Who wants to Be A MILLIONAIRE?
WHO WANTS TO LIVE WITH GOD FOREVER?
Regis Philbin dressed in his trademark gray suit and gray or black tie is setting across from some average Joe who is now occupying the "hot seat". For the past few minutes we have watched him ask a large gamut of questions, from the silly $100.00 questions to the more difficult $500,000.00 question. Now the moment has come, the lights fade and the music grows to a crescendo as the time has come for the question that could take this average Joe, from obscurity to fame. Tension mounts...One question remains and *Joe, has all of his lifelines remaining. Can Joe find a way to answer this question?
Here are the three lifelines:
First is: Ask the Audience: With this one, you have the opportunity to allow the audience to help you make the decision.
Next is, Phone a friend. This lifeline allows you to call someone who may be able to help you arrive at the right answer.
Your last lifeline is The 50/50, this is the one that allows you to narrow down your chances of giving the wrong answer. Instead of having four possible answers to choose from, you now have only two.
As intense as this moment may be for Joe and all who are watching, today you are in the hot-seat and sitting across from you is someone greater than Regis...The question is harder, the outcome more grave than whether or not you will become a millionaire. How you answer this question is going to affect you far beyond this lifetime. You see a million dollars may help you live a little more comfortably here, but I have never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul. Answering this question right will determine your eternal well-being. In a moment you will decide on Heaven or Hell.
Here it comes, the moment you have waited a lifetime for: The lights go dim, the music and drama intensifies...
Remember, answering this question wrong means eternity without God and without hope...
Answering this question wrong will seal you doom and destruction forever and ever and ever...
If you are wrong you don’t walk away with any consolation...
If you are wrong you will spend eternity in the eternal fire of Hell. A place where the worm does not die and the fire will not be quenched.
Are you ready?
“Who wants to live eternally?”
For eternity here is your final question, remember you have three lifelines.
The question is found in the Bible in the book of Mark chapter 10 and verse 17. Here it is, the most important question you will ever be asked...
"what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"
There it is. The only thing that stands between you and eternity in a place where gold is nothing more than paving material, a place where silver and diamonds are just building materials. A place where sickness will be no more and heartaches will not enter. Heaven is now just one right answer away.
You know you have to get this answer right. There is no room for error, no room for a wrong answer. If you are going to go to heaven and see your loved ones again, if you are going to stand in the presence of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, if you are going to spend eternity with God, you had better be right.
Then you remember, you have your life-lines...
All is not lost.
You are sweating profusely: Tension is incredible!
You cry out, "I want to use a lifeline!"
I. "I want to ask the audience!" you say.
Are you really going to accept the majority’s answer?
If they tell you that you can have eternal life by following New Age, or you going to follow? If 60% say there is no heaven will you agree? If the majority tells you that living for Jesus is not for you, will you listen. If they tell you that there are many ways to get to God. You don’t have to go to church; you don’t have to serve the Lord. You can keep doing your own thing. You can talk any way you want. It doesn’t matter if you act like the devil, God won’t send you to hell. He is a loving God! He understands. You don’t even have to give an answer right now, why not just wait till your older? You can beat the game. The rules don’t apply to you...
On and on they go.
Do I want to hang my eternal soul on what the crowd thinks?
Maybe I should try another Lifeline.
II. I would like to phone a friend...
My friends would not lead me astray would they? If they are really my friends they will tell me what is right, won’t they?
My friends wouldn’t let me go to hell would they? If they are really my friends they wouldn’t want me to drink my life away, or party my life away would they?
Real friends wouldn’t dare invite me to live like I’ve been living. Real friends would tell me that if I want to see Grandpa John, or Uncle John again that I am going to give my heart to God and serve the Lord with every ounce of strength I have. Real friends will tell you, it’s time to quit running from God and come running back to God. They would tell you, that you may say you are ready to meet God, but they would point out to you that it doesn’t matter what you say, "it’s what you live that counts." They would tell you that if you are going to make heaven your home, then you are going to have to repent. *That means turn around, make an about face...
Oh man I don’t know what to believe...
I want to use my last lifeline...
III. I would like to try the 50/50...
Let’s narrow the choices down to just two.
The question is, What must I do to inherit eternal life.
Are you really prepared to take a chance on your soul. You don’t get a second chance. God is not going to just weigh out your good deeds against your bad ones. He is not going to listen to your excuses.
*God I would have served you if that Pastor hadn’t messed up.
*God, if I hadn’t been through so much...
etc...
*God the church I went to didn’t tell me that you have to be born again. They told me that if I followed the teachings of the Mormon faith, or Jehovah’s Witnesses, or if I was a good Catholic, or a good Baptist, or a good Assemblies of God person that I would be all right. You must be born again! You can’t be Baptist enough; you can’t be Assemblies of God enough. If you are going to go to heaven you must have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Well Pastor, me and Jesus got our own understanding,
That is a lie from hell! He will make no concessions; if you are going to heaven you are going to have to go God’s way. If you want to make the right decision today you had better read your bible and find what God has to say. The message of the kingdom is Repent. You and I have only one right choice. You can’t get to heaven by good works, or church membership. We can’t get there by being a good person. The Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God! The Bible says that there is none righteous, no not one! The Bible says that if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and Believe in our hearts that God has raised him from the dead we shall be saved. The Bible says, if I confess my sins, He is faithful and just to forgive my sins and cleanse me of all my unrighteousness. Friend, (hold up the Bible) this is the only right answer. If you want to live forever in heaven, don’t take a chance on the right answer. Ask Jesus to come into your heart, and be the Lord of your life. Give him your past, present and your future.
You see John is in a place more beautiful than anything you and I could imagine. (talk about heaven)
Do you want to live with him forever in Heaven? What will your final answer be?
