What are we going to be doing in heaven after we die?

I think I’m not the only one who is curious about what we are going to be doing in heaven. You’ve wondered about that, haven’t you? Not just what is heaven like, but what will do for all eternity? Maybe you’ve heard that in heaven you’ll do forever what you love to do. So you might have heard that heaven is one endless basketball course. That’s great if you love to basketball, but what about the rest of us who think it’s way too much running and it’s awfully frustrating trying to get that orange ball into a basket in the air in such a small room? Maybe for people like us, there will be a football court. But what if you don’t like football? Then what? You get the point.

 

God doesn’t give us specifics in his Word about what we’ll be doing for all eternity, but the Bible is clear that we won’t be sitting on a cloud. We will be active and doing things, we will be living on a “new earth,” we’ll be eating with the Lord and other people, we’ll be celebrating and talking to the heroes of faith. That is really fantastic, right? Kind of like the best wedding reception you’ve ever gone to…and it never ends. It’s possible that our existence in heaven will resemble spiritual life on this planet much more than we think. But one thing is for certain: it will be perfect and it won’t be so much about what we are doing but it will be more about who we’re with.

 

Today the risen Savior gives us a little snapshot of heaven to encourage us and to help us see the big picture. We’re in the picture but we’re not front and center. Jesus is. His believers and the angels – and all that he created – are worshiping him because he’s the one who deserves our worship and praise.

 

Remember that Revelation is a series of visions that Jesus gave the Apostle John to show how Jesus is the winner. At the start of this chapter the Apostle John saw a vision of God the Father holding a sealed up scroll. The scroll holds the future and John was sad because no one could open it.

 

The only one who could open it was the Lamb, Jesus. Jesus is at the center and everyone in heaven is saying, “He is worthy of our praise and honor and glory.” Why is he worthy of our praise and honor and glory? You might right away, “because he is God!” True, he is right next to God the Father, equal to him, and fulfilling what he once told his disciples that “all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father” (John 5:23). The one who twice turned a five loaves of bread and two fishes into food for a multitude, who stopped a storm in a millisecond and who brought three people back from the dead is God. But he’s the Lamb who was killed and is alive again. What makes Jesus worthy of receiving power, wealth, wisdom, and strength is that he gave up his life to purchase us and he came back to life again so we would know it’s true. His grace, undeserved kindness to us, is a greater characteristic of God than even his power. That’s why the hundred million angels are praising him in heaven.

 

So the only proper response to who this Lamb is and what he’s done for us, is to worship him, honor him, sing his praises. He is the powerful Lord who thundered in the Third Commandment “Worship me!” But here’s the issue: could any of us say our worship of him – not just the one hour a week in his house but also the other 167 hours a week that we worship – is the perfect honoring him like we see here in the heavenly picture? Do we give him the total and perfect praise he deserves or do we struggle with priorities – there’s so much to do in life, each day of the week, that sometimes our worship of the Lamb falls from #1 to #3 or 4 or 5 or lower. Or, have we learned the regular weekly pattern that God wants of being in his house, but our thoughts when we’re here are a mile away? Let me show you what I mean: part of worship is listening as God speaks to us; have you gotten to the end of one of the Scripture readings and you have no idea what it was about because your mind got distracted and you started thinking about something else and you missed the whole thing. Have you ever picked up the announcement page to see what’s going on this week… right in the middle of a song or reading or a prayer? Have we ever given less than full effort into our worship – if you’re over tired, that’s often what happens, isn’t it? Does your mind ever drift away from God during a prayer, where you’re talking to God himself? Jesus is worthy of our perfect and total and regular worship, but we have fallen far short.

 

Yet the same powerful Lord who boomed the commandments from the sky, is the forgiving Savior who re-motivates us to worship him over and over again with his forgiveness and patience. This Lamb was slain for the times our priorities were all wrong, for the times we just went through the motions, for the times our focus wasn’t on Jesus. And that Lamb came to life so that we would know we stand forgiven. In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote, “[Jesus] was delivered over to death for

 

our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” And to prove to you that you are a forgiven child of God, Jesus gave John this vision of the Lamb. He’s worthy of our praise because he’s forgiven us.

 

And you’re in the picture. Yes, this picture of heaven.

 

So what do you think you’ll be doing in heaven? We’ll be worshiping Jesus. And it will be perfect, exciting, awesome. The center of attention will be Jesus, not us. We say it now and we’ll say it in heaven, “The Lamb is alive! He is risen! He is risen, indeed!” Sin paid for, the devil squashed, death’s power and pain broken. John could see it….and so do we. Amen.

What are we going to be doing in heaven after we die?

If You Knew You Only Had One Day to Live, What Would You Do?

