Learn, Grow, & Share
 
—Majority

(Part 1)

Am I a Part of “the Majority?

Sometimes it really feels good to be a part of the Majority, 
But … Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

 

“Many” will say LORD, LORD …
(Matthew 7:21-22)

 

In others words, in this scenario the “MANY” will be the norm.

The word “Many” in scriptures often connotes the most, the majority,
the larger population, as it does so here. (Matthew 7:13; 7:21; Luke 13:24-30)

The word “Few” denotes the minority population,
the rare, the select, the chosen, the few that are not the norm,
nor the majority. (Matthew 7:14)

 

This begs the question of each and every person:

“To Which Group do You or I belong?”

The Many? (The majority population) or
The Few?    (The minority community)
 

Am I a part of the large majority population? Do I go along with popular opinion? Do I just accept what the majority believes without personal investigation? Am I tempted to bow to peer pressure?  Do I cave to being politically or culturally correct, even when my conscience tells me something different? Does the herd instinct guide my footsteps, my beliefs, and my life goals? (Matthew 13:18-22)

      Or …

Am I a part of the small minority community? Am I strong enough to swim against the tide? Do I stand up against popular opinion, even when it is not popular to do so? Do I overcome peer pressure? Do I give myself no leniency, and make no excuses to lower my standards? Do I give myself an army of strong reasons to rise above my own selfish interests in order to fulfill God’s Will? And yes, it will often take a whole “Army of Reasons” to overcome my selfish nature, my carnal tendencies, my lazy and complacent lifestyle.

 

(This part of Doing God’s Will will become strikingly clear in just a little bit.)

 

Do I find something inside myself, inside my internal life, that has the power to rise up against the tyranny of doubt, fear, rejection, worry, and even physical, emotional, and social threats?

 

The Truth be told: I need, Something that is stronger inside of me, to defeat the powerful enemies outside of me.  And I have learned by experience, that these battles will not just fight themselves. I literally have to go to war against my lower nature. I have to use strong language to tell my soul what to do, and how to do it. And that strong language comes from the very Word of God, and without that strong language I would be sunk. Therefore, I need to gird the lions of my heart and mind and with the very language and weapons of Heaven, if I ever hope to win the war that seeks to capture my soul (and cause my flesh not to be obedient to the will of my Father). The worldly desire to be popular, to be included in the popular groups, is one of the strongest social magnetic pulls inside the hearts of men.

 

Who doesn’t want to be popular?

 

But if I have to renege on my intimate Blood Covenant Relationship with the Eternal Father, the Eternal Son, the Powerful Holy Ghost–the three in One, in order “to be cool in my crib”:  What gain have I created for myself by becoming popular, here on earth?

Would it not be far better to pursue being popular in Heaven? to be well known in Heaven? well liked, well esteemed, well named in Heaven for eternity? than to be popular and liked for a minute on Earth? Whose opinion do I really want applied to my eternal record, written and duly recorded in the Book of Life?

 

“For what is a man profited,
if he shall gain the whole world,
and lose his own soul?
or what shall a man give
in exchange for his soul?”
~Matthew 16:26 (KJV) 

 

Is this really a nonchalant choice that should be made through popular opinion? even popular religious opinion? What if my popular religious group that I belong to (and am popular in) has it wrong?  What are the chances of that happening?

This may shock you as well, but: What if less than 1 out of 10 people who attend a modern day church are actually and diligently walking in the same faith, and same practices, and same expectations, that were applied to the early disciples and all the apostles? (in other words, walking in the same faith as the original followers of Jesus, AKA, Yeshua).

 

Do we do and keep
the commandments of God?

 

“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”           Revelation 22:14-15 (KJV) 

 

Do we even know: 

What the commandments of God are?
What a modern day idolater does?

What it means to love and make a lie?

 

These are not trivial questions to the serious believer. To the one who wants true assurance of eternal salvation, that person must not rely on hearsay evidence, or hearsay teaching from uninformed, and ill-informed speakers and teachers.

 

Chances are if you do not know, and cannot immediately share with others what are the commandments of Jesus, chances are you’re not involved in a serious, intentional, discipleship ministry.

