SPEAKER_00: Well, we're in week four.
SPEAKER_00: Halfway there.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are like, Really excited that we're still in the heavens series.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you might been like, I'm ready to hear something different.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know where you're at, but I can tell you, this is my favorite series.
SPEAKER_00: But the great thing about the Word of God is that every Sunday just keeps getting better.
SPEAKER_00: It just keeps getting better.
SPEAKER_00: And the kingdom of God, it just keeps getting better.
SPEAKER_00: And so today we're going to jump in here and talk about today.
SPEAKER_00: I've mentioned it to several of you.
SPEAKER_00: This may not be your favorite week of the heaven series, but it is my favorite one.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean that the rest aren't good.
SPEAKER_00: They're good.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not because I preach it, it's because it's just good.
SPEAKER_00: But today is my favorite one because for me, I like to know about this new earth, this idea that heaven isn't some faraway place, that it's not some place that I'm going to just be transported to and thrown out on the other end and be floating for eternity.
SPEAKER_00: You know?
SPEAKER_00: It's a real place.
SPEAKER_00: And it's more real than you may realize.
SPEAKER_00: We've journeyed from longing for heaven through the death and the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: And now we arrive at the climax of redemption, the new heaven and the new earth.
SPEAKER_00: Many Christians imagine eternity is the way that I just described it.
SPEAKER_00: This idea of floating.
SPEAKER_00: But Scripture's vision is far more glorious and tangible.
SPEAKER_00: God is making all things new, and heaven is coming down to a renewed physical earth.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't plan B.
SPEAKER_00: It's the fulfillment of God's original design for creation.
SPEAKER_00: This is it.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it amazing that you and I are completely different when it comes to our DNA?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that crazy?
SPEAKER_00: Our fingerprints, everything about us is completely different.
SPEAKER_00: It's called an encoding.
SPEAKER_00: And you were created in the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, every person on this planet was created in the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: Whether they worship a different God, a false God, a different ideology, whether they're in Iraq or whether they're in Texas, they were created in the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: That means that right now, that God has over 8 billion different encodings on this planet.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that crazy?
SPEAKER_00: That out of God, Elohim, right now, over 8 billion varieties of his image.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that incredible?
SPEAKER_00: We're not talking about flesh, we're talking about encoding.
SPEAKER_00: This is how good he is, how creative he is, how awesome he is, how magnificent he is.
SPEAKER_00: This is God.
SPEAKER_00: He hung the stars and the moon.
SPEAKER_00: He did all these different things.
SPEAKER_00: That's how powerful he is.
SPEAKER_00: And when you look at your identity and you look at your fingerprint, come to realize that you are an encoding of the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: You didn't create yourself, he created you.
SPEAKER_00: These bodies are merely the vehicle of his work, and this is his original design.
SPEAKER_00: Let us make man in our image.
SPEAKER_00: Elohim, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, our image.
SPEAKER_00: So I need you to understand that God does not make mistakes.
SPEAKER_00: You are not a mistake.
SPEAKER_00: I don't care where you came from, I don't care what people say about you, I don't care what people think about you.
SPEAKER_00: You were created in the image of God, and therefore there is no mistake.
SPEAKER_00: There is no mistake.
SPEAKER_00: But sin messed it up, didn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Sin did mess it up.
SPEAKER_00: It messed it up.
SPEAKER_00: But he created everything.
SPEAKER_00: He's always had mercy and grace, even with Noah and the Ark.
SPEAKER_00: He's had his mercy and grace.
SPEAKER_00: And it's in this moment that God will not destroy what he created because it is good.
SPEAKER_00: And because he has a plan to renew it and to restore it.
SPEAKER_00: If God was done with humanity and it was all a mistake, he could easily just burn it up and say, do away with it, and I'll start something else.
SPEAKER_00: But he doesn't do that.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to restore it.
SPEAKER_00: There isn't a plan B.
SPEAKER_00: You are the plan.
SPEAKER_00: You've been the plan.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the angels are jealous.
