Let's Talk About Heaven: Looking Ahead to Help Us in the Present

Hey everybody, you're listening to A New Beginning, which is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners.

If this program has impacted you, I'd love to hear from you. So just send an email to me at greg.harvest.org. Again, it's greg.harvest.org.

You can learn more about becoming a Harvest Partner by going to harvest.org. Coming up today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out a proper view of heaven will lead to a proper way to lead our lives. If you're really thinking more about and seeking heaven, which is to say putting the Lord first in every area of your life, from the thoughts you think to the way you use your time, it will transform you. Don't waste this precious life that God has given to you.

Make every year, every month, every week, every day, and even every hour count. Before a single spice is added, a good cook knows what the final dish will look like and taste like. Before a runner leaves the blocks, he has the finish line in his mind's eye. Well, believers need to have a clear view of heaven to find the resolve and commitment to stay on the path that leads there. And today on A New Beginning, in an unforgettable and highly personal message, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us make sure our understanding of eternity is rooted in Scripture.

Glad you're along for our study. I want to talk about heaven, one of my favorite subjects. Colossians chapter 3.

Look there if you would. We'll read more of it later. But right now let's just read verses 1 and 2 of Colossians 3. The apostle Paul writes and he says, Since then you have 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. Now this phrase, set your minds, speaks of a diligent, active, single-minded investigation. This could be translated think or more thoroughly have this inner disposition. So here's a real simple way to translate what I just read. Think about heaven or even a simpler way, think heaven.

I like that. Think heaven. The verb in this verse is in the present tense which means keep thinking about and keep seeking heaven. So I need to be heavenly minded. Now of course we immediately think oh yes but you know people who are heavenly minded are so out of touch. You've heard the expression, oh they're so heavenly minded they're no earthly good.

That's such a stupid expression. I mean what does it mean to be heavenly minded? Have my head in the clouds and be out of touch with reality?

Absolutely not. Those that think the most about the next life do the most in this one. So it's not a disconnectedness. It's a person that just recognizes that life on earth has a beginning, middle, and end. We recognize that we don't know when this life will end. We recognize there is an afterlife. There's future reward and there's future judgment for those that do not believe. And that affects us in the way we live now. See you're not going to just do whatever you want if you really believe that there's a future judgment. And it's going to motivate you to do good things and godly things if you believe that there are future rewards.

So it really affects us in the way that we live. So what is heaven like? Well let me begin by saying heaven is an actual place. In John 14 Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you.

That's very important. A place. Heaven is described as a paradise.

A paradise. What did Jesus say to the thief on the cross? Remember he said, Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said, verily verily or truly truly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise. Paul said the same thing.

He died and he went to paradise. Now what does that mean? Well this is an interesting word because it is actually a word that describes a walled garden like the king of Persia would have. Now I don't even know what to compare this to. But you have to think of some palatial estate that maybe you've seen or maybe you've seen a film about.

Like Downton Abbey I don't know. But some manicured amazing garden that goes on forever with every kind of fruit and flower. That is the word that Paul uses. So it is the idea where he is thinking of the best thing he can imagine and he is saying it was like paradise to me.

Number two. Heaven is described as a city. It is a city.

Hebrews 11 tells us the city has God as the architect and builder. I want you to think about cities you've been to. Certain cities have unique qualities. The city of Jerusalem at sunset is such a beautiful place. When we see that golden hue on it the city of so much biblical history or other cities I've had the privilege of visiting that are unique. And heaven is unique and it is a city. And cities have things in them. You have well you have things to do. You have restaurants. You have stores. You have activities. You have entertainment. Is it possible we could have that in heaven?

My answer is why not? The Bible says heaven is a city. And I think whatever city I've been to the best city imaginable. Heaven is going to be way better than that.

Not a diminished version of that. Heaven is described as a country. Hebrews 11 says we desire a better that is a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for He prepared a city for them.

So think about this. Heaven is a country. Heaven is a city. Heaven is a garden.

Heaven is a paradise. Now when we get there to heaven we are going to be given new bodies. And so we have this new body God is going to give us.

What will it be like? Well the blueprint for your glorified body is in the body you now possess. Heaven is the earthly life of the believer.

Glorified and perfected. You are still you in heaven. You don't become another person. You are still you.

