October 22, 2017

Sunday School
Heaven Is For Real!

·       Heaven: God’s Dwelling Place

Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Deuteronomy 26:15 – Look down from your holy dwelling place in heaven and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us, just as you promised our ancestors – a land flowing with milk and honey.

1 Chronicles 16:31 – Let the heavens rejoice, and the earth be happy! Let the nations say, “The Lord reigns!”

2 Chronicles 2:6 – Of course, who can really build a temple for Him, since the sky and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? Who am I that I should build Him a temple? It will really be only a place to offer sacrifices before Him.

Job 22:12 & 14 – “Is not God on high in heaven? And see the lofty stars, how high they are!  Thick clouds are a veil for Him, so He does not see us, as He goes back and forth in the vault of heaven.”

Psalms 11:4 – The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven. His eyes watch; His eyes examine all people.

Psalms 33:13 – The Lord watches from heaven; He see all people.

Psalms 123:1 – I look up toward You, the one enthroned in heaven.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 – Do not be rash with your mouth or hasty in your heart to bring up a matter before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth! Therefore, let your words be few.

Isaiah 66:1 – This is what the Lord says: “The heavens are my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where then is the house you will build for me? Where is the place where I will rest?

Daniel 4:35 – All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as He wishes with the army of heaven and with those who inhabit the earth. No one slaps His hand and says to Him, “What have you done?”

Matthew 5:44-45 – But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Matthew 11:25 – At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things for the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to little children.

Mark 16:19 – After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

Acts 7:49 – ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth is the footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is my resting place?’

Romans 1:18 – For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness.

Revelation 12:7-9 – Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.  But the dragon was not strong enough to prevail, so there was no longer any place left in heaven for him and his angels. So that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world – was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him.

Revelation 21:22-25 – Now I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God – the All-Powerful – and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their grandeur into it. Its gates will never be closed during the day (and there will be no night there).

·       Heaven: The Future Dwelling Place of the Righteous

John 14:2 – There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you.

2 Corinthians 12:2-4 – I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows) was caught up to the third heaven. And I know that this man (whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows) was caught up into paradise and heard things too sacred to be put into words, things that a person is not permitted to speak. 

·       Heaven: Where the wicked are excluded from

Galatians 5:19-21 – Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying murder, drunkenness, carousing and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!

Ephesians 5:5 – For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Revelation 22:15 – Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral, and the murderers, and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood!

·       Heaven: New Heavens

 Isaiah 66:22 – “For just as the new heavens and he new earth I am about to make will remain standing before me,” says the Lord, “so your descendants and your name will remain.”

2 Peter 3:13 –But, according to His promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness truly resides.

Revelation 21:1-4 - Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more. And I saw the holy city – the new Jerusalem – descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist anymore – or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.”

Sermon
James 4:7-10 - Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will life you up.
Subject: Submitting Yourselves To God!

• Put on the whole armor of God.

Six Steps to True Repentance
1. Submit to God: be subject to God; be ready and willing to listen to God; obey God. Be teachable, coachable and humble.
2. Resist the devil: closing ears and hearts to Satan's suggestions; don't be disrespectful; resist the devil and he will flee from you. Use the Word of God (Sword of Armor).
3. Draw near to God. Stay close to the consuming fire; Pray to God because He is well able to take of you; draw near to God and He will draw near to you; He promised never to leave us along. God will restore us.
4. Cleanse your hands and purify your double mindedness.  Confession should be followed by deep sorrow, however, to not dwell in sorrow.
5. Lament and mourn and weep when we have fallen short of the God's Word. We should prostrate ourselves in earnest prayer.
6. Humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord.