Anchored in Hope: The Reality of Heaven

1. "Heaven is, it's literal, it's real. The heaven that exists now will be replaced by a new heaven that does have some descriptors that we see that we don't see now. A lot of it is structural. I think if you read Revelation chapter 20 or 21, it escapes me right now. But it gives you all the dimensions, the size of the walls, all the building materials. The gates need to be this size, they need to be made of that. It's going to be this side, long on the north, this on the south, this on the east. I mean, literally, it's a blueprint for what this new, Jerusalem's going to look like." [29:57] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "The best thing about the description in the Bible of heaven is not what is there, it's what's not there. Because it doesn't take a lot of imagination, I guess, maybe it does, but to try and even imagine a place where there's no more death, where there's no more tears, where there's no more hatred, animosity, racism, sexism, there's no more sickness, there's no more agony, there's no more lack, like lack is one of the things that drives man more, if not more than anything, is the access to adequate resources, to a sense of, I mean, just think about oil and what it brings nations to, because there's lack, you know? Heaven, you don't even know how to spell that word, okay?" [29:57] (53 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "The gospel does not promise you and I a life without storms, a life without seasons of battering. You're going to be just fine. The gospel does not promise you and I are coming. In the next 10 days, though, the question would be, as our nation experiences its next election, what are you grounded in? Is it going to be a tumultuous 10 days? Yes. A tumultuous transition regardless of who wins. Yes. But what are you grounded in? What is the integrity of your eternity grounded in?" [41:37] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "The anchor of God's promises and past performances produce present confidence. So I've given you the ingredients right up front. The anchor of our soul that you'll see in Hebrews chapter 6 is built out of two materials. Okay. Promises and performance. Promises and performance. Okay. And when you look at the integrity of the quality of the materials that are in the anchor of our hope, there is no denying that you should have confidence in it." [39:55] (32 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "The good news is you don't have to build the anchor. What is the anchor? The promises and past performances of our God. And he puts it in your hands by grace. Now what you have to do, Paul said, the promise though comes by faith. If you want to experience the promise, God has put grace right in your hands. And you know what's the craziest thing in the world to do with what God puts in your hands? Throw it overboard. Right. Because at that point, you're beyond thinking, I hope this works. You're at that point saying, no, I believe it works. Go ahead, throw God's grace overboard and see what happens." [55:15] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "We will never, ever, ever, ever be disappointed that we placed all of our hope in Jesus Christ because hope does not put us down. It does not put us to shame. It never puts us to shame. There's never going to be a moment in your life when you have tossed that anchor of God's great gospel and promises overboard in faith where you're going to wish you didn't do it. You're never going to be ashamed of him." [01:10:08] (25 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "The anchor of hope has landed and is permanently grounded in heaven. Wait till you see what 1 Peter says. This is unbelievable. We've seen this earlier in the series. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he's given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish." [01:01:59] (24 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "There's only one eternal thing on the face of this earth that is going to be redeemed to go to heaven, and that is God's people and his church, his body, the body of Jesus Christ. All other bodies, sadly, are eternal as well, but they're not going to heaven. Therefore, here's the conclusion. What does this stuff produce? Okay? An incredible transformative reality. Okay? justified through faith." [01:04:56] (28 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "We boast in the hope of the glory of God. When's the last time you bragged about heaven? Praise God, Joe. That's exactly right. You just sang about it. We're not arrogant. We're not pompous. We boast in the hope of the glory of God. That we will one day undeniably stand in the fullness, fullness, the undiluted, unmitigated fullness of God's glory. That day is coming." [01:06:08] (29 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "You can't throw God's grace into Islam. It doesn't work. You can't throw it into materialism. It doesn't work. You can't throw it into anything other than the gospel, the grace of Jesus Christ, and the hope of an eternal presence with God. You throw it into that, you're going to be great. But here's the last thing every anchor has to have. It's got to have a chain connected." [01:11:36] (29 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)