Today’s
layout will be different. We are going
to pray first and then go to the word about salvation. You will find supporting scriptures within
the message.
Dear Father
in Heaven, for us, forgive me, and all who ask today in faith to be forgiven,
open up Your Word to all who read t his message, and come into their hearts as
they ask. Come into mine and renew me
this day. I ask in the name of Jesus …
AMEN.
Building a
Bridge: Final Day: Please if you will take a plain piece of
paper and on the left side draw a mountain looking thing. Do the same on the right side of the paper so
there is a valley between … On the left side mark your paper Earth, on the
right side, mark it Heaven, and the valley, letter that one Hell. Put some flames down in that valley if you
want, make it look really hot …
Today we are
going to look at The Bridge that gets us from Earth to Heaven. Oh, the neat part, that Bridge is already in
place. We are just going to go and look
at it … come with me.
John 3:16 – “For
God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes
in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (NIV)
Luke 2:6 –
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave
birth to her firstborn, a Son. She
wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no room for
them in the Inn. (NIV)
Okay,
brothers and sisters, the very first of The Bridge is now in place as God gave
us His Son and this Son was born … A baby
Bridge, those are my words of course.
Now if you have ever ridden on the Steam Railroad at Stroudsburg, PA,
you would hear the conductor telling about the Punkinville Turnpike Bridge. This small bridge is just 16 feet long and goes
over a dirt road that the Amish folks use for their working farms. The conductor tells everyone to lift their feet
to take the weight off of the train cars to lighten the load on the
bridge. This old joke I heard so many
times as we vacation on that railroad about ten times a year. Now this bridge differs from The Bridge we
are talking about today for This Bridge was sent to carry the weight of the
world … Listen up here …
John 3:17 –
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save
the world through Him. (NIV)
You see here
Jesus was sent to carry the weight, the weight of the world, the weight of OUR
SINS.
Now as Jesus
grew He walked the earth teaching and living the truth, and telling others, and
showing others how to live. Jesus taught
by example and those examples are still true today. Yes, my brothers and sisters, Jesus is our
Bridge from Earth to Heaven and there is no other way …
John 14:6 –
Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (NIV)
Brothers and
sisters, there is no other bridge. When
we cross the rivers or streams we find many, many bridges. Just in the Harrisburg area there are about
seven bridges to get across the Susquehanna river. Listen, we have the turnpike bridge, the
South Bridge, Market Street Bridge, Harvey Taylor Bridge, Amity Hall
Bridge. Plus two active railroad
bridges, one is the Rockville Bridge, the world’s longest stone arch bridge …
But there is just ONE Bridge to get to Heaven.
Now we all
know that there are a lot of bridges that you must pay the toll to cross. Going to the Jersey shore you can cross some
of the bridges without paying but coming back you pay twice the rate. Also the other bridges are covered by tax
dollars so we really pay to cross any bridge, be it by toll, taxes, or
both. HOWEVER, the toll has been paid
for The Bridge to Heaven … Jesus paid this toll with His life …
Luke 23:33 –
When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified Him, along
with the criminals, one on His right, the other on his left. (NIV)
Then Jesus
even forgave those who put Him on the cross … Listen to these words from Jesus …
Luke 23:34 –
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”
(NIV)
Now there
are things we must do. We must believe
that Jesus was risen from the dead and we must confess that Jesus is Lord. We need also to confess our sins and ask to
be forgiven from them.
Romans
10:9/10 – That 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. For it is with your heart that you believe
and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
(NIV)
When must we
do all this confessing and believing?
Well, before we die, of course.
But the sooner we do it, the better our lives will be. We can get on The Bridge and have the earthly
benefits of knowing Jesus. This is one
thing we do not want to put off until the end, since we do not know when the
end is. Not always is life easy for the
believer, but when we believe, our Lord does get us through it, as He promised
He will. Most often we do not let Him
carry our loads. Again, I do believe that
a person can come to the Lord just before his last breath and he will make
heaven. I call it a bedside
conversion. Here is my proof from the
word of Jesus … Jesus was talking to the criminals on the crosses beside him …
One denied him, the other said this.
Luke 23:42 –
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 Jesus
answered him, “I tell you other truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
(NIV)
You see,
this also tells me that just after Jesus died on the cross He escorted the
criminal to heaven … Not many make that point, but I sure do.
Okay, let’s
finish our Bridge … We are now going to go to our paper and put in The Bridge …
No covered bridge or suspended bridge here.
Let’s just start with a straight plank across the valley we have labeled
Hell. Wow, that is a long distance to just
have a plank or log across, it might break in the middle. Let’s put in a brace … Go to the middle of the area we called Hell and start
right in the bottom of that put and bring up another plank coming up to the
Bridge and beyond. Oh my gosh, we have
built a cross. Now we could put Jesus on
the cross just to remember that He died for us on the cross, but today8 He is
not on the cross, He is alive and well and in Heaven waiting to judge us. We just need to come to Jesus and we will
receive The Bridge to cross into Heaven.
The price has been paid, the toll has been paid, the taxes have been
paid … Crossing is just for believing in Jesus.
Let’s pray …
Father, I believe in the Virgin Birth, I believe in Your dying on the cross to
save me of my sins, and I believe You have risen from the dead and are waiting
for me. Forgive me today. I want to be welcome in Heaven someday. Let me be on The Bridge the rest of my life,
living only for You. In the name of
Jesus, Amen.
Okay, one
more scripture.
John 14:1 – “Do
not let your hearts be troubled. Trust
in God, trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not
so I would have told you. I am going
there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I
WILL COME BACK AND TAKE YO TO BE WITH ME THAT YOU ALSO MAY BE WHERE I AM.” (NIV)
There you
have it, brothers and sisters … We have our Bridge between Earth and
Heaven. Please share it with others,
tell them about The Cross and how Jesus died on it. It is the GOODNEWS that Jesus has commanded
us to tell others … Share the Blessing of Salvation, which only comes through
Jesus Christ. Will you share it with
someone today? I never tell you to share
what I write and you will get special blessings, I never put you or anyone on a
guilt trip about sharing what I write.
Today, however, I ask you to look deep into your hearts and if you have
friends or even a mailing list and you really care about those on the list you
will take time to tell them about Salvation through Jesus. Use your own words or you may use what I
write anytime. Share the blessing of
salvation, remember if no one had shared it with you, would you be saved today? I truly love you, and I really care about
you. Jesus cared enough about you to
give His life for you. Me, I care enough
about you to just tell you what Jesus did for You.
Love and
blessings, Pastor Dan Lehman
Carry The Light Ministries. 6/8/2012
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