Heaven, Part 3

Type: Sunday Morning Service

Series: Heaven

Sermon: Part 3 - Welcome Home

🗣️ Speaker: Pastor Tom Van Kempen

This message explores the deep, God-given longing for home and shows how Scripture fulfills it in the promise of a new heaven and new earth. Heaven is not an escape but the completion of God’s plan where God dwells with His people, wiping away every tear and making all things new. Because of Jesus’ resurrection, our future includes real, redeemed bodies and a forever home where heaven and earth are united.

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Why Our Hearts Long for Home

There is a universal ache inside every human heart for something lasting, whole, and right. That ache is not a flaw; it’s a signpost. “He has set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). The hope of Scripture is not a vague spiritual mist but a concrete promise: God is preparing a real home where the deepest longings of our souls are fulfilled.

Heaven Is the Fulfillment of God’s Original Plan

Heaven is not a consolation prize; it is the completion of what God began in creation. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1). Romans 8 explains that creation itself is groaning for this renewal (Romans 8:19–23). And 2 Peter points to a future purifying “by fire,” just as the earth was once cleansed by water—not annihilation, but renewal under God’s rule (2 Peter 3:5–7). God is redeeming, not discarding, His world.

A New Heaven and a New Earth—Familiar, Yet Better

Scripture paints a tactile future: a city, a river, fruit-bearing trees, music, and months (Revelation 21–22). The new is superior in quality yet familiar in form—bodies, places, feasting, and worship. God’s light eclipses the need for sun or moon, yet time and song still mark the rhythm of life as God dwells with His people. It’s creation “2.0”—renewed, sturdy, and glorious.

Home Is Where God Dwells With Us

The center of the promise is presence: “Look, God’s home is now among his people… He will live with them” (Revelation 21:3). This is the marriage of heaven and earth—the union of the spiritual and the physical. Streets of gold and gates of pearl (Revelation 21) are not about luxury but welcome. God is saying, “I made this for you.”

No More Tears, No More Death

Revelation 21:4 promises an end to death, sorrow, crying, and pain. The wounds we carry now do not get the last word. God’s nearness becomes the healing of all things, and His voice writes the final chapter: “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new’” (Revelation 21:5).

Resurrection Bodies and Forever Hope

Christian hope is bodily. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8), and at the resurrection, body and spirit are reunified. 1 Thessalonians 4 calls this our blessed hope: the dead in Christ will rise, and we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18). 1 Corinthians 15 describes our future bodies as imperishable, glorious, and powerful—Spirit-enabled, like Christ’s own (1 Corinthians 15:42–44; Philippians 3:21). Death tears apart what God joined; resurrection reunites it forever.

Live Today With Heaven in View

The promise of a forever home reorients the present. With eyes on the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21:1), fear loosens its grip, mission gains urgency, and hope becomes sturdy. Set your mind on things above (Colossians 3:1–2), love boldly, and lay out a welcome for others—because God’s welcome is already laid out for you.

• Discussion Guide

  Use the questions listed below as a launching point to discuss the sermon points together as a family. These are great for dinner table discussions and small groups.

  Opening: Share a time you felt homesick. What does that feeling reveal about your heart?

  Read: Revelation 21:1–4; 1 Corinthians 15:42–44; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18.

  Discuss:

  1. How does Ecclesiastes 3:11 (“eternity in our hearts”) explain our longings?

  2. What’s the difference between escapism and the hope of a new creation?

  3. How does the promise of God dwelling with us (Revelation 21:3) change your view of heaven?

  4. Which part of the resurrection hope (1 Corinthians 15) most encourages you?

  5. How does this hope shape how we grieve (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18)?

  Prayer: Thank God for making all things new and ask for boldness to invite others “home.”

  Action Step: Identify one person to invite to church this week and one practical way to serve them.

