Is Heaven Real? || October 2, 2021 - 7:30 PM

foreign [Music] [Music] holy words long preserved for our walk in this world they resound with god's own heart oh let the ancient words [Music] words of life words of hope give us [Music] ancient words will guide us [Music] holy words [Music] sacrifice [Music] is [Music] [Applause] me [Music] changing me i'm changing you every day our hearts renew o cleanse and change [Music] [Music] open hearts [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] good night and welcome back friends welcome back to the 15th and final broadcast of our series lessons for living biblical answers to life's most perplexing questions i tell you this is a bittersweet moment for us because this is our last broadcast but i can tell you that my heart has been blessed i've been watching as many of you written in and i know that you have not only been blessed but you have indeed taken a step closer to christ as we know that jesus is coming again soon you know throughout the ages christian believers have faithfully followed jesus with the hope that he will return again soon and when he comes again they'd be taken to heaven the idea of heaven has been widely debated by even many skeptics and many of them have dismissed even the concept many atheists have dismissed the concept yet pew research center in 2014 and its religious landscape study shows that roughly 72 of all americans say they believe in heaven so who's right the skeptics or the regular americans in other words is heaven real or is it fool's gold well i invite you to stay tuned as bill santos reveals this amazing answer in the message entitled is heaven real is heaven real i want you to stay right here as we listen for the answer in lessons for living biblical answers to life's most perplexing questions but before we begin won't we pray together let's bow our heads together father thank you so much for what you have done thus far and as lord we come to the conclusion of this meeting we pray that you yet once again give us a word reminding us of the truth that you are not only coming again soon but when you come those who love you will go home with you may you prepare our hearts for this message strengthen us we pray in jesus name amen [Music] last night i lay asleep there came a dream so fair i stood in all the jerusalem beside the temple [Music] the voice of angels from [Music] [Applause] answer [Music] lift up your gates and [Music] your king [Music] the little children sang the sun grew dark with mystery the mourn was cold and chill as the shadow of a crossroads [Music] upon that lonely [Music] [Applause] [Music] your king and once again the scene was changed there seemed to be i saw that holy city beside [Music] my [Music] by our sun to shine by day it was that new jerusalem that would [Music] lamb is [Music] [Applause] [Music] more [Music] [Music] forever [Music] [Music] [Applause] good evening thank you again pastor herlock for that beautiful beautiful song and thank you friends for tuning in as you have faithfully every night i want to remind everyone of uh pastor herlock's ministry his youtube channel are revealed it's revelation revealed revealed.org and i would invite you to tune in there and uh and see the fine materials that pastor herlock has there including music and messages are revealed.org we thank pastor herlock for for helping us and being our singing evangelist here uh night after night and together with michelle adams who also graced us with her beautiful voice we thank you uh for your participation with us thank pastor lloyd wilson and all the pastors in our network we're a very cohesive team and it's nice to to be part of an effort where the church has come together and we all work together and again let me thank each and every one of you that has tuned in every night i know some of you have been here every night i i i glance down at the at the chat once in a while i can see and i recognize uh i recognize some names and uh some locations i know our friends from grenada are with us again and and uh so that's just it's really quite you know i'm really thankful that you've taken time from your busy schedule to be with us here every night and and like i said this morning first and foremost i want to thank god for this awesome privilege and the opportunity that we have to to to to share this good news you know you know for the last 18 months or so our world has gone through some troubling situations and and it's good to be reminded that we serve a god who is all-knowing all loving and that like the song we used to sing many years ago he's got the whole world in his hands doesn't he and so we need not be anxious we need not be afraid because god is not about to abandon us he's not about to leave us and so we can stick with him and and he'll see us through uh some of the most trying moments in in our in our history and tonight it would only be fitting that we would end this series talking about heaven because that is really that is what has sustained christians through some of the darkest moments in their life is they have looked forward to that reward they've looked forward to that city that god is so lovingly preparing for those that choose to be there and so i'm excited tonight to open the bible and share with you the answer to the question is heaven real again like we do every night before we get into our message tonight i want to remind you of a few things i want to remind you of our prayer line that's the phone number where the volunteers have been there every night and my goodness well how thankful we are for them and their commitment to be there each and every night to answer the calls and i hope you're taking advantage of that and if you haven't if you've never called why not call tonight and just have them pray for you and add have your name added to their prayer list and share with them your thoughts and where you are in your spiritual journey and they can help you they can help you move forward if that's what you wish the prayer line number is one eight five five malton one one eight five five six two five eight six six one don't hesitate to reach that the lines are open right now and they will be open right up till the end of our program here tonight and so don't hesitate to do that and again i want to remind you that tonight's message and all of the messages are available in an outline format it's not a complicated thing but it has all the verses that that i share with you and you can get those as a pdf email us info at maltensda.com info maltonsda.com and we will make sure that those outlines get out to you it's a great way and if you've collected all 15 of them it's a great way for you now to begin to share these so important truths with your friends or your family and all the texts are there and you can read it and even if you