[0:00] Did you know that it's the end of summer right now? Does everybody know that? Even though it's... That's right. You guys are going to be going to school. Let me ask you a question. Does anybody look forward to anything?
[0:13] Have you ever looked forward to something that's way far away? Are you guys looking forward to anything? Yeah, what are you looking forward to? To the week. To the week. Wow, that's good. What are you looking forward to?
[0:25] Go camping with the Scouts. When would you do that? When are you going to go camping with the Scouts? October 3rd. October 3rd. So that's about a month away. Anybody looking forward to something further away than that?
[0:38] I'll tell you. Yes. What are you looking... You're looking forward to Halloween. Wow. What are you looking forward to? Your birthday on May 9th. That's...
[0:52] That's looking ahead. Now, I was thinking about this yesterday, doing my preparation for today. And my son is Alexander, who's here. And as I was doing that, Alexander came up to me and he had a big, huge, heavy book.
[1:07] You know what it was? It was the Sears Christmas Wishlist Catalog. And he opened it up and he pointed to something and it was a Christmas train.
[1:18] That's all he did. He said, look at this Christmas train. And do you know, I think that was a hint. And he was looking way ahead. He's looking forward to Christmas already.
[1:30] And it's still summer. School hasn't even started. And Alexander's looking forward to Christmas. What are you looking forward to, Simon? You're looking forward to going to Africa for Christmas.
[1:41] Very good. Did you know that every one of us who love Jesus are looking forward to something that's even further ahead than that? Do you know what that is?
[1:52] What is every Christian looking forward to? Yes. Going to heaven. And who will we... What are we looking forward to seeing? Who are we looking forward to seeing? Yes. We're looking forward to seeing Jesus one day.
[2:05] And do you know, when Jesus comes, he's going to do something quite wonderful. He is going to change the world. He is going to give us a new world. And do you know how he's going to do it?
[2:16] He's going to bring heaven down to earth. And the Bible says it's going to be a big city. A new Jerusalem. It's a holy city. It'll be huge. It'll be like over a thousand miles long and wide and high.
[2:29] And it will come down to earth. And did you know who's in that city? Everyone who has ever loved Jesus in all of history.
[2:41] And that will be quite a gathering. And it will sound... It might be a little bit loud when they're coming down. It might sound a little bit like when we have the greeting time at the 10 o'clock service. People will be happy to see each other.
[2:52] Everything will be good. And did you know the Bible says that everybody, that city, will be prepared like a bride? Do you know what that means?
[3:03] It means there's going to be a change. How many of you have been to a wedding before? Have you? Good. I've been to lots of weddings as well.
[3:14] Because I do them. I may be close to a hundred weddings. And you know, I do something that you don't often see. I do a wedding rehearsal as well. Does anybody do wedding rehearsals? Ever been to one?
[3:24] If you've been to a flower girl or ring bearer, you would go. You've been to ring bearer? Well, let me tell you something. The bride looks very different at the rehearsal.
[3:38] Sometimes the bride looks, is a little bit grumpy. Sometimes she doesn't look that great. She's a little bit, doesn't have things on quite right.
[3:49] She's been rushing around. And the clothes that she's wearing, well, they're not really up to, you know, the highest level. And I want to tell you that two days later, when the wedding comes, the bride always looks very, very different.
[4:08] The bride is beautiful. She is wearing the most lovely clothes you can ever imagine. And she's always got a smile on her face. It might not have been there two days before.
[4:22] But this big smile when she comes. And, you know, God says that when heaven comes to earth, we all will be changed even more. You know, some of you, I bet, in your life, you will be upset with your brother and sister.
[4:38] You'll do something mean. You might. There you go. Your sister's right next to her. And you might feel sad at times.
[4:51] You might feel like God's far away. You might be tired and hungry in times in your life. You might do things that are wrong and think about God, not think about God.
[5:01] You might ignore him. But God says when heaven comes to earth, that will all change. In fact, he says he will take everything bad away from us.
[5:12] And we will be what God always wanted us to be all the time. And do you know how that can happen? It is because of the most wonderful thing about heaven. Do you know what it is?
[5:22] Can anybody guess what the most wonderful thing about heaven is? We will see God. We will always be with him. And that will be very, very exciting.
[5:33] Now, I want to ask one last question of you. This summer, how many of you were ever bored this summer? Were you ever bored? You were bored?
