Open House

Heavenly Home

Revelation 4:1 (NET 2nd ed.)

After these things I looked, and there was a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said: “Come up here so that I can show you what must happen after these things.”

What is heaven?

the environment

“Go to heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.” - Mark Twain

positive thoughts

“Heaven is a state of mind, not a location” - Wayne Dyer

Place for...

the angels

the rest

the peace

loved ones

Presence of God

Revelation 21:23

 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb.

The objective - I want heaven on earth for you!

Matthew 5:9-10

...Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored, may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Rev. 4:1 = A door standing open in heaven.

3 experiences in the NT of the heavens opening up:

1. Jesus was baptism -

Matthew 3:13–16

13 “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John to be baptized by him in the Jordan River.

14 But John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”

- baptism for repentance of sins.

- John was saying your not messed up I am!

15 So Jesus replied to him, “Let it happen now, for it is right for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

Jesus - I want to do everything right so there is no doubt who I am and who I follow!

God giving insight to Ezekiel’s popularity:

Ezekiel 33:31-32

31 They come to you in crowds, and they sit in front of you as my people. They hear your words, but do not obey them. For they talk lustfully, and their heart is set on their own advantage.

32 Realize that to them you are like a sensual song, a beautiful voice, and skilled musician. They hear your words, but they do not obey them.

Then John yielded to him. After Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.”

16 “After Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.”

2nd experience...

2. Stephen was stoned

Acts 7:55-57

55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently toward heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Stephen full of the Holy Spirit:

Full of faith - Acts 6:5

Full of grace & power - Acts 6:8

performed miracles

spoke with wisdom

Shared God’s Word with a hostile crowd

56 “Look!” he said. “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

57 But they covered their ears, shouting out with a loud voice, and rushed at him with one intent.

3rd experience:

3. Peter saw a vision of a sheet filled with “unclean” animals (Acts 10:11).

Acts 10:11 

11 He saw heaven opened and an object something like a large sheet descending, being let down to earth by its four corners.

12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth and wild birds.

13 Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; slaughter and eat!”

14 But Peter said, “Certainly not, Lord, for I have never eaten anything defiled and ritually unclean!”

15 The voice spoke to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not consider ritually unclean!”

Don’t allow your prejudice override God’s ability to change people.

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither. - C.S. Lewis

Heaven’s Open House

Who you are and who you follow. - Identity & Direction

Sharing God’s Word - Purpose

God’s ability over your bias - God’s will over man’s will.