DESIGNED | Part 4 | Designed for Heaven

[music]

>> Oh my goodness.

I feel like I was just up here, man.

What happened?

>> [applause]

>> Hey, if you're uh new to Grace Summit

Church, my name is Ben. I have the

opportunity to serve as lead pastor

here. And uh man, I've got a word for

you today.

You guys ready for it?

Praise the Lord. Um I couldn't help but

sense uh you know, this morning through

the first service uh some spiritual

opposition. And so, I'm going to pray in

such a way as we bind up the devil and

all of his desires. Amen? Would you pray

and agree with me? Father, we thank you,

Lord, God, for an open heaven upon this

place, this space right now in Jesus'

name. And Father, by the authority

you've given us in Jesus' name, we bind

any work of the enemy, any powers of

darkness. Father, we say that we are

free in Jesus Christ. And he who the son

sets free is free indeed. And so,

Father, I thank you, Lord, for the

freedom in this place for us to hear

your word

with power, with presence, with clarity.

Father, speak to our hearts. We thank

you for it. Thank you for an anointing

upon the preaching of your word in

Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, hey, we are wrapping up a series

today called designed. Say designed.

And if you've been tracking with us,

it's really simplified uh to one

specific statement that you were

designed by God

on purpose

and with purpose. Amen?

And we And we've been taking a good look

from the word of God what that design

actually is, that we're designed for

power, we're designed for presence,

we're designed for passion, We're

designed for the rescue to storm the

gates of hell. Amen. We're designed to

be hungry because we're a blessed people

and we're not called to live by default.

Man, we're going to go a little bit

deeper today.

And we've seen the design. We've seen

the assignment. But today I want to give

you a fresh mindset.

A fresh mindset, a fresh perspective of

who we actually are in Christ.

The title of the message today is

designed for heaven.

Designed for heaven.

Uh heaven

really

the idea of it in Christianity, and I'll

say this in American Christianity,

we have simplified the idea of heaven as

a spiritual location that we go after we

die.

Amen.

Uh it's so much more than that.

And we want to dig into the word today

to see

the design of heaven.

I think the enemy

would love for us to believe that heaven

is only one day

and not for today.

Amen.

Uh let me tell you what I mean. Matthew

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6 and verse 9, Jesus uh taught

us how to pray.

He said in verse 9, "Pray then like

this.

Our Father

where?

Oh man.

Where is the Father?

Our Father in heaven. So, we have direct

communication with heaven.

That's the starting place. Our Father in

heaven, hallowed be your name. That

means that he's holy, that he's above

all things. Amen. There's none like him

in all the earth.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your

name. Catch this.

Your kingdom come. What kingdom?

It's the kingdom of heaven. Amen?

He says, "Pray this way. Your kingdom

come, your will be done on earth as it

is

in heaven."

Oh my goodness.

You guys catching this today?

On earth as it is

in heaven.

Mhm. You ever thought about heaven?

I mean, no sickness.

There's not people running around heaven

with coughs and sniffles.

There's no cancer in heaven.

There's no pain in heaven.

There's no tears in heaven.

I've thought about that one because I

think when I see Jesus face to face, I'm

I think I would be emotional. But,

there's no tears up there. So, what do

you do?

Mhm.

Heaven.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on

earth

as it is

in heaven.

That's not a prayer to recite. That's a

mission statement.

Mhm.

On earth as it is in heaven. Catch this.

Verse 11, he says, "Give us this day

our daily bread, and forgive us our

debts, as we also have forgiven our

debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but

deliver us

from evil." We're seeing some of the

attributes of heaven even played out

further into the prayer.

Forgiveness. Deliverance.

Say on earth.

As it is in heaven.

That's our mission statement. That's our

design. That's our call. Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 3:11

chapter 3 verse 11 says, "God has set

eternity in human hearts."

God has set eternity in the human heart.

It doesn't say in the heart of a

believer.

It doesn't say in the heart of a

Christian.

It says in the human heart.

That means every person was designed

with eternity set and established on the

inside of them. And when we ask Jesus to

forgive us our sins, when we're washed

in the blood, it unlocks that eternal

peace on the inside of us.

You were designed for more.

Mhm.

It's been on the inside of us the whole

time that

piece of eternity.

There's something hardwired into our

design that knows that this world is not

enough.

Do you feel that?

Yeah. We hear the statement sometimes,

homesick for heaven.

