08/08/10 - If I Die Before I Wake PT2 - Pastor Tony Ashmore

Pastor Tony Ashmore continues the series "If I Die Before I Wake" with part 2 of this Sunday service.

If I Die Before I Wake Part 2
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Sunday, August 8, 2010

www.churchatmirrorlake.com


Sermon Notes:

Colossians 1:15-16 “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.”

3 “Heavens: 1st heaven: atmosphere, space, stars. 2nd Heaven: heavenly realms—spiritual activity, spiritual warfare. (Eph 6:11-13—“high places”) 3rd Heaven: the place where God is” (2nd Corinthians 12:2)

All civilizations from the beginning of time have ideas about the afterlife. It is a common thread throughout humanity. The Egyptians buried people with maps so they could find their way to the afterlife. The native Americans believed their spirits would be hunting the spirits of buffalo. The early Mexicans believed they went to the sun or the moon. The Vikings thought they went to a faraway island. You may remember the opening scene from the movie Gladiator based on the Roman belief that they would picnic in beautiful fields while their horses grazed nearby. Every human culture has tried to deal with the issue of the afterlife. Alexander the Great’s father had a servant whose sole job was to stand in his presence once a day and say “Philip, you will die.” Louis XIV decreed that the word death never be uttered in his presence. Each day on this planet 250000 people die and face eternity. Too many Christians have taken the path of Louis XIV, trying to avoid the subject and live like this life is all there is for us.

Jesus explicitly tells us many times this life will come to an end. The Bible gives some definite signs that must occur before His return. (Mark 13:7 “…for such things must happen…”) Most of them have happened. One of them is the whole world must know. At the rate Christianity is advancing (growing 10% a year vs. population growth rate of 3%. At that rate the whole world will know by 2032! So the Lord could return at any time. There will be a shout and a trumpet. Graves burst open, we who are still alive, meet in the air). We need to know Heaven. It is our home, our native land. But too many of us aren’t sure we want to go there. We know we want to end up there, but we don’t long for it because of the misconceptions we have believed.

It is not:
- Clouds, wings, harps
- Non-stop continual church service on our face forever
- Celestial retirement home
- Result: people are not excited about going there. It is not the target of our life. If we have Heaven in our life as a real hope—the blessed hope—then it empowers us to win in this life when everything around us in this cursed Earth is imploring us to quit. (Read story from Heaven about Florence Chadwick)

It is:
- A Real place: God has never abandoned His plan of a perfect Earth occupied by righteous people. Heaven is a resurrected Earth filled with resurrected people sharing joyous life with a resurrected Christ. 1400 miles in every direction, streets of pure gold, jasper walls, pearl gates. John 14:1-2 (note what preceded this in John 13) “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” Jesus told them not to be worried, but to set their affections on Heaven.
- A Right place: the place where things are made right. Relationships are made right, bodies are made right, evil will be absent. Rev 21:4-the old order has passed away. No police, armies, depression. Krispy Kreme light is always on.
- A Relational place: will I know people in Heaven. Heaven wasn’t created for a continual song service—it was created for relationship and enjoyment. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18. “So encourage each other…” . How about my dog? Not sure about specific animals but there will be animals and all the animals will be mansion broken.
- A Rewarding place: He wants a family, not a bunch of servants—He has those. Rev 22:12—my reward is with me. First words: Matthew 25:21 NCV 'You did well. You are a good and loyal servant. Because you were loyal with small things, I will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my joy with me.' NLT: Let’s celebrate together. CEV: Come and share my happiness. It is an awesome place—first 1000 years will be here on a perfected earth.

Sometimes life here is tough. Sometimes there are loved ones that are gone on and we miss them. How do we handle that? Heaven is the blessed hope. Paul said “we don’t grieve like everybody else.”

Titus 2:11- 14 “For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.”


1. Remove your doubts.
a. There is a real place
b. Make sure you are going—we have a debt to pay. When we commit one sin the penalty is eternal death. Jesus came to pick up the tab. God sends no one to Hell. Hell is the place where people who want to can pay there own bill. 1 John 5:11 “And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” The reason there is only one way to Heaven is because Christianity is the only religion that deals with the debt. The rest teach you how to handle the result of sin, Jesus removes the issue of sin. Grace: I didn’t deserve it but I got it. It was my bill. I incurred the debt. I deserved to pay it. Acts 15:11 “We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”


2. Replace your anxieties. From time to time life stinks. Earth is cursed—bombs, rapes, murders, bad economies, bad relationships. James: “Life here is a vapor”. David (Psalm 39:4-5—life is a breath) Jesus: “Don’t be afraid of what can kill your body…focus on eternity”.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” Paul was able to keep his focus, to avoid depression, to keep moving forward by staying focused on Heaven.

How: talk about it just like you are planning a vacation. We took our family to the Abacos Islands. We planned it, talked about it, were excited about it. It was our target. We still talk about it. Replace your worries with thoughts of Heaven. Replace the news, the stock market, the doctors’ report with thoughts of Heaven.

Colossians 3:1-3 “1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.” Paul became a problem for those who wanted to punish him because his affections were not set on earth.


3. Refocus your energies. Jonathan Edwards in his life resolutions written in his early twenties: “Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can.” If you had 30 days to live, would your life look differently than it does now? Would you settle some arguments or differences? Remember 911? Remember the phone calls being made by those in those buildings? 2 Corinthians 7:10 —Life without regret. A life focused on Heaven becomes unoffendable. A life invested in Heaven has eternal priorities and is not pressurized by time issues. Live for treasures in Heaven. Matt 6:20