What we will do in Heaven?

Welcome

Hello all, I am so glad to see you here today. I would like to say welcome to all of you and especially any guests that are here today. This is an exciting day here. We are kicking off a new series about Heaven and we have some fellowship time scheduled with a great lunch. I would like to invite all present to stay and enjoy that time with us.

The Series, a place called heaven is taken from a book of the same name by Dr. Robert Jeffress. We asked the church to choose 5 out of the 10 chapters in the book. This is where we will get the titles for the next 5 weeks. We are using this book as a starting point and will be working through the bible to gather the information.

This week's chapter was “What will we do in heaven”, we will cover that information and a little bit more after we look at what heaven is, we have to know what heaven is, where heaven is and maybe the most important question, how do we get there?

So if you would join me in prayer before we dig into this week's sermon. Father God, thank you for allowing us into your presents. Lord, I pray that you will align our Hearts and minds with yours. I pray that the words spoken today will be yours and bring you glory. Lord, I pray as we learn about a place called heaven we get a better understanding of what it will be like, what joy it will be to be there and that you would provide the desire and understanding to want to be there. Amen.

Heaven, a word that is thrown around alot, like a nice warm bath, or a real, real good piece of cake. A visit to Hawaii, Maybe time on the beach or time on a mountain, some would think time in a tree stand in the fall is a slice of heaven. For me a time I would call heaven is when both our kids and their families are home. My family all laugh at me because when they are all home with the grandkids running around I will sit there and a misty eye might form, they all call it crying. It is a bit of paradise for me. There are many other things that are talked about as being heaven. DO you know what yours is or have you said this is heaven recently?

Heaven has a location and that location is UP, in the sky above the earth. The Israelites believe everything that was above the earth was heaven and this will give us an understanding of how the word is used In the bible the word heaven is used just under 700 times in the bible. Heaven is used to describe three different things. One use of the word is for Sky, The atmosphere, where the clouds are and the planes fly. Like in Genesis 1:8.

Then it is used to talk about the next level outer space where the sun and moon are, where the stars are endless. Like in psalms 8:3. Then there is the third use of heaven, the dwelling place of God, the place sometimes called paradise. The place that Paul saw but was unable to write anything down that is mentioned in, 2 Corinthians 12:2,4. This is where we go when we die.

But there is a fourth heaven that will come after Jesus returns. This is the heaven he is preparing a place for us in his Fathers house. This is the heaven in which we will spend eternity.

To get a better picture of what I am speaking about today. Let's look at what the Bible says about heaven. We have been blessed with the description John has provided in Revelation 21. As he was taken to see heaven and write it down for us.

This is the description of the 4th heaven, the final place where those who believe and have their names written in the lambs book of life will spend eternity.

This is what heaven is and what it will look like. This chapter tells us some much of what we need to know about Heaven. It answers the questions that we have.

So what is Heaven? It is the dwelling place of God. This is where God resides. Heaven is a place of fellowship, a place where we are in the presence of God.

Heaven is a place of beauty. It is a place of Joy, It is a place of no night, no darkness, no fear. Heaven is a place of no more tears, no more pain, no more sorrow. This is what the word tells us in revelation 21:4. There is no longer sin and the consequences that come with it. Sin is what separated us from God and brought the pain and death and sorrow and hurts into the world we live in. This world and the pain that we experience and brokenness. Points us to the need for God, the love of Jesus christ. This life shows us what eternity can be like, Hell is one option which is the separation from God. Matthew 8:12 and 22:13. In hell there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. There is an eternity of tournament. The main reason for this tournament is the separation from God, Whom is good, is life and light. Without him this is darkness and sorrow.

Those that live in the new heaven will be able to experience unbroken fellowship with God.