A Sermon That Is Difficult To Preach

In life It’s nice to be able to look forward to something.

• In the daily grind of life it is great to look forward to a vacation.

• When we were kids we got excited waiting for Christmas. We would literally count the days before it would arrive.

• When we were kids we looked forward to the end of the school year and the beginning of summer vacation.

• Our parents had some thoughts about school also. They looked forward to sending the children back to school.

But we Christians have the most to look forward to - that is our arrival in heaven.

Illus: Heaven is such a great place that I am sure that when church members arrive there they will say to their pastor, “WHY DIDN’T YOU PREACH ON HEAVEN MORE THAN YOU DID, I HAD NO IDEA THAT HEAVEN WAS SUCH A GREAT PLACE!”

Illus: Story is told of a little girl who was born blind. Sometime later a doctor was examining her eyes and he told her parents, “I have some good news to tell you!” The doctor went on to say, “With today’s advanced medicine I believe your little girl can have an operation and she will be able to see. I cannot guarantee it, but I believe we can fix her eyes and she will be able to see.” They did the operation and when they got through they bandaged her eyes up for some period of time. But when the doctor thought it was the right time he called the parents, and nurses in to be there when he took the bandage off. He very carefully un-rapped the bandage and when all the bandages were off he told this little darling girl to open her eyes. They had been closed for so long she had a hard time opening her eyes but finally she managed to open them and the first face she saw was her doctor’s, than her nurse’s, and for the first time she saw her mother’s face with a tear running down her cheek. She was so happy she jumped out of bed and ran to the window:

• She didn’t just see grass, she saw green grass.

• She didn’t just see a sky, she saw a blue sky.

• She didn’t just see flowers, she saw multiple colored flowers.

She ran back to her mother and said, “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME HOW BEAUTIFUL EVERYTHING IS.” The mother said, “Honey, I tried but I could not make you understand!!!”

I believe it is going to be like this in heaven. When church members arrive in heaven they will be asking, “PASTOR, WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THIS BEAUTIFUL PLACE?”

And pastors will have to say, as this mother said, “I tried but I could not make you understand!!!”

• Heaven is not just a figment of our imagination, it is a real place just like Columbia, S.C. is a REAL PLACE!!!

• Heaven is a REAL PLACE FOR A PREPARED PEOPLE!!!

This sermon is about this wonderful place we call heaven so that you won’t come up to me in heaven and say, “WHY DIDN’T YOU PREACH MORE OFTEN ABOUT HEAVEN THAN YOU DID?”

One thing is for sure. A lot of folks do not know much about heaven.

Illus: About the only thing that people know reminds me of a Sunday School teacher was teaching her class about heaven.

• She asked the children, “If I sold my house and my car, had a huge yard sale, and gave all the money to the church, would that get me into heaven?” All the children answered, “NO!”

• “If every day I vacuumed the church carpets, cleaned the washrooms, and mowed the grass, would that get me into heaven?” Again, all the children answered, “NO!”

• “If I was kind to the poor, gave candy to children, and loved my wife, would that get me into heaven?” Once more, the children answered, “NO!”

• “Then how can I get into heaven?” the teacher asked.

• A five-year-old boy shouted out, “YOU GOTTA BE DEAD!”

We need to know much more about heaven than that!

Illus: It is an exciting time when a married couple decides to build a house for their family. Generally, before they take on a project like this, they study the proposed plans carefully because they want to make sure that every little detail is considered so that they will have a wonderful place to live the rest of their lives on this earth.

Yes, planning a family house is exciting, but listen, if people can get excited about earthly houses, then it is easy to understand why Christians should get excited about their future home in heaven, where they will live for eternity.