Destination Heaven
Strive to Enter by the Narrow Gate
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Receiving from God through faith is the only way to build a relationship with Him as without faith it is impossible to please Him. Matthew 22v34-37, Mark 12v28-34. In Matthew 19v16-22 we read about a Jewish young man who came to Jesus with a burning question. This obviously lovable, observant Jewish young man, we normally refer to as the rich young ruler, (I will love to meet him in heaven when I get there) came to Jesus to find out what good thing he could do to have eternal life. Later when the Lord asked Him to go and keep the commandments he replied that he had kept all since his youth… but he still knew he lacked something. He had no assurance of salvation, no hold on eternal life. That hunger for God, or rather the void in his soul would not go away. He said he had kept all the commandments. He simply did not know the God whose commandments and laws he was keeping. And for the Jews this was not just the 10 commandments we gentile believers know a little about. There were 623 of them. You see, New Testament believers, we don’t even know what the commandments are, yet we want to keep them. Jesus said, after keeping all, he still lacked one thing. My brother and sister, take your time to understand God’s grace and live by it because no matter how much you try to be good by your own self-effort, you will still lack one thing. How many of us New Testament believers can reply as this young man did,’ I have kept all the law since my youth’ and if he did not stand a chance, guess what chance you and I have with our good intentioned self-effort to please God? As for me I know I lack more than one thing, but I am complete in Him, only because of His abundant grace. In Genesis 39v9b Joseph said ‘How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God’ when he was faced with the seemingly enticing prospect of lying with Potiphar’s wife. Joseph lived over 430 years before the law of Moses so he knew nothing about ‘thou shall not commit adultery’. But he had a relationship with the God of his fathers and my fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is the key, take time to know God and you will not have cause to worry about commandments. In all the history of the church the most powerful Christians have been the ones who have fully accepted the fact that they have been made righteous by faith and that ALL THEIR SINS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN. In Hebrews 8v7-12 and 10v17and Psalm 103v3 God actually says that in the New Covenant He will be merciful to our unrighteousness and will not remember our sins and lawless deeds anymore. As if that was not enough He says He forgives ALL our iniquities. Well, you may argue whether ALL refers to past, present and future sins, but I will leave you to make that argument with yourself. But to me, all means only one thing: ALL. When Jesus died on the cross, all my sins were in the future, and He forgave them. He is both our Saviour and our righteousness. We should administer both salvation and righteousness to believers, all at the same time. As somebody rightly observed, hell will be full of people whose sins were forgiven, but never appropriated the provision. You see, your puny confession was not what forgave your sins in the first place. Rather they were forgiven before you were born, but you came to appropriate and receive the forgiveness at the point of confession. This is why it would be crass stupidity for anyone to go to hell, especially anyone who calls themselves a Christian, or hears the gospel and the offer it brings by simply failing to receive or take advantage of what has been freely provided for them. People who end up in hell will never forgive themselves for all eternity and that will be one of the agonies of hell. The missed opportunity to avert all the horrors of hell for which one can only blame oneself. Thank you, Pastor Mark Nyarko
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About the Book
In today’s post-Christian culture of liberalism, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that to be Christian means to be called out of the world and be set aside unto the Lord Jesus Christ. As we approach the end of the age and of the world, as we know it, the Lord continues to give numerous heavenly visitations and dreams about him to take Christians home in what we call the rapture of the church. One recurring theme in many of these supposedly spiritual experiences is the number of professing Christians that could be going to hell. Well, it is easy to dismiss these as figments of hallucinations and fertile imaginations gone wild. But a cursory glance at the church scene clearly shows that something is not right with many of professing believers. This book seeks to jolt Christians into rediscovering their first love and awake from their slumber to ensure that their lives match their profession. Christianity is one of the most liberal of all religions. In Christian theology, it is God who takes the initiative to reconcile mankind to himself (John 3:16). He make total and full provision for man to receive forgiveness of sins and come into a personal relationship with God without any expenditure or effort on his/her part. In that sense, Christianity is an easy religion. That is the essence of grace. But that could be deceptive because it is easy for the Christian adherent to fall into the false notion that grace means anything goes. This Christian discipleship book attempts to wake Christians to the fact that like an athlete, there is a right lifestyle and a way to compete that will guarantee you a medal at the Olympics and a wrong lifestyle and a way to compete that could lead to disqualification and a loss of potential medal. Much illustration is made of the Old Testament saints who started their journey with the Lord with optimistic enthusiasm but whose faith was made shipwreck along the way. This is true of the Israelites who were delivered from Egyptian bondage and servitude and journeyed to the Promised Land, but the text says, ‘’With most of them, God was not well pleased,’’ and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. The text clearly says these experiences were written as warnings and examples to us because if we make the same mistakes they did, a similar fate awaits us (1 Corinthians 10:1–13). Wisdom gives away what you cannot keep to gain what you cannot lose. In our day and age, the greatest snares are relational issues of unforgiveness, bitterness, and strife. We are also warned against such moral weaknesses as fornication, adultery, and other aberrant sexual behavior. The Bible clearly warns that those who practice these would not inherit the kingdom of God. This is a major theme of most of the New Testament Epistles. This book is also evangelistic because at its heart, it seeks to showcase the love of God and his eternal invitation to all mankind to be reconciled to him.
About the Author
Originally from Ghana in West Africa, I have lived in the UK for almost 35 years. I am married to Victoria Bosompimaa, a very industrious and talented woman, who has encouraged me to tell the world my story since the day we met. We have a lovely daughter Chantelle Nyarko . Together we pastor a small but dynamic Word-based Church in Streatham, South London named Mount Zion Revival. I have been a teacher most of my life, starting first at the school of Administration, in the University of Ghana, Legon, in the early 80s, where I was a Teaching Assistant for a couple of years, after graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Administration Degree, and then in several Colleges in London where I have been teaching Business studies to young adults. I have always enjoyed sharing with others, whether it’s my food, money, clothes or knowledge. Maybe the Lord took that into account in calling me into His Teaching Ministry because there are few things I enjoy more than teaching. As a consequence, I have a passion for discipling believers in their faith to become mature in their walk with the Lord. In this, I seek to help believers apply the bible to their daily lives and to meet the standards of our high calling by the enabling power of the Spirit of God. For over 2 decades, I ran a one man Charity OPERATION HOPE to help disadvantaged children in my native Ghana, using most of my personal earnings as a teacher to sponsor their education at all levels of the educational strata, educating several hundreds, perhaps a few thousands, in the process. Through the charity I built a number of fully equipped computer siutes in several communities and schools in Ghana. In fact fifteen of them, to be precise. By the same token I shipped secondary level books to many schools in Ghana, refurbishing many libraries in the process with books withdrawn from UK college libraries. We were also able to supply photocopiers to several schools and colleges. We even had occasion to provide clothing and school uniforms to very needy schools and individual students and pupils. From this I learnt that you don’t have to be rich to be generous, and that you can always start where you are. At almost 63, I think I have learnt a few lessons in life which I can share with others in my writings, especially the young, in their life’s journey. A good mentor by your side, could be worth more than 3 university degrees. This I hope to pursue with the same passion and vigour as I have anything I have had to do in life.