have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, God dwells with his people. He wipes away our tears. We get to experience everything that we’ve experienced here on a level that we can’t even really comprehend. 

John McLarty: Right. No more tears.

Kimberly Faith: Yes.

John McLarty: No more sorrow.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. And, you know, if you’re listening to this podcast and you’ve never been born again, I want to just encourage you, number one,  to know that when the Bible says God is love, what that means is God gave his son to die for us, and Jesus went willingly to die for us when we were his enemies. We were his enemies. We were on the other side fighting against him. And he knew this, yet he went to the cross and said, I’m going to take your sin. I’m going to pay the price for your sin.

John McLarty: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right. And he did that. So He bore separation from His Father so we wouldn’t have to face it eternally. 

John McLarty: Amen.

Kimberly Faith:  If you have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you don’t even know what that means, please go to our website. We have a whole section on how to be born again. And, you know or reach out to us if you need to talk about this because

John McLarty: Absolutely.

Kimberly Faith: It’s the most important decision you’ll ever make. It’s a decision that will  guarantee your eternal salvation, guarantee your eternity in God’s presence. And Jesus Christ is the bridge. He built the bridge. And for all of us who have been born again, we have such good news. We have such good news. We will only experience hell, a taste of hell, here on this earth, the things that are terrible that happened to us. Maybe you can’t sleep at night because you’re worried about something. Maybe you’re having a financial crisis. Maybe you have a loved one who died. I mean, whatever. I don’t have to explain sorrow. But that is just for a season. 

John McLarty: Life for a Christian, can have a lot of trouble. 

Kimberly Faith: Yes.

John McLarty:  But I think that’s interesting. It’s the only glimpse of hell, you know, depression, a tragic loss in our lives. That’s the only glimpse of hell experienced on this earth. That’s such a fascinating thought. And it kind of minimizes,  like, gee, let’s not let that control our life.

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: And I don’t want to minimize tragedies. I mean, I just had a tragedy of a dear friend that was killed totally unexpectedly. And it just floored everybody that knew him. 

Kimberly Faith: Right. 

John McLarty: And, you know, that’s kind of a valid gut punch.

Kimberly Faith: Right. 

John McLarty: But that’s not going to,everybody that knew him, we can’t live in that despondent sorrow forever. 

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. 

John McLarty: Because there’s ministry, you have to go on.

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: But yeah. It’s a glimpse of, you know, tragedy, and you might say, hell on earth. I mean and oh my goodness. Even talk about, you know, people in these prison camps.

Kimberly Faith: Well, Christians in Nigeria, Christians in North Korea, Christians in Iraq, Iran, Eastern Africa, you know, they’re suffering. People are and, you know, the Lord has laid on my heart this year

John McLarty: In ways we can hardly imagine.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right. To really pray for my suffering brothers and sisters in Christ. And I’ve had to ask the Lord, help me to pray for them as if they were like my sister, like my physical sister. 

John McLarty: Right. 

Kimberly Faith: Because we don’t have natural love. If my sister, Taunya, was in a prison camp, I would have no problem empathizing enough to pray fervently for her. But the great thing about our life is once we know that whatever tragedy strikes us, it’s not going to last. Not going to last forever because, and this is why, this is why the Psalms 103 and 104 just along with this, this statement about this is the only, this Earth is the only hell we will ever experience as born again believers really is radically reshaping my perspective, you know, because I know it’s not forever. There’s lots of hope. And what I want to do

John McLarty: Hope springs eternal.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right. What I want to do with my hard times, my hard experiences, I want to reshape my attitude about that enough so that when people look at me who don’t know Jesus, they’re seeing him, and they’re seeing that hope that is in him. And they’re seeing the fruit of his spirit. They’re seeing, you know, something that is attractive. Heaven is attractive.

Heaven’s not how it’s portrayed by those who are opposed to God. Heaven is everything on earth that we love on steroids. I mean, that’s the way I describe it.

John McLarty: Beauty beyond what we can even imagine.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right.

John McLarty: And for our eyes, we’re going to have a resurrected body, right? 

Kimberly Faith: Yes.

John McLarty: So we’re going to see things. We’re going to hear things. We’re going to taste things, smell things, and experience the very presence of God. 

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: Which now we just get these glimpses of.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right. You know, I  think about, you know, if we live, Jesus said that we need to become more like children. And children, they’re

John McLarty: I love that.