SPEAKER_00: You have the Spirit of God living inside of you.
SPEAKER_00: No one else has that.
SPEAKER_00: The angels don't have that.
SPEAKER_00: You have that.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 21, 1 through 5 says it like this.
SPEAKER_00: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, some of these scriptures, you'll keep with me.
SPEAKER_00: Some of them have been repetitive throughout our series.
SPEAKER_00: But they each have their own meaning as we go through this study.
SPEAKER_00: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
SPEAKER_00: For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
SPEAKER_00: Interesting fact for you.
SPEAKER_00: Right now we have 8 billion people on the planet.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Uh sufficiently scientifically, if there were no sea and we had some type of technology that would allow oxygen, which God will figure that out, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_00: He's God.
SPEAKER_00: 300 billion people could be on this planet without the sea.
SPEAKER_00: Like comfortably.
SPEAKER_00: Good.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: According to statistics, since humanity began, there's only been 117 billion people live.
SPEAKER_00: So it matches up for why there would be no more sea, which is gonna be a lot less than that, I'm sure, in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not God.
SPEAKER_00: But there was no longer any sea.
SPEAKER_00: And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband.
SPEAKER_00: 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, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God, and he will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
SPEAKER_00: He who was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new.
SPEAKER_00: And then he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.
SPEAKER_00: My main point this morning is going to be the renewal of creation equals all things made new.
SPEAKER_00: And this first point, God does not destroy the cosmos and start over from nothing, ladies and gentlemen.
SPEAKER_00: He renews and purifies the originally declared very good.
SPEAKER_00: You are still very good, regardless of your sin, regardless of what you've gone through, regardless of the mistakes you've made, you are still very good.
SPEAKER_00: And because of this, he's going to redeem you.
SPEAKER_00: He already did it on the cross, but now he's going to come back and he's going to redeem everything that he has ever made.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 21 and 1 says it like this Then I saw a new heaven and new earth, for the first heaven had passed away and there was no longer any seas.
SPEAKER_00: When we read that, have you ever wondered?
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever wondered about what heaven is going to look like?
SPEAKER_00: This idea of how many people are going to be there, your friends, your family.
SPEAKER_00: But what about everyone else?
SPEAKER_00: He's going to make room for us to be able to be on this new heaven.
SPEAKER_00: There is a place for you and I, ladies and gentlemen.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Peter 3:10 through 11.13 says it like this but the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
SPEAKER_00: The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to restore it.
SPEAKER_00: Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?
SPEAKER_00: You ought to live holy and godly lives.
SPEAKER_00: As you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming, that day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire and the elements will melt in the heat.
SPEAKER_00: But in keeping with his promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm going to get rid of everything bad.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to get rid of everything bad here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to destroy everything that's not of me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to get rid of it so that when we are here, when I have perfected it, you no longer have to deal with all the sin, all the destruction, all the pain that you've dealt with in your whole life.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm going to make it new.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to purify it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to make it better.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to make it the way that I originally made it to begin with.
SPEAKER_00: Before that sliced serpent came in the garden and destroyed my intent.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 65 and 17 says it like this See, I will create new heavens and a new earth.
SPEAKER_00: The former things will not be remembered, nor when they will come to mind.
SPEAKER_00: This verse right here has caused a lot of problems for people when they think about there's no way that I'll remember people when I get to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: That is not what this verse is relaying to.
SPEAKER_00: It is not talking about knowing people because the Bible tells us we'll be known as we are known.
SPEAKER_00: It says the former things will not be remembered.
SPEAKER_00: The former things is referencing sin, pain, heartache, hurt.
SPEAKER_00: That is what it's referencing.
SPEAKER_00: Nor will they come to mind.
SPEAKER_00: You're not going to have to worry about that anymore.
SPEAKER_00: You're still you.
SPEAKER_00: You still, you're still going.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when I think about it, it it translates into when we talk about maybe a bad divorce that you go through.
SPEAKER_00: The pain of that, the suffering of that, and everything that you go through.
SPEAKER_00: When you go through that, you're still you.
SPEAKER_00: You're still your person.
SPEAKER_00: You you're still known.
SPEAKER_00: But yet, God says, when I show up, when you enter into heaven, you won't even have remembrance of that pain.
SPEAKER_00: You won't even have remembrance of those things.
SPEAKER_00: You're not.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to perfect you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm making all things new.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but there's something in my soul that longs for that.
SPEAKER_00: To not have to deal with remembering the painful moments of my life or the moments where I felt isolated and desolated and felt like no one was there.
SPEAKER_00: All these different things that I have to go through in life that maybe I've had to go to counseling for or deal with, these are things that I think God that one day He will wipe away every tear from my eye.
SPEAKER_00: He will remove the pain.
SPEAKER_00: It will be no more.
SPEAKER_00: It will be remembered no more.
SPEAKER_00: That excites me.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a wishful thinking, it's a true reality that I believe because his word says it, and I know that he's good.
SPEAKER_00: He says, But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight in its people, a joy.
SPEAKER_00: I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people, and the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.
SPEAKER_00: Never again will it be an infant who lives but a few days, or a man who does not live out his years.
SPEAKER_00: The one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child, and the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered a curse.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want to take a moment here because in the scripture text in Isaiah, he is referring to the millennial reign.
SPEAKER_00: The millennial reign is something that we could dive into a lot deeper another time.
SPEAKER_00: But it is on this moment where God will come and he will reign for a thousand years, and Satan will be locked up for this thousand years.
SPEAKER_00: And on this place there will be those that were in heaven, and there will be those that were living, and everybody will be intertwined.
SPEAKER_00: I know that sounds kind of crazy, but it's a truth.
SPEAKER_00: And we can go down another Bible study down that another day.
SPEAKER_00: But it's in this moment where God's reigning, and he's saying that if someone dies at a young age, they'll be considered a curse.
SPEAKER_00: This is going to be a really great and interesting thousand years here on the millennial reign.
SPEAKER_00: I know some of you are looking at me like crazy, now you have to explain.
SPEAKER_00: We can have coffee, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I don't have enough time to explain the millennial reign right here in this moment.
SPEAKER_00: But I promise you, the thousand years will be great, and then the white throne judgment comes.
SPEAKER_00: Does anybody remember the chart that I showed you guys at the beginning of everything?
SPEAKER_00: That's where we get into it, alright?
SPEAKER_00: So, 21.
SPEAKER_00: They will build houses and dwell in them.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, brother Sammy, I don't know I've built any type of house in my life.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe a dog house.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna give it my best shot.
SPEAKER_00: I might have to have some people around me to help me, but we're gonna build houses and dwell in them, and we're gonna plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
SPEAKER_00: No longer will they build houses and other people live in them or plant and others eat.
SPEAKER_00: For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people.
SPEAKER_00: My chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.
SPEAKER_00: They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune, for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, and they their descendants with them.
SPEAKER_00: Before they call, I will enter, while they are still speaking, I will hear.
SPEAKER_00: The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat the straw like the ox, and the dust will be the serpent's food.
SPEAKER_00: They will neither harm nor destroy on my holy mountain, says the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Some of these verses may be familiar because it's verses that I started with in week one.
SPEAKER_00: This renewal is needed to be remindful to you and I that it removes the curse while preserving continuity.
SPEAKER_00: Nature, cities, culture, human endeavor are redeemed.
SPEAKER_00: It is not going to be boring in heaven for you and I.
SPEAKER_00: It's not going to be boring on this earth for you and I.
SPEAKER_00: For the Lord of Lord, the God of gods is not someone that you're just praying to, but now he is the God that you visibly see that you can walk into the New Jerusalem because you are a child of God.
SPEAKER_00: You can worship, you can praise, you can live, you are redeemed in a way that you've never been redeemed before.
SPEAKER_00: My second point is the descent of the New Jerusalem, heaven and earth united.
SPEAKER_00: Now remember, this isn't some idea that I have.
