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Good morning. You know, when we worship together like that, you know, with each other and and um God, really, we're gonna talk about God's presence a little bit in a few minutes, but that's just a taste. It's like a small taste, and yet it gives us, you know, peace and uh hope and joy and strength. Uh just worship together with uh with God and and with each other. It's uh my favorite part of the whole week. Um it's your first time here. We're glad you're here. Uh hope you can tell, you can just relax and uh be yourself. Got a few things I want to share real quick. Uh last week we did talk about the nursery. And uh Megan McTear uh has done an unbelievable job leading the nursery. God really gave her a vision, kind of downloaded a vision of this garden uh where the uh the babies and little children are the are the seeds and and the helpers are the gardeners, and and with God's love uh um they grow. And uh it's such a wonderful place. Every Sunday there's um activities, there's uh uh a message, there's prayer, there's there's love, and and we just really need everyone's help. So last Sunday we asked that everybody, anybody over 18, man, women, uh husbands and wives together would volunteer for at least two weeks out of the year in the nursery. And we had a really good response, and and we still need uh some more help. Um and you could do it for two weeks, six weeks, or twelve weeks. Um if you uh could and would lead a group for either two, six or twelve weeks, or lead a class, um that's really needed. But uh please think about that. And then we would have the signup tables, I think, in the nursery lobby and for sure uh in this lobby, and uh we'll be in great shape and we'll take great care of uh of our littlest ones. And it's it's such a neat way to serve and follow Jesus, you know, because children are so important um to him, and it gives us a chance to love on people that can't really do anything for us. You know, it's a good place to be. Um next Sunday we're gonna have a barbecue Sunday, and this came from um bless the bikes. It got rained out, and the Salisbury's had all this barbecue uh uh cooked and ready to go, and and so we brought it inside and uh a bunch of people stayed after and and just ate together, and we thought, you know, we should do this on purpose sometime. And so we've been uh planning on that, and that'll be next Sunday. And so the Salisbury's gonna cook great food, it won't be expensive, and just we'll have tables and stuff set up, and so if you can and want to, just uh stay, and then we'll eat together uh next Sunday. Groups and classes start um the Wednesday after Labor Day, which has got to be the fourth or fifth, fourth. Uh we got great groups and classes this uh this session, something literally for every age and and for everyone. And next week we'll talk a little bit more about that in uh specifically. And then finally, I just wanted to mention giving. That's something we don't talk very much. I think it's a a reaction to sometimes it being talked about uh uh too much in our uh uh in our pasts, I guess, and going to church, and it feels like that's always the the thing. Um but it is an important part of our relationship with God. It's one of the places really where kind of the rubber meets the road because it takes faith to give. I mean, there's none of us that have so much that it doesn't take faith when when we give and when we're uh when we're generous. And what that does is it gives us a chance to see God's faithfulness and how he does more than we could think or ask, and it just starts this cycle of uh of love and generosity. And um, and you all are very generous uh with uh with your time and and uh and money. Uh we take five percent, really fifteen percent of what we give together and give it to three local ministries trying to uh just uh love those around us and support those that are doing really hard work. And it's the Cherokee Center for Family Violence, it's the Hope Center, and uh Papa's Pantry. And I meant to to have a number for you, but I forgot to ask. And um, but the amount we've given together so far this year is very significant, has made a huge difference uh for those ministries. So thanks for that. We got some kind of things going on. We um this building um we moved in it'll be seven years ago in October. And before that, it was a Kmart, it had been a super K really had been abandoned for four years. I think it was open for a couple years. And uh so we affectionately called it the J Mart for a while, then that got old. And uh but um the uh so it's been 13, 14 years, something like that, and and really the big thing is is the roof is starting to go. And Juan, who does so much for us, uh he and his his crews have been trying to patch it together, but it's gotten significant enough that we need to really attack it in stages. And so we're gonna start with the front part, which is the worst, and you know, kind of through this, we've had so much rain, it's really getting significant. But as you can imagine with a big building, just that is about a sixty thousand dollar um expense. And so I say that just to say that if you've been thinking about giving or you've some set set some aside, uh now would be a good time, and that would be um a big help. But uh, thanks again for just all your love and generosity. Let's pray. So, Father, we praise you. We thank you for being our Abba Father, our Daddy Father, and you adopting us as your very own kids. And Holy Spirit, we thank you for being our teacher and our counselor. And this morning I just pray that you'd teach each of us. You'd give us uh something that we we leave with that we know was especially for us and from you. And Jesus, we just praise you. Thank you for being our Savior and our friend and our Lord. And it's in your name we pray. Amen. So we're taking a couple weeks uh to talk about uh heaven. And uh I just love this subject. I mean, next to focusing on Jesus Himself, I mean, to me, talking about heaven is one of the most exciting things. It's just uh going to be mind-blowing what our God has prepared for each of us. And it's gonna be fun and it's gonna be