WHAT IN THE HEAVEN IS GOING ON?

0:03 When you put your head on the pillow last night, 86,000 people died worldwide. Think about that for a second. That's a lot of people. I checked the stats on death right before I walked out, as I do regularly. One out of one die. The percentage is still hovering around about 100%. thought I'd let you know that comforting news. Every single person here is going to die.

0:42 You have an expiration date, and so do I. And And considering that and thinking about that and praying over that, I decided to do a series starting today called Heaven Help Us. Heaven Help Us. It's funny how we have these phrases like, that's a match made in heaven.

1:15 That's heavenly. But I really like heaven help us because God wants heaven to help us. God in heaven, and heaven is the place where God resides. It's his throne. He wants heaven to motivate us and stimulate us. Yet, even though we know we're going to spend more time there than here, we really don't know a lot about there. I mean, let's face it, what we know about heaven is at best folklore. It's not fact. It's word on the street as opposed to the word of God. If you go back in history and take the 10 most influential religious leaders out there and you line them on this stage and you studied their writings and their thoughts about eternity and the afterlife, what Jesus said about heaven blows everything else they can come up with and that they've come up with totally out of the water. Jesus speaks lovingly, biblically, obviously, authoritatively about the afterlife like no one else. And one of the unique things about Christianity is, Christianity is the only heaven where the founder, Jesus, will be with us forever.

2:51 Forever is a long, long time, isn't it? And by virtue of thinking about my life, I'm 64 years old, so I'm on the back nine, right? and thinking about when our daughter passed away almost five years ago, I have more of a focus. I have more of a thought process and a concentration on the afterlife. So I thought, why don't we do a series on it and let's call it Heaven Help Us, as I said, and let's unpack how heaven can help us because this is going to be a very positive and encouraging message. It's not like, I know when I talked about death earlier, you're like, oh my goodness. Well, yeah, death is a reality, but let's talk about heaven. And here's what I want you to understand about heaven.

3:46 Heaven is not the end. A lot of people think, oh, it's my final destination. Nope, it's just the beginning. It's just the beginning. Why heaven? Why talk about heaven? Well, heaven, help us. In 2005, Tom Brady was being interviewed. He just won his third Super Bowl, just signed a $60 million contract, and a reporter said, Tom, I mean, how is it that you're on top of the world? What's it like to be like the man? And here's what Brady said. There's got to be more than this. This can't be all it's cracked up to be. What else is there for me? He said more, didn't he? More, more. We have that more. There's got to be more out there. Think about your life.

4:39 There's got to be more. Think about my life. There's got to be more. Think about children's books, and they lived happily ever after. Why do we have that eternal longing? It's placed there by God. Why do we like songs with a happy ever after ending? Why do we like movies, you know, and all those things that have a good ending were made for more than this? Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 11 says, he being God has set eternity in the human heart. God has just set us up, hasn't he, for success. We have this eternal longing in our lives. Hebrews chapter 11 says this, all these people were still living by faith. And he's talking about the hall of faith there. All the great matriarchs and patriarchs, they were all living the life when they died. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has, say it with me, prepared a city for them. I want you to consider this, guys. Jesus has been comparing, has been preparing a city for you and me for over 2,000 years. So heaven help us. How can heaven help us? I want to talk about five ways quickly that heaven can help us because we need to understand just kind of a general view of heaven. We need to kind of do a flyover to really download this amazing data that matters given to us by the word of God. I want you to notice, first of all, the location of heaven. Where in the heck is heaven? Where is it? Now, when the Bible uses the word or the term heaven, it refers to three different places, but one destination.

6:33 Heaven number one would be the atmospheric heaven. Heaven number two would be the universe, the planets and solar system, et cetera. But heaven number three, where we're going, is where God resides, heaven, heaven. The Bible says this about heaven in John chapter 14, verse two. Jesus said, in my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, what I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. Here's that word prepare. See the word prepare again. The location in heaven is out there, but even though it's out there, it's right near to you and me. There's a tissue-like veil separating this life from the next. And one of the unique things about the Bible is, the Bible mentions the word heaven 582 times, but one of the most unique things about the Bible is the fact that it tells us more about what heaven is not gonna be than it does about what heaven is.

