Sunday September 10, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 28 – John 7:53 – 8:11 “Drawing A Picture of the Gospel”

Sunday – September 10, 2023

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Word On Worship – Sunday – September 10, 2023

John 8:12
Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles. At that same feast, the Jews performed a ceremony where they lit four huge candelabras or torches in the Court of the Women in the temple, commemorating the fact that the Lord had been a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night to protect and guide Israel in their wilderness wanderings for 40 years. That cloud appeared on the day when Israel left Egypt, standing as a barrier between them and Pharaoh’s armies on the night before they crossed the Red Sea. Then as it went with them in that wilderness, it was a graphic symbol of the fact that the Lord God was with His people.

In the Old Testament, the Jews recognized the pillar and the cloud as the Lord (Exodus 13 & 14). Furthermore, light is often used as a metaphor for God. Psalm 27:1 proclaims, “The Lord is my light and my salvation ….” In a prophecy about Jesus Christ, Isaiah 9:2 predicts, “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.” In Isaiah 42:6, the Lord tells His Servant, the Messiah, that He has appointed Him to be “a light to the nations” (or, “world,” in John 8:12).

As I consider Jesus as the “Light of the world,” I am reminded of the conversion of Saul as described three times in the Book of Acts. Saul, who would become Paul, was the personification of the unbelieving Jews we find in John’. He thought he was serving God as he persecuted Christians, just as the Pharisees thought they were serving God by persecuting Jesus. Paul was saved when our Lord intercepted him on a mission to arrest more Christians. Saul was blinded by the “light” of the glory of the resurrected Jesus, whom he persecuted as he persecuted the church of our Lord. That “light” blinded Saul for three days. It was after this three-day period of blindness that Ananias came to him with the gospel, and Saul was saved.

Our text reminds us that while Saul’s conversion was extraordinary in some ways, it is typical in others. We, like Paul, are blinded by our own sin. We oppose God, we oppose Jesus Christ, we oppose the people of God because we do not like the light; we do not want the light. And all the while we are deceived into believing that we’re doing the right thing. If it were not for God’s “enlightening” us, for His seeking us out, for Him opening our blind eyes, we would never see. If you have come to see Jesus as your Savior, remember that it was He who found you, He who gave sight to your spiritually blind eyes.

Sunday July 2, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 22 – John 6:1-15 “Look Who Is Coming to Dinner”

Sunday – July 2, 2023

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Word On Worship – Sunday – July 2, 2023

John 6:5-6
Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?”  This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do.

When I began as a pastor 24 years ago, I was extremely unsure about whether I could do the job. I didn’t know whether I could come up with new sermons week after week without running dry. I wasn’t sure about whether I could adequately shepherd God’s flock or fulfill the other demands of the position. So, I told the Lord, “I’ll try it for a while and see where I’m at.” Although many weeks I still feel so overwhelmed with inadequacy that I think about quitting, by God’s grace alone, I’m still serving as a pastor.

No text in the New Testament has helped me do what I do as much as the story of Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000. Aside from the resurrection of our Lord, the feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle found in all four of the Gospels. It’s not just a literal miracle witnessed by thousands of people. It’s also a parable with many lessons about the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ to meet the vast needs of the world through His inadequate disciples. Although they were completely inadequate to meet the needs of this hungry crowd, they gave the little that they had to the Lord, who blessed it and multiplied it so that they could distribute it to the people. That’s been my experience for nearly a quarter of century.

The lesson I have learned through this is  that Jesus commands us to do more than we are (humanly) able, because He is the One who enables us to do what He commands. The disciples are inclined to shirk their responsibility to feed these folks because the task is “impossible.” Jesus does not let them off the hook, but rather lays the responsibility for feeding the 5,000 at their feet. What the disciples are not able to do on their own, they accomplish by the power of Jesus Christ. And not only are they able to feed this crowd so that all are filled, they even end up with a surplus.

God ministers through our weakness. He does not select “strong” people so that He can use their strengths; He chooses weak people so that He can demonstrate His power through their weakness (1 Corinthians 1:18–2:5). He gives us tasks which we do not have the strength to do ourselves, because He gives us His strength to carry them out. We are to be about this task, in whatever ways God puts before us. Let us see the magnitude of the mission as the occasion for faith, obedience, and prayers, and not as an excuse for apathy and idleness.

