Let's Talk About Heaven, Part 2 | How We'll Change in Heaven

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Sign up at harvest.org. We all like to watch the story of someone who discovers they have superpowers, like Superman or Wonder Woman or whoever the character might be. Well, really, you're going to have superpowers. Pastor Greg Laurie says when we get to heaven, we'll be the same person we are today, only better, much better. You will be given a new body, but it will still be you. It'll just be the radically upgraded version of you.

Ever fallen for that ruse of the supermarket? You see a package marked new and improved, and so you buy it. Then you get it home and taste it, and it isn't new or improved. Well, as believers, there'll come a time when we're new and improved, for real. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out just how we'll change personally when we get to heaven.

This message is one of those our listeners requested the most this past year. A while back, Newsweek did a cover story with the title Visions of Heaven. It revealed that 76% of Americans believe in heaven, and 71% of them believe it's an actual place, but after that, the agreement began to break down. 19% thought heaven looked like a garden. 13% thought it was like a city.

17% did not know, and those that did not believe in it did not believe in it, sneakingly wished there was one. Now, another poll done by the Pew Research Center had people talk about heaven and hell and define it. Their definition was heaven is a place where people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded, and hell was a place where people who had led bad lives and died would be eternally punished. So right out of the gate, people have it wrong. That is not what heaven is, and that is not what hell is.

Now here's the problem. People say they believe in heaven, and that idea of heaven comes uniquely from the Bible. So if you're going to say you believe in heaven, you need to read the rest of what the Bible says, right? Because the Bible tells us there is a heaven. We would not believe in heaven if it were not for the teaching of Scripture.

To say you believe in heaven but then not read what the Bible has to say about it would be like saying, well, I believe in Disneyland, but I do not agree with the price for getting in, and I would be with you on that, and I do not believe that the location is accurate. So I'm going to go to where I think Disneyland is, and I will enter the way that I want to enter Disneyland. Okay. Whatever. So you're going to end up in some lame putt-putt golf course with one broken ride.

I don't know. But if you happen to make it to the Magic Kingdom, you've got to go in the Disney way, or you don't go in at all. If you try to just walk in, of course, you'll be stopped, arrested by the Disney police. You'll be put in Disney jail, and I don't know what happens after that. But the idea is that you have to do it the right way. You have to pay the admission price. Well, in the same way, you say, well, I'm going to go to heaven, and I'll do it my way. Well, no, you won't. You do it God's way.

All right. Well, what's the admission price? Trust me when I tell you you can't afford it. That's the bad news. You can't afford the price to get into heaven.

Here's the good news. The price has been paid. Admission is free through Jesus Christ. That's how you get into heaven. Into heaven.

Because of His death for us on the cross. So as to good people going to heaven and bad people going to hell, listen to this. There will be people in hell who would be defined by some as good people. And in the same way, there will be people in heaven who lived bad lives.

Let me say that again. There will be people in hell who would be identified by some as good people. And there will be people in heaven who lived bad lives. But they repented of their sin.

How does this work? Being good doesn't get you to heaven. There's only one way to get to heaven. Being forgiven. Heaven is not for good people. It's for forgiven people. But then again, you can be a good person, relatively speaking, but you're not good enough. And you could think you would get to heaven on your own good works. And of course you won't. And that's how you might end up in hell.

Okay. So now let's answer some often asked questions about the afterlife. Number one, what will our new bodies be like in heaven? Number two, will we know each other in heaven? Number three, will we be married in heaven? Number four, what will we do in heaven? And fifth and lastly, and this is often asked, do people in heaven know what's going on with us on earth? All right.

So let's go question by question. And by the way, in our last message, let's talk about heaven. We discovered, of course, heaven is an actual place, not a state of mind.

It's a real place. Jesus said in John 14, I've gone to prepare a place for you. Jesus tells us and the rest of the Bible tells us, heaven is a city. Heaven is a country. Heaven is a paradise. It doesn't say it's like a city. There is city in heaven.

It doesn't say it's like country. It is a country. It doesn't say it's like a paradise. It is a paradise. In fact, it's better than any city you've been to on earth.

It's better than any country you have ever visited. And it is better than any paradise that you can imagine. Whatever you've experienced on this earth, the best of the best of the best doesn't even come close to the glory of heaven.

Why? Because earth at its best is a pale imitation of the real thing, which is heaven. Heaven is not a watered down version of earth.

