Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done | Frank Brancato

It's wonderful to be here with all of you today.

We have several of our number that are missing either, and

prayerfully they're not too ill. But maybe some folks are sick

and unable to be with us, and perhaps others are traveling.

But we have a wonderful crowd because you are here and it is a

pleasure and a privilege on my part to speak concerning the

word of God. I want to tell you in advance, I

have a huge task before me. The subject that I want to talk

about this this morning is a very big subject.

So my huge task is this number one, to make everything sound

very simple. So that's very understandable,

like Jesus did so many times. But I'll just tell you, as you

know, and you already know this, I'm not Jesus, but I want to

talk about a very big subject and make it very presentable in

a way that's understandable and edifying and encouraging and

also in a way that doesn't have me talk too long.

We're continuing our series on the great Sermon on the Mount,

and our text now has come now down to Matthew or Matthew,

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

Chapter 6 and verse 10. We left off in verse nine last

time. So the title of our lesson as on

the screen is This Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done.

Now in verse nine it begins words that are commonly referred

to as the Lord's Prayer. But in the Bible, there's

nowhere that it says that these are the words called the Lord's

Prayer. The Lord never called it His

prayer. In fact, if you want to know

what the Lord's Prayer is, you have to go look at a prayer the

Lord prayed. That would be his prayer.

A great example of that is John chapter 17.

John 17 · chapter mention

So contrary to met perhaps what some people might say, this is

the Lord's Prayer. I'm just saying in advance.

Nowhere in the Bible is it called the Lord's Prayer.

What this is, is as follows. Jesus was giving his disciples

while they were still living under the law of Moses, a model

prayer or an example on things to pray for before the Kingdom

would come. And I'm just going to tell you

right now, some of the things that are found in this model

prayer are very appropriate to pray for today.

My question is, and we're going to do our very best to prove

this, the answer to this, and I'll give you the answer in just

a moment later on, but what I want to know is, is it

appropriate then for the child of God today to pray your

Kingdom come? And just by the way, when the

phrase says your Kingdom come, it means this.

Jesus was saying you pray this when the Kingdom comes, then

your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So whatever he was talking about, he was talking about

something that was going to happen in the lifetime of now.

So is that appropriate? Back to that in just a moment.

Similar words were given by Jesus here to his disciples.

You remember in Luke Chapter 11, the disciples came to Jesus and

Luke 11 · chapter mention

they said, Lord teach us how to pray like John, meaning John the

baptizer, like John taught his disciples.

So Jesus says, OK, here's a model prayer, here's how you

pray. Pray like this Our Father which

art in heaven. Hallow it be your name, your

Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and

so on and so forth. These were not.

And please get this. These were not words to be

memorized and recited over and over and over again.

Why? What did we learn last time

about prayer? Prayer has got to be two things,

right? #1 Spontaneous not memorized #2

It's got to come from the heart. We also learned too.

There's a difference between repetition in prayer and a vain

repetition. You could actually say the same

words from prayer to prayer virtually.

It's not a vain repetition if it comes from the heart.

A vain repetition is mindless, meaningless feeling less words

that you've just memorized, and you say them over and over and

over and over and over again. That's a vain repetition.

Jesus was not saying memorize these words and recite them.

OK, so let's go back to the Sermon on the Mount.

In the context on the case of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus

just taught his lesson about praying and he gave things like

this. He said, here's how you don't

pray. I don't want you to pray like

the heathen. In other words, to pray for the

wrong motives, praying to be seen of men.

Don't do it for that reason. And then he said, when you pray,

go into your closets. In other words, your private

place. And when you pray to God, what's

God going to do? He's going to reward you openly.

When you pray in secret. Now, does that mean you can't

pray publicly? No.

It's just a manner of the motive.

That you're praying is what's under consideration.

So when you go into a restaurant, for example, and you

pray for your food, wonderful. Do that, somebody may even see

you. That's not a problem either.

The problem is when you do things like that only to be seen

by men for the praise and glory that comes to you.

Jesus says don't do that, OK? After he did that, he gave some

principles of proper prayer and he gave 8 examples in this model

prayer. We left off on verse 99 last

time, and I want to go back to verse 9 very briefly because

this sets the tone and I'll tell you I think about this.

I thought about it for two weeks after I preached it.

