Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Satan. Salvation.
One doorway that leads to life.
One redemption. One confession. I believe in the name of Jesus Christ.
I believe in the crucifixion. By his blood I have been set free.
I believe in the resurrection.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Hallelujah.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: Life is destined.
Amen.
All praise to God the Father.
All praise to Christ the Son all praise to the Holy Spirit.
How God has overcome the King who was and is ever more Will be In Jesus mighty name I believe, I believe in the hope of heaven he's preparing a place for me Far beyond what hearts imagine ears have heard or eyes have seen I believe that the day is coming he returning to claim his bride Light the altar, keep it burning See the lamb who rose A roaring light all praise to God the Father all praise to Christ the Son all praise to the Holy Spirit How God has overcome the King who loves and is ever more Will be in Jesus mighty name I believe.
I believe in you.
No, I'll never be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ no Will I ever walk away from the one who saved my life?
You know I'll never be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ how could I ever walk away from the one who saved my life?
Oh, no, I'll never be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ how could I ever walk away from the one who saved my life?
All praise to God the Father all praise to Christ the Son all praise to the Holy Spirit Our God has overcome the King who was and is and evermore will be In Jesus mighty name I believe Sing it out.
And all praise to God the Father all praise to Christ the Son all praise to the Holy Spirit Our God has overcome the King who works and is and never more will be In Jesus mighty name I believe In Jesus mighty name I believe me oh, you know I believe.
[00:05:08] Speaker C: Good morning, Westgate Chapel. We have some sunshine today. That was a win. That was lovely. Welcome to you in the sanctuary and also to you that are viewing on our live stream this morning. If you are a visitor here, a special welcome to you. There is a visitor's card in the pew in front of you. Also our prayer request card. So if you have a prayer request, please put it on there. Those things will be prayed over. If you are also a visitor, there is a visitor center right out front there. They would answer any questions that you have and I believe have a small gift for you. I'm all about that gift.
I'm going to be like New York fast now. So one thing that I have to mention is that next Saturday it'll be our women's one day retreat. Our conference called Thrive starts at 9 in the morning, ends at 4. It's going to be a day jam packed with sitting at the feet of Jesus.
[00:06:00] Speaker A: Yay.
[00:06:00] Speaker C: If you have not registered today is your last day to do that. You can do it through the QR code, you can do it through westgatechapel.org thrive or we will have somebody in the cafeteria or cafe area. Sorry I'm a teacher. Can you tell in the cafe area after service and they can help you sign up with that. I will pass it on for the next thing to Pastor.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: Awesome. Thank you Heidi. And another thing that is coming up here very quick in just a few months is our Vacation Bible School. How many people have participated as a volunteer at Vacation Bible School over the last many years? That is great.
Vacation Bible School is going to be taking place this year, June 8th through the 11th. It's a Monday through a Thursday from 9 to 12:30. And vacation Bible School is one of our large outreaches of the year within our kids ministry into our community, but also within the people that we are connected with in our lives that have got kids. And so we are excited about it. This last year we had about 350 kids that were a part of it. But in able to pull off an outreach of this magnitude, it takes an army of volunteers. Last year we had 200 volunteers serving in various different areas to help us. And you know, as we look forward to VBS this coming June, as we look at kind of the church growth that we've had over this past year, we are kind of assuming that that number is going to grow pretty steadily. And so we are beginning our signups today for people who would like to volunteer and be a part of Vacation Bible School. It takes people serving in all different kinds of places, whether it's as a teacher in a classroom or just an assistant in a classroom. We need game leaders, we need craft leaders, we need all sorts of different things. And so we would love for you to consider being a part of it. But here's why. Not just because we wanna pull off an event for our community. Last year we had 24 young people make a first time decision to say yes to Jesus during Vacation Bible School. Yeah, give praise to God for that.
It's exciting because as a church family, not only do people hear about VBS and in our community come and show up, but as well many of you, our church families are inviting your friends and their kids who don't normally go to church or don't know Christ and So we have seen so much fruit born from this ministry because of that intentionality. And when you serve and you volunteer at vbs, as you see on the screen, it is a ton of fun. But the best part is that we get to pour into these kids and to teach them that there is a God who loves them, that there is Jesus who died for them, and that he wants to give them the gift of salvation and eternal life. And so I would invite you to consider being a part of this with us and being a part of that army or force of volunteers, if you will, that are gonna be sharing the good news of the gospel that week. If you'd like to sign up, you can do so by going to our website or you can open up on our and you'll see that there is a place to register there to volunteer all different. I'd even encourage you just to look at it at all the different options and opportunities there are to serve. Check that out as well. There's one other opportunity to be involved, and that is with our Giving Tree. You'll see that if you were to walk out today into the main entrance and go to the right towards the cafe, off to the left, there is this green tree called the Giving Tree. And there are different needs that we have to pull off vbs.
Some of those needs are written on leaves that are on that tree. You can pull those off and say, okay, I'm going to go pick up these items for VBS and donate those to the kids ministry. There's also a QR code that is there and you'll see that on the screen where you might say, hey, I'm kind of the Amazon person. And you can go to the Amazon Wish List needs list and purchase things and have them sent in order to kind of help support this free outreach that we do for our community. And so I would love for you to support in all of those different ways. And if you've got kids, start getting them signed up because it's gonna be an incredible week. Now, as we continue continue in our morning worship today, we want to take just a moment to greet one another. So I'll invite you to stand, find someone you haven't said hello to yet this morning and welcome them to our service.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: I searched the world but it couldn't feel me Man's empty grace Treasures of faith are never enough no, you came
[00:11:01] Speaker B: along,
[00:11:05] Speaker A: you put me back together and every desire is now satisfied Here in your love.