don't do that just for yourself go back over them and read the texts again look at them in your own bible because that'll have a whole other significance to you when you see it for yourselves they're written out the way it is written out in scripture okay so i want to encourage you to do that i also want to remind you that tomorrow at 11 30 a.m uh our television program is on on ctv2 for those of you in the southern ontario uh area 11 30 a.m we're in the midst of a series in the book of daniel and so you can join us at 11 30 a.m if you are unable to do that or if you live outside of our broadcast area that's not a problem if you go to l4ltv.com you'll see it right on the bottom of the slide there right l4ltv.com you can watch the program there or if those of you that are watching on my facebook page or my youtube channel my lessons for living youtube channel it'll be available there also i also want to remind you that i am also oh what's going on here i am also on uh let's back you up here one instagram and every morning at 6 30 a.m eastern time i post a one minute devotional video that many folks use sort of as their primer to get going every day it is a great way to start your day by being focused on things of heaven and so if you want to have access to that you can follow me on instagram santos underscore bill and you'll have access to that every single morning 6 30 a.m eastern time that video goes out it is one minute or less in length okay so it doesn't take too much time but it gets you thinking about spiritual things right at the start of your day and the last thing is our facebook page facebook.com lessons l4l television if you are unable to watch our program on the broadcast channel you can go at 11 30 a.m eastern time to the facebook page and you can watch the program there live at the same time it's being aired uh being broadcast over the airwaves it is being simulcast on facebook.com l4l television 11 30 a.m eastern time check that out if you will okay is heaven real let's go into our study but before we do i'm just going to ask you to bow your head with me gracious god loving heavenly father we've come to the last last step here in this short journey that we've gone through through the bible we thank you heavenly father for just being with us and guiding us leading us through these steps each night we have come we have come like the young people sing at the beginning we have come with open hearts and open minds and ask that you speak to us and heavenly father you have poured out your holy spirit and you have helped us understand these oh so important truths and father i just ask that tonight you do the same thing again and father every night we ask that these truths not just become another you know piece of information intellectual information that we have in our heads but but may it just penetrate from our heads down to our hearts and may it then become evident in how we live in on the external and so for that we need the power of that same holy spirit to transform the ideas into attributes into actions into qualities into characteristics in our lives and so father i just humbly ask that you do that tonight you have been so gracious to us and again father like i do every night i just place these meetings i place my computer our equipment the cameras the people all in your hands and we just humbly ask that your will be done in jesus name amen back in 2004 it's been a number of years ago i'm not sure how many of you were aware of the story of alex malarkey he was he wrote this book the boy who came back from heaven and i think it became a movie too uh alex was in a coma for two months he had had a car accident been involved in a car accident with his family and after spending two months in a coma when he awoke from the coma he had a remarkable story to tell the doctors he told the doctors and his parents that an angel had come to him and this angel had taken him to heaven and he when he was in heaven he had met jesus and satan well the story was so amazing that it was turned into a book that was co-authored with his father kevin and the book was published i think for the first time in 2010 and it made it to the new york times bestseller list well shortly after that alex came forward and said it was all a lie in fact here is what he said he wrote i did not die i did not go to heaven i said i went to heaven because i thought it would get me attention when i made the claims that i that i did i had never read the bible it's only through repentance of your sins and a belief in jesus as the son of god who died for your sins even though he committed none of his own so that you can be forgiven may you learn of heaven outside of what is written in the bible not by reading a work of man malarkey said he wrote the book because he thought it would get him attention and it became a bestseller then he said i want the whole world to know that the bible is sufficient those who market these materials must be called to repent and hold the bible as enough well isn't that amazing that's it exactly alex the bible is enough the fact the bible is the rule of faith for the christian the faith of christians is found is based on bible teaching and one of the clearest subjects that the bible speaks on is heaven if we go to revelation chapter 21 and verse 1 the apostle john there on the isle of patmos wrote then i saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no longer any sea you see this was a city that john saw god gave him the opportunity and envisioned to see this but john wasn't the only one that believed or longed for this city god's people throughout the ages longed for this city this heavenly home god tells us that all of his prophets spoke about god's plan of of restitution what god was going to restore and what was he going to restore he was going to restore everything that that adam and eve lost paradise on earth god said i will make all things new this old world that you and i live in that is contaminated by pollutants where where fresh water is disappearing fresh air is disappearing we are being burned because of a thin ozone layer we have violence and suffering this world that you and i live in today contaminated with pandemics and all kinds of wackiness is not much of a gift and so god is going to give us john wrote a new heavens and a new earth a perfect world that will be inhabited by those that have recognized their sinfulness and have come for redemption through the blood of jesus christ the bible promises us that our new earth our new home will be just like the earth was when god created it prior to adam and eve can only imagine the joy that they must have felt perfect health the vitality of youth almost sounds too good to be true doesn't it but it was true you see it was never god's plan that you and i would get old it