Good day! No matter what is going on in our world, it is always good when we are with God for God is always good! God is love! God loves us beyond our comprehension and all He asks is for us to trust Him through Jesus Christ! Do you trust Jesus Christ? – then let us worship Him. Pray along with me to start our worship….
Let us now sing a couple of praise songs to our God! Sing them from your heart!!
We have been noting the last few weeks that we are living in the last days according to God’s schedule; it seems even closer now with all the craziness from the recent death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. According to God’s Word, we are living in the Church Age, a time to return to God through the gift of Jesus Christ to people. It is God’s desire for all people to return to Him, but sadly, many just refuse to believe in the Only Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! So, God will end this age because God will say enough sinning and the Judgment Age will come soon.
But for us Believers of Christ, the end of this Church Age will bring the Eternal Age for us in heaven! Today, I would like us to get a glimpse of what heaven will be like according to God in Scriptures, not made up visions from man. Yes, heaven is where God desires every person to be and we are to look forward to it. Aren’t you getting tired of all the craziness already happening in the world? I am saddened by our selfish humanity but praise God He gives us forgiveness and the promise of heaven through Jesus Christ! I can not wait to be changed and be in heaven!
But I believe there are at least 2 challenges for us while we are still alive on earth as we focus on heaven; this is God’s intention for us, so He gives us a glimpse of heaven! I will end the message with those 2 challenges after seeing heaven through God’s eyes. Please open your Bibles to the Book of Revelation, the last book in our Bibles.
First of all take a look Revelation 2:17….
This note is for all who will go to heaven; a special white stone will be given by God to all who go to heaven with a name written on it which only God and the person who received the stone will know the name!! What does this mean? There will be a personal relationship between Almighty God and every person in heaven. God will intimately know each one of us and every creature in heaven by a special name! I’m ready to go, aren’t you??
Now read with me Revelation 4….. and let us also read Revelation 5:6-12…
Let us highlight what the Apostle John saw in heaven for us; try to picture it.
In heaven, the splendor of the Throne of God is there, surrounded by colors, gems, 12 Elders dressed in white and with golden crowns, flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder, spirits of God, a glassy crystal sea, magnificent creatures always worshiping God along with the 12 Elders, Jesus the Lamb of God is there and there will be music and singing and the worship of thousands upon thousands and ten thousands upon ten thousands of Holy Angels (Mighty Servants of God)! One of these days, we Believers of Jesus Christ will be there in splendor as well!!
Now turn to Revelation 7:9-10…
Because of Jesus Christ, in heaven, there will be a multitude of people from this earth from every nation, tribe, and language! People today are looking for unity in this world; it will only happen through Jesus Christ in heaven! Don’t you want to be there?
And one more special passage for us; turn to Revelation 21:1-4…
In heaven, we Believers of Jesus Christ will have an eternal and personal relationship with our God Jesus Christ and in heaven there will be no more tears, no more death or mourning, no more crying or pain, and all things bad will be gone!! Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice!
And so, we see glimpse of our future in heaven. As Believers of Jesus Christ we know for sure we are going to heaven. Remember what is said in 1 John 5:13 “These things are written to you Believers of Christ so that you may know you have eternal life!” How can we be confident that heaven is our future to come soon? God tells us heaven will be our eternal home!
God tells us about our eternal home because I believe there are 2 challenges that we must consider knowing our future:
1. Does knowing where we will be in the future impact how we live today?
2. If there is a heaven for Believers, there is a Hell for non-believers.
Many of us love to plan on going on a vacations somewhere nice. What do we do when we plan? We figure out how we will get there and prepare ourselves for our destination. And so as we look forward to heaven, are we very sure on how to get there? The Bible tells us the only way to God the Father in heaven is through Jesus Christ. We must never change our way of how to get to heaven; only by complete trust and belief in Jesus Christ. What happens when you are on your way somewhere but then you change your way of getting there? You can easily get lost when you change your way of getting to to somewhere and the possibility of not even getting to where you first wanted to go to! Believers of Jesus Christ, stay the course of Christ alone to get us to heaven!
And if heaven is our final destination, how important are all the “baggage” we are trying to carry in our lives that are unnecessary? Believers of Jesus Christ, yes we all have God-given responsibilities on earth, but in general, are there things we are doing or trying to get which are really unnecessary in heaven? I know for me this is a big challenge; because everytime I don’t consider God and heaven in my life, I have unnecessary baggage! Let us all consider this truth!
And if there is a Hell for non-believers, how concerned are we with our relatives and friends? We must try our best to tell people in a loving way that there is a Hell to face and the only solution is complete belief and trust in Jesus Christ. Here are 2 analogies: If you and a relative or friend love to drive to a special place and you happen to drive first and you were able to stop at a bridge which just collapsed, wouldn’t you quickly warn your relative or friend who you know is just following a short time behind you?
And there is the story of Oskar Schindler, many of you know him through the movie “Schindler’s List”. Oskar Schindler, a German, knew that Jews were being sent to death camps; and so he figured out a way to save many of them from death.
And so, 2 things to really think about as we know we are going to wonderful eternal heaven:
1. In my life right now, are there things that I have or doing which has no meaning in heaven? We must line up everything in our lives toward God and heaven.
2. Am I praying continually praying for my loved ones and find opportunities to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ? People will personally choose their destiny to either Heaven or Hell, our job is give them the specific information on how one gets to those destinations.
Please take a moment to pray about these things, we will then sing a closing song, a closing Benediction. Take a moment to pray about these things….
Let us close with the final words from our Bibles, Revelation 22:16-21…
