Bringing Heaven to Earth: You Don't Have to Wait for Eternity to Live the Good News

by Josh Ross

You Can Help Bring Heaven to Earth
 
God so loved the world, and he still does. He values his creation too much to destroy it. If you know where to look, you can see that the coming of a new heaven and a new earth already has begun.
Life on earth is renewed every time you live out Jesus’s prayer that God’s ways will be followed on earth. The work of God’s Kingdom involves restoring what has been broken. This includes people, unjust systems, relationships, anything that has been separated from God and needs to be healed, reconciled, and set right.
This is how heaven collides with earth—not following fiery destruction but in the power of restoring to life everything that God created. What you believe about God’s plan for humanity and for his creation determines how you will invest your life. God calls all of us to this renewing work. You can help bring heaven to earth, starting today.

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 2015

About the author

Josh Ross is the Lead Minister for the Sycamore View Church in Memphis, Tennessee. In addition to speaking regularly around the country, he has been published in New Wineskins, At Home Tennessee, The Christian Chronicle, and other publications.

Reviews

[Robert Durough, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of us have grown up in the “I’ll Fly Away” crowd, getting much of our eschatology (what we believe about end times) from our hymns rather than the Bible, which in turn influences what we believe about how we are to live here and now. If this place is going to blow up and we’re going to fly away, then nothing here really matters, right? Unfortunately, this way of thinking is still pervasive in many churches and schools. Josh Ross and Jonathan Storment grew up in this same vein, have since been convinced of a greater reality of living in the kingdom now, and have provided an easy to read book on why and how that can and should happen. This is Bringing Heaven to Earth: You Don’t Have to Wait for Eternity to Live the Good News.

“Part 1: A Reintroduction to Heaven” begins emphatic, but lighthearted, sports jokes and jabs not spared (just look past them!). Ross and Storment make a simple case for the real connection between heaven and earth and God mission of resurrection and redemption, not rapture. “Part 2: When Heaven Celebrates” gets a little heavier—if that can happen when talking about partying!—but only insomuch as the authors continue drawing the reader into the importance of the topic at hand. Once in “Part 3: Life in the Light of Heaven” the reader should have a broader grasp of what it means to live for God’s glory and the sake of others right now and give up on any ideas that may keep us waiting until we’re in “heaven” to be joyful in this life.

This can be a great primer for anyone struggling with what to do with the good news of the kingdom of God and how heaven, hell, and earth may fit therein. It may be especially helpful for those who are steeped in dispensationalism, a particular theological stream espoused by much company I’ve kept in recent years. If you’re looking for a quick and easy read to whet your appetite to go even further in living as a kingdom citizen now, this can help. Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid!

*Disclaimer: I was contacted by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, and received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. I was not paid, nor was I asked to write anything specific, whether positive or negative.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant perspective

Josh and Jonathan have shined a light on the reality of Heaven here and now in this world! My heart has been stirred to live in such a way that His will be done on earth AS IT IS in Heaven. A must read for those desiring to fulfill God's plan in their lives and in the world around them!!!

[Halley Hopson]

4.5 stars. A solid book full of gems of insight that many Christians need to hear. Josh and Jonathan are always quite hilarious with their many references woven into it as well. Very much enjoyed it.

[Jerry Hillyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: Bringing Heaven to Earth

At Amazon: Bringing Heaven to Earth

Authors: Josh Ross & Jonathan Storment

Publisher: Waterbrook Multnomah

Year: 2015

Pages: 215

I like to mark up the books I read with my pen. In this way, I will be able to go back through the book at a later time and note important passages or thoughts that I may wish to use in a lesson or blog or whatever. For this book, I used a nice red ink and on page 2, near the bottom, I wrote, "I'm already on board!" I wrote that after reading this:

We don't believe the primary purpose of following Jesus is to enjoy the gift of heaven. Rather, it is to be united with Christ in His love and mission. The call to conversion in the New Testament isn't a decision for salvation, but a decision for Jesus. It is more than a change in status; it is a shift in allegiance, passion, and calling. (2)

I like that. I like that very, very much. I like it because it resonates with me deeply in that I want something different from the pie in the sky Christianity I was raised on--the kind I have complained about elsewhere. That sort of Christianity gets us in the club and we talk an awful lot about how to get into the club. Then we go through the motions. I was a church preacher for nearly 20 years and I have seen the results of preaching that simply aimed to get people into the club and along for the ride.

