I Go To Prepare A Place For You

MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK

(Powerpoints used with this message are available for free. Jut email me at mnewland@sstelco.com and request #391.)

TEXT: John 14:1-3; 2 Cor. 12:4; Psalm 14:2, 139:8-10; Ecc. 3:11; Deut 6:15; 2 Chron. 2:6, 6:21; Rev. 5:13, 21:4, 23, 25, 27; Luke 13:28-29; Matt.17:4; 1 Cor. 15:51-54; Job 19:25-27

It’s a beautiful day in Flint Ridge, & I’m so glad to enjoy it with you who are here. As most of you know, ever since Covid started, we have been broadcasting our Worship Service on Facebook & Right Now Media.

And we have been told that people are watching our services in CA, CO, TX, MO, here in OK & AR, & maybe in a few other places as well.

But this morning I want to direct my message to Gene Mefford. This week I received a call from Marti, Gene’s wife, telling me that Gene had reached a crisis point, & was asking me to pray for him. So, on their speaker phone, I prayed & then passed the information on to my wife, who passed it on to our prayer chains.

The good news this morning is that the crisis is past – that our prayers were answered. That is why I direct this message to Gene, & to all those who may need its encouragement today.

As I begin I want to say that I adapted much of this message from an excellent sermon by Jeff Strite, a preacher in Indiana.

For those of you who are following our series of sermons & S.S. lessons in The Story by Randy Frazee, we are in Chapter 26, titled “The Hour of Darkness.”

And in this chapter we come to Jesus in the Upper Room where he has just told the Apostles that one of them will betray him & that Peter will deny him 3 times before dawn. In the midst of all this, Judas leaves the Upper Room, & the rest of the Apostles are left bewildered by what Jesus has said.

So, as recorded in John 14:1-3 (NIrV), let me read to you some of the words of comfort that Jesus said to them. It is one of my favorite passages in the N.T.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe in me also. There are many rooms in my Father’s house. If this were not true would I have told you that I am going there?

“Would I have told you that I would prepare a place for you there? If I go and do that, I will come back. And I will take you to be with me. Then you will also be where I am.”

Did you notice that I read, ‘There are many rooms in my Father’s house”? In the KJV it says, “many mansions.” Other versions say: “many abiding places” or “dwellings” or “resting places” or “homes.” In our modern day it could even include the idea of “apartments” or “condominiums.’

The original Greek word in which most of the N.T. was written means “dwellings” or “abodes.” So where did the translators of the KJV get the idea of translating it as “mansions?” That’s not wrong, but let’s understand what Jesus was saying.

ILL. A little boy got on the elevator with his father at the Empire State Building. They were going to the observation deck at the top & view New York city. As the elevator ascended the boy watched the signs flash as they went by the floors: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70.

The farther up they went, the more nervous the boy became. Finally he looked up at his dad & said, “Daddy, does God know we're coming?” (Leighton Ford, "Hope for a Great Forever," Preaching Today, Tape #96)

I. GOD KNOWS WE’RE COMING

This morning, we’re going to talk about heaven, & the first thing I want to point out is that God knows we’re coming, & there is a place prepared for you & for me.

ILL. There are many people who want to go there. In fact, almost every religion has some concept of what heaven is:

“It’s been called Paradise, Utopia, Nirvana, Asgard, Valhalla, Zion, New Jerusalem, the Kingdom of God, a happy hunting ground, the sweet by & by, with streets paved with gold, walls made of jasper, pearls & all kinds of precious jewels.” (Adapted from Joseph Phillips)

And the reason Heaven is so universally believed in is because Ecc.3:11 says God “has set eternity in the hearts of men…”

God has placed in us the idea that there has to be more than just here! There has to be a place where God rewards those who love & obey Him, & a place where God punishes those who don’t!