Sunday April 9, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 13– John 3:22-30 “Jealousy and Joy”

Sunday – April 9, 2023

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Word On Worship – Sunday – April 9, 2023

Romans 4:23-25
Now not for his [Abraham’s] sake only was it written that it [faith] was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.”

If I were to ask, “What is the most crucial question for which you would like a definitive answer?” we would probably get many different answers. Some might say, “What career path should I pursue?” Others may say, “Whom should I marry?” Or, “Where can I find a decent-paying job?” Some might want to know, “How can I live longer with good health?” These are all important questions, of course. But as I’ve often said, the most crucial question that we all must answer is Jesus’ question to His disciples (Matt. 16:15), “But who do you say that I am?” Your answer to that question not only determines how you will live the rest of your life, but also where you will spend eternity.

The correct answer to that question largely rests on the historic fact that Jesus rose bodily from the grave. If that is really true, then He is who He claimed to be, the eternal Son of God in human flesh, the Lord of all creation, who is coming to judge the living and the dead. That means that you must trust in Him as your Savior and bring all of your thoughts, words, and deeds under His lordship. If you trust in Him as your risen Lord and Savior, He promised that you will spend eternity with Him.

In the Book of Romans, Paul says that Jesus “was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4). This does not mean that He became the Son of God through the resurrection, but rather that the resurrection distinguished Jesus to be who He is, the eternal Son of God. By virtue of His resurrection, Jesus was appointed to be seated at God’s right hand of power. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord (Phil. 2:9-11).

Paul’s reference to “Jesus our Lord” in Romans 4:23-25 emphasizes again both His deity and His humanity. Jesus took on human flesh so that He could bear our sins, but He did not give up His deity. He is the Lord. When Paul says that Jesus “was delivered over because of our transgressions,” he means that Jesus died to pay the just penalty for our sins. When he says that Jesus “was raised because of our justification,” he means that when God raised Jesus, He put His seal of approval on Christ’s death as obtaining our justification. Because Jesus was raised, we can know that God accepted His substitutionary death on the cross, so that if we believe in Jesus our sins are upon Him.

Sunday March 5, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 9– John 2:12-22 “Jesus Cleans House”

Sunday – March 5, 2023

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Word On Worship – Sunday – March 5, 2023

John 2:15-16
And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”

All of us have owned something we consider very special, something we would not wish to be “defiled” by misuse. Whatever this precious object may be, it could not be as precious to us as the “temple” was to our Lord. John considered this incident one of the more significant actions of our Lord at the outset of His public ministry. Our task is to learn why this is true, and what the temple cleansing has to do with men and women living centuries later.

John does not focus on the way in which these merchandisers go about their business, but rather on where they are conducting their business—in the temple courts. The Gospel of Mark’s Gospel takes up this theme as well, pointing out that “where” these businessmen are doing business interferes with an essential purpose of the temple. The temple was to be a “house of prayer for all nations” (Mark 11:17). The outer courts of the temple are the only places where Gentiles could worship, they were not allowed to pass beyond a certain point (Acts 21:27-30). Can you imagine trying to pray in the midst of a virtual stockyard, with all the noises of the animals and the bickering businessmen? Think of what it would be like to have to watch where you walked, lest you step in something undesirable?

What Jesus sees going on in the temple courts troubles Him a great deal! The place of prayer has become a place of profit-taking.  It appears that Gentile worship is functionally prohibited, and I doubt this troubled many of the Jews, who were not excited about including the Gentiles in their worship in the first place. It sounds more like the trading floor of a stock exchange than the outer courts of the temple of God. It smells more like a barnyard than the place where one would seek God’s presence. Jesus enters the outer court of the temple, fashioning a whip from materials at hand and proceeds to drive the vendors all out of the temple area.

Many like to think of Jesus as a “God of love,” who never criticizes, never judges, never condemns, whose calling is to affirm everyone and to make them happy. I must remind you the way our Lord chose to publicly reveal Himself to the world was not by the turning of water into wine, or by raising the dead or healing the sick; Jesus revealed Himself to Israel as her Messiah by His cleansing of the temple. I would remind you that while John the Baptist foretold the coming of one who was the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” he likewise urged men and women to repent, because the Messiah was coming to judge the world. The Jesus of the Bible, the “real Jesus,” is the One who is merciful and gracious to those who trust and obey and the One who will judge those who resist and reject Him.

