Why Heroes Do What They Do - Rick Scherr

Why Heroes Do What They Do - Rick Scherr
Leadership 3/29/2024
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Rick's Talk based on Hebrews 11, known as the "hall of faith," focuses on living with anticipation of heaven. He highlights how the faith of biblical figures shaped their lives with a clear vision of the future. By emphasizing key aspects like focusing on the future, understanding life's brevity, and walking by faith, Rick encourages the leaders to live as heroes of faith. Through personal anecdotes, references to authors, and creative illustrations, he conveys the message that living with heavenly anticipation can transform one's perspective, priorities, and actions in a profound way.

Transcript

Many of you know that Hebrews eleven is the hall of faith. It is God's listing of all many great men and women who have walked in faith. And what I did was I took out the parts that talks about the details, the great things that they did, and the sawing in two that was done to them, all of the fun things, and have highlighted or leaned into the scripture that surrounds it, so that we might be people that would live like they did. That someday your name would be in the hall of faith when you get to heaven, which I'm convinced there will be things like that. So, Rick, do you have any extras?

Yes. I'm sure there's enough. Who's got extra papers there? Pass those back. Anybody else need papers?

You can send some back there in case people come in at the end. So good. Okay, so I'm gonna read this again. Remember, before it's talking before this scripture, it's talking about all the people. And then in the middle, it's talking about all the people as well.

Here's what it says. These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged. Let's see. Let me have somebody else read it. Be great.

I got it. Thank you, Jocelyn.

These all die in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus, make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land in which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country. That is a heavenly one.

Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them the city. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised. Since God has provided something better for us, that apart from us, they should not be made perfect. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which cling so closely. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint hearted in your struggle against sin. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons, my son. Do not regard lightly this discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you, Lord, for the power that runs through and in your words. Thank you, Lord, that it alone carries all that we need.

I just pray, Lord, that these words would penetrate our hearts, that they would get to our marrow and into our bones.

They said all that needs to be said. So, Lord, just pray that you would help us to meditate and consider it more and more.

So there are six blanks, and they're all f's.

Six things that I want to lean into about this. This is not, this is not a lesson, per se, on heaven, although we'll certainly lean into it a little bit. This is a lesson about what we're getting from this scripture, which is the anticipation of heaven and what it means for your life. This is about the anticipation of living your life daily with the hope of heaven in mind and how it affects your life.

The first is f is future. You see that in the beginning of the powerful scripture in Hebrews eleven and 1316.

But having seen them and greeted them from afar, these people in this hall of faith were looking at something far ahead in the future. They were gazing intently upon something that was not now, but they were leaning into and gazing into something that was far ahead in the future. First Peter 113. Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That word fully is actually not in some translations.

Of course. It's in the ESV.

Yes, goes.

But think of how different app makes that statement. In other translations, it would say, set your hope on the grace. This one, the word fully just, it makes a lot of difference, because suddenly it's like God saying, no, no, no. This is what you need to fully set your hope on. Not on the weekend, not on a spouse, not on something in this life, not on anything else, but fully on me.

And me returning nothing else fully on me.

A great quote from a book that I'm reading, the imagine heaven book, which has been. I'll probably reference it again. Imagine heaven. How many of you guys have heard of that book? That guy.

He's the guy that spoke at crossroads not too long ago. He's the doctor who did all the experiment or all the research on near death experiences and compiled thousands of near death experiences, stories to basically look at what was going on in these people's stories, where their brain activity is dead in most cases, but yet they still come back and say incredible things, see things that no one could have told them or they couldn't have seen because they were dead at the time, seen different things that have happened in the room that they were in and that kind of thing. All kinds of stories. But it's a book about that. Anyway, he says this in the book, how you think about heaven affects everything in life.

How you prioritize love, how willing you are to sacrifice for the long term, how you view suffering, what you fear or don't fear. I'm convinced that we can't even begin, but we should try to picture how magnificent, how spectacular, how much fun heaven will be, how much of what we love about this life and more awaits us in eternity. First Corinthians, two nine, which is the scripture, it says, no eye has seen, no ear has heard. What God has prepared for us doesn't mean that we shouldn't push our imaginations to the limit of trying to understand. And I am also convinced that your view on eternity, as he has said, how you imagine this changes everything.

