The Life Everlasting | Tyrone P. Jones | We Believe

Good morning, church. Isn't it good to be here? Man, it is a great day to be in church this morning. Well, if you're new here, welcome to Church for the City. We would love to get to know you. We're super glad that you're here this morning. There's a couple of ways that you can get connected. You can go to the Connect table in the lobby. You can fill out the Connect form online if you're watching online, and that's how you can take next steps like baptism, sign up for Open House, learn more about our church. That's the last Sunday of every month, child dedication, and so much more, of course. Before we get into worship, we're gonna read some scripture together. And our scripture for today is Matthew 6, 33, which says, seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything that you want, everything you need. So you know what we're gonna do? This morning, we're gonna seek the kingdom of God. That's it. We're gonna seek the kingdom of God, and how are we gonna do that? We're gonna worship with our hands in the air, like we don't care what the person next to us thinks. We're gonna let our hearts cry out to the living God.

We're gonna sing. We're gonna listen to a great message, and then we're gonna walk out of here and live righteously. And you know what God's gonna do? Give us everything that we need. So let's pray. Father, thank you so much for being our provider. Thank you for being our savior. Thank you for loving us before we could ever love you. God, we're just grateful. We're grateful to be here this morning. Let us capture this moment and really, really live in it in your presence. God, we love you. It's in your name, we pray. Amen. Hallelujah, let's worship. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you God for being our provider. Thank you for being our guide through this journey. Thank you for being our Savior. Thank you for being a friend. Thank you for being our Savior. And I want to know your name? Kiran. Kiran. Thank you, God. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, God. ♪ Couldn't feel you at the time ♪ ♪ But you were working full of questions wondering why ♪ ♪ But you were working all things for my good ♪ ♪ When I look back over my life and I think I'm through ♪ ♪ How could you have been in my soul seems great is ♪ ♪ Great is your faithfulness ♪ ♪ When I get your love on my mind I get grateful all over again ♪ ♪ And my soul seems great is great is your faithfulness ♪ ♪ Great is your faithfulness ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Through the valley, through the storm ♪ ♪ Oh you are working how we worship all the more ♪ ♪ Oh you are working all things for my good ♪ ♪ When I look back over my life and I think how good you've been ♪ ♪ And my soul sings great is, great is your faithfulness ♪

♪ When I get your love on my mind I get grateful all over again ♪ ♪ And my soul sings great is, great is your faithfulness ♪ ♪ And my soul sings great is your faithfulness ♪ ♪ Great is, great is your faithfulness ♪ ♪ Oh, how great your faithfulness ♪ Come on, let's sing it. You'll turn it around. ♪ You'll turn it around ♪ ♪ You'll turn it around ♪ ♪ Don't know where, don't know how ♪ ♪ But you'll always do it somehow ♪ ♪ You'll turn it around ♪ ♪ You'll turn it around ♪ ♪ Don't know where, don't know how ♪ ♪ But you'll always do it somehow, yeah ♪ ♪ You'll turn it around ♪ ♪ You'll turn it around ♪ ♪ Don't know where, don't know how ♪ ♪ But you'll always do it somehow ♪ ♪ You'll turn it around ♪ ♪ You'll turn it around ♪ ♪ Don't know where, I don't know how ♪ ♪ You'll always do it somehow, yeah ♪ ♪ When I look back over my life and I think ♪ ♪ How good you have been and my soul sings ♪ ♪ Great is, great is your faithfulness ♪ ♪ Get your love on my mind, I get grateful all over again ♪ ♪ And my soul sings, great is, great is your faithfulness ♪ ♪ And my soul sings, great is, great is your faithfulness ♪ ♪ You'll turn it around, come on, sing it ♪

