Carmi Church | What is Heaven Like
Well good morning Carmi Church and welcome to crossroads my name is promise bradley, and it is my great honor and privilege to get to share the word with you this morning. Pastor chad and john are preaching a marriage conference together, and so our prayers are with him this weekend, but passed your test going to be back next sunday to continue to recalibrate series who here has been enjoying the recalibrate series, I’m telling you what it’s been wrecking. My world I love it I love that patrick has been highlighting, matthew 6, where jesus taught his disciples to pray. Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and that means that god actually wants to partner with me to bring heaven to earth, the god actually wants to partner with you to bring heaven to earth i, absolutely love that idea, I’m completely sold out to it and one Carmi Church thing that I’ve realized. It said if I’m completely sold out to the idea of partnering with god, to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth that there’s one thing that I need to know. There’s one thing that I need to take responsibility for, and that is this I need to know what heaven is like know what the culture of heaven is like, because god wants to culture of the world become the culture of heaven. He wants the ways of heaven to infiltrate the ways of the world, as the Carmi Church bible puts it. He wants the kingdoms of this world to become the kingdoms, the kingdom of our god amen and here’s one thing I know about heaven:it’s a kingdom, your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and what does that word? Kingdom even mean it means the kings domain, and now his domain has been highlighting for us. It’s not just about where he lives right, heaven is so much bigger is so much better is so much greater than just a geographical location, then just a place that we go when we die. If we are found in christ, jesus is so much more than that. The word domain means the kings domain. Carmi Church It means that the kingdom’s kings domain, it means the king’s authority, wherever the king has authority there. You will find his kingdom, you know what that means. It’s good news for me and you because it means it is. The king has authority in my mind, guess what the kingdom has come. To my mind, be in my home. It means the kingdom of heaven has come to my home. If the king has authority in my finances, it means the kingdom of heaven has come to my finances. Isn’t that awesome as the king has authority in my workplace? You see where I’m going with this? Don’t you church I love it I love. It I want the king to have authority Carmi Church and every area of my life and now, if you guys, will bear with me I’m having some technical difficulties. So this is what I’m going to do. I’m going to give you a topic, a great for this rhode island is neither a road or an island, discuss yeah yeah, it’s neither a road norton island. How about another one chickpea, it’s neither a chick nor a pea, peanuts, see where I’m going with this. It’s a legume people! Look it up. It’s a legume! Alright, we’re good! Wherever Carmi Church the king has authority, as where his kingdom is found, you ready to get back to your regularly scheduled program. I’ll, give you a really great natural world example of this about 4 india, and you might not know this about india, but until like the mid-twentieth century, india had been a colony of great britain for 300 years, 300 years during that time, if you were an indian person living in india, even if you didn’t know anything about england, even if you never set foot in london, you didn’t even know what buckingham palace was you never seen? Big ben, you were still considered a subject of the king. What’s the point, it doesn’t matter where you are, it doesn’t matter who you are it matters who your king is? Who has authority over you? Not something really interesting would happen when I was in india are host sony, amazing, so hospitable just took such great care of us fed us so much food and everyday around mid-afternoon. Carmi Church We would sit in the indian heat which it was about. This is during the summer, and it was about a hundred degrees in the shade. Would like 100, plus humidity, i, don’t know how you get more than a hundred, but believe me, you do right and and we went, we would sit outside and she would service piping, hot tea and biscuits. You would call them cookies, but their biscuits, because why? Because india was a colony of great britain for 300 years and they’re called biscuits in london. Why would we drink piping, hot tea in the mid-afternoon in 100 degree heat in the shade, because if it was a colony of great britain and in the london in england, you know you know, every culture has its own flavor right. If you know what I mean by that like, if I served you a dish and it had kind of like an asian flavor to it, you can even if I didn’t tell you, you can buy that kind of paste, I like an asian dish. Or do you hear a piece of music and it’s it’s Carmi Church like from a latin country. You can be like all that has like a latin flavor to it and if we don’t know very much about a culture, we pretty much know different cultures. Flavors right, every culture has its own value system in every culture. There are things that collectively the people have said.