And sometimes our idea is, I can't wait

to get out of this earth

and get to heaven.

Mhm.

Which is good. I'm looking forward to

it.

I'm ready to dance on the streets of

gold.

I'm not a good dancer. I'm going to get

up there and work it a little bit on the

streets of gold.

Yeah. You I mean, did we made it, right?

But why are we waiting until we die,

when Jesus said on earth as it is in

heaven?

Why are we waiting? Why are we just in

this place of just holding on and white

knuckling through the hopefully one day

I'll make it there.

I think we were saved for more. I think

you were designed for more. Say more.

I'm going to make you talk to me today.

Mhm.

It's hardwired into your design.

It's that voice on the inside of us that

looks around and says, man, is this

really it?

You ever been in the motions of life and

your schedule and all the stuff?

Never have I kind of an aching and

nagging piece on the inside of you. You

go, man, there's there's got to be more.

When you're the 9:00 to 5:00

and you're and you're doing another

spreadsheet,

right? You go, "Man, I think I'm made

for more

than than than this.

Sitting in traffic on Dupont."

>> [laughter]

>> I said three times at that turn light

down there trying to get

Yeah.

And I had places to go, man.

You ever sit in the kind of the mundane

pieces of life and go, "Man, I think

there's got to be more to life

than this."

And that nagging, that aching isn't

just meant there to be frustration or

depression. It's not just about

attitude. It's God's design sending you

a signal

of going, "There's more than what you

see.

There's more to life than this."

Let's talk about it.

God set eternity in your heart.

Catch this, so Earth would never feel

like home.

God set eternity in your heart, so Earth

would never feel like home.

You're You're not designed to be

satisfied here.

You're not designed for status quo.

You're designed for presence. You're

designed for passion. You're designed

for power. You're designed for miracles.

You're designed for heaven on Earth.

And why is it that we

too often in the Christian church will

resolve to just going through the

Christian motions

instead of tapping into the design?

We know what the world offers.

We know what the end of that road looks

like.

No matter how much you achieve,

no matter how much you acquire, no

matter how much you accomplish, it never

quite satisfies.

And that's not a problem.

That's your design.

Hebrews 11 is favorite chapter of mine

and verse 13 through 16 kind of

describes the heroes of the faith. They

know those ones from the Old Testament

that we really look up to and man a

powerful faith and it describes the

heroes of faith this way. It says that

they welcomed promises from a distance.

Catch this. Admitting that they were

foreigners and strangers on earth.

It says further down that they were

longing for a better country.

A heavenly one.

Longing for a better country, a heavenly

one. Number one in your notes today,

you are a foreigner.

You are a foreigner. Philippians chapter

Philippians 3:20

3 verse 20 says this, but our

citizenship is in heaven.

Our citizenship is in heaven.

Not one day

but right now, present tense, if you've

given your life to Jesus, you have

citizenship

in a kingdom

called heaven.

Just temporarily residing in Fort Wayne.

Pay my taxes here.

Ooh, those went up lately. Sheesh.

Uh

have an address here

but I'm actually a citizen of heaven.

I'm a foreigner.

I'm a stranger. One translation calls us

aliens.

I kind of felt like an alien earlier. I

didn't do it intentional but the Barb

and I as walking past Barb during the

meet and greet and I said, "Greetings."

And she looked at me and says,

"Greetings." And I'm like, "Oh, I feel

like we're aliens."

Greetings, human.

Mhm.

Look at your neighbor and say, "You

don't belong here."

And with that, you don't belong here, a

lot of times the the junk that we allow

into our lives, that's why that

same phrase is living on the inside of

here. When you're going through

sin and despair and all that stuff, you

don't belong here.

You're not designed for here.

You're designed for somewhere else.

Your spiritual passport says something

different.

And I'd like to have a copy of that

passport. Wouldn't that be fun?

Have heaven's passport.

You think it's made of gold?

That'd be cool.

Uh last fall I was in Poland.

And uh

interesting uh

you know, everything's different in

Poland.

There's some similarities, but you know,

the food is different, the language is

different, the street signs are weird.

You know?

And uh

I was on the streets and I'm going, "I

don't think my F-150 would fit here."