wasn't god's plan that there be hospitals that there'd be pandemics and pacemakers no god had created a perfect home he he filled it with perfect beings he said multiply fill the planet he gave them dominion over the animals he provided them the fruits of the trees and plants that they could sustain themselves with but all of that we read was lost because adam and eve listened to the temptations of the evil one and disobeyed god and so god had to turn them out of their paradise home dominion of this world was turned over to the evil one you see adam and eve had been deceived and as a result they had lost everything god forced them out of their home there in the garden of eden and god placed angels to guard the gate and to keep adam and eve from coming back in to eat of the tree of life and the sad story of humanity is as humanity grew as the population increased sin grew exponentially it grew to the so rapidly that very very quickly the majority of people on earth no longer worshipped the creator in fact we are told that by the time of the building of the tower of babel almost all of the people on earth almost every single one had forgotten god and the promises that god made but but god had a family he had a family that still worshipped him abraham and and his relatives they remained faithful to god they had not forgotten the promises that god had made and and god made it then a promise to abraham and said abraham you're going to see your seed or your descendants will inherit the earth your descendants abraham will see the restitution of everything that was lost by adam and eve and that was a promise that god made and we are told that abraham embraced that promise he accepted that promise by faith and adam wade adam abraham he waited faithfully knowing that god would honor that and while he waited abraham knew that he was a stranger here on earth he was a pilgrim here on earth this was not his destiny he was just passing through on his way to heaven like captain joseph bates once said in hebrews chapter 11 we read for he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is god you see was the same city which the ancient patriarchs longed for still waiting for the moment when faith becomes sight there was one called moses moses who could have been a pharaoh moses who could have ruled on a throne in egypt moses could have sat on a golden throne in a golden temple worshiped by tens of thousands of egyptians but look at what the bible says hebrews 11 beginning at verse 24 it says by faith moses when he had grown up refused to be known as the son of pharaoh's daughter he chose to be mistreated along with the people of god rather than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a short time he regarded disgrace for the sake of christ as a greater value than the treasures of egypt because he was looking ahead to it his reward you see the you see the reality of the bible here it amazes me how folks say well the bible isn't real the bible doesn't understand it's not relevant to us living today oh it is extremely relative it's more relevant than any other publication in the world you know we read here in hebrews where it says that that moses would rather would rather strive for eternal rewards rather than the pleasures of sin temporary pleasures listen friends let's not beat around the bush let's not like like let's call things what sin can bring temporary pleasure but it is an empty vacant pressure pleasure it leaves you empty in the end you see that's how the devil catches us right you see it's an empty pleasure and what happens is we want more right and more and more and we're never satisfied and moses said no i don't want the temporary pleasure i don't want that mirage in the desert that the closer you get to it you begin to realize that it's not real at all that's how the devil traps us and moses said no i realize it's all an illusion i want the reward i want the eternal reward not the temporary pleasure that leaves you empty and dirty and sick in the end it says he was looking ahead to his reward you know the men and women of this royal line of faith looked forward to that reward they all recognize something and here it is hebrews 11 13 all these died in faith without receiving the promises but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth you see it says they received the promises but from a distance and once they saw what god revealed to them once they saw what god had prepared for those who love him who surrender their lives they said you know what we are exiles here we are just temporarily here because what we want what we long for is what god has prepared for us they looked forward to the promise of eternity the promise of heaven friends you can have assurance today that heaven is real this is something you can hold on to this is something that as you go through those storms in your life you just cling to the rock of knowing that jesus christ has gone to prepare a place for you and for me and he's coming soon to take us to that place the bible is clear it tells us that at the end of a thousand years that period we refer to as the millennium the holy city will descend from heaven this is a guarantee you can take not not because i'm saying it but because it's a promise god has made i have said on previous nights that a promise is only as good as the person who makes it this is a promise that god has made to us and god has kept every single promise you see friends earth is not our home i'm a stranger here you're a stranger here we're pilgrims here i'll tell you every time i walk into a hospital i am reminded this is not our home every time i see children suffering every time i see a marriage on the verge of breaking down i am reminded this is not our home every time i hear of another person who has succumbed to this disaster of covid i am reminded this is not our home every time a family breaks down every time a business shuts down every time some innocent individual is caught in the crossfire of gang lang gang land activity i am reminded this is not our home i am a pilgrim here we are exiles here but verse 14 says for those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own this is not our home but one day we are going home verse 16 says 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 a city for them friends do you desire a better home god has prepared a city for us beyond what our minds can even comprehend first corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 however as it is written no eye has seen no ear has heard no mind has conceived what god has prepared for those who love him paul tells us that what god has in store for us will blow our minds it is beyond what we can even imagine he says not only have you not seen it not only have you not heard it your mind can't even imagine it it's so spectacular