“From the Heart” teaching by Drs. Rodney & Adonica Howard-Browne.
Foundation Scripture:
Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
According to the Bible, we only live once and only die once. Life after death is a reality. Heaven and hell are very real. These are the two places that people go to when they breathe out their last breath. They’ll either go to one or the other. There’s no other place they will go —and that is a fact.
Heaven is a real place. It’s not what you make it. It’s not your dream —it’s not your fantasy. Heaven was never in the mind of man, but Heaven has always been in the heart of God.
Hell is a real place. It’s not what you make it. Hell was never in the mind of man. Hell was created, not for man, but for the devil and his angels.
You are an eternal being. You and I are living in eternity, right now. Whatever we do in this life will carry over into the next. We’ve only got one life to live and we’ve only got one chance to live it right and to make the right decisions. Whatever we do now is going to count for eternity. The Bible tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. In other words, this is not a game!
There’s no chance after you die to get your life right. Many people play around with the things of God. They play around with their salvation ,saying, “Oh, it will be fine. One day I can get it right. Even when I die, God will have mercy on me.” That’s a lie from the pit of hell. I want you to know that God gives every man, this side of the grave, the opportunity to make the decisions and to make the choices on which way he’s going to go and which way he’s going to turn.
These are the eternal facts: You have one opportunity and it’s in this life, this side of the grave. If you die without Jesus Christ, you are lost for all eternity without any chance of redemption. You cannot come back and do it again—”OOPS, I made a mistake.” No reincarnation (coming back to live your life over a second time as another being -animal or human). No purgatory (the “half-way house” where you pay penance for deeds done while you were on the earth, and then at a certain time, God will feel sorry for you and get you out of purgatory and take you on to your reward). No annihilation (the belief that God will just wipe out every trace or memory of you). No ultimate reconciliation (meaning that after a million or a hundred billion years, God suddenly decides that He loves everybody and He even goes and forgives the devil). Do you know that there are people who believe these things?
Hell was not made for man, but for the devil and his angels. Man must go there because sin cannot stand in the presence of God. Man must go there because, in a fallen state, man hates God. Men hate God without the slightest reason for doing so. God loves man without the slightest reason either. There’s every reason why men should love God, and not hate Him. They hate Him without a cause. There’s every reason why God should hate man and not love him. Yet, He loves you so much that “He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
Make the decision today that you will follow Jesus all the way. Recognize the price that He paid for you at Calvary two thousand years ago -your sins are forgiven. He died that you might live -He rose from the dead for you. All you have to do is to believe that His blood was shed for you and that He died and rose again. Receive His mercy and trust in Him.
