What Actually Happens When You Die? - Heaven Part 3

You know, it's amazing. These last few weeks we've been

talking about heaven, and every time we talk about heaven, it

seems like people come to Jesus. It's pretty amazing actually.

And we talked about you're made for a person and you're made for

a place, and the person is Jesus and the place is heaven, Amen.

You can't have heaven without Jesus.

And some of you guys said yes to Jesus last week, which means you

also have heaven. And so we had four people come

to Christ last Sunday. Amen.

Can you guys go for those guys? Come on, it's amazing.

You know, you don't hear a lot of messages on heaven, a lot of

thoughts on heaven. If you do, it's just kind of in

passing and we kind of make our own theology up and not about

you. These last few weeks, have you

guys been more excited about heaven than ever after hearing

some of the scriptures? Amen you know we're either

heaven found or heaven bound, right?

If you know Jesus, right, We have friends and family and

people in heaven. I think about these messages and

what we learned about this. It should be very exciting, very

appealing. It should just put our faith so

strong. We song sung today like man,

even I have a firm foundation of Christ.

No matter what happens, man, I I know where I'm going.

Amen. I know what it's going to be

like and the goal of this series are not ignorant things of

heaven, but by the end of the series, like no, I know what

exactly it's like as best I can and it is so, so good.

I would encourage you guys. We're doing something very

special this week and this next 10 days we're doing something

called 10 days of heavenly vision and what it is.

We're taking heaven outside of our four walls, taking heaven

online and helping you guys really dive into some different

aspects of putting heaven 1st and different areas.

So having first in your finances, heaven first in your

marriage and just do a little video clip of just sharing what

happens life from scripture encourage you guys and there's a

little devo. So you'll see us on Facebook,

Instagram, all the places. But it's going to be really

encouraging if you read through there and really think about

what how does heaven change my marriage?

And often times thing about marriage or finances or pieces

about marriage specifically, we think about that our life

fulfilled their marriage, but actually it's a picture of

Christ in the church in heaven, Amen.

It's a picture of what God did for us.

And so if we think our life's going to be all perfect on

earth, we might have the wrong vision of our marriage because

actually pictures grace, forgiveness, mercy, and your

marriage is actually a picture of heaven on earth of eternity

for people who don't know Jesus, Amen.

So it's a totally different way of seeing things.

So I want to encourage you guys, you know, on social media, if

you, if you're comfortable and love you guys, like, share and

comment, Amen. Like, share and comment because

this can be amazing. I just know as people hear about

heaven, they're going to find Jesus.

They're searching people who are lost.

They have no idea what this is true like.

And so today we're going to dive in to a really, I mean, it's

going to go, but we're answer some questions you guys asked

last week and then we're talking about what do we know about

heaven, about our lives now? It's to be very, very practical.

So I just want to dive in. I'm going to answer a question I

had four people asked me this last Sunday and throughout the

week, what happens to our bodies if they're not still in a casket

and buried there? We talk about glorified bodies

taught First Thessalonians chapter 4, and how we're raised

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

in Christ. And we talk about the casket

facing east and our feet facing east and our face faces east so

that we raise up and we see Jesus as he raised from the

grave. And then of course, the question

is like, what happens if we don't have an actual body in the

tomb? And what's really cool about

this question? You're actually not the first

people to ask this question. It's actually pretty cool.

It's found in First Corinthians 15.

It says this and this is between 35 and 38.

It's all together, it says, but someone will ask how are the

dead raised? Sounds familiar.

It says with what kind of body will they come?

That's pretty amazing. Amen.

I get some reassurance knowing that I'm asking the same

question that people are asking for all time that 2000 years ago

somebody asked this question, what kind of body will we have?

How in the world is this going to work out?

And I find some some actual peace and recognition that I'm

not the one struggling with that.

Amen. Like what exactly is going to

happen? Says this.

What you sow does not come to life unless it what dies?

The seed, in order seed to bear fruit must die.

Listen to this. When you sow, you do not plant

the body that will be, but just a seed.

So, so your body. You probably never heard before,

your body being buried, cremated, whatever is just a

seed being planted. That's pretty good news.

Amen. If you stare into a casket or

hold an urn, this is the best news you could ever hear that

this is not the end. And when you're going to be

raised to life, look what it says.

So it'll be with the resurrection of the dead just

says Jesus resurrected will resurrect.

It says the body that is sown is what perishable, It's material

and it says it is raised. How imperishable, dude, this is

exciting. It raised, it raised eternal.

It is so natural body is raised a spiritual body.

I'm so thankful we don't resurrect the way we went out.

We don't resurrect the diabetes and dementia, Amen.

You don't you don't resurrect with disease and brokenness.

You know, you're coming back to the full faculty as God has

actually made you to be, Amen. This is great news because

you're thinking, well, what happens if you're cremated?

It's like what happens if you have dementia?

Like are you coming back the way you left?

No, you're coming back spiritual, Amen.

Immaterial all together, imperishable.

You know, you might think about this.

What Paul's really saying is you're not coming back as a as a

reassembled corpse of yourself. You're not coming back as just

some modulated, upgraded version.

You're coming back to a brand new glorified body in Christ,

transformed and glorified by him.

You know, some people get really wound up, like, man, we know

what these bodies are going to look like.

Oh, man. And you know, we don't know

exactly, but we do know. We recognize Jesus, OK?

Like he had a body. Wasn't like, what's that?

Is that a human, you know, that sometimes disguise itself?

They saw Elijah, they saw Moses on our transfiguration.

So we know what a body likes. You know what a body's like,

Amen. You've had one your entire life,

Amen. You kind of know.

And so the Bible doesn't go to Scripture like we we, we just

assume like, yes, we're going to recognize these people.

You can see that in Scripture. You might think the question,

does dust really limit God? Well, Adam was created from from

dust. You know the Bible says you die

from dust to dust, we return back to dust.

No matter how you get to dust, you're turning back to dust.

But this is what it says in Philippians 3.

We eagerly await a Savior who by the power that enabled him to

bring everything in his control, will transform our what lowly

bodies? Is that the best definition of

being a human or what are lowly bodies like when I want to show

up, it can't show up, you know, I can't hold the weight, I can't

have the stamina. I can't go for days on end.

