Text: Ecclesiastes 3:11

Topic: What heaven is going to be like

• • God has given humans an instinct, a sixth sense, that there is an afterlife.

Illustration: Hybels tells how ancient Egyptians not only believed in an afterlife, but were nearly obsessed by it.

• • The bumper sticker says it all: "I Want It All and I Want It Now."
  • Our economy reflects it: Easy credit, no down payment, instant pleasure.
  • Our morality reflects it: We think our "day of reckoning" is a long way off.

• • One central theme of Christ's teaching was to prepare today for the afterlife.

Illustration: Hybels met a woman who didn't believe in an afterlife—just that one's "candle goes out" —and who based her eternal destiny on a "roll of the dice."

• • God's Word is the ultimate source for information about the afterlife.

• • Biblical writers used symbolic language to describe that which defies description.

Illustration: Hybels tells of a young man who's in love, and tries to describe the relationship: "Well, it's, uh, gee, boy, man — it's great!"

Illustration: Hybels tells of meeting a fellow believer on a flight. Though strangers, they had "a rapport and a community going on."

• • Christ prepares mansions for us, but they're our home, not mere "houses."
  • A home represents security, refuge, a sense of permanence.

• • What about those white robes we hear about in heaven?
  • They represent purity, the joy of never sinning again, and lack of regret.

Illustration: Hybels tells of crawling out of bed one morning to confess his frustrating struggle with sin.

Illustration: Hybels tells of moments in Colorado's Garden of the Gods and on the cliffs overlooking a sunset over the Pacific.

• • Our most important decision in life is where we'll spend eternity.