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Heaven is Higher || Pastor Adam Mesa

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  1. Welcome to the Lesse podcast. Here at Lesse, we seek the loss,

  2. teach the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you're encouraged by

  3. this week's message. Pastor Diego called me this week said, Hey, what

  4. are you gonna talk about it? I said, I really feel led to

  5. talk about heaven, like, what worship looks like in heaven, what some

  6. experiences are like for us in heaven, and then my das a man that's

  7. strange. I'm literally working on a message that is gonna be on heaven too,

  8. potentially during the month of July, so you know what to see,

  9. but it may be a series that we go into heaven. Right, So

  10. that's what we're gonna talk about today, and Lord willing, if God continues

  11. to Holy Spirit continues to get Pastor Diego that word, we'll have more conversations

  12. this month talking about heaven, because Heaven gets mentioned a lot, but very

  13. little times does it get in depthly talked about. There's not a lot of

  14. Bible passages that give us a ton of in depth, but there's definitely enough

  15. that there's room for a long conversation on what heaven looks like and how do

  16. we respond in the worship in heaven. And so if you have your bibles,

  17. would you turn the Revelations chapter seven, verse nine to seventeen. And

  18. as you're finding that in your Bible or maybe up on the screen Revelation seven,

  19. nine to seventeen, may drink this tea in between. First service made

  20. me lose my voice because those rascally little critters got excited during first service and

  21. people standing on their chairs and waving, you know, handkerchiefs. So I

  22. lost my voice first service, but I rested it in between. So I

  23. think we're good to go today. So if you have your Passage of Revelations

  24. chapter seven, would you stand on your feet for the honor of reading God's

  25. word this morning today? And as I see that you guys are there in

  26. your Bible or on your phones, will continue to read it says this Revelation

  27. seven nine. After this, I looked up and behold a great multitude that

  28. no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and

  29. languages, standing before the throne of God, and before the lamb, clothed

  30. in white robes with branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice.

  31. Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the

  32. Lamb. And all of the angels were standing around the throne, and around

  33. the elders and the four living creatures. And they fell on their face before

  34. the throne and worshiped God, saying, Amen, Blessing and glory and wisdom

  35. and thanksgiving and honor and power, and might be to our God forever and

  36. ever. Amen. Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, who

  37. are these clothed in white robes? And from where have they come? I

  38. said to him, sir, you know, And he said to me,

  39. these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their

  40. robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are

  41. before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple.

  42. And He who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They

  43. shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. The sun shall neither strike them

  44. nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will

  45. be their shepherd, and he will guide them to the spring of living water.

  46. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Let's pray this

  47. morning. Amen, Lord, we thank you for this word today. Lord,

  48. we could really just pack things up here from today. Your word has

  49. said enough for us, but God has pray as we endeavor to understand this

  50. passage more and understand your heart, God and your desire for us to know

  51. you, to love you, and to serve you. God, I thank

  52. you we have the opportunity one day to stand in your presence and be in

  53. awe of your glory and your wonder Lord. I pray that we never take

  54. that for granted. And today may this be a glimpse of what Heaven's eternal

  55. reward looks like because of your goodness and your mercy that's found in your son

  56. Jesus. And Jesus, we pray, Amen and Amen, you may be

  57. seated. Thank you so much. You know, as we understand, understand

  58. and uncover this passage today talking a little bit about revelations, you know,

  59. it's very easy for people as we read the Book of Revelations, it's really

  60. easy to get caught in this wild goose chase in the passage, which is

  61. just to look for little notes and little little little u We call him Easter

  62. eggs when is Jesus gonna return? And I'll tell you this, if if

  63. we only read the Book of Revelation just to look for Easter eggs on Jesus's

  64. return, we do Revelations a disservice because the Book of Revelations is not just

  65. about giving us cultural context clues on when Jesus's return is actually in those passages

  66. that is but a blink of an eye. Jesus, when he returns,

  67. the Bible says that he'll return like a heaf in a night. It'll come

  68. fast and swiftly. Jesus also says that no man knows the day and hour

  69. of his return, only the Father who was in heaven. And so you

  70. and I could read the Book of Revelations all day, and we could have

  71. the newspaper on one side, and we can have the TV station on the

  72. other side, and you can read Revelations all day and try to do that

  73. type of Easter egg hunting all day. But I'll tell you this, if

  74. you are looking outrospectively more than you're looking introspectively, than you are reading Revelations

