Introduction

·        Most of us have a deep longing to be home.

            Hebrews 9:27

·        Illustration:  Boy and father taking the fast elevator to the very top of the Empire State Building.  Boy says, “Does God know we’re coming?”

·        How urgent it is that we know where we are going and that those in our family know that, too!

What is heaven?

·        Heaven is a real place, a home prepared for believers to live and work with God.

            John 14:2 

·        Illustration: Ruth Bell-Graham responds to a quote from an atheist cosmonaut.

·        Illustration: People who have near-death experiences try to describe what they saw and experienced.

Why should we believe in heaven?

·        Jesus taughtabout heaven, and he doesn’t lie.

            John 14: 2

·        Our hearts call for and long for heaven.

            Ecclesiastes 3:11

            Illustration: Teenagers in love make a death pact and leap to their deaths, leaving         a note saying they are “looking for a better place.”

            Illustration: “Surely I haven’t suffered simply that I may manure the soil of the future for someone else.” Dostoyevsky.

·        Science does not rule out heaven.

            Illustration: Dr. Irwin Moon of Moody Institute of Science converses with an   agnostic scientist about heaven and has to admit heaven could and might exist.

·        The resurrection of Jesus Christ confirms that heaven exists.

            John 14:19

            I Corinthians 15

Where is Heaven?

·        Heaven is your eternal address. You may have lost your way, but don’t lose your address.

·        John 14: 2

·        Illustration: Jesus is preparing a place for us like parents who prepare a crib, diapers, stuffed toys, etc. for a newborn child coming home from the hospital and into the family.

What is heaven like?

·        I Corinthians 2:9

·        In heaven there is no time, no limitations of space.  Everything is centered around God.

·        God has told us what will not be in heaven: death, mourning, crying, pain, and the old order of things.

·        Heaven will be a community of love.

·        Heaven will be a place of dynamic activity; we will serve him.

            Revelation 22:3

·        We will see him as he is; our minds will expand with the vision of the greatness of God (1 John 3:2).

·        We will worship him (Revelation 5:13).

How do we get to heaven?

·        Big Idea: Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people.

·        Hell (Gehenna) is a prepared place for unprepared people.

·        Do you know Christ, really, or do you just know about him?

·        John 17:3

·        Illustration: An agnosticAustralian reporter is stunned by Billy Graham’s remarks about heaven and begins to ask people on the street if they believe in heaven. The reporter is converted and becomes a street evangelist.

Conclusion

·        John 5:24

·        Eternal life begins not when we die, but when Christ comes to live in our life.

·        Illustration: Kierkegaard, the Dutch philosopher, recounts a story of a goose who becomes contented living with chickens and chooses not to join the flock calling to him overhead.

·        If God is calling you, come home where you belong.