End Series

END

Phil 3: 20, 21 (p832) July 29, 2012

INTRODUCTION:

When you set out for Florida for Disney world with your family…you might enjoy some parts of the journey…other parts, not so much (he’s touching me…No I’m not… He’s touching me!)…You might stop at Big Daddy Don Garlit’s Drag Racing Museum, but that’s not your destination…your destination is in Orlando…your reservations are at Wally World…

And if you remember Family vacations and if you arrive there and it’s closed for reservation…it’s time to punch the Moose on the Nose!

(Show picture…play 30 sec of Holiday World)

If you’re on a pilgrimage to see a moose…or a mouse…you’re not at the end of your journey until you see the moose or the mouse.

12 weeks ago we began this series called “Signs for Life”. It began at an Intersection, we’ve seen “children at play” signs…warning signs…No U turn, One Way, Dead end, Wrong Way, Caution and Yield…each and every one of these has been posted by a loving Father who wants us to make it to the end of the journey…Each of these God posted signs are designed to get us and keep us on the road.

It’s why the Apostle Peter writes….

“Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God, once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy…

Dear Friends I urge, you as aliens and strangers in the world to abstain from sinful desires which was against your soul…Live such good lives among the pagans (unbelievers) that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (1 Pet 2: 10-12) (p858)

The Apostle Paul and Apostle Peter are in complete 100% agreement…

Our home isn’t here…Our citizenship is heaven, not here on earth…we’re on a journey…not to see a mouse or a moose….”We eagerly want to see our Savior, from heaven”

We long to glorify god here…because through that others might also glorify him on that day He visits us.”

You see as we look to the end of the journey it’s important we realize…

I HEAVEN IS MORE ABOUT A PERSON THAN A PLACE

For whatever reason we have been bombarded, saturated with pictures of heaven that show white fluffy clouds, Angels with halos and harps, a lot of singing and strumming.

[Randy Alcorn in his book about heaven tells the story of an English Vicar who when asked by a colleague what he expected after death replied…

“Well, if it comes to that, I suppose I shall inter into eternal bliss, but I really wish you wouldn’t bring up such depressing subjects!”

George Bernard Shaw wrote these words about heaven…

“Heaven, as conventionally conceived, is a place so inane, so dull, so useless, so miserable, that nobody has ever ventured to describe a whole day in heaven, though plenty of people have described a day at the seashore.”

If heaven is nothing more than a place where I sit on white clouds and play a harp day after day, then frankly, it’s not a place I get really excited about…It’s better than Hell---It’s more comfortable than being a “Post Toastie”, but it’s not a great motivation to keep on the narrow road until the end. Especially when Satan offers all kinds of exciting rabbit trails along the way.

It’s important we remember…that life is always more about relationships and people than other stuff…

Here’s a good illustration about what I mean…

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Miss Watson attempts to persuade Huckleberry to behave by explain to him the difference between heaven and hell. Huckleberry responds with the following observation:

Now she had got a start, and she went on and told me all about the good place. She said all a body would have to do there was to go around all day long with a harp and sing, forever and ever. So I didn’t think much of it. But I never said so. I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there, and she said, not a considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together.

Behavior and hearts will never, ever be changed spiritually by viewing heaven as a place…

Don’t get me wrong! I believe heaven will be real, tangible, rock solid.

I also believe Hell will be real, tangible, fiery and horribly eternal…

Here’s the problem with viewing heaven in a place…Cor 2: 9, 10 records

‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” – but God has revealed it to us by his spirit”

Did you get that???!! Don’t try to present or understand heaven, the end…your earthy, non-glorified eyes, ears and mind are not capable…