Heaven - Paradise Found - Part 2

Turn in your Bible to Isaiah 65 and Revelation 21.

And while you're turning there, I have some actual notes, Dear God notes from children to God.

Someone made me a copy of them, so I want to read some of these.

They're really good.

It says, Dear God, please put another holiday between Christmas and Easter.

There's nothing good in there now.

Sign Jenny.

Dear God, please send Dennis Clark to a different camp this year.

I don't know if that's one of your sons, but anyway.

We read Thomas Edison made light, but in Sunday school they said you did it.

So I bet he stole your idea.

That's good.

This is my favorite one.

Dear God, if you had let the dinosaur not become extinct, we would not have a country.

You did the right thing.

Signed Jonathan.

It's good to let God know he did the right thing.

Well, we're in a series called Heaven, Paradise Found.

Heaven, Paradise Found.

Heaven really is paradise.

And I'm going to bring up some topics this morning to make you think more about heaven, to get our focus on heaven.

I have believed that God wants us to think more about heaven.

God wants us to read the Bible with an idea that heaven is spoken throughout Scripture, that there's information in the Bible about heaven that we just kind of pass over, and God wants us to focus our attention on what happens after we die, especially for those of us who are believers in Christ.

So turn now to Isaiah 65, and I'm going to read this passage in the passage in Revelation, verse 17 in Isaiah 65.

It says, Look, I am creating new heavens and a new earth, so wonderful that no one will even think about the old ones anymore.

Be glad.

Rejoice forever in my creation.

And look, I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness.

Her people will be a source of joy.

And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people, and the sound of weeping and crying will be heard no more.

Now, if you continue reading these passages past verse 19, it seems like that Isaiah is talking more about a millennial heaven.

In other words, that the heaven that might be created in the thousand-year millennial reign, and that is a possibility.

But it's not uncommon for the Old Testament prophets to blend prophecies about heaven with prophecies about the millennial reign and blend them together.

So you can separate them.

Theologians agree that that's okay.

So he is talking about the new heaven and a new earth, and he continues to talk about the millennial heaven.

But John in Revelation 21 goes into more detail about a new heaven and a new earth that is coming.

Alright, verse 1 of Revelation 21.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

For the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared, and the sea was also gone.

And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, like a beautiful bride prepared for her husband.

And I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, Look, the home of God is now among his people.

Now, think with me, look up just for a second.

I just gave you the biblical definition of heaven, and you need to make this your definition, I believe, our definition.

The biblical definition of heaven is anywhere that God chooses to make his home.

Do you agree?

That's a theological idea that you have to buy into, that the Bible is clear about.

Because according to these two passages of Scripture, God is about to have a change of address.

And if we we need to theologically come to grips with the idea that God can change addresses and have a new home, and that new home will be as much a heaven as it is now.

The heaven where he is now.

So let's keep reading, okay?

It says, He will live with them, and they will be his people.

God himself will be with them.

He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.

For the old world and its evils are gone forever.

Forever.

Now, I live on the old earth right now, apparently, and I have a question about this.

What happened to the old earth?

What do you mean there's a new earth coming and a new heaven?

Well, what's the old heaven?

These are obvious questions, right, when you read this.

So if there is a new earth coming, a new heaven coming, then what happened to the old earth and the old heaven?

And I'm going to explain more of this next week, but I want to set up next week by explaining this to you a little bit now so you can be thinking about it and reading this passage.

You see, when people talk about heaven, most of the time they're talking about the place that their born-again loved ones that have passed away are now residing.

The current heaven.

But in reality, according to this scripture, it's really an intermediate heaven, a temporary dwelling place.

It is paradise.

It is a literal place.

God Himself is making his home there right now.

And it's a great place full of music and sounds and joy and peace.

It's not a heaven that is less significant than we've imagined.

It's probably more significant than we can imagine.

However, it is not the final heaven that God has planned.

God has already alerted the movers in heaven.

We are going to move.

Let me ask you, how many of you have lived in more than one house in your life?

Okay?

How many of you have lived in more than ten?

Okay, because I have.

So each of the places that I've lived, that was my home.

And the reason it was my home is because my family was there with me.

Is it possible that God can make a place a home today, move to another place, and that becomes the home of God?

Is that possible?

So, if it's possible that there's a new heaven coming, we need to know about the intermediate heaven, the current heaven, and the new heaven.

Let's say, for example, that someone gave you a large sum of money.

And if that money was dedicated for the express purpose of you building your dream home.

