Heaven

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," ... 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God... 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!”... What comes to your mind when you hear the word “heaven”? What feelings rise inside you when you think of spending eternity in a place called “heaven”? Are you excited and happy when you think of living forever in heaven? Or are you not excited, perhaps even afraid, that you will live in a boring place and have a boring life forever? The Lord has spoken so much about the place where he will live forever. He will not live there alone, but will have many millions, very possibly billions of people who love and obey him live there with him. The Bible contains many descriptions of heaven or life in eternity. Thus, you and I can have a pretty good picture of our life together and forever with God and those who love & obey him. Since God is not boring, for sure heaven will be not be boring. As God is creative and abundant in all good things, so heaven will surely be a marvelously beautiful place that is rich in every good thing imaginable (and even things that we cannot yet imagine). If we enjoy life on this imperfect and broken earth, we will surely enjoy to the nth power life in heaven with God. It will be gloriously beyond any human or earthly imagination, exceeding most, if not all, people’s ideas about its grandeur, abundance, vibrant life, and breadth of experiences. Today we will start a series of studies on heaven and eternity. I am very excited about this series, and I pray that we will all be empowered and inspired as we learn the awesome plans of God for himself and his people. Pray with me that the Lord will help us all to see and be changed by a vision of our super-duper grand future in the Lord! You and I can understand heaven and eternity because God has given us some clear and very helpful descriptions in the Bible. Today’s teaching will lay a Biblical foundation that we will build on in the coming weeks. We will study some foundational ideas that will help us understand what the Lord says. They will also correct some common serious errors that rob us of the great hope and expectation of our grand future in Christ. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are destined for a glorious future with God! Love God, love people. Be faithful in your “internship” for heaven while you are still on earth. God’s rich blessings on your life, family, and ministry today!   Lathur Badoy