A Kingdom of Gold

But it's not the end of our study of God's word. As we have mentioned several times, we have a website amazingfactskids.org. And for those of you who are watching, if you've missed one of the previous programs, you can go to the amazingfactskids.org website and you can see previous programs. In addition to the programs on the website, we also have a number of studies that children can take in conjunction with this program. We've been talking about the new study guides that have been developed.

Tonight, we're talking about a kingdom of gold. You can learn more at the website about these study guides. Check back with us at that website on a regular basis for further study in God's word. Well, at this time, let's stand as we sing our theme song once more. Life is an adventure.

[Music] life is an adventure, following the King. Every day with Jesus makes us want to sing. Walking in the Spirit, he will lead the way. With His Word to guide us, glowing deep inside us. Nothing can divide us following the King.

Life is an adventure following the King. Every day with Jesus makes us want to sing. Conquering with kindness everywhere we go. Voices we are raising, Jesus we are praising, life is so amazing following the King. Life is so amazing following the King.

Amen, please remain standing. I'm gonna invite our volunteers to come forward for the Scripture reading and the prayer this evening. Tell us your name, how old you are, and where you're reading from tonight. Hi, my name is Kaniel and I'm reading from Revelation 21:4, "and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, for crying. There shall be no more pain, for former things have passed away.

" All right, well, thank you very much. And Christy, you're gonna be praying for us. All right, let's bow our heads as we pray. Dear Jesus, please bless Pastor Doug as he preaches today and please bless the people that are watching and that are here. And thank you for giving us the Sabbath.

In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, thank you very much. You may all be seated. I'd like to invite Pastor Doug to come forward for our Bible questions. And thank you to those of you who are watching for all of the good Bible questions you've sent in.

Amen. We haven't been able it to answer all of them here at the program. But I wanna just encourage those who did send in programs or questions, rather, to go to the Amazing Facts kids website there at the forum. You can post a question and we'll try and answer for you there. We've had some very interesting questions that I've never heard before.

But we don't have time for 'em all. That's right. Well, let's get right to it. Our first question is a video question this evening. My name is leighton and I'm 9 and my question is: how long will it take to get to heaven? How long will it take to get to heaven? I think what leighton means is once we begin the journey from earth, how long will it be? Well, some Bible scholars believe it's gonna be about 7 days, because there's a statement in Revelation that tells us there is silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

And if a day in prophecy is a year then about half an hour, well, one hour is 15 days. About half an hour is 7 days. And so many believe that after the Lord rescues us from this earth, that we make our way back to that city of gold we're talking about tonight. And we're gonna get there just in time to celebrate our first Sabbath day there with Jesus in the Kingdom. Won't that be wonderful? We had a study guide on that called, "journey through the stars.

" That's right. Will be the most exciting 7 days. All right, Pastor Doug, here's the next question. Will the blind people be able to see Jesus when he comes? Well, that's a good question. And I believe that when the Lord comes that even the deaf will hear that trumpet sound, the blind will be able to see it.

I think that everybody's gonna be aware when Jesus comes. And you know, sometimes I get questions like, "what about the people that are at the space station? What will they see when Jesus comes?" You know, the international space station. Or what if they're in a space shuttle? And I don't have all those answers, but some very interesting questions that the young people have been asking. All right, our next question is a video question. Hi, my name is desiree, I'm 10, I'm ask--my question is: why is God taking so long to come and get us to go to heaven? All right, that's a good question.

Because well, think about it. Jesus said, that he's coming soon. Now, compared to eternity if you live billions and zillions of years, how long is 2,000 years? That's nothing. And see when God said in the beginning to adam that one of his descendants would come and he would die for the sins of the world, that God would come to earth, well, it was 4,000 years 'til Jesus came the first time. But he did come, didn't he? Jesus said, "I'm coming again.

" And I think that we're right about the time now, I think this is the generation that's gonna see Jesus come. A lotta things are happening. Now, it may seem like a long time, but if you live like angels, unfallen angels that live forever and ever and ever, they look down here on earth, they think, boy, this has been fast. But for us, how many of you have ever been drivin' with your parents in the car and you keep sayin', "are we there yet? Are we there yet?" It's only been 1 hour and you're goin', "are we ever gonna get there?" And it's not that long. And I remember when I was 7 years old thinking, I'll never live to be 10, it's forever.

When Jesus comes, most people are gonna think it was too soon. Pastor Doug, here's the next question somebody sent in. How can I be a good witness to my friends? Oh, that is a very important question. Don't you all want to let your lights shine, be a good witness and win other people to Jesus? The only thing going to heaven is people. You can't take your video games, you can't take your favorite DVD or CD, you can't take money.

The only thing going to heaven is people whose hearts are changed. So, the most valuable work you can did is reaching hearts of people. You know what you do? Follow Jesus and be a good example. Study your Bible and your lessons about the Bible so that you understand the truth. So, when your friends ask you questions, you can help answer their questions.

