Sermon Transcript
Oh man, it’s so great to see the kids again. We’ve missed you. We are so thankful you could be in worship with us today, and your ministry to us in the past, and we hope in the future, will continue to be something we can do in person. But it’s just good to see you today, at least through video, through virtual, and we’re glad you’re here. You know, this summer we’ve been thinking about eternal matters because our view of eternity will significantly impact how we live in the here and now, especially when it comes to living and dying with hope.
That was Pastor Harold S. Laird’s experience for 96 years until the day that he died. Known as H.S., Pastor Laird was an outstanding preacher of the gospel and one that walked with God. His life verse actually is my life verse, Matthew 6:33, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. That was H.S.’s Laird’s pursuit in life through the ups and the downs, that whatever life threw at him, there were just many things that happened to him. But even still, Laird lived with this cheerful countenance that was just a blessing to all that he came in contact with.
Even on his deathbed, which came on August 25th, 1987, Laird was filled with hope. In fact, when his son came to his bedside and his son asked, Dad, How do you feel about the whole experience? And H.S. turned his face toward his son and he said, Son, I feel like a little boy on Christmas Eve. Dr. Laird was sure that what awaited him after death was going to be really good and he could hardly wait.
H.S.’s perspective is opposite of many people, like the guy who, when asked, Do you want to go to heaven? The guy said, no. That kind of caught the person who asked them the question by surprise. So he said, well, I thought that everyone wanted to go to heaven when they die. The guy said, oh, I thought you were getting a group together to go right now.
2 people, 2 different feelings about life after death, which often is due to their beliefs about life and death, which inevitably can impact somebody’s life now and could impact their life forever. Or said differently, no matter how bad or how good your life is now, if you really believe the best is yet to come, that perspective can make a significant difference in what you think and what you feel and what you do, especially when life is hard like it is right now in our world. But thankfully, the Bible tells us that what’s on the other side of even the worst that this fallen world can throw at us, it’s going to be better than what we can imagine. Now, you may have heard that before, or maybe you’ve heard that through the lens of, well, Dave, you know, if you’re talking about heaven, I’m not sure I buy it. The word that comes to my mind when I think about heaven is boring.
Isn’t that the place where, you know, people go and they sit around on clouds all day and they strum harps and they polish streets of gold and they sing music that doesn’t particularly appeal to my musical taste. That’s just not my idea of fun, Dave. That’s boring. Now, if that’s you, I just hope that this message can help you think differently about heaven and less like Isaac Asimov, the well-known American author of sci-fi and popular science books. In fact, a lot of books.
He wrote or edited more than 500 books in his lifetime. I suppose this is what he said, I don’t believe in an afterlife, so I don’t spend my whole life fearing hell or fearing heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of hell, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse. You know, when I hear someone say something like that, it saddens me because it tells me that Satan, who is the father of lies, has done in this person something that he’s been doing since the days of Adam and Eve, where Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan. He deceived them with lies.
That’s kind of Satan’s M.O., isn’t it? To steal and kill and destroy mankind by filling their minds with lies so that they don’t take Jesus up on his life-giving promise for life now and for life to come in heaven. Yes, that’s a life-giving, not a life-taking promise, which can be ours now and even more in the life to come. You say, how can we be sure about that? Well, God wants us to be sure about that, which is why in the Scriptures he’s given us a lot of information about the future and what the future holds.
In fact, there’s a whole book that speaks about the future and what’s coming. It’s called the book of Revelation. And this summer we have spent a lot of time teaching from this book, and it’s brought us a lot of hope as we focused on Jesus’ promised coming and the gathering together of the bride and the great celebration that’s going to come and the final defeat of Satan. And as you look on down the road, the eventual new heaven and new earth and New Jerusalem that the Lord is preparing for his children. When life is going to be lived in a new place like that, in a new heaven and new earth, man, it’s going to change everything.
And I hope today helps us in our perspective about the everything that could change. That’s our focus today, the new heaven and the new earth that was revealed to John when he recorded in the book of Revelation something that we need to know. But specifically today, where we’re going to look is into the last 2 chapters of the Bible, the last 2 chapters of Revelation. But what I want to primarily do is focus on the first 6 verses of those last 2 chapters. Which begins in Revelation chapter 21 and verses 1 to 6.