I've been thinking about this morning.

This is amazing and I love this and it's the concept about our

relationship with God, Jesus says in verse 9 In this manner,

therefore pray our Father. The word Father there represents

God's paternity, but it represents God's paternal aspect

in two ways. So number one, God is the

almighty Creator of everything He is.

He is the Father. We know that, but Jesus says

when you pray, he is not just the father.

Please get this He's your father.

That gets me. He's our father, Paul said.

In Galatians 4 and verse six, we cry ABBA, father.

And the word ABBA is an Aramaic term of endearment used by

children for their father. I use this example.

Last time I said I am a father and everybody knows me.

I'm a father because I have kids, and this would apply to

anybody that's got kids, right? You got kids.

You're a father if you're a man, OK, But to Taylor and Tanner,

I'm dead. The word ABBA in Galatians 4 and

six is an Aramaic term of endearment.

It actually means daddy. That's the relationship you have

with your father. So when you pray to him,

recognize him in his paternal aspect, recognize him as the

almighty Father, but also recognize him as your father

when you speak to him. But keep all that in reverence

and respect, because where is he?

He's in the lofty position of heaven, and when God is in that

lofty position of heaven, we treat him as such.

Therefore, hallowed be of your name, even the name of God is to

be praised. Even his name.

Not just God himself, but even his name.

That's the relationship that we have with God.

OK? Now in verse 10, Jesus gives

examples of things to pray for while they were living under the

law of Moses and before the Kingdom would come.

And the first thing he says is your Kingdom come, In other

words, when your Kingdom comes. A couple of historical things

here. Jewish people were very, very

much understood the Kingdom concept.

In fact, their heritage was rich in messianic expectation.

Absolutely. And by the way, you know, it's

really sad to me. What's really sad to me is the

Jewish faith has always believed in a Messiah.

They always believed in a Messiah.

They misunderstood the Messianic Kingdom and then they rejected

the one that God sent. God sent Jesus, and they

rejected him as a whole. Many Jewish people by blood

though, came to Jesus. I'm not talking about every

Jewish person. I'm talking about, as a whole,

the Jewish faith rejecting Jesus.

They misunderstood the Messiah that was given by God and they

misunderstood the Messianic Kingdom.

But their heritage was rich in Messianic expectations.

Do you remember in Matthew Chapter 11 and verse three?

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

I think. I think John's question depicted

their longing desire for two things, a king and a Kingdom.

Here was the problem, their misunderstanding.

They look for a king and a Kingdom that would dispel the

darkness of Roman occupation. I don't have time to go into

that. We've already preached on that.

We're talking about the triumphal entry into Jerusalem

and all that. When they said hosanna to the

highest in the word, Hosanna means is from from the Hebrew

Hoshaya Nah, meaning God save us, right?

They were saying God save us, but they thought they were

saving us from Roman oppression and Jesus came to save him from

sin. You remember the mother of

Zebedee? Sons remember her.

She comes to Jesus, and she kneels down before him, and she

asks him this Grant that these two sons, still misunderstanding

the messianic Kingdom, grant that these two sons of mine may

sit one on your right hand and the other on the left in your

Kingdom. By the way, those two sons were

James and John. They were those two sons of

Zebedee. You remember when they came to

Jesus too? And they asked Jesus, they said

we want you. And I don't know, I've tried to

wrap my head around this. The way that they phrased it.

Tell us, they said, we want you, Lord, to do for us whatever we

ask, OK. And.

And here's Jesus, the master, so patient, he says, what do you

want me to do for you then? This grant us that we may sit

one on your right hand and the other on the left in your glory.

OK, here's the problem. Unfortunately, the Jewish people

as a whole misunderstood the nature of the Messiah's reign

because they thought it was going to be physical.

And I'm going to make a statement now and I don't want

you to forget it. Please get this next statement.

The Kingdom is not physical. The Kingdom is spiritual.

Bold statement #3 And the reign of Jesus Christ is in US.

It's in us. It's in our hearts.

How do I know that? Let's just look at what Jesus

said. Nor will they say see here or

see. Therefore, indeed, get this.

The Kingdom of God is within you.

It is a spiritual Kingdom. It is in US.

Furthermore, you remember when Jesus stood before Pilate and

Jesus said this. He said, my Kingdom is not of

this world. He said this.

