{"id":33666,"date":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/hope-for-great-forever\/"},"modified":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","slug":"hope-for-great-forever","status":"publish","type":"sermons","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/hope-for-great-forever\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope for a Great Forever"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2005\/08\/18930.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n<p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The\nword &#8220;home&#8221; has a deep nostalgia for our hearts. Some of us have sad memories\nof home, but most of us have a deep longing to be home. Usually when our team\nholds a crusade, we&#8217;re away from home. As we near the end of a crusade, we can\nhardly wait for the day when we&#8217;ll get off the airplane here at the home\nairport. Jeannie and Marilyn will be there. We&#8217;ll be back home againhome where\nwe belong.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Animals\nalso have a homing instinct. Did you read about the dog that walked all the way\nfrom Colorado to California to find his family? He crossed mountains and rivers\nand somehow smelled his way home over thousands of miles. Even more remarkable\nis a cow in Florida that went 30 miles to get home. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">We\nalso have within us a homing instinct of the soul. The heart&#8217;s deepest longing\nis to come home where we belong. That&#8217;s why I want to speak about heaven. Some\npeople say, &#8220;Why talk about heaven? There are so many problems here on\nearthexploding population, nuclear warfare, and poverty.&#8221; As Christians we\nneed to be deeply involved in these things. But there&#8217;s one thing we all face. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">George\nBernard Shaw once said, &#8220;The ultimate statistic is this. One out of every one\ndies.&#8221; We all face death. &#8220;It is appointed unto a man once to die.&#8221; Are we\nready for that?<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">A\nlittle boy got on the elevator in the Empire State Building in New York City.\nHe and his daddy started to the top. The boy watched the signs flashing as they\nwent by the floors: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70. They kept going, and he got\nnervous. He took his daddy&#8217;s hand and said, &#8220;Daddy, does God know we&#8217;re\ncoming?&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">In\nmy life and experience, I&#8217;ve reacted against those who present the gospel as if\nit only brings salvation in the future. In my ministry I&#8217;ve tried to put a\nstrong emphasis on what the Bible teaches about Christ making a difference now\nin our lives and our relationships. I believe in the message of the eternal\ndimension, but when someone close to youlike a son in our familygoes home so\nyoung, it makes you stop suddenly and realize how urgent it is that we know\nwhere we&#8217;re going and that those in our family know that.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Do\nyou know that tonight? Are you ready to go home?<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">What is heaven?<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">What\nis heaven? What do we know about it? First of all, we know from what the Bible\ntells us that heaven is a place. Jesus said, &#8220;In my Father&#8217;s house are many\nrooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a\nplace for you.&#8221; Isn&#8217;t that wonderful that God has a place for you? When Jesus\nsaid this, he was gathered with his disciples. In a few hours their world was\ngoing to cave in. The sun was going to come down at midnight. The Lord they\nloved was going to be taken from them, and Jesus said to them, &#8220;Don&#8217;t let your\nhearts be troubled. Trust in God.&#8221; Sometimes we have to accept and trust when\nwe can&#8217;t understand. Jesus went on to say, &#8220;Trust also in me. In my father&#8217;s\nhouse are many rooms. &#8230; I am going there to prepare a place for you.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Heaven\nis a real place. That doesn&#8217;t mean heaven is up in the sense that we say,\n&#8220;Well, heaven is up beyond the stars some place.&#8221; Heaven isn&#8217;t a place that you\ncan see with a telescope, if you had one strong enough. Heaven isn&#8217;t a place\nwhere you could arrive on a space ship even if you had one that could fly far\nenough. Heaven is not contained in time and in space. It&#8217;s another realm of\nexistence and another dimension entirely.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">You\nmight wonder why I believe in heaven in an age like this. One of the Russian\ncosmonauts came back and said, &#8220;Some people say God lives out there. I looked\naround, and I didn&#8217;t see any God out there.