Many are called but few are chosen sounds like wide and narrow to me

Welcome to episode 247.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Spending time in the Word of God is the best way to spend time with God. Welcome to No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast, where we will encourage, inspire, and empower you to live your best life in Christ. Here's Greg.

Welcome to episode 247. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, if you've been listening to my podcast episodes in the last month or so, you will know that I've been working on a product that I'm trying to bring to market, and it's all of these different roadblocks and obstacles have come in my way. Just like in life, there's all kinds of things that jump in front of you. You gotta determine whether you're gonna go around it, you go through it, or turn around and go the other way. Well, I'm gonna go through these obstacles, and I'm knocking these things down one by one. And as I was praying, the peace of God that came over me on this particular topic, it is, I'm gonna start the course on March 1st, and it's gonna be a 30-day course. And I've got most of the content, I've got it all booked out, and I'm creating the videos right now as we speak. I've got the, website working. I believe it's working better and it's communicating. Now, I don't know when I start throwing numbers of people at it and, you know, the shopping cart— there's so many moving parts that I had no idea. Again, I am in the ready, fire, aim mentality. If you followed me for any time, you know that I jump off into the water whether I can swim or not, and it's a sink or swim kind of move.

I—

that's why I relate so well to the Apostle Peter. Is because I just see in him his ability to say stupid stuff for no apparent reason. And that's kind of where I'm at, is I will say things and then I've got to back it up, and then I figure out, hey, I can't back it up in that time period. So I want to apologize. I'm coming to you hat in hand. I am going to have this course and membership site ready by March 1st. I'm doing the best I can, but it takes a little pressure off of me. I'm working on it every day, but this gives me time to record my podcast. It gives me time to record the videos in the class, and it gives me time to build out the membership site. So there's a lot of things going on. And oh, by the way, I'm still selling real estate and I'm still doing other things in my life. So I've got other issues and other time constraints that's just kind of just vice gripping me into this deal. I've got to get a buffer of time. And March 1st— and, and here's my plan, and you can tell me whether you think it's a good idea or not if you can communicate with me— but what I'm going to do is every first of the month, I'm going to offer this course again because I think this is a great starting point. In learning how to study the Bible. I believe that this is not the be-all end-all, but it's a great start. And so I want to offer this, and I think as we go through it, I will be on the membership site and we can have a communication about what you're thinking about what's going on. And it may be— it's going to be a give and take kind of deal, but I'm looking forward to it. And I was wanting to— obviously I was wanting to have this already done and up and running, but that's not the case. But I want to go back into— and I apologize for that little public service announcement if you're just coming on to this podcast, just for all of my fanatics that's been listening for many months on end. The first couple minutes was just for the fanatics that have been looking for this class and have been asking about it, and I have not been able to deliver it to them. So let's get back into Many Are Called and Few Are Chosen. And I ended last episode with Matthew 7:13, and that is a familiar scripture if you've been listening to this podcast for any length of time. We go to this multiple times because it is so revealing about the kingdom of God. It's about many and few. It's about called and chosen. You can read into it how you want to read into it, but I'm going to read it again. Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. And that just goes hand in glove with many are called and few are chosen. And you've got to look at the Bible when you're reading and studying the Bible. You've got to understand that God is love. God loves you. God is madly in love with you. He loves you so much that he sent his son to die. That was the reason Jesus came. He came to die for sin and to be resurrected on the third day so that we will have a hope that one day we will be just like him. Now, that day is not today, so we are still in the hope, the blessed assurance, that if you believe in God's word, this will happen to you just like it happened for Jesus. He was raised from the dead. You will be raised from the dead if you die. That's why when I tell people, you can't threaten me with heaven, I know where I'm going. I am not of this world. The Bible is clear that if you've accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are translated into a new kingdom. And the kingdom of God is not here. It is a spiritual kingdom. And we become— our spirit man becomes just like Christ That's why when God looks at you or I, if we've been born again, he sees perfection. He sees our perfect spirit, which is just like Jesus. And that's why he can look at us, and that's why he can look at us and smile and say, "That's my boy," or, "That's my girl," because he's looking at our perfect spirit man. We have been perfected. We are just like Jesus in our spirit, and our spirit man will never ever sin because we are sealed by the Holy Spirit. Now don't think that I understand all this. I'm just reading the Bible and I'm picturing this. When we accept Jesus Christ, our spirit man becomes just like Jesus. And so our spirit man is then sealed by the Holy Spirit. If you've seen those machines that vacuum pack food and they seal it tight so that it can last for a long time now— and I've seen, I think I've seen Some of these vacuum pack machines that vacuum pack or seal ice cream— now that's crazy— but they will vacuum pack it and it is sealed. And I just need you to kind of get that picture. When you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit. Nothing is going to get into your spirit man, not one thing. You are sealed. It is like titanium, maybe, if you can just picture The hardest surface, I really don't know what that is. There's