Like the body is just broken, this lowly body.

So there will be like who? His glorious body will be like

Jesus body, Amen. We saw the resurrected Christ.

He's needs no repair. He's not recycled, He's

transformed. You might ask the question, what

happens if your body's destroyed?

So in John 219 says this Jesus answered them.

This is Jesus talking. He says destroy this temple.

He was talking by himself. He destroyed my body and I'll

raise it up again in three days. But the temple he had spoken of

was his. What?

No matter what they did physically to Jesus, he was

going to resurrect perfectly. Amen.

And his death was brutal, absolutely brutal.

Well, there's nothing left. You know, if you want those like

found destination people like you sicko freaks that watch that

stuff. OK, somebody said it's good,

there's nothing left. Like you're completely

vaporized, right? And you see this, you've seen it

all throughout history, different places, right?

Like this is what it says. Revelation 2013, The sea gave up

the dead that were in it. Isn't it crazy to think about?

Like if you put a bite in the sea, they, they ain't nothing

left, man. I mean, there's fish food,

you're destroyed, you're gone. It is.

It's just nothing there. But God actually takes a body

out of the sea. Is that good news?

Amen. I mean, no matter what, like

scattered ashes are not a problem, Amen, not a problem for

God. And you think about these Saints

that people have been killed in the faith, right?

There's a guy named Polycarp. He's one of the like premier,

like just the one of the biggest disciples that John, the

disciple that Jesus loved made his Polycarp and he wouldn't

recount his faith and they burn him to the stake.

It's an incredible story. He actually wouldn't burn.

They're trying to burn him. He won't burn and history

records him just crying out in prayer.

It's like 4 paragraphs of prayer.

He's just crying out in prayer and they have to get a sword out

and actually Pierce him to kill him.

And then they burn his body. It's amazing.

And to think that his body is not going to be in heaven, it's

kind of crazy to me. Amen.

You think of like William Tyndall who took the Bible and

translated English so he could have it.

And the religious people are so offended that the common person

could have the Bible that they burned when he turned out the

stake. To think he's not going to be in

heaven with the glorified body is absolutely crazy to me.

Amen. So bodies, even though we're not

recovered or cremated, it, it doesn't matter.

They're not a problem for God. It's location, condition or all

irrelevant in the resurrection power of God.

Amen. So this is a little bit of good

news. So that was that was a freebie

that just you just motivated me with that one because like I

just got to the Bible doesn't want to be ignorant, Amen.

Because you got this fear like, oh man, what holding on to if

you know what happens, like you are no longer going to hold on

to Earth. Amen.

You're like, I'm just passing through.

I'm going to make my difference. But I know where my eternity is

set. And you're going to see it

today. We're going through some

scriptures. What is heaven actually like for

us? When you take your last breath,

what exactly happens And what what state am I in?

All these questions? We're going to learn through two

places. 1 is going to be the rich man Lazarus.

We'll be in Luke 16 and we're going to read through this

story. So it's verse 19 through 31.

And this is about ourselves to take our last breath.

Check this out. It says this.

Verse 19, Luke 1619, you've fallen.

It says there's a rich man who is dressed in purple and fine

linen and lived in luxury every day.

Sounds like the American dream. Amen.

This is what I want, luxury. Purple's expensive, fine linen

expensive, and this man was very wealthy.

Verse 20, at his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus.

First thing you got to notice is he was laid.

He didn't walk there. Somebody set him outside the

rich man's house and said, man, this guy could potentially take

care of him. He says covered in sores and

what longing to eat, what fell? I don't know why my mind for the

longest time I thought he actually did eat.

But this is says he longed to eat.

When you study this, he's actually longed for food.

But the rich man doesn't even give him the scraps from his

table. He longed to have just what fell

from the plate. If you scrape your plate next to

me, I'd be so happy. It says from the rich man's

table. It says even the dogs came and

licked his sores. So here's Lazarus.

He's destitute, he's sick, he's starving to death.

And you have a rich man who's calloused.

He's in proximity, but doesn't help.

He he has the ability to care, but lacks compassion.

And see this contrast between a rich man and the beggar who

actually has a name named Lazarus, verse 22.

The time came when the beggar, what he died, and the angels

carried him to Abraham's side. Now later you're going to see

the rich man dies and he's buried.

But this man was not buried because he had the money to be

buried. And he dies most likely laying

right outside the rich man's gate waiting to be fed.

This is where he dies, and it's so amazing to me because you

contrast to your stories. He dies, the same thing was

bodied and buried. And what happens?

The angels pick up his soul and they bring it to heaven.

It's pretty cool. It's pretty cool.

And I'm not saying this is a a theology across all people, all

times, but this might be the greatest picture you have of

what actually happens to your soul the moment you take your

last breath as if you know Jesus, angels come and they take

your soul and spirit directly to heaven.

Is that good? Amen.

It's pretty good to think about. Like the rich man, he, he didn't

have this happen at all. Now I want to stop here and says

Abraham's side. If if you got your KJV or I

don't know what it says in KJV, but it may say Abraham's bosom.

Now this is a little confusing because you're like, what in the

world is Abraham's side? And so the Old Testament,

there's not like an exhaustive teaching on heaven and hell.

Like it's not as clear as New Testament.

Now they, they, you're going to see Abraham's side would talk

about the place of comfort and then you're going to see later

we'll talk about Hades, which we have place of torment.

It's an Old Testament. They believe there's two sides

to eternity. They didn't really know all the

details, but you see it here. You have a place of eternal

torment, a place of agony, a place called hell.

And then you place of comfort, which is called Abraham's side

of the righteous dead. You have the unrighteous dead

and the righteous dead. Now there's debate if the people

in Abraham's bosom or Abraham's side, when Jesus dies, that he

actually goes into captivity, steals the keys of death, hell

and the grave. You'll see that in Revelation,

and then goes into Abraham's side of the holding place and

leads captivity captive and brings them into the present

heaven. Do I blow your mind right now?

OK, there's debate on that. It doesn't really matter either

way. They're in the present heaven

now. Amen.

So whether everybody besides the present heaven then, or they're

issued in by Jesus in the present heaven, now that's where

they are. And so this is the context of

the story. So the rich man also died.

Was what buried? No, no mention of angels.