&#8221; Billy Graham&#8217;s wife, Ruth, says he\nlooked in the wrong place. If he&#8217;d stepped outside the space ship without his\nspace suit, he would have seen God very quickly.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">In\nthis age we wonder if we should believe in that any more. We hear stories of\npeople who seem to die for a short time and are resuscitated. When they come\nback, they say, &#8220;I saw a great figure of light out there.&#8221; Other people say\nthey go through a tunnel, and then see this being of light. Jerry Lewis, the\ncomedian, said, &#8220;I was on the other side not long ago when my heart stopped. It\nwas like a television screen where the picture goes down, and there&#8217;s a point,\nand then there&#8217;s nothing.&#8221; Other people say, &#8220;I saw an image of hell, and it\nscared me.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Four reasons to believe in\nheaven:<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">What\nare we to believe? I believe in heaven for four reasons. First because Jesus\ntaught it. Jesus said, &#8220;I go to prepare a place for you.&#8221; And notice what he\nsaid. &#8220;If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place?&#8221;\nJesus says, &#8220;You can believe me.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">And\nall Christians believe in the word of Jesus Christ. Jesus said &#8220;If it were not\nso, I wouldn&#8217;t fool you. I wouldn&#8217;t give you an illusion. which is not true. If\nit were not true, I would have told you.&#8221; David Livingston said this about\nJesus&#8217; word, &#8220;It&#8217;s the word of a perfect gentleman. He never lies.&#8221; I say it&#8217;s\nmore than that. It&#8217;s also the Word of God. Jesus taught it.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">I\nbelieve in heaven also because our hearts call for it. Our hearts long for it\nbecause there&#8217;s something within our human experience that cannot be satisfied\nwith anything on this earth. After King Solomon had tried pleasure, money\nentertainment, wisdom, and culture, he said &#8220;I tried it all, and it was\nvanity.&#8221; Then he said, &#8220;God has put eternity in our hearts.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Have\nyou tried the waters of earth? You&#8217;ve run after them and they&#8217;ve trickled away.\nYou&#8217;ve tried pleasure, money, and success, maybe even the good pleasures of\nthis life. If you&#8217;re honest with yourself tonight, you know they haven&#8217;t satisfied.\nWe long for more.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">I\nread about two teenagers in Chicago who wanted to prove their love for each\nother. They went to the top of a six story building, kissed each other, and\njumped off. They left a note saying, &#8220;We&#8217;re looking for a better place.&#8221; The girl\nwas killed. The boy was seriously injured. I thought, I wish someone had told\nthem there is a better place. Earth is a better place when Christ comes and\nlives within. Heaven is a better place. You don&#8217;t have to jump off the roof of\na building. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Dostoyevsky,\nthe great Russian novelist said, &#8220;Surely I haven&#8217;t suffered simply that I may\nmanure the soil of the future for someone else.'&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">I\nwant to be there when everyone suddenly understands what it&#8217;s all about. You\nlook at this world of ours and see a lot of unfairness and incompleteness. Life\ndoesn&#8217;t balance out neatly. Unless there&#8217;s another world where things will be\nequalized, the longing of our hearts is not satisfied.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Why\ndo we long for something more? A fish in the water doesn&#8217;t long for oxygen because\nit&#8217;s made for the water. You and I are not made just for this earth, and that&#8217;s\nwhy we have a deep longing to come home where you and I belong.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">I\nalso believe in heaven because science by no means rules it out. Somehow we\nhave the idea that our generation has learned so much scientifically that it\nhas exploded the idea of heaven and God. I remember talking to the director of\nthe space laboratory in Huntsville Alabama, where we held a crusade. He said,\n&#8220;Dr. Ford, the more I learn about space, the greater my understanding of God\nis.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Dr.\nIrwin Moon of the Moody Institute of Science was talking to a very famous\nscientist who said to him, &#8220;Dr. Moon, I don&#8217;t understand how you as an\nintelligent scientist can say you believe in heaven. According to the Bible,\nthe first man to die was Abel when Cain killed him. If Abel had traveled at the\nspeed of light for six thousand years he wouldn&#8217;t have reached the edge of the\nuniverse, which we can see with our telescope. He&#8217;d have thousands of years to\ngo before he could get to heaven.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Dr.\nMoon replied, &#8220;Am I not correct? Are you not the scientist who has put forward\nthe notion that matter is really porous and that it&#8217;s possible to have a solid\nwall which really is mostly space?&#8221; The scientist said, &#8220;Of course that&#8217;s true.\nI believe that.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Then\nDr. Moon said, &#8220;Would it not be possible to have two different worlds occupying\nthe same space provided they were synchronized so they were on different\nfrequencies?&#8221; After a moment, the scientist said, &#8220;Of course it would. You\ncould have thousands of worlds.&#8221; Then Dr. Moon said, &#8220;Sir, to go to heaven, I\nmay not have to move an inch. All I&#8217;ll have to do is change frequencies.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Most\nof all, I believe in heaven because the resurrection of Jesus Christ confirms\nit. Jesus said, &#8220;Because I live, you shall live also.&#8221; Jesus&#8217; disciples said\nthey saw him crucified, but God raised him. They said, &#8220;We ate with him after\nthe resurrection. We drank with him. We talked with him. We saw him. We had\nbreakfast by the lake with him. We touched him. He was alive again.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">He\nwas the same Jesus, and yet they said he was different. He could suddenly\nappear in a locked room, then suddenly he was gone. They would see him, and\nthen they wouldn&#8217;t see him. He was the same, and yet he was different. In I Corinthians\n15 Paul says those who are in Christ bear the image of the earthly and will\nbear the image of the heavenly. We are to have a new forma new body. You put\nseeds into the ground in one form, and they come up in the beautiful form of\nthese flowers. It&#8217;s identical, and it&#8217;s different.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Heaven is our eternal\naddress.<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">In\nChrist we are going to have a new body for that new home where we&#8217;re going.\nYes, heaven is a place. Heaven is your eternal address. I want to say to every\nperson here tonight: you may have lost your way, and some of you have, but\ndon&#8217;t lose your address. Concerned with the things of earth, you&#8217;ve forgotten\nthe things of God. Maybe at some point you disobeyed and sinned and wandered\noff. Maybe in the acids of modern skepticism, you&#8217;ve lost your way. Don&#8217;t lose\nyour address, Friend. Your address is in the heart of God. Don&#8217;t deny that\nhunger in your soul. Don&#8217;t say, &#8220;This is all I need in this earth.&#8221; Don&#8217;t say\nheaven isn&#8217;t there. Homesickness is a gift from God to remind us we are all pilgrims\nand strangers. Even though we live in one of the most beautiful parts of the\nworld, this is a temporary place. Yes, heaven is a place. God is saying\ntonight, &#8220;Come home. Come home where you belong.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Are\nyou thinking of that? Tonight you can begin. The most important step you&#8217;ll\never take is not the first step you took as a child or the first steps you took\nto school. I can remember when our children took those first walks off to first\ngrade and kindergarten. It&#8217;s not the step you take when you get married. The\nmost important step you&#8217;ll ever take is the step you take in response to the\ngrace of God when you walk in your heart to the cross and start home where you\nbelong. Take that step tonight. I&#8217;m going to ask you to do that. Are you ready\nto do that tonight?<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Heaven\nis also a prepared place. Jesus said, &#8220;I go to prepare a place for you.&#8221; In the\nBible Jesus is called the forerunner. That&#8217;s like the advance party in the\narmy. Some of you men out here were probably scouts in the army. You&#8217;d go ahead\nof the rest of the troops to see that the way was safe and to blaze a trail.\nJesus was the scout. He&#8217;s the advance party, the forerunner. He says, &#8220;I&#8217;ve\ngone to open the way into heaven and into the presence of God. I&#8217;ve gone to\nprepare a place for you.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Heaven\nis a prepared place. When little Graham was born last evening (8 pounds 4\nounces,  and  inches, and feet almost as long as Bobby\nJones&#8217;s) there was a place prepared for him. His daddy, Craig, held him.\nThey&#8217;re going to go home in a few days to their little duplex, and there&#8217;s a\ncrib, a little silver rattle, pillows, stuffed animals, and pictures. They\nprepared a place for little Graham. If earthly parents would do that, how much\nmore would our heavenly father prepare a place for us?<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">What&#8217;s heaven like?<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">What&#8217;s\nheaven like? I&#8217;ve heard some people say, &#8220;I don&#8217;t think I want to go to heaven.