Oh, there's nothing better than you sing there's nothing no better than you Lord, there's nothing, nothing is better than you.
Oh, we know it's true.
Right.
Oh, I'm not afraid to show you my weakness.
Because my failures and flaws, Lord, you've seen them all. And you still call me friend.
Cuz the God of the mountain is the God of the valley.
Oh, when there's not a place your mercy and grace won't find me again.
Oh, there's nothing better than you.
There's nothing, oh, better than you. Lord, there's nothing.
Oh, nothing is better than you.
Testify now. Come on. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you. Lord, there's nothing, nothing is better than you.
You turn morning to dancing.
You give beauty for ashes.
You turn shame into glory.
You're the only one who care.
You turn morning to dancing.
You give beauty we for ashes.
You turn shame into glory.
You're the only one who care.
You turn graves into gardens.
You turn bombs into armies.
You turn seas into highways.
You're the only one who can.
You're the only one who care.
Oh, there's nothing. Come on.
Better than you. There's nothing better than you. Lord, there's nothing, nothing.
Better than you. Nothing no better than you. Lord, there's nothing, nothing is better than you. Nothing at all.
You turn graves.
You turn graves into gardens.
Yes, you turn bones into armies.
You turn seas into the highways.
You're the only one who care.
You turn graves into God. You bring the dead to life. You turn bones into army. Making ways to see you turn season to highways.
You're the only one who care.
You're the only one who care.
Care. You're the only one who care.
And all my life you have been faithful.
All my life you have been so, so good.
Yes, you.
With every breath that I am made for.
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God.
I love you, Lord.
Oh, your mercy never fails me.
All my days I've been held in your hand.
From the moment that I wake up until I lay my head.
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God.
And all my life you have been faithful. Faithful.
All my life you have been so, so good.
With every breath that I am able.
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God.
Hallelujah. I love your voice.
You have led me through the fire in darkest night.
You are close like no other.
I've known you as a father.
I've known you as a friend.
And I have lived in the goodness of God.
All my life you have been faithful.
All my life.
And all my life you have Been so, so good.
With every breath that I am made for Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God.
Your goodness running after it's running after me Your goodness is running after it's running after me.
With my life laid down I surrender now I give you everything your goodness is running after it's running after me oh, your goodness is running after?
Your goodness is running after it's running after me.
With my life laid down I surrender now I give you everything your goodness is running after it's running after me.
All my life you have been faithful and all my life you have been so, so good.
With every breath that I am able Oh, I go see of the goodness of.
I'm gonna sing, I'm gonna sing.
It's all my life you have been faithful and all my life you have been so, so good oh, every breath that I am able Oh, I will sing of.
I will sing of the goodness of God.
I will sing of the goodness of God.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: Church, can we together to sing that chorus? Just, just our voice this again.
Just together.
[00:21:45] Speaker A: I will sing of the goodness of God.
[00:21:55] Speaker B: He is good.
You may be seated. We're going to continue in our time of worship together, taking our morning offering. But before you grab those buckets, let's go to the Lord in prayer and offer this time up to him. Father, we thank you. As we sing that song, my mind, God, is just flooded with how good you have been, Father. From the hope that we have in heaven because of what your son Jesus has done for us, to all the different ways, God, that you have walked with me in my life and that you have shown up being gracious when I didn't deserve it.
Showing me your mercy and your love.
Walking with me in moments of struggle and trial.
God, you have been good.
And, Father, I know that every person here in this room today could testify of your goodness. It's a thing, God, that causes us to worship you with our whole heart and our whole life, Father, as we come to our time of worship and giving with our tithes and our offerings. Again, Lord, it is just an expression of our heart to you, God, of the depth of our trust in you. That we would give back and that we would believe, Father, that not only will you continue to provide for us, but you will take what we give and multiply it to change the hearts and lives of other people. But even more, God, I pray that in our giving that you would also continue to change our hearts. That we would trust you in deeper ways. That, Father, we would move to deeper places of Faith knowing that you are the God who provides and that you are the God that is all, always faithful. And so, Father, we give with cheerful hearts this morning and we pray that you would be glorified as we do so. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Go ahead and grab those offering buckets here in the center aisle on the bottom floor. We're going to pass them out to the sides or in the corners in the balcony. We'll pass those in and continue to worship the Lord with our offering this morning.
Well, it is. It is good to be together this morning. If you have. Have not met before. This is Adam. Just Adam is our executive pastor of ministry here at Westgate. And also Chad Suan, who is one of our elders here at the church, welcome them as they join me this morning.
And I invited them to join me here because I wanted to start this morning's message with just a little bit of a testimony of some things that God is doing. I'll begin by saying, as I did in the first service, that these two guys ditched us on Easter because they had family commitments. And those are important things. Those are important things. Each of them had family commitments that were out of town. But what I love about the testimony that they're gonna share with you this morning is how those commitments actually turned into opportunity to share the good news of Jesus. And so I wanna begin with Adam and Chad and just ask you, would you share a little bit about the opportunities that God put in front of you over the Easter weekend and how he used it, but even maybe what he taugh in the process?
[00:25:26] Speaker D: Yeah, sure.
My family, my kids, we are involved with the Washington local Whitmer school district, and we look for ways to be involved through our kids. Activities, events, their interests.
Our oldest daughter, Joanna, she's a part of the marching band. And about a year and a half ago, every four years, the band takes a big trip down to do the Disney World World Magic Kingdom parade.
And a year and a half ago they said, here are the dates and it's over there, Spring break. Oh, it's over Easter. And so Rob has often reminded me this whole past year of where I would be on Easter morning and Satan's playground.
[00:26:10] Speaker B: So sorry, I couldn't resist.
It's a great place to do ministry, brother.
[00:26:20] Speaker D: Wherever the believer in Christ is, is the kingdom of God.
