Roger Marsh: Welcome. I'm Roger Marsh and today on Family Talk, we're going to share an encouraging message from Dr. and Shirley Dobson's dear friend Anne Graham Lotz. But before we get started, I wanted to let you know that this presentation was originally recorded in early 2017. That year, Ann served as the Chair of the National Day of Prayer. Her father, the beloved Reverend Billy Graham was still alive at the time of this message. Here now is Dr. Dobson introducing Anne Graham Lotz back in 2017.
Dr. James Dobson: Hello everyone. And welcome to Family Talk. I'm your host, Dr. James Dobson. And today we're excited to bring you a message from Anne Graham Lotz. Before we get to the broadcast today, I want to tell you a little bit about her as our presenter in May of 2016, and took over as chair of the National Day of Prayer after my wife Shirley had run the ministry for 25 years as its chair. And as the founder and president of Angel Ministries where she continues to lead in addition to her role as chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force.
Whatever Ann writes and wherever she speaks, her one message, her one theme is to bring revival to the hearts of God's people. And that message is consistent, calling people into a personal relationship with God through His Word. She was married to Dr. Danny Lotz for 49 years until he went home to be with the Lord two years ago and together they have three children and three grandchildren.
Now, the message that you're about to hear was recorded in February of 2017 at the Convergence Prophecy Conference. It was held in Maranatha Chapel in San Diego, California, and we're sure that you're going to find it encouraging as Anne discusses Heaven and where we can expect that to be like once we're called home someday. Here now is Anne Graham Lotz on this edition of Family Talk.
Anne Graham Lotz: Thank you so much. And it's always a privilege and a blessing to be in your fellowship. And it was a blessing to me to be a part of the conference yesterday. And it was mind-blowing I was telling Vicky Bentley afterwards, "It just wasn't enough time to take it in." So I want to go back and re-watch and re-listen to some of the messages to be able to absorb them and think about them. And so I'm humbled to be here this morning in your worship service, and thank you for coming and let's just pray and ask God's blessing.
Father, we bow before you. And we want to say this morning that we love you. And we thank you that you are all those things we just sang about you're high and lifted up in your glory fills the universe. And I thank you for Tom's message this morning that in your love for the whole world, you're showing up in some of the most difficult places and drawing people to yourself.
And so that's my prayer this morning, dear Lord, Jesus, would you show up? Would you reveal yourself to us? Would you show us what you're preparing for us in such a way that, Lord, you create in our hearts longing to be with you and a longing to invite other people to come with us and one day to live with you forever? So I ask your blessing on this message. I pray that you would pour it out and not because any of us deserve it, but because we come to you boldly and humbly claiming blessing in the name of Jesus. If you don't bless us, we won't be blessed. So we're asking for your blessing in the name of Jesus and for His glory. Amen.
You know I've loved being in San Diego and Chair of the National Day of Prayer now. And so we had a meeting across town so I've been there for several days and I love your scenery. I love the palm trees. I love the people, they're friendly. I love the food. I love we went to the beach and to see the water and I know it was cold. I didn't put my foot in it, but just to see the beauty of the beach and the sky. Your sky is what we call an October blue sky at home. When everything's cleared out and you see that cobalt blue sky and I love reconnecting with old friends, like the Doyles and the Koenigs and the Bentleys. And I've loved meeting new friends.
And to be honest with you, I don't belong here. Isn't it funny you can be somewhere and enjoy it, but you know I don't belong, so after today I'll be going home. I belong in North Carolina and so I'll be going to my home. And I know you understand that and that describes my whole life. My whole life, I can enjoy people. I can enjoy scenery. I can enjoy experiences. And some of them aren't so good, but you know that's life. But I have this deep down sense I don't belong here.
