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1. Christmas is over and the New Year has begun. I hope 2014 looks spiritually bright for you and your ministry.
2. Sermon outline on "Heaven" (at bottom of ezine)
3. New sermons, outlines, and illustrations link to preachology.com!
4. You could have your own sermon web page on Preachology.com!!

Hello,

Mark Hollingsworth here. I hope you had a great Christmas and a great beginning to the New Year...2014! And I hope you reach all of your personal and ministry goals this year.

2 Tim. 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

Continued Happy New Year!
...from the Hollingsworth Family.

YOU are a blessing to me!

2 Tim. 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears...

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Heaven

John 14:1-4
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 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.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

1. One of the oldest questions in the world is: "If a man dies, will he live again?" A certain young man with an incurable disease was reported to have said, "I don't think I would be afraid to die if I knew what to expect after death." As Jesus begins this section he says, "Let not your heart be troubled." Because of his promise we need not be afraid of the grave.

2. Deep within all our hearts is a longing for immortality. None of us wants to simply stop existing. We do not want to be like the dogs and the trees that simply are absorbed into the ground. Something within us tells us that we must be immortal beings.

3. American Indians buried a warrior's bow and arrow with his body to be used in the "happy hunting ground." Laplanders buried flint and tinder to light the way of their loved ones into the next life. Old Norsemen placed a horse and saddle in the grave for the dead to ride, while the Eskimos of Greenland buried a dog to lead the way to the next world. It is part of human hope to believe in eternal life.

4. Before Jesus went away he told us about the life to come for those who believe in him. He said, "I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." Now Christ kept his promise. He prepared heaven for all those who love and trust him. And we know several important things about the life to come.

I. Heaven is a Place.

Our father has created a vast universe. Sir James Jeans called it the expanding universe. We are told that the nearest star is light years away from us. Beyond this system are systems called quasars. The reason astronomers call the quasars is because that is a German word meaning they don't know what they are. With bigger telescopes they found other systems. They don't know what they are either so the British have come up with a very scientific word -- blops. There is no way of know just how vast the universe is (McGee 458).

But somewhere in this universe or another universe created by God, there is a place called heaven. The Bible calls it a city, a paradise, a garden, a kingdom. Heaven is just as much a place as Calgary or Toronto are cities. Jesus called it a place and I get much pleasure in thinking of it as place. Everything there will be for our comfort and enjoyment. At last we will be fully satisfied. And on every gate and on every mansion in the city we shall read the word "Welcome."

A certain man's mother lived in his home and was a blessing to him and his family. Each night as she climbed the steps to her room she would stop on the landing and say, "Good night, I'll see you in the morning." Then one night she passed away in her sleep. The entire family was broken-hearted, but they found comfort in remembering her last words. "Good night, I'll see you in the morning." They knew that when the night had passed, they would see her again in God's blessed morningtime. But heaven is not only a place.

II. Heaven is a Happy Place.

It is hard to be happy all the time in this world. Even our Lord was a man of sorrows. We have broken home, and wars, and diseases, and crime. But heaven will be a happy place because there will be nothing to hinder happiness.

Think of a place where there will be no sin, no sorrow, no quarrels, no misunderstandings, no hurt feelings, no sickness, no suffering, no death.

This world is filled with many tears -- tears of sorrow and tears of disappointment. But we thank God that we look forward to a day when he will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

There was once a young man in a church who served as an usher. He was a fine Christian man, but he was quite sick. The pastor went to visit him one day knowing he did not have long to live. They talked about the heavenly city to which he was going. As the young man talked about death, tears filled his eyes. The pastor took a handkerchief from his pocket, reached over and wiped the tears from one eye and the the other. The young man smiled and looking up into the preacher's face, he said, "The next time my tears are wiped away, they will be wiped away by the loving hand of my heavenly father." Heaven is a happy place.

3. Heaven is a Place of New Bodies.

Can you imagine a place where we will have no physical or bodily limitations? The crippled, diseased, and wasted bodies will be strong and beautiful and vigorous.

As a pastor I have seen many church members in pain. I have seen hands crippled with arthritis. I have seen children scarred and bruised. I have seen elderly Christians grow sick and tired. They have been exhausted by the slightest effort. It became an effort to breathe. The old body, made of the dust of the earth and loaned to us by God for a time begins to wear out.

But in heaven we will be given a new body. It will be much the same as the old but it will be drastically changed. Christ is an example of this. Before he was crucified he had a physical body like we do. After he was raised from the grave he had a spiritual body. The scars of the nails were still in his hands and feet, proving that he possessed many of the characteristics of the body that was crucified, but it was drastically different. Now he could enter a room with the doors having been shut and he could flit back and forth to heaven, and appear and disappear at will. The Bible tells us that our new bodies will be immortal -- they shall never wear out. They will be incorruptible and powerful. They will be perfectly designed and fitted to enjoy life in a spiritual world.