SPEAKER_00: I'm immediately skeptical.
SPEAKER_00: My whole life I thought that when I die, I go like far, far away, and I stay there, and like I come back for a war, and then I go back.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's that's how I was taught.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I was taught.
SPEAKER_00: I was taught that when I die, well, first I was taught theologically that when I die, I'm asleep in the ground.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus comes back, I come out from the grave, and then there's a war, and then we go to heaven, and then that's it.
SPEAKER_00: That's how I was taught.
SPEAKER_00: But then all these other theological things started coming in, and there was actually no scripture basis for it, and then I began to dive into the word myself and put pieces together and talk to scholars, and some of them knew nothing, some of them knew a lot, and I say that respectfully, and I started to realize I've had this all backwards, I've had this all backwards.
SPEAKER_00: God wants to be with you and I.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that?
SPEAKER_00: That's why he sent Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus didn't have to come down from his throne, but he did so because he loves you, because God loves you.
SPEAKER_00: He left his throne in heaven and came to earth as a man, fully God, fully human, lived for 33 years on this earth, never sinned, died for you and I.
SPEAKER_00: And if you think that the idea of heaven coming to earth is crazy, I got one better for you.
SPEAKER_00: God leaving his throne in heaven and coming to earth and dying for you and I.
SPEAKER_00: That's way more crazier than the idea of heaven coming to earth.
SPEAKER_00: That's crazy.
SPEAKER_00: But it's true because he's the way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_00: The breathtaking sinner piece is the holy city coming down.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 21, 2 through 3 says it like this.
SPEAKER_00: We read at the beginning: I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband.
SPEAKER_00: And I heard a loud voice saying, The throne, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, this is going to be the greatest day ever.
SPEAKER_00: This is gonna be the greatest day ever.
SPEAKER_00: And he will dwell with them.
SPEAKER_00: Not you going and dwelling with him, he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot more scriptures that we can go back into the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: The prophet Isaiah tells us that the whole point of what God wants to do is to have relationship with you and I.
SPEAKER_00: He wanted it with Adam, but then he saw it wasn't good for Adam, a human being, to be alone.
SPEAKER_00: So he gave him Eve.
SPEAKER_00: But God wants to be enough for you and I.
SPEAKER_00: But for some reason, throughout all of our history, God's always wanted to be enough for us.
SPEAKER_00: We've always wanted someone else.
SPEAKER_00: As they got older and they saw judges and kings, they they wanted a king.
SPEAKER_00: God was supposed to be Israel's king, but they wanted somebody else.
SPEAKER_00: For some reason in humanity, we always think we want something else.
SPEAKER_00: When God is saying, I want to be your everything.
SPEAKER_00: 21, 9 through 10 says it like this: one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven plagues came and said to me, Come and I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and high, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
SPEAKER_00: And it shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper clear as crystal.
SPEAKER_00: Now, verse 12, this is this is this is big.
SPEAKER_00: It says it had a great high wall with twelve gates and with twelve angels at the gates.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_00: On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west.
SPEAKER_00: The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the name of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.
SPEAKER_00: The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide.
SPEAKER_00: He measured the city with the rod and found it to be twelve thousand stadia in length, and as wide and as high as it is long.
SPEAKER_00: And the angels measured the wall using human measurement, and it was a hundred and forty-four cubits thick.
SPEAKER_00: And the wall was made of jasper and the city pure gold as the glass.
SPEAKER_00: The foundation of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone.
SPEAKER_00: The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, and the third gate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, and the sixth ruby, the seventh crystallite, and the eighth barrel.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I pronounced that right.
SPEAKER_00: And the ninth topaz, and the tenth torquois, and the eleventh, I'm not trying, and the twelfth amethyst.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord will tell me when I get there.
SPEAKER_00: And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl.
SPEAKER_00: The great street of the city was great of gold and as pure as transparent glass.
SPEAKER_00: Can you believe that?
SPEAKER_00: Transparent glass?
SPEAKER_00: It was as pure as transparent glass.