The roads are different. Everything's

different. And

we were walking. There was some of us

all together from the states and

uh it was an evening that we kind of

went downtown and kind of living in the

city a little bit, right? It's a city

streets that you just walk in. Everyone

wants to see a motorbike. But man,

there's there's a street performers

singing music and man, it's just there's

people everywhere and it's beautiful.

We're kind of in this old historic uh

town square.

And walking with just a couple of guys

and as we're walking, you get used to

being in a foreign land with the all the

language you know, the language barrier.

And so you kind of keep to your little

group. And the guy walking with us,

we're walking, he goes he goes, "Hey!"

And he calls out a name.

And I'm going, "What What What? We're in

Poland, dude. Who I mean

not like your cousin's walking the

street." And then he goes he goes,

"Hey!" calls his name and the guy comes

over. He was a

missionary

from Ohio.

And he'd been living in Poland for

years. And he comes back to the states

and that guy came over and started

talking. It was like a breath of fresh

air. You know, to talk to somebody from

my home, right? From America.

And you catch the jokes, the nuances,

and try to do that with a foreigner.

It's like, I'm just trying to keep up

here, man. I don't know what we're

talking about. And all of a sudden

there's an American there, and that's

what happens when we run into people

that are authentic followers of Christ.

The Spirit itself bears witness with my

spirit that we are the children of God.

How many times have I had people try to

convince me that they're a Christian?

You don't have to convince me of

nothing.

I know.

Amen?

We speak the same language. We're from

the same country.

Mhm.

The relief you feel when you find

somebody from home

in a foreign country, that's what it's

like when you find kingdom-minded

believers.

Kingdom-minded believers, we speak the

language of heaven.

We know the culture of heaven.

And we understand what forgiveness is

like.

We understand what the love of God feels

like. Amen?

Cuz we've spent time with the king.

Let me say this, maturing in the faith

is learning the culture of heaven.

It's learning

heaven's language, not from a textbook.

Not from a classroom.

From spending time

with the king.

Amen?

Spending time

with the king.

You know, culture rubs off in people.

Language rubs off in people.

Um

when I was in high school, my yearbooks

all say I was most likely to be a

comedian.

I was class clown and

didn't work out so well for my grades,

but

and I've always done impersonations and

you know, the older I get, the less I

do, but I have a lot of fun with my kids

and and I mean, we get going on some

accents, different things. We watched uh

Downton Abbey together. All of a sudden

we're all talking, you know, like that.

Or uh one of my favorites is like the

the good Scottish good Scottish or

Ireland. You know what I mean? And I get

playing around a little bit and have

fun, but uh

man, there's times when I'm around

certain people and I got uh family

uh that that

from the South. You know what I'm

talking about.

Now, they they're not just from the

country, they're country. You know what

I'm saying saying?

And I get hanging out with a Southerner

and all of a sudden uh it rubs off on

the inside of me and I start using

Southern slang a little bit

that I don't use cuz I'm a foreigner up

here in the north.

Like, I thought you were from Michigan.

My and my family's from Arkansas. God

bless America.

I say all that to say that culture and

accent rubs off on the inside of you.

And when you're around kingdom-minded

people, people that have their

citizenship in heaven,

and better yet, you hang out with the

king, the culture of heaven

gets on the inside of you. Your calling,

your desire is to bring heaven to earth.

On earth

as it is

in heaven.

Problem we have a lot of times is

uh people take advice about God

from people that have never met God.

Mhm.

And those people that have never met God

are really quick to broad broadcast

their opinions.

You ever notice that?

Oh man, they got opinions about church.

They got opinions about the Bible. They

got opinions about God.

And listening to them,

I can quickly pick up

they've never even had a conversation.

They've never sensed the presence.

They've never

been around my God.

Mhm. It's like asking somebody in

Warsaw, Poland

to describe America.

You know what a lot of foreigners think

that America is?

We all just drive four-wheel drive

trucks and have AR-15s in the back

window.

And we eat cheeseburgers.

Yeah.

And some of my favorite people to follow

I was watching reels and stuff are those

that actually travel from Europe or from

other locations and spend time in the

states and then they're sending message

back that I'm going, "Man, this

America's actually like this."

Right?

Because if you've never been there, you

form wrong opinions about there.

You can't get accurate directions to

heaven

from people who are not citizens of

heaven.

We're listening

to the other voices.

Here's the other thing

that we need to know that when we travel

internationally, our passport determines

everything.

Where can you go when things get

dangerous, when there's crisis, when

there's war?