• Historical Context

  Revelation 21:1–4 (Late 1st Century, Roman Rule): Written by John to persecuted believers, Revelation gave a pastoral, prophetic vision that lifted their eyes beyond empire and suffering. The “new heaven and new earth” echoes Isaiah 65–66, promising not escape but renewal—God dwelling with His people, wiping tears, ending death.

  Revelation 22:1–2, 4: The river of life and the tree of life connect Eden (Genesis 2) to the New Jerusalem. What was lost by sin is restored in fullness. “They will see His face” reverses the Sinai barrier (Exodus 33:20), signaling transformed people able to dwell in unveiled glory.

  1 Corinthians 15:42–44 (Mid 50s AD, Corinth): In a culture influenced by Greek dualism (matter = bad, spirit = good), Paul insists on bodily resurrection. Our current bodies are perishable; the raised bodies are imperishable, glorious, powerful, and “spiritual” (Spirit-enabled), patterned after the risen Christ.

  1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 (Early 50s AD, Thessalonica): Young believers feared that deceased Christians would miss Jesus’ return. Paul comforts them: the dead in Christ rise first; then all believers will be with the Lord forever. The point is hope and encouragement, not date-setting.

  Romans 8:19–23 (Mid 50s AD, Corinth): Creation is personified as groaning, awaiting the revealing of God’s children. Paul frames salvation as cosmic—human redemption leads to creation’s liberation.

  2 Peter 3:5–7 (Late 1st Century): Addressing scoffers, Peter recalls the flood’s cleansing as a type for a future purifying fire. The theme is judgment and renewal under God’s sovereignty, not nihilistic destruction.

• Kids Lesson

  Title: Welcome Home—God Makes All Things New (≈30 minutes)

  Introduction (3 min): Ask: “What makes a place feel like home?” Share: God promises a forever home where everything is right.

  Scripture (5 min): Read Revelation 21:3–4; 1 Corinthians 15:42–43 (NLT or your preferred kids-friendly version). Explain: God will live with us. No more tears. New, strong bodies.

  Craft (8 min): “Home in Heaven” Door Hanger
  Materials: cardstock, markers, stickers, ribbon.
  Write “Welcome Home” on a door hanger. Draw a river, a tree, and a golden street. Add the verse reference Revelation 21:3–4.

  Game (7 min): Homesick Relay
  Two teams carry a “welcome” sign across the room, tag a teammate, and return. Each lap they shout a promise: “God will wipe every tear!” “God lives with us!” Celebrate that God’s promises carry us home.

  Discussion (5 min):

  1. What are you most excited about in God’s forever home?

  2. How does it feel to know God will live with us?

  3. Who can you invite to learn about Jesus this week?

  Wrap-Up & Prayer (2 min): Thank Jesus for making all things new. Ask for courage to share His love.

