Dover Assembly of God
12.8.2019 | Biblical Life Lessons - Heaven - Part II
Locations & Times
Dover Assembly of God
4790 Carlisle Rd, Dover, PA 17315, USA
Sunday 10:30 AM
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December 8, 2019
Welcome to Dover Assembly!
We are so glad you have chosen to attend Dover Assembly this morning. It is not by accident that you are here. We believe that God has allowed you to be here so that you might receive all that He has for you. We pray you are blessed as you allow the Lord to work in your life.
THIS WEEK
Sunday
9:00 am ~ Coffee & Donuts
9:30 am ~ Sunday School
10:30 am ~ R.O.C.K. Children’s Ministries
10:30 am ~ Worship Service
1:00 pm ~ Spanish Service
3:00 pm ~ Worship Practice
Wednesday
6:30 pm ~ Family Night Ministries
Thursday
6:30 pm ~ Men’s Christmas Dinner
Friday
6:00 pm ~ Women’s Christmas Dinner
Saturday
9:00 am ~ ROCK Children’s Ministry Practice
6:30 pm ~ Saturday Night Spanish Service
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kid's Christmas Play
The R.O.C.K. kids will be doing a skit for Christmas NEXT Sunday, December 15. If you have any questions, please see Anna. Also, please make sure your children are here every Sunday as they will be practicing during Children’s Church following their lesson. Kids Christmas Skit dress rehearsal: Sat., December. 14, 9:00 am to noon, pizza lunch provided.
New Life For Girls - Date Change!
We are rescheduling the New Life Girls for a date to be determined in the New Year. Stay tuned for the new date.
BODY NEWS
Annual Business Meeting
As we prepare for our annual church business meeting on Sun., Jan. 19, one of the items we will be covering is voting for Deacon Board members. The process at Dover Assembly for the election of our Deacon members is to encourage our voting members to submit names of other voting members whom they prayerfully feel would best serve our church and our Lord, Jesus Christ. The church agreed to limit the number of board members to 5 instead of 6 this year as we seek to re-establish the policy of electing 2 new board members per year. This year we have 1 member (Keith Miller) who has reached the limit of (2) 3 year terms and must sit out for one year. Therefore we will need to elect 2 new members to bring our total to 5 board members this year. There are nominating forms at the Information Center. Please write the names of those who you would like to nominate, sign it and place them in the ballot box. We will only consider names of nominees from this ballot box. If you do not put the ballot in this secured box, the ballot will not be valid for consideration. Our nominating committee will review all nominees to determine if all constitutional requirements are met by that candidate. The eligible nominees will be contacted and asked to pray over acceptance or rejection of the nomination. The names of those who accept the nomination are then presented to the church body three (3) weeks prior to the annual business meeting. TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO SUBMIT NOMINATIONS!
Christmas Benevolence
If you would like to contribute to our benevolence fund in order to supply items to families for Christmas, please use the envelopes provided in the pew racks and indicate “benevolence”. Thank you in advance for your generosity.
Christmas Card Mailboxes
The Christmas mailboxes are up and awaiting Christmas cards! If you would like to share Christmas cards with others in our church family, please take a name list from the table in the foyer and match up the numbers with the names. (Please note that names and numbers have changed from last year)
Special Thank You!
A great big “think you” to Katie & Lee Jones, Brad and Dave Seymour, for the beautiful sanctuary and foyer decorations and to Donna Schott for all the lower level decorations! The church looks beautiful! Lord bless you for all the hours and time you all gave unto the Lord!
Texting
We are continuing to expand the way we share information through texting. If you would like to receive periodic updates, weather cancellations, church information, encouraging quotes, etc. please fill out a blue card in the pew rack with your name and cell number with the word TEXT. Place it in the offering plate, or hand it to an usher and we will add you to our ever-growing list.
Snow Cancellations
Should we have the need to cancel any of our services due to inclement weather, we will put that information on our Facebook page, our website, and the local TV stations [WGAL-CH 8, CBS 21, ABC 27, FOX 43, CW 15] If you would like to sign up for a TEXT on your cell phone that will indicate the status of our services, please fill out the blue & white card with your name and cell phone number. Please be sure to hand them into our Information Center and we will add you to our list.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR!
Dec 12 ~ Men’s Ministry Christmas Dinner
Dec 13 ~ Women’s Christmas Dinner
Dec 14 ~ R.O.C.K. Kids Dress Rehearsal-Lunch provided
Dec 15 ~ R.O.C.K. Kids Skit
Dec 18 ~ R.O.C.K. Kids Christmas Party
Dec 24 ~ Christmas Eve ServiceDec 25 ~ Christmas-NO FAMILY NIGHT
Dec 29 ~ R.O.C.K. Kids in Main Service-5th Sunday
Dec 31 ~ New Year’s Eve
Jan 1 ~ New Year’s Day-NO SERVICE
Welcome to Dover Assembly!