It affects everything in your life. I am 100% convinced that this, in your head, leads to a lack of faith or a walk of faith. It leads to a life of hope or a life of fear. It leads to a life of joy or it leads to a life of anxiety, how you see this, how you imagine it, and that's the key word. I've talked about this before.

The word imagine in our brains, for some reason, makes us think that it's an untrue thing, right? If I say, imagine a cheeseburger in my hand, right? And it's got two bun, or it's got a bun and it's cheese, and, you know, and it's a five guys cheeseburger. So it's got two patties. Like, you can see it in my hand.

You're imagining it right now, does that mean that a five guys cheeseburger does not exist or that it. Of course not. Right? We imagine things all the time that really do exist. The problem is, when we were children, we were taught to imagine the Easter bunny, imagine Santa Claus, imagine.

And so we begin to think of imagining things as being. Imagining something that's not true. But in this case, it is imperative that we are imagining what is true and what is true about the home and the city and the place that you're going. That is what is in Hebrews 11 11, 13 through 16. That is exactly what these guys were doing.

Look at the whole scripture, that beginning of that scripture, having seen them from and greeted them from afar, having acknowledged that they're strangers and aliens here, they were people who speak thus and make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. They're imagining a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land, which they had gone out, they would have had an opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country. They're imagining a better country.

That is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he's prepared for them a city.

Literally. The people in the hall of faith imagined heaven, imagined their city, imagined their home so often and so much that not only did it change all of their lives, right? But it's completely made them say, I'm a stranger and alien here, because I have in my head a picture of what's ahead for me future. The second f is fast. It's coming fast.

Turn to psalm 90.

I heard it's written down here, but this actually is a quote, and I have no idea why people use it or how they would say it, but this. If you've ever heard someone say, don't be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good, that's not supposed to say not, but that you're no earthly good to me, that is insane. As we're talking this through, that does not fit with scripture. That definitely does not fit with exactly what I just read. These heroes of faith, these men and women who were going to, who are not just saints but heroes of the faith, were so heavenly minded that they were eternally good?

And that is. That is the goal. So fast. Psalm 90, ten through 13. Who wants to read that?

Great. Thank you, Toby.

The years of our life are 70, or even by reasons of strength, 80, that their span is but toil and trouble, they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us the number of days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord. How long have pity on your servants?

So teach us to number our days. I heard somebody say yesterday, another thing that's often said, which is the days are long, but the weeks are short. The days are long, but the years are short. Have you ever heard someone say that where you live this life and it feels like each day is like a long day, and you're tired at the end, but then you look back and you're like, man, it's been like a couple years of that, and it feels like that was short. As you look back, right?

Many of you look back and you can look back at. Even at your age, you can look back at your high school years and they're gone. You're not in high school anymore. Remember when you were a freshman and you thought, oh, my gosh, I'm going to be at this high school forever? That's what it felt like.

And each day was long, but now it's gone. It's all gone. And you guys, you're just young still. Imagine as you get older, how quickly that becomes a truth, that these things go fast. God wants us to number our days and teach us to count and understand that this is going to happen quickly.

This is gonna go fast. It's been a while since I've used this illustration, but I've used this before, so if you heard it, I'm sorry, but I have been. Let's see, however long ago I went to Baton Rouge and I flew to Dallas, which was a, you know, I don't know, four hour flight to Dallas, something like that. And let's say I got on the flight and I'm sitting in my seat and there's plenty, you know, it's not full or anything like that. And somebody comes up to me and says, hey, I'll give you $100 for your seat.

You don't have anybody next to you. I want to be by myself. I'll be like, sure, right. Give me $100. And he sits there, and then he starts with his seat, then he takes the whole row, and he pays money to the people next to him for the whole row because he wants to have the whole road to be up, put his feet up.

And then he's like, okay, now I'm going to pay extra to these stewardesses to bring me extra food so I can stock up. And he starts stocking up food in his place there, right? And then. And he's paying money for all this, right? He's, he's working for it.

He's. Then he starts trying to set up some sheets to, like, make some privacy. Now, what's everybody on the plane thinking? What are we like, dude, you do know we're gonna land in exactly 1 hour and 30 minutes now and it's over. Do you get the illustration?

We spend so much time on the plane trying to make the plane ride better. You spend time thinking about how to make the plane ride better. You spend time trying to make more comfort in the plane ride. You spend time trying to get more space in the plane ride, whatever you can get. But this is a plane ride.

Literally, this is a four hour plane ride. And it is over. Because eternity and what's waiting for you in heaven, in your home is so much greater and so much grander and so much longer than this little four hour ride that you're on called your life.

Stop, miss. Stop forgetting how short this is, how short this ride will be. It's imperative because this is how they lived. These people in the hall of faith lived like they knew they were on a short ride and they weren't about to waste time trying to buy up seats, buy up more food, stock things up, create more comfort. That was that.

Because they knew this is a short ride.

A lot of you guys are, you're getting older, you're graduating, you're thinking and talking about getting married, getting engaged. Some of you are getting married. A lot of you, you're in a life stage where you're thinking about what the world would say are big decisions. Who are you going to marry? Where are you going to live?

What are you going to do with your life? And I've said this for many, many years. I don't know if it's been a while since I've said it, but you should make every big decision in a cemetery just to help you with perspective. Sit in that cemetery and look around and think, it won't be long. And my plane rides over and I'm there.

So now what am I going to do? What does, how does, it will change everything? Just like this quote said, it will change everything about the decision that you make. Doing that changes everything. Suddenly you're like, okay, wait.

Alright, so now, oh, wow, what am I thinking? Now I remember what matters. Now I know how I want to make the decisions for my life and what I'm going to do with my life, what I'm going to spend my time doing, what I'm going to give my life to.

Because it's a short plane ride and it's going to be over soon. Next f fortitude. We've been talking about fortitude I talked about a couple weeks ago, so I'm not going to elaborate a ton, but in this sense where it says in Hebrews twelve, early on, run with endurance, the race that is set for you. So he talks about all these folks in the hall of faith. He talks about their lives and why they live.

They do and then the big word that's bolted up, therefore, right? You have to always remember, when you see the word therefore, you look at what's before the therefore to understand what the therefore is for. Do you like that? How much wood could a woodchuck chuck? A woodchuck wood.

Everybody know the answer. A woodchuck woodchuck all the way to kook wood. Thank you. Yes, yes, yes. That was great.

When my kids were, like, five, that was always good. So anyway, the therefore is there for a reason, to help us to make the connection, to say, these people live this way. They had this faith. They saw heaven, and that's how they lived every day with their minds and their hopes set on this thing. Therefore, you therefore do this if you have your mind this way.

And one of the first things he said is, run with endurance. The race set out for you. Set aside the world, unentangle yourself from sin. And then this is to run the correct race. In two Timothy four seven, it says, I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the race. I have kept the faith that word good in the Greek, in two Timothy four is better translated as correct, where Paul is saying to Timothy I, and this is at the end of Paul's life, he says, I have fought the correct. That should change everything, doesn't it? That suddenly makes you realize, okay, so that means there are other races, there are other things, and direct. And of course, you look around and there is another race going on.

I mean, imagine it's like this world is like one giant marathon, one giant race, and everybody's running and they blew the gun and everybody's running, right? Trying to achieve happiness, trying to get to happiness through whatever means they can. That's the goal I want. Comfort, happy. However, I think I can get it.

I'm running that race, and we're all running that race.

You all. We are naturally thrown into that race, right? It's like you're running it and you're not even sure because everyone's taught you, and you just kind of normally do it. You naturally, like, lean into that. You naturally try to get a nicer car.