Let’s talk about your life. If you knew you only had one day to live, what would you do? Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever written out a to do list? “I have to do this before I die…I have to go skydiving, travel to Australia and lie on the beach, sitting on the top of the highest mountain in the world and pray for a while”… Maybe that last one’s just me. How do you feel about your to do list—is it good? Would you be confident comparing yours to the person next to you? How about this: Would you feel confident showing it to God?

It’s true—God has something to say about your to do list. So if you already have one, I want you to add at least one item today. And if you don’t have one, well, today you’ll get off to a good start. By looking at Elijah and Jesus, we’ll see the one, most important thing we can do before leaving earth.

At the start of our account about the great prophet Elijah we read: the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind. Somehow, God had revealed to him and to others that this was Elijah’s last day. So in the next few verses we’d expect Elijah to live it up—to hurry through his to do list. We’d expect him to quick party with his friends, singing, dancing together —well, maybe he didn’t do that last one because he knew God was just going to bring him back up there anyways. He doesn’t do any of those things. At first glance, Elijah’s last day looks…boring. He’s just walking around and talking to some people.

2 Kings 2:1~10

”Hello, Elijah you’re wasting your last hours here.” What is he doing? He told his understudy Elisha, “The Lord has sent me to Bethel (v. 2).” And he visited a group of prophets there (v. 3). Then he said, “The Lord has sent me to Jericho (v. 4).” And he visited a group of prophets there (v. 5). Calmly, with his eyes on heaven so rapidly approaching, Elijah is carrying out the Lord’s will by visiting people in different places. It seems boring, but when we look closer at what he’s doing I think you’ll actually admire it.

Our culture teaches us that we have to squeeze every drop of pleasure and excitement out of this life, especially in our last days. And we do admire people who finally quit the job they hate and retire in a tropical paradise. “Good for you.” But when it comes down to it, I think we admire a different way people can spend their last days even more.

In the movie P.S. I Love You, Gerry, played by Gerard Butler suddenly finds out he has days to live because of a brain tumor. So what does he do? He spends the short time he has left writing out letters to be given to his wife after he dies. These letters lead his wife, Holly, on a journey of recovery, help her grieve and move on. And that’s what makes that movie a powerfully emotional chick-flick (during which I did not cry). Gerry didn’t spend his last days trying to squeeze every last drop out of his own life. He spent it thinking of Holly, and trying to make sure she’d be ok after he was gone.

We admire when people use their last days to show love to others. That’s what Elijah was doing—he wasn’t just visiting random people; he was visiting the different pastor schools in his day. He was visiting Christians like you and me, who were about to lose their friend, their professor, their spiritual leader, the greatest prophet of the Old Testament next to Moses. This was unsettling.

So Elijah spent his last day on earth taking care of what they needed, and at the same time crossing off the biggest and most important item on his to do list. Are you ready for it? It’s the same command Jesus gave in the Gospel today: Love one another. Elijah was doing the most loving thing possible: reminding his friends and followers of God’s love. “Don’t worry—God will still be guiding you when I’m gone and we will be reunited in heaven with our Savior someday.”

So…how does your to do list compare? Have you at least added Love others to the bottom by now? If you haven’t, I’ll give you time right now to mentally add it. Love others. Ok, now that you’ve done that I’ve got bad news. You have to do this one first, before anything else. And it takes a lot of time. You have to start today and work on it every single day and it’s probably going to prevent some or all of the other items on the list from getting checked off. Are you ok with that?

I think parents here probably understand that more than some. How many dreams have you had to put on the shelf for your children? Not just the dream vacation you changed to go to a place more family friendly, but also the little things every day. You have to cancel your date night because your daughter came down with the fever, or you lose your chance to sleep in on Saturday because your son need to you help him to go to see a doctor early in the morning.

When Jesus command to love others becomes priority number one, the rest of your to do list, all the stuff that you wanted to accomplish, often gets pushed down further and further and soon approaches the scary territory of probably-not-going-to-happen. It’s hard to be ok with that. And not just be ok with it, but to actually love others all the time without complain. It’s hard—impossible—for us to love our coworker, neighbor, spouse, kids, friends, without ever getting frustrated that they are getting in the way of our fulfillment and hopes and dreams. How can Jesus ask that of us?

This is where the big picture comes into play. Elijah didn’t have a very fulfilling life. He worked super hard for God and in exchange he was chased and threatened and saw people ignore his miracles and ignore his God. And he grumbled about it. But as he saw the small picture of his hopes and dreams for this life fade into the distance, God replaced them with the big picture of eternal life through his Savior. God replaced his dream of heaven on earth with the hope of, well, heaven in heaven.

