INTRODUCTION: We are beginning a four-part series, called: Heaven is for Real.

These four sermons focus on one of the greatest mysteries that we could ever hope to understand Heaven.

HEAVEN IS FOR REAL SERMON #1: THE REALITY OF HEAVEN SCRIPTURE BASE: John 14:1-3 THEME: Heaven is a real place.

This series is inspired in part by reading Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo. Todd is Pastor of Crossroads Wesleyan Church in Imperial, Nebraska. He is the father of Colton Burpo, who during an emergency appendectomy and miraculous recovery recalls in detail his trip to heaven and back. Colton, not yet four years old, told his parents he left his body during the surgery and authenticated that claim by describing exactly what his parents were doing in another part of the hospital during his operation. Colton talked of visiting heaven and relayed stories told him by people he met therepeople whom he had never met in his lifesharing events that happened even before he was born and giving astonishing descriptions and obscure details about heaven that match the Bible exactly. When young Colton Burpo was asked by the book editor, What do you want people to know from your story? Colton, without hesitation replied, I want them to know that heaven is for real. There are various surveys that confirm that the majority of Americans believe in heaven, so it is not my goal of this series to convince you to believe in heaven. It is, however, my goal to challenge you to open your mind to the thought that there is more to heaven than we ever dreamed possible. We constantly, as humans, limit Godputting Him or what He can do in a box. In this series, I want to offer you a different kind of thinking. Thinking that lines up with the Word of Goda thinking that embraces Gods wondrous plan for our future beyond our box. Thinking that will help us livelive in expectation of that future reality . . . with God. The first message of this four-part series is titled: The Reality of Heaven. Lets pray and ask God to speak to us about this place where He Himself lives.

(PRAYER) Would you open your Bibles to John 14:1-3 and read with me todays scripture text: Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Fathers house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. Let me ask you a question . . . What comes to mind when you hear someone speak of heaven? Do you picture God Almighty on His splendorous throne with cherubs flying around singing continuously? Or maybe you picture a sweet reunion with your loved ones? Maybe you picture a vast, endless mass of clouds where you just hop to fro in weightless bliss? Maybe nothing comes to mind at all because you fall in that percentage of people that dont believe in heavenwho dont believe such a place exists. One national survey suggests that 81% of all Americans believe in an afterlife of some sort, and 76% of those call that afterlife heaven. Friends, there is a large majority of people who believe that there is a place called heaven. And that shouldnt be a surprise. King Solomon wrote in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes almost 3,000 years ago, God has set eternity in the hearts of man. (Ecclesiastes 3:11) We are created to want something beyond this life on earthit was set in our hearts by our Creator to desire eternity with Him. But heaven is a specific, physical place, with a specific path to its doorstepJesus. And, as we read in our opening scripture text, Jesus is preparing that place in the Fathers house to fulfill that very desire. Lets look at three ways that might help us grasp the reality of heavena real tangible, physical place. First well turn to point #1:

1. THE BIBLE Why the Bible? Well, for our purposes there are two reasons. 1. Because it is a historically reliable source. Scholarly men like Sir William Ramsay (and others throughout history) have proven the Bibles historical accuracy. Sir William Ramsay was a very educated man. A scholar with a built-in prejudice about the supposed inaccuracy of the Bible (especially the book of Acts). In fact he decided to explore the actual Bible lands with an

open Biblewith the intention of proving the inaccuracy of Lukes history as found in the book of Acts. However, much to his surprise, the book of Acts passed every test that any historical narrative could be asked to pass. The renowned archaeologist Nelson Glueck put it like this, It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever contradicted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which conform in clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible. 2. Heaven is Gods idea, His creation, and His personal residence, so wouldnt it make sense to glean from the one book, Gods book, the Bible, to give us insight into heaven and also tell us how we can get there? I think so. So, what does the Bible say that might help us understand more about heaven? The word heaven is found 276 times in the New Testament alone.

The Greek word for heaven as used in the New Testament is ouranos. This word carried three distinct meanings: 1. the aerial heavens where clouds and birds are (Luke 4:25; 9:54) 2. the starry heavens that contain the sun, moon, and stars (Mark 13:25; Heb.11:12) 3. the highest heaven, out of sight, where God dwells (Matt. 5:34; 23:22; Rev.4:1) Of these three usages, we will be focusing on the third meaning, The place where God dwells. According to what the Bible teaches, we cant define heaven without acknowledging that it is first and foremostthe place where God lives. Jesus refers to God on at least six occasions as His heavenly Father. Most of us know His example to the disciples of how to pray in the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 6The Lords Prayer, which begins, Our Father in heaven And let us look at our passage of Scripture againMy Fathers house has many rooms; I am going there to prepare a place for you that you also may be where I am. In other words, Jesus is preparing a place for us where both He and the Father live. WOW!! To live with Godin His house. Can you even imagine!! But how do we know that this is a physical place and not some kind of dreamy state where we float around like ghosts or spirits? Lets read Luke 24:36-43, Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, Peace to you. But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And He said to them, Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My

feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, Have you any food here? So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate it in their presence. Did you get that? Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection in a physical body. A body that could be touched. A body that ate food prepared by His disciples. Jesus has a physical body, He is in a physical place with the Father, and He is preparing a dwelling for us to reside that is tangible and physical. Are we getting a clearer picture yet of the reality of heaven? Wait theres more! There are eye witnesses!