You naturally try to have a nicer house. You naturally try to get nicer things or better grades or achieve more like you naturally. Because everybody, that's the way. That's the race. And it is so hard to stop and walk off to the side and leave the race.

But that's what God calls us to do. And everyone running in the race will be like, what's up with that guy? He's like walking the other. He's not even in the race anymore. Like, it's just weird to people.

Wouldn't even make sense to them. But you're saying, as a Christian, I'm going to go run the correct race. I'm going to run a race that looks completely different on a completely different track, in a completely different place with a completely different agenda. The race to get home. Your eyes are on it.

Nothing else matters. This airplane ride is for an hour long, and it doesn't matter at all. And your eyes are on that race, that race to get home, running the correct race. It is how we should be living as christians, with this all out crazy running in a different direction. No holds barred.

Go after what Jesus has for you every single day of every. Every moment of every single day. When I regularly think this, this is a weird thing that I have thought for many years. I don't know if I've ever shared it, but I. Whenever I'm outside, campfire type situation or outside, and there are those bug zappers.

You guys know the bug zappers? And they're just lights, and they attract the bugs, right? So that the bugs will go towards it. And I don't know if I saw something when I was a kid, like maybe a. Some type of cartoon thing with a.

With a fly that I don't know what it was, but in my head, whenever I see them, every time, I think that there is a fly, and I'll call him Frankie for now, give him a little name. So, Frankie the fly, he's flying around, doing his thing, right? And suddenly he sees the light, and he's like, oh, light. It's a bright light. This is so awesome.

And Frankie is like, 1 million mile an hour right at the light. Just right at it. And what happens to Frankie when he gets there? He's done.

And I think. I mean, I have thought this. I don't have I ever share. I don't know if I ever shared this. And I always think and pray, lord, I want to live like that.

I just. I'm just gonna. Million miles an hour, and I'm done.

That's the race. Million miles an hour. No more boundaries. That's one of my most dreaded words. If you've been around me long enough, don't use the word boundaries around me.

Don't like the word. I don't believe christians who are flying like a fly, like Frankie, into the light, are living with boundaries. No limits. No boundaries. This is a great quote from Tozer.

If you haven't heard it. It's at the beginning of the knowledge of the holy classic book. The man who comes to right belief about God is relieved of 10,000 temporal problems, for he sees at once that these have to do with matters which at the most concern him, cannot concern him for very long. It's a plane ride. But even if the multiple burdens of time may be lifted from him, the one mighty single burden of eternity begins to press down upon him with a weight more crushing than all the woes of the world piled upon one another.

That mighty burden of his is his obligation to God. It includes an instant and lifelong duty, duty to love God with every power of mind and soul, to obey him perfectly and to worship him acceptably.

What you think about heaven in your mind affects everything. The next f is forget the peaceful fruit that's mentioned in Hebrews. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

I can't remember the song that says this line, earth has no sorrow, that heaven can't heal. And I love that.

Listen to this quote from Mother Teresa in light of heaven. Now, what you. Who knows what Mother Teresa did ministry wise, what her ministry was? Oh, who knows who Mother Teresa is? Okay.

Wow. How long ago did she die? I guess it's been a while. Okay. So classic.

I mean, she just. What she did, she was in the poorest area of. Of the city in India that is this horrific place. And I can't remember the name of the city. Calcutta?

What? Calcutta? Yes. She's in the middle of Calcutta. And it is horrific.

Like, people die on the street and their bodies lie there for a while. They die of starvation or of, like, just dirtiness or septic or some. And they die on the street, and they just sit there for. Until they smell so bad that somebody tries to move. That's crazy, right?

Mother Teresa spent a lifetime doing ministry in that place. And then she said this. So when she talks about suffering, she knows. Ministering to these people. She knows about suffering.

She said, in light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth, a life full of the most atrocious tortures on earth, will be seen as no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel. This changes everything for us. That where you're headed is so grand and so great that the greatest of sufferings that you will experience on this earth, whether you bring it on yourself or whether it just happens because of God trying to refine you, are nothing.