If my Kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight

so that I should not be delivered to the Jews.

But now my Kingdom is not from here.

OK, so let's go back both. John the Baptizer, who, by the

way, was the forerunner of Jesus.

He was six months older than Jesus.

He was Jesus. Cousin John the Baptizer went

ahead of Jesus and he said what he said.

The Kingdom is at hand. I remember my father-in-law used

to sit right there. My father-in-law used to teach

it like this. He used to say it at hand means

it was so close. You could see it, you can touch

it. It's there.

That's what at hand means. You know what Jesus said.

Not only did Jesus also say the Kingdom is at hand, he took it a

step further. He said this that the Kingdom

was going to come. Very important.

Please stay with me. The Kingdom was going to come in

the lifetime of the apostles. That's number one Notice he said

to them. Assuredly I say to you that

there are some standing here who will not taste death till they

see the Kingdom of God present with power, the Kingdom of God

present with power. OK, In Matthew chapter 16, a

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

very familiar passage, we know that verses 13 through 20 we

find that the Kingdom is going to manifest itself on earth

through the establishment of the church.

Two things are are appropriate here.

Two things are significant. It's going to happen in the

lifetime of the apostles and through the establishment of the

church. Hang on to that thought.

Much more on that. Let's back up though.

It's going to come with power, as Jesus said.

So let's back up after Jesus died on the cross, after he was

buried, after he rose from the dead, he spends 40 days with his

disciples, right? Guess what?

During that 40 day period, the Kingdom had not yet come yet in

Luke chapter 24 and verse 49, Behold, I send the promise of my

Luke 24 · chapter mention

father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you

are endued with power from on high.

Let's go to Acts chapter one, beginning in verse 6.

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him,

saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom to

Israel? Do you know why the Kingdom is

not yet come? And he said to them, it is not

for you to know the times of the seasons which the Father has put

in his own authority, But you shall receive power when the

Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me

in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the

earth. OK.

Jesus speaks these words, right? He ascends to his Father in

heaven. He goes up in the clouds.

They're standing there and they and the words were spoken.

Why do you stand up gazing up into the heavens?

Jesus is going to come back in the same manner that you see Him

go in the clouds. And then in Acts 2.

The Kingdom has come with power, with the baptism of the Holy

Spirit. And do you know what happens in

Acts 2? Now Jesus is in heaven.

Where is he? Acts 2 And 30.

Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with

an oath to him that of the fruit of his body according to the

flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.

Acts 2. Where's Jesus sitting on the

throne now? What else?

Verse 33 Where is he? Therefore, being exalted to the

right hand of God, and having received from the Father the

promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now

see and hear. Where's Jesus?

He's with the Father. He's at the right hand of God.

He is on his throne. OK?

Since the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 inaugurates the Kingdom,

it's no longer Please hear me. And then I'm going to make a

qualifying statement. And in study of this, I think

that there needs to be a qualifying statement.

And I'm going to make that. But I'm going to, I'm going to

be very clear. The Kingdom has come.

Jesus is reigning now in the Kingdom.

Now, since Acts Chapter 2 on inaugurates the Kingdom, it is

Acts 2 · chapter mention

inappropriate to pray for a Kingdom to come.

There's not going to be another Kingdom on the earth.

Why? He's reigning now over the

Kingdom. The Kingdom is the church.

Who's the church? The people, Christians,

Christians, are the church. Jesus already said my Kingdom is

not a fleshly Kingdom. It's not a physical Kingdom.

His reign is where Where's the Kingdom?

It's within you. Jesus said baptized believers.

So here's the qualifying statement, since the word

actually Kingdom actually means reign.

The only future reign of Jesus where he's reigning now over the

Kingdom, the only future reign of Jesus.

Please hear this as I'm trying to say it is in the hearts of

believe of unbelievers now that may someday come to Jesus.

That's it. The only future reign of Christ

is in the heart of someone that's not a Christian today,

but someday may become one, and then Jesus will reign in their

hearts too. That is the only future reign of

Jesus. Somebody might say, what about

heaven? No, not heaven.

What's going to happen at the end with heaven?

Jesus is going to hand the rule over to his Father.

He's not going to be reigning in heaven.

