Awesome. How are you doing Crossing
Church? Are you doing okay?
Today. It's good to be in the house of
the Lord, for the people, the Lord in the presence of the
Lord, because he's here, he promised that he would be here
with us. I want to welcome all of our
campuses joining together with us all across this region.
If you are inside her online, we are so thankful for each and
every one of you as well. And we are still in Camp season,
got done with Fourth and fifth grade Camp.
Last week I was I was there and I was in the barn where below is
the the men's dorms and went into the bathroom and to do what
you do in the bathroom and they're also showers in there
and I could hear one of the fourth or fifth graders in the
shower singing. Get up, get up, get up, get up
out of that. That great and I was going to -
that's exactly what it's about. I mean, we're just being able to
plant those truths into the hearts of young people.
Starting this Friday is fused camp.
And you know, how many young people make decisions for Christ
in their junior, high years. And so I want you to be praying
that God would do something incredible.
Miraculous that we could camp coming up, be praying for each
and every one of them. Well, we're in a new series.
For three weeks, it's called the other side.
And we're going to talk about heaven, hell and judgment.
And for some reason, Clayton, wanted to hell in judgment.
I don't know why you going to ask him about that, but that
left me with heaven and I'm excited to preach about heaven
today, it's going to be awesome to be able to share that with
you today. So, when you're thinking of
Heaven, lot of times people think about death, if you think
about funerals because that's where you hear about heaven,
which is kind of sad. That you hear about heaven in
those depressing circumstances, but a remind me of story of a
pastor who was encouraged to do a funeral.
It was in a metropolitan area. And a man came in wanted to have
a meeting with the senior pastor about doing the funeral for his
brother. Now the problem was that this
man was part of a family of organized crime.
And they were known in the community as just doing horrible
things, terrible things. And as bad as this man that came
in to see the pastor was, his brother was worse.
He was the head of the family and he had just died, which I'm
sure a lot of people thought was a blessing and and so this other
brother living brother is trying to find a place to do his
funeral. And so nobody wants to do his
funeral. Because what are you going to
say about this guy? I mean, you're going to Preach
him into hell, that's not going to be any fun.
So, nobody wants to do it. So, this guy goes to, this
particular pastor's office and says that he would like for him
to do the funeral. And furthermore, he said, what I
want you to say is that he was a saint.
And the pastor's like, how can you expect me to do that?
I mean, the reputation of this man goes without saying,
everybody knows, I mean, that's just crazy to say that he goes,
listen Pastor if you'll do that. If you'll say he was a saint, I
will donate a million dollars to this church. so, the pastor
found a way to say, yes, Which tells you about pastors, doesn't
it anyway? He said, okay, I'll do, I'll do
the the service and so you know the day came and everybody came
in and everything set up and the flowers and the body and the
casket and the you know, the funeral directors and all of
that. And it came time for the pastor
to get up and he begins to preach and he doesn't hold
anything back. I mean, he preaches about how
terrible the man this was and in the first couple of rows Hisses
the family and you can just see the agitation on their faces,
the anger, especially the brother, like this is not what I
paid for it, and just got worse and worse and worse, and he kept
going. And he culminated the sermon by
saying. But compared to all of you in
the first couple of rows, this man was a saint.
Ching. So we just concluded a series in
the Book of Ecclesiastes and in chapter 3 verse 11, it says
something pretty amazing about this.
It says that God has set eternity.
Into the hearts of mankind. I really believe.
That's true. I think there's something inside
every single, one of you that's listening to me, watching me
right now that knows that. That God has set eternity into
your hearts. Like, you know, that this isn't
all there is you know, that there's something more
Something, maybe you can't describe it, you can't quantify
it, but you know that it's there.
But when I was preaching, in West Central Indiana, one of the
elders that church, his brother passed away, and I went to meet
them at the hospital, he had already passed.
And the brother came out of the room where his brother had died.
And he looked at me and he was trying to console himself, or
Comfort himself. And what he said was, you know,
This is just natural, it's just natural.
That Dying is just as natural as being born.
It's just a natural part of life and you know, I wanted to
comfort this this elder but inside my heart even though I
didn't say it out loud, I was saying no, it isn't natural.