 

Are you aware of the number one condition
and requirement for entering into the kingdom of heaven?

 

If not, that might be a sign those who are teaching the word of God in your fellowship  are not strengthening the body of Christ as they should be.

Does your  church fellowship weigh the very Word of God and apply it to their own standards of relationship and godly fellowship in the Body of Christ?

It is clearly apparent that the word of God says that “the majority” (the many) will not see, nor will they abide by the message of the Messiah, even though many will pretend to follow it. This is in complete accordance with God’s own Personal Testimony: See for yourself.

 

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;
but he that doeth the will
of my Father
which is in heaven.”  

~Matthew 7:21 (KJV).
[Note: This group is closely related to
the “many” who will say “LORD, LORD!”]

 

Notice the criteria above: The criteria is not: that I go to church every Sunday. The criteria is not that I read my bible everyday. The criteria is not that I pay my tithes, and give to the poor. The criteria is not even that I teach a Bible Study, or preach from the Pulpit, or go on mission trips, or even feed the poor–Although those are all some good things to do, but if I don’t meet the above criteria, all of that other stuff is for nought. Can you see this?

What is the specific and quite narrow criteria above? Here it is: “But he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven.” That is the Criteria that Yeshua gives, and it rises above all others. Meet that condition (and yes it is a condition) and everything else falls into place. Disregard that condition, and everything else is called into question.

The emphasis of Holy Spirit led discipleship is always upon “doing the Will of God, by Living out the Word of God.”

 

James 1:22-25 (KJV)
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass [mirror]: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

 

How many times have you or I looked into the mirror of God
and walked away without washing our faces?

 

To be perfectly honest, this makes me feel uncomfortable–as it should. That is exactly the intention of the message. If the message of Yeshua doesn’t cause the receiver of the message to feel some discomfort, some holy fear, some awe, some true concern for repentance and renewed faith and perseverance, then it is possible, and even quite likely that, the message has not reached me yet.

 

As the Story goes, I need to be transformed, I am on a journey and I am being prepared for Heaven, but that transformation comes at a high Price, one that was paid for me. That Price was paid forward, and the baton was also passed onto the apostles, and their baton has been passed on to you and me … But … if we never enter the race, never pick up the baton, never begin running on the same track as the apostles did? How can we ever say we are running the same race? Being Transformed by the Same Faith? Or even Following the Same Savior? Seeking the same Goal? Reaching for the same Crown? And how can we even know: Are we even in the same stadium?

 

When we see the incredible effectiveness of the doing of the Word of God, being led by the Will of God in the early church, we see literal miracles of God happening on a daily basis.  Those who gave their lives holy and completely to become workers and laborers in the kingdom of God, lived lives of extraordinary blessing and favor from God. The book of Acts is their testimony.

 

  • If we are following in their footsteps, should we not be having our own book of acts, Holy Spirit experience?Should we not be experiencing the same effectiveness as they did, when preaching the same message, following the same obedience?
    .
  • If we are not experiencing the same effectiveness, could the reason be, that we are not following in their same footsteps? Could it be that we are not following the same Holy Spirit, and the same Messiah? Or that we simply do not have the same commitment, the same dedication, the same powerful leading of the Holy Spirit producing the same sacrificial living of the early apostles? (to answer this question read: Revelation chapter 1, 2 and 3)

 

The gospel that was deeply and firmly imbedded in the early church caused them reach and transform whole pagan and wicked nations with the Gospel, and all that was being done through incredible personal sacrific– Faithful witnesses: every day average believers were being thrown into prisons, brought before magistrates and courts, and were condemned to beatings, to torture, to stonings, to being crucified, burned at the stake, torn apart limb from limb, and even far worse.

The witness of a few never caved to peer pressure, never compromised their holy faith, never exchanged their heavenly crown, for the wicked rewards of man … Never betrayed their brothers and sisters in Christ, even while being attacked and eaten by wild animals in the Colosseums throughout the Roman Empire. Brothers and Sisters are we walking in the same faith? or is it possible that there is clearly something missing in our modern Christianity experience of Faith and the Practice of it?