No, no mention of going to heaven.

It says in Hades, which is no word for hell.

You see, the Hades Shoal and Gehenna are three words used in

the Bible for hell. Where he was what in torment.

He looked up and he saw Abraham afar off with Lazarus by his

side. So Lazarus has company and this

man probably doesn't have anybody.

Verse 24 So he called to him father Abraham in amazing says

father Ham, he knew him father. So this man must be Jewish at

least recognize who he is. He says that in your lifetime,

sorry, have pity on me, have compassion and send Lazarus to

dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue because

I'm in agony in this fire. This is like the greatest wake

up call verse in all scripture. Like this is one of those verses

that should never settle well with you.

It's just not you go there and you're like, oh, Lord, help me

to tell as many people that came about Jesus, thank you for life.

Thank you for what you've done. Got to understand there's sin,

there's punishment of sin, but Lord, I want to see people come

to Christ, Amen. You see this virtually.

Wow. And you might question God's

goodness, but if you know God's number one attribute is

holiness, it's righteousness, Amen.

And love falls under that. And so it's amazing how God has

these eternal places, but this Scripture, it just it gets you

motivated. Verse 25 says, but Abraham

replied son, so he's probably Jewish.

Remember that in your lifetime you received good things while

Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you

are in agony. You see the paradox?

First I'll be last, last I'll be first.

The things are like your faith actually should have some works,

Amen? Like if the rich man truly knew

God, he should have fed the poor person, not because you're

trying to earn God, because he had God's love to share, Amen.

He should have had some works and some change in his life, but

he didn't. And besides, all this between us

is a great chasm has been set in place that those who want to go

from here cannot or anyone can cross over there to us.

It's pretty amazing to me that like what happens on this earth

and our physical life now actually effects all of

eternity. And pretty, pretty amazing.

Like you get this time to make a decision of what you believe

about faith and whether you spend eternity in heaven or

hell. Verse 27 The answer then I beg

you father, if I can't go send Lazarus to my family 55 brothers

and let him warn them so they will not also come to this place

to torment. Verse 29 Abraham replied they

have Moses and the prophets time of the Bible so, so let them let

them listen to them. Verse 30 he said no father,

ahem. He said, but if someone from the

dead goes to them, they will repent.

And he said to him, if they do not listen to Moses and the

prophets, they will not be convinced even of someone what

rises from the dead. Kind of a nod to Jesus, Amen.

If they're not going to listen to Moses, the prophets, they're

not even going to listen to Jesus.

If you're not going to look at Scripture and put your heart on

God, you might not even follow Jesus.

No one from the dead can go back and be more convincing than the

Bible itself. Amen.

This is a way he's saying they have a witness in the witnesses

Scripture. Now here's the thing.

Some people are going to argue this entire parable is 100%

figure of language. Some some people preach that.

Some people maybe even believe that.

Now to me, I look at this, there's way too much detail.

It's so concise and so precise of what heaven and hell it looks

like. That would make no sense that

this is a totally made-up figure of speech.

One of the things you see in this parable that's really

interesting, of all the parables you just give over 40 parables

is the only time he actually uses someone's name.

He uses the name Lazarus. Why would Jesus use the name

Lazarus? It actually wouldn't make very

much sense because it's actually kind of confusing because

already Lazarus in the Bible is a good friend of Jesus.

He's the one already raised from the dead.

So very confusing. And so you look at this story.

I don't think it's 100% figurative language.

I don't think it's a made-up story.

I think it's a real man with a real name, with a real heaven

and a real hell and a real place.

Amen. So we see in the scripture.

So let's go look through some of these components of the story.

When Lazarus died, the angels carried him to paradise.

Rich man went to torment. Lazarus is with Abraham.

And you see that right there in the scripture.

We read that earlier. But the rich man, you don't see

anybody mentioned with him a place of loneliness, of

isolation. Both the rich man and Abraham

look at us. They reasoned and communicated.

They had their full faculties, didn't slip into some like

disembodied member and we all became 1 like, you know, power,

force and whatever people think, right?

They maintained the distinct identities from Earth.

That's good news, Amen. Like when we die, it's just a

continuation of our life on earth, our personality, our

heart, we're all, we are the same person.

Amen. Like we slip into eternity is

like I went in and I'm just recreated, reformed,

reincarnated to something else. Like we kept our the continuity

was direct from earth to heaven and our after lives even into

hell. So some insights.

You see them in physical forms. That's pretty interesting.

There's a tongue, the finger there, There was water.

Some apparently there's water at least.

There's a tempter trying to find water in heaven.

There's a finger on him. There's a tongue on the rich

man. The the rich man remembers and

possibly sees his brothers. That's pretty interesting to

think about it, isn't it? Like like like in hell according

to scripture. There's this pain of regret and

sorrow for what is and what it should be.

And you remember these things be haunted by that would be

impossible to imagine. They possibly see his brothers.

The thing about you actually have deep concern for the

welfare of those on earth is actually amazing to think about.

You still care about what is happening in this world.

That's pretty interesting, isn't it?

It's a new thought for many people.

The bottom line this whole parable is this is that Jesus

truly intended us to believe there is a real heaven and a

real hell with a real earth that we're on today with real bodies

that actually end up in real places.

Amen. Sometimes you're like, oh, it's

just all good. It's a big part like we don't

fully grasp. So this is kind of the backdrop.

So we have this story, but there's even the better story we

find in Revelation chapter 6 and we're going to dive through this

Revelation 6 · chapter mention

Revelation chapter 6, verse 9. It says when he opened the what?

Revelation 6:9

The 5th seal. This is interesting.

These seals are actually judgments.

OK, so if you read part, you read through the scripture of

the seals. It's it's kind of fun.

I mean, tell Jackson, what's this seal like all you're going

to see it, God's going to move his power and presence.

He's going to let humanity kind of be on their own.

He's going to just let humanity be at their worst, which is

terrible. There's a thing in the Bible

called common grace. The Holy Spirit's the restrainer

is the name of the Holy Spirit and he restrains sin.

But as he seals are open. So think of like a.

A signet ring and you go back to three Musketeers, you know, and

only Jesus can open the seals, right?

And so Jesus opened the seals and each seals a different, the

first four are different horses, OK?

