{"id":2759,"date":"2014-07-27T19:23:59","date_gmt":"2014-07-27T23:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=2759"},"modified":"2014-08-11T13:18:03","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T17:18:03","slug":"a-road-trip-to-heaven-72714","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=2759","title":{"rendered":"A Road Trip to Heaven (7\/27\/14)"},"content":{"rendered":"

What’s heaven like?\u00a0 Pastor Jim’s sermon on July 27 took us into the book of Revelation to take a look at the New Jerusalem as described in Revelation 21:8 – 22:5.\u00a0 The title of his message was, “A Road Trip to Heaven.”\u00a0 Scroll down to the bottom of this post to access the audio recording…
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Here’s the scripture passage (Revelation 21:8 – 22:5)…<\/p>\n

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Click here to learn more<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass.<\/p>\n

19 The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald,<\/p>\n

20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.<\/p>\n

21 The twelve gates were made of pearls\u2014each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.<\/p>\n

22 I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.<\/p>\n

23 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light.<\/p>\n

24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory.<\/p>\n

25 Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there.<\/p>\n

26 And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city.<\/p>\n

27 Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty\u2014but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.<\/p>\n

22 Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.<\/p>\n

2 It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.<\/p>\n

3 No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him.<\/p>\n

4 And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads.<\/p>\n

5 And there will be no night there\u2014no need for lamps or sun\u2014for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.<\/p>\n

Holy Bible, New Living Translation \u00ae, copyright \u00a9 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/h6>\n

Road Trip<\/span><\/h3>\n

When you’re about to move into a new town,\u00a0 you may want to take a drive and check it out.\u00a0 Where si the park?\u00a0 Where’s the school?\u00a0 Where is the nearest hospital?\u00a0 And, most importantly… where’s the Bakery?!?<\/p>\n

We are, rightfully so, focused on the here and now.\u00a0 But still, it’s not such a bad idea to take a glimpse at where you’re headed.\u00a0 We may not plan on being there for a while, but looking at what the Word has to say about heaven (“the New Jerusalem”) can remind us that we can experience a little of heaven on earth.\u00a0 God is in heaven, but the\u00a0 Holy Spirit is in us.<\/p>\n

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The story is told of a boy in during a worship service during which the pastor asked the congregation, “Raise your hand if you want to go to heaven.” Everyone’s hand shot up, except for this one boy’s.\u00a0 When the pastor asked him later why he didn’t want to go to heaven, the boy replied, “Oh I do want to go to heaven.\u00a0 But if you’re planning on taking a field trip right now, I’m not interested.”<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

But let’s take a quick “road trip” and get a sense of what heaven is all about.\u00a0 Some day we’re going to move into that “new development”- we shouldn’t shy away from a book like Revelation and avoid trying to catch a glimpse of heaven.<\/p>\n

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Heaven is Real<\/span><\/h4>\n

Solomon said the “fool says in his heart there’s no God.”<\/span><\/p>\n

When we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit we can experience heaven on earth.<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

Let’s drive by and take a look at some of the “houses” that God’s built for us.\u00a0 Along the way, we’ll take 5 stops:<\/p>\n

1:\u00a0 Heaven is a Place of Absolute Beauty…<\/span><\/h3>\n

Creation gives us a glimpse of God’s beauty.\u00a0 Imagine a rainbow, or a sunset, or the innocence of a child.\u00a0 But the precious stones and gold mentioned in the scripture passage tell us that the beauty in heaven is beyond anything we could ever imagine.\u00a0 It’s bright, but there’s no sun (because the SON is there).<\/p>\n

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him<\/span>.”\u00a0 NIV<\/p>\n

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2: Heaven is a Place of Joy…<\/span><\/h3>\n

God wants us to experience His joy.\u00a0 Wherever God is, there is joy.\u00a0 Take a look at the joy wrapped up in the worship scene described in Revelation 4<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

In John 15:9-11 Jesus said:<\/p>\n

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.\u00a0 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.\u00a0 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.<\/span>\u00a0 NIV<\/p>\n

In Luke 10:20 Jesus told his disciples who just returned from a successful mission trip:<\/p>\n

“However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.<\/span>” NIV<\/p>\n

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What’s all that Spontaneous Joy?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you’re listening to the recording, you may notice at the 22 minute mark that things kind of break down into some laughter.\u00a0 What’s going on???<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

One of pastor Jim’s “shticks” is to challenge the congregation to belt out an “Amen” at a 100% level.\u00a0 As soon as that happens, he promises to end the sermon.\u00a0 Of course, he’s the sole judge of the “Amen” level.\u00a0 At the beginning of the sermon, any “Amens” aren’t usually worth any more than 20%.\u00a0 But as he gets closer to his planned end, the threshold gets lower and it’s easier to hit the required 100% level.\n<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The laughter you’re hearing was brought about by one member of the congregation who (before the service) handed out paper plates with the word “Amen” written on the back of them.\u00a0 At this point in the sermon, she held up her “Amen Plate” and the rest of the plate holders followed suit.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Apparently written amens don’t count, because Pastor Jim continued the sermon.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Pastor Jim keeps saying that worship is supposed to be Fun!!!\u00a0 This was a taste of it.\u00a0 <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

But the sermon continued…<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

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3: Heaven is a Place of Rewards…<\/span><\/h3>\n

Revelation 21:5-7 tells us that Jesus is making all things new and that we’ll inherit free access to the “spring of the water of life.”\u00a0 In Matthew 5:12<\/a><\/span> Jesus says that even though there are hardships in this life”great is your reward in heaven.”\u00a0 We’ll be face to face with God!<\/p>\n

God has put heaven into us, and He is calling us to share that taste of heaven with others.\u00a0 That’s why our conference has set up a program called “A Future with Hope.”\u00a0 Together we are helping to rebuild homes those who lost so much during Hurricane Sandy.<\/p>\n

A Ray Boltz song that our choir has sung several times over the\u00a0 years is called “Thank You for Giving to the Lord<\/a>.<\/span>”\u00a0 It pictures a scene in heaven where a recently deceased man is greeted by many people who were touched by this man’s life and deeds during their lives.\u00a0 What a reward it will be to see the fruits of how God used us in our lifetimes.\u00a0\u00a0 We don’t have the whole picture during our time on earth, but in heaven we’ll be able to clearly see- and praise God for His amazing grace!<\/p>\n