Heaven | Pastor Josh Thomas

Well, good morning, 1130.

How are we doing today?

Doing well.

Good.

Hey.

Go ahead and get in your Bibles to Revelation 21.

Uh, not a very hard book to find.

It's the last one in your Bible, right?

Uh that's where we're gonna spend some time this morning.

My name is Josh.

I have the privilege of being the young adult pastor here at United City.

Uh, thank you guys so much.

Thank you.

Oh, y'all, my favorite service.

I like y'all already.

I didn't get this at the 8:30 or the 10.

So this is great.

It's gonna be a fun time.

Uh hey, it is so good to be with you guys in the house of the Lord on this today that the Lord has made.

Uh, so thankful that you guys will worship with us.

And also good morning to everybody tuning in online, as well as all of our men and women at all of our correctional facilities.

Thank you so much for diving in with us this morning.

When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.

When we all see Jesus, we will sing, we will shout victory.

You see, many of us grew up singing that old hymn as it gave the saints a great and glorious future to look to, right?

The day that we will be standing in the presence of our risen Lord and Savior, the day that we would see the Lamb slain and seated on the throne, the day where all of God's children get together, the day, as my grandmama would say, that we all make it over, right?

When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that'll be.

And I don't doubt that day one is gonna be amazing.

But the question does come up what happens after day one?

If heaven is forever, we just gonna be singing all day?

We just gonna be talking all day?

What is the reality after day one?

If heaven is forever and eternity is all that is left, what will we be doing when we all get to heaven?

Today we're picking up in week two of our invisible series, a series you guys actually polled on us to preach on.

Uh, and the goal behind this series, uh, really simple, is that we would peek behind the curtain of reality into the unseen realm of reality by diving into the scriptures that actually talk about them.

Last week, Pastor Chris gave a message on hell, eternal separation from God.

This week I have a much lighter topic.

We're gonna talk about heaven this morning.

Uh, see, for many of you, when you hear the term heaven, uh, you probably have an idea of what heaven is for you.

If if I were to give the reins over to you so that you could decide what heaven is.

Some of y'all may say, I don't know, Josh, is maybe waking up at 8:30, 9, 9:30 a.m.

in the morning.

No schedule, 70 degrees.

Probably ain't living in Houston, right?

Let's just be honest.

Uh 1960 is completely done.

Uh, and I don't have to worry about that.

Traffic is easy, right?

Uh, I can hit the greens with my boys, uh, we can play a few rounds, and the golf cart in front of us doesn't slow us down.

They keep going.

And I would tell you, that's not heaven, it's retirement, okay?

Uh and some of you would get to experience that.

Um, some of you would tell me, Josh, you know, if I could create my own heaven, it would be that, you know, whenever the alarm goes off and my kids to get up for school the first time, they just kind of get up and do it, you know, like like that would be heaven, and then like there would be no traffic, and I could stop and I could get some coffee and get on to work, and then I would have no problems.

My boss wouldn't be down my back, and that would be amazing.

And then when I get home, like dinner and it would be great, and like everything would go to plan, and when I put my kid down for bed, they would stay in bed and they wouldn't get out of bed.

And they and and I would tell you, that's not heaven, that's a miracle, okay?

Uh and we we will we'll pray for you.

Uh, some of us in this room would say that heaven probably resembles, I don't know, uh, an open calendar, uh, unreserved, unlimited, uh, uncrowded uh pickleball courts for as far as our little eyes can see, right?

Um and that ain't heaven, that's just a dream.

Okay.

The culture would even tell you that heaven is these little cute uh cupid babies sitting around on clouds all day, just plucking away at harps and flutes.

Right?

Uh regardless of what your idea of heaven is, I think collectively we can say this today.

Both the church and the culture have been terribly misinformed about what heaven actually is.

Uh, for many of you, uh the good news is that the reality of heaven is found here in Scripture.

That the Bible speaks to the reality of heaven as well.

In its descriptions, it doesn't include these fluffy baby Cupid angels just chilling on clouds all day.

No, this Bible, our Bible, actually describes at length the coming reality in store for those who have trusted in Jesus, the Son, their Savior.

And church, what you need to know is that it's so much more than what we could even imagine.

See, this morning, my my goal is not to give you an exhaustive list of the realities of heaven, uh, mainly because I've never been, right?

Uh, I can't give you a Yelp review on my experience of heaven.