[00:26:24] Speaker B: Amen. So there you go.
[00:26:27] Speaker D: The.
And so about six months ago, realizing that we would be there over Easter, there was some sadness, but also brainstorming and seeing this as an opportunity and so working with some of that, I got permission through with the band directors and those there. I even worked with the hotel to find a place to host a sunrise Easter morning service. So we had little cards made and we were out outside in this shelter.
And then we invited everyone in the band. Here's a picture of our youngest daughter, Rue, passing out some invitations as the students are coming off the bus.
And my prayer, I think our prayer in all of this was God. Would you one, if you are a believer, that we would be able to worship together, but with the resurrection and to be reminded of Jesus and his sacrifice as well? But also our big prayer was for those that would be just be curious about, maybe they would see our lives and be interested. Why do you live your life differently than maybe I do? And so our prayer was to have those that didn't know Jesus as well, those that were curious about Easter or Jesus or whatever this whole thing is. And so we invited everyone, after two days at Disney World for the students to get up at 6:30 to start at a sunrise service was pretty impressive. We had like 37 come and there's a picture of all of us kind of in a circle.
We went through the gospel, beginning with creation, about how God made us and loves us and pursues relationships with us, leading to our rebellion, the fall, and then through God's promise and his way through his son Jesus. We had communion together. And then throughout the whole time, we did through scripture and had various students read those passages at the end. By 7 o', clock, the sun was up and here's most of the group. Some had left as a group picture at the end. But the cool thing was later on that day, I had some students come up to me and they said, Mr. Just, I had never been to anything like that. I've never been to church before. And that was really neat. I really liked it. So thanks for doing that. And so that's our continued hope and prayer is that God will continue to provide places and times and interactions for those that don't know Jesus, that we can tell them the good news with our words and also with our actions and our love.
[00:28:59] Speaker B: That's awesome.
[00:29:06] Speaker E: So my daughter plays. My daughter Molly, she plays travel volleyball. And so it just so happened that they scheduled a tournament in Chicago over Easter weekend.
And at first Hillary and I were really disappointed. And we know, we really thought about like, hey, we're gonna, we're gonna boycott this, right? We're gonna take a stand because Easter is sacred. And actually when we heard what Adam was doing, we Realized that, hey, you know what? God's actually giving us an opportunity, opportunity to share the gospel with people who otherwise probably wouldn't go to an Easter service because they're away traveling. And so Bree Lenke is on Molly's team. And so we partnered with Jason and Kate and held a little church service. And so at 8am I see a picture here. At 8am on Easter morning, we turned Connie's Pizza into Connie's Pizza for Christ.
Right? And.
And so we had 19 people come.
We think about half of those were unchurched. And it was great because we were really praying that it wouldn't just be Hilary, Jason and Kate and I. And so we were happy to have more of the parents and players come.
And in fact, when we had one of the girls, she came in from the team, she came in a little bit late, and she was like, shared an expletive that she couldn't find Connie's Pizza. And we thought to ourselves, all right, well, we got the right crowd. You know, we got the right people here.
And so. And then we had two other girls who had traveled with their family to Chicago. They were just there to kind of check out Chicago, stuff like that. They weren't playing anything like that and had never come to the tournament, hadn't set foot in the building and heard that we were doing the Easter service and said, hey, we want to come to that. And so the only time they showed up at the tournament was for this 20 to 30 minute little service that we did. And so we converted a. A trash can into a pulpit. And there you go. And, and from there, we had communion together.
We got to share the story of how communion and Easter tied together. And of course, you know, we threw in some volleyball analogies. Like I said before, Jesus is a big sand volleyball guy. So, you know, we shared some of that.
But we, we were able to take this opportunity as a way to share the gospel.
And we even. We weren't sure if anybody accepted Christ that day. But the cool part was, is that because we have these relationships with people, we were able to make a connection of like, hey, there's someone I know that knows about Jesus, and if I'm struggling or having asked questions and if that they have a connection with us to do that. And so it was really great. We were excited to be able to have the opportunity to do it.
[00:31:47] Speaker B: That is awesome. Would you thank Adam and Chad for coming and sharing with us this morning?
You know, I love it. I love it. Because our vision as a church is to be Intentional in sharing God's love with anybody and everybody that he would put into our circles. And to hear the way that they were creative is just inspiring. You know, as a church, we've been going through this year in our fourth 4,000 meal initiative. The idea that we want to have 4,000 spiritual conversations with people that don't know God, whether it's over a dinner or having them into our home, going out to coffee, or just anywhere, we could have a spiritual conversation with them about who God is and what he means to us. And you'll see the picture on the screen of our wall that is over there. Over these past couple of weeks, we've finished out the L. We have moved sufficiently into the O. What has been so encouraging to me this morning is just watching the number of people walk and continuing to push their pins in symbolizing the conversations that they've been having. And my hope for you as a church is that as you walk by that every single week, don't let it just blend into the wall. Every single one of those pins is somebody that doesn't know Jesus.
Every single one of them is somebody that is hearing the good news. And so I'd encourage you to pray over them and to pray that God would continue to water the seeds that are being planted as we have these conversations, and that we would see incredible fruit coming from these opportunities. Speaking of fruit, this morning, two people accepted Christ at the close of our first service and very, very excited.
Our prayer team let me know that before I came up. But even cooler this past weekend, our middle school ministry, you know, we ask our ministries to give people an opportunity to say yes regularly.
Luke shared with us over the weekend that they had their big outreach, outreach event, Nerf wars, where they come and they fill this building with Nerf darts. You might find a few that look like this. This one was shot at me during the first service, largely because I said, if you find any, please bring them to me. There's a prize for the staff member that collects the most by tomorrow, but I'm waiting for it to get shot. Okay.