It's kind of the other way around. And so whatever you are thinking, it's going to be far better than you ever imagined. All right, so what about these new bodies the Bible talks about? What will they be like?

Short answer, amazing. You know, people love these superhero movies. You know, you have the DC universe. You have the Marvel universe.

And there's just so many of them coming out. And we all like to watch the story of someone who discovers they have super powers like Spider-Man or Superman or Wonder Woman or whoever the character might be. Because they can fly. They have superhuman strength. They can do all kinds of amazing things. Well really, you're going to have super powers, if you will, one day in this new body that God is going to give you.

Why? Because your resurrection body is going to be like the resurrection body of Jesus Christ. So let's think about that for a moment. Jesus was crucified on a cross, right? He rose again from the dead three days later. Did He rise in a physical body? Yes or no?

The answer is yes. And so in a physical body, was He a different person or was He still Jesus? Well He was still Jesus. In fact He even said to His disciples, it is I, not another. To the point He still bore in His hands and in His feet the marks of the crucifixion. Remember when He appeared to the disciples in the upper room, He extended His hands to Thomas who was a bit doubtful and said, go ahead and put your hands in the wounds in My hands.

And of course Thomas didn't need any more proof. So He was still Jesus but He did things in this resurrected body that He did not do before. It is not that He couldn't have done them before but He didn't. And so afterwards He did some unusual things like appearing in a room without using the door.

That is pretty cool. How about flying? Jesus never flew.

Yeah He flew. What do you think the ascension is? He just went right up to heaven. So why do I bring this up? Because the Bible tells us over in 1 John 3 where the children of God, it hasn't been revealed what we will be but we know when He is revealed.

Listen. We shall be like Him for we will see Him as He is. By the way Jesus ate in His resurrection body.

And I don't think it was like translucent. You could see it go down His throat or something. But to prove He was in a real body He said, here give me something to eat. Here. Here is a piece of fish. Awesome.

Just you know jot it down. But He was in a real body. And we will get to this a little bit more but you will be given a new body. But it will still be you. It will just be the radically upgraded version of you.

Ok. Here is what the Bible says. 1 Corinthians 15. Our bodies now disappoint us. Can I get an amen on that?

Amen. 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 bodies now but when they are raised they will be spiritual bodies. So listen to this. Our new bodies that God will give to us later will be both different and at the same time the same as our body here.

By that I mean you are still you as I have already said but again a radically upgraded version of you. 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. In one of the past year's most requested studies Pastor Greg is addressing a number of questions people have about heaven. The first one what will our bodies be like in eternity? Let's continue with the biblical insight. Okay so Jesus says in John 14 in my father's house are many mansions or dwelling places if it were not so I would have told you if I go I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am you may be also. In my father's house are many mansions. So sometimes people say I can't wait to get to my mansion in heaven.

Will we actually go to mansions? It reminds me of a story of a minister and a New York cab driver that both died and went to heaven on the same day. So Peter meets them both and the cab driver's first in line and Peter says welcome to heaven. I'm in charge of housing. So I hear you're a cab driver in New York.

I says yes sir. He says all right well I've got your house picked out for you. You see that mansion over there in the hill.

That's yours. Oh the cab driver was so excited. He ran off to his mansion. The minister standing behind him stood a little taller. Because he was a famous preacher. Peter says yeah I hear you're a well-known minister.

Yes I am. Okay well you see that little shack down there in the valley with a roof coming apart. That's your place. Well what do you mean that's my place? I preach the gospel the minister said. I taught the word of God.

I was a holy man of God. Yeah whatever. That's your place. It doesn't make sense.

I should be given a better place. Bottom line when that cab driver drove people prayed but when you preached people slept. He gets a mansion. That's a true story by the way.

No it isn't. So what is this mansion referring to in John 14? A couple of options. One it may be our new body that God will give to us. 2 Corinthians 5 1 in New Living Translation says when this earthly tent we live in is taken down when we die and leave these bodies we have a home in heaven an eternal body made for us by God himself.

We'll put on the new body like new clothes. Okay so it could be a description of our new body but it could be a house. I mean literally a house in heaven.

Why not? Is not heaven a city? Is not heaven a country? Is not heaven a place?