We value these things and we want to promote them. We want to preserve them and we want to pass them down to the next generation. These things over here Carmi Church value them so much we’re not interested in preserving those. In fact, you can just throw those away its value system, you don’t so much of modern politics is just a country trying to figure out its value system. Do you know what I’m saying? Don’t worry? This isn’t a political preach? Don’t worry, you don’t got Carmi Church to leave. It’s all good I’m just going to use this to make a point. Okay, right now in our country we have a big divide between value system, probably the biggest divide that has existed in our culture, cuz. What you have is over here and want to promote and preserve and pass these things on to the next generation, and we have people over here who don’t value those things and value these things we can’t get along. We can’t figure out what we want our value system to be Carmi Church what we want our culture to be like. Have you ever found out that you have a different value system from somebody else you talking to me you’re, like oh boy, we value very different things, don’t answer! This is rhetorical. Have you ever found out that you have a different value system than your spouse? Honey answer? Carmi ChurchLet me let me put it to you this way. Have you ever tried to go through your house with your spouse and do a deep purge of all your for your drunk, and you find out that there are things that they value, that you don’t value and vice versa, right, blake and I we’ve been doing some spring cleaning lately, okay, it’s time and we have a two-and-a-half-year-old. So for roughly three years we haven’t thrown anything away like nothing. We haven’t done any deep cleaning whatsoever and it’s time y’all. You know how you know when it’s time is when you literally cannot physically walk into your garage. We are there and I don’t know about. Carmi Church You is so weird like when you go through your stuff and you’re like okay. This should be easy. It’s easy to determine something’s value right, there’s going to be stuff that I’m going to keep stuff on my throw away stuff, I’m going to donate stuff I’m going to sell right easy. Let me tell you something:it is not easy I’m. Having did I have an emotional attachment to stuff that is just white. Why do I value this thing? Why am I having to go through the morning process Carmi Church for every single thing that I put in the trash? It should be easier, and you know blake and I are not on the same page about everything. I love you baby, but we’re not always on the same page we’re just not. We have a different value system, sometimes and i, don’t like it, because I like to be on the same page as my husband, but I also like to get my way behind me know it’s better to live in peace with your spouse. Then it is to get your own way all the time and it the Carmi Church truth is when it comes to values. I have value him so much more. Then I value this piece of junk I value him so much more than my need to get rid of other said junk right, and so sometimes out of my love for him all conform to his value system, and it does a little like this, like you sure baby, if you absolutely must Carmi Church keep that nasty ugly, yellow holy fuzzy blanket that you’ve had for 30 years, that kind of smells okay and sometimes i, don’t necessarily conform. I compromised, y’all compromises, good in marriage. If you haven’t tried it, you should try it compromises. When you put conditions on things, though, you know you’re like okay, you can keep a blanket that you had for 30 years, but you keep it on your side of the bed and in the morning you put it in the linen closet, because Carmi Church I do not want company to see that thing. Anybody I don’t answer that me know that I know that sometimes my value system is in the same as my spouse’s. My value system often is not the same as lord sky system, and you know the difference is that sometimes likes value system is better than mine. Sometimes my value system is better than his, but the lord’s value system is always the best I never have a better value system than him. His system is always the most right. Carmi Church Paul said the kingdom of heaven is righteousness, peace and joy in the holy spirit, and you know you can try to compromise in the kingdom. Let me tell it. Let me just follow me with this. You can try to compromise with god the way that I compromise to my husband. You can try it in the lord will be super duper patient with you, and he will show you so much grace during your attempts to compromise with him. So what I come to learn when I come to find out is that compromise Carmi Church actually does not work in the kingdom it doesn’t limit. Let me give you some examples of what compromise looks like for me with the lord lord i. Give you all of Me:i’ll give you everything that I am except for that one addiction that I really love and i, don’t want to give you cuz. If he’s my flesh and ice like it, jesus I will go anywhere. You send me here, i, am lord, send me there like that place. Jesus I want to love like you, love I want to love people with the Carmi Church love that you have for them. I just cannot love that person and he’s so patient.
