A TOUR OF HEAVEN

0:03 I was talking to Chat GPT last night and I asked Chat, what are the top tourist destinations in the world? I found this fascinating because people love to tour and we like to go to these cool destinations. Number one, the Vatican in Rome, Italy. Number two, the Eiffel Tower. Number three, the Great Wall of China. Number four, Main Street Grapevine. It's the Christmas capital of the world. downtown grapevine is beautiful it really is it's cool it's cool i'm proud to be from grapevine but you know the ultimate tour there's no doubt about it would be to tour heaven can you imagine just just for a second use your imagination god gave it to us what would it be like to tour heaven to tour heaven well today we're going to take a quick tour through heaven what is heaven like What will I look like in heaven?

1:10 Will I recognize my husband in heaven? All of those great, great, great issues. Now, I'm gonna do just a brief tour of heaven. I'm gonna hit three spots for you. Then after that, see this bowl right here? I'm sure you're going, what is in the bowl? All of your questions about heaven. Because I went on that social media. I'm sorry, Instagram, I'm joking around. and I ask people to DM me questions about heaven. So we've compiled the top FAQs about heaven because heaven help us. That's what we're calling this series, heaven help us. Heaven can help us and heaven should help you and me. And we're gonna get into why it should help you and me. The first thing I want to talk to you about, and if an angel, okay, let's say, for example, the apostle John on the Isle of Patmos wrote the book of Revelation.

2:15 Now I'm going to hit on Revelation chapter 21 to be specific, okay? John was writing this, and God gave him a vision of heaven. And the Bible says that John literally went to heaven. We don't know exactly how, but through this vision. And an angel himself took him on a tour of our heavenly dwelling place. So let's just join John, okay, and kind of look over the shoulder of the angel. And have you ever been on a tour before, and the tour is done, and then you see another tour guide you like kind of better, and you're kind of like, I want another tour. This guy's a lot better than the other one, you know? So that's what we're going to do. We're going to kind of horn in, we say in Texas, on this, isn't that good? Horn in on this tour and find out what in the heaven is going on. Number one, I want you to notice heaven is a real place. It's a real place. There is a website, a very popular website, a clothing website. I bought stuff off of it before. Not a lot, but some. It's called The Real Real. Have you ever heard of The Real Real before? Oh yeah. Okay. Here's their deal.

3:37 the real real sells authentic pre-worn designer clothing it's it's it's real man it's the real real i bought a pair of gucci loafers on there for a hundred dollars how about that the real real and i knew they were real before i bought them and said oh these have been authenticated blah blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever. The real, real. There's something about us, we want authenticity, don't we? We want things that are real. I don't want any smoke and mirrors. I don't want a facade. I don't want a fake Louis Vuitton. I want the real thing, right?

4:20 Heaven has a greater reality than earth. In other words, we think, oh, this is real. I mean, I have a real coat on and real shoes and it's a real stage and a real building. Yeah, it is real, but it's not going to be, I know we have a hard time understanding this, it's not going to be with the reality that we're going to discover in heaven. And we have to understand. God talking to us about heaven and giving us everything we need to know about heaven is awesome, but we don't have the bandwidth to really decipher the depths of heaven. It's like giving a box of crayons to a five-year-old and to go, hey, draw the Grand Canyon. so a lot of the language that we're going to use today i'm going to talk to you today about is symbolic we don't know exactly the the deal but we know enough about heaven to know it is the real real it is the place and the space where where we want to go the bible says god has set eternity Ecclesiastes chapter three in our hearts. So we have this longing, don't we, to live forever and ever happily ever after and so forth and so on. Heaven is a real place. Revelation chapter 21.

5:51 Here's the tour. You ready for this? Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy, say it with me, city. Now, God just drops this out of heaven. A capital city.

6:14 I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem. I call it J-Town, kind of joking around. I'm not being sacrilegious. It's just a way to remember it. Coming down of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. So this capital city is like a beautifully adorned bride that God just drops down. And then you have the consummation of this relationship with the Lamb of God, of course, being Jesus Christ. Heaven is a real place. It's a city, a capital city in the midst of heaven. Remember, it's very important that you understand this because I didn't know this. I really didn't know this until I began to really study about heaven, but this is important for us to know.