And they said to you, spare no expense.

When you meet with the architect, tell the architect everything you want in this dream home.

I mean tell them everything that you could possibly imagine in your dream home.

Well, so you sit down with the architect and you start mapping out and drawing, and before you know it, you have this huge home on this huge piece of property, and they begin to build it.

Well, you put your current home on the market and suddenly it sells quicker than you expected.

And suddenly now you've got to move your family into a temporary residence until the dream home is built.

This is what's happening right now.

Our loved ones that accepted Christ and who have passed away are in a very good place.

They are in paradise.

But it's the intermediate heaven.

The dream home that God has planned for all of us to live for eternity in is being built.

It will come.

It will be something that is the new earth and the new heaven.

So next week, I'm going to tell you about the new heaven and the new earth.

But this week I want to tell you about the intermediate present-day heaven that our loved ones who are born again are currently living in.

And wouldn't it be great if there was a place in Scripture that could give us some idea of what they're doing in heaven right now?

Let me ask you a question.

How many of you are absolutely convinced, no debate, that someone you love is in heaven right now?

Would you raise your hand?

Now I want you to notice about 99% of the hands are up.

All of us, most of us, believe that someone we love is in heaven right now.

And I believe that there is a passage of scripture that gives us a real clear example of what could be happening there right now.

So turn with me to Revelation chapter 6, and I'm going to show you a passage of Scripture that has comforted me a great deal.

Revelation 6 · chapter mention

I have a dad that's in heaven, I have grandparents in heaven, I have lots of friends and loved ones in heaven.

I was looking out across the crowd last night and saw a lot of my friends here, some of which I've done funerals for their loved ones, people that were my friends.

I know they're in heaven.

And this passage is going to give you a lot of comfort.

I believe that this passage of Scripture gives us more details about the interaction between God and people in heaven than just about any passage in the Bible.

It gives us a vast amount of details of what could be happening.

Now, let me set this up for you.

This is talking about martyrs who have been in heaven.

And when we read this, some of you are going to ask, well, it seems like that this is the conversation between God and a group of martyrs, people who lost their life for the sake of Christ.

And you're right, it is a conversation between God and some martyrs.

However, it is a very safe assumption.

It's not a reckless assumption at all to believe that God would also have these conversations with everyone in heaven.

But John, for some reason, points this out that these are martyrs that are having this conversation, but there are no secondary heavens.

Our family and friends that love Christ are in the same heaven as those martyrs are, and God doesn't give special privileges to anyone in heaven.

Everyone could have these conversations, okay?

Alright, so let's read now in Revelation chapter 6, verse 9.

Revelation 6:9

And when the Lamb broke the fifth seal, which by the way, the Lamb is a capital L, he's talking about the Lamb of God, Jesus Himself.

And when the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the Word of God and for being faithful in their witness.

They called loudly to the Lord and said, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge the people who belong to this world for what they've done to us?

Is that a specific question?

That's a very specific question.

And when will you avenge our blood against these people?

Are these people in heaven or on the earth?

They're on the earth, right?

Okay, that's going to be important later.

Then a white robe was given to each of them.

It's very important to note that each of them got a white robe.

And they were told to rest a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters, their fellow servants of Jesus, had been martyred.

Now, Jesus, by the way, is prophesying.

This is a side note, we need to pray for the persecuted church.

Jesus promises these martyrs in heaven that more martyrs will have will come.

Do you know today that 400 people a day are martyred for their belief in Christ?

A day around the world.

400 people today, on average, will die because they have a belief in Christ.

They'll be martyred.

We need to pray for the persecuted church.

I need to remind you, to remind myself to pray for persecuted believers around the world.

Alright, I want to give you four observations about this passage of Scripture.

Observations that I want you to take, to talk about with your family, to pray about over the week, but I want you to think about heaven this week as you do.

Here's the first observation.

The martyrs, they immediately relocated to heaven.

Now that's important to note because there's a couple of theological ideas that I want to clarify for you today.

This one theological idea is the idea of soul sleep.

That somehow when people die, they go into this state of rest until judgment day, and then at the final resurrection, they somehow awaken and meet God for judgment.

That there is some kind of a sleep that they go into.

That when people die, they don't immediately go to the eternal destination that they have chosen for themselves, but they go into this slumber.

The Bible does not teach that anywhere.

That is not a biblical idea.

In fact, Jesus looked at the thief on the cross and Jesus chose his words carefully, but he said, Today you will be with me in paradise.

And I want you to look at what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5.8.