Martin Luther King, during the civil rights movement used to exclaim that he looked forward to heaven where he would be "Free at last." That is the inscription on his tomb in Atlanta. Those that exchange tired painful bodies for new glorious ones must also feel free at last.

4. Heaven is a Busy Place.

When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, God's judgement fell upon him. After the fall, Adam's work became toilsome and strenuous. But in heaven, the Bible tells us this curse will be gone.

We are not going to be sitting around through the ages dusting clouds and polishing crowns. We would never be contented in such a place. We want to be occupied. The Bible says, "His servants will serve him." I believe God is going to give us something worthwhile to do. He gives us jobs here to do, but none of us ever performs them perfectly. But there in our perfect bodies, we will do with ease all that God gives us to do. The poet puts it this way:

When earth's last picture is painted,
the tubes are all twisted and dried,
When the oldest colors have faded,
the youngest critic has died,
We shall rest, and faith, we shall need it--
lie down for an aeon or two,
Till the Master of all good workmen,
shall set us to work anew!
And those that were good will be happy,
They shall sit in a golden chair;
They shall splash at a ten - league canvas,
with brushes of comet's hair!
They shall find real saints to draw from
-- Magdelene, Peter, and Paul
They shall work for an age at a sitting
and never be tired at all!
And only the Master shall praise them,
and only the Master shall blame;
And no one shall work for money,
and no one shall work for fame;
But each for the joy of the working,
and each, in his separate star,
Shall paint the Thing as he sees It
for the God of Things as they Are!

5. Heaven is a Place of Reunion.

As one preacher stated…Several years ago my grandmother died. The funeral was made easier by the tremendous faith of my grandfather who was now alone for the first time in 57 years. Just before they closed the casket for the last time, the funeral director asked, "Mr. King, would you like to have a few moments to say goodby?" My grandfather replied, "This isn't goodby. I'll be seeing her again."

Just a few years ago my 92 year old grandfather died after 10 years of being alone. He wrote a letter before he died saying that he did not know who God was keeping him in this world. But he longed to hold my grandmother in his arms again. At his funeral I preached on heaven. I have never known anyone that knew Christ so intimately and had affected so many people for his Lord with his words and deeds. If I could not speak of heaven on that day, then I could never speak on heaven at all. The funeral was sad, but there was also a celebration because we knew that he went to be with the Lord, and already his arms are around his dear wife and a great granddaughter and brothers and sisters.

Isn't it wonderful to know that we shall see our loved ones again. Today certain families still try to have family reunion each year. The members of the family gather from far and near and have a wonderful time together. But sometimes these occasions are tinged with sorrow, for one who was present the year before is no longer around and is greatly missed. But in heaven there will be no more death and no more tears and no more separation.

I have always enjoyed visiting elderly saints who have walked with the Lord for many years. When they have children and grandchildren they continually pray for them. They rejoice then their families rejoice and weep when they fail to live up to their teachings. It is their hope to one day see their loved ones again. Whenever I go by to visit these great Christians, they ask me to pray for their families. Such sincere prayers will not go unanswered. Imagine the grand reunion that we will one day have in the presence of God.

6. Heaven is a Place of Home.

There are no perfect homes in this world. We gather our loved ones around us and think we are going to be supremely and perfectly and permanently happy. But people live happily ever after only in fairy tales. In real life death comes to rob us of our loved ones. A daughter marries and moves away; a son gets a job in a distant city and is soon gone. divorces break up our homes. But God's heavenly home is a complete and permanent home. When we get there nothing can ever break our home or mar our happiness.

A tent or a cottage, why should I care,
There're building a palace for me over there.
Tho' exiled from home, yet still may I sing,
All glory to God, I'm a child of the king.

That heavenly home is prepared for you. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you." Once there was a widow and her son who lived in a miserable attic. Years before she had married against her parents wishes and had gone with her husband to live in a foreign land.

He had proved irresponsible and unfaithful, and after a few years he died without any provision for her and the child. It was with the utmost difficulty that she had managed to scrape together the bare necessities of life.

The happiest times in the child's life were when the mother took him in her arms and told him about her father's house in the old country. She told him of the grassy lawn, the noble trees, the wild flowers, the lovely pictures, and the delicious meals.

The child had never seen his grandfather's home, but to him it was the most beautiful place in the world. He longed for the time when he would go there to live.

One day the postman knocked at the attic door. The mother recognized the handwriting on the letter and with trembling fingers broke the seal. There was a check and a slip of paper with just two words: "Come home" (Graham Till Armageddon, 213)

Oh, listen friend. You are a child of God. You may have left home against your father's wishes. You may have disappointed him greatly. But now he wants you to come home.

Jesus died to give you life. Let him come into your life and take control. God will summons all of us one day to stand before him. Let yours be a call to come home. Come home now. Come home to God.