Giong Through the Narrow Gate

one big mass. And if you've ever gone to a place where it could be a concert, of ball game, whatever, it might be, shopping somewhere where they're having a huge sale and there's tons of people wherever you might be. While you're with that many people, you'll see that the mass kind of takes over the individual kind of becomes a blob of humanity moving in one direction, and to go in a different direction, or to have a single mind or desire or focus becomes difficult, if not impossible.

It's not a good thing. I don't want you to be a part of that mass that moves you from point A to point B without you even having a decision as to where you stand or where you go. Scripture talks about this. Scripture talks about the two gates and the paths that follow. Matthew seven thirteen says, enter through the narrow gate. For the wide is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and

many enter through it. But small is the gate, and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. People go back and forth as to what I was talking about here and what I meant, And there's arguments as to why I use this particular language.

There are those that go back to Jewish canons and say that there's certain measurements for different areas it So it says in those writings, a private way was four cubits, broad away from city to city was eight cubits, a public way sixteen cubits, and the way to the cities of refuge thirty two cubits. So these are measurements that people get in their mind as to what a broad road is, what a wide road is. Of course, two thousand years ago, with all the city walls, oftentimes you

had to enter through a gate. There were times where it's simple, and there's times where it's difficult, depending on the size the place you're going. But I want you to think about it in a different sense. You hear the term narrow minded all the time, and of course I don't want you to be narrow minded that although many people believe that just by the very nature of your faith, you're narrow minded, which is pretty narrow minded of them, don't you think. But when people say narrow minded,

it's set as a pejorative. It's negative, telling you that you have one thought and you don't ever add to it, that you push anything away that's not that thought. That's not what I want. Of course, I want you to always test all things into study and to learn and to show yourself approved. But when I say be narrow minded, I mean being narrow minded like the narrow gate. Focus minded, focusing on what God has for you, focusing on the things of God and the things of Heaven as they

pertain to this earth and vice versa. Not focusing on just you want when you want it. Not focusing just on the things of the world, because that's where the mass is. That's like that blob that I told you about that. When you're at a concert, or you're at a ballgame, or you're with lots of people, they just kind of shuttle from one place to the other. And really whoever's leading is at the front, and they may be leading you down a path you don't want to go.

If you're a follow like a line of cars, when you assume you're all going to the same place and then you end up somewhere different, you oh, well, I just assumed they were going where I was going. Don't assume, of course, as you know what that does. But when you assume those things, or you get caught up in that mob mentality, you get pushed like that broad road, that wide gate that leads to destruction, because you're going with the flow, entering through the small gate, the narrow gate.

The narrow road is showing that you are walking with God alone, that you're focused on the will of God and not just the will of the people. Yes, many, many, many people can be wrong. And it's not that I don't want you to learn the skills of following and humility, but to also learn the skill the skills of leading in your life, of course directed by me, and in doing so you become a leader of your life. It talks about in scripture that God and his word is

the lamp unto your feet. So if I guide you and you take that direction, and you guide yourself with it, you are on that narrow road. You are narrow minded, not in the sense the world wants to call you narrow minded, but you're focused. You're of one thought. The world wants to tell you that being of one focus

is a bad idea. You should just encompass everything, and that gets you nowhere, That gets you on the wide road end mass pushing and shoving and going a place that you may not know or may not like when you end up there, and that mentality is kind of well,

everybody's doing this or everyone's doing that. How many times did your parents tell you, well, if you so and so jumped off a bridge, would you Unfortunately, if you're in a group of people that seems to be walking down a particular path and you're not checking yourself and you're not aware truly of where they're going, then you tend to follow ask questions always when someone's it's okay to be led by someone, but ask questions a point your leaders don't just follow in a proper balance between

leader and follower. There should be communication, there should always be questions, and there should be harmony. If there's a breakdown in there somewhere, then it's just a pied piper. And this goes forward everything love, relationships, politics, religion, all of it. And if you get lazy, you get complacent, if you just do what everyone else is doing, you'll

end up where everyone else ends up. And it may not be where you think, and it may not be what you want, and it may not be what you think is going to be at the end of it all. Now there are narrow gates and there are wide gates. And I realize when you see the wide gates it

looks simpler, easier, more welcoming. But to take the time to use discernment so that you can decide which is the best way for you to go, and to know that on the ways and paths that are best for you, oftentimes they'll be the ones that you travel on your own. They don't need to be wide. The narrow way. The narrow path is so that it is there's enough room for you and enough room for me. Steve, Welcome to the Jesus Christ show.

But you have to trust that when you're doing that which is right, that other people see that and then it will motivate them. And in a type of work like the probation office, that's one of those. Often you know, you don't get a whole lot of thanks, and the work that you guys do is very very important, and it's very easy to get that feeling of being unnoticed, but there's a lot that goes on there, and really the reward of it has to be doing things right.

You see parents that say, you know, I pay my kid five dollars to clean his room. Now, I don't have any problem with an allowance or anything like that, so don't get me wrong. But what I do have a problem with is that is when you teach a child that the reward is the money and not the clean room. You see, when you clean a room, the reward is the clean room. When you have good hygiene, the reward is the good hygiene. When you do your chores, when you do all that, the ward is the clean house.

