Category Archives: Heaven/Hell

Apr 27

A Great Homecoming

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This week is an exciting week for our Karns family. All week long our building will be buzzing with activity because it’s Lectureship week. Every morning from about 7:00 until 9:00 each evening, people will be walking the church building halls, looking at book displays from several different vendors, hearing the Gospel presented and eating lots of delicious food together prepared by some of our wonderful Karns members.

This week is always a favorite for many of our Karns members, as well as many men and women throughout the brotherhood. The Lectureships are a week where former students and their families return for a physical and spiritual feast. It presents a great opportunity for many of us to reunite with brothers and sisters who hold special places in our hearts. For many of us, the Southeast Lectureship week is one immense homecoming.

As wonderful a homecoming as this week may be, the reunion this week fails in comparison to the great homecoming that will take place when all the saved are called home to heaven. How splendid it will be to be reunited with all those we loved in this life who have already passed on! After the child David conceived with Bathsheba died, he longed for the day that he could be reunited with him again in heaven (2 Sam. 12:23). I, like most of you, have lost some people I love dearly. Not a day goes by I don’t think about them and miss them. I look forward to heaven so I can be reunited with them once again around the throne of God.

When we think about our Lord preparing a special place for us in the dwelling place of God, a place that is more beautiful than we can fathom, where we will know no sadness and have the opportunity to be reunited with our loved ones who have gone on before, the only thing that could make that homecoming any better is the fact that it will last forever (I Thess. 4:17).

Our enjoyable homecoming this week will come to an end in just a few short days. We will say our goodbyes and look forward, Lord willing, to seeing each other again a year from now. But thanks be to God that the day is coming when a GREAT, never-ending homecoming will take place. How magnificent that homecoming will be!

Now that’s Something to Think About!

Dec 20

Are You Excited About Heaven?

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lets talk about heaven_t_nvAre you excited about heaven? If there was a bus going to heaven today, would you be ready to jump on board and go home? Many people claim to want to go to heaven, but few people want to go right now. Over and over I have seen the attitude, I want to go to heaven, I just don’t want to go today. My question is, why not?

What would be wrong with going home today? Is this world so great that the thought of leaving it for heaven is depressing? Paul said, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard and no heart of man can imagine what God is preparing for those who love Him” (I Cor. 2:9).

I’m afraid many people picture heaven as a monotonous place where all we are going to do is sit around and worship God. Yes, we are going to worship in heaven (Rev. 5:11-14; 7:9-12) and our worship is going to be the most amazing worship we have ever been a part of. However, Heaven is going to be so much more than our hearts can imagine. Consider a few of the things we will do in heaven.

  1. Serve God (Rev. 22:3-5). We will be blessed to serve in the very presence of THE Almighty God who made the earth and everything in it.

  2. Rejoice (Rev. 21:4-5). Heaven is going to be a place of great joy. There will never be a bad day in heaven.

  3. Celebrate (Lk. 15:10; 23-24). Heaven is going to be a big welcome home party for the children of God. It’s going to be an amazing celebration with our Father.

  4. Reunite (2 Sam. 12:23). In heaven we will be reunited with all of our loved ones who faithfully served God.

  5. Rest (Rev. 14:13) – We will finally understand what stress free, worry free, sin free, disappointment free, pain free and suffering free truly means. They will be gone forever.

Heaven isn’t going to be the monotonous place many people picture. Heaven is going to be unlike anything we have ever experienced. Does the thought of heaven get you excited about going home? It should!

What are you most looking forward to doing in heaven? Leave your comments below.

 

Apr 02

SOMETHING BETTER THAT LASTS FOREVER

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Christians do many things which can only be explained because we believe in heaven. I believe this is why the writer of Hebrews 11 stopped in the middle of his “By faith” statements and wrote, “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city” (Heb. 11:13-16).

The writer interrupts his “By Faith” statements because he wants us to consider why certain people do what they do for their faith. Why is it the people mentioned in Hebrews 11 decided to live drastically different from the rest of the world? The answer to this somewhat puzzling question, for those who cannot wrap their mind around this kind of audacious behavior, is the people listed in the Hall of Faith (Heb. 11) understood something better was waiting for them. They were willing to give up what they had here on earth because they knew they couldn’t keep it anyway. Paul wrote, “For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of it” (I Tim. 6:7). The faithful heroes mentioned in Hebrews 11 gave up what they could lose in order to gain what they could not lose. These people of faith realized it’s all about heaven!

 

Strangers and Exiles (v. 13)

We sing a song called, This World Is Not My Home. The first stanza says…

                                     This world is not my home,

                                    I’m just a passing through.

                                    My treasures are laid up,

                                    Somewhere beyond the blue.

The patriarchs lived on this earth with the idea that they were nothing more than strangers and exiles. They understood that their true citizenship was in heaven (Phil. 3:20). Why is it that some Christians today live their lives as if they are going to stay here forever? Friends, we are nothing more than strangers and exiles here on earth. This world is not our home!

 

Longing (14-16a)

The patriarchs were “seeking” a homeland. However, this homeland was not the earthly place they had left, for if it was, “They would have had opportunity to return.” Instead, they were longing for their true homeland, heaven… which is far better than this world we currently call home. These patriarchs did what they did out of faith, because they were homesick for heaven. When was the last time you were homesick? When was the last time you were homesick for heaven? Was there ever a time you were homesick for heaven? Friends, you and I need to start longing for our true homeland, heaven.

 

Reward (v. 16b)

The writer of Hebrews points out that God was not ashamed to be called their God.  He looked down on those patriarchs and was proud of them because of their faith. In fact, God was so proud of these heroes of faith, He prepared for them a city.  Did you catch that? God Himself is the one who prepared this city for people of faith.  How awesome is that? Guess what, friends? In the end, God will feel the same for Christians who live lives of faith. He is preparing for you a city, a place to call your home, a place where you have citizenship, a place where you are not a stranger or exile; God is preparing Heaven just for you!

Everything we do as Christians points back to our faith in heaven. You see, what you believe or don’t believe about heaven and hell will affect the way you live your life. When you truly come to terms with this world not being your home, and you begin to understand you belong at home with the Father in heaven, you will do things that can only be explained because of your faith in Something Better that Lasts Forever!

Now that’s Something To Think About!