There was something inside of me that was saying that's just
absolutely not true. As a matter of fact, there is
something terribly unnatural about it.
Those of you that have faced the death of a loved one, a friend,
a family member, you know, that there's something inside of you
that just that just kind of in denial, doesn't want to accept
that saying that, there's something wrong here, something
very wrong about it. And you know what?
That idea that thought in your mind is Right thoughts, not a
wrong thought because you weren't made for that.
You are not made for death. You were made for life.
When you think about it, in the Book of Genesis, you are created
in the, in the garden. We were created.
Our ancestors were created to be immortal in the garden.
Mortality came into the world because of a curse because of
sin. That's what God Said in the day
that you eat of that tree. That was you're not to eat of
you will surely die, you'll be separated from me. that's
recorded in Genesis chapter 3 and it serves as a constant,
reminder reminder to each of us who we have become Immortal to
mortal. And so it begs this question
about heaven. Now in the secular world,
there's been commentary about that dots of different ways in
music especially and I can think of one song that kind of stands
out for me and it's one that John Lennon wrote and some
people would say it was the greatest song he ever wrote.
And it's the song. Imagine.
Now, most of us are familiar with the song.
Imagine? he gets played a lot even today,
but I want you to think of the words, especially the first
verse where it says imagine There's no heaven.
It's easy. If you try, no hell below us
above us only sky. Now, when I hear that it
actually is very depressing, it's very discouraging to me.
He then describes a world that might be reshaped and bring the
realities of what we perceive as Heaven into the world is if you
would join him in his effort in creating this worldly Utopia.
But the problem is in, the song is the word.
We and as long as we are in the mix, there's going to be a
problem, right? Because we're sinners.
Now there's a far lesser known musician.
His name is Bart Millard and he was actually recalling this
destructive upbringing that he had had because of his father
and the reconciliation he had with his father and then his
father's death from cancer. But before he died, he was
radically transformed by Jesus Christ.
And some of you have seen that movie that I'm describing, but
the song came long before the movie and it has nearly Lee the
same name as John Lennon's song. I Can Only Imagine.
And I have to tell you when I hear that song it's a lot more
positive to me than John Lennon's.
So I want us to ask ourselves a few questions today about
heaven. Okay, here's the first one.
Is it real? Is heaven.
A real place. Is this a fantasy that we just
feed ourselves? Because we're so uncomfortable
about our mortality or is it real Well, I would say
absolutely it's real, this is real as God is, it's real, as
Jesus is, it's as real as truth is.
It's a matter of fact, it's mentioned over. 500 times in the
Bible, 50 times, just in the Book of Revelation alone.
There were different authors that were actually that actually
experienced part of heaven and they wrote about it in your
Bible. Isaiah saw it wrote about it.
The Apostle Paul wrote about it. John wrote about it when the
Apostle Paul saw it. This is how he described it.
Second Corinthians chapter 12 verses 2 to 4.
He said I Know a Man in Christ that's him in the third person.
He's referring to himself who 14 years ago, was caught up to the
third heaven. While it was, whether it was in
the body or out of the body, I do not know.
God knows. And I know that this man,
whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know.
God knows was caught up to Paradise.
Listen to this and heard inexpressible things.
Things that no one is permitted to tell.
Wow, that, that just kind of whets the appetite, doesn't it
just kind of heightens the mystery.
What did he see? What was incredible that he saw?
Well, we don't have to wonder. That doesn't have to stay a
mystery. Like I said, Isaiah saw it and
John saw it as well and they all wrote about it, we got
descriptions of it in the Bible. When Isaiah saw it, he wrote
about it and he talked about the throne room.
That was what he saw. It's an Isaiah 61 24.
He writes in the year that King Uzziah died.
I saw the Lord high and exalted Seated on a throne and the train
of his robe. Filled the temple above him were
seraphim. Those are a form of angels each
with six wings with two Wings, they covered their faces with
two, they covered their feet and with two, they were flying.
They were calling to one another holy holy holy is the Lord
Almighty. The whole earth is full of his
glory. The sound of their voices, the
doorposts and thresholds shook in the temple was filled with
smoke. Well the picture here is just so
absolutely Beyond us or above us, isn't it?