It says, Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.

Paul was very careful to tell us that when you leave this earthly body and death comes to your earthly body, that your spiritual body immediately relocates to the eternal destination that you've chosen for yourself while you're alive.

There's another common belief called purgatory, and it teaches that you go to this interim place, and while you're in that interim place, that people on the earth actually have the ability to pray you into some type of better eternal state.

Listen, once you die, your relatives will not be able to pray you into heaven.

It is best now to choose heaven, because once you die, you've already made the choice.

There are no choices.

You will not be able to make one single choice about your eternal destination after death.

And I want to clear that up.

I know that's for many of you say, well, that's obvious.

Listen, it's not obvious to the world.

Those two things, soul sleep, and purgatory, are commonly taught, and the Bible clearly does not indicate that either of those things exist.

And I want you to know that today, okay?

That's the first observation.

The second observation about this passage of Scripture in Revelation 6 is that the martyrs they could ask God questions and have them answered.

This is a great passage because they are having this conversation with God, and it seems like that they felt, now I know when we get to heaven, we are going to be in awe of God.

I mean, you will, it's going to be amazing how much in awe we're going to be in God.

But there's something really neat about this because God does seem approachable in this passage.

I mean, these martyrs are, we don't know how close they are to God, but they know they're having a conversation.

And they're asking some very personal questions.

They asked God, when are you going to avenge our blood?

When are you going to take a vengeance against these people on the earth?

It seemed like they were even a little aggravated.

They had some questions.

It seems like they had some passion or emotion with them in heaven.

Don't they seem human?

This is an amazing concept now.

We're going to have human characteristics in heaven.

We're not going to lose all of our humanity just because we're in heaven.

They had questions, which means, though, that when you get to heaven, you're not going to immediately know everything like some of us do now.

You're going to have a lot of questions in heaven.

And you can ask those questions, and God will answer your questions.

And you'll have one-on-one time.

And it's important to notice that in this passage that they were each given a white robe, that they were seen as individuals.

I don't believe we're going to get one of those hospital robes, those one-size-fit-all.

I hope not.

I think it's going to be custom-made, tailor-made for each of us in our glorified bodies, okay?

Minus 20 pounds, all of us, right?

Or plus 20 pounds, however you want it, alright?

So I have, I believe, though, that because everyone can ask questions, that my personal family reputation is shot already in heaven.

I have an uncle, his name was Uncle Red.

Now, I grew up across the street from my Uncle Red out in the, I mean the redneck piney woods of North Louisiana, where the road kind of almost turned into dirt.

Across the street from us was my Uncle Red.

And growing up as a little boy across the street from him, I would go across the street and spend a lot of time with him, and he was completely lost.

All the really bad jokes that I used to get my mouth washed out with soap, my mom, I heard from my uncle Red.

So growing up, he was my favorite uncle.

I mean, he was he was so unchurched, he had no idea about church.

So when I became a young man and I became a believer, he came down with lung cancer.

And he was one of those guys who would sit in his house and he was a chronic smoker, a chain smoker since he was seven or eight years old.

And he he had those little oxygen tanks that gave him oxygen.

He had lung cancer, empysema, was struggling for breath, and he would sit there with a cigarette, and that oxygen tank turned on full blast, burning cigarettes in his living room.

We thought at any moment the whole house was just going to explode.

And he would start doing that.

We would just kind of walk out of the house and ease out into the yard.

Well, one day I had a chance to talk to him between cigarettes, because I didn't want to sit in there with him.

And I led him to the Lord two months before he died.

Now I'm telling you, he had no idea about God or the church, but he knew he was dying, and suddenly he became very interested in his eternal destination.

And I led him to the Lord.

He had an authentic transformation of his life two months before he died.

And I preached his funeral, and I know that he is in heaven without any doubt in my mind.

But I can't imagine the questions that he's asking up there.

He's the one asking Adam if he has a belly button.

I mean, bad questions.

Listen, every question you have will be answered in heaven.

You can ask anything.

Your relatives are asking questions right now, and God is taking time with them and answering their questions.

Here's the third observation that I have: the martyrs, they remembered their lives on the earth.

It's very important for us to catch this because a lot of us believe that when we get to heaven, all the memories of the earth are going to be wiped out.

I believe, in fact, that when you get to heaven, your memory is going to be sharper than ever.

You're going to have a great memory in heaven.

You're going to remember everything in heaven.

You're not going to forget where your keys are or your holy chariot.

You're going to know.

And the reason we know this is because the martyrs remember that they were murdered.

