What is Heaven? | Heaven & Hell - Week 2
05/22/23 • 36 min
What is Heaven?
People don’t look forward to Heaven enough. Therefore, Pastor Mike spoke about what we know about Heaven. A lot of us think it’s a 24/7 church service, so we don’t want to go there, but it’s so much better than that.
Heaven will be a physical place. God is going to recreate the Heaven that exists today, and He’s going to recreate Earth, and those two places will make up the new Heaven and it won’t have a sea. Why? Many ancient cultures correlated the sea with evil spirits. They believed there were portals to hell at the bottom of the sea, and John says in Revelation 21 that in the new Heaven and new Earth, there won’t be anything evil, nothing bad.
Heaven will be a better version of Earth. Sometimes we think we’ll become like God in Heaven, but we won’t. We won’t be omniscient in Heaven. We will still have the joys of discovery, of art, entertainment, etc. That’s really what Heaven is. It’s the presence of God. When we are with God, we are in a form of Heaven, but the Heaven we will experience when Christ returns will be even better than the Heaven that exists today.
There will be no pain of any kind. It’s all gone. The Bible tells us that we’ll have jobs in Heaven, but we’ll enjoy them. We’ll work because we’ll want to work. Some people wonder:
How could I enjoy Heaven if everything is good there?
This thinking happens because we have a bad definition of good. We equate good with boring because we don’t think of work, competition, and achievement as good. Everything you enjoy on Earth will be better in Heaven, but that’s hard to comprehend because sin has clouded our understanding of good. We think our relationships in this world are the pinnacle of good. – Some say:
How could I enjoy heaven if someone I love went to Hell?
That’s a great question. Here are three points to think about it.
- We don’t know who goes to Heaven.
- Everything we love about people is a gift from God
- True joy does not come from experiences.
I hope that you can at least trust God that Heaven will be awesome. Even if we can’t imagine it, we trust Him, and that makes us want it all the more. – So how do we get there?
What will happen when we die?
- Our bodies die.
- Our souls are with God.
- Jesus will return to Earth.
- We all face judgment
Heaven & Hell Week 2 Teaching Text
What is Heaven?
People don’t look forward to Heaven enough. Therefore, Pastor Mike spoke about what we know about Heaven. A lot of us think it’s a 24/7 church service, so we don’t want to go there, but it’s so much better than that.
Heaven will be a physical place. God is going to recreate the Heaven that exists today, and He’s going to recreate Earth, and those two places will make up the new Heaven and it won’t have a sea. Why? Many ancient cultures correlated the sea with evil spirits. They believed there were portals to hell at the bottom of the sea, and John says in Revelation 21 that in the new Heaven and new Earth, there won’t be anything evil, nothing bad.
Heaven will be a better version of Earth. Sometimes we think we’ll become like God in Heaven, but we won’t. We won’t be omniscient in Heaven. We will still have the joys of discovery, of art, entertainment, etc. That’s really what Heaven is. It’s the presence of God. When we are with God, we are in a form of Heaven, but the Heaven we will experience when Christ returns will be even better than the Heaven that exists today.
There will be no pain of any kind. It’s all gone. The Bible tells us that we’ll have jobs in Heaven, but we’ll enjoy them. We’ll work because we’ll want to work. Some people wonder:
How could I enjoy Heaven if everything is good there?
This thinking happens because we have a bad definition of good. We equate good with boring because we don’t think of work, competition, and achievement as good. Everything you enjoy on Earth will be better in Heaven, but that’s hard to comprehend because sin has clouded our understanding of good. We think our relationships in this world are the pinnacle of good. – Some say:
How could I enjoy heaven if someone I love went to Hell?
That’s a great question. Here are three points to think about it.
- We don’t know who goes to Heaven.
- Everything we love about people is a gift from God
- True joy does not come from experiences.
I hope that you can at least trust God that Heaven will be awesome. Even if we can’t imagine it, we trust Him, and that makes us want it all the more. – So how do we get there?
What will happen when we die?
- Our bodies die.
- Our souls are with God.
- Jesus will return to Earth.
- We all face judgment
Heaven & Hell Week 2 Teaching Text
Previous Episode
Who Gets Into Heaven | Heaven & Hell - Week 1
Heaven & Hell – Week 1
Who Gets Into Heaven
80% of Americans believe in an afterlife.
Americans can’t agree on anything, but we agree on this. So you’d assume there’s a debate on every corner about how to get there. Nope. Most people are content to take what’s given to them. – So what about you?
Are you a good person?
To that question, almost everyone says, ‘I think so.’ Almost everyone. Why? Because we all think about the bad people in the news we choose to watch and in the movies, and we compare ourselves to those bad people, but
What ratio of good to bad works gets someone into Heaven?
The Bible doesn’t give us a ration. Is it a 50/50 thing? I just need to do more good than bad? Is there a sliding scale? Does giving $20 to the church cancel out murder?...”Stealing is 10 hail Marys, but lying is only 2.”
Who decides what is good and bad?
The Christian church sure can’t agree on it, and they’re using the same Bible. What about things the Pope used to say are good, & now he says they’re bad? What about things like slavery, sexism, unjust wars, and divorce?
When does the counting start?
At what age do my bad actions count against me?... I hope it’s 40. & if I do 1 more bad than good, do I go to Hell because of that 1 bad?
Heaven & Hell Week 1 Teaching Text
Next Episode
A House In Heaven | Heaven & Hell - Week 3
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