← Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
CAN YOU IMAGINE HEAVEN | PAUL DAUGHERTY | JESUS IS COMING BACK SOON PT. 6
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We're finishing our series on Jesus is coming back soon. How many all have enjoyed focusing on those words? Right there. Jesus is coming back soon. We've been going through the passages of scripture where Jesus talked about end times and where he talked about what eternity is going to be like, what's going to happen in those last days. And today I want to talk to you specifically about your destination as a believer. If you believe in Jesus Christ, my friends, you and I, we are going to heaven one day. And did you know the word Heaven is mentioned 550 times in Scripture? 550 times. Heaven is talked about in scripture from the Old Testament to the New Testament. It was the place that everybody was looking forward to. Everyone who put their faith in God knew that someday they would step into heaven. The word hell is mentioned 88 times. So you can see just the contrast of how much Jesus did not really want to talk about hell. And even though he had to, because the truth is, we all go to one destination, either heaven or hell. Those who put their faith in Jesus Christ are going to heaven. Those who reject Jesus will go to hell. But Jesus had a whole lot more to say about heaven than hell. And oftentimes he would talk about what it's going to be like, what the kingdom of heaven is like. In fact, he would tell his disciples, when you pray, I want you to pray to your Father in heaven, because that's where he sits on his throne. And I want you to pray his kingdom come, his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Which begs the question, what is it like in heaven? And I want to title this message today. If you're taking notes, note takers are history makers, world changers, culture shapers. Just write these words. Can you imagine heaven? Can you imagine heaven? In Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1, it says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, Hebrews 12 talks about this cloud of witnesses that is surrounding us in heaven like an arena. It'd be like this room that we would look out. Imagine that you're standing on the floorboard of heaven and all of heaven is on its feet. I remember when I was a kid, my dad wrote a book, my mom and dad wrote a book called Heaven is on Its Feet. And the whole point of the book was to stir up an anticipation that one day we will spend eternity in heaven. But until then, heaven is cheering you and I on that we are not alone in this race, we are not alone in this walk of faith. Romans 8, verse 23, Paul the Apostle was writing about how our light and momentary troubles cannot even compare to the glory that awaits us. He starts talking about how God's given us this foretaste. I love what it says in the new living translation. He says, we believers also groan, just like the earth groans one day for what God has in store, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste. Everybody say foretaste. When I was younger, I loved to foretaste the Thanksgiving meal before we prayed and blessed the food. I would sneak into the kitchen and I would get a foretaste. What does that mean? That means you're tasting, not the whole meal, just getting a little bit of a taste. Like a sneak peek. I get those buttery rolls. I go in there and sneak a little piece of Mac and cheese. I go in there and take a little bite of the turkey. At my father in law's house, he grills steaks on Thanksgiving. So I go over by the grill, just sneak a little foretaste, little bite before we're going to pray and bless the food. Don't act like you've never eaten a piece of food before. The prayer happened, some of y' all done it. But today I thought I would give you a foretaste of what heaven's going to be like to just remind you of where you're headed. There's eight facts I want to give you about heaven according to the word of God. The Bible gives us multiple facts, but today I want to focus on eight specific facts that the Bible says about heaven. Number one. Heaven is God's dwelling place. Heaven is the majestic home of our Creator. Heaven is God's dwelling place. Psalm 103 says, the Lord has established his throne in heaven and and his kingdom rules over all. Number two. Jesus prepares a place for us in heaven. John 14, verse 2. Jesus said, in my Father's house are many rooms, so come and go with me to. It's a big big. With lots and lots of a big big. With lots and lots of a big, big yard. A big, big house. It's my. There's only like 15 of us that grew up on audio adrenaline, but let's go. God is building a place for us. Heaven is under construction. There's homes being built and you never know who's going to be your next door neighbor. For some of you, it might be the person that you couldn't get along with here on earth. God's just got a way of humor. He's going to put you right next door to that person. Because in heaven, there's no bitterness. In heaven, there's no envy. In heaven, there's no resentment. In heaven, there's no sin. So heaven is God's dwelling place. Jesus prepares a place for us. Number three. Heaven is a place of eternal joy. Psalm 16, verse 11 says, in the presence of God is fullness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures evermore. Friends, heaven is not just streets of gold, although we read about that in Revelation. Heaven is a place where there's no depression, there's no mental disorders, there's no anxiety, there's no worry, there's no stress, there's no fear, there's no frowns. I remember when I first started preaching, this one pastor told me, he said, don't be afraid of the people's faces when you preach, because some of y' all got some frowns while I'm preaching. I'm like, I don't know if they want to kill me, if they like what I'm saying, or if they're just, you know, angry at me. But in heaven, everyone listen. Everyone is healthy. There's no wrinkles. Our skin is clear and perfect. Come on, how many are looking forward to just healthy bodies, glorified bodies in heaven, there's no wheelchairs, there's no canes, there's no sickness, no cancer, no leukemia, no disease, no divorce, no abuse, no addictions, no strongholds. Man, I'm looking forward to the day, y', all, that we are rejoicing in heaven with our creator. You say, how do you know this, Paul? The Bible gives us a foretaste. Revelation 21 says, there's no mourning, there's no sadness. The only tears in heaven are the tears of joy, tears of worship and gratitude. There's no tears of longing and sadness of what life is like here on earth, going through hard times. There's no breakups. There's no. There's no hard, dysfunctional situations in families. Number four. Everyone is invited to heaven for friends. Heaven is not just for a small group of people. Heaven is not just for one nation or one tribe or one tongue, y'. All. In heaven, it's gonna be the most diverse church in the world. Red and yellow, black and white, young and old, rich and poor, addicted and broken and messed up. People who had a past that you. You go, how did they get in? Only by the grace of Jesus Christ. Everybody's invited. It's not just for the people that are perfect. Perfect people don't go to heaven. Saved people go to heaven. But everyone's invited. Jesus told parables about how the invitation went out to all these people, but not everyone accepted the invitation. So Jesus said, go to the highways and the byways so that my Father's house may be full. God wants to pack out heaven and he wants to depopulate hell. We got work to do, y'.
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Number five, There are rewards in heaven. We've been talking about this, about the parable of the talents. Jesus says that in the last days, there will be rewards in heaven. There will be rewards for faithfulness. Did you know there's five different crowns mentioned in scripture that people will receive in heaven? One of the crowns is a crown of faithfulness for believers who were just faithful, just enduring through hard times like Job, just not throwing in the towel, continuing to worship, even in the valley, even in the difficulty. Can I tell you, you are working for a crown right now that one day is going to end up at the feet of Jesus. It's not a crown you're going to brag about. It's a crown that you say, only for the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. And it's worth it. It's worth it. There's a crown called the martyrs crown. This last week, in the last month, there's been pastors and Christians killed in Nigeria simply for having faith in God. Extreme jihadists, Muslim jihadists going into churches in Nigeria and killing pastors and taking guns and killing Christians. And you go, man, my heart breaks them in heaven, y'. All. Those Christians are going to have a martyr's crown. I'm telling you, there's going to be people on the front row of heaven that never held a microphone, never had a stage, never had a big church. You wouldn't know their name from anybody. But God says the last will be first and the first will be last. And that praying grandmother that nobody ever knew was in church was praying every single day for you to come into y'. All. I. I think I might be in, like, the back row at heaven. I think Ashley's gonna be on the front row. I'm gonna try to sneak up there. She's a saint, but I'm telling you, there's gonna be people. You go, how do you know this, Paul? The Bible actually says there's rewards in heaven, and there's actually positions and seats, 24 elders sitting around the throne. The book of Revelation talks about how there's gonna be believers, rewards in heaven. Now, salvation is a gift. You can't earn it. You can't work for it. It is a free gift. Y', all. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, there was a thief next to him that never went to church, never read his Bible, didn't know John 3:16, never tithed, probably did some terrible things in his life because he was hanging on a cross for crimes he committed. But he looks at Jesus and he says, will you remember me when you step into glory? And Jesus says, not only will I remember you, Luke 23, but today you will be with me in paradise. How many are thankful for the free gift of salvation? So eight facts about heaven. Number six. The only way to heaven is through Christ. You can't be a good enough person to get in. It's only through Jesus. Put your faith in him. Jesus said in John 14, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Number seven, the choice is yours. Heaven is your choice. Heaven will not be forced on anybody. Heaven is your choice. Romans 6:23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Here's the eighth point right here. Eternity is an immediate transition upon death. When Jesus looked at that criminal on the cross, he didn't say, one day, 2,000 years from now, when I come back, you'll be with me in heaven. He says, today. Everybody say today. As soon as that criminal died, he stepped into glory. As soon as Paul the apostle died. Now some people go, well, I think his body's still decomposing and he'll raise one day. And he's just laying under the ground for 2000 years. No, no. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That's Second Corinthians. When you look in Second Corinthians 5, verse 8, Paul teaches us this, that absence from the body, our body is like, my dad used to do this. He used to put a glove on his hand and he would say, the glove is the body. But one day the glove comes off and the glove is laid to rest. The hand is the soul. The soul lives forever. Your soul goes to be with the Lord and there's a glorified body. And so today I want to give you a foretaste of what heaven's going to be like. I thought about preaching a full sermon to you, but I heard the Lord this week in my prayer time say, take victory on a trip to heaven. So today we're gonna take a 22 minute trip to heaven. You guys ready? You're like, what is he gonna do, kill us? No, you're dead. No, don't you go dying on me. We're also not getting drugged either. We're not getting high, okay? I gotta say that in cannabis Oklahoma, y'. All. We're going there. It's imagination. Everybody say imagination. Now, the Bible teaches on the power of imagination. Even God would speak to different characters that we're gonna talk to today about the power of imagination, believing and exercising. When I was a kid, my parents used to sit down with me. My brother John, my sisters. And they would tell us stories once upon a time. And I would close my eyes and I would imagine what my mom and dad were talking about. And then sometimes they would tell us stories that had truth to them. Stories about heaven. Imagine one day that you're standing in heaven and you're talking to this person, and I say, is that real? You serious, Clark? You serious? And they were like, yeah, I'm serious. Heaven is for real. When I was little, I remember hearing stories about people that died and came back to life and they had, like, visions and actual encounters in heaven. I remember hearing the story of Kenneth Hagin, that when he died, he actually had a vision of hell and what it was like for him, and it made him want to live his life and get. Give his heart to Jesus. I remember when I got older, I read a book called 90 Minutes in Heaven by John Piper or Don Piper. And then I read another book called Heaven is for Real by Colton, Colton Burpo, who came to our church here. And so this week, I was praying. I felt the Lord say, take victory on a trip to heaven. So I want you to close your eyes, don't go to sleep, and let's go flying. All right? Our souls just left the building. We're flying through the clouds. We're going up into the sky. All of a sudden, you hear sounds. Sounds you've never heard before. Instruments you've never seen before. You hear the sound of a billion voices singing, holy, holy, holy. Worthy, worthy. And you arrive at the gate. Because heaven has gates, my friends. Heaven has gates. And all of a sudden, we're met at the gate. St. Peter is there, and he says, all right, victory. 11:00am Service. You're gonna get a foretaste today. 21 minutes now that you'll spend right here with me. And I'm going to walk you through the streets of gold, of Heaven. All right, open your eyes. Can you see it? The streets of gold, the city that is beyond this world. Hebrews 11 talks about a city whose architect is the Lord, whose creator is God himself. A city that Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Jacob, they looked forward to. So as we're walking down the streets of gold, the first person we encounter is this lady. She's walking towards us, and at first we're like, is that Esther? Is that Rebecca? Is that Rachel? Is that Mary? She comes up to us and she says, hey, victory. My name is Rahab. Like Rahab. Who is Rahab? Rahab. Rahab. In the story of Joshua, if you ever read the Book of Joshua, there's this woman named Rahab who was the town prostitute. And Rahab caught wind that Israel was coming towards the promised land. And rather than run and hide and fight with her people, she actually, as a foreigner, not a Jewish woman, she grafted herself into the story of God. And so Rahab begins to think, talk to us. And she says, listen, yes, I do have a past. Yes, I was once a prostitute. In fact. Hebrews 11, verse 31 tells us the story of Rahab in the hall of faith. If you go to Hebrews chapter 11, throw this on the screen. Hebrews 11, verse 31, it says, by faith. Everybody say, by faith. By faith, the prostitute. Look at those first four words of this passage. By faith, the prostitute. The fact that those four words are all together talking about heaven. By faith, the prostitute, Rahab. I see Rahab. She's talking to some of you in the room, and she says, listen, some of you have allowed your past to hold you in a pattern of shame. Some of you have allowed your past mistakes, past regrets to hold you back, that God has nothing good in store for you. Rahab starts introducing us to. To her family. She says, because I made the decision by faith to trust in the God of Israel, the God Yahweh, the real God, the true God. Not only did I get saved, but my entire household got saved. She starts introducing us to her family. I don't know if y' all know this, but Rahab had a grandson named Boaz. If you read about Boaz, Boaz is the guy that Ruth ended up marrying. Y' all ever heard about Ruth and Boaz? And from Ruth and Boaz, they have a son who has another son named Jesse. And Jesse has a son named David. Because of Rahab's faith, she starts talking to us in heaven. She says, y', all, you don't even realize. Yeah, Rahab's got oaky accent. Y', all, you don't even realize that when you choose to live by faith, not only does it change your story, it changes your whole family story story. Moms don't give up on Your kids, grandmas, don't give up on your grandkids. I hear Rahab talking to somebody in the room that feel ashamed of past mistakes. Rahab says, listen, God's not looking for perfect moms or perfect women. He's just looking for surrendered women. Just women who will obey him and trust in his word. As Rahab is still talking, this six foot five, big, big old lumberjack dude starts walking towards us with a big beard, bigger than Duck Dynasty beard. He goes, hey, Victory. Like, who is this guy? He says, my name is Abraham. Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham, and I am one of them and so are you. And he says, stop, I've been listening to your song for too many years. Abraham says, listen, I want to talk to some people today while you're here in heaven for 15 more minutes. I want to talk to some people who've given up on dreams because I've been there before. Some of you are mad at God because you've been waiting and praying and you haven't seen the breakthrough. Abraham says, I was there. I mean, I watched my own dad get hung up over heartbreak. He was on his way towards Canaan and we stopped in Ur, and then I had to carry our family on and get us to the promised land. And I heard God say he was going to give me kids. And then we didn't have kids. And we found out we couldn't have kids. It just wasn't in the cards for us. All of a sudden, Sarah walks up and it's Sarah and Abraham, and they're talking to us together. He says, one night I was sitting in my tent and I was so discouraged, I was so overwhelmed that I was never going to have children. And God says, abraham, I want you to imagine heaven for a second. Yet Abraham had the same kind of encounter you're having today. God had to bring Abraham out of his tent. He said, I want you to get out of your tent and I want you to look up to heaven. I want you to look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Genesis 15. Abraham starts telling us this story. He says, y', all, I remember walking outside looking at the sky and there were millions of stars. Not to mention the galaxies that have more stars. You can't count those stars. What was God doing? Trying to give me a foretaste of something that wasn't here yet. He was whetting my appetite for the prophetic dreams and the fulfillment of miracles that he had promised would come to pass. He said, I. I Got upset and I looked at God. I said, God, it's great that you promised me I'm going to have kids, but it hasn't happened yet. Now I'm in my 80s and my wife said, I in her 90s, and it's never going to happen. And God says, abraham, I am your shield. I am your great reward. Don't you let go. Abraham said, I want to talk to some of you that have been praying to have children, praying one day to get married, praying one day to start a business, praying one day to have a financial turnaround, to pay your kids college or to pay for that car. I want to talk to some of you that feel like God has forgotten about you. He said, I want to take you somewhere. So he starts walking us down the streets of heaven. He points at this building off to the side. It's like this massive, long warehouse. And on the side of this building, it says, the promises of God. He says, did you know that God's promises up in heaven are just waiting to explode down on earth in your life inside that building are the cattle that sit on a thousand hills. If you were to walk in that building, your eyes wouldn't believe the provision that God has for you. Jehovah Jireh has every need met already in heaven, just waiting to show up on earth. He says, let me show you another building. He points at another building across the street. And on the other building, it says, miracles in the works. He says, when you come into this building, I want you to come with me. So all of us in the 11am service, we walk with Abraham into the building. We start seeing incredible things. Babies being formed for people in this room that have prayed one day to have children. We see this theater room to the side. We walk past a few other things, like houses being paid off, phase two of Victory park being finished, cars waiting to be given to someone in this room. It's almost like unreal to us. We're like, I can't believe heaven actually has a different economy than Earth. Can't believe heaven actually has the answers up there to our problems down here. This is why Jesus says, when you pray, pray thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So Abraham says, come into the theater room. So we go into the theater room. We sit down like we are right now. And on the big screen, movies start playing. Movies of people's stories in this room, movies of things that haven't happened yet. So one of the first movie scenes is Josh and Becca. Calm, right? Josh Was the guy with the OU sooner shirt up here, shout out to OU for beating Alabama. And the first movie is Josh and Becca welcoming their baby boy, right? And then it's like one baby after another, five more in Jesus name. And it's like God's blessing, their family and their legacy and the ministry and the gifts and the opportunities. We're seeing it all on the screen. We're like, are you serious? This is gonna happen? If you'll just be patient. Abraham looks at all of us and he says, every dream, every gift, every promise God has for you can come to pass if you'll just wait with faith and patience. Don't give up on the dream. Don't give up on the dream, Sarah. Don't give up on the dream, Ashley. Don't give up on the dream, Daniel. Don't give up on the promises of God. We start watching as more movies start playing of people's lives and stories and marriages that never looked like they could be restored getting restored. Kids who never seem to be right with God coming down to the altar, getting right with God. We're seeing, like, breakthrough testimonies, reconciliation between family members who ghosted each other, like, 30 years ago. But all of a sudden, God's bringing them back together, and there's, like, incredible testimonies. Then that girl that's been waiting to marry the right guy and has walked through so many heartbreaks, we see the video playing if she meets this incredible man of God. And we're watching the wedding happening, and she's crying in church today because all of a sudden, she starts realizing heaven is closer than you think, and the miracles of God are closer than you realize. And as Abraham wants to keep showing us more, there's this guy on the outside of the theater room that's like, come on, you gotta go. We got more to talk about. You only got 10 minutes left. And we start walking. And he's like, I