our human minds are too limited to even be able to imagine what god has what god is preparing for you and i i mean let me just ask you something right now when you hear that when you hear can you imagine someone says to you you know it was just pastor lloyd's uh birthday the other day right on thursday right i think he told me he was turning i'm not sure if he said 29 or 30. i think he's within i'm within a very small margin of error there between 29 and 30. and can you imagine someone says to him hey pastor um your family has prepared for you man a party a birthday party that you can't even imagine i mean how excited do you get to want to go to that party you can't wait to go there i mean isn't that the case you can't wait oh my goodness it's beyond it's going to be incredible can you imagine when you hear that what god has prepared for you and i is beyond what we can even imagine doesn't it make you want to go home doesn't it want to say right now listen i'm going to just break off anything from this world that could possibly tie me down here and prevent me from experiencing what my eye has never seen what my ear has never heard and what my mind can't even imagine doesn't it make you want to go home it does me you see john was given a vision of this breathtaking holy city and you know as paul said it's beyond our imagination human vocabulary wasn't sufficient for him to describe what he saw and so as he sees this vision i can almost imagine him grappling wrestling for words to describe what he's seeing and and what comes to mind to him i think is the most fit example he could think of the most the best metaphor if you will for what he saw look at how he describes it i just love this he says oh did i do something here he says i saw the holy city the new jerusalem coming down this is what paul had said your mind can't even imagine your ears are never heard your mind you know your eyes haven't seen it says i've seen it coming down i haven't from god prepared look at what he says prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband isn't that amazing he says you know what it's like when i saw the holy city the only thing i could think of it's like a beautiful bride on her wedding day listen i'm a pastor i've done a lot of weddings i'm sure pastor wilson has i'm sure pastor affleck and pastor lazarus and pastor sewell and sadly and all the pastors that have been here with us pastor nichols we've all done our share of weddings i'd be curious to hear what their feedback is but i got to tell you in all the weddings i've ever done i've never seen an ugly bride ever i'll admit it i've seen a groom that could use a an alteration or two but i've never seen an ugly bride ever and when i read john's description that the city that god is preparing for you and me is like a bride like a bride all adorned for her husband doesn't it make you want to go home yeah me too he says the wall of the city had 12 foundations and on them were the names of the 12 apostles of the lamb the apostles their names are on the foundations of this holy city ever thought why what would that represent why would god place the names of these apostles who were just common everyday blokes like you and i just common people common men they had their faults they had their doubts they all had their idiosyncrasies some had temper some that had little faith they're a cross section of us they're just like us and john says their names are on the foundations of the city do you ever thought why why would god what was god trying to tell us with that i believe god is trying to say listen this is not a city for super saints this is a city for sinners that have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb this is a home for those that recognize their sinfulness and they have come to the foot of the cross and they have cried out that their sins be forgiven and claimed the promise that god made that said i will cleanse their sins and there i will remember them no more this is their home it's a home for the redeemed a home for sinners that recognize their need of a savior this is their home this is their place john tells us the size of the city he says it's laid out as a square its length is as great as its width and he measured the city with the rod 1500 miles its length and width and height are equal that's 1500 miles in circumference 375 miles on each side it's a cube so it's not only 375 miles on each side it's also 375 miles high one mathematician said you could easily put over 2 billion people in that city in other words there's plenty of room everyone who wants to be a citizen of the kingdom will be in the kingdom jesus said in my father's house there are many mansions i go to prepare a place for you he was not lying there are many mansions there's a place for everyone who wants to be there revelation 21 21 says in the 12 gates were 12 pearls each one of the gates was a single pearl this is a very interesting commentary because if you know anything about walled medieval cities you never would find a walled medieval city that had 12 gates never a walled medieval city might have two gates maximum most had just one why well having only one gate in a walled city made it so much easier to control who comes in and who goes out to defend only one wall only one gate well not this city this city has three gates on the north side and three gates on the south side three gates on the west side three gates on the east side why why would god place 12 gates it's because god is telling us here that in this city he wants people from every corner of the globe doesn't matter where you come from doesn't matter what your skin color is doesn't matter what language you speak doesn't matter what your ethnic origin is doesn't matter what is the blood that courses through your veins all that matters is the blood that cleanses your sins he says everyone will be welcomed here everyone every kindred every tongue every nation but each gate is a pearl now what does that pearl represent oh that represents jesus in other words he is saying there is but one way into this city it's through the pearl it's through jesus christ i think it was luther that said when i look at myself i wonder how can i be saved but when i look at jesus christ i wonder how could i possibly be lost look at what else so he describes the exterior with me he's described the walls as how he comes in he's described the dimension now he begins to come in and he begins to give us some details as what he sees inside the city beyond the walls and look at what is right he says and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass can you imagine if a city like this existed on earth i've often said this if a city like this with with gold paved streets exist on earth two things would happen i think one i would never be allowed to go