♪ You'll turn it around ♪ ♪ Don't know where, don't know how ♪ ♪ But you'll always do it somehow, yeah ♪ ♪ You'll turn it around, you'll turn it around ♪ ♪ Don't know where, don't know how ♪ ♪ But you'll always do it somehow, yeah ♪ Give Jesus a praise, come on, lift up your hands to the air, to the one who sits on the throne. ♪ Great is your faithfulness, great is your faithfulness ♪ Come on, just let faith increase in the room right now in this place. ♪ When did I start to forget all of the great things you did? ♪ ♪ When did I throw away faith for the impossible? ♪ ♪ How did I start to believe you weren't sufficient for me? ♪ ♪ Why do I talk myself out of seeing miracles? ♪ ♪ Because you are more than able ♪ ♪ You are more than able, you are, you are ♪ ♪ You are more than able, you are, you are ♪ ♪ You are more than able, who am I to deny what the Lord can do? ♪ ♪ Oh, it's easy for you, yeah ♪ ♪ Now I see all that I have, I've got my confidence back ♪ ♪ I put my trust in the one who still does miracles, you do miracles ♪ You are more than able, yes you are You are more than able, we believe it You are more than able You are more than able, who am I to deny what the Lord can do And it's gonna happen, just let the way make it through He's gonna move, oh He's gonna move Can you imagine, with all of the faith in the room What the Lord can do, what the Lord can do

And it's gonna happen, just let the way make it through He's gonna move, oh He's gonna move Can you imagine, with all of the faith in the room What the Lord can do, what the Lord can do And it's gonna happen, just let the way make it through He's gonna move, oh He's gonna move Anything is possible Who am I to deny what the Lord can do Anything is possible Anything is possible Anything is possible Who am I to deny what the Lord can do Anything is possible Anything is possible Who am I to deny what the Lord can do Who am I to deny what the Lord can do Who am I to deny what the Lord can do Yes You are more than able You are more than able Oh He always will You are more than able You are more than able Who am I to deny what the Lord can do What the Lord can do What the Lord can do What the Lord can do He's making all things new He's making all things new Come on, sing it out in faith

He's making all things new And He's restoring you He's holding on to you He's coming through for you He's coming through for you And He is faithful for you And He's restoring you Oh what the Lord can do Oh what the Lord can do You give love You are love You bring light to the darkness, You give hope, You restore Every heart that is broken Great are You, Lord It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our praise to You only Great are You, Lord You give life, You are love You bring light to the darkness You give hope, You restore Every heart that is broken Great are You, Lord It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our praise to You only It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise

It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our praise to You only During worship, I felt like God was reaching out to me. In my small group, I opened up about everything I had been holding in. It was hard to share, but I felt loved, supported, and heard. In November, I lost one of my best friends to suicide. I was devastated and felt lost. I told Naomi Rico that my suicidal thoughts came back. She encouraged me to surrender to God fully. When I got home, I prayed for God to save me, and in that moment, I fully surrendered my life to Jesus. Since giving my life to Jesus, I have an overwhelming joy and peace that could have only come from the Lord. My encounter with Jesus sparked a journey of healing and growth. I find strength in my faith every day. I stand here choosing Jesus, fully surrendered, knowing He saved me and changed my life. Today, I am going public with my faith. Giselle, Jesus said every disciple should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And because of your confession of faith, today I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. And according to Scripture, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Yeah, come on, we give Him praise. We give Him praise. Oh, the earth will shout your praise. Oh, the earth will shout your praise. Oh, the earth will shout your praise.

Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing. Great are You, Lord. It's Your blood in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour out our praise. It's Your blood. ♪ In our lungs so we pour out our praise to You only ♪ ♪ It's Your breath in our lungs so we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ Pour out our praise, it's Your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise, we sing praise to You only ♪ ♪ We sing praise to You only, we sing praise to You only ♪ ♪ We sing praise, we sing praise to You only, we sing praise to You only ♪ ♪ Praise to You only, we sing praise to You only, we sing praise to You only ♪ Come on, we give a praise, we give a praise! Great are You Lord, great are You Lord! Hallelujah! Come on church, let's turn to someone we haven't met before and tell them that you're super grateful for them to be in the house today and we'll prepare for the message. Amen. All right, good morning everybody. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Church for the City where we'll teach the word of God, we'll encounter the presence of the Lord and spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's good to see you. How many are happy to be in the house of the Lord? Yeah, amen, amen, amen. Good to be here. Well, a couple of things, you got an invite card coming in. This is for our new series that starts next Sunday. This is the last week on the We Believe series, which has been tremendous. I've certainly enjoyed ministering through it and teaching on the great doctrines of the church, great doctrines of the faith and those who have been part of that.