cool, and it's something to get excited about, and it's something to uh um look forward to. I think for some of us it'll just be hopefully a timely reminder. For others will be some new ideas and things maybe we haven't even um uh thought about. In Colossians three it says, since you've 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. And just thinking about heaven, focusing on heaven, affects us. It affects our faith and our love. In Colossians 1, it says, We always pray for you and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God's people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You know, if we're going through tough times, and you know, in a group this size, I know there's a bunch of us that are going through tough times right now. You know, uh nothing is better than thinking about what waits for us in heaven. In 2 Corinthians 4, it says, 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 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. And so last week we talked about what heaven was going to be like uh physically. Um if I died today, uh there's a place Jesus calls paradise. It's kind of like an interim place. Marlon and I were talking about this on uh on Thursday. What would that be like? And and both of our guesses is you know, time is so different in the eternal time frame that that will be wonderful being with Jesus, but we'll seem pretty quick as we get ready for uh the big day when Jesus returns. And that's when we all will enjoy our permanent, eternal home. And that's not gonna be floating around on the clouds, you know, with a harp or anything like that. Um, it's gonna be living with God and with Jesus and the Holy Spirit on a beautiful, dynamic, completely restored and renewed earth. Romans 8 it says, Yeah, what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God's curse, but with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. It's God's plan for total renewal, for total restoration. Um, in the Garden of Eden, we talked about this last week and do uh fairly often, but uh we had a relationship with God. We had the beauty of nature, we had meaningful work. Um, that all changed when Adam and Eve picked rules. They really picked religion, if you will, and rules over relationship, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Just tell me what to do and what not to do, and I'll take it uh from here. Um Jesus came, and that broke the relationship. Jesus came to restore the relationship. And so we can talk with God now, just like Jesus did. What Jesus called God the Father was Abba Father, Daddy Father. It's the same name that we can approach him with now, Daddy Father, Abba Father, because the relationship has been restored through Jesus. Well, first the relationship, and then eventually everything. And so in describing heaven, the Bible talks about rivers and trees and animals and mountains and multiple cities and streets and feasts and singing and shouting and joy. Hebrews talks about a city that's being built with eternal foundations. It's seen in Revelations and John's vision, dropping down to earth. Uh the new Jerusalem is just one city of heaven, but it's the capital city. Um that's the city the angels measured, and it was 1,500 miles wide and 1,500 miles long and 1,500 miles high. It says the gates are open, it's uh we can come and go uh freely. And that's where we spent most of our time last week, just kind of talking, again daydreaming a little bit, about physically what what is heaven going to uh to be like? And this morning we're gonna talk about a few more a few more things. For instance, what will we be like physically? Well what were our will our bodies be like? In 1 Corinthians, Paul answers this exact question. Now we catch uh Paul in a bit of a bad mood, which is not hard to do with Paul. But um 1 Corinthians 15. But someone may ask, how will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have? What a foolish question. See, that's why I'm saying he's in a bad mood, because that's actually seems like a pretty good question. But um what kind of bodies? When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn't grow into a plant unless it dies first. And what you put in the ground is not uh the plant you see, when you put in the ground it's not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting. Then God gives it the new body He wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed. Similarly, there are different kinds of flesh, one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the glory of the earthly bodies. The sun is one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory. This is kind of long, but it's all important. It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they'll be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they'll be raised in glory. They're buried in weakness, but they'll be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they'll be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies. Now, Paul isn't saying that we won't have a body, and this is like something that gets really misunderstood. That we're going to have bodies, it's just it'll be a spiritual body. The uh he goes on to say, um, and maybe clarifies it by saying, earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. Just as we are now like the earthly man, we someday will someday be like the heavenly man. And so our we'll have bodies, but our bodies will be different. They'll be immortal, no decay. Um, he uses the uh the analogy of seeds, how it's somewhat similar. You know, if you want corn, you plant a corn seed, and what comes out is corn, but it's something more uh much more magnificent than the seed. If you want wheat, the same way. It's gotta be a wheat seed. But what comes up uh is something more, it's still wheat, but something much more um magnificent. So it's kind of similar when we're buried. Um it's gonna be in the same family when we're raised, but something much, much more magnificent. You know, planted in death, but raised in life, planted in brokenness, raised in glory, planted in weakness, but raised in strength. And that's just one of the really exciting things about uh heaven. You know, all of