I'm hoping that you have more answers now, having come to the "Amazing Adventure" program. So you can share your faith. And pray for your friends that the Holy Spirit will touch their hearts and win their souls. Pastor Doug, we have another video question that we'd like to play at this time. My name's justin, I'm 12 years old, and my question is: why did lucifer's name get changed to satan? Why did lucifer's name get changed to satan? Well, you know, sometimes a person's name is changed in the Bible, because their behavior changes.

Jacob, his name meant trickster or deceiver. And when he was totally converted and he had a new heart, he wrestled with this angel. God gave him a new name, Israel or Israel which means overcomer. Jesus gave different names to the apostles. And so the new names represent a change of character.

Well, lucifer went from being a good angel, light bearer, to satan which means adversary. And he's got a bunch of other names in the Bible like beelzebub, the Lord of flies. And he's the deceiver, the devil, the serpent, 'cause he's cold blooded. And so that's why his name got changed, 'cause his behavior changed. Well, Pastor Doug, doesn't it say somewhere in the Bible that not only--well, of course lucifer's name got changed-- but what about us? Will we get a new name when we get to heaven? Jesus says in heaven, two places in Revelation, that we get new names.

And how many of you want a new name, you don't like your name? Hey, we're gonna have to, okay, we're gonna have to talk to your parents about that, okay? No, you don't have it bad. Now, listen, my last name is Batchelor, I'm a married Batchelor. I've been teased all my life about that. My brother's name was falcon, that's a bird, Batchelor. And people used to call him turkey and all kinds of things.

And so some people have really tough names, but you said you new a man whose name was sharon. I did, yes. Probably got teased a little bit. I'm sure he did. Anyway, you'll get a new name so maybe you and the Lord can pray about what that will be.

All right, we've got our last video question then for this series. Hello, my name is bobo, I'm 8 years old. And my question is: why did God create the angels first instead of creating them at the same time as people? That's a good question; why did he make the angels first? Why not make all of us at the same time? Couldn't God have done that? Well, you know if you're gonna build a hospital and if that's hospital's gonna take care of people, first you have to have the doctors and nurses, right? If you're going to make a restaurant and you want a chef, and you want waiters to serve the tables, you gotta make them before you make the customers. The Bible says that the angels are the ministering spirits of God. And that's in Hebrews 1:14.

And so they are ministering spirits that serve the Lord. So, God made the angels a long time ago. And they serve him all through the cosmos, the universe. Well, thank you very much. Again, as I mentioned earlier, there are more questions on the Amazing Facts kids website.

You can go and get answers, you can post your questions on the forum. I'd like to invite our Amazing Adventure singers to come forward for the special music, "marching to Zion." [Music] come we that love the Lord and let our choice be known. Join in a song with sweet accord, join in a song with sweet accord. And thus surround the throne and thus surround the throne we're Marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're Marching upward to Zion that beautiful city of God.

Let those refuse to sing who never knew our God. But children of the heavenly king, but children of the heavenly king, they speak their joys abroad, they speak their joys abroad. Join in. We're Marching to zion, beautiful, beautiful zion. We're Marching upward to zion, that beautiful city of God.

Then let our songs abound, and every tear be dry. We're Marching through Emmanuel's ground, we're Marching through Emmanuel's ground to fairer worlds on high, to fairer worlds on high. We're Marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're Marching upward to Zion the beautiful city of God. We're Marching upward to Zion the beautiful city of God.

Of our God. Amen. That's what we're doin'. The reason for this Amazing Adventure is because we're on a journey, friends. Amen? Everybody's on the road and this is the most important journey, most important adventure in the world.

I wanna welcome again all of our friends that are here at the Richardson church in Texas and our friends that are watching from so many places around the world. Many of you sent us pictures of your sites and we just, we could spend the whole night just showing all the people who are studying the Bible with us. And I wanna thank each of you for coming, I wanna thank those who have been helping produce the program, this has been a real joy and a privilege for me. It's been a dream come true. Because I think it's so important that while you're young, you make up your mind to give your strength and your best to the Lord.

You know, the most Amazing Adventure is when you find treasure. And that's what our lesson is about. It's a real treasure hunt. We're talking about a kingdom of gold tonight in our study. And have you ever looked for treasure before? Yeah, you know, some of the spanish conquistadors, they used to go looking for treasure in south America.

They had heard rumors that there was a city of gold called el dorado. And part of the reason for that is people like francisco pizzarro, he had kidnapped the inca king, atahualpa. And said that he would not let him free until his people had filled a room that was 22 feet by 18 feet by 7 feet with gold. And other rooms with silver. He didn't think they'd do it, but he wanted 'em to try.