Ryan, I know, spoke one of the messages, Philip spoke one. And so it's very good, it was very good. We're going to go dive into the family, start next week. And next week I'll do a message kind of dealing with, I'm not sure, I'm not sure. Well, I know what the message is, but I'm not sure what to say about it. It's going to speak to some things that I think are a challenge to family nowadays and hopefully give some prescription from the word that can help that. The second week of that series will be on marriage. And you're going to hear in each service, there'll be two different couples that will be sharing. One is a story of restoration and another one is a couple that have been part of the restoration of marriages through our marriage enrichment and our care and discipleship. The third week is Father's Day. And I'll probably want, every year, you know, it's, you know, the mothers get all the flowers and the fathers get beat up on. That's about what happens. It's been happening around here for 32 years. I'm still wounded from it. And some of the beating up has come from me, but, so I'm just, so I'm going to beat up on parents, both of y'all. That's what's going to happen this time. So, no, no beating up, just going to talk about parenting. And then the last week, we're going to talk about broken families and what that means for someone to no longer be at the table and how to get through that, whether you've been on the side of divorce or children have had to walk through divorce. That will be the last week of that. So the series is going to be good, and I think you're going to, I know you're going to enjoy it, and hopefully, you'll want to bring somebody with you. Now, this Wednesday is First Wednesday, and we got Pastor Mark Estes that's coming, and he's been here before. Some of you may remember Pastor Mark. I think he shared with us last year. and on a Sunday morning, a tremendous guy, great preacher, teacher. It'll be a great night like always, great time of worship, great time of prayer. Again, first Wednesdays are just, they're just the best. And so come on out on first Wednesday,

let's have a great, great time in the Lord and hear the word of God. There's gonna be a table out in the lobby. If you want more information about the men's retreat, that's June 18th through 20th, and wanna get registered for that, there'll be a table out in the lobby. Now, every time you come into the building, there's an opportunity to give, and I'm so thankful for your generosity, for your giving. Just your obedience to the Lord and your tithing and offerings has helped us. We did give a gift. I wanna, we're gonna show you a quick video. This is, Pastor Brad and Jenny Neuschwander have been here twice. Their church is in Harrisburg, Oregon, Life Bible. Their church is right on the Willamette River, and the Willamette River has been just ripping through their land. And you're gonna see the video of how much land they've lost, and that thing is threatening to take their complete properties down. And there was, for some reason or another, no government assistance on this. They need $2.3 million just to save their property. And so I want you to see a video. I'll tell you what we've done, and we're gonna pray for them.

Church family, MFI family, Brad Neuschwander from Life Bible Church here, coming to you right on the bank of the Willamette River. What you're seeing behind me is a massive pile-driving machine and crane that is getting ready to start operating tomorrow morning as we are putting in a 500-foot steel wall z-pile to save the buildings and the riverbank. All of the geologists and people we've had out said, if we don't do something within this year, we won't have any buildings. As you can say, this is our youth gen room. It has our commercial kitchen, and the motel that we purchased this property 12 years ago is all being threatened on this end. Just south of us, we have lost over 40 feet. There used to be a giant oak tree, a full patio, fire pit. You can see sidewalks gone, landscaping, of course. Those all can be replaced, but buildings and property and land can't be replaced as over the last 18 years, we have lost almost 100 feet of property. We're standing on a $2.25 million project that I'm just presenting now to our congregation because we were told no for two and a half years. Our city finally has intervened and said, we'll give you a window, and you have to be within 20 feet of the river. I wanna thank you for partnering in prayer. Your prayers, your contacts of people that you might know.

We've tried legislators, senators. We've gone from the state houses even to our national houses. We're just believing God to do a miracle through his people and bring resources that we know not of. Thank you. Thank you for partnering with us. Thank you, church family and MFI family for being willing to partner with Jenny and I and our whole church eldership team and church body in this moment of crisis for us. We love you. Thank you very much. That's devastating. Been there, minister there. Of course, they're very, very dear friends of Virginia and I, we have as a church given them a substantial gift. And I wanna thank you for your generosity to do that. Thank you for partnering with us to do it, but we're gonna pray for them that the Lord, I can't imagine being given a $2.3 million bill of something you didn't plan for, didn't budget for. And so we're gonna pray for them. We're gonna pray for a local church and then we're gonna dive into the word. If you don't mind removing your caps and stuff for just a moment. Father, I wanna thank you now for this opportunity to be in your house with your people. I'm so thankful and so grateful that you have allowed us

