It Was Better Than The Olympics Opening Ceremonies!

I was so blessed to witness this extraordinary gathering.

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Recently I watched the 2018 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies from PyeongChang, Korea. They were wonderful: full of Korean cultural celebration, pageantry and dazzling effects. The synchronized drone light show was the highlight for me. It would have been awesome to be there in person. However, a few years ago I attended an outdoor stadium ceremony in Seoul, Korea that I think was even better!

About 60,000 cell group leaders gathered for their annual Day of Prayer that I was privileged to attend in 2009 in Seoul, Korea.

The event I attended was a Day of Prayer during the 2009 International Church Growth event hosted by the largest church in the world, Yoido Full Gospel. About 60,000 cell group leaders from that church gathered in a stadium for the event. These were not just cell group attenders, but the leaders of cell groups of about 10. It was mindboggling to think of how many were part of that enormous church.

In comparison to the 2018 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies, it didn’t have all the dazzling laser lights and pyrotechnics. In fact, the most colorful element was that each section of several thousand cell group leaders, representing a region of the city of Seoul, had on the same color T-shirts and in most cases umbrellas, pool noodles or other decorations. It was huge, but it wasn’t flashy.

However, I believe it was even more impressive than the Olympics Opening Ceremonies.

Here are 3 reasons the ceremonies I attended in Korea were better than the Olympics Opening Ceremonies:

#1. Olympic athletes are exclusively young people. But Christ’s “Gospel Olympians” are all ages!

Watching the Olympians march in the Olympic Opening Ceremonies revealed one thing very much in common: they are all in the first half of life. They represented many countries, but all had this same trait in common. The average age for USA Olympians is 26.5, “a standard age range for athletes competing at this level.”

That’s me in the sun glasses, amongst true “Gospel Olympians” including my host Hendrik Vorster who is on my right side (holding a camera).

However, the ceremonies of the Day of Prayer for cell group leaders at the Full Gospel Church was for all ages, even older guys like me.

I like that because the Christian life isn’t a sprint, or a mid-range race. It is a life-long Marathon. Thus, here is our challenge:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. (Hebrews 12:1-2a NLT)

We must run with endurance, right into our older years, until the end! As we reach the end, I hope you and I will be able to say with the Apostle Paul “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7 NIV)

No matter our age, we will be able to lead in ministry for Jesus. In fact, one thing I love about prayer is the fact that even when you or I are on our deathbed, we’re not out of the game with God. As long as we are conscious, we can do one of the most important activities of all: we can pray!

#2. All “Gospel Olympians” are winners.

The number of athletes parading into the stadium in PyeongChang was impressive. It’s always fun to watch all their smiling faces and it takes some time for all of them to enter since there are so many. There are 2,952 athletes competing in the Winter Olympics in 102 events.

If my math is correct, that means there will be 306 medals given. Thus, the vast majority of athletes will NOT win a medal; gold, silver or bronze.

However, in Christ, everyone can be a winner and receive the commendation “well done thou good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23) when we stand at the bema judgment seat for Christians.

This is taken from the parade of dignitaries I was marching into the stadium with (the guys in dark suits). It was almost overwhelming! I felt like a “Gospel Olympian!”

As a special guest of a member of the Church Growth International, when I went to Seoul and attended the Day of Prayer, I got to march into the stadium with the dignitaries, such as my wonderful friend Dr. Hendrik Vorster. It was an amazing feeling—I felt like an Olympic athlete parading into the Olympics Opening Ceremonies!

The sheer enormity of the event was amazing. But what made it even more special was the fact that everyone in that stadium was there to worship the Lord Jesus who loves us all. There were no losers! All “Gospel Olympians” who faithfully serve Jesus are winners!

3. Olympic medals are a short-term reward, but Christ’s rewards are eternal!

While most Olympians will not win any medal, even most of those who win medals will not become rich or famous. They’ll get the medal and a little money, but not a lot to show for all their immense effort. Since 1912 Olympic gold medals are no longer solid gold.

I hope the Olympians have enjoyed the journey, because there is no pot of gold at the end of the Olympic rainbow for most athletes.

While Shaun White earns about $10 million a year, primarily from endorsements, he is a big exception to the rule. Most Olympians earn nothing from Olympic competition. Many countries provide travel expenses, but that’s it.

However, “Gospel Olympians” earn eternal rewards!

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. (1 Corinthians 9:24-25 NIV)

How awesome is that. Our “crowns” (rewards) will last forever! Praise God!

Note: A few years ago, Carolyn and I got to visit the birthplace of the Olympics in Greece. You can see some photos and my article HERE.

Your thoughts are welcome! Please leave your comment below.

Each section had their umbrellas, pool noodles or other decoration.

All was done to the glory of Jesus!

I was told that the stadium was used in the 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul.

Help Spread the Word! If you found this article helpful, we’d love for you to share it with others on social media or otherwise. This will help get the Word in front of more people who need biblical guidance. Thanks for your help!