SPEAKER_00: This union, this union is so great.
SPEAKER_00: When we read on, it says, I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to think about this from the very beginning.
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, they would try to build tabernacles for the Spirit of God to come down and dwell, the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ came and then you became the temple.
SPEAKER_00: You housed the Holy Spirit, for he said, I must go so the Holy Spirit can come and live inside of you, and it'll empower you and I are the temple of God, ladies and gentlemen, right now.
SPEAKER_00: But one day when he renews us and we go to the city, there will be no temple, there will be no tabernacle, for we will be face to face with the Lord God Almighty.
SPEAKER_00: That we don't need a temple because we're with the temple.
SPEAKER_00: We have interaction with the temple, we know the temple, we're in relationship with the temple, we live with the temple, we're under the temple's jurisdiction.
SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, this is the greatest promise that we have.
SPEAKER_00: The greatest.
SPEAKER_00: 23.
SPEAKER_00: The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives its light, and the lamb is the lamp.
SPEAKER_00: Man, the nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
SPEAKER_00: I just imagine it.
SPEAKER_00: I just imagine walking with my family.
SPEAKER_00: We're just going in the city.
SPEAKER_00: No need for light.
SPEAKER_00: He's the light, he's everything.
SPEAKER_00: It's the most beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: I can't even fathom what it's going to be like, guys.
SPEAKER_00: To not be afraid, to not worry about if something doesn't go right.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: You ever taking a long trip?
SPEAKER_00: Do you pray before you take long trips?
SPEAKER_00: I pray before I take long trips because I know if I don't, we're gonna lose a tire.
SPEAKER_00: Something's gonna happen, something's gonna go wrong.
SPEAKER_00: I hate to be a negative, but I just start thinking about it.
SPEAKER_00: I always check.
SPEAKER_00: To make sure we got our AAA ready.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, can you imagine every day you're there?
SPEAKER_00: You don't have a worry.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have a fear.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have some thought that something may not go right.
SPEAKER_00: You want to know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he's the light and you're a part of it.
SPEAKER_00: That's a beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_00: The nations will walk by its light.
SPEAKER_00: On no day will its gates ever be shut.
SPEAKER_00: You guys remember this?
SPEAKER_00: You remember this?
SPEAKER_00: Here's a good review.
SPEAKER_00: For there will be no night there.
SPEAKER_00: The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta tell you, I remember being in school a few years ago.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember grade school, and I remember we would do these book reviews, and if you didn't get enough done in your first six weeks, you didn't get on the list for the ice cream party.
SPEAKER_00: And no one likes ice cream more than me.
SPEAKER_00: No one.
SPEAKER_00: I love ice cream, probably too much.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember my teacher told me, like the day before everything was due, that I was so many pages of a review short, and I panicked.
SPEAKER_00: And I went home.
SPEAKER_00: And my grandma had to sign off on it.
SPEAKER_00: She had to see that I'd read the pages.
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't like to read it this time.
SPEAKER_00: So I went and grabbed a comic book.
SPEAKER_00: And I read the comic book, and I had my pages like that.
SPEAKER_00: Probably wasn't the way it was supposed to be.
SPEAKER_00: Probably cheated a little bit there.
SPEAKER_00: Probably didn't deserve the ice cream party.
SPEAKER_00: All I know is that I brought my list in and I was sitting there at my desk the day that she called everybody's name off, saying, All right, get to the get to the W's, please.
SPEAKER_00: I need to make sure that I get the ice cream party.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when we get to heaven, there's a lot of us that may feel like we don't deserve to be in the Limbs Book of Life.
SPEAKER_00: There might be a lot of you that, including me, that might be a little nervous.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be nervous.
SPEAKER_00: For if you've accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior and you're walking in relationship toward him, I promise you, he's that good.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be shocked just like I am when you see your name in the book of life.
SPEAKER_00: But can I tell you that if you trust the Lord, you don't have to worry about seeing it then?
SPEAKER_00: Because I guarantee you, it's in the book of life right now.
