A couple of weeks ago, I believe it was during one of the Wednesday night's messages, when Brother John preached about the way to Heaven and that there was only one way. I don't remember the exact phrasing he used, but during the message, the song "There's Only One Door" came to my mind. I have thought about it several times since and to my delight I woke to it this morning!
Dr. Curtis Hutson once said, "I am a church member. I have been baptized. I try to live right. I have been preaching since I was twenty years old. I travel every week of my life going from church to church throughout this country to preach the gospel. But I do none of these things to be saved. My only hope of Heaven is the fact that Jesus Christ died for me. He paid my sin debt. I am trusting Him alone for salvation. I am not trusting my good works, my church membership, my baptism, or anything else. When we stand before God, the only thing that He will count is what His Son did at Calvary.” Dr. Hutson was a rural mail carrier and began preaching in the mid 50"s. After preaching a revival at a small 50 seat church, he was called to be its pastor. In 1961, he attended a Bible conference on soul winning and was convicted that he should preach more aggressively to win the lost to Christ. He began to preach about soul winning and his congregation followed his example. In 1967, he quit working for the post office and became a full time pastor where between 1969 to 1972, the church grew from 350 members to 2300. When he retired from 20 years of full time pastoring the church membership was over 7900.
I tell this story for 2 reasons. 1. Dr. Hutson clearly understood and believed there is only one door to Heaven and he preached it with passion. 2. I experienced the church's growth first hand, as the small church I attended was around the corner, and I got into many of their traffic jams on my way to Grandma's house for Sunday dinner.
Yesterday, after President Trump announced churches are essential and provide essential services, I read several articles and different opinions. One that struck me was from someone who said we don't need churches, God is everywhere and we can just go out in nature and worship it. Well, I love nature too, but I don't worship the creation, I admire it! I worship The Creator! Well, as my "opinion piece" this morning, I will say, there is only one way to Heaven and It is through Jesus Christ who died on Calvary for all of us and rose again to live forevermore.
"There's Only One Door" was written I believe in the mid 60's. I seem to recall it was it was a collaboration of Dottie Rambo and Gov. Jimmie Davis. Gov. Davis recorded it in 1965 but my first memory of hearing this song was when The Inspirations recorded it in 1973. It featured the original baritone and founding member of The Inspirations, Jack Laws. In my opinion, Jack had a unique baritone voice and sung harmonies as good as anyone. Jack was often featured on the old hymns, like "Where We Will Never Grow Old". With failing health, Jack was not able to travel with the group as much in his latter years and passed away in 2013. I miss Jack and his special personality and seeing him at the services and concerts.
I decided to share the link to Jack and The Inspirations this morning as that is the way I woke up. I hope you will enjoy and have an amazing Saturday!
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