  75. wrong. Because revelations in this book that is a collection of a letter written

  76. by the apostle John to seven churches of his day just under two thousand years

  77. ago. This was a real letter written to real churches who were really going

  78. through persecution. And each of those seven churches were experiencing different things, and

  79. God had given John a vision, which was a message in those letters written

  80. to those churches. And so Revelations is not written to you, it's written

  81. for you. Revelations was written two seven churches back in John's day, but

  82. Revelations is written for us so that we can see that this is still a

  83. prophetic message of what God is still yet to do here on earth. And

  84. as we look at this, it's meant to ask you one question and hopefully

  85. answer it. Am I ready for Jesus's return? Are you ready? Have

  86. you allowed God's word in a relationship with Christ to transform you in such a

  87. way that if Jesus were to come today, you'd be ready. So whatever

  88. the news says tomorrow, whatever the news says next week or next month,

  89. it ought not to change your preparedness. And so from this question that says,

  90. am I ready should Jesus come back or his bride, it should also

  91. cause me to say, then, what does that future look like when I'm

  92. in God's presence, what does heaven look like? What does worship look like?

  93. What do we look like? And so I'm gonna offer a little bit

  94. today through what we read today about what worship really looks like in heaven and

  95. who really gets all of the credit. We read Revelations chapter seven. This

  96. is a moment of victory for God. We're after the Great Tribulation period,

  97. and wherever your theology is, whether you believe in pre trib post trib pre

  98. millennial, millennial, post millennial, not to go into any of those things

  99. today. And if those went over your head today, that's fine, because

  100. we're not gonna go into those today. If you do know those words,

  101. then you're really smart and I give you a high five on that. But

  102. today we're gonna simply talk wherever you're at, all of us do believe there

  103. is a day, no matter or what millennial thing you believe in, we

  104. believe there is a day we all will be in heaven, will all stand

  105. before God, and we all believe that there is a day of victory where

  106. God says and puts a stamp and says, I am done with this era

  107. of human history, this era is done, and now the eternal history begins

  108. with my people who will be with me. That is the moment that we

  109. anticipate, and that is the moment we wait for. Revelation seven is a

  110. statement of victory where all those who would believe in Jesus, all those who

  111. would be redeemed, we all stand in Heaven before Jesus in a great victory

  112. moment to know that Jesus has redeemed us all. What does that moment look

  113. like, Well, here's some moments in human history what they've looked like.

  114. When World War One ended. When France had announced to the country in November

  115. nineteen eighteen that World War One was over, it said that people in France

  116. began to make makeshift flags that resembled the French flag as best as possible,

  117. and they went out to the streets and they waved it back and forth to

  118. represent the freedom in World War One and the into the war. In World

  119. War Two. Great Britain had announced May eighth, nineteen forty five, would

  120. be the day that they called Victory Day, which was the end of World

  121. War Two. It was said that Winston Churchill personally called the Ministry of Food

  122. and made sure that they increased their supply of beer because what they did was

  123. they would give out free beer in celebration of victory of World War two,

  124. even so much so as many businesses would make Victory Day mugs that they would

  125. pour the beer into, and they would celebrate the fact that they had won

  126. World War Two in the war was over. Many of us know the name

  127. of Spartans, the great warrior tribe from Greece. The way that they would

  128. celebrate their battles being won was really much more stranger than waving a flag or

  129. pouring a beer. And what the Spartans would do is it would feature each

  130. generation. They would get males, and they would get older men, and

  131. they would get younger men. And what those men would do is they would

  132. get naked and they would dance a war dance, and they would sing choral

  133. songs. And what it would represent was each generation had a part to play

  134. in the victory. The older men had the wisdom of battle intelligence, and

  135. the younger men had the youth and the strength to win the war. And

  136. so it was important for the Spartans that they would gather all generations of men

  137. and they would dance in the street and sing songs naked, which was much

  138. more weirder for us. I don't think we have any victory dance like that

  139. in the modern era, and I'm okay with it not coming in to fashion.

