Let’s Talk About Heaven: Our Forever Home

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Share this message with someone who needs to hear it. What is heaven like? Heaven is a real place. We all wonder what life will be like on the other side, and the Bible is not silent on what to expect.

Pastor Greg Laurie brings insight today. Are you telling me, like, when we're in heaven, we might go out and do fun stuff? Of course! Do you do fun stuff on earth? No.

Well, that's your fault. But you can do it in heaven. Heaven is better than earth. Earth is just sort of a glimpse of greater things to come. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Again you hear all the angels are singing.

This is the day, the day when life begins. Pastor Greg Laurie revealed last time that 81 percent of Americans, churched and unchurched, believe in heaven. More than three-quarters. Even more hope to go there. But what's it like there? Is it even possible to know?

Yes, it is. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg brings a biblical travel brochure about our eternal home. It's beyond our imagination, but we'll see today the Bible gives us some good information. Let's open our minds and open our eyes to God's Word.

This is the day, the day when life begins. So what is heaven like? Let's talk about that a little bit here in Colossians chapter 3. I'm going to read two verses.

Since then you've been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above. Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above. Not on earthly things.

We'll stop there. So we are to set our hearts and we are to set our minds on things above. This phrase set your mind can be translated think or more thoroughly have this inner disposition.

Let me put it another way. The verse is actually saying simply think heaven. Think heaven. That's something we're all supposed to do as Christians. And by the way the verb that's used in this verse is in the present tense. So it can be translated keep thinking heaven or keep thinking about heaven or keep seeking heaven.

Put it all together. It's saying constantly be seeking and thinking about heaven. You say okay well that's fine but you know how do I think about a place I've never been to before?

How do I wrap my mind around a place I know so little about? Well you need to learn about heaven and see what the Bible says about Scripture. Because when you're thinking about heaven and you're seeking heaven you will be a heavenly minded person in the best sense of that phrase.

I know it's used to critique people. Oh they're so heavenly minded they're no earthly good. I know a lot of people who are so earthly minded they're no heavenly good. And I think if you're heavenly minded in the right way you'll be of the greatest earthly good. Fact of the matter is those that think the most of the next life do the most in this one. Because if I believe there's an afterlife and I believe there's a reward waiting for me for my faithfulness won't that make me want to serve the Lord? And if I believe in an afterlife and I believe there's a potential judgment for me won't that make me want to fear God and avoid sin? So you see how my belief in the afterlife affects me in this life? But if on the other hand I don't believe there's a reward waiting why do anything for anyone but me? And if I don't think there's a future judgment out there why can't I do whatever the heck I want to do to whoever I want to do it to? Because there'll be no eternal repercussion. So as you can see your thinking about the afterlife has a dramatic effect on you in this life. So let's just start with what is heaven? What is it? Well it's the dwelling place of God.

Alright. Where is heaven? Well we know it's up. We know that there's a third heaven. The Bible talks about three heavens. And the first heaven would just be basically walk outside to look up you see the sky. The second heaven would be the solar system.

And the third heaven is that supernatural realm. But it may be closer than we think. I think we think it's so far away you know.

And maybe it's just right next to us in a way. It's really another dimension. You see right now we live in the physical dimension.

But at the same time we coexist with an eternal dimension. It's the dimension of God and the devil. Of angels and demons.

Of the supernatural world. A great illustration of this is found in the book of Kings with the prophet Elisha and his servant Gehazi. They were surrounded by their enemies.

They were closing in with chariots and armed soldiers. And Gehazi started to freak out and panicked. And he said, what are we going to do master? He actually woke Elisha up. Elisha said, oh whatever.

Okay. The Lord just opened his eyes. And his eyes were open and he saw the supernatural forces of God all around him.

And he discovered that they had more on their side than the enemy had on their side. And right now we're surrounded by this supernatural world. The Bible says that the angel of the Lord encamps around those that fear him. And we may even have guardian angels.

