Sermon Central
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What Happened To The Narrow Way
Contributed by Marty Roark on Jul 3, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: Close minded as you may claim it is, the Bible is the final authority for our lives and even though there are many paths in this world that will take you many places, only one “way” leads to God and eternal life.
What happened to the Narrow Way?
The Narrow Way
13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
According to a recent survey, 70% of adult American Christians believe there are no moral or ethical absolutes that apply to everyone.
In other words most Christians have joined the non-Christian culture and believe we set our own standards.
In essence this survey reveals that 70% of Adult American Christians have decided that God is not capable or worthy of establishing guidelines for their lives.
In a similar survey only 20 % of Adult American Christians said that living a life according to God’s will is the single most important thing in their lives.
So if this is true then what about the other 80%? Does this mean that 80% of Adult American Christians have more important things in their lives than God? Is this even possible?
If you have really looked around, talked to folks out on the street or done any research at all then you would not really be surprised by these facts.
These facts are lived out before our eyes everyday. As a matter of fact, if we would be honest with each other and ourselves, they are more than likely lived out to some degree by that person we look at in the mirror every morning.
To put it very simply, I am almost ashamed to be called a Christian in this day and age? Why
Let’s go for a second to the lastest Barna Poll on Born Again Christians.
In order to do this we need to understand a little information about what they consider to be a Born Again Christian.
In Barna Research Group studies, born again Christians are not defined on the basis of characterizing themselves as "born again" but based upon their answers to two questions. The first is "have you ever made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in your life today?" If the respondent says "yes," then they are asked a follow-up question about life after death. One of the seven perspectives a respondent may choose is "when I die, I will go to Heaven because I have confessed my sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior." Individuals who answer "yes" to the first question and select this statement as their belief about their own salvation are then categorized as "born again."
Having said that Barna Concludes that:
92% of born again Christians believe "the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches." (2007)
•One third of born again adults (45%) say that abortion is a morally acceptable behavior
•30% of all adults consider having a sexual relationship with someone of the same sex a morally acceptable behavior.
•61% of adults view gambling as a morally acceptable behavior.
•Enjoying sexual thoughts or fantasies about someone 59%
•Living with someone of the opposite sex without being married, sometimes called co-habitation 60%
•Having a sexual relationship with someone of the opposite sex to whom you are not married 42%
•Looking at pictures of nudity or explicit sexual behavior 38%
•Using profanity (36%)
•Getting drunk (35%)
•Using drugs not prescribed by a medical doctor 17%
How can this be possibly true? How can someone say that they believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches and then go on to throw this trash out of their mouths?
Why am I ashamed to be called a Christian? Because Christians have strayed off course.
Those very People that claim to have Jesus Christ living in the hearts no longer seem to understand what being a Christian truly is.
Folks we have forgotten that not only is the Gate narrow but the way is narrow also.
14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
It is high time we learn again the cost of Christianity and it is high time that we return to the teaching and the belief that Narrow is the Way.
It is a Narrow Way
We are quickly becoming a society of acceptance. We have given into the Opra Winfrey America. That is to say that we have accepted the belief that all roads lead Home.
Yet, we have transformed it to read, all roads lead to Heaven and Salvation is within you.
No longer is it acceptable to suggest that there is only one way, even if that way comes straight from the Bible.
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