Wow. It certainly was for Isaiah
because as you continue to read in Isaiah 6, you find out that
that he loses, all of his strength, he realizes that he
has no business being there. He feels like he's undone.
And an angel has to actually go through a process to give him
the strength to receive, the Revelation that God is going to
give him. Revelation Chapter 4 verses 2 to
6 is even more descriptive John writes at once I was in the
spirit and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone
sitting on it and the one who sat there had the appearance of
Jasper and Ruby. So he's described God as
described more in terms of light and color than in physicality a
rainbow that Shone like an emerald in circle.
The throne surrounding the throne were twenty-four other
Thrones and seated on them were 24 Elders.
They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their
heads. And from the throne came flashes
of lightning and Rumblings, and peals of thunder.
And in front of the throne, seven lamps were blasi.
And these are the seven spirits of God.
Also, in front of the throne, there was what looked like a sea
of glass, clear as Crystal and in the center, and around the
throne were four living creatures.
They were covered with eyes, meaning all seeing in front, and
in back, You know, John had to be prepared for this Vision
because he had already passed out.
We read that in Revelation, 1 verses 17, and 18.
When he sees Jesus in his exalted glorified form, he
writes, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though, dead.
And then he placed his right hand on me and said, do not be
afraid. I'm the first and the last I'm
the living one. I was dead.
And now look, I am alive forever and ever and I hold the keys of
death and Hades. Wow, you know, Jesus and John
during that, three years of Jesus Ministry, they were best
friends. And in heaven, John doesn't even
recognize him. He's so glorified.
He has to identify himself to John.
Is heaven real you bet? What's it like in that the next
question? What's heaven like?
You know, Jesus contemplating this on the eve of his death.
Celebrating Passover with his disciples.
He says these words in John 14 to 24 24.
He says my father's house has many rooms.
If that were not. So would I have told you that
I'm going to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a
place for you, I will come back and take you with me.
That you also may be where I am now that's even hard for me to
say because I memorized it in the King James version and I
still say that in funerals, it goes like this.
In my father's house are many mansions if it were not.
So I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you and if I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come again.
And receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be
also You see the difference in those two passages of scriptures
in their translation? Don't you like the King?
James Vetter. Wouldn't you rather have a
mansion than a room? Come on.
Many mansions, and all of a sudden, I get demoted to a room.
What is this like a condo and apartment?
I don't know, kind of bugs me. Well, maybe it's because we
don't understand the culture of the time in Israel and how
people lived during that time. Jesus said, you know, the place
where I'm going. Well, if you ever travel to
Israel and you go to the hometown of Jesus, that would be
Capernaum. You'll see the ruins of all of
these buildings and they're all kind of connected and it's
strange to look at. He kind of Wonder like to
picture what kind of a building was this?
Well, it's what archaeologists call an insula.
Now, what an insulin is is a building that the patriarch of
the family built as far back as the family live there.
There was someone who built a house and then as many sons as
that patriarch had, when they would be betrothed to a
bride-to-be, they would come back and they would add on to
their father's house, they would basically build their home
attached to the father's home. And you can imagine after
generation after generation after generation, these things
would expand, and they would get bigger and bigger and bigger,
because everyone in the family live together, some of your
going that's really awesome. Some of your going that freaks
me out. I know that, but that was the
culture. So when Jesus says in my
father's house are many rooms, They were understanding what he
was saying and when he said, I go to prepare a place for you,
he was using wedding language identifying himself as a
bridegroom, coming back for his bride.
After the work was done, you see, Jesus isn't describing many
mansions. He's describing a single mansion
that has enough room for everyone.
That's not so bad. God would rather not live with
you in the neighborhood down the street.
He wants you to be in his house with him when the Apostle Paul
talks about living on Earth. And I know some of you have some
pretty nice houses, but when Paul talks about living on
Earth, he describes our dwelling as a tent.
And the reason he calls it a tent is because it's temporary
everything on Earth is very temporary.
No, I don't want a mistake a tent for my eternal home.
But that's what we do when we don't understand that, we're
actually living in our father's house.
