Thank the Lord for you being here this morning. I’m excited about what the Lord’s got for us today. I hope we’ll encourage you and help you. We are studying a series of lessons on heaven and we’ve been reminded of some great truths in the word of God. And this morning it’s kind of random thoughts and I apologize to you for that, but it is something that I think will be a help and an encouragement to you. I think it has been to me and I’m sure it will be to you. So excited about what the Lord’s got for us today. So let’s do this. Let’s turn on our Bibles this morning to Second Corinthians, chapter number twelve. We’re just going to look at the first four verses and then we’ll roam on over to the Book of Acts and then we may run over to the Book of Revelation for a few minutes, but we’re going to look at some thoughts today. I think we’ll give you, give you some help and an encouragement in these as we start off. 2023. What a blessing. Amen. Just yesterday, it seems like we were all worried about y two K. Y two K is long gone. Amen. Let’s do this. Let’s pray. As you’re turning to Second Corinthians, chapter twelve, we’ll look at the first four verses and ask the Lord’s blessings on the reading of his Word. Our Father in heaven, thank you for the privilege and the opportunity to be back in your house this morning. Father, thank you for our church family. Thank you for our great gift of salvation that you’ve given to us. Lord, how you’ve been better to us we deserve. I thank you Lord, for allowing me to be a part of this church. I thank you Lord for allowing our family to be able to worship here in spirit and the truth. Father, thank you for this place. It sits alongside the road. We can come and worship you and love you. Father, thank you for all you’ve done for us. As we said last night, all the blessings you’ve given to us this past year. And Father, none of us know what tomorrow holds, let alone 2023. But Father, we know you’ve already seen the end of it. And Father, we know that you’re in control and we trust you. Father, we look to you for guidance and direction. We need your help this morning in the Sunday school hour. Father, there’s people that are listening by way of livestream and there’s folks in our church building this morning that are hurting, Father. Their loved ones are sick or they’re going through griefs in their own home, their own family. And I’m asking you this, Father, this morning that you’ll take the word of God and speak to their hearts and encourage them and help them. Father, I pray that we’ll find strength in the pages of your Word this morning. God and direct in this hour, this morning. Have your will in your way, that he’s everything said and done bring praise and honor and glory to thee who ask all these things in Jesus name, amen. So we titled this morning’s lesson unspeakable Words. Unspeakable words the Bible says in Saint Corinthians, chapter twelve it is not expedient for me doubtless, to glory I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago. Whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell. God knoweth such and one caught up to the third heaven and I knew such a man. Whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth how that he was caught up into paradise. And I want you to look at what he heard. And he heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter. As we think about this verse this morning, I can’t imagine being that gentleman. Can you? Can you imagine being that person at a hearing? Unspeakable things, things you can’t talk about. You don’t have the vocabulary to talk about these things. I looked over our congregation this morning and some of you have a wide range of vocabulary. Some of them are probably more educated than others. I fall in the others part. But to see something and to hear something that’s unspeakable, that blows my mind. Brother Andy, I can’t imagine this morning brother Eddie, what those words were. I can’t imagine what Sister Wendy’s hearing this morning. I can’t imagine what Sister Rachel is hearing this morning. You see, I believe the Bible is the inerrant, infallible word of God. I believe it from COVID to COVID from Genesis to Revelation at all points in between. I don’t practice all of it like I should. I’m a sinner, unlike a lot of you. Amen. I sin. I fall short of the glory of God, I know. But the one thing I do know is the Bible is true. And I do know that there was a man that Paul knew that heard some words that were unspeakable. I heard some things. I don’t have the language, I don’t have the words to tell you how great heaven is. I can’t tell you I don’t know. I can tell you what the Bible says. I can look into the pages of God’s Word. And I can see as real as this pew, the pew that you’re setting on this morning is, and the person that’s sitting next to you is that’s how real heaven is this morning. Heaven is a real place. I can tell you about Richwood, West Virginia, unless you’ve ever been there, you’re like, well, it’s a place that exists. I can tell you about a place called Greenville, South Carolina. And you said, well, that’s a great place, but unless you’ve been there, you just have no idea. And I’m this morning trying to tell you about a place that I’ve never been to. It heaven. But boy, I can tell you one thing. It’s unspeakable. It’s unspeakable. 