Let's Talk About Heaven, Part 1 | Preparing for Heaven

You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. Coming up today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us learn more about the future destination of every true believer in Jesus Christ. Each year, about 27 million people in this country move, relocate.

That may explain why there are 17,000 moving companies across their fruited plain. When we move, we try to find some details about our new home. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie provides details about our eternal home. The Bible gives us more detail than you may be aware, and none of us knows our moving date.

So it's a good idea to get that information now and be prepared. This is the day, the day when life begins. And he takes them to their brand new mansion, waiting for them in heaven. It's equipped with a beautiful kitchen, a master bath suite, and a sauna and jacuzzi. As they're oohing and aahing, the old man says to Peter, how much is this going to cost? Peter says, it's not going to cost anything, man. This is heaven.

And then they looked out in their backyard and it's a championship golf course that changes every day resembling one of the great golf courses on planet earth. And the old man says, what are the green fees? Peter says, there's no green fees. It's heaven.

Everything is free. Then they take the couple to this massive buffet lunch, and it had all the food that the old man wanted to eat but couldn't eat. Mexican food, Italian food, nachos with lots of cheese, pizza, hamburgers, all that good stuff. That's the stuff I like too, by the way. And the old guy's looking at all of this food and he says, well, where's the low fat and low cholesterol tables? Peter says, that's the great thing. We don't have low fat tables. We don't have low cholesterol.

Eat whatever you want and you never get fat and you never get sick. With that, the old man takes his hat off, throws it on the ground, and starts stomping on it. And Peter and the man's wife are looking at him like, what is wrong with you? They said, what is happening? He looks at the wife and he says, this is your fault.

He says, if you hadn't been feeding me those blasted bran muffins for the last 10 years, I would have been here sooner. This is a true story. It's also a bad joke. But heaven, of course, is no joke. It's a real place, as I said, for real people to do real things. Now, how many of you believe in heaven? Raise your hand if you believe in heaven.

Okay. Well, most Americans actually do believe in a place called heaven. 81%.

The stats are a little lower for hell. 69% believe in a place called hell. I think deep down inside, we long for a place we've never been to before. Have you ever traveled for a while, especially overseas, and found yourself really homesick, wanting to get home again?

Especially those that serve in the armed forces or those that do business overseas. They can't wait to get back home again. I think deep down inside, God has pre-wired us to be homesick for a place we've never been to before. And that place is heaven.

We long for it. In fact, the Bible even tells us over in Ecclesiastes 3.11 that God has said, eternity in our hearts. It was Augustine who said, quote, you formed us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.

The great writer, C.S. Lewis, speaking of heaven, said it was the secret signature of each soul. Lewis continues, there have been times when I think we do not desire heaven, but more often I find myself wondering whether in our heart of hearts, if we have ever desired anything else, it's the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, end quote.

I love that. It's this longing deep inside of us, like the story of the little boy who was flying this kite, and it went up higher and higher, and soon you couldn't see it. It was obscured by the cloud. And someone said, boy, how do you know that kite's still up there? The little guy said, I can still feel its tug. And I think deep down inside, we feel the tug of heaven.

And it goes back to our childhood. I think even our excitement about Christmas in a way is a longing for heaven. There's something about Christmas, apart from all the commercialism of it, and also apart from the fact that it starts in August now, that there really is a glimpse of heaven, is it not? All the beautiful lights, the angels, the beautiful songs like I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.

No, not those ones. The beautiful Christmas songs that we sing. And it's just like a little glimpse of heaven. It's sort of like a promise.

Of course, Christmas cannot deliver on the promise, but Christ can and heaven can. And the Bible teaches that when a Christian dies, they go straight to heaven. Now I came across an atheist website a while ago. I don't usually read that many atheist websites, but from time to time I will check in on what other people are saying. And it turns out that they were quoting something I said on their atheist website.

And here's what it said. They quoted me rightly with these words. They said that I said, quote, when a Christian dies, it's a direct flight to heaven.

There are no stopovers. The moment we take our last breath on earth, we take our first breath in heaven, we go into the presence of God. That's exactly what I said. And they were outraged by this.

And here was their response. Going to heaven after death is assumed. Not only does he start with this unsubstantiated and onerous assumption, but he goes on in more detail about the precise state of affairs that take place in heaven once you arrive. And what evidence does Greg Laurie have to bolster these claims?

Nothing at all. Just a bunch of Bible quotes. That's right. Just a bunch of Bible quotes. By the way, I love that. I stand by that.

That's right. Just a bunch of Bible quotes. I'm building everything I believe on just a bunch of Bible quotes. I'm building my hope on Jesus Christ and what he tells me in his Word.

