SERMONS ABOUT HEAVEN Heaven By: Denn Reed B. Tuvera Jr. Introduction: Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Trust in God; trust also in Me. In My Fathers house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you may be where I am (John 14:1-4). The verses are very hopeful, isnt it? The Lord said that we should not let our hearts be troubled. If we trust in God, we must also trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave us a picture of His Fathers house. In it are many rooms. And if it were not so, He would have not told it. The Lord went there to prepare a place for us. He promised that He will come back to take us with Him so that we will be in the place where He is located. In the book entitled Heaven, Randy Alcorn said: The sense that we will live forever som ewhere has shaped every civilization. I agree with him. In our country, All the early Filipinos had a belief in the afterlife. Generally, it was believed the good went to heaven, or its Philippine equivalent, while the evil went to hell. The very widespread belief that heaven and hell were divided into different levels was also found in the Philippines. Which region one goes to, depends on different factors. Among the Bagobo, for example, those who die accidental deaths all go to a particular heaven, or hell. Usually, whether ones goes to heaven or hell, the individual is able to work up to higher levels and is not condemned for eternity to stay in one place. Merit, or self-improvement is the usual way of rising to the next level, although in some cases something like purgatory exists.1 The Filipinos are not the only country who believe in life after death. Even the Romans believed in it. They say that the righteous souls would have some picnic in the Elysian Fields while their horses grazed nearby. According to Seneca, a Roman philosopher, The day thou fearest as the last is the birthday of eternity. Cicero, a Roman philosopher too, said: The last day does not bring extinction to us, but a change of place.2

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http://asiapacificuniverse.com/pkm/spirit.htm http://www.quotations.com/death.pdf