there because i'm a nobody right that would be the exclusive place for all the big shots and i'm not definitely one of those the second thing everything pretty true if i ever got a chance or anybody in any common person they'd go with a pickaxe to try to bring a piece of the street back with them you see this would either be a place that was exclusive for the big shots the important you know the the elites of our society or it would be a place that very quickly we would destroy why would god pave the streets with gold i had someone say to me one time they he said that sounds very extravagant and i said does it he said yes it sounds extremely extravagant i said that's because exactly it is extravagant it is what's god trying to say you know what i think he's trying to say nothing is too good for my children nothing now you lived in a city on earth where the streets were paved with asphalt but when you come to my city you're my child the city i prepared the streets are going to be paved of gold because nothing nothing is too good for my children nothing and when you think of what it cost god to allow us entry into that city the streets are paved with gold and the bible tells us that one day that holy city will be resting here on planet earth planet earth made new yes fire will burn up all of the scars of sin and sickness in this world and then this new city will come and rest here on planet earth a new restored planet earth and becomes the capital of god's new universal kingdom this becomes the capital here the new jerusalem settles on a brand new planet new life bursts from it just like the garden of eden once did the river of life flows through it the tree of life bears fruit in it the bible says that we will find ourselves back on solid earth but it'll be a new earth a restored earth that's what we can look forward to that's what the new testament calls the blessed hope together you and i we will experience what eden was like before sin now somebody always asks me this but wait a second are we going to have bodies are we just going to be some mist flowing you know floating you know playing harps hey listen nothing against harp players but a floating mist is not doesn't really do it for me but look at what the bible says philippians 3 20 for our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the savior the lord jesus christ look who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to what his glorious body jesus will transform your lowly body my lowly body so that it will be like his glorious body the body he resurrected with it will be transformed how according to the working by which he is able to even to subdue all things to himself you and i will have a body like the resurrected body of jesus christ he will transform our lowly body what was that glorious body like you remember on the road to emmaus with the two disciples jesus walked with them for a while but they were oblivious to who he was but when they stopped and they were going to share a meal together they recognized jesus by his mannerisms by his way of breaking bread when mary magdalene went to the tomb that sunday morning and saw the empty tomb and immediately assumed that they had stolen her lord's body and as she is running through the garden desperately she bumps into what she thinks is the gardener and he she asks him what have they done to my lord's body and when jesus speaks to her she recognizes him by his voice you see friends we will recognize our loved ones in heaven god wants to save you he wants to save me not some facsimile of you or me our body will be transformed and we will have the bodies that we would have had had sin never entered the world isaiah 33 verse 24 says and the inhabitant will not say i am sick the people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity you know i was preaching in a church this message one time and there was a church that had a lot of physicians in it and i thought you know i'm going to be a wise guy right and i said you know i said to all of the doctors in the room when we get to heaven you're going to be out of business there's going to be no more sickness one of those doctors stood up and said with all due respect pastor you're going to be out of business too and he's absolutely right he's absolutely right because we're not going to need doctors we're not going to need preachers why would we need a preacher like me when we have jesus christ himself and paul and daniel moses and enoch and elijah and john the baptist and oh my goodness i can't wait doesn't it make you want to go home the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped and the lame shall leap like a deer in the tongue of the dumb sing that's the promise friends no more pain will exist no cancer no heart attacks no covet no flu no arthritis no fevers no wind no illness period forever and ever and ever throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity the the all you will hear in heaven is echoes of praise and joy and laughter laughter i'll tell you one of the things we don't hear very often anymore is laughter for many people their existence is painful so i always encourage people always to be kind to people like i fall short of it sometimes i'm no listen i'm a sinner like everybody else but there's people going through some terrible terrible pain in their lives if that's you right now i want you to know that there's people there that care that will listen to you and pray for you and pray with you pick up the phone if you need to right now dow one eight five five malton one one eight five five six two five eight six six one and everybody else hey be kind because we never know what the people we deal with are facing in their lives revelation 21 4 says and god will wipe away every tear from their eyes there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying there shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away what a promise god will wipe away every tear i think there will still be tears in heaven that's just i said i wouldn't give you my opinion i guess i'm breaking my bra but i believe it'll be tears of happiness have you ever really had one of those deep you know belly laughs that you just laughed and the tears rolled down i think that's actually therapeutic i think that's actually good for you and i think we need to be doing more of that i think we'll have those kinds of tears that's tears of laughter tears of joy you know our relentless search for the fountain of youth right and vigor the vigor of youth will be fulfilled bookies we will discover the source of vitality look at what it says verse 1 of revelation 22 he showed me a pure river of water of life clearest crystal proceeding from the throne of god and of the lamb you know the river of life clearest crystal you know when when you're thirsty nothing