Carmi Church With my attempts to compromise, but I’m telling you compromise doesn’t work in the kingdom. You know why, because he’s a righteous god and he loves without condition, bible says god is love and that his love is unconditional. His love is unconditional. That means he can’t compromise. Compromise is not heard of in the culture of heaven in the kingdom of heaven, because it comes with conditions. Compromise comes with conditions, I’m. So glad, though, that he does not Carmi Church compromise. Aren’t you glad that he’s a righteous god? Aren’t you glad that we can’t have it both ways that we can’t have and is righteous so glad and I’m, so glad that he’s so patient with my attempts to copper mice, cuz I need it I’m. So you know what if to me, you don’t promise that person, they really wronged, you you know, and so all that bitterness all that unforgiveness that you’re holding on to you should probably just hold on to it. You’re right that old nasty stuff keep it because you deserve to keep it because they did so wrong. But when company comes over put it in the closet, aren’t you glad it’s not like that Carmi Church compromise doesn’t work in the kingdom. Only conformity, only conforming to his value system is what patrick has been talking about. The recalibrate series when he says look, there’s a standard, that’s the culture of heaven, that’s the value system of heaven and he says, and then I find out how far away from that Carmi Church standard I am and then it’s my responsibility to recalibrate my mind to conform to that value system. Not know we don’t like to talk about conform, we don’t we don’t like that word, because it can sound a little bit like hashtag legalism right like okay, there’s a box, that’s the culture of heaven that’s, the law, that’s god’s commandments and you need to get in it and you need to stay him then buy it, and it’s going to make you small and you can’t get a toll out of line, Carmi Church and if you do, oh, my goodness, you better punish yourself real bad in hurry up and get right back in, not like that the laws good, the laws right. Yes, the law has not been done away with in my right, jesus said:i come to fulfill the law, not to do away with it, but sometimes we get the cart before the horse. Do you know that I can form to blake’s value system? Why? Because I love him. This is about a relationship. This whole thing is about a relationship with the Carmi Church king confirming the heavens value system isn’t about getting in a box. It’s about falling in love with a king and, as a result, I fall in love with his wife and I want to follow his ways and I love his ways and they’re so beautiful to me and they’re so glorious to me and I love to just fall in love with him and his ways you know like i, have been married for 15 years and i. I know this sounds cheesy or whatever, but this is truth:i love him more now than I did 15 years Carmi Church ago. You know why my yes to him is bigger today than it was 15 years ago. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t give him my complete yes, 15 years ago at the altar I did I gave him 100% of me, but what has happened over the years is I have learned how to give him more of me. I’ve learned how to get up every morning and say yes Again:i’ve learned how to make my yes bigger and it grows every single day. You see it’s a relationship, it’s a process. It is the same in the kingdom of heaven. It’s about growing and love. It’s about giving god my yes again, you know for years, I didn’t understand that I I got saved like six times. You know, Carmi Church I’m talking about I like gave my life to the lord and then I fell away and then i, rededicated and I fell away and then rededicated, because I didn’t have a revelation that it is a relationship and just because I fall away doesn’t mean the relationship is over to understand because his grace is so extreme. In that moment his grace is so powerful. In that moment, when I get back up my guess he has empowered my yes to be bigger again. There’s no shame in that. If that’s been Carmi Church you because I understand I’ve been there before, but I’m telling you it’s a process, it’s about being transformed into his image glory to glory, as the bible says is what paul said in romans 12:2 and he said don’t be conformed to the world system, but be transformed. Transformation is a process but be transformed by Carmi Church the renewing of your mind and that’s how you’re going to know what his values are. What heaven is like it’s going through this process with the lord amen, he is so good y’all, but if I want to conform to heavens value system, I need to know what happened values. What is heaven want to promote? What is heaven want to preserve? What is heaven want to protect and passed down from generation and just heaven want to disregard. You know when jesus was here on earth, he talked Carmi Church all about what heaven is like. That’s one of the things that he came to reveal. He came to reveal the father he came to reveal heaven. He came to die on the cross for our sins. To give us new life and I wish. I could go through all the things that jesus said. Heaven is like today because it’s rocking my world right now, the one who thinks I can’t go through everything but I’m going to share a couple of things that jesus said heaven is like, and this is found in matthew 13. Carmi Church
