by Pastor Mark Downey

Scripture Reading: John 1:1-5

Last September our church went to Indiana for a picnic lunch and to visit the wife of a dear friend of ours who died suddenly in a terrible auto accident about a year ago.   Well, the womenfolk gravitated to the living room and the men were outside talking Christian Identity.  I moseyed into the house and saw all the women, so I sat next to my wife and asked what have you been talking about and she said, “an interesting discussion about heaven,” to which I replied by putting my arm around her and saying, “Well, here's a little slice of heaven for ya.”  And all of a sudden, they all broke out in hysterical laughter, much to my perplexing chagrin.  I asked what are they laughing about?  Evidently, they were into a serious subject and in walks a man who makes a rather flippant remark that breaks the ice.  Later, my wife suggested I do a sermon on heaven and voila, I have a ready-made title ready to go.  Many of us have lost loved ones in recent times so I think this message will not only help me with the loss of my mother and father, but others I know who are going through the same experience.  I got to thinking that I haven't read anything in CI about heaven since Pastor Sheldon Emry.  It's probably because the Bible doesn't say a whole lot about the heaven, which we know as God's abode, although heaven can mean many other things, in spite of a plethora of denominational garbage that takes way too much latitude in preying upon people's emotions, failing to rightly divide the word of truth.  Heaven sometimes just means the sky or an elevated place of authority.  And there's probably nothing more ingrained in people's psyche than what they think about the hereafter, other than perhaps Christmas.  It's a tough nut to crack.