But instead, what I can do is give you a hopeful glimpse into what's waiting for those who have trusted in Jesus.

After all, if God has set eternity into every man's heart, then this is something you long for.

This is something you desire to know.

And what I can tell you with confidence is that the place that God is going to prepare for you, the place he is going, it's good.

I'd like to do that this morning by answering three questions, uh, primarily.

What is heaven and what's it going to be like?

Uh, who's going to be there?

Who's gonna be in heaven?

Uh, and lastly, how do I go?

So let's dive in.

What is heaven and what's it going to be like?

Now, a clarification before we dive too deep.

It is important to understand which heaven it is I am talking about today.

Uh Roman, uh Revelation 21, 1 reads this way.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

Uh see in Revelation 21, John speaks of this new heaven, and this new heaven is not our present heaven.

Okay?

Uh, when our loved ones who have trusted in Jesus, when they pass, they do go to heaven, but this heaven it's more of a waiting area than it is a final destination.

Uh, not to be mistaken or interpreted for purgatory, uh, but this is a holding area where many loved ones, those who have trusted in Jesus, they spend time in the presence of God awaiting that glorious day that we all enter into the new heaven together.

And this morning, it is the new heaven that I'd like to inform you of.

Uh, this heaven is the reward of the redeemed.

It's the place where we will enjoy the company of the collective saints and our beloved Godhead.

It's the place that Scripture says every tear will be wiped away.

There is no death.

There is no grief, there is no mourning, there is no sorrow, there is no pain, only joy and the fullness of it.

It is that heaven this morning that I wish to bring to you this morning.

And my hope is that you would find comfort in these words.

That your decision to follow after the king of creation is a good one.

But we're in the book of Revelation.

And if you've ever read the book of Revelation, you know that it's some is some crazy stuff in the book of Revelation, right?

There's a lot of schools of thought on the book of Revelation.

Uh, what's literal and what's figurative.

Josh, are you actually telling me that a scorpion with seven heads is gonna be big as the the continent of Africa?

And it's just gonna it's just gonna start eating me and just taking me out?

To which I would say, I don't know, okay?

I I really hope not.

That would be really cool and terrifying at the same time.

Let's just be so for real.

But the whole bottom line, the whole goal of the book of Revelation, see, John was instructed to write what he saw down for churches who were in need of either encouraging, correcting, or warning.

But what was his encouragement?

His encouragement was that one day what sin has distorted, God will restore.

So don't lose heart.

Because there's a coming day that the scriptures say that the that's filled with glimpses and promises that will reveal to us what heaven will be like in the new heaven.

And in the new heaven at its core, the definition that I could give you is this it's the physical location where the presence of God dwells.

His design is respected, the resurrected sun rules and reigns, and the ultimate destination where those who have trusted in Jesus will spend eternity with him in a resurrected body.

Let's talk about it.

If heaven is a physical uh location, what's it going to be like?

Uh will we have jobs, right?

Uh the the best answer I can give you is that everything will be restored and everything will be perfect.

Uh, some of you in this room, because of your managers, because of your experience at work, you think that work is a result of sin, right?

That is not true, okay?

Uh Revelation 22, 2 reads this way: Through the middle of the street of the city, also on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.

The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Uh it says that every month on the month that a new crop was produced.

Uh if you know anything about gardening, then you know that it takes roughly at best 30 uh 90 days uh for a plant to actually come to fruition.

But what it's saying here is that it's 30 days.

I think what John is trying to emphasize is that creation will once again function how God intended for it to in the first place.

And that our job will be what Adam and Eve were instructed to do, to cultivate God's creation.

See, not only will we work the land, but the land will work how it's supposed to for us.

What many people don't realize is that work is actually a precursor thing.

That work before the fall was fulfilling and it was satisfying.

And while there was great fulfillment in what we could produce, our value, our identity, our livelihoods, it did not depend on it.

No, no, no.

See, it wasn't until sin entered into the world that we actually found more value and currency than our creator.

No, I see, it it wasn't until the fall that man longed for a promotion and the praise of his peers more than he desired the simple pleasure of simply being with the Father in the presence of God.

But make no mistake, for man to enjoy the fruit of his hands and his labor, that has always been a part of God's intended design.

And in the new heaven, we will work and we will labor as God intended all along, partnering with him to run this universe.

And we'll do that through jobs and responsibilities uniquely tailored to one special aptitude and power.

It's work that you do at your best, the best.

