Notes of Faith November 20, 2025

Notes of Faith November 20, 2025

Never Lose Sight

By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.

Hebrews 11:22

Since the early nineteenth century, archaeology in Egypt has produced tens of thousands of mummified bodies which date back thousands of years. Due to their abundance, many mummies were used experimentally in medical research and in other experiments. But there is one high-ranking Egyptian official whose mummified body has not been and never will be discovered in Egypt—Joseph.

Before Joseph died at age 110 in Egypt, he made his brothers promise to take his bones back to Canaan when God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. According to the Egyptian custom for when officials died, Joseph was embalmed and placed in a coffin (Genesis 50:24-26). But when the Exodus came, Moses took Joseph’s bones to Canaan where they were buried at Shechem (Exodus 13:18-19; Joshua 24:32). Joseph never lost sight of the promises God made to his forefathers to establish His people in the Promised Land of Canaan.

Regardless of the chaos in our present world, never lose sight of God’s promises and your eternal destination.

God, in his glory and his presence, forms the destiny of the Christian.

Sinclair Ferguson

Life is indeed short. I don’t want to say too short but there is far too much sin in my life that will not go away until I am with the Lord. Therefore, although this life is good and filled with a multitude of God’s blessings, leaving sin behind sounds so much better. I love life and the length that God has given me thus far. I may go on for years to come. My prayer is to continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ throughout my years and to proclaim the truth of God until I am taken to be with Him. May we follow our true heart’s desire…to be like Jesus…to imitate His character, thoughts, words and deeds. One day we will be made like Him who knew no sin, for sin will have an end but we will live eternally with God!

This psalm is one of my favorites. Who knows you better than the One who gave you life and watches over you both day and night?

Ps 139

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

You understand my thought from afar.

3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down,

And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before there is a word on my tongue,

Behold, O Lord, You know it all.

5 You have enclosed me behind and before,

And laid Your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the dawn,

If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

10 Even there Your hand will lead me,

And Your right hand will lay hold of me.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,

And the light around me will be night,"

12 Even the darkness is not dark to You,

And the night is as bright as the day.

Darkness and light are alike to You.

13 For You formed my inward parts;

You wove me in my mother's womb.

14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Wonderful are Your works,

And my soul knows it very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;

16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;

And in Your book were all written

The days that were ordained for me,

When as yet there was not one of them.

17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.

When I awake, I am still with You…

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

24 And see if there be any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the everlasting way.

We are headed for the eternal Promised Land!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith November 19, 2025

Notes of Faith November 19, 2025

Exception or Rule?

And when [God removed Saul as king], He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.”

Acts 13:22

Most of us are familiar with the saying, “The exception that proves the rule.” That is, when something out of the ordinary happens, it “proves” the ordinary (the rule) exists. We can even apply this idea to personal behavior.

The biblical character David is an example of an exception proving the rule. The Bible characterizes him as a man after God’s heart who lived to do God’s will. Yet there was a dramatic exception to the rule when he was involved in adultery and murder. The question then arises whether to judge David by the exception or by the rule. And the same question applies when we judge others. Do we judge them by the exception or by the rule? We can answer that question by remembering how God looks at us—not at our sins but at our standing in Christ.

If you are tempted to judge another by the exception rather than the rule of faithfulness in their life, remember how God looks at you.

True forgiveness breaks a man, and he must forgive (others).

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

You (believers) and I profess faith in Jesus and proclaim that others might be saved through placing their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. And yet, we fail Him daily! If God forgives us all our sin, separating them from us as far as the east is from the west, should we not also forgive others that we see sin against God or us?

Let us lift up our brothers and sisters who struggle in the flesh as we do and strive to help those held captive by Satan, sin, and death, by speaking truth in love that they might escape the eternal judgment of God for their unbelief in Him and His work on their behalf.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith November 18, 2025

Notes of Faith November 18, 2025

Commands and Promises

By faith Sarah herself also received strength.