7:13 When you die, because everybody's gonna die, everybody has an expiration date. When you die, immediately the Bible says you'll go to heaven. As a believer, you're gonna go to heaven in a nanosecond. It's like, there's a curtain back here that I walk through, and the curtain separates backstage to the stage. Literally, I go from one world to another.

7:45 That's just a little bit of a hint of heaven. And the Bible tells us when we die, we're going to go to heaven. We'll see Jesus. But really, the whole deal is death, judgment. Death, judgment, separation. Death, judgment, separation. Jesus will judge us based on what we did with him. So we have a free will. We're made in the image of our great God who has a free will. We choose what destination we will live in forever. And forever is a long, long time. So again, people say, well, I can't believe God hurls people to hell. I can't believe God slam dunks people. He doesn't do it.

8:39 We make that choice. Yet this city is dropped. Okay, stay with me. So we go to heaven. We die, boom. We wake up, we're in heaven. We're believers. Our souls and spirits, let me say it again. Our souls and spirits are in heaven. Then when Jesus returns, stay with me now, this is huge. our earthly bodies will merge with our souls and spirit. We'll have a new body, a new heavenly body, no muffin tops or man's ears, no cellulite. No, no, no. We're going to look like, I mean, if we knew how we would look, we would probably be doing anything to get there. But thankfully God doesn't describe that too much, but we're going to look that good, that awesome. And the hint is given to us during the transfiguration of Christ, Matthew chapter 17, when Jesus was transfigured, Peter, James, and John were able to recognize Moses and Elijah.

9:43 We will be able to recognize one another. We don't need a name tag that says, hello, my name is, I mean, we'll know, you know, like we have never, ever, ever been known. God will merge our bodies. with our spirits, then God will set up, and I'm giving you the cliff notes really quick, a new heaven and a new earth. Okay, Ed, get specific. What do you mean? You mean it's gonna be here? Well, yes, sort of. God is gonna melt down this deal here. I don't know how he's gonna do it. Don't ask me how. The Bible just says he's gonna melt it down. He's gonna take the product, you know, let's say like Play-Doh, for example. You have Play-Doh, it's kind of a nice little, you know, whatever you make, Play-Doh, a little bird or an elephant or whatever. And then you make something that's just like unreal, but you're using the same Play-Doh.

10:43 I know that's kind of a tough and kind of a raw illustration, but that's the only thing I can think of right now. It's like recycling. Okay, it's like recycling a car. You know, you've seen junkyards, and I have a friend of mine that has a bunch of junkyards. He's hilarious. His name is Benji. And he takes all of these old cars trashed out and he has this process and he works with other companies where they melt them down and then make other cool parts. That's sort of what's going to happen. Do you feel me? All right. I thought you did. The Bible says, I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Notice too, and I'm not going to read all these verses, but Philippians chapter three, verse 20, says that we're citizens of heaven. I talked to you a couple of weeks ago about our whirlwind trip. We were gone for about, I don't know, almost a month speaking.

11:36 It was fun. People were like, did you have a good time? Well, yeah, we did. I had one free day out of all those days where I could just chill. So I'd say it's fun. I'm doing what God wants me to do. And we flew from here to St. Louis, St. Louis to Boston, Boston to Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C., to Cape Town, Cape Town, to Johannesburg, Johannesburg, to Kruger National Park, Kruger National Park, back to Johannesburg, Johannesburg to Dubai, and Dubai, back home to Dallas. We wore our passports out. That's what I'm trying to say. Have you ever thought about a passport? What is the passport? Well, it identifies where you live. It identifies your citizenship. But the Bible says we're strangers and aliens here. Those of us who are believers, because this is not our home. Really? It's not. Heaven is our home. So I beg you, if you're not a citizen of heaven to, to, to make that decision. And you make that decision by being, the Bible says born again, we're born again into the family of God.

12:45 Our home's in heaven. We're a part of that. And that's what it means. So you die once you're born twice. You die twice you're born once. So heaven is a real place and a real space. The Bible says in John 14 too, in my father's house, the word house is topos, which means a literal dwelling has many, many mansions. And if you want to get specific about, about heaven, the capital city is four square. The Bible says 1500 miles tall, 1500 miles wide, 1500 miles long. I think the ground floor of this capital city will be able to house a hundred billion people. That's a lot.