I'm not sure of this. But I think you can make a fairly good case for it. At least maybe children have them. Because Jesus talks about how our little children have their angels. So it may be that we have personal angels. And it may be we just have angels that just do God's bidding.

But they are working around us every single day. God is at work. So this supernatural realm. This place called heaven.

We don't know where it is. But it is where God is. And that is the most important thing of all. Because really the greatest thing about heaven is going to be seeing God.

Now that's it. It's seeing God. That's why heaven is so appealing. Now let's answer some questions about heaven. What is heaven like? What is heaven like? Because we try to understand it and compare it to something.

Well short answer. Heaven is amazing. Heaven is awesome. Heaven will exceed your wildest dreams. Let me begin by simply saying heaven is a real place.

Jesus said in John 14, I have gone to prepare a place for you. Now I think the problem is we form our view of heaven from well movies. TV shows. Songs. Images we have seen in art.

And usually those are not biblically accurate images. It really does kind of look like a boring place. Big billowy clouds. People just laying around. Plucking harps. Little fat babies with wings hovering over us. I guess they're little baby angels.

I'm not sure what they are. And it's sort of almost presented as a long nap. Which for some people may sound very appealing.

I don't know. But I don't know about you but I like to be active. I like to do things.

I like to go out and see things and experience life and trust me when I tell you and we'll get into this next time more but there's going to be so much that we will do in heaven. But it's a real place. Real things.

Real people. Recognizing one another. Not floating around in clouds with fat babies with wings. We're active. We're doing things.

We're experiencing things. We're even learning new things in heaven. So heaven is a place. Also heaven is described in the Bible as a paradise.

A paradise. Remember when Jesus hung on the cross next to the thief who came to a census. He said, Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom and what did Jesus say? Truly, truly I say to you today you will be with me where? In paradise. He was describing heaven. And it's funny because after Paul died for a time he went to heaven and he called it paradise. A lot of people don't know that the apostle Paul died. And we don't know when exactly it happened. But it may have been in one of his preaching adventures when he was stoned and thought dead. And that may have been the moment when he went to the third heaven and wrote briefly about it in 2 Corinthians that I will read to you in just a moment. And he came back again.

And I just wonder what happened on the other side. So here is Paul. He is stoned.

Not that kind of stoned. And he is in heaven. And it's amazing. And there is Jesus. And he is so excited to be there.

And the Lord might have said so Paul. I have some good news and some bad news. But good news and bad news what? Yeah well first the good news. This is heaven. And you will be coming back here again. Again?

Eh some bad news. Down on earth there are some believers praying for you to be resurrected. Lord Paul might have said don't listen to their prayers.

They are sinners. I don't want to go back. Trust me when I tell you no one who is in heaven would ever want to come back to earth even if given the choice. Meanwhile back on earth oh Lord raise Paul up. Oh Lord bring Paul back to us.

Oh Lord we need Paul. Suddenly the color returns to his face. His hand begins to move.

He clenches his fist. Bam I would have hit someone. Whose idea was it to pray for me to be raised from the dead? Listen however it happened. Or whenever it happened we know this much. Paul died. He went to heaven.

And he came back. And he didn't write a book about it. So what about all those books about heaven? Can we trust them? I don't know.

Should I? There is only one book I trust. That is the Bible.

Now I will look at some of these books and I find them interesting. Writing on unicorns over rainbows and all these things they say they see. And I am not going to say they are making it up. Though I think some of them are. I am not going to say that none of this happened.

Maybe something happened to them. I am not really sure. But I will say this much. I would never base my belief about heaven on the basis of someone who wrote a book about it. But I do believe what the Bible says. And it is interesting because one man who actually did go to heaven and return to the earth had actually very little to say about it. Here is what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12. And I am reading from a modern translation.

Just listen. He says, I knew a man 14 years ago was seized by Christ and he was swept into ecstasy to the heights of heaven. I don't know if this took place in the body or out of it. Only God knows. I also know that this man was hijacked into paradise. There is that word paradise.