They did it, and that was one reason so many of these spanish conquistadors thought, somewhere out there is this city of gold. And many of them died trying to find it. I remember reading about howard carter, the famous Egyptologist who looked for years for the mummy of--well, he didn't look for the mummy, he was looking for the tomb of king tut. And after years of searching, they finally stood before the door and a seal that had not been broken in 3,500 years. And they cut the seal, punched a hole in this door, and they put a light in there and people over his shoulder said, can you see anything? And as his eyes got adjusted, he said, "everywhere he saw the glint of gold, wonderful things.

" He had found one of the most splendid treasures in the last 1,000 years; the tomb of king tut. And he was one of the poor Kings. I've been there to Cairo Egypt and seen it, gold everywhere. And you know, some people sell their souls for gold in this world. It is an interesting metal, it's very precious.

Do you know that you can take one ounce of gold and you can hammer it 'til it's 5-millionths of an inch thick? That's not very much. One ounce of gold can be hammered so thin, it can cover a tennis court. Gold is very malleable and very durable substance, very precious. But God tells us that there's something much more precious than gold or rubies, that's truth. And you are much more precious, 'cause the one who makes gold paid for you.

That's Jesus, right? We're gonna get into our lesson, we got a lot to talk about heaven tonight. And I may not even get through all the questions, but we're gonna have fun talkin' about that kingdom of gold. Number one, what is God's kingdom really like? Is it really a golden city? Now, you can spend the rest of your life goin' around this world lookin' for gold and treasure and most people just find misery. But there really is a golden kingdom that God has, you can read about it in the Bible. It says in Hebrews 11:16, "God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

" A whole city of gold. And again, in Revelation 21:18-21, it tells us, the walls of this new Jerusalem were jasper and the city was, what does it say there? "Pure gold." Not just gold, pure gold like clear glass. This beautiful city of gold is real and God wants you to dwell in that city, you can go there. And that's what this Amazing Adventure's about. We'll talk about the greatest treasure in that city.

The street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass. And there were twelve gates and these gates of the city were each one a pearl. Now, can you imagine, where do pearls come from? Oysters. And so you'd need a pretty big oyster to get a pearl big enough to make a whole gate; don't you think? But God can make that and some people think, that's a fairytale, it can't be true. You know, pearls are very precious, real pearls.

I heard about a man a few years ago allen golash in Rhode Island digging through a basket of antique jewelry, spotted something that he thought was pretty precious. Paid $14 for it. Took it home, they cleaned it up and they found out that they had found this beautiful, these venus pearls. They're like a purple pearl called a quahog, very rare with gold and diamonds. And someone thought that it was all artificial, it was real.

He paid $14, they found out that it's worth millions. Because they're these precious rare purple colored pearls. There you have it right there on your screen. You know, Jesus tells a parable about a merchant who found a pearl of great price. He sells everything he has to get that pearl.

It would be nice to get one for $14, but if you found something that was the most valuable treasure, what would you give for it? Would you give your heart for Jesus? He's the greatest treasure of all. You might think, well, Pastor Doug, but how could there really be a city with golden streets and of pearls that big. You know, just this past year scientists from the Harvard Smithsonian astrophysics university, they said that in the southern sky in the constellation centurious they found a white dwarf star. It's a collapsed sun. And they said they believe the core of that sun is one diamond, one solid diamond that weighs trillions and trillions of tons.

And so scientists even believe that there's diamonds out there as big as our moon. So, why don't we believe the Bible when God says that he can have a gate made of one pearl? Of course he can. And of course the Lord can have a city of gold. All things are possible with God and that's what the Bible says. "The things that God has prepared for you--" in 1 Corinthians-- "you can't even imagine how spectacular it's gonna be.

" Number two, what will happen to all of the sin and evil that's in the earth? Well, we're gonna explain this a little bit. You remember when Jesus comes we read there in 2 Peter 3, "the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are in it will be burned up." Then the Lord catches up the saved, the dead in Christ rise, those of us who are alive get glorified bodies and we begin this journey through the stars back to the Kingdom that God has prepared; those mansions that he's prepared. Right? Are we gonna need to have a space suit to make that trip? No, maybe you think that Jesus is coming in a flying saucer. Are we gonna need a space ship like the "enterprise" or something to make that journey? I don't know how the Lord's gonna do it, but I believe that he's gonna enable us to fly through the stars.

Maybe there'll be some force field around us that allows us to breathe. I don't know, but I think we're gonna be able to fly right through the stars back to the city of God. Now, when we get there, the Bible tells us that we get like a, you know, the plan of salvation's been going on just about 6,000 years here on earth. And Revelation 20 says "we spend 1,000 living and reigning with the Lord in the Kingdom." A thousand years in heaven resting with Jesus from this problem of sin. But at the end of that 1,000 years, God is then going to transport that city.

You know, we got a space station right now. Shouldn't be a problem to believe that God can make a space city. That space city is gonna go through space and it's gonna come back down to this earth at the end of the 1,000 years. When the city comes down, the Lord is gonna call all the wicked who have ever lived will come forth from their graves. That's the time and after the new Jerusalem touches down, there's the great judgment.

