Sermon Illustrations

THE JOY OF OUR REUNION

Rev. Don Piper in his "death experience" describes the reunion he experienced in heaven in his book 90 Minutes in Heaven. Listen to an excerpt: (p. 21)

"Joy pulsated through me as I looked around, and at that moment I became aware of a large crowd of people. They stood" (p. 22) "in front of a brilliant ornate gate...people I had known. As they surged toward me, I knew instantly that all of them had died during my lifetime...

They rushed toward me, and every person was smiling, shouting, and praising God." A number of people came and greeted him and then he heard "Donnie!" (That's what his grandfather always called him). His eyes lit up, and he held out his arms as he took the last steps toward me. He embraced me, holding me tightly. He was once again the robust, strong grandfather I had remembered as a child.

I'd been with him when he suffered a heart attack at home and had ridden with him in the ambulance. I had been standing just outside the emergency room at the hospital when the doctor walked out and faced me. He shook his head and said softly, "We did everything we could."

My grandfather released me, and as I stared into his face, an ecstatic bliss overwhelmed me. I didn't think about his heart attack or his death, because I couldn't get past the joy of our reunion..."

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