to come together in worship and to minister one to another. It's great to be in fellowship. It's great to be in community. It's great, Lord, to be in your house. And so Lord, we're anticipating as you have moved and stirred us in worship, we're anticipating that you'll do so as we go into the word. Father, we wanna lift up Life Bible, Pastor Brad and Jenny and their team. Lord, they do need a financial miracle. And Lord, I know that you are able to provide. They're in a situation, Lord, that they didn't create, and Lord, not a matter of them avoiding it except the resources come in to save their property. So we just pray, Lord God, for you to miraculously intervene and step in. And thank you for those who, Lord, have given. And I'm sure I'm hoping over the course of the next two or three months that they'll get everything they need. We believe you, Lord, to be our resource, our provider, your great and awesome God. Every one of us in this room have had situations, maybe not numerically as great as that one, but every one of us in this room have seen you come through when we needed it. And Lord, we trust that to be the case here. Father, I pray for every local church also in our community that you would be glorified. I pray for Pastor Phil and Valley Baptist, Lord, and all of their planning and decisions that they got to make that you would be with them, that you would give wisdom and guidance, and that you would be glorified in all things. In Christ's name, we pray. May the people of God say amen. All right, I want you to stand with me. Now, I'm going to sit today. Usually, I just sit when I...you know, not necessarily today. I'm not really feeling well. So I just want to worship through it and preach through it. Then I got an elders' meeting, need prayer. Yeah, sometimes after them, I want to go home and watch a movie that everybody gets killed. But so just, yeah, just help me get through all of this in Jesus' name.

All right, Revelation 21. Got great elders, though, by the way. So they're great elders. Revelation 21, verses 1 through 4. 21, 1 through 4. Says here, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Can you say amen? Amen. You may be seated now. As noted, this is the last of the, we believe, a series, the Apostles' Creed. And this time, we're going to talk about life everlasting. The creed should be on the screen, and hopefully you've seen enough, you've heard enough, you're able to identify that. And as we have talked about so often, embrace it because all of Christianity is based on these principles and these truths. It's the last line that we're going to address today, and that's the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen. And what you'll notice about the creed is that it ends on a positive note with a real clear statement of our Christian hope, and that is the hope. And when I say hope here, I mean confident expectation, not hope like, I hope it doesn't rain today, but you know it probably will. But no, hope is confident expectation that one day we will stand in the presence of God. Now, I don't know if you've noticed lately, but there has just been a lot of stuff, maybe it's through my newsfeeds, etc., about all the anti-aging technology and billionaires investing millions to reverse aging. Why is that? Because for many people, death is the fundamental problem. It is the fundamental problem. But I want you to know this, you cannot beat it. You, hear me, I don't care how much money you got, you cannot beat death.

You may do some things to delay it, but you're not going to beat it. And obviously, I've done many funerals, stood on the side of many graves, looked in the eyes of people who've lost a loved one. And I can tell you the number one question, whether it comes out of people's mind or out of their mouth or not, the number one question that's on their mind is, is this the end? Am I really going to see that person again? Some people are even thinking, am I going to be seen again after this? That is the number one question on people's mind. And here is the truth, if death is final, if it is, when somebody dies, if that's the end of it all, and there's no more after that, then you... You might as well indulge yourself. You might as well go out and do anything and everything you want to do. You might as well eat, drink, and be merry. If you believe death is the final thing, why reserve yourself? If you don't think there's nothing to worry about, no accountability, nothing after this, then just go out and do everything. There's no reason not to withhold. And again, that ain't the words of Tyrone P. Jones, that's the word of the Bible. First Corinthians 15.32 says this, if the dead are not raised, then let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. So there's no reason to be concerned about any accountability or what's next. And so, but here's what we know. The gospel, as though many people are trying to delay death or whatever they're trying to do, avoid death, the gospel doesn't merely delay death. As a matter of fact, the gospel tells us how death is defeated. Death is defeated. And it's only Christianity that teaches that death is conquered. You can study every other religion, they will give you advice on how to prepare yourself for death or what to do toward death.