\nI think it&#8217;s going to be very boring up there, all these bald business men\nplaying harps forever.&#8221; What&#8217;s it like? 1 Corinthians 2:9 says, &#8220;No eye has\nseen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those\nwho love him.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">I\ndon&#8217;t think we can understand very much about heaven yet because we&#8217;re so\n, so . Our activities in this world are so .\nIn heaven there is no time; there are no limitations of space; everything is\ncentered around God. To talk about heaven is like telling pygmies in a rain\nforest in Africa about a space trip. It&#8217;s difficult for us to understand.\nScripture says we cannot comprehend it, but God has revealed it to us by his\nSpirit.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">What\nhas God revealed to us about heaven? First, he&#8217;s told us what will not be\nthere. Revelation 21:4: &#8220;There will be no more death or mourning or crying or\npain, for the old order of things has passed away.&#8221; All of those things that\nbring misery heregrief, hurt, sickness, deathwill be gone.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Second,\nhe&#8217;s told us what will be there. Love will be there. Love never fails. Heaven\nwill be a community of love. People will be therethose who have been redeemed.\nIn many ways we will be the same but differentjust as Jesus was different and\nyet the same Jesus. We&#8217;ll recognize and know each other and take much of our\nuniqueness into that new life.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Third,\nheaven will be a place of dynamic activity. We&#8217;re not going to sit around\ntwiddling our thumbs on a cloud forever. The Scripture says in heaven we will\nserve God. Revelation 22:3: &#8220;And his servants will serve him.&#8221; We&#8217;re going to\nrest from sin in heaven but not from service .<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">When\nour son Sandy died at the age of 21, a missionary who had overseen his work as\na summer missionary in France wrote us a letter, and he said, &#8220;I was\nstunned21. So many gifts to use. I thought, What a waste.&#8221; Then he said,\n&#8220;Leighton, I realize we are so earthbound. Sandy&#8217;s highest service has only\nbegun.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Nothing\nis wasted because God will have ways for us to serve him. I don&#8217;t know what\nthat might be. I don&#8217;t know how that works, but the Bible does say we will\nserve him.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">It\nsays we will see God. His servants will see him. We shall see him as he is. Far\nfrom being boring, can you imagine how your mind will expand with the vision of\nthe greatness of God? Talk about intellectual stimulation. There&#8217;s nothing\nyou&#8217;ve ever studied that will be like that.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">And\nit says we will worship him. &#8220;I heard every creature in heaven and on earth\nsinging praise and honor and glory to him who sits on the throne.&#8221; Every\ncreative power we have will be used. Some of you would like to sing, but you\ncan&#8217;t. You&#8217;d like to write. You&#8217;d like to paint. You&#8217;ve never been able to do\nthat. In that new dimension, I believe those creative powers will be unleashed\nto the glory of God to worship him.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">I\nsaw that scene on the campus at North Carolina State when the team won at\nAlbuquerque. Thousands of students poured out, and some people even drove all\nthe way up here from UNC, Charlotte. They had a huge bonfire and a tremendous\ncelebration. If you could freeze a moment like that of triumph, of victory, of\njoy, not just over a basketball game but over the triumph of God, and if you\ncould have that forever in praise to God, is there anything more dynamic than\nthat?<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">How\ndo we get to heaven?<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">How\ndo we get there? Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. It&#8217;s not\nautomatic. Don&#8217;t just say, &#8220;Oh, isn&#8217;t it nice? We&#8217;ll all just sort of happily\nwander up there.&#8221; Oh no! The Bible says there is another prepared place. A\nplace is prepared for the devil and his angels. A place Jesus called hell. And\nthe word he used, <em>Gehenna<\/em>, was the\ndump heap outside Jerusalem, where they took the trash and burned the garbage.\nJesus says there is an eternal, universal junkyard. No garbage goes into God&#8217;s\npresence. If we insist on giving our lives to the garbage and trash of sin and\nwill not let God remove it, then we will not come into his presence because no\nunclean thing will come in there. Just as heaven means to be in the presence of\nGod now and forever, hell means to be separated from him now and forever. &#8220;This\nis eternal life, to know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast\nsent. He who has the son has life. He who does not have the son of God does not\nhave life.