Signs can be very interesting, such as:
• In a Non-smoking area a sign said: "If we see you smoking we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action."
• On Maternity Room door: "Push, Push, Push."
• At an Optometrist's Office: "If you don't see what you're looking for, you've come to the right place."
• At a Car Dealership: "The best way to get back on your feet is to miss a car payment."
• Outside a Muffler Shop: "No appointment necessary. We'll hear you coming."
• In a Dry Cleaner's Emporium: "Drop your pants here."
• In a Veterinarian's waiting room: "Be back in five minutes. Sit! Stay!"
• At the Electric Company: "We would be delighted if you send in your payment, however, if you don't you will be (de-lighted)."
• In the front yard of a Funeral Home: "Drive carefully, we'll wait."
Signs are always interesting to read wherever we find them.
But it is the small redneck towns that have the most interesting signs to read:
• Our City jail is called amoeba, because it only has one cell
• Our McDonalds only has one Golden Arch
• Our ZIP code is a fraction
• Our Second Street is in the next town over
• Our New Year`s baby was born in October
The promise of Scripture is that when a child of God passes from this world below, they are welcomed into the world above.
Heaven is the greatest place a person could ever live.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT HEAVEN?
One of the great things about living today is that we have all the advantages that our forefathers never had.
DID YOU KNOW . . .
Many of our forefathers never went any further than 50 to 100 miles from where they lived.
Think of a town that is a hundred miles from here. If you wanted to go there you had to ride a horse or a mule and a buggy. Now I can not imagine under those conditions that I would ever want to go to a place that I would have to travel in a buggy a hundred miles to get there and a hundred miles to get back.
Our forefathers never had the privileges we have today:
• We have cars, buses, airplanes, boat and trains so we can travel anywhere in the comfort of air conditioning in the summer or heat in the winter.
• We can get on an airplane today and travel anywhere in the world we want to in a relatively short period of time.
But we are at the same disadvantage as our forefathers when it comes to the Kingdom of Heaven.
That is:
• We have never been able to catch a plane and travel to the Kingdom of heaven
• We have never been able to talk with someone and say, “I went there and let me tell you what it is like living there!”
The Bible does tell us some things about the Kingdom of Heaven. For example-
I. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE A LANDOWNER
Look at Matt. 20:1, we read, “For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.”
We all know what a landowner is and the Bible says the Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner.
Let me say up front in this sermon; everything here on earth and in heaven belongs to God. EVERYTHING!
In Psalm 50:9-12, God said, “I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof."
God wants us to know He is the Landowner.
Illus: If you go to the court house you will find every acre of land in this county is listed under someone’s name. But you can do a title search on any piece of property you will find it all goes back to God.
There is only one landowner and it all belongs to God.
Illus: Speaking of being land owners reminds me of a man that is out hunting and shoots a beautiful trophy deer, but the deer jumps a fence into private property before dying. The man looks around to make sure nobody is watching and then climbs the fence to retrieve his kill. As the hunter reaches the deer, he is confronted by the land owner who informs the hunter that he can't take the deer. The hunter replies "The deer is clearly mine because I was the one who shot him right before he jumped the fence and died."
The land owner replies, "Yes but this is my land, and whatever is on it belongs to me". The land owner adds, "I know how we can solve this dilemma with a simple game. What we do is take turns kicking each other in the rear end until one of us can take no more. And I think that because you are trespassing on my land, I should be able to kick first."
The hunter thought to himself and decided that he was a fine sportsman and agreed. The man that owned the private property told the man who shot the deer to bend over.
The land owner wound up and kicked the hunter so hard that it dropped him to the ground gasping in pain.
After about five minutes the hunter got his breath back, climbed to his feet and said, "O..K.. I ..did....it, now it's my turn.”
To which the landowner promptly replied "NAA! you can keep the deer."
A lot of folks own property and they post “No Trespassing” signs for everyone to see.
Every foot of land on this earth belongs to the Lord. We would be in a mess if the Lord told us, “No Trespassing.” Technically we are all trespassers; we are living on HIS LAND!
He allows us to live here but He wants to remind us that IT ALL BELONGS TO HIM!
The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner. HE OWNS IT ALL!
In a sense of the word we are all trespassers on His land.
Illus: When I think of trespassers I think of an email that was sent to me about some comedian that had this to say about “Shark Attacks”. (If I knew the name I would be glad to give him credit). He talks about trespassing when it comes to “Shark Attacks.” It goes like this:
He says, “There is no such thing as a shark attack." "A shark attack is if you're chilling at home, sitting on your couch, and a shark comes in and bites you; now that's a shark attack."
"We live on the land. Sharks live in the water. If you get caught down there, you are trespassing.”
We all live on this land that belongs to God and when we die and go to heaven, we will live in His Kingdom there.
The Kingdom of heaven is like A LAND OWNER, but also notice this-
II. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE A LABORER
• Matt. 20:1-2, "For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard."
The kingdom of heaven is like A LABORER EARNING A WAGE!
• 1 Cor. 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
The Lord wants us to know that as we labor for Him we are going to get paid.
• We get paid on earth for our labors.
• We will get paid in heaven because of a gracious landowner.
One of the good things about the way God pays EVERYONE is that people WILL GET EXACTLY WHAT IS DUE TO THEM!
Illus: A man owned a small farm in South Georgia. The Wage and Hour Department claimed he was not paying proper wages to his help and sent an agent to interview him.
• He said to him, "You just give me a list of your employees and tell me how much you pay them."
• The farmer said, "All right."
• "I have a hired man. Been with me for three years. I pay him $600 a week, plus room and board."
• "I have a cook. She’s been here six months. She gets $500 a week plus room and board."
• "Anybody else?" asked the agent as he scribbled on a note pad.
• "Yeah," the farmer said. "There’s a half-wit here. Works about eighteen hours a day. I pay him ten dollars a week and give him chewing tobacco."
• "Aha!" the agent roared. "I want to talk to that half-wit!"
• The farmer said, "You’re talkin’ to him now.”
In this life, the salaries people receive are not fair.
• We have athletes that can play one ball game and make more than we can make in one year.
• We have actors that can be in one movie and make more then we will make our entire life.
The Lord will pay the workers in His kingdom and the pay will be better than anything we ever imagined!
• 1 Cor. 2:9, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
• 2 Cor. 4:17-18, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Our eternal payoff is going to be worth everything we have ever done in this life for the Lord.
Conclusion:
Illus: Dr. W. J. Dawson once visited with preacher Joseph Parker in his garden. Dawson told Parker that he intended to go visit the Holy Land. Parker waved his hand to the blue sky above him and said, “My holy land is there.”
And that is exactly how I feel about it. The kingdom of heaven is where I want to go. And it is because of our great and gracious God and His son Jesus Christ that Christians will go there, sooner or later.
Make heaven your goal in life. There is no better place.
We have looked at the Kingdom of Heaven-
I. IT IS LIKE A LANDOWNER
II. IT IS LIKE A LABORER
