The Significance of the Narrow Gate

“Enter through the narrow gate. For 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.”- Matthew 7:13-14 NIV

In the Gospel of John Jesus tells his listeners that he is the good shepherd. “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.” ^{[John 10:7-9 NLT]} In today’s text he references the same gate he speaks of in John. It is part of his Sermon on the Mount. Thru illustration, Jesus is telling his listeners that it is thru him and him alone that someone can enter heaven. 

“This Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” ^{[Acts 4:11-12 NLT]} Jesus is the only way to enjoy an eternity with our Heavenly Father. He is the only way to have our sin debt paid for in full. 

The narrow gate doesn’t mean it’s difficult to become a Christian, but rather that there is only one way to reach heaven. When he says only a few find it I believe that ‘few’ is in comparison to the trillions of people that have been born and died on the earth. Comparatively speaking, the number of believers is few in view of all humanity that has existed thru the ages. Living your life by following the example laid out by Jesus and by God’s word is certainly not the most popular or most comfortable way to live, but it is the only way that in the end will prove to be true and right. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

NO ONE IS GOOD 

            With few exceptions the vast majority of people feel they are good. This thought begs a very important question. Who decides what’s ‘good’? It has to be a universal definition that can easily apply to everyone on the planet, one that cuts thru language and cultural barriers. Who on this earth could accomplish this? What’s good for you may not be good for me and so on. There has to be a standard.

         Good is a relative term used far too loosely. Like the word ‘normal’, I would venture to say that everyone has his or her own personal definition of ‘good’. I believe most would admit they weren’t choirboys, but they haven’t robbed a bank or committed murder so they feel they are good people. They hope they have been good enough to go to heaven when they die.  If they are not the least bit “religious” I suppose they would hope there really is no God.  I have a shocking revelation for you; Jesus himself says no one is good accept Father God. JESUS said that even HE wasn’t good. If Jesus isn’t good than what hope do any of us have to being ‘good’?

         Goodness comes from God. That along with peace, patience, mercy, compassion, love, wisdom, guidance and so on. God is all we will ever need to make it in the life and the one that follows. With God we are children of the most high King. With God we are forgiven. We are proclaimed holy and righteous in his sight. 

         There is no such thing as ‘religion’. The word doesn’t even appear in scripture. The thing I’m speaking about is a relationship of the most personal kind with the Creator of the entire universe and man’s first breath. I’ve walked with the King since March of 1979. I am coming up on my 39^th spiritual birthday. The only bumps in the road have been of my own doing, but then God never promised a problem free life. I’m not good, but I am a treasure in the eyes of my Heavenly Father. And so are you if you’ve entered into that relationship with him too. We’re not good and we’re not at all normal and I don’t care. I am who God made me and I’m proud of who I am and whose I am. You should be too. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

Mark 10:18 (AMP) “Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is [essentially] good [by nature] except God alone.’”

 

THE SAVING FACTOR

 

“Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” - Psalm 25:4-5 

            King David is seeking the instruction and guidance of the Lord. His relationship with His God is strong, in spite of his failings. We all have failings; none of us is perfect. Once we realize and accept that we can begin to let God do His work in us. Just like David, we need to ask and ask often for God to reveal His truths to us. It comes from the reading of His word and praying. It comes from cultivating a spiritual awareness of His Holy Spirit’s leading. We can do it, but it doesn’t happen overnight; it takes time. Frankly, it takes your whole life. 

            Acknowledging God as his Savior, David shows the reader that he knows where his salvation comes from. There is nowhere else in scripture that would say or even indicate that David found salvation in anything or anyone else. God is the saving factor. Christ’s death purchased our souls, redeeming us from hell. 

            David shows in these two verses that his reliance is on God and not himself. He derives hope from the truth God lays out before him. We too can find hope in His guidance and instruction. We allow ourselves to become so easily entangled in that which would bind us, rather than shrug ourselves loose and stand tall in the truth of God. Life as a Christian is rewarding and filled with joy, yet our enemy tells us otherwise. It is in truly getting to know God intimately that we experience all the blessings His has for us. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

The Righteous & the Wicked

Psalm 1:6 “For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.”

                  God delights in the way of the righteous, for they live according to his statutes. The righteous man leads a happy life, though he will have to endure a certain level of pain and suffering during the course of that life. At those times God is still watching and allowing his Holy Spirit to guide us. The righteous man is only righteous in God’s eyes because he has surrendered his will to his Maker. This action is one of obedience and that obedience is seen as righteousness.

                  “Righteousness will be ours if we are careful to follow every one of these commands* before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us”. ^{(Deut. 6: 25 CSB)}

            God watches over and protects those who are his. Those who are NOT his he lets go their own way. Out of ignorance they shun or ignore the word of God in favor of doing those things that seem right to them. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” It’s pretty simple really … God knows, and we do not; hence our necessity to follow his directives. 