They are an inconvenient hotel at worst.

O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? See, this is what gives Frankie the fly. This is what gives you the power to just fly right in there. Because it doesn't matter if you suffer.

It doesn't matter how hard it gets. It doesn't matter if you give away that or give away this, or give all your time to this and give your heart to this. If you're following after Jesus and you're suffering because of it, that's great. That still allows you still have peaceful fruit, because you. What is waiting for you will never change.

I was praying about this today and thinking about this and getting so. Not this, but just praying in general. And the Lord was.

So what happened is September came on the radio, which is a song I like, you know? And I'm just, like, getting emotional because I'm like, man, this life is nothing but joy. And I'm excited and I'm thinking it's joy. Because what is waiting for me, because what my hope is in, because I imagine in my mind, that's at the end of this plane ride. And all that I'm thinking about living for will never change.

Nothing can touch that. Nothing changes it. It is there, and it is there for me to revel in and to look forward to. And it is not going to change.

Oh, death, where is your sting? This gives us the freedom to run like this. The next step is faith.

Nor be weary, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things seen. In the end, the result. And I have been meditating a lot on faith, hope and love. And I think there are some, definitely some things that I want to talk about in the future as it relates to faith, hope, and love.

And so I've been thinking about that. But this is clearly one of these places where it is exactly playing out that my hope fully set, results in faith, results in action, right? It results in me living this life today, tomorrow, totally differently. Classic quote from Zs Lewis. If you read history, you will find that the christians who did the most for the present world were precisely those who thought the most of the next.

It is since christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this heroes living as a hero of faith. In hebrews 1138, I think down at the end of hebrews eleven, which is not in your scripture, not in the thing that we have in there. There's a quick line where it's talking about all these people who live by faith and they had all these things happen and there's this half a line that says and the world was not what? Worthy of them?

Think of what God just said.

God just said these people were heroes. They were the greatest of heroes and the world is not even worthy of them.

When I think of people who lived because in a certain way in this life, because of their eyes on the next, I used to even show clips from Braveheart. Braveheart. No. Braveheart. You should watch Braveheart.

If you havent, that would be great. That was a great thing for you guys to do. If you havent watched Braveheart, literally its about a guy whose life was so tragically ruined and his wife killed and murdered and his kids and all this stuff that he literally just said I dont care about this life anymore. And because of that he became a hero and everyone followed him and hes like lets go. Lets go kill these guys that are bad.

You know. I mean it was just like great example of that. Another movie, gladiator was like that. But my favorite is Reepa cheap from Chronicles of Narnia in CS Lewis book the great hero. In that story, the smallest of the creatures, Reepa cheap.

He spends his life in the book telling us what he lives every day for. And that's this quote here. He says, while I can, I sail east in the dawn treader. That's a boat. He said, when she fails me, I'll paddle east in my coracle, which is a small lightweight boat.

And when she sinks, I shall swim east with my fore paws. And when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan's country or shot over the edge of the world in some vast cataract, I shall sink with my nose to the sunshine. So he was told when he was young that Aslan's country was to the east. Just keep going. And so his whole life was this drive to get to Aslan's country, Aslan being Jesus in the book.

And finally when he gets there, so the next section is when he does, when they do arrive at the edge of the world, at the end of the world, and they can see Aslan's country, says no one in the boat. That boat doubted that they were seeing beyond the end of the world and into Aslan's country at the moment. With a crunch, the boat ran aground. The water was too shallow now for it. This, said Ribachi, is where I go alone.

They did not even try to stop him, for everything now felt as if it had been faded or it happened before he got into his little boat and he took off his sword. I shall need it no more, he said, and flung it far away across the lilied sea where it fell. It stood upright with the hilt above the surface. Then he bade goodbye to them, trying to be sad for their sakes. But he was quivering with happiness.

A hero is so enamored with what's next and how they live in this life. It just changes everything. The last one, fans trying really hard with the emotional thing. I apologize. I'm usually a little more collected, but I'm gonna make it through this.