We are so glad you have chosen to attend Dover Assembly this morning. It is not by accident that you are here. We believe that God has allowed you to be here so that you might receive all that He has for you. We pray you are blessed as you allow the Lord to work in your life.
THIS WEEK
Sunday
9:00 am ~ Coffee & Donuts
9:30 am ~ Sunday School
10:30 am ~ R.O.C.K. Children’s Ministries
10:30 am ~ Worship Service
1:00 pm ~ Spanish Service
3:00 pm ~ Worship Practice
Wednesday
6:30 pm ~ Family Night Ministries
Thursday
6:30 pm ~ Men’s Christmas Dinner
Friday
6:00 pm ~ Women’s Christmas Dinner
Saturday
9:00 am ~ ROCK Children’s Ministry Practice
6:30 pm ~ Saturday Night Spanish Service
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kid's Christmas Play
The R.O.C.K. kids will be doing a skit for Christmas NEXT Sunday, December 15. If you have any questions, please see Anna. Also, please make sure your children are here every Sunday as they will be practicing during Children’s Church following their lesson. Kids Christmas Skit dress rehearsal: Sat., December. 14, 9:00 am to noon, pizza lunch provided.
New Life For Girls - Date Change!
We are rescheduling the New Life Girls for a date to be determined in the New Year. Stay tuned for the new date.
BODY NEWS
Annual Business Meeting
As we prepare for our annual church business meeting on Sun., Jan. 19, one of the items we will be covering is voting for Deacon Board members. The process at Dover Assembly for the election of our Deacon members is to encourage our voting members to submit names of other voting members whom they prayerfully feel would best serve our church and our Lord, Jesus Christ. The church agreed to limit the number of board members to 5 instead of 6 this year as we seek to re-establish the policy of electing 2 new board members per year. This year we have 1 member (Keith Miller) who has reached the limit of (2) 3 year terms and must sit out for one year. Therefore we will need to elect 2 new members to bring our total to 5 board members this year. There are nominating forms at the Information Center. Please write the names of those who you would like to nominate, sign it and place them in the ballot box. We will only consider names of nominees from this ballot box. If you do not put the ballot in this secured box, the ballot will not be valid for consideration. Our nominating committee will review all nominees to determine if all constitutional requirements are met by that candidate. The eligible nominees will be contacted and asked to pray over acceptance or rejection of the nomination. The names of those who accept the nomination are then presented to the church body three (3) weeks prior to the annual business meeting. TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO SUBMIT NOMINATIONS!
Christmas Benevolence
If you would like to contribute to our benevolence fund in order to supply items to families for Christmas, please use the envelopes provided in the pew racks and indicate “benevolence”. Thank you in advance for your generosity.
Christmas Card Mailboxes
The Christmas mailboxes are up and awaiting Christmas cards! If you would like to share Christmas cards with others in our church family, please take a name list from the table in the foyer and match up the numbers with the names. (Please note that names and numbers have changed from last year)
Special Thank You!
A great big “think you” to Katie & Lee Jones, Brad and Dave Seymour, for the beautiful sanctuary and foyer decorations and to Donna Schott for all the lower level decorations! The church looks beautiful! Lord bless you for all the hours and time you all gave unto the Lord!
Texting
We are continuing to expand the way we share information through texting. If you would like to receive periodic updates, weather cancellations, church information, encouraging quotes, etc. please fill out a blue card in the pew rack with your name and cell number with the word TEXT. Place it in the offering plate, or hand it to an usher and we will add you to our ever-growing list.
Snow Cancellations
Should we have the need to cancel any of our services due to inclement weather, we will put that information on our Facebook page, our website, and the local TV stations [WGAL-CH 8, CBS 21, ABC 27, FOX 43, CW 15] If you would like to sign up for a TEXT on your cell phone that will indicate the status of our services, please fill out the blue & white card with your name and cell phone number. Please be sure to hand them into our Information Center and we will add you to our list.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR!