If you Carmi Church would go there with me, yeah I know we just love the word. Matthew 13, verse, 44 jesus said this. He said the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up, then in his joy. He goes and sells. Also may say all all that he has any bites that field again. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all for my say, all all that he had and bought. It not heard these parables preach several times over the years and I’ve heard a very good interpretation of them that I actually 100% agree with and you’re going to see that I’m going to come full circle back around to this interpretation. But the lord started to speak to me about the interpretation in the interpretation. Carmi Church Is this that heaven is the treasure and heaven is the pearl of great price and when I find jesus, when I find heaven, when I see how beautiful it is, when I see how wonderful his ways are that I give up everything to follow him. Just like the disciples gave up everything to follow. Jesus they let their nuts the bible says they left their boats and they followed. After him, they left their families, even some of them think they gave everything they paid the highest Carmi Church price to follow, jesus and that’s a good interpretation. But the lord started speak to me and he said promise. Is there actually any price that you could pay that would buy heaven that would buy a relationship with me is like actually no, the bible says that i, don’t we love because you first loved me and he’s like,. Have you actually paid the highest price to follow me and I’m, like no? Actually, I haven’t I’m learning how to pay the price. It’s a process like we said, but I haven’t actually paid it. Yet he said, but there’s one who has there’s one who has paid the highest price and that is jesus jesus paid the highest price. He Carmi Church left his definity. He was the son of god left. His divinity came to earth as a man squid attempted within to me. That’s the biggest part of the price is that he did not sin, even though he was so tempted and then he suffered and died. He was whipped, abuse crossed and he took all of the sins of all of the world of all of mankind forever and ever on himself. All of our diseases, all of our brokenness self and died, was placed in a grave. The holy spirit raised him from Carmi Church the dead 3 days later and now he sits at the right hand of the father and makes intercession for everyone who is found in christ jesus, every citizen of heaven she’s paid the highest price, and what did he pay it for for you for me, whatever you’re willing to pay the highest price? For is this thing that you value the most understand? The word value is defined as the regard that something is held to deserve. I want to I want to share a piece of art that lately has just been rocking. My world check out. This piece of art is going to blow your mind. It’s beautiful right. You just have an emotional reaction of this Carmi Church piece of art. Let me it just in case like you’re, listening podcast and you can’t see it. Let me describe it to you really big blackboard, with six horizontal scribbles of chalk going across tit, any art critics in here. How much would you would you be willing to pay for this piece of art come on? We can have the auction right now. Wait. You haven’t heard the title. Let me tell you title because that’s going to change everything, the title where is untitled I know I Carmi Church know I get it. This is a legit piece of art. It was created in 1968 by an artist named psy twombly, and it has sold several times over the years since 1968 and most recently, it’s sold at sotheby’s auction in 2015. Forget this 70.5 million dollars I’m not lying folks to 70.5 million dollars for scribbles. What is the point? The point is, the value is not inherent in an object. Value is not determined by something’s quality. It’s not determined by its beauty. It’s not Carmi Church even determined by its rarity. It is strictly determined by how much some somebody is willing to hey. Now there is a theology out there, and theology is just a way of understanding the ways of god. It’s a way of interpreting his value system. There’s a theology that says humankind is worthless. We have no quality, we have no righteousness in ourselves, which is absolutely