He's going to hand it over to his Father that God may be All

in all. So we know it's not talking

about that, but there is the Kingdom and it exists today and

Jesus is reigning today and we don't pray for the Kingdom.

So all that being said, what about the millennial theories?

In spite of all the millennial theories, there's not going to

be another Kingdom on the earth. I'm going to make a very bold

statement here and I'm going to do my absolute best to

respectfully and clearly prove my point.

Jesus is also not going to restore, refurbish or redeem

creation or the earth. It's all going to be destroyed.

More on that in just a moment. You know, the Bible speaks of a

new heaven and a new earth, and we're going to talk about what

all that means. Let's not be confused.

I got to tell you, we couldn't pick better songs that we sang

today about what I want to talk about.

We sang Beulah Land. We sang a song of praise that

one day we're going to have perfect praise.

Where? Not here, not this place.

It's the new heaven and the new earth.

But I'm going to explain that I'm going to get.

We'll get that. But there is a new heaven and a

new earth. What about the existence?

What about creation? What about the earth?

What about all that? What about the universe?

What about that? Well, first of all, in

Revelation 21 and one John the Revelator said this.

Now I saw a new heaven and new earth back to that in a moment

and the 1st heaven and 1st earth had passed away.

Let's just establish that first, what does the word in this

passage mean? The word heaven, The word

heaven. Here the root meaning is to

cover or encompass. It is the vaulted expanse of the

sky, the 1st heaven. The vaulted expanse of the sky.

What's going to happen to it? It's part of the universe by the

way, right? Going to pass away.

OK, more passages. Second Peter, chapter 3, verse

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

five. This They willfully forget that

by the word of God, the heavens that were of old and the earth

standing out of the water and in the water.

Let's go down to verses verse 7. But the heavens and the earth

which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire

until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

We're going to get very specific and break it down, but here's

the general idea here. The 1st heaven, the aerial

heavens is going to pass away. The heavens plural it says is

going to be reserved for fire. Why does it say heavens plural?

The reason it says heavens, plural is because guess what?

There's three heavens. The Bible talks about 3 heavens.

What is Heaven? #1, the aerial expanse of the

sky that we noticed. It is the region where the

clouds and Tempest gather and where Thunder and lightning are

produced. You look up in the clouds, you

see the clouds. Guess what that is?

That is the 1st heaven. That's the 1st heaven.

What about this James 518? Here's a Bible passage

describing that. And he prayed again.

And the heaven, that's this heaven gave rain and the earth

produced its fruit. That's the 1st heaven.

OK What about the second one? That's the sidereal or the

starry heavens? That's the place where the stars

are. It's the place, by the way,

where the sun, the moon, and the planets and all that stuff,

right? Hebrews 11 and 12.

Therefore from one man and him as good as dead were born as

many as the stars of the sky and multitude innumerable as the

sand. By the seashore mark 1325 the

stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will

be shaken. That's the place where the stars

are. OK, What about the one that I

care about? How about the 3rd heaven?

You know, after Paul was baptized in Acts Chapter 9, he

Acts 9 · chapter mention

spent time as a Christian, like everybody does growing in

Christ. And then there was a very

special event, and the very special event was this.

He was going to get a view into the 3rd heaven.

We're going to find out where that is and what that looks

like. Into the 3rd heaven. 14 years

after he saw that view into heaven he said this.

I knew a man in Christ who 14 years ago, by the way, he's

Speaking of himself. I knew a man in Christ, me who

14 years ago, whether in the body I do not know or whether

out of the body I do not know. God knows such a one was caught

up into the 3rd heaven. What's the 3rd heaven?

Here it is the region above the stars, by the way.

The seat of order, of things, eternal and consummately

perfect. It is the place where God dwells

with other heavenly beings. That is the 3rd heaven.

I'm going to tell you, that's the only one that matters.

That's Beulah Land by the way that we sang.

That's the place that we're going to give God perfect

praise. It's the 3rd heaven.

Paul the Apostle Paul who's speaking about Jesus.

Notice he said the following to those at Ephesus in Ephesians

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 and verse 10. He said he who ascended

descended. That's Jesus.

He's descended from heaven, is also the one who ascended far

above all the heavens. Who did that?

Jesus. He ascended above, by the way,

the aerial expanse of the sky. He ascended above the stars and

he is now fulfilling all things in the 3rd heaven.