  140. However, you celebrate your victories, or you seen victories be celebrated.

  141. Many football teams and basketball teams will do parades, They'll go on buses and

  142. drive around. But what does the victory look like when God culminates his entire

  143. church being you and I and all those that would come after us, and

  144. all those that would come before us that would follow Jesus. What does that

  145. moment look like where God gathers his church in heaven. This is the moment

  146. that we see in Revelations chapter seven, and I want us to go a

  147. little deeper into it. Here's the first thing that happens that you see in

  148. Revelation that worship begins to do when you and I are standing before Jesus in

  149. heaven. The first thing it does, if you're taking notes, worship recognizes.

  150. Worship recognizes recognizes what what does? Worship recognizes. Worship recognizes who gets

  151. the credit. Every victory and battle tends to display who the victor was,

  152. and so Revelations, chapter seven, starting verse nine. What we just read

  153. is says this, after this, I looked and behold a great multitude that

  154. no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes, and all

  155. peoples and all languages, standing before the throne of God. And that statement,

  156. there's not a statement of diversity. It's a statement to say that God

  157. welcomes anyone into his throne and his kingdom. Doesn't matter what your socioeconomic state

  158. is. It doesn't matter what your skin color is. It doesn't matter what

  159. your race is. It doesn't matter what culture you grow up in. It

  160. doesn't matter whether you speak Ebonics or Old English. It doesn't matter what dialect

  161. of Spanish you speak. It doesn't matter whether you're from the Middle East,

  162. South America or South of Asia. God looks at every human with the equality

  163. and the ability that all could be saved by Jesus. That's what this moment

  164. resembles. There is no one too good for God or too far for God,

  165. and there's definitely no one that's unworthy of God's love and his salvation.

  166. That's what every tribe and every nation and every people language represents. And then

  167. it says, and they were standing before the throne and before the Lamb God,

  168. clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with

  169. a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne,

  170. and to the Lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne,

  171. and the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their face

  172. before the throne and worshiped God, saying Amen, Blessing and glory and wisdom

  173. and thanksgiving and honor and power might be to our God forever and ever.

  174. Amen. You see this moment that you see is a moment of recognition of

  175. who gets the credit for you being in the room. And I'll tell you

  176. this, nobody is going to be standing on that day who doesn't know why

  177. they're there. I'm gonna say that again. No one is gonna be standing

  178. that day in heaven confused on how they got there. No, no,

  179. no, you can't be familiar with God. Just familiar with God and be

  180. on that day of celebration. Familiarity will not get you to that point,

  181. that day where God brings his entire bride before him to celebrate the accomplishment of

  182. the purpose to defeat Satan. The fact that they defeated death and sin and

  183. put it in his place by the power of Jesus, and someone sit there

  184. and not know that Jesus gets all of the credit for that moment. There's

  185. no familiarity. I can see that before you ever walk around them, all

  186. looks at you and say, you look familiar? Do I know you?

  187. Here's the short answer if you ever get asked that, no, you don't

  188. know me. Do you know me? You know my name? You are

  189. familiar with me? And I'm fami. Did we go to high school together?

  190. I don't know, but you look familiar. Does that mean that we're

  191. best friends? Know? Does that mean that you know me? You ever

  192. look at your phone before look at someone's contact name? How did this person

  193. get in my phone? I don't even know who this is. But then

  194. if I showed you a bit all familiar with I think I met them at

  195. a conference like four years ago. Familiarity does not cut it. So to

  196. be with God and be like, oh, yeah, I remember this guy.

  197. I think one time. I think one time that my car wouldn't start

  198. and I might have talked to this guy. I think one time my marriage

  199. might have been in trouble, and I might I might have read a verse

  200. this guy wrote, maybe for me. I don't. I'm here, but

  201. I don't really know he's for me. You passed by Jesus like that guy

  202. looks familiar, familiar. I don't cut it. It's what you reckon when

  203. when you go to heaven and you passed by Jesus. You're not gonna be

  204. like, Oh, I think I know that. You're gonna say, this

  205. is the King of Kings and the Lord of lors, this is the one.