Work that will give the fullest play to everything that is within you.

Church, you work and you enjoy it as the gift that God always intended it to be.

Another common question you get is will we just be singing all day?

Right?

Uh as a worship leader, I just gotta be honest, that sounds so exhausting.

I'll just be it is hard work to do what we do up here.

It just sounds exhausting, right?

And everybody else that don't sing, you like, yeah, y'all find it exhausting and we would find it annoying, okay?

Because we just don't want y'all riffing and running all over the place, right?

But a caveat.

Worship in heaven will be lit, okay?

You got CeCe Winens, you got Maverick City, Phil Wickham, the Clark Sisters, Israel Holton, you got Amos Rivera and Richie Allen and MJ.

I mean, y'all, worship gonna be amazing.

Give me some Phil Wickham lyrics with some gospel chords, and I might start shouting.

You feel what I'm saying?

Worship is gonna be amazing.

And don't get me started on the food of heaven, my God.

Okay.

But in his vision, surely that can't be all that heaven is.

See, John mentions in Revelation 21, 24 that the kings and nations will all bring their glory into the city.

That they'll bring things into the holy city.

And in verse 24, here's what he says: he says, By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night there.

They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.

That they'll bring in the glory, they'll bring in what God has designed them to be.

That every culture will be represented fully as God intended for it to be, with no taint of sin.

John says the nations and the kings of the nations will come into the holy city and they'll render services to the king.

But during our service to the king, just imagine with me for just a moment, could it be that honest and pleasing trade takes place with neighboring nations and people groups as well?

Could it be that we actually can sit across from a dining table with somebody that doesn't look like us or think like us or talk like us?

And instead of figuring out ways to make us more divided, it actually unifies us.

That when we actually talk about our differences, worship happens because we see a different face of God.

After all, y'all think about it, when John looks into heaven, he sees people from every nation, tribe, and tongue.

Question, church, how could such a distinction be made if we all look the same, talk the same, and descended from the same culture of people?

If our God is multifaceted, and he is, an honest heaven must reflect the same thing.

Which is why we believe it's everyone, every day here, crossing every divide here, so that we could make this place look as it is in heaven on earth.

Another common question you get is will heaven be boring?

Will it be boring?

Will you just sit around all day?

Some of you maybe even heard, I'd rather party it up in hell, Josh, than lounge around and bored in heaven all day.

In his book on heaven, Randy Alcorn actually makes a profound statement.

Uh, take a listen.

When we ponder the thought of heaven being boring, we fall for the devil's lie that sin is exciting and that righteousness is boring.

We're led to believe that sin brings fulfillment.

The truth is that sin robs us of fulfillment.

It doesn't create adventure, it blunts it.

Sin doesn't expand life.

Sin doesn't expand life, sin doesn't expand life, it shrinks it.

When there's fulfillment, when there's beauty, when we see God as He truly is, an endless reservoir of fascination, boredom simply becomes impossible.

See, Randy says that it is impossible for us to become bored when we look upon the beauty and the splendor of our King.

That if the angels still cry holy every time, they take a lap around his throne because they see yet another beautiful characteristic of our Father, there is inexhaustible joy to be found in the presence of our King.

But let me preach for just a moment.

1130.

The problem is that many of us have not pursued the pleasure and wonder of our Creator on this side of heaven.

You think heaven's gonna be boring because you think church is boring.

You don't join in with the saints when we sing holy, holy, holy.

You stand with your hand in your pocket.

You don't go to grow track, you don't get in on the activity of what God is doing in the life of his church, and so of course you would think heaven is boring because you don't think church is life-giving.

Question for you When you turn the corner at Main Street USA in Disney World and you look at Cinderella's castle, does anybody have to force you to be awed?

No.

And why?

Because inherent beauty shouldn't have to demand praise, it should just warrant it.

And when you stand before a holy God and you see his beauty, whether you choose to admit it or not, you will fall to your knees and you will cry holy.

You will either do it out of submission or you will do it out of rebellion.

The problem is that this has led us to a half-hearted, underwhelming expectation of heaven.

You're not excited to sing in heaven because you're not excited to sing here.

You're not excited to work in heaven because you're not excited to work here.

You've actually chased what the culture would consider and define heaven more than what the Bible would consider and define heaven to be.

And so, of course, you're gonna think that heaven's boring.

And to you, I would say, with all the love and grace in my heart, God has given you more than everything you need to experience his wonder and his beauty and his joy today.

