Revelation 2:4-5
Matthew 7:13-14
 
I don’t think there is a man or woman that’s been traveling that has not made a wrong turn while traveling. If you’re not exactly sure where you are going a lot of times you will make the wrong turn. In this day and time we have GPS and these things  that talk to us and tell us which way to go, and some of us like myself still use paper maps.  Even with these things, we can get on the wrong road.

The wrong road never leads to the right road.  Once we discover that we are on the wrong road we have to stop and turn around. In Revelation chapter 2 John was writing to the church.  He says in verse 4 “Thou hast left thy first love.” When we have left our first love that means we made the wrong turn or the wrong decision. 

You see I was baptized as a kid and I strayed away - I got on the wrong road. Let me tell you what was on that road: a lot of loose women, there was drugs, there was alcohol, gambling - all kinds of things on that road.  I experienced a lot of that stuff. I was on the wrong road. I had to stop; there came a time in my life when I had to stop and maybe some of you all can testify to that too. When I realized I was on the wrong road I had to stop. I had to get on my knees.

The road I was on lead to nowhere.  That road that I was on was not going to lead me back to the right road.   That’s what I had done - I walked away. The Lord didn’t leave me, I left Him. I walked away from the church. I walked away from the word of God and got caught up on that wrong road.

Matthew 7:13-14
13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Jesus is telling us enter at the straight gate. The straight gate is real small; you gonna have to ease through there.  Now that wide gate is like that door; you can just walk straight on through. You can walk through holding hands.

If we’re going to follow Christ, if we’re going to live for Christ we’re going to have to go through that narrow gate.  There are a lot of folks on the broad road.  When I was on the broad road I had a bunch of folks with me.  Everybody loves a party animal. I was one of those guys - I loved to party; chasing women, staying up half of the night, eating, and drinking. But when the folks around me found out that I recommitted my life to Jesus Christ they started falling back. They would come by the house – “Man what you got to drink?”  I’d say “there’s a beer in there, you can have that. Man you don’t want it? Man you can have that; I got some strong stuff you can have that too.”

When they saw the transformation in my life they realized this brother, he’s getting off that road. They realized that something was happening.  He’s not partying anymore. He’s not drinking or smoking - he’s not going with us now.  They started dropping off one by one and they quit coming around.
When you start walking and living for the Lord and you begin to speak his word, people don’t want to hang around you if they’re not trying to get on that road.

We’ve got to be willing to get on that road, that road that leads to life. It says there are few that find it.
“Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way…. Few there be that find it”.  We want to be in the few that find it.  In order to find something, you have to look for it. We have to seek after it.

​Jesus tells Thomas “I am the way the truth and the life…..” Thomas wanted to know: How do I get on that road? I want to know how I get on that road, Jesus. Jesus tells Thomas, I am the way - I’m the one that’s going to lead you. I am the map. I am the source. Jesus says “I am”.

​So if we’re going to walk on that road, we need Jesus.  We need the “I am” God walking with us in order for us to get to our destination.  There are some brothers that I grew up with that I hung out with that are gone now.  And they that didn’t get on that road. I’m not saying they didn’t get back on it on their death bed, but I don’t think all of them got it right. But I thank God that he is a second- third -fourth -fifth –sixth chance God. He allows us to come back.  I thank Him, my brothers, for allowing me to come back and recommit my life to Him.

Twenty years ago if someone had told me that I would be here standing up trying to preach or teach somebody, I would have thought they were crazy.  I didn’t see it but God has a plan; He has a plan not only for my life -he has a plan for each one of our lives.  We have to see where we fit in God’s plan.

There is an old song that says it’s getting late in the evening and the sun is going down. The sun is going down for all of us. Jesus says in one passage we must work while it is day, because when night comes no man can work. Night will be when we go on to glory - when our eyes close on this side of glory, never to open again.
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Let us all get on that right road.
~J. T.

John 14:1-7
Revelation 21:1-4
Destiny and Destination.  Destination means a place to which one is journeying or to which something is sent. In this day and time we have GPS, we have this thing called MapQuest, we even have these things in our cell phone, a little lady called SIRI, she can help us find our destination and where we need to go.
The word destination is linked to the word destiny or future.  When someone is born to royalty his identity and destiny are fixed, simply by being born.  If a child is born to a King, his destiny is fixed - everything is fixed for him. Why? Because he’s born into a royal family.