You go to the

US Embassy.

There's a lot of things that happen if

you can't get out of the country. You

don't go to the government of that

country, you go to the United States

Embassy and they help safely get you

out.

There's a lot of things that happen,

there's a lot of authority that comes

just having that United States

passport.

Legal representation.

Financial provision. Do you know that if

you get robbed in a foreign country,

they take your credit cards and all your

stuff, you know have any money and you

can't even get home

that you can go to the US Embassy and

they'll finance it to get you home?

And in good American fashion, you do

have to pay it back when you get back to

the states.

Otherwise, we'd have a whole bunch of

people get over there and be like, "I

can't find my credit card."

>> [laughter]

>> Yeah.

Emergency response, diplomatic immunity,

family rescue.

Mhm.

Here's the one that I like.

Uh

if you die in a foreign country

or a loved one dies in a foreign

country,

the US Embassy

helps make arrangements

to get that body back home.

When we die in this foreign land, we

have a passport.

Amen.

But heaven makes arrangement to get that

to get you home. Oh, man.

That's good stuff right there.

Mhm.

Almost started preaching.

Don't start with me, Pastor Dean. Mhm.

People keep asking, "What actually

happens if you start preaching?" I'm

like, "Well, it's been a while, but I'll

start preaching from the back corner. I

guess doing victory laps, to get all

crazy."

Now I'm getting so old I don't like to

run anymore, so.

Mhm.

Heaven's passport.

Christians carry heaven's passport

on earth. When chaos hits, when your

world falls apart,

everything around you is shaking, we

don't look to Washington.

We look to our true kingdom.

Amen.

When it's all falling down around us, we

don't look to the president.

We look to the King of kings.

Number two in your notes is stay true to

your kingdom.

Stay true to your kingdom.

Don't get so caught up in this foreign

land that you live in that the foreign

land starts having a negative impact on

you and you forget where you came from.

Mhm, forget where you came from.

First Peter chapter 2

1 Peter 2:11

verse 11 says, "Beloved,

I urge you." Say urge.

"I urge you as aliens and strangers."

Catch this, "to abstain from fleshly

lust which wage war against the soul."

There's an urgency there.

Don't get caught up in worldly affairs.

Don't get caught up in all the mess

that's going on. I actually have

exemption status because my passport is

in heaven.

Aliens and strangers. Foreigners, that's

your identity.

Don't get confused as a local.

Temporary passport.

We're in Fort Wayne, but we're not of

Fort Wayne.

Mhm.

Our ultimate allegiance is elsewhere.

Yeah, I think about Daniel

in the Old Testament. He was a foreigner

in a strange land and uh there were many

officials of the day that were trying to

uh

speak identity into him, who he should

be.

And Daniel wasn't having any of it. He

still prayed three times a day, refused

to bow. He maintained heaven's culture

in Babylon's system.

That's you.

You're not supposed to blend in.

You're supposed to stand out.

The people of this world that are

unsaved should look at you like you're a

foreigner.

Sometimes they do.

Man, I remember being unsaved

and looking at Christians like they are

the weirdest humans I've ever seen in my

life.

You guys ever been there?

It's like they are bizarre.

I I just I mean I was really really

unsaved and to look at Christianity and

the church and I'm going, "Man, they

don't even speak the same language. They

don't even act the same." I had an uncle

that got radically saved and I mean,

just went all in for Jesus and the old

jokes that my uncle used to say were

funny when I was a sinner.

And now he uses Christian curse words

like crud.

I remember hearing him just like,

"Crud."

What What is that, dude? You know? Like

your language changes and I mean, you're

not YOU'RE NOT CAUGHT UP in the filth

and the and the dirty and the you're a

foreigner in this land, amen?

You're supposed to stand out because you

belong to another king and another

kingdom.

Colossians chapter 3 verse 2 says this,

Colossians 3:2

"Set your minds on things above,

not on earthly things."

Establish your mindset

from a heavenly perspective,

not on the things of earth. Your

citizenship determines your culture.

When you

have your mind in

set and established

in heaven, when you know you're a

foreigner here, you stop letting this

world define you.

You stop letting Earth's agenda dictate

your decisions.

I want you to get this in your heart.

Today, I'm fluent

in heaven's language

and foreign to Earth's agenda.

Number three in your notes is carry

heaven's perspective.

Carry heaven's perspective.