  206. I'm here because of him. I've lived my whole life so that I

  207. can meet you. I live and breed today because you gave your life for

  208. me. You're not just familiar, You're just not recognizable. You're my king,

  209. You're my Lord. I lived my life so in fact, I'm not

  210. just gonna walk by you and give you a high vibe. I'm gonna get

  211. on my knees and I'm gonna say, this is him, this is the

  212. one who redeemed me, this is the one who saved me. This is

  213. I live because you died. I wouldn't be up here without you, Jesus,

  214. I'd be in hell if it wasn't for you. So you're not familiar.

  215. You're everything to me. I recognize who you are. This is Jesus.

  216. No one's gonna walk by me when I'm doing that and think, oh,

  217. that guy's weird. He's worshiping Jesus too hard. If you don't get

  218. on your knees next to me when we're in heaven, you ain't supposed to

  219. be up there. You don't know how. If you don't know how you

  220. got there, then you don't know why you're there. It's because Jesus.

  221. You paid it. Oh, he's not only recognizable, he's Lord familiarity.

  222. Don't cut it. That's why on this earth. Don't let nobody's speculation opinion

  223. of you, gossip of you. And he mattered to you. If you're

  224. gonna live your life for God, if you're gonna worship God. That's why

  225. when people sometimes will come and maybe that will come from our culture of church

  226. and they think, man, that Daniel Johnson, he's show both where he's

  227. making all this attention. He wanted all of him. I'll tell you this

  228. right now, Daniel does not care what you think of his worship. He

  229. ain't doing it for you. I know, Daniel. I've seen him.

  230. Y'all could leave the room and he will do that the same way with nobody

  231. in the room because he's not doing it for you or to you. He's

  232. doing it because he knows this is what worshiped to My God looks like you

  233. don't have to go to that level of extravagance, But believe you mean that

  234. day that you do see him face to face, you are not going to

  235. be able to contain your emotions. You may thank you got it all together.

  236. You may button your collar up all the way to the top button like

  237. an O G. I don't care who you are that day, if you're

  238. in that multitude standing before God in heaven, you are gonna be weeping and

  239. crying like a baby because you know you ain't do nothing to deserve that moment,

  240. and you're not gonna be able to Okay, so you're gonna say God's

  241. salvation belongs to you and the lamb of God who sits on the throne.

  242. I recognize God, this is all you. This is all you. Many

  243. of you guys don't. I don't ever get this excite when I talk about

  244. it. But I'll tell you this, when I talk about that day that

  245. God's gonna call me into heaven. It brings out all my emotions because I

  246. know that day's gonna come and I'm gonna lose myself. I'm gonna lose myself

  247. and say, God, it's all you. It's not enough to be familiar.

  248. I wanna I wanna put I'm gonna put some people up on the screen

  249. now. I want you to I want you to name them for me.

  250. If you know their name, I want you to check out the first one.

  251. You know who that is? That's Uncle Denzel Washington right there, that's

  252. who that is. I want you to look at this next one. Who's

  253. this an? You wanna know that guy? I don't know he kin,

  254. I don't know. He might have done some movies. That's Brad Pitt.

  255. What about the next one. If you don't know her name, shame on

  256. you. That's my aunt seven seven times removed. That's Viola Davis. That's

  257. who that is. What about this next one? One? Come on,

  258. mister never age himself except for his starting just starting to come time. But

  259. he's aging now. But that's Morgan Freeman, all right? What about this

  260. next one? What about his next one? Anybody know his name, anybody,

  261. no name, Let me at does he look familiar? Show him your

  262. hand if he looks familiar, as his name is Wayne Knight, Seinfeld,

  263. Jurassic Park. Come on, y'all, what's going on? What about?

  264. What about the next one? What about next one? You guys know this

  265. guy? Does he look familiar? You from a lot of Marvel movies?

  266. He's like the evil doctors names Toby Jones. That's his name? What about

  267. it? What about this next one? Come on, y'all. The guy's

  268. holding an Emmy. For god's sakes, y'all don't know his name. Guy's

  269. got an award. His name's Richard Jenkins. That's his name for a lot

  270. of different movies. But a lot of people know from Step Brothers and stuff

  271. like that. What about this next one? You guys know this one a

  272. lot of great movies and TV shows. His name's Jeffrey Wright. That's his

  273. name, Jeffrey Wright. That's the thing. We look at that and just

  274. because you're familiar, we're familiar. But if you ever see them in public,

  275. please, if you don't know when movie day was on or so they're

  276. on, don't go ask for a picture. Don't ask for an autograph.