And this is what it says: And then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, now the dwelling of God is with men, And he will live with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the, for the old order of things has passed away.
He who was seated on the throne said, I’m making everything new. And then he said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. He said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To him who is thirsty, I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
Now, when you see that, when I read that, especially for me after having looked at this passage for a couple of weeks now, I just see this as saying to us, the best is yet to come. It really is. You know why I think that? Because of what God revealed to John. That whole best is yet to come is just basically written all over this account.
Now, I want you just to, as you consider this passage, see if you agree if the new heaven and the new earth that’s coming will be the best that’s yet to come. God’s children, this passage tells us, will be in for 3 changes, 3 welcome changes. Number 1, we will live with God. And so you can see that there in Revelation 21:3, especially the last part where it says, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will, he will live with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. Now, do you like the sound of that?
I mean, we should. The future heaven is going to literally be inhabited by God. God, who is Spirit, who is everywhere present, is going to dwell with men and women. He is going to live with us. We will be His people, and God Himself will be with us, and He will be our God.
Now, this is the time of year when college students usually move into dorms, which is a risky proposition, especially for, you know, incoming freshmen, because they usually end up living with somebody that they don’t know, someone who can make living together either wonderful or terrible, which is why it’s not uncommon for roommates to break up after the first semester or after the first year. In fact, I dare say the majority of roommates move— who move in with each other the first year move away from each other in the years that come, and they move in with other roommates. Well, that’s not going to happen in your relationship with God. Dwelling with God is going to be the best thing that’s ever happened to you. Just like, you know, my living with Bernice now for over 40 years has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me, God dwelling with me, with you, will be even more amazing.
It’s not going to be a bummer like, you know, a sloppy, noisy college student or a roommate. But this is going to be an absolute blessing. Your relationship with God will be unlike anyone’s relationship with God, listen, in the long history of mankind, except maybe, you know, Adam and Eve before they sinned. This relationship with God is going to even be better than what Moses experienced, and he had a unique experience with God because he saw God’s Shekinah glory. I mean, can you imagine that?
Did he like that? Absolutely. Did he like God dwelling among his people and leading his people day by day with a cloud and night by night with fire? Did he like that? You better believe he did.
Did Moses love it to the point where when God spoke to him face to face out of a cloud that he wanted more? Absolutely. In fact, Moses got to the place where he asked God if he could see his glory. And you know what God said? He said, you cannot see my face, for no man shall see me and live.
Well, you know what? When God moves in with us, literally moves in, in the new heaven and the new earth, we’re going to see his face. Revelation 22:3 says that. And that’s not all. We’ll see his Shekinah glory, which is what John was told in chapter 22, verses 23 And 24, it says, the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
The nations will walk by its light. Now that’s incredible. What’s it going to be like to live in the presence of God? We’re going to actually experience his Shekinah glory. We’re going to see it, and it’s going to change us.
It’s going to be fantastic. It’s going to light up our lives. In what ways, you say? Well, one of the ways would be with joy. I like what David said in Psalm 16:11, where he said, you will show me the path of life.
In your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. It was Martin Luther who said, if you’re not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don’t want to go there. Well, Mr. Luther, guess what? You’re not only going to laugh in heaven, you’re going to experience laughter and happiness and joy to the fullest degree in heaven.
Heaven will be a place of unending happiness because we will be living in God’s presence. And in God’s presence, as David said, is joy, the fullness of joy, overflowing joy. You know, I’ve done a lot of weddings, and often I’ll ask the bride-to-be, you know, what was it about Frank that caught your eye? And you know what they’ll often say? They’ll say something like, well, it was his sense of humor.
It was his fun-loving spirit, his laughter, his joy. You know, one of Satan’s lies is that God is joyless and God is humorless, while claiming that he, Satan, and his sinful ways bring greater happiness and greater pleasure. That’s just not so. C.S. Lewis, in fact, depicted what laughter and life will be like in heaven and how laughter will be so much a part of heaven.
