We were set up on the roadside with our Free Prayer trailer. A woman stopped and after we prayed with her, I asked her if she would like to ask Jesus into her heart to be her Lord and Savior. Her answer floored us! She said “No! I don’t believe in middlemen! I don’t need Jesus! I go straight to the Father!” WOW! There was no reasoning with her. Her mind was made up, but she couldn’t have been more wrong! Without Jesus, there is no going to heaven. Without Jesus, there is no forgiveness of sins. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the Lamb of God. Jesus is also God!
John 14:6: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus said that! “No one comes to the Father except through Me!”Meaning: No one! There is no way around Jesus. Maybe some of you are thinking, but isn’t Jesus a mediator? Yes,
1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
What is a mediator? According to the New York Courts website,“In mediation, a person called a ‘mediator’ helps people in a dispute to communicate with one another, to understand each other, and if possible, to reach agreements that satisfy everyone’s interests. The mediator does not take sides or decide who was right or wrong (sins) in the past. The mediator helps people to make their own decisions and focus on the future.”
Jesus is the mediator because He bridges the gap between a holy God and sinful man. He is also the only bridge to the Father and to eternal life in heaven, because He is both fully God and fully man. Because of this, He is the only one who can represent both sides. By Jesus offering Himself as a blood offering to pay the ransom for sin, He became the bridge to resolve the separation between us and the Father. Why is this so important? Two years ago, during the flood, we lived north of Sioux Rapids. When the bridges flooded, there was no way to cross to the other side. We were stuck! It created an impasse. It is the same way with Jesus. He is the bridge and without Him in your heart, there is no way you can get from earth to heaven. It’s impossible!
Jesus said of communion in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, “This is My body, this is My blood…Do this in remembrance of Me!” Why does Jesus want us to remember? Jesus never wants us to forget that He redeemed us when we accepted Him into our heart to forgive us of our sins. He wants us to remember the price He paid to give us the right to be saved and the right to go to heaven. He wants us to remember that He loved us while we were still sinners. And Jesus wants us to remember the words he spoke to the thief on the cross who wanted to accept Jesus as His Savior. Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise!”And He wants us to remember that we too will be with Him in paradise if we have Him in our hearts!
Remember I wrote a few weeks ago about my experience of dying and going to heaven? The first person I saw in heaven was Jesus. I have come to realize that because Jesus is my bridge into heaven, His arms were the first I got to experience to welcome me home! If you haven’t asked Jesus into your heart,do so today. Romans 10:9 says, “IF you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raisedJesus from the dead, you WILL be saved!” I hope to see all of you in heaven!
-Emil Liko 7/17/26