They had a great event. 119 middle school students showed up to this event on Friday night.
Luke had the opportunity to share the gospel, and there were close to 30 students who indicated a desire to say yes to Jesus for the first time. That's incredible.
It's incredible. And what I would. What I would humbly ask is that, as we will do in just a moment, is that you would pray. Pray. As Luke and his team continue to follow up with Students and to continue to nurture those. Those decisions of the heart that say there is something that is good and true about who God is and I want to follow him. And so this morning, I want you to understand it is exciting to see how God is working when we choose to say yes to the opportunities that he is putting in front of us every single day.
Let's take a moment to pray together. Father, I thank you for this morning. And again I you thank. Thank you just for the testimony of Chad and of Adam this morning. Thank you for the opportunity that you gave them and what you even placed in their heart to see an opportunity to reach people that don't know you. And Father, for the many seeds that were planted on Easter Sunday in those people's hearts. Lord, would you continue to bring people into their life that will water those seeds, that will continue to remind them and to tell them of your goodness and of your faithfulness? And, Lord, would you cause those seeds to bear fruit?
Father, we pray and we ask for those students this weekend that indicated a desire to say yes to you. Father, I pray the same. Please, Lord, do not allow the enemy to steal away those seeds that were planted. May the worries and concerns of this life not crowd them out. May they not be plucked away. But Father, please bring people to continue to water them. Provide us the opportunity to continue to water them, that these young people would follow you with their whole heart for their whole life.
Lord, thank you. Because you are faithful to give us opportunity. Teach us, God, to be faithful with what you are giving so that we can sit back and not worry God about trying to convince somebody that they need to follow you. But understanding that that's your job, you simply call us to be faithful with the opportunity to share the good news of your son, and so sow that in our hearts. We love you, Jesus. We pray in your name. Amen.
You know, the reason we are so passionate about being intentional and sharing God's love with our neighbors and the nations is because we believe that when you believe in God, when you and whether you and when you choose to follow Jesus, that that decision will determine your eternal destiny. And we have found that there is. I have found that there is much confusion around this subject of people's eternal destiny. Confusion from those who don't follow Jesus for sure, but at times even confusion within the church. And as we began this series over this past week talking about eternity together, I've had many people come to me and they said, you know, as we were talking about what happens when you die, they're like, look, Pastor Rob, I come from a Catholic background, and I'm confused. I actually have believed many different things. Things that you said are not true or accurate. And what's interesting is that when they come to me, they're like, I'm the only person. You have no idea in the church today how many people don't understand really what the Bible teaches here. And some of that is because of the many different influences that we have had in our lives. I have had multiple conversations, even more this morning. And so I say that to you because if you sit there and you can go, some of this is new to me, or I. Or it's changing some of what I always thought. I want you to understand that you're not alone, but that the most important thing we can do is to dig into God's word together to understand what it says. Our series is entitled the Truth About Heaven and Hell. And what we're doing over these few weeks together is exploring what the Bible teaches about death, eternity, heaven and hell. And the purpose of that is to understand how eternal eternity points us to the incredible hope that we have in Jesus. Last week, as I said, we talked about how about what happens when you die. And this morning we're going to jump into the next portion of talking about the truth about heaven. If you have your sermon notes, you can pull those out and follow along with me. This morning, if you have your Bibles, you can pull them out. Turn to Revelation, chapter 21. We're going to spend a lot of time there this morning. I will jump, jump around some, but you're going to want to center yourself in that passage as you're turning there. I will tell you that Pastor Adam made the joke burrow this morning that this is my 95 theses that I'm sharing because there are 95 slides we're getting through, and we're going to do it really quick, but I promise it's because we're going to read a lot of scripture together today.
So here we go, the recap. If we're going to begin talking about heaven, I want to recap where we were last week. What does the Bible and not what, what, what the Bible does and does not teach about death. Letter A. It teaches that the idea of purgatory is not taught in the Bible.
This is a teaching largely of the Catholic Church. We talked about how purgatory is defined as kind of a place where the Catholic Church believes believers will go to be purified before entering into to the presence of God in Other words, you don't go straight to the presence of God when you die. You go to purgatory and you gotta kinda work out some things before you can get to God being purified. Well, the thing is this, we talked about the fact that this is taught nowhere in the Bible. Not only in the Protestant Bible, this is actually taught nowhere in the Catholic Bible. And here's why I say that the only places where the Catholic Church belongs to believes that this is taught is in the book of second Maccabees where it is not the word Purgatory is never even mentioned. They simply see a couple places where it in the text infers that you could pray for the dead. And from that this theology has been developed. What I shared with us last Sunday is this truth is that if we have to infer things from the text in order to develop our theology, we're on really shaky ground. The most important thing that we can do as followers of Christ is take the plain reading of the text and what it says plainly. God is not hiding things in Scripture for us to search out and hope that we can figure out. And what's interesting is that when you read the Bible, it is overwhelmingly said that when a Christian dies someone who has put their faith in Jesus, that they go directly to the presence of, of God. The idea as well that we would somehow participate in someone's sanctification doing different prayers or masses or things like that to help them get out of, out of purgatory and into heaven is heretical. It is not taught in Scripture. And so it is more important to take the overwhelming voice of scripture which says when you die as a believer, you go directly to the presence of God. Let her be as well. We talked about the fact that the idea of soul sleep is not taught in the Bible. This is the idea that some people hold that when you die, your body and soul will take a little bit of a nap before you meet Jesus when he returns and at the resurrection.