Kimberly Faith: They experience wonder. They see a flower and their face lights up and if it’s a little bitty toddler, they may smash it and bring it to you and just be so excited. When we let the wonder of beauty, the wonder of love, the wonder of joy be what people see in us, we get to tell them about Jesus. Because we can rightly say, this doesn’t come from me. You know?

When people say, how come you seem to be so peaceful? I can always just say, look, it’s not Kim. It’s not Kim. This is Jesus. This comes from him. And it’s so attractive to them.

John McLarty: You know, it’s just making me think we should just be full of joy. 

Kimberly Faith: Yes. 

John McLarty: I mean, understanding there are times in life, we’ve lost a loved one or a legitimate thing, we broke our foot.

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: But for the most part, our default position in life should just be abundant joy. I liked that as a little child. The flowers, and here’s springtime blooming in the Ozarks. God just intends us to have an abundant life.

Kimberly Faith: He does. And we’ve talked about that.

John McLarty: And that’s being connected to him.

Kimberly Faith: Right. And we’ve talked about what joy means and what the abundant life means

John McLarty: Yeah. It’s not happy, go, you know, just every day is a party.

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: But just deep joy.

Kimberly Faith: It’s satisfaction.

John McLarty: Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice.

Kimberly Faith: Right. I remember studying this and thinking, what is joy? And when you think about, it’s a deep contentment that’s rooted in our relationship with God because he is satisfying every need of our soul. And we don’t have to be mercenary when we deal with other people. We truly care about somebody because God cares for us. We can be truly generous because we don’t lack. Even if our physical bank account is small, we have an attitude, a perspective. And this is what I love about this idea, that when we are full of God’s presence, we are generous beyond belief with all the things that our love, our joy, our peace, our resources, our time. I was talking to a lady the other day and she said, I know you’re busy but, and I said, Wait, wait, stop, stop, stop. This was my New Year’s resolution. I never used that word because God is not too busy for me. Therefore, I am not too busy for you if I belong to God. And this devotional I mean, this podcast to me is opening a window of opportunity, at least for myself, to understand that this life is my one shot. I get one shot to bring people into the kingdom of God. I get one shot. I may not have tomorrow. I need to maximize today by manifesting the attitudes of Christ, by manifesting the mind of Christ, by being aware that the people around me, this may be the only heaven, the only Jesus they get to see;  tomorrow, they may not have tomorrow.

John McLarty: And I love that you said that, that you related it to people because there is that one on one joy, just our relationship with God.

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: I mean, we just had a birthday today in a park, and we’re surrounded by family and kids and just that joy of personal relationships. And something that came out in an earlier podcast is that God himself is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, a relationship. So our life, and this has just dawned on me lately, relationships are a great way to feel the love of Jesus from others and express the love of Jesus to others. And that gives us this joy. It’s not to keep unto ourselves. It’s to share in these relationships. And then think about this, Kim. In heaven, we’re going to see our lost loved ones. We’re going to see beloved brethren, Reggie Sylvester. We will know him. We will see him.

Kimberly Faith: Right. Well, you say lost loved ones, you mean people who have died, who were saved, not people who were unsaved.

John McLarty: Right. 

Kimberly Faith: Yeah.

John McLarty: Loved ones that we’ve lost in this life and are up in heaven. 

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. 

John McLarty: So, yeah, we just watched kind of a video of church members that have gone on, and we’ll see them. And that relationship, that just really struck me how important these relationships are. And that’s part of God’s joy on this earth. I mean, we’re a family. You know, 

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: God put us in families. Those are relationships.

Kimberly Faith: And we know death doesn’t win. We know physical death doesn’t win because Jesus conquered the grave. Right? And we have that hope. And I guess the reason that this whole saying about, you know, for the unsaved, this earth is the only heaven they will ever experience and the only hell that the saved will experience really just was a perspective changer for me. I was thinking, my problems aren’t that big. My problems will be over soon, and I’ll be in eternity. But it is growing the compassion that I have for those around me, people that I interact with at the gas station, people that I interact with at Costco. You know? Do I have my full on spiritual radar turned all the way up? For that person, I may need to pause and give them, hey. Here’s my story. I would love for you to read it. It’s about how I came to know Jesus and got eternal life. You know? This life is our only window of opportunity to bring people.

John McLarty: Well, that makes me think of, if we have a traumatic event, that’s legitimate. 

Kimberly Faith: Right. 

John McLarty: But how long are we going to let that rule our life.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. 

John McLarty: When, and then I’m talking about as a Christian. 

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty:  Because we have eternity to look forward to. 

Kimberly Faith: Right. 

John McLarty: So we have this blessed hope.

Kimberly Faith:  Right. 

John McLarty: So you know, that’s part of a discipline or

Kimberly Faith: A perspective.

John McLarty: It’s a perspective.

Kimberly Faith: Right. Yeah.

John McLarty:  Of how, you know, okay, there’s a time of grieving, but will I let this event change my whole life?

Kimberly Faith: Yes. Yes. And for Christians, you know

John McLarty: In a negative way. 

Kimberly Faith: There are plenty of us, and you and I have talked about this, how we have had events happen in our life that have derailed us.

John McLarty: Right.

Kimberly Faith: And thankfully, the Holy Spirit slapped us in the face, shook us up, whatever, to make us realize that this is not, you need to stop. You need to give this to me, cast all your cares on me. Right? And you need to go on because there’s still work to do. And I think you know, I mean, if you’re listening to this and you have never received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you know, don’t wait till the door is closed.

John McLarty: Exactly. 

Kimberly Faith: When you die, the door’s closed. And you can look out your window, look out your door. You can see proof of God all around you. And, you know, we want to be, I know that our goal in doing this podcast is to glorify God. That’s the ultimate goal. But a big part of glorifying God is to bring people to salvation.

John McLarty: To him.

Kimberly Faith: And to disciple. So if you’re born again and you’re listening to this, man, ask the Lord to give you passion if you don’t have it. Passion to share the gospel, to share your own testimony, to learn how to share the gospel if you don’t know how to do that. That’s the only thing. That’s the only key to entry into the presence of God after the door shuts on this life.

And, Jesus Christ makes all things new. I kind of want to wrap this up with the ending of Psalms 104 because I love this. And if our heart is like the psalmist thinking this way, then we can’t help but glorify God and thus draw others to him. The psalmist said, I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. May my meditation be sweet to him. I will be glad in the Lord. 

John McLarty: That’s wonderful. 

Kimberly Faith: It’s what you were talking about earlier is the joy, right?

John McLarty: The joy. I will sing to the Lord. Sing praise to my God.

Kimberly Faith: And I think that applies to every area of our life, you know, whether that’s when you go to work. People can tell if you love your life. And, you know, when I say love your life, what I mean is it’s a spirit of thankfulness to God for all that he does every day and all that he allows not to happen to us, right?

John McLarty: Yeah. And I’ve just been challenged with this lately to just like, why am I notI just joyful all the time? You know? I mean, you know, I get we have our to do lists or maybe, you know, the transmission’s making a funny noise. But so what?

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. 

John McLarty: And I don’t want to minimize people that may have real tragedies bigger than a transmission. But our default position in life should just be one of joy.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. Yes. Because we have a short time on this earth, and then we have eternity with God.

John McLarty: You know, I just had this thought right now, Kim, of a beloved brother that has gone on to be with Jesus, but his default facial expression was a big grin.

Kimberly Faith:  Yes. 

John McLarty: You know who I’m talking about?

Kimberly Faith: Oh, yeah. Johnny.

John McLarty: Johnny, and Emil Phanuef. 

Kimberly Faith: Yes. And Emil. That’s right.

John McLarty: And Johnny Tittle.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. They both had just such I mean, I’ve never seen either one of them without a smile on their face.

John McLarty: With a distressed look on their face.

Kimberly Faith: Right. Yeah. And especially brother Emil, if it was distressed, he was joking. 

John McLarty: Yeah. 

Kimberly Faith: You know? So that’s a great way to end this podcast, dad. I think that when the joy of the Lord is real in our life, we can’t hide it. We can’t hide it.

John McLarty: Amen.

Kimberly Faith: And we’re showing the lost around us, the only piece of heaven. A piece of heaven they can have.

John McLarty: Amen.

Kimberly Faith: Our lives should pique curiosity in others about the goodness of God and join with creation in bringing that together. 

John McLarty: Amen. 

Kimberly Faith: Well, dad, it’s been good.

John McLarty: Good perspective changer. 

Kimberly Faith: Absolutely. 

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