Hebrews 11:11

Scott J. Hafemann wrote, “Every command of God is built upon a promise from God. Therefore every divine call to action (obedience) is, at the same time, a divine summons to trust in God’s promises (faith). The promises of God are commands in disguise and vice versa. God commands what he commands because he promises what he promises.”1

We often think of Abraham as a man of faith and Sarah as a woman who wavered and even laughed at God’s promise. But that’s not the way she is portrayed in the book of Hebrews. Though there were times she was impatient or wanted to doubt God’s promise, Sarah remained faithful to Him. She was strengthened in her faith and believed God would do as He said.

Do you ever waver in your faith? Like Abraham and Sarah, we’re not perfect. We grow impatient and fretful. But when we realize that every promise of God is also a command and every command contains the seed of a promise, it helps us trust and obey and find strength. As you read the Bible today, keep your eyes focused on God’s commands and promises. He will strengthen you!

Every time we disobey God it is because we are not trusting him.

Scott J. Hafemann

1 Scott J. Hafemann, The God of Promise and the Life of Faith (Crossway Books, 2001), 87.

Even the call of Jesus to “follow Me”, is a command and a promise through faith for an abundant life now and an eternal life with Him!

Let me rephrase what Scott J. Hafemann said above…

Every time we sin against God, it is because we are not believing and trusting in what we know to be true about our relationship with God.

John 14:15

15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command.

John 14:21

21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

Let us more fervently seek to abide in Christ (John 15), to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5), to obey His commands that we might not sin against God!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith November 17, 2025

Notes of Faith November 17, 2025

Slow to Chide

So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.”

Genesis 16:2

One of our greatest hymns, “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven,” was written by a British vicar named Henry Lyte. You’ll find great encouragement from a phrase about God in the second stanza having to do with God’s grace and favor. Lyte said our Lord is “slow to chide and swift to bless.” We need a God like that because we’re so prone to sinfulness and mistaken actions.

Take Sarah (Sarai), for example. She was impatient for God’s promise to be fulfilled, so she devised a plan that involved Hagar, her maid, to have a child with Abraham in her place. We, too, get impatient and do things God doesn’t want us to do. But the Lord forgave Sarah, and in the end, He still used her to fulfill His promise.

When we sin, the Lord is merciful, and that’s why we can sing, “Praise, my soul, the King of heaven.” Praise Him today for the daily mercy He imparts to us.

Praise him for his grace and favor to his people in distress. Praise him, still the same as ever, slow to chide, and swift to bless.

Henry Lyte

Gen 16:1-6

Now Sarai, Abram's wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, "Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram's wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. 4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, "May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the Lord judge between you and me." 6 But Abram said to Sarai, "Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight." So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.

We are more than grateful for God’s mercy and forgiveness for our sin as the illustration above suggests, but what is left out of the illustration is that there are consequences for our actions. We are still suffering the effects of Ishmael (the son of Abram and Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid) vs Isaac (the promised child of God that did come to Abram and Sarai 13 years later when both of them were “supposedly” as good as dead in being able to produce a child. The nations that came from Abram through Ishmael have not ceased in trying to destroy the Jewish nation that came from Abram through Isaac and Jacob to this day. But the promises of God will always be fulfilled! He will continue to gather the true believing Jew or Greek (everyone not a Jew) to Himself until His chosen ones are taken to be with Him in their eternal home. Another reason for praise!

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith November 16, 2025

Notes of Faith November 16, 2025

Jesus Revealed in Us

Those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. — 1 Peter 4:19

If our kids always behave

and our boss is always pleased and our home is always orderly

and our bodies always feel good

and we are patient and kind and thoughtful and happy and loving,

others shrug because they’re capable of being that way too.

On the other hand,

if we have a splitting headache,

the kids are screaming,

the phone is ringing,

the supper is burning,

yet we are still patient, kind, thoughtful, happy, and loving,

the world sits up and takes notice.

The world knows that kind of behavior is not natural. It’s supernatural. And others see Jesus revealed in us.

~ Just Give Me Jesus

God has power to do the supernatural, the unthinkable,

the impossible.