• Full Transcript

  Do you have heaven on your mind? You know, Colossians chapter 3 begins by saying that our minds should be set on things above. And it's not talking about outer space. It's not talking about the sun and the moon. It's talking about our future home. And so today I've entitled this message, Welcome Home. And it seems to be a phrase that is in vogue in a lot of different places. Stores, churches are using it all over the place. So I just want to begin by asking you, do you want to go to heaven someday? Let me see your hands if you want to go to heaven someday. Okay, that's everyone but three people didn't raise their hand. So a pastor asked his small church, he had about 20 people in church, and he asked them if they wanted to go to heaven. And 19 of them raised their hand and one didn't. And it was a teenager sitting in the front row there. And he looks at the teenager and he says, son, don't you want to go to heaven someday? And he goes, oh, someday, yeah, I thought you were taking up a load. right now. It's an honest answer, isn't it? I remember being a teenager. Now I know some of you young people are thinking, that guy could have never been a teenager. Yeah. And I remember hearing the pastor preach on the second coming of Jesus. And I was going, oh Lord, please no, don't come yet. I've got so much yet to do. Who remembers those thoughts? I mean, And some of us, we say we want to go to heaven, but we always say just not right now. And the reason we say that is because we think there's something in this world that is worth more than heaven. There isn't. There is nothing in this world that can compare one iota to anything that is in heaven. And we need to understand that all, say all, All of the longings of life are a hint that those longings are going to be fulfilled by God someday in heaven. Who can say amen? There's a reason stories like The Wizard of Oz resonate with us. Dorothy spends the entire movie trying to get home. She faces danger, adventure, friendship, disappointment. But she never forgets where she When she finally clicks her heels and says, there's no place like home, it strikes a chord in every human heart. Because God built that longing inside of every single one of us. We are not home yet, but one day we will be. Yesterday I was driving in my car and a song from Building 429 came on. All I know is I'm not home yet. This is not where I belong. Take this and give me Jesus. This is not where I belong. Wait. Or is it? Or is it? is not where we belong, but the Bible says in Revelation 21 that we're going to get a new heaven and a new earth, and they're going to be combined in the end someday. Revelation 21 gives us a picture of what it will be like when God finally says to each and every one of us, welcome home. There's three ideas I want you to take home with you today. Idea number one is this. Heaven is our future home. As long as you're on this planet, there's something better on the horizon. In the movie The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy longed for Kansas. God's children should be longing for Heaven. And really, I'm trying to communicate that everybody is longing for Heaven. Heaven is the fulfillment of every longing brought to fruition. If you look at history, and you look at every single civilization that has ever lived. The majority of the people have all believed in an afterlife. The Romans believed in the Elysian fields. The Vikings believed in Valhalla. The American Indians believed in the happy hunting ground. If you know anything about Egyptology or the Egyptians, they actually mummified human beings with the idea that they are going to come back to life someday. universal longing. We all have it deep down in our hearts. Ecclesiastes 3.11 puts it this way. God has set eternity in the hearts of men. He's talking about heaven. The ache that you feel for something lasting is nothing more than homesickness for heaven. Heaven's not an escape from this world. Heaven is God's promise that everything will be made right someday. Who can say Amen? Did you know Heaven is mentioned over 500 times throughout the Bible? In this last book, the book of Revelation, it's mentioned over 50 different times. Heaven, Heaven, Heaven. So yes, it's the fulfillment of our longings, but we also need to understand that Heaven is the fulfillment of God's plan. Heaven's not His backup plan. Heaven is not a consolation prize. Heaven is the completion of God's original plan for creation. Look at Revelation chapter 21 verse 1. This is what it says. Then I saw a new, say new, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. Now, if your Bible is the King James Version, I'm actually using the New Living Translation right now, primarily because the Assemblies of God has moved to printing most of their curriculum and Bible quiz and all that stuff in the New Living Translation. But in the King James Version, it says that then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared. The primary idea behind this verse is that there is going to be a new and there is going to be an old. The new is what's coming. The old is literally, it says in this Scripture, going to disappear or it's going to pass away, the Scripture says. So when I think of new, I think the first thing that comes to my mind is buying a new coat. Have you ever bought a new car before? If you haven't, there's something about the smell of a new car that gets me excited. I'm just