                  We see much evil being wrought on our nation by men and women in power who are hell bent on forcing their satanic will on the masses. According to scripture, their actions will lead to their demise. God will never allow injustice to go on forever. When the time is right that which is satanic shall fall and great will its fall be. Trust the Lord. He is fully aware of the current happenings in the world. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries
* This is Moses speaking to the people of Israel regarding following the Ten Commandments. 

THE MONEY TRAP

 

“Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.” - Proverbs 23:4-5 

          Wealth is a deceptive thing. One day it’s there, the next day it’s gone. People who amass fortunes see it slip away by way of lawsuits or poor investments. It seems as though everyone wants a piece of the proverbial money pie. ‘If I could just hit it big I would have it made’, says the person playing the lottery. While there is nothing wrong with attaining wealth in and of itself, making it our sole goal in life is dangerous for then we are placing all our faith and trust in our own abilities and in the money we have acquired. 

 

Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

 

          The pursuit of wealth is a full-time endeavor. Once a person gets sucked in they are hooked, believing that the answer to every problem is more money. While it can solve a certain set of problems that require money, it cannot purchase forgiveness, and it cannot buy them peace. Money is emotionless and cannot provide a way to heaven. Spiritually speaking, one cannot hope to achieve anything of eternal value with money. They may receive the accolades of this world, but at what cost? It is in the acquiring and the use of money that the key lies. If we acquire wealth honestly, do not seek it to the exclusion of all else and use it for the glory of God in a humble manner, then we have achieved something. However, it takes a special individual to accomplish that, one who is well grounded in scripture and has a heart solely after God. We cannot serve two masters and if we are a slave to our money, then it is our master. Don’t be duped into thinking you can control money, because in the end, it controls you. Anything that is truly important in this life is tied to God. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

SYMBOLISM IN SCRIPTURE

 

Matthew 3:16-17_{(GOD’S WORD Translation)} “After Jesus was baptized, he immediately came up from the water. Suddenly, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down as a dove to him. Then a voice from heaven said, “‘This is my Son, whom I love—my Son with whom I am pleased.’”

            Here we see our Heavenly Father proclaiming that Jesus is His Son. The dove coming down from the heavens to Him is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. In our day, the dove is used most in non-Christian circles as a symbol of peace, often with an olive branch in its mouth. While Jesus is the embodiment of peace, it is the Holy Spirit that is paramount in this case and not the ever elusive ‘peace’. The Holy Spirit is given to us as a guide and advocate. He is always readily available to us and resides within us if we have received salvation. The gift of the Spirit is secondary to salvation of course, but He is most necessary in our walk with Christ. Going it alone in this life is like going out of your house without clothing. It’s like going into battle without a weapon. We certainly wouldn’t do either of those things, so why do we go about our business without a second thought given to our greatest helper?

            There is a second lesson in these two verses for us and that is the issue of baptism. It is a public proclamation of the change that has taken place in our life. We are to follow Jesus’ example in baptism, which is symbolic of the old nature dying and the new nature rising up from a watering grave to live on. It’s done in the name of the Triune God; the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Obedience is sought by our God. It’s the least we can do in response to what has been done for us. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

STAND FIRM IN YOUR FAITH

 

2 Thessalonians 2:13b-15 “…God chose you as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.”

            We live in perilous times, with Satanic activity all around us. Corruption has run amok within big business, social media, and the government. True believers are under attack worldwide. But fear not, for their day is rapidly coming to an end. God has declared it to be so, and it shall be so when the time for their removal has come. We need not fear, but only stand firm in our faith and remain prepared. There are those who have rejected the loving forgiveness of the Lord in favor of other lies that are being presented as the truth. They’ve been given multiple chances to embrace freedom from sin and eternal life thru the Father but have turned away. I have told you in the past that God sends no one to hell, they send themselves by their own decision to embrace a lie that seems much for palatable to them then the truth. No matter what trials come your way, never think God has abandoned you. He knows all that is taking place and is patiently waiting in the hope that they turn toward the light. 

                  Paul says in his second letter to the church in Thessalonica to stand firm and hold fast to the teachings that had been passed on to them. Nothing that has taken place in this world cannot be reversed. God is infinitely more powerful than Satan, who is a created being. Just when Satan thinks he has turned the tide against the truth, Christ will return and overpower the enemy with the mere power of his breath. It will be such an abrupt end to evil that it will be like a man boxing with one who is without arms.

                  We have nothing to fear, for God is in ultimate and total control of all things that transpire in this world. When you hear news that causes you to be concerned, lay those concerns at the feet of Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. There is nothing that can be done to us of any lasting consequence. The enemy can take everything from us, but they cannot ever take our soul from us. We belong to God, now and forevermore. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries