Good Day Passionate Youth Reaching Out, today is Wednesday May 25. My name is Grant and this is Start Up, helping you start your day with an upward focus.

I am switching the order around of the podcast today, because I do have some big news to lead off with. Our plan was to have an outdoor youth event this Friday, however, rain is in the forecast and so I’ve made alternate plans. We are having a laser tag maze set up in the sanctuary, combined with a lounge night in the youth room and a barbecue in our foyer. The night ends with a showing of the new Charlie Brown movie upstairs. We will also take some time in the night to make sure that you are all able to stay connected with the Church this summer. The night goes from 7-10 PM and is for students in Grades 6-12.

Another important news item is that we are changing the name of our mentoring groups to D- Groups, (can you guess what the D stands for? Its Discipleship.) I’m challenging all youth to get involved with a D-Group this summer. This is a long term commitment to meet regularly, and to live your life for God’s glory. Each meeting involves Bible Study, Christian Thinking on Current Headlines and exploring and implementing your own strengths. I challenge you to contact me this week with the goal of joining a D-Group.

Today’s scripture is Matthew 7:13–14 (HCSB)

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.

Lets take a look at this passage in three different ways.

Not All Roads lead to Heaven

What does Jesus mean by “narrow” road

How to know that you are on the narrow road.

All roads don’t lead to heaven. According to some estimates, there are roughly 4200 religions in the world. Christianity’s claim is that it is the only way that leads to heaven. It goes without saying that there are many false religions that will be extremely dangerous for you to put your trust in. Jesus says that the road that leads to life is difficult, and few find it. This puts us in a predicament, how can we be sure that we are not following a false religion? According to this verse, we can gain some confidence by being on the narrow road and by finding the narrow gate.

What does Jesus mean by the narrow road though? To understand this you have to go back a couple of chapters to Matthew 5 where this Sermon on the Mount begins. Jesus spends 3 chapters teaching, and instructing those who want to follow him. The narrow road is the one that is occupied by those whose lives agree with his teaching. A good way to understand if you are on the narrow way is to see if your life is living up to his teachings.

You might think that I’m talking about your efforts to be good, and to obey, and at one level I am. But what I really want to stress to you is that you can’t walk this road without God’s saving power and help every day. When you repent of your sins and ask Jesus to guide your life, he begins to do a renovation of your heart, whereby you begin to want to live this way, and by his power and help, the teachings of Jesus Christ become a great description of your life. Take 30 minutes today to read Matthew 5-7 and see what the narrow road looks like.

If you want to find out more about our youth group, you can find us online at hbcyouth.ca. We are also on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, just search for Hawkwood Youth.

https://www.facebook.com/HawkwoodYouthPYRO/

https://twitter.com/HawkwoodYouth

https://www.instagram.com/hawkwoodyouth/