Heaven - Will You Be Going There?

Real life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth equip the saints and impact our culture. It seems as though that man, if he could, he'll establish something that is as close to heaven though he may not even know heaven or have ever studied about heaven. My argument to you is it's in you to want to experience paradise. Why do you have a vacation trying to find that perfect place? Oh, paradise. It's all part of the argument about heaven and are you going there? You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. Heaven will be our topic for this foreseeable future as we look at this series. The Bible's description of heaven, it's amazing because, be honest with you, if you just read your New Testament, you're going to get a couple of snippets about heaven. You'll be flying blind though much of the way. Heaven is a doctrine that is revealed in the Bible and you need to read the entire Bible and that just makes sense that the grand prize, if I can put it that way, is heaven. And yet God has given it to us in such a way, listen carefully now, that the Bible, though you and I are spoiled in this world that we live in, we have a book that is bound together, 66 books make up one Bible. And as we've talked about the magnitude and the diversity of its authorship when it comes to the human side, we know that scientifically, linguistically, archeologically, every kind of way, there's one divine author of the Bible and that is the Holy Spirit. And that said, this book has been designed that if I were to tear out the book of Romans and drop it in, let's say Arizona and tear out the book of Galatians and drop it in California, if I were to tear out the book of First Timothy and give it to Utah and if I tore out the Philippians and dropped it in New York, are you with me? If we tore up every book and handed it out so that the reader only had one book of the Bible, even if it's Habakkuk or Hosea or Genesis, they would come to the knowledge of either Christ as Savior or God as Holy and I am not or a sacrifice needs to be given or Jesus died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead. What I'm saying is God has distributed the gospel message in His Word throughout all the books of the Bible, said if you only had one book, it gets saved. Or if you had one book, you would know that you're rejecting the one who loves you. Some things for sure, just one book of the Bible would cause you, it has to bring you to the point of decision. There's no gray area in the Bible and the Bible tells us about heaven. It's funny because every culture has a utopian dream. Every culture has a paradise of some sorts. The God of the Bible is the only one that says, this is what heaven is like, this is what you're going to do, this is what you're going to see and this is how you get there. I don't know but if you go to any place that's of significance, it's probably of course a national park or a national monument but I like when I go on vacation, one of the things I like, the police don't think less of me when I tell you this and I'm assuming you think more of me than I think. I love museums, love them. I can spend all day in a museum and if I have a chance I'll do it and I love places like the Smithsonian and it's just spectacular, it's not so much that it's the museum, it's the fact that when you go in, for example, the national portrait gallery is one of my favorite places on earth. When you walk in there, it's not the museum I'm walking into, I never think about it that way. I never think, I'm walking into the museum. I don't care about the museum, I don't care about the gates, I don't care about the guy counting, the people going through the turnstile, I just want to get in front of those oil paintings and I just want to go into it, I want to run right into that thing and I want to be there and maybe you've seen a grand palace or a great chateau or cathedral or castle and it's not so much that it's some grand super amazing thing, it's that there's a part of you that wants to be in there, you know what I'm talking about, I mean that in a healthy way, I'm not talking about invading somebody's house, that's like you know that's a really nice place, well just stand at the curb and enjoy it but you can't go in there, but there's a part of you that wants to go in there, in fact there's even people who have really nice houses that once a year they'll sell tickets for you to go through their home and that goes to charity, why do you want to go into those homes, I want to see what they've got, no but really peel it back, peel it back, it's just awesome, there's an awesome, is this a word, awesomeness, or is that just a fellow, is that American or English? Really awesome man, it's got awesomeness to it, where you want to go in there and so part of experiencing a museum, they're not all in oil, some of them are actual structures in existence and so when I travel, if I get the chance, remember traveling, you're just building that, you used to visit places, so I want to show you a picture in regarding heaven I want to give you this argument, this is in Russia, this is Queen Catherine, Catherine the Great's palace, by the way that's only one third of her palace, this is her summer house, where you're at by the way, it's the Bay, the Bay, you are the Bay, okay, and I don't remember if it's the Baltic or the Finnish Bay, I don't remember if some of you are from Russia, you'll know, but she would pull up in a boat and then she would get out of the boat and she'd get in a gondola and they would take her right up this and she would go around that big water fountain in the middle and she would go up those stairs that's doing her house, just like you go home every night, that's it, and it's absolutely amazing, and we've been there a couple of times with mission outreach, we would take the mission teams there on breaks, if we had a day, we would take a day off and we would go and see such things, and you stand there and you always want to stress the fact, look at it, look at that, look at that, even if it's something, everybody's mouth hanging open, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's really something, and then you have to turn to the group and you say, just remember, just remember, this is the best that man can do, it ain't bad, but it's the best that man can do, and you appreciate this, not in a weird way, but it's like, that's awesome, it is awesome, but why is that in the heart of man, to even build such a thing? That's kind of foundational to our argument today, how about the next one, this is one of our favorites, if you ever get a chance to go to, this is either Oxford Shire or Cutswald of England, this is the English countryside, this is Vlaenham Palace, this is where Winston Churchill was born, by the way, this is where the Duke of Marburo was given this land, thousands and thousands and thousands of square acres of a gift for rescuing the crown of England at that time, and this was gifted to him, it was built and given, and it's spectacular, it's one of the greatest structures you can ever go to, if you're ever in England, you got to make your way there, there's a grandness to this that when we read, now listen everybody, think now, use some divine or should say some sanctified divine imagination linkage with the Word of God, a moment ago you read about a river flowing from the throne of God, about the nations of the earth, the