Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - The Only Way to End Up Where You Want to Go - #5621

Thursday, July 28, 2008

Our son was supposed to be flying into our local airport, but the shall we say unpredictabilities of airplane travel today forced him to land in another city. Which meant renting a car to drive the four hours home and then returning the rental car to the airport where I have never returned a rental car. He drove the rental car as I led the way in our family car. We managed to find the ramp that pointed to "rental car returns." I looked at the companies listed on the signs only to discover that the one he had rented from wasn't listed! We pulled over, rolled down our windows, and said, "What now?" Suddenly said, "Whoa! Let's follow him!" At just that moment, the van from our rental company went by! We took off behind him. And it's a good thing we did. The roads and ramps took us on this like merry chase all around the airport and beyond the airport. We could have never figured out how to get there! We had to follow someone who has been there!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Only Way to End Up Where You Want to Go."

An article in USA Today talked about the rush of movies and books that are coming out recently that deal with death and dying. We're thinking a lot more about our mortality and immortality. And in this age where people are taking a little helping of everything that's on the spirituality buffet, we have all kinds of theories and hopes about what might await us on the other side of our last heartbeat.

And like my son and I looking for the right destination at the airport that night, we're scanning the various signs, we're following our instincts to get to where we want to end up. Every time we go to a funeral, every time we hear about the death of someone our age, we remember it will be us in the casket some day and we want to know where the life is beyond our time on earth.

There are a lot of ideas floating around today about what's out there, but after all is said and done, everybody's guessing! We're like my son and me at the airport. We're trying to find the way by reading the signs posted by various religions and theorizers. We're trying to figure out the way through our own instincts and speculation. But our only hope is what got my son and me to our destination that night. We need someone who has been there and back! Without that, it's just too easy to get lost, to make a wrong turn, to be wrong - dead wrong. Eternity is too important. It's too long to risk being wrong about.

There is one Person who has been all the way there and back, and He is the final word on death and on eternity. He speaks to us about it in our word for today from the Word of God in Revelation 1:17-18 , where Jesus' disciple, John, is allowed to see Jesus as He is today in heaven. John says, "Then He placed His right hand on me and said: 'Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.'"

According to the record of six historians, three days after He died, Jesus Christ walked out of His grave under His own power. He's been there and back, and He is the only One who isn't guessing about death and eternity. He told us there's a heaven for those who have had their sins forgiven, there's a hell for those who have not claimed God's forgiveness, that we die once and don't come back, He told us that our eternal destination is settled here, in this life, by whether or not we grab hold of the One who died to forgive our sins and take us to heaven.

You could literally go to sleep tonight, not wondering about your eternity, but knowing you will go to heaven when you die because the sin that would keep you from heaven is gone forever. The Bible says, "He who has the Son (of God) has life" (1 John 5:12 ). You can have the Son of God right now by putting your trust in Him to be your eternal Rescuer based on His death for you on the cross.

If you want to know for sure you're going to heaven. If you want to belong to the only One who can take you there, you want to begin your relationship with Him today, would you just say to Him, "Jesus I'm Yours." And let me invite you to our website. A lot of people have found help in beginning their relationship with Christ at yoursforlife.net. I hope you'll go there right away today.

The One who can take you to heaven is near you right now. Don't miss Him!