So we could have a house. And by the way we're told over in Isaiah 65 21 in the millennium that's in Christ's ruling on the earth that we will all build our own houses. Okay so it might be an actual house. And I love how Jesus says my father's house. So that suggests spaciousness.

Big place. But then he says in my father's house are many rooms. That sort of suggests coziness right.

I mean even if you're in a palatial estate you can't live in 300 rooms at once. You're going to find a nice little spot and sit down in front of a fire and have a cup of coffee or a cup of tea or whatever you know. So you know the idea is that it's a real place waiting for you.

What it is exactly I don't know. But it's going to be amazing. We know that. And you know I'll tell you what the thing is is with life as you get older it seems like it goes more quickly you know. This is true. Billy Graham was once asked the question what has been your greatest surprise of life.

And he said in response the brevity of it. And there's a reason that it seems like time goes faster as you get older. I read that they did a study on it and what it revealed was the reason it seems like time goes faster when you're older is because you get into routines right. Older people like to go to the same restaurant sit in the same spot and order the same thing over and over again. But when you're young you like adventure. You like things happening.

You like to try new things. When you're older not so much right. And so there are tell tale signs you're getting old. You know you're getting old when you go to pull up the wrinkled socks you're wearing and you realize you're not wearing socks. That's not a good sign. You know you're getting old when your pacemaker opens the garage door accidentally. But hey blessed are the pacemakers right. So you know you're getting old when you bend down to tie your shoe and you wonder what else you can do while you're down there right. Is that not true. I'm down here already.

Is there anything else I can do. Because I don't want to come down here again right. So but to the point here life goes by so quickly.

But here's the good news. Though your body is wearing out like a tent, which is not meant to last forever, God's going to resurrect it and your soul will live forever and your body will be resurrected. So now when we're in heaven will we know each other in heaven. Do you think you're going to be more stupid in heaven than you are on earth.

Maybe I should ask the question well do you know each other on earth. Well then you're going to of course know each other in heaven in the same way. You know on the mount of transfiguration remember Jesus was transfigured.

He shined like the sun. On one side was Moses and on the other side was Elijah. Now how do we know it was Moses and Elijah.

Were they wearing little name tags. Hi I'm Moses. Dear Moses was he holding the tablets.

Here. That's Moses. Elijah calling fire down. No I don't think so. Well somehow they were recognizable as they made this guest appearance if you will on each side of Christ. So I think when you get to heaven yes we'll see each other. Yes we'll know one another. We're told in 1 Corinthians 13 we will know as we are known. We'll know everything we know on earth except more.

We'll know everything we know on earth but with divine perspective now. Sometimes people have this mistaken notion that when you get to heaven you have some kind of a brain wipe. Like remember that movie Men in Black. They would do that little thing and they forgot everything they saw. I think people think when they're in heaven they're just like it's almost like heaven's a giant lobotomy or something. No I want to know. There's memories of earth in heaven.

Oh that can't be true Greg because we would be sorrowful. Well you have perspective. See I understand things now. How can I be rewarded for something I did on earth if there's not a memory of what I did on earth? So you're going to remember earthly things but now with that supernatural perspective. There's no break in my love for my loved ones. Death breaks ties on earth but renews them in heaven.

We're the same people we were here. Pastor Greg Laurie with great insights on what's to come when we reach our heavenly home. Maybe these are questions you've wondered about and Pastor Greg will have more answers as he continues this best of message including some thoughts before we close today here on A New Beginning. You know heaven is such an encouraging topic. Whatever we're facing in this life pales in comparison to the glory we'll experience in the hereafter. That's of course if we've come to the Lord for forgiveness of sins. Pastor Greg let's speak to the person who'd like to take care of that.

Okay. What would you say to someone who wants to come to God right now? What I would say is he's only a prayer away which means if you will call upon the name of the Lord right now through prayer he will hear your prayer and answer your prayer. Listen if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life, if you want him to forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that you go to heaven when you die, just pray this prayer right now after me. Just pray Lord Jesus I know that I'm a sinner but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin now and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my Savior and Lord as my God and my friend. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Amen. Listen if you have just prayed that prayer with Pastor Greg and have meant those words sincerely the Lord has forgiven your sins and we want to welcome you into the family of God and we want to help you get started living this new life. Let us send you Pastor Greg's New Believers Bible. It's been read by millions of people and they enjoy the scores of helps for new believers and the easy to understand translation. So get in touch for your free copy of the New Believers Bible. Call us at 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime again 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org and click know God.

