Rick Warren - Heaven God’s Eternal Goodness to You—Part Four

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. I'm

really glad you've joined us. And today we're bringing our

series from Psalm twenty three called Living in the Goodness

of God to a close with a final look at

how God's goodness meets you right where you are and

brings hope even in difficult seasons. So let's get started

with the final part of a message called Heaven, God's

eternal Goodness to you.

John gives us another glimpse of heaven in Revelation chapter

twenty two, and he says this, the throne of God

and Jesus will be in the heavenly City. This is

the heavenly city in heaven. It's called the New Jerusalem.

Is the name for it. It's just a metaphor name.

The throne of God and Jesus will be in the

heavenly City, and his servants that's you and me, will

serve him. They that's us. We will see his face

and they We won't need any life light from a

lamp for the sun in heaven, for God will be

the light. And then notice he adds this end, and

they will reign forever and ever. You will rule and

reign with Christ in heaven. Did you know that the

Bible has a whole lot to say about this. We

could go into a lot of other verses. So what

are we going to do in heaven. We're going to

be reunited with those we love, We're going to rest

and all those other things. But we're also going to

receive our rewards and receive our inheritance, and we're going

to be reassigned to new things to do. And the

more faithful you've been here on earth, the more God

is going to give you in heaven. So everything you

do has implications. Only one life will soon be passed.

Only what's done for Christ will last. I want you

to hear a testimony and carry have been my friends

and case friends for over thirty years, dear people. Dave

was a church planter. It means he started churches like

I started Saddleback Church, and this church, Saddleback actually sponsored

Dave and a couple of different churches went out in

the desert, and one up in northern California, up in

the Auburn area, and he pastored up there. And then

last year Dave came back on staff at Saddleback and

he is now a pastor to the campus pastors, our

eighteen campus pastors, and his job is to encourage and

mentor and help supervise all of our incredible campus pastors

and supervise all of our different campuses. But I want

you to hear his story about heaven. Give him a

warm welcome.

Go for here, all right, Hi, saddleback, I'm Dave, and

Pastor Rick wanted me to just share how the reality

of heaven has been a great comfort and great encouragement

to me since my five year old daughter, Jackie, lives

in heaven having lost a battle with a brain tumor.

My wife and I are blessed to have three children,

two living with us here on this earth, one Jackie,

who lives in Heaven. When Jackie, our youngest daughter, was five,

she was suddenly diagnosed with a brain stem tumor. It

was so fast growing that the neurologist said it probably

wasn't even in her brain three months before the diagnosis.

After she was diagnosed, just six weeks later, she died

in our arms. In just forty two days, our world

turned upside down. Anyone who has lost a young child

knows that it's one of the most excruciating agonizing experiences

you can ever experience here on this earth, and our

family was completely crushed.

And devastated as a result.

Without the love of Jesus, without the hope of heaven,

without the promises of the Word of God, and without

a strong support system from our church, we would have

never made it as we passed through the valley of

the Shadow of death. But we know for sure, and

I can say this, even having lost my daughter, that

God is good, that Heaven is real, that Jackie is alive,

and that one day we're going to join her in

that perfect place that gives me hope. Before Jackie got sick,

she always wanted a hamster. Now, my wife, Carrie and

I we are not fans of the rodent, if you

know what I mean, and we never let him get one,

but we thought, what the heck, and so it was

my job to go to the pet store with her

and help her pick out her own pet hamster. So

we go to this pet store and she looks at

every hamster, she holds every hamster, and she chooses a

little dwarf hamster named Emily. As we're driving home from

the pet store, she looks at me quizzically and she says, Daddy,

when I get to Heaven, will I see Grandpa right away? Now,

she doesn't know that she's going to die at this point.

This is just a short time after her diagnosis. She

knows she's sick because we're taking another doctor, but she's

running around. She's fine from that standpoint. And she says, well,

when I get to him, will I see Grandpa right away?

And I said that was her grandpa. My father had

died a year earlier. And I said, yes, Jackie, you'll

get to see Grandpa right away. She thought for a moment,

and then she said, Daddy, when I get to Heaven, well,

I get to see Jesus right away. And I said, yes, sweetie,

you'll get to see Jesus right away.

And then she held up her little hamster. Not like this,

she held it like this.

She's holding her little hamster dangling him really, And she says, Daddy,

can I take Emily with me to Heaven? Oh my gosh,

now I know the correct theological answer. Okay, But I said, yes, sweetie,

we can arrange that.

Arrange that.

