Heaven Through a Looking Glass

Tomorrow I'm preaching about heaven. From studying heaven and hell these last few weeks, I have learned some things from Jesus (imagine that!). Jesus taught matter-of-factly about Hell and warned people to avoid it but did not use it to scare people into following Him. He did the same with Heaven and showed it to be a place to be desired but did not use it to bribe people into following Him. The message of Jesus was life now not later and His invitation was "Follow me." The question is not "Do you want to go to heaven when you die?" Who wouldn't? The question is "Will you follow Jesus?" The first question is a good sales pitch but cannot deliver on the product. The second is harder but it is the path of faith and life that begins now and ends in Heaven. I think the real question is "Are you just wanting to get to heaven or are you really following Jesus?"