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\f0\fs24 \cf0 Entering heaven is not easy. It is one of the most difficult thing to do.
Jesus said that many strive to enter the narrow gate, and few are able. Why is it so difficult?
Why must it be so hard to enter the kingdom of God? I will tell you why; it is because
people are unwilling to deny themselves, pick up their cross and follow Jesus. You see when
Jesus was teaching the people about the truth, many could not accept it. And when he said
that he was the bread and water of life and that they had to eat and drink of him to have
eternal life, they could not accept it. And many left him. And Jesus turned around and
said to his disciples: will you leave us to? Will you leave me to? And his disciples said,
Lord to whom would we go? And the rich young ruler came to Jesus, and the rich young ruler
said Lord what must I do to enter the kingdom and inherit eternal life? And Jesus said that
you must sell what you have and follow me. And he couldn't do it. He couldn't do it because
the way to the kingdom is hard and Jesus himself said that it is easier for a camel to go through
an eye of a needle, than it is for a rich man to enter heaven. And everybody was shocked
and they said well Lord who can be saved? And Jesus said, what is impossible with man
is possible with God. You see entering the kingdom of heaven means that you have to deny
yourself and follow Jesus. It means you have to stop striving after achieving all the wonderful
things you can get in this day and age. It means either turn away from all these things
we want and you no longer live for yourself no more and you spend all your time serving
Jesus instead. It means that you're concerned about lost souls not about your own life.
It means that you're concerned about getting your path holy and keeping your white clothes
on that Jesus gave you when you turned to him. It means that you deny your flesh and
all its desire, when it comes to try and tempt you. It means that you have to take the hard
way out of many situations because you stand for Jesus. It means you have to have people
laugh at you and mock you and leave you and even your own family turn away from you because
they do not like that you stand for Jesus. You say I used to be an athlete and I used
to strive to get to the top. And you see most people are unwilling to put their body through
hard training because they preferred to be a couch potato because it's easy. Most people
choose the easy way out and you find that athlete people are very rare in the world
compared to the general population. Now this is what people do in the kingdom of God. They
want to have the kingdom of God, but they are not willing to get off the couch and strive,
train every day, in serving Jesus and living for Jesus. People that want to turn off the
TV. They don't want to go and face embarrassment for Jesus. They don't want to go and get persecuted
for the Lord. They just want to have it easy because that's how the human nature is. And
like there are only few athletes in the world, so it is that there are only a few people
going to the Kingdom of God in the world. Like Jesus said, many strive few make it.
I tell you truly dear friends, if you want to serve Jesus then you have to prepare for
hardship. You have to prepare for the way to be narrow, difficult. But the Lord will
always be with you the whole time you have peace in your heart. You no longer are following
the worlds way. You have a wonderful peace in your heart and in your life and really
your burdens are light, because when you are following Jesus, you will find rest for your
souls. Do you want to be faithful and enter the kingdom of heaven? Then come leave the
couch, deny yourself of your sin, of all your desires and you go follow Jesus. Seek to know
him. Do what he tells you. Even if you have to go out of the comfort zone and face persecution.
Even if you lose your life on this earth you will gain it. But he who tries to save his
life on earth shall lose it\'85.\ }