granite, titanium, but it's a light— it— you can't even tell it's there. But there's nothing, not one thing, can get to your spirit man. Now, your body and your soul— and your soul we defined many times as your mind, will, and emotion— those two areas of your life are still susceptible to sin, and they can get caught up in sin. They can get caught up in things that you shouldn't be doing. Your body, your mind, will, and emotion. That's where Satan's— he tries to tempt you either with bodily things or with mental things, emotional. And that's where he— that's the arena he's playing in. And that's why I tell you multiple times that we need to fight Satan in the spirit realm. That's where the Holy Spirit is. That's where Jesus is. That's where Father God is. And that's where your perfect spirit man— that's where it is in its best and strongest. And what we do when we read the Bible— and here comes soapbox moment, I hadn't had one of these in a while— but when you read the Bible, you feed your mind, will, and emotion. Your mind is just like Christ. Your spirit man, I don't know how it does, but your spirit man knows the Word of God. The problem is there's a disconnect between your body and your soul. That's where you just got to meditate on it, and you've just got to start believing and not doubting. That's what faith is. When Jesus talked about speaking to the fig tree, when he cursed that fig tree, explaining to his disciples in Mark 11:22-24, have faith in God. If you say unto this mountain, be thou removed and cast in the sea, and do not doubt in your heart, but believe whatever it is that you say, you shall have whatever it is you say. Remember, faith is voice activated, but faith is not just believing. Faith is also not doubting, and the way that we quit doubting is we put in more truth than we put in lies. And I'm not saying that everybody on TV or everybody on the radio or everybody that you talk to is lying. I'm just saying that if it's not the Word of God, it's not the complete truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus declared himself the truth. There is one truth. And in John 8:31-32, he says that if you are a disciple, if you abide in my word, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. This is what we do. This is how we do it. It reminds me, I hear that song going off in my head, That's just sometimes I think stupid thoughts. We get in the Word of God and we let the Word of God get in us, and that is how we are chosen. It is not a process where God's got his arms folded or he's got this thing all figured out and he is waiting for all the people that he's predestined to come aboard. And I know that's a huge topic, and I know there's whole denominations that just go with this predestined thing, but I just believe that's an oversimplification, and I believe it takes away the salvation. I have not studied into all of that, but the predestined people, or the people that— and I think they're— I want to say it's Calvinist, but if you're, you're a Calvinist and you get offended, I'm sorry. I'm not here to call names. We're all a part of this. We're to lock arms. We're not to fight against one another. We're to fight against the enemy. But to say that God has got everybody picked out and those that are supposed to be lost are going to be lost— God came to seek and save that which is lost. We're all lost. So I read it that whosoever, that is everyone that will accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It's not just a select few. It's not just a few of the really nice people. It is anyone that will humble themselves before God and say, "I've jacked my life up," or, "I didn't understand this," and repent. That's changing your mind. Let me change my mind about this God thing and just take another look at it. And that's what I'm saying. Many are called. Many means, I believe, the whole world is called. All sin, past, present, and future sin of everyone. Hitler's sin, Stalin's sin, All of these different people that have just killed millions of people, all of that sin has been paid for. That is amazing. I mean, it makes me angry to think, but I'm not God. There's something inside of me sometimes that thinks, man, that guy deserves to go to hell. And I know that's probably horrible to say. I've just thought it before. I mean, I can't imagine Hitler accepting Jesus after killing all those Jewish people, all these Christians, going to war, the World War II, all of these deaths that you could throw at his feet, and all he would have to do is say, "God, I am sorry," and change his mind, and Hitler could be accepted into the kingdom of God. That is the good news. It is for everyone. Now, Is everyone going to take it? No. And that's why we go to enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction. And I believe the more that you spend in the world and thinking from your own thoughts and the thoughts of others around you, I think you get caught up in pride and you get caught up in all this stuff that you think you already know, and that is what keeps you from being chosen. I heard someone say, "How could a loving God throw anybody in hell?" The way I'm reading the Bible, God doesn't throw anyone in hell. The people choose to go to hell on their own. They choose not to accept the free gift of salvation that comes from declaring Jesus Christ the Lord, the Son of God who was raised from the dead We're going to get into that in some of the next episodes, but I just want to open this thing up. This is a huge topic. This is tough to talk about, but we have got to look this thing dead in the face. Many are called, but few are chosen. God is not the one that chooses. You are the one who chooses God, and it's that simple. The gospel is so simple that a child can do it, and he was using the child as an example in Matthew 22. But I want to stop right now. I've been going on way too long. God, I thank you so much for your word. God, I thank you for your Holy Spirit who will lead us into all truth. God, I pray that the person listening to this episode will ask you for help. If I have confused them, or if I said anything that is against the way you truly are, God, I pray in Jesus' name that you will correct it. In me and in this listener. Lord, we thank you. We love you. We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, thank you for being a part of this, and I look forward to visiting with you in the next episode.

Thanks for listening to the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast at www.nodoubtonlybelieve.com.