So, whenever you start thinking, is heaven going to be boring?

I just want you to take a look at these verses.

I'm gonna put them up.

Let these verses be an encouragement to your soul.

Just take a quick picture of them.

I'm gonna run through them fairly quickly.

Let these words soak into your heart.

Psalm 16, 11.

In your presence, Lord, there is a fullness of joy.

Here's what that means: that there is nothing that has not been saturated.

Everything has been covered.

There is a fullness and a lack of depletion, just perpetual fullness.

Psalm 104 says, Enter his gates with praise and thanksgiving, enter his courts with praise.

2 Corinthians 3:17.

2 Corinthians 3:17

Now the Lord is spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

In Luke chapter 23, beginning in verse 43, as Jesus is within hours of his last breath, Jesus assures the thief on the cross, truly I say to you, today you will be with me in a paradise.

Luke 23 · chapter mention

He says, A paradise is awaiting you on the other side, which means there is no reason to fear the boredom of heaven when the scriptures clearly state that our God came to give us life and life more abundantly.

You can experience the presence of heaven today if only as a mere foretaste of what awaits us on the other side in church, even as I was having to come to grips with this myself, I was grieved to think that I cannot envision a world without sin, which should show me just how grave and hurtful sin actually is.

The actual effect that it's had on our souls.

Another question?

Josh, who's going to be there?

Who's gonna be in heaven?

Right?

Uh if I could give the Disney Fast Pass uh to a few folks uh to just kind of bypass St.

Peter and the line uh and just go and get into heaven, uh, there's a few folks that I would uh give it to.

My hope is that heaven doesn't have uh waiting lines, right?

That's just I would imagine that it didn't, but if it did, uh I I think I would give a few people the pass.

Uh one of them being um the coffee team on Sunday mornings.

Uh they keep you awake so you can listen to us, okay?

And we are so grateful for that.

Um, the kids serve team.

Oh, yeah, they may get like a golden diaper out like inside of their mansion, you know, when they get to heaven and like some jewels in their crown because of the way that they serve.

Um, the parking team.

Uh some of y'all can't be coming across the parking lot, and instead of coming to worship Jesus, y'all might go to meet him without our parking lot team in the parking lot, right?

These are just a few people that if it if I could, I would say, hey, you got it.

But seriously, who makes it in?

Who gets into heaven?

You see, in Revelation 21, 27, John gives a very crystal clear answer to this.

He says, Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

See, if heaven is a physical place where God's rule reigns and his reign is respected, then only those who have chosen to follow God's rule and reign make it in.

But let me clarify a little bit.

Since heaven is a physical place where God's rule reigns over God's kingdom, which is all creation, then only those who have chosen to follow God as King and Lord and willingly and joyfully, catch that, joyfully submit to his authority over their life will enter into the new heaven and earth.

Paul was saying this as a warning as well as an encouragement because there were churches throughout Asia Minor that was that were actually just going to church but not encountering Jesus.

Which means that y'all can come to church but not go to heaven.

Catch it.

See, the apostle Paul spent a great amount of time with upstart churches throughout the known world, and at the time, and even in a few of his ongoing letters to them, because of his affection for them, he mentions the coming where all of those who have died will be reunited with Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 3 13, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus.

Don't miss those last four words with all his saints.

1 Thessalonians 4 14.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

You see it.

Paul says that those who have trusted in the resurrected Savior will be resurrected themselves with the resurrected and restored bodies.

And my seasoned saints said, Amen.

And once for all time they will be reunited with their Savior, and everyone and every saint that has placed their faith and trust in Jesus while here on earth.

But even more than that, y'all, we're gonna be reunited with anybody that's ever trusted in Jesus ever.

How exciting to think about that.

That we'll have dinner parties and basketball tournaments and pickleball tournaments with the forefathers of our faith, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Can you imagine that we'll get to skip rocks with David and stay on the right side of that boy's slingshot?

Y'all feel what I'm saying?

Right?

For those of you that are deeply fascinated with church history and theology, you'll be able to spend time with St.

Augustine and Spursion and Tozer and Billy Graham, even Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

I asked our staff earlier this week who they were excited to spend some time with.

Amos, our worship pastor, said that he wanted to spend some time with Eudychus.

Y'all asked me who Eudychus is.

Eutychus was the young man that fell out the second story during the Bible study that Paul was preaching.

And just to ask him how embarrassed he must have been on the way home, right?

John Shepard, our kids' pastor, said he looks forward to spending time with Dietrich Bonhoeffer and to ask him how he found such peace, knowing that his actions might cost him his life.

My wife, Lily Grace, asked, uh told me that she looks forward to the day that she can schedule coffee with Mary Magdalene.

And to just ask her about her time with Jesus.

For myself, I like to spend time with Joshua and to ask him how cool it must have been to ask God to make the sun stand still, right?

And also, how are you not hot, right?

I mean, that's a long time with the sun directly in the middle of the sky.

So fascinating and so fun.

But an important note my aim and my pursuit of heaven.

See, it is not solely that I am reunited with my loved ones or to meet some of the Bible's most iconic figures.

We hear in our world a lot, people want to go to heaven so that they get to see their family and friends again.

That's admirable.

But for me, the object of heaven is to be in the presence of my Savior and to enjoy his physical company forever.

That is the aim and the object of my desire to go to heaven.

That our longing should not be to see them, but to see him.

But, church, if it is God's design that we not only experience a relationship with him, uh, but that we experience a relationship with those he created, then with great comfort and hope I tell you there is nothing wrong with the excitement and joy that comes when we think of our loved ones who have gone over.

Um many of you know that uh I deeply love my grandfather.

Uh he passed away five years ago.

Um, my life looks so different.

Um not in the same city, not in the same state, not even a season of life.

My life looks so different than it did the last conversation that him and I had.

Um we still have much to catch up on.

Y'all, I am so excited to spend eternity with him.

I'm excited for him to meet my wife.

I'm excited for him to meet some of my little brothers in this church.

I'm excited to tell him about my life and ministry and how I finally said yes.

I'm excited to tell him about the stories of how I saw God move.

I'm excited to tell him about the stories that I've gotten to witness and the things I've gotten to see.

I'm just excited to spend time with him and talk about the days that we had on earth.

And I would imagine that for many of you, you also got folks on the other side that you're excited to see.

Growing up, I I dreaded family reunions.

Ooh.

They were just messy drama, just all the things.

That one uncle that can't read the room, you know what I'm talking about?

Um, if you don't know which uncle that is, it's probably you.

Um Church, this is one family reunion that I am so desperately looking forward to.

I would imagine that many of you are as well.

An old pastor was having to comfort his congregation after the loss of several loved ones, and all he told them was that those whom you've laid in the grave with many tears, they're in good keeping.

You will yet see them again with joy?

So believe it.

Think it.

Rest on it.

It is all true.

What's heaven gonna be like?

Who's gonna be there?

How do I go?

How do I go?

Nearing the end of his time on earth, uh, Jesus uh begins downloading instructions and information to his closest disciples.

Uh many of us would know this is the Last Supper or the farewell discourse, if you will.

And uh at one point, Jesus looks at his disciples and with compassion uh he tells them that he's leaving.

Now, this to them was not good news at all.

That Jesus, you can't leave.

You can't go.

Uh who's gonna stand up to the Pharisees when they come bullying us?

Uh who's gonna show me the scriptures?

Who's gonna who's gonna take care of me?

Who's gonna protect me?

Jesus, you you can't go.

You can't.

And in John 14, 1, Jesus says, Don't let your hearts be troubled.

Trust in God and trust also in me.

There is more than enough room in my father's home.

If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

When everything is ready, I will come and I will get you, so that you can be with me always wherever I am.

And then he tells him something.

He says, And you know the way to where I am going.

Thomas, uh the disciple of Jesus, known for his inquisitive and sometimes doubting nature, right?

Like a few of us in the room, uh, speaks up and he asks Jesus, he says, No, Lord, we don't know where you're going.

We we don't know.

Uh we actually, we actually have no idea where you're going.

And so if we don't even know where you're going, then how could we know the way?

To which Jesus responds with these words I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one can come to the father except through me.

If you had really known me, you would know who my father is.

See, from now on, you do know him and you have seen him because you have seen me.

With confidence and clarity, Jesus articulates the way to the Father, He articulates the way to truth and to life.

And he doesn't point them to their morally good works, he doesn't point them to their contributions, uh contributions to the society or to the community that they're a part of.

He doesn't point them to their good works, he doesn't point them to the faith of anybody else, he doesn't point them to the faith of their family, he doesn't point them to the faith of their boyfriend or their girlfriend or their husband or their wife, he doesn't point them to the faith of even their parents to say you can you can ride their coattails in.