Now listen. I don't expect atheists to understand the hope of a Christian. It's hard for them to wrap their mind around the fact that we have such a strong hope. But this is something that God gives to us, isn't it?

It's a quiet confidence. It's a supernatural certainty. And where do we find this hope? We find it from Scripture. Or as the atheist website said, a bunch of Bible quotes. That's why it's a good thing to memorize the Bible and to fill your mind with what the Bible says. And the Bible actually has a lot to say about heaven. In fact Psalm 119 says, you are my refuge, my shield. Your word is my only source of hope. That's one of the reasons the Scripture was given to us to begin with, to give us hope. Romans 15 says, such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. They give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises. And by the way, the word that is used there for hope is a word that can be translated, a strong and confident expectation.

And we all have that. And I have the hope that one day I will go to heaven. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

Whenever you send us an email, letter or post a comment on social media, we read every word. Pastor Greg, I'm 13 years old and wanted to tell you that my dad and I have enjoyed watching your online videos and your Harvest Crusades. We've also watched the Jesus Revolution movie and enjoyed it a lot. I watched one of your sermons not long ago about evangelizing and I tried it for the first time with a friend at school. I shared one of your Harvest Crusade videos with them and I'm hoping I'll bring them closer to Christ. Thank you Pastor Greg.

Discover the resources available to help people of any age reach people of any age. Go to Harvest.org and while you're at it, share your story. Write Pastor Greg an email. Send it to Greg at Harvest.org.

Do it today while you're thinking about it. Again, that's Greg at Harvest.org. Well, you've joined us for one of Pastor Greg's most requested studies of the past year called Let's Talk About Heaven, Part 1. I was asked in a TV interview a while ago by the interviewer, why do you talk about heaven all the time? He said, I've noticed in your sermons, I'll see you on TV or hear you on the radio and you're always talking about heaven. And I thought, really? Well, good. That's a good thing to be always talking about.

I wasn't aware of that. But I'm not embarrassed by that or ashamed of that because really when it's said and done, what's more important than that? Than where we spend our eternal destiny?

I mean, I want to do everything to help you come into a relationship with God and find that beautiful and meaningful relationship He has for you on this earth. But when it's all said and done, the statistics on death are quite impressive. One out of every one person will die. And then there's the afterlife. And the afterlife lasts a lot longer than this life on earth. Maybe we should call our time on earth the before life. We put so much focus on the afterlife. No, the before life is short. The afterlife is forever.

Yes, it's true. I admit it. I want to take as many people to heaven with me as I possibly can. And so we need to know about heaven. I've always studied heaven. I've always been fascinated by it. I wouldn't say I'm an expert on it at all.

But I would say I'm a student of it. And I probably became a greater student of it, no doubt, in 2008 when my son went to heaven. He beat me to heaven. My son Christopher was 33 at the time. Now, Christopher and I used to race each other on the beach. And he was a runner. He was out in track and field.

He was very good. But I was okay as a runner in high school. And so I was a bit younger. And so we'd be on the beach. And I'd race him all the time.

I'd say, let's race to that mark down there. And I was better at short distance. And he was better at long distance.

So I always picked a distance that favored me. Right? Because I would run out of steam quicker than he would. Let's run to that mark. And so, ready?

Go! I would run. And I'd get ahead of him. And I'd beat you again. You didn't beat me yet.

And one day we're walking along the beach. I said, okay. I picked a spot. Let's go. And your mark gets said, go. And off we went. And he beat me. Oh, it finally happened. Well, that happened in life, too. You know, I expected that I would go way before him to heaven.

In fact, written on his tombstone are the words, I fought the good fight. I kept the faith. I finished the course.

And that is what we're all going to do. And we don't know how long that course will be. Some of us may run that course for 85, 95 years. Some of us may run that course for 45 years. Some of us may run the course for 18 years. Some may run it for 33 years.

Like my son. We don't know. None of us know.

That's why we want to run as well as we can and as hard as we can while we can. Because one day will be our last day. And then we're in eternity. And then we're standing before the Lord.

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 unearthly 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 see our feet must be on earth but our minds and our hearts can be in heaven. But if we're honest many of us have gone an entire day without a single thought about heaven.

And that's not a good thing. We should always be thinking about it. Warren Wiersbe a great Bible commentator said quote, For the Christian heaven isn't simply a destination. It's a motivation. 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 a 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 panic. And he said, what are we going to do master? He actually woke Elisha up.

Elisha said, oh whatever ok. 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 the 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're working around us every single day.

God's 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. From one of the most requested messages of the past year, Pastor Greg Laurie is offering compelling insights on what's waiting for us in heaven.

Good encouragement today here on A New Beginning. So here's a pivotal question when it comes to heaven. Are you headed there?