Christianity is the only one that offers evidence of what truly happens when we die. Only Christianity, that our hope is not built on some wishful thinking or some near-death experience or some kind of human optimism. Our hope is built on a historical event. It's called the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We don't have to guess about it. We know what happens. We know how death gets defeated. We know what happens next when you believe in the God of heaven that created you through his son, Jesus Christ. Can you say amen? We know that death is conquered. And so, what does that mean for us who believe in Jesus? Well, Philippians chapter 3, verses 20 and 21 says this, but we are citizens of heaven where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. Now, that's a present statement right there. We that believe in Christ are, even right now, citizens of heaven. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our savior. Now, well, yeah, it's not on my notes to go into this too much, but let me just make this statement. No Christian that absolutely believes in the Jesus should ever say, well, I just hope I'm going to heaven. You ought to know. You don't have to hope. If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, then that's a settled fact. As a matter of fact, your citizenship is already in heaven. He's just waiting for the time for your body to get up there. But you are already a citizen of heaven. And if you're not sure about that, if you're not sure that if you breathe

your last breath that you do have eternal life, then we need to stop this service right now, pray for you right now, that you may receive Jesus right now and walk out of here with an assurance. Anybody want to take me up on that offer? So I'm believing all of y'all know y'all going. Somebody give me a rousing amen so I can move right on. So here it is. But we are citizens of heaven where the Lord Jesus Christ lives, and we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our savior. That's our yearning. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. And so that's the transformation that takes place because of our belief in Jesus when the Lord comes. Heaven is already our citizenship. We're just waiting for the Lord to return. That's the only thing actually we're waiting for, is the Lord return. So when he returns, the scripture says he's going to gather us all up. Some are going to have died, as you know. There's many believers that's already died. And many of us could possibly be alive. We don't know when the Lord is coming back. We really don't. We've been living in the last days since Jesus ascended. But he could literally come at any time. This could literally be the last time I preach. And I don't think nobody will be disappointed with that if the next voice you hear is Jesus. I don't think nobody's going to be disappointed. Ain't nobody going to go up there and say,

hey, Jesus, we really like our pastor. Can you let him preach? No, that ain't happening. Nobody ain't going to be disappointed with that. And I sure ain't going to be because he can return at any time. But hear this, 1 Thessalonians 4, 14 through 18. For since we believe that Jesus died... and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. So those believers who are in the presence of the Lord now will come back with him, not in their physical bodies yet. We tell you this... Or their glorified bodies yet, sorry. We tell you this directly from the Lord. We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who died will rise from their graves, then together with them, we who are still alive and remain on earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. Can you say amen? It's encouraging words, encouraging words of how this thing wraps up. So John chapter 5, verse 28 and 29 says this, don't be surprised. Indeed, the time is coming. Listen, when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God's son, that means everyone has died. Every person has died. Whether they believe in Jesus or not, they will hear his voice. He will call them out of the graves, verse 29, and they will rise again. Hear this, those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continual in evil will rise to experience judgment. Same voice, same manner of rising, but not end up with the same experience. Two contrasting experiences the scripture teaches us of when the Lord returns. For the unbelievers, and I want you to note this, unbelief is not just merely an intellectual problem. It's a moral one. It's a moral problem.

It's not just the fact of people in their mind not believing in Jesus. It's much deeper than that. It's not that they lack information. The truth of it is unbelievers have resisted God. They've rejected him. And it's not a matter that they don't know God exists. Don't let anybody tell you that they don't believe God exists. They can say it, but it's not true. Romans 1 is real clear that everybody on the planet that's been born, even the infant that you hold in your hands that cannot speak a word to you, they know that there is a God. That's in us from the image of God. That's in us. Now, they can suppress that truth. Now, the word suppress means action. They're suppressing something that they know is true. And all of us can do that. You know we can. Some of us can deny things that we know is true. Don't look at me like you don't know what I'm talking about. Just ask your wife or your husband. You can deny things that you know is true. Suppression can happen, but you're suppressing what you know is true. Everyone that is born knows there is a God. It's just a matter of resistance. It's a matter of rejection. And here's what's fascinating, that's kind of hard sometimes to communicate or even think through. Because the Scripture teaches that anyone that has unbelief, they're equated as evil. We have a tendency to base evil on people's actions. God bases evil on people's belief. When they reject Him and they resist Him, the good God of heaven says, that's an evil act against me. Well, you should pray that I get healed so I don't... Yeah, so I won't be so cranky. But here it is. But the Bible frequently addresses that. Here it is, John 3, 19 through 20. We won't have all these verses on the screen, but this is what it says. People who refuse to believe in the love of God, they are people who do wicked things. Why? Because they hate the light. Titus 1.15 says that the defiled and the unbelieving have nothing pure in them. Their minds and their consciences are corrupted. Hebrews 3.12, it warns people that none of us return to an evil, unbelieving heart that will cause you to turn away from God. Revelation 21.8, it groups people with unbelief in the same category with detestable, with murders, and with liars,