SPEAKER_00: It's there.
SPEAKER_00: And he's just waiting for you to come home.
SPEAKER_00: This is going to be the greatest day.
SPEAKER_00: I told the family, uh, the Heights family, I said, I'm jealous a little bit of Nancy.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I want to see my kids raised.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I want to see them grow up.
SPEAKER_00: But man, I want to see what she's seeing.
SPEAKER_00: I want to experience being with God.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be in his presence.
SPEAKER_00: I want heaven.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be so good.
SPEAKER_00: Revelations 21 and 4.
SPEAKER_00: I'm hurrying up.
SPEAKER_00: My last point: the full restoration, no more curse, but full redemption realized.
SPEAKER_00: The new earth is the complete reversal of the fall.
SPEAKER_00: So this is what happens.
SPEAKER_00: He'll wipe away every tear from their eyes.
SPEAKER_00: There will be no more death, no more mourning, nor crying pain, and the old things passed away.
SPEAKER_00: Revelations 22, 1 through 5 says it like this The angel showed me the river of the water of life.
SPEAKER_00: These first few sermons, these first four weeks, have really been breaking down heaven, our body, how the transition will happen.
SPEAKER_00: And today's showing you what's actually going to be on the new earth.
SPEAKER_00: This new earth.
SPEAKER_00: He's doing it.
SPEAKER_00: The angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: Down the middle of the great street of the city, each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.
SPEAKER_00: Can you believe that?
SPEAKER_00: Dude, that's gonna be crazy.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be so good.
SPEAKER_00: People say, Do you really believe we're gonna eat in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we are yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
SPEAKER_00: No longer will there be any curse.
SPEAKER_00: The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
SPEAKER_00: They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
SPEAKER_00: You and I belong to God.
SPEAKER_00: There will be no more night, they will not need the lamp of a or that need the light of the lamp or the light of the sun.
SPEAKER_00: For the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah says it like this in 25, 6 through 9.
SPEAKER_00: On this mountain, the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine, the best of meats, and the finest wine.
SPEAKER_00: This was prophetic way before, way before Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: On this mountain, he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations.
SPEAKER_00: He will swallow up death forever.
SPEAKER_00: The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all their faces, and he will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has spoken in that day.
SPEAKER_00: They will say, Surely this is our God.
SPEAKER_00: We trusted in him, and he saved us.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We trusted in him.
SPEAKER_00: Let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you and I could not save ourselves if we wanted to.
SPEAKER_00: And we see the prophet Isaiah writing these words 700 years before Jesus even came.
SPEAKER_00: And we see the book of Revelation way along after this, in the same prophetic that is given that we see 700 years before Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, my friends, I promise you there is more astounding truth from the Old Testament to the New Testament that meets at the cross than we could ever imagine.
SPEAKER_00: This is not for argument's sake.
SPEAKER_00: This is for the Holy Spirit to persuade you that He's been good from the beginning and he's going to fulfill the promise that he originally gave.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 8, 19 through 23 says it this for the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
SPEAKER_00: For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it in hope, that the creation itself would be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and the glory of the children of God.
SPEAKER_00: We know that the whole creation has been groaning as it pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
SPEAKER_00: Not only so, but we ourselves who have the first who have the first fruit of the spirits grown inwardly as we await eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, this is the greatest promise that you and I have.
SPEAKER_00: I want to tell you this morning, when we talk about the new heaven and the new earth, it is not a place that is going to be boring.
SPEAKER_00: It is not a place guys, you're gonna build homes, you're gonna be with your loved ones.
SPEAKER_00: It is the original creation times infinity.
SPEAKER_00: No more suffering.
SPEAKER_00: No more pain.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I used to, our worship team can come forward.
SPEAKER_00: You asked why this is my favorite one, I'm gonna tell you why.
SPEAKER_00: Because I used to think, oh I used to think I used to think that when people talk this way, they were foolish.
SPEAKER_00: This is why it's this is why it's my favorite one.