13:37 So you have a perfected square, a four square. And this is kind of a hint of what the Holy of Holies was about back in the Old Testament. I don't wanna go too deep on you, but the Holy of Holies was perfectly square. It was a small place, a little space where the high priest would come in once a year and atone for the sins, the people would spill the blood on the mercy seat. But it was tight. And now we have heaven. It is a massive, massive place, but it is sort of like, and the Old Testament foreshadowed the size and the dimensions of heaven as it describes the sacrificial system. So heaven is a real place. That's what we're trying to say. Do you have a citizenship in heaven? Number two, heaven is a personal space.

14:31 It's a personal space. It's very personal. It took God, what, six days to create the heavens and the earth? Well, think about it. Jesus has been preparing heaven for you and me for 2,000 years. He doesn't build track homes. He doesn't build apartment complexes. We have a place, a home, that would blow away any home I could conjure up in my mind.

14:54 And it's hard to believe. I know it's hard to understand. Even our grandson was struggling with, what does forever mean? And he's like seven years old. I mean, what do you mean? We're gonna be in heaven and it'll never end? I mean, that's a concept that, again, we're not smart enough to understand. But thankfully, God's given us this book. And if you line up, as I said last time, the top 10 religious leaders of all time, and you study their works about the end times, Christ's words would bloat them completely and totally out of the water. Everything, again, friends, points to the afterlife. Let me just go non-biblical for a second. Physics points to the afterlife. Anthropology points to the afterlife. The morality that we have inside of our lives, study any people group, anywhere, anytime, It's about the afterlife from the happy hunting ground to the Indians to, you know, so I think you understand what I'm saying. So heaven is a personal space. Okay. Here's this tour again.

16:02 We go back to Revelation 21 and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people. Okay. In the old Testament, he was in the tabernacle. Now he's with the people. I mean, God will be there. What is heaven going to be like? Well, Jesus will be there. We will be with Jesus. And it's about Jesus because of his grace and mercy and love. He has provided a home in heaven for you and me. We don't deserve it, but he's provided it for us. If I'm speaking somewhere, let's say I go somewhere and speak, spend the night and come back home, when I come back home, I've not seen Lisa, right? So what I do is I'll walk up to my chair in the den and kiss the chair. And then I'll find our rug. We have a cool rug in our family room and then I'll kiss the rug. Then I'll find a couple of my dogs and kiss them. You know, I'm line to you. I'm finding Lisa. I'm kissing Lisa. You know why? Where Lisa is, that's where home is.

17:11 So where Jesus is, that's our home. We're strangers. We're aliens. We're not of this world. We're just passing through. So you show your passport. It should say heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people. He will dwell with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. No more drama, no more sadness, no more sorrow. Check this out. There'll be no more death, mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. Do you remember that shampoo? I mean, I grew up with the shampoo, Johnson and Johnson, no more tears. Remember that? I remember even as a little kid going, man, I have confidence. I can just wash my hair. Even if something gets in my eyes, no more tears. You wouldn't cry. It was a miracle.

18:07 What I'm talking about is no more tears, no steroids. We're washed with the blood of Jesus. We're cleansed. We're redeemed. We're set free. We're forgiven. No more tears. No more drama. No more death. No more depression. No more anxiety. No more games than the Cowboys lose. No. it's going to be awesome. And I can read all this for you, but you can read when you go home, you know, we're kind of jammed for time, but Jesus said in John 14, two of my father's house are many mansions, not a few, many think about just that ground floor, a hundred billion people. There'll be a hundred billion mansions, a hundred billion ranches. If you want the real deal or the real, real in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not, so I'd have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. I'll never forget a story that dad told me years ago. He said there was this young, young guy. He was maybe 10 years old. He was dying of cancer. And he, he was a part of a, of a great Christian home. And one day he felt really, really bad. And he asked his dad, he goes, Dad, what happens when you die?