The wicked are all judged, satan is there. Satan tries to get all of the wicked to attack the city of God. And the Bible says, "God reigns fire down out of heaven upon the wicked. It forms a lake of fire, everyone is punished according to what they deserve." But it's not gonna hurt those that are in the city. You can read in Malachi 4:1, "all who do wickedly will be stubble.

The day that's coming will burn them up." Well, how come it's not gonna hurt us who are in the city of God, when all around the world there's this lake of fire? Well, God builds his city pretty strong. It says the walls of the new Jerusalem are 144 cubits. I think that means 144 cubits thick. But you don't have to worry. All right, I've been doing an illustration here.

I need a couple of boys for this one, I'll use a girl later. Put your hands down if I picked you before. Okay, I just want to be fair to everybody. Young man, I haven't-- you two right there, two of you. Yeah, since you're sittin' together maybe.

All right, look in the chest, one of you look in the chest see if you can find a lighter there, okay. And we're gonna do a little experiment and y'all pray for me. Okay, you got a lighter. See it, go ahead, grab it. Grab the lighter.

No, no, no, no, not the light, lighter. Right there, the orange thing. There you go. Okay, now what's your name? And you're. Mikey.

Mikey, all right. I get that, you just get to grab it. Now, this is heavy, okay. You gotta hold this like that, don't drop it. Can you hold it? Don't drop it, it's gonna ruin everything.

All right, you hold yours the same way. Hold your balloon. Okay, is that gettin' heavy? All right, hold your balloon up there, wonder what's gonna happen? All right, let's see here. Don't move, don't move. Hey, brother, we're countin' on you, don't go anywhere.

All right, don't move, don't move, what's goin' on here? Do you feel the heat from that? A little. But it's not poppin' the balloon, why not? Now, I'm gonna take that from you before I push my luck. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Now, let me tell you what we just saw. You can go down now, thank you very much.

Two balloons, both red balloons. Put a match under both balloons, one blew up, one didn't. Why? One, you all know, of course. Everyone here knows what a water balloon is. It had something special inside that made it indestructible to the fire.

If you've got Jesus the living water inside of you, you don't have to be afraid of what's goin' on out there, do you? It won't hurt you. So, don't worry about that, you just make sure you've got Jesus and God's spirit in you. Question number three, what does God promise to do then? After all the wicked are destroyed, we then get to watch Jesus make a new heavens and a new earth. It says there in 2 Peter 3, according to his promise we look for a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. That city's gonna be pure.

Because the first heaven and the first earth, it's all passed away. The word heaven there means, the atmosphere around the earth can be fresh new atmosphere, a new world, and you'll get to watch the Lord make it all. Number four, will this golden city be up there in heaven out in the sky or is it gonna be back here on earth? The Bible says, remember the words of Jesus? Matthew 5:5 "blessed are the meek, they will inherit--" the sky-- "the earth." So, ultimately God's plan was for adam and eve to live here on this beautiful planet. The devil messed things up. Do you think that God is going to let the devil permanently mess up his plans.

God's plan was for people to live on a beautiful paradise here on earth. He's gonna recreate it and God's gonna do what he originally planned to do. Except it's gonna be even better. God's gonna make everything even better than his original plan. The Bible tells us, Revelation 21:2, "i, John," the apostle said, "I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.

" There's a lot of misconceptions out there about what heaven's gonna be like. I remember growin' up, I went to all these churches where they showed these pictures of fat little naked babies that were on clouds playin' harps and I thought, you're good, you go to heaven and you play a harp on a cloud. And I thought, that didn't sound they interesting. That's not what it's gonna be like. Heaven is very real and you're gonna be doing real things.

And what kind of bodies will we have? Real bodies. When Jesus rose from the dead he told the disciples, "touch me, feel me, I'm not a ghost." Then he ate in front of them so they could see that he was real. You're gonna be doin' real things in a real world and it's gonna be so spectacular and incredible and marvelous and astounding and amazing that I can't even explain it, but I'm gonna try. Number five, what is the most wonderful thing about God's kingdom? Oh, here's where the real treasure is. "I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God--" that means the dwelling place of God-- "is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God.

" Who is gonna be in the middle of the city with us? Think about how big the universe is? What's the capital of Texas? Austin, very good. Who knows the capital of California? Sacramento, that's where we live. What's the capital of the united states? Washington d.c. What is the capital of the universe? Just in case you didn't catch that, friends, some young man said "New York city." But now, not--New York's not the capital of nothing, Albany is the capital of New York city. But the capital of the universe is heaven, it's where the president of the universe lives.

That's God. Think about what the Lord's gonna do. God is going to move the capital of the universe to our world and we're going to live and reign with him. And listen to this verse, Revelation 22:3, I love this picture. "The throne of God and the lamb will be in it, and they shall see his face.