You know, when, when God was dwelling with mankind on Earth
in the Old Testament, he commissioned the building of a
tent called The Tabernacle that was the temple.
It was designed to be put away rolled up carried somewhere else
set back up because it was never supposed to be permanent just a
shadowy image of what is in heaven.
Just a temporary place where God would dwell with his people, but
when we talk about heaven, we're talking about eternal place.
You know Abraham the patriarch lived in tents, his whole life
and in Hebrews chapter 11, he said that he was content to live
in tents because he was looking for something greater a building
with foundations. He said, whose architect and
Builder is God. Now, when we get into God's
word, we get the opportunity to see what Jesus has been working
on. Remember, The Bible says that
nothing that was made was made without Jesus.
He was responsible for what everything that was made.
So it took him six days to create this world, right?
He's been working on your house. 2,000 years.
You think about that ever since he ascended into heaven, and
this is the permanent home for us to dwell in together.
One of the beautiful things and of course there's so many
beautiful things on this earth, right?
That we Marvel at when we see them the whether it's animals or
plants or trees or sunsets or whatever.
Even what God has shown Us. In this cursed world is pretty
incredible but in heaven, you are part of the architecture.
You are. How is that possible?
I mean, it's made for you. It's an incredible description
that how God puts everything together and we read it in
Revelation chapter 1 verses 1 to 5, he 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 then I heard a loud voice
from the throne saying now, the dwelling of God is with Mankind
and he'll live with them. They will be his people and God
himself will be with them and be their God and he will wipe every
tear from their eyes and they'll be no more death or Mourning or
crying or pain for the old Order of Things has passed away. and
he was Seated on the throne said, I am making everything new
And he said, write this down for these words are trustworthy and
true. As beautiful as a place can be.
When we think about the architecture of the building
that God describes through John in the Book of Revelation.
It's still not a home, it's just a place.
What makes it a home is when people dwell in it.
And that's part of you being part of the architecture.
Along with God, you know, here at the 48th Street location.
Other locations. We have a baptistery at our
baptistry over here. There is a like an artistic
depiction of stones, kind of in the air and you can see that if
they were to be pushed down that they would complete a wall.
That's what we see over here to my ride.
And there's a scripture there and there's over 60 scriptures
about baptism in the Bible. But we chose the different
scripture for that wall. First Peter chapter 2 verses 4
and 5. Because it says this as you come
to him, the living Stone rejected by humans but chosen by
God and precious to him, you also like living stones are
being built into a spiritual house.
You're part of the architecture of Heaven to be a holy
priesthood. Offering spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
To me, it's the best and it's the most personal description
that really ties everything together in the word of God.
This is the culmination of what Jesus said in Matthew 16:18.
When he told his Apostles Upon This Rock, I will build my
church and the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against it or
overcoming It's a beautiful picture but it's still kind of
up here kind of up in the clouds a little bit, you know, a little
hard to grasp. So maybe some of you are asking
a third question today. And that is, can you, can you be
more specific? Can you give me something a
little bit more concrete to understand it a little bit
better? No problem.
The Bible does that we're going to go on and read a little bit
more in Revelation. 21 starting in the second part of verse 9.
Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb, and he
carried me away in the spirit to a mountain, great and high.
Showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem coming down out of
Heaven from God. It's Shone with the glory of
God, and its Brilliance was like that of a very precious Jewel.
Like a Jasper clear as Crystal, it had a great high wall with
Twelve Gates, with twelve Angels at the gates and on the gates
were written. The names of the 12 tribes of
Israel. There were three gates on the
East three on the north three on the south three on the west and
the wall of the city, had twelve foundations and on them were the
names of The Twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
Now it goes on to describe this in much greater detail if you
want to read through Revelation 21 but I'm just going to
highlight some things. All right?
First of all is described as shining with the glory of God.
Now in those earlier descriptions God was he was
described more out of light and color than in a physical way.
And it is the Brilliance of the glory of God that gives light to
this city. John describes the city when we
read further on as a cube. Actually, in the form of a cube.
