For my message today, I am going to set aside the topic I had planned to speak about. We do make a planning calendar. It let's all of us — Tim with worship and all our ministries — stay in sync.

But sometimes, I feel a prompting from the Holy Spirit to pick a different topic, and this talk is one of those times.

We are still in the series, Giant Steps, for this year. This is the year, the season, the time

...to take Giant Steps Out of the habits and hangups that are chronically holding you back,
...to take Giant Steps Into your riches and resources as a Christian, and
...to take Giant Steps Up to making a dent in the devil's darkness and an impact for Christ and the Gospel.

I'm taking my topic today from one of the best selling books ever in the world... that is The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren.

His idea is that you should live with God's purposes in mind, and I say yes to that. It's a very good book.

But I want to take that idea to another level.

Because there is an essential, non-negotiable, absolutely necessary quality that is tragically missing from most teaching, most preaching, most preachers, most churches, and most Christian people today.

It is true that our lives should be driven and molded by our truest and deepest purpose. Amen?

But there is something above and beyond living with purpose which is even more powerful and more true.

Let me show you God's Word, and then I'll tell you our topic for today:

"If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." (Colossians 3:1-2)

If we were to go to the place where Christ is now seated at the right hand of God, where would be be?

Heaven.

Seek those things which are above... having to do with heaven.

Set your mind on those things where are above... having to do with heaven.

So our topic today is this: Step Up to the Heaven-Driven Life

You might have seen memes online with a picture of what's happening in a person's brain: a man's brain, a woman's brain, a teenager's brain, etc.

That if we were going to map our brains, and what we think about through our days, and what topics fill our attention... there would be a massive jumble of things:

Food, job, friends, marriage, parenting, love, sex, church, Bible, God, Jesus, children, money, retirement, fix the car, mow the lawn, homework, grades, studying, workout, depression, finances, loss, hope...

And we have to devote mental powers to things on that list every single day.
But here is my big idea for today;

Unless a very large portion of your thinking and feeling is linked to thoughts about Heaven, then all the steps you take in life will be steps in the wrong direction.

Why?

Because heaven is the final and enduring destination for every child of God. If you are saved, then your last day on earth will be your best day. You will close your eyes on earth, and open your eyes in glory. You will run to see Jesus, your Savior and your Friend. You will feast at the banquet of grace, and step into your inheritance. You will be your truest deepest self. You will be more alive than ever before.

Heaven is our true homeland. Until then, we are pilgrims. This whole life is a pilgrimage. We are traveling a short and uncertain journey. This world is not our home, we're just passing through.

James asked, "For what is your life? It is but a vapor that appears for an instant and then vanishes away."

Peter says that we are "strangers and pilgrims in this world."

Heaven is our home, and earth is our temporary stopping place. Your Savior is right now in Heaven, and he is preparing a place for you.

With heaven, you've got a place to take your confusions.
With heaven, you've got a way to cope with tragedy.
With heaven, you've got a guarantee that hope is real.
With heaven, you've got a home where love never dies.
With heaven, you've got a truth to heal your hurts.
With heaven, you've got an earthly life worth living.

With heaven, death—as painful and horrible as it is—death, for the child of God, has become transportation home.

With heaven, you've got answers to all the profoundly perplexing questions that simply cannot be answered here within the confines of this this intellectually clouded, morally broken pain machine called planet earth.

I am here to say today, there is simply no philosophy, no science, no therapy, no religion, no spiritual practice, and no other doctrine that can do for you what heaven can do when you live with heaven on your mind.