Feels like a White Horse, a red horse, a Black Horse and a pale

horse. And they're all different

judgments that are happening on the earth.

Most of it is God just letting humans become humans.

And he's taking away his presence.

And this 5th seal happens and this is what it says.

He says the salt under the altar, the souls of those had

been slain. So these are the martyrs we

talked about last week, because the word of God and the

testimony they had maintained says they called out in a loud

voice. This is a quote, How long

sovereign Lord, holy and true. So you solve the attributes

until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our

blood. Then each of them was given a

white robe and they were told to wait a little longer until the

full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and

sisters, are killed just as they had.

Now this is amazing scripture. There is 3 verses, and we're

going to dive through these 3 verses.

I just want to see how much you can learn about heaven in just

these 3 verses. Now, I've been reading a book by

Randy Alcorn called Heaven. So I'm going to take his

thoughts from this because there's no reason to add to

something already great. Amen.

And I'm just going to read through this and I want you to

see how exciting it is of heaven for us today.

So look at this. So #1 when these people died on

earth, they were relocated to heaven.

Good news, Amen. A lot of the world tell you

like, we don't know where we go. We, we just float around.

We cease to exist. We go into oblivion.

Like there's no idea. You'll never know.

We slip back into the primordial sludge.

We, we just all these things. But here you see exactly these

martyrs that were killed. We talked about last week.

We talked about Abel being killed and being moved straight

to heaven. Maybe the angels picked them up

like Lazarus and brought them straight to heaven.

Verse 2 it says the OR verse 2 second point, verse 2.

I'm sorry, I'm the pastor. Come on, somebody.

It's always a verse. These people in heaven were the

same ones killed for Christ on earth.

So here's amazing. It demonstrates direct

continuity between our identity and earth and our identity in

heaven. You don't cease to exist.

Amen. It's like you are Sean and now

you're Sean and I had the same. I had to say memories.

It's actually, I would argue a perfect memory because you

actually have to go to a judgement in front of it's

called the judgement of works. It's not getting into heaven,

but based on your works, you get, you basically get blessings

of God, you get crowns, you get jewels, you get inheritance of

God based on your works. Well, you have to be able to

judge your works. You have to have perfect memory

of the works you had, Amen. Like you had dementia in your

last part of your life. How would you know, right?

How do you hold account? You have to be able to judge

your works. And so you have perfect memory

of your life. You remember back to your

family, friends, the things that happened.

These martyrs had personal history that extends directly

back to lives on earth. How long will you wait to cast

judgement on the sins and the brokenness of humanity, those

that had taken their lives? So those in present heaven are

not different people. They're the same people just

relocated. The Bible says in Hebrews 12/23

righteous men made perfect. I love the fact that we're just

relocated. Amen.

I love they're not recreated or re transformed and we kind of

slip into some people think you'd get your Angel wings.

You see those videos, you get your Angel wings.

You had no Angel wings. I hate to disappoint.

Amen. You ain't even flowing around.

You're getting your Angel wings. You know, why would you want to

do that anyway? That'd be weird, wouldn't it?

Like I was human, but now I'm an Angel.

This is dumb. Just gonna say it.

This makes no sense. Like just make it whatever you

want up to feel good, OK? People in heaven will be

remembered for lives on earth. So, so think about this.

Other people knew them by their reputation and testimony of what

they live like on earth. Makes you wonder what people are

going to think of us, right? Look as they were known and

identified as the one slain because the testimony they had

maintained. So like, what?

What in the world are they going to know you by in heaven?

Oh, you're the one, you're that guy.

You brought heaven to earth, which is the prayer by way,

right? For your will be done as in

heaven on heaven as on heaven on earth as in heaven, Amen.

And so like you're known by your walk with God now at least you

can be, which is absolutely amazing.

It just reminds you we should be really bold, Amen.

Like Christians like this. I love Jesus.

Does that. Does that bother people?

I don't, I don't know. Maybe it does, maybe it should.

I don't know. But the bottom line is we have

the greatest news ever given, Amen.

And we know our eternity and what we do now matters more than

really ever because it sets the pace for eternity.

There's no thought. They called out, which is pretty

amazing, which means they have the ability to express

themselves audibly. They have vocal cords, Amen.

They can speak. That's good news.

Some of you thought to go to heaven.

He was like, we just, we're just like a little drone.

No, you can actually say things and have opinions.

Isn't that amazing to think about?

I'm not going to say you keep fighting with your spouse, but

there won't be a spouse there. Just Jesus, come on, they will

be in heaven. You won't be married.

Let me qualify that a little bit.

They won't be there. That was a little strong.

That was a little strong. Julian Dobry's like I told you

so I did. I made that up.

I'm sorry, but they express themselves oddly.

So it would suggest that Vilcourts, we talk about them

being physical on a physical earth.

We talk about the new heaven, new earth, when the new heaven,

earth created that actually heaven comes down to earth, the

city of Jerusalem and heaven and earth are actually one that's

pretty amazing to think about. If you put in our time period,

Heaven and earth are on right here together now.

Like your eternity doesn't start when you die, your eternity

start when you're born and you just made decisions to follow

Jesus and the eternity is set and you're promised through the

Holy Spirit that he sealed you. The Holy Spirit promise you're

going to go to heaven, but you're already eternal, Amen,

Amen. So when you're living your life,

you're not looking at like, oh, what's my how much money can I

make? What kind of manshine can I live

in? How many fathers going to have,

you know, all these things We try settle all the temporary

goals that's on earth. I'm not saying you shouldn't

have some goals, Amen, but you better not lose them to distract

by where you're really going because you're just a sis in the

heaven and you're a sojourned on earth.

You're just passing through, Amen?

Like we need to be more bold and step out because we know exactly

where we spend eternity. So they raise their voices,

which indicates they're rational.

The people are commutative, they have emotion, and based on what

they said, they even have very passionate emotion, Amen.

Do do you guys like having passionate emotion?

I mean, some of y'all do, right? Some of y'all watched the Bills

and the Broncos last night and had some passionate emotion.

That was not the response I was thinking.

I'm still bitter from the 90s. So it's all right, right?

It's all good. But passionate, right?

Passionate beings, just like we are on earth.

I mean, I just love the fact we have passion.

