Getting a passport is the great goal of many people, whether American, British, Israeli etc.  It changes people’s lives; they can relax at last, and know they have a homeland, a safe haven.  They belong, and will not be kicked out.  There is a much better passport on offer today and it is completely free to anyone who applies.   This passport makes you a citizen of Heaven even while you’re alive, and an ambassador for Jesus on the earth!  The only snag is the time limit on the offer.  Don’t miss the deadline!*

You don’t have to ask any official person.  You can actually make your own passport.  We did at the little chapel we attend in England.  A few years ago the Lord Jesus gave me the idea of doing the passports along with the Golden City with the children at Sunday School.  (Read about this spectacular city in Rev 21.)  The Golden City is a real city that will be the forever home of all believers in Jesus.  It is Heaven.

Wow, how can we be sure we’ll go there?  Because Philippians 3:20 declares that followers of Jesus  are actually citizens of Heaven!   ‘For our citizenship is in Heaven, from which we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.’

As part of the lesson we made a large Golden City picture on the wall, full of colour and glitter and scriptures I had printed out for them to paste on.  But I always wanted them to have something to take home, so… we made passports.  Passports to Heaven.

I had A5 cards folded in half for the kids, with the word ‘Passport’ on the front,  and the words ‘Our citizenship is in Heaven’ Phil 3:20. 

Inside the card were scriptures showing what citizens of Heaven had to believe[1], a declaration that they believed it all, and a place to sign their names on the back page if they did believe the inside pages.

I left space for them to put their own design on the front and back of the passport, and they were very creative.  Some drew a cross, some drew a heart with their own name and Jesus’ name.

In lockdown I have made several of these passports and try to have one or two ready to give anyone who will listen and accept one.  I have found it a good way to start a conversation and give the gospel in just a few minutes.

You can start by smiling, say hello and ask how they’re doing in lockdown, or if they are OK in this awful time.  Everyone says they’re OK, but then you can say, still smiling:  ‘Did you know this is in the Bible?  Jesus warned of pandemics in Matthew chapter 24, and they are a sign that He is coming back.’

Here they either brush you off, in which case you shut up and do not cast your pearls, or they show some bit of interest, in which case you carry on and pull out your passport and say something like:  ‘I would like to give you this passport, a Sunday School thing really, but it is just a simple way of showing that we can all become citizens of Heaven.’

I am not artistic at all, but I draw a simple outline of the Golden City on the front of the passport, with some gold paint or stick on jewels from a toy shop, or gold glitter, all sitting on a white or blue cloud so they know it’s Heaven.

Then you open the card and show them the 3 points of the gospel (below, footnote 1) that you have to believe.  I can almost guarantee they will never have heard this before!  In the UK where we live, almost no one has ever heard the gospel. 

Then you tell them that Jesus became a human being so that He could shed His blood as a sacrifice for sin.  This is so repugnant to most people that they almost cringe and the reaction is:  ‘How could God allow….’

God did allow, because the Bible says there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22).  Sin is so horrible that nothing can ever make up for it except the most precious thing we have, life itself.

So you tell the person that we are all sinners and have all offended God in different ways, and we all need forgiveness.

And Jesus gave His life, so that we do not have to shed our own blood to pay for our sins.  He paid it all, for everyone who puts their trust in Him.  His blood is what saves us.

If you feel to do it, you could ask them if they want to pray then and there and open their heart to Jesus and believe the 3 gospel points, ask Jesus to forgive their sins, and make them His people.

Hardly anyone wants to do this.  So just give them the passport, tell them they need to get a Bible and start reading maybe the gospel of Mark, Luke or John.  ( Matthew starts with a geneology which will put a lot of people off.)

Best of all, have a gospel there to give them along with the passport.

I have taken pictures of one of my passports and will try to get them on the website  so you can see what I am talking about.  Pictures are a bugbear to me, so I just hope it works.

 Some of you might like to make these passports with your children.  They will love doing this, and also love making the Golden City (see my Sunday School lesson about that). 

My grandchildren sometimes say:  ‘Grandma, let’s do the Golden City!’   This means they want me to cut them each a big piece of paper off a roll of wallpaper liner, and paste them on a wall so each child  can draw or paint their own Golden City.  It is so much fun, so interesting, and we can talk about Jesus and His wonderful City while they’re working, and they can even put themselves in the City.