true. I 100% agree with that. We are just sinners. We are sinners, you’re, a sinner I’m, a sinner, we’re always be centers. That’s all there is to mankind. We have no okay, but what about your value? What price was god willing to pay for you? Because it’s that Carmi Church and that alone that determines your value and I’m telling you? We’ve got to get heavens value system for people, and you know I get saying I’m a sinner I’m, a sinner, I’m sure I get it but you’re a sinner when you are under sins authority. When you become a citizen of heaven, when you become when you come under the authority of king jesus, you are no longer under sins authority, it doesn’t mean that you won’t send. It just means that you have a different king, now Carmi Church you’re, no longer a sinner. You are a saint because jesus was willing to pay the highest price. What does the kingdom of heaven value more than anything? What is its top priority and its value system? Souls people’s freedom, people’s health, people’s wholeness, people. Carmi Church
Is? What heaven value smells, and you know we got to get heavens value system when I meet somebody look Carmi Church at them through my naturalizing more. If I’m, a citizen of heaven I have to conform to, have him sell you system, I have to look at them through god’s eyes, it doesn’t matter what their quality is. It doesn’t matter what town they have. It doesn’t matter where they’ve been and what they’ve done it doesn’t matter how beautiful they are. Not. It doesn’t matter what they bring to the table, that’s their value. They are his pearl of great price. You are his pearl of great price. Carmi Church He’s the man in the parable just know somebody who doesn’t know that they’re his treasure hidden in the field and if you’ve ever wanted to know how to easily share the gospel with somebody. That’s it matthew 13 right there. They are his pearl of great price. There’s no price, he was not willing to pay for them, amen, heaven’s value system, people. You know there was this really awesome group of missionaries. If you are missionary minded, you need to study this they’re called the moravian. They were really active during the 18th and 19th century and they practically pioneered the bratz, the new missions movie, like the Carmi Church modern, mission movement. As we know it today they got this. They understood the heaven values, people over everything and soles of her everything and they were sold out to it and I said we will pay any price to conform to heavens value system, and so what happened? Was there? Was this island in the west indies now watch? This is the coolest story. I love this story and there was a slave owner who own this island did. He was raising sugar cane or some crap like Carmi Church that, and he had like three thousand slaves working for him on this island and he was an atheist and he had made it known like he had put a decree out there and said:do not come to my island if you preach jesus. If you’re a missionary and evangelist a preacher, if you’re even do not come to my island because I’m not having it, he especially wouldn’t didn’t want his slaves to hear the message that there is freedom in jesus. You understand he did not want that. It’s on the moravian, they said easy will just tell ourselves into slavery and that’s exactly what they did. This is a true story. This is history and ever going to evangelize the slave population from the inside out. Can you imagine and it’s a true story? They were just just picture this. We need there on the ship sailing out Carmi Church into the harbor and their family is left there on the shoreline. Do you know their families weeping because they know what this means for their loved ones to be sold into slavery? For the sake of the gospel and one of the moravians called out, this famous quote, and he said may the lamb who was slain receive the reward of his suffering, in other words, we’re going to make sure that jesus gets what he paid for that’s what woke christian. You know how I know. That’s a woke christian because jesus said blessed:are you and you are persecuted for righteousness sake, for yours is the kingdom of heaven, because you get it, you get the Carmi Church value system of heaven. You know what heaven is it’s a king who gave everything for his bride and a bride who’s willing to give everything back for her king. It is 100% a love story. It’s two people willing to give up everything for one another and it’s not about what we get out of it. Although what’s cool about the kingdom, is we get so much? You see this kingdom is a topsy-turvy kingdom. What I mean by that is the bible says that the wisdom of the lord is Carmi Church foolishness to this world. It’s a kingdom that says in order to find your life, you have to lose it in order to be filled up, you have to become empty in order