  277. I think you're famous. Can I get a picture? Could I get an

  278. autograph? Can't name a single thing you've been in, But I just want

  279. to say that I know you. And that's people that's gonna be people that

  280. day of Jesus. Hey, Jesus, Hey, Jesus. You up there,

  281. you realize that everybody giving him the glory because there are there's a multitude

  282. of his redeemed, and then there's a multitude who will be rejected because they

  283. rejected the Sun on Earth, and there's gonna be a lot of people.

  284. Jesus says, you're gonna stand before me. You're gonna say, but Jesus,

  285. I did this in your name, and this in your name. This

  286. is your name, he'd say, depart from me. I never knew you.

  287. In other words, you were familiar with me, but I ain't even

  288. know who you were. Familiarity doesn't cut it. But when I'm there,

  289. I'm not asking, Oh, man, that guy Jesus, what work did

  290. he do? What was he famous for? Come on? Come on?

  291. He died on the cross for me. Three days later he resurrected from the

  292. grave. Right now he sits on the right hand of the Father. I

  293. don't need none of y'all to tell me what Jesus did for me. I

  294. recognize and guess what my worship and my life and my habits. Even in

  295. my imperfection, it resembles the recognition, which is, I know Jesus did

  296. it all. I know Jesus gets all this credit. Worship recognizes and guess

  297. what we can do. And when there's that great multitude there, there's only

  298. one thing you can be. You can bring with you. Pastor Rick Warren

  299. said it bit best this way. He said that the way you store up

  300. treasure in heaven is by investing in getting people there. That's the only treasure

  301. you could store up when you're in heaven one day, you're not gonna get

  302. up there. You're not gonna get done. You know, can get off

  303. your feet and you're gonna be done worshiping for a second. Maybe get some

  304. water, starts to stretch a little bit because you've been worshiping. You're not

  305. gonna be like, oh dang, where's my car. They didn't make it

  306. up here. Where's my handbags? They're not up here darning? Where's my

  307. bank account? And you're not doing that. The only thing that you can

  308. actually look around in the room and see that you brought with you is people.

  309. That's the only thing that you can bring up to Heaven with you.

  310. So for me, got two sons, I'm working. I'm gonna bring Mathias

  311. and Thomas with me. They got a choice they gotta make, but I'm

  312. gonna do everything I can. I'm bringing my boys with me. I'm gonna

  313. tell them who Jesus is the moment they can wrap their head around it,

  314. They're gonna learn who Jesus is. I could bring my family with me,

  315. I could bring co workers with me, I could bring my neighbors with me.

  316. How does that room get diverse by a reason? You imagine if only

  317. one race said it was ours, but Heaven in Revelation says it's diverse.

  318. How does it get diverse is from you and I getting out to the highways,

  319. to the byeways, bringing people to Heaven with us, teaching them the

  320. gospel, showing them that there's more hope than today. There's more hope than

  321. what you can face today and what you can encounter today. So what worship

  322. does is it recognized. The second thing it does, if you're taking notes,

  323. is worship rinses it rinses. It's a cleansing process. It's a purifying

  324. process in heaven. That moment that we stand before Jesus we begin to go

  325. through that rinsing process is finally completed. All of it is past now,

  326. and so we begin to be washed by the blood of Jesus. There's a

  327. famous song that I grew up listening to, and I'd hear it in the

  328. church often. It was this, what can wash me? Why as snow?

  329. Nothing but the blood of Jesus? Anyone know? The next night you

  330. know what I say, There we go, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

  331. Give yourself ant clad man. You gotta sound good. Even if you

  332. didn't know it, you counted as it being known right there just by you

  333. listening to it. That's it. What can make me white as snow,

  334. nothing but the blood of Jesus. That's what Revelation says. Verse thirteen.

  335. It says this. Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, who

  336. are these clothed in white robes? And from where do they come? I

  337. said to him, this is John speaking, sir, you know, And

  338. he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the Great Tribulation.

  339. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the

  340. Lamb. We know this is also during the tribulation period, but this is

  341. also a letter written to those seven churches which we're experiencing their own tribulation period.

