Monday, Introduction

We have heard time and again about the Kingdom of God, what is required of us to get us to this Holy and beautiful Kingdom beyond human comprehension. Question is, are we willing to fulfil these requirements that the Bible states? Do we really know what is at stake? Do we know the urgency of getting into the Kingdom of God?
We will learn quite a number of things in this week’s Diary on some important fundamentals for our entry into the Kingdom of God. He who has an ear let him hear, he who has eyes let him see what the Spirit is telling the Church.

Jesus Christ in His ministry, spoke about the Kingdom of God many times, He shared many parables and likened the Kingdom of God to deep things.

Here in Matthew 7 vs 13 to 14, Jesus Christ is telling us about how small the path to Heaven is. He let’s us understand that it is not an easy road to journey on if we want to make it to the Kingdom of God to enjoy eternal life. It takes Grace and the mercies of God to help us enter into the Kingdom.

In vs 13 of Matthew 7, Jesus Christ is telling us that the road that leads to destruction hence Hell, is very wide, and that a lot of people are treading on this broad road to eternal damnation. Yes! The deeds, actions and disobedience of humanity against the will and commands of God is leading many onto this broad path. We tend to please society rather than God and that we know is a very dangerous decision.

We can enter into the Kingdom of God by believing and accepting Jesus Christ as our savior and surrendering our lives to Him. Through faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to His commands, we can experience the fullness of the Kingdom of God.

Ponder on this for today, the grace of our LORD Jesus Christ will take us through the next study.

Stay blessed and have a productive day.

Tuesday

On today’s Diary, we will come to the realisation that, mentioning the name of the Lord or just going to Church every Sunday is not enough to “earn you a ticket” into the Kingdom of God.

This verse is deeply challenging, and the subject of many debates. Scripture is clear that salvation is entirely by grace through faith, and not earned by good deeds. The Bible also strongly reminds believers that all people, even those who are born again have sin which needs to be addressed.

However, God’s Word also indicates that those who are truly born again will see that salvation reflected in their attitudes and actions.

While this verse is commonly mis-applied by those who claim that good works and frequently going to Church are required to be saved, the very next statement Jesus makes destroys that interpretation. In fact, those who primarily define their faith by what they’ve done for God have placed their faith in something other than Christ (Matthew 7:22–23). In these few verses, Jesus explicitly explains that to do the will of God means something more than mere action, it requires genuine faith.

Jesus also speaks out about the religious leaders in His day who think that by following all the rules and doing all the things, they will enter the Kingdom of God.
But even they cannot enter the Kingdom of God by following all the good deeds and church checklists ( Read Matthew. 23:13).
If the Old Testament law couldn’t even save anyone, so that Jesus needed to come to fulfill the law (He is the perfect sacrifice dying once and for all) then our religious checklists can’t save us either.

Stay blessed and have a productive day. ☺️

Wednesday, What does it mean to enter the door?

Jesus was on His way, going through towns and villages, teaching and journeying towards Jerusalem. Someone asks Jesus in Luke 13:23, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” Jesus begins His response by teaching in Luke 13:24, saying, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” This response of Jesus contradicted what the Jews believed at the time.
In their understanding, all Jews would be saved, excluding tax collectors and other disgraceful wrongdoers. Jesus was teaching that it is a difficult task to enter the Kingdom of God.

Jesus teaches that rather than looking at salvation for a general group of people, it becomes personal and that each person is responsible for their salvation. The real question to consider here is not how many people will enter but who will enter?

Christ is the door and the only way into the Kingdom “John 14:6”. He is King, and when you receive Him, then you can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

When Jesus says to “strive” to enter the Kingdom, notice that He is not saying you can gain salvation on your merit; instead, He teaches that entering the Kingdom is difficult because of its cost .

Salvation is only possible by the grace of God, through faith and not your own doing (read: Ephesians 2:8-9). If you continue to walk like the world, you cannot enter the Kingdom .

The gate is narrow because it requires a complete change of our old self, born again as a new person and created in Christ. When Jesus was teaching, there were many hearers of His teaching in all the towns and villages. Just because they heard Him speak does not mean they are saved. Instead, it is the doer of the Word, one who hears and follows the teaching of Christ, being transformed through the grace of God by His Spirit.

James 1:22 says, “But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”