to be raised up, you have to go. Lo peter sets humble yourself under the mighty hand of god, and in due time he will lift you up. It’s a kingdom that says in order to have anything you have to give everything you see. There was this man in the bible who didn’t get this #don’t be like this guy. He was. He was called the rich young ruler because he was a rich young ruler, I came to jesus and he said jesus. What must I do to receive the kingdom or what must I do to enter Carmi Church heaven or have you turned a license and jesus said? Follow the commandments remember that box conform to this box, and he said the guy said. Oh, that’s, cool well, first of all, which ones and she’s like he didn’t say that I would have said that she said he just listed them for the guy he’s, so patient I need. The guy was like yes, I’ve done all that I’ve gotten in the box. This we’re going to find out that it’s not about the box, okay, i, followed them all, and you said Carmi Church all good I’m glad you trying to be good now. Do this go and sell everything that you have and give the money to the poor kind of follow me and you will have treasure in heaven he even said, and the bible says that he went away sad, a lot of possessions and he didn’t want to get rid of it now. This is a this guy when nicotine, the kingdom. Why? Because values it’s about? What do you value you see one way to look at the rich young ruler story is to say:do you want some willing to give up all said wherever your treasure is there, your heart? Is there anything worth more to you than your relationship with jesus? Is there anything Carmi Church worth more? Is there any price if you would not be if you lose your life, you know when you get married, do you have two people with two separate lives and I have to somehow come together and make one life right in order to cast and then I find a brand new life? It’s just like call the gold digger right.
Would you want to be my i? Wouldn’t I don’t want to be married to somebody who’s just with me for what they can get our vows. They said for, better or worse. That means, if things go bad I’m going to the irony, is that because I’m Carmi Church married to him I do get everything that he has it’s the same in the kingdom of heaven, you get everything that he has. You get everything that he has all these external things. They have authority if I get sick and he doesn’t heal me like i, think he should I’m out the door. If I have trouble trouble comes my way and I don’t there was a guy in the bible that didn’t get this either the parable the prodigal son, the older brother, didn’t get what I’m telling you right Carmi Church now. He was working so hard for the father out working in the fields. Why to get an inheritance from the father and the younger brother has his brother. Had it gone off and taking the inheritance and wasted it and had come back friends. You know goat parties bring a goat to a party. That’s weird anyway and the father looks at him and he says son, don’t you know all I have. Is yours? It’s not about that. It’s not about you working hard, yeah, i, love that you do that, but Carmi Church I want you to do it out of the overflow of your love. For me of your love. For me, all that I have is worth the bother just wanted to relay it’s two people giving everything that they have to be with one another jesus, giving everything that he has to have his bride in the bride, giving back everything that she has to know. I’m convinced that the deeper we go in the lord, the less we hold onto it’s just like dr. Burrell last week when he said you can have on any carry-on luggage. It doesn’t mean that you can’t come to the lord with your baggage, but when you come to the lord with your baggage guess what and his love that’s what happens? It’s like heaven is jesus pearly, gates and mansion I’m, not here to preach on that today. But I do know. This I know that when we are in Carmi Church heaven we will eternally be in the presence of jesus. You know why the garden of eden was heaven on earth was because adam and eve were were in the presence of god. You know when jesus was here or the kingdom of heaven I’m standing right here:reach out, and, touch me. She is heaven and how are we to partner with him to bring heaven to earth? First of all, we make him lord in every area of our life, wherever the king has authority, that’s where his kingdom is and we become. Carmi Church His presence is on the inside of you and we would come like the bible says, temples of the holy spirit, the very presence of god, which is what heaven is. If you guys like little tabernacles go out in the world and you are carrying the kingdom with you and you release it everywhere. You go and the kingdoms of this world in effect become the kingdom of our lord, amen.
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