love holding this door for you. We're like, who is this guy? He's kind of crazy. He's like, I love being a door holder in the kingdom of God. I would rather be a door holder in God's house than dwell in the tents of the wicked. Wait, I've heard this before. This is a psalm. What are you? Who are you? Oh, the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. And my goodness have I walked through some valleys. You're David. You're King David. And he says, no, no, no, I'm not a king. Up here, there's only one king. It's the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. I'm just David. Everybody say just David. Can I just say something today? Because some of us in this room, we exalt people here on earth that up there are going to be just another citizen of heaven. I want to honor the volunteers in the room because David was a door holder. He said, I'd rather be a door holder. I'd rather be a greeter in the house of God. If you greet anywhere in this church at any service, would you stand up? I want to honor all the greeters. If you serve in the parking lot ministry, I want to honor all the parking lot volunteers. If you serve as an usher, I want the ushers to stand up. If you serve behind a camera, I want the camera men and women to raise your hands back there. If you serve in the sound booth at Children's Church, at the Dream center, if you volunteer anywhere, would you stand up? I want to just honor all the volunteers in the house today. Come on. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than dwell anywhere else. I'm telling you, y' all are gonna be in the front of the room in heaven. I think some of the people that are on stage might be in the middle or the back, and it's going to be some of the volunteers that are in the front. Just faithful servants of the Lord. David starts encouraging all the volunteers. And David says, let me tell you about the days that I was running from my father in law, Saul, throwing spears at me all the time, hunted down like I was a bad guy and I was only trying to serve. David starts talking about how the years he waited for the fulfillment of dreams and the day that Samuel anointed him to be the future king of Israel. He says, listen, sometimes there's a process. Jordan, there's a process. Josh, there's this process where you get anointed for something, but you're not ready to step into it yet. And God leads you through this process. Don't give up in the process. It might take 10 years, it might. It might take 20 years, but if you'll just stay faithful. David starts telling us about how he smells like sheep. He's like, you know, I was that one guy that just hung out with the sheep. And you know what? God's looking for guys that smell like sheep. He's looking for people that will just serve in their father's house. Just go through the process. Just trust in God. David starts singing Songs. He pulls out his guitar. He's like, I wrote some of my best songs during my worst seasons. And by the way, David says, it wasn't all. Wasn't always other people's fault. Sometimes it was my fault. David says, I remember when I wrote Psalm 51 after one of the biggest mistakes of my life. Somehow God turned my biggest mistake into a bigger blessing when he gave me a son, Solomon. But David says, I remember finding myself on the floor weeping after a miscarriage with Bathsheba, realizing how much I had sinned, realizing how much I had missed it. He said, I started writing this psalm saying, God, I repent. Lord, create in me a clean heart and a steadfast spirit. Clean my hands, God. David said, it was there in the dust and the darkness and the sadness. And I hear David just looking at all of us in the room, especially the men. And he says, don't ever stop repenting. Don't ever stop humbling yourself before God. Don't ever become too big to handle. Correction. David says, I remember standing there before God and weeping, and God started forming my heart. And David said, by the way, men, your past mistakes don't have to be the final thing that you remember when you die. God still said, I'm a man after his own heart, even after all my flaws and mistakes. Sometimes the valley is the valley that you made, and sometimes the valley is the valley someone else made. But even when you're in that valley, the Lord is with you. His rod and his staff, they comfort you. And as David is still talking, suddenly this redhead woman comes running, and she's full of joy and energy. And we're looking at her like we kind of recognize her, but she just looks different. She goes, victory, it's me, Gran Gran. Gran Gran, what are you doing up there? She said, I was just. Just with you guys about eight months ago. Grand grand passed away in March of this year. She said, some of you still have voicemails that I called you. How many y' all ever got a phone call from Grand Grand? She used to call members of our church and leave voicemails. She starts talking to us. She said, I. I got a bone to pick with some of you guys. See, Gran Gran, she lived to be 101 years old. She reminds us of this up there in heaven. She's like, I live to be 100 1. I saw the goodness of God. Some of you have given up on the power of seed, time and harvest. My last conversation with Grand Gran was on this floor. We sat on stools. How Many all were here. When Gran Gran and we had a conversation, I sat and I interviewed my grand gran and she said, the most important thing is don't ever stop sowing. Because God, he never lets those seeds return. Void. Those seeds will produce a harvest, even if it takes 10, 20, 30, 40 years. Keep trusting in the seed of your words, the seed of your finances, the seed of your time. Grand Gran starts talking to us and she says, I've been praying for some of you married people out there. I've been praying for your kids. I've been praying for some of you grandparents out there that you would realize