Helping the Church Get to Heaven

1. Read: Revelation 21:22-27.

2. About the Text:

1) The book of Revelation gives us the outcome of life on earth.

2) God’s people will be victorious over Satan, Death, and Hell.

3) Chapter 21 reveals the great city of God where God’s people will dwell forever.

4) This is a picture of the saints in heaven.

5) The lesson from the book of Revelation for us simply: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev.2:10).

6) How can we encourage one another to live faithfully unto death?

7) How can we help one another get to heaven?

3. Consider the following scenarios.

1) The new Christian who is faithful for a while, but then falls away.

2) The child who grows up in the church and after leaving the home falls away.

3) The preacher who serves for several years and then falls away.

4) What can we do to prevent such from happening?

4. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. Somewhere along the line of those who fall away from the faith, priorities change.

2. We must instill in one another a sense of putting first things first.

3. For faithfulness, we must seek the kingdom of God first and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).

4. Matthew 22:37-40 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

5. Phil.3:8-9 “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:”

1. We need to know more about who God and Christ are.

2. God is love. 1 John 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.”

3. Christ is the manifestation of God in the flesh. John 1:18 “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”

4. Phil.3:10-11 “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”

1. Matthew 16:24-26 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

2. “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Phil.2:3-4).

3. We must practice the golden rule – Matthew 7:12 “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”

1. Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”

2. 2 Corinthians 2:11 “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”

3. Satan has many ways to tempt us to give up on Christ today.

4. We need good brothers and sisters who are educated to know how to give an answer to the error being taught in the world today.

5. 1 Peter 3:15 “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”

6. So many raised in the church go off to college and never come back to the church again.

7. Do our HS and college students have the resources they need?.

1. Ephesians 3:15 “Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.”

2. God is our Father – 1 John 3:1 “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.”

3. This means that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.

4. The church is a family? Do we want to spend time with one another as a family?

1. Proverbs 3:11 “My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction”

2. Hebrews 12:6-7 “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?”

3. Revelation 3:19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”

4. We cut our own throat when we refuse to be corrected.

5. Jonah said, “They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy” (Jonah 2:8).

1. Some say, “Get all that you can get while you are alive; live in the moment.”

2. This has terrible consequences.

3. We need to make heaven our goal and not allow temptation to dominate us.

4. Consider the attitude of Hebrews 11:13-16: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.”

1. 2 Cor.6:1 “We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.”

2. We need workers to work with the youth.

3. We need volunteers to help and visit the elderly.

4. We need helpers to put together our publications.

5. We need people to help with Internet work.

6. We need to be trained for personal evangelism.

7. There is no shortage of work to do. Do we want to do it?

1. The Lord’s church needs finances to go forward.

2. There are those who have more than enough who will die and leave their resources to the world, or worldly family members.

3. Do you really want all of that wealth to go to creature comforts?

4. Can you not commit some to the Lord for the ongoing work of the church?

5. How much did the Lord give us? He gave everything.

6. Gal.1:4 “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.”

7. Titus 2:14 “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

1. It is easy to get complacent and apathetic.

2. Titus 2:14 “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

3. Rev.3:19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”

4. 2 Cor.15:15 “And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.”

1. Let us seek to do these things to help one another get to heaven.

1) Engender in one another the right priorities.

2) Know who we serve.

3) Learn to be selfless.

4) Educated to take on the devices of Satan.

5) Develop a sense of family that no one wants to leave.

6) Learn to accept correction.

7) Let heaven motivate us.

8) Be actively involved in the work of the local congregation.

9) Expect real commitment from those established in the faith.

10) Reevaluate ourselves from time to time and be zealous.

2. Invitation