  342. So it's reason to believe that in this culmination of heaven, where all

  343. those who have lived and gone through their own tribulations are now here in heaven

  344. and remained faithful to Jesus on earth, what you do is the scriptures talk

  345. about we can talk about another time. We've talked about in past sermons.

  346. You have a crown. This crown represents your faithfulness to God here on earth.

  347. But there's another element that we see is we see that the church us

  348. we get our white robe. You get a white robe. I got this

  349. right here, in a nice little bathrobe. You know, it didn't say

  350. what kind of robe we're gonna get, but you know, got my bathrobe

  351. right here. So match you you get. You get this uniform in heaven.

  352. And just because everything in heaven and everything God doesn't symbolizes things, and

  353. it represents things. And so you have this piercing white robe that represents Jesus

  354. has purified this and cleanse this with his blood, the blood of Jesus.

  355. So you know you're wearing this, and hey, how do you look good?

  356. Yeah? So do you? You look good? You're walking around and

  357. you know what it is that you're wearing. What it is that's clean and

  358. properly. I can rub in mud and dirt with this thing in heaven.

  359. It's gonna stay purified. It's gonna stay clean because you know, you look

  360. at it, you go, oh, I know that person was washed with

  361. the blood of Jesus. I know that person was cleansed with the blood of

  362. Jesus. So you wear this white robe to know Jesus you have cleansed me.

  363. You're purify me. Your blood has sanctified me and washed me. Your

  364. work on the cross. It makes it white as snow. So you could

  365. look at someone else say, may your robe looks good, and you could

  366. say what are you wearing today? People love to wear Gucci and VERSACEI and

  367. Louis Baton and everything else, and those things are nice, But at the

  368. end of the day, when you're in heaven, you're gonna say, oh,

  369. what am I wearing nothing but the blood that well, I'm wearing that

  370. that that whenever you got saved. So if you get saved this year,

  371. you say, oh that twenty twenty three summer, nothing but the blood addition.

  372. I got saved in two thousand and seven, so my robe would be

  373. that two thousand November, two thousand and seven, nothing but the blood addition.

  374. You may got saved in nineteen eighty one, you got that rope into

  375. heaven that nineteen eighty one December, nothing but the blood addition. You know,

  376. this worshiped, It wrenched me, and it cleansed me. But on

  377. earth it was a process. In heaven, you can see the culmination of

  378. Jesus's work in your life. Couple a couple of months ago, about a

  379. year and a half ago, our master bedroom got a flood, and so

  380. we're dealing with insurance who still COVID stuff, so to get a contractor all

  381. these things. We're a mess. So a couple of months ago, we're

  382. still looking to fix our bathroom. So our bathroom had like flooring taken up

  383. because they had to dry the flood and all this stuff. Well, our

  384. master bedroom is kind of an original nineteen eighty master bedroom because now we're finally

  385. going to be able to renovate it, and so it has a three foot

  386. step because it's a tub slash shower, so it's got a three foot step.

  387. And then on the step, because you can close the door for the

  388. water not to run, there's like a metal grading so that the sliding door

  389. comes three feet, so order to get in the bathtub, you gotta take

  390. a three footstep get into bathtub. And then the showers turned on. So

  391. I walked my boys and my wife. It's it so much looks like a

  392. safety hazard that every time me or my wife got to take a shower,

  393. we always tell each other to be careful on the way. That's how silly

  394. it is. So on this day, I walked my boys and my wife

  395. to the car and I put them in that she's going to work, they're

  396. going to school, and Okay, I'm gonna take a shower and head into

  397. work. So I go to take my step into that three foot shower and

  398. as I go to put my weight on this leg, my heel slips in

  399. the tub, and so the back of my foot goes into the metal grate

  400. just slices my foot open. My knee goes into the bathtub, and just

  401. completely hear a boom, And so now I can't move my knee, blood

  402. is coming out of my foot, and I'm laying in the bathtub but naked,

  403. with the shower hitting my head like this, I cannot move and I'm

  404. just screaming, Lord Lord, it could in now. What I was not

  405. asking for was death. What I was saying was God, because even if

  406. I died, I ain't want no one to cover me like that. I

  407. wanted Jesus just to return because I know at first, before we get the

  408. rope, you're gonna be naked. So I'd rather deal with nakedness in Heaven

  409. than nakedness on earth. So so I said, Larde, just take us

  410. now, Marinasa. I'm yelling, yeah, yelling. It's just I'm screaming.