That hope of heaven changes everything. Do you think Jesus didn’t notice his friends growing up, getting married, raising the picture perfect families? He had to see his brothers and neighbors get into successful careers, move up in the world, being admired by people around him. But his heart wasn’t set on those things. His heart was set on heaven, not for himself, but for you. Jesus set fulfillment in this world aside, so he, perfectly and in your place, could love others—and love you. And to do that he didn’t just deprive himself of hopes and dreams in this world, he embraced suffering. He suffered on the cross to forgive our lack of love, our frustration with others, our sins on the cross. And he did it without complain even a little; no, he did it with a heart bursting with love for you.

Hebrews 12:2 says, “For the joy set before him [Jesus] endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Because of the joy set before him, Jesus was happy to spend every last minute of his life loving you. And that joy? Bringing you to heaven; Knowing just how much you’re going to love being with him forever; knowing how much fun he’s going to have showing you around your new perfectly heavenly home that he’s prepared just for you. And his death and resurrection guarantee that he will take you there soon, whether through death or a fiery chariot or by calling you personally on the last day—it doesn’t matter. What matters is, heaven is yours, and you’ll be there soon.

That’s how Elijah could approach his last day so calmly. That’s why you don’t have to be afraid of death cutting off your hopes and dreams. When you have the hope of heaven, you know that your to do list doesn’t end when you die—it only gets better. In heaven Jesus will fill up your to do list with more exciting and more fulfilling things than anything we could ever have done in this life

When you know you have that waiting for you in heaven because of Jesus, you don’t feel the need to squeeze every drop of out of this short life. That’s why in our Gospel for today, Jesus could tell us that one command: to love one another. Because of the hope of heaven, the people around you aren’t burdens or frustrations holding you back from achieving your dreams. No—the only dream you need in this short life is a dream of loving those around you, showing them what a difference the hope of heaven through Jesus makes in your life and showing them what a difference it will make in their lives. Amen.

If You Knew You Only Had One Day to Live, What Would You Do?

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Serving God without Burden

There are pastors and ministers feel that the long they serve in the church or ministry, the heavier burden they get. They get too much things to take care of: family issues, members issues, kids issues in the school. Gradually, they lose the Grace of God and joyfulness from heaven.

Serving God is a special privilege for you. More importantly, true serving brings joy and satisfaction.

Do you remember the day when you know you get saved by Jesus Christ? God wants you to pass happiness of saving through you, you can not lose it. It must keep growing, the life of Gospel should continuously be shown in your life, the fruit of Holy Spirit will be shown though your life. So you should have joyfulness, pease and restfulness of God. If you do not have these things, you push yourself to peace it, I think the only thing you can do right now is return to the original point, let you be a ordinary member in your church first and listen to the word of God and get Grace from him, then you go back to your original position to serve.

2 Chronicles 35:1~3

35 Josiah celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the Lord’s temple. 3 He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been consecrated to the Lord: “Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. 4 Prepare yourselves by families in your divisions, according to the instructions written by David king of Israel and by his son Solomon.

if you are familiar with King Josiah story, you should remember his accomplishment is much more than other kings in the history of Israelis.  He appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the Lord’s temple.

2 Chronicles 35: 18~19

18 The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem. 19 This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.

I think, this story give us some lights from Word of God.The most important work for a pastor in the church is that he need to lead members join one of the ministries in it.  And then keep encourage them.

2 Chronicles 35:2~3

2 He appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the Lord’s temple. 3 He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been consecrated to the Lord: “Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel.

King Josiah understood that it was burden for Israel people to serve God even if they are very zeal on it at the beginning. He decided that they have to unburden first, and then put the burden in the holy temple.

Yes! You do not necessarily hold your burden on your shoulder, put it to God! Jesus himself is our sacred ark. The key thing is not how long and how good we hold the sacred ark. God did not let us to hold like that way. He just want us to simply unburden it in the temple and only concentrate on the relationship between God and us.

My friends, please practice according to King Josiah’s suggestions. I trust the joyfulness and peacefulness will come back to you shortly.

Serving God without Burden

Working without Tears

I recently read a book called “PASTORING WITHOUT TEARS” by Sunday Adelaja. It was so amazing that I highly recommend. Especially to the people who are serving God and pastoring in the churches.

Sometimes we become too busy to get close to God and even make a simply prayer in the morning. Our body start to feel exhaust and our Spiritual Life stop growing and burn out. We still keep working and serving because we think if we do not go to church and pastoring my church, it will stop growing. Some ministers may need to go for vacation to take a break for a while.  When they come back and serve for a few weeks, this kind of worries and exhausting come back again and again.

How can we solve this problem at the source?

Let us read how God helped Elijah to get it clear. 1 Kings 19:8~18

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

15 The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

First God start with a question, “Elijah, what are you doing here?” A question come to his heart so that he can ask himself, “Yeah, what am I doing here? Why I come to this cave and be afraid?”