Look at this, we crowd out a loud voice, not loud voices,

there was just one voice. We're like unified together.

They're individuals that are speaking as one.

So any case, heaven is a place of unity and shared perspective.

It's pretty amazing that we together are watching the

injustice of earth. These martyrs, at least they're

seeing what's happening. They're crying out how long Lord

will we have to wait? So the martyrs are conscious,

rational, aware of each other, which is good news.

And the situation on earth. Can Can you imagine your loved

one in heaven knowing what's happening on earth?

Like we, we think about Jesus and like, oh, Jesus knows

everything. But what about the Saints in the

forests? Like, what if they actually know

what you're struggling with? Will they actually know what

your habits are? Will they actually know the

conversations and the demons and the temptations and the road you

choose? Will they actually know that

about your life? Would that change how you live?

My hair stands up. I think about it because these

guys know what's happening on earth.

They ask God to intervene. Thank you, Jesus.

Amen. You're going to pray more in

heaven than you pray on earth. I guarantee it.

And they ask God to intervene on earth to act on their behalf.

How long until you judge the habits of the earth and avenge

our blood? I love to have full access to

Jesus. Amen.

I love to ask Jesus questions. They have an audience with God

and they also to ask the question would mean you have to

have the ability to learn. You know so many people teach

this when you get to heaven. He's going to play keys in

heaven. This is way better in horrible

church, but you think about heaven that you have the

abilities to discover the ability to learn.

They suddenly people think you get downloaded everything like

you die. We won't know until we get to

heaven. You still might not know when

you get to heaven right, because there's still things to

discover. There's things to learn.

I'm thinking about people go ahead of me and they there

whatever place that are in the on the the new earth that would

be there right or present heaven.

They're going to walk around the corner and go what's around

here? What's this taste like?

There's food, there's eating, there's trees, there's camels

that have you solved that in Isaiah chapter 60, who now you

Isaiah 60 · chapter mention

know for sure there's camels in heaven.

I said it Amen. We know at least there's camels,

right and we go around. We're like man, what's we have

ability to go. I can learn something.

I have adventure still. Amen.

I started thinking like, brother, I'm probably not

getting a chance. I'm much too old to have no lung

capacity. My wife would kill me to climb

Mount Everest. But I'm telling you, man, since

the new Earth is actually our earth resurrected, we'll get

into this next week. I'm going to climb Everest in

heaven. Come on, somebody imperishable.

I'm going to bury my to pull me down, but I'm not going to die.

Hey, man, no deal. Bile, oxygen.

We're going for it, baby. Just a different perspective,

right, of how real heaven is now.

I've lost my place. I don't know where I'm at.

So they desire understanding and pursue justice and truth.

They, they, they finally are fighting for the right things.

Sometimes we fight for the wrong things on earth.

You know, you get so bitter at people, so mad at stuff and you

get to heaven and like, all makes sense.

You're like, dude, I'm going to fight for things of God.

What was I thinking building my life on myself?

That's the rock. Amen.

And we built our lives sometimes on same because it's so in front

of us. Just makes so much sense.

People in the present heaven know what's happened on earth.

The martyrs know enough to realize that those who killed

them are not yet being judged. They know it's not happened yet.

They understand there's time. Heaven dwellers have a deep

concern for justice in retribution.

When you go to heaven, we won't adopt A passive disinterest,

disinterest and what happens on earth.

On the contrary, our concern will be more passionate and our

thirst for justice even greater. It's pretty amazing.

Amen. Like you thought, you go up

there and be like, oh, we're going to have fun.

It's going to go great, there's a present heaven and your tears

are not wiped away until the new heaven, new earth.

And so the present heaven is about God's patience as he's

patiently waiting for all people to come to repentance to him.

Amen. That's the only reason we're

here, and that's the only reason that's the present heaven, is

that the present heaven is still cheering on things of earth for

people to come to Christ. Neither God nor we will be

satisfied until his enemies are judged, our buys are raised, and

sin and Satan are defeated. Earth are restored and Christ is

exalted over all. This is what you're going to be

praying for when you die. This is going to be on your

heart when you die. Justice for God to do what He's

called to do. The martyrs clearly remember

their lives on earth. They even remember that they

were murdered. That's pretty crazy thing about

it, isn't it? Like you, you die in your faith

and you, the angels take you to eternity and you're like, Lord,

go get them, Amen. It's amazing because there's so

much things on earth that don't like the system's broken, right?

There's injustice, there's pain, there's lost, and we can lose

faith in all of humanity and God.

But God has a final word, Amen. There's murders unsolved,

there's injustice all the time. There's corruption and greed.

Everything's twisted. It's about power and money and

eternity. All gets straightened up by God

and we remember. Think about this, If you didn't

have memory, how could you give true worship?

Let the redeemed of the Saints say so.

Amen. If you don't remember your

redemption and the pain and the cost, how can you give true

worship to God? And so in heaven we see it

perfectly. We understand with God's

patience and his timing and the injustice and the affliction,

and we're crying out and give worship to God for all eternity

for the for his mercy and grace that He's given us.

This is pretty cool. The martyrs in heaven pray for

judgment on the persecutors who are still working hurt on

others, and they're acting in solidarity with and in effect

interceding for the suffering Saints on earth.

This suggests that the Saints in heaven are both seeing and

praying for the Saints on earth. These martyrs prayed how long

and they're praying for justice on earth to think about this

that a loved one has passed before somebody in Jesus and it

really all time. All the Saints are looking at us

and they're praying for us. Does that blow your mind or what

to think about Paul and Moses and grandma, uncle, friends,

brother, dad, spouse and heaven know Jesus and they're looking

to you and they're saying go get them boy, God, use them, protect

them, get some justice, bring some righteousness.

Can you can you can you just imagine this and we're the ones

sad at the funeral gun, don't you think?

And you're like, brother, they, they are more alive than ever

and they want something from your life.

They never quit on you. They know exactly what's

happening. Will this change every funeral

in history, Amen. Got to get aware of what God is

really doing. The Saints are praying for us.

Amen. That's an Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Because you're because you're like one with the Saints.

It's not you by yourself in your bedroom or nobody understands

you. Nobody can figure it out.

Oh, it's so hard. Oh, man.

Tipped over the scale. I can't figure out what to do.