You Can Know God

You will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. — Deuteronomy 4:29 NKJV

If Adam knew God as a beloved Father,

if Eve knew Him as the original Homemaker,

if Noah knew Him as the Refuge from the storm,

if Abraham knew Him as a Friend,

if Moses knew Him as the Redeemer,

if Rahab knew Him as the gracious Savior,

if David knew Him as his Shepherd,

if Elijah knew Him as the Almighty,

if Daniel knew Him as the Lion Tamer,

if Mary Magdalene knew Him as the Bondage Breaker, if Martha knew Him as the Promise Keeper,

if Lazarus knew Him as the Resurrection and the Life, if Bartimaeus knew Him as the Light of the World,

if John knew Him as the glorious King upon the throne,

surely you and I can know Him too!

~ Just Give Me Jesus

The Sufficiency of God's Power

To Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,… be glory. — Ephesians 3:20–21 NKJV

If you are questioning the sufficiency of God’s power to resolve your problems and pressures, your suffering and stress, your crisis and change, His answer is the same. The infinite power of the living Logos of God is adequate for any need you or I will ever have.

We may intellectually grasp the truth that God’s power is adequate, but we can never know that by experience if we stay in our comfort zone. If all you ever attempt is what you know you can do yourself, if all your needs seem to be met through someone or something other than God, if you never have any difficulties that are greater than you can bear — how will you know the awesome greatness and personal availability of His infinite power?

It’s when the Red Sea is before you, the mountains are on one side of you, the desert is on the other side, and you feel the Egyptian army closing in from behind that you experience His power to open up an escape route.

He has power to do the supernatural, the unthinkable, the impossible.

~ Just Give Me Jesus

Excerpted from The Joy of My Heart by Anne Graham Lotz, copyright Anne Graham Lotz.

These excerpts speak of the sufficiency of God for us and in us that others might see Christ and desire to seek after the truth! God is the giver of life. Jesus is the Redeemer of sinners and Savior restoring eternal life in His glory. May we be dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ, having faith in what He has done, is doing, and has promised to do in our lives, and that we might bring forth fruit of His Spirit, declaring to others the gospel of saving faith in Jesus!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith November 15, 2025

Notes of Faith November 15, 2025

Living a Great-Full Life: How Great Is Answered Prayer

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:16

We have all found ourselves standing outside the door (literal or figurative) of a person from whom we need help. Our hand is raised to knock but remains frozen in the air. Why? Perhaps we don’t feel worthy or fear getting “No” for an answer. If we fear asking a fellow human for help, how much more likely are we to fear asking God?

And yet we are encouraged to ask with boldness. How is it possible that we, in spite of our unworthiness, are encouraged to enter God’s presence in prayer? It is only because of Christ whose blood has cleansed us from our sin and made us worthy to stand in God’s presence. To fear asking God for help is to diminish the greatness of what Christ has done for us. Consider how an earthly parent would feel if his or her child feared asking for help. How much more does God welcome us to lay our needs before Him!

Avail yourself today of the privilege of prayer. It is surely the greatest of our earthly blessings.

Anxiety and prayer are more opposed to each other than fire and water.

J. A. Bengel

Luke 11:1-13

1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."

2 So He said to them, "When you pray, say:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

3 Give us day by day our daily bread.

4 And forgive us our sins,

For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one."

A Friend Comes at Midnight

5 And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; 7 and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'? 8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.

9 "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

The Holy Spirit is given to those who belong to God. The Holy Spirit leads, guides, directs, empowers, a believer and follower of Jesus to live a godly life, if that person yields to the Spirit and not the desires of their life before faith in Jesus, their flesh. Our heavenly Father wants us to walk in the Spirit! What would make more sense than to ask our Father to help us in this greatest of need…to walk in the Spirit and not the flesh! Ask, and you will receive. Many have not because they ask not…James 4:2

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith November 14, 2025

Notes of Faith November 14, 2025

God Will Provide

And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

Genesis 22:14

In the biblical world it was common for personal names to reflect the character or attributes of the person. The same was true of God’s name Jehovah as He revealed Himself to His people. Compound names were ascribed to Him based on His character and attributes—like Jehovah My Shepherd, Jehovah My Healer, Jehovah My Victory, Jehovah My Righteousness, and more. Jehovah My Provision was a name given to God by Abraham as a result of God’s dramatic provision at a critical moment in Abraham’s life (Genesis 22:1-19).