This is again taught nowhere in the Bible. But the overwhelming testimony of Scripture tells us over and over again that people will go directly to the presence of God. We see passages where people that have died are interacting with God in heaven. And so the idea of soul sleep again is something that is not taught. Letter C. The idea of annihilationism is not taught in the Bible. Annihilationism is the idea that for those who reject God and who will be sent to eternal punishment in hell, the idea is that they will go to hell, but one day they will eventually burn up. In that fire and cease to. To exist. The problem with annihilationism is, is that it makes punishment not eternal. And that goes directly against the teaching in the book of Revelation and in the Bible.
You know, the reason I brought it up so strongly last week, and I don't usually, usually like to mention names of people that hold the things like this, but the reason I brought up Kirk Cameron is because he has been a very interesting, influential person in the Christian world, somebody that has actually been fairly respected and yet has shifted his theology to this line of thinking, which I believe is incredibly dangerous.
The reason I bring it up is this. My fear that I have, because I've seen it happen so many times, is that when there is someone that we respect in the Christian world and their theology shifts, so many people blindly follow what they say because they believe that they have trusted them in the past. And honestly, that can be very disorienting when it happens. I want to encourage you with this.
If it sounds like a person's theology is shifting or could be off, it doesn't matter if it's a famous person on TV or if it's me, your pastor, look into it. Don't blindly follow it. Be a church where your theology is not lazy, but test it against the very word of God. God has given us his word so that we know who he is, so that we understand how he desires for us to follow us, and also so we can understand as we are talking about future things.
Because what the Bible teaches with extreme clarity, Letter D is this, is that when you die, you will immediately exist forever in one of two places.
Those who believe in Jesus and follow Jesus will go directly to the presence of God.
The Bible also teaches that those who reject Jesus will go directly to eternal punishment.
And today and next week, I want us to unpack what the Bible teaches us about each of these places and what the implications of those truths are for our lives today.
So since I hear you turning your notes to page two, let's jump right in. What, what will heaven be like? I want you to think about it like most of our visions of heaven. Like, when I say, what is heaven like? You probably get a picture in your mind that's been crafted by some sort of media in some way. I went back and looked at how heaven has been depicted throughout the age. You might see, like, frescoes like you see here on the screen, pictures of heaven that look super ornate and little cherubim flying around with their little wings like Cupid, or people that are gathered around God in the center and worshiping him. You know, you might have a picture in your mind of gates of heaven that are floating in the clouds. And one day when we die, our eyes will open up, we'll wake up, and we will enter into the presence of. Of God through these majestic gates. Or maybe like this one that I found. Heaven looks like Oz. I don't know.
Found this one. They're like, why'd you put a video in? I'm like, because it's so cool, and it looks like Oz. Well, that's some people's interpretation as well.
Modern versions that people make look like this beautiful golden city where. Where. Where there will be streets of gold. And then there's your pastor's version that looks like this.
Yes. Streets of gold lined with broccoli trees.
Right.
Because that, my friends, is the tree of life. Right? Right. All right. My theology might be a little bad. Test it against scripture.
But if God blesses me, that will be glorious. All right, here we go. I love broccoli.
We have all these different pictures of what in our minds heaven will look like. What does the Bible say? Letter A, following along it tells us that heaven is a place, not just a state of mind. Heaven's a place, not just a state of mind.
There are some people who teach that heaven is nothing more than a state of mind, not a literal place. They say that it's an internal experience of peace, love, and joy.
Another level of consciousness, if you will.
The idea of it being a place in their minds is nothing more than it's a fantasy or a fairy tale that children believe.
One of the groups that presses this type of theology is Christian Scientology, Christian Science.
They believe that you can experience heaven through the practice of mindfulness, or cultivating gratitude in your life. Life, or detaching yourself from life's circumstances, choosing love over fear, or internalizing heaven and peace within you. Now, you know that sounds crazy to me, because if that's what heaven is, then we have all been sold a sham. Because here's the deal. We could sit down here together, cross our legs for the next hour, meditate deeply, go to a peaceful place, detach from the world, get ourselves into a wonderful place, and all it's going to take is one dirty look from one person or somebody cutting you off on the way home, and you are going to go to the darkest places that you have ever been.
Because if heaven can be snatched away that quickly, then it is not all that it's cracked up to be. But listen to how Jesus and the writers of the Bible Define and describe heaven. Jesus in John, chapter 14, verses 2 through 3, said to his disciples these words, my Father's house has many rooms. If that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
In Luke 24, verse 51, as Jesus is preparing after his death and resurrection to ascend into heaven, it says, while he was blessing them, his disciples, he left them and was taken up into heaven.
In Acts, chapter 1, verse 11, after the Ascension, the angels speaking to those disciples, men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand here looking into the sky? The same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.
In Acts, chapter 7, the apostle Paul gives us the account of Stephen and his stoning. And it says, but Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Look, he said, I see heaven open and the Son of man standing at God's right hand.
One of my favorite, favorite passages from the entire old testament, Isaiah 6. I'm going to read here just, I believe the first verse.
In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah says, in his vision, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple with glory.
And what's interesting is that as you continue to read through that, he paints this picture of the place where God resides in heaven, where he is worshiped day and night around his throne by angels.
Heaven, according to Scripture, is not a state of mind. It is a literal place that God resides, but letter B, even more.
Heaven and its extension, as we'll see at the Book of Revelation, is the place where we will live free eternity. And it is described in the Book of Revelation as the new heaven and the new earth. I want to dive into this together for just a moment.
Revelation 21, verse 1, says this. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. John, as he is writing, having this vision of the things to come, the time, time when Jesus would come again and restore all things and God would set all things straight. He has this vision that he sees of a new heaven and a new earth.
Now, scholars are divided as to what is meant by new.