 

Our Brothers and Sisters Testimony bear witness to us today. We have some choices to make–to live in complacency, self indulgence, selfish pleasure, and luxury like few people on earth have ever lived, or Maybe, just maybe, we need to revisit the Words of Jesus over and over, to truly grasp the message from Heaven, and to receive it from Heaven’s Perspective. That is the challenge we are faced with today:

 

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;
but he that doeth
the will of my Father
which is in heaven.”  

~Matthew 7:21 (KJV)

 

Doing the Will of the Father in heaven is our Ultimate Condition, our Ultimate Goal, our Ultimately Requirement for what?

Why must I seek to do, and then truly live out in real time–The Will of Yeshua’s Father?

 

The message is clear: I must do the will of the Father in order to “enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” Right? 

Yes. That is exactly right. And above every other goal, desire, objective, dream, and vision in my life, this goal should trump them all, but does it? That is the Question we need to answer, here and as we go forward.

Do my actions and my words line up? In other words, do I do what I say and I say what I do? Do I live out my beliefs in real time? (Or do I pretend to be somebody I am not, when other people are watching, and then change direction, anytime others are not watching?

I think you get the idea.  Am I a person of integrity? 

Do I confess my faults and sins to others and seek to remedy them, or do I seek to cover them up? And also make excuses for them?

 

Let us examine one more small point before we finish this section, and move onto the next section.
And let this point be an introduction to the next section.

 

“Enter ye in at the strait gate:
for wide is the gate,
and broad is the way,
that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereat …”

~Matthew 7:13 (KJV)  

[more on this passage in the next post]

 

Do I sit under worldly, carnal, self absorbed, teaching of “going along to get along” preachers, who espouse “feeling good preaching” and “easy believe-sim” theology?  Or …

Do I seek out strong, forthright, unashamed, steadfast, “get to the point”, Biblical Preachers and Teachers, who do not spare the rod, nor spoil the child? Who refuse to sugar coat the Word of God … who are straight shooters … causing men and women to be convicted of their sins, and to confess their sins … repent of their sins … and be convinced to never return to their sins–“So Help Me God!” Is this the kind of preaching, teaching, living and fellowship I pursue?

Do I seek to be abide with others who will hold me accountable to living by the High Standards, Heavenly Practices, Holy Doctrines, and the  point blank Commandments of Jesus? 

In other words, Am I strong enough to standup against the storm? Is my house founded upon an immovable Rock, or is it sitting upon a foundation  of shifting sand?  (Matthew 7:24; 13:23)

Keep Reading if interested in confidently being able to answer these life probing questions …

 

NEXT:

Learn, Grow, and Share (Part 2) Minority vs. Majority?

 

Going Forward: The Whole Series

Learn, Grow, & Share 

The Introduction:

(Part 1)   The Majority

(Part 2)   The Minority

Answering 5 Crucial Questions:

(Part 3)   Listen

(Part 4)   Walk

(Part 5)   Bear

(Part 6)   Keep

(Part 7)   Abide

 

 

Any person who sees, and seeks, to answer these few questions from God’s Perspective will predictably be able to abide in God’s Presence, as well as Rejoice in God’s Salvation. 

Anyone who who does not currently understand these 7 Spiritual Questions, or who cannot currently answer these questions with complete assurance and awareness … should not lose hope. There is still time to seek and find what God has placed in your life to Know His Will, and how to Walk in it, if you truly care about knowing and listening to His Voice.

There is still yet a small window of Time, and a genuine and honest seeker will find his way. Such a person is understood by the Scriptures as a rare person. Such a person is a minority person, by his own choice. And such a person, is a precious treasure of eternal and infinite value according to the Word, Voice, Will, Grace and Love of God!

May that person be you. May you be a rare jewel, a precious gem, a radiant light in the Kingdom of God.

 

 

AAm I a Part of the Majority” ?

 

BAm I in “the Minority” ?

 

1—Do I Listen” to the Voice of the Good Shepherd?

 

2—Do I Walk in the Ways of the Good Shepherd?

 

3—Do I Bear” [Take] the Name of the LORD in Honor or in Vain?


4—Do I  Keep His Commandments?


5—
Do I Abide in His Vine?

 

Let these simple questions guide the soul of the believer deep into the arms, ways, and will of God.