And there's a measuring Rod where an angel actually measures
the size of it and it's given to us if we convert it to miles,
it's 1,400 miles, wide, 1400, miles, long and 1,400 miles
high. And some of you when we get
finite like that, you're going, is that enough room for
everybody. Can we fit in that?
I just encourage you to multiply 1400 by 1400 by 1400.
So I don't know what kind of space I'm going to get how big
is my room. How big is my room in the Inn so
well, let's just pretend that it's a mile long and a mile high
and a mile wide. That's pretty big space didn't
it? Do you know how many people that
will fit if everybody got a room that big two billion seven
hundred and forty-four million? That's plenty of room.
That's all I'm saying. It has high walls which describe
how it is, totally safe, and Totally Secure that God protects
his bride. His people has 12 gates, three
on each side. Each one made of a single Pearl.
It says, it's where we get the term Pearly Gates.
If you've ever heard that term before, each one is named has a
name over it for one of the Twelve Tribes.
Israel. And then there's an angel that
stationed keeping guard at each gate, but the gates are open and
they remain open. What does all that mean?
Help me to understand that the fact that they're made from a
single Pearl, is a reference to the kingdom of God.
Do you remember the story that Jesus told about the pearl of
great price? See, there's only one way you
can enter into the kingdom. It's through the Gospel of
Jesus. That's what he said.
In John 14:6, I am the way. And then later on he says no one
comes to the father, except through me and then describes
him in the Kingdom as the pearl of great price.
The one that we would give everything else up for to have
that one. He describes himself to his
Apostles as the gate for the sheep or the door of the sheep.
The only way into heaven is through Jesus. just like he
said, in John 14, The fact that those Gates face in every
direction is a reminder for us that the gospel isn't just for
some people, it's for everyone. That the kingdom is open for
everyone. They carry the names of the
Twelve Tribes of Israel because that is how God chose to bring
Jesus into the world. They're guarded with angels
because that's happened ever since the Garden of Eden and the
tree of life was guarded by Angels, it has 12 foundations
and each Foundation is named for one of the 12 apostles because
the kingdom is built on the truth that they receive from
Jesus. What they shared with the world,
that's what the crossing stands on it.
Stands on the foundation of the Apostles or what Acts 2:42
calls, the apostles Doctrine, the old, and the New Testaments
come together in this beautiful architecture, all reminders of
Our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ and even though there's a throne
in this New Jerusalem, there is no Temple.
Because we are the temple of God.
In revelation 22, we begin to get a tour of the inside of the
city. There is a throne in the center
with a river flowing out from it, in all directions, and that
river flows with the Water of Life.
The Bible then goes on to describe that the tree of life
has been planted on either side of that River, as it flows from
the throne and it provides fruit for food and leaves and it says,
for the healing of Nations. Wow, what an incredible
description. Now do you think that John was
like on mushrooms or I mean, or do you believe that it's true?
Would God lie to you would he tell you something?
That wasn't true. When Jesus said to his disciples
I go to prepare a place for you did he mean it.
See that's what's so important that you understand the
substantial truth here. That this is true, this is real.
I want to contrast that to a movie that came out in 2010
called Avatar. How many of you saw the movie
Avatar when it came out. Yeah.
And it describes a planet by the name of Pandora and all of these
incredible things that And do you realize and you probably
don't but that moviegoers went to see the movie.
Avatar were so enthralled with what they witnessed that they
became depressed and even suicidal because of their desire
to live on a fictional planet. There was even a website created
that provided ways for moviegoers to cope with the
depression that they were feeling.
How sad how incredibly sad that people can.
So quickly become hopelessly attached to a fictional Place
produced by human imagination and a whole lot of CGI and not
know that there's a very real place beyond their Wildest
Dreams where they could have an eternal home.
Last thing I want to share with you last question.
How will I be changed? How would you be changed?
Well, I'm going to have a new body.
Thank you. Lord.
The one that I was meant to have before mortality, I'm gonna have
a mind to go with it. That's going to be
indestructible and unchangeable, and it will be as unique as I am
and unique. As you are, it'll be free from
the influences of this world. No death, no crying, no
mourning, no pain. I will get to see the people
that I love not only redeemed in Jesus, but fully recreated by
him even as I have been. Why do people want to live in a
Pandora and get depressed when they are reminded that it isn't
real? Well because down deep, we all
know that we were meant for something better.