19:31 And this thoughtful father said, well, you know, son, when you're playing video games in the den and you get really tired and you close your eyes and you wake up and you're not in the family room anymore, you're in your bedroom. I moved you from one room to another. He said, son, that's heaven. In my father's house are many mansions. When we die, we're gonna move from one room to an unbelievable, spectacular mansion. Let's go to the third part. Our angel is touring us. And when you read Revelation 21, and you can read it today, you'll see what I'm talking about, how the angel is taking John on this tour.

20:29 I'm just giving you the high point. So heaven is a real place. It's a personal space. Heaven is a pristine place as well. The Bible says in Revelation 21, 5 through 8, he who is seated on the throne said, I'm making everything new. Now, how great is that? Everything new. new bodies, new environments, new, new everything. Write down these words, he said, and they're trustworthy and true. He said to me, it's done. I'm the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end to the thirsty. I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. We'll be able to drink out of the crystal river in heaven on those streets of gold. and it will satisfy the deepest needs and longings that we can't even articulate right now. So it's a real place.

21:21 Walls around it, meaning protection, security. Gates throughout it, meaning it's accessible to those of us who know Christ. The precious stones are just off the chain. But here's some bad news. Let me give you the good news first. Those who are victorious will inherit all of this. and I'll be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexual immoral, those who practice magic arts, they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. heaven is a real place. Hell is a real place. We all face a forever. I don't let you talk about hell, but you either say hell yes or hell no. It's your opportunity. You either say heaven yes or heaven no. It's your opportunity. Because when Jesus looks at you and me, again, we die, we go from behind the curtain, like I am right now, to this situation, the issue in heaven is not going to be, hey, Ed, did you sin?

22:35 That's not the issue. I mean, I'm a sinner, so are you. The issue is, what did you do with Jesus? And religion is about don't do and do do, but... Christianity I woke some people up is about done and Jesus is going to ask you and me okay what did you do with me and Jesus here's my passport I mean just like I showed it in Dubai and other places you're sometimes kind of nervous here's my passport welcome come on into heaven come on into heaven This is your home. This longing we have, friends, is for our heavenly home.

23:31 So we're on this tour. We've kind of horned in, and I like that phrase. And we're looking and listening to an angel take John through heaven. Well, if I'm on a tour, I'm going to ask some questions, right? So in this bowl right here, as I said earlier, we are going to tackle the most frequently asked questions about heaven right here on this stage. Now, if I am dumbfounded, if I don't know the answer, I've got Tian, I've got my lovely wife and Dr. Tracy Barnes. So we're going to find out the answers, okay? Question one. I know you can't wait for this. what can we not do in heaven? That's right, what can we not do in heaven?

24:26 Number one, we can't sin. That's good, isn't it? It's important to know that. Praise the Lord. Number two, here we go, here we go. We can't share Jesus with others. that's why it's so critical for us to share the gospel to engage to invite to pray to allow the holy spirit to engage and and and we are carriers of the gospel we're citizens of heaven we've been born again and we're simply telling other people hey you can be born again because if you're born twice, you die once. I'm a 61 model. I know, again, that shocked some of you who were visiting. I was born March 3rd physically in Raleigh, North Carolina, 1961. What did I say?

25:28 I got the date wrong, my birthday. Am I losing my mind? Somebody help me. I even had some espresso right when I walked out. I'm sorry, I've never done that in my whole life. March, how did I do? How can you mess up on your birthday?

25:49 Man, Ed, you're an idiot. Okay, so I was born March 16th, 1961. and yeah, I was born, let me look in the camera. I was born March 16th, 1961 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Then I was born again in the early seventies, like 1972. Are you following with me? You following me? Okay. And then when I die, no one knows when I'll die except God, but everyone's going to die. I checked the stats on death before I walked out. They're still hovering around 100%. When I die, when I die, when I die, I'm in heaven. So two births. Do you have just one birth? If you have one birth, you're in trouble. You're in trouble because a lot of people are like, okay, yeah, I've got a birth date. March, let's say March 3rd, 1961. That's my, that's my, that's my birth day. And every time the Holy Spirit of God tries to reach you and touch you through all of these different things, you do the stiff arm, the stiff arm, the stiff arm, even sweet Aunt Ethel. Oh, you mean she's going to hell if she stiff-armed God? If she stiff-armed God? So if you're born once, you're going to die twice. You die, you are in the presence of the Lord, and Jesus is going to say, I'm going to give you a greater measure of what you desired on planet earth, which is complete separation from me.