And then she looked at me, and I looked at her,

and I said, Jackie, you don't really think you're gonna die,

do you? And then she said something I'll never forget.

She said, silly, daddy, We're all gonna die someday. Amazing,

absolutely amazing for a child at five years old to

have this deep curiosity about heaven. She even asked Carrie

if angels were going to escort her to heaven, and

Carrie said absolutely. God was preparing Jackie for her transition

to eternity.

Jackie's favorite movie was The Wizard of Oz, and the.

Climax of that movie is when Dorothy clicks her heels

and repeats over and over, There's no place like home.

There's no place like home. When Jackie died, I was

pastoring a church in northern California that saddle Back had sponsored.

And this saddle Back church that they sponsored, this church

family of ours, sent me and Carrie a beautiful frame

poster of the Wizard of Oz, but it said on it.

There's no place like Heaven. There's no place like Heaven.

After Jackie died, Heaven became especially real to our family.

We thought about it more than ever before.

Of course, I'd taught about heaven many times, but now

I formed a close attachment to heaven. I know it,

I feel it, I long for it, and anybody here

who's lost a dear loved one knows exactly what I'm

talking about now. I wanted to know everything I could

about Heaven, so I researched it. I wanted to discover

what it fully means to dwell in the House of

the Lord forever. As the Apostle Paul pointed out, in

this life, this life is not all there is. If

this life was all there is, and if Heaven did

not exist, then our faith would be worthless.

But Jesus promised that.

He was going and preparing a place for us, and

if that was not true, then Jesus would be the

greatest liar in history. But the truth is, we're just

passing through this life on earth. As Pastor Rick says,

this life is just a dress rehearsal for eternity and

for Heaven, where the real.

Show will never end.

The Apostle Paul said that if we're in God's family,

our true citizenship is in heaven.

So I can't wait to see my Savior.

I can't wait to see my precious daughter and a

lot of other people that I love.

A reunion that's gonna be. I can only imagine.

Sometimes when people talk to me about Jackie, they'll say,

I'm sorry you lost your daughter, like I left her

at the mall or somewhere like that and didn't know

where to find her.

But you know what, our daughter is not lost. We

know exactly where she is. I'm just upset that the

little booger beat me. There.

In the Bible, King David also lost a child, and

he said with complete confidence, he will not return to me,

but one.

Day I will go to him. I know that feeling.

Jackie will not come back here, but I will definitely

go to be with her one day and be reunited

with her in heaven. This is the true hope, based

on the reality of God's promises.

Jackie loved to play a game where she would.

Jump up onto the counter in the kitchen and she

would jump into my arms. She'd ask me to go

back sometimes, and sometimes she'd take a flying leap, sometimes

three feet away, and I would catch her in my

arms and we'd laugh and she'd say, Daddy, do it again.

And so she'd gotten to a point as a result,

now a few weeks later, where she couldn't walk anymore,

and yet she pointed for me to come and pick

her up, and she motioned for me to take her

to the kitchen, and so I put her on the counter,

thinking she wanted something from the refrigerator. And then she

started to stand up just one more time, and it

was all the strength and her little body that it

could muster, and she was able to stand completely straight up.

And then she jumped into my arms and I just

caught her and I hugged her and we laughed, and

I just said, Jackie, Daddy is so proud of you.

And I'll never forget that moment.

And every time I think about it now, I imagine

what it was like when she jumped into our heavenly

father's arms in heaven. If you haven't yet opened your

life to your loving heavenly Father and to Jesus who

came to die for you and is right now preparing

heaven for you, I'd urge you to do it at

the end of the message today. Then you'll be ready

for heaven too. God, bless you, saddle back. Thank you

for letting me share.

Thank you Dave for that testimony. You know, after Jackie,

who was five years old, died, her older sister, who

is named Jessica, who's twelve, wrote a poem in her

younger sister's words and called it Heaven. Read you this

poem written by a twelve year old Mommy, what's wrong

with me? My head hurts so bad? You take me

to the doctor and tell me I'm sick? Are do you?

And Daddy looks so sad. I don't want any more radiation. Mommy,

Please get me out of this place. I want to

talk to you, but my mouth won't move. All I

can do is watch your crying face. Mommy, I can

laugh and smile again. Guess who I can see. Jesus

is calling me toward Heaven. You always said it is

a great place to be, Mommy. I'm getting closer now,

I'm walking through the big golden gate. Stop crying, Mommy,

because I'll see you again and I'll be happy up

here as I wait. Have you settled this issue? This

heaven issue? Only a fool would go through life unprepared

for what you know is inevitable. Friends, We're not talking

about some minor issue this weekend. We're talking about your

eternal destiny forever and ever and ever and ever and

ever and ever and ever. I'm betting my life that

Jesus told the truth. What are you betting your life on? Well,

I like to think that's not a very good basis

for a bet. The night before Jesus Christ went to

the cross, he gathered the twelve closest disciples together, and

he said this to them, Let not your heart be troubled.