I'm made for another world. I'm going home. And in this conference yesterday, a lot of it was talking about prophecy and sort of connecting the dots, which is very fascinating to do. The last prophecy in scripture, God gives the Apostle John a glimpse into our Heavenly home, a place that Jesus described as My Father's house. So if you'll open your Bibles to the last book in the Bible. If you turn to the end of your Bible, work through the maps and come to the next to the last chapter I want to read the text, which is Revelation 21. Chapter 22 is also about Heaven, but I just want to go down chapter 21 because yesterday we talked about our destiny.
This is your destiny. If you're a child of God, this is your destiny. This is what the Bible says. Revelation 21. This is the Apostle John, by the way, who wrote the Gospel of John writing this. "Then I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first Heaven and the first Earth it passed away and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men and He will live with them. They will be His people and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away." "He who was seated on the throne said, 'I'm making everything you. Then he said, 'Write this down for these words are trustworthy and true.'"
Down in verse nine. "One of the seven angels came to me and said, 'Come." Verse 10. "And he carried me away in the spirit to mountain great and high and he showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God, it had shone with the glory of God and His brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great high wall with 12 gates." Verse 14, "The wall of the city had 12 foundations and on them were the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked with me, had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls."
Verse 17. "He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick." Verse 18. "The wall was made of jasper. The city of pure gold as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone." Verse 21. "The 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was a pure gold like transparent glass. I didn't see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light in the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the Earth will bring their splendor and do it. On no day will its gates ever be shut where there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful. But only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life."
That is your destiny. Praise God. So let me just go back through and describe some of this in words that perhaps have application. But the first thing that impresses me is that your destiny is a prepared destiny. So God has prepared this. Jesus said in John 14, "Let not your heart be troubled. And if somebody here is troubled, don't let your heart be troubled. You trust in God, trust also in me." Jesus said in my Father's house," speaking of Heaven, "Are many rooms." If it were not so, I would have told you. I'm going to prepare a place for you."
And so, Jesus has gone ahead of us to prepare a place for you and me. And I thought about this years ago, I made the time to go to Agra, India and see the Taj Mahal. And it was built by an Indian prince, a Maharajah pagan prince for his wife to whom he'd been married for 14 years. And it wasn't a palace in which he would live with her, it was her tomb. And it was the most exquisite building I think I've ever seen. It's carved out of white marble it's inset with onyx and semiprecious stones. It sits on a sand stone platform right beside a broad river. It's got reflecting pools. It looks like a jewel sitting there.
And I thought to myself, "If a pagan Indian prince could build something that exquisitely beautiful and it took him 22 years to build and over 20,000 skilled craftsmen. And it was not a place he would live with his wife, but a place where you were bury His wife had only been married to her for 14 years when she died, what is Jesus preparing for you and me when it's taken him not 22 years it's taken him to date over 2000 years?"
And you know that it's being prepared out of a heart of love. That Indian prince was building the Taj Mahal and it was prepared, it was built out of love for his wife. And Jesus is preparing your destiny, your place. He's preparing Heaven with a heart of love for you. And it's in detail. It says it's prepared as a bride is for her bridegroom. And I don't know if you're a mother of a bride. I have two daughters. So I have been the mother of a bride and I know one thing about brides, they are prepared in detail, aren't they? The first detail is who the groom is going to be. And then once that's decided, they decide on the date for the wedding and who's going to preside and who the attendants will be. And they go and pick up the dress and the dress can be short or long or in different colors now and the veil can be different ways. And flowers can be free-flowing stems and wrap stems or a single blossom or bouquet.
And then you've got to decide the church and you have to decide the invitation list. And then the reception, if you're going to have finger foods or sit down meal and every detail. When you go to weddings, if you've ever been a mother of a bride, you what? You look at every detail because you know somebody has prepared them. And Heaven is prepared as a bride is for a bride groom in detail just for you. Jesus said, "I'm preparing a place for you as if nobody else was coming. Just for you."
When I went home after my mother, my mother has been in Heaven for 10 years. And then since that time, my daddy is up in Montreat at his house. And so right now he's not able to leave his bed. He's weak. He's 98-years-old. He's deserved to rest if you ask me. He's earned it. And so he can't do for himself like it used to, but there were several years in there when I would go home, I would walk into the kitchen and I would see on the kitchen counter a tray and on it was my mother's favorite coffee cup that was placed there for me to use, and my favorite coffee. And I would go in the refrigerator, there was my favorite yogurt for breakfast and go up to my room and beside my bed, there was a bouquet of flowers and a handwritten note from daddy saying, "Welcome home, darling. I love you."
And all those little details to let me know that I had been expected, that I was welcomed, that I had come home. And Heaven is prepared with a heart of love in detail just for you. And Jesus knows the colors that you like. He knows the scenery you enjoy. He knows the kind of music you like to listen to. And He's preparing it for you so that when you walk through Heaven's gate, you will know you've been welcomed. You've been expected. You've come home. You're the Father's child.
So, Heaven is a prepared destiny. I don't know what you think of when you think of home. I think of a place where I'm loved and accepted and understood, and where I can relax and be myself. And maybe you know somebody who doesn't have a home like that. Would you tell them about Heaven? Would you tell them that the Heavenly Father is preparing a place just for them, out of love for them, in detail for them? Exquisitely beautiful. Paul said, "Eyes not seen. Mind can't comprehend. Ears haven't heard." The exquisite detail that Heaven is preparing for you and for me.
So, we have a prepared destiny. We have a perfect destiny. In verse one it says, "There'll be no more sea." And I didn't know if I like that because I love the sea. I love every summer we go to the beach and I love to see the ocean waves. I love to watch the birds. I love to get up early in the morning before dawn and walk the distance. I just love the ocean. I love the beach. So, I thought, "What if there's no sea in Heaven?" I don't know about that." And then I thought, "Maybe it's not just oceans. Maybe it's seas." Because you think of, if you look at the globe, seas separate things, don't they? They separate continents from each other and countries from each other, and families from each other and people from each other.
Maybe it means when we get to Heaven, there'll be no more separation. There'll be no more things that cause separation. So, I just made up a little list of things that separate us sometimes, which will not be in Heaven. There'll be no more hard feelings, no hurt feelings, no misunderstandings, no critical spirits, no death, no divorce, no business trips, no military deployments, no sickness and ICU. No fires, no floods, no racial prejudice, no political parties, no gossip, no slander, no fake news, no denominations, no religions.
When we get to Heaven, there'll be nothing that separates us from God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Nothing that separates us from each other. It's a perfect place. Hallelujah is right. Amen. And it gets better because not only is there no separation, there are no scars in Heaven. He says in verse one and verse five, "I'm making everything new." Now the home I have back in North Carolina is about 75-years-old. And even if I scrub it, polish it, clean it, I still can't get rid of the dents and the marks and just things that come with age. And I think human life is like that.
After a while we show signs of age, don't we? Not just white hair, but you can have scars on your heart, scars in your memories. My mother told a wonderful story. I'm just going to digress for a moment in case there's somebody here who wears scars in your heart, scars in your memories. But it's a true story. It happened in the Highlands of Scotland years ago and these fishermen had gone out fishing and they came into the little pub at night and they'd ordered their drinks. And then while little maid was going to bring the drinks, they were telling their fish stories.
And the one fisherman told them about the fish that got away and he threw out his arms like this to say how big the fish was that had gotten away. Just when the little bar maid was bringing the drinks and his hand hit the tray. And the tray flew up in the air and the drinks hit the whitewashed wall. And while everybody was just stunned, you hear the crashing glass and the dripping drinks, an ugly brown stain appeared on the wall. And before anybody could quite react, there was a man in the corner that jumped up and he reached in his pocket, he pulled out a piece of charcoal and it began sketching around the ugly brown stain.
