Hearts In Heaven Heads On Earth

HEARTS IN HEAVEN, HEADS ON EARTH

AIM: To exhort the congregation to press on toward the goal even in the midst of flesh.

OPEN:

a) (slowly)You’ll have noticed this morning that we have been singing songs all about heaven.

b) This is my favorite topic to sing about. It is everything that we hold as important.

c) It is our reason to go on living, our purpose, our meaning, our hope.

d) As I was reading through Paul’s letter to the Philippians, I decided that there was no better topic than this, for us to examine today.

e) The title of my lesson this morning, as you will see in the bulletin is

HEARTS IN HEAVEN, HEADS ON EARTH.

f) Review outline.

OUTLINE:

1. HEAVEN IS IN MY HEART (Phil. 1:19-30)

2. HARD PRESSED HERE (Phil 2:12-18; 3:2-6)

3. PRESSING ON TO THE PRIZE (Phil. 3:7-14)

1. HEAVEN IS IN MY HEART

a) Place a finger in the book of Philippians; this is where we are going to find our text for today.

b) Hope is one of the most important things in every person’s life.

c) Everybody has hope for something…

d) Some hope to win the lottery, some hope that the sun will rise tomorrow.

e) I hope that my car doesn’t break down.

f) You hope that I don’t go over time…

g) I hope that you don’t go to sleep…

h) Every body has hope in something at some point. Sometimes that hope is fulfilled, sometimes it is not.

i) The question is, do you have a hope that really matters?

j) Do you hope for heaven?

k) I can’t say for sure, but I think that every person on earth has at least questioned the existence of life after death.

l) Everyone at some point is going to ask, is there a heaven? Maybe that won’t be until a person is on their death bed, but every person wonders.

m) I know that there is a heaven!! I know it exists.

n) But what on earth is heaven? What is it that we sing about and hope for?

REFERENCES:

a) HEAVEN: according to Webster’s: the visible sky; the dwelling place of God and his angels where the blessed go after death; any place of state of great happiness.

b) Not bad for a worldly definition…but very impersonal. What is heaven?

c) The Hebrew word for heaven is SHIMAYIM; unseen celestial places

d) The Greek word for heaven is EPOURANIOS; above the sky, celestial or divine.

e) These are definitions, but they do not do heaven justice…let me talk for a moment about heaven…

Heaven is our hope, and that goes beyond all definitions of the word itself. To describe heaven is impossible for us to do because descriptions involve vision. Heaven is not something that we can see as with eyes. It is not something that we can describe as if it were touchable…heaven is spiritual, and being physical beings we are unable in all of our language to describe the scope and magnitude of heaven…but many in the bible have tried… those who have had it revealed to them gave us a glimpse into what it may be…not something that we would see, but something that goes even beyond our sight.

• One day the earth will come to a screeching halt.

• This day will come when no one expects it, there is no date, and there are no signs that point to it.

• This day will come like a thief in the night…unexpectedly

• The sky will rip open and God will come with the blast of a trumpet, and the dead will be rising

• We will be taken away with God to an indescribable place…

• A place that can only be weakly compared to the physical.

• A place where the walls are made of jasper, and the streets are paved with Gold

• A place where every kind of precious stone decorates the walls.

• A place where there will be no pain or sorrow,

• Where tears cannot fall and sadness cannot overcome

• Where darkness cannot enter.

• Where the impure cannot exist

• A place that, everyday has singing and joy.

• Where the angels sing the song of Moses and the Lamb

• Where we will receive and wear a crown of glory

THIS IS HEAVEN…TO BE WITH GOD.

f) Is heaven in your heart??? Is that your hope and goal in life???

g) Do you desire more than anything in this world to be with God in heaven???

h) Without this there is no hope…God created us to be with him, and He has given us his son to do just that.

i) Philippians1:21-24 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.