2022 was a hard year for a lot of our family members. A lot of family members there. There was people were hurting, families were hurting, struggling. Maybe a lot of maybe grief, maybe just struggles within the home. People having a hard time, folks that we’ve known, folks that we’ve loved going on to be with the Lord. And we bless the Lord for that. Amen. We’re thankful for that. Our hearts hurt. We hate the separation. But can you imagine this morning the unspeakable words that they’re hearing? As we continue this study through the word of God on our eternal home in heaven, we’re reminded of some blessed truths. Number one, heaven is reserved for the saints of God. If you’re here this morning, you’re born again child of God. You’re seated in heavenly places. Your name is already written down in the land’s book of life, and you have a place reserved for you in heaven. Heaven is real as the place as church building you are sitting in right now. Heaven. For those of us that are born again, saved by the grace of God, heaven is our next step. It’s our next breath. It’s our next heartbeat from this life into eternity. The moment your heart stops beating, if you’re saved, you’re in the presence of God, you say, how do you know that? Because the Bible tells me that. The Bible tells me that if your heart stops meeting today and you end up in heaven, you’re going to hear unspeakable words. Amen. You’re going to hear things. You’ll hear things. And I’m talking to the young man last night that was at church with Jessica, and I was talking to him about the orchestra at Crown and what a blessing it is to hear. I love the music that they play. I think it’s wonderful and it’s good. I mean, if you’re there and you enjoy it, it’s wonderful. But it’s nothing like heaven. Nothing like heaven. Now we’re reminded of these great truths. That gives us encouragement, doesn’t it, Brother Eddie? It helps us that strength is don’t, Brother Frank. It gives us help. It gives us hope. And in the time of need, that’s what we need. We need some grace. Say, man, we need some help. We need some strength. I don’t know what our loved ones feel like when they pass from this life to the next. I have no idea. I don’t know, and I’m not sure that anybody knows. But this one thing I do know, that when they do, they’re carried away to a place that only we can dream about and think about. When they stop breathing, they’re in heaven. They’re with the Lord Jesus Christ. We weep because we miss them. They’re all thinking, send back a message. Don’t weep for me. Don’t weep for me. I weep for you because you’re still stuck in a sin, a miserable, sinful world. Amen. Heaven is real. I’ve never seen it. I’ve never been there. I’m ready to go. I’ve got my ticket pump punched. Just don’t want to get on the next bus. Amen. Don’t want to catch that next train ride. Amen. But I want you to know something, that if I do, I’m ready to go. And you may weep a little bit. You may shed a tear, at least one or two for Jacob and Jess and Eric and Ashley and Chris. Maybe shed a tear or two for them, but don’t shed for me my soul. I’m shedding tears for you because you’re still stuck here. Amen. I want you to turn with me to the Book of Acts, chapter number seven. And I want to share with you something this morning that it encouraged me and it helped me, and it kind of gets us off to a start for our lesson this morning, the unspeakable words that this man heard. I want you to look with me, if you would, at the life of Stephen. And I want you to pick up with me in verse number 54. The Bible says now, you understand the pastor scripture here Steven’s preaching through the word of God. And these men come under conviction. They begin to feel the convicting power of the Holy Spirit of God. And so they begin to when they heard these things, the Bible says in verse 54, they were cut to the heart. They gnashed onto him with their teeth. But I want you to look at Steve and in his response in verse 55, but he being full of the Holy Ghost, he looked up steadfastly into heaven. Now, that’s a wonderful thought right there. That’s a wonderful thought. But look at the next words. Look at the next few words. And he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. Do you know what he saw? He saw into heaven. Now, you said, well, that’s a little bit over my head, Brother Mark. That’s a little hard for me to believe. Well, it’s in the Bible. It’s true. It’s accurate. It’s a fact. He saw into his heavenly home. He then maybe didn’t see all of heaven. I don’t know. The Bible tells us how large heaven is, how big his heaven is. But I will tell you this. I believe he saw past Jupiter. I believe he saw past Pluto. Of course, they say Pluto is not a plan anymore. It was a planet when I was in high school. It’s a planet now. I know when I went to high school, we used rocks, chisels and hammers to do our homework with. Not really, but that’s what our young people think. But I can tell you this. Steven saw past all that. Andy, if you’ve been to the Arc, the Creation Museum, and you’ve set in on the video that they have, and they show you how vast the universe is. That was nothing. Steven saw past all that. Steven saw the throne of God and saw Jesus standing on the right hand. Amen. So how do you know that? Do you really believe that, brother Mark? That’s what the Bible says. And I believe the Bible. Amen. He saw the heavens opened and the son of man standing on the right hand of God, he saw some things I like this about. I want to give you this as a little bit of hope this morning, a little bit of help because we’re going to move on. This is not what a lesson is about. But he was full of the Holy Ghost. He looked up steadfastly in the heaven. He saw the glory of God, he saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God. Doesn’t tell us how much he saw, but he saw those things. You know, we should live our lives in such a manner that we’re full of the spirit of God every day so that when it comes our time to go, we’re looking in the right direction, we’re looking into heaven. Amen. And the older you get, truly, you get more of a yearning to go there. Can I have some of the older folks like me agree with us there. Amen. We get more of a why we have more on the other side than we have on this side. Amen. Heaven is a wonderful place. That’s a beautiful