" Remember we heard Moses couldn't even look on the face of God. But when we get our glorified bodies, we will be able to look at the face of God. What could be more precious? What toy at the store? What game? What fun amusement park could be more precious than being in the presence of the one who made the universe? That oughta make your heart beat a little bit faster. And you know what else, you'll have special powers then too. You can read in Isaiah 40:31, but those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles.

Have you ever sung that song, "rock of ages?" We will soar to worlds unknown. You'll be able to fly. Won't that be--and you won't need a 747 to do it. That's one of the things that really excites me about heaven. To be able to fly to other worlds and be an ambassador for God.

It's real. Okay, I need to illustrate something here. Who, if you had a chance, let's put your hands down if you've already had a chance. You haven't had a chance yet, young--all right, come on up here for a second. Have you had a chance? Yeah? No? Yes? Have you been up here, no? All right, come on up.

Look in there, see if you can find--what's your name? Oksana. Oksana. See if you find some worms in that chest here. I wanna tell you all a story. Okay, come on over here with your worms here.

Once upon a time there was a fox and he wanted to eat this bird, but the bird was too fast for him. And one day when the bird was out peckin' around lookin' for worms, the fox said, "I know the best place in the world to find the fattest worms." He said, "I'll make you a deal." He said, "if you give me one of your feathers, they're beautiful feathers, you got the most beautiful feathers. If I could have one of them, I think that'd be great." He said, "I'll give you a fat worm." And the bird thought, oh, I've got lots of feathers and they are kinda beautiful. He said, "all right, I'll give you one feather." So go ahead take one feather out. Give it to the fox.

All right, give me a worm, one worm. He would wait, the fox had to put the worm down 'cause you don't wanna get too close. And so then the bird would and he'd swallow it. I'm not gonna do that. And he said, boy, that was really good.

The next day he's hoppin' around, peckin'. Fox says, "you know, that feather looks so good in my house, he said, I sure wish I could have another one. I got a really big worm." He said, "I've got lots of feathers here and so," he said, "all right you can take one more. And he got another worm, you can take two, it's okay. Give me two worms, let's just be fair.

" All right. And so then he'd eat his gummy worms. And this happened all summer long. And he kept tradin' worms, give me a handful of worms. Watch those feathers, they're dangerous.

Okay, and you go ahead, you take a few more feathers, just leave me at least one feather. There you go. Boy, you didn't leave me very much. Thank you very much. And now you know what happened, finally it got cold and it was time for that bird to fly south with the rest of the family.

But he hadn't noticed, one feather at a time, he'd been losin' his wings. And when everyone flew away, pretty soon the fox came out and the bird tried to run from the fox. And the fox got 'em, 'cause he couldn't fly anymore. He traded his wings for worms. And you know, the devil does that with kids all the time.

You know what these worms are, these are the temptations and the sins that he says are gonna bring us so much happiness. And we trade our glorified abilities that God gives us and our gifts. And tell you what, you can take those feathers there and let me see here, share a couple with him, that's all I got. And just don't play with 'em during the program. You understand the point of that? The devil is trying to take the Kingdom of heaven from you, one worm at a time.

You can be able to fly there, mount up with wings like eagles. Number six, what other wonderful things does God have planned for us in his new kingdom? The Bible says, in Revelation 21:1, "it is a new heaven and a new earth and there's no more sea." There's no more briny salt water, it's all fresh water that will be separating people. The desert will blossom as the rose. There's no more curse on the land. All right, I can use a girl now.

Let me see, if you haven't had a chance yet. Chance, haven't had a chance. Okay, I see some back here that, okay, you can come. Now I couldn't put these in the box, I'm sorry, because I'm afraid that with the light and everything in there, they'd wilt. All right, are those pretty roses? Do they look like real roses? Do they smell like real roses? Is there something unusual about those roses? This.

Well, I know that's not normally how you give roses away, but--keep lookin'. What's the normal problem you got with roses? The thorns. These roses have no thorns, okay so you hold that bottle real tight. Let me see if I can get one of those out of here. These are real roses.

Oh, I don't wanna hurt it. Look at that, they have no thorns on them. Why are there thorns on most roses? 'Cause of sin. Will there be thorns on the roses in heaven? No, everything's gonna be beautiful there. You go to the most is deserted place in heaven, it's gonna look like a rose garden.

It'll beautiful and there's no thorns and the mosquitoes are gonna be cute in heaven. And they won't bite, they'll just eat nectar like but butterflies. All right, I'll tell you what? You get this one if you take the other two over to mrs. Batchelor, okay? See, you gotta get all the mileage out of flowers whenever you can if you're married. Let's keep goin' here.

You know, if you bring a pretty girl up and give her a rose, you better give two to your wife. Just in case you didn't know that, a little tip for you kids. You don't get your wedding advice from pastor Batchelor. All right, Revelation 22, "in the middle of its street and on either side of the river, there's something very special that used to be in the Garden of Eden." God's protected it. "It's the Tree of Life which bore twelve different kinds of fruit, yielding it's fruit every month.