7:39 And I truly believe if we knew the totality of heaven, well, our band, we don't have the bandwidth to even understand it, but if we really knew how awesome it was, we would be doing anything to get there. Anything. People ask me all sorts of questions about heaven. Like, here's my favorite. Excuse me, will my pets go to heaven? I usually say, well, short answer, yes. Cats won't, I say, but the other pets will. and next week I'm going to be answering some of the most asked questions regarding heaven but today though we're going to find out again where heaven is heaven is the residence of God It is out there, but it's also up here.

8:42 I sometimes think this, this is just me. I sometimes think, you know, when I'm in heaven, will I have any regrets about Earth? I mean, will I go, man, I really miss our neighborhood. I really miss that Mexican restaurant. I do, I really do. Lisa and I got married at 21.

9:06 And a generous friend gave us, gave us our honeymoon to Hawaii. It's a pretty nice gift. So we found ourselves sitting on the tarmac. This is back before the airlines are what they are today, okay? Sitting there on the tarmac. In coach, by the restrooms.

9:34 Lisa and I are just sitting there. we're on our honeymoon This flight attendant walked up to us and he said, Hey, are you guys on your honeymoon? Because we were tied up like a bunch of bull constrictors. And I said, yes, we're on our honeymoon. He said, today is your lucky day. Come with me. And we pranced through coach economy.

10:09 Open the curtain. he put us, this is back in the day, in first class. I had never flown in first class in my life. I'm going to tell you something. The food is better in first class. The service is better in first class. The restrooms are cleaner in first class. Not one time did I say, oh, Lisa, I miss coach. I really miss being back there by the bathroom no I was in first class when you get to heaven it's going to be so spectacular you're not going to go well I wonder what it's like sitting in the seats by the restroom no no no no no no no you're going to say I'm in first class I'm with the Lord so heaven Thank you.

11:07 Again, it's going to be, as I used to say, off the chain. Do you mind if I tell you another story about our honeymoon that has to do with heaven?

11:27 Where are your minds? I'd never snorkeled before until we were on our honeymoon. And that was a life-changing experience because literally I went from one world to the next. And Lisa and I were snorkeling, and around every turn there's another reef, another fish. you know you just colors and and fish and and a whole new world that i couldn't imagine that's just a slice of heaven it's a it's a new world we're going from this world to the next so in my father's house are many mansions jesus said if it were not so i would have told you i go to prepare a place for you. Think about, when you think about the location, think about just some of the benefits and some of the beauty of heaven. Revelation chapter 21, verses 17 through 19.

12:34 Then he measured the walls, he being an angel, this is interesting, isn't it? And found them to be 216 feet thick. This is the structure of the wall around the capital city. The wall was made of Jasper, the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. The wall of the city was built on foundation stones and laid with 12 precious stones. The 12 gates were made of pearls, each gate from a single pearl. And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass. Heaven is a tangible town. It's a real place. It's not some atmospheric, gaseous deal where we're playing harps and halos and singing hallelujah in our stained glass fortress. Kumbaya, Lord. It's not going to be an eternal church service where your butt gets tired sitting on a hard pew listening to a pipe organ. I don't know where you got that from, but that is not the Bible. We do not become angels when we die and graduate. That's not in the Bible. The Bible says heaven is reserved for those who are citizens of heaven. So if I'm heaven born, I'm heaven bound. When I was born again, I was born into the family of God. My passport is in heaven. I'm just visiting here. You remember a couple of weeks ago, I told you Lisa and I went on this whirlwind trip internationally. A passport is a major, major item. You don't want to lose your passport. And we would show the passport and the people will go, oh, you're from the US.

14:32 Well, as a believer, if you've been born again, if you've been born again, I know I have, our home is in heaven. So heaven is gonna be located and it's located very, very near to us. I mean, have you ever thought about, man, I feel like my loved ones who have passed, I feel like they're right there with me. Well, that's biblical. God doesn't shut the shades when someone goes to heaven. They can see you and me. Last time I talked about Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 11, where it talks about the hall of faith, the hall of fame, as I mentioned earlier. All those cats are watching us and cheering us on, the Bible says. And I believe in heaven, we have a cheering section that never shuts up. Now let's look at the population of heaven. Yeah, we looked at the location of heaven number one. Number two, the population of heaven. It's not going to be small. Let me say it again.

15:30 It's not going to be small. Let me say it again. It's not going to be small. Sometimes people say this to me. They've told me this for years. Fellowship Church, I don't know if you know this, has been one of the largest churches in America for the last 20 years. Don't clap. It's just a fact. We're a big church and we live in a big city. Sometimes people have the audacity to say this to me and I want to choke them out, but I don't because I know it's just ignorance. oh man I like fellowship church it's just Too big. Well, my friend, you're not going to like heaven.

16:09 Someone did the math on heaven. Are you ready for this? The population of heaven, you might want to write this down. Some bean counter, some Christian bean counter came up with this. 70 times the world's present population. Check that out. it's going to be a big place. We serve a big God.

16:35 I'm not saying that a small church is bad. If a small church is around a few people, it's going to be small. That's great. What I'm telling you is this. God likes big stuff, and heaven is going to be massive. The population will be massive. A great multitude, the Bible says, which no man could number. Out of all the nations and kindreds, peoples and tongues. another architect, a Christian architect did some math. And if you want to think about the footprint of heaven, God's going to, and I'll explain this in a second. God's just going to drop the capital city of heaven on earth. And I'll come back to that. Just remember that God's going to drop it. This capital city is in the shape of a cube. Like the Holy of Holies, which is interesting.

17:32 It's 1,500 miles tall, 1,500 miles long, and 1,500 miles wide. To get just a concept of it, it would be like taking the entire eastern portion of the U.S. and stacking it for 1,500 miles.

17:55 Now, my little brain can't pick that up. I don't care how smart you are. You might be from MIT. You're not gonna understand it. And again, if we understood everything, we would fry a circuit. So God gives us just enough, doesn't he, information, just enough that blows our doors off. But this is kind of like when our kids were small. When our kids were small, Lisa and I would help them with their reading. I mean, we didn't drop a Hemingway novel on them or we didn't give them a C.S. Lewis novel, hey, start there. They wouldn't comprehend that. When it comes to numbers, we didn't say, oh yeah, here's a book on quantum physics.

18:38 They couldn't comprehend it. So you're not gonna be able to, nor am I, to totally comprehend this subject. It's that deep, it's that rich, it's that unworldly. But what I'm telling you is, heaven is in another dimension. It's outside of time and space. Heaven is going to have a, as Donald Trump says, huge population.

19:08 How about the occupation of heaven? People ask me this a lot. Ed, what will we do in heaven, man? Am I going to get bored? Well, the Bible says that we're going to work. What? It says it. Genesis chapter two, verse 15, the Lord took, we're going back to the garden now, the man put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. So this should put to rest, which is the oldest occupation known to man. That argument. Landscaping. So, let me say that again. I didn't tell that joke right.

19:44 Because that got a pitiful laugh. That joke was really funny. I want you to think with me. Just think with me. Okay. Going back to the book of Genesis. Are we tracking? First man, first woman. God drops work on man before sin ever entered the human equation. Do you understand that? Just like that. Okay. That should put to rest the age old argument over what is the oldest known occupation. I know where your mind is going, so I flip it and say landscaping. I think now you're just getting it. Really. do you realize we're made to work let me say it again we're made to work we're gonna work in heaven what do you like to do i mean seriously what do you like to do multiply that exponentially and it doesn't come close to what you're going to enjoy in heaven maybe you like to develop things maybe you like to build things maybe you like to decorate maybe you like to paint. Maybe you like sculpture. Maybe you like athletics. Take that and multiply that exponentially, and it doesn't come close to what you're going to do in heaven. So heaven is not going to be boring. Just the opposite. We'll never sleep. We'll never rest. There's going to be no prisons, no courtrooms, no lawyers.

21:17 It was a rough crowd this morning. I worked on these jokes. Now, lawyers take themselves so seriously. Sometimes they get mad at my lawyer's jokes. My best friend's a lawyer, okay? If you can't laugh at yourself, you need to go to another church. All right, because we'll laugh in heaven. Did you know that? And you know what the dominant disposition's gonna be? Outrageous and contagious joy. What a great name for a book. it's another joke one of my books was outrageous contagious joy i'm on a roll but you're not john chapter 5 verse 17 my father is always is always at his work to this very day and i am too working working we're to work and we're going to work isn't that exciting so so what we're doing here is is simply a dress rehearsal right for the for the for the real deal the location of heaven the population of heaven the occupation of heaven yeah i'm i'm gonna work in a perfect environment in my work space will be my will be my worship place now the communication of heaven. Have you ever been with friends before and time just flies? I mean, it's like my best friend, the lawyer. Many times we've been together and it's like, it's midnight. I mean, they, they want us to leave the restaurant. That, that, that community, that connectivity.

23:08 Once again, friends, take that to a level that we can't even comprehend. That's just a little bit of the communicative process that will happen in heaven. I've been married to my lovely wife for 43 years. I know Lisa. She knows me. But not in the realm of heaven. I don't really know you. I won't know you really until heaven. Will we recognize people? Yes. Are there different levels of heaven? Well, Ed pastored and he's there. He's in that neighborhood I can't get to. No, no, no, no, no. Heaven is equal. We will, though, receive different rewards. For example, all of us have been given unique gifts and aptitudes and abilities.

24:07 In heaven, God will reward us based on what we did with what he has given us. Does that make sense? So that's why one day God's going to look at our highlight reel and he's going to reward us based on that. But it's interesting, the decision we make on this side of the dirt determines our destiny on the other side. This is fine, isn't it? The location of heaven, the population of heaven, the occupation of heaven, the communication of heaven.

24:44 Now, this is something that I've been muddy on in my own life for a while, but just due to study, I figured it out. I want you to stay with me and listen to what I say. Okay, we're looking at what the Bible says about heaven. This isn't my opinion. This isn't some opinion from Islam or Mormonism. This is what the Bible says about heaven. when you die, okay, let's say, for example, oh, you know what, let me use our daughter for example, LeBeth, okay. When LeBeth died, I was with her, as I've told you, when she died. In a nanosecond, she closed her eyes on planet Earth, opened them immediately, immediately in heaven. She was with Jesus.

25:36 But listen to me very carefully. Leabeth's soul and spirit is with the Lord. Heaven is a real place, a tangible town. Okay. I don't know what that looks like. The Bible doesn't tell us. The Bible does tell us Jesus will come back.

25:59 When he comes back, say it with me, he's going to bring the souls, the spirits of those who've gone to heaven with him. our bodies will resurrect and our bodies and spirits will merge. we'll have a new resurrected body no muffin tops, cellulite or man's ears So that merging will take place. You understand that? So you die, you're going to heaven. But that is temporary, not in the temporary that we would use the word, but it's the best word we can come up with.

26:53 God takes that, Jesus does, comes back to earth. our bodies and our spirits and souls are synced up. We have new bodies. Then, oh, it gets better. When Jesus comes back, he establishes and builds a new heaven and a new earth. You have another merging involved. I hope I'm clear on that. okay let me let me illustrate it for the young people here you know, on your phone, you have a lot of pictures.

27:38 And the pictures are also in the cloud. So you have pictures on your phone, and also they're backed up on the cloud. But they're not synced up until you sync them up. that's precisely what I just described that God is going to do.

28:05 We're going straight to heaven. So keep that thought in your mind because we're working in heaven. Our loved ones are working in heaven. We're gonna work in heaven. The communication of heaven is gonna be ridiculous. Now the situation of heaven, the fifth thing and the last thing, I've got a minute and 37 seconds to do it. I can do it. The situation of heaven. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. That is a scary verse. That's the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. Those aren't my words. Those are Christ's words. I'm it. Go back to cell phones, kids. There's only one number. There's only one number to reach you. Is that being, oh man, that's being narrow-minded. That's being intolerant.

28:57 No, it's just real. It's true. Well, Jesus is saying there's one number. I am the way, I'm the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me. I think the first guard gate I ever saw in a neighborhood was when I was in high school. I grew up in the dirty South around, you know, normal people, middle class, lower middle class, went to school in a very, very diverse environment. I had no idea what a Mercedes Benz was. I didn't know what a polo, it was back in the day, it was really big. Polo was nothing, Rolex, Timex, I didn't know anything. Well, I moved to Houston, which the zip code where our church was in is one of the wealthiest zip codes in America. So I had some friends that lived in a gated community. They were super wealthy and obviously, and, and, and no one had, no one had guard gates back then. It was crazy.