SPEAKER_00: I used to doubt God.
SPEAKER_00: I used to doubt him.
SPEAKER_00: Not that I didn't believe in him, I believe in God.
SPEAKER_00: I used to doubt that he could be this good.
SPEAKER_00: I used to doubt.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'd hear people say things like, make sure you leave a fork in grandma's hand.
SPEAKER_00: You ever heard that one?
SPEAKER_00: I've heard all kinds of things.
SPEAKER_00: My buddy Toss Newman just wrote a new song.
SPEAKER_00: I just listened to it last night.
SPEAKER_00: He writes, and and he writes about make sure you leave a shotgun shell, you know, and I think that's silly.
SPEAKER_00: Thought it's silly.
SPEAKER_00: I think we ain't doing that when we get to heaven?
SPEAKER_00: We ain't fishing in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: We ain't eating in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: We're not enjoying in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: What did I think heaven was gonna be like?
SPEAKER_00: Like what did I really think?
SPEAKER_00: Did I really do I really think God's boring?
SPEAKER_00: Do I really think that He He wants us to be miserable?
SPEAKER_00: Do I really think that what He created is boring?
SPEAKER_00: I know some of you probably hate that I talk about sports sometimes, but dude, I love sports.
SPEAKER_00: I love the I love the athleticism of athletes and playing the game and and the camaraderie and everything else in it.
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
SPEAKER_00: He put that in me.
SPEAKER_00: I love joking.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I say things that I probably shouldn't say.
SPEAKER_00: That's the truth.
SPEAKER_00: But I love funny people.
SPEAKER_00: I love comedy.
SPEAKER_00: He gave me that.
SPEAKER_00: He put that in me.
SPEAKER_00: I love doing I love doing all kinds of different things.
SPEAKER_00: I like fishing now.
SPEAKER_00: I used to not even like fishing.
SPEAKER_00: He gave me that.
SPEAKER_00: He's giving me that.
SPEAKER_00: I love music.
SPEAKER_00: I've been playing my guitar at least an hour every day because I love it, and I just play it for him, and I'm not as good as Sammy, but I'm trying.
SPEAKER_00: You know, he gave me that.
SPEAKER_00: This idea that you think he would give you things that would just end here is wild.
SPEAKER_00: But that's how I used to believe.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: No more.
SPEAKER_00: You wanna know why this is my favorite message out of all the series?
SPEAKER_00: Because the revelation he gave me, oh no, we're gonna eat in heaven, we're gonna dance in heaven, it's gonna be rejoiceful, we're gonna spend time with our families, we're gonna build homes, we're gonna be together, and whatever we've done down here, it's going to be that much greater up there.
SPEAKER_00: I guess here.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be that good.
SPEAKER_00: The joy of that, the peace of that, knowing that, knows now this that I can die today.
SPEAKER_00: I can die today.
SPEAKER_00: And I have the greatest hope in the world because I know when I take my last breath here, I'm gonna be there.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the joy you and I have.
SPEAKER_00: So don't be the skeptic and glass half-empy guy that I used to be.
SPEAKER_00: Because I don't want to be that guy, because that's not what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible tells us that he's going to have a street of gold that is literally transparent.
SPEAKER_00: That is wild.
SPEAKER_00: That tells me that my God is more creative than you and I combined.
SPEAKER_00: He's creative.
SPEAKER_00: We're one of eight billion creations of the same encoding.
SPEAKER_00: That's crazy.
SPEAKER_00: And he's doing this, he's preparing a place for you and I.
SPEAKER_00: I want to tell you right now, we are not like those without hope.
SPEAKER_00: We have the greatest hope.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope today that you will not be afraid of death.
SPEAKER_00: I hope today that you will put your faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope today that if you have thought that heaven is going to be boring, because these next four, we're gonna dive even deeper and deeper.
SPEAKER_00: But these next four series don't matter if you don't believe that he's this good.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't believe this, you won't believe the stuff that's coming.
SPEAKER_00: But you have to know that when it talks about the walls and Jasper and all the all the different elements, and I don't even know what they are.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've probably seen them, but maybe I haven't.
SPEAKER_00: Not in this way.
SPEAKER_00: This is how good he is.
SPEAKER_00: For those that can't walk, they're gonna walk.
SPEAKER_00: For those that can't see, they're gonna see.
SPEAKER_00: For those that can't play music, I bet they are.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be so good.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to be excited about heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Would you stand with me?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus told us that he was going to prepare a place for you and I.
SPEAKER_00: He's known it from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: You know it?
SPEAKER_00: You want to know what the first hint was?
SPEAKER_00: When he told Adam and Eve what not to eat of, and then they did it, and then he prophesied to the serpent and said that, you know, a heel's gonna crush your head.
SPEAKER_00: You know, he was talking about the cross.
SPEAKER_00: It's crazy that God knew from the very beginning what was going to be needed to be done.
SPEAKER_00: It's crazy to believe that I'm standing with you right here in this moment, knowing that there's been generations before us that have led us to this moment.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we just celebrated the 4th of July, but we don't get the 4th of July unless there's men and women who set things in motion that was guided by the hand of God.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that wholeheartedly.
SPEAKER_00: You can say what you want.
SPEAKER_00: I believe it.
SPEAKER_00: There's too many things that you could say, well, that was just coincidence.
SPEAKER_00: No, that was the hand of God.
SPEAKER_00: That was the hand of God.
SPEAKER_00: The same hand of God that's been guiding everyone, the same hand of God that guided Abraham throughout the land, the same hand of God that guided Moses to Pharaoh and met him in the burning bush and set everything in motion, the same God that that spoke to Noah, the same God that spoke to Peter, the same God that spoke to Paul on the road to Damascus, and he was going to kill Christians, the same God that spoke to him, the same God that that spoke to John, the same all these, all these people, and the same God that's speaking to you.
SPEAKER_00: You for the Bible tells us in Acts that they were ordinary men and they'd been unschooled, but they could tell that they had been with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You and I, ladies and gentlemen, guys, friends, everybody, you're chosen by God.
SPEAKER_00: Don't live a life.
SPEAKER_00: Do not live a life that is drowning in the idea that heaven may not be real because it is real.
SPEAKER_00: And it's more real today than it's ever been.
SPEAKER_00: And if you will fall into knowing how good it is there, you will begin to live your life here, knowing that everything you do is not just for here, it's for his kingdom come.
SPEAKER_00: That will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: There's a reason we pray that.
SPEAKER_00: There's a reason we pray that because everything we do here today matters tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: We pray with me.
SPEAKER_00: Dear Father, we love you.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you.
SPEAKER_00: God, I just pray today, Lord, that our minds would see you for who you are.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, that heaven is something you're doing.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I can't wait for the day.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I can't even begin to process it.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I know there's probably a lot of questions in the room, and well, we can get to questions, but Lord, I just pray that you would remind every person in this room that you're doing a new thing.
SPEAKER_00: You said you're about newness.
SPEAKER_00: And God, I just pray, Lord, as we continue to study into heaven, Lord, that we would be just rocked by how good you are and how powerful you are and how creative you are.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, who are we that you would be mindful of us?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: But God, I gotta tell you this.
SPEAKER_00: I love you with everything that I have.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I get excited when I read the scriptures about you're gonna have new wine for us because you said you wouldn't drink again until we were there with you.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I can't wait to just be in your presence.
SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to be back with loved ones.
SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to do things that I don't even know I like to do.
SPEAKER_00: But God, I know that I know you're creating, I know you're good, I know your goodness.
SPEAKER_00: God, thank you for instilling the things into our hearts that you already have.
SPEAKER_00: But Lord, I can't wait for a day without the longing of seeing someone again because of death or pain or or all the heartaches of this life.
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that those watching or those hearing would be enamored with your love.
SPEAKER_00: Or they would just be blown away by your power.
SPEAKER_00: God, we praise you.
SPEAKER_00: We give you glory in all things.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.