Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. Heaven will be a multiracial, multi-ethnic place marked by love. and grace and peace. No more racial hostility. No more brokenness.
No more segregation. No more separation. On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about what relationships will be like in heaven.
Now, here's Dr. Graham with his message. the community of heaven. Turn to the book of Revelation, chapter four. of the Revelation.
John was given a glimpse of glory. He was allowed to see into our future. And speak of God's plans for Our lives in eternity. and not only the end of the world, but beyond. this world.
It's called the book of Revelation. Today, we're going to talk about the community of heaven. The community of heaven, meaning Who's there? And How will we know them? Because not only is heaven real, it's about relationships, like life.
It said that life is all about relationships, the rest is details. And so it's true regarding heaven. It's about relationships with this truth. will be a redeemed company, redeemed relationships. Our prayer, our passion is that we would long for heaven.
That we would long for him to see Jesus. That we would love him and love his appearing. And knowing that one day we will. see Christ and will be with Christ. Beginning in verse 1, and after this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven.
And the first voice which I heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, Come up here. And I will show you what must take place after This. Verse 2 says, At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven with one seated on the throne. Skip down to verse 4. Around the throne were 24 thrones.
And seated on the thrones were 24 elders, clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads. And from the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal. And before the throne, Around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind. And the first living creature like a lion.
The second Creature like an ox, notice these similes, like. like an ox. Like a lamb. And one with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature. Flying like an eagle.
And the fourth living creature, each of them, Had six wings. They're full of eyes all around and within. And day and night they cease not to say. Let's say this out loud. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.
Verse 11 says, Worthy are you, our Lord. And God. to receive glory. And honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed, and they were created. of praise to the Creator God.
There is a redemption song. There's no evolution song in heaven. It is a creation song. and celebrating the one who has created Oh. Are you contemplating your future?
Many think about death from time to time. The Bible says that Before we met Christ, we were in bondage. to the fear of death.
Some think every now and then about life after death, about their future, maybe when attending a funeral, but. Most people don't think too much about these subjects. Maybe they're afraid. Or maybe they just don't have the information. Maybe they don't hear teaching on God's Word, but just know.
consideration. of what is yet to come, of heaven and of hope. Beyond. It's very important. that we correct that.
Because life is so brief. It truly is. Like a candle that's snuffed out. Like a mist on a cool morning that you breathe out and it appears like a vapor and then It goes away. The Bible describes death like that and life like that.
a vapor. that vanishes. Life is a brief case. candle and we must prepare to meet our God. Because we're going to spend eternity on the other side of this life.
This is the before life. The life that is to come is the afterlife, and there is. and eternity. Around the throne of God, we see God Himself on that throne. We start with God Himself in heaven.
Who will be there? Obviously, heaven is consumed and consummated with the very presence of God Himself. The one who is described as creator and sustainer and redeemer, the lamb upon the throne. The one who rules from eternity, his eternity. everlasting kingdom.
And the presence of God, the Bible says, fills heaven and earth. The scripture says, and God will be with them, and his people will be with him. Revelation 22, verse 4 says that we will see him. Face to face. We will see God's face.
And he will write his name upon our foreheads. His face. In the Old Testament, the scripture says That no man can see God's face and live. To see the burning glory and pure white holiness of God would. Strike us dead.
But in Christ, we have been redeemed and welcomed, invited into the very presence of God. The veil has been torn from top to bottom, not to let God out, but to let us in. And we are now in His presence and one day face to face with Him, our Lord Jesus Christ. And no one will doubt or wonder who is God or who is on the throne. It won't be Buddha on the throne.
It won't be Muhammad on the throne. It won't be Confucius on the throne. It won't be some petty world dictator on the throne. It will be God Almighty, the lion, the lamb, who reigns forevermore. He is on the throne.
And when we see him, we of course will be awestruck with his majesty, astonished. That we are in His presence. We will be on the ground, on our faces, and then not only on our faces, but then on our feet, standing and worshiping and praising God, because there is so much joy because we are present with Him. Psalm 16, 11 says, At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. In your presence, Lord, is fullness of joy.
At your throne, fullness of joy. At your right hand, pleasures. Forevermore. It is that promise of Pleasure forever with him. That excites us.
