WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:23.199 Well, good morning, awakening. 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:24.320 How are we doing? 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:26.399 Good, good, good. 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:27.920 Great to be with you. 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:29.120 Welcome, welcome, welcome. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:31.280 Thrilled to have you today. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:35.359 Hey, uh, we're in a series called Still Wondering. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:36.399 Would you say that with me? 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:38.960 Let's try that one more time. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:40.000 I know we're just coming back. 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:41.439 You had great conversations. 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:43.039 Uh Still Wondering, say that. 00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:43.359 Come on. 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:45.039 There we go. 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:58.640 Uh, and today where we're headed is I I think one of the biggest questions that we are asking, not just as a church that you brought, but just as a society, as a people. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:06.000 Uh and so before we begin, I'm just gonna uh pray to invite uh Jesus to speak to us. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:09.280 Uh Jesus, thanks for this moment. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:17.359 Thanks for um your grace that you meet us and that you do want to speak to us. 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:29.599 And we invite you in this space, in this moment, God, would you um would you meet with us? 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:33.359 May we have ears to hear, hearts to respond. 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:37.760 And Jesus, I just asked that you would get me out of the way. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:46.799 Anything that's not of you, just would get out of the way, that I'd be able to proclaim and speak what you have for us to uh hear clearly. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:50.640 And so we welcome you here in Jesus' name. 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:53.920 And all God's people said amen. 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:59.840 Um I remember my very first uh funeral service, actually. 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:05.120 Uh when I was a little boy, my dad uh pastored a small rural town. 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:11.680 It was a one-stop sign town that eventually grew to become a one-stop light town. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:18.080 Agriculture, ranching, uh hard work, everybody knew everyone. 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:28.639 And uh probably about five years old, and a little girl in our community had passed from cancer. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:46.879 And I remember going to the funeral and with my parents, my dad officiating it, um, hearing the adults whisper and talk, um, trying to figure out why they lived under some large power lines, I guess, and they're like, maybe that's the reason why. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:56.080 Not long after that, um, a young man in the community died in a tragic farming accident, killed by a tractor. 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:03.759 In those days, death wasn't common, but it wasn't hidden. 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:11.280 As I look back, I think early on, I had to sit with death more than most. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:18.479 By the time I graduated high school, I had attended more funerals than most people probably attended in their lifetime. 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:30.080 In our culture today, we ignore death, we do our best to delay death, and we certainly try to cover up death. 00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:33.919 We don't talk about heaven anymore. 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:35.520 You notice that? 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:38.319 We don't talk about eternity. 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:44.479 The church, we don't talk about the return of Jesus anymore. 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:48.879 What we talk about, we well, we talk about the latest fitness trend. 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:58.080 Count steps, optimize sleep, cold plunge, monitor glucose, swallow supplements, red light therapy, longevity science. 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:06.000 And it's interesting, today the aim and the goal isn't just to delay death, it is to defeat it. 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:13.360 In fact, some of the brightest minds of our day are trying to live forever. 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:16.720 You're probably familiar with Brian Johnson. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:20.720 His uh motto is don't die. 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:29.360 His goal is to achieve immorality not immorality, immortality. 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:31.680 Maybe that too, I don't know. 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:41.680 By 2039, he's building an entire movement around this one obsession, don't die. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:48.639 In fact, in an article to the MIT, he says he's starting his own new religion. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:05:01.360 Ray Kurtzwell, uh AI visionary at Google Futurist, believes technology will one day reconstruct consciousness, bringing back the dead digitally. 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:06.240 His goal is to bring back his father who passed away when he was 22. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:20.879 Sam Altman of OpenAI reportedly joined the waitlist for a company exploring brain preservation in hopes that one day his consciousness can be digitally uploaded. 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:25.040 The only catch with this procedure is it's a hundred percent fatal. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:38.560 But while some are trying to defeat death with technology, millions of people are captivated by near death experiences. 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:40.959 What lies beyond? 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:49.600 TikTok, Instagram, podcasts have exploded with near-death experience stories. 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:57.120 And for all of humanity's brilliance, we're still helpless before death. 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:09.519 And the question that this generation's wrestling with, I think so well, is like, what good is a prolonged life if it's an empty life? 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:17.839 Our advancements have made life more comfortable, yet not more meaningful. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:25.759 We're more connected, yet more lonely, more medicated, but more anxious and depressed, more entertained yet deeply restless. 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:31.199 And beneath all our progress, the ancient question still haunts us. 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:33.360 Is this all there is? 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:40.399 What happens when I die? 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:48.959 Why do I ache for forever? 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:56.000 Why is there this aching, this longing for forever? 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:01.439 Long before Silicon Valley, God spoke. 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:08.800 In Ecclesiastes 3 11, he says this: He has made everything beautiful in his time. 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:14.560 He has also set eternity in the human heart. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:20.000 God has set eternity in your heart. 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:23.839 You were made for more than just now. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:27.199 You were made for forever. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:29.920 Your soul longs for permanence. 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:43.519 You ache for something lasting, a love that never ends, a joy that doesn't fade, beauty that doesn't decay, life untouched by death. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:52.000 That's why when someone dies, something deep in you rises up and says, This isn't how it's supposed to be. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:57.519 There's an anger, there's a hurt. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:02.480 Because we were made for forever. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:18.399 When cancer ravages the body, when dementia steals memory, when miscarriage still future, when a young life's cut short, we stand at the graveside and just go, why? 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:33.279 Doss Willard says it this way: you are an unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's great universe. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:41.759 You are more than a body, more than biology, more than neurons firing. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:51.279 You are a soul made by God, for God, made for eternity. 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:52.080 C.S. 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:55.200 Lewis captures this ache, this longing so well. 00:08:55.360 --> 00:09:18.720 He writes, our lifelong nostalgia, our longing to be reunited with something in the universe from which we feel cut off, to be on the inside of some door which we have always seen from the outside is no mere neurotic fancy, but the truest index of our real situation. 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:25.759 The ache of your soul is not accidental, it's homesickness. 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:37.519 The longing for the world you are made for, your true home, has been placed there by God Himself. 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:42.320 Jesus actually had a lot to say about that home. 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:47.759 The one who faced death head on, defeated the grave, opened the door to a whole new humanity. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:52.159 Jesus, by the way, didn't have just a near-death experience. 00:09:52.320 --> 00:10:02.159 He had a full death experience, defeated the grave, walked out, and then told us how we can experience life to the full through him. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:09.440 And so what we want to do is what I want to do in our time is look at what Jesus teaches about heaven. 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:14.480 What does he tell us about that ache, that longing, and our future? 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:19.120 And so we're gonna take time and look at what Jesus teach us about heaven. 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:26.480 The first thing we notice that Jesus teaches us about heaven is this Eternal life begins now. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:30.320 Not one day, someday. 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:32.960 Listen to what Jesus says, John 17, 3. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:38.799 Now this is, help me out, this is, this go again. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:41.759 This is eternal life. 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:46.559 Not this will be eternal life. 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:51.440 This is eternal life after you leave this life. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:54.559 This present tense is eternal life. 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:56.639 That they know you. 00:10:56.879 --> 00:10:57.360 Who? 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:02.240 The one true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:06.480 Eternal life is not merely about where you go when you die. 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:10.559 It's the very life of God breaking forth into your life now. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:13.200 It's the eternal kind of life now. 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:19.279 It begins here because heaven is life with God, period. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:23.039 The home you long for is life with God. 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:28.159 And the whole Bible tells this one unfolding story from Genesis to Revelation. 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:33.759 Genesis begins in the garden in Eden, where God walked with humanity in the cool of the day. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:37.919 There was no brokenness, no pain, no heartache, no shame, no hiding. 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:45.279 You gotta be fully known and fully loved just as you are with God in perfection. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:54.960 And the brokenness and decay of our world unraveled in our own self-defiant will of our way and not yours. 00:11:55.279 --> 00:12:08.080 And then Revelation returns to the picture that God makes his dwelling place among his people once again. 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:13.679 The good news is you don't have to wait for eternal life. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:17.039 Eternal life begins by knowing God. 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:23.519 Heaven is breaking forth in every heart that knows God. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:26.799 Like heaven doesn't begin later, it begins now. 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:28.960 It begins with knowing God. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:33.519 Because that's who your heart was made for. 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:35.279 What does Jesus teach about heaven? 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:37.360 Well, first, eternal life begins now. 00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:41.200 Secondly, heaven is your true home. 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:44.639 The home you long for is life with God. 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:46.559 Now, heaven is your true home. 00:12:47.039 --> 00:13:02.240 On the night Jesus was betrayed, knowing that within hours he would be arrested, mocked, beaten, crucified, Jesus looked at his disciples who were struggling. 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:05.600 And he gave them these words. 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:10.639 Think about that. 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:16.879 Jesus is staring death in the face, and what's on his heart is comforting his disciples. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:23.279 And he tells them, You believe in God, believe also in me. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:27.120 My father's house has many rooms. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:33.279 If that were not so, I would have told you that I'm going to prepare a place for you. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:41.679 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am. 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:49.039 Jesus here is using just incredible rich marriage language. 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:58.559 In the ancient Judaism, the groom would go and prepare a place to bring the bride home. 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:14.240 And often what would happen is the groom would go to his parents' land and build maybe even a house or a room off the side of the house to once he was finished with it, he would go with joy, expectation, bring his bride home. 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:17.279 And Jesus saying, I want you to know something. 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:21.759 As I face death, as you want to know what's the hope. 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:25.200 One, I'm going, I'm preparing a place for you. 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:28.240 And I'm returning, and I'm going to bring you home. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:29.759 You want to know what I'm about? 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:33.759 That Jesus says, heaven is a real place. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:40.000 I'm preparing it, I'm coming back, and I'm bringing you home. 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:49.519 Now, Jesus says heaven is a real place, but the problem is most of us have this picture of heaven that looks nothing like heaven. 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:57.039 There used to be this old phrase, we don't say it anymore, but it used to be like everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:00.240 People say it back in the old days, right? 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:03.279 Now I don't think anybody even wants to go to heaven. 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:05.440 Just nobody wants to die. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:11.519 We want to figure out how to create some, you know, utopic world here, make our lives a little bit comfortable. 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:14.799 And part of it is we have such a broken picture. 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:23.759 Somebody, somewhere along the way, you thought heaven was like harps and clouds and this kind of like spirited existence. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:32.559 And I remember one time a Sunday school teacher told me as a kid, like, you know, Ryan, heaven's like 24-7 worship service. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:36.879 And she thought she was really motivating me towards heaven. 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:41.679 As like a 10-year-old, that's not what I wanted to hear. 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:43.200 I'm like, really? 00:15:44.799 --> 00:15:46.399 Because heaven didn't sound awesome. 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:48.240 You know what heaven sounds like? 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:49.840 Boring. 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:53.519 Oh boy, 24-7. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:55.200 Thank you very much. 00:15:55.440 --> 00:15:58.399 The good news, that's not the biblical picture of heaven. 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:02.639 The biblical picture of heaven is first, heaven is embodied life. 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:03.840 Embodied life. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:21.120 Philippians 3.20 says, but our citizenship, our true home, is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:25.200 Heaven is real, embodied, live. 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:32.799 The Christian hope is not escaping your body, but God redeeming and restoring your body. 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:35.600 Your body is transformed and made new. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:40.639 You remain fully human, actually, finely and fully alive. 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:46.080 It's not a disembodied existence, not floating spiritual existence. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:50.159 It's not somehow clouds and harps and naked babies. 00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:52.720 I don't know where that came from either. 00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:55.919 You do not become an angel when you die. 00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:59.200 In fact, you become like Christ. 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:10.480 He is the first fruits of the resurrection, and his resurrected body is a picture of what our resurrected body will be like. 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:12.799 He ate and he drank with his disciples. 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:17.359 He walked with them, he talked with them, they touched him, they knew and recognized each other. 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:19.359 Just take a moment, would you? 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:22.160 You can even close your eyes if you want. 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:24.880 Imagine the best version of you. 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:30.960 Fully healed, fully whole, fully alive. 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:37.279 Untouched by sin, sorrow, sickness, or death. 00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:43.359 Heaven is embodied life. 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:48.559 Heaven is not less human, it is more fully human than you've ever known. 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:52.559 Secondly, heaven is a renewed earth. 00:17:52.799 --> 00:18:01.839 Revelations 21, 1 through 2 says, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:10.640 I saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:14.079 What does the Bible picture when it pictures heaven? 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:25.920 A perfect environment, a river of life flowing clear and pure, the tree of life bearing fruit in abundance, beauty untouched by decay, animals in harmony, peace everywhere, meaningful work. 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:32.640 Yes, you will work in heaven, but it will be meaningful and energize you rather than exhaust you. 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:45.519 Creativity fully unleashed, tables filled with laughter and feasting, deep friendships, no loneliness, no fear, no tears, no graveyards, and at the center of it all, life with God. 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:57.279 You will create, build, learn, and explore, feast, laugh, work, worship, reign with Christ, love deeply and live fully. 00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:09.759 When my kids were little, the way I tried to explain heaven to them is heaven is the very best earth has to offer and way, way better. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:11.200 That's heaven. 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:18.240 Heaven is the very best that earth has to offer and way, way better. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:20.640 Think about it. 00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:37.839 Beauty untouched by decay, relationships untouched by betrayal, work untouched by frustration, creativity untouched by insecurity, adventure untouched by danger, joy untouched by sorrow, laughter untouched by loss, worship untouched by distraction. 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:39.599 I like how J.R.R. 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:45.440 Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings, he wasn't necessarily describing heaven, but he was describing heaven. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:49.920 He wrote, Everything sad is going to come untrue. 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:57.920 Every wonderful thing you love in this life is a whisper of the world to come. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:13.119 Every beautiful sunset, every mill around the table with people you love, every mountain view, every ocean breeze, every song that moves your soul, every moment of all is but a whisper of the world to come. 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:22.400 Heaven is embodied life, heaven is renewed earth, and heaven is the home your heart aches for. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:30.720 Continuing on in Revelation, 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. 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:36.720 They will be his people, and God himself will be their God, and he will wipe away every tear from their eye. 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:43.119 There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things have passed away. 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:52.720 When we look around at the world, our heart aches for a better world, doesn't it? 00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:57.519 You just look around at the brokenness, the hurt, the pain. 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:03.680 And your heart just aches for a better world. 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:13.200 A world with no more cancer, no more violence, no more betrayal, no more loneliness, no more fear, no more hiding, no more shame, no more tears, no more death. 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:25.200 Because there's something deep inside every single one of us that looks at the world as it is and knows this isn't how it was meant to be. 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:52.880 What does Jesus teach us about heaven? 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:54.720 Eternal life begins now. 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:56.960 Heaven is our true home. 00:21:57.119 --> 00:21:59.200 And then he gives us this warning. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.000 Is so overwarming that love can be rejected. 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:11.359 I want you to jot down Matthew chapter 25, Matthew chapter 13, Matthew chapter 8, among other places. 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:16.000 Jesus talked more about hell than any other biblical author. 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:18.319 Out of love and warning. 00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:26.960 Jesus talked about heaven as a real place, and he talked about hell as a real place. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:37.519 The apostle Paul, picking up on the words of Jesus, writes this: He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:43.119 They will be punished with an everlasting destruction, shut out from the presence of the Lord. 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:49.680 Heaven is simply life with God. 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:56.640 Hell is simply separation from God. 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:07.440 See, if God is the source of all goodness, then the separation from God is the separation from everything good. 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:18.319 It's the absence of relationship and joy and beauty, delight, peace, love, truth, and meaning. 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:26.319 When Jesus spoke of how he painted vivid pictures to warn us, it's a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:30.079 One of his most sober warnings is Matthew 7. 00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:40.079 In verse 22, he says, Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles? 00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:42.079 We were really religious. 00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:45.839 We didn't miss a Sunday at awakening. 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:49.039 We showed up to set up. 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:52.640 I even gave some money. 00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:58.240 Then I'll tell them plainly, I never knew you. 00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:05.200 Heaven is fundamentally relationship with God, knowing God. 00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:11.759 And he says, you can do a lot of activity and not know your savior. 00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:22.160 There are some here where you have been in Christian kind of circles, like, oh, I just grew up Christian. 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:23.519 I'm just in that thing. 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:27.599 Like there are no like grandkids in God's family. 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:28.880 There's only firstborns. 00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:32.400 It's like you have to say yes to him for yourself. 00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:34.240 It's not just being an environment. 00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:38.400 It's not just kind of like, oh, I just do this thing and I'm a pretty good person. 00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:42.079 No, it's like, do you know Jesus? 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:46.799 And if you don't know Jesus, that's heaven. 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:49.920 And not knowing him, that's hell. 00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:52.240 J.I. 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:55.519 Packard talks about hell this way. 00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:58.559 He says, Scripture sees hell as self-chosen. 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:04.000 Hell appears as God's gesture of respect for human choice. 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:13.759 All receive what they actually choose, either to be with God forever, worshiping him, or without God forever, worshiping themselves. 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:20.160 Love cannot be forced, and God honors human freedom. 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:25.279 Lewis again would say the doors of hell are locked on the inside. 00:25:27.519 --> 00:25:29.680 What does Jesus teach us about heaven? 00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:31.680 Eternal life begins right now. 00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:38.640 Heaven breaking forth when we allow God to come into our life and bring new life. 00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:40.319 Heaven is our true home. 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:42.240 Love can be rejected. 00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:46.160 Jesus is the way home. 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:49.039 This is why Jesus came. 00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:50.720 This is the whole point. 00:25:53.119 --> 00:26:00.960 In John chapter 11, we see this really powerful moment in the life and ministry of Jesus. 00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:05.599 Mary and Martha's brother Lazarus had died. 00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:09.279 Jesus delayed going for several days. 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:12.000 And he's now on his way there. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:19.839 It's this moment of great grief and mourning. 00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:32.480 And Martha comes out to Jesus and says, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would still be alive. 00:26:35.519 --> 00:26:42.799 If you had shown up a few days earlier, my brother would still be alive. 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:46.799 And then Jesus says this to her. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:53.920 Before Easter Sunday, he'd done miracles. 00:26:54.240 --> 00:26:57.440 He'd even raised a couple people to life. 00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:02.720 But he says this bold line to Martha. 00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:07.759 I am the resurrection and the life. 00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:12.720 You want to know about resurrection. 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:14.319 You want to know about life. 00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:16.880 You don't search anywhere farther. 00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:18.319 You look at me. 00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:20.319 I am life. 00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:24.559 The author of life and the only place life is found. 00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:31.279 And I am resurrection, and I will bring back to life that which is dead in you and that which is dead around you. 00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:32.960 This is who I am. 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:36.640 The one who believes in me. 00:27:39.279 --> 00:27:54.480 The one who places the weight of their life, their trust, their hope, their confidence that you are Jesus who you said you are, that you did defeat the grave, that you are resurrected and alive. 00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:57.440 You are our life. 00:27:57.680 --> 00:27:59.039 The one who believes. 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:04.559 Even though they die, and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. 00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:08.640 And then he asked her this question before he raised Lazarus. 00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:16.880 Before the miracle ever happened, he asked her this question. 00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:19.279 That's the question we must ask. 00:28:19.519 --> 00:28:20.160 Wow. 00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:22.880 Do you believe this? 00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:28.799 Do you believe this? 00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:41.680 See, because if you don't believe Jesus is the resurrection and life, then you're going to search for something or someone else to be your life or your resurrection. 00:28:41.920 --> 00:28:44.480 That's what we're doing in our culture and society. 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:50.400 We're running and chasing after things to somehow try to give us meaning and immortality. 00:28:50.559 --> 00:28:52.640 And Jesus says, I've already arrived. 00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:54.160 Do you believe it? 00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:05.920 Not are you a spiritual person? 00:29:06.799 --> 00:29:08.799 Not are you religious? 00:29:09.440 --> 00:29:11.200 Not did you grow up in church? 00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:12.640 Not are you a good person? 00:29:12.799 --> 00:29:14.720 But do you know Jesus? 00:29:14.880 --> 00:29:17.119 Do you have you trusted him? 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:22.880 Have you embraced him as your life and your hope? 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:27.839 I've been thinking about this sermon a lot. 00:29:31.599 --> 00:29:34.240 Not that I don't think about other sermons a lot. 00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:47.440 But I just was reminded that this moment is the only moment we're guaranteed. 00:29:49.839 --> 00:29:51.680 We're not promised tomorrow. 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:54.000 We're not promised in other breath. 00:29:56.240 --> 00:30:00.079 Death isn't something that happens to other people. 00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:04.319 It happens to all of us one day. 00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:07.839 When I was in high school. 00:30:20.720 --> 00:30:23.359 Cancer had ravaged his body. 00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:29.200 He was one of the most gifted, talented, godly, like young men. 00:30:31.359 --> 00:30:36.319 His body laying in the bed in the basement of their house in this room. 00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:40.400 He had to become a hospice. 00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:50.960 We're around his bed and singing worship. 00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:53.440 My brother's leading us in some worship. 00:30:56.319 --> 00:31:02.240 As he breathes last, he steps into eternity. 00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:15.599 I don't think there is a greater grief than a parent losing a child. 00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:19.519 The holy thing. 00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:26.559 The realization that life is fragile. 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:37.039 And every single one of us must answer Jesus' question at some point. 00:31:38.480 --> 00:31:39.920 Do you believe this? 00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:49.920 And my heart as your pastor is I just so long for you to know Jesus. 00:31:51.440 --> 00:31:53.279 Not be religious. 00:31:55.839 --> 00:32:01.759 But that you would experience life that is truly life in him. 00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:06.880 In the old days, we used to ask this question. 00:32:07.039 --> 00:32:08.400 We don't ask it anymore. 00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:09.359 I don't know why. 00:32:09.680 --> 00:32:10.160 I know why. 00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:11.279 It makes us uncomfortable. 00:32:11.359 --> 00:32:12.799 We don't like to be uncomfortable. 00:32:13.119 --> 00:32:17.039 Like Ryan, this whole sermon, except for the heaven part,'s been uncomfortable. 00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:18.400 Get it. 00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:19.519 And you're crying. 00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:20.960 Good grief. 00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:27.920 Yeah, but we used to ask this question. 00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:38.000 If you were to die today, we don't like to think about that question. 00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:50.000 If you were to die today, are you confident that you would be in the presence of Jesus? 00:32:50.319 --> 00:32:52.400 Do you have a relationship with him? 00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:59.680 And if you don't, or if you're unsure, don't let this moment pass you by. 00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:07.200 Today, now is the time to say yes to Jesus. 00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:12.799 And maybe you've been in church your whole life and you've never said yes to him. 00:33:13.039 --> 00:33:14.960 You've just been in religious stuff. 00:33:15.119 --> 00:33:25.359 And today it's personal, it's relational, and he loves you and he wants to give you eternal life starting now, heaven breaking forth in your life. 00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:26.960 Would you say yes? 00:33:32.559 --> 00:33:37.279 Or maybe you've been a Christian and you already're like, yes, I know. 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:47.119 But I don't live with the hope of heaven in my daily life, and I don't live with the urgency to share Jesus with everybody I know. 00:33:47.279 --> 00:33:49.759 I don't live with that kind of passion. 00:33:51.200 --> 00:33:56.480 Jesus is returning home, and this world is not all there is. 00:33:56.640 --> 00:34:00.799 So stop getting so sucked in with all the crap around our world. 00:34:01.039 --> 00:34:04.559 We have the eternal hope of the resurrected king. 00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:06.720 Let's start living like it. 00:34:14.960 --> 00:34:15.280 Okay. 00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:21.360 I guess we should pray. 00:34:23.599 --> 00:34:36.880 If in this moment you want to say yes to Jesus, you want eternal life, would you just pray after me? 00:34:38.800 --> 00:34:42.480 Jesus, today I put my trust in you. 00:34:44.320 --> 00:34:49.280 I believe you are the resurrection and the life. 00:34:52.239 --> 00:34:57.679 Would you forgive me and cleanse me and make me new? 00:35:00.159 --> 00:35:04.719 Jesus, I invite you into my life to have your way. 00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:06.800 I need a savior. 00:35:07.039 --> 00:35:08.719 Would you rescue me? 00:35:10.320 --> 00:35:15.119 Would you be the leader of my life? 00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:21.119 And if you prayed that, would you just mind just raising your hand so I can know? 00:35:21.199 --> 00:35:23.440 I'd love to know and be able to pray for you. 00:35:23.599 --> 00:35:24.559 Just raise it high. 00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:25.360 Awesome. 00:35:25.519 --> 00:35:26.079 Awesome. 00:35:26.239 --> 00:35:26.800 Awesome. 00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:27.760 Awesome. 00:35:33.920 --> 00:35:48.079 I just want to encourage you as you pray that tell someone, whether it's at our prayer team or myself or someone with, because we want to walk alongside you in this new eternal life. 00:35:50.239 --> 00:35:57.599 Jesus, thank you for all those who stepped into heaven, heaven breaking forth into their life in this moment. 00:35:57.920 --> 00:36:02.559 Thank you for your great invitation and your love in our life. 00:36:05.199 --> 00:36:23.199 And Father, would you give us a holy urgency, a holy love for the people that we see every day, that they might come to know you and experience hope and purpose and peace and wholeness in you. 00:36:24.480 --> 00:36:26.079 In Jesus' name. 00:36:27.519 --> 00:36:29.760 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.400 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:36:34.559 --> 00:36:36.639 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:36:36.800 --> 00:36:42.400 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.