HEAVEN
RELATED INDEX TOPICS: Jesus & Salvation, Hell, Rewards, Strangers & Pilgrims, Testimonies of Faith.
1. Gypsy Rodney Smith, preaching at Dallas, Texas, had a petition from coloured ministers asking for a meeting exclusively for Negroes. They came in thousands. There was a good deal of punctuating of his address with 'Hallelujahs' and 'Amens.'
Suddenly an aged coloured woman called out, 'Gypsy Smith, may I ask a question?'
Looking at her, he said, 'Certainly, my sister, what is it?'
'What colour are we going to be when we get to Heaven? Shall we be white or black?' Everybody was waiting breathlessly for the answer.
'My dear sister, we are going to be just like Christ,' replied Gypsy Smith. And 'Amen' rang out all over the hall.
2. Charles E. Fuller once announced that he would be speaking the following Sunday on "Heaven." During that week a beautiful letter was received from an old man who was very ill. The following is part of his letter:
"Next Sunday you are to talk about Heaven. I am interested in that land, because I have held a clear title to a bit of property there for over fifty-five years. I did not buy it. It was given to me without money and without price. But the Donor purchased it for me at tremendous sacrifice. I am not holding it for speculation since the title is not transferable. It is not a vacant lot.
"For more than half a century I have been sending materials out of which the greatest Architect and Builder of the Universe has been building a home for me which will never need to be remodelled nor repaired because it will suit me perfectly, individually, and will never grow old.
"Termites can never undermine its foundations for they rest on the Rock of Ages. Fire cannot destroy it. Floods cannot wash it away. No locks nor bolts will ever be placed upon its doors, for no vicious person can ever enter that land where my dwelling stands, now almost completed and almost ready for me to enter in and abide in peace eternally, without fear of being ejected.
"There is a valley of deep shadow between the place where I live in California and that to which I shall journey in a very short time. I cannot reach my home in that City of Gold without passing through this dark valley of shadows. But I am not afraid because the best Friend I ever had went through the same valley long, long ago and drove away all its gloom. He has stuck by me through thick and thin, since we first became acquainted fifty-five years ago, and I hold His promise in printed form, never to forsake me or leave me alone. He will be with me as I walk through the valley of shadows, and I shall not lose my way when He is with me.
"I hope to hear your sermon on Heaven next Sunday from my home in Los Angeles, California, but I have no assurance that I shall be able to do so. My ticket to Heaven has no date marked for the journey-no return coupon-and no permit for baggage. Yes, I am all ready to go and I may not be here while you are talking next Sunday evening, but I shall meet you there some day."
3. We shall not rest from our work but from our labours. There will be no toil, no pain in the work.
4. Heaven is not all rest. On the door is inscribed: 'No admission except on business.'
5. Heaven would be a very hell to a wicked person.
6. The more of Heaven we cherish, the less of Earth we covet.
7. No man may go to Heaven who hath not sent His heart thither before.
8. Homesick sometimes,
Want to go home;
Aching with longing
Where'er I roam.
Weary sometimes,
Wishing to be
There in the glory
Eternally.
Coming sometime,
Great trumpet sound!
Glorious daybreak!
Joy will abound.
Trading sometime
Body of clay,
For one immortal;
Hasten blest day!
9. Every Muslim according to the Koran who lives a righteous life on earth will receive eternal rewards befitting a king when he dies and goes to Paradise. There, after a feast of 300 courses, he will be endowed forever with the health and vigor of a young man and then given a palace with 80,000 servants and 72 gorgeous wives possessed of perpetual youth and beauty, whose virginity is renewable at pleasure. Moreover, if an offspring is desired, it will grow to full maturity in an hour.
10. Everyone will get to Heaven who could live there.
11. Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.--Thomas Moore
12. Here, joy begins to enter into us; there, we enter into joy.
13. Christ brings the heart to Heaven first, & then the person.
14. All the way to Heaven is Heaven.
15. There is a difference between being willing to go to Heaven & wanting to stay on Earth--& wanting to go to Heaven while being willing to stay on Earth.
16. "Can a man chew tobacco and go to Heaven?" was a question put to Mr. Moody.
His reply, though not elegant and a bit jolting, about covers the situation. "Yes," answered Mr. Moody, "but he would have to go to Hell to spit!"
17. The resurrection & the judgement will demonstrate before all worlds who won & who lost. We can wait!
18. --A Heavenly City Whose Builder & Maker is God, a permanent Home!
"This WORLD is not my home,
I'm just a-passing through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue!"
PTL! This World is not our home, so we don't have to worry about whether it's good or bad. The BETTER it is, the HARDER it is to leave it. The BADDER it is, the EASIER it is to leave it!
19. "For He hath prepared for them a City!" Hallelujah? He's got a City for you & me where you're not going to have any passport nor visa problems, they're not going to have to make sure you've got enough money to stay there awhile, it's YOUR town, your Hometown in Heaven, praise God? And they're all going to be your people! We're just going to be one nationality of one nation, which we already are here! We're already a nation, we're already one nationality, we're already one Family, we just haven't found the place yet, we haven't gotten there yet!
20. The Church people prepare for Heaven as though they were never going There, & they build churches for this Earth as though they were going to live here forever! Most Christians live their lives on this Earth building homes & churches & jobs & families like they expected to live here forever, & seem to make very little preparation for Heaven. They don't build the Body of God, the True Church of God, the Living Stones, by witnessing & winning souls & going to the mission field. They're preparing almost nothing for Heaven, making almost no preparations for the future, laying hardly anything in store up There.