You know Pastor Greg we all have people waiting for us in heaven and we may think about that fact when we hear that you have a new book on heaven. Yeah. I think about your grandmother mama Stella and she was such a big part of your childhood.

Yes. And that's that's going to be a sweet reunion for you someday. It really is you know I lived with her and my grandfather for a number of years as my mom was living her wild tumultuous life and mama Stella and daddy Charles were Christians. They had a portrait of Jesus hanging on the wall and we went to church on Sunday. Well my mother didn't have a portrait of Jesus hanging on her wall and there was no church and that is when I first heard about Jesus and I remember as a little boy I would stare at that portrait and there was something about Jesus that intrigued me like who is he?

You know can I know him? I remember as a little boy sitting in my bed at night after they'd gone to sleep and I would put a blanket over my head and I would talk to an imaginary character that I called Mr. Nobody and I think in my little boy way I was reaching out to God and so when I did hear the gospel and I did accept Christ I called mama Stella and it's funny because she also played a role in my first answered prayer because after I became a Christian I had this kind of funky bible somebody gave me and I wanted a proper bible you know with a leather cover gold pages. I'd seen one down at a Christian bookstore and I prayed God would you get me a bible. I had no money and I wasn't going to ask my mother to buy me a bible and so I prayed Lord would you help me get one of these bibles and my grandmother talks to me on the phone and I told her I accepted Christ and she said Greg I want to buy you a brand new bible go pick out a real nice one and I'll pay for it. Boom first answered prayer came through mama Stella not to forget also the fact that she was the most amazing cook of all time because it was southern food you know deep fried chicken okra collard greens black eyed peas mashed potatoes and the best biscuits this side of heaven so when I get to heaven I'm kind of hoping that mama Stella will fire me up a batch of hot biscuits so I can melt butter on them and then put some honey or some jam she also made jam of course and to me that would be better maybe even than manna. So speaking of heaven I have written a book called as it is in heaven you've heard that phrase before it's in the Lord's prayer where Jesus teaches us this prayer he says after this manner therefore you should 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 what is heaven like what will we do in heaven will we be reunited with loved ones who have preceded us when we get there well the answer that is yes so I deal with all of those things and a whole lot more because you know heaven is sort of this mystical place to a lot of people the bible actually gives us some very important details about heaven I can tell you this it's going to be amazing it's going to surpass your wildest dreams and it will be better than anything you've ever experienced on earth and that's why I want to send you a copy of this book as it is in heaven so you can learn more about your future heavenly home and I'll send this book to you for your gift of any size Dave you can tell them a little bit more about that yeah it's an encouraging resource full of insights and answers to your questions and we're sending it to say thank you to those who partner with us here in 2024 we have such compelling ministry plans and with your investment many more hearts can be touched and many more will hear about heaven so if you'll contact us today with your investment we'll be glad to send you as it is in heaven just call us anytime at 1-800-821-3300 that's 1-800-821-3300 or write a new beginning box 4000 riverside california 92514 or just go online to harvest.org and by the way pastor Greg talks more about what's waiting for us in the afterlife in a new podcast available right now at harvest.org and on the harvest plus app look for the title as it is in heaven a new podcast at harvest.org the harvest plus app and on other podcast apps well we've been talking about heaven today and what things will be the same and what things will be different when we get there a pastor Greg closes with some thoughts on what we'll know in our eternal home I've used this illustration before but I only have five illustrations so I return to it but one of my grandkids might be playing with the toy and it breaks a doll the head comes off and they're freaking out because you know a headless doll is alarming in many ways even to me um papa the doll's head came off I'll fix it and then I'm trying to screw the which is not it I'll go away when I'm doing it because it's not a good thing to watch I can't get the head to screw back in so I'll say well don't worry about it oh papa the doll they're so unhappy I'll take don't worry about it it'll be okay but it'll be okay why because I know in a cupboard I have five more of those dolls because I'm smart and I plan ahead so the reason I can say it's okay is because I know it's going to work out better for them and so in the same way we're here in this life and we say god what are you doing god why aren't you paying attention lord where are you the lord says it's okay well yeah it's okay you say it's okay you're in heaven yeah I'm in heaven and I know it's going to be okay and you'll see it one day so in heaven I have memory of things on earth but with perspective 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