Gospel

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What if you only had one day to live? What would you do differently?

Let’s face it – we all live our lives like there’s no tomorrow; we don’t give it much thought but there is no guarantee that we will see tomorrow. Tomorrow is not promised to us. People die every day, whether by accident or natural causes.

When we go to sleep at night, we don’t know if we will wake up the next morning. If we do wake up, we don’t give much thought to our new day and what the end result of that day will be. We just prepare ourselves to go on with our normal daily routine.

James 4:13-14 (NKJV) Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit;” whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Most of us don’t want to deal with or think about death. But it is inevitable that we will all see death at some point of our lives.

Death is not a laughing matter; it is something that we need to think about. Will you be prepared when death comes knock­ing at your door? Only you can answer that question.

The majority of people think that we have all the time in the world, because there is no end to this world as we know it. We live and die and that’s the end of it. They don’t believe that there is a God or that Hell even exists, much less Heaven.

Let me pose another question.

How can you be sure that there is no Hell or Heaven? And if by chance you do believe in a heaven, how can you make sure that you’ll spend eternity there?

The way to heaven is to live in accordance with God’s will. “What is God’s will?” you may ask. God’s will is that we love and forgive others just as God loves and forgives us. It is to treat others the way Jesus treats us. It is to train ourselves to be more loving, forgiving, and Jesus-like each day.

Preparation is essential to every endeavor. We prepare for retire­ment, for a trip that we are planning, for the children’s college, for a job, and the list goes on. But we don’t seem to see the need for mak­ing preparation for the greatest of all events: that of life after death!

Let me pose another question.

How do you make preparation for eternal life?

1. Primary preparation involves hearing the gospel.

Matthew 4:23 ( NKJV ) And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the king­dom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

2. Believing or faith.

John 8:23-24 (NKJV) And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

3. Repentance which involves a change of mind that results in a change of life.

Acts 17:30 ( NKJV ) Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,

No one will go to heaven by accident; but by preparing to go. The parable of the wise and foolish virgins teaches us that only “they that were ready went in...” (Mt. 25:1-13).

As Jesus was about to leave His apostles he proclaimed: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, that where I am, there ye may be also” (Jn. 14:1-3).

Prepare To Meet God: As God challenged Israel of old, he demanded: “...prepare to meet thy God, O Israel” (Amos 4:12).

We will meet God, prepared or not! So, don’t let your life slip away without making the proper preparation to meet God in judgment. Then you can plan to live with Him throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity.

Matthew 25:46 (NKJV) “And these will go away into ever­lasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Most people think that they can earn their way into heaven by living a good life or by turning up in church each Sunday. But whatever our ancestry, background, or upbringing, whatever ritu­als and ceremonies we have performed, whatever religion we have followed, however sincerely we have tried to live a good life, the same facts remain. We are spiritually dead. Until we turn to Jesus.

The truth is that none of these things makes us right with God. We are morally corrupt. We are guilty before God. We are powerless to save ourselves. Left as we are, our case is hopeless. Rather than rely on guesswork and what we think we need to achieve, God’s word (the Bible) tells us how to have a relation­ship with God and a life that is lived to the fullest. Jesus tells us in the Bible that he has come, that we may have life, and may have it more abundantly!

We can’t do anything to earn our way into heaven, but the good news is that we don’t have to. God sent Jesus into the world, and Jesus lived the way we were always meant to live. Je­sus came to provide the only way by which we could be reunited with God. His innocent death took the punishment we deserve because of our rejection of God. Because Jesus has paid the price for us, he offers us salvation and eternal life.

We either reject or accept salvation. If we reject Jesus, then we will have a life without him, a life without love, peace, joy, and all else that brings meaning to us. To make no decision is to stay on the path leading towards hell.

To make a decision to accept Jesus into our lives and to share eternity with him, we need to make a permanent choice to turn back to God, and let Jesus be our God.

We need to trust in his forgiveness. We need to thank Jesus for coming to reunite us with God, our father, and for showing us the way to truly get more from life, both in this world and the next! God’s salvation offer is eternal life through Jesus Christ his Son; forgiveness, and freedom from spiritual death.


The Fork of Life

A fork in the road is a metaphor, based on a literal expression, for a deciding moment in life or history when a major choice of options is required.

As newborns, we are cared for by our parents because we are too young to make decisions on our own. But there will be a time when we get to the age of reasoning (the name given to that period of human life when it is deemed that persons begin to be morally responsible). This is when we will come to the crossroads of life. Everyone comes to the crossroads and must choose which road he or she will take.


The crossroads:

Right side: the narrow way through Jesus Christ, the way of the cross. It may be rocky and narrow, and it will never merge with the crowded superhighway nudging the masses toward a global village. But no other way leads to genuine love, peace, and lasting security. The destination is well worth the struggle.

Left side: a broad road to destruction, the way of the world, where everything seems like fun and games.

Jesus warns us that the larger masses of people will go down the broad road to destruction. Most people will reject God’s way of life, because of all the sorrow and suffering. The Lord urges us to enter the narrow gate. Few find it, even though it leads to eternal life. One should strive to find the narrow way through Jesus Christ.

Those who seek the Lord will find the way. The narrow gate and road refers to Jesus’ teaching, which emphasizes not exter­nal requirements, but internal transformation – being born again in the spirit, as Jesus explained to Nicodemus.

John 3:2-8 (NKJV) Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus answered, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

The call of the Holy Spirit is to all, to enter the narrow gate. The doors to the kingdom of God are always open.

Revelation 3:20 (NKJV) Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

Even Jesus acknowledged that few would find the true way, the way that leads to eternal life.

Matthew 7:13-14 (NKJV) Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Jesus presented the clear way of access into righteousness.

Many will find out too late that the road they are traveling on leads to hell, and not heaven. If you were to die today, are you ab­solutely positive that you will go to heaven? Do you have eternal life? Contrary to popular belief, not all roads lead to heaven.

John 17:3 (ESV) And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Knowing God is eternal life. When Jesus said eternal life was to know God, he meant having an intimate, close, personal relationship with God.

What is Eternal Life?
Eternal Life is: an Intimate relationship with God

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