We are teaching this: Heaven – What will it be like?
I have good news. Jesus has invited us to
spend eternity with him in a place called Heaven. It’s actually the home where
our heart longs to be, with God forever. Philippians 3:20 tells us that our citizenship
is in Heaven yet we know very little about our homeland. The basis for the 3
talks in this series are the main questions that students ask any time they are
deciding if they want to do something. They generally want to know: 1) What is
it like there? 2) What are we going to do? Or, is it going to be fun? 3) Who is
going to be there? At the end of the series, they will be able to speak more
confidently about what Heaven is like and be more determined to share the
Gospel with their friends and family.
Homeland Talk 1: Heaven is the home where our soul longs to be (5-13-15)
Heaven is our home and
Christ has given us an invitation to go back home after our life is over. Any
time I get invited to go somewhere that I have never been, the first question I
ask is “what is it like?” I want details about what it looks like, what the
vibe is like, what kind of cool stuff will be there. God understands our
curiosity about Heaven and so He gave us some descriptions throughout Scripture
of what it would be like. We don’t fully understand everything about Heaven and
we won’t until we get there, but we definitely can learn some things from God’s
Word and it sounds awesome in the truest sense of the word. First and foremost,
Jesus is there, his presence fills heaven, and he is preparing a space for us
to live there with him forever. That’s about as special as it gets but there is
more. The city is made out of pure gold with walls made out of precious stones,
a river with the water of life is flowing from the throne of God, a tree of
life is growing there, and the whole place is going to lit up by the glory of
our Lord God (Rev. 21:12-22:5). Not to mention that He will wipe every tear
from our eyes and things like death, sorry, crying, and pain with be gone forever
(Rev. 21:4). The blind will be able to look upon creation for the first time.
It will be a place of endless joy in the presence of our savior for eternity.
Homeland Talk 2: Heaven will be the greatest adventure of our life (5-20-15)
Let’s be honest, the way
we think about Heaven makes it sound really boring. Are we really going to just
sit around on clouds wearing robes, playing harps, and singing songs forever?
Can a place that is perfect and has no drama really be that interesting of a
place to live? These types of ideas are what drive people to think that they
might not want to spend eternity in Heaven. This type of thinking comes from
incorrect information and incorrect thinking which causes you to believe that
sin is fun and holiness is boring. Heaven is going to be awesome, in the truest
sense of the word. We are going to do so much more in Heaven (especially on the
New Earth) than just sit around. We will play, eat, draw, write, read, talk,
laugh, explore the limits of our new bodies, and so much more. We will do this
unaffected by the curse of sin while delighting in our Creator and He will
delight in our worship of Him through the use and exploration of the gifts He
equipped us with. No, Heaven will not be boring. Heaven will be a grand
adventure full of jobs we enjoy, an eternity to go exploring, and all of it in
the presence of God.
Homeland Talk 3: Big Idea: Our mission on earth is to direct people how
to get to Heaven (5-27-15)
One of the most common
questions we wonder about a place is what the people are like. Who is going to
be there? How are they going to treat me? We are so curious about these things
because relationships matter to us. In this final talk of the series we will
explore these questions about who is in Heaven and how they got there. The
discussion will take us to who we can expect to be reunited with and we may
even explore the presence of animals in Heaven. We will review the importance
of sharing the Gospel with everyone with the intention of showing them the only
way to Heaven, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We know the way to
Heaven and have been given the mission by Christ to take this information to
the world around us so we can be in Heaven with as many people as possible.
With this eternal perspective in mind, it will change how we live our lives
here on earth.
Think about this:
This is our hope and the
longing of our soul, to be home. With this better understanding of what your
homeland, where your heart longs to be, is like you can sing songs more
wholeheartedly, you can share with others what Heaven is like, and you can
anticipate the days when your heart will finally be at home, with God in
Heaven, forever. We have a great future ahead of us. This is not the final
destination and it’s definitely not as good as it gets. God desires us to live
with an eternal perspective as we live here on earth. He has a place that he
wants us to go. Like a trip to Disneyland, we might not know exactly all that
will happen when we are there but what we do know is that we will love all the
things to do and we will love who we are with as we experience the greatest
adventure of our lives. We are so eager to tell people about how awesome Oregon
is or how awesome a place we visited was because we want them to experience it
too. We don’t want them to miss out. We haven’t been to Heaven but we know who
will be there and we have an idea of what we will do. Also, we know what they
opposite end of this spectrum looks like too. So our challenge and our mission
becomes to basically be walking advertisements for how great Heaven will be by
loving people, telling people how much Jesus loves them, and telling them how
amazing Heaven will be.
1.
Where do we get our ideas about what Heaven is
like?
2.
How is the way Heaven was described tonight
different than what you thought before?
3.
What is the difference between intermediate
Heaven and New Earth?
4.
What questions do you have about Heaven?
5. Given
what we talked about tonight, what aspect of Heaven are you most looking
forward to?