27:22 Heaven is complete and total community. Hell is complete and total condemnation. Jesus said hell is a place of isolation. It's a place of regret. He doesn't want anybody to go there. That's what I tell people all the time. I was talking to someone at the gym yesterday. I go, hey, Jesus didn't want anybody to go to hell. Heaven is designed for man. But again, I'm so thankful we have a freedom of choice. I took too long on that one, but. Oh, Lisa gave me this question. Will there be sex in heaven?

28:00 I'm joking. She didn't. She didn't. But I know what a lot of guys are thinking. I know you can say to my God, hey man, will there be sex together? If you're not going to be sex together, I don't want to go.

28:22 Here's what I have to say about that. I understand the sex drive. I know we're sexual creatures. I've written a New York Times bestselling book on sex. I know about sex. I do. I do. But if you think sex, or if I think sex is the greatest thing, and I'm not going to enjoy heaven because I'm not going to have sex, I've got to wonder about your deal right now. I mean, what is your problem? You know? So the Bible tells us, and we don't understand all of this, there's not going to be marriage in heaven. there's not going to be most scholars believe there's not going to be sex in heaven but okay we gotta trust god you remember the crystal river you remember those needs our needs will be satisfied i mean needs on a wholly another level over sex and as great as marriage is most of the time over marriage and all of that you see what i'm saying to you so just so just trust God, bro. All right. Just trust him. Just trust him. But if that's what you're thinking about, boy, I'm going to have to have more sex. You have, you have an issue. Okay.

29:32 Honey, thank you for that question. So this is going to kill me. I will not say that the next service. I guarantee it. She's going to say, no, do not. But sometimes guys, when you feel a lot of humor, you don't check with your wives because they can ruin that humor. You just go for it. And then, you know, you can clap because I'm telling you, men and women's humor are different things. They're different. And I love women. You know, women laugh with women. I love that. But guys, we laugh at each other. how can i be certain i'm going to heaven well i have i have addressed that but again where is your citizenship you can be born again into the family of god by receiving jesus christ how do you receive jesus christ you admit that you're a sinner you turn from that that's repentance and then you have faith in the person of christ you believe to the best of your ability that he He paid the price on the cross for all of your sins.

30:42 On the third day, he rose again. And the deal has been done. So I'm simply receiving the indescribable gift, the Bible says. And the gift is citizenship. So that's how you become a believer. All right. I'm just taking these questions. Here's another one. What will we know? Well, a lot. we will know as we've never been known and know others and know things and so many things so many many many things now we're not going to be we're not going to be omniscient like god but so many questions will be answered and so many it's like well and and and i can't believe that we went through this god and we this happened this was difficult and we experienced this loss or whatever all of a sudden, all of those things, all of the dots, all the T's will be crossed, all the I's will be dotted in heaven.

31:39 So we have to, again, trust God, bro. We gotta trust him. But planet Earth is not easy, is it? I mean, I love being a pastor, but I've seen some of the greatest things and the greatest people ever. I've seen some of the worst things and the worst people ever. And I'll be glad when all the worst stuff and bad stuff is erased, deleted. Because we're not gonna be able to look back and go, oh man, I can't believe this happened or that was a terrible situation. There's gonna be some sort of a memory wipe or whatever. But we will know, again, far more than we know now. First Corinthians 13, 12 addresses that. Here's another question. We're having fun now, aren't we? Oh, now this is, this is, this is a tough one here. What about loved ones in hell?

32:35 Will that make us sad? Short answer? No, there'll be some sort of a, I don't know what a memory wipe. And we just are not going to experience that. That's my answer based on my biblical knowledge. we have to understand that they had opportunities to come to Christ the Holy Spirit tugged and convicted and they just said no they did the stiff arm so no matter how good you think a relative is or a person is good isn't good enough but God is great enough so great he sent Jesus to do what he did on the cross and rise again that's a good hand clap Okay, now, will our identities remain the same? Yes.