If [snorts] you're a foreigner, that

means you see things differently.

You've got a different lens, is

different perspective.

Let me share one of them with you.

Second Corinthians chapter 4

2 Corinthians 4:16

verse 16.

Paul the Apostle said, "So we do not

lose heart.

Though our outward self is wasting away,

our inner self is being renewed day by

day." Catch this in verse 17. "For this

light momentary affliction is preparing

for us an eternal weight of glory beyond

all comparison

as we look not to the things that are

seen,

but to the things that are unseen.

For the things that are seen are

temporary.

The things that are unseen are eternal.

I I find it interesting the language

that Paul uses here.

He's

echoing the same idea of setting your

mind on on the heavenly realms. But he

says this light momentary affliction.

I don't know if we all grasp what Paul

had been walking through

at this point. He was beaten.

He'd been shipwrecked, stoned, in

prison.

He was hunted like a criminal.

Couldn't settle down anywhere and

establish a a home. I mean, the guy is

that just radical for Jesus. And and

knowing kind of his journey, to hear him

write something like this, this light

momentary affliction. Paul, how do you

How do you get to that mindset? He He's

talking about, "Man, I don't look at the

things that are temporary. I'm not

looking at this pain and the struggle

and all this stuff now. I'm fixing my

eyes upon Jesus, the author and the

finisher of my faith. And the things OF

THIS WORLD PALE IN COMPARISON TO TO MY

HEAVENLY FATHER, to the kingdom of God.

This is light and momentary.

And it's producing something on the

inside of me.

Mhm.

Light and momentary.

Because he had eternal perspective.

>> [snorts]

>> He saw what beyond what was happening to

him

and he saw what was happening in him.

Too often in the flesh, we're so worried

about what's happening to us. Can you

believe what they said about me?

Can you believe how they treated me?

And listen, if you're persecuted for his

name's sake, Jesus calls you blessed.

Pray for blessing.

And when it comes, don't complain

because it didn't come in the package

that you wanted it.

I'm focused on what's happening to me.

I want to take a look at what's

happening

in me.

Temporary versus eternal

perspective. This isn't going to be on

the screen

because I added it later unless they

were really quick between services.

But Matthew chapter 6, I was just

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

thinking about this scripture.

In verse 19, he says,

uh

do not lay, this is Jesus, do not lay up

for yourself treasures on earth

where moth and rust destroy, where

thieves break in and steal,

but lay up for yourself treasures in

heaven where neither moth nor rust

destroy and where thieves do not break

in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your

heart will be also.

Man, we can invest and invest and

slave and work our whole lives to invest

in things on this earth, but the the

common theme that I've experienced on

this planet is everything is decaying.

Everything is decaying.

Including us.

Pastor Jack, I was looking at my hand

the other day. I was just

driving, had my hand sitting there, and

I looked at my hand and I was like,

"Whose old man hands are those?"

My hands look older than they used to.

Yeah, I'm decaying. I was thinking about

my grandma used to have the hand cream.

I'm not real good at that. I was

thinking, maybe I should get some hand

cream to slow down the decay a little

bit.

Yeah, sometimes I look in the mirror. I

did my hair this morning, and I had all

finished looking good, and then I had

one silver hair all wild and crazy

sticking out. I was like,

"Um, scissors, please. That thing's

disappearing."

Yeah, why do we

invest so much in these things? The

Bible says this life is but a mist or a

vapor

in the eyes of eternity.

You ever take the lid off the pot, see

that little steam? Put it back on.

That's all this life is in the eyes of

eternity.

Stop investing solely in things of the

earth, and begin to store up for

yourself treasures in heaven.

Mhm.

>> [clears throat]

>> What's the old saying? Never seen a

hearse or never seen a U-Haul behind a

hearse?

What is it?

Brinks truck? Yeah, you can't take it

with you. Amen.

There are things

that we can invest in. Store up for

yourself treasures in heaven. Man, I

think of some saints that have gone, and

the investment they've made in people's

lives, the investment they made that

translated into their bank account in

heaven, and I go, "Man, they're going to

have themselves a mansion when they get

up there."

Amen.

Always feel for the poor guy that

prayed salvation his last breath. I'm

thankful he made it in.

I think God's grace is sufficient for

him.

But man, my heart is to invest in things

not that rust, not that decay, but

invest in things that will last

for eternity.