Dec 12 ~ Men’s Ministry Christmas Dinner
Dec 13 ~ Women’s Christmas Dinner
Dec 14 ~ R.O.C.K. Kids Dress Rehearsal-Lunch provided
Dec 15 ~ R.O.C.K. Kids Skit
Dec 18 ~ R.O.C.K. Kids Christmas Party
Dec 24 ~ Christmas Eve ServiceDec 25 ~ Christmas-NO FAMILY NIGHT
Dec 29 ~ R.O.C.K. Kids in Main Service-5th Sunday
Dec 31 ~ New Year’s Eve
Jan 1 ~ New Year’s Day-NO SERVICE
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Week 13 - December 8, 2019 - Pastor Jeff Bender
This is our second week on the topic of heaven--what the Bible tells us about what it is like.
Last week we started off answering a few questions that we have all probably asked ourselves.
We saw that heaven is talked about a lot in the Bible. We saw that it wasn’t created-it is eternal. It is located outside of our physical universe. It is not a part of what God created.
What’s it like and what will we see? Heaven is truly a mystery to us because no one has been there to describe it.
Paul had that one example we mentioned last week.
Last week we started off answering a few questions that we have all probably asked ourselves.
We saw that heaven is talked about a lot in the Bible. We saw that it wasn’t created-it is eternal. It is located outside of our physical universe. It is not a part of what God created.
What’s it like and what will we see? Heaven is truly a mystery to us because no one has been there to describe it.
Paul had that one example we mentioned last week.
For the examples we may hear about, the jury is out for me.
Most examples I hear about always promote that everyone will be there.
We watched the movie “Heaven is for Real” and there were some glaring Biblical problems with the account given.
Another one- a book entitled “The Boy Who Went to Heaven” recently recanted his testimony of dying and going to heaven.
So I don’t bank on those types of examples.
Most examples I hear about always promote that everyone will be there.
We watched the movie “Heaven is for Real” and there were some glaring Biblical problems with the account given.
Another one- a book entitled “The Boy Who Went to Heaven” recently recanted his testimony of dying and going to heaven.
So I don’t bank on those types of examples.
The only real definitive answers we can get are from the Bible.
So let’s look at few more questions that we may have.
So let’s look at few more questions that we may have.
1) WILL WE HAVE PHYSICAL BODIES IN HEAVEN? AND WILL WE BE RECOGNIZABLE?
While the Bible is NOT explicit on this issue, we do know that we will have some kind of body.
While the Bible is NOT explicit on this issue, we do know that we will have some kind of body.
After His resurrection, Jesus had a body and people knew him.
They walked and talked with Jesus and nowhere does it say that they thought he looked weird or alien like. He was normal looking.
God stopped them from recognizing him, but later at dinner, they did.
At the transfiguration, Moses and Elijah had bodies and were recognized.
God stopped them from recognizing him, but later at dinner, they did.
At the transfiguration, Moses and Elijah had bodies and were recognized.
They had recognizable, physical bodies, but they were different.
Jesus just “beamed” into the room.
Job also mentioned a body.
Jesus just “beamed” into the room.
Job also mentioned a body.
Revelation describes wearing clothing in heaven. Clothing requires a body on which to hang them.
And finally, we won’t be just “ghost-like” . . .
So yes, we will have a recognizable but slightly different physical body.
And since Christians love to fellowship around food, one of the most asked questions is:
2) WILL WE EAT IN HEAVEN?
But of course. And remember, all the food will be good for you.
Probably not any pop or chips there, although not sure. Don’t have to watch our weight, sugar intake, gluten, lactose, but there is no mention of eating meat in heaven.
So there’s that!
We have the marriage supper of the lamb.
2) WILL WE EAT IN HEAVEN?
But of course. And remember, all the food will be good for you.
Probably not any pop or chips there, although not sure. Don’t have to watch our weight, sugar intake, gluten, lactose, but there is no mention of eating meat in heaven.
So there’s that!
We have the marriage supper of the lamb.
Jesus ate in His resurrected body.
If angels eat in heaven, then we probably will, too.
3) "WILL WE REMEMBER OUR EARTHLY LIVES WHEN WE ARE IN HEAVEN?"
That’s a good one. Some of us want to remember our lives and some of us would rather not.
The Bible refers to this a few times, but not with any clarity.
That’s a good one. Some of us want to remember our lives and some of us would rather not.
The Bible refers to this a few times, but not with any clarity.
That would seem to indicate that we have no recollection, but in the verse just before this . . .
Only the past bad stuff will not be remembered.
One commentary says it this way:
Our memories won’t be wiped out, it’s just that in the beauty of heaven, they won’t come to our mind.
Similar to a week on a beautiful vacation spot. You are having such a good time, that the cares of back home don’t get thought of. They’re still there, but we don’t think about them.