assigning them to judgment. Because of the resistance, Because of the rejection of God, they have a different experience. But for believers in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, we're raised to experience life eternal. We're raised to experience life eternal. When we are raised up, this body, this old decayed body is restored. It's restored to a new body that's active, that's creative, that has undying life, undying life with God. And so, this new body is eventually, the body that the Lord is going to give us is going to match our renewing on the inside. As you know, we've talked about this throughout this series, every one of you are different on the inside because Christ came into your life. You're being renewed. You're being sanctified. God is making you better. You see yourself growing in Christ. You understand that you think differently. You understand that you have a different conscience about things. You know now the difference between right and wrong, even if somebody doesn't tell you the difference of right and wrong. That's because regeneration and sanctification is taking place in your life because you've invited Christ to come in and His Spirit is doing that work. Well, eventually, these old decaying bodies are going to match that newness that's going on on the inside. So, it's the redemption of our bodies. He's not redeeming us from our bodies. These bodies mean something to God. You know when the Lord created you, do you know He looked upon you and He said, very good? That's a beautiful thing. God said, very good, to every one of you, in spite of what other folks said. Look at the person next to you and say, very good, very good, very good, very good. God said, very good. So, these bodies mean something. So, He's not redeeming us from our bodies. He's redeeming these bodies. These physical bodies are going to become glorified. They're going to become immortal, where they no longer can give in or succumb to death and decay. You're going to be the same person but remade. Same person remade. I don't think this is on the screen. This is 1 Corinthians 15, 42 through 44. It says, it is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the

ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forevermore. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. That's what the Lord is going to do. This body means something, so God is going to redeem it. He's going to fix it. Some of y'all need to say amen. You need to. So, what is the nature of the resurrected body? What was perishable becomes imperishable. What was in dishonor becomes glory. What was weak now becomes power. One of the greatest thoughts for me, when I think about what this scripture says, is my thoughts of people who love Jesus that are handicapped. People that love Jesus and their bodies are deformed. People that love Jesus and their bodies is decaying away. People who love Jesus and they're hormonally imbalanced. Can you imagine what that day would be like for them? Can you imagine what that day would be like for the young man and the young lady who's got Down syndrome? Can you imagine what that day would be like for the person that's sitting in a wheelchair, even in this sanctuary right now? Can you imagine what that's going to be like, Janie, when you don't need that walker no more? Can you imagine what that's going to be like for them who have walked through this and suffered through this a good portion of their life? Mother Jones, can you imagine when you no longer need that thing to push you around? I just love the thought of it. I think about Joni Eareckson-Todd, as some of you may know who she is. She was a swimmer. I don't know if this was in high school when it actually happened or she had already went to college, but she dove and unfortunately landed wrong, been paralyzed ever since. She's in her 70s. She's been in a wheelchair for decades. And I heard her say, she said, can you imagine with me that the first time I get to use my legs again,