God did not start to tell you what is wrong, you should not do this, you should not do that, etc.

God want you to ask yourself and check our heart first.

Elijah answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.” What is the meaning of ‘very zealous’? It is actually his anxiety for God’s things, his nervous carefulness. Why? He explained, “The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword.” His reply repeat in Verse 14. It is not by accident, there must be some important things that God want you to pay attention to.

Elijah has not a weak character, nor a minister with weak personality. He has done a lot of miracle

things by prayer. But why he become so weak at this point?

Take God’s place to be anxious and nervous is the beginning of discuss and frustration.  The purpose of God’s calling you to serve is not make you worry. Instead, he who called you to serve want you have a thankful heart to fulfill each thing by grace of God. You are not the ONLY person to serve in that particular field. You are not the foreman, capataz and boss. You are coworker of God. We must know that God himself take care of his work.  If you want to hold the responsibility of God on your shoulder and try to rely on your personal experiences rather than God, you will lose the grace of God rapidly. Because your put yourself on God’s position.

The church is not belong to pastors, instead, it belongs to Jesus Christ.

The ministry is not belong to any leaders, instead, it belong to Jesus Christ. …

My friend, put anything on God’s hand. Work, families, kids, churches and ministries are all belong to him. No more tears and anxiety, try your best to make your plan and make it happen, spend your time with God every morning, then sit back and relax.

Working without Tears

Is Busyness an Addiction?

How many of you out there get such a hurry to jam-pack your schedule? You might desire for free time, but that white space on your calendar can actually be full of anxiety.

Some people call this “busyness addiction.” It’s not an official diagnosis — and, frankly, the word “addiction” seems a little heavy to me. Busyness isn’t a attitude of doing things, nor is it even a specific action. My interpretation is that this “addiction” is more an expression of anxiety or compulsive behavior.

This feeling might seem familiar to you if …

• You feel “at your best” when you’re at your busiest.


• You have trouble distinguishing the importance of time spent with loved ones.


• You like when people point out how busy you are.


• When you do find yourself doing nothing, you feel guilty for not being productive.

I want to make a careful distinction here: This isn’t the same as being a “workaholic.” It’s not that we feel the urge to fill up our free time with work. Instead, we want to fill it with stuff .

Like when I read bible this morning about busyness. It is in Luke 10: 38~42

³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary,who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one.^[f] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

We are used to feel “at our best” when we are very busy serving our Load, doing our ministries, doing our business etc… Actually NOT!

In Bible, in the point of God’s view, “Best” means get the right priority which is put God in the first place and then your work second.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Just be relax, listen to the voice from God in the deep of your heart. He will make a way when there is no way, he will open a window when all the doors are closed. Your busiest is not your best, instead, none of all the things we are doing at the same time are on the right track. That is the reason why we have to be busy on fix them. One time, one thing, one focus. My dear friends.

“In the process, we have been sold a bill of goods: that success means being supermen and superwomen who can get it all done. Where does the “supermen and superwomen” imperative come from? In the business world, it often comes from the cultural expectations of high achievement, it also comes from the impression we get that everyone is doing tons of cool stuff all the time. 

Just be what you are. Rely on God, take your time to on reading the bible or make some simply prayer. He will be your guider and make it happen for you. Get off from your own throne and put God there.  You will be truly productive.

 

 

Is Busyness an Addiction?

The Camel Go Through the Eye of Needle -- Conversion Rate in Heaven

Luke 16: 19~31

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Luke 18:25

Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

How hard does a rich man to enter the kingdom of God? Almost impossible. I want to share what I learned from today’s message.

Why it is impossible?

1. Rich men have enough property and they are much easier to rely on themselves rather than God.

2. Rich men enjoy their life and they spend less time to think about the world after death.

3. The more money they have, the more they want to get. It is not easy for them to stop chasing it. 4. It is even harder for them to give their money to the other poor guys.

Let us try to find root cause of how they become rich.

1. They might be born in the rich family and live at their ease. They do not even know how the money comes and they also do not care how much they spend on anything they like.

2. They might be born in the poor family and live very hard. So they study hard try to get scholarship, they work hard to earn more and they get no way to retreat because they have to support their family financially. After they become rich, they understand how difficult to even get a penny. So there will be a bigger possibility to become a miser. It is always easier to get than to give.

After they become rich, why they are not easy to become poor?

The rich can make money with their money. But the poor have to work for a living. They are working for someone that has capital and they are paying your less than your worth. If the rich pay the poor more than their worth, the rich will soon run out of their capital and join you on the work line.  That’s very, very rare to happen.

