The Gospel is Narrow

The narrow road of the Gospel is that I need to be perfect, but I can't be perfect + Jesus paid for my perfection, but he won't force it on me...he will do none of it without my agreement.

This leaves me in a very vulnerable reality....I need something I don't have and must ask the one who has it...who paid for me to have it all in every part of my thinking, emotions, and will. He will perfect me if I give Him access to every part of my heart. This takes time and testing. It takes time to see how and where I haven't let God in.

This is love... or two people becoming one over time.

Faith = believing he gives perfection to me over time if I simply ask for it like I actually need it. Like it's required. It is:

Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Faith doesn't get hung up on the impossibility of what is required...it believes He does the impossible if I give Him what is required for Him to work: my full agreement.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Many who name the name of Jesus will be shut out of His kingdom simply because they either fell into the ditch of trying to do something they were never supposed to (try to be holy for Him), or the other ditch of not asking for something they absolutely were required to have (Holiness).

1 Peter 1:15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

The answer is prayer...asking and receiving. That is the core and central message of the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

The real Gospel, when truly responded to, creates people who pray as their main occupation...they know God because they talk to Him all the time.

Matthew 7:13“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14“Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. 15“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16“You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17“Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18“A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20“Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
The Gospel is very narrow. You only truly know Him if you know how narrow it is...if you know how narrow it is, you pray like your life with Him depends on it, because it does.

You can tell people are falling away from Jesus en masse simply by the amount of time spent pointing the finger at everyone else instead of praying for ourselves to be holy.

You see it all around in the church... delusionally believing we can afford to dissect everyone else's thinking...we can't ... There is so little time to deal with our own issues before a holy God. He will save the world, but will He find faith in those who trust in their own righteousness?

Luke 15:7“I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.