" Let me see, who's good at math? Twelve kinds of fruit, twelve times a year is how much? A hundred and forty four different kinds of fruit on one tree. Do you wanna hear something? Any of you ever been to Baskin Robbins? Baskin Robbins has a number, what's that number? Thirty one, you know how I know that? I worked at Baskin Robbins when I was 14. That sounds like a fun job, doesn't it? And the man who ran the place, he told me. He said, "you can eat all the ice cream you want." They have to have 31 flavors of ice cream at all times. But Baskin Robbins actually has hundreds of, if not thousands of different flavors they've developed.

But they've got to have at least 31 in the store at one time. Can you imagine what that tree will be like? You won't have to go from aisle to aisle to find out what to eat like at the super Market. You just go to that tree, 144 different kinds of fruit a year and because it's planted by the river of God running through it. Fresh fruit all the time. You can't even imagine how wonderful it's gonna be.

And the Bible says, "the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations." The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in the streets. Will you have to have alarms in your houses for burglars? Not in heaven you won't. Would are you gonna keep out? Matter of fact, you won't even need windows on your windows. 'Cause the climate's always gonna beautiful. Right? And you're never gonna have-- you're not gonna have to have air conditioning.

Will there be any cemeteries? No police stations. Will there be any hospitals? Not in heaven, everything's gonna be beautiful. Will the animals hurt each other? Isaiah 65:25, "the wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. And it says, a little child shall lead them.

" Now, right now if a mother saw her little child wander through the bars of a lion's cage or a bear's cage, she'd scream. Right? Up in the mountains where we live, we've got bears. Saw some just a few weeks ago. And when our kids were growin' up and they were little, I really had to make sure they were out there with the dog, 'cause a bear could pick 'em up and run off with 'em. Will we have to worry about that in heaven? Says "a little child will lead them and a bear and a cow will graze together.

Bears will be grazing. Lions will be eating straw. And a nursing child will play by the hole of a cobra or some venomous snake and it won't hurt." They don't bite, they don't have venom, there's no poison, there's nothing that will hurt. "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain." Everything there is gonna be back like the Garden of Eden again. It's gonna all be good, good, very good.

You know, how many of you have heard the story of little tyke? Little tyke was a lion who was kind of rescued from a zoo, because the mother rejected it when it was a baby cub. It was a lioness. And George and Margaret Westbeau had a place called hidden valley ranch in Seattle and they adopted this little lion cub. And tried to nurse it and raise it up. But they noticed right away, it was a very unusual cub.

It had absolutely no interest in all in eating any kind of meat. And they used to think, it's not gonna be healthy and they tried to force little tyke to eat meat. Or they tried even pour a little blood in its milk so it would get used to it. And it would turn up its nose. You got a picture right there, little tyke, they're offering it meat.

See it turnin' away? If a lion had hands, he'd be holding his nose right now. Couldn't stand meat. There he is with a lamb. It was a vegetarian lion. And you might be thinking, well, he must have been a skinny lion.

He got up to about 375 pounds. Never ate meat in its life. That lion was like the lions that there are gonna be in heaven. Did God originally intend for us to kill and to eat the animals? Do you think when God brought the animals before adam and he was naming 'em, he named 'em big mac or mcnuggets, or buffalo wings. I mean, is that what he was naming 'em? The animals were his friends, not only will the animals not be eating each other, you won't be eating the animals in heaven too, friends.

Number seven, what are some of the other blessings of heaven that we read about. Oh, it's so exciting, a lotta good news. It says in James 1:12, "we will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those that love him." You'll get a crown of life that will never be taken away. You don't wanna trade your crown for worms do you? We'll be clothed with white robes and these are not any kind of normal robes. These robes are like flowing glowing robes of light that have been washed in the blood of the lamb.

And nobody's gonna have any kind of defects in heaven. I think if I were to ask you, each one of you would say, if you got any kind physical problem or deformity? And some of you say, "oh, I got a little asthma, oh, I got a little hay fever, I got this mole on my back." I've got, y'all got this, you know, something we wish was different about our health or maybe your hearing's not good, or you got glasses on. In heaven, will anybody have any kind of physical problems? Everybody will have perfect bodies, the Bible says, "the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped." I think God is gonna compensate. You know what that means? That means that if you are lacking something in this life, you get extra in the next life. If you had poor eyesight in this life, you'd get to see like an eagle when you get to heaven.

If your hearing wasn't that good in this life, you're gonna be able to hear miles away like superman in heaven. And you know what? I'm gonna have hair on my head that the gonna reach all the way down to here when I get to heaven. And if your smelling isn't very good now, you'll be able to smell like a bassett hound in heaven. Now, that can be taken two ways, you know which way I mean it. It says, "then the lame--" crippled people-- "will be able to leap and the dumb--" people who can't speak-- "will be singing.