Maybe the last one is fans. Fans. F a n s.

Since you are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, this is categorically true. As God has said. It is true. And as I'll mention in a minute, even the evidence is of these near death experiences, even weighing in towards this, that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. We are in an arena surrounded by fans, a huge stadium, if you will.

Or maybe an arena is better, right? I've been in an arena, a basketball arena, and it's tighter and closer, and they see more of everything. Right? Right. You go to a football game.

I went to Ohio state football game once, and I was literally on the top row at the end zone. Top row. We got Oregon tickets. It was Oregon against Ohio State. And so the Oregon fans, there was like ten of us.

Top row, right? And, I mean, it was like, are there football players down there? Like, you just. It was just felt like you were forever away. That's not the kind of fans that we have.

The saints who have gone before are witnesses to this life. They are witnesses to your faith.

This quote has been. Has grabbed me for years, and I love this quote from William Gurnall.

Others, after many assaults, repulses, and rallyings of their faith, are already standing upon the wall of heaven. Conquerors from there, they look down and urge you, their comrades on earth, to march up the hill after them. This is their cry. Fight to the death, and the city is your own, as it is now ours. For the waging of a few days conflict, you will be rewarded with heaven's glory.

One moment of this celestial joy will dry up all your tears, heal all your wounds, and erase the sharpness of the fight. With the joy of your permanent victory, you are surrounded by not just fans watching and saying, hmm, let's see what happens. It is cheering, and I mean, it can imagine, not to use an example that's painful for some of you in this room, but if you watched the Oakland fans last night as Kentucky was falling. Like when there was a time at the end of the game where it looked like Kentucky was gonna pull it out, they started making all these shots at the end of the game, and they were only down one. And this miracle three point shot with 30 seconds from the corner where this guy just put up a three point shot for Oakland, and it looked like it, and it went in.

And I remember I was watching him. He was enveloped by his whole team that was right there in front of him. His coach was in front of him, like his back was to the camera, hugging him, who had just made the basket. They're going crazy. Crazy.

These are our fans. They are so celebrating. I mean, this is the truth of the scripture that says when one soul comes into heaven, there is a party. You've heard that before, right? That's because that's scripture.

This is. This is what's happening. These fans are watching and they are celebrating. Like, when you make a three point shot, they are running on the court and being like, that's what's happening. And that is the reality.

That is true.

We have these fans.

This is real and this is really happening, and this is really waiting for you.

These percentages here are just. It's been so amazing. So if you don't look at what's there, and I were to tell you, and when I went into reading this book on near death experiences, that this guy had compiled thousands of research from thousands of near death experiences and what people shared with what they experienced, and going into an experiment like that, going into research like that, I would 100% assume that commonalities, if there were any, would be as low of a percentage as people are different, that anything that would have been common or true in all of them, that it would be like if something was 5% true out of thousands, I'd be like, wow, that's a lot of people who had the same coincidental thought or the same coincidental experience. Just 5%, I don't think would be a lot because it's a totally random thing. As random as I would think, as random as a dream.

Right. If we were to pull all of us in the room and say, let's pull our last ten dreams that we've all had, let's write them all down, how, percentage wise, how many of them would have something super common in them, like, other than just being weird in general. Right. Unless God was doing something, which that could happen, but unless God was doing something, it would be super random. So when I saw these statistics, I was blown away.

A consciousness that's separate of your physical body. Oh, you mean like a soul? Yeah, I've heard of that. Mean like, you are way more than just your physical body. Oh, yeah, I've heard of that.

It's from the Bible.

75% of people experienced that. Heightened senses and more conscience and alert of things than normal. One of the folks said, I didn't feel like I had five senses. I felt like I had 50 senses. And over and over again, you got these 75% of the time.

74% of the time. They're like, I experienced greater awareness of who I was, greater awareness of my surroundings, greater awareness of smells and sights and colors, and greater awareness of all these things. Oh, you mean like first corinthians 13, where now we see but dimly, but then we'll see clearly? Yeah, that's in the Bible, too.