telling you. It's so real that people actually after they wash their cars, the car wash will say, do you want a fragrance? And one of the fragrances is new car smell. That's for the people who know they're never going to get one, but they just want to pretend. So they put it in their car. And they're just going, oh, it smells like a new car. I like new clothes. I like new shoes. There is something about, if you play basketball, there's something about putting on a fresh pair of new basketball shoes. How they hold your foot. How they protect your foot. How they just make you feel like you can jump about two feet or three feet off the ground. If you're a golfer, you probably love that new driver that you just purchased. Or that new putter. It's taken a couple of strokes off your game. Things like new outfits, new shirts, new dresses, new suits. They're fun. They're exciting. There's an exhilaration that comes with it. And God says we're going to get a new heaven and a new earth that, listen, that will never grow old. Who can say amen? There's no wearing There's no breaking down. It's going to continue in a glorious way every single day. Something new on a regular and consistent basis. So that word new means new in quality, superior in character. The word older first is the Greek word protos, and it means first or a prototype. A lot of people think that the earth is going to be or annihilated. And there are some Scriptures that seem to imply that. But when you interpret Scripture with all of the Scriptures, you understand it can't be true. Because the psalmist says that the earth is going to last forever. So if the earth lasts forever, it can't be annihilated completely. It's going to be redeemed in Jesus' name. Who can say amen? He can also redeem planets. Romans chapter 8 tells us that the entire creation is waiting and longing for the final redemption of man. Why? Because creation is also going to be redeemed. Now you might be saying, but Pastor, 2 Peter plainly teaches that the earth is going to be wiped away. Well, no it doesn't. 2 Peter 3, this is what it says. It says that the earth was destroyed by water. Was it completely destroyed? No. It was cleansed by water. And now the earth is reserved for fire. So the same way it was cleansed by water, it's going to be cleansed by fire in the future. God is not destroying His creation. He is redeeming it and restoring it in Jesus' name. So the new heaven and the new earth is going to be an upgrade. It's creation 2.0. It's going to be completely fresh, but there's going to be a familiarity about it. See, this is why people don't yearn for heaven. They think it's going to be so different and so weird and so strange that we're just going to be floating around as ghosts or whatever it is. The Bible says we're going to have bodies. Bodies are made for places. Places are built and created on planets and things like that. We're going to be living a very real substantial life. In the last two chapters of the Bible, it talks about a river. It talks about a mountain. It talks about food. All of these things are things that we already have familiarity with. but they're going to be so much better. They're going to be so superior that that's where it becomes mind-boggling. That's where it becomes challenging. Did you know there's also going to be time in heaven? My wife struggles with the idea of eternity. Do you struggle with the idea of eternity? It's kind of a weird thought, isn't it? That there's no beginning for God. That He just always has been. And there's no ending for God. It stretches into the future again and again and again. So I've been taught when I was younger that that means there's no time in heaven. But that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says that there are going to be months in heaven. The tree of life is literally going to produce fruit every month. The Bible also teaches that there's going to be music. Who's looking forward to the music in heaven? Yeah, there's going to be music. But listen, music requires meter and tempo and rest. It requires time. It's two-four time. It's four-four time. Music is based upon the existence of time. The Scripture seems to imply that there's still going to even be nights and days. And I don't know how that works because it says that in Revelation 8 about heaven. And yet there's not going to be any darkness because God is going to be the center of the universe and we don't even need a sun or a moon any longer. Now be careful. It doesn't say there is not a sun or a moon. Read the Scripture. It says we don't need the sun or moon. Which makes sense if God is the center and His brightness lights everything up. What is there a need of a sun or moon for other than artistic creativity of God Himself? If you look in Genesis 1, you will recognize that the light was created before the sun and the moon. Does everybody recognize that? And so sun and moon is not needed for light. God is all that is needed for light. Who can say amen? There are going to be new features in this new heaven and earth, a new body, just with a continuity that we will be familiar with. Every year my smartphone comes out with new features, but it's still a phone. I remember when cars started coming out with this rear camera where you didn't have to look over your head when you're backing up. Now, how many of you still look over your shoulder? Sure, because I still don't trust the camera. There's no way that technology works. camera can have a 360 degree angle where it sees all around your car and even above. It's getting crazy. Now they have cars that can literally drive themselves. You don't trust those either, do you? No, nor do I. I think what John is trying to communicate here in Revelation 21 and 22 is the great remodel or the Extreme Makeover. The greatest makeover of all time. It's the perfection of creation once lost will be fully regained and then some. Just think streets of gold. Think of a tree of life that brings healing to the nations every single month the Scripture says. And that's just our future home. As we go on, we're going to discover here in verse 2 that heaven is our family home. Listen, And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Listen, heaven is not just a spiritual mist. It's not just a spiritual experience. It's a real physical place with a human and divine that coexists and it will be your home. The new Jerusalem is like a housewarming gift. Isn't that awesome? Revelation 21 18 through 21 actually tells us what it's like. It paints this picture. Walls of jasper, streets of gold, gates made of pearl. You might say, Pastor, that sounds extravagant. No, no, no. It's God saying how much He loves you. It's God welcoming you home. The point isn't the wealth. It's the warmth. It's God saying, I made all of this just for you. Who can say amen? Heaven is a marriage. See, when we think of marriage, we think of the incomplete and the broken. marriages in America or around the world. We think of the failures. We think of the heartaches. Now you might have the greatest marriage of all time and you might think it's pretty good. But you look around and you're like, that doesn't excite me that heaven's going to be a marriage. But listen to what it says. It's going to be the marriage of heaven and earth. They are literally coming together. The scripture says that the New Jerusalem is coming down from God out of heaven. So heaven is not some distant escape. It's God coming to this planet and spending time with us. It is literally the marriage of the spiritual and the physical. As Jesus is God incarnate, so the new earth will be And it's going to be the marriage of Christ and the church. And here's the best part. The honeymoon never ends. The honeymoon never ends. I want you to hear the excitement in this next verse in verse 3. I heard a loud shout from the throne. Who's on the throne? God, Jesus. Okay? And so there's this loud shout coming from the groom, basically. Now I'm mixing the metaphor here. The groom, you know, was the, or the bride was the New Jerusalem, but it also talks about the church being the bride. So keep these straight. I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, look, God's home is now among His people. Say home. Home. His home is now among His people. He will live with them and they will be His people. And God Himself will be with them. Listen, this has always been God's plan. This isn't His plan in the end. It was His plan from the very beginning. In the Garden of Eden, God walked in the cool of day with Adam and Eve. When God sent Jesus Christ, what did He do? He sent Him in the flesh. And He was called Emmanuel, which means, yeah, God with us. God has always wanted to be with His people. Revelation 22.4 says, we will see God's face. Wait a minute. When Moses asked to see God's face, God said, no, no, no, you can't see my face. because the day you do you'll die but something changes something in our physical and spiritual nature changes so that we now can behold the very presence of God heaven is the fulfillment of every covenant promise that God has ever given it is God dwelling with his people living face to face in the name of Jesus Christ now Genesis 1 and 2 make it very clear that you and I were created for relationship. It is probably our most important calling. We're created to be in relationship with God and we're created to be in relationship with other human beings. That's why the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second is to love your neighbor as you love yourself. The fourth verse goes on and says, he will wipe every tear from your eyes. And there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. They're all gone forever. So heaven is your forever home. This is the final point today. Robin and I are buying a new home. We just got the closing date. It's December the 11th. We're excited, man. Now, a lot of people in their 50s and around that age, they build for themselves what they call a forever home. It's the last home they're ever going to live in. But they're wrong because heaven is our forever home. Now, I can't wait to move into windswept what? Windswept Lane? Windswept Lane. I'm looking forward to it. We were there yesterday. coming along. It's going to be beautiful. We're going to love it. There's no doubt about it. But it's not heaven. It's not even close to heaven. Heaven isn't a cloud experience. It's a bodily resurrection. And we will live forever fully human, fully whole, and fully alive. You might say, Pastor, is that really true? Well, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, it's called, the blessed hope. And it is the hope of immortality. And this idea is repeated by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 where it says this, it is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground and when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Who