Directions Home. (July 26, 2024)

Final destination: Los Angeles International Airport

So, we have been on a journey - first to the Old City of Jerusalem, where Jesus told the disciples on that night before he was arrested, that he was going away to prepare a place for them. In my Father's house are many rooms1, Jesus' vital words recorded by the 'disciple who he loved' in the gospel bearing his name, John.

And then we walked into the cave on the Greek isle of Patmos, imagining what it must have been like for John, some six decades after that Passover night in Jerusalem, being visited by an angel with a radical message. "I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,"2 John wrote. What would that sound like? No matter, well into the revelation given John he saw Heaven - colors, depth, dimension, glory, beauty and the light of the Lamb of God.

Two thousand years later, there have been many recorded Near Death Experiences that have corroborated a lot of detail about Heaven.

Why does it matter? Because you and I have eternal souls. We will live on forever somewhere - and with the free will God gave each one of us, we choose where that will be. With God forever in a place of beauty, light, love, family and more or in utter darkness, absent of God, all love and light.

Because I have been bedside with numerous people at the end of their lives, I have had the privilege of guiding them Home, certain their open hands grasp the hand of their loving Heavenly Father.

The last leg of this little journey we have taken brings us to Los Angeles International Airport.

Imagine this happened to you--

•      You get up to the jam-packed airport gate, looking past people to make a path forward when the guy in front of you collapses.  Yes, this happened to me.  His wife starts screaming, ‘help him someone; O God, call a doctor!’  His head is on my shoe, so of course, I will do what I can.

•      I pray for him and then say, Sir, if you were to take your last breath here, do you know where you will wake up? Will you be with God? It is truly up to you.   

There it is again - the most important question you will consider today, this week, and forever: WHEN YOU TAKE YOUR LAST BREATH ON EARTH, WHERE WILL YOU DRAW YOUR NEXT? You can be sure if you know Jesus Christ for yourself.

Well listen to this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNg552CN3vU

•      You don’t have to join a church or give an offering

•      You don’t have to straighten out your life first

•      You look at the claims of Jesus Christ to see if they have merit.

**The Resurrection was a historic event, corroborated by eye witnesses, Roman and Jewish historians, sources other than the Bible in whose best interest it would have been to discount the accounts.  With the Resurrection being true, it changes everything.

I remember a conversation with a Lyft driver who said to me, "I used to go to church, but just couldn’t relate to it, so I stopped . . . to tell you the truth, I’m not sure if I am a Christian.  Can you help me?"

Friends, we ought be ready to answer that question simply.  

->Choosing Heaven means choosing the One who made the way for you to be there.

--admit you are a sinner

--believe that Jesus is who he said he was, the Son of God, our Messiah

--confess your sins to him and ask him to forgive you by his grace

--ask Him to lead your life from this day forward

Entering into a relationship with God through the work of his Son, Jesus,

is the gateway to a meaningful, purpose-filled life on earth

and a magnificent life with him forever.  

We get it all wrong, I'm afraid. Listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOhfuvt9a7o

Christine

PastorWoman.net

1 - John 14.3

2 - Revelation 1.10