you are here for such a time as this. Don't think that God's finished with you. Don't put a limit on what age God can work through your life. God worked through me when I was 101 years old. Abraham chimes in, and God blessed me and Sarah when we were in our late 90s. And David starts talking, and all of a sudden another group of people walks up. All right, these people look. We kind of recognize these people. One of them is a queen. And the other one, he looks like this author, this writer. He's kind of balding in the front. It's Queen Esther and Paul the Apostle, come on, give it up for Queen Esther. The beautiful queen that realized she was called for such a time as this. Esther said, I've got a word for some of you ladies and the men, too. Some of you think that you're only here for a specific job or a specific thing that you're supposed to do. But God has you here on strategic assignment in Tulsa, Oklahoma. God has you at Victory Church for such a time as this. And if you remain silent at a time where people are hurting and broken, and if you think, well, it's not my turn to do anything, Esther says, let me remind you that I was the woman who almost opted out of obedience when Mordecai was stirring in me to go and speak with the king for a group of people that were hurting and broken, that were about to be annihilated. And Paul the apostle says, listen, I gotta say something to Esther. So Paul says, listen, when. When I started writing my books to the churches and I started planting those churches, I had one assignment for me. To live as Christ and to die as gain everything is for Jesus. Keep your minds on Jesus. If you're going to see transformation on the outside of your life, you're going to have to renew your mind. Read the Romans, read Philippians, read Ephesians. Paul starts telling Us to get in the word. Get in the Word and let the word get in us. Keep our mind set on heavenly places. He reminds us in Colossians to set our minds on things above. Time is running out. We got a few minutes left. All of a sudden, walks up these three or four guys. It's Vadi Bochum, it's Billy Joe Daugherty, it's Oral Roberts, it's Billy Graham. These four generals of the faith that are standing up there in heaven. Vaddy went to be with the Lord this past year. My dad went to be with the Lord 16 years ago. Oral's been up there for 16 years. Billy Graham in the last 10 years. They're all standing together. They're looking right at us. Victory. And they're saying, time is running out. Jesus is coming back soon. Live your life with purpose. Live with focus. Live with urgency. Make the most of your time. Forgive the people you need to forgive. Apologize to the people you need to apologize to. Get your heart right with God. Stop fooling around. Surrender to Jesus. Surrender to Jesus. You have an assignment. All of a sudden, the great cloud of witnesses, they all start coming together and they realize there's 30 seconds left with this 11am Service. 30 seconds left, and they start cheering us on. Get back in the race. Stand for the miracle. Believe with faith. Be obedient to what God has spoken to you to do. Some of you have 30 years left. Some of you have three months left. It's like heaven knows each of us when we're gonna go. It's like this thing that the Lord just knows. And I hear the Lord saying, make the most of your time here on earth. And we're back November 16th, sitting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 70 degrees outside in the 11:00am service. Stand to your feet. You can tell people you went to heaven this week. Went to heaven with my pastor this week. So what do we do with this? You go, what am I supposed to do with this? David said this in Psalm 90. He said, Lord, teach me to number my days. Teach me to make the most of my time. Keep my heart set on eternity. Keep. Keep my heart set on eternity. A proper view of heaven leads to an engaged life on earth. Friends, when you understand heaven is for real and that one day everything we do will be judged up there, and by the grace of God, you'll be saved. But there's rewards and there's an assignment, and all of heaven is cheering you on. There's not a week that goes by that I don't feel like my dad's up there somehow with the great cloud of witness talking to me like, Paul, be a better dad, be a better husband, be a better pastor. Grow in your faith. Get in the word. Pray. Forgive the people you need to forgive. Don't be petty. Don't make a big deal of small things. Be patient. Stay with it. Bless those who curse you. Be a blessing to other people. Sow seed into the kingdom. It's like I can just hear them talking to us. See, a proper view of heaven leads to an engaged life here on earth. Before you leave, we're going to have a powerful moment here at the altar. I'm going to ask for no one to be moving, but let me read this to you. A man asked this author, what is the purpose of life? This author had written a book called the Purpose Driven Life. He said these words, one day my heart is going to stop. That will be the end of my body, but not the end of me. I may live to be 60 or even 100 years here on earth, but I'm going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This life is a warm up act. It's a dress rehearsal. We were made by God and for God. And until you figure that out, life is not going to make sense. God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than he is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in our character, to become more like Christ. We need to ask ourselves, am I going to live my life for possessions? Another house, another car, more money? Am I going to live for popularity? Am I going to be driven by materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes for my life? CS Lewis said it like this. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. Abraham said it like this in Hebrews 11, verse 8, that he was longing for a day where he would spend his eternity in a place that was beyond this world. And verse 10, a place whose maker and whose architect was God himself. Friends, heaven is our eternal home. And I hear God today just challenging all of us in this room. Live with heaven on your mind. Live with eternity in your heart. Some of you have been praying for a miracle that maybe you've given up on. And I hear heaven saying, pick that miracle back up. Pick that dream back up. Pick that Bible up off the shelf. Get ready for What God has in store. If you could just see that building up in heaven. Miracles in the works, that building up in heaven. The promises of God. If you just saw how much provision God has, how much miracles God has in store. See, we haven't seen our greatest days yet as a church. I think there's a video up there in that theater room of a harvest so big at Victory. Cars will line the streets as thousands of people line up outside this building to come down to the altar to give their hearts to Jesus. Every single week I see another other movie up in that theater room of future campuses and future dream centers and future prison outreaches where hundreds of prisoners, thousands of prisoners are giving their hearts to Jesus. I see us building hospitals and orphanages and rescue homes. I see us raising up missionaries and pastors and leaders. I see a day. See, heaven sees something so much bigger than us. Heaven sees so much bigger for you. Would you just close your eyes so you can see on the inside what God sees up there? With every head bowed, every eye closed. I want you to imagine what heaven sees for your life. Imagine what heaven sees for your life. Healed, healthy, restored. Reconciled with people you need to reconcile with. Dreams fulfilled, prayers answered. Provision. The thing that you've been waiting on, the thing you've been praying for. I hear heaven just cheering you on the great cloud of witnesses. Heaven is on its feet. I can only imagine with every head bowed, every eye closed. I feel like God had an appointment with some of you today. It was an appointment to remind you that he's for you, he's not against you. God had an appointment with some of you today to remind you that he hasn't given up on you, even if you've given up on yourself. He hasn't given up on the dreams he placed in your hearts, even if you gave up on the dream. God saying, that dream is still alive. Lazarus, come forth. God says there's callings and potential inside of you that you haven't tapped into yet. There's ideas that you haven't released yet. Don't let the graveyard be the wealthiest place in the world. Die empty. Get it all out here on earth. God says, I've put books inside you, dreams inside you, businesses. I've put ideas inside you. There's things that you haven't. There's miracle breakthroughs. If you'll rise up with faith, with every head bowed, every eye closed. I want to pray for people today. This word was for you. And it's stirring you to live your life in light of eternity and there's some areas that God is asking you to lay down. Some areas he's asking you to surrender. For some, it's doubt. For some, it's shame, like Rahab. For some, it's this feeling of disqualified because you've blown it with sins you've committed. But today, God says your sins can be forgiven. I. I forgot to show you one other building up in heaven. It's called mercies. New every morning. And those mercies keep getting poured out every single day. The mercy factory is releasing fresh mercy. And it's leaking from heaven down to earth. See, some of you need to be reminded, you are forgiven, my friend. You are forgiven. You are redeemed. Rahab says, I used to be called Rahab the prostitute, but up here in heaven, they call me Rahab the Redeemed. I'm Rahab the Redeemed. I'm the woman who. Who's God. God turned my story around. I want to talk to some of you today that you need to get your life turned around. You need to surrender to Jesus. You need to receive his mercy and grace. For some of you, it's miracles that you've given up on. And God says, I want you to get those miracles out in front of you. I want you to pray for those. I want you to stand for those. If I'm preaching to you today, and you know you need to surrender something to God, you need to come down to this altar. I want you to just raise your hand across this room. God's talking to men and women, young and old, from the front to the back today. If you just need to get right with God, you're saying, man, I just need to get my heart right with God. I need to surrender my heart and my mindset to God. I need to get my mind renewed with the word of God and the presence of God. If that's you, I want you to raise your hand. Salvation is here today. If you need to give your life to Jesus, raise your hand. Salvation is knocking on the door of your heart. Hands going up around the room. If you raise your hand for any of those or you need healing or a miracle, I to want. I want you to leave your seat by faith. Come and join me right here at this altar. And we're gonna cheer on brave men, brave women, moms and dads, husbands, wives, sons and daughters, college students, grandparents, young adults, whatever season of life you're in. And we're gonna begin to worship. And I'm gonna ask you to just stay for a few minutes. Cause I think The Holy Spirit wants to move in your life. I know some of you are visiting this weekend just for ORU homecoming. You're visiting this week and it's your first time to victory. And I hear God saying, I have an appointment with you today. I have assignment for you today to hear these words. Heaven is on its feet. Don't throw in the towel. Don't give up. Don't stop praying. Don't stop believing. Don't stop trusting. Expect a miracle in Jesus name. Let's just begin to worship all over this room. Go ahead. Virginia.