can say amen? So last Saturday, Robin and I were a little early at the We got there at about nine o'clock and the service wasn't going to be until ten. But we saw the hearse pull up. And the hearse pulls up and then we noticed them to start prepare the casket for the lowering into that six foot deep hole that they cut into the ground. And we were just sitting there. We were praying, talking to God, waiting for our family and everything. And at the appropriate time, we had a little service. And then we lowered the casket into the hole. And all of the grandkids and all of the great grandkids in the rest of the family, we all had roses. And we threw a rose on top of the casket there. And then they politely wait for you to leave. Because it can be traumatic for some families to have all of that dirt covering over that casket. So it can be hard. But it wasn't really hard for us. Because we know that a part of Helen is with God right now. We know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Okay? But we also know something else. We know her body is going to be literally resurrected someday. Every single Christian who's accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior is going to be supernaturally called from the dirt and the dust and the ash. And they're going to supernaturally come to life again someday in Jesus' name. And listen, the spirit and the body will be once again reunited. You see, most Christians have too negative of an attitude in regards to their Most Christians are angry that their body is wearing out. They're angry that they can't see anymore. They can't hear any longer. They can't do the things that they used to do. But let me tell you, this is temporary. We're going to get new, real, physical bodies that will never ache again in Jesus' name. All that pain stuff is going to be gone. This 70 or 80 or 100 years on this planet. is nothing compared to the time that we're going to spend with God. So I need you to understand a theology of the body. When the New Testament talks about flesh, most of the time it's not talking about the body. It's talking about your sin nature. Please understand that God's original plan, making man physical and putting spirit inside of him, is the same plan that He has for heaven someday. So originally in Genesis 2, He created the body out of what? Out of the dust of the ground. Which means that we are intimately and forever connected with the dust of this ground. We're going to be resurrected someday from where? The dust of the ground. And we're going to have a new resurrection and restored, redeemed body in Jesus' name. So when God put those two things together, we need to understand that the body is not inherently evil. The fleshly nature is inherently evil. But body, physicality is God's plan. Spirit is also good when it's resurrected in Jesus' name. Death is what is abnormal. It is the tearing, a part of what God has put together. Does that sound like marriage vows to you? Do not tear apart what God has put together as a husband and wife. Also, death is an enemy because it tore apart what God had put together, body and spirit. And God's going to revive them and put them back together someday. In Jesus' name, who can say amen? See, this is why the theology of the resurrection is so important for us. Jesus' resurrection is one of the cornerstones of our faith. The physical resurrection of Jesus' body repudiated the philosophies of the Gnostics, the dualists who believe flesh is bad and spirit is good. When He rose again, He told His disciples, I have flesh and bone. Resurrected Jesus had Flesh and bone. Death separates what God joined, but resurrection reunites it in Jesus' name. So Jesus came in a body. That also should tell you something. He died on the cross. He was physically resurrected, proving that God cares about bodies, not just souls. And so in verse 5, when He says, look, I'm making everything new, that includes our physical bodies in Jesus' name. So let me close by Referencing 1 Corinthians 15 verses 42 and following. And this is what it says about the body. Number one, it's going to live forever. Say forever. I don't know how you're feeling today. I don't know if your body's sick, in pain, hurting. But my goal here today is to give you a hope. A hope that that's not the end of the story. There's going to be a resurrection. There's going to be a meeting together. If you're alive when the rapture happens, you're going to meet together with the resurrected in the sky with Jesus. And the scripture says you're going to be with him forever. So this is an awesome thing. Number two, it says that our bodies are going to be glorious. Philippians also says our bodies are going to be glorious. And then it adds a defining statement. Just like Jesus' body. Wow! I just want to challenge you. Read the last couple chapters of the Gospels. Just read after the resurrection. And think and contemplate all the cool things that Jesus did. Jesus still ate. Jesus still worked because it says that he built a fire. So he didn't just go, there's a fire. But maybe he could do that. I don't know but I know that he still used his hands I know somehow he was on the outside of a door and then he was on the inside of the door and nobody opened the door something crazy is going on here and then all of a sudden one day he's talking to his disciples and he just starts floating up into heaven with a physical body I know what you're thinking I thought