I can't make decisions. All these things like, dude,

heaven has a plan and they're praying for you.

You're not alone. Amen.

Those in heaven see God's attributes.

We saw that earlier, right? The sovereign Lord, holy and

true. That's pretty cool.

What we see face to face, the actual attributes of God that

the key thing of heaven is actually the presence of Jesus.

We're in his presence. We are distinct individuals.

We're all given individual robes by that last week.

I love there were not one merged just uniqueness.

You know, they all slip into this energy field at the

forehead. Like, I love that.

We're unique individuals, Amen. We continue on the martyrs wear

right rubs which suggest a physical form.

We talk about last. We've got disembodied spirits.

It does something, put a robe on.

God answers questions. That's pretty good right?

Now we ask questions and we have to search Scripture and Holy

Spirit gives confirmation, all these things.

But in heaven, you're like Jesus, how long He's like, wait,

OK, that's amazing. Amen.

Like we can have our questions answered.

He's like, oh, what what are you doing right now?

Hey, we're waiting until the last person is martyred for

their faith. Then I'm going back down there.

OK, We're praying for that. That's pretty cool.

Amen. So you just know, like when

people are killed for faith, it's just maybe the last one,

maybe the last one, because you know, we're just going to go out

like a ball of fire, right? Because we're going to people

like Polycarp are going to be like, Hey, renounce Jesus.

You're like, I'm not you ever read the book?

She said, yes, the story. I called on high school and the

guy put the gun to her head and said, do you believe in Jesus?

You know, tell people you don't he's I believe in Jesus.

And she said, yes, I do. And they shot her back in the

head could have been the last one right like that, that that's

what how it goes. So when you get persecuted, like

you might be that last martyr. That'd be cool.

They took Mike home. We're going like I'm just

saying, you know, we get so just disrupted by this world.

God's promises to fulfill the martyr's request.

He says he actually says I'll wait a little longer.

Those in present have been living into anticipation of a

future filament of God's promises.

Still sometimes you think, oh, the work is done though the work

is not done, guys still in working redemption.

And this is amazing because if you think about, you wait a

little longer, think about this, there's time in the present

heaven. The White Rd. martyrs asked God

a time dependent question, How long Sovereign Lord?

And the answer was that time is passing and they're eager for

the coming day of the Lord's judgement.

God answers they must wait a little longer until certain

events to inspire on earth and waiting requires the passing of

time. How did you guys do?

There was actually time in heaven.

Y'all thought like we're just going to not know anything.

So this every time you read the scripture, you start seeing

more. It's material, it's physical,

there's time, matter and space and Jesus comes into our world

of his creation and dwells with us.

Amen. We're not slipping into some

other world that we don't we're not familiar with at all.

And I'll argue next week, I'll show you that actually we just

return to the present earth, but it's resurrected.

That'll blow your mind. Maybe blow my mind.

I'll be the only person. It'll be great.

The people of God in heaven have a strong familiar or family

connection with those on earth who are called their fellow

servants and brothers. It's pretty cool thing about the

Saints in heaven are calling us brothers and sisters in Christ.

Isn't that amazing? Like we're all one even though

we're not in the same place. There's not a wall that

separates the body of Christ or one family with those who've

gone ahead of us. And after we go to heaven, we'll

still be one family with those still on earth.

We don't cease to be connected to each other.

Amen. The body of Christ all united.

Even though we're still in heaven and earth right now,

we're all as one. Last thing is, this is pretty

cool. God knows down to the last

detail of all that's happening and will happen on earth,

including every drop of blood that is shed and every bit of

suffering undergone by His children.

There are thousands, perhaps 10s of thousands who will die for

Christ every single year. And God knows each and every one

of their names and every story of each of them is exactly how

many martyrs they will be. He's prepared to return and set

up his Kingdom when the final martyr dies.

It's pretty incredible, Amen. Sometimes they God just absent,

like you spin a top and he just let things go and like, hey,

here's evolution and just happened.

We don't need God anymore, so we're just left to ourselves.

There could not be farther from the truth.

Amen. And He knows exactly every

detail, every injustice, every pain.

And so in your life, if it doesn't look the way you think

it should be and you've been mistreated or abused or taken

advantage over or under corruption or all these

different situations you get to that bother us, guess what?

God knows, and God knows the whole story.

And His justice is firm, His right on his strong, and He'll

do exactly what He needs to do Amen.

I think is this time period we have this little dash of life

between the dates like we need to get really emboldened for

Christ, like we need to take the world by storm, Amen.

Like we need to lift up our banner.

We need to share Jesus and share heaven, but don't be worried

about trying to fit into this world.

Now this is only three verses the Bible, Amen, 3 verses, Amen.

Gave you 3 pretty good three. Now if you look at this, you can

say, well that's just true. The martyrs that are in heaven,

but it would make no sense. This would not be true for every

single person in heaven. This is the only argument you

could ever make. I want to say this also on earth

now, we were unaware of the things happening in heaven.

But those people in heaven, the Saints before us, they are not

unaware of what's happening on earth.

They know exactly what's happening.

We question, we doubt, we worry, We're looking through the Bible.

We're trying to figure things out.

We're trying to figure God's will.

And you get to heaven, all of a sudden unite as one of these

Saints of old. You're crying out to God.

How long? Lord, we're waiting for this

justice to happen. We know you work in redemption.

I see that, but we see the things happen on earth.

Can you imagine your family and friends and you stand at a

casket? You're like, oh, they're

watching me right now. Just I know you're watching that

great comfort to know they're watching feels pretty good.

I'll tell you what looks like last April, Easter, my daughter

want to get baptized. Emory and I, I see her in the

front and it's, it's kind of chaotic as a pastor when you're

having Sundays in general, but just big Sundays.

And so Dine's on stage, she's singing, I'm next to the

baptistery getting ready. Emery's stand next to me.

She's six years old. And I'm going to climb in and

leave her by herself because I've got to go in and, and start

yapping. Come on, somebody start telling

everybody about all this stuff. And so she's by herself and she

gets really, really nervous because mommy's on stage and

daddy's in this big pool of water and there's nobody with

her and she gets really nervous and she doesn't get baptized.

I totally sat the way men like it was a real deal like this.