" God is gonna compensate. You know, sometimes I've gone to rent a car and when I get to the car dealership, I usually rent an economy or a midsize car. They say, "all the cars are gone, but all we got left is the luxury edition, so we're gonna upgrade you." And they give me an even nicer car than I was supposed to get. Well, when we get to heaven, everybody's gonna get an upgrade. You get there, I promise you, the Lord's gonna make you happy.

Sometimes I have young people that come to me and they say, oh, Pastor Doug, "you know, in heaven I wanna know if I don't get married before I get to heaven, are we gonna be able to get married in heaven?" It's almost like they're afraid they won't be happy in heaven, if they don't get married first here. And that's a normal desire, I understand that. But a wanna promise you something, nobody, nobody's gonna be unhappy in heaven. Everybody's gonna be thrilled more than you can imagine with what God has prepared for you. Number 8, what will not be in heaven and in the new earth.

Oh, here's some beautiful news. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, there will be no more sorrow, there will be no crying, there'll be no more pain. You won't ever have to worry about falling down and skinning your knee or breaking a bone or having an accident because some angel for got to put his turn signal on and he ran into you. You won't have to worry about that is heaven 'cause God's spirit and his angels watch over everything that happens. And you'll be able to lay down in the woods and not be afraid.

To have peace all the time and never worry. Your future will be secure, not for one day or for two days, but you'll know that a million years from now, you have nothing to worry about. Can you imagine what that would be like? To know that every day is gonna be better than the day before. And it's gonna keep getting better and better and better all through eternity. The Bible says, that it's gonna be a place of purity.

"There shall by no means enter into it anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie." Everything and everyone in heaven is going to be perfect and pure. That's why we need to ask Jesus now to wash away our sins, to purify our minds, and we need to cooperate with Jesus. The Bible says, "blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." That's the rest of that beatitude. Would you like to see God face-to-face? He wants to purify your hearts. How are some ways that you could help Jesus? Well, maybe there's some games that you know are not from the Lord you're playing.

It could be electronic or otherwise or music you're listening to or friends that just are not a good influence. Anything you can do to help you be more like Jesus. You wanna keep your eyes on him, because as you run towards him you become like him. He's your goal, that's the key. You keep your eyes on Jesus and you win the race.

I heard a story one time about three boys walkin' home from school. It was a snowy day and they began to squabble and fight with each other. And there was a man that was passing the boys and he saw they just needed a little bit of activity. He said, "you boys want something to do?" He said, "why don't you have a race?" Oh, yeah, "we'll race with each other, show you who's better." He said, "oh, this is a different kind of race." He says, "I'm gonna go stand on the other side of that field and there was pure snow all across the field, nobody had stepped on it yet." He said, "when I count to three, you start to run. Whoever gets to me first," keep listening, "whoever gets to me first with the straightest tracks in the snow wins.

" So, the man went to the other side of the field. He said, on your Mark, get set, go. And they took of off running. And one of the boys as he ran, he kept looking at the tracks his friends. Wondered how they were doin'.

But every time he turned to look at their tracks, he didn't realize he was ziggin' and zaggin'. And then the other boy as he's runnin', he kept lookin' over his shoulder at his own tracks. But you know you can't do that without turning. You ever try and look behind you on a bicycle and ride on a straight line? You can't do it. Every time you look behind you, you'll start to turn.

The third boy, you know what he did, he put his eyes on the man. He didn't look behind him, he didn't look at his friends, he fixed his eyes on the man and he ran straight towards him and his tracks were straight and he got there the fastest. You know what the key is winning the race in life? The Bible says in Hebrews 12, "fix your eyes on Jesus." Look at him everyday, talk to him everyday. It's like a photographic plate on your soul. You know how a picture get on a--either a digital or any camera it sees the image and it's imprinted.

The more that you keep your eyes on Jesus, you start becoming like him. So, anything you're watching. You're watching the wrong kind of programs, things you're listening to, even the food you eat can affect what you become like. They say, "you are what you eat." You wouldn't wanna be gummy worms, would you? So you fix your eyes on Jesus and you begin to become like him. Number nine, does Jesus want me there? And how can I be ready? Does Jesus want you in that kingdom, friends? He says, I've gone to prepare a place for you.

He wants you in that kingdom so much that he paid his whole life for you to be there. You know, in phoenix, Arizona, they've got this mansion called the mccune mansion. And walker mccune built this beautiful mansion for his young bride, 'cause he loved her so much. Got a swimming pool, it had a private theater, it had a ball room, it had a beauty salon, it had tennis courts, it just had everything; 50,000 square feet or something like this. Beautiful mansion, after he built it all, spent $25 million she said, I don't like it, I don't think I want to live there.

