The Gates, The Road, & The Decision

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The Gates, The Road, & The Decision

Matthew 7:13 NLT
13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.
Have A Word Of PRAYER!
Confession of Faith
I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved by what I believe. I believe the WORD of God! The victory is mine! I have it now! I can see it through the eyes of my faith! In Jesus Name!
Intro:
The Word Of God contains Power! There is something that happens when we allow the Word Of God to penetrate our hearts!
The truth is powerful! There is something about the truth when we allow it to penetrates are hearts and minds!
The Gospel is Powerful! There is something about the Gospel when it penetrates are hearts, minds and souls!
The Truth in the Word Of God Points To The Gospel ( Good News) which leads us to Gate - Jesus Christ!
The Truth in the Word of God that Points to the Good News which leads us to gate - Jesus Christ to have Access to God the Father and eternal Life!

The Message Of The Cross

1 Corinthians 1:18 NLT
18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.

The Gates

Matthew 7:13 The Living Bible
13 “Heaven can be entered only through the narrow gate! The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide enough for all the multitudes who choose its easy way.
There are always choices in life: When we look this scripture we are faced with a decision! This is not a crossroads this is a choice we must make!
There are two gates: One you can see plain and simple
The other you must search for !

The Wide Gate

Many of us chose the wide gate because that was the only only one we could see! That’s the one many of our family and friends chose That was the one that appealed to our flesh! That was the one we thought if we went through and walked on that road, we would have happiness, success, love, joy, peace, fame and fortune!
Even when we saw others choose that gate and start on the wide road and terrible thing happened to them, we justified and said, that wouldn’t happen to me!
There are two gates, one wide and one narrow. Everyone of us stands before the wide gate.
It is what’s in my face! It’s whats on social media! It’s whats in the movies and the music! It’s what we see on TV and hear on the Radio
Now for many of us we didn’t have enough information or it was just the easy thing to do - we took the step and entered through the wide gate!
The broad and easy way can be followed without thinking There is plenty of space to walk in; there is plenty of space for the attractive things of the world to grow, there is enough powerfully attractive and charming people and things to keep me distracted
There are enough things to tempt me! It’s big enough to allow me to wander about!
There is enough Space where I can be me - do me - become whoever I want to be, define my own success! Go where I want to go, say what I want to say - do to others what I want to do
It’s so big and wide, it’s difficult to wander off its path.
On the broad way you find UN-thoughtful people, you find undisciplined people, you find lazy people, you find wordly people, you find ungodly people, you find materialistic people!
Those people create broken people, sad people, hurt people, lonely people, scared people, unjust people, people who snatch each others time away, people who take the joy from each other, people who twist what real love is!
The broad way ends in destruction and in death.
In fact, even as a person walks along the broad way, he or she is said "to be perishing”.
There is not a single hindrance to entering the wide gate. Nothing keeps us from entering it.
Even today at this moment, plenty of folks are entering through the wide gate!
It appears for many of us to be the only gate to enter because there...
• is so much growth around it.
• are so many people entering it.
• is so much activity going on.
The wide gate is wide enough to include all: all philosophies and beliefs no matter how extreme, all appetites and passions, all liberties and licenses, all sin and selfishness. The gate is swung wide open so that any and all can enter!

The Narrow Gate

The narrow gate is not seen. You have to search for it in order to find it.
This gate faces in the opposite direction of the wide gate. Here is what i’m saying:
This gate is not immediately or seen naturally.
This gate can an be found only if your turn from the wide gate to find it.
This gate has to be sought.
This gate is difficult to enter even when you find it, because it is narrow.
Jeremiah 21:8 NCV
8 “Also tell this to the people of Jerusalem: ‘This is what the Lord says: I will let you choose to live or die.
The narrow gate requires : commitment, determination, discipline, control, and self-denial.
Not a lot of wiggle room along the path!
You have to stay alert or you will easily wander of the narrow path
The narrow way requires you to think, to be disciplined, to be responsible, and to be spiritual.
John 10:10 NKJV
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
The narrow way provides a life of abundance
The narrow way only have a few. The few search for, find, and enter the narrow gate. They travel the narrow and hard way and end up in life. Few experience the fulness of life in its highest abundance!
The narrow gate requires a decision to enter.
It requires a personal decision, a firm determination, and a commitment of energy and effort to search out the entrance. And once the narrow gate has been found, an immediate and definite decision to enter is required:
Joshua 24:15 NKJV
15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

You Gotta Choose

The narrow gate is so narrow it cannot be seen.
1) You must choose to turn from following the crowd; turn from the pull of the activity and attractions around the wordly gate.
2) You must choose to search for the narrow gate and seek it out diligently.
3) You must choose to enter immediately when you find the narrow gate. However, it is hard to enter for it is very narrow.

How Can I Enter Through The Narrow Gate?

You must repent: turn from the wide gate, the crowds, the wordly activity and the attractions of the world!
Acts 3:19 NCV
19 So you must change your hearts and lives! Come back to God, and he will forgive your sins. Then the Lord will send the time of rest.
Luke 13:3 NCV
3 No, I tell you. But unless you change your hearts and lives, you will be destroyed as they were!
Acts 17:30 NCV
30 In the past, people did not understand God, and he ignored this. But now, God tells all people in the world to change their hearts and lives.
You must confess that you don’t now the narrow gate! You don’t know how to find it?
The narrow gate is Jesus, the actives on the narrow road are good works, right living, faith , hope and love

You must be born again:

John 3:3 NCV
3 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot be in God’s kingdom.”
1 Peter 1:23 NCV
23 You have been born again, and this new life did not come from something that dies, but from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s living message that continues forever.
How Do you enter the narrow gate?
Mark 10:15 NCV
15 I tell you the truth, you must accept the kingdom of God as if you were a little child, or you will never enter it.”
Put Off The Old things
Ephesians 4:23–24 NLT
23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
Struggle Against Your Flesh
2 Corinthians 6:17 NCV
17 “Leave those people, and be separate, says the Lord. Touch nothing that is unclean, and I will accept you.”
Galatians 5:17 NCV
17 Our sinful selves want what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is against our sinful selves. The two are against each other, so you cannot do just what you please.
The narrow way is very narrow, and it is hard and difficult to travel.
The temptation to return to the broad way or the world sometimes. Self-denial and the will to struggle are needed to overcome the flesh and the fear.
Ephesians 6:12 NCV
12 Our fight is not against people on earth but against the rulers and authorities and the powers of this world’s darkness, against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly world.
Remember The narrow way does not end. It leads to a glorious world that is yet unseen, but it opens up an unbelievable life to the believer
Some seek the narrow gate and never enter it.
1) Some come upon it, but they decide it is too narrow for them. It requires too much effort, discipline, and self-denial to enter.
2) Some seek without thought. They carelessly walk right by it without ever seeing it.
3) Some seek half-hardly They still look back to the world so as not to lose sight of it. They miss the narrow gate because of insincerity and lack of discipline.
4) Some seek and run across it, but they do not like what they see: the restraints, the discipline, the gravel and rocky covering. Therefore, they turn back to the world!
The narrow gate is narrow and hard to find. But it’s not shut. It is open to all who seek and find it. The invitation is out to whomever will enter it.
Matthew 11:28 NKJV
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
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