Again whether he is in the body or out of the body. I don't know. God knows. And then he says, there he heard the unspeakable spoken but he was forbidden to tell what he heard.

Isn't that interesting? He says, I will tell you this much. It was paradise. And the word that he uses for paradise is a word that speaks of a royal garden. And I don't know if there is anything we can think of that compares to what Paul is referring to.

He is referring to the kind of a garden you would see in a royal estate. It is just something amazing. Something awe-inspiring. Something that makes your jaw drop. Wow. The beauty of it. He says, it was like paradise.

That is the word he uses. Heaven is a paradise. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We hear from listeners all over the country and from countries all over the world. Thank you very much Pastor Greg for everything you do. Every Sunday I watch online Harvest at Home service from Spain with my husband. Your sermons have been a blessing to us. And we praise God in these difficult times. Even though we can't go to church in person, we give all glory to God for his blessings. You can tune in to Pastor Greg's Harvest at Home services as well at harvest.org. And if you have a story to share with us, call 1-866-871-1144.

That's a special number, 1-866-871-1144. Well Pastor Greg is bringing several biblical insights today on heaven, our eternal home. So far he's pointed out heaven is a real place and it's a paradise.

Let's continue. Number two, heaven's a city. Heaven's a city, Hebrews 13, 14 says. Here we do not have an enduring city, but we're looking for a city that is to come.

Hebrews 11, 10 says of heaven that this city has an architect and a builder. Now cities are real places. You go to different cities in the world and they all have unique features.

I've had the opportunity to visit a lot of amazing cities. Jerusalem, Rome, Paris. You know you go to some cities and you remember a certain thing about it, right? Paris is called the city of lights.

Jerusalem is called the city of gold. You know so cities are real places. There's neighborhoods, there's streets, there's activities, there's places to get food, there's places to get good coffee, there's beautiful parks to walk in. So think of the best city you've ever been to but without all the bad stuff. No crime, no urban decay, nothing that would be threatening to you in any way, shape or form, not cars trying to run you down like New York City.

But the best you've ever experienced in a city. You're saying, Greg, are you actually telling me that when we're in heaven we might go and sit down and have a meal? Why not? Bible talks about eating in heaven. Are you actually saying that we could be in heaven and we would go to a concert?

Why not? There's gonna be some pretty awesome singers up there. Are you telling me like when we're in heaven we might go and do fun stuff? Of course. Do you do fun stuff on earth? No.

Well that's your fault. But you can do it in heaven. Heaven is better than earth. Earth is just sort of a glimpse of greater things to come. I think we can go, this is it, this is it. Then I just go to the clouds and float with the fat babies.

No, no. This is just a glimpse of greater things to come. Earth is the imitation, heaven is the real thing, not the other way around. Heaven is a paradise. Heaven is a city. And it appears from Revelation 21 and 22 that there's a translucent quality to heaven. It says there the foundations of city walls were garnished with every precious gem imaginable. The main street of the city was pure gold, translucent as glass. There was no sign of a temple for the Lord God and His Lamb were the temple.

The city doesn't need sun or moon or light. Heaven is also described as a country, a country. Hebrews 11, six says now they desire a better that is a heavenly country.

God is not ashamed to be called their God for He has prepared a city for them. So there it is, heaven, a country, a city, a garden, a paradise, a real place that we will go to. Now listen, earth is great. Enjoy the beauties of earth.

It's created for us by God. Even in its diminished state and even with the entrance of sin and the curse and all that, there are still many beautiful things to see here on planet earth that we can enjoy that have been given to us by the Lord. Even Jesus took time to admire a simple flower, didn't He?

He picked up a flower and He said, well look at these flowers, how they grow. They don't work or make their own clothing, yet Solomon in all of his glory was not dressed as beautifully as one of these. So I think we should enjoy the creation God has given us but understand there are greater things coming. All right, so let's come back to Colossians chapter three because we're talking about heaven.