29:58 I can see it like it was yesterday. And there was this guard gate guy. And for some reason, and I watched him, he would stop all of these people all the time. But for me, I just had to drive up, make eye contact with him. He would smile, nod, and just wave me on through. I think a lot of us want a guard gate God, don't we? We think that when we die, oh yeah, if you're an assassin or a serial killer, if you're a part of ISIS, man, you're gonna go to hell. But I mean, those, like you and me, I mean, we have done a lot of good things. I mean, surely God's gonna just smile and nod and wave us on through. We serve, don't we? A God gate guard. That's what word on the street says.

30:44 But word on the street, my friend, is wrong. The Bible says we're going to die and then judgment. You die, you clock out here, you face Jesus. Hebrews 9, 27. it's appointed for man to die once and then after this the judgment so Jesus is going to look at you and me and he's going to ask us a simple question what did you do with what I did because Jesus, didn't he? Well, really God, through Christ, arranged that the sins of the world would fall on Christ. And those of us here who have accepted that, who've admitted our sinfulness and turned from our sins and given our lives to Christ, we're in heaven.

31:49 So this meeting with Jesus is not about whether you've sinned or not. That's not the deal. It's what did you do with Jesus? And some are going to go, yeah, I received you. Others are going to try to wheel and deal and talk about this or that, but Jesus is going to say, you know, you kept me at a distance your whole life. when the Holy Spirit would tell you, you kept me at a distance. You kept the church at a distance. You kept Christian friends at a distance. So basically in eternity, God's gonna give us a greater measure of what we desired on planet Earth. People think, well, man, how could God slam dunk someone to hell? He doesn't. He just simply gives us a greater measure of what we desired. So I've gotta ask you, When you die, because you're going to die, do you know where you're going?

32:49 I asked myself that question and I jotted these these things down I said okay ask myself this how can heaven help number one heaven helps me because I realize that everyone faces it forever heaven helps me to put this world in perspective heaven helps me have an urgency for living heaven helps me have a deeper love for people heaven helps me deal with success and suffering i want to challenge you to ask yourself that same question are you going to heaven God designed heaven for everyone God doesn't want anyone to go to hell what is hell like it Jesus described it he says place of isolation number one people I laugh and they'll say you know what I don't want to hang out with weird Christians I'm going to party like hell in hell and I smile and go hey friend if your friends are in hell you won't know it It's total and complete isolation.

34:17 Then Jesus said also it's a place of utter and eternal regret. So it's the opposite of heaven. There was a little girl who was born blind, and no one thought they could do anything with her blindness until a surgeon came on the scene when she was like six years old. And he said, yeah, I can, I think I can take care of her blindness and I can help her see. So she had this surgery, it was high risk. And he came in and was taking the bandages off. And this little girl blinked and smiled. And she said, I can see.

35:03 And she looked at the surgeon. He was teared up, looked over at her parents. They were weeping. and for the first time this little girl was taking in just the sights, the beautiful sights of being able to see. And then she ran to a window and saw the grass, but she saw green. I mean, green, like we can't even wrap our brains around. She looked at the sky and she saw blue like she had never experienced before. She saw flowers, multicolored flowers like she had never seen before. she turned to her parents and she goes, Mom, Dad, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me how beautiful everything is? And her mom said, we tried, but you had to see it for yourself.

35:58 That, my friend, is heaven. When we get there, oh, God, it's so beautiful. It's so awesome. The community, the relationships, the work. Why didn't you tell me?

36:22 And God's going to say, I tried. But you have to see it for yourself. let's bow for prayer. Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for this message to all of us. It's my prayer right now as the Holy Spirit works and moves and convicts that you would not distance him, but you would receive him. That you would say, Jesus, I admit to you that I'm a sinner. and my citizenship is in this world. But right now, Jesus, I ask you to come into my life.

37:07 And once I do that, I'm born again. I'm a member of your family. My citizenship is in heaven. So just say, Jesus, I ask you to come into my life. others of us here who are believers this message on heaven should give us a greater urgency to think about the most important things out there because heaven is real and at this stage of our lives God wants heaven to help us may it help us this week Lord in Jesus name