our physical limitations and handicaps and frustrations will be gone. All of our emotional limitations and frustrations will be gone. Jesus shows us what a resurrected body is like. You know, he looked very much like himself. When people didn't recognize Jesus, it was always because God supernaturally did something to to keep them from recognizing him, and it was a timing issue. Then at the right time, uh their eyes would be opened and they would see what Jesus uh, or that it was Jesus. The day he was raised, okay, so he died like us. He came as a man, it's called the Son of Man. He uh he dies, he's buried, and he's resurrected. Jesus always goes first, and so he went first there. And so now when he's resurrected, he has his resurrected body. And so we get a sense of what a resurrected body, what our resurrected bodies are going to be like. And so the first day after he is raised, he walks seven miles from Jerusalem with some guys to a town called Emmaus. And uh he stops there and he's going to uh eat with them, and then just as they get ready to eat, he disappears. And he shows up in a room where the disciples are. And so we see something right there. One is uh Jesus is very similar, but now he doesn't have the same kind of constraints you'd had before. He's got a freedom of time and space and uh movement. And so he shows up with his disciples and says, Why are you frightened? He asked. Why are your hearts filled with doubt? Look at my hands, look at my feet. You can see that it's really me. Touch me and make sure that I'm not a ghost, because ghosts don't have bodies, as you see that I do. And he spoke and he showed them his hands and his feet. Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, Do you have anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he ate it as they watched. Okay, so that tells us a lot about what a resurrected uh body is like, that it could be touched, it could be felt. And in this case, Jesus still had his scars. You know, and my guess, and it's just a guess, um, but some of us will have scars we want to keep. Um, you know, for Jesus, those scars are a great symbol of victory and and love and are very meaningful to him. Um women may not know this, but dudes like scars. And um, and it's so like Jim Stout just broke his arm. And uh he broke, what's this bone here? The who knows? It's the big one right here behind the bicep, broke it in six places, and um he has got the nastiest looking scar, had a plate and surgery, and I guarantee you next summer he's gonna be walking around with the tank top all the time showing off that uh cool scar. And so the the the point is we're not gonna be that much different. You know, we're gonna have our personalities, we're gonna recognize each other, we're gonna have our our bodies, but strong and fit and without all the limitations and um and boundaries. One really uh important thing is that Jesus asked for something to eat. You know, that's a question. Are we gonna eat? Are we gonna drink in heaven? Of course we are. That's one of the great joys and gifts that God created for us. And imagine what that's gonna be like in heaven. Uh and so Jesus goes first with a resurrected body, with a few limitations, he's eating and drinking, and our bodies won't be foreign to us. It won't be a weird experience. They'll just be better and strong and magnificent as God originally planned. In Isaiah 25 it says, In Jerusalem, the Lord of heaven's armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It'll be a delicious banquet with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat. There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. He will swallow up death forever. The sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. He will root remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people. The Lord has spoken. And in that day the people will proclaim, This is our God. We trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings. We have so much to look forward to in heaven. And one of the great joys will be reunited with those that we love. With children, with friends, with uh loved ones, parents that have gone before us. When talking about heaven, um, I like to quickly remind us of the oldest uh book in the Bible, and it's the book of Job. And in Job 1, it starts this way There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless, a man of complete integrity. He feared God and he stayed away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred teams of oxen, and five hundred female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area. Now the story becomes a tragedy pretty quickly as Job loses everything, including all of his children. And he then gets stricken with uh disease. And most of the book is Job really trying to sort it out, uh, you know, his despondency, his confusion, his frustration. And he does that with some friends, they weren't very good friends, but um, but they were there, but then with God himself. And he finally makes peace with what happened, and I know some of us have experienced that same um process. But the end of Job is interesting, and it applies to heaven. And in Job 42, it says, So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand teams of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters. And so what God did, the way he blessed Job was he gave him twice as much of everything. And so before he had seven thousand sheep, now he's got fourteen thousand, before he had three thousand camels, now he's got six thousand. And so, doing the math, what Joe, what God should have done is given Job fourteen sons and six daughters. But instead he gave him seven sons and three more daughters. And it's because God knows the truth that we never lose our children. Never. Job was quickly gonna be with his with his children, all fourteen and six of them, in heaven forever. We never lose our kids, and that's one of the great joys of heaven. Jesus says, God blesses you who weep now, for in due time you will love. Laugh. And he goes on to say, For a great reward awaits you in heaven. So those of us that have lost children and friends and loved one, we've wept now, but soon we'll be laughing. But we'll