How should that affect us in the way that we live on earth? So first we read, set your mind and your heart on things above, think about heaven, seek heaven. Now, back in Colossians three, Paul starts with the word, therefore, put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires.

Don't be greedy for a greedy person is an idolater worshiping the things of this world. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. Now is the time to get rid of rage, malicious behavior, slander and dirty language, don't lie to each other for you've stripped off your old sinful nature and all of its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature and be renewed as you learn to know your creator and become like him.

Listen, if you've put your faith in Christ, you're a child of God, you are a citizen of heaven, and it's time to start living like what? A child of God. And we're not known for slander, we're known for love.

We're not known for condemnation, we're known for forgiveness and restoration. That's who you want to be. You want to be that guy, that girl that people go to and say, you know, you're always fair-minded about these things, you're always compassionate, you're always caring. Don't be known as that mean-spirited, judgmental, harsh person, but be a heavenly-minded person.

Because one day this life that we love so much will pass and will enter into the afterlife. I think when it's all said and done, here's what we really need. We need something greater to move us through this life than the things that distract us so often. An old minister put it this way, I love this phrase he used, the explosive power of a new affection.

That's good. The explosive power of a new affection. So the idea is, I have something that I am so committed to and so enthralled with and so filled with that I don't even want to look at these other things.

It's the expulsive power, it drives out those other things. It's a new affection. And what is a new affection? It's Jesus. And when I love Jesus with all of my heart and with all of my soul and with all of my mind, it's gonna change the way I look at everything in life.

So here's what this is really saying. Put the Lord first in every part of your life. In the thoughts you think, in the friends you choose, in the way you use your time, and it will transform you.

Make every year, every month, every week, every day and every hour count. May God give to each of us the expulsive power of a new affection. Pastor Greg Laurie, pointing out how heaven can be the thing that compels us, drives us forward in the Christian life. Good insight today on A New Beginning in his message called Let's Talk About Heaven, Part 1. If you missed any part of today's presentation, you can go to harvest.org for a replay. Or request a CD when you call us at 1-800-821-3300. We're here to talk with you anytime, 24 hours a day. Again, at 1-800-821-3300. And then we're excited about making available Pastor Greg's book called Jesus Revolution.

And Pastor Greg, it talks about what we can do to help usher in the next spiritual awakening. That's right. We're talking about all the people who have stationary bikes in their home. Yes, why? Why have them? No one uses them.

You buy it, you use it for the first week, then you hang stuff on it afterwards because they're usually in the garage. Am I right? That's just about right. But theoretically, they can use those things and pedal for hours and not go anywhere.

No. Myself, I'd rather pedal a short time and go a lot of places, but that's just me. When it comes to trying to usher in revival, how can we make sure that we're not pedaling for years and not getting anywhere? Well, you know, in the high-tech versions of these now, you can get little screens attached to them and you can have scenery you look at that's been pre-filmed or you have a coach on there telling you to ride harder and all that. But still, you're sitting on a bike and going nowhere.

I think it's much better to go somewhere. So instead of spinning our wheels or living in the world of theory, how about some practical steps? I think there are practical things that we can do to bring about a personal revival as an example. In the book of Revelation, we have the church of Ephesus, a passionate, fiery church. They had great discernment.

They were being used by God, but something was drifting and Jesus identified it. He said, you know, I know the things that you do. I know that you have discernment, but here's my issue with you. You've left your first love. And then he says, remember from where you have fallen. Repent and do the first works quickly. So it's like the three R's of personal revival. Remember, repent, and repeat. First you remember.

Here's the question to ask yourself. Was there a time in my life as a follower of Christ where I was more passionate about Jesus? Was there a time when I had a greater hunger for the word of God?

Was there a time when I was sharing the gospel with people more? So remember, it's a point of reference. Sort of like, you know, was there a time when I weighed less when I get on the scale and I weigh more? Yes, okay, so remember it.

