Heaven: Soon and very soon!
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 8 viewsNotes
Transcript
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Intro illustration:
Andy Stanley tells the story...
Sunday school teacher wanted to explain to the six-year-olds in his class what someone had to do to go to heaven. To find out what kids believed about the subject, he asked a few questions.
“If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to the church, would that get me to heaven?” he asked.
“No!” the children answered. The teacher was encouraged.
“If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me to heaven?”
Again the answer was, “No!”
“If I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children and loved my wife, would that get me into heaven?”
Again they all shouted, “No!”
“Well then, how can I get to heaven?”
A boy in the back row stood up and shouted, “You gotta be dead!”
The kid was right-Heaven is a place we can go when we die.
Heaven: That Better Place
Jesus wanted to make clear to his followers that heaven awaits them.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.
My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Why talk about Heaven just before Christmas?
Why talk about Heaven just before Christmas?
I. Introduction
A. Why talk about Heaven now?
Between Tgiving & Christmas
1. Used to be the theme of many hymns
As your shepherd I wanted to help us keep in mind what all the hubub of the holidays was for.
Used to be the topic of many sermons
I enjoyed walking through thanksgiving with you and sharing a meal together-and now we’re going to launch into Christmastime-decorating tonight-next Sunday is the official start of the advent season.
Between Tgiving & Christmas
Good to remember before we get into the blitz of the holiday, what the end game of the events of Christmas are about.
Keep in mind this holiday, that it’s all about being with Immanuel in Heaven forever.
If you’re like me you can tend to compartmentalize to the extent that we miss the connecting idea from event to event.
My challenge to us:
1. We have become too comfortable here
2. Our treasures are here
Let’s think about heaven this Christmas.
Let’s think about heaven this Christmas.
Heaven Is a Place (vv. 1–2)
Heaven Is a Place (vv. 1–2)
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
Mistakes about heaven
Mistaken ideas about heaven
A state of mind
Here on this earth
We’ve become too comfortable here
Our treasures are here.
Just another dimension
But...
Heaven has an actual location-a defined area.
Heaven has an actual location-a defined area.
Heaven is the place from which God operates.
Heaven is the place from which God operates
The Lord’s throne is in heaven.
The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them.
)
Angels are sent to earth from heaven .
Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.”
“In the visions I saw while lying in bed, I looked, and there before me was a holy one, a messenger, coming down from heaven.
; )
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
“In the visions I saw while lying in bed, I looked, and there before me was a holy one, a messenger, coming down from heaven.
)
lk
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
What kind of a place is heaven?
. What kind of a place is heaven?
What kind of a place is heaven?
What kind of a place is heaven?
What kind of a place is heaven?
A place of music
A place of praise
A place of service
A place of rest
e. A place of rest ()
A place of beauty ,
A place of beauty (, )
4. We can lay up treasures in heaven ()
We can lay up treasures in heaven.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
)
Heaven should be on our minds constantly.
Illustration:
Someone who has a layover at an airport does not go into the bathroom, frown at its decor, and start redecorating! Why? Because they don’t live there. They have a home in another place. While they are away they will get by with only what they absolutely need, to have more money with which to furnish their permanent home.
Why do we Christians work hard at trying to make our life in this world more comfortable? This is just the airport and we are in transit. We should spend our energy on enhancing our eternal reward, and not worry so much about the bare walls in the airport restrooms.
Heaven Is a Prepared Place (v. 3)
Heaven Is a Prepared Place (v. 3)
Heaven Is a Prepared Place (v. 3)
Heaven Is a Prepared Place (v. 3)
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
“I go to prepare a place for you”
The cross, the resurrection and ascension were ahead, but the disciples did not understand Jesus at the time.
The cross, the resurrection and ascension were ahead
Jesus would leave them
He would go to heaven
Jesus went and prepared heaven for them … and us.
3. What a wonderful place heaven must be!
He is coming back for you!
He is coming back for you!
What a wonderful place heaven must be!
Heaven Is a Prepared Place for Prepared People (vv. 4–6)
Heaven Is a Prepared Place for Prepared People (vv. 4–6)
You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
1. Christians go to heaven when they die
Christians go to heaven when they die
Christians go to heaven when they die
Christians go to heaven when they die
To depart and be with Christ is better by far.
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;
Absent here means we are present in heaven.
We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
)
2. Not everyone is going to heaven
We must embrace this truth with all our hearts and minds and words: Jesus is the only way, all others lead away from God.
Say “Merry Christmas!” not because you are defending Christianity’s place in America, but because people need to know that Christ is their only hope.