I'm walking right into the arms of Jesus? It's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing. It's going to be a better day. It's going to be a better day for it. When Jesus fixes these bodies when would with him forever. Can you say man? So what awaits believers? I'll talk about three Three things here. There's the immediate presence with Christ. There's a future resurrection body and there's a new heaven and new earth So what do we raise into we're raised into the presence of Jesus John 14 1 through 3 says let not your hearts be trouble Believe in God believe also in me In my father's house are many rooms if there were not so I Would have told you so that I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and pair up a place for you, I will come again and we'll take you to myself They're where I am. You may be also It's it's in the presence of Jesus And I do hope this turns people on we're not gonna be just lounging around in heaven. I Think that's that's one of the things that just kind of stumps people is that some people just think well If eternal life is just the existence of the life the life I got right now. I ain't too excited about it Well, your perspective is wrong Your perspective is wrong There's gonna be such an excitement to be with the one now now hear me. That's if you truly love Jesus If the most important person if the if the person you want to be with the most is Not Jesus you coming up a bit short There should be no one that you love more than him and believe me everybody in here knows I love lady V love her love her fully, but she knows lady V Jesus Jesus I Love Jesus if you really love Jesus That's who you want to be with you want to be with the person you love the most the most and It ought to be him. So we get to worship. We get to enjoy creativity. We get to enjoy beauty

We get to be in fellowship with God's people But first and foremost, we get to have the fullness of our love relationship with our master With our Savior with our friend, I'm telling you What makes heaven heaven is the presence of Jesus not all that gold and all that stuff. That's all great That's all great. But what makes heaven heaven is the presence of Jesus and remember this Every person that's living right now has an endless existence Every person has died. It's still existing but but What they don't have is eternal existence in the presence of the life-giver What they don't have is eternal existence and with the joy-giver What they don't have is eternal existence with the lover of their soul the final Act of Jesus in Hebrews 12 12 to you might remember this He said for the joy in front of him before him. He endured the cross Do you know what the joy was that he gets to be with his people forever because he's accomplished the work of the father That was his joy John 17 24 father. I Want these whom you've given me to be with me where I am Being with Jesus is the essence of heaven and man I'm telling you if that don't get you excited then Jesus is not your primary love. Here's number two a New heaven and a new earth We're going to be in a new heaven and a new earth second Corinthians 5 1 through 5. It says this For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down That is when we die and leave this earthly body. That's the analogy. The tent is your body We will have a house in heaven an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands Here's the truth. We grow weary in our present bodies And we long to put on heavenly bodies like new clothing For we will put on heavenly bodies. We will not be spirits without bodies While we live in these earthly bodies we groan and we sigh But it's not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies. Sorry these bodies that clothed us rather We want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life God himself has prepared this for us and the guarantee is that he's given us the Holy Spirit

How do I know that I'm going to get a new body and live with the Lord eternally? Because of the heaven the Holy Spirit that's within us. Can you say man and So that's you without going into much detail about heaven I say Randy Alcorn's book is probably one of the best I've read on heaven if you want to jump into a book on one but But but heaven is that is that? realm that's above earth. We know that from Genesis 1, but it's the divine, it's the command center of God. That's where all everything is happening. It's the headquarters too, because God in heaven, that's where he's planned the conquest of evil. So it's a military headquarters. It's a worship center. It's a source of present blessings. It's the place of our treasure. It's the place where our inheritance is, our citizenship. And so this new heaven and new earth is where we're going. That's our ultimate hope, dwelling in that place forever and ever. Heaven and earth will be joined together. What we see now will be destroyed. The new heaven that comes out of Jerusalem, the new earth that God is creating, all of that joins together. And so we will be in that place. There will be no dividing line between heaven and earth. All that comes together. Isaiah talked about this in Isaiah 65, 17 through 19. Look, I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore. I love that. No one will even think. No, you're not going to miss your BMW. No, you're not going to miss your big house. No, you're not going to miss your bank account. You're not even going to think about that stuff. This thing that God is creating is so much greater than what you can put your hands on right now. So much greater. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard in it no more. Can you say amen? This is Isaiah's vision. 700 years before Christ came to earth, and he's saying former troubles will be forgotten. There'll be no more weeping. There'll be no more crying. Revelation 21, for what we read, he says, he will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, or sorrow, or crying, or pain.