OK, no big deal. Like I didn't know she wouldn't

get baptized until she didn't go in the pool.

I was like, OK, what happened? And she just wanted mom next to

her. Amen.

Like just Jesus where she's at, even write it out.

My mom, mom, mom and Emery together in Thailand, right with

some other they're going to go. But she said this, she said

later. So Fast forward not much 6-8

weeks not that far. She wanted there's a there's a

great man of God named Bill that taught in elementary class and

she wanted Bill to see her get baptized and she was really

disappointed when he passed away that she wouldn't that he

wouldn't get to see her get baptized.

Although Bill going out with the blazing glory like he is, he

taught the kids over and over again.

Now he had no idea he was dying, but he taught the kids all the

time. Don't worry about me because now

I died. I'm going to jump into a big

pool of chocolate pudding and I'll be swimming around.

I mean, he he had this vision of heaven, man.

And it was like the greatest place.

So he's brought down the kids. It's even this amazing place.

Don't worry about me. And so we're like, how we can

tell the kids Bill passed away. So he pulled the kids aside on a

Sunday morning and they said, hey, you know, Bill teaches.

He passed away. And the first day of the mouth

was, oh, man, he's swimming in the chocolate pudding pool.

They were so excited for Bill, right?

I mean, only Bill can line up an applause on the way out the door

for heaven. Most people are like, oh, so

sorry to hear that. Bless you, brother.

Oh, he's swimming in chocolate pudding like Bill.

But you know, he's watching, right?

He's up there like this. He's got that face, right?

You know what I'm talking about. So Emery, she gets gets to the

end of the year, we baptized, but she want to do it in

September. And then she's like, hey,

because the way it worked out in the 20, the 28th, it was like a

social right. So like dying could be down and

out on stage doing all these things and mom's in with her.

And so she's like, oh, I'll get baptized.

So he gets baptized and I pull her side.

I say, you know what, you're really cool in Marine.

You probably don't know this yet.

I'm going to let you know that even though you didn't have Bill

physically here to watch you get baptized, Bill's in heaven and

today he actually watched you get baptized.

Is that cool? That's cool.

That's the glory of God. Amen.

If you start thinking about eternity now in terms of life

and death, but life and life like it starts now and lasts

forever, and you start living in heaven now and you have been

bound. And one day you're going to

heaven found and you start chaining yourself to the thing

in the next World and you bring it to this world.

And you stop acting like this all matters and start focusing

on people and souls and stop looking down and start looking

up. I promise you your world's going

to be totally different and you're going to bring people

with you. Amen.

That was the series is all about.

You'd be so moved by heaven that it changed the way you walk on

earth. The death is an enemy that's

defeated by God, and we continue on.

The same personality, the same every the same, the same

identity, different body. Hallelujah.

Praise God, the same passion for Jesus, the same promise of God.

It's still all true and all there.

And we have to change our lives now for eternity.

Come on, brother. How many guys learned something

today? Show of hands, you guys learn

someday. This is amazing.

It's all there in the Bible and the world needs.

I would encourage you this week, 10 days heavenly vision, heaven

first. Let's give the world heaven.

Give them heaven. Amen.

Give them heaven. And amazing how you live.

It may be the greatest picture of heaven somebody ever have.

And we can teach them to show them by our attitude and our

faith. They wake up.

We're not like, oh man, there's less life ahead of me.

You know what? There's eternity ahead of me,

brother. So the worst you do, you should

kill me now and I go, but the worst you do is I live till 99

or 105, right? That's the worst that happens.

So I'll encourage you guys, be bold in your faith and share

Jesus and don't be afraid of what happens in this world.

So Father, come before you. God, we thank you so much for

eternity. God, we thank you for the Saints

that are watching oh so curiously every Sunday.

What's happening in the church, Bodies are being together.

God, thank you for those who are gone before us, God, that

they're praying for us so we have a glimpse into eternal

premier scripture. I pray you embolden our faith.

You give us knowledge and God over all today you just fill our

hearts with eternity. You set our mind and our faith.

God, we would not question or worry or be full anxiety or

fear, but we know exactly where we're going.

Embolden us, God, to share your gospel and to tell the world

that heaven is watching. I'll pray for one group of

people in the house. That's those you'd say you know

what, today I need heaven. It'd be a bummer to hear all

these messages on heaven and actually not go there.

So I would encourage you today there's only one way to heaven.

It's through the name of Jesus. Else there's no other name under

heaven which men are saved by the name of Jesus.

He's the way truth and life. No man come to the Father but

through him that if you're going to go to the Father comes with

the Son. The only way to heaven is

through Jesus. It's what do you believe about

Jesus? Do you believe that died on the

cross for your sins and made away he took all of your wrongs,

changed all his rights. What will you do with Jesus

since day if you need Jesus and you call to Christ when you have

Jesus, you also get heaven. It's a package deal.

And so if you need Christ today, you need to extend your life and

you've met you're a Sinner needed Savior.

If that's you, we just raise your hand high this place I need

Jesus today. I need heaven today.

I must see your hand must leave heaven and see your hand see

your hand, your hand. It's amazing to talk about

heaven. It's so good.

Amen. And for those of you who need

having the day, this prayer I'm gonna lead you through does not

save you, but just your heart towards him.

Heart of humility, heart of servanthood, heart of obedience.

Just crowd to God to say this. Thank you Father, for making a

way for me to go to heaven through your son, Jesus.

God, I'm a Sinner and need of a savior.

I'm a broken vessel. God, I've built my life on sand

and it's been shaken before but today I build my life on Jesus.

I'll call to you as my Lord and Savior.

God changed my life. God give me heaven.

God give me your spirit. God forgive me.

I trust you. You died for my sins.

I prayed in Jesus name and the church said Amen and heaven is

cheering right now. Amen.

Come on. Man, what a word today.

I, I think I say this every week, but my mind just blown man

today, just even thinking about what got to me in the message is

just that how aware heaven is of what's going on here on earth

and that they are actually praying for us.

Man, that just so good. I mean, some of you recognize

today that the heaven is real, that Jesus is looking for you,

that he's searching for you and you found him today.

He found you. You ultimately found heaven this

morning. And if that's you and you raised

your hand and you prayed that prayer this morning.