Wear the buttons and pins that encourage that Jesus is the reason, but be humble-our hearts should breaking.
We’re not here to win an argument, but to be used to draw others to their only hope of salvation.
Not everyone is going to heaven.
Not everyone is going to heaven.
Only those who receive Christ as Savior.
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.
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Thomas wanted to go to heaven
a. “How can we know the way?”
b. “I am the way, the truth and the life”
There is no other way to heaven.
Religion, good works, sincerity cannot save.
“No man comes to the Father except through me.”
A person must be born again into God’s family.
Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth, was asked if those who died in the explosions of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, but had not confessed Christ as Savior would go to heaven. She replied:
In my little book Heaven: My Father’s House, I tell about people who want to visit my father’s home in western North Carolina. They drive up the long drive and come to the gate. They knock on the gate and say, “Billy Graham, let us in. We’ve read your books, we’ve watched you on TV, we’ve written to you, and we want to come to your house.”
In my little book Heaven: My Father’s House, I tell about people who want to visit my father’s home in western North Carolina. They drive up the long drive and come to the gate. They knock on the gate and say, “Billy Graham, let us in. We’ve read your books, we’ve watched you on TV, we’ve written to you, and we want to come to your house.”
And my father says, “Depart from me, I don’t know you. You’re not a member of my family, and you’ve not made any arrangements to come.”
But when I drive up that same driveway and knock on the gate, I say, “Daddy, this is Anne, and I’ve come home.” The gate is thrown right open, and I go inside, because I’m the father’s child.
Because heaven is God’s house, he has the right to decide who comes in and who stays out. He says he will welcome anyone inside his home, but they have to be born again into his family through faith in Jesus Christ.
That gives us a wonderful hope that when the time comes—whether death comes as a thief in the night, as it did for those in the [World Trade Center] towers, or as an angel of mercy after a long illness—we can be assured that at the end of the journey, we’ll step right into our Father’s arms. We’ll be welcomed there because we are our Father’s children.
—Anne Graham Lotz, “Finding Meaning in September 11,” CNN.com (December 11, 2006)
There is no getting away from this exclusive claim of Jesus’.
It make some of us uncomfortable.
Illustration:
Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth, was asked if those who died in the explosions of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, but had not confessed Christ as Savior would go to heaven. She replied:
In my little book Heaven: My Father’s House, I tell about people who want to visit my father’s home in western North Carolina. They drive up the long drive and come to the gate. They knock on the gate and say, “Billy Graham, let us in. We’ve read your books, we’ve watched you on TV, we’ve written to you, and we want to come to your house.”
And my father says, “Depart from me, I don’t know you. You’re not a member of my family, and you’ve not made any arrangements to come.”
But when I drive up that same driveway and knock on the gate, I say, “Daddy, this is Anne, and I’ve come home.” The gate is thrown right open, and I go inside, because I’m the father’s child.
Because heaven is God’s house, he has the right to decide who comes in and who stays out. He says he will welcome anyone inside his home, but they have to be born again into his family through faith in Jesus Christ.
That gives us a wonderful hope that when the time comes—whether death comes as a thief in the night, as it did for those in the [World Trade Center] towers, or as an angel of mercy after a long illness—we can be assured that at the end of the journey, we’ll step right into our Father’s arms. We’ll be welcomed there because we are our Father’s children.
Are you a family member?
We must embrace this truth with all our hearts and minds and words: Jesus is the only way, all others lead away from God.
Say “Merry Christmas!” not because you are defending Christianity’s place in America, but because people need to know that Christ is their only hope.
Wear the buttons and pins that encourage that Jesus is the reason, but be humble-our hearts should breaking.
Be correct, but be humble-our hearts should breaking.
We’re not here to win an argument, but to be used to draw others to their only hope of salvation.
Conclusion
Take this with you...
Take this with you...
III. Conclusion
III. Conclusion
He’s either not who he says he is or he really is the only way to Heaven.
We must embrace this truth with all our hearts and minds and words: Jesus is the only way, all other attempts and religions lead away from God.
Say “Merry Christmas!” not because you are defending Christianity’s place in America, but because people need to know that Christ is their only hope.
We can wear the buttons and pins that encourage that Jesus is the reason, but we need to be humble-our hearts should breaking for those who do not yet understand their peril.
We’re not here to win an argument, but to be used to draw others to their only hope of salvation.
Accept the Lord’s Invitation
Are You Prepared for Heaven?
Accept the Lord’s Invitation.
Come to Him and Be Saved
Come to Him and Be Saved.