be laughing with them. Because a great reward awaits us in heaven. And that's huge. But we still haven't talked about the uh the greatest part of heaven. You know, God's greatest gift to us is always simply Himself. And so we do get a taste of that here in worship or alone in uh prayer. Um and it's such a great experience. Sometimes people come here and they're like, I don't, I don't can't explain it, but it just feels different in here. And what we're feeling is a taste of God's presence. We're feeling God Himself. I I I remember a guy came to fill the Coke machine back uh where the high school group meets. And he tells Justin, man, I don't know, every time I walk in here, I just feel something. I can't explain it. You know, and what he's feeling is God, you know, because God blesses us with his presence. But it's just a taste of what it's gonna be like to be physically in the presence of God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. It's gonna be the greatest joy, the greatest satisfaction, the greatest experience that we could ever have. You know, we were created by God in his image, and we're created to be with him physically, to be hugged by him, to be held by him, to walk arm in arms with him. You know, uh my two-year-old grandson Brighton, he just turned, uh he just turned two. And so the question everybody asks, and you wonder, is um is what name is he gonna have, you know, for you. And um and so in the last few weeks, he's kind of landed on one, and it's papa, which I really uh which I really like. There's so many far worse. And uh but uh but it doesn't matter. Any anything would be great. And um so Thursday night, he and uh Paige come over and she puts him down and he starts running, and he's going, Papa, papa, papa, papa, papa, and he just dives up in my arms and just you know, like squeezes my neck. And I mean, literally, I had been dreaming of that moment, literally, when when he would come running into my arms saying my name. And I promise you, God feels the exact same way about each of you. That he is literally dreaming of the day that he sees you in heaven, and you run into his arms, and he picks you up and holds you and hugs you and tells you he loves you because he's our dad and we are his children. And to be physically with God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit is beyond words. Um David said, Oh God, you are my God. I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you, my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. He says, Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. Job, who we talked about, says, But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body is decayed, yet in my body I will see God. I will see him for myself, yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought. Jesus says, 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 have I told you that I'm 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 also said, Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, as though you're waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you'll be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth. He himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat. Then Revelation 21, I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, Look, God's home is now among his people. He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them, he will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. You know, heaven. All of our homes. A beautiful place. Healed bodies, healed minds, healed souls, friends, family, people we love. Father God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, together forever. You know, that's a pretty quick conversation about something as big as heaven. Um I'm not even that old yet, believe it or not, but uh I can tell life goes by pretty quick. And that day that Jesus returns, that is going to be the day of all days. And then we'll start our real life, the one that God's always created and planned for us in heaven. So we'll finish with a looking at Titus chapter 3, where it says, I wasn't so long ago that we, it wasn't so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing. We had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God's gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there's more life to come. An eternity of life. You can count on this. So if the worship team wants to come up, we'll stop there. Let's stand and we'll get ready for one last song together. So that'll be worth the wait, don't you think? Worth all the trouble and hassles. It's gonna be unbelievable. And so, first, God restores the relationship, and then he restores everything. And he restores the relationship by Jesus coming to save us. And it's really simply just putting our trust in him, saying, Jesus, I want you. I want to be with you, I want a relationship with you. Whatever that looks like in our own words, in our own way, and we are created in the image of God, the greatest compliment that anyone could ever receive, that he took his time, his care, created each of us in his very image. And part of that is we have a spirit. And when we put our trust in Jesus, our spirit comes alive, it connects with God's spirit, and then he goes and he starts changing us, and he does that from the inside out. And um eventually everything changes, our whole lives. But he does the heavy lifting, and it starts with the way we think and the way we feel and the way we see things and having joy and love and trust. All those come from the inside out. So if you've never done that, today would be a great way to start and restore that relationship with our loving God. Well, love you all. Hope you have a uh great week. Let's uh pray. And so, Father, we praise you. We thank you for being such a great God. Just for the joy you you have in planning a place for us, just for your great desire to be with us, and you think of us and long for us finally being uh home uh together forever. We praise you for that. And Jesus, we just thank you for being our friend, for showing us what love's like, for being with us every day throughout this coming week. And we trust you and praise you. It's in your name we pray. Amen.