Are you sure? Pastor Greg, certainly everyone wants to go to heaven. But what if someone's just not sure about spiritual matters and where they stand with God?

Well, they just need to hear more. They need to hear what the essential gospel message is. And I've got a great resource for you. We've set up a webpage that's called knowgod.org.

You go there. I have a video presentation of how you accept Christ, lead you in a prayer. And then it links to other spiritual resources that will help you grow spiritually. So just go to knowgod.org.

Do it right now. Well, Pastor Greg, we're excited to make available your new book called As It Is in Heaven. Let me ask you, what are some of the common misconceptions about heaven? Believers know what the Bible says. What do people outside the body of Christ say about the afterlife?

What are some of the common fallacies that we hear? Yeah, good question. Well, I think the problem is a lot of us have our impressions of heaven from movies or art or even cartoons, right? I'm going to sit around on a cloud strumming a harp with a bunch of fat baby angels hovering over me. Or I'm going to be bored beyond comprehension.

Okay, that's all ridiculous. Those are caricatures of heaven. First of all, heaven is a real place for real people to do real things. Heaven is not some vague mystical thing, it's a destination, it's a place, it's as real as any city you've been to, as any place you've been to. In fact, the Bible says that heaven is a city, heaven is a country, heaven is a paradise. So think about a city that you've been to.

Now, so many of our cities are filled with crime and urban decay and so many problems. But think about the best city you've ever been to and maybe the nicest restaurant you've eaten in in that city. And now magnify that many, many times you get a glimpse of heaven. Listen, the Bible says when we get to heaven, as an example, we will eat.

I mean, I think that's literal. We're going to eat. It's called the wedding supper of the Lamb.

So you'll be able to sit down with the great patriarchs and matriarchs of Scripture, the men and women of God, and have a meal with them. I mean, you could sit down and say, hey, Martha, could I have another serving of that? Or, Peter, could you hand me some more bread? Or, hey, Lot, could you give me a little more salt for my meat? Oh, Lot, you're so sensitive. Chill, man. I'm just kidding.

But you have to read the story of Lot in the book of Genesis to get that weird joke. What about Mama Stella and her biscuits? Yeah, well, Mama Stella is my grandmother. And I'm wondering if we'll have her biscuits. They were so heavenly. They were the most amazing biscuits I've ever had. And I've never had anyone make biscuits as wonderful as the one she made. And wouldn't it be great if I could have biscuits with Mama Stella? But I'll not only be reunited with great men and women of the Bible, I'll be reunited with my loved ones who've gone on before me.

My grandmother, my grandfather, my mother, my father, my son, Christopher, many friends that have preceded me to heaven. It'll be such a great family reunion. You know, family reunions can be great and horrible depending on what kind of a family you have. And all of us have weird members in our family.

Check this out. You might be the weird member in your family. Having said that, it is great when you have a good family reunion and you see people you haven't seen for a long time. Imagine how glorious that will be when we're reunited with our loved ones who have preceded us to heaven. But best of all, even more than the great men and women of the Bible, even greater than seeing our loved ones, you'll be with Jesus. And that's what heaven is all about. It's about being with Jesus. So I've written about this and a lot more about the afterlife in my book, As It Is in Heaven.

You know where that phrase came from. It's from the Lord's Prayer when Jesus taught us to pray, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So I address topics like what is heaven like, where is heaven, what will we do in heaven, will heaven be boring, and many, many more questions that people have about the afterlife. And I'd like to send you this book, As It Is in Heaven, for your gift of any size.

I think it will answer a lot of your questions. And I trust it will be a blessing for you so you can become more heavenly minded and the best use of that phrase. And learn more about this wonderful place God has prepared for us. Jesus says, I've gone to prepare a place for you. Notice it's a place. Heaven is a destination. And that place He has prepared for you is beyond your wildest dreams. Find out more about it in my book, As It Is in Heaven. We'll send it to you for your gift of any size to help us continue to bring the gospel to people that need it so desperately.

Yeah, that's right. And we have a copy waiting for you right now. Not only would this bring you a lot of encouragement and insight, think of it as a gift for a friend.

Maybe someone who just lost a loved one or someone facing a serious illness. As It Is in Heaven, we'll send it to you to thank you for your donation right now. You can call us at 1-800-821-3300. Call anytime 1-800-821-3300.

Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or go online to Harvest.org. I don't know if you know about this, but we have a weekend service called Harvest at Home. Exclusively for people that are tuning in literally from around the world.

Listen to this. We even have Harvest groups where you can get into a small group with folks from all around this planet of ours and study the Word of God. So join us this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. So is heaven just some ethereal, metaphysical idea or ideal? Next time, Pastor Greg points out heaven is a real place, and it's really paradise. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie.