In today's world of faster and smaller, some of the recent progress boggles the imagination.  The computer that sits on my desk used to fill a room the size of this church.  The concept of megabytes of information on a single disk was unthinkable.  I first thought the term "gigabyte" was a joke.  Now I hold in my hand a backup chip the size of my little finger.  It contains every file I own - over 5,000 - enough to fill five sets of encyclopedias.  They tell me soon there are tiny machines the size of a speck of dust that will be put into our blood veins to remove clots or unwanted impurities.  Those tiny things were designed on computers.  Computers affect virtually every aspect of our lives.  "Computers," said the man who taught the seminar I attended 15 years ago, "are the wave of the future.  Life in the future will depend on them.  Computers are the way."

          He's not quite right.  They're only machines, and nothing proves that better than when they crash or the electricity goes off or the batteries go dead or a new model comes out.  Then they're just an ugly boat anchor.  That's true of every human invention.  They don't always work and they don't last forever.  They're great when they do, but miserable when they don't.

          Not so with Jesus Christ.  "He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, No one comes to the father except through Him." (John 14:6)   He is God's Son, who loves and forgives us when we trust Him.  He loves us no matter what.  He gave His life for us.  He accepts us the way we are, but He won't leave us that way for long.  He loves us even when we crash or feel outdated.  Then He washes us new so we can live FOR Him on earth, and WITH him in heaven.  Jesus is the real way!

          But what do you do when you don't know the way?  Do you find a map?  Do you to ask for directions?  Do you always know the way where you're going?  Someone once joked that even Moses could've gotten to the Promised Land sooner, but he wouldn't stop and ask directions.  What about the way to heaven?  Do you know the way there?  Are you willing to ask directions?  A lot of people think they do, but most of them don't!

          Years ago my Dad gave directions to a Watkins salesman, who was new to our rural area.  He had stopped to ask how to get to our neighbors.  Weren't they west down that road?  "Naw," Dad said, "you can't get there from here.  But if you go east to the corner, then a mile south and then west a mile, they're at the SW corner of that section."  Dad chuckled as the man drove away.  I said, "Dad, you gave him directions to go in a circle.  Why didn't you just tell him to go west?"  "Because the bridge is out," he said.  "You really can't get there from here."

          "You can't get there from here."  That's true of some things in life and it's true about heaven.  You can't get there from here, at least not by yourself.  You and I might know the way, but we need help to get there.  We need God's map to give us directions.  We need someone to lead us on the right path.  The Bible is our map, but Jesus is the one with the directions.  Jesus is the way.

          A man pulled up to a gas station.  "Where's the road to San Josie?" he asked.  "San Josie?  Oh, you mean San Jose," said the attendant.  "Around here the 'J' is pronounced in the Hispanic way, like an 'H'.  "Okay, San Jose," said the man.  "You see, we're from New Hersey and we'll be staying here until Hune or Huly."

          Some folks don't know where they are and others don't know where they're going.  Most of us don't know what will happen when we get there, and that's especially true of heaven.  We believe it will be great, but we won't know what it's really like till we're there.

          A man died and stood before St. Peter, waiting to get into heaven.  Peter told him he had to tell some good deed he'd done in life before he'd be let in.  "I was a good boy at home and was a good father and husband.  I taught Sunday School and was on Church Council."  "But," said Peter, "haven't you done one really good thing that stands out -- some great, courageous deed?"  "Well, once I saved an old lady being harassed by a member of Hell's Angels."  "That's better," said St. Peter, "what did you do?"  "I kicked him in the shins, punched him in the mouth and knocked over his motorcycle so the little old lady could get away."  "Wonderful!" said St. Peter.  "When did this happen?"  "Oh, about twenty minutes ago!"

          People enjoy hearing stories about heaven.  Maybe that's because we think about it a lot.  While we're living in the present, we're wondering about the future.  We work in the material world, but we ponder over the spiritual.  We want answers to the fundamental questions:  Is there really a God?  If so, does He care about me?  Is there really a heaven?  How can I get there?  What does God expect from me in life?