That gets us ready. to go to heaven. You will have no trouble recognizing him. He's the one with the nail prints in his hands. The only man-made thing in heaven.
will be The prints. of the nails in his hand. As a perpetual reminder of the sacrifice and blood that was poured out for our redemption. and our salvation, which he offers as a gift to all who will receive him. Yes, I will know him.
by the prince. of the nails. in his hands. The same Nail-scarred hands that open to us. The door of grace.
will open to us the doors. of glory. We will see him. and instantaneously, immediately, all of our questions and we have questions in life. Mysteries Suffering.
problems perplexities that we cannot answer. This side, but immediately in his Pure light we will know even as we are known. And the most often repeated word that you will hear in heaven is not after Jesus Himself. will be aha. That's what it was all about.
Yeah. This is why it happened. God had a plan. He truly was working all things together for my good. God's got a plan for your life.
And it's the eternal plan, and he's not finished yet, he's still working. and weaving his master plan. in our lives.
So, yes, we will live in light.
Now, we see through a mirror darkly according to the scriptures, it's vague. But then we shall see face to face. We will know even as we are known. And we shall behold him, and we will be with him. Listen to me.
We will be with him. We will walk with him and talk with him. We will worship him. We will live in his presence. Our God, our Savior.
God has given us this sure promise. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message: the community of heaven. We're excited to share that we have a new way to connect with you. We've just launched a brand new texting service designed to keep you connected with everything happening here at PowerPoint. You'll be the first to know about upcoming events, special announcements, and truly enriching content.
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Now let's get back to today's message. the community of heaven. The one on the throne, but then those around the throne. These images here And just because they're images and symbols does not mean they do not represent something real. These things are real.
But these are but symbols of something else, but they represent something very real. And One, there are angels around the throne of God, the heavenly hosts. Worshiping God 24-7. Forever and ever and ever, saying, Holy, holy, holy. Isaiah saw this in Isaiah 6 and reported when he went to heaven in that vision that around the throne of God, these angel beings are worshiping God.
We're grateful for the angels. There are millions and millions and millions of them. They interact with our lives. They serve the people of God. They show up again and again and again in Scripture from cover to cover in God's Word.
We meet the holy angels, but their primary focus is the worship of God and singing the hallelujahs and the choruses of praise to God and leading anthems of exaltation. We will sing and shout. The angelic choruses will be worshiping God. Can you imagine the thunderous, mighty power of that heavenly host praising God? Angels will usher us into God's presence.
Jesus told a story. of a poor man by the name of Lazarus who died. And when he died, everyone thought unnoticed the angels were there. To take him into the presence of the Lord, into paradise itself. You will not die alone as a believer.
You will not die in fear as a Christian. Because that moment However it comes. Whenever it comes. The angels. will carry you into the presence of God.
Jesus himself will meet you. There is no fear to die. Because we know the Lord. These heavenly beings Worship and serve him. Continually.
But the focus is not only on the angels, but the redeemed. Represented here in Revelation 4. by these 24 elders who sat by the throne of God. Most Bible scholars believe, I certainly believe it, that they represent the Old Testament and New Testament states, the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 tribes. Apostles.
So people Who trusted in God only? Old Testament, New Testament believers, you say, How were Old Testament believers saved? Christ had not come yet. They were saved by believing the promise and anticipating the one who would come and trusting in Him. They were saved by looking forward to the coming of Christ.
We are saved by looking back to the coming of Christ and His cross. But the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses from all sin, past, present, and future.
So these are the redeemed of the ages. They are around the throne of God.
Now, the question is often asked. Will we know one another in heaven? What about our loved ones? who have left us. I can tell you that saying goodbye is the greatest grief on earth.
Saying goodbye to the people that we love. We miss them. Because they Leave us for a while. We haven't lost them. If your Christian husband is with the Lord, you haven't lost him, you know where he is.
We don't lose our loved ones. They leave us for a little while. But one day, the Bible promises us, Jesus promises us, that there will be no separation. Separation is painful beyond words. When you bury a loved one, a husband, a wife, a child, you feel like you bury your own heart with them.
Such great grief. We long to see our family and our friends. Is human. It's an aspiration that is real. And Of course, God.
Will reunite us with our saved family members. who precede us into heaven. The Thessalonian Christians were asking that same question. Will we know one another? Will we see our loved ones ever again?
They had died and had disappeared. Christ had not come. And so, where are they? Will we ever see them again? And that is when in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul wrote to encourage and comfort them.
And he said, I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you sorrow not even as others who have no hope. The grief is real, the pain is real, but we don't sorrow as those who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord. That the dead in Christ shall rise first.
And then we who are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord, will be caught up, watch this, together Together, together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so will we. We Family and friends and loved ones and the redeemed of the ages, so will we. Ever be with the Lord. Yes, we're going to run to Jesus.
Yes, we're going to worship Jesus. Yes, we will most and forever. Be enthralled with his presence. But Jesus knows our need. for relationships.
