How often have we heard the story of the shepherd leaving the 99 sheep to search for the lost one; or the Prodigal Son welcomed by the father with a great feast… and wondered, in our hearts, what it must have felt like among the 99 sheep, or how the faithful son felt: Hey, what about us? Haven’t we been faithful and good all this time? Is this the reward of obedience, of doing good?<\/p>\n
The truth is, of course, that Jesus wants us to see<\/em> the complete story through the eyes of the lost ones, and the sinner. Because that is who we<\/em> are. If truth be told, those 99 sheep and that faithful older brother in the parables were only “safe” and “good” at those moments. There, but for the grace of God, they too would have strayed or been prodigal.<\/p>\n But the best parts of the parables are what happens when the lost sheep, and the prodigal son (read: you and me!) are found! Feasts, rejoicing, and the JOY of Heaven awaits!<\/p>\n “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” <\/em>(Luke 15:7).<\/p>\n Christian music should be joyful<\/em>, and here is a gospel song by Vep Ellis that mirrors the joy awaiting us in Heaven. Performed joyfully by the Vocal Band and Signature Sound at a concert in Louisville. Comedy (and some musical instruction) beforehand… words of hope… and a joyful noise unto the Lord!<\/p>\n Heaven\u2019s Joy Awaits<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n When we leave this lowland, We will cross the Jordan;<\/em><\/p>\n Past the chilly torrent, Heaven\u2019s joy awaits!<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Just beyond the blue horizon, Just above the starry sky, starry blue sky.<\/em><\/p>\n Far above this land of sorrow, Way above each tear and sigh, every sigh.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Just a few more miles before us, Just a little while to wait, patiently wait.<\/em><\/p>\n Soon we\u2019ll sing redemption\u2019s chorus, Heaven\u2019s joy awaits, Heaven awaits. <\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Heaven\u2019s breeze is blowing, Gently to me calling.<\/em><\/p>\n I will soon be going, Through the pearly gates! <\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Just beyond the blue horizon, Just above the starry sky, starry blue sky.<\/em><\/p>\n Far above this land of sorrow, Way above each tear and sigh, every sigh.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Just a few more miles before us, Just a little while to wait, patiently wait.<\/em><\/p>\n Soon we\u2019ll sing redemption\u2019s chorus, Heaven\u2019s joy awaits, Heaven awaits. <\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Click:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a>Heaven’s Joy Awaits<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How often have we heard the story of the shepherd leaving the 99 sheep to search for the lost one; or the Prodigal Son welcomed by the father with a great feast… and wondered, in our hearts, what it must have felt like among the 99 sheep, or how the faithful son felt: Hey, what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11,53,63],"tags":[13,136,110,137,15,25,135,72,138],"class_list":["post-379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-faith","category-hope-2","tag-christians","tag-ernie-haase","tag-gaither","tag-heaven","tag-hope","tag-joy","tag-signature-sound","tag-trials","tag-vep-ellis"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1bRYz-67","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3672,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions\/3672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}