Let’s say the rich stay rich but why it is so hard for them to give out their money?

There is a righteous young man ask Jesus in bible what else good things he can do to have the eternal life, he is such a good man that he keeps all the commandments in the bible. He kept asking Jesus that what do he still lack? To his great surprise, Jesus answered “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possession and give to the poor, and you have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Think about this, if this young man was a very poor guy and he actually did not care what he had and would immediately give out all he had and followed Jesus. That is why almost everyone who followed Jesus were fisherman and poor guys.

You may say Matthew is not poor. There must have some exceptions. Let’s try to talk about him.

Matthew was a tax collector but he had a very poor relationship with others. Why he got a poor relationship? As a tax collector in that time, it means that he helped Roman Empire to collect his native Israel people’s tax. Nobody liked tax collectors, they were treated as sinners. That’s why they got super low social position.  Matthew was the person who had only money which is really sad.  But he captured a precious chance to follow Jesus when he called.

I think it is time to talk about the relationship between heaven and earth and the treasures flow direction in them.

We can learn some points below:

1. Heaven and earth are two different place, you can not go to the heaven until you get permission from God’s judgement after the death.


2. Each one’s life time in earth will be checked by God, because he want to see how we gonna live in heaven, so God wants each of his children to prepare before it comes one day.


3. The properties that each person has on earth might only show how successful for your fresh level fruits. That does not mean everything.


4. The way for each one to accumulate treasure in heaven is to give out the wealth to the poor and help others who are needy.


5. Before #4, each person has to open their heaven’s account above. How? Listen to the people nearby and talk about Jesus and Bible. Trust in Him and repent all your sins.

How the bank in heaven calculate how much treasure each person should get after his sharing/help?

It is apparent that nor by how much you give out. Instead, it depends on how much percentage.

Let’s read the bible verses below:

21 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”  —Luke21:2~4

We finally get the key reason for camel’s needle. The more you have in earth gives you a comfortable life, but it also add huge difficulty to share that much.

My dear friends, I wish you get this and share to your friends as well.

The Camel Go Through the Eye of Needle -- Conversion Rate in Heaven

Biblical Understanding of Landing Page Optimization (Friction)

You might spent a lot of energy/budget on your landing page. Unfortunately, those visitors are not doing what you want them to do when they get there. Why?

There might be the landing page friction — a barrier that prevents your visitors from completing the action you’d like them to take.

It might be your copy is too short or too long, your background of your site is not clean enough, or you’re lacking social proof, maybe your CTA is not standout enough. It is better for you to identify

the points of friction before you can turn them around.

What are the friction in landing page optimization? Aren’t all friction points negative? I disagree — friction can be both good and bad.

As we all know that every coins have two sides. Let us take a look what Bible tells about the friction.

Mark 2:1~5

2 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

This is a amazing story that recorded in Bible. A paralyzed man was forgiven and healed by Jesus.

That paralyzed man got many frictions.

1. Paralyzed body


2. No room left to move close to Jesus to get healed

These frictions can not stop him to get healed, instead, he used them and conquered them. How?

1.  Friends help

Yes, he can not walk, climb but his friends can. He might not be able to get close to his Lord, but by trusting four of his friends, he can move now.

       2. Vertical thoughts

Yes, there is no way to get to Jesus. Such large numbers that gathered even outside the door. But there is a roof! Climb up there and dig through it and lowered the mat. 

There is always a way out there! When we think this might be the end day of my landing page or blog, Game over time is coming. Stop thinking these negative thoughts. Try to look for a way instead.

You might not good enough to make your site looks good and writing great copies, but your friends can. You might not good at SEO or LPO but you can learn from other websites and blogs.

Let’s identify the parts of your landing page that preventing quality leads from continuing down the funnel.

1. Long submission forms


2. Lack of persuasive copy


3. Lack of social proof


4. Lack of security


5. Lack of Referral source 


6. Lack of imagery

7.   Lack of SEO, etc…

Friction functions somewhat like a method of exclusion. Let’s take social media ads, for example. Targeted Facebook ads deliberately exclude certain demographics to avoid wasting money on those who would never be interested in actually buying. Down the funnel, this goes a long way towards improving the lead-to-customer rate.

So we also need to figure out the parts of your landing page that are moving poor quality leads down the funnel.

My friends, I believe you can find your way to conquer the frictions and make it much better than your thoughts in your website.

Biblical Understanding of Landing Page Optimization (Friction)

Biblical Landing Page Optimization Method Recommended （1）

I am a Christian when I was born. My family go to one of the church in Shanghai every Sunday. Today’s Sunday service is very graceful. During the prayer time after the service, I think I should combine God’s word and my work together because bible is the source of the wisdom.

