"He who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me," Jesus Christ
Journey of Knowledge
The Definitive path: The only path that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven
When Jesus walked the Earth, He taught a single doctrine that gave a clear explanation of what it means to be a Christian and through His actions, showed us how to carry it out. Yet today, modern Christianity has more than 200 different denominations all teaching their own altered version of Jesus' doctrine. These man made doctrines have transformed Christianity into a religion of divisiveness and contradiction when Jesus preached against both. In fact, the concept of unity was so important that Jesus actually prayed for unity among His followers in the 17th chapter of John.
"I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."
He also warned us against the dangers of divisions in Matthew 12:25 when He said, "Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation." Today Christianity is on the brink of desolation with church membership falling below 50% for the first time in 80 years, because DENOMINATIONAL CHURCHES DIVIDE GOD'S KINGDOM AGAINST ITSELF!
Our main responsibility as Christians is to be "fishers of men" and expand God's family, which is next to impossible because of all the contradictions between denominational lines. How are non-believers supposed to have faith in a religion that contradicts itself? In Matthew 7:14 Jesus says 3 things about the road to everlasting life. He describes it as narrow and difficult to navigate. He adds that few people ever find it. For the purposes of this message, we are going to concentrate on the latter. "Few people ever find it."
Right now, there are around 2 billion people on the planet who claim to be Christian. 2 billion is far from the "few" that Jesus described, and we are only talking about this point in time. Throughout history there have been billions who have called themselves Christian. Since we know that Jesus isn't a liar, it is safe to assume that many of these souls were mistaken. Actually, it isn't even an assumption. Jesus Himself tells us that is the case in Matthew 7:21-23 when He says...
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
If we are going to have the audacity to call ourselves Christlike, we have to be willing to do what makes us uncomfortable. It's called sacrifice and God frequently calls on His people to make them. Abraham, Noah, Moses, Job, even Jesus Christ Himself, and many others were called to make incredible sacrifices in God's service. It takes an enormous amount of ignorance as well as arrogance to believe that we are somehow more special than the most prominent figures in the Bible and that we are exempt from personal sacrifice, which is what most Christian leaders teach today.
The only defense against spiritual deception is knowledge of spiritual TRUTH and the first step towards getting on the road to everlasting life is to understand that the path to the Kingdom of Heaven wasn't paved by Baptists, Lutherans, Protestants, Catholics, nor anyone who identifies with a denominational title. That narrow, difficult to navigate path that few people ever find lies in His footsteps, His teachings, and the example He set.
True Christians who are walking in His footsteps don't have to believe they are going to Heaven. They know it! By following the example that Jesus Christ set and adapting His practices into your life, you can boldly proclaim that you are going to Heaven without using the word belief or faith. You can tell anyone who asks that you are going to Heaven because you are on the path that was paved by Jesus Christ and you know with 100% certainty that one day you will walk down the Streets of Gold simply because you are following the Son of God, and He has the key to the Pearly Gates in His front pocket.
We have sounded the trumpet, the rest is up to you. We pray you will join us.