  411. I'm crying. And so I'm there for like thirty minutes. Camble my

  412. leg, my knee. My phone's in the other room on the charger,

  413. so I don't know what's gonna happen. So finally I muscle up the courage.

  414. I step out the bathtub, I put the twel on and everything like

  415. that, and I say to myself, I'm never taking a shower again.

  416. I'll never touch that shower again. Now, even in my point of pride,

  417. how many of you guys know, I could only withhold from a shower

  418. for so long, right, So at some point I had to put my

  419. pride aside and take that shower if I wanted to be clean. Don't matter

  420. what I but God, my fuck got cut my knee last time I did.

  421. No, if I wanted to be clean, I'd have to get to

  422. a point I get back in that shower and get cleansed again. You see

  423. that robe that you wear in heaven represents your faithfulness on earth, where you

  424. got in that shower and you let Christ work and his blood covered your sins

  425. through the uncomfortable nature, through the embarrassing nature, through the prideful nature you

  426. got in that shower. So when you're wearing this, it's not pride in

  427. yourself, it's pride in the work of Jesus that you remained faithful to follow

  428. Jesus and let him wash you. The elder tells John how those get white.

  429. John says, I don't know. He says they were washed by the

  430. blood of Jesus. So you need to look at someone today and say,

  431. you look good in your robe. You look good in your robe, or

  432. look at the other person next to you and say get back in the shower.

  433. That's why the apostle Paul says, you cover your wife with the water

  434. of the washing of what the word of God, because the word of God

  435. washes this relationship with Christ. It washes us, and so our white robes

  436. represent on this earth. You remain faithful even in your imperfection. When you

  437. are imperfect, Christ's blood is ever more applied to your life. Christ's work

  438. is ever more applied to your life. Charles Spurgeon put it this way.

  439. He said, there are no crown wearers in heaven who were not cross bearers

  440. here below. There will be no crown wearers in heaven if you can't be

  441. a cross bearer on earth. That's what Jesus calls us to. The last

  442. point is this, as we begin to close, is worship restores. It

  443. restores those last couple of verses. He says this, therefore the throne of

  444. God. Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve him day and

  445. night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will shelter them

  446. with his presence. They shall hunger no more, they shall thirst no more.

  447. The sun shall not strike them, excuse me, nor any scorching heat.

  448. For the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,

  449. and he will guide them to springs of living water. And God will wipe

  450. away every tear from their eyes. What is God's plan for our lives?

  451. To restore us where there is no more tear, and there is no more

  452. sorrow, where their food is bountiful, and there is no one who thirsts

  453. anymore, where no one will be stricken by the sun. You gotta imagine

  454. that in their day, of what they're talking about, in their day,

  455. of what they're talking about in a natural day. In a person of John's

  456. day, it's a person who not every day knows where their food is going

  457. to come from. It's a person every day who doesn't necessarily have fresh,

  458. clean, drinking water. It's usually a person who has to work outside their

  459. whole life and get beaten down by the sun. It's a person who cries

  460. over the pain of life, losing people's sickness, disease, death, and

  461. war. That's like if we wrote it today for John, that's like if

  462. you're in your fifties and sixties, that's like in this scripture being written to

  463. say, there's a day you don't ever have to worry what's in your four

  464. oh one k. That's what that would say. There is a day that

  465. you'll not have to worry about whether you can pay your rent or your mortgage.

  466. There's a day where you don't have to look up online what the cost

  467. of milk or eggs is for that day. There is a day where that

  468. cancer will no longer exist. There is that day where that ms no longer

  469. exists. There's a day where that depression no longer exists. There's a day

  470. where that anxiety no longer exists. There's a day where that broken home no

  471. longer exists. There's a day where that broken marriage no longer exists. There's

  472. a day that's the day that God restores, restores. That's the day we

  473. long for. So when people are asking where is God, and when people

  474. say why hasn't God come yet, it's because God is still filling heaven.