And as he did, the ugly brown stain turned into this magnificent stag that was running across a Highland meadow. And then the man signed it. His name was Sir Landseer. He was Great Britain's foremost wildlife artist. I've seen his things hanging in the palace in England. I have a copy of one of his things in my own home. But the point is that the master artist took an ugly brown stain and turned it into a masterpiece. So I don't know what the ugly brown stain is in your life or in the life of your loved one. Maybe it's the same thing that woman had abused, rape, something, an abortion, something that was done to you.
And I don't want to rake up things at this moment, but what I just want to tell you is that you submit it to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the master artist. And He can turn that ugly brown stain into a masterpiece of His grace and glory, but you give it to Him. I've seen Him use it in incredible ways, in powerful ways to minister to others. So just submit it to Him. Ask Him to turn it into something beautiful for His glory and His grace. But when we get to Heaven, there are no more scars. Everything is made new. Praise God.
And thirdly, not only is it perfect and there's no separation, no scars. There'll be no suffering. When I listened to Tom this morning, I was just praising God for our destiny. And all those pastors in Syria and the mothers and the families of those victims and those who don't love their life so much as to hang on to it when they're given the choice of either live or deny Jesus and they choose Jesus. And there's no more suffering. And in verse four it tells us that. So I just put my own list in there. You do the same thing.
No more death, of course, and the suffering that accompanies death. No more pain, no more hospitals, no more funerals, no more walkers, no more wheelchairs, no more grief of any kind. No more broken homes, broken hearts, broken lives, broken hopes, broken dreams, no more dialysis, no more failures, no more physical handicaps, no more muscular dystrophy, no more blindness or lameness or deafness. No more diabetes, no more heart disease or paralysis or cataracts. No more cancer or strokes or AIDS. No more poverty or slavery or. So I've put some of my family's suffering in that list. You put yours in there.
In what way are you suffering? What way is your loved one suffering? And I don't understand the problem of pain. I don't have answers for that. I just know that God in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ suffered. He understands physical pain and the Apostle Paul understood physical suffering and pain. And every one of the disciples in the New Testament with the possible exception of John were martyred for their faith in Jesus. They understood suffering.
But when we get to Heaven, there's no more suffering. Let me just reread that verse, it's verse four because it's so sweet. When it says, "He will wipe every tear from their eyes." That's God the Father coming up and just taking your face in His hands and wiping the tears from your cheeks and saying, "There's no more suffering here. No more pain. No more whatever's on your list. It's all over. No more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
Dr. James Dobson: Well, that's such a powerful verse and message. And one that we should share with people who are in our lives that need to hear about the hope of heaven. I'm James Dobson and you've been listening to an exciting presentation from our friend Anne Graham Lotz. We've entitled this message. Heaven Is Our Home. And there's so much more to be heard tomorrow from Anne on this subject as we continue now with part two of this program on the next edition of Family Talk.
Maybe as you've been listening today, you've been touched by this message. You look all around you and you see a world that's lost and confused as they reject God. Maybe you feel lost yourself and you feel that there's no way out. But the Bible tells us that, "There is a way that points to God and that way is through His Son Jesus Christ." The Bible tells us, "If you come to Him, He will no wise cast you out." Once you cast your cares on them today, He's willing to hear from you and to deliver you from all the anguish and pain.
If you want to know more about this incredible God, just give us a call at (877) 732-6825. We have people here would love to pray with you or talk with you. And that's why we're here. Once again, that number is (877)732-6825.
Roger Marsh: That's right, Dr. Dobson. And friend, if you prefer, you can always write to us to request a resource, to let us know how you're doing or to give us feedback on a recent program. We would love to hear from you. Our ministry mailing address is The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, P.O. Box 39000 Colorado Springs, Colorado. The zip code 80949. Again, our ministry address is The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute P.O. Box 39000, Colorado Springs, Colorado. The zip 80949.
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Dr. James Dobson: Thank you so much for joining us today. We covered your prayers as we seek to continued doing the work of the Lord here at Family Talk. I'm Dr. James Dobson encouraging you to tune in tomorrow for the conclusion of this exciting presentation from Anne Graham Lotz.
Announcer: This has been a presentation of The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute.
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