For Christians, when we are born again we are born by the Spirit of God and we become children of God. Not only that, we become heirs. That’s royalty. As royalty, we have a destiny as well, and in John 14, Jesus tells us our destiny and our destination.
John 14 is a very familiar passage of scripture; Jesus is speaking to his disciples.  Jesus is letting them know he’s going to prepare a place for them.  And not just a place - he says in my father’s house are many mansions.

We have a coworker that passed away yesterday but he got an upgrade.  Right now Brother Ball is fixed. He doesn’t have to worry about being hooked up to the machines and taking chemo and all these things anymore.  Even like my parents - my Dad died at 81 with heart problems.  My Mom she had a lot of health problems, like diabetes and other things, and she died at 80.  They don’t have to worry about that now, going to the doctors and going through all these different things.  As it says in Hebrews Chapter 12 “we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses”, people are standing around looking down on us, telling us to keep going, stay in the race,  keep pressing on.

This world is not our destination, and this is not our home; as believers this is not our home. This is a temporary place.  It’s just like you’re riding down the highway, you see a rest area. That’s not a place for you to go and stay. That’s just for you to go and rest a little while, get refreshed, and then get back on the road. We didn’t come here to stay.

What did Thomas tell Jesus?  Lord we don’t know the way - how can we know the way - Lord we don’t know how to get there.  Jesus says if you want to get where you want to go, you’re got to go by me. 
How can we get to our destination? Like I said we have GPS, MapQuest, and we have cell phones talking to us to help us get to whatever city or whatever state we need to get to. But if we want to get to heaven, Jesus says “I am the way, I am the truth, and the light.”  We can’t go by Buddha, Muhammad or some philosopher. You’ve got to go by him if you want to get to your destination.

As believers, we know that our future and our destination is set. We know exactly where we are going.
Our purpose in life is to be transformed and our destiny is to live eternity in his presence. Our destiny is to be able to go home, to go to heaven. We’re looking to go home one day. Everybody you see here, everybody you meet will one day leave here so we have to make preparation.

In times past, when we would get ready to make a road trip we would get out our atlas, spread it out, highlighting the route. Now with GPS you don’t see a lot of people with big maps spread out.  As believers we don’t need MapQuest, we don’t need a GPS to help us get to where we are going.  Not when we’re talking about God and going to the place that Jesus says He has prepared for us.  And Jesus Himself is the Way.

We’re talking about destination, and John saw it.

As it says in Revelation John said I saw a new heaven….. the former things are passed away….
That’s what we look forward to as our destination. When we get to our destination we won’t have to worry.
John says I see this city, prepared as a bride for her husband.  When the bride comes in the church she has her wedding gown on, she has her hair fixed, she maybe has a veil on - she has everybody’s attention.  She is beautiful.

The groom is at the altar waiting and that’s the way is it with Jesus. He’s standing waiting for us. He’s waiting for His bride, the church, and he’s waiting at the altar no matter what we might go through. There may be some things that are happening now; we’ve talked about friends and loved ones that have gone on.  There may be some tears now.  But when we reach our destination there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, and no more pain.

In other words these former things are gone.  We’re looking to get there one day. To get to that place, our destination. Our destination is heaven, that’s where we are going, that’s where we look to go.

You need to know where you are headed, and how you’re going to get there.  If you were going to California you wouldn’t just jump in your car and drive.  You wouldn’t say, Well, I know California is in the west and I know the sun goes down in the west, so I’m just going to drive west. You might end up in Mexico or Oregon somewhere!

You need to know where you are headed, and how you will get there.

​Heaven is our destination, and Jesus Christ is the Way. I pray that he will allow all of us to reach that destination and one day to see His Son face to face.
~J. T.

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John 4:1-24
Matthew  4:8-11
Psalms 95:5-6
 
When we talk about worship, worship is defined as an act of reverence.  As we will see here in this passage from John chapter 4, Jesus helps us to understand worship.
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Here Jesus is talking with this woman at the well and she begins to question Jesus: Our fathers worshipped in this mountain but you say we should worship in Jerusalem…. Why should we worship there?

Good Question ..... Just where should we worship? The woman opened up an opportunity for Jesus to teach her about worship.