Sunday January 15, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 2 – John 1:1-5 “What Child is This”

Sunday – Date

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Word On Worship – Sunday – Date

John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”

John begins his Gospel in stunning fashion by never mentions Jesus’ name until verse 17, but it becomes clear right away that he is talking about Jesus. Rather than beginning with the story of His birth, John confronts us with His deity in eternity. John’s prologue provides us with insights which enhance our understanding and appreciation of the birth narratives in the Gospel of Matthew and Luke. These two Gospels highlight the humanity of our Lord, without denying His deity. John’s Gospel highlights the deity of Jesus Christ, without minimizing His humanity.

The truths John sets out in his prologue are not only foundational to his Gospel, but foundational to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. While the other Gospels build up to the realization that Jesus of Nazareth is God incarnate, John blurts it all out at the beginning of his work. Jesus is “the Word,” the God who existed from eternity, who was present and active at creation. And, wonder of wonders, the Word who existed in eternity past with the Father took on human flesh at the incarnation. He is the source of light (truth) and of (eternal) life. Through Him, grace and truth are abundantly provided by the Father.

Because He is the eternal God, we should believe in Him and submit everything in our lives to Him as the Sovereign Lord. Because He is the Creator, we should worship Him as we see His handiwork in what He has made. If His life is in us, our salvation is secure. Because He is our life, we should be filled with hope because we will spend eternity with Him. Because He is our light, we should let Him shine into every decision we make and into every area of our lives. If you want to know God, look to Jesus, the eternal Word of God!

John does not tell us the “old, old, story” of the birth of our Lord. Instead, he chooses to tell us that this One born of the virgin Mary was, as the prophet Micah said, one “whose goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity” (Micah 5:2b). What John tells us sheds a whole new light on what we read when God incarnate entered His creation. He chooses to tell us that this birth was a unique event in history, never to be repeated, and always to be the source of great wonder, joy, and gratitude. May you know what it is like for God to dwell in you, to His glory and for your eternal good.

Sunday November 27, 2022 Romans Week 75 Romans 16:1-13 “The Church Is”

Sunday – November 27, 2022

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Word On Worship – Sunday – November 27, 2022

Romans 16:15-16
Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the saints with them. 16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.

When you come to a section of Scripture like Romans 16 with its long list of names, it’s good to keep in mind Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” These verses, along with the lists of genealogies in the Bible, are inspired by God for our spiritual profit to equip us for every good work. So rather than skip over them, dig a bit, and you will come up with some nuggets that make the search worthwhile.

I can’t comment on every name, but let me say that this chapter dispels the notion that Paul was a non-relational theologian who was so wrapped up in his study that he didn’t care about people. These verses show that Paul knew many of the saints in Rome by name and some of them closely, even though he had not yet visited Rome. The chapter brims with personal relationships that reflect Paul’s love for people. The best theologians are those who can form loving relationships.

The church in Rome was made up of ordinary but diverse people. Some were slaves, others were blue collar workers, and still others were wealthy. Some were men, but Paul mentions a number of women. What drew them together and united them? We find the answer in a phrase that Paul repeats eleven times in these verses: “in the Lord” or “in Christ.” He asks the Romans to receive Phoebe “in the Lord” (16:2). He commends Prisca and Aquila as his “fellow workers in Christ Jesus” (16:3). He says that Andronicus and Junias “were in Christ before me” (16:7). He calls Ampliatus “my beloved in the Lord” (16:8). Urbanus is “our fellow worker in Christ” (16:9). Apelles is “the approved in Christ” (16:10). Paul sends greetings to those of the household of Narcissus, “who are in the Lord” (16:11). Tryphaena and Tryphosa are “workers in the Lord” (16:12). Persis the beloved “has worked hard in the Lord” (16:12). And Rufus is “chosen in the Lord” (16:13).

As we’ve seen in Romans, being “in Christ” through faith is the most important designation that can be true of anyone. Paul begins Romans 8 by stating (8:1), “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” He ends that chapter by saying (8:39) that there is nothing that “will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Whether you are wealthy or poor, ordinary or important, male or female, no matter what your background, those eternal blessings are offered to you in Christ Jesus if you will trust in Him as your Savior. What a tribute to the glorious gospel that saves ordinary, diverse people from every walk of life and places them “in Christ”!