The bible verse we listen today was Mark 5:25-34

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. ²⁵ And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶ She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. ²⁷ When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸ because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” ²⁹ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

³⁰ At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

³¹ “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’

³² But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. ³³ Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. ³⁴ He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

A bleeding woman who was sick for twelve years just touch the cloak of Jesus and she got healed immediately. These kind of disease is treated unclean and are not accepted by Israel people. That woman spent all she had but she could not find a way to be healed. Think about this situation, my bro. She might be very distressful and frustrated and almost lose the hope of her life. But when she heard that Jesus were coming, she immediately came up behind him the in the crowd and tried to touch him. She understood that Jesus is the savior of her life and there were too much people surround Jesus.

She did not think too much about her unclean, instead, she encouraged herself by “I just touch him, and I will be healed.” Right! Faith is simple and fast. No complicated circulation and analysis, just simply go and touch it.

Maintaining your landing page and website is the same way. You might have already searched many methods to optimize your landing page to get higher visits and converts for years and figured out that it is too hard for you to get it better like this bleeding woman. I think it is time for you to take a rest and relax for a while and just make your landing page simple and easy. Your potential clients have visited too many websites to recognize a complex site. They are looking for something simple and easy to solve their problems. In addition, make all your CTA buttons and banners to be easy to find and simple to click. Like the bleeding woman said to herself “If I just touch his cloak, I will be healed.”

Biblical Landing Page Optimization Method Recommended （1）

Click or Not, Shot or Not? That Moment is Too Short to Neglect

I got chance to watch a movie this weekend. It is “Fight Club”.

Here I paste the movie introduction below:

In this darkly comic drama, Edward Norton stars as a depressed young man (named in the credits only as “Narrator”) who has become a small cog in the world of big business. He doesn’t like his work and gets no sense of reward from it, attempting instead to drown his sorrows by putting together the “perfect” apartment. He can’t sleep and feels alienated from the world at large; he’s become so desperate to relate to others that he’s taken to visiting support groups for patients with terminal diseases so that he’ll have people to talk to. One day on a business flight, he discovers Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), a charming iconoclast who sells soap. Tyler doesn’t put much stock in the materialistic world, and he believes that one can learn a great deal through pain, misfortune, and chaos. Tyler cheerfully challenges his new friend to a fight. Our Narrator finds that bare-knuckle brawling makes him feel more alive than he has in years, and soon the two become friends and roommates, meeting informally to fight once a week. As more men join in, the “fight club” becomes an underground sensation, even though it’s a closely guarded secret among the participants. (First rule: Don’t talk about fight club. Second rule: Don’t talk about fight club.) But as our Narrator and Tyler bond through violence, a strange situation becomes more complicated when Tyler becomes involved with Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), whom our Narrator became infatuated with when they were both crashing the support-group circuit. Based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club was directed by David Fincher, who previously directed Pitt in the thriller Seven.

Edward finally realized that Tyler is inside of him. They are the same person. When he realized that he figured out that the gun came back to his hand and he shot himself. He said to himself that he can not live like this any more. He live more and more like Tyler, so he killed Tyler by shotting himslef.

There always a bad man and a rightout man inside of each person. Like bible said, So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? — Romans 6:21~24

Clients who have two persons inside them as well. Click, or not? That moment is so short that they just to need to get a reason for them to move forward. They might quit maybe simply because they are really busy.

What you need to do is just prepar all that you can do before your landing page launch especially some CTA banners and buttons. Think about what your client meight think at that monment just like Edward try to make a decision weather to shot himslef or not.

 

Click or Not, Shot or Not? That Moment is Too Short to Neglect

How Online & Offline Marketing Can Work Together for Your Landing Page

Online marketing is shown to be incredibly effective for attracting website visitors and generating leads. But for many companies, there’s still a place for offline marketing tactics (like print advertising, broadcasting, and so on) alongside those inbound tactics.

So how can offline marketing work hand-in-hand with your online marketing efforts? Is there a way to incorporate both into your larger marketing strategy?

You’ll learn where companies tend to spend their online and offline marketing budgets, which marketing tactics give the best return on investment, and how you can help drive offline conversations through online marketing.

Where do companies spend their money and what provides the best ROI?

More than a third (35%) of senior marketing professional believe that digital marketing will account for more than 50%  of marketing spend by 2019.

On average, companies spend 10.4% of their annual revenue on overall marketing activities.

Customers are transitioning to communicating and buying through digital channels, which is why annual digital marketing operating budgets represent 2.5% of a company’s revenue. Marketers allocated 12.5% – the biggest share of their digital marketing budget – to digital advertising.

28% of marketers say they’ve reduced their traditional advertising budget to fund digital marketing activities.