[5:45] I'm bored. No, no, bored. Bored. Anybody else was bored? From time to time, you get bored. Do you think you'll ever be bored in heaven? No.
[5:56] No. No. Do you know I had a long vacation this past summer? It was really long. Four months. And I never got bored. And I'd like to see how long it takes to get bored.
[6:08] But I know eventually I probably would. In heaven, you never will be bored because God will be always with you.
[6:19] And you will discover new things. You will hear music like you've never heard before. You will do adventures with God that you can't even imagine. You know, the best video game you can imagine is just ridiculous compared to this.
[6:33] And you will learn what it means to love God more and more and love each other. You will really enjoy being with people in heaven. And you will enjoy God forever.
[6:44] It's something to look forward to. And I want to tell you, we're going to pray in a minute. But I want to tell you something that is very important. It's for all of us here. At the end of the Bible, at the end of the Bible, it doesn't end with the end.
[6:59] You know how the Bible ends? It ends by saying, come, Jesus. Come, Lord Jesus. And that's because heaven coming to earth isn't the end of the story.
[7:10] It's the beginning of a new story. And now on earth, it affects us. Do you know why? It's because God is preparing us for heaven. He's preparing us for the new earth that we will see one day.
[7:25] When we love Jesus, when we follow him, when we obey him, we are being prepared for heaven. And we should always hang on to Jesus and follow him no matter what.
[7:36] Because we know what's coming. We know what we're looking forward to. So let's pray together, okay? Let's close our eyes. And we're going to pray and thank God for the thing that we look forward to most of everything.
[7:53] Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have made us to be your children. We thank you that you are our Heavenly Father. You are the most wonderful, awesome, and powerful God.
[8:05] Thank you because one day Jesus will come again to bring a new heaven and new earth that will be completely good. Thank you that we will see you and be with you forever. And for all the wonderful things that we will experience with you.
[8:19] Help us now to love you and obey you. Prepare us to see you one day. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Okay, let's go sit down with our parents.
[8:32] Father, we come before you as your people in prayer and praise. You are the Alpha and the Omega, and yet you want to dwell with us. Thank you for the privilege of being your children and for the gift of eternal life.
[8:48] Please accept the petitions we bring before you today. Dear God, thank you for today. Please help the Canadian soldiers to do what they need to do.
[9:00] Please help the people teaching about God to do a good job. Jesus, please help the missionaries in the world and in their work.
[9:14] Help them to focus on you and be reminded of what their purpose is. Help them to make a difference in this world, and may they take joy from helping others. Thank you for calling them to do your work, and thanks that they have responded in this way.
[9:30] We ask that when they leave their work, that a new person would step in, working again to glorify you. Help us all to be missionaries in our lives, and that we would not be ashamed of our faith.
[9:44] We thank you for, and pray especially for, these missionaries working in our own city. Lord, in your mercy.
[10:08] Lord, in your mercy. God, you are the father of our world and of our country. Be with the leaders of our nation as they navigate difficult decisions to be made.
[10:21] Lead our country where you would have us go, that in the end your purposes will be served, and you will be glorified. Lord, in your mercy. Amen. Amen.
[10:31] God, we pray for the inevitable chaos of the next few days surrounding the start of the school, that peace and productivity would reign so that we may relish these last few days of summer.
[10:48] We pray that teachers and students alike would return to school with renewed energy and stamina. We pray especially for those starting at new schools or beginning new stages of education this year, whether it be kindergarten, high school, or university, that these transitions would be both positive and smooth, and that you would erase any apprehensions.
[11:09] Thank you for the often underappreciated privilege of education. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Father, we pray for the ministries of St. John's.
[11:26] We pray your blessing on them and that they might reflect your goodness. Help us to consider how we might give of our time and energy, and to do so willingly and with a spirit of thankfulness.
[11:40] Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Finally, we pray, Father, for those in particular need of your care and comfort at this time. We pray for Harold, Rosemary, Dawn, Steve, John, and George, and for the Baldwin family and the McCarthy family as they grieve.
[12:06] We also take a moment now to pray for those known personally to us. For all of us, Lord, we pray that when times are good, we would remember to acknowledge you.
[12:25] And when times are difficult and the future uncertain, we would continue to trust you. Help us to be faithful followers of you our whole lives through.
[12:36] We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.