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John 14:1-3 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.[a] If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?[b]3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.
This is Not our Home! Jesus has gone home to prepare a place for our home Idea of Heaven saturates our culture
Our Culture Led Zeppelin wrote “Stairway to Heaven” Queen said “Heaven, heaven, heaven is for everyone.” U2 said Heaven is “where the streets have no name.” Belinda Carlisle said “They say in Heaven, love comes first, we’ll make Heaven a place on earth.” Eric Clapton wrote “Tears in Heaven.”
What does the Bible Say? The Bible has a lot to say about Heaven. The word Heaven appears over 600 times in the Bible. We await a Heavenly country!
Hebrews 11:13-16 All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. 14 Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. 15 If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. 16 But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Imagine You are Planning a Trip to Italy You’d read about it Find best places to eat and stay Find out about the language Find out about the currency, climate, history Let’s look at our future home
The Builder of Heaven is God The Existence of Heaven is connected to the existence of God Psalm 90:2 “from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” 3 Heavens in the Bible: Air- Gen 1:20 Outer Space – Gen 1:17 The Home of God- Dan 2:28
The Builder of Heaven is God “Paradise” is a Persian word that means “beautiful garden.” It’s used 2 other times in the Bible Heaven is a real place! 2 Cor 5:1 “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have building from God, an eternal house in heaven not built by human hands.”
The Builder of Heaven is God God is both the architect and builder of Heaven The Bible begins with the God and two people in paradise, and it ends with God and a bunch of people in paradise. Now: Take heart, God is building you and I a home!
The Currency of Heaven is Faith Heb 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” What must we exchange for this currency? Sight. 2 Cor 5:7 “We live by faith, not by sight.”
The Currency of Heaven is Faith All of the people mentioned in Hebrews 12 saw Heaven with eyes of faith. Elton Trueblood “Faith is not belief without proof. It is trust without reservation.” Now: What does your currency look like?
The Way to Heaven is Jesus You need to map out your destination. How will you get there? The Bible never says St Peter will greet us at the Heavenly gates John 14:6 “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” There are approx 10,000 religions in the world today
The Way to Heaven is Jesus The way to Heaven is not a superhighway Matt 7:13-14 “Broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Unfortunately sincerity is not faith
The Way to Heaven is Jesus Is Jesus really any different than any other religious figure? He’s the only one crucified and resurrected for me! You can be a Muslim and not know Muhammed You can be a Buddhist and not know Budda You can go to Israel today and see an empty tomb! Now: Jesus is the path to Heaven. Tell everybody!
The Cost of Heaven is Paid How much will this trip cost? In Islam, Allah weighs your deeds with heavenly scales You don’t get to Heaven by being good or bad. It’s a gift and it’s free to you and I, but it cost Jesus everything.
The Cost of Heaven is Paid 1 Peter 1:18-19 “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.” Eph 2:8-9 “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”
Conclusion Ernest Hemingway wrote F Scott Fitzgerald in 1925 “To me Heaven would be a big bull ring with me holding two barrera seats and a trout stream outside that no one else was allowed to fish in and two lovely houses in the town; one where I would have my wife and children and be monogamous and love them truly and well and the other where I would have my nine beautiful mistresses on nine different floors.” Randy Alcorn in Heaven “if Heaven is anything you can imagine, then it is nothing.”
Conclusion We go through life looking for “it” Ecc 3:11 says that God has planted eternity in all of our hearts. CS Lewis “If I find desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”
Conclusion Unknown author ““Think of stepping on shore and finding it Heaven; Of taking hold of a hand and finding it God’s; O breathing new air and finding it celestial air; Of feeling invigorated and finding it immortality! Of passing from storm and stress to a perfect calm; Of waking and finding it HOME!”