The things of this world are outwardly

wasting,

but we are inwardly being renewed.

Mhm.

Only spiritual things are eternal.

Only spiritual things are eternal, and

here's my challenge to you.

Invest eternally.

Every act of obedience, every sacrifice

made, every prayer prayed,

every time you love when it costs you

something, every time that you forgive

uh when they didn't even deserve

forgiveness. Amen?

That's an investment

in the kingdom. It's a deposit in

heaven's bank.

And that's what citizens of heaven do.

Mhm.

We send money home.

We're just sending it home.

And I'm willing to forfeit some of the

comforts of this world

because I know

that in the next life I have endless

comfort.

Not bound by the world's economy, but

I'm part of heaven's economy.

You know, Romans 12 talks about being

transformed by the renewing of your

mind.

It's a different mindset. It's a shift

in perspective.

Troubles aren't just something we

endure.

But Paul says they're achieving

something. They're producing eternal

glory.

You're designed for heaven.

Designed to have heaven's perspective,

designed to carry heaven's culture.

And part of that design is to look past

the temporary

and see the eternal. Matthew chapter 16,

Matthew 16:26

verse 26, Jesus said this,

"What good will it be for someone to

gain the whole world, yet forfeit

their soul?"

1 John 2:17 says this, "The world and

1 John 2:17

its desires pass away,

but whoever say whoever

whoever does the will of God lives

forever."

Everything has an expiration date except

God.

Number four in your notes, your calling

is to bring heaven down.

Your calling is to bring heaven down.

We're designed for heaven,

but we're not there yet.

So, what are we supposed to do in the

meantime?

Oh, I'll just sit around and wait until

my Jesus comes back.

Just sit around and wait till the

rapture happens.

Well, yeah,

and

we are a carrier of the presence of God,

and we bring heaven to earth. Amen?

Kingdom come, your will be done on earth

as it is in heaven. That's our mission

statement.

We're not waiting to go to heaven

someday, we're bringing heaven to earth

today.

You can write this in your notes. We

don't escape to heaven, we import heaven

to earth. We're importers of heaven.

Well, what is the culture of heaven?

What is the sense of heaven? What is

that peace of heaven? I want to bring

that right to earth, and I and I want to

spread the kingdom of the living God

right here. I I want that light to shine

in the darkness. Amen?

I don't think there's tariffs on

importing heaven, is there?

Sorry, political jokes.

2 Corinthians 5:20 says this, "We are

2 Corinthians 5:20

therefore

Let's catch this. We

We are therefore Christ's ambassadors

as though God were making his appeal

through us.

We work

for the embassy of heaven. We are

ambassadors for Christ.

Amen?

Ambassadors don't create foreign policy,

they represent it.

You don't hear the US ambassador in a

foreign country say, "You know, I was

thinking about a few things. I got some

opinions and some ideas of how we should

do this." What do they say? He says, "On

behalf of the president of the United

States and then this is the decree."

That's what we do as ambassadors for

Jesus Christ.

We're a representative

of heaven.

You know what I was thinking about?

You know those uh work vans

that have the the number on the back

says, "How's my driving?" And it says,

"Call 260 blah blah blah blue blah."

Right? Look at your neighbor and say,

"Blah blah blah blue blah."

Okay, I'm making sure you're awake. Hey.

You ever have one of those guys cut you

off?

All right, full confession. Who's called

the number before?

Yeah, we got a few. Yeah, look at there.

Call the number.

Uh

uh

Living as a Christian

you have a passport from heaven.

And it's almost like you have from

heaven, "How's my living?

Call this number."

555

God, right? Or whatever it is.

Yeah.

So, when you

react like the world does,

when they attack and you jump right back

and you're Whatever the thing is that

you're functioning no longer as a

foreigner to this land, but you're

functioning

as you're native to this land,

you're a representative.

The The other piece is that when you

authentically fulfill the design and the

call,

people notice that.

People recognize that you come from a

foreign land and you represent something

different.

An ambassador for Jesus Christ.

A representative

of the kingdom of heaven.

Every decision you make either builds

or damages heaven's reputation.

Mhm.

You can take that if you need to.

Acts chapter 1 verse 8, famous

Acts 1:8

scripture, you will receive power

when the Holy Spirit comes on you,

and you will be my witnesses.

What are you a witness to?

Heaven.

What are you a witness to? God.