That is very important. You are just the radically upgraded version of you. 1 Corinthians 15 Paul writes, Our bodies now disappoint us, but when they are raised they will be full of glory. They are weak now, but when they are raised they will be full of power. They are natural human bodies now, but when they are raised they will be spiritual bodies. So they are like the one we have now but they are perfected.

Number two. What will we do in heaven? Well for starters we will be worshipping. And by the way that is why you exist. To bring glory to God. But we will be busy too. Because the Scripture says on many occasions we will be serving the Lord.

And I want you to remember something. We don't stand in heaven forever because one day heaven is going to come to earth and it will fulfill the prayer the church has been praying for 2,000 years where we pray, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So heaven and earth become one you see. And Jesus is going to come back and we are going to return with Him and there is going to be the millennial reign of Christ and then there is going to be the new Jerusalem coming out of heaven. So heaven and earth will become one and there will be a new earth. And in the new earth we are going to do things like we do on earth now but without the limitations. So it is going to be fantastic. And so in heaven we will be worshipping.

I already alluded to this. In heaven believe it or not we will eat together. Revelation 19 says, the angel says, right, blessed are those that are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. These are the true words of God.

And so it is going to be amazing. All right. So with this all in mind let's just shift gears and bring this message to an end. We have been talking about heaven. Now let's talk a little bit about how this should affect us on earth because I think if you are truly heavenly minded you will be of the greatest earthly good. Go back to Colossians 3. Let's read a few more verses and then conclude. I want you to notice that verse 5 begins with the word therefore. Whenever you read the word therefore find out what it is there for. Whenever Paul uses the word or anybody else it is drawing on what has been previously said.

So what has been previously said? I have been told that I am to think heavenly thoughts. I am to think about the afterlife.

I am to have my heart and my head in heaven. And therefore if I am heavenly minded there are things that can bring me down. Three categories of sins that will keep us earthbound are grounded and miserable.

What are those things? Number one. Sexual sin keeps us earthbound. Sexual sin.

Verse 5 Paul mentions fornication. This is an interesting word. It comes from the Greek word porneia.

Guess what word we get from that? Pornography. Pornographic.

But this is a word that has a lot of shades of meaning. It speaks of sexual immorality in general. It refers to any form of illicit sex. That is premarital sex. Extramarital sex. Homosexual sex. And the idea here is of a person who fills their mind with sexual imagery and talks about it constantly and ultimately acts on it. You know you might pride yourself on the fact that you have not done a certain thing sexually but if you are thinking about it and talking about it and fantasizing about it Jesus said it is almost as though you did it. To the chagrin of the Pharisees Jesus said you have heard that it has been said don't commit adultery. I say to you if you look on a woman with lust in your heart you have committed adultery.

So this keeps us earthbound. And I know people who spend all their time thinking and talking about sex. Everything to them is sexual. Every statement is sexual. Everything is a double entendre.

You know people like that? And I am amazed at the normalization of pornography in our culture. How you hear it joked about on sitcoms and people talk about it as though it is the most normal thing around. And I am telling you this can destroy people. I have seen it destroy marriages.

I have seen it destroy lives because it leads to other things. Because you are developing a hunger for something that can never be righteously satisfied. See God has given you a sexual drive. Did you know God invented sex?

It is His idea. And it can be satisfied righteously in a marriage between a man and a woman and only in a marriage between a man and a woman. Every other form of it is outside of His will.

But when you are looking at pornography it is like you have a fire and you are trying to put it out with gasoline. That can't be satisfied righteously or in any appropriate or proper way. It is a bad way to go. And if this is something you struggle with you need to stop doing it right now.

Because it is going to have lasting repercussions in your life. Here is the thing you need to remember. You don't feed lust.

You starve it. So sexual sin keeps this earth down. Greg I thought we were talking about heaven. How did we get into heaven?

Now we are into this. Because Paul talked about it. He said set your mind on things above and now he talks about things that bring us down if you will.

Well Pastor Greg continues now with his fascinating study called Let's Talk About Heaven. It means to have and more. To have more. Not just to have.

To have more. It is not wrong to have things. It is not wrong to have possessions.

It is wrong when possessions possess you. But then there are people that whatever they have they must have more. And more to the point it is not just having more. It is someone that wants what somebody else has.

You see. That is why Jesus said don't covet your neighbor's wife or your neighbor's husband or your neighbor's animal or anything that belongs to your neighbor. It is not just the idea of having something and enjoying it. It is the idea of yeah I have this but I want what he has.

