Luther Barnes sings this song, “Heaven On My Mind”. This has been a song that has been with me for all of my life. We had a male choir at church and we would always sing that song! It is only fitting that my first public sermon
This was the first public sermon that I preached on August 12, 2012. I definitely wanted to share this sermon with all of you! I do not have video of this sermon but there is audio that has also been uploaded to YouTube. Be sure to share this sermon with somebody!
In his second letter to the people of Corinth, Paul wrote:
We are confident, yes, well pleased rather
2 Corinthians 5:8 NKJVbe absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. to
I got heaven on my mind today. Heaven: not the heaven that many people try to find here on Earth. The heaven I speak of cannot be found here in this world. I am speaking of the place where my heavenly Father is!
The heaven on earth
There are many people who are consumed with this world today; they actually believe that heaven can be found in this world today. Let’s take a quick look at what some people may think is heavenly. We find some things that are
There are some foods that we can eat, and it tastes so good that we feel like we’re in heaven! I love food as much as the next person but eventually, I am going to get full and food will stop tasting heavenly. In other words, the world’s heaven is merely temporary – not everlasting.
A temporary heaven is not the heaven that is on my mind – let’s make this clear! You see, I don’t need a heaven that is temporary! I need more than that! I don’t want my heaven to ever go away. When we really take a look at all the good things this world can provide us, they eventually do end. There is a saying, “all good things must come to an end”- this saying is true, I believe. You see, as much good as this world can bring us, we must also understand that this world is not our home!
This world is not our home
With all of the heavenly things this world may provide us, we still have to open our eyes to the fact that there is a lot of hellish things in this world. The Lord created this world; He created this world beautifully for man but man sinned and this world fell to the corruption of that sin. All of that good food that we love so much eventually leaves our plate – it goes away. We are always hunting for an earthly heaven but we realize that we cannot have it here in this world.
In the scripture for our thought this morning, Paul says:
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our [ahabitation which is from heaven,
2 Corinthians 5:2 NKJV
I believe we all have heaven on our mind today. Paul says that we groan. Love is the greatest emotion that man can experience. Everybody wants somebody to love them, and when they find somebody to love them – they’re in heaven. Let the love stop! We’re in terrible shape when the love goes away. We moan and groan in our hurt because we have lost that heaven. I don’t believe there is anything wrong with us groaning.
Do you know why we groan? We groan because we know that there is something more out there! We know, deep down on the inside, that there is a better. I tell you today that this world is only temporary! The stress of this world is only temporary, and we must understand that. Heaven is not temporary. I tell you again today that I got heaven on my mind! Is heaven on your mind?
Standing confidently for heaven
We are all in search of something that will last us forever. Many of us groan because we have heaven on our mind! We cry out – there is nothing wrong with crying out! We cry out because we know that we have Christ. Paul says:
5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as [ca guarantee.
2 Corinthians 5:5 NKJV
That Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter is our down payment!
The Comforter is with us always. The Comforter, God the Holy Spirit, fills us with that confidence to know that better is out there. That Comforter fills us with what we need when the world begins to beat on us and weight us down. The Holy Spirit is there in both our good and our bad days. The Holy Spirit tells us, “everything is going to be alright”.
Don’t back down on the Spirit because the Holy Spirit is not ever going to back down on you. Do you have heaven on your mind? People are going to mock you for believing in heaven. They will ask, why do you believe in heaven? “You can’t see God,” is what they will say. They will then say, “you don’t know that heaven exists” – they think you’re crazy. Apparently, it is wrong for a Christian to have faith, but it is not wrong for anybody else to have their beliefs and their faith.
Not interested in worldly riches
They will mock your faith. God is supposed to give you all the fancy things of this world, is what they believe. They will take a look at your car and mock your car and then mock God because you may not be driving something better. If they find out or know where you live, they will mock your home and mock God because you not living in a nicer place. Don’t let somebody know you really well, know your bank account is not the best, they will mock your bank account and mock God because you are not “blessed” with a big bank account. They are mistaken to think that those things are heavenly – we’re not interested in the riches of this world!
While they are concerned about this world, I think on the promise that Christ made to me. Christ said (John 14:2), “in My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” When they ask you, how can you believe in heaven? Tell them that Jesus told you that it exists! Jesus is not a liar! God is not a liar!
Today I tell you that I have heaven on my mind! I want to see that place Christ called, “Our Father’s kingdom.” I want to see that throne and the train of my Father falling off that throne. You see, I want to see the seraphim that fly all about my Father singing holy, holy, holy is our God. Will you be there? I want to be a part of that great multitude of believers (old prophets, apostles, and my family of believers) that will one day sing out holy, holy, holy!
Do you want that crown? I want my crown! I want to be there wearing my white robe without spot or wrinkle! Jesus is going to be there and I want to be there with my Savior and Lord. Luther Barnes wrote and sang the song, “Heaven on My Mind”. In his song, Luther said, “you can talk about me, say what you want to say, I got heaven on my mind.” You can talk about me, Candidate Leo McCrary, but I have heaven on my mind. Amen.