Eastgate Church Sermons - Rocky Mount Eastgate Church Sermons

What must we do to prepare for what comes after death? How can we prepare for the ultimate journey? It's a journey that most of us don’t want to think about, but it’s a journey that everyone must take. Trips take a lot of preparation, some more than others. But how much more must we prepare for the trip that everyone will face one day… the trip to our eternal home! In the gospel of John chapter 6, Jesus told His hearers what they must do to be prepared for eternity.

A new you - that’s what many promise to help you accomplish in this life. “You can live your best life now” the latest self-help books and gurus promise. That’s why we make “bucket lists.” We think, “If only I can experience all that this life offers, I will be happy and fulfilled.” We think, “I better live for myself now because we only get one life.” But the best is yet to come. For the new heaven and new earth and new body that God has planned for His redeemed people will be the very, very, best life you can live! In the last two chapters of the book of Revelation, the Lord revealed to the apostle John what the eternal home of His redeemed people with Christ would be like.

A lot of Christians get nervous about this topic of heavenly rewards. They are confused about the importance of living a life of faithful obedience to God in this life. They mistakenly claim, “My good works mean nothing to God.” It’s true that we are saved by grace apart from works. We can’t earn salvation. We can’t work and earn eternal life and heaven. We can only receive the free gift of salvation by faith. That’s true. But in the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he told them to take care to live faithfully for Christ for it would determine their heavenly reward. We can take care to live faithfully for Christ knowing that it determines our heavenly reward.

Through the years, when someone loses a loved one, one of the most asked questions I get when I’m helping a family prepare for a funeral and helping them process their grief and pray with them, is this very question: “Will We Know One Another In Heaven?” Underneath this question are several others, like: “Will I still be me in heaven? Will I still have all my memories and personality? Will I look like me?” And, “Will I recognize my friends and loved ones who gone to heaven before me? Will I recognize other biblical saints? Will I know Jesus?” In the book of Revelation, the apostle John recorded his vision of believers in heaven knowing one another. We can be confident that believers in heaven will know one another.

Do you ever give any thought to what heaven is like? People who have faced death, either personally or among their friends and family, tend to think more about what heaven might be like. What’s heaven like for the believer when they die? How can we face death and eternity with confident knowledge and expectation of heaven? In the apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he encouraged believers that they could confidently face death knowing what their heavenly home with the Lord would be like.

Many Christians today seem to doubt and know nothing of heaven. What do you know about heaven? What do you believe about it? Are you focused on heaven? Do you have questions like: “Do Christians immediately go to heaven when they die?”“What kind of body will we have in heaven?” “What about hell?” “What about the near death experiences people have reported about visiting heaven?” “What about the new heaven and the new earth?” In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he called believers to focus their hearts and minds on heaven.