All these things are gone forever. Think about it for a moment. What's your no more? What's your no more? What is the thing within you that you're saying, I don't want to deal with this no more? I don't want to deal with it no more. What is your no more? Is it cancer? Is it anxiety? Is it worry? Is it distress? Is it frustration? Is it being broke? Is it loneliness? Is it regret? Hear the word of the Lord. Whatever your no more is will be no more. It'll be no more. Whatever that is that's on your mind that you said out loud, or you said, I'm just tired of dealing with this. I don't want to deal with this no more. Listen to this. If you trust in Jesus, your no more will become a reality. No more will you have to deal with it. Revelation 22, 1 through 5 says this, then the angel showed me a river, but the water of life clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the lamb, it flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life bearing 12 crops of fruit with the fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. No longer will there be a curse upon anything, for the throne of God and of the lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads, and there will be no night there, no need for lamps or sun, for the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever. Can you shout hallelujah? Here's the third thing and the last thing. And team, actually, I'm actually almost done here. The third thing is endless joy. Listen, let me tell you something. The excitement is not leaving from this life. Can I just tell you, I love my life. I really do. Folks, I get to wake up on a farm every morning with my lovely wife. Look out the windows, and I see trees. I see fruit. I see birds. I hear birds. I can run around on my property naked. I mean, it's beautiful. It's... Not feeling well, I'm sorry. I mean, I love my life. I love passing the church. I love being with God's people. I enjoy the things I do. I love being with people. I love being with God. I love music, just listening to music. Yesterday, we listened to Luke Combs. We listened to Elevation, threw down some Michael Jackson in the house,

then we throw down some Michael Jackson. I love music. I love books. I love reading books. I love the beauty of our country. It's not escaping from this life. That's not the issue. But I can tell you something, with all... things I love this life is lacking something that I can only get in eternity and that's joy forever joy forever that's happiness that will never go away when we've been there a thousand years you know the song bright shining as the Sun we will never let's days the praise his name as Jeff we first begun it's a joy that never ends and John 10 10 tells us that's why Jesus come the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy but Jesus says I came that you might have life and that you might have it abundant fullness abundance death cannot destroy it it's an endless existence in life because of the transformation experience and so when we talk about heaven and the doctrine of heaven it's it's that that place where the redeemed get to live out their hearts desire our hearts desire joy with the Lord joy with people the joy of of all of that frustration of life and abuse of life and distress of life all of that is over we we get to have life eternal eternal life means just that my present relationship with God is not destroyed it's not restricted it's continued in such a manner that it's just gotten deeper and deeper and deeper it's life everlast you can stand now if you if you can you can stand I'm telling you this there's gonna be a day when you you're gonna walk away from your last funeral it's gonna be a day when you're gonna walk away from your last doctor's appointment it's gonna be a day when there's gonna be you're gonna say that goodbye to that person for the last time but I'm telling you that should not discourage us at all that shouldn't even bring us sadness because if you believe in Jesus Christ I'm telling you he's coming back to you the dead will rise and every tear will be wiped away every wound will be healed every sorrow will be removed every believer will be gathered together again the greatest joy is not the streets of gold and the gates of pearl but is being in the face of Jesus Christ the one who died for us the one who rose for us the one who's coming again and and I want you to know this you can gain a foretaste of that

eternal life right now here it is in John 11 25 through 26 Jesus told her I am the resurrection and the life anyone who believes in me will live even after dying everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never die here's the question do you believe this do you believe this the first part of this says death for you in a manner that people fear is over once you believe in Jesus once you believe in Jesus and that life that you have is one that's everlasting and eternal why is that because our hope is in God and God alone prayer team you can come father I want to thank you for this time this opportunity to share this word father I pray Holy Spirit you come you do the work in the lives of everyone that's heard this message you speak everyone that watched everyone that listened come on Holy Spirit reveal Jesus to them Lord let them have a love for Jesus like they've never had before that they live this life Lord God looking forward looking up looking ahead embracing what you have that's ahead of us that only you can do Lord we love you and we thank you in Christ's name we pray amen God bless you have a great day you Oh will sell your praise our hearts will cry these bones will we right our hearts will cry Oh Sean ♪ Your bread in our lungs so we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ Pour out our praise, it's your bread in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise to you only ♪ ♪ It's your bread in our lungs so we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's your bread in our lungs so we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ To you only, yes, hallelujah, we praise him, we praise him.

Church, what a wonderful day in the house, amen. We praise him and we love you so much, church. We'll see you this Wednesday for First Wednesday. God bless you.