- [42:04]
B
Waymaker miracle worker Promise keeper. Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Way make miracle worker promise keeper Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Way maker, miracle worker Promise keeper Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Way make miracle work. Promise keeping light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Cuz even when I don't see it, you're working. Even when I don't feel it, you're working. You never stop, you never stop working. You never stop, you never stop working. Even when I don't see see if you're working. Even when I don't feel it, you're working. You never stop, you never stop working. You never stop, you never stop working. Even when I don't see it, you're working. Even when I don't feel it, you're working. You never stop, you never stop working. You never stop, you never stop working. Even when I don't see it, you're working. Even when I don't feel it you working, you never stop, you never stop working. You never stop, you never stop working. Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper. Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Way maker miracle work Promise keeper. Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. And that is who you are. And that is who you are. Oh, that is who you are. For that is who you are. Oh, that is who you are. For that is who you are. For that is who you are. That is who you are.
- [44:52]
A
As we were praying here at the altar, I just felt like the Holy Spirit said to pray for people that have been believing to get pregnant. So if that's you, and I know this is a step of faith, but don't be embarrassed if you're believing one day to have children. I want you to raise your hands if that's a prayer in your heart and you're bold enough to ask for it. I want to pray for you. I see hands going up around the room from the front to the back. So, Lord, I just pray, God, for every hand that's raised, that's believing one day to be able to have children. I thank you, God, that you're able to do what you did for Abraham and Sarah, what you did for Hannah in the Bible, what you've done for many members in our church who were told by doctors it was impossible. It would take a medical miracle for that to take place. God, I thank you that you're still in the business of doing miracles. So I pray for every hand that's raised, God, that it can happen and it will by faith in Jesus name. Secondly, you're here today and you say, I am believing specifically for something financially that's beyond what I can pay for, something that's beyond what I can pay for. And it's something that I actually am in, like a desperate need to see God do something in this area in my life financially. If that's you, I want you to raise your hand, Lord, I just pray right now, God, for every need represented in this room. You know what it is. You know what bills they're facing, you know what needs they have. And I thank you that you own the cattle on a thousand hills, and God, that you are Jehovah Jireh, just like you said in your word in Philippians 4:19, My God shall supply all of my needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. God, I thank you, Lord, that you're faithful. So, Lord, I pray for every need. God, I thank you that our faith is not in the government, Our faith is not in the president, our faith is not in, Lord, even the local church. Our faith is in you, Jesus Christ. And our faith is in your word, God, that you have spoken to us. So, God, we're going to trust in you. And I'm believing for financial miracles, breakthroughs, so that people, God, are continuing, Lord, that they're able to continue to be a blessing in Jesus name. Amen. Lastly, I want to pray for those that have a prayer for relationships in your life, if there's been heartbreak in your life or just relationships or even areas in your own heart that involve a relationship where you just go, God, I really need some healing in my heart. And I really would love to see a miracle one day for this relationship to be healed, restored, reconciled, or for God to bring something different to pass in your life. If you're. If you've walked through a divorce and you're believing one day to be remarried and to have a healthy marriage one day or Maybe you're here today and you just say, my heart's been broken in relationships and I need healing in relationships with my family. If you need healing today in that area, I want you to raise your hand. I want to pray for any men and women today that are just believing for healing in your heart and some form of restoration, reconciliation to the future in these relationships. Lord, I pray for every hand that's raised. You know what they're walking through, you know what they have walked through. And God, you're the only one. You are the great physician, not just for our bodies, but for our hearts and our minds. And God, I thank you that you are the restorer of families. So God, I pray for restoration in homes. I pray for reconciliation between fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, mothers and sons, fathers and daughters. I pray, God, for those that are in the room that are believing one day to be. Be married and have a healthy marriage. I thank you, God, that you're able to do it. So, Lord, I release my faith, God, for healing in hearts, restoration, dreams fulfilled. God, for relationship someday for your glory in Jesus name, Amen. Let's pray this prayer together. All across this room. Just say, jesus, I'm all yours. Thank you that you died on the cross for my sins. You rose from the grave. I repent and I receive your forgiveness. I confess you as my Lord and Savior. Thank you, Jesus, that my name is written in the book of life. Heaven is my eternal home and I'm going to live my life for you in Jesus name. Amen and Amen. I love you. God loves you. Be blessed.