What are you a witness to? His grace,

his mercy,

his power.

Amen?

And be a good witness.

Be a good representative. Be a good

ambassador to carry out policy. You've

got the policy right here.

Mhm.

Luke 17:20, Jesus said, "The kingdom of

Luke 17:20

God is not something that can be

observed with visible signs."

Further down he says, "The kingdom of

God is in your midst."

The kingdom of God is in your midst.

We're carriers of the kingdom.

Not simply waiting to have go to heaven

one day,

but we're manifesting heaven's kingdom

on earth.

Can't remember if it was last week or

the week before we

I think it was last week talking about

taste and see that the Lord is good.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

You know, I'm sure people in Poland

have some idea of what an American

cheeseburger tastes like.

I guess. I even had we'd see some places

that were American themed, little

restaurants and stuff. We didn't go

there cuz I really wanted to taste the

culture.

Uh

but I can imagine

in Poland, person that's never been to

the United States doesn't really know

what a quality American cheeseburger

tastes like.

Right?

I'm not talking Mickey D's. I'm I'm

talking I'm talking black Angus ground,

you know what I'm saying? I'm talking

about the good stuff. Yeah, cooked to

perfection. It's got all the goodies. I

like to make burgers. We do them at

house. And man, I they're they're

ridiculous is what they are.

And I don't think it's a really good

burger. Now, I don't know. I got a big

mouth, so I like mine nice and tall. But

they always squish it and all the

goodies come out of the side.

And I almost disconnect my jaw like a

snake trying to get it in.

You know that thing? And I don't think

it's a good burger unless there's some

goodies running down the

Yeah.

And I just picture being in a foreign

land. They've never They've never tasted

an American cheeseburger. They have an

idea. They have their version of an

American cheeseburger. Well, man, I

would taste that version. I go, "Buddy,

you don't even know what a what American

cheeseburger tastes like. Why don't you

just sit down? Let me get some

ingredients here. Let me Let me mix

this. Let me cook this thing up. And I'm

going to give you a burger that's going

to change your life, man. Remember who

you are in this moment because when you

take that first bite, you're coming out

different.

Yeah.

I just got hungry all of a sudden.

Sheesh. We having burgers for lunch?

Maybe.

Once you taste the real thing,

everything else tastes fake. Have you

noticed that?

Messed that poor Polish guy up for the

rest of his life.

He'll be going to every fake American

restaurant going, "Can I get a burger?"

Nothing tastes right.

As a representative,

as an ambassador ambassador, as a

citizen of heaven,

you offer them the real thing.

You have the ingredients.

Get cooking.

Oh, man.

Get cooking.

People need

what God has put in you.

Amen?

People need to hear the truth. People

need to feel the love of God.

Don't only read the menu, they need to

taste the meal, man.

Amen?

Got off my notes again. Where am I?

Ephesians 7 and McDonald's.

Ephesians chapter 2 verse 6

Ephesians 2:6

says God raised us up with Christ and

seated us with him

in the heavenly realms.

You're already seated in heaven, you're

just operating

on Earth.

Number five in your notes and I'll try

to close with this.

Your citizenship is contagious.

Your citizenship

is contagious.

Mhm.

You ever been around somebody that just

got back from a

nice vacation?

And they're overly overly passionate

about their vacation.

They got all the pictures and all the

stuff and all the

keep showing you.

And it's

really neat

to see some of that stuff, especially a

place that you've never been.

And it almost can have the effect of

wanting to make you go there.

I've never been to the Keys. I want to

go to Key West, man. What?

That looks cool and you hear all the

experiences, right?

Do you know that experience is

contagious?

Experience is contagious. Man, Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, you know, when the spirit of

God falls on 120,

uh signs and wonders break out, Peter

preaches,

uh that 120 in the upper room became

3,000 in 1 day.

Because experience is contagious.

Experience is contagious.

Reading the menu is not going to inspire

somebody.

Amen. Tasting the cheeseburger, now

that's going to inspire somebody.

Mhm.

Man.

I'm a cheeseburger.

Come take a bite.

We don't just talk about heaven, we

bring heaven.

We demonstrate the kingdom of God.

The boldness,

the unity, the grace,

the healing, the generosity,

the power.

Mhm.

You don't recruit people to heaven.

You infect them with heaven.

The call today is to live as a citizen

of heaven to see

through eternity's lens.

