"Coming Attractions"

"This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD." (Psalms 102:18)
There are so many different things that we can take from this, one that came into my mind right off the bat, was the way that the Lord has created a new creature in me; one that loves to praise Him and looks forward to the day when I can praise Him personally, face to face. I heard Pastor Mike say something the other day, it was that people who don't like to praise Him now are surely not going to like heaven, because that is what heaven is going to be all about, praising God. I might not agree with everything he says, but most everything is pretty spot on. He did say something about the Prodigal Son that I must take issue with, that if he had died in the pig-pen, then he would have stayed in the pig-pen. I know it has some very contrasting opinions, and we are all entitled to pick the one that best suites our own way of thinking, but I tend to agree more with J. Vernon McGee's depiction of the son who wasted his inheritance, that he never stopped being the son! We have been created anew; each and every one of us that have been reborn into the Kingdom of God have been given a new life in Christ. Some of us are fully dedicated to serving the Lord, and some are not; some of us have gifts that make us seem special, and some of us do not even know what our gifts are; some of us live for Jesus, and some of us just barely live from day to day; but we are all God's children, each and every one that has been born again into the family of God. There is a place in heaven for those that choose to serve themselves, I truly believe that will be the case; but it is something totally and completely up to God; but one way or another, we all will be praising the Lord when we get into His presence. There are some verses coming up that proclaim Jesus Christ; and if I am not mistaken, this should also be included with them. We serve a God full of grace and mercy, who's number one pleasure is that we believe in His Son. I don't care what you might be right now, or what bad choices you might have made with your life, if you made that one choice, then you cannot go far enough that He cannot still hold onto you...
"But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness towards us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. God saved you be his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." (Ephesians 2:4-10) NLT