I want what she has. And that is the idea that is communicated here. Covetousness which is idolatry. Number three. Anger, meanness, and slander keep us earthbound. Anger, meanness, and slander.

Verse 8. Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language. Anger speaks of a settled and habitual anger with a thought of revenge. Maybe your philosophy is I don't get mad. I get even.

I hope not. Not if you are a Christian. Wrath speaks of boiling agitation of the feeling.

Sudden violent anger. And by the way the word blasphemy here is not speaking of blaspheming God. It is speaking ill of others. It is the word gossip. Gossip. Have any of you ever noticed how the word gossip sort of hisses?

Kind of like a snake? Oh, we love gossip though, don't we? Have you heard the latest about so and so? No, what? Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh. Heh, heh, heh, heh. Heh, heh, heh, heh. I mean, there's a matter of prayer, of course, that to pray about, but. Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh. I mean, there's websites dedicated to gossip. People that run around trading in the latest gossip.

This should not be true of the child of God. It may be fun to spread stories that you hear that you don't even take the time to verify about another person, but then when someone does that about you, it's a whole different story, isn't it? So here's what you need to do. It's not just turning away from one thing, but it's turning to another. As one old minister put it, the expulsive power of a new affection. I like that phrase. The expulsive power of a new affection. So like you have a child and they have a toy and they won't let go of the toy and you want them to let go, what do you do? Bring along something better. And if they're really small, if it lights up, it really helps. I've noticed kids love anything that lights up. So they go, whoa.

And they drop whatever it is, they go, ah. You know, the expulsive power of a new affection. If you're really thinking more about and seeking heaven, which is to say, putting the Lord first in every area of your life, from the thoughts you think to the friends you choose to the way you use your time, it will transform you. Listen, you as a Christian are a child of God. You are a citizen of heaven. It's time you started living like one. Because life on earth, man, it comes and it goes so fast.

It's like a vapor that appears and vanishes away. Don't waste this precious life that God has given to you. Make every year, every month, every week, every day, and even every hour count. May God give to each of us the expulsive power of a new affection. See, my life is all about earth and it's all about this life and it's all about getting a bunch of stuff.

Man, it's gonna be lose, lose. Because that won't satisfy me and I've not prepared myself for the next life. But if I'm thinking about heaven and seeking the things that are above and I'm a heavenly minded person and the right sense of that phrase, I'll live a full life on earth. Because I can enjoy what God has given to me.

I can be thankful for it. But I recognize there's more to come and this life on earth is not all there is. Now, closing thought. Who gets to go to heaven? We think, well, all dogs go to heaven.

I saw that in a cartoon once. Most people would say good people go to heaven, bad people go to hell, right? That is incorrect. Forgiven people go to heaven. Because there are good people that will go to hell. And there are bad people in the sense that will go to heaven.

They say, you lost me. You're saying if you're bad, you go to heaven. If you're good, you go to hell.

If you are good in a human sense and you're so good in your own estimation, you don't think you need God and you reject his offer of salvation through Jesus Christ, yes, you will chart your own course to hell. And if you're a bad person who has committed horrible sins and even crimes in that you come to your senses and repent of your sin and believe in Jesus, you will go to heaven. It's been said there's three surprises in heaven. A lot of the people we thought would be there won't be there. A lot of the people we never thought would be there will be there.

And thirdly, will be there. I think there will be surprises in heaven. Heaven is not the default destination of every person. It is the default destination, if you will, of the man or woman who has put their faith in Jesus Christ. So you don't go to heaven to find Christ. You go to Christ to find heaven. If you want to know you'll go to heaven when you die, you must admit you're a sinner and you must ask God to forgive you of your sin and then you must believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord and put your faith in him and him alone. And when you do that the Bible promises you will have everlasting life. Jesus said, for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son and whosoever believes in him should not perish, listen, but have everlasting life.

We have everlasting life because of Jesus. Isn't that great? Amen.

You have it. You say, Greg, I don't deserve it. I know and you never did and you never will so just get past that.

This is not about deserving. This is all about what Jesus did for you because he loved you so much. Well, I don't deserve that.