place. And our loved ones are there. But greatest thing there for all of us to see is the Lord Jesus Christ second to none. Amen. So we see that Stephen looked and saw these things. And I’m sure that if Stephen could echo the words of Paul, steven would say this I saw some things I couldn’t speak about, I couldn’t talk about. I don’t have the vocabulary to tell you how great heaven is. I could try to describe it, but I can’t tell you how wonderful heaven is. Now, see, as somebody I’ve not seen it. Has anybody here seen heaven? Didn’t think so. I would have put money on that this morning, but nobody here seen heaven. But I know this. If you’re saved the Holy Spirit of God jumps in your heart when we talk about heaven, your soul gets encouraged. I know that. I know you get excited, you say, how do you know that, brother Mark? Because that’s what we’re longing for. Amen. We’re longing for that city. We’re longing for heaven, our future home. Amen. Now, I want us to take a little trip on cynical lesson earlier this morning. If I do, I apologize to you, but I’m giving to you what I feel like the Lord has spoken my heart about this week. Let’s take another little trip to Revelation, chapter 21. Now, many of you have been here before. Many of you’ve read this passage of scripture. Many of you read this on a regular basis, I’m sure. I want to show you something that I think will help you a little bit because there’s a lot of things that man has mastered that it’s amazing to all of us. Is it not amazing? Some of these super skyscrapers that they build and how they make them, it’s just amazing. And some of the technology that man has and some of the things that they can do, how they can implant a device inside of you and you not snore women say, Amen. Bless the Lord. Is that not a wonderful thing? Is it not a wonderful thing that men that have had the reduction of hair can have hair planted again? Is that not a wonderful thing? If you see me and your pastor sitting on the front row, you’ll see that we both suffer from the same disease. Amen. We have this we have the shiny chrome disease. Amen. And it’s working its way up. Amen. And a fellow used to tell me, where ball cap? And whenever you see him and he was as bald as a man could be and he’d take his hat and said, my hair is coming back. I said it. He said yeah, way back. And he was right. Way back. So man has done a lot of wonderful things. But, you know, the one thing man can’t do is man can’t not see or predict the future. It’s just not going to happen. But the word of God shows us the future. And the word of God gives us a glimpse. It’s almost like being on a boat underwater and you have this little peephole where you can kind of look through and see we can see a glimpse of heaven. Andy, I see your future. I see your future. I see you, brother. Bill I see, brother Kevin. I see your future. You say, Where’s that? Since Revelation, chapter 21. Look real quick, if you will. The Bible says, and I saw and I saw I saw he he saw he saw something. He he saw it. He saw it. He did. He saw what? A new heaven. New Earth. For the first heaven. And the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem coming and I saw, John, the holy city, New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. And God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death. Bless the Lord. Hallelujah. Neither sorrow nor crying, neither will there be any more pain. Look here for the former things are passed away. That’s your future, by the way. That’s your future. And he that set up on the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, right, for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, it is done. I am Alpha, Omega, the beginning of the end. I will give unto him that is a thirst, the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be my son. But the fearful nonbeliever of Donald and the murderers, a hormones sorcerers, Adelaide outliers and shall have their part in the lake which burns, will fire in brimstone, which is a second death. You can’t speak about heaven without speaking about hell. As real as heaven is, hell is as well, people would say that’s just a fairy tale to scare people. It’s not. It’s not. It’s a reality. You see, we we live our lives thinking we’re living to achieve something. We want a goal in life. We want to obtain. We want to ascertain wealth, we want to ascertain a retirement. We’re moving towards something we feel like in this life, when in all reality, the only thing that you’re really moving to is a day of death. Amen. A day of death to where at some point you either have accepted Jesus Christ and go to heaven or rejected him and end up in the devil’s. Hell. That’s the ultimate thing we live in. Everybody, they talk about all these wonderful places to retire. They’ll have to take my red vest off of me in the casket. I cannot retire. I can’t. I work at the wonderful, lovely place of Lowe’s. I just can’t do without me. I wouldn’t be surprised if my viewing is held in the main lobby. Amen. So get your cards, get you a shopping cart, say your goodbyes and shop your heart out. Amen. That’s the way you feel sometimes, but it’s okay. I’m thankful for a job. I bless the Lord for that. And I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but we think that that’s what we’re living for, and we’re not. You’re living to a point in your life. It’s a all of us must die unless Jesus comes back. And we’re headed to one of two places. So we can’t talk about heaven unless we talk about hell. Because even in the last few chapters of the Word of God, the invitation is given for all men to be saved. But I want you to note something here and here’s where it gets kind of exciting. And he carried to me away in verse number ten in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the great city, the Holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. And her light was like into a stone most precious even like a jasper stone clearest crystal. And he goes on to talk about how a great wall high twelve gates at the gates, twelve angels names written there on and he gives a great description of what’s coming out of heaven. I want you to jump back to verse number nine. And here’s where it gets really sweet this morning. And there came unto me John speaking, one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues and talked with me, saying, listen, come hither. I will show thee the bride. I will show thee the lamb’s wife. If you’re saved this morning, guess who you are? You’re the bride. You’re the lamb’s wife. If you’re here saved by the grace of God, I want you to know that the apostle John saw you in this passage of scripture. Modern technology has got nothing on John. Amen. You go to the movies, you see some really strange things, don’t we? Really strange things. And nobody seemed nothing like this. John looked into heaven and saw you, the bride, saw Sister Rachel. Amen. Your loved ones that have gone on before, saved by the grace of God, me, you that are saved. We’re there in this passage of scripture. Amen. I didn’t think I’d ever do anything to be mentioned in the word of God, but here I am. Amen. And here you are. He sees us. John looks now, he doesn’t look over there and say, well, there’s Brother Mark. But he sees us as a whole, and we’re coming down out of heaven with this heavenly city. You see this morning, it’s not a fairy tale. It’s not a make believe story. It’s not one of those stories that always have just a good ending. But it is your story if you’re saved. And it is your ending if you’re saved. Sometimes I miss my grandparents. Who’s going on? I don’t think our pastor ever had the opportunity to meet my granddad, I’m sure of that. But he got to meet my grandmother and got to meet my other set of grandparents. He was really young, but I know he probably remembers some of those things. But I miss them. I’m blessed. The Lord still thankful. I still have my mom and dad with me today, and I’m thankful for that. But you know what I can see in this passage of scripture? They’re saved. I can see them. I see your loved ones have gone on before because heaven’s real. You see, we’re facing 2023 and none of us know. We may get together in 2024. The Lord may come back. That bus might stop and pick some of us up between now and then. But if it does in 2023, 2025 if you’re saved, you’ll still be found in this pasture, scripture with your loved ones. I bless the Lord for that. That gives me hope this morning, brother Andy. That helps me. That gives me hope this morning. That encourages me. Amen. You see, life throws enough our way to discourage us. Life throws enough at our life to just kind of make us want to give up. Amen. Let me encourage you this morning to keep on going, to keep on trusting the Lord, keep on working for the Lord, keep on serving the Lord, be faithful. You never know when that last day will come and you’ll stand before Lord Jesus Christ and give an account of our lives. But let’s be faithful to that day. Let’s be working, let’s be busy about our Father’s business. Heaven is our home. Our Lord and Savior jesus Christ. He said, in my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, receive unto myself. Hen forgot about you. He said, I’m going. When I go, I will come again. He hasn’t forgotten about you. No matter what you’re going through, no matter where you’re at, he hasn’t forgotten about you. As a matter of fact, he opens up Revelation just a little bit and says, let me give you a peek of what’s going on there. You are in heaven. I don’t know how many more lessons we’ll do on heaven. I have no idea. Pastor has given me four books, and I’ve scoured them and looked through them. And whenever I see a pastor’s scripture that stirs my heart, I stop and look at it and study on it. I don’t know. But this thing I want you to know this morning, heaven is real. And your loved ones that have already died, that were saved by the grace of God, there they are waiting. I can see them, not literally, but through my spiritual eye. The Holy Spirit of God allowed me to believe this Bible is the inherent and foul of the word of God. I can see them there, and that causes me to rejoice. They’re not thinking about us. They’re enjoying the glories of God. Amen. So what do we do between now and then? Tell you what we do. We continue to work. We continue to serve the Lord. We continue to be faithful. We continue to do what he would have us to do. Because one day, if Jesus doesn’t come, they’ll be weeping for us. And we said, don’t shut it, dear. For me, life’s good. Amen. Can you imagine being in an eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ and all those have gone on before? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, Adam, Eve, Noah, the great preachers that have been since the beginning of time. Can you imagine being able to sit down and talk to them? Heaven is real. Be encouraged this morning. That your hope. That your home. Keep working for the Lord. Amen. Keep serving the Lord and doing what God would have us to do. Our gracious and loving heavenly Father, thank you for the privilege and opportunity to be in your house this morning. Lord, I pray you’ll take the Lord of God and allow the Spirit of God to speak to our hearts and encourage us and help us this morning, Father, and we’ll be reminded of our heavenly home that our hearts will be focused to do daily what you would have us to do. Go where you’d have us to go. Be what you’d have us to do. Be knowing that there’s a great reward waiting on the other side, Father, to spend eternity with you. Our dear Savior, Lord, I pray encourage the hearts of your people this morning. In Jesus name. Amen.