Corporate website and digital advertising share the distinction of being the No.1 digital marketing activities that are important to marketing’s success. Social marketing emerged as the next most important activity.

Where do companies spend their offline advertising budget then?

in 2012 82% of ad-spend was offline; that is a lot of visitors and conversions that aren’t being properly attributed.

Global Ad-spend in 2012 vs. 2015 show that Television was on top of the list with 40.3% in 2012 and 40.2% in 2015.

Ad-spend on newspaper were 18.9% in 2012 and reduced to 15.8% in 2015. Followed by Internet with 18% in 2012 and 23.4% in 2015 despite the increasing awareness of online marketing.

Where are companies spending their online advertising budget?

42% of marketers feel that analytics and working with metrics will become a’core competence’ in marketing over the next five years.

Mobile alone will account for 50% of the marketing budget by 2019.

Digital budgets will account for more than 75% of the marketing budget.

86% of high performing companies use analytics to direct focus and impact, and 80% provide a consistent customer experience.

30% of CMO’s feel that they lack critical technology or tools to drive digital integration.

58% believe that email will regain its importance as a vital online marketing tool.

Which marketing option tends to provide the best ROI?

Social media is an integral part of a business’s marketing strategy that helps to drive it to success. It is estimated that about 53% of people on Twitter mention companies and products in their Tweets while 48% claim an intention to buy.

How to drive offline conversions through online marketing?

According to previous research, it is estimated that 15% of conversions are about products and 23% of conversions are about services, somebody refers to something they saw online.

Online metrics such as clicks, shares and re-tweets don’t impact offline conversion as do word of mouth, which is nine times more voluminous.

Targeting influencers can substantially benefit businesses. About 25% of word of mouth comes from 10% of the population who are most active in making recommendations.

What online marketing channels do companies spend most money on?

According to previous case studies, 9 in 10;

“Business leaders” plan to either increase (46%);

Maintain (47%) their marketing budgets.

Topping the list in terms of planned spending increases was email marketing, with 52% of respondents planning to increase their investments.

Close behind was social media with 46% increase, organic and paid search with 41% increase and online display with 36% increase.

Curiously, 32% of marketers planned to hike their mobile marketing spend, despite recent projections suggesting healthy increase over the next few years.

What offline marketing channels do companies spend most money on?

Spend on offline marketing channels has declined subsequently with 32% of marketers planning to decrease spending on print adverting.

17% of marketers planning to decrease spending on radio/TV advertising. And 21% decrease in direct mail.

How can specific offline and online marketing channels work together?

According to some estimates, 84% of internet users worldwide watch videos online. More than half of millennials watch TV shows on a tablet, desktop computer, or smartphone.

Despite our digital age, 59% of US music listeners listen to traditional or online radio and it drives 5.8% of US retail sales.

69% of adults still trust their local newspapers and it is estimated that 54% of customers are more likely to buy a new product when learning about it from a newspaper or magazine. 43% of businesses also rely on newspaper for local promotions.

Reference:

1. http://www.marketingchart.com/online/2014-marketing-budget-plans-by-channel-38888/


2. https://moz.com/blog/how-to-track-online-roi-of-offline-advertising


3. http://www.smartinsights.com/managge-digital-transformation/digital-transformation-strategy/digital-account-75-marketing-spend-5-years/


4. https://blog.kissmetrics.com/how-online-marketing-drives-offline-success/?wide=1

How Online & Offline Marketing Can Work Together for Your Landing Page

How to Make a Great First Impression On Your Landing Page: 7 Tips to Try

Did you know that it only takes a tenth of a second to make a first impression on your landing page?

In other words, when you meet someone for the first time, you need to be on your game from the very beginning. This includes being aware of everything from the words you choose to the body language you convey.

Whether you’re meeting new connections, team members, potential employers, or customers, I’ve put together a list of tips designed to help you put your best foot forward and make a killer first impression. It is the same way to work on your landing page.

7 Tips for Making a Great First Impression

1) Pay attention to your body language and posture.

Effective body language goes beyond simply standing up straight and having a firm handshake — although those things are definitely important, too. When you’re meeting someone for the first time, keep an open posture (don’t tightly cross your arms or legs), lean in when you talk, and don’t be afraid to take up some space at the table. These nonverbal cues can make a powerful subconscious impact, so be aware of your body language and posture during meetings in general, but particularly initial pitches or interviews.

What behaviors should you aim to avoid? It’s smart to refrain from tapping, touching your face too often, placing objects in front of yourself, blinking excessively, and sitting or standing too close to others (respect the bubble, people). (Read this post to learn more about body language.)

The body language and posture in your landing page is the images you get for your articles or the banners in your home page. These nonverbal cues can make a powerful subconscious impact, so be aware of your banners and images you pick for your landing pages. They are the key facts to leave your visitors the first impression.

