What will it take to get in…
I knew from the minute I saw him walking up to the front of the church that sermon today would be a little bit more than different. Even the way he walked, head held low, hands humbly crossed in front together…. Almost like the weight on the message had him firmly planted on the ground. His suit was not extravagant or fancy at all. The way he carried himself, it wasn't that he was shy, more like he was focused, extremely focused and sincerely humbled.
He wasn't our pastor, he was visiting from Nigeria, so after delivering greetings from home and well wishes he got straight into the message just as I expected him too. Before the words came tumbling out of his mouth I could already feel my tummy start to turn. This was and wasn't a sermon to take down notes, I barely even wanted to look up the Bible scriptures he was flying through. I wanted nothing to distract me and especially not the notification light on my phone. This was not the time to refresh my IG timeline! The sermon was titled the 'Old Path' and for the purpose of writing this I wish I took some notes down, but I'm not here to preach. I'm here to speak freely, well as freely as I can without bringing down the temper of the Lord. The sermon was a heart wrenching warning/reminder that God is on His way. He said we should do away with the saying "Jesus will Soon Come" and realise that He is already at the door! Guys, He's not a couple of years away anymore, He's at the door. Even if this man wasn't in my church today I would still know that God's time is now! The time frame in between all the bad things that are happening in the world is getting smaller and smaller, disaster is an everyday thing. And you would notice because what used to make us stay glued to the news before has now become what we casually scroll by on our different timelines. It is everywhere and it is the world we live in now, so you cannot tell me that you haven't noticed anything.
He went through a list of videos on YouTube that we should watch about people who had received revelations about hell and heaven; people who had actually observed the judgement of others, seen ministers being dragged to hell by the truck load for the tiniest of sins. We've all heard about different people across the world sleeping and waking up with deep revelations about judgement day and we've all discarded it as people being thirsty for media attention. God have mercy on our souls! These things that we have discarded casually because they made our tummies turn funny will be brought up on the last day and God will point it out to us… "Were you not warned?". Guys the side of God we have on earth will be different to the one we meet at the Gates of Heaven, mercy ends on earth, take it while it's still abundant. And I'm not talking from being Holy, I know without a shadow of doubt that I will not make Heaven if God comes this second. But it's a thought that has always been on the back burner of my mind. Read my twitter timeline; go back on posts I have written on this very blog, I'm as far away from heaven as it gets. In fact if I had to get extremely visual about it I would say I have little flames licking at my ankles in anticipation. Don't worry; I can take being this real with myself, can you?
From all the separate testimonies that people have been giving all around the world we see that our standards to get into Heaven is far from what God expects. The pastor said that he was sent to tell us that about 99% of our churches today or on the broad path and only a handful on the narrow path. We have been careless with our Christianity and we forget who it is we want to spend eternity with and where. Wrapping your head around this might seem a bit tasking, so I'm going to take you through where I passed to get to my realisation. It might or might not, we'll see. God does not change. That is it. Allow that to sink in. We sing it all the time and take so much delight in the fact that God does not change and it's usually linked to a promise or blessing which makes it easier to observe. Now think about it this way; what He said in the beginning is still the same today; God is the only complete definition of faithful…. Period! Now, we all come along with this new age Christianity, where churches are bending this way and that way to accommodate new believers. To make Christianity fit into our current times. How dare we? What were we thinking? That we can walk up boldly to the Kings of Kings, the Absolute Ancient of Days and present him with this new Christianity and ask that He let us in through the pearly gates?? Like really? To be amongst those who stood fearlessly in the face of opposing times and mobs without compromising their faith, who looked death in the face and said bring it on for the sake of righteousness? That's the same heaven we won't to enter with our diluted Christianity, all in the name of moving with the times? God does not change there are no two ways about it, what he expected from that martyrs back in the day is what he expects from us now, you will be seriously deceiving yourself if you think "trying" is enough to get you into heaven! Don't even start with that 'all that matter is having a personal relationship with God' discussion, we are passed that! You don't want to believe everything that comes from your pastor's mouth, fine! But you better be crossing your Ts and dotting your Is when it comes to the word of God. Let that be your only reference point!
There have been speculations on what will and won't get us into heaven; but you have to bear it in mind that you want to go kick with the Holy of Holies for eternity… Something, if not everything has got to give. Guys come on! This is a big deal; God does not exaggerate. When He says He's going to open the floodgates of heaven to bless you there is no doubts about that. You know that when God is going to bless you He will bless you. And it's the same way if He says hell will be a place of great torment for eternity he is not exaggerating. He created us all, he knows our threshold for pain, He didn't say great torment for a while he used the word eternity because that is what will be. God will not change what he said before to suit our new age faith.
You can read this post and scrutinize what I have said, look for loop holes if you want, whatever it takes to make this easier to ignore, go ahead. It has been heavy on my mind since I heard it this morning and I just had to say something! It's not what our generation will want to hear and maybe I haven't said it correctly but I had to say something! The calendar turns faster and faster these days and we've become accustomed to the speed that we don't realise that it's all leading up to a circled date in heaven and approaching at record speed! Our time of grace is slipping through our fingers like fine sand; we don't only live once. Where we end up in the next life will be our last station. Is it somewhere you would be happy to spend eternity in?
Leave the media and the sermons, leave the doubts and the condemnation… go back to the word! That is all we have, that is God's own reference guide and we have access to it, do not be foolish to ignore it! Do not be so quick to drink up the word watered down; you will be judged by the undiluted version on the last day. I cannot tell you to do this and stop doing that because I don't know it all, and for the longest of time I have always thought that sincerely wanting to live by God's standards was all it took to make heaven but boy was I wrong. I forget the magnitude and greatness of God, having access to Him so easily does that. Unfortunately, some of us might only find out what it takes to get in when it's too late, but for those that are reading this now and feel some sort of conviction run back to the Word! Keep it in your hearts more than ever before and live from it; because guys, that's all it is, that is what it will take to get in.