SERMONS ABOUT HEAVEN There are so many beliefs about heaven, but one thing is for sure: there is a life after death. As Christians, our life does not end in this world. There is a better world to come. The Lord promised that He will prepare a place for us there. Then, He will take us there to be with Him forever. The Body of the Sermon Point No. 1: What are the perspectives of the Early Christians about Heaven? Earlier, we cited the beliefs of the Filipinos, the Romans, and two of the Roman philosophers about heaven. Now, we take a look at the perspective of the Christians about heaven. Let us first ask some people. Sometime in the year 125 AD, Aristides, a Greek, wrote to his friend explaining why Christianity was so fruitful. He said, If any righteous man among the Christians passes from this world, they rejoice and offer thanks to God. They escort his body with songs and thanksgiving as if he were setting out from one place to another nearby. One archaeologist wrote that in the Roman catacombs where the bodies of many Christians, who died in the hands of the vicious Roman Emperor Nero and his successors, the tombs have inscriptions such as: In Christ, Alexander is not dead, but lives. [The] One who lives with God. He was taken up into his eternal home. Spiros Zodhiates, the author of the book Life after Death, wrote: Pictures on the catacomb walls portray Heaven with beautiful landscapes, children playing, and people fasting at banquets. In the third century, Cyprian, a so-called church father, said: Let us greet the day, which assigns each of us to his own home, which snatches us from this place and sets us free from the snares of the world, and restores us to paradise and the kingdom. Anyone who has been in foreign lands longs to return to his own native land We regard paradise as our native land. The early Christian views about heaven were based on Scriptures. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, said: To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far (Philippians 1:21-23). Moreover, he wrote: As long as we are at home in the body we are away from the
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SERMONS ABOUT HEAVEN Lord we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6,8). The Lord Jesus Christ described heaven in common and physical terms (house, rooms, and place). The purpose of which was to give, at least, a view of the place where he was going, and what he was preparing for us. He wanted to give something that can be easily seen and recognized. A place to look forward too an actual place where we would go to be with Him. It is because of these that we long for eternal life. We want to be with our Lord Jesus Christ. He promised that He will prepare a place for us. Then, He will come back to take us there. But, He gave us a condition to fulfil Remain faithful unto death, and ye shall receive the crown of life (Rev. 2:10). Thus, it is necessary for us to learn about heaven. We must know where we are going after we die. We must learn what heaven is like. Point 2: What is Heaven like? Our scripture today gives us a picture about heaven. Obviously, it is a place. Jesus described it as His Fathers house, and there are many rooms. Then, He goes on to say that He will go to his fathers house with many rooms, to prepare a place for us. Moreover, in Revelations 21:1-4, John saw that there would be a New Heaven, and a New Earth. It also states that there would be no more mourning; no more tears, no more pain, and death shall be no more. The reason, the Lord said: For the former things hav e passed away. These verses present to us a biblical truth that is strangely neglected that God never gave up on his original plan for human beings to dwell on Earth. In fact, the climax of history will be the creation of the new heaven and the new earth, a resurrected universe where the resurrected people would be living with God. Heaven is a home. If, for instance, you travel from Baguio to Cavite for 12 hours, in you is a desire to go home. You want to take a rest. You want to relax for a long period of time. In your mind, going back home is like paradise (Read: Hebrews 11:13-16). Too many people see this life as a home. Sadly, nothing in this world is permanent. Everything will perish. In Psalm 49:11-12, David wrote: Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.
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SERMONS ABOUT HEAVEN Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. But we should not feel sad. At death, we go to our eternal home, the place Jesus promised to prepare for us. And it is a very big city (Revelations 21:16). Heaven is said to be a place of rest. In Hebrews 4:9-11, the writer said: There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did for his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. Heaven can be best described as home where we can spend time to relax, mingle with our family, and have fun together with our friends and loved ones. There, we can never be tired. There are no more worries there. There, we are rich people. We have our mansions. But the best reward that we may receive is to be with God in this place called heaven forever. I just cant wait any longer to be with our God. It is the happiest day of our lives. Point No. 3: The Shore Sometime in 1952, Florence Chadwick stepped into the waters of the Pacific Ocean of Catalina Island. She was determined to swim to the shore of mainland California. Shed already been the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. The weather was foggy and chilly. She could hardly see the boats accompanying her. Still, she swam for fifteen hours. When she begged to be taken out of the water along the way, her mother, in a boat alongside, told her she was close and the she could make it. Physically and emotionally exhausted, she finally stopped swimming and was pulled out of the water. It wasnt until she was on the boat that she discovered that the shore was less than half a mile away. At a news conference the next day, she said: All I could see was the fog I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it. Let us pause for a while and ponder on her words. She said, I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it. She did not see the shore. Hence, she wasnt able to make it. She was blinded by the fog. She was physically and emotionally exhausted. As a result, she gave up swimming only to find that she was already there. Taking these into our topic today, we can say that the shore is the place that the Lord promised for us. We are on a journey towards the shore. The journey towards heaven is not easy, but only those who endure the challenges until the end will reach it.
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SERMONS ABOUT HEAVEN Perhaps, we feel that life is so cruel. The challenges make us think that we are incompetent, and we cannot do anything about it. Possibly, weve become cynical 3 or have lost hope. As an inspiration, Elder James said: Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness 4 (James 1:2). What is required of us, as Christians, is to remain faithful to God and His teachings. Only the Lord and His words can save us. Faith and obedience, patience, and steadfastness alongside the Bible, are our equipment as we face the challenges of this life. Conclusion Finally, let us be firm. Let us hold fast the faith, declare our faithfulness to Christ to the last, and at all hazards, and we shall have a crown of life. We shall have an eternal happy existence. We shall be with the Lord Jesus Christ forever. How wonderful it is to be with God. James said, Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him (James 1:12). As a verse of encouragement, the Lord Jesus Christ said: Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life (Revelations 2:10). Thank you very much. Shall we sing the song, When we all get to heaven?

Cynical - believing that people are motivated by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity. 4 Steadfastness firmly fixed, such as an immovable.