satisfies like water and again i think this is a metaphor for god saying i'm gonna meet every need of your heart everything you need verse 2 says in the middle of its street and on either side of the river was the tree of life which bore 12 fruits each tree yielding its fruit every month the trees the leaves of the trees were for the healing of the nations i think as we eat of that tree of life we will get this vitality we will we will gain immortality we will live forever as we eat of this tree and then it says the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations and i see that as god tearing down any of the obstacles racism those things that divide us as people god will do away with all of that because we are one people serving one god we will have boundless energy we will be refreshed by the river of life we will be nourished by the tree of life but we will be refreshed continuously because we will be in the presence of our god isaiah expressed it this way but those who wait on the lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up like with wings like eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not be faint won't it be exciting this let me ask you something how many of you are gonna miss using the phrase i'm exhausted i'm not gonna miss that one because as we eat of the tree of life as we are in the presence of our creator our redeemer we will be re-energized there will be no violence isaiah 60 verse 18 violence shall no longer be heard in your land neither wasting nor destruction within your borders but you shall call your wall salvation and your gates praise no more violence no fear no terrorism no more crime no more gangs no more ak-47s no more gunshots no more deadbolts just peace harmony and love no more agony no pain no fear the earth will be filled the new earth will be filled with cries of praise isaiah 11 9 they shall not hurt nor destroy on my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the lord as the waters cover the sea it is a real place heaven my friends it is a real place this heaven will be remade our bodies will be remade very quickly what will we do with our new bodies play the harp i guess if you want but look at what the bible says isaiah 65 17 for behold i create new heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind they shall build houses and inhabit them they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit you are going to be able to build your dream home overlooking a valley or on the oceanfront or and the greatest architect in the world will be there jesus will be there to help you the one that designed the heavens and the earth they shall not build in another inhabit they shall not plant and another eat you know sadly in this world many people build beautiful homes but they're for other people to live in or they plant beautiful gardens but it's for other people to reap the harvest not in heaven our hands were designed for work whatever our minds can imagine we will be able to build you say but oh we're going to be working in heaven but just think of it you will never be tired you will have limitless energy limitless capabilities doesn't it make you want to go home will we have friends in heaven let me tell you i don't want to experience these things by myself do you matthew 8 11 and i said to you that many will come from the east and the west and sit down with abraham and isaac and jacob in the kingdom of heaven just imagine we're going to be able to sit with adam and moses and daniel and the disciples and but most importantly most importantly like the song says i want to see jesus who died for me jesus is going to want to tell you exactly much how much he loves you how much he cares about you our sense of community our experience of praise will exceed anything we have ever experienced here on earth god has promised that one day soon this earth will be the center the capital of his universe john wrote and i heard a loud voice from heaven saying behold the tabernacle of god is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people god himself will be with them and be their god and they shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads friends we can have no greater hope than the hope of heaven one day but it is a real hope even in a world that is filled with death and suffering and pain even in the darkest places on planet earth there is hope there is light at the end of your tunnel jesus is coming soon and he's going to take us to the place that he is preparing right now for you and me doesn't that make you want to go home it does me it makes me want to go home but it won't be the same if we're not all there and so i appeal to you tonight if there's any trinkets if there's anything that is holding you back anything this world may offer the illusion of pleasure in this world that is holding you back from making a commitment to jesus tonight i pray that you break loose and you say i want to go home i want to go home as pastor herlock sings tonight would you kindly just write in the chat we don't have a chance i can't see you raise your hands normally you'd be in a auditorium i'd say how many want to go home let's see your hands or stand up and we would sing together we can't do this virtually but we can on the chat if you want to just write the word home and we will know that you are saying i want to go home when jesus comes in his name we pray amen [Music] his heart was broken mind was mended he became sin now i am clean the cross he carried for my burden the nails that held him set me free his life for mine is [Music] that he would die god's son would die to save a wretch like me what love divine he gave his life [Music] his cause of suffering brought me [Music] he spilled in blood to fill my soul [Music] his crown of thoughts made me royalty [Music] his life [Music] [Applause] like me [Music] [Music] is [Music] it ever be [Music] [Music] [Applause] he gave his life [Music] thank you pastor herlock what a beautiful song jesus gave his life for you and for me while we were yet sinners while we were still in a far-off country jesus died that we might live eternally how can we reject such an offer you know folks would say it's a no-brainer accept jesus and have life eternal i want to let you know that we're coming rapidly coming to the end of our meeting here but if we want to extend the opportunity to those that are joining us to make that decision and so we're going to keep the phone lines open at 1 855 malton one one eight five five six two five 8661 call make that decision get on the path to being prepared for your bible baptism as a public acknowledgement that you are grateful that you are accepting of the gift that jesus gave in exchanging his life for ours i pray that you do that now while the holy spirit is appealing to your heart don't put