33:29 Yes, they will. Let me fly through these. Will there be animals in heaven? As I've told you, yes, no cats, but... And I'm joking about that. I love cats. Our last cat was meow, meow. I love animals. Meow, meow, I guarantee it is going to be in heaven. Well, do they have souls? The Bible says, no, animals don't have souls like you think. But I truly believe, based on Isaiah 65, if you want the receipts in Romans 8, that we'll have animals. Even, I have a friend, even honey. yeah we had a golden doodle named honey and I'm not sure she's saved but we gave her to we gave her to some friends and she's she has a criminal mind this dog I love her but I just feel like she's heard me speak and practice my messages so much she's been around so many you know theological journals and things maybe maybe maybe but I'm not sure about her okay Okay, and guys, you know I'm joking.

34:35 You know that. I need to qualify that sometimes because sometimes people think I'm serious. It's like that Donald Trump picture we did with AI. People thought I was with Donald Trump. No, that was a joke. That's my weird sense of humor. Okay, what happens a second after I die? Well, we're with Jesus. We're resurrected that quick. Will we experience relationships and communication? Yes, our relationships. Okay, take the ultimate moment, guys and girls, husbands and wives, in your relationship. I mean, when you felt the greatest connectivity, it doesn't come close to what we will experience relationally. I know Lisa. I love her to death. We've been married for 43 years. We've been together for like 50 years. So I think I know her. Well, I do, but I don't heavenly know her. See?

35:28 I would clap my hands there, too. So, um... will we still have free will, free will in heaven? How about that? Yes, but without sin. And if you like building, your building will continue in heaven like you've never seen. If you like creating, if you like sports, if you like fishing, I mean, the fish are gonna be big and dumb in heaven. Every fish, every fish I cast to will bite. But you see what I'm saying to you? That the Bible says, again, a greater measure, a greater measure here. This is fun. I might just turn every message into Q&A. Will we have emotions in heaven? Yes, God's an emotional God.

36:21 But I'm not talking about drama or are you in a bad mood again? I'm not talking about that. just read again revelation 21 will we be creative in heaven yes we will creativity that will embarrass picasso and renoir can people in heaven see us now i believe they can uh hebrews 12 1 and 2 i believe that the god does not shut the blinds when someone goes to heaven have you ever i know you have you've been walking around going man i just feel my father who passed you know a couple years ago i feel my son or in our case our daughter or i just feel this encouragement right now that's a great cloud of witnesses cheering for you and me. They're not jeering in heaven. They're, they're, they're cheering for us. And we have a cheering section that doesn't sit down. I'm almost, I, I've almost gotten all these questions. This is incredible. Even though I'm out of time, I really don't care. Is heaven going to be boring? No, it sometimes, you know, kids, I'm bored, you know, we're just.

37:30 No, that's not going to happen in heaven. I mean, when you're like wired and you're like engaged, that's the kind of vibe. last question what will heaven be like Jesus was dying on the cross for our sins he looked at one of the criminals next to him who trusted Christ he goes today today you'll spend eternity with me in paradise the word paradise means the park of God I've been to a lot of cool parks, but nothing like that. So again, I've just given you some hints of heaven.

38:25 You can study it. There's some great books written on it. Randy Alcorn, David Jeremiah, a friend of mine, John Burke. Brilliant, brilliant works on heaven. Heaven is a real place, isn't it? and real people go to heaven. And just look again, even just take the Bible away. As I said earlier, just look at anthropology and psychology and biology and look at some of the great thinkers from Plato to Immanuel Kant. I mean, everything points, the law of thermodynamics, everything points to an afterlife just by observation. But then, of course, we have the revelation, don't we Owen, of God in heaven. So Owen, tell me, do you have anything to add?

39:18 This is Owen Goff. Please stand. Owen has been a part of our church for a long time. Owen, do you have anything to add about heaven? Because I mean, I ain't gonna lie, I'm on the back nine. I'm 64 years old, but. Just a kid. Well, I've learned a whole lot here today about heaven. So I'm happy with what I know. and I go along with almost everything you said.

39:47 Hey, Owen, I'll be happy to try to debate something with you that you didn't agree with. I'm a little feeling about animals in heaven. Oh, Owen, you just don't like animals that much. I love animals, but I have seven dogs. I don't want seven dogs in heaven. But, Owen, it's going to be perfect. The dogs will be perfect there. Oh, will they? No, they're not going to have accidents. they're not going to chew on things yeah there'll still be a lot of them thank you Owen you know what Owen is I love this guy to death he's positively the most negative person I've ever met okay Lisa, what do you have to add about, I've never done this before in 35 years of preaching. Lisa, what do you have to add to heaven? Now, would you stand up? You look so beautiful today and I love you so much. I did not write that question. I know, it was a joke.

40:43 It was a joke. I did that for the guys. I did that for the guys here. And our humor is definitely different. It's different. I did, that was a guy joke. Guys, you gotta show me some love. That was just for you, that joke. Thank you. Yeah. Okay, so I would add to those books that you mentioned, and we're actually, I think, Tien gonna do this study coming up soon. I don't know when. in the spring. It's called Heaven, and it's by Jennifer Rothschild. And I actually did it this past fall with our neighborhood, and it was absolutely amazing. And so I just learned a whole lot. And I think probably the biggest takeaway for me is knowing about heaven, how do I live now? And it challenges me. Like Ed said, you can't share your faith in heaven. So this is my chance to say Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

41:41 And no one comes to the Father except through him. Are you checking your watch? Oh, my word. He looked at his watch. I was checking it for the entire church. I didn't want to go overnight. You know what? Just because you did that, let's bow for prayer. No, no, wait, wait, wait, no, wait. I'm going to ask Tracy something. Is that Tracy? I'll ask Tracy something. Okay. What do you want to ask Tracy? You can ask her whatever you want.

42:12 Okay, Tracy. Tracy said he's not going to deal with the sex question. Okay, that's nice. Tracy and Debbie are here, right here. And I'll ask a question because you have two precious children in heaven. Yes. And when Roger and Philip passed away, how many years ago? 20 for Roger, 11 for Philip. Okay, so tell me what changed for you. what changed? Well, obviously we know in the relationship that we have with God through Jesus and the relationship that Philip and Roger had and still do. And I know Debbie would agree that we really look forward to it. And as you just said, we're on the back half of life. that time is getting closer and closer.

43:11 And I actually anticipate and look forward to it for a great many reasons. But one, and I say this to all of you in this room who've lost loved ones, there's that day coming when we'll be reunited. And that... I have to let the emotion go down because I miss those two men as anyone in this room would miss any loved one that has gone on before us. But we have that hope and that assurance that we will, as you were just talking about, we will be with them, not just with Jesus face to face, but with them as well. And so many others. and I would add and I think it's still available in the source or maybe online Tracy did a message called Night Shift which tells the story one of the best messages I've ever heard it really is it's incredible Night Shift if you have not seen it go to fellowshipchurch.com and maybe too Lisa we can put it on the website and I'll try to put it on social media that's great too because it's incredible If you don't know their story, it's unbelievable.

44:24 And if you want to know about faith that is real and trusted and true, it's Tracy and Debbie Barnes and their family. No, no. It's payback time. Now we're going to bow for prayer. And I do want to make sure that, you know, we laugh and we have a good time in church. but the most important thing is that you know that your citizenship is in heaven. So let's bow together right now. Father, I just pray in this room as we have enjoyed time with you, time of worship, time of reading your word, and time of looking forward to what you have in store for us, that no one in this place would leave without understanding what it means to have a relationship with you, that you paid the ultimate price for our sins. God, we know that you cannot look at sin.

45:19 You can't weaken sin. You just cannot even consider sin. And because of that, you sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross, to rise again, to make a payment for our sin. And if that's you, just say, Lord Jesus, I trust you. I know what you've done for me, what I don't deserve. And I receive that. I turn from my sin and I want to walk with you from now on. I want to be a citizen of heaven. I want to make that decision right now today. And if that's you, we just celebrate that, that prayer of giving your life to Christ. And others here, Father, maybe we aren't really thinking seriously enough about why we're on this earth as Christ followers. We've trusted you with our salvation and we act like that's the end, but it's not. It's really the beginning of walking with you, of bringing others alongside of you so that they can know what it's like to be a citizen of heaven. And we voice this prayer in Jesus name. Amen.

46:22 Amen.