Because of the intense relationship God entered into with Abraham, He tested him by commanding him to sacrifice his son Isaac. When Abraham and Isaac approached the site of the sacrifice, Isaac asked his father where the lamb for the sacrifice was. Abraham told Isaac that God would provide—which He did at the last moment by providing a ram caught in a thicket. So Abraham named the place The-Lord-Will-Provide.

Philippians 4:19 says that God will provide all our needs through Christ. If you have a need today, trust that God will provide.

If God sends us on stony paths, He will provide us with strong shoes.

Alexander MacLaren

Phil 4:14-20

14 Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction.

15 You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; 16 for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. 17 Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. 18 But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. 19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

The Lord has and does provide in miraculous ways but more often He provides through what He has given to His followers to share with those in need. May we be more than willing to share the bounty God gives us with those He places within our influence to meet their need!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith November 13, 2025

Notes of Faith November 13, 2025

Flying High

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Hebrews 11:8

Earlier this year, a plane from Thailand was headed to London’s Heathrow, but a fire shut down the airport. London’s Gatwick airport was full. The pilot told the passengers honestly, “We don’t know where we’re going to go yet.” The aircraft finally landed in Brussels.1

Gen 12:1-9

Now the Lord said to Abram,

"Go forth from your country,

And from your relatives

And from your father's house,

To the land which I will show you;

2 And I will make you a great nation,

And I will bless you,

And make your name great;

And so you shall be a blessing;

3 And I will bless those who bless you,

And the one who curses you I will curse.

And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

4 So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. 8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.

Negev: an arid region forming most of southern Israel, between Beersheba and the Gulf of Aqaba, on the Egyptian border. Large areas are irrigated for agriculture.

Sometimes we feel the Lord telling us, “Fasten your seat belts. I’m in control even though you don’t know where you’re going.” That happened to Abraham. God called him, not telling him where he was going, and Abraham obeyed.

We walk by faith, and the best advice for finding God’s will is still found in this simple formula: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Ask the Lord for strength to trust and courage to obey. He’s a true and faithful Pilot.

God in His love always wills what is best for us. In His wisdom He always knows what is best, and in His sovereignty He has the power to bring it about.

Anonymous

1Amelia Neath, “Heathrow Airport: Pilot Admits ‘I Don’t Know Where We’re Going’ in Mid-Air During Flight Diversion Chaos,” Independent, March 21, 2025.

It is normal to think we know where we are going at any given time, but God who is in control of all things may direct our path in a way that we do not know. We are to trust in His sovereignty and will for our life’s direction, His glory, and our usefulness in service to Him! May your day be filled with the glory of God as He directs your path!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith November 12, 2025

Notes of Faith November 12, 2025

Being With Jesus

Master Sgt. Daniel Redman was deployed to Korea for a solid year, and he missed his family. They missed him, too, especially his two sons —­ Jacob in fifth grade and Jason in seventh. “He’s been gone for a while and I’ve been missing Him,” Jacob said.

When Redman found out he was coming back home to Maine, he told his wife, but they decided to surprise the boys. Television cameras followed Master Sgt. Redman as he entered the fifth-grade classroom —­ where Jacob jumped out of his chair and hugged his dad.

Redman looked down at his boy and said, “Did you miss me?” Jacob, crying, nodded his head, not willing to let go of his dad. Then it was on to the seventh-­grade classroom, where Jason spotted his dad, raced across the room, and grabbed his dad so hard that Redman said, “Holy smokes!” The classroom cheered —­ there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.

“You see them on FaceTime and Facebook Messenger and you know they are growing and getting bigger,” Redman said. “But it’s a lot different when you finally get to see them in person.”1

We’ve all seen videos and television reports of these surprise reunions, and we can’t watch them without our eyes watering. Perhaps one of the reasons they touch us has to do with something deeper —­ our innermost longing to be reunited with our Lord Jesus Christ. Like Jacob, we can’t help saying, “He’s been gone for a while and I’ve been missing him.”