  475. And so if I want to partner with God in the gospel, what I

  476. can do Marinaza Jesus returned, It's to say, Jesus, let me help

  477. you come alongside of you. Even though you don't need help, even though,

  478. even though it's not necessary, You have allowed us to be partakers,

  479. ambassadors of your message, to share the gospel with others. And so God

  480. says, I will not return until heaven is full. When it's that day

  481. or hour, we don't know. What we do know is when that day

  482. comes, we'll be in the presence of the Almighty, and you and I

  483. won't be getting the credit for it. You and I won't think that we

  484. earned our way. There's a lot of religions who teach that stuff, particularly

  485. Islam. Islam teaches that if you have more good works in your life that

  486. outweigh your bad works, then you can make it into heaven. And at

  487. no point can you know whether your good works or outweigh your bad works.

  488. That's why you have to hopefully offset your bad works with good luck's works.

  489. And you'll find out one day when you stand before a law. But I'll

  490. tell you this, if that was the case, when you get into heaven,

  491. the only thing you'd be celebrating is yourself. And I'll tell you this

  492. me knowing Adam, there's no way I could get into heaven by myself.

  493. I know me too much to think that that was even believable. If someone

  494. came up to me and said, Adam, you don't have to just submit

  495. to Jesus. I have a way where you can secure yourself into heaven.

  496. I'd be like, buddy, spend one day in my thoughts, and you're

  497. not gonna believe that real fast that I can get me into heaven. There's

  498. no way. So that day that we're in heaven that we celebrate God's goodness.

  499. It's the fact that God was gracious and merciful to us to send his

  500. son down, and so we're in heaven, we recognize Jesus. You deserve

  501. all of the glory and all of the honor, and then we believe that

  502. Jesus's blood has rensed us and cleansed us. You belong there. You may

  503. believe here on earth you don't belong anywhere. You don't belong in your family,

  504. you don't belong amongst your friends, you don't belong amongst your community.

  505. One place I'm here to tell you you do belong in heaven. Because Jesus

  506. paid that price, and when you said yes to him, God's purpose was

  507. for you to be in his presence. Your soul is longing for the presence

  508. of God. That's why I love the way Jonathan Edward said it as we

  509. close. He said, to go to heaven fully to enjoy God is infinitely

  510. better than the most pleasant accommodations here. I don't know what you think you

  511. need. I don't know if you think you need one week paid vacation to

  512. Tahiti on a bungalow in the water. I don't know if you believe you

  513. need five days at a rich Carlton. I don't know if you believe you

  514. just need three days for someone to watch your kids, or whatever it is.

  515. I don't I don't know what you think you need, but I'll tell

  516. you this. What we really need is we need the accommodations of heaven.

  517. That is what our soul truly longs for. And you know, the way

  518. you can give your soul rest here on earth is by worshiping God. Is

  519. your time spent with God, because that is what your soul desperately longs for.

  520. It is a relationship with God, and Jesus is the way, and

  521. Jesus is the truth, and we must cling to that truth to one day

  522. celebrate God's eternal celebration in Heaven. Let's pray this afternoon. God, we

  523. thank you for your word today, Lord, and I just pray it ministers

  524. to us today. Lord, I thank you, Jesus that you have given

  525. us away to restore us back to the Father. The greatest desires the Father

  526. is that we would rest in him, is that we would know him,

  527. and that we would worship him because his goodness and mercy is eternal. Your

  528. patience is incredible, Lord, your patient towards all of us. There's somebody

  529. right now that may be in this place or someone that we know that you've

  530. been patiently, patiently waiting for for them to come to Jesus. So God,

  531. I pray in this moment you'll speak to them and minister them. Lord,

  532. I pray in this moment that if it's a family member, you may

  533. use us, or a friend, you may use us to reach them.

  534. Lord, and I pray that the Spirit go forth and totally, radically,

  535. radically impact us all, because none of us would be there on that day

  536. in the multitude if it were not the work of the spirit. We thank

  537. you for that, Lord, in Jesus's name, Amen and Amen, we

  538. really hope you enjoyed the message and if you said yes to Jesus, we

  539. just want to say congratulations and give you a free devotional to help you walk

  540. out your faith. Click the link in the description or head over to grow

  541. dot Faith to download your devotional. Oh and be sure to subscribe and share

  542. this podcast with your friends. Thanks for listening to ALSC podcasts and we hope

  543. you tune in again