They point out to God, we know we were murdered.

Let me ask you a question.

Is the memory of being murdered, is that a good thought or a bad thought?

That's a bad thought.

Something went wrong.

That's a bad thought.

But they had it in heaven.

They remembered that they were murdered and yet they were in heaven.

Now, I believe that when we get to heaven, our mind, our memory is going to be sharper.

And the reason it is, is because we're going to have to give account for every action and every word in heaven.

Don't try this deal when you get to heaven.

I don't know.

I don't remember that.

Try that one time up there, okay?

I dare you.

I don't know what you're talking about, God.

Well, let me just pull up a DVD and show you what you said to your wife.

Romans 14, verse 11 says, For the scriptures say, As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me and every tongue will confess allegiance to God.

Romans 14:11

Is this happening on the earth or in heaven?

He's obviously pointing out an event in heaven.

Then he says, Yes, each of us will have to give a personal account to God.

That happens in heaven.

And then Jesus said that you will give an account for every idle word that you say.

That's why you should not be as talkative as you are right now.

Because you're going to have to give account for every idle word, every bad joke you repeat.

You're going to have to repeat it again in heaven.

And that's going to be awkward standing before God, giving account for that.

As this idea that we will not remember our lives is wrong.

Scripture tells us clearly that we're going to remember our lives on the earth.

And people say, well, if we remember our lives on the earth, won't that rob us of some type of joy?

Listen, I think we'll have very clear memories of things that happened on the earth, and it will make us grateful for heaven.

It'll make us so grateful.

We'll look back on our lives, remember the things that happened, see how God intervened in our lives time and time again, and we will celebrate God's faithfulness and goodness and generosity and grace and mercy because we remember how wretched and poor and deceived we were, and how God in his favor saved us, and how God engineered and navigated our lives to the place where we are now.

We'll have all the memories of the earth, but they will not torment us because there is no torment in heaven.

There's none.

No sorrow, no pain, no torment in heaven.

We'll just have memories of how of God's faithfulness, of God's goodness, of God's blessings, of his abundance.

Will we remember bad things?

Yeah, I think we will.

But they will not have the negative effect on us that they do now.

However, people in hell, they'll be tormented by their memories.

Because hell is a place of absolute torment.

Absolutely void of peace.

Absolutely void of anything good.

Goodness has nowhere, will be nowhere near hell.

But heaven will be a God-saturated environment where our memories, even though they're memories of bad things, will not torment us, they'll serve to make us more and more grateful.

Here's the fourth observation from this passage in Revelation.

The martyrs, they knew what was currently happening on the earth.

They were aware of the fact that the people who had murdered them had not been avenged.

They were aware of current activity on the earth.

And let me just say this up front.

I don't want to put all my cards on the table.

We're in Texas.

We're straight shooters.

I believe that people in heaven can see things that are happening on the earth.

And let me point this out to you.

Please listen, okay?

The scripture is does not make clear to us how much they see.

The scripture does not say that they see everything.

The scripture points out that they cannot read our thoughts.

We are not to pray to our loved ones.

We are not to try to make connection or communication with dead relatives.

However, we do see, and I'm going to show you some evidence here in Scripture that people in heaven can see events on the earth as allowed by God.

I'm going to show you several scriptures, and I wish I had more time, but I'm just going to give you enough to let you go forward this week and look at it yourself.

Turn with me to Luke 15, verse 7.

Luke 15:7

In Luke chapter 15, there are two parables, one of the lost sheep and one of the lost coin.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Okay, we're going to read what the Bible says about the lost sheep.

You know, if you leave the 99 and find the one.

It says, I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance.

Now, does the sinner repenting?

I just told you that the sinner can't repent after death, so where did the sinner repent?

On the earth.

And it says that there is joy in heaven over what happened on the earth.

Now I know a lot of people say, well, now listen, Pastor Brady, I think those are angels rejoicing.

Well, actually, in the parable of the lost coin, it says that when the coin was found, that there was rejoicing in the presence of angels.

That the angels were actually witnessing this celebration.

You see, I think a lot of us think there's some kind of Fox News channel up in heaven.

I'd like to tell you today there's a list of people who were saved at Gateway Church.

Please hold your applause to the end so we can all celebrate at once.

Here are the following names.

And so everybody gathers around the big screen, and someone that actually is born again that's in the media is there, okay?

And he's doing this.

So here's what happens.

That's not what happens.

There's not a reporting of heaven from some angelica person.

They're witnessing what's happening on the earth.

The Bible's clear that there is a witness in heaven of what happens on the earth.

Let me show you some other scriptures.

Luke 16, 25.

Abraham, Jesus is talking about the exchange between Abraham and the rich man and Lazarus.

Abraham said to him, Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing.

So now he is here being comforted, and you were in anguish.

Abraham knew the details of the rich man's life.

And he points out to the rich man that I know you have brothers on the earth, and they'll have opportunities to receive the truth.

It's very clear in Scripture.

Now, for example, another example is Moses and Elijah when they came down to the Mount of Transfiguration to meet with Jesus.

When they stepped into the earthly realm, they were aware of some of the details that were going on with Jesus while he was on the earth.

They didn't step into an environment and have no idea of what was going on, that Jesus was even there, that what Jesus was up to.

When an Old Testament example is when the witch of Endor, when Saul went to the witch and asked her to call up Samuel for, you know, to ask him some questions, who popped up?

Who appeared?

Samuel appeared.

And it shocked the witch that Samuel, the real Samuel, would appear.

Samuel's there.

And he has information about what was happening to Saul.

You can read the story for yourself.

And basically what Samuel tells Saul is, quit bothering me, solve your own problems.

But he was aware of what was happening on the earth.

Here's the question I know many of you are asking.

Because when I propose this question to a lot of people, this is the number one question that would come right back to me.

How can it be heaven if there is knowledge of suffering or evil on the earth?

How can it be heaven then?

The joy of heaven is not dependent on erased minds.

The joy of heaven is dependent upon redeemed minds.

Some of us have this idea that the joy or happiness of heaven is a fragile thing.

That any bad news that somehow leaks into heaven is going to shake up the joy or the peace of heaven the way it does for us on the earth.

But listen, we're talking about heaven.

God doesn't have peace.

God is peace.

God doesn't have joy.

He doesn't possess it.

He is joy.

And because he is joy, because he is peace, and because he's on an unshakable throne, because God sits on an unshakable, immovable throne that cannot be shaken by news of the earth, then any news that you hear or see on the earth is not going to shake your joy in heaven either.

You're not going to be shaken by this.

You're not going to be upset by this.

You're in heaven.

You're in a God-saturated, peace-saturated environment.

And your perspective has changed.

Remember when you had small kids and they were learning to walk?

And they would pull up like on the coffee table and they would balance, and you'd go, wait, look, get the camera, get the camera.

And we'd all kind of crowd around and watch them, and then they would know you're kind of watching them, and then they would just kind of let go of the coffee table and they would get their balance.

And then they would take a step, and you'd all, your eyes would get big, and then suddenly they'd go, pow! And we'd go, yeah! We weren't cheering because they were falling.

We were cheering because they'd taken their first step.

But not only did they not know how to walk, they didn't know how to fall.

I mean, their face would hit the floor.

Pow! And we'd cheer, yeah, you know, get up and try again.

Are you kidding me?

I just fell and hit my face.

No, try again, do it again.

Put it by the coffee table again.

Why is it that we can celebrate that?

Was that a failure?

Didn't they just fall and hurt themselves?

The reason as adults that we can celebrate a first step and a first fall is perspective.

As adults, we know that the process of learning to walk is going to require several falls.

And then when they learn to run, they're even going to fall again.

When you teach your kids to ride a bike, they're going to crash and burn several times.

Go off into the neighbor's yard and fall.

That's why you put all that gear on them.

I didn't have any of that gear when I was growing up.

They didn't have helmets or knee pads, they just fell off in the rocks.

I learned a lot quicker too, by the way.

But the perspective changes.

As adults, we understand that's a part of the process.

Listen, people in heaven now have a heavenly perspective about your life.

We don't know how much they can see on the earth, but when they do see things, their perspective has now changed.

They understand now that there is a final place called heaven.

And that you are headed there because you've accepted Christ.

And they can look at your life, and if they do see our failures, which I believe they can, and they see us making mistakes, it doesn't rob them of joy the same way it doesn't rob us of joy to watch our kids stumble and fall when they learn to walk.

They will walk, they will run, they will learn to ride their bike, and we cheer them on.

I think sometimes we're missing out on the cheers of heaven because we're not listening and we don't believe it.

I don't think you're ever going to audibly hear it, but I think to believe it, to believe, God wants you to believe in the cheering of heaven.

People cheering you on.

There is a scripture that says this.

Hebrews chapter 11, the entire chapter is talking about the heroes of our faith and how they're all now gone.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

They have one thing in common, they're all dead.