One commentary says it this way:
Our memories won’t be wiped out, it’s just that in the beauty of heaven, they won’t come to our mind.
Similar to a week on a beautiful vacation spot. You are having such a good time, that the cares of back home don’t get thought of. They’re still there, but we don’t think about them.
4) DO WE BECOME ANGELS IN HEAVEN?
NO. We’ve already established that we will have physical and recognizable bodies. We will not be disembodied spirits.
When Jesus said we will be LIKE angels, that simply was a reference to being unmarried-not a blanket statement.
NO. We’ve already established that we will have physical and recognizable bodies. We will not be disembodied spirits.
When Jesus said we will be LIKE angels, that simply was a reference to being unmarried-not a blanket statement.
5) DO ANGELS TAKE US TO HEAVEN WHEN WE DIE?
It would seem so.
It would seem so.
6) WHAT WILL WE DO IN HEAVEN?
a) We will rest from our earthly work.
a) We will rest from our earthly work.
Our work in heaven will be free from any of the drudgery that we face here doing work.
Things that cause us not to like working will be taken away.
There are not traffic jams on your way to work, you love all your co-workers, you get along perfectly with everyone and the actual manual labor you do, is rewarding.
Imagine going to a job that you love and there is nothing at that job that you dislike? Every project done in advance, without mistakes, the boss loves it and you get a raise every day?
Well you probably won’t get raises, but you won’t care because you love it so much.
Things that cause us not to like working will be taken away.
There are not traffic jams on your way to work, you love all your co-workers, you get along perfectly with everyone and the actual manual labor you do, is rewarding.
Imagine going to a job that you love and there is nothing at that job that you dislike? Every project done in advance, without mistakes, the boss loves it and you get a raise every day?
Well you probably won’t get raises, but you won’t care because you love it so much.
b) We will serve Him all the time.
Part of serving God will be worshipping.
Heaven will not be boring. Everything we do we will enjoy doing and they all will be done perfectly and to God’s glory.
Commentary writer Ray Steadman says:
“Every moment of eternity will be an adventure of discovery”
Commentary writer Ray Steadman says:
“Every moment of eternity will be an adventure of discovery”
7) WHEN DO WE ARRIVE IN HEAVEN?
In other words, is there a time lag or an intermediary stop along the way?
Some believe there is Purgatory. Some believe in soul sleep, which means after we die, we stay in a state of unconsciousness until the final resurrection.
Neither are true.
When the Bible refers to sleeping . . .
In other words, is there a time lag or an intermediary stop along the way?
Some believe there is Purgatory. Some believe in soul sleep, which means after we die, we stay in a state of unconsciousness until the final resurrection.
Neither are true.
When the Bible refers to sleeping . . .
This is a Biblical metaphor for physical death, not spiritual death or “soul sleep”.
The Bible is fairly clear on this issue.
The Bible is fairly clear on this issue.
And to the thief on the cross he said . . .
If Purgatory existed, this guy surely would have gone there for his life choices. Hoping someone would pray him out.
8) WHO WAS IT MADE FOR?
Well, the Bible tells us who hell was made for . . .
Well, the Bible tells us who hell was made for . . .
If that’s true, then heaven was ORIGINALLY prepared for all of man-kind.
If there are only 2 places to go after we die and one of them wasn’t made for us, then we can assume that heaven was made for us.
God’s desire is that all of man-kind ends up there.
If there are only 2 places to go after we die and one of them wasn’t made for us, then we can assume that heaven was made for us.
God’s desire is that all of man-kind ends up there.
9) WHO ACTUALLY GOES TO HEAVEN?
If heaven was made for all of us, then don’t we all get to go?
How about good and sincere people? Unfortunately, NO.
Entrance into heaven is only obtained by placing our trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Since we don’t know where heaven is but we do know heaven is where God is, then we need to know how to get to God.
If heaven was made for all of us, then don’t we all get to go?
How about good and sincere people? Unfortunately, NO.
Entrance into heaven is only obtained by placing our trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Since we don’t know where heaven is but we do know heaven is where God is, then we need to know how to get to God.
Since heaven is a place of perfection and we need to be perfect to get in, the question is how do we get perfect?
We all know we aren’t. The Bible tells us we’re not.
We all know we aren’t. The Bible tells us we’re not.
So if we’re not perfect, what happens?
How do we get perfect?
This is not just an acknowledgement that you know about Jesus. It is about coming to him acknowledging that you aren’t good enough and that you trust his death is payment for your sins. He took your place.
Thank you for joining us!
If you haven't already, be sure to check out our website and follow us on social media @doverassembly! Have a great week!
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