End Game-2-This House Is Not My Home

Today we continue with our End Game series. Pastor Brad teaches us about heaven is a sermon he calls "This House Is Not My Home."

Pastor's Notes:

2 Corinthians 5:1-8 NKJV

5 For we know that if our earthly [a]house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our [b]habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as [c]a guarantee.6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

INTRODUCTION

Good morning, everybody!

I pray all of you had a great weekend and were able to rest a little. Last week, we started a series entitled “Endgame”, where we began to look at life after death. In our particular study last week, we looked at Hell, which we learned is the eternal state of the damned.

This morning, I want to talk to you about Heaven, that place where the redeemed go when they die. The message is entitled “This House Is Not My Home”.

ILLUSTRATION

As I was thinking about this passage, and particularly this title, my mind began to trek through my life. Being in ministry, the Lord has moved us around several places. In doing that, we’ve lived in several different types of housing. Some of them I really liked. Particularly, the last home I lived in. It was our first home purchase. If there was a possible was for us to move that house to Oklahoma, we would have done it!

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Sunday, February 9, 2020

However, there was one house we lived in that I absolutely hated. I was youth pastoring, and this house was given to us to rent very cheap, but it had major cosmetic issues. It was close to the church, so it worked. We had our first child in that place. We quickly began to decorate and fill it and make the most out of it. In fact, we have some great memories in that house.

What’s the point? The house doesn’t make it a “home”. What makes a house a “home” is what is on the inside of it like family, love, meals, memories, etc.

TRANSITION

Just as our house becomes a home by what’s inside of it, our body houses our spirit and our soul. The Scripture teaches us that this earthly body is temporal. It’s not our permanent residence. That’s why Paul referred to the body as a tent. A tent is never meant to be a permanent dwelling. It is meant to be a temporary place of shelter.

The trouble is, I think most of us life like this is all there is. In fact, eternity should determine our choices while down here on the Earth.

BACKGROUND

In our passage, Paul who is a tent-maker by trade, uses the fleshly body and refers to it as a tent. He then speaks of how the heart of every believer longs for that eternal home where God has made a place for those who believe in Him.

Let’s look at the actual truth that Paul tells us about life.

APPLICATION
1. THE TRUTH ABOUT LIFE

- First of all, Paul talked about the temporal nature of life, comparing it to a tent. We all know compared to a foundational house like we live in, a tent is nothing!

- Now, the truth is that while we live in this tent, we are to take care to it. I knew a smart alec preacher one time who had really let his health go making fun of some other pastors who were trying to take care of there own body through fitness and exercise, and he offered this verse:
1 Timothy 4:8 NKJV 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

- This verse is not saying that staying in shape is bad. In fact, it is GOOD to stay in shape because your body is the vehicle that houses your spirit and soul, and it helps you get work done for the Lord. That being said, in light of eternity, 70-80 years is nothing! But we live godly knowing that this is not all there is. The best is yet to come!

2. THE TRUTH ABOUT RESURRECTION

- Paul mentions that we are groaning to be clothed. That’s because there is a promise of a resurrection. Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that God has put eternity in the hearts of man. I think every person when honest really understand that there is more than just this life.

- In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul tells us about the resurrection of our bodies being clothed with a heavenly body. This mortal body will put on immortality.

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3. THE TRUTH OF HIS PRESENCE

- What makes Heaven “heaven”?

- Heaven is ultimately Heaven because God is there

- After we are resurrected and the end of all things happen, God will create a new heaven and a new Earth. That place will be one of no curse. John records this in Revelation 21 as a place of no sorrow, no pain, no curse, and where God reigns forever from the New Jerusalem!

CONCLUSION