Frankly, it's boring. It's meaningless. And it has killed the church. Or it has at least ruined it for some of us. Books like Bringing Heaven to Earth will, hopefully, go a long way towards rectifying one of our most significant problems in the church: definitions. In my opinion, for too long the church has misused some of its language. We have misused words like kingdom, heaven, mission, and judgment. Maybe we have even misused the name of Jesus. N.T. Wright has done the lion's share of the work in helping us re-acquire proper definitions of bible words and others, more recently Scot McKnight in his book Kingdom Conspiracy, and I think Tim Keller to an extent (we might also say Yancey, Hauerwas, Willimon, and others), have taken Wright's heavily historical and theological work and brought it down to the level of the pew. I do not mean this in the sense that McKnight's work or the current book is 'easy' or pedestrian. Wright's work needed a filter for the average pew sitter and these author's have done remarkable work in bringing Wright's message home to the church.

The church has benefited from their work and now I am hopeful that the church will also benefit from the work of Ross and Storment. I come from the same church background as Storment and I can say with utmost confidence that this is a message our churches need desperately to hear. IF there is a denomination in America deeply entrenched in mis-applied definitions it is the church tradition I belong to. Storment's message resonated with me deeply for this reason--especially since I only have a limited voice in that church at this point in my life.

Back to definitions. As one example, take the word 'heaven.' Churches in America have this strange idea that heaven is a place 'we go' after we die. Preachers have done a remarkable job painting pictures of mansions within mansions, ethereal whispiness, clouds, and harps. I confess that when I was younger I used to think to myself that such an existence, no matter how long, would be utterly mind-numbing. And I could never reconcile that vision with Jesus' words about 'heaven being God's throne and the earth being his footstool.' Then along came N.T.Wright who began articulating for me what my heart had only been whispering. I'll never forget the time I preached from the pulpit that when we are resurrected we will have bodies, real flesh and blood bodies and one of the ladies approached me afterward and virtually questioned my sanity. Didn't matter that Jesus was resurrected with a body. But I digress. Ross and Storment bring it home to all of us:

In the Christian worldview, heaven is the realm in which everything is as God wills; it is not just a far off location out past Jupiter. Heaven is less a location and more a reality defined by God's will being done. Yet here on earth, a lot of people are working against heaven by trying to make sure that what they will is what gets done. (33; their emphasis.)

And,

Don't get us wrong, the Gospel is about heaven. But heaven is not the distant, otherworldly place we often imagine it to be. Heaven will come down to earth. We will live on earth in a renewed, restored world. (59; except that the Gospel is not necessarily about heaven; it's about Jesus and how he has brought about heaven's rule here on earth.)

This is good, solid theology for the masses here (except I would eliminate the word 'just' in the first sentence.) The point is clear: so many Christians are caught up thinking about the 'Promised Land' that they haven't given any thought to what God is doing right here, right now, and how what he is doing right here and now will last into eternity. Our lives are about what Jesus continued to do and teach (Acts 1) and what we are doing will be tested in fire. Some will burn up; some will last. Yet there is a reason why Jesus died, was resurrected, and bids us to keep on living here instead of swooping us up as soon as we believe. There is work to be done here, now, and it matters now and then. In one sense it is true that 'this world is not' our home, but there's a better sense in which we do not have much of a choice.

Later on, the author's write:

If we think God's future has nothing to do with our lives and this world, then it won't affect how we live. It's possible to be a Christian and waste your life. It's possible to think that the gospel is all about another time and another place, and totally miss out on what God is doing right in front of you. (190)

What encourages me greatly about this book is that it was written by two preachers. What this tells me is that the message is getting into the hands and hearts of people who live in the world every day of their lives. It tells me that at least in some places in the church words are being defined properly and people are taking in the message and not kicking out the preachers who are doing the defining. What it tells me is that there is leadership in positions of authority who are supporting the message of these preachers. Finally, what it tells me is that the Holy Spirit is indeed moving in our congregations and that the famine might be staved off for a while yet.

This book greatly encourages me not because they have it all correct (although there were more than a couple of times when their insights were deep), but because they are living it, preaching it, and sharing it with others. It's easy to be innovative for the sake of an audience, but I don't sense innovation in this book. I sense a deep personal conviction that this is a message that needs to be heard by the people of the church. It's a strange sense of conviction I get from these two authors/preachers that this is a fire in their bones that cannot be quenched. I'm encouraged because when so many preachers are taking the easy way, they are sticking with the Gospel.

The book reads easily; although, it's easy to get reading and miss the depth. They tell plenty of stories. Quote plenty of Scripture even though I thought perhaps a little too much prominence was given to the story of the Prodigal son. There are several pages of discussion questions at the end and also notes are at the end as well. In my ARC there was no subject index but it may have been added in the final edition.

The only real quibble I have is that I wish they had pushed the metaphor a little more. That is, I wish 'bringing heaven to earth' had been a little more obvious in each chapter because I thought at times it was a bit obscured by other things. It doesn't take away from the book. It just means that a little more work has to be done to find it.

This is an excellent volume and I think it will be a welcome edition to anyone's library--preacher, teacher, church member/parishioner, Protestant or Catholic, or whoever. I applaud the men on their work of bringing this timely message to bear on the church in these days.

5*/5

Disclaimer: I was provided an ARC via the Waterbrook Multnomah Blogging for Books readers' program. I was not compensated or asked to write a favorable review. I was only expected to be honest and that I have been. Enjoy.

[Chris Whitehead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book to re-introduce some old ideas. They say the best way to change the direction of a large ship is slowly. While there is probably still much more that could be said about this topic, the authors did a great job of doing two things- changing our focus from trying to escape this world to getting to work with God IN this world and reminding us of some of the lost beliefs that the early church held that we would do well to remember.
They touched on a few other topics in a few ways that, at times, made some of the thoughts presented all over the place. Those thoughts jump out when they happen, and the reader would do well to apply separate study to those, but this is a good introduction.

[Blake Western · Rating 3 out of 5]

The authors believe that Christians have traditionally placed too much emphasis upon Heaven. They believe that we should live a heavenly life here. There is much that is good in this book. However, some Biblical interpretations are questionable. Often to correct one extreme, writers will go to the opposite extreme. No doubt many people will feel that way about this book.

[Conchita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Bringing Heaven to Earth, Josh Ross and Jonathan Storment have teamed up to explore the power of Heaven that is available to believers on Earth. Throughout the book, the authors look at the meaning of Matthews 6:10 and this verse talks about God’s will being done as it is in Heaven. The book also dug deep into the meaning behind how God is going to create a new Heaven and how the Earth and Heaven will collide. And the good news is that while we are waiting for Heaven we are instructed to love others and be a blessings to others. This book will encourage readers to live their lives that will make an impact on others and bring the power of Heaven to Earth.


I especially love the chapter about weddings. The authors discussed the importance of marriage and how God views weddings. They opened the chapter with declaring the insights found in Matthew 22:2. This verse stated how God’s Kingdom is like a King who has made an enormous feast for his son and his new bride. They pointed out about how Adam and Eve was the first wedding God performed and God knew the strength and power a husband and wife could have together. They also shared the teachings found in the opening of the Gospel of John. This passage talked about when Mary asked Jesus to make some more wine for the celebration of a wedding. Jesus at first said no but then He told the people to fill the dirty jars with water and serve them. The wine turned out to be the best wine. This chapter filled with me with much hope about how God has created Heaven and how He has an awesome place for His people.



I would recommend this breathtaking book to anyone who is longing to discover the critically and awe-inspiring truth about Heaven and how we can have Heaven on Earth. I liked how the authors included tons of scriptures to back up their beliefs. I especially loved the chapter about how to get over the control of the fear of failure in your life. This chapter taught me how I have to realize that perfect love will cast out all of the fears in my life. This book gave me great encouragement that there will be no more pain and heartache in Heaven. But it gave me an even greater call and mission to live my life fully and bring the power of Heaven to Earth.



“I received this copy of Bringing Heaven to Earth for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review”.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was pretty excited about this book - the title alone sparked tons of interest, of course I want to learn more about bringing heaven to earth! The first few chapters were a bit slow, but I jotted down my favorite quotes like, "What is a Christian's responsibility to bring to bear God's will in your corner of the world, so that people throughout your town might come to experience a hint of what life is like in heaven?" or subtitles like, "Engage the world, don't escape it."
But I gave it three stars for two reasons. One, I prefer Christian books that inspire you...that dig deep to unleash a burning passion for whatever the book is discussing. Two, I felt that there were plenty of other books that I've read that have brought up this same topic, but in a better way. I do have to give the writers props for keeping the bible in their writing instead of conjuring up their own opinion based on a few lone pieces of scripture, which is why I gave it three stars...maybe 3.5.
If you have grown up to believe that Heaven is in the clouds, surrounded by fluffy white & blue, trumpets playing all day, eating the best mac&cheese, and looking down at your loved ones still on Earth...I recommend picking this book up.

[Joy]

An eye opening, hope giving, book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Inspiring views on Heaven and how we should bring the power of heaven to earth and effect those we meet. If you have a fear of failure one of the chapters deals with it, very encouraging.

I received a copy of this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Sharon Heaverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, I must say that I received this book through Goodreads First Reads program in return for an honest review.
As a Christian, this book gave me much to think about and much to rethink. Sometimes we can overthink Heaven and our quest to go there after death. What if this time and place is already Heaven? How can we go about making this a heavenly place for others.
I enjoyed this book.

[Jeffrey Adair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! Pick this one up for sure.