Additional resources about related subjects on this site:

• How to Medal in Every Event in Life

• Podcast: Will Christians be Held Accountable?

• Will Christians Escape Judgment in the End Times?

• Facing Death Fearlessly

• How to Prepare for Eternity Now and Face Death with Confidence Later

• Podcast: What will happen in the end times?

• Podcast: What will the afterlife be like?

NOTE: Facebook is random. Email is reliable. Subscribe via email and you won’t miss any of my articles, podcasts or videos. You’ll also get my eBook: 10 Prayers to Unlock Heaven on Earth

In Your Presence There Is Fullness Of Joy…

…at your right hand are pleasures forever more.

Where do you look for happiness and joy? Happiness is usually fleeting and dependent on circumstances which can change. But true and lasting joy are found only in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Christians have the joy of Jesus and the hope of heaven; where there are pleasures forever more at the Father’s right hand.

This is a guest post by Beth Harris. She is a wife, mother, Bible study leader and volunteer editor for markalanwilliams.net.

Before I became a Christian, I pursued sinful pleasures to find happiness and joy. Initially, I enjoyed the immediate gratification that sin offers, but as time passed I grew increasingly miserable. Sin is a trap that certainly promises short term joy, but in the end only causes pain and suffering.

I longed to understand how to have the joy that I saw in Christians. Then after accepting Christ, I experienced joy in His presence. I learned that obedience to Him results in joy. While His ways and guidelines may seem restrictive, they do produce joy; because they give us healthy boundaries and protection.

I still struggle with the temptation to seek joy elsewhere, but God always draws me back to Himself and I look forward to being with Him for all eternity.

The Lord gives his people perpetual joy when they walk in obedience to him. – Dwight L. Moody

The first step to finding joy in God’s presence and pleasures forever more is through reconciliation with God by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Jesus is the only way to receive forgiveness for sins and eternal life, through His death on the cross and resurrection.

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:11-12 NIV)

Once reconciled to God, we need to stay connected to Jesus, (John 15:1-5), to enjoy and produce Spiritual fruit. Joy is listed as the second fruit of the Holy Spirit, (Galatians 5:22).

John 15:11 says, “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” (NASB)

Jesus wants us to be full of His joy!

Accepting Christ and His joy doesn’t mean we won’t have problems. But, He gives us something far better than a trouble- free life and that is His presence.

Hebrews 13:5 says, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

“Joy is not necessarily the absence of suffering; it is the presence of God.” –Sam Storms

Jesus is at the Father’s right hand, (Romans 8:34), (Acts 5:30-31) and pleasures forever more refers to eternal life.

Christians become citizens of heaven, at the moment of salvation. (Philippians 3:20).

Death is not the end for believers, but the beginning of pleasures forevermore in heaven.

2 Corinthians 12:3-4 says, “And I know that this man – whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows – was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.” (NIV)

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT)

Heaven is a real place that is so wonderful; it is beyond human understanding.

As wonderful as our lives may be here, they pale in comparison to heaven.

Just as heaven is a real place so is hell. Thankfully, Christians are saved from hell  because of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins. Believers will be judged for service done for the Lord, instead of for our sins.

We can have assurance of our salvation as 1 John 5:13 says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” (ESV)

Do you experience joy in the presence of the Lord?

Are you looking forward to heaven?

Do you know for sure that you have eternal life and are you looking forward to going to heaven?

Have you accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? Please click here if you would like to do so now.

Your thoughts are welcome! You can leave a comment below.

Help Spread the Word! If you found this article helpful, we’d love for you to share it with others on social media or otherwise. This will help get the Word in front of more people who need biblical guidance. Thanks for your help!

In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forever more. Psalm 16:11 | CLICK TO TWEET

Additional resources about related subjects on this site:

• What Caused Me to Doubt My Salvation

• Who Needs Jesus, I’m a Good Person

• 3 Acceptable Sins You Can Enjoy Today…or NOT!

• Hungry for Heaven

• How Moving is Like Going to Heaven

• Six Reasons all Roads DON’T Lead to Heaven

• Five Questions for Those Who Think Many Roads Lead to Heaven

• How to Prepare for Eternity Now and Face Death with Confidence Later

• Why a Loving God Sends People to Hell

NOTE: Facebook is random. Email is reliable. Subscribe via email and you won’t miss any of my articles, podcasts or videos. You’ll also get my eBook: 10 Prayers to Unlock Heaven on Earth

The First Time I Flew In An Airplane

It was an unforgettable childhood experience!

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The first time I flew in an airplane was sometime in the early 1960’s. Our family friend from church, Harley Snook, had an airfield and a small airplane near our home. Harley took the plane up with my father and me beside him. I was absolutely enthralled. You can see some pictures of the actual airplane and a watercolor painting of the airfield below.