he was a ghost I thought he was a spirit No! Flesh and bone was floating heavenward in Jesus' name. Our body is going to be just like His, the Scripture says. Corinthians says it's going to be strong. No sickness, no brokenness, no pain, no fatigue, no blindness, no deafness. All of it gone in Jesus' name. I mean, it's enough to make me want to shout right now. I can't wait. Take me home. Oh, to be present is what Christ wants us to do, though, until the day he takes us home. Amen? Amen. And then the last thing, and for some people, they don't get this. It says that the new resurrected body is going to be spiritual. And so some people want to argue, and they go, well, that means we're going to be spirit. No, we're already spirit. We're spirit and body, but now the body is going to have this new capacity to actually dwell in the presence of spirit in a completely manifested way. We will see God face to face. So it will be both a physical body and a spiritual body. This is not fantasy. This is forever. Who can say amen? That's how we live forever. So when a loved one comes home from war, or a long journey, a work assignment overseas somewhere, I often see family members in the airport with a sign. Here it is. You're going to get these when you get to heaven someday. God, Jesus, the angels, they're going to be shouting Welcome home! Welcome home! Welcome home! Welcome home! Welcome home! Please don't be discouraged by what's happening in the world. God has it all under control and He's prepared for you, your future home in heaven, which is beautiful. He's prepared for you, a family home. Remember, we're all gonna be family up there. And I know sometimes down here, family is like, ooh. Up there, it's gonna be one glorious day after another. And then finally, heaven's going to be our forever home. He is literally making all things new. Could I have the prayer partners come forward at this time and everyone else if you just stand? One of the reasons I love talking about heaven is because there's oftentimes people in the audience who've never heard it communicated like this before. There's oftentimes people who have kind of been afraid of even the thought of dying, the thought of going to even heaven if it's a good thing or not. And so these are some of the best times for people to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. and bring him into their hearts. So if you'd bow your heads just for a moment, I just want to ask a simple question. Is there anyone here who's not sure that they're going to heaven, but you want to be sure today? Would you just raise your hand and say, Pastor, that's me. I want to be sure today. I want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am going to be in the presence of God someday when I die. Anybody? I didn't see a hand. That means we've got a lot of evangelism work to do, isn't it? Doesn't it? So would you pray with me, please? Heavenly Father, people didn't have to raise their hand to accept Jesus as Savior. You see their hearts. So Father God, if there's anybody here in this moment who wanted to raise their hand but they just quite weren't sure, I pray that by your Spirit that you'd begin to communicate to their hearts right now. and that by your Holy Spirit, I pray that you would woo them to you, that you'd help them to recognize that yes, they have sinned, they've done wrong, and that the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So Father God, the longing of all of our hearts is heaven. The longing of all of our hearts is bringing Jesus in. So I pray, Father God, that you would, allow these men and women to accept you in this moment in Jesus' holy and precious name. I pray, Father God, that this wouldn't be just a religious ritual of some kind, but that it would be an act of contrition, Father God. That it would be a time where legitimate life change is desired. And I pray, Father God, from this day forward, those who make this decision, Father God, will never be the same again for the rest of their lives. And I pray, Father God, for the rest of us. Father God, I pray that we would understand that there are literally millions of people in this world, thousands within a few blocks of our house that don't know Jesus Christ. So place on our hearts, Father God, a desire to evangelize. I pray that during the next two months as we close out this year that we'll actually invite more people to church than we've ever invited in our entire lives. I pray that you'd give us a boldness. in the name of Jesus Christ to communicate the gospel in ways that only the Holy Spirit can do through us in Jesus' name. And I pray, Father God, that during the Christmas holidays that literally dozens and maybe even hundreds will come to know Jesus Christ right here at Oxford Assembly of God Church. And Father God, for those people whose bodies are feeling out of sorts, I pray that you'd give us hope, Father God. And I pray that you'd give the attendance here at the church the courage to come forward and have a prayer partner. Pray with them today because the scripture says that when hands are laid on, when oil is anointed, when people agree together, miracles take place. So we still believe in miracles, Father God. We don't have to wait for heaven for all the good things you have to offer. Some of those good things start right here on this planet. Make it so today we pray in Jesus. His holy and precious name. And together, everybody says… Amen.