By the Narrow Gate

Today’s post begins the greatest sermon EVER delivered in the history of the world - the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus began His sermon with the Beatitudes, which are absolutely breathtaking. I highly recommend listening to the linked sermon playlist in the Comment section of this post to gain a better understanding of them.

God Bless! ✝️🤍🙏🏻

And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

What does it mean to be a “fisher of men”?

When Jesus called on Peter and Andrew to follow Him, it was more than just about following Him. When He said He would make them “fishers of men”, He was telling them that their mission would be to spread the message of the gospel so that more people would be saved from the bondage and eternal consequences of sin.

Jesus’ message was not only for His apostles, but for everyone who follows Him - past, present, and future. No true Christian is ever content with only their own salvation. No true Christian is ever ashamed of sharing the gospel because they know what’s at stake. True Christians share the gospel out of love, and a fervent desire to bring everyone to the path of righteousness that leads to God’s eternal kingdom. We’re all fishers of men. ---------------

And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.

Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

They immediately left their nets and followed Him. - Matthew 4:18-20

I pray that you're enjoying this series so far. Today's post contains an important message, directly from Jesus Himself. It illustrates the fact that Jesus does not turn a blind eye to sin. He preached repentance. Any belief that Jesus forgives without the need for repentance is a lie. He endured the full wrath of God for our sins, suffering before and during His crucifixion. The whole point of His sacrifice was so that we would repent and turn away from the very thing that He suffered for. Don't disrespect His atoning sacrifice.

Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned.”

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

- Matthew 4:12-17

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

- Matthew 4:8-11

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

- Matthew 4:5-7

Red Letter Post of the Day:

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”

But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.

Happy May, y’all!

Because May is Mental Health Awareness month, I would like to highlight the absolute BEST way to maintain a healthy mind.

The BEST medicine for our overall health is daily bread from our Lord. Reading God’s holy Word in humility and with the intention of fully knowing Him is life-changing. When God fills the heart with His indwelling Spirit, we are protected from spiritual warfare that affects mental health. Satan fills our minds with doubts about everything, and Who better than our sovereign Lord to guard against the adversary?

Put your trust in the Lord, and He will give you His full armor. He will give you inner joy and peace that cannot be robbed. He will remove your fear, anxiety, and depression more effectively than any therapy or medication.

When we read a novel, do we read only certain chapters and leave all the others unread? Do we pick only the sentences we like and focus on those? Do we argue about the context of what the author wrote? Do we add our own details to fill in the gaps? How is it possible to know the whole story if we’re unwilling to read the whole book?

The most important question - how can we know God if we only read a few chapters or verses of His Word? We have no basis for argument about God’s existence or His stance on sin if we have never read His Word in its entirety or spent time or effort to gain a full understanding of the context.

A jigsaw puzzle with only one missing piece does not show a complete picture.

The most effective way to deal with sin is to arm ourselves with God's Word.

Sin is not something we can dismiss because of a belief in a false version of God. False teachers would have us believe that God forgives everyone without the need to repent. Yes, God does forgive, but also REQUIRES repentance and obedience. Jesus said, "Go and sin no more." He said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." He boldly tells sinners, "I never knew you. Depart from Me."

Why?

Because sin grieves God. It doesn't matter if the sin is murder or a lie. Sin is sin. God cannot give His kingdom to those who embrace their sin over a relationship with Him. He cannot overlook the willful disrespect of the sacrificial, atoning death Jesus suffered on the cross to take away our sins. That's why Jesus came here - to free us from the bondage of sin. And every time we sin, we're as guilty as those who crucified Him.

Without a full understanding of God's Word, we're vulnerable to the spiritual attacks which draw us into sin and minimize the remorse we SHOULD feel. When we read the Bible every day, we're reminded that sin separates us from God. We have God's Helper - His indwelling Spirit to guide us, protect us, convict us, and help us discern so that we can avoid what will draw us away from Him.

It’s a mandatory decision.

Nobody can rest on “being a good person” and still expect to be in the Body of Christ.

You can’t be neutral, turning a blind eye to sin, accepting the “live and let live” philosophy. You can’t “blend in” to every belief, encouraging others, regardless of their beliefs to show the appearance of “tolerance” or “acceptance” because you’d rather not be known as a “whatever”-phobe or fear being accused of “hate speech”.

The Bible is not hate speech. It’s the Word of God, our Creator, telling us how we should conduct ourselves in this world, and what we must do to inherit His kingdom. To stand WITH God is to be bold in faith, unapologetic, unashamed, and willing to spread His message. We must be willing to take up our cross and follow Him, no matter what it costs. He tells us, in the book of Revelation, how He feels about the lukewarm who neither accept or reject Him.

You’re either part of the world or you’re part of the Body of Christ. There is no in-between. If you don’t choose, then the world is your default position.

God bless! ✝️🤍🙏🏻

If you mention "Christmas" to most people in today's society, they immediately think of "presents" and "food" and "decorations". From as early as September, stores put on their Christmas displays, pushing merchandise for us to buy, and start the usual "Black Friday" sales hype, their goal is to "be first" so that customers will buy what they need for Christmas as soon as it becomes available.

The birth of Jesus is far down on the list of why people celebrate. Christmas has become a commercialized, secular holiday, with the emphasis on greed and overconsumption. Every year, retailers invent new "trends" to get people to scrap last year's decor and buy all new things. It's all there on TikTok, this year's "in thing" is Ralph Lauren decorations. Further, there are videos showing entire ROOMS filled with Christmas presents, an obscene display of "wealth flexing".

A growing number of people are becoming aware that Christmas has nothing at all to do with the birth of Christ, but for a large percentage of the population, it doesn't matter if Christmas is not biblical, as long as they get their "stuff".

The gospel of Luke tells us about the birth of Jesus, but that's not "proof" that we're supposed to celebrate His birthday. Nowhere in Scripture does Jesus ever command us to celebrate His birthday, and to do so is missing the entire point of why He came into this world as a Man. Jesus came here to save us from the bondage of sin. He spent His entire earthly ministry giving glory to His Father, not Himself.

It seems illogical that a Christian would assert that Christmas is not about the birth of Jesus. Many argue that it's not a pagan festival, but that's Satan sowing yet more confusion {"Has God really said..."}. Satan knows that God considers idolatry an abomination, which is why he makes every effort to draw us into that sin. Many try to justify celebrating Christmas by saying that as long as they make it about the birth of Jesus, it's okay. But God tells us that we should 1/ flee from idolatry, and 2/ refrain from worshiping Him with pagan forms of worship.

This is not an opinion-based belief, nor is it a "you do you" blessing. God is very explicit about acceptable worship, and we are mere men who have no authority to decide HOW we will worship our Creator. If God says, "Do not worship me in unacceptable ways", do you really think He will overlook unacceptable worship on judgment day? Absolutely not. Idolatry violates both the first and second Commandments.