it off don't worry what your friends are going to think or your boss is going to think just follow the impression that the holy spirit is making on your heart right now do not resist that because every time you do it just makes it easier to resist it again if you hear the voice of god today calling you do not harden your heart today is the day of salvation let us pray our gracious god loving heavenly father we are unable to express with our language the deep gratitude that we sense for what you did for us in sending your son to die as pastor herlock so beautifully saying that he was prepared to exchange his life for ours father it would be a waste it would have all been a waste and been voided should we not accept what is being offered to us and i know heavenly father there are some folks within the reach of my voice that have not yet something is holding them back maybe they've been mistreated by it by a church member i i understand that you know maybe someone was unkind to them or maybe they just have been so busy just trying to keep their head above water paying a mortgage putting food on the table that that pursuit just for survival has just consumed their time and and they kept saying tomorrow maybe tomorrow i'm just going to put it off a little bit and father i pray that they realize that the moment is now there's maybe some that are within the reach of my voice i believe there are with the hundreds that are listening that were once in a close walk with you but something came in and and they stepped away father let them know that you're not concerned or worried about why they left you just want to see them come home and that when they come like that prodigal son they will feel the warm embrace of a loving father and father i know that there are some also that have walked faithfully with you sometimes over bumpy roads but they stubbornly have clung to the lamb and father i just pray that as these meetings draw to an end that they also just recommit their lives to you to continue to be faithful to walk with you right up until the moment we hear from our master's lips well done good and faithful servant father may we take what we've learned here and not only may it transform our lives but may you use us that we can share with others because we know you want all of your children in heaven and i know that you long to use us to reach them and so father we place our lives in your hands send us guide us motivate us protect us use us to die glory in jesus name we pray amen well guys that was um that was a lot of fun that was 15 messages and uh i enjoyed that very much pastor lazarus welcome yes sir um pastor bill thank you so much my pleasure i just want to say thank you to to you personally for the blessing you've been to god's people and to those who've been listening from night to night um as lead pastor of the metro west central um we were excited when when malton came with the idea when the molten church came with the idea for for us to join and we were happy to join with malton and i just want to say thank you for allowing god to use you in this way you have been a blessing to me and i know to hundreds of people across across the across the world we're in a different ministry environment now yes um when we had you at our church it was just us yes and we were happy to have you in our church at the mount olive church but now it's the influences across the world and we say to god to the glory and uh yeah you see we have a saying in portuguese and maybe you have they have another language that says you know god can write straight even though the lines are crooked that's right and maybe this is one of the positives that's come out of this covet thing is that we've looked at different ways of getting the word out and using you know these means and so yes i just i'm just honored that i was a part of it and thank you to the team that all the folks behind the scenes yeah so i want to say a real big thank you to the malt and sam david's church under the leadership of pastor wilson for their effort in keeping this going keeping it going and making sure that it came to be um uh pastor wilson did a phenomenal job want to say thank you to pastor affleck um for the support that he gave behind the scenes um two pastorals and all the other pastors of the district uh you've been instrumental in making sure this this this happened i think um pastor bill i would be remiss if i didn't say a special thank you to richard oh amen richard is we know who richard that's right we should try to get him up on on screen here i don't think he'll come up but maybe he will you have to promote it but uh richard has been phenomenal yes just just keeping things ticking along coming along and also to the prayer warriors that's right they were they were they were the backbone of this event amen um just being just being present and available that's right and we say thank you to them and dana was backstage backstage there too when it was a night richard naked dana was back there you know so just folks understand what there's a whole technical thing going back here so so you see the transition when pastor lazarus comes up where i come up or the slides come up or pastor herlock that's all done backstage those folks handle all of that so all i have to worry about is just preaching the message so they handle all of the technical stuff and that is such a relief that is such a it's such an important important role to so that everything flows smoothly so you watching wherever you are can get you know it's not choppy it's not broken up and that's so important and and and so yeah it's uh it's it's and they're volunteers yeah and then we've been blessed we've been blessed by them we've been blessed we have them to god be the glory and so we just want to say thanks to all of the the good people who came in every night i mean but for them it's just you and me talking to each other that's right right so i just want to say thanks to all the good people every single night good honest hard-working people joined us and lent their presence that's i call it the ministry of presence amen um to us to make it make it worthwhile for us to come across the the airwaves and bring their friends and and and say their prayers and and lift up hallelujahs and thank yous uh i give god praise for them you're absolutely right i'm not sure folks understand how how inspiring that is um when like while i'm speaking here i i can sort of catch out of the corner of my eye the chat you know pastor wilson pastor affleck yourself around the chat engaging the folks and i kind of see it scrolling i can't always read it because i'm not a multitasker and so but i see like i look down and i see that there's stuff going on in the chat people are responding man that is so encouraging because like you said i'm just here i'm