He doesn't point them to anybody else but himself.

He says, You want to go there?

It goes through me.

Jesus says, the way to the Father, the way to experiencing this kind of life, the life that God intended, work as God intended, relationship as God intended, it's all through me.

By believing that I and the Father are one and that I chose to go to the cross for you so that we could be together.

Again, church, if you put your faith in Jesus, rejoice in knowing that heaven awaits.

Take comfort knowing that heaven awaits.

That while we may go to heaven now, one day heaven will come to us.

And that God will live among his people forever.

That he will be our God and that we will be his people, that there will be no more night and no more day, because the Lamb will be the light that we live by, that we will enjoy the physical company of our present, of our Savior forever.

That not only are we reconciled to God the Father, not only is creation restored to God's original design, but there is a redemption that awaits those who have put their trust in Jesus.

That we finally see the good Paul is talking about in Romans 8.28, for we know that all things work together for the good of those who love Christ Jesus.

When do we see the good when we see the one who created all things good?

Face to face.

That the pain and the anguish and the confusion and the loss, Paul says it will all be redeemed, that in comparison to what lies ahead, he calls this present age a light and momentary affliction that is preparing for us exactly what an eternal weight of glory.

An eternal weight of glory.

It is only the rehearsal.

And if this is rehearsal, you should respond today as if you're standing in the presence of God today.

Uh uh, one of my favorite songs is, What would you do if he walked in the room?

You need to live your life today, knowing that the grave is just a gateway to the goodness of God.

You need to live your life today knowing that death is just the doorway into resurrected life.

That if we join him in suffering, we will join him when he rises.

And when he returns in glory with all the angels and the saints, will your heart be singing?

Will your song be the same?

You need to live your life knowing that this is not a final destination, it is a pit stop of faithfulness.

And God is looking to you to steward it well.

Church, this is not the headlining act, it is the last opener.

How are you rehearsing?

Ultimately, you need to live your life surrender to the one that left heaven to come to you.

There's one question I didn't put in there.

Decided I just keep it for myself until this moment.

See, you can know everything about heaven, you can know the theology behind it, you can walk through a study of revelation, you can know everything that's coming.

But if you don't know how to answer this question, none of it means anything.

Are you gonna be there?

Will your name be found in the Lamb's book of life?

If it's not, you can change that today.

God's giving you everything you need.

So will you pray with me?

11:30.

There are people in this room who you've put your faith and trust in Jesus, and for you, I want you to take comfort knowing that heaven awaits, that the sum of your life will make sense when King Jesus returns, that there is a great and glorious future that is awaiting you, that you will see the lamb slain and seeded, but you also see loved ones, and nothing will stand between you and them.

There are some of you in this room where you actually can't answer that last question with full confidence, or maybe you can, but it's not the question or not the answer that you'd like.

And my encouragement to you today would be to make a decision.

If heaven and hell are real, which do you desire to go to?

And are you willing to confess that you have sinned against the holy God, that a holy God has died for you as to make it possible and affordable for you to go?

This is true.

This is the case.

And you would choose to give your life to Jesus today.

The prayer is simple, it goes something like this, and you can even say it right now, God.

I admit that I'm a sinner.

I believe you died for me to pay for my sin.

And God, I'm choosing to put my trust in you.

So come into my life.

Make me whole, make me yours.

For some of you, your next step is to show that you actually stand with the redeemed, that you're gonna be in heaven, and you need to actually come let us help you schedule your baptism.

If you're going to heaven, we want to know about it today.

For some of you, you need to get in on the action of what God is doing at United City.

That you actually get to partner with God to bring heaven to your sphere of influence throughout Northeast Houston.

Hey, whatever it is, we want to give the opportunity to pray.

We're gonna give you the opportunity to talk to one of our team members about that.

So our prayer team is gonna get in place.

Our team's gonna get in place, and we're gonna have an honest moment of response.

For many of you, there's somebody that's not in this room that you wish were going to heaven.

And I would ask you right now that you can intercede, you can stand in the gap for them, and so maybe you just need to come pray for them.

Regardless of what it is, we'd love to pray with you.

And so, Jesus, be exalted in this place.

God be lifted high.

God, would you move in this moment of response?

We give it to you, and it's in your name that we pray.

Amen.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

We can't wait to see you next week for any of our services at 8 30, 10, 11 30, or Espanol at 1 o'clock.