We see Jesus in the pages of the Bible. We have His Spirit in our hearts. But it will be a lot different when we finally get to see Him in person. As we used to sing, “It will be worth it all when we see Jesus!”

I want to explore why that is true, and why being with Jesus will be such a foundational part of our experiences in Heaven.

Christ’s Longing to Be with Us

As I immersed myself in all the biblical passages I could find about our eternal home, one truth jumped off the pages of Scripture and into my heart. The main thing about Heaven is not the streets of gold, the gates of pearl, or even our reunion with our loved ones. As wonderful as those things are, the main thing is our Lord Jesus Christ.

Heaven is Heaven because that’s where Jesus is.

The Bible says, “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). In a similar way, we can say, “We want to be with Him because He first wants to be with us.” I do not have the eloquence or vocabulary — nor the depth of understanding —­ to explain how and why Jesus so longs to be with us. With you. But Scripture tells me it’s true.

We see this most vividly in the sacred prayer Jesus offered to His Father in John 17, just before He entered the garden of Gethsemane on His way to die for us. He prayed,

Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved me before the foundation of the world. — verse 24

“I want My followers to be with Me and see My glory!”

The apostle Paul reflected on this when he prayed that we may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height —­ to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.

— Ephesians 3:18–19

Paul was teaching us to ask God for a greater ability to know something that transcends knowledge —­ how much Christ truly loves us. How much He really loves you! This is the entire gospel in its most personal form. Jesus so wanted you to be with Him in Heaven that He paid the greatest imaginable price to make it happen. He became human, endured the brutality of crucifixion, and shed His blood so that you may have a life that’s forgiven and a life that’s forever.

What makes you most excited about seeing Jesus?

Our Longing to Be with Him

Jesus wants to be with us so much that it causes us to want to be with Him. As I said, we love Him because He first loved us. In John 14:3 He said,

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

He told the dying thief on the cross,

Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise. — Luke 23:43

Can you imagine hearing those words directly from the Savior’s lips? “You will be with Me.”

Paul explained death in similar terms, saying,

We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. — 2 Corinthians 5:8

When Paul was writing to the Philippians about his own death, he declared,

For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. — Philippians 1:23

In his most definitive explanation of the rapture of the church, the apostle said,

Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

— 1 Thessalonians 4:17

After all is said and done and all the explanations are made, there is only one thing that really matters when it comes to Heaven: Jesus is there, and we will be with Him. He longs to be with us, and He plants in our hearts the eternal desire to be with Him.

Often when we talk about a believing loved one who passed away, we say, “He is in Heaven.” Perhaps we should say, “He’s with Jesus.” Or, “She’s with the Lord.” There’s a hunger in every heart for the kind of love and permanence that only Christ can give. Whitney Houston, the American singer and actress, lived a troubled life and died at the age of forty-eight. She accidentally drowned in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. She was one of the best-­selling artists in history.

On the night before her death, she performed a heartfelt rendition of “Jesus Loves Me.” She told the crowd she had given her heart to Jesus. She told friends she thought the end was near, and in the days leading up to her death, she began quoting the Bible, singing hymns, and talking about Christ and heaven and the afterlife. On the morning of her death, she read about the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, and she told a friend, “I’m gonna go see Jesus. I want to see Jesus.”2

Deep within us, we all have that same desire —­ though we don’t always realize it.

Dr. R. T. Kendall was thinking about Heaven one day, and he pondered all the people he wanted to meet. “I want to meet Paul the apostle. I will ask him, ‘Did I faithfully interpret what you said about the faith of Christ?’ I want to ask James, ‘Did I really get it right on your epistle in James 2:14?’ I want to meet Martin Luther —­ my hero. John Calvin —­ my favorite theologian. Charles Wesley and John Newton —­ my favorite hymn writers. Martyn Lloyd-­Jones —­ my chief mentor.”

