12 Things Pastors Won’t Hear in Heaven

by Mike Leake

"I’d really hate to waste my life on things that aren’t significant.

Occasionally it is good to step back and wonder about the types of the things you probably will not hear in heaven.

So I imagine a scenario where someone that the Lord has called me to shepherd walks up to me in heaven and says, I sure wish that you’d have..."

Here are 12 things I doubt would fill in that blank.

1. I wish you’d have shown me more rapture charts.

2. I wish you’d have told me steps to making more money.

3. I wish you’d have prepared me for what heaven looks like.

4. I wish you’d have settled those theological debates.

5. I wish you’d have done funnier skits in our worship service.

6. I wish you’d have pushed for a bigger building.

7. I wish you’d have talked more about politics.

8. I wish you’d have preached much shorter sermons.

9. I wish you’d have worn ties (or cooler jeans for our postmodern crowd).

10. I wish you’d have given us better pop-culture references

10. I wish you’d have given us better pop-culture references.

11. I wish you’d have made our worship ambiance better and the transitions smoother.

12. I wish you’d have spent the money to fix that pot-hole in the church parking lot.

I could probably keep going.

Some of these things might be important and they might even be a means to serve and assist people in worship. But they are not ultimate.

What I don’t want to fill that blank would be, “I wish you’d have pointed us to Jesus more. I wish you’d have prepared us for heaven better. I wish you’d have preached more to root out sin and unbelief. I wish you’d have encouraged us to lay down our idols more.”

Those are the things I don’t want to hear.

What I do want to hear is the sweet and grace filled words of the Chief Shepherd, “Well done good and faithful servant." [1]

Mike is married to a beautiful woman named Nikki, and has an amazingly cool son named Isaiah and a super cuddly and cute baby girl named Hannah. Mike and Nikki come to us from Missouri awesomeness where they served at FBC New London for a little over 5 years. Mike currently attends The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where he is pursuing an M.Div in Christian Ministry, Heresy Tackling, and Cage Fighting. He hopes to eventually pursue a doctorate in the hopes that some day someone may ask him to perform a surgery.

The Earth is our eternal home!

The clear teaching of the Torah and Rebbe Y'shua is that the Earth is our eternal home, our inheritance:

CJB: I Kings 8:51 for they [Israel] are your people, your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of the flames of the iron furnace.
52 "May your eyes be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Isra'el, so that you will hear them whenever they cry out to you.
53 For you made a distinction between them and all the peoples of the earth by making them your inheritance, as you said through Moshe your servant when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, Adonai ELOHIM."

The significant thing about the Seven Year Tribulation is that it will forever answer Lucifer's challenge recorded in Books of Genesis and Job. Human history has been a sort of terrestrial court case. The Seven Year Tribulation will be the closing arguments, Armageddon will be the preliminary judgment. Then there will be a Thousand Year Kingdom (ruled over by Y'shua HaMoshiach), followed by a final appeal by Lucifer and HaShem's determination will be delivered (in the form of the War of Gog and Magog).

Following that, this matter will be settled for all times:

CJB: Zechariah 14:8 On that day, fresh water will flow out from Yerushalayim, half toward the eastern sea and half toward the western sea, both summer and winter.
9 Then ADONAI will be king over the whole world. On that day ADONAI will be the only one, and his name will be the only name.

There will be a New Heavens and a New Earth. It will be established at the conclusion of the Thousand Year Kingdom:

KJV: Revelation 21:1 And I [John] saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Rev 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Rev 21:5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
Rev 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

It is biblically accurate to say that the souls of the Tribulation Period martyrs will abide in Heaven as they await the conclusion of the final seven years (Revelation 6:9,10) however they are clearly an exception. They are there as witnesses to the righteousness of Moshiach's activities on the Earth during these seven years. The text specifically states how they came to be there and the duration of their stay. [2]