God has set eternity into the hearts and minds of mankind.
Why don't we get it? Why don't we latch onto it?
Because we are literally saturated in the lower story.
I mean our lives are taken up by it.
Look at what we're arguing about today.
Okay, just right now, what's on the news, What decisions are
coming from the Supreme Court? What issues are you going to be
voting on? police abortion, school choice,
guns prayer, racism discrimination Healthcare,
vaccines, pandemics depression, social media Church fighting
suicide same-sex marriage, identity issues, housing
concerns supply chain issues, inflation, gas prices, school
shootings, debt, fentanyl immigration issues, the
illogical debates, Temptation, separation, anxiety, loneliness,
-. None of that exists in the upper
story. Not one.
It's all in the lower story. We are all gets so worked up.
About things that in heaven have passed away.
Let me tell you what's important right now and I'm going to
encourage you to vote in a minute.
Right now. The gate is open for you, angel
stands guard, making sure it stays open for you in the
Kingdom. You can claim the citizenship
that Jesus bought for you. When he died on a cross, not for
his sin, but yours, when he paid your debt and my debt in full,
when he was buried in a borrowed, tomb and rose again on
the third day, not only to be alive, but to prove to you that
he could raise you from death to life.
To show you. That the things of this Earth
are temporary. But there is an eternal Eternal
reality that Waits For You. And even more than that.
Jesus Waits For You. Vote.
Vote for Jesus. Vote for Jesus.
Is He's Worthy. He earned it.
He paid it all. We're moving to a Time.
I cannot tell you. How much?
I would love for you. To have the knowledge of
Eternity in your heart. Of what it is of where it is of
who's there and why they're there.
I don't want you to cling onto empty wishes.
And foundationless hopes and dreams.
I want you to be able to sit your foot on the solid rock of
Jesus Christ. And that happens when you come
into an intimate, personal relationship with him.
As hard as it may be for us to grasp, the Majesty of heaven, we
can grasp a hold of him. and if you've never taken hold of
Jesus, And allow him to take, hold of you and Inter in that
relationship. That will take you all the way
to and through those Gates into eternity.
I invite you today. To accept that invitation.
And come to Christ. There's going to be someone
right over here by the baptistry, right next to that.
Peter scripture chapter 2 verses 4 to 5.
Willing to facilitate, what only God can do and that as a living
Stone, graft un to his eternal Temple.
For his glory, as he raises a mighty Cathedral.
For his praise. Nobody is standing in your way
because the gates are open except for you. and if we can
just get out of our own way and trust in him, he'll take care of
the rest. Many of us here today, we're
Believers in Jesus Christ but don't try to lie to yourself and
think that you aren't affected and infected by this lower story
that there's all sorts of things that are swirling around in your
heart and mind right now that are trying to take this Prime
real estate of your heart that belongs solely to Jesus Christ.
He tells you don't set your mind on things below, but set your
mind and your heart on things above, where Christ is seated,
at the right hand of God, we spend way too much time talking
about down here when we need to be thinking that we're citizens
up there. We've got something waiting for
us and someone waiting for us, so much better.
And if your burden maybe with, maybe they're your burdens,
maybe there's somebody else's burdens.
But if you feel heavy and weighted down by the situations
and circumstances of this life, I encourage you to come up to
these steps, get down on your knees and say, I believe in a
God who can take my burden, I believe in a god.
Who is passionate and compassionate?
Loves me knows me. And won't forget me, leave or
forsake me. And if you come down and humble
yourself as the twenty-four Elders in heaven, as the angels,
as the four living creatures, you humble yourself before God,
I will guarantee you that when you get up from your knees from
these steps, you will be lighter.
Then when you went down onto because that is what God does,
would you stand with me? Let's pray in Jesus name.
Heavenly Father we pray right now that there wouldn't be
anything to pull us away. Anything to distract our hearts
and Minds from what it is that your Holy Spirit wants to do in
this moment. Help us.
Father to have ears that are sensitive to the still small
voice speaking. Telling his children.
Come on home. In Jesus name, amen.