Sunday March 13, 2022 Romans Week 45 Romans 8:33-34 “Gods Answer to Guilt”

Sunday – March 13, 2022

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Word On Worship – Sunday – March 13, 2022

Romans 8:33-35
Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”

Most of us know what the courtroom is like from watching on television. At the front of the courtroom, the judge is seated. He will be the one who hears the testimony, views the evidence, and pronounces the verdict. To the left of the judge, the prosecution is seated. The task of the prosecutor is to make accusations against the accused and to prove the charges are legitimate. To the right of the judge sits the defendant—the one who is to be accused. And at the side of the accused is seated the counsel for the defense, whose job it is to argue on behalf of the accused in his defense.

Just as God has ordained that there is no other Savior than Jesus Christ, so there is no other Judge than Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has two roles. The first is that as Savior, second is that of Judge. All who receive Him as Savior need never fear facing His sentence of condemnation as the Judge of all the earth. Those who reject Him as Savior most certainly will be condemned by Him as their Judge. These two roles of our Lord—Savior and Judge—are both claimed by our Lord (John 3:17, 5:22, 5:27, 12:47-48).

At first it seems that Jesus’s words are contradictory. He did not come to judge, and yet He will judge. This difficulty is easily explained in the light of our Lord’s two comings. The purpose of our Lord’s first coming was not to come as the Judge to condemn sinners. The purpose of His first coming was to make an atonement for the sins of men. But when He comes again, He comes to judge the earth and to condemn all who have rejected God’s salvation through His shed blood. The Lord is either one’s Savior or one’s Judge. If He is your Savior, He will not be your Judge, who will pronounce God’s condemnation upon you. If you reject Him as Savior, He will most certainly be your Judge.

It is this truth—that God has made Jesus either one’s Savior or his Judge. Ponder this courtroom scene for a moment. Outside of faith in Jesus Christ, every man is a guilty sinner. When judgment day comes, he must sit in the defendant’s seat, the seat of the accused. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Judge, the One whom the sinner has scorned and rejected. The Lord Jesus is also the prosecutor and the accused sinner has no defense. But salvation changes all this. The forgiven sinner need not sit in the defendant’s chair because the prosecutor cannot press any charges. The Father, the Judge, has already pronounced us to be righteous, justified by faith. How could the Judge condemn us? Jesus Christ has already been condemned in our place. He was raised from the dead, and He now is at the right hand of the Father interceding for us. No one can rightfully condemn us, the One who was our Judge has become our Justifier.

Sunday – January 16, 2022 Romans Week 37 Romans 8:9-13 “Alive in the Spirit”

Sunday – January 16, 2022

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Word On Worship – Sunday – January 16, 2022

Romans 8:9-10
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”

The most important question that you ever need to answer is, “Do I belong to Christ?” If you belong to Christ, all of God’s promises are “yes” for you in Him (2 Cor. 1:20). If you belong to Christ, you are reconciled to God, your sins are all forgiven, you can enjoy fellowship with Him every day, and you know that if you were to die today, you would be with the Lord in the glory of heaven forever. So, do you belong to Christ? One of the main reasons for studying Romans 8 is to give assurance to we who believe that we belong to Jesus Christ for time and eternity.

Paul divides all people into just two categories: Those who are “in the flesh” and those “in the Spirit.” There is no category for fence sitting Christians, who claim that Jesus is their Savior, but not their Lord. While the process of bringing every area of life under the lordship of Christ is lifelong, every true Christian is involved in that process. If the direction of your life is not, “Jesus, You are my Lord and I submit all of myself that I am aware of to You,” then you are not a Christian in the vital sense of that word.

Being a Christian is not a matter of going to church or believing certain doctrines of the Christian faith or trying to live by certain moral standards. Of course, true Christians do all of those things, but the vital thing is that the Holy Spirit has caused you to be born again. Jesus said this very plainly to Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews. Talk about going to church—this man went to the temple to pray several times a day. He never skipped a religious observance to go watch the “big game”! Talk about believing in certain doctrines—he had memorized large portions of the Hebrew Scriptures. Talk about morality—this man was scrupulous about keeping the Ten Commandments.

