Heaven Confronts Us (3 of 3)
Series: Heaven
Ross Nester
Ephesians 4:17-5:2
Max Lucado once commented that ''the Wizard of Oz story says look inside yourself and find self. God says to look inside yourself and find the Holy Spirit. The first will get you to Kansas. The latter will get you to Heaven. Take your pick''.
That's Max Lucado's clever way of saying that Heaven is a choice we make. That's only part of the truth - God plays a much bigger part in this than we do - but this part of the truth needs to be said. Heaven is in a real way a matter of choice.
We don't just wait and see what Heaven is going to be like, or if we reach it as our after-life destination. Heaven calls forth some action from us now. It's not ''wait and see'' but ''let's do Heaven now.''
Doing Heaven now is a major theme in Paul's Letter to the Ephesians.
Paul says that much of Heaven has already happened for believers in Jesus Christ. He says in Chapter Two that we've already been made alive in Christ, that we've already been raised with Christ, and that we've already been seated in the heavenly places with Christ.
That's why I said that Heaven grounds us. Once we know our place in Heaven, we know better how to handle ourselves in the places we find ourselves in on earth.
Last week we looked in Chapter 1 and heard Paul tell us that we've been given all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. The Scripture exhorts us to claim these blessings and to let these blessings define us.
God needs blessed people to use in His plan to renew, restore, and remake all that exists in Heaven and on earth. We're blessed to be a blessing.
And now, today, I want to explore how it is that Heaven confronts us.
One day a man approached Jesus and asked Jesus how he could make sure that Heaven would be his final destination. Showing respect, he knelt on his knees before Jesus and asked, ''Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?''
The man had made two ...
Series: Heaven
Ross Nester
Ephesians 4:17-5:2
Max Lucado once commented that ''the Wizard of Oz story says look inside yourself and find self. God says to look inside yourself and find the Holy Spirit. The first will get you to Kansas. The latter will get you to Heaven. Take your pick''.
That's Max Lucado's clever way of saying that Heaven is a choice we make. That's only part of the truth - God plays a much bigger part in this than we do - but this part of the truth needs to be said. Heaven is in a real way a matter of choice.
We don't just wait and see what Heaven is going to be like, or if we reach it as our after-life destination. Heaven calls forth some action from us now. It's not ''wait and see'' but ''let's do Heaven now.''
Doing Heaven now is a major theme in Paul's Letter to the Ephesians.
Paul says that much of Heaven has already happened for believers in Jesus Christ. He says in Chapter Two that we've already been made alive in Christ, that we've already been raised with Christ, and that we've already been seated in the heavenly places with Christ.
That's why I said that Heaven grounds us. Once we know our place in Heaven, we know better how to handle ourselves in the places we find ourselves in on earth.
Last week we looked in Chapter 1 and heard Paul tell us that we've been given all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. The Scripture exhorts us to claim these blessings and to let these blessings define us.
God needs blessed people to use in His plan to renew, restore, and remake all that exists in Heaven and on earth. We're blessed to be a blessing.
And now, today, I want to explore how it is that Heaven confronts us.
One day a man approached Jesus and asked Jesus how he could make sure that Heaven would be his final destination. Showing respect, he knelt on his knees before Jesus and asked, ''Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?''
The man had made two ...
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