And so he wrote that into his Chronicle of Narnia series. And he described characters in his book as attending a great reunion in the new Narnia, which is their heaven. And he said, and there was greeting and there was kissing and handshaking and old jokes revived in this new Narnia. And then he had this parenthetical thought. He said, You’ve no idea how good an old joke sounds when you take it out again after a rest of 500 or 600 years.
Listen, God is your Father and Jesus is your Savior. You’re going to live with God, and that’ll fill your heart up. And it’s going to fill your heart up with one thing for sure, that’s joy, and many other things. Just being in God’s presence is going to bring you joy, and there will be a myriad of other things that will happen in your life as well. Theologian Sam Storms, he says this: We will constantly be more amazed with God, more in love with God, and thus ever more relishing his presence and our relationship with him.
Our experience of God will never reach its consummation. We will never finally arrive, as if upon reaching a peak we discover there’s nothing beyond. Our experience of God will never become stale. It will deepen and develop, intensify and amplify, unfold and increase, broaden and balloon. What’s he saying?
Best is yet to come. The best is yet to come because we’re going to live with God and we will live in a new home. John tells us here, Revelation 21:1-2, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I mean, how does that sound to you?
Just as God promises to make His children new with new glorified bodies, God also promises His children a new home to live in, a new heaven, a new earth, and a New Jerusalem. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever moved into a new home before. I’m not talking about, you know, just new in the sense that it’s new to you because you had not lived in that home before, but new in the sense that it was brand-spanking new. No one had ever lived in the home before, that kind of new. Well, that’s the thought that’s behind the word new that’s used here 3 times.
The word in the Greek language is kainos, and it speaks about something that is brand new. It’s fresh. It’s never-before-seen, something new in the sense of bringing something better in terms of quality. So John is saying the new heaven and the new earth and the New Jerusalem are new, and that no one has ever lived in them before because they’re brand new. Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, there are some people who think that the new heaven and the new earth will be new due to renovation or renewal of the present earth, kind of like what happens to someone when they’re born again and Christ saves them.
You may have heard this verse before, 2 Corinthians 5:17. It says, therefore, if any man is in Christ, He is a new creature. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. Some people say that this first heaven and this first earth that John is talking about here in Revelation 21:1, that John says when it’ll pass away, that it’s going to kind of be like this.
What happens to a new believer when they’re redeemed by Christ and the old man and the old inner self and all of that, it dies, it passes away, and they’re given a brand new life and they’re saved and washed and forgiven and sanctified and declared righteous. And in the same way, some think that that’s what’s going to happen to the first heaven and the first earth. It will be new because it won’t be discarded, but it will be changed. It will be transformed and purified by fire. By fire, you say, really?
Yeah, well, actually, that’s what Peter focuses on in 2 Peter 3:7, 10, and then the last part of verse 12. This is what he says: By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, And the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
That absolutely sounds to me like the heavens and the earth are headed for fires worse than the fires we are plagued with right now in our area, or more than, you know, the Ring of Fire that Johnny Cash sang about in his country hit by that name. This passage is talking about total devastation of the heavens and the earth, and you could see that the word destruction of the heavens and the earth is used here. 2 Peter 3:10 talks about how the heavens will disappear with a roar. Now, what do you think of when you see it say disappear? Do you see that as like a magic trick or a sleight of hand?
Is Is that what that’s describing? You know, gone but not really gone. Give it a few minutes and your keys will magically, you know, appear again. Kind of like these headphones. You know, I lost this a couple months ago, the headphones that are in here, or I should say earphones.
And then a couple of weeks ago, they reappeared in one of Bernice’s shoes, her cool weather shoes that were by the basket by the back door. I kid you not. I looked down there. I walked by that basket one day a couple of weeks ago, and I saw them, and I wanted to throw a party. I wanted to invite all the neighbors to my party.
I was thinking, my really good head earphones were lost, and now they’ve been found, and I’m so happy. So let’s have a party. Let’s kill the fatted calf. Is that what disappear means? Heaven and earth will go into hiding for a while, but if you wait long enough, they’ll just come back.