Friendships and relationships. You say, will we know one another in heaven? Of course. You think we'll know less in heaven than we know right now? In fact, you probably don't even really know the person you think you know until you get to heaven, and you'll see.
God's grace in their lives. No, we Don't say goodbye to loved ones there. No more sad goodbyes. No more broken hearts. No more shattered in peace is lies.
No more funerals. No more sad songs. When John the Revelator was looking into heaven. In describing it at the end of the book, Revelation 21, he talks about. No more Suffering, no more sin, no more sorrow, no more sadness.
And in the midst of that explanation of heaven. He says, no more sea. It seems almost out of place comparatively.
Sorrow, sadness, no more sin. No more seat. I like to see. I'm thinking about A great beach in heaven. Why no more sea?
Well, remember when John gave us the revelation, he was an exile prisoner at Patmos. Imprisoned there, incarcerated there. Because of his faith and boldness in Jesus, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. He's an old man now, aged and alone. Living with the insane and the incarcerated on this prisoner's island.
And all around him is the sea, just sea as far as you can see. But in the distant is Ephesus and other places in. The Greek Isles. Ephesus Turkey. Over there.
Where John the Apostle had last lived before he was arrested. He served as the pastor of the Ephesian church. Loved ones were there, friends were there. And so when he got up every day and he saw that sea and that distance and he felt that aloneness and that alienation. It's separation.
When he saw heaven, one of the first things he noticed was. No more C. No more separation. We will be united. Together.
Again, what a promise. There's going to be a great getting up morning. When the dead in Christ shall rise, and we will be raptured together forever. In his presence and around the throne of God, Revelation 5:9 and 10. It's another fantastic portrait of heaven.
And it says, and they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and by your blood ransom people, that is, delivered people for God from, watch this, every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom. and priests to our God, and they shall reign on The earth. When John saw heaven. He saw people from every nation, every creed, every tongue. Every tribe.
every ethnicity, every race. People from all over the world. Heaven will be a multiracial, multi-ethnic place marked by love. and grace and peace. No more racial hostility.
No more brokenness. No more segregation. No more separation. Because we are together forever in Christ, and our goal this side of eternity must be to come together now. in preparation for our being together forever.
And there should only be one people in Christ. There's only one color in Christ. It's the royal red blood of his cross. We are redeemed. We are ransomed.
And we are there, not by the color of our skin or our ethnicity, but because of Jesus and his grace. It's amazing grace for every race. That's what it is. And we will be together. We often ask about the children.
The children who have died. before their time.
Some even in their mother's womb.
Some very young before ages of accountability. and responsibility to make a personal decision for Christ and we wonder What about the children? We have one. brief but I believe conclusive. scripture on this.
And that is when David lost a son. His son died. And while the child was sick, and the child was sick for a number of days, David fasted and prayed and mourned and wept. For his son. His small infant son.
The child died. David took a bath, washed himself, his face. He put on clean clothes, robe. And the people didn't understand it. His friends didn't understand it.
They said, David, while the child was alive, you wept, you mourned, you prayed, but now the child is gone. And you put on this happy face, what? And that's when David said in 2 Samuel 12, 33. I can't bring the child back. But I can go to the child.
And with that succinct Promise. There is to me The conclusion that yes, the little ones are with him. Jesus said, Let the little ones come to me. For such is the kingdom of heaven. There are mysteries regarding the future of children, both born and unborn, that we will understand.
in the sweep by and by. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, the community of heaven. We're excited to announce that we've been offered a $200,000 matching grant that will double your gift today to help proclaim the life-giving hope of Jesus to people all across the globe. Because your gift is so important, we want to send you a thank you for your generosity by sending you two copies of Dr. Graham's book.
Triumph, to encourage your faith and equip you to share the hope of Jesus with someone who needs it. Please give generously knowing that your gift will be doubled and make sure to request your copies when you give. Text the word overcome to 59789. Again, the word is overcome to 59789. And as a reminder, we have a new way to connect with PowerPoint.
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Just text Connect to 59-789. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? We're told in the scriptures that we are to encourage one another and build one another up. That's right out of the word of God, 1 Thessalonians 5:11. And it's amazing in our times we have social media to help us build one another up and encourage one another to use social media in a very positive way.
And so I want to invite you to connect with us at PowerPoint on Facebook and Twitter. Twitter. Let us be a part of your daily life so that together we can point one another to Jesus and encourage one another in our faith. You will get quick notes of encouragement. You will hear incredible stories of how God is working powerfully in the lives of people just like you.
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forever. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.