2. WITNESSES You may be thinking, How outrageous! This cant be true! Would God allow someone to see heaven and then allow them to tell people about it? The answer is yes! And thats just what God did through John the apostle, who described heaven in great detail in the book of Revelation. John had been exiled to the island of Patmos, where an angel visited him and commanded him to write down a series of prophecies to various churches. The apostle John was privileged to see and report his account of the heavenly realm (Rev. 21:10-27). John witnessed that heaven possesses the glory of God (Rev. 21:11), the very presence of God. Because heaven has no night and the Lord Himself is the light, the sun and moon are no longer needed (Rev. 22:5). The city is filled with the brilliance of costly stones and crystal clear jasper. The paradise of the Garden of Eden is restored: the river of the water of life flows freely and the tree of life is available once again, yielding fruit monthly with leaves that heal the nations (Rev. 22:1-2). Sounds amazing, doesnt it! Let me ask you a few questions: Since God is an everlasting, omnipotent Being that lives in a place that is called eternal, could it be possible that heaven is greater, more excellent, more breath-taking, more beautiful, more exhilarating and fulfilling than ANYTHING we could think or imagine? Could it be that there is more to heaven than we know? And could it be that God has allowed some people a glimpse of heaven through personal experiencea glimpse meant to be shared to offer hope to the rest of humanity, as described, for example in Dr. Richard Ebys 1971 published Caught up into Paradise, or the more recent experience of Don Piper in his book, 90 Minutes in Heaven. And then of course there is the extraordinary testimony of four-year old Colton Burpo, as retold by his dad Todd Burpo in the book Heaven is for Real. Colton said during his operation he went out of his body and had spoken with angels, and had sat on Jesus lap. He describes his conversations with Jesus, and seeing God on his throne and Jesus at Gods right

side. He speaks of Jesus having markers (his childlike description of the wounds on Jesus hands and feet). Colton says nobodys old in heaven and nobody wears glasses. He also describes heaven as being where all the rainbow colors are. And although we could get caught up in the wonder and mystery of it all, by far, the GREATEST experience for those in heaven will be seeing Jesus faceto-face and living with Him and the Father God for eternity. But listen, I could stand here as a pastor and tell you everything I know and everything I have read about heaven, but until it is the longing of your own heart, your own personal hope, your own personal faithheaven wont be your personal reality. Which brings us to point #3:

3. FAITH Yes, we must have faith. We must believe in Jesus because He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. And as stated in Hebrews 11, without faith it is impossible to please Him [God]. We exercise faith many ways in our everyday lives. We get up in the morning by the sound of an alarm clock that we expect to wake us. We get in our car and put a key in the ignition having every confidence that the engine will start and will take us to our destination. With the swipe of a finger our cell phone connects us to another person. Or bigger still, for most of us, we exercise faith when we step into a plane trusting it will reach its altitude, soar above the clouds, and land without complications all the while not having the smallest understanding of aerodynamics. Even in simple things like buying a product online, we exercise a measure of faith, dont we? We research the product we want, Google options, and gather opinions and recommendations. But in the end, we have to step out in faith when we press Purchase and trust that what we are buying is what we hope for. We dont have to understand everything to believe that what Jesus said He will doHe will do. We simply must let go and BELIEVE. In Hebrews 11 we read, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. CLOSING: It should give us great hope to know that there is indeed more to life than what we are experiencing now in a world that has been so affected by the work and influence of the evil one. In the book of JohnJohn 10:10 to be exact the Bible

says,The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy And friends, there is no country, no culture, no people group, no marriage, no individual that hasnt felt the strain and pain of living in a world marred by the powers of darkness. Even creation itself groans (Rom.8) for the Lord to return and redeem it all. How does Jesus respond to all this? Lets refer back to our opening text for this message. Jesus in response says, Do not let your hearts be troubledI go to prepare a place for you. Let me say that again, Do not let your hearts be troubledI go to prepare a place for you. A place where there are no more tears, no sickness, no disease, no abandonment, no fear, no loneliness, no abuse. Insteada place of rejoicing in the glory of God's presence as stated in Jude 1:24. Insteada place of fullness of joy and pleasures for evermore as in Ps. 16:11. Insteadeternity in the arms of a loving Saviora place He calls heaven. Living in faith, longing for a future with Jesus, involves not only believing heaven is realit involves living in expectation of that future reality. In closing, would you bow your heads while I pray over you a prayer that Apostle Paul prayed over the church in Ephesus which we find in Ephesians 3:17-20: . . . I pray that you may have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledgethat you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! And Lord I will also askthat by Your Spirit, You help us live with our eyes fixed on You and our hearts set on the hope and expectation of heaven. Help us all LIVE like we KNOW heaven is for real!