That’s really hard for me to conclude when the text not only says they’ll disappear, but it also says they’ll be destroyed. Twice it says that. So which is it? Is God going to renew the heavens and the earth and make everything new again that way, or is He going to replace the heavens and the earth after they have been destroyed? You know what?
I’m going to let you sort that out and then please send me a definitive and sure-proof answer to that question. But even if you don’t send me a really good answer, would you please do this? Start getting excited about your new home that’s being prepared for you right now. That is if you’re one of God’s children, you’ve been redeemed, saved by Christ. Because there’s a new home coming.
That’s what Jesus said. And that’s what we really, I think, need to focus on. Any way you look at this, this place that Jesus is preparing for us is going to be amazing. And you know what this tells me? Heaven is connected to both a person and it’s also connected to a place.
Heaven is where the Lord is, and it is a place that the Lord is preparing for His children, a new heaven, and a new earth that’s going to be our new home. Now, I want you just to notice something here because Revelation 21:1-2 is focused on the eternal heaven, which is distinct from the immediate heaven, which is somewhere up there where Jesus right now is at the right hand of God. And He and the Father are preparing for this future day when heaven will come to earth. So there’s a distinction here. What John is focused on is not that heaven, but he’s focused on a new heaven and a new earth where God will dwell with the redeemed and Jesus also.
In fact, John says this in Revelation 22:3, the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him. You say, what city? Well, the city that’s talked about here is the New Jerusalem. Again, back to 21:2, that’s going to come down out of heaven from God, all prepared. I love this picture, as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
That sounds to me a lot like the place that Jesus was speaking about when He told His disciples, In John chapter 14, verses 2 and 3, this: In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I’m 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 also may be where I am. That place that Jesus ascended up to, up there somewhere right now, That place, heaven, is a place where He is preparing for us a new place, a new place.
That’s what John’s describing here in the city of Jerusalem, the New Jerusalem. You say, is that really going to happen? Is heaven going to be based on earth in a city with a special focus on a city, the New Jerusalem? Well, that’s what John was told here. In fact, this new city, which is said to have been beautifully prepared like a bride for her husband, is language similar to what John already talked about in Revelation 19 when he spoke about the wedding ceremony of Jesus and His bride, which is the Church, and how the redeemed will, like a bride, be relocated from her former home and be brought into a new home after she’s beautifully prepared, or you could say adorned, beautifully dressed in pure white garments, and then relocated to earth as a shining gift to her husband, Jesus Christ.
And there on earth, then, the bride and the groom are going to live happily ever after. Now, if you’d like to know more about that new home that the bride of Christ, the church, will live in, then you want to continue reading here, verses 9 through 27 of Revelation chapter 21, and then go on over to chapter 22, continue to read chapter 22, verses 1 to 6, because what this section gives us is an amazing description of this city in both figures of speech and literal language. Like, for instance, Revelation 21:16, talking about this city, says, and the city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as its width. And he measured the city with the rod, 1,500 miles. Its length and width and height are equal.
Now, if those measurements are meant to be taken literally, which actually is suggested by the next verse, verse 17, where it says that Man’s measurements are given here. These measurements are given in man’s measurements the angel was using, it says, which is another way of simply saying that they’re trying to reinforce the fact that these are genuine measurements. And if they are genuine measurements, then guess what? This is going to be a big city, actually an enormous city, to be 1,500 miles square. The Jerusalem John saw then would be about half the size of the United States, or about 2,250,000 square miles.
If you’ve been to England, the New Jerusalem is going to be about 40 times bigger than England. However you take it, you can take it figuratively or literally, you know what it tells us? It tells us that God is going to make this New Jerusalem big enough to hold a whole lot of people. A whole lot of people. Why?
Because God loves us, and God wants to have a relationship with us now and forever. And he’s so committed to a new life with us that he’s going to pull out all of the stops to make forever fantastic for every one of his children. We’re going to live with him— think of it— in a new heaven and a new earth, in a new city. And this place is going to be beautiful. It’s going to be free of sin and contamination of any kind.