No, you don't, but man, take it because he's offering it to you. So I want to close with an invitation for you to believe in Jesus, an opportunity for you to be forgiven of your sin. If you need his forgiveness, if you're not sure that you'll go to heaven when you die, if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life, respond to this invitation that I'm gonna extend right now as we close in prayer, okay? Let's all bow our heads and everyone pray, and Father, we thank you for loving us so much that you sent Jesus, and Jesus, we thank you for coming and dying and rising again. Now we pray for these that are here that do not yet know you. Help them to see their need for you.

Help them to come to you and believe in you. We pray in your name. Amen. We pray in your name. You know, sometimes interruptions can come up during the course of the half hour. If you weren't able to hear all of Pastor Greg's insight, you can catch up by going online to harvest.org.

Listen to just the part you missed or hear the whole presentation all over again. Just look for the message Let's Talk About Heaven at harvest.org. Well, Pastor Greg, we're excited about making available a couple of wonderful resources from our good friend, author Sally Lloyd-Jones. She's a good friend of yours and Kathy's, and I know as you've thumbed your way through these new resources, they really touched your heart as well.

Absolutely, Dave. You know, they're just, what is the right word? They're just charming.

They're adorable. They're biblical, and yet they're done so beautifully, well, so a child can understand them. You know, it's been said that the objective of a preacher is to get the cookies on the lower shelf so the children can get to them, and I think that Sally Lloyd-Jones does an amazing job with the project she works on from the Jesus Storybook Bible to this special resource we're offering right now that is simply called Near, and she always brings it home in a way a child can understand. So she works with this very talented artist named Jago, and this is beautifully illustrated, and as a graphic artist, I really appreciate his design sensibilities and his attention to detail, and this is based on Psalm 139. So this is something I wanna put in the hands of the folks out there, especially you that have young children or you that have grandchildren. You give them this little book, and they're gonna wanna open it and look at the pictures and read it, or you can read it to them, but I promise you they're gonna wanna open this and check it out, because this is so well done. Otherwise, why would we offer it to you?

We're very intentional on what we choose to bring to your attention here at Harvest, because we wanna provide you with the finest spiritual resources so you can reach your family, both young and old. Well, you've got a copy of it right there in front of you. Maybe you could read just a little bit of the book for us. Sure.

So Dave, if I was gonna read this to my grandkids, I would read it along these lines. I could fly to the highest star. I could dive into the deepest sea. However far I go, he's always near me. I could climb the highest mountain.

And I could zoom as fast as light. I can see why your grandkids love hearing you read to them. Pastor Greg is reading from the book called Near from Sallie Lloyd-Jones, and we wanna make that book available to you along with Sallie's resource called Babies Carry Along Bible, an adorable little board book with 10 Bible stories told in rhyme. And we'll send both resources, Near and Babies Carry Along Bible, to thank you for your donation right now. It's your partnership and support that allows us to bring Pastor Greg's studies each day.

So thank you for your generosity. And you can write us today at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to harvest.org. Well, Pastor Greg, you spoke today about having a relationship with the Lord. Someone can enter into that kind of relationship with God right now, can't they? Yeah, they really can. That's the amazing thing. I think people are surprised that it doesn't take years to become a Christian. It doesn't take months. It doesn't take weeks. It doesn't take days.

It doesn't even take hours. You can believe on the spot. And I would like to lead you in a prayer where you can ask for His forgiveness, a prayer where you can receive Jesus Christ into your life as your Savior and Lord. So if you want Christ to come into your life, if you want Him to forgive you of your sin, if you want a second chance in life, if you want to go to heaven when you die, stop what you're doing and pray after me these words. Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner and I'm sorry for my sin. And I turn from it now and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as Savior and Lord, as God and friend. Thank you for loving me and calling me and forgiving me. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. And listen, if you have just prayed those words with Pastor Greg and you've meant them sincerely, the Lord has heard you and forgiven you of your sin.

The Bible tells us Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And we'd like to send you some materials to help you begin to live this new life. We call it our New Believers Growth Packet. Just ask for it and we'll send it free of charge if you prayed for the first time today with Pastor Greg. So write a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300.

1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click on Know God. Well next time as Pastor Greg's essential series continues, we'll consider the importance of prayer in the life of the believer and how to make our prayers more effective. Be sure to tune in next time for A New Beginning. This is the day, the day when life begins. Thanks for listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. Helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for daily devotions and learn how to become a Harvest Partner at harvest.org.