Kendall continued:

One of the things I expect to be true is the reunion with my loved ones. My mother has been there since 1953, my father since 2002. I have friends I want to see there. All my mentors who have shaped my mind and my preaching style.

But first and foremost —­ words fail me to put this as I would wish... I only know... I want to see Jesus! The wonderful thing is that we will get to see Him before we see anyone else. I want to worship Him. To thank Him for leaving Heaven, to become nothing, to make Himself of no reputation, to become an embryo in the virgin Mary’s womb. I want to thank Him for fulfilling the law. For never sinning. For dying on the cross. For saving me. I will thank Him for His infinite patience with me.3

What is it that makes you most excited about seeing Jesus? What do you want to tell Him? What do you want to hear from Him? What emotions do you expect to flood your mind and heart when you finally stand before Him face-­to-­face?

Such questions are worth thinking about. Heaven and Jesus are worth thinking about. Because as we will see in page after page throughout this book, the more we set our minds on the wonders of tomorrow, the more we are encouraged and inspired today.

1. “Video: Soldier Comes Home and Surprises His Kids in Maine,” 6 KWQC, September 6, 2018, https://www.kwqc.com/content/news/Video-­Soldier-comes-home-­and-­surprises-his-­kids-­in-­Maine-492580161.html.

2. “Whitney Houston Had Premonition About Death,” TMZ, updated May 12, 2019, https://www.tmz.com/2012/02/15/whitney-­houston-­premonition-death-­jesus-­bible/#.TzvnCXJkHEU.

3. R. T. Kendall, Whatever Happened to the Gospel (Charisma House, 2018), 176.

Excerpted from The Promise of Heaven by Dr. David Jeremiah, copyright David P. Jeremiah.

My thoughts about the future and my experience of life here and now have matured over the years. I definitely miss family and friends who have left this life and have crossed over to eternal life or eternal judgment. I desire not only to speak again with those God gave me interaction in this life but also those who will come after I am gone. Eternity is a long time to be able to enjoy all of these opportunities. But there is within my heart a great longing to be in the presence of Jesus! I want to see Him, to touch Him, to give thanks and worship Him, to dwell in His glory! That day is coming and it could be soon. I pray that the return of Jesus for His bride is today…and if not, I will pray that He comes tomorrow. Until then, we are given the joy of serving our Lord and Savior by proclaiming the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

John 14:1-3

14 "Do not let your heart be troubled; (you) believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

Let us wait with fervent expectation the return of Jesus…

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith November 11, 2025

Notes of Faith November 11, 2025

Grace and Favor

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Genesis 6:8

In British English the phrase “grace and favour” refers to a property provided by the government rent free in recognition of one’s service to the country. Grace and favor are synonyms in English and carry a similar core idea: free. We could say that grace and favour properties are earned by their recipients, but they are free in the sense that their provision is not an obligation.

English translations of Scripture use grace and favor to translate the same Hebrew and Greek terms. Both words carry the same idea of free. For instance, Noah found grace [favor] in the eyes of God in a wicked period of history. Yes, Noah was a righteous and blameless man who walked with God (Genesis 6:9). But he did not earn the favor God bestowed upon him. Rather, God looked with favor upon Noah as a man He could trust. The same was said of Mary the earthly mother of Jesus who was a “highly favored one” (Luke 1:28)—someone God could trust with a weighty commission.

We are saved freely by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). Let us also live as those God can call when He needs a faithful servant.

God is better than gold, His favor is better than fortune.

Charles Spurgeon

Grace has become one of my most “favored” words in my spiritual journey. God’s grace toward me is something that I do not deserve and yet He gives it. My grace toward others in their spiritual journey is still a learning experience. I ask in prayer to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only to know Him, but to be more like Him day by day. God’s grace is obviously greater than all my sin, (yours too), but His grace also provides salvation through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, and through believing in the person and work of Jesus, I/we have forgiveness of sin and eternal life. May we meditate on the grace of God, giving thanks for His being with us every moment of every day! May we be ready to serve our eternal King whenever and for whatever He calls us to do!

Pastor Dale