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Do\nyou know Christ tonight, really? Oh, you may know about him. You may have heard\nabout him. You may have sung about him, but do you know him tonight?<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Billy\nGraham said on an interview on Australian television, &#8220;I know I&#8217;m going to\nheaven, not because of what I&#8217;ve done but because of what Christ has done for\nme.&#8221; And the agnostic master of ceremonies of the program was so stunned by\nthis, he went out in the streets and started asking people, &#8220;Do you know that\nyou&#8217;re going to heaven?&#8221; This agnostic became a street evangelist by just\nasking the question and making people think about it.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Now\nwhat was Billy Graham saying? He wasn&#8217;t saying, &#8220;I know I&#8217;m going there because\nI&#8217;m good enough.&#8221; No, it was because he said, &#8220;I&#8217;m a sinner.&#8221; He&#8217;s saying, &#8220;I\nknow it because of what Christ has done for me.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">How\ndo we know that we know him? It&#8217;s not just the little inner feeling: &#8220;I know he\nlives within my heart.&#8221; It&#8217;s something outside ourselves. We know because of\nwhat he did on the cross, and we know because of what he says in his Word.\nThat&#8217;s where we get our assurance. It&#8217;s not what you and I have done, but what\nChrist did for us. Is that what you&#8217;re depending upon tonight?<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">So\nprepare now. Now is the day of salvation. God does not promise tomorrow. And\nthe Scripture says, &#8220;I tell you the truth. Whoever hears my words and believes\nhim who sent me has eternal life now and will not be condemned.&#8221; He has crossed\nover, crossed over from death to life.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Eternal\nlife begins not when you die but when Christ comes to live within your life.\nCome home where you belong. Be a prepared person. Meet Christ now as he&#8217;s\nspeaking to you. Will you do that? Will you come to him tonight?<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Kierkegaard,\nthe Danish philosopher, told a story about a goose who was wounded and who\nlanded in a barnyard with some chickens. He played with the chickens and ate\nwith the chickens. After a while that goose thought he was a chicken. One day a\nflight of geese came over, migrating to their home. They gave a honk up there\nin the sky, and he heard it.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Kierkegaard\nsaid, &#8220;Something stirred within the breast of this goose. Something called him\nto the skies. He began to flap the wings he hadn&#8217;t used, and he rose a few feet\ninto the air. Then he stopped, and he settled back again into the mud of the\nbarnyard. He heard the cry, but he settled for less.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Don&#8217;t\nsettle for less. If God is calling you tonight, come home. Begin now. Heed that\ncall and tonight come home where you belong.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <em>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Leighton\nFord is president of Leighton Ford Ministries, which focuses on raising up\nyounger leaders to spread the message of Christ worldwide.<\/span>\n      <\/em>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">(c) Leighton Ford<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">Preaching Today Tape #96<\/h2>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.preachingtodaysermons.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">www.PreachingTodaySermons.com<\/a>\n      <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">A resource of Christianity Today\nInternational<\/span>\n    <\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[307],"tax_ctp_authors":[2282],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[170],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[412],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_sermon_series":[],"tax_ctp_tags":[3888,4134,4167,4877],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-33666","sermons","type-sermons","status-publish","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-leighton-ford","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-eternity","tax_ctp_tags-heaven","tax_ctp_tags-hope","tax_ctp_tags-salvation"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hope for a Great Forever - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/hope-for-great-forever\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hope for a Great Forever - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The word &#8220;home&#8221; has a deep nostalgia for our hearts. 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