Is that brand new or is it new to me kind of idea? You know, like when you go and you have a cell phone and it breaks, what do you do? You take it back and you would like a new one. And what you mean is I want a new. A new one. And then they give you a refurb, right? A refurb. One where they have taken one that was broken, taken out the bad and put in brand new and they've created something new for you to have. Here's the deal. The argument that scholars have is just simply over. Like are we talking about the new heavens and new earth where we will reside for eternity with God? Is that going to be like just the current earth and current heavens rebuild worked with the bad stuff plucked out? Or is it something totally brand new?
The truth is, is that I'm not sure we will exactly know until the time that Jesus comes and establishes it all. I will tell you that my leaning when I read Scripture is towards a fully brand new creation of the heavens and the earth. The reason for that is in the passage we just read in Revelation 1:21, it says clearly that the first heaven and the first earth pass away, that they are gone, that there is a second, a new that is coming as well. If you read in second Peter, chapter three, verses 10 through 11, it talks about how Peter says how the heavens will disappear, how the elements will be destroyed by fire, and that everything will will be destroyed, giving this idea that what we will receive in that time where we will live for eternity with God will be brand new. And if you continue reading in Revelation 21, verse 2, what it tells us is that coming down out of heaven is the new Jerusalem, a new place, a new city where God will reside with his people and we will live out eternal eternity. And this new heaven and new earth with a new Jerusalem as its capital city, if you will, of the earth. And the way that this is described in the Bible letter C is, it is a place of great and incredible beauty. It is something far beyond anything that we could ever imagine. I can only imagine John trying to use human language to describe the beauty of what he saw. This is where we're going. Going to run through a chunk of scripture together because I want you to hear the beauty that he is trying to describe with his human eyes and his and his thought and his intellect. Revelation 21, verses 9 through 21 say this speaking of this new Jerusalem that has come down.
He says it shone with the glory of God and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel. Like a jewel, Jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great high wall with 12 gates and with 12 angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west.
The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length and as wide and high as it is long. The angel measured the wall using human measurement and it was 144 cubits thick. The wall was made of Jasper.
The city of pure gold, as pure as glass.
The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was Jasper. The second, sapphire. The third agate. The fourth emerald. The fifth onyx. The sixth ruby. The seventh chrysolite. The eighth beryl. The ninth topaz. The tenth turquoise. The eleventh jacinth. The twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each gate made of a single pearl. And the great street of the city was of gold as pure as transparent glass.
When you read that, you have this picture of something that is far beyond anything we could ever think or imagine. And we try to imagine it with our human experience.
So we're taught that the walls of this great city that God is establishing, where he will reside in with us as his people, is 12,000 stadia all the way around. That would be 1400 to 1500 miles in square. This is what it would look like over the modern day Middle east, within the middle being the tiny little dot of modern day Jerusalem. But not only does it describe it as a capital city that is so expansive, but it's. It also says that it is 12,000 stadia in height.
Can you imagine the height of those walls 14 to 1500 miles high is this city where God will reside with his people.
It says that there are 12 foundations of all different various precious stones with gates that are made of pearl. A river of life full, flowing from the throne of God.
Streets of gold, maybe a few broccoli trees.
Seriously though, beauty beyond measure.
Something that our minds cannot comprehend. But not only will the new creation be a place of beauty beyond our comprehension, but letter D, it will be a place of abundant, unending joy.
Now, there are definite moments of joy and great joy that we experience in this life.
The problem is, is that they can be incredibly fleeting.
I remember when I was just coming out of high school into college, I got my first car, my white Toyota Camry 1988. It was fantastic car. I loved it for two weeks until I totaled it and that joy was gone.
I was hired as a youth pastor in my home church two weeks after I got there. The great joy of being in my home church and being back and leading this ministry with kids that I loved the church. The pastor announced that he was divorcing his wife two weeks after I took the job and went through two years of one of the wildest and most painful church splits I have ever been a part of.
I've served the Lord overseas, experiencing God, working in miraculous ways, only to come home with a year of sickness.
One of the great joys of my life that God put into our family was my aunt Janice, who a number of years ago passed away because of cancer when my daughter Gracie was born. Great Joy, our only Ohio baby. And yet not long after, after she was born with great joy, she wrestled with seizures as a young baby, there was so much fear and unknown. Do you see what I'm getting at? There are so many moments of great joy. And you can list them off in your own head. The moments where you have experienced an abundance of joy. And yet it seems that life always has a way of turning and taking our joy away. You know exactly what I'm talking about.
The many times where life seems to be be going just perfectly and out of nowhere, something happens that steals your joy. But listen to what the glory of heaven will be like. Revelation 21, verses 2 through 4. John says, I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people. And he will dwell with them. They will be his people. And God himself will be with them. And they will be and be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
Imagine that. Can you imagine that with me? No more sadness, no more fear, no more pain, no more sickness, no more grief because of death.
It literally can't get any better. Who would not want heaven?
But I want you to pause with me for a moment.
All of this is good.
But if it is our main motivation for the Christian life to gain the riches of heaven or simply to have the difficulties of life removed, then I fear that what we have done is missed. The most important thing about heaven, which is What?
More important than all the physical beauty of the heavenly city, more important than the fellowship we'll experience eternally with God's people from every nation for all time, more important than our freedom from pain and sorrow and physical suffering, more important than reigning over God's kingdom, more important than any of this letter E, is that the best part is that we will dwell with God.
We will dwell with God.
What does this verse that we just read say?
Look, God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. Do you understand the depth of significance of that simple sentence, of the discipline spoken?
God dwelling among his people is the restoration of what was broken in the Garden of Eden. When mankind sinned against God, when mankind determined that we did not need God, a brokenness existed. And because of God's holiness, a punishment of death and separation from God ensued on us because of that sin.
And yet what we read here is that one day God will restore that to the way that it was always meant to be.
Where in our striving in this world to find our joy and our fulfillment and our happiness, which is fleeting because nothing in this world can provide it, God Himself will once again, for those who have placed their faith in His Son Jesus, call them to be his own, and we will again experience what we were meant to experience.
Complete perfection in relationship with God. And what does it say? I mean, what a love story, guys, Is that not an incredible love story? That in spite of our sinning against God, a holy God, that He would love us so much that he would send His Son to pay our price for our sin so that we could be restored to Him?
It's incredible.
And what I love is how that passage continues with this incredibly tender description of God after it says that we will dwell with Him. It says what? We will be his people. God Himself will be with them and be their God, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Reminds me when I was a young boy who would often find much trouble.
And after being disciplined by my father, I would often find myself crying.
Sometimes because of the spanking that I received and also because of how I had disappointed.
But my Father, when tears would flow, would always pick me up, love me and wipe those tears away.
And in those moments, what he would teach me, sometimes with words, but also just with the action, is this. That I didn't need to worry that he was there, that I was loved, that he's for me, that I was forgiven and that everything would be okay.
The picture that we have is that it says that God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
It's incredible.
Thus, the hope of heaven, my friends, is not its riches. It's not even its physical or emotional benefits.
The hope of heaven is God himself and the relationship that you will have with him.
So what are the implications of the Bible's teaching about heaven? Let's dig into that here as we close this morning.
The first thing is this letter. A Heaven provides for us a hope that the world cannot give.
I want you to think about this word hope. How is the word hope used in the world that we live in today? We might say things like, I hope that I get that promotion.
I hope that I won't lose my job.
I hope that I'll get into the school of my dreams.
I hope that the person I am in conflict with will be able to rectify that situation.
I hope that my broken marriage can be healed. I hope that that disease or sickness I've been told that I have will not lead to death. I hope that I will be okay. We use the word hope in this world all the time. But have you noticed how we use it? Hope in this life and in this world is a question mark.
But what is it in the kingdom of God?
Hope, the hope of heaven, is not a question mark. It is a guarantee.
It is a promise from God. Because the hope of heaven is not our riches. It is the one who resides there and who has promised us that one day he will wipe away every tear. The only one day he will restore all things, our relationship with him, restoring even the very world that we are in, and that we will reign with him forever.
That is a hope that the world cannot give.
Everything that the world promises leaves you with a question mark because you recognize that it can quickly be taken away. But God Himself has said he will fulfill all of his promises. His hope is against guarantee letter B as well. The implications of the Bible's teaching about heaven is that the hope of heaven reorders today what we value. Now, much of our lives in this world is caught up chasing after those temporary things.
Money, recognition, comfort, security, success. We believe it'll bring fulfillment, and yet it never does. But the hope of heaven reorders what we value. Think of what Paul says in Colossians, chapter 3, verse 1. He says, since then you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on those things above, not on earthly things.
And then Jesus In Matthew, chapter 6, verses 19 through 21, says these words do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and vermin to destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moth and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
What Jesus teaches us is that what we chase after in this life reveals what has captured our hearts.
The hope of heaven reorders what we value now, and thus what we chase after in this life helps us to understand where our heart and allegiance has been placed.
The question it begs us to ask Are we chasing the temporary brokenness of this world that we'll never fulfill, or are we chasing after the God who guarantees our restoration?
Letter C the implications of the Bible teaching about heaven is that the hope of heaven motivates holy living.
When we grasp the depth of what God has done for us through Jesus, when we can grasp the total depravity of our sin, when we can grasp that we deserve God's wrath, when we grasp how God in His mercy sent His Son to make a way for us, when we grasp the extravagant nature of the gift of salvation, all of it together, our response is not one of, ugh, now I have to try to live a good life until I die.
Our response, the natural response of a person who is caught up in the grace of God is a desire to honor and love him because of how he has loved us. The hope of heaven motivates Holy Living First John 3, verses 2 through 3 but we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
All who have this hope in him purify themselves just as he is pure. You see, holy living is our response of gratitude and thankfulness for all that God has done for us.
Letter D the hope of Heaven provides Endurance in suffering I say that this morning knowing that there are many people potentially in this room that are suffering. And I'm not talking about general suffering like we all experience general suffering because of sin in a broken world. I often sit and I think, man, Lord, I'm just tired of the way things are going in this world. Things are hard. I cannot wait to be with you and for things to be restored and to experience you, your goodness.
But there are people that are really suffering in this world.
There are people that are suffering and struggling every day with mental illness or mental struggles, depression, anxiety, where it feels like a daily battle and it's hard just to push through.
There are moments where it feels like it may never End. There are people that are dealing with diagnoses of disease, diseases, where they know that their life hangs in the balance and they don't know if tomorrow will even be promised. There are people who are suffering because they are suffering for the name of Jesus. All around this world, facing the threat of death because of their love for Him.
There is real suffering that we experience in this life. And the truth is, is that the hope of heaven provides for us endurance in that suffering. Listen. Listen to the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 8.
Let these words be a balm to your suffering.
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
For the creation waits an eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subject to frustration not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation, creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth, right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our body bodies. For in this hope we were saved.
The words that the Apostle Paul speaks here are so precious to us. Is that the hope that we have is that one day, no matter what suffering it is that we face, one day because of our faith in Jesus Christ, we will be liberated from our bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of being the children of God. Amen. We have that hope, hope that guarantee that God has given us. This is the hope of heaven. And finally, letter E. The hope of heaven also fuels our purpose in this life.
The hope of heaven fuels our purpose in this life. So many people in this life are searching desperately for purpose.
But as a follower of Jesus Christ, as a follower of God, he has given us a very clear purpose.
Second Corinthians, chapter 5, beginning in verse 17, makes it so clear.
If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.
The old is gone and the new is here.
All of this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them.
And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
The hope of Heaven the hope of heaven is not its riches.
