Yep, It’s in Heaven
Scripture: Revelation 21: 1-4 Date: 28 February 2010
Purpose: To share some of the wonderful joys to look forward to in heaven.
VIDEO: “What is Heaven Like?”
Illustration: A Sunday School teacher was teaching his class about heaven. He 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!”
-A crash course on heaven is first of all, to go there, you got to die. I think most of us would like to skip that whole process, but the chances of us avoiding that are very slim. So I think a big question a lot of us have is “What’s heaven going to be like?”
We just completed a great study during our Monday night Bible study. This was a study of Dr. David Jeremiah’s book, “Escape the Coming night.” This study of the book of Revelation gave us a taste of what eternity holds, what heaven will truly be like.
Revelation 21: 1-4 1 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. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe 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."
*RELEASE CHILDREN FOR CHILDREN’S CHURCH*
Last week I shared with you a few things that we will not find in heaven. These were the No’s of heaven, the negatives that will be absent from heaven. Just the thought of being truly alive without all the burdens, pains, and strains of life is an awesome thought that really is hard to grasp a hold of. This is what it will be like in heaven. And since there will be an absent of these negatives, there will be in their place some wonderful positives. These are the Yes’ of heaven.
From Dr. Jeremiah’s study, he shared three yes’ in heaven. And I wish to share those with you this morning.
I. The first one is Singing.
A. Ephesians 5:19 “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord”
1. When we get to Scripture, we find that God commands His people to sing and make music. Here in Ephesians 5 we find that one of the ways we prepare our heart for the Spirit of God is through song.
2. God has always wanted His people to sing. Ps 32:11 declares:
“Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; SING, all you who are upright in heart!”
Psalm 105:1-4 proclaims:
“Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. SING to him, SING praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.”
And Psalm 149:1-5 commands us:
“Praise the LORD. SING to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints. Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King. Let them praise his name with dancing and MAKE MUSIC to him with tambourine and harp. For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. Let the saints rejoice in this honor and SING for joy on their beds.
3. So God wants His people to sing. Right, I mean this is what we read in the scriptures isn’t it?
4. Not only does the scripture tell us to sing but they tell us that God is worthy of song and that by singing to Him, is to honor Him, that singing pleases Him. In heaven when we are in the presence of God, don’t you think that we will do whatever we can to honor and please Him? I know that I will be so filled with joy that all I will be able to do is to sing out loudly” THANK YOU LORD, THANK YOU FOR YOU LOVING GRACE”!!!!!!
Illustration: I admit that I am not the best singer. As a matter of fact I am far from being the best. Most people would say that my singing would be best described as a noise. Not a pleasing noise such as a bubbling brook in the spring but more of an annoying noise like a screeching hawk or a screaming child.
5. God has to be a very loving and compassionate God if He hears some of us that sound like a noise rather than a song and is pleased with what He hears. We don’t have to be great well gifted singers to sing. God is pleased with each of our voices, just as long as we use them to praise His Name.
6. God loves it when we sing to Him. Because when we sing, we’re praising Him for how much joy and for the grace that he has given us through His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
B. In Acts 16 we’re told of the time Paul and Silas were arrested for preaching the Gospel. They were beaten, chained and locked in a jail cell where their feet were fastened in stocks.
• And just HOW do they respond to this?
• How do Paul and Silas react to the injustice of their punishment?
• The pain of their beatings?
• The terror of a jail cell that they shared with vermin and rats?
• The uncertainty of what their future held?
1. What did they do? (They sang) They sang?
Acts 16:25 tells us that “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” And then what happened? “Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.” Acts 16:26
2. Did their singing create the earthquake? No… their God did that.
But when they sang, they declared their faith in a faithful God who could do stuff like that. Their singing was like a faucet that they turned on and opened up the pipeline of God’s power. It was like heaven on earth as the doors flew open and the chains came loose. Those that experienced this on that day I am sure would tell us that it was like heaven on earth.
3. Singing does that. Because I believe that in heaven we all will be doing much singing, singing for joy, sing for God, and singing songs of thanks.
II. Yep, much singing will be in heaven and I also believe that there will be much Serving in heaven as well.
A. Let’s look back to a verse that we spoke about last week.
Revelation 22:3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
1. The part that I want to focus on is: “His servants will serve Him.” Hey, those of us that have accepted Jesus are the servants that are spoken about here.