So the place we all want to go is the place where Jesus is

sitting on the right hand of the throne of God, reigning over his

Kingdom. So what's going to happen to the

entire universe, including the Earth where we now live?

What's going to happen? Please go with me to do a study

of these words, folks, to understand exactly what's going

to happen and that this Earth is not going to be inhabited by

anyone. Please second Peter 3 and verse

10. But the day of the Lord will

come as a thief from the night in the which the heavens will

pass away. What's pass away mean?

Well, you might say well, pass away.

It means pass away. Well, let's look at the actual

word. What it actually means means

this. It means to perish or pass away,

to vanish, disappear out of sight.

Does that sound anything at all like a refurbishing?

Disappear out of sight. That's the first two.

Heavens. What else?

And the elements will melt with fervent heat.

So you got the universe. By the way, God spoke the

universe into existence. You know what he used?

He used elements that make up the universe.

What's the word elements mean? The elements from which all

things come. The material causes of the

universe. What does the Bible say here?

Peter's saying the heavens are going to pass away, meaning

disappear. The elements that made-up

everything are going to melt with fervent heat.

So what's the word melt mean? It comes from 2 Greek words,

tico and Luo. 2 words actually Luo first, then tico.

This is what melt means. Melt means to dissolve something

coherent so the universe is coherent.

Melt means to dissolve something coherent into parts and destroy.

It means to make liquid to destroy or be destroyed by

melting. Gone.

Even the elements that made-up the universe will be gone and

something else, the earth and the works that are in it will be

burned up. OK, what about fire?

You know, fire does two things #1.

Fire purifies. For example, if you take

something like gold and you subject it to fire, it purifies

the gold. Some people think what God's

going to do is just purify the earth and then restore it and

redeem it and all of that. Careful with that, all we got to

do is look at the word this word burned.

This word burned is the other aspect of what happens when you

subject something to a flame. And that's the word here.

Burned is to burn up and consume by fire.

That's what this word burn means, not purify.

Burn it up. So what do we know?

The heavens and all the universe is going to be gone.

The elements that made it up will melt with fervent heat.

And the works and the and the earth and the works that are in

it will be burned up and consumed by fire.

So OK, what's the new heaven and the new earth?

What is it? Second Peter, chapter 3 and

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

verse 13. Nevertheless, we, according to

his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which

righteousness dwells. First of all, the word new means

this as respects to form recently made, fresh, recent,

unused, unworn. That which is recently made is

superior to what it succeeds. Folks, that's not a

refurbishing. And guess what?

It has nothing to do with the Earth that we've ever been on.

It's not a refixing. It is something that we're going

to a place that is unused. That's the new Earth, all right.

New heavens and New Earth give you a passage.

I'm going to get back to that phrase Earth and why Earth is

actually being used. Where is the new heavens and the

new earth and what's it referring to?

First Peter chapter one, beginning in verse three.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who

according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a

living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and

the dead, to an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled,

that does not fade away. Please get this reserved in

heaven for you. Didn't it excite you?

Jesus going to talk about this too, by the way, Didn't excite

you to know that there's a reservation in heaven for you.

Man, that's pretty neat stuff. There's a reservation.

Where in heaven, new heavens and new earth is simply referring to

the 3rd heaven. A place that is unworn, unused,

uninhabited and greater than the earth that we've ever known.

So why does the word earth be used here?

You know what earth is. Earth is a dwelling place.

Where are we now? We are on earth, our dwelling

place. What he was saying is we're

going to have a new dwelling place.

The dwelling place is heaven really fast and I don't have

time. Remember when Jesus actually

used an Old Testament literal example to show a New Testament

or future spiritual application? He did it many times.

He's going to do it again in John 14.

Going to get to that, He did it when he gave the Beatitudes in

the 1st 12 verses of Matthew 5. And he said blessed are the

meek, for they will inherit the earth, right?

The word earth there actually means land.

Think of it this way, everything he was giving was a spiritual

application. So he wasn't talking about this

earth. He wasn't talking about this

land. The word inherit means to

receive your allotted portion. What he was saying is the meek

are going to receive their allotted portion of land or what

land? Well, the illusion is back to

the Old Testament when the children of Israel were given a

promise of the land of Canaan literal Canaan, the promised

land, the land that flowed with milk and honey.

