Another Scripture communicating why we shouldn’t fear death is 1 Corinthians 15:54-55. Read this passage as a group. Death will not win. Death will die. Death will be reversed. This is the promise of resurrection. God has built into us a nostalgia for the world that once was, before sin and the curse and death and suffering. We are Homesick for Eden, for its beauties and pleasures and health and vibrant relationships. The Bible says our citizenship is in Heaven, that Heaven is our home. It’s a paradox, isn’t it? How does your heart ache for this planet and humankind? Our home is a place we’ve never been. We live in a land in between Eden and the New Earth. When the Bible says we sinned in Adam, it suggests we have an essential connection back to the Garden, to Paradise. In a sense, the memories of Eden are built into us, and that’s why we can’t be fully content with anything less. The reason we want to live on an ideal earth is that we were made to live there. The reason we long to have enriching relationships with people is that we were made to have them. We didn’t make up this idea, God did. We were made to know joy…yet we end up desperately searching for joy in all the wrong places, and finding instead emptiness and loneliness. Read Revelation 21:1 and 4 together as a group. We live in a world that is broken. Terribly broken, as we read in the papers everyday. We can’t fix everything in this world. But the Bible promises us that Christ isn’t going to leave the world broken. He’s going to fix it. Permanently, so that it will never break again. Christ is not just going to fix the world, He is going to fix our hearts. He’s going to fix our bodies and minds. He’s not just going to fix individuals, He’s going to fix the society of human beings, our relationships, our work, and our recreation. In the new earth, those of us that have chosen to yield our lives to Jesus will one day experience the reality and joy of living on that New Earth.
As we have discussed Heaven, what practical things do you want to change in your life in order to live “in light of Heaven?” When you think of eternity, who are a couple of people that you want to ensure you share it with?
Pray for one another that their perspective of Heaven would expand as we study God’s Word.
Week 1
A Life Made Beautiful – A Conference for Women May 8-9 Legacy Update and Offering March 28-29 Club456 Friday, March 27 | 7pm-9pm | Worship Center Timeless April 11-12 | Six Weekend Services | Worship Center Discovery Seminar Saturday, March 28 | 8:30am – 1pm | Worship Center Newcomers Dinner Sunday, April 5 | 6pm | Benedict’s Restaurant Men’s Freedom Weekend April 17 - 18 | Timothy Retreat Center, Baker, LA Thursday Morning Prayer Thursdays │6am│Worship Center Weekly Prayer in New Orleans Thursdays | Noon | City Campus
Growing up, what did you think heaven was like? Has that changed?
In this lesson we are starting our new series entitled Heaven. Over the course of this series we are going to spend three lessons gaining a glimpse of eternity. You know, Heaven is often alluded to – but rarely understood. But through our time together, as we study God’s Word, our perspective of Heaven will be enlarged and expanded. Please note, in the third weekend message of the series we are going to address some of your questions on Heaven. Please email them to
[email protected], Jump into the lesson by reading Revelation 21:1-6 together as a group.
God’s plan for redemption is far bigger than we can ever imagine. If you are a Christian, if you have repented and confessed your sin and asked Jesus to be your Savior, then Heaven awaits you, on the other side of death. Let’s first look at – What and where is Heaven? You see, God is everywhere, but Heaven is the special dwelling place of God. There’s confusion on this point, because God’s special dwelling place will change—therefore Heaven will be relocated at some point in the future. First, there is the place Christians go when we die, which theologians call the Intermediate, or Transitional Heaven. This is before the return of Christ, and before the resurrection of our bodies, before the curse is lifted from this present world. Second, there is the place we will live after the return of Christ, after the Resurrection of the Just: that is the eternal heaven, which is also called the New Earth. There will be a New Heaven and New Earth. 2 Peter 3:13 says “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” Are you looking forward to that new physical universe, characterized by righteousness? This verse assumes we’re looking forward to that—naturally, you should be. Yet many of us never think about it! How can we keep a heavenly perspective on a daily basis? Now, let’s talk about this place theologians call the intermediate or transitional Heaven, where Christians go when they die today: Philippians 1:21, 23 says: For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain… 23 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Paul could have said “I desire to depart and be in Heaven.” No, what he wants is to be with Christ—and where Christ is, HEAVEN IS. Christ is Heaven’s Center of Gravity. All of Heaven’s joys are derivatives from Christ. They all flow from the depth and wonders and creativity of His character. Again, Heaven is a wonderful place, but the most wonderful thing about Heaven is not Heaven itself, it is that Jesus is there. Now, Jesus said to the repentant thief on the cross: Luke 23:43 …“Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Notice the immediacy. Today. Not eventually. No soul sleeps. Some have believed that when Christians die their soul just goes to sleep, and stay in that state only to awaken on the day Christ returns and their bodies are resurrected. But that is not what the Bible teaches. The person who dies immediately goes to one of two places and according to the Bible is consciously aware of their existence. The Bible says in Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment…”
This is not talking about the ultimate judgment, called the Great White Throne Judgment or the judgment seat of Christ. It is a simple evaluation of your choice of what you did with Christ – did you receive Him or reject Him while you were here on the earth? It is the judgment of our ultimate life choice. There are only two options in the after-life – one is Heaven, one is Hell. The Bible has many references to the reality of Hell. Hell is not a state of mind, but it is a literal place of outer darkness and eternal separation from God. Also, we do not believe in what is called the doctrine of annihilation that simply says after we die, we cease to exist. The Bible is clear, there is an after-life for everyone. By the way, God didn’t initially create Hell for man – He created it for the Devil and the fallen angels. The Scripture is clear, when Lucifer rebelled against God, he and one third of the angels were cast out of Heaven. The Bible speaks to the reality of Hell in Matthew 25:41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ ” Why does having the right perspective of heaven keep us spiritually incheck? God’s desire is that all of us choose Jesus and spend eternity with Him. Now back to the thief on the cross. A lot of people have a fundamental misunderstanding of what it takes to have a relationship with Jesus and get into Heaven. Works do not save you. Faith and grace in Jesus save you. Think about it: What could the thief do to earn his way to Heaven? Nothing! He couldn’t give money or get baptized, work in a soup kitchen or go on a missions trip. He had nothing to offer God. In the same way, we have nothing to offer God. He has everything to offer us. This salvation thing is really onesided. Other religions have people working their way to God. The Bible says “you can’t do that” because it depends on God’s grace and Christ’s righteousness, not yours or mine to get us into Heaven. The Bible says in John 14:6: …“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Hence, Jesus is the only way to a relationship with the Father and entrance into Heaven. In our culture today, it seems the common question is “Aren’t there many paths to God?” The Bible makes it clear, there is one way, it is through personally receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Jesus offered the thief Paradise. At that very moment when Jesus was hanging on the cross, Jesus was purchasing a way to Paradise for him. This word for Paradise means a place of great, natural beauty. Yet many Christians don’t think this way about Heaven. Some just think of it as vague and mystical. Death is not a hole, it’s a doorway, it’s not an end to life, but a passing to a new life. The best is not behind us, if we know Jesus. The best, by far, is yet to come.
