The Narrow and Wide Gates
Here is a recap of Sunday’s message from Pastor Steve: “The Door of Purpose — The Narrow and Wide Gates”
We closed in on Jesus’ final fork-in-the-road moment from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:13–14). Jesus didn’t end with a soft story, He ended with a decision: two gates, two roads, two crowds, two destinations. The wide road is easy, popular, and crowded, it promises everything and delivers nothing. The narrow road is small, costly, and at times difficult; it alone leads to life. This isn’t about restriction, it’s about relationship. One where we walk close enough to Jesus that His voice, not the world’s noise, becomes your compass.
Pastor laid out three big movements: the wide road looks right but leads wrong, the narrow road costs more but gives more, and the Cross is the gate to that narrow way.
We looked at how the cultural concepts of “following your truth’, and “do what feels right”, can easily cause us to drift deeper into the wide road that Jesus says leads to destruction. And we heard a hopeful counterpoint: no one “drifts” into holiness; we choose Christ’s road day by day. The narrow way presses you, but it purifies you. Less of you means more of Him.
Practical takeaways:
• Check your direction, not just your intention. There’s no neutral lane, your habits are taking you somewhere.
• Watch your company. The wide road is crowded; the narrow road requires conviction.
• Expect pressure on the narrow path. “Thlibō” (narrow/pressed) means God uses the squeeze to refine you.
• Trade convenience for closeness. Salvation is free; following Jesus costs everything and it’s worth more than it costs.
• Enter by the Gate, not by effort. The narrow door has one name on it: Jesus. Religion can’t fit through; pride can’t fit through.
• When in doubt, paddle forward. If you’re not moving toward Jesus, the current is quietly carrying you away.
Images that stuck:
• The “Google Maps” detour where most people take the long, easy reroute; the Father knows a better way if we’ll ask, seek, and follow.
• Mountain trails are tight, steep, and tiring, but they open to views the highway will never show you.
• Job’s refining pressed him on every side, yet purified like gold until he could say, “Now I have seen You with my own eyes.”
Below are the verses that were read during the message.
Matthew 7:13–14 (AMP)
13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad and easy to travel is the path that leads the way to destruction and eternal loss, and there are many who enter through it.
14 But small is the gate and narrow and difficult to travel is the path that leads the way to [everlasting] life, and there are few who find it.”
1 Corinthians 15:33 (CEV)
“Don’t fool yourselves. Bad friends will destroy you.”
Psalm 1:1 (CEV)
“God blesses those people who refuse evil advice and won’t follow sinners or join in sneering at God.”
Proverbs 14:12 (AMP)
“There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but its end is the way of death.”
Job 13:15
“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”
Job 42:5 (CEV)
“I had only heard about You before, but now I have seen You with my own eyes.”
Job 23:10 (CEV)
“But God knows what I am doing, and when He tests me, I will be pure as gold.”
Luke 9:23 (AMP)
“If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”
John 10:9 (AMP)
“I am the Door; anyone who enters through Me will be saved [and will live forever].”
John 14:6 (AMP)
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.’”
A closing encouragement from the service: Jesus stands at the crossroads, not to entertain but to awaken. The gate is open. Step off the wide road of convenience and onto the narrow road of conviction and peace. Lay down the baggage that won’t fit (pride, self-justification, hidden sin) and come through the Door that is Christ Himself. The narrow way isn’t for the perfect; it’s for the surrendered. When you choose His road, He walks it with you.