          St. Paul said, "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."  Peter said, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

          St. Paul also says, "There is one God and one mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:5)   The Holy Spirit also moved him to write, "If anyone proclaims another way of salvation than Jesus, let him be cursed!" (Galatians 1:8)   The plain fact is that Jesus is the way to heaven, the only way.  And so the Bible says, "Always be prepared to give an answer... for the hope that you have." (1 Peter 3:15)

          We live in a world where it's getting harder and harder to love people.  Mass media spreads lies and we're expected to believe them.  Enemies of Jesus Christ seem to have the loudest voices and yet God tells us to love our enemies.  I believe one of the hardest things a Christian is ever called on to do is love our enemies.  We can only do it with the Holy Spirit.  By ourselves, loving our enemies is impossible.

          This new movie just out, "The Passion of the Christ", is taking our country by storm.  It's probably the closest thing to God's truth about Jesus ever to come out of Hollywood.  The truth about Jesus Christ has always been unpopular, and the fact still remains:  there is no other way to God than through His Son.  To say it doesn't matter what way a person takes to get to heaven is to live a lie.  Jesus suffered and died for us all, and only through trusting Him can we be saved.

          God loves us and gives us time to believe.  He gives us wonderful blessings and wants us to enjoy them.  But He also wants us to share our faith.  He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and the Lord who loves us all.  He paid the price on Calvary, and He is inclusive of all who come to Him in faith.  Always be ready to share the hope you have.  Our hope is in Christ, the One who says, "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5)

          Ever wondered when is the right time to believe in Christ?  Can't we hold off till later?  Can't we wait till we retire, till just before we die?  After all, the thief on the cross didn't believe till just before he died.  But God says, now is the time.  We can't wait until we have more time, until the work is done, the kids are grown, or we've retired.  We can't wait till tomorrow because tomorrow may not get here.  "NOW is the time of God's favor, NOW is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 6:2)

          I drove through Sedalia last week and stopped in at Bud's Bar for a coffee.  (Yes, just coffee - it was still morning.)  I saw a sign on their front door that said, "Free beer tomorrow."  I stepped inside and asked what the sign meant, and the bartender said, "The beer is always free tomorrow, but not today."  He's right.  There is no tomorrow.  We must make use of the time we have today.

          Imagine a bank that credits your account every day with $86,400.  Every day $86,400 is yours to spend that day.  You can't put it into savings, and you can't have a balance on hand.  What do you think you'd do?  Spend every cent, of course!  Park Meadows, here we come!

          Each of us is given such an account, and in it are placed SECONDS of TIME.  Every morning, God credits us with 86,400 seconds that day.  Every night He writes off as lost, whatever time is left.  He carries over no balance.  The next day God deposits another 86,400.  If we fail to use the time, the loss is ours.  This makes our time valuable.  To realize the value...

¤  ...of one YEAR, talk to a college student who just failed his final exam and must go another year.
¤  ...of one MONTH, talk to a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
¤  ...of one WEEK, talk to an editor of a weekly newspaper who missed a big story.
¤  ...of one DAY, talk to a daily wage laborer who has six kids to feed and not enough money.
¤  ...of one HOUR, talk to someone who's young and in love.
¤  ...of one MINUTE, talk to a person who has just missed the train.
¤  ...of one SECOND, talk to the person who has won the silver medal in a race.

          What is your price?  What would you do if you were given a fortune?  A national survey held in 1997 asked people what they'd be willing to do to get $10,000,000.  They were asked to check one or more of the 30 things they'd be willing to do in exchange for $10,000,000.  Their responses:

•  25% would abandon their families for a significant time,
•  25% would abandon their church and faith completely,
•  23% would become a prostitute for a week,
•  16% would give up their American citizenship,
•  16% would leave their spouse,
•  7% said they'd commit murder,
•  3% would put their children up for adoption.

          What would you be willing to give up for a fortune?  Friends, Jesus gave up His life for us.  He is "the Way, the Truth and the Life." (John 14:6)   God give us faith to believe this, and courage to share it.  He's already given us love for the present and hope for the future.  May we all be ready to confess with our mouths and "believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, [and then you] will be saved."  God grant this for Jesus' sake, Amen!

Copyright © 2004 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.