The father of a
very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express
purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent two days on the farm of
what he considered an extremely poor family. On their return from the trip, the
father asked his son, “What did you think of our little trip?” The son answered,
“It was great, Dad!” So, the father asked, “What did you learn from the trip?” The
son replied, “I saw that we have one dog, and they have four. We have a pool
that reaches to our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have
imported lanterns in our garden, and they have the stars at night. We have
servants that serve us, but they serve each other. We have walls around our
property to protect us, but they have friends to protect them.” The boy’s
father was speechless! Then his son added “Thanks Dad for showing me how poor
we really are!” Isn’t perspective a wonderful thing? This boy was able to
appreciate everything God has given us! I hope we all recognize what money cannot
buy!
Science says we
need five basic things to survive: 1) Water; 2) Oxygen; 3) Food; 4) Shelter; 5)
Light. * Jesus is the perfect water. “…the water that I shall give him will
become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John
4:10-14). * Our very breath comes from God. “…He gives to all life, breath,
and all things” (Acts 17:25; Isaiah 42:5). * Jesus said: “I am the bread
of life” (John 6:48-51). * God provides shelter. “I will abide in your
tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings” (Psalm 61:4).
* Jesus is light. “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12; Revelation
21:23).
[Isaiah 64] Let’s
talk about heaven. Are you excited about heaven? If there was a bus going to
heaven today, would you be willing to jump on board and go home? Many people
claim to want to go to heaven, but few people want to go right now. Over and over,
I have heard the attitude, “I want to go to heaven, I just don’t want to go
right now.” My question is, “Why not?” What would be wrong with going home today
or tomorrow? Is this world so great that the thought of leaving it is
depressing? Paul quoted Isiah, “…Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have
entered into the heart of man, The things which God has prepared for those who
love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). I’m afraid many people picture heaven as a
monotonous place where all we are going to do is sit around and worship God. Yes,
we are going to worship in heaven (Revelation 5:11-14; 7:9-12) and our worship
is going to be the most amazing worship we have ever been a part of. However,
heaven is going to be so much more than our hearts and minds can imagine. Consider
a few of the things we will be doing in heaven: * SERVE GOD (Revelation 22:3-5)
We will be blessed to serve in the very presence of THE Almighty God who made
the Earth and everything in it, including everyone who ever lived on the Earth.
* REJOICE (Revelation 21:4-5) Heaven is going to be a place of great joy. We
will never experience a bad day in heaven. * CELEBRATE (Luke 15:10, 23-24) As
in the parable of the Prodigal Son, Heaven will have a big “welcome home”
celebration for the children of God. It’s going to be an amazing celebration given
by our Heavenly Father acknowledging our faithfulness to His Word throughout our
life. * REUNITE (2 Samuel 12:23) In heaven we will be reunited with all of our
loved ones who faithfully served God. * REST (Revelation 14:13) We will finally
understand what stress free, worry free, sin free, disappointment free, pain
free, and suffering free really means. All of that will be gone forever. Heaven
isn’t going to be monotonous. Heaven is going to be unlike anything we have
ever experienced. Is going to heaven getting you excited? God is there waiting
for you and me.
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