You guys, we're living the dream. If you've heard me talk about heaven, I say that often right now, you are now in the dream state. You are now in the state where your senses are minimal and you're just picking up some things. When it comes to sights and sounds and colors and feelings and worship and emotions, you're just scratching the surface. Now, what's next is going to be like having 50 senses passing through or into a tunnel and seeing and encountering a boundary or barrier.

Yeah, like the one that Jesus talked about when he talked about with Abraham. Sorry, blanking. Jesus gave an illustration about a beggar who was in heaven and his.

Who was the name of the guy? Does anybody remember? What can I remember? Lazarus? Yeah.

No, not Lazarus. Oh, they were. Is it Lazarus in that story, too, where he said, I just want to go to my brothers and just want to tell them so that they can not experience what I've experienced. Oh, dang it. So sorry.

Terrible scripture memory.

Either way, in that story, Jesus gives a very clear picture of a divide that is separating. He talks about something that is separating. Right. Heaven from where Lazarus is, and he can't get across. Exactly like this is talking about encountering others.

Mystical beings. That's supposed to be beings.

Dang it. Like Jack and the beanstalk again.

Now I have to go back to my original point. Imagination is not bad, right? Because you're all, like, magical beings.

That was supposed to be mystical beings, like angels. That's code for angels.

Deceased relatives or friends. 57% encountering a mystical or brilliant light. 60. Now go back to what I said originally. Look at those percentages.

I mean, I was shocked when I read it. I was like, what? And I believe in heaven. I believe in all this stuff. And I'm looking at it like, oh, my gosh, this is real.

And this is really going to happen, and it's really going to be like this. And this short plane ride will be over for you before you know it, because your days will go long, but your weeks and your years will go quick.

The last quote from Jonathan Edwards says, every vessel that is cast into this ocean of happiness is full, though there are some vessels far larger than others. See, it's worth it to chase after the treasure in heaven. It's worth it for you to store up treasures in heaven and to not store up treasures on earth. This is the home that you're waiting for, is somehow these treasures are waiting for you when you get there. And this quote by Jonathan Edwards, does it make sense?

You need to think about it for a second. Because sometimes we struggle with the idea that there's any kind of reward in heaven, because how can there be a reward in heaven? Because I would be jealous of others, or how would others be more exalted than me and me not be upset about or whatever? Like, we just get. We struggle with that concept.

So we put it to the side. But yet it couldn't be more scriptural jewels in your crown, treasures in heaven. I mean, Jesus, over and over again affirming this idea that how you live this life does affect the next. Like, that's the thing that is the whole point of this whole thing, and of Hebrews eleven, is that every single one of those heroes knew that. How I live my life now affects what's going to happen when I get there.

And that's my goal. That's where I'm headed, and I'm living every day of my life to get there.

It's gonna be, it's worth it. Any amount of suffering, any amount of struggle, any amount of fear and unknowns, any amount of sacrifice, any amount. There is no limit to what. It's. What.

It's all worth it, right? Just like Frankie Lefly. It's just. It's worth it. Just fly right into that thing as hard as you can.

It's all going to be worth it. Let me pray. Jesus, thank you. Thank you for the home that you're preparing for us.

Thank you, Lord, for the joy set before us. That there is a home and a city that's being prepared. Lord, forgive us, Lord, that it is hard each day to remember, to make choices, and to live with that in mind. So, Lord, we ask for courage and strength to set our hope fully on the home that is waiting for us. Help us, Jesus, to imagine in all ways that we can what is coming.

Help us, Lord, to make every decision relative to this amazing truth. Give us courage to live like heroes of the faith, to have our eyes and mind so set upon going home that the day that we do lie in our bed for the last time, that we just, like, reap a cheat, are quivering with happiness. We can't wait to get there. We can't wait to go. I want to go out like that, Lord.

I pray that we would all just keep in our mind's eye this true, very true reality of home that is waiting, the fans that are cheering, that we might live with our hope, set fully on it, and walk in great faith with great courage. I pray these things in your name, Jesus.