And they're all in heaven, the Bible says, and they never received the full promises that they were given by God.

But they were anticipating something, it says.

And it says then, so when chapter 12 opens up, verse 1 says this.

Hebrews 12, 1 says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith.

Do you know today you are surrounded by a huge crowd of people who have finished the race well?

They have run the race.

And they're looking at you and they're coming toward the finish line.

And they're cheering you on.

You can do it.

I finished, and you will finish.

You're going to do it.

So what if they see me stumble and fall?

What if they see me make terrible mistakes?

Their perspective is much different than yours.

They're just cheering you on.

I believe it's been a long time since some of you have heard the cheers from heaven.

I'm asking you today, would you take some courage from this?

I had someone tell me last night, I don't know if I have any family in heaven.

It doesn't say in the Bible that only your family is cheering you on.

It says in the Bible that you're being cheered on by the witnesses to the life of faith, that you've got a huge crowd, but not just your family.

All of heaven's cheering.

Whether they're related to you or not.

The cheers of heaven.

You see, we believe that God Himself, don't y'all feel that God can move from heaven to earth?

Don't you believe that God moves freely between heaven and the earth?

Don't you know that he's with you?

Don't you fit sense his presence?

Know that he's walking with you?

Somehow in our mind we think that the people in heaven are just in this chasm and can't.

I think they're cheering us on.

They're rooting us on.

They're wanting you to succeed.

One day recently, I it was I was sitting right over there on a Saturday night service, and I was just in the we were worshiping, and the music was playing, and I felt really impressed to just go upstairs and check in on my little eight-year-old.

He's a part of the children's worship team up there, and I knew that they would be in their middle of their music then.

So I walked up and I just kind of looked in the glass where he couldn't see me, but I could kind of see him.

And he was engaged in worship.

He's always got a big smile on his face, just having a good time, but he was worshiping.

He wasn't worshiping because dad told him to go worship.

He was doing it by his own choice.

And that's nothing more thrilling for a parent to see a child choose to worship, to choose to follow the Lord.

And I was just cheering him on through the glass.

I was going, yeah.

It's good to see that.

It's good to see him engaged.

He didn't know I was there, but I was cheering him on.

He didn't have to know that I was there.

I was rooting for him, though.

Praying for him, rooting for him.

Can you hear the cheers of heaven today?

Rooting on?

Life's hard.

Life is difficult.

And I think the Lord points these things out in the Bible to us to know that you've got a lot more people rooting for your success than rooting for your failure.

Could you close your eyes with me right now?

I want you to walk away today with this deposit in your heart.

If you have accepted Christ, you're headed to paradise.

It is a real place with a real God, and you're going to be there a really long time.

But I want you to leave here today with a deposit also of hope that people are cheering for you right now.

And I think there are many of you that need to hear this in your heart.

You need to know that people are rooting for you, cheering for you.

Right now, they're cheering for you.

Rooting for you.

In just a moment, I'm going to pray and I'm going to ask our altar ministry team to come forward.

And I want you to, if there's any of you here today, you just need some encouragement.

You need, you're in a bad place, and the race that you're running right now is very, very difficult.

Could you just come down and let us pray with you and encourage you today?

And I also think there's some of you that you're having a hard time dealing with the loss of a loved one.

And listen, it's okay to mourn.

It is healthy to mourn.

But in that time of mourning, I think you need to let people rally around you and pray for you, put their arms around you.

Part of the reason that I brought this up is I want you to know that your loved ones that accepted Christ, they're in a good place right now.

And I want to remind you of that.

But you're still here on the earth.

And we want to pray for you today.

If there's any need in your body, anything at all, that you need prayer for, we're going to pray for you in just a moment, okay?

We're going to be available to pray for as long as we'll stay as long as we need.

But let's just receive the hope of heaven today, okay?

Would you just open your heart for a moment?

Just receive the hope from heaven.

Lord, we are so grateful.

So very grateful for heaven.

Lord, in Jesus' name, we pray right now for the hope of heaven to fill our hearts.

Lord, I pray right now in Jesus' name that your Holy Spirit would fill us, consume us.

Lord, I pray today for those who are heavy.

They have a heaviness because of the loss of the loved one.

I pray right now that your Holy Spirit would come and comfort them.

Lord, I pray you would remind us that our loved ones are in a good place, that they're in paradise.

Those who've accepted Christ, they're in heaven.

And we're grateful.

Lord, today, we receive your hope.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.