She never moved in. Don't you know that must have broken his heart? How do you think Jesus feels when he says, "I've gone to prepare a place for you" and we're so busy with the things of the world that we don't wanna get ready for his mansion that he's prepared. Don't you wanna live in that beautiful mansion that Jesus has prepared. You know, this world is a strange land, there's a devil here, there's a war going on. And the only way to get to the Kingdom is to fix our eyes on Jesus, to go on that Amazing Adventure towards him.

I heard about a little collie, little collie named Clancy. A family had him since he was born 'til he was 6 months old, but then they had to move from buffalo, New York to Michigan city, Indiana about 500 miles and they couldn't take him to their new home so they left him with some neighbors. But Clancy didn't know the neighbors and he'd been with this family his whole life and he missed them desperately. He took off and ran away first chance he got. Six months later the family heard scratching at their door in Michigan city, Indiana and they opened the door.

And there was clancy, a little skinny, his paws were a little worn, but he was so happy when he saw them and they were so shocked to see clancy. It's a true story, went 500 miles, that puppy. They don't know how he did it, he must have had some Amazing Adventure. But all he could think about was getting back home. And he went inside their house, he went right past them, he saw his favorite rug and he curled up on the rug, took a deep sigh and went to sleep.

He had some adventure. Do you want to be with Jesus in his home? He wants you there, but you've got to make a decision to come it him. How many of you would like to say tonight that you want to put Jesus first? Do you wanna follow him and trust him and get to that golden kingdom? Matter of fact, I wanna have a special prayer with you and all of our friends. We've made a lot of friends around the world, watching. Let's stand together and I want to have a prayer.

The Bible says, "Jesus stands at the door and knocks. And he knocks and he wants to come in." Would you like for him to come in? Let all close our eyes, bow our heads. Those who are watching, I want to pray with you. Father in Heaven, we're so excited when we think about the Kingdom of gold that you prepared those mansions all the wonders and the glories of heaven. Lord, we want to be there.

Work miracles in the lives of each of these young people, here and those who are watching. Help them to know what they can do to lay aside any weights that prevent them from running that race and being in your kingdom. Pour out your spirit in each heart and each family and help us be ready for that Amazing Adventure. We ask in Jesus' name, amen. I want you to remain standing.

We're gonna sing our theme song together one more time. How many of you have caught yourselves singing this, kinda humming it? A little bit catchy, isn't it? I wanna invite our singers up. Those who are watching, let's stand. [Music] life is an adventure, following the King. Every day with Jesus makes us want to sing.

Walking in the Spirit, he will lead the way. With His Word to guide us, glowing deep inside us. Nothing can divide us following the King. Life is an adventure following the King. Every day with Jesus makes us want to sing.

Conquering with kindness everywhere we go. Voices we are raising, Jesus we are praising, life is so amazing following the King. Life is so amazing following the King. Let me hear you all say, amen, so our friends can hear it around the country. Amen.

Are you gonna serve Jesus first? Yes. And give him your heart, amen? You too, friends who are watching, for more information or to follow up with this series, amazingfactskids.org. God bless you. Amazing Facts ministry has been broadcasting the gospel since 1966 when it aired its first radio program in baltimore, Maryland. Elder joe crews was the speaker/director for more than 30 years.

At that time, no one dreamed that Amazing Facts would become a multifaceted, worldwide ministry. The heartbeat of the gospel, pulsating from this ministry is heard today on radio, television, the internet, the correspondence Bible school, the publishing ministry, and local and worldwide evangelism. Pastor Doug Batchelor stepped into the leadership of the ministry after joe crews died in 1994. Currently Amazing Facts is on more than 100 tv stations and 11 satellite and cable networks throughout the united states, europe, australia, central and south America, the middle east, and asia. For more information, call 1-800-835-6906.

Hello, friends. I'm supposing that you know that Amazing Facts is 100% viewer supported. If you've appreciated these programs, if it's been a source of encouragement for you and if it's blessed your life, we'd love to hear from you. The only we can stay on this network and these stations is because viewers just like you contact us and let us know. Why don't you drop us a line or even go to the website, amazingfacts.org and send us a note of encouragement and support so we can stay on the air. In a world surrounded by darkness, there is a voice that whispers to every young heart urging them to find the treasure of truth. Those who follow the path will discover eternal riches beyond their wildest dreams. Pastor Doug Batchelor leads your kids on a powerful, soul-winning Bible study experience just for them. The 10-part series is filled with incredible Bible stories, exciting spiritual discoveries and heart-warming music, all designed to help your kids stand with Christ for eternity.

The most valuable thing that God ever gave to this world was His Word. Join us for an "Amazing Adventure, a journey for life with Jesus." Order yours now. Take the journey. If you've missed any of our Amazing Facts programs, visit our website at amazingfacts.org. There you'll find an archive of all our television and radio programs including "Amazing Facts presents.

" One location, so many possibilities, amazingfacts.org. [Music]