just here speaking into the camera do you know what i'm saying like i'm hoping there's people out there listening and when i see that on the chat and i see people saying you know amen or you know i want to give my life to jesus or i want to go home man it is so encouraging you know it's like it's incredible it's like the amends we hear when we're speaking in a church you know and it's like so i i am so thankful i folks will never understand how meaningful and how impactful that is i think pastor bill we're all learning what collaboration looks like right it's environment we're all learning that we all have a role to play with we are no longer passive passive um consumers we all have to be engaged helping each other in this environment this is what collaboration looks like this is what it feels like we're we're still learning we're still figuring it out figuring it out that's right and we're gonna get better at it i know that we are as you said we're in a different environment and then god can still write on what was it crooked line straight even though the lines are crooked yeah god can still write even though the lines are crooked his word will get out his word will get out and we're excited about it i'm excited man you know and i'm excited for what you've brought to the ministry in the ontario conference um i'm personally excited i believe we've got a friend of ours online and not single anyone else in particular but um pastor whitford short is is online i just want to say a shout out to pastor whitford shaw he was one of our he was one of our um mentors um back in the day and then pastor show was was was just a joy to be part of the team um his big thing was grief ministry i remember that wow and and i learned some things from pastor shaw praise god back in the day we said to god be the glory that he's able to be with us tonight i just want to give a shout out what an honor yeah and uh folks remember pastor herlock's ministry it's a brand new ministry and do i can support it and uh one of the things i'll say um every now and then pastor santos will be doing a series someplace and i'll just show up just to support and um you can listen to pastor santos every sunday morning at 11 30 on ctv2 and you saw the facebook the facebook and instagram uh just just keep pastor santos in your prayers uh thank you he's come a long way he's been through a lot we won't get into it but he's been through a lot and i'm telling you see that smile he just gave us that's god smiling through him and knowing what he has been through and and i say to god with the glory that he's still able to be in the fight be in the fight giving the devil punches rights and lefts you know god is good man god is good my brother hey man thank you so thank you once again folks thank you that brings us to the end of our our time here pastor wilson is able to come back on uh just to do a closing and clearly there he is oh we lost him again well he's back oh man thank you so much all right listen just i think you said it all pastor lazarus i mean i i'm looking at the chat people are just saying thank you they're just so nice look um you know i tell you something um continue to pray and encourage um pray for uh paso santos and while you've absorbed all these messages tell somebody it's always on uh youtube you can go there you can do it you can you know just go ahead and help somebody else understand what you've just learned and build their faith as well uh god be praised we're so grateful for what has been done here over the past two weeks so thank you so if i just one last thing you know we're all trying to figure out what collaboration looks like and in this particular region the next effort we're going to try and work on is the issue of small groups and and when you get a small group ministry together you can actually bring these messages into your group and sit down as a group and listen to these messages all over again encourage people to make decisions this this is new this this goes on and on and we've got we've got in the archives you've got it in the archives on your different churches websites and um you can get a small group together you can get a group of friends let's not just have this great series listen to these messages and you can find that topic and and get a group of people together listen to what this this this gentleman is saying this pastor is saying and we're going to be that's the next project we want to work on with in our region the issue of getting small groups is yeah ministry very important groups outreach groups using these kinds of uh resources and uh so look forward for that information in the very near future awesome that's the that's the listen i'll turn it over to you you can close it off yeah sure let's uh you know what i mean what better way to close it off but to give the greatest thanks to who matters most and that is to our lord jesus christ amen what he's done and i i would like to just pause and and say the prayer of thanksgiving for the decisions that have been made by so much yes as jesus is being lifted up he's drawing men and women and children to himself so while we pray together as we close out our father in heaven thank you so much for what you have done jesus we are just so grateful for the influence that you've had on us the message that has gone forth with power and and then the hearts that were open to receive you we pray for every single soul that has made a decision for you men and women are being baptized into your truth and as a result are claiming their destiny in heaven lord we ask even now you continue to allow your word to go forth to touch many more lives and as we who are here who have heard are transformed may we live lives so that many will come to know your lord and savior by the way we live by the way we deal with each other we thank you for paso santos and ask for very special blessing upon his ministry continue to anoint him in the name of jesus and at the end of all things lord we pray that lord he will continue to preach the gospel until you come we praise you for those who have been in the background our metro west central pastors all the bible workers the prayer warriors the technical team lord they have put as much energy in this as if the word were being preached itself so i pray that lord you'd also bless them and in the end i ask that all of us who have heard this and those who are going to hear it through our influence will be saved will not be missing from the redeemed but we'll be there to celebrate in heaven when you come we bless you for your amazing love and your tremendous grace we pray this in jesus name amen amen amen thank you folks good night [Music] you

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Length: 86min 10sec (5170 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 02 2021