Jesus’ answer lets her know that worship is not about a place. Even today as we come together to do this devotion or even as we go to church – in either place, in any place, we can worship God.  You can worship God anywhere you want.  You don’t have to wait until you go to a certain place, such as the Islamic brothers; they go to Mecca, they do the pilgrimage thing. We don’t have to do that; we can worship God right here.

 “The hour is come and now is where the true worshipers will worship him in spirit and in truth.” God seeks those that would be willing or open to worship him.  Worship is essential to serving God and we have to be willing to worship God.

 “Come let us worship him let us bow down - let us kneel before the Lord our maker.” God looks for worshipers, and he invites us to worship. He is the maker: we should worship Him, we should exalt Him, and we should praise Him. We should give Him the honor that is due to Him.

In the passage from Matthew Satan takes Jesus and shows Him some things to, intending to tempt Him.  In other words Satan took him up and showed him (in today’s time) the condominiums, the Cadillacs, the big rolls of money, the flash, the gold, the women…… In today’s time Satan would take a brother up and he would show him these things.

He’s telling Jesus if you fall down and worship me I can give you all you see.  Satan is offering Jesus all the things of this world if he would just fall down and worship him. 

Jesus was not going to fall down and worship him.  If he would have I wouldn’t be standing here right now reading this word, trying to say some things to advance the kingdom of God.

Jesus tells Satan, and he tells us that only the Lord should be the object of our worship.  He quotes Deuteronomy 6:13 “You must worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.”

God formed us out of the dust of the ground and has given us all that we have, all that we are.  We should worship Him and Him alone.

How do we worship? Jesus is glad you asked.

Just as Jesus taught the woman at the well about worship, and we must learn from him as well. We can worship anywhere, we can worship anytime, but we must worship only God.
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Worship Him.
~ J. T.

​I Corinthians 13:1-7
Luke 18:10-14
Matthew 5:39
 
Let’s look at this word agape – actually, the word agape is not in the bible. Agape is a Greek word that was used by the early Christians. It means God’s love or the love of God.  So even though the word agape is not in the bible, it is an important word to know as we seek to know more about God.

In this passage the word charity is another word for love. Paul tells me that I can have all these elegant words but if I don’t have love it’s just like tinkling cymbals or sounding brass - I’m just keeping up noise. He goes on to say “…..though I have the gift of prophecy” and to mention other gifts. In other words I can do all these things: I can have faith, I can feed the poor, I can do a lot of things, but it profits me nothing  if I don’t have LOVE. I can give out all that I have but if I don’t give it from the heart it means nothing.  If I don’t give it with love, I’m just putting on a show.

There are a lot of people who do things for a show. Even in our churches and other organizations people sometimes do things just for a show. They will do things so that the spotlight shines on them. Without love, it means nothing. God is not concerned with what we do out of just doing it. It matters why we do it.
I have seen people do things just to be put under the spotlight, wanting people to look upon them. Like this man that’s in the scripture that stood before the altar and he smote his breast and said Lord forgive me I’m a sinner. The other man stood with his chest stuck out saying I tithe, and I fast all week long, but he was only focused on himself. We need to stop looking at ourselves and look at the needs of others.
As you go back and you read this remember the word charity is another word for love.

As we look at these other characteristics of love we see that love “suffers long ,is kind, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up…”.

Whatever we are going to do God wants us to do it out of love. He wants us to do it from the heart.

The Bible says God is love and God so loved the world. This is a symbol/description of God’s love, His agape love. God is kind, and God is longsuffering.  God is not easy to provoke. We need to keep in mind that when we talk about His agape love we’re talking about the characteristics of God’s love.

This chapter talks about love - this agape love -the love that God has for each one of us.  We look at all of these different characteristics of love. If you really have the true love of God you are not easily provoked.

Now I’m going to tell you something, I’m a man of God but people can do things that will get on anybody’s nerve.  So we should have enough God in us that we can control that. Instead of jumping off the handle and using those words and cussing and want to fight we should be able to look at that thing and say Sure, I could get mad or I could get upset. But before I let myself get all upset and use things I don’t want to use or act any kind of way that is ungodly, I’m going to walk away from this situation. I’m going to get myself out of this environment. I don’t care who he is a man of God can get angry. Even Jesus got angry with those people that sold in the temple and ran them out.

I’m not going to ever say that I’ve gotten to the point where I’m not going to get upset or that I can’t get upset.  I know the scripture says if somebody slaps you on one side to turn the other cheek but we’re human.  So we have to learn to demonstrate that agape love, we have to learn how to love like God.

We can do all these other things but if we don’t have love it profits us nothing. We’re just keeping up noise-  just rattling like a can with a bunch of rocks in it. It profits us nothing if we’re not doing it out of sincerity, if we don’t imitate God’s Agape Love.

​So let’s practice love – let’s imitate our heavenly Father. Let’s be loving, patient, slow to get angry. This is the one way we can seek to be like God.  

Genesis 3:8-14
Everybody that’s on this earth is a descendant of Adam and Eve. As a result of sin every human being and every race began to die.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and after they realized they had disobeyed God their eyes became open. They realized they were naked and they went and hid themselves.  Here God is calling to Adam. He asked 4 questions in this whole conversation.

He first asked Adam “Where art thou?” But Adam and Eve had hid themselves. “I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”  Now Adam was more concerned about being naked than he was about the thing that God had commanded him not to do. God asked Adam why he was afraid, and then question number 3 “Did you eat of the tree?” God is not really looking for information - but He certainly had some questions for Adam. 

Now we’re  going to see the blame game. We will see people point fingers. Adam says: God, it was that woman that you gave me!  Adam is beginning to point fingers. Not only is he pointing fingers at the woman - if we read it carefully we see that he is blaming God too.  Adam is pointing fingers at God - It’s that woman that you gave me.  She gave me of the tree and I did eat.  God turned around and asked Eve this question: “…what is this that you have done?”  Adam blamed God, then he turned around and blamed the woman. And now here is the woman pointing fingers at the serpent – “the serpent beguiled me…”

Who’s to blame?
Let’s look at verse 14. God tells us who’s to blame.

God didn’t ask the serpent a question, He made a statement to the serpent. “Because thou hast done this…’” God says because you deceived this man’s wife and she gave unto her husband you will be cursed among every beast of the field.  So we see here who’s to blame.

God asked 4 questions; He did not get in a conversation – He just asked questions. A lot of times He asks us questions. He speaks to us, and we like to make excuses too.  God asks Adam: Where art thou? Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the tree? And He asked Eve: What is this that you have done?

What Adam and Eve should have done was to fall on their faces before God:  God I messed up! God I repent -  I ask you Almighty God to forgive me.  Just like us - sometimes we mess up! Instead of us pointing fingers, instead of us blaming someone else, we need to go on our knees.

The bible teaches us that all have sinned, and it is due to our sinful nature.  Every man, even a baby - the bible says we are born into sin and shaped in iniquity. Even the little bitty baby - he’s so cute, she’s so darling, but yet and still they have that sinful nature. They can’t help it.

Everyone that has been born has a sinful nature. But as for Jesus, he was different.  Man did not get His mother pregnant so Jesus did not have that sinful nature. Every man that was born on this earth was born with that sinful nature except Jesus Christ.

Who’s to blame? In the 14th verse God tells this serpent …”because you have done this.” That’s who to blame, the enemy is to blame; not Adam not God not Eve but the enemy deserves the blame.  So we’re off the hook, right?  No.

We can blame the enemy of our souls that we are tempted, but we will suffer the consequences for our choices.  Adam and Eve had options.  They could have ignored the serpent. They could have told him to get lost.  They could have talked to God about it.

We all find ourselves in Adam and Eve’s position at some point in life, in their fig aprons, so to speak. And like them, we cannot escape God’s examination. We must humble ourselves before God, and ask for His forgiveness.  The bible teaches us that as we accept God’s Son Jesus Christ as our Savior, Almighty God will cause us to be blameless.
7 Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. 9 God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:7-9 New Living Translation (NLT)
~J.T.

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Genesis 2:15, 17
Genesis 3
Romans 3:23
James 4:17
 
What is sin? If someone asks you what sin is, what would you say? Webster’s Dictionary says it means the willful breaking of religious or moral law.  Sin is being disobedient to God’s law or disobedient to God’s instruction.

When we talk about the first sin we know who was here first. There was Adam first, and then there was Eve. God created Adam and He had given him some instructions.

God put Adam in the Garden called Eden. In today’s time Adam would have been considered a groundskeeper because he was put in the garden to dress it and to keep it.  Adam was there to cultivate or take care of it.