Is an organized house is an orderly house. That is the reward. So I whenever there's an allowance given, I'd like to see that they that you at least take the time to teach the child that the reward is what they've done, not the money. Henry, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show.

alone that's homeless, three that are female. And then whatever really felt good is is I said, well, we can make an impact on this.

desperate or homeless or as you say, even hungry. There's a lot to that story. So and it's you know, the amount of time that we have to kind of iron through. It is not what we'd always like. But I would say this what I can sort from the things you were telling me, that the church could very well be misfocused. Absolutely, that local church there could be

misfocused on what they're fighting for. And this is something we've talked about on the program many times, Henry, is that the church oftentimes gets focused on one thing and it becomes a political thing, and it becomes more important than anything else, and then people lose sight of that which is important. And because of these things, should you defend yourself and your right to worship the way you want to worship? Absolutely, should you be able to fly

a flag with Christian symbols on in the United States. Absolutely, are there concerns that the ACLU has with separation of church and state, Yes, but how that ties into a man or woman needing to eat is beyond me. It's not an either or, it's a both, and you can defend things personally. I don't care whether flag is flown or not. If every man, woman, and child gave their life to me, then a flag is unnecessary. So it's

really kind of misses the point. People don't necessarily drive by a flag and say, well, that has Christian symbols on it. I want to give my life to God. But when they see an act of kindness, when they see you feeding somebody who needs to eat, when they see you showing love and compassion, that that moves people to want to change their lives as well. So there's a lot of sides here, and we don't have all

the participants. So I'm going to leave you with this that if you feel moved to do something and it's a noble cause, a cause that's in line with the will of God, then by all means do it. One of the most difficult things, and this is why there's four Gospels. Is that it's very easy for people to get caught up in their world. And that is because everybody's the star of their own movie, and they get caught up in their world. And that means whatever their

focus is is the most important focus. And if you feel moved to take care of veterans, that is an incredibly noble and wonderful thing. Do it. Gather those that can help, gather all those that will hear, and do it. But don't expect everybody to have the same response you do, because the purpose of having so many people with different focuses is to complete all the needs to the best way, in the best possible way. And if everybody's focused on

one thing. I know churches go through this all the time. They have their Philippians Fund or whatever they have that they give to people in their church when they are out of work, or these types of things, feeding them, doing things for them. But then another group will come in and they have their charity or their group and they'll come to the church and they'll say, hey, we need money for this. Church says, I'm sorry, we don't

have money for that. We have it set aside for this and that organization walks away going that church doesn't love God and aren't doing it. No, that church has a calling as well, and everybody kind of gets wrapped up in their own focus and what their own interests are. There's a lot of worthy causes out there and they all need attention. And this way different people are being moved and called and emotionally motivated, then people more people will get taken care of. So continue to holler and

use your trumpet to get people to notice. But don't expect every church or every Christian to necessarily participate, as they might be helping someone else. And my reference to the Gospels is that the reason why there's four Gospels is for perspective. You want to get the perspective of the individuals as they see fit. Because some were preaching to the gentiles, some were preaching to the Jews, and the different insights are important to understand in their fullness.

Just too easy to get so hyper focused that everything else becomes unimportant based on what you're doing. Now. The second part of that Henry dealing with the people of faith that are kind of losing their faith and humanity. Well, join the club. There's a lot of people that experience that, and you can either let it consume you and pull you from God, which the devil would love, or you can use to motivate you and propel you into doing

something great, which I think you've done. So it really is what you do with that information, what you do with the experiences of dealing with these people that have given up so much for their country, that are now in need, and that it surely would be wonderful if every man, woman, and child in the United States did

their part to take care of these veterans. But there's also other things that need to be taken care of, and you can't hate somebody for that, or you can't you can't raise your fist at somebody who's taking care of someone else. That's what they're feeling called to do. You just have to make sure that everybody understands that there's a need, that you facilitate a process in which people can help that need or take care of that need.

And that's doing a wonderful thing right there. And you'll see that the veterans and the people that are being taken care of and that are receiving these this help or these goods from you, that their their spirit will lift,

but don't underestimate them. They're warriors by nature, and they have taken a lot and they will continue to fight and they continue to have faith as is their nature, and that is why they are the ones that are chosen and to do the things that they've done is because of their character and their ability to stand tall and tough in times of great turmoil. Andrea, welcome to the Jesus Christ.

more tied into anxiety and things like that. That is not of God, that is not a good thing, and that's not the type of fear you should have towards God. The fear that it's talking about, it is a type of reverence. But even beyond that, So imagine this, if you were walking on a tightrope, there should be a healthy fear of falling. That fear is what keeps you on the tightrope not wanting to fall, and that's what teaches you the proper balance and proper technique to get

across that tightrope and not fall. If you didn't fear and you didn't care, then you would more likely be out of balance or not take the time to focus yourself or learn how to do it. Now, that's the proper type of fear. Now, if you had anxiety about it and you walk that tightrope, you'd be in the same place if you didn't have any fear at all. So that's the different types of fear.

if you misused it, it can destroy your entire life. Now, with God, it's not about a punishment issue the same way it is about the will of God is perfection, and that's that you should always desire to continue to refine yourself throughout the process of your learning and knowing more about God, and that when you stray from God is when problems can occur. So fearing God, it says in scripture that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. That means you're truly understanding life and creation

and everything that surrounds it. If you understand that God has to come first, and that God is the uncreated creator of all creation and holds the key to all things, that is a reverence that supersedes what you would say. With reverence, it becomes a fear.