I mean, we are so excited for you as you are walking out this

journey with Jesus and we would love to know that decision just

to help you on your walk with him.

So if you would grab that connection card that's at your

seat, you can fill out the information there in that top

section. Just make sure and check that

box that says I committed my life to Jesus.

And you can drop that in the giving buckets as they pass here

in just a few minutes. And just by doing that allows us

to get you some resources this week.

The first one is a free book. It's called begin.

It's a short little book, but man, it is powerful.

It truly is packed with a lot of good things.

We'll help you know and follow Jesus this week.

As you're walking that out and as you leave the worship center,

there is a table with some red bags.

Please grab one of those as well.

There's a free Bible in there and a few other resources as

well. That truly will be just a

blessing to you. We would love to get to that to

you this week. And hey, if you are newer in the

house with us today, if this is your first time here, thank you

so much for coming. We're so glad that you came

today. I know that you heard something

from God this morning. And so we're so glad that you're

here. We really don't want anything

from you today except just to introduce yourself to us.

You can do that simply by grabbing that same connection

card. Fill out your information there

and check first time here on that as well.

You can drop that in the giving buckets too.

Or also as you exit the worship center, just to your right,

there is a new here booth as well.

Somebody would be out there would love to take that card

from you, introduce them themselves to you and get you a

free gift as well. And we would just love to see

you back here with us next week as well.

Man, talking about this Heaven series, it has been so cool just

to hear all the questions that come out of this from all of you

guys. And just to see people leaning

in, grabbing their Bible, like, man, I got to go home and check

this out. It's been so cool, man.

Sean shared that four people accepted Jesus last year or last

year, last week, and we've had nine people so far in 2026 start

a relationship with Jesus, which is so awesome.

I mean, when you think about it, truly the best part of church is

the people. I mean, it's the people who know

you, who support you, who show up with you, who walk with you.

That's truly what it's all about.

And what's really cool if you think about the relationships

that you have here on earth, the relationships with the people

you have here in the church, those who know Christ, I mean,

those aren't just relationships for right now, but those truly

are heavenly relationships. Those are relationships for

eternity. Man, that fires me up to know

that and to get behind that. And so man, don't wait to make

some heavenly relationships and relationships and friendships

that last into eternity. And we have some ways for you to

do that. And that's through life groups.

They really are a place where you can intentionally grow and

deepen your faith, where you can make some heavenly

relationships. And what's cool, this semester

we're doing something new as well.

That's the way life groups. So if you're intentionally

looking to grow deeper in your faith to, to grow deeper in your

walk with God, we used to have some just amazing leaders who

are ready who are excited to walk with you to help you grow

in your faith. So whether you're new, maybe

you're just feeling disconnected in this season, or hey, maybe

you're just looking to do something more to dive in a

little deeper. We have a group for you and they

are going to launch in person Sunday, February 1st, but they

are live for signups right now. So you can scan that QR code,

It'll take you over to our website.

Also out in the hub, you can check out our life groups wall.

You'll see all of our life groups there as well.

I mean, this is my encouragement.

Don't wait, don't wait to make some heavenly relationships,

some friendship to help you know God even deeper this spring.

I'm talking about the people, man.

Yeah. The best part of church has

always been the people. And for those of us who are here

and who know Jesus, man, that is exciting.

That is exciting. That pumps me up.

But think about the the community we're in, the city

we're in, the world, the other people that need to know Jesus.

They need the good news of what we have.

And so we would love for you guys just to partner with us.

Together. We can see more souls saved and

sent out to know Jesus. We would love for you to partner

with us to see more people know Jesus.

And so if you call real life home, there are a lot of ways

that you can do that. You can scan that QR code that's

going to be up on the screen there.

You can also head on over to our website,

reallifechurchkc.com/give. The giving buckets are going to

pass here as well. You can drop cash or check in

there. Also.

There's a giving box in the back.

You can drop cash or check in that as well if that is more

convenient for you. And as always, as these buckets

pass here in just a minute, if you or your family find yourself

in any kind of immediate need today, maybe it's food or

clothing or shelter as they pass, please reach in and grab

any loose cash that you see. We really do want to bless you

and help you this week. Let's pray, Father, thank you

God, just for how good you are. And God, I just pray that you

would help us to have eternity in my Father, to focus on things

above, on heavenly relationships.

Father, I'm bringing more people in to know you so that they can

too know about heaven and that you are for them.

So God, I just pray you bless what's given today.

God, would you use it? Would you multiply it to see

more people come to know you? God, we love you, we praise you.

It's in your holy name that we pray.

Amen. Amen.

What a what a morning, right? What a sermon.

I have a challenge for you guys. Now's the part where we actually

go out and apply everything we've been talking about.

And now is the part where we really think, how can I make

this more than just a cool message that I heard on Sunday?

You could really start to think about what you're going to do

with this. And that's why I'd encourage you

to follow along with us on the social media campaign, the

social media campaign, 10 Days of Heaven.

And through this campaign, we're going to be looking about how we

can actually integrate this thinking of heaven into our

lives. You're going to be challenged to

to look. When your marriage doesn't feel

as as strong as it should, look to heaven.

When your kids aren't listening to the degree you think they

should be listening, look to heaven.

When your family feels like it's just falling apart, look to

heaven. This idea that that heaven is a

response to our earthly struggles is deeply biblical in

my opinion. I'm getting ready after church

today. I'm having a Bible study with

some of my friends and one of my friends chose Ecclesiastes to go

through. And in Ecclesiastes you see this

mode that one of the most vulnerable and honest struggles

of somebody just talking and working his way through the

issues of earth. But the only hope in my opinion

that we need is found in Ecclesiastes 3, where it says

that in the hearts of man God has placed eternity.

And when you understand, you understand the gospel.

And when you understand the gospel, the good news gets a lot

better. So I'd encourage you all to tell

everyone about this. Follow along on the social media

campaign, follow us on on Instagram, Facebook, at Real

Life Church KC Follow along with us and tell somebody about

heaven and give them the gospel to its fullest extent.

If you need somebody to talk to, we're going to have somebody

down here with you to pray. Otherwise, I'll let you all get

here next week at 9:00 or 10:45. And remember, whoever finds

Jesus discovers real life and purpose.

See you guys next week.