The hope of heaven is not our anxiety and our pressures and our struggles taken away. The hope of heaven is God himself and his son, Jesus Christ.
The hope of heaven is greater than anything that this world can give.
The hope of heaven reorders what we value today. The hope of heaven motivates us to live holy lives as a response of love because of how Christ has loved us. The hope of heaven provides endurance and suffering because as we suffer, we know that this is not the end and that God is guaranteed eternity with him.
And the hope of heaven fuels the our purpose.
In other words, we are his ambassadors. This is not a message or a gift that we keep to ourselves, but one that we share with all who would hear in hopes that they themselves would find their salvation in and through Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. And it is to that that we have been called.
Let's pray together.
Father, I love you. I thank you for the incredible hope that you have given us.
It's incredible for us to read together in the pages of your word about what awaits us as your children who have made the decision to follow you.
Heaven sounds glorious.
Even more, to not deal with the precious of this world, but God teach us to long for you, for the one who has loved us so much that he sent his son Jesus to pay the price for our sin.
God, you are so good and you are so loving.
We cannot wait to be with you in your kingdom.
But as we wait, would you teach us to be faithful about the mission that you have given us?
I know that there are people here this morning as our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, that have never made a decision to follow Christ. As I mentioned this morning, two people made that decision to say I want to follow Jesus and to receive that gift of eternal life. And I know that there's people in this room that have never made that decision before.
And if today is that day you come to the end and you go, I want that hope. I know that the world can't give it to me. I don't want the question mark hope anymore. I want the guarantee that God offers me.
If you want to make that decision, to surrender your life to him today, I would just invite you to pray this simple prayer after me.
Heavenly Father, today I declare that I believe in you.
I confess to you, God that I'm a sinner, that I've sinned against you.
But not only do I believe in you, but I believe in your son, Jesus Christ, who you sent into this world to die on a cross to pay the penalty for my sin.
So that if I would put my faith and trust in you that I could be forgiven and receive the gift of eternal life and a restored relationship with you today. Father. Father, I choose to follow you.
I give you my heart, I give you my life and I thank you for the gift of salvation that you have offered and extended and given to me.
I just want to say that if you prayed that prayer this morning, I'm thankful for that decision, for that journey that you have been on.
And we would love the opportunity to just encourage you and to continue to help you as you grow in your relationship with the Lord.
At the close of our service today, we're going to have our prayer team that is up here up front, people that are just wanting general prayer are going to be coming forward. And so you won't stick out like a sore thumb. I just want to invite you to come with them. And if you've made that decision to follow Jesus today, let them know that you made that decision. Because we have a Bible that we would love to give you, a study Bible that can help us you in that journey, some devotional materials, but even more, we just want to celebrate what God is doing in your life. It is incredible.
Church family. Let me also pray over you, God.
As we consider the beauty of heaven and all that is promised to us, the greatest gift is you.
But as we consider our hope that we have in heaven, Father, we understand as well that it might must drive us in this life to a place of faith and trust in you, but also being a part of your mission.
And so Father, move us to places of greater surrender.
But as well, Father, help our hearts to be filled with your mission of taking the good news that we have received and not keeping that gift of Jesus to ourselves, but seeing with spiritual eyes every day the people you are putting in our circles to to share the good news of your son with in hopes that they would choose to follow you. We love you God, and we give all that we are to you and we worship your holy name. It is in your name that we pray. Amen.
[01:17:51] Speaker A: I can't wait for eternity Join the song they're already singing Holy, holy, holy Are you O just to bow down before your throne See your face I'll cry out because you're holy, holy, holy Are you Lord Jesus, King of kings.
Jesus majesty.
I can't wait for eternity Join the song they're already seen Holy, holy, holy Are you Lord just to bow down Just to bow down before your throne.
Holy are you.
Jesus king of king jesus majesty.
Jesus King of kings you are worthy Jesus Majesty.
Standing with those who have heard well done Proclaiming forever that you're the one One who's faithful, faithful, faithful are you Lord what can we give you but in this praise the heavens are as we shout your name is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. You are Lord Jesus King of King and the Lord of Lord King of kings and the Lord Jesus Majesty.
Worthy, worthy, worthy Lord Lord Another glimpse of glory we sing once more Worthy, worthy, worthy Lord Forever forever Worthy, worthy, worthy Lord Another glimpse of glory we sing once more Worthy, worthy, worthy Lord Forever forever singing Worthy, worthy, worthy Lord Another glimpse of glory we sing once more oh worthy, worthy, worthy Lord Forever forever singing Worthy, worthy, worthy Lord Another glimpse of glory we sing once more oh worthy, worthy Lord forever.
Jesus king.
Jesus.
[01:23:14] Speaker E: Us.
[01:23:31] Speaker B: God is so good. Amen. He is so good to us.
As we close this morning, our prayer team is here at the front again. And if you you have any prayer needs and would like for them to minister to you this morning, we invite you to come forward. If you made that decision to give your life to Jesus and to say yes to him for the first time, we'd love for you to come forward again. We've got a Bible for you. We just love to celebrate that with you, so I'd invite you to come. As we close our service today, Church family, as we launch into our last week in this small series together, we're going to wrestle next week with the toughest question of hell, something that is super unpopular in our world today, even in some Christian circles.
But we're going to wrestle too, with the hard question that many people ask, which is how could a loving God send people to hell?
Maybe you wrestle with that question, be here, maybe you have friends that have been wrestling with that, invite them to come and enter the conversation that they might hear of the goodness of God and surrender their hearts and their lives to him as well. So I'm excited. Church family, looking forward to next week together. As you go out this week, look for those opportunities God is giving you every day and keep sharing how good he is with all that you can. God bless you. Look forward to seeing you next Sunday,
[01:24:56] Speaker A: Sam.
