The service started with a word of welcome to everyone into the house of God: “Let him who thirsts come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17).
“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it” (Psalm 127:1). There is nothing better than being in the house of God. Nothing better than to walk in the fear of God, to build a right relationship with God and build your life on God’s foundation. As the service progressed Pastor Elena Nemikina continued in the unveiling of God truth through the sermon “The Narrow Gate.”
Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it; Because narrow is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and few find it.”
In this verse contains four important words: gate, way, will, and house. The narrow gate or constricted way is the will of our heavenly Father, and the house built on the rock, on the wise words of the heavenly King.
Those who enter through the narrow gate, must be poor in spirit, meek, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, they must be those who mourn and be peacemakers. They must be ready to be persecuted for righteousness and reviled for Christ’s sake and be sure that their Heavenly Father cares for them. Moreover, they should not be lazy and idle, but diligent and hardworking.
The narrow gate is our choice. Whether we live as we want, or enter through the narrow gate is our choice. When we come to God, we promise to die to self. But when everything is fine, do we remember this? God calls us and we should not be slow to respond. Every day we face a choice whether we will go through the narrow gate. Analyze any of your days, do you wake up early to talk with God, to read the Bible, or you pray on the run and as a last resort? If the second option describes you, your flesh is stronger than your spirit.
Fasting is also a narrow gate. The narrow gate requires work, a lot of work from us but the wide path requires no labor.
The devil is doing everything possible to lure Christians into the wide path. This is not necessarily through open sin, or an obvious lie. He does this through the comfort he brings to us, making us not to be alert to the things of God and prevents us from taking the narrow way. If you ever succumb to the flesh once, then he will come the second time. A Christian may not notice how the voice of his conscience has subsided, and how readily he’s received the wide gate, as the norm of Christian life. The wide gate is a dangerous thing, so choose only the narrow path!
“Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it; Because narrow is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
It’s easier to walk on a wide road, so we must constantly be vigilant, training our spirit for to subdue the flesh. We must walk in forgiveness and never take offense.
What are the signs that show we are on the narrow way?
- The constant feeling that we need more of the Holy Spirit;
- The constant awareness that the world is wrong and our home is not here;
- The desire to find the truth and dwell therein;
- The desire to give, and not take;
- The thirst of having a pure heart, in which there is no shadow of evil;
- The ability to be the light of God in any circumstance, even the most difficult ones;
- The ability to love all people, even those who do not like you;
- A strong desire to know the will of God and do it.
That is the narrow path that Jesus spoke about.
The wide path is the path that does not lead to heaven, but many people think that God is loving and cannot send them to hell. God will judge and punish, each of us, not by our looks or by how good we are, but by the path we chose. Only the narrow way leads to eternal life in heaven. The narrow gate is a broadminded, open way of thinking, God’s thinking. A wide path is narrow thinking.
Self sacrifice is also characterized by a narrow path. This is the state of the heart when a person voluntarily sacrifices himself for good things, and not that someone else pushes him to do it or to say so.
A wide path leads to destruction, but the crowd goes by it. The narrow way leads to salvation and eternal life, but the minority follows it.
“Strive to enter in at the straight gate: for I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24).
It is easy to enter the wide gate, but it leads to destruction. The wide path is based on the values of this world and leads to eternal separation from God. It’s not very convenient in the narrow way, you will have to squeeze yourself in. However, Jesus said, only the narrow path leads to paradise. We cannot reach eternity with God through the wide gate. One door, Jesus Christ leads to eternity.
Dear friends, choose the narrow path. It’s worth it, spending eternity with your heavenly Father. May God bless you!
From the Central Church Service
04/24/2014. Kiev
Press center “Embassy of God Church»