Jesus was using that example to make a future spiritual

application. What's our promised land?

It's heaven Jesus is using and the Bible is using here.

Earth in a metaphorical spot or metaphorical idea.

Not the literal earth, but our new dwelling place.

And guess what Peter said? There's a reservation for God's

people there. For Christians there Jesus said

the same thing. John 14, beginning in verse one.

Let your heart, let not your heart be troubled.

You believe in God. Believe also in me.

In my father's house are many mansions.

If it were not so, I would have told you I go to prepare a place

for you. And if I go and prepare a place

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

That where I am, there you may be also.

All right. It's true.

The word mansions here. There's a better rendering of

what this word actually is, and it's what it actually means.

The word mansions actually means a staying, abiding, dwelling or

abode. OK, no problem.

What did we say the new earth is?

We said it's going to be a new dwelling place.

No problem here. You could say it like this.

In my father's house are many dwelling places.

You know what Jesus is doing here?

He's doing it again. He's referring back to an Old

Testament literal thing that they would have understood.

And what was that? The many dwelling places in the

House of God. In the Old Testament, what was

the dwelling place in the House of God?

First of all, what was the House of God?

In the Old Testament, it was the temple.

And in the temple in the Old Testament called the House of

God, there were many dwelling places.

You know what they're called? They were called chambers.

OK 2 Old Testament passages against the wall of the temple.

This is first kings six and five.

He built chambers all around against the walls of the temple,

all around the sanctuary and the inner sanctuary.

Thus he made side chambers all around it.

One more passage in Ezra 8 and 29.

Watch and keep them until you weigh them before the leaders of

the priests and the Levites and the heads of the Father's houses

of Israel in Jerusalem. Where?

In the chambers of the House of the Lord.

Folks, I'll tell you, I don't know.

I I saw a YouTube video where somebody got on there and said

because the word mansions doesn't doesn't actually mean

mansions and it means dwelling places, that it can't mean

heaven. Nope, it's heaven.

Jesus was going back again to an Old Testament literal example.

Why did he do that? Because that's what they would

have understood. They would have understood that

concept. And he's making a spiritual

application for the future. Remember, where did Jesus say he

was going? He said this, Let not your heart

be troubled believing God believe also in me, my father's

house are many dwelling places. We're not.

So I would have told you Jesus said it already is there.

And then he said this. Peter said I'm going to there is

a reservation there. Jesus says I'm going to go

prepare a place. And I got to tell you something.

If you look at that, he said, In my father's house are many

mansions or dwelling places. That means they already existed.

OK, when Jesus says I'm going to go prepare a place, he was not

saying I'm going to go build your room.

They already existed. The illusion of the Old

Testament, just like in the House of God, they had many

chambers. What he's saying is in the New

Testament time, we're in the future time spiritual

application. There's many dwelling places in

the House of God. Where's that where he said he

was going, Where's that? That's heaven.

It's heaven. So what's prepare mean if it

doesn't mean build? This is great stuff.

He was going to heaven to make reservations for his disciples.

So there's a reservation there. Who makes the reservation?

Jesus for his. It's one thing to have a

reservation. It's nothing for Jesus to make

it for you. When I go and get a reservation

at a hotel, they don't build me a room.

They get it ready. They put my name down.

Hey, that's mine. That's Frank.

Brad Collins coming in. That's his room.

That's what Jesus was saying in this passage.

It is heaven. And he was getting it ready for

them. I can't fathom wanting to go

anywhere else. John the Revelator describe

heaven like this. I hope I can remember it all.

He said there were foundations of heaven and they were massive.

He said there were 12 foundations and written on the

12 foundations were the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.

He said there were 12 gates and standing on every gate was an

Angel. He said the gates were

identical. I think there's a picture there,

don't you? The gates of heaven to get in

are equal, meaning there's only one way and that's Jesus.

I'm going to give you the Bible for that in a minute.

But there's only one way and it's Jesus.

John said it was a city Foursquare.

It was massive. And he said that means this

Foursquare. That means the the length, the

breadth and the height were equal.

He said the distance was 12,000 furlongs on each one.

A furlong is 1/8 of a mile. For all you racehorse fans, 1/8

of a mile, 12,000 furlongs is 1500 miles.

We don't know how big heaven is. That's one side.