2. To be called or to be known as a servant is one of the most honoring titles in scripture.
Iluustration: In 1972, NASA launched the exploratory space probe Pioneer 10. According to Leon Jaroff in Time, the satellite’s primary mission was to reach Jupiter, photograph the planet and its moons, and beam data to earth about Jupiter’s magnetic field, radiation belts, and atmosphere. Scientists regarded this as a bold plan, for at that time no earth satellite had ever gone beyond Mars, and they feared the asteroid belt would destroy the satellite before it could reach its target. But Pioneer 10 accomplished its mission and much, much more. Swinging past the giant planet in November 1973, Jupiter’s immense gravity hurled Pioneer 10 at a higher rate of speed toward the edge of the solar system. At one billion miles from the sun, Pioneer 10 passed Saturn. At some two billion miles, it hurtled past Uranus; Neptune at nearly three billion miles; Pluto at almost four billion miles. By 1997, twenty-five years after its launch, Pioneer 10 was more than six billion miles from the sun. And despite that immense distance, Pioneer 10 continued to beam back radio signals to scientists on Earth. "Perhaps most remarkable," writes Jaroff, "those signals emanate from an 8-watt transmitter, which radiates about as much power as a bedroom night light, and takes more than nine hours to reach Earth.’"
This satellite was not qualified to do what it did. Engineers designed Pioneer 10 with a useful life of just three years. But it kept going and going. By simple longevity, its tiny 8-watt transmitter radio accomplished more than anyone thought possible.
3. You see God made you to serve him, not just for the obvious that many Christians realize within their life but also above and beyond. We are to continue serving Him in heaven as well. There is a whole other world that God has prepared for us to live and prosper in, to explore, to enjoy, and to serve in.
4. You were made to serve God. Not just for a short while on earth but for all of eternity. This body was made to serve God in the here and now but the spirit that God placed in that body was made to serve in eternity. God never meant for us to retire from serving Him.
5. The Bible says, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10
6. God created us in His own image. Genesis 1: 27 God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. If this is true, and it is, then could you ever imagine God retiring from blessing us, from being God? We too are not meant to stop doing what we are meant to do. Not in this life or the next.
7. Yep, in heaven there will be joyous singing and we will be forever serving our all deserving creator.
III. And I believe also that we should be excited about the fellowship, the Sharing!
A. Heaven is going to be the greatest experience of fellowship that anyone could ever imagine.
Illustration: St. Jude Hospital is a worldwide known hospital that deals with catastrophic diseases with children. I have heard about camps that they put on throughout the year. These are camps invite children that are dealing with horrible diseases that are tearing their very lives apart. These children normally are segregated from society, unable to attend school, play sports, or even go to a friend’s home for a sleep over. Many of these children feel all alone in the world and have no to very few friends.
St, Jude’s research concludes that these sick dying and lonely children that attend these camps live longer than expected. Not because of medication or special treatments but because of the camps.
You see, these children have nothing in common with this world they are simply living in it, fighting each day for their lives. By attending these camps they are with others just like them. They can relate to one another and they have a special bond that seems to lift their spirits and give them a joy that they would never find in their daily lives in this world.
For many of these children, going to a camp is like truly living for the first time.
1. When we get to heaven it will be like truly living for the first time as we are united with fellow believers that are just like us. This is where are real friends will be, the ones that we have the most in common, the ones we can count on. Fellow Christians that we have known in life and those that we never have met will be there.
2. We are told in the book of John that believers in Christ will be in heaven. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
3. This is going to be the ultimate party. A never ending party that will lift our spirits and give us a joy that we never have found in this world. We will be truly alive for the first time!
4. Just think about all those saints that have gone on before us. People that you admired for their faith and service to the Lord will be there. How can we not be excited about meeting them, just the thought of being able to fellowship those that inspired us, with those that led us to the Lord, and with those that we read about in the Holy Scriptures.
5. Moses, Daniel, Jacob, Esther, James, Paul, Mark, Mary and Jesus just to name a few. They all will be there and we will all fellowship and share like we have never shared before.
6. Can you truly imagine what it will be like hearing stories from the Bible characters that we have studied about our whole lives? Firsthand accounts of what their lives were really about.
7. For me. I am looking forward in sharing with Daniel and hearing him tell me about the Lion’s Den, and speaking with Jonah and hearing what it was really like inside that great fish. And of course nothing will compare to spending time and sharing with Christ Himself.
Conclusion:
I do believe that in heaven that there will be much singing, serving and sharing. It is a place that dreams can never compare and words can never describe. It is a place that I wish to call home. It is in heaven that we will truly feel as if we finally fit in as Christians. Heaven is a place for each of us. A place that is filled with a never ending love that has no negatives and that is full of positives.
Heaven is a place for you and I.