In fact, that’s why Peter wrote 2 Peter 3:13, in keeping with His promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. There will be no sin there. No sin. The new heaven and the new earth are a huge testament, if you ask me, of God’s love to us. In fact, the fact that God hasn’t destroyed the present earth yet is proof of His love.
Peter talked about that. He made that clear when he refuted the God naysayers who broadcast in that world that God must be dead because He’s not brought the day of the Lord, the day of trouble, the day of tribulation. But Peter said differently in 2 Peter 3:9. He said, the Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. I mean, why doesn’t God just get on with it?
Well, because He loves us. He loves all people, and He longs for them to be saved. He longs for them to repent from their stubborn, self-sufficient, self-centered lives and turn from their sins to God for salvation. How much longer is He going to wait? How much longer is He going to give us?
To repent? God only knows. We don’t know the answer to that question, but we do know this: the Bible says today is the day of salvation. So while you still have time, if you’ve not yet received Jesus Christ, receive him today as your Savior. You know what else this passage tells us?
It tells us about this new heaven and new earth, a New Jerusalem. And so in seeing that, it tells us that our God is big and he’s strong and he’s wise enough to do the impossible, to intervene in our lives in ways that we could never even think possible. And in our world, he can bring about God-sized miracles, God-sized changes. You ever come across this passage before in Jeremiah 32:17? Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm.
Nothing is too hard for you. Is anything too difficult for God? What’s he saying? No! If God can make the heavens and the earth by his powers and his resources, he can by the same power make a new home for his bride and bridegroom, which means he can meet your need, whatever that need is, right now.
The best really is yet to come. We will live with God. We will live in a new home. And let’s not miss this, we will live in perfect conditions. Check out verse 4 of chapter 21 of Revelation.
It says, He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Now, how does that sound to you? We’re talking about a perfect life, a heavenly life, a wonderful life. I mean, you know, we look at that and say, can we kind of get on with this?
Like, Right now? Well, it’s up to God. But we do know that there is going to be a day when God the Father and God the Son and the redeemed and glorified saints are going to live in perfect conditions. And you thought your last cruise to New England or your last trip to Hawaii was like, you know, being in paradise. Well, these conditions are going to even be better as our Heavenly Father, like a loving mother or loving father, is going to wipe away every tear from our eyes.
Do you see that? In the Greek language, that refers to specific tears, tears that came after failure or injustice or loneliness or a lost love, misfortune, grief, unfulfilled dreams, disease, pain, abandonment, abuse, unspoken silent sorrows, you name it. And there’s going to be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. You know what that means? That means that there will no longer be any curse.
Chapter 22 here in verse 3, it talks about how there will be no more curse. Work will no longer be a pain. Farming or gardening will be a whole lot easier. Sin will be a thing of the past. Relationship strife and tension will not come between us.
The old order of things will have passed away, he says in 21:4. Can you imagine this? Creation itself, lush and productive and thriving. That’s what it’s going to be like. People smiling and joyful and talkative, not angry, not depressed, not frustrated, not empty.
We’re going to eat from the tree of life that produces a variety of crops of fruit every month, chapter 22, verse 2, all year long. Maybe apples one month, pears the next month, oranges after that, though probably amazing fruit that we’ve never had before because no one has eaten from the tree of life since the Garden of Eden. And you will drink from the water of life, chapter 22, verse 1, and it will completely satisfy your thirst because it’s source will be able to be traced all the way back to the throne of God, the one who made the water of life available for all to drink without cost. Verse 6 there of chapter 21, without cost, that is without cost to us. But the water of life did cost God something.
It cost God His Son, His one and only Son who gave up His life so that through His death we might have life. All of this— the new heaven, the New Jerusalem, the new earth, living this new life— it only is possible because Jesus came and he took upon himself the curse of sin when he gave up his life on the cross. That’s what Galatians 3:13 says. And in so doing, he satisfied God’s wrath and he defeated Satan. And his demonic cohorts.