2) Modulate your pitch and tone of voice.

A high-pitched tone of voice can make you seem childish or nervous — especially if you tend to “uptalk” or use a rising inflection at the end of your sentences. In fact, it has been shown that people perceive those who have a rising intonation as less knowledgeable, no matter what they are actually saying.

Not sure if you’re guilty of this? Try practicing your presentations or simply reading aloud into an audio app with playback. You’d be surprised at how different you sound to others versus in your own head.

The pitch and tone of voice in your landing page is the call to action words like “great discount 30% BUT ENDS TODAY”, and count down numbers to create urgency as well. 

3) Choose your words wisely.

Words matter even more than you think. Positive and persuasive words and phrases will often open doors and make people feel comfortable in your presence, which can ultimately make them more willing to work with you.

For instance, let’s take a look at many marketers’ favorite show: Mad Men. Some of Don Draper’s best pitches (e.g., Carousel & Lucky Strike) were full of positive language. That said, positive language doesn’t need to be cheesy or new-agey as Draper illustrates. Instead, positive language can be used to uplift your audience by simply being clear and simple.

Some websites make it too difficult to find their offers, burying them below the fold or on interior pages. This is a great example of ease of use from Dropbox. When you arrive to their home page you have two obvious choices  watch a demo or download the software. 

4) Make eye contact.

Turn off your phone (or at least mute it), turn off email and instant message alerts on your computer, don’t doodle, and most importantly, focus on the person or people you are speaking with. It’s hard to get to know someone when you’re looking down at a screen, so make an effort to make some eye contact with everyone in the room.

However, keep in mind that eye contact can also backfire, according to a study by the University of British Columbia. If people aren’t already persuaded or inclined to be on your side, they may focus more on your mouth or any presentation materials you’re showcasing instead of your eyes, making attempts at eye contact a challenge.

People want to be sure that they’re subscribing to or buying from the best. They don’t want to waste their hard earned time or money. And how are your prospects going to believe that you’re the best if you don’t TELL THEM? Yes, your testimonials will give you credibility from other sources, but you also need to project your expertise and value. LinkedIn does a great job on its home page of promoting itself and its members. The top left position of your landing page is the key point for your potential users to build the trust with your site. That will be the first eye contact for them to move one step further  on your great site. 

5) Know your audience.

Do your research. If your meeting is planned in advance, you should know plenty about the person or business that you’re meeting with before you arrive. This might mean that you Google the people you’ll be meeting with, the company founders/co-founders, their history, their competition, their main products, and any other relevant info before you walk into the room.

Depending upon your audience, the loud numbers and flashy videos may deter your prospects rather than bring them into the fold. When you know your customer persona  how they think, what motivates them, how they buy  you can tailor your site to be welcoming and a subtle invitation to learn more with a click.

6) Don’t try to be someone you’re not.

When you’re meeting someone for the first time, don’t try to be someone you’re not. If you don’t know the answer to something they ask, don’t fake it.  The ability to lean in to your weaknesses shows that you are self-aware.

However, be sure not to over emphasize your shortcomings. It might be seem shockingly simple, but avoiding the “report card problem” or highlighting weaknesses and how you might fix them could cause you to only showcase the negatives, or at least make them the biggest part of your overall impression. While you don’t want to hide any weaknesses (people will likely figure it out anyways), you do want to be honest and move on to the good stuff — especially at the beginning of a business relationship.

If you want to persuade your clients to buy your stuff on your site. You have to be the first person to love it and then you can sell it. I believe you won’t highlight your weaknesses of of your products at every conner of your content. Instead, you pretty much show off every aspect of them like other merchants  do on line.  But you have to be very honest to let your clients to know about your products attributes and instructions. Your clients might get some problems when they use your products without knowing these ahead.

7) Don’t forget to follow up.

After an initial meeting, don’t forget to follow up by sending any necessary information — notes, presentation docs, next steps, and so on — or sending a thank you note.

These small gestures will help prove that you’re on the ball, and that you’re making them a priority, rather than just another task to check off your to-do list.

Sending out updated information after a meeting can also be a way to get a second chance at a first impression. How so? It helps to show another side of you or your business — perhaps a more responsible side.

Set the newsletter on the bottom of each of your articles/products and in your landing page as well. Your potential customers will leave their email to subscribe your products/articles. So keep in mind to follow up with them by sending weekly newsletter to keep contact with them and finally convert they to be your real customers and regular customers.

Don’t let a negative first impression get in the way of your ability to get to know someone. Follow these seven tips to ensure that the first time you meet with someone won’t be the last. The same as your sites.

How to Make a Great First Impression On Your Landing Page: 7 Tips to Try