You believe in God. Believe also in me. In my

Father's house are many men. If you were not so,

I would have told you I go to prepare place

for you. And if I go and prepare a place

for you, I will come again and receive you onto myself.

That where I am there you may be. Also. Thomas said,

unto Jesus, Lord, we don't know where you're going. We

don't know the way. And Jesus said, I am the way,

I am the truth, I am the life. No one

comes to the Father except through me. I'm betting my life.

He was telling the truth. What are you betting your

life on? You better bet have better odds. If you've

never opened your life to Christ, you need to do

it now. And if you have opened your life to Christ,

what on earth are you doing? For Heaven's sake, what

are you doing now to prepare for the inevitable heaven.

Even when you know where you're going, the vast majority

of people pay no attention to the eternity issue. They're

living one hundred percent for here and now, which is

a total waste because everything that's here and now isn't

going to matter in five minutes, much less fifty years,

much less for eternity. Stop wasting your life on stuff

that doesn't matter, reading things that don't matter, watching things

that don't matter, listening to things that don't matter, talking

about things that don't matter. Start living for things that last.

Know what lasts, and know what doesn't last, and invest

your life in the things that are going to last forever.

That's about our heads. Father, we thank you for heaven

and as we have now for twelve different sessions, look

that your goodness, that you are a good God. The

Lord is my shepherd. I have everything that I need.

When I need it, you will provide it. Thank you

that when we're tired you make us lie down in

green pastures, and when we're stretched to the limit, you

lead us beside still waters. And when we feel like

there's nothing left to give, you restore our souls. Thank

you that when we're confused, you lead us in the

bright paths for your name's sake. Thank you when we

go through the troubles and trials and the deaths of life,

that even when we walk through the valley the shadow

of death, we don't fear any evil because You're going

to be with us. Thank you for every one of

the metaphors that have the deep truths of your goodness

we've looked at and Psalm twenty three, Thank you that

you prepare a banquet before us in the presence of

our enemies, and you show how much you love us,

even in front of people who may hate us. That

you annoyed us with oil, that you heal our hurts,

that you overflow our cup. You don't just give us

what we need. You give us more than we need

in every area of life. You are a good God.

Thank you that surely goodness and mercy, those two sheep

dog are going to be nipping at our tails as

we follow the shepherd. And and thank you that I

will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. God.

How could you be that good? Why would you be

that good? You are a good God. You thought us up,

you created us, You love us. Even when we turn

our back on you. You forgive us, You show us

your grace. You sent your son to die for us,

and you want us to be in love with you,

and in fellows with you, and to live in your

house forever and ever and ever. What a god you are, Lord.

I pity those who don't know you. I've walked with

you now over fifty years. I know you better than

I know any of the people sitting here, and I

think that you've taken me through every stage of life,

the ups and the downs, on the highs and the lows.

And I want other people to know you that way.

If you've never opened your life to Christ, say yep, Lord, today,

this is it. Jesus Christ. I open my life completely

to you. Just say that, Jesus Christ. I humbly opened

my life to you. I want to learn to love

you and trust you and get to know you. I

don't want to live on my own power anymore, or

my own purpose or my own plans. And God, the

fact that you would want me in your heaven, in

your family is amazing grace, and I humbly ask you

to accept me into your family. I want to be

adopted in I want to be born again into your

family in your name. I pray Amen.

Hey, if you've just prayed along with Rick to accept

Jesus in your life, Rick would love to hear from you.

Just email Rick at Pastorick dot com. Here's Rick to

tell you how you can help support this ministry.

Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives

according to five specific purposes. He said, You've got to

love God with all your heart. That's worship, and love

your neighbors yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment.

And then Jesus said, go make disciples. That's evangelism. Baptize

them into the Family of God. That's fellowship, a sign

of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything

I've taught you. That's disciples. And we call that the

Great Commission. We believe it daily hope that a great

commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will

produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company,

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and truth, and the power that we need to follow

Him every day is available to every single one. You

know as well as I do, that the Word of

God changes lives. It's a live it's active, and it

breathes new life and new love into all of our lives.

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