This is a color pencil drawing of Snook Field done by my friend and former neighbor Colin Sutphin. Facebook users can read his vignette on the “You know you’re from Reynoldsburg page…” HERE. Used by permission of the artist.

I remember looking out the side of the airplane with the window open! My father next to me was holding tight onto his little boy, I’m sure. We flew over houses that looked like pieces on a Monopoly game and roads looked like something created for a toy railroad display. I was absolutely mesmerized.

Since then I’ve flown to every inhabited continent of the world. Most of the visits to 65 countries have involved flights. It all started with that first flight.

Recently Colin Sutphin connected me to an article saying that very same airplane is now going to be on permanent display at the Ohio State University.

Although I was young, I think I learned a few lessons on that wonderful day.

Here are 3 lessons I learned the first time I flew in an airplane:

#1. Exciting things can happen when you step out in faith.

As my father and I boarded that plane, I remember thinking, “Wow, are we really going to do this?”

Dad certainly had faith. He could have said, “There’s no way am I going to risk my life and my little boy’s life in this tiny aircraft.”

Certainly, many have died in small plane crashes. Christian musician Keith Green is a notable tragic example. In 1959, rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson all died in small airplane crash.

For that matter, I could have said I was too scared, and my father would likely have not forced me to go up in that plane. But I didn’t, and we created a wonderful father/son memory.

Since then I have stepped out in faith many times, often remembering Hebrews 11:6 “Without faith it is impossible to please God…” I’ve stepped out in faith to plant churches with virtually no resources, become a “faith-supported” missionary and just recently at age 61 to start a new discipleship ministry called “Discipleship Journeys with Jesus.”

I have never regretted stepping out in faith for God! Faith in people has sometimes severely disappointed me. But trusting God has been wonderful. I’m glad I learned to step out in faith.

This is the actual airplane that we flew in with Harley Snook at the controls. A recent article tells how it will be on permanent display at the terminal of the Ohio State University Airport.

#2. Friends are often the gateway to awesome experiences.

That first time I flew would not have happened without my father’s friend from church: Harley Snook. In fact, our church would not have happened without Harley and Velma Snook. The church began in their home!

I remember attending Sunday School in their basement and learning Bible stories upstairs in their living room. That was the same living room where many years later my friend Mike Regan and I visited Harley as he was dying of cancer. That visit was prompted by Mike who said we have a short window of time to see Harley before he would go home to be with Jesus. It was a special deathbed visit of a friend, prompted by a friend.

And sometimes I’ve been the friend that has introduced others to awesome experiences. In fact, I was the one who introduced Mike to Jesus when we were adolescents. It happened in my bedroom when Mike was staying overnight, and we were talking about eternity. To this day he remembers and thanks me for leading him in that awesome experience of coming to know Jesus.

If you don’t know that you have eternal life through Jesus, please go to this link to learn how. I’d love to introduce you to Jesus also!

#3. The further away you get, the better your perspective.

Our perspective changed as we flew up and up and up in that small Piper Cub plane. I had never before seen fields that looked like a patchwork quilt from above. Cars and trucks looked like toys. People were as small as insects. I was totally enthralled with the higher perspective.

Often we exaggerate problems by our lack of a higher perspective. Later, when separated from those problems, by time or distance, we find out they are not the problems we thought they were.

A few years ago, it seemed like the roof had caved in on my life—I was discouraged and depressed and felt that things would never get better. But now, years later and far away from the situation, I see how it wasn’t the hopeless situation I thought it was at the time.

I’ll bet you’ve had similar eye-opening changes in perspective.

Of course, there are tragedies and losses that don’t (seem) to ever get better. When Harley Snook died of cancer, it was the end of the flight for him. Or was it? No, it wasn’t!

As a born-again follower of Jesus, I am 100% confident, based on the promise of God’s Word, that Harley lives in the presence of the Lord. As it says in 2 Corinthians 5:8, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”

The same is true for any Christ-follower.

This is the blessed hope! It is the incredible perspective of Christians: The worst that can happen (death) is actually the best that can happen!

Your thoughts are welcome! Please leave your comment below.

An older photo of the Piper Cub we flew in on my first flight, possibly taken at Snook Field.

Help Spread the Word! If you found this article helpful, we’d love for you to share it with others on social media or otherwise. This will help get the Word in front of more people who need biblical guidance. Thanks for your help!

Additional resources about related subjects on this site:

• 5 Outstanding Qualities of True Friends and How to Be One

• Grandpa’s Friendship with Walt Disney

• How to Be Successful in Life When You Have Failed

• How to Tackle a Mountain-Sized Goal in Faith

• Video vlog: Feeling Low?

• Faith Means Acting When You Feel Inadequate

• How Reluctant Leaders Become Confident Achievers for God

• 7 Biblical Christian Mantras I Find Helpful

NOTE: Facebook is random. Email is reliable. Subscribe via email and you won’t miss any of my articles, podcasts or videos. You’ll also get my eBook: 10 Prayers to Unlock Heaven on Earth