That's the distance, by the way, between Dallas, TX and New York

City from New York City to Bismarck, ND, from Bismarck, ND

to San Francisco, CA and from San Francisco, CA back down to

Dallas, TX. Pretty big, right?

And ain't even a half of it. It's a city 4 square.

So guess what? Now you got to go up 1500 miles

straight up and do it again. Wow.

He described it as a city of pure gold.

He said there was a wall of Jasper.

There were gates of Pearl and a street of gold.

It's going to be inhabited with real people, real people with

immortal, strong bodies, bodies that will be as recognizable as

Moses and Elijah were on the Mount of Transfiguration, who

had been dead for many, many years, and Peter, James and

John. When they appeared as visitors

that day, they knew exactly who they were.

Beautiful, strong, immortal bodies.

I got to tell you something. I got to tell you something.

I don't know how it's all going to be, but the Bible says when

we shall see Jesus, we will know for we shall be like him.

So however these spiritual bodies are, it's going to be

like Jesus. Interesting, Interesting point.

You know what a Christian is? One of the definitions of

Christian is Christ. Like John says, when we get

there, we're going to be Christ. Like when you're Christ, like

here, you get to be Christ. Like they're Christians.

Isn't that great? And even though our bodies are

going to be like Jesus, somehow, some way we're going to be

recognizable. And I'm going to tell you

something I have to tell you. Of all the joys that I think

about in my heart, when I think about heaven, I think about

friends and loved ones and family that I'm going to be

there for eternity with. I think about that, but there's

something that always comes to my mind.

There's a little boy who didn't get to live past four months,

who died in my arms on April 19th, 1994.

Somehow he's going to go off as his dad, and that's all.

If this is not heaven, we better quit praying and we better quit

singing about the Day of Reunions.

If it's not personal, it is personal.

Well, what's the point? What's the point?

If we talk about and pray about hope, if we don't have each

other there, and it's not personal, then what's the point?

I know that Jesus said we're not, there's no marriage, we're

not giving a marriage. We're as the Angel of God in

heaven. So don't misunderstand me.

But somehow, someway, we're going to know as we were known.

Somehow I want to go there. That's all that matters, Thomas

said. By the way, so how do you get

there? Thomas said this, and I'm

concluding, Thomas said, when Jesus said this, Thomas said,

Lord, we don't know where you're going and how can we know the

way. Remember when I said the gates

in heaven are 12 gates in heaven and they're identical.

Showing you can't do it your own way, You have to do through

Jesus. The only one way to heaven is

Jesus. Here it is.

Jesus says I am the way, the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

That's it. That's heaven.

No future Kingdom on the earth. This thing's out of here and I'm

glad. Let's get it out.

Get on to something greater and better than we can ever possibly

fathom Place of. No more sadness.

No more sickness. Yeah, me and you.

No more Crohn's. No more cancer.

No more Done. How about that?

Forever. How do you get there?

Here's the invitation. You got to hear the word of God.

Romans 10/17. So faith comes by hearing and

hearing by the word of God. Upon hearing the word of God, we

have a choice. You got to believe with all your

heart. Hebrews 11 and six.

Without faith, it's impossible to please him.

For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he

is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

You got to believe with all your heart.

But that's not enough. Jesus said you got to repent of

your sins. Acts 17 and 30 Truly these times

of ignorance, God overlooked, but now commands all men

everywhere to repent. Got to change my life.

Then what? I've got to be willing to say

the greatest thing I will ever say, confessing Jesus Christ as

the Son of God Acts. 837 Then Philip said, if you believe with

all your heart you may, And he answered and said, I believe

that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Upon taking those steps of obedience, you are now a fit

candidate to go to the point of salvation, and that's baptism

for the remission of sins. Mark 1616 He who believes and is

baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be

condemned. If you've never taken those

steps of obedience, we would love to assist you in that.

Today, we're ready to go. Maybe you have.

Maybe there's something in your life that's on your heart that

you would like to confess that you would like to have prayers

for. We would love to assist you in

that too. If you want to be the class,

come forward while we stand and while we say.

We thank you for listening to our podcast put on by The Church

of Christ at 2215 Plans Rd. in Bakersfield.

If you would like any additional information or you would like to

receive a free Bible correspondence course by mail,

please e-mail us at [email protected].

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