So here God is giving Adam some instruction. He’s talking directly to Adam here, telling Adam that any tree of the garden you are free to eat, except one.

My son and I were talking last night and I told him that Adam didn’t have fried chicken and pork chops. They didn’t have big pots of stew. I believe that Adam and Eve were more like vegetarians. God tells them that you may eat but of this one tree you may not eat. God told Adam if you go out and you eat of the fruit of this tree you will die, and we will see here that that is exactly what happened. God was saying that you will not only die physically; you will die spiritually. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God they allowed sin and death to enter this world.

The serpent said to Eve: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Eve says to the serpent: “God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” God did not tell Adam that.  Now, Adam might have told Eve that, but God didn’t say anything about you may not touch it. Now, God was speaking directly to Adam, but Eve is in this conversation with this serpent about what was said. We know that the serpent is a symbol of the devil in the garden.

God has given Adam instruction but God didn’t tell Adam that he couldn’t touch the tree - he told him he couldn’t eat of it.

We see here Eve gets in this conversation with this serpent, and Adam wasn’t somewhere far off; he was right there.  Adam should have said “We ain’t got no business in this conversation with this guy -  God has given us instructions, he has told us not to eat of it.” Instead, the bible says that Eve gave it to him and he did eat.

The devil often attacks us in our weakest point. Now if you go back and read the word of God, when Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil we see him trying to do just that.  He knew Jesus was physically hungry, but Jesus knew the scriptures; Jesus knew what God had said.

Sometimes we allow our fleshly desires to overshadow everything God has told us.  Even when it comes to doing all those things out there in the street  - running around, sleeping around, doing all these other things. A lot of times our desires overshadow everything God has instructed us to do, but we shouldn’t allow that to happen. 

The first sin.  This is where it started. The first man and the first woman sin, here in the Garden of Eden.  But, the bible also lets us know that “We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”.  We all sin and we all have a sinful nature.  The bible teaches us that even when we know to do good and don’t do it, it is sin.

God doesn’t leave us out here helpless.  He gives us His Word.  Other voices will tell you lies and try to get you off track, but here we see that if we disobey God, we sin, and we suffer the consequences.
We have a sinful nature, but we don’t have to live under the control of that nature.

​How do we live life without sin? We study the word of God, and we obey the voice of God.

Luke 16:23-30

Webster says “Hell is the place to which the sinners and unbelievers go to eternal punishment after death”.  The Bible Encyclopedia says it is “the place of eternal torment.”
In the book of Revelation (Chapter 20) it talks about the lake of fire. It is an everlasting fire, an everlasting punishment.

We have heard people say the word, and we all have used the word hell.  We have heard people say “Go to hell” or “It is hot as hell out here”.  There are even those that say “I’m catching hell”.

But……. is hell real?

If I were standing in a pulpit and said some of those things people would look at me sort of strange; they would look at me like I was crazy. But the bible speaks of hell, in fact Jesus himself used the word hell.
“There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen….and was buried”. This rich man fared “sumptuously”; this rich man had everything he needed. The beggar wanted just the crumbs. He didn’t want the whole pie; he didn’t want a whole dinner.

He didn’t even give the beggar the crumbs, but the dogs had compassion on him. The beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. The rich man died also and was buried, but nobody carried him into anybody’s bosom.

“And in hell he lifted up his eyes”. This rich man died and was buried but now look at him - he looked up, and he’s in hell.

Is hell real?  Do you think that Jesus would have said that this man was in hell if he wasn’t in hell? If we believe the word of God - if we believe the teaching of Jesus we learn that hell is real.

There is heaven and there is hell. Regardless as to if we are rich or we’re poor, black or white, we are going to end up in one of those places.  We might say: “Oh, he straddled the fence”. There is no such thing - You’re on one side or the other. There is no such thing as in between - you will go to heaven or hell.

I have a card in my wallet.
This card was given to me more than 20 years ago. I was going into the Ferguson Center and there was a man who gave me this card.  If someone were to say to me I’ll give you a million dollars if you can tell me the color of his hair, if he had a mustache or if he had glasses - I couldn’t do it. But I still have this card.
He gave me this card over 20 years ago. This card says “If you meet me and forget me you’ve lost nothing. If you meet Jesus Christ and forget him you have lost everything.”