To serve as heaven's agent,

ambassador.

And one day,

when we pass from this life into the

next,

we'll finally be home.

I'll ask the worship team to join me up

here.

Think about that feeling, man, when you

been on vacation. It was fun. It was

neat.

There's something about

getting to your exit.

When you're getting close, something

starts to shift on the inside of you.

Things start to change. Man, it really

happens when you pull in the driveway.

And you make it inside, get your bags

down, and and uh I'm old enough that I

have a man chair, right?

>> [music]

>> When I sit in my chair,

you kind of breathe a sigh of relief,

don't you?

That first night you get to crawl back

into your bed.

You you know that feeling?

Multiply that times infinity, and that's

what heaven's going to [music] be like.

We have the culture of heaven. We have

the taste of heaven. We have the the

language of heaven, but this one day

you finally get to go home, and I can

only imagine as we're as we're passing

through the pearly gates, the sigh of

relief that happens.

As you settle into a place that you're

there for the first time, but it's like

you've

always called it home. There's this

settling peace that overwhelms the soul.

Mhm.

>> Heaven is on your schedule.

If Jesus Christ is your Lord.

Heaven is on your schedule.

I believe when we get there we'll

breathe

a sigh of relief

like never before.

Say I'm home. [music]

I'm home.

My

aspiration of life is to make heaven

crowded.

I just want as many as possible to come

home with me.

Amen.

I want as many as possible [music]

to get that on the inside and to give

their life

to God.

Washed in the blood of Jesus.

And make heaven their home. Stand to

your feet with me all over this room.

Just a moment we're going to worship the

Lord together and

the altars are going to open.

Some [music] in here

need to renew their citizenship to

heaven.

>> [music]

>> You need a fresh passport.

Been distracted and caught up

with the world and the world's systems

and the world's ways.

Been living for earth more than for

heaven.

Confess you in this place. I want to

encourage you to do business with God.

Say God, I need to reset my focus.

I've been caught up.

You're ready to an ambassador.

Ready ready to represent your kingdom

well.

There's those in here that have never

received their passport.

Never

>> [music]

>> really fully given their life to Jesus

Christ.

Today is the day.

You don't have to fill out any paperwork

or

wait down at the BMV. Today you get your

passport.

Very simply by

trusting him in your heart and in your

mind and asking him to forgive you and

to receive you

as a son or a daughter.

Today you can come home. Father, we

thank you, Lord,

for freedom in this house.

Father, I'm thankful that this life is

not the only thing that we look forward

to that we have.

But Father, you have called us

to heaven.

Lord, you love us enough

to have prepared a place for us [music]

for eternity.

That we could be with you forevermore, a

place of no pain, of no sorrow,

of no struggle, of no suffering.

A place where we have peace

forever

with you.

Father, I pray if there's any soul in

this room

that it's not set and established that

heaven is their final destination. Lord,

I pray

that in this moment

Father, they would

make a decision to receive you.

Father, I pray blessing

over their heart right now. Let us

continue in the atmosphere of prayer. If

that's you,

today you want to do business with

heaven and make heaven your home.

With every eye closed, I want you just

to lift your hand and say, "Pastor, pray

for me. I'm not going to embarrass you.

I'm not going to call you forward."

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Hands going up all over this room.

Praise you, Jesus.

Lord, I pray for every hand lifted.

Father, I pray for those couple of hands

that needed to be lifted, but didn't

raise.

Lord, I speak salvation.

I speak deliverance. I speak healing

into their hearts. [music]

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Lord. We're all going to pray

together, and if you lifted your hand

and pray this prayer, and if you

are sincere and true in your heart,

today is a day of salvation for you.

Could we all pray this together? Father

in heaven,

I receive

salvation

now

in Jesus' name.

I confess with my mouth

I'm a sinner,

and I need you.

Forgive me.

Wash me.

Cleanse me.

I receive

my passport,

my citizenship

in heaven

right now

in Jesus' name.

And according to your word,

I'm saved.

I'm saved

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Praise the Lord. Can we celebrate the

work of God today?

>> [applause]

[music]

>> These altars are open for every need in

this house. If you need prayer for

anything,

whether it's emotional or physical,

whether it's a

need for somebody else or for yourself,

I want to encourage you to come to an

altar of prayer

and let us agree with you in faith

for the miracle working power

in your life.

The altars are open, won't you come?