It's a point of reference. Okay, now repent. So if we're going back to the diet analogy, stop eating pizza morning, you know, noon and night and sitting in a La-Z-Boy. Go back and do the things you used to do. Remember, repent, repeat. Okay, going back to the diet. Repeat, go back and exercise more.

Eat less fattening foods. So now let's apply that spiritually. First I remember there was a time I was more passionate about my relationship with God. Now I repent, I turn from that, and I repeat.

He says do the first works quickly. I think we overly mystify revival and we don't understand that there's simple steps we can take to make it better. I've told this story before, but some of our listeners may not have heard it. It's about a lady that wanted to divorce her husband in the worst way. So she went to a divorce lawyer and she said, I want to divorce my husband, but I don't want to just divorce him. I want him to suffer. I want him to feel pain. So what should I do?

This attorney was a crafty one. He says, I'll tell you what, for the next six months, smother your husband with affection. Affirm him. Tell him how much you love him and appreciate him and then at the end of six months, we'll drop the bomb and serve him with divorce papers. She says, I'll do it. So for the next six months, she told her husband how much she loved him, how much she loved being with him, how much she cared about him, how much she admired him, and the attorney called six months later and says, all right, let's draw those papers up. Let's get that divorce going. She said, divorce? Are you kidding?

We're going on our second honeymoon. Now here's my point. What did she do? She did something she didn't necessarily want to do but as she did it, let's just say her emotions caught up with it. She did what was right.

She did what she probably should have been doing in the beginning. So in the same way with revival, we're waiting for some emotional experience. Oh, Lord, send a revival. Well, how about if you just start doing revival-like things and then all those things will sort of synchronize together. So I talk about that and a lot more in my book, Jesus Revolution. It's my story of how I saw firsthand. I had a front row seat to the last great spiritual awakening in the United States of America.

Some historians say it was the greatest of all the revivals but I'll tell you this much, it was the greatest revival I saw and it's the only revival I've seen and I pray I'll see another before I go to heaven. Wouldn't that be great? Wouldn't it be great if we started seeing thousands of people come to Christ in our nation? Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could see people of different races coming together? Wouldn't it be amazing if we could see marriages healed?

Wouldn't it even be more amazing if we could see people in different sides of the political aisle set their differences aside and work together? God can work in our nation. God can send a spiritual awakening.

We need to pray for it and we need to prepare for it but maybe we just need to start taking some practical steps. Get a copy of this book, Jesus Revolution. You'll find out what those practical steps are and I'll send it to you for your gift of any size. So whatever you send, I'll send you in return a copy of Jesus Revolution. Some of you can give more, some not as much but whatever you send, be assured it'll be used to get the gospel to people and teach them the word of God.

So thanks in advance for what you can do. Get your own copy of Jesus Revolution. Yeah, we have it here waiting for you. The subtitle is How God Transformed an Unlikely Generation and How He Can Do It Again Today. And we'll drop it in the mail to thank you for your investment so that these teachings can continue each day and so we can keep reaching out and changing lives. You know, more than 150,000 people made decisions for Christ through Pastor Greg's teaching last year and that was in spite of all the COVID restrictions.

It's such a good investment, an eternal investment. So thank you for your donation today and we'll send you Jesus Revolution. And by the way, as a bonus, we'll include a copy of a brand new study guide that goes with it.

It'll help drive the points home and you can study this with your family or a small group fellowship. So write us today at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here, personally inviting you to join us for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a Bible study, it's a worship service, it's church in your home.

Maybe you're not able to get out to your church right now. If so, join us for Harvest at Home. People are listening in from around the world and listen to this, we have seen thousands of people make a commitment to follow Christ.

So join us this weekend for Harvest at Home at harvest.org. Well next time, as Pastor Greg continues his series, The Afterlife and the Eternal, we'll get some words of warning about those things that so easily distract us from the eternity we're waiting for. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.