Hell is real, brother.
It’s not a place of vacation, it’s not a paradise, it’s not a place you go and lounge around. It’s a place of torment. It was not created for you and I; it was created for the devil and those that will follow him such as the antichrist and the false prophets.  It was not created for the believers. 

​“And he cried… for I am tormented in these flames”. This man says I am tormented, I’m in torment in these flames. He begged for relief.  Hell is real, and the bible is letting us know we don’t want to go. Just as heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people, hell has been prepared for those who reject Christ.

I used to say to people all the time “Go to hell”.
Now I’m saying to you – Don’t go to hell.  Receive Jesus. Be a believer, and stay out of hell, because hell is real.
~J. T.
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Proverbs 14:11-12
Isaiah 55:8
John 14:6 
Romans 6:23
When we look around we see horizontally. From where we are, we see things from one direction, from one perspective. Above, God in His perspective - He sees everything. He sees the beginning and the end; He sees the end from the beginning.

He saw you from the time you were conceived in your mother’s womb until the end of your life, and the same for my life. The only thing we can see is right now; what’s around us right now.

It’s just like standing on the sidelines. Since this is football country, think of how you might stand on the sideline with the team and you are watching the game. From there you can only see so much. But for God it’s just like He is looking down and He can see the whole field. Sometimes if you stand on the sideline or sit on the sideline you can’t see the other side of the field as the play takes place. But God is able to see the whole picture, how it all develops and how it turns out.

Isaiah 55:8  "For my thoughts are not your thoughts…. It shall accomplish that which I please and it shall profit in the things wherefore I sent it."

When we talk about God’s way and man’s way we know that our thoughts are not His thoughts. Our ways are not His ways. We’re talking about God’s purpose, God’s intent, God’s direction - God’s eternal purpose. These things a human mind cannot fully comprehend.

In this day and time we have technology and all kinds of smart devices and computers. If we had the ability scientists would be able to predict the very time that this world will come to an end. They can look back and find fossils and bones and say this is a million years old. But they cannot go into the future and say “Well, God is going to do this in the year 2025.” They always talk about the earthquakes in California; they are always predicting these kind of things. They predict, but they do not know. With all of our technology and information, we still do not KNOW.  But God knows – from His perspective, He knows ALL.

So who has the better way? God who sees and knows all things, or man?
God's Way or Man's Way?

A Better Way
My thoughts and my ways will determine my future. Man’s way will evidently perish.  If I have the wrong approach to salvation, if I choose the wrong way, I will not be saved.  If I have the wrong perspective, if I depend on my knowledge instead of the word of God, I may have the wrong thinking, and perish because of it.  If my way of thinking is all I depend on, all I have faith in, eventually I’m going to perish.  But it tells us in this latter part of that verse (Proverbs 14:12) that the tabernacle of the upright of the house of God shall flourish.

One way leads to life and one leads to death.  If I try to minister and share Christ with my own philosophy it will lead to death.  If I minister the Word of God and the Word of God is received that’s going to bring life.  You’re going to receive life from what? From the Word of God.

God invites us to a new and better way. The Old Testament talks about giving up sacrifices: pigeons, doves, sheep, and oxen.  But now we don’t have to do that - God gave us a better sacrifice, a perfect sacrifice. And that sacrifice was Jesus, our Christ.
Man adopted ritual sacrifice as a “way” to God, but in the end rituals (religion without relationship) became another “way” to death.  God taught us the principle of sacrifice, but He gave us the Way.  Ultimately, God’s way – Jesus Christ – is the ONLY way.

Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life….. You are going to have to go by Jesus (on your way to heaven or hell). Going to Muhammad, going to Buddha, going to Hare Krishna is not going to get you there. You’ve got to go by Jesus.

God’s way – Jesus – is a powerful way.  We see a glimpse of it now in the world’s reaction to the name of Jesus.  He always gets a reaction.  Some love him, some hate him. If I were to go to the middle of the mall and shout “Jesus!!” – I'm sure I would get a reaction! Some might think I was crazy, some might shout “Jesus!” back at me, someone might even tell me to be quiet, but I would definitely get a reaction.  If I shouted “Buddha!” or some other name, I would get reaction, but not like the response I would get to the name of Jesus.

One day, we will see the whole world respond with worship and surrender to the name of Jesus. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord. 
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God’s Way or man’s way – you choose.  Choose wisely, choose Christ.