"Heaven" Study

Recently I offered a study on Heaven to our congregation. I optimistically thought I could get maybe 12 people including myself to come along. Well over 30 signed up. We are using a Bible Study by Randy Alcorn and it has proved very interesting.

Excerpt from his book "Heaven":

Are You Looking Forward to Heaven?
“ Many people find no joy at all when they think about Heaven. A pastor once confessed to me, that whenever I think about Heaven, it makes me depressed. I’d rather just cease to exist when I die. I can’t stand the thought of that endless tedium. To float around in the clouds with nothing to do but strum a harp ... it’s all so terribly boring. Heaven doesn’t sound much better than hell. I’d rather be annihilated than spend eternity in a place like that.”
Where did this Bible-believing, seminary-educated pastor get such a view of Heaven? Certainly not from Scripture, where Paul said to depart and be with Christ was far better than staying on earth (see Phil. 1:23). My friend was more honest about it than most, yet I’ve found that many Christians share the same misconceptions about Heaven.”
Randy Alcorn, Eternal Perspective Ministries, 39085 Pioneer Blvd., Suite 206, Sandy, OR 97055,
Used by permission

Randy Alcorn's website: www.epm.org

Questions from our 1st session:

Define Heaven
Define Paradise
How did you learn what you know about heaven?
Where is heaven?
Is Heaven a real place?
Are you looking forward to heaven?
If so, why? If not, why not?
How do you know you are going to heaven?
What does heaven look like?
Questions & comments from our 2nd session:

Read Acts 17:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; and 1 John 4:l-3.
Q: How should we approach any teaching of Gods Word? We are to test what we are learning. When you are studying God’s Word whether for this study or others you can be sure it is the correct teaching if it agrees with the rest of God’s teachings found in scripture.

The first question we encounter in our study tries to get at the range of feelings people have about heaven. The question is:
Q: How do you feel about Heaven?
a) so excited you can hardly stand it?
b) Don’t think about it
c) Fear it
d) Dreading it
e) Change the subject

Q: What do you think when you read or hear the word destiny? What is it?
a) what will happen – can’t change it
b) predetermined future
c) may be seen either as a fixed sequence of events that is inevitable and unchangeable, or that individuals choose their own destiny by choosing different paths throughout their life.

Q: Where do we get our misconceptions about heaven? (Satan’s lies – John 8:44. Satan's biggest lies are intended to take away any joy we have as Christians and to make us doubt the truth. )

Q: What have we been told about heaven?
a) boring
b) unearthly, ethereal
c) beyond our comprehension

Q: Why does our culture fear and deny death? What is it that is so abhorrent?
a) not ready to die yet, too much to do and experience
b) fear of aging, infirmity
c) not fair, it is the great equalizer

Q: What do we do in our denial of death?
a) worship youth
b) cosmetic surgery
c) dress younger

Q: How do we know it’s OK to study and talk about Heaven ?
a) We are told in scripture to set our hearts on things above. Col 3:1-2 1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Q: Why do you think God orders us to think deeply about Heaven?
a) Our real home – where Jesus Christ lives
b) We are so focused on earth that we are unaccustomed to heavenly thinking

Q: What is your response to the statement, “We should be shocked not that some people could go to hell but that any would be permitted into Heaven”?
a) All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are by nature sinful and unclean. Basic teaching of the church.

Q: Read Matthew 10:28, Matthew 13:40-42; Mark 9:43-44. What did Jesus say about hell?
a) be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
b) they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.
c) If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.

Q: Why do we not tell people who do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior about the cancer of sin and evil? Why do we not tell them about the inevitable penalty of eternal destruction and that eternal destruction can be avoided by Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice?
a) We don’t really believe it ourselves
b) Seems judgmental
c) Seems crazy
d) Pushy
e) Arrogant

Q: What aspect of hell do you find most troubling?
a) Separation from God
b) Separation from all that is good

Q: When did you RSVP to Jesus’ invitation to Heaven?
a) Wasd it at baptism? Is that all there is to it?
b) Every other time we confess our sin and ask for God’s gift of forgiveness

Q: Read 1 John 1:9
a) Forgiveness is not automatic. If we want to be forgiven, we must recognize and repent of our sins.

Q: Read Titus 3:5
b) Can’t earn our way into heaven.
c) Gift of God’s grace.