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Are you going to heaven? Maybe your answer is "I think so", or "I hope so"... But do you KNOW so? Many people today believe that it is impossible to know anything for sure. But I can testify that I KNOW. I believe that the Bible is the Word of God. I believe that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God..." (2 Timothy 3:16) and that "the word of God is living and active..." (Hebrews 4:12). It is as alive and relevant to life today as it was when it was first written. I believe the Bible is without error and complete, because it is God's Word and "God is not a man that He should lie" (Numbers 23:19). It may seem to you, that throughout this message, I quote from the Bible a lot. That is because my faith is not man-made and stands rock-solid on the Bible. You may disagree (I welcome all comments and questions) you may even think all this to be foolishness (for as the Bible says : "The preaching of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness" (1 Corinthians 1:18); but Truth is Truth and I make no apology for it. A chat room acquaintance of mine recently sent me an E-mail message about his understanding of spiritually. He wrote: "...I see spirituality as a need which comes after other needs. Safety, food, expansion as an individual, and then spirituality..." Indeed, this is a very popular thought. But Matthew 16:26 says : "For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet lose his own soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for His soul?" While food, health and personal needs are important, the Bible is very clear on the fact that they are secondary. John 6:70 tells us: "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man (Jesus) will give to you." Jesus told a story of a man who decided to spend his life storing up barns of grain and getting himself financially secure. He'd then exclaim to himself: " 'You have plenty of good things laid up for many years Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry'. But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul will be required of you. Then who will get what you have stored for yourself?' This is how it will be for anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." (Luke 16:21) I therefore believe that our soul is the most valuable thing that we have. It is essential that we are right with our creator and that we are prepared to meet Him. Life is very short. Eternity is VERY LONG. So you want to go to heaven. That's a good start. Heaven is the place God is preparing for those who are His own. It is described in the Bible as a place where "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain..." (Revelation 21:4) One thing that will most certainly not be in heaven is sin (wrong doings.) The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that: "ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." God's standard is perfection. Everyone of us has missed the mark and fallen short. Romans 6:23 says: "For the wages of sin is DEATH..." Death, in this context, is defined not only in terms of physical death, but also spiritual death: separation from God. Because God is Holy, He hates sin and cannot have it in His presence. Sin must die, as it says in Ezekiel 18:4 "the soul that sins it shall die". Therefore, you (we) are dead and "your sins have separated you from your God" Isaiah 59:2 Because we are spiritually DEAD we cannot do anything, of ourselves, to solve our plight. Titus 3:5 says: "it is NOT BY WORKS of righteousness (good deeds)which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. In Isaiah 64:6 we read "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." Now what? The penalty of sin is death. Since there is nothing we can do to satisfy God, either we will die, dead in our sin, and our soul will remain separated from God forever; or someone else must die in our place. Romans 5:8 says: "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 1 John 2:2 : "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins..." Isaiah 53:5 : "He was pierced for our transgressions (sins), he was crushed for our iniquities : the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to His own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." 1 Corinthians 15:3&4 "Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures... and was buried and rose again on the third day.." John 3:16 : "For God so loved the world, that He gave his one and only son, so that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." That last verse is really what it's all about. The last part is especially important, as it calls for us to believe. While their is nothing you can specifically DO to earn or achieve this gift of salvation, you do have to believe and receive it. (But even being able to believe is a gift, as it says in Ephesians 2:8&9 "For by grace are you saved through faith. And this not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast.") Acts 17:30 "God commands all people everywhere to repent." To repent means to have a change of heart. To be willing to turn away from the life of sin that leads to death and to give your life to Jesus Christ to live in the joy of the eternal life He gives. Jesus said "I am come that they may have life and have it to the fullest". (John 10:10) John 1:12 says: "But to them that RECEIVED him, to them that BELIEVED on His name, He gave the right to become children of God." God will forgive all of the sins you have ever done and wipe your slate clean. You can talk to God right now, right where you are. If you believe that you are a sinner, worthy of the penalty of death and that Jesus paid the penalty for your sin, just confess that to Him now. The Bible says that "If you confess with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved". Receive Jesus into your life, asking Him to be your Lord - the one in control of your life." * You can now be SURE of eternal life and KNOW that you are going to heaven. Once you are a child of God, you will always be a child of God (in the same way that you will always be your parents' child.) God promises that "NEVER will I leave you, NEVER will I forsake you." You have eternal life and that is a promise from the Bible : "These (the words in the Bible)are written that you might KNOW that you have eternal life, and that believing, you might have life in His name." Once your slate is clean, you can't lose your salvation. If you sin again (and we all do), you don't need to receive Jesus into your life all over again. Simply confess to God that you have sinned and ask Him to help you to not do that again. 1 John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." * Click to the GREEN PAGE (from the Kid's page Wordless book story) To learn about how to get to know God more. * If you just prayed to God and received Jesus into your life, please let me know. Send me an E-mail and I will most certainly write back. If you have any comments or questions, I'd love to hear from you also.
THE GREEN PAGE:
All about how to get to know God. THIS IS MY STORY, THIS IS MY SONG: How I came to know God in a personal way THE WORDLESS BOOK STORY: The message of Jesus and salvation - in kids language Home page: (Brings you back to the beggining of this site) |