And he guaranteed that there would be a day that is coming when we would no longer just be living in this creation with its sin, but we will be living in a new location. This passage is focused on that day where God, the Alpha and the Omega— verse 6 again— the beginning and the end, will have done What long ago he promised that he would do, so that he will be able to say, it is done. Everything, and I mean everything, will be done. Everything will be as perfect as life can be. And all who are there on that day will be saying, the best that was yet to come, it’s come.
And on that day, we will all know that people and places and the things that we loved on this present world were wonderful, but they were only a glimpse of the love and the joy that we’re going to ultimately experience in the new heaven and new earth forever. And on that day, the longing for something more or something better that’s so much a part of this world is going to finally be satisfied. C.S. Lewis said it this way: If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is I was made for another world. That world that is yet to come, the new heaven and the new earth, that world.
And that longing that we have for something more, that longing is actually a longing for God. Who holds the keys to heaven. You and I were made for life in heaven on earth, for a world without sin, free of the curse of sin. And that life is coming with the new heaven and the new earth. There’s going to be a new location for us, a new place.
We’re going to live with God. We’re going to live with God forever. We’re going to enjoy working and playing and laughing and dancing and serving and eating and drinking and traveling and worshiping in our eternal home on earth. You know, Bernice and I stayed right on the beach last week, and there were times where we looked out over the ocean and the gorgeous sunsets, and we thought— and I’m sure you can relate from your own experiences— we thought, it just doesn’t get any better than this. Well, from what God is telling us, what we’re seeing today, It does, and it will.
And when we’re standing in the new heaven and the new earth, we’re going to truly be able to say, it doesn’t get any better than this. And that will be our new reality for all eternity. It’s true. Best is yet to come when we are living with God, living in a new home, and living in perfect conditions. A story’s told of a young woman who had been given 3 months to live.
So she contacted her pastor so they could discuss her wishes for a memorial service. She told him, you know, these are some songs that I would love to have sung at the service. These are some scriptures I’d love to have read. And she said, and this is the outfit I’d like to be buried in. Everything she hoped was in order.
And so the pastor and her having talked about that, he got up to leave. But just as he was leaving, leaving, the woman stopped him and said, oh, wait a minute, there’s one other thing. She said, I also want to be buried with a fork in my right hand. And the pastor stood there kind of baffled looking at her, not sure what to say. And she said, in all of my years of attending socials and dinners, when after dinner was over and the dishes and the main course were cleared, somebody would inevitably lean over and say, Keep your fork.
It was actually my favorite part of the evening, she told her pastor, because I knew that something better was coming, like, you know, velvety chocolate cake or a deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful was coming. So I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand, and I want them to wonder, what’s with the fork? And then I want you to tell them, Pastor, Keep your fork. The best is yet to come.
Let’s pray together. Father, this is such a wonderful passage, a passage that we look at and we are filled up with hope. Lord, to realize that you have promised for your children an amazing magnificent future can not only impact us and will impact us one day down the road, but it can impact us now. And so I pray it would, Lord. I pray that first of all, if we are not among your family because we’ve not yet received Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, I pray that even today would be the day of salvation.
While there still is the opportunity to receive you, while you’re working in our hearts, Lord, I pray that there will be people right now that would say yes to a relationship with you. And if that’s the desire of your heart, tell God that. Ask God to write your name down in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Ask him to forgive you of your sins. Confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead.
The Bible says you’ll be saved. Ask him to change your heart, begin to change your life, make you a new person. And Lord, those of us who already have this relationship, may we live differently. May we live with hope. May we live with anticipation of the day that we will live with you, of the day when we will live in a new home, and of the day when we will live in perfect conditions.
May that perspective transform even the conditions that we live in now. Help us, of course, to make the most of the life that we have now. Help us bring heaven to earth. But Lord, may we, as we live on earth, anticipate heaven. May it change the way we live, the way we love you, and the way we love others.
We ask this in your name. Amen. You know, as you continue with worship today, the kids are going to be back and again singing about the great things that God has done. Let’s just rejoice and give him thanks as we reflect on what God’s been saying to us this morning.