But Jesus’ opening words to him were (John 3:3), “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” He went on to say (John 3:7), “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” Peter spoke of the same thing (1 Pet. 1:3): “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. When we are born again, the Holy Spirit imparts new life to us and takes up residence in us. The mark of being a Christian is the Holy Spirit dwells in you and you now belong to Christ.

Sunday – October 10, 2021 Romans Week 24 Romans 5:20-21 “Super Abundant Grace”

Sunday – October 10, 2021

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Word On Worship – Sunday – October 10, 2021

Romans 5:19
For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

We might say that the work of Adam was a bad beginning for the whole human race. But the work of our Lord Jesus Christ offers men a new beginning. Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection does much more than to allow us to go on living just as we have in the past, but knowing that the sins we commit are forgiven. The work of our Lord makes it both necessary and possible for us to begin living in a whole new way, not as the servants of sin, but as the servants of righteousness. The work of our Lord not only forgives the sins of our past, it wipes out our past, and gives us a new future. In Christ, God offers men a whole new life, a new beginning, a fresh start. What good news this is—to the ears of a repentant sinner.

Having summed up the impact of Adam and Christ, Paul returns to the subject of the Law. Already Paul has said that those who lived before the Law (from Adam until Moses, verse 14) died because they sinned in Adam. Sin is not imputed to men without law (verse 13). The absence of the Law, for those who lived before the giving of the Law, was a kind of blessing. Without the Law, sin, other than that of their sin in Adam, was not imputed to them.

The giving of the Law did not solve the problem of sin. The Law was not given in order to reduce or remove sin but to increase it. And the reason was so that grace could surpass sin, abounding to men in righteousness and salvation. The Law increased sin, our Lord Jesus bore the penalty of that sin, and the grace of God is multiplied. The Law was not to deliver men from sin but to declare men sinners so that the sin introduced by Adam could be remedied in Christ. The link between Adam and Christ is that both persons, though one man, have acted in a way that affects all men. Adam sinned, and his transgression brought condemnation upon all men. Christ’s act was one of righteousness, resulting in justification and life. Adam’s disobedience makes sinners of many; Christ’s obedience will make many righteous.

How differently things look now! It first appeared that God might be unfair, condemning us as sinners, in Adam. But now we see this was in order that He might receive us as saints, in Christ. If the imputation of Adam’s sin to all mankind resulted in condemnation, the imputation of Christ’s righteousness results in justification. The means for man’s justification is the same as the means for man’s condemnation—imputation. The work of one man both condemns and saves men.

Sunday – May 9, 2021 Mother’s Day Zechariah 8:1-8

Sunday – May 9, 2021

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Word On Worship – Sunday – May 9, 2021

Zechariah 8:4-5
Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age. ‘And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.’

If someone were to ask, “What does the kingdom of God look like?” we might think of heavenly choirs singing praises to the accompaniment of harps. There is no doubt that glorious worship will be an important part of God’s kingdom. But I would guess that few, if any, of us would ever think to describe His kingdom as our text does: “Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets” (Zech. 8:4-5).

This is not Zechariah’s personal idea of what the kingdom of God will look like, but the direct word of the Lord of hosts (8:4). This word was intended originally to encourage the remnant that was struggling to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem after the exile. It fit into the overall theme of Zechariah, that God remembers His chosen people, and that He will bless them in His time. But the words also apply to God’s people in every generation who seek to live under the lordship of Jesus Christ as we await His glorious return and His coming kingdom.

Sadly, those words do not describe a large segment of American society. In 2018, The Office of Children and Families reported 1788 children under the age of 15 died from abuse or neglect and that number continues to rise annually. Most such abuse occurs within the confines of the home. Our streets, especially in large cities, are not safe, especially for women, children, or the elderly. By way of contrast, when the Lord will rule and reign, the elderly will be at rest and the children at play, unafraid of attack or harm. Since these two groups represent the most vulnerable in any society, if they are securely at rest, everyone else will also enjoy peace. How a society treats its elderly and its young children may be a good measure of how close that society is to the Lord. When He dwells in our midst, He describes the result as this scene of peaceful joy for the aged and the young.

The Lord taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). While the Lord’s kingdom will not come in its entirety until He returns in power and glory, we should labor for that kingdom to come in the interim. We should demonstrate, as much as possible, kingdom living in the here and now. Those who do not know Christ should be able to look at our homes and our church and get a glimpse of what it will be like on earth when Jesus reigns as King and dwells with us.