kings will come and bring their glory before the Lord, you read a moment ago that from the trees the leaves will be picked and the leaves will be used for the healing of the nations, is that interesting? That the street for example of Main Street Heaven is some sort of a translucent, transparent, gold reflection, we look at stuff like this and we say my goodness that's spectacular and you've got to study that for a while, you got to look at that for a while by the way, listen when we were there we didn't know until we went on the tour, you're looking at the back of the house, the front of the house, do you see the driveway, it's lined by two trees, I think it's five miles long, do you see the driveway at the top of the screen, that's the driveway, I'm serious, if this isn't man's heart, man who has created the image of God that there is something within us that beckons us to a heaven, even if we have to try to build it on earth and there's something about that in our lives, this next home is much more humble than those two I saw you, it's not very big either, it's probably the most famous house in the world, but it's not all that fancy, it's not all that spectacular but what it stands for, it's but it says something and there's a grandeur to it and that's within us, somebody designed that, George Washington had a lot to do with the design of it, but there's a simplicity but there's an elegance to it and that speaks about something that's within us and we need to remember that, so this next picture here, look at that, it's calming, do you love this? You know how long you have to travel to go to that location? That's right, about 35 minutes, Pasadena, today right now, did you know that? How many of you've been to the Huntington Library, Raise Your Hands? That's not enough, wait, just I want to see, how many of you have not been, Raise Your Hands? That's unacceptable, this is perfect, heaven, the Bible tells us about heaven, it's spectacular, let me ask you something, are you going there? If you had a chance, would you go? 35 minutes down the freeway is this, did you know that? Look, if you didn't know it, you're excused, if you know it and then I've ever went, something's wrong with you, this is the Huntington Library in Pasadena and it's spectacular, is it not? You can go there, you can spend the entire day, it's huge, it's beautiful, you know I like about it, it reminds me of heaven, when I read, you know you've never been to heaven, no, no, but I've read about it and if things on earth speak to me, a hint, look, this is like a Nordurve, right? You know you go somewhere and they give you whatever that is, why is it the more, the more swanky the place, the more idiotic is the Nordurve, so what is that? What is that thing? I'd get out of here, no man, why do they not ever have an Nordurve that's just like a little miniature hamburger like the size of your thumb? Instead it's this thing with eyes and it has antenna and it's like, get it away from you, oh but that is from France, get it out of here, right? Now the Nordurve is supposed to communicate something, think about this, God's creation, on earth that is fallen, this earth that is war bound and full of hate and violence and craziness and then you have this, God put this in the heart of man to craft and my argument is, it's because God has put eternity in our hearts, we want to know. Next picture, where is this? Honey, the library in Pasadena, 35 minutes from here, you should go. Okay, here's a long shot, next one, where is that? Honey, the library in Pasadena, 35 miles from here, but have you been? See, you can know all about it, but have you been? See, the Bible tells us that our citizenship as Christians is anchored, secured in heaven, that's why you long to go to heaven. Now the next picture is washed out, I apologize, the next one is cherry blossoms, oh excuse me, boy is that wrong. Okay, that's good, they washed, they washed that photo right out. Wow, where do you think this is? That's the Honey in the library in Pasadena, 35 miles from here. Is that spectacular? You say where are the honeytons? The people who own that house. Next slide. You get every service responded the same. We're not being gaudy or weird here, what we are saying is there's something about that that says, you know what, that's awesome. You say, well that's not my flavor, I understand this, not my flavor either, but the thing is, I appreciate it. That design, that ability, I believe, is only true to the human creation. We have no evidence whatsoever that angels can do this. It seems as though that man, if he could, he'll establish something that is as close to heaven, though he may not even know heaven or have ever studied about heaven. My argument to you is, it's in you to want to experience paradise. Why do you vacation trying to find that perfect place called paradise? It's all part of the argument about heaven, and are you going there? Next slide. This is one of the rooms at the Honeyton Library in Pasadena, 35 miles from here, 35 minutes from here. In fact, you know the blue boy, the famous oil, seam in the middle, right there, that's him, that's not an knockoff, that's really him. It's spectacular. Next slide. Oh, okay. Now, wow, that's a change. Where's that? Honeyton Library in Pasadena. That's one of the gardens. That's near the T-houses over there to the right. You guys need to go if you've not been. It's awesome. Walk around praising God the whole time. Lisa and I look at two idiots. We're just walking around like, good, amazing. Praise the Lord. Fantastic. Next slide. Don't you want to run in the grass? You can, if you go to Pasadena at the Honeyton Library, you can run around there. You can go in the grass. You can look at all those statues. Heaven, if we have this in our world today and God said that he's the creator and the Bible says in James that he's the giver of all that is good and comes down from the Father of Lights. If I want you to go there to experience this, how much more does God want you in heaven? He made it. It's his. He belongs there and you belong there. He loves you, but you can't go there unless because heaven is not our default. Heaven is a decision that you and I need to make regarding Christ Jesus if we're going to go there. Next slide. That's the one that's washed out. All that white you see kind of looks like snow. That's all pink. That's cherry blossom season in the spring, about March-ish. It's absolutely spectacular. I think that's it. I'm tired of talking about that place. Anyway, you just got to go there. I don't want to talk about it. I want to go see it. Kind of like heaven. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9, but as it is written, I is not seen. Nor ear heard. Nor have it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him. Verse 10, I love verse 10, but God has revealed them to us through his spirit. Listen, that's him coming after your thought life right now. God is saying, you can't see it, you can't hear it, your brain can't fathom it, but I tell you what, I'll reveal a little ordurve of it to my kids. For the spirit searches all things, just the deep things of God. Why do you live? What's your purpose? What's the end game, friend? How does this all wrap up? Is it heaven for you? This Jack Kemp's podcast, as well as all the broadcast out reach opportunities, are listener supporting. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibs.com to learn more and stay connected.