The Narrow Gate // Stephanie Ike | The Belonging Co TV

you know i feel so at home here so i'm going to call you family and no i'm just going to have a great time with the lord first of all let us honor your senior pastors aren't they amazing [Applause] amen you know pastor alex i feel like when the lord sent us on the earth he forgot that we went to two different families i just connect with her so much and i love her i love your pastors pastor alex pastor henry let's just praise god for them one more time amen you know i i just love how god moves and how he does things as we were worshiping i just kept seeing you know colors all over the building just different colors very colorful things and i was like lord what is it that you're showing me in this service and he began to show me this you know almost an expression of who he's called you to be that you are not confined to one layer of yourself you see if there was anyone that knew your truth it is the lord as i saw that i was reminded about in the book of genesis you know there's a part when adam is naming all the animals and the bible tells us that whatever he named them that was its name they were already named by god adam was just flowing from a place of revelation the mistake we have made over time is that now we are limited to what people call us but you have to get back to the place of what god calls you because there are so many layers of your identity and i get the lord began to show me that for some of you what you struggle with is accepting all of you because people don't accept all of you and you know that this is what the lord has put in your spirit but sometimes people are more comfortable with a different side of you because the real you all of you will be a threat to the enemy and so you have to discern the rooms and discern the environment that wants to keep you less than because anything that wants to keep you less than you see the word of god tells us that we don't wrestle with flesh and blood but we wrestle against principalities and powers but the reason for distinction is because it looks like flesh and blood it looks like you're arguing with a person but really the enemy is trying to plant a seed of doubt in your heart and so as the lord began to show me this i recognized that we have to embrace all of us and so as we go into the word today and my prayer is that it will cause the parts of you that have been dormant for so long because you felt like people couldn't understand it people can embrace it people can connect with it but the lord said that i did not call you to put you in one thing i called you as colorful you see the rainbow thank you jesus the rainbow we we look at the rainbow the rainbow was what god put in the clouds as a sign right when in the times of noah and he said that this would be the covenant that i would never do this again to the earth but the rainbow is more than just a covenant in the book of revelation we see the rainbow over the throne and that rainbow the lord began to show me that it is also an expression of the holy spirit you see the holy spirit is not confined to one thing he manifests in so many ways sometimes he manifests as wind sometimes he manifests as a rainbow he has many elements to him and so whatever the lord has called you to that is the boundaries that you live in you don't live in the boundaries of what man calls you you don't live in the boundaries of sometimes even what your parents call you because from the very beginning to name a thing was based on the revelation of god but after the fall of man now we name things sometimes based on our own trauma on our own pain and you have experiences in the bible when the lord will change the name of a person and maybe for some of you god is going to give you a new name maybe for such a long time you have looked at yourself as the uh almost in in this place of bitterness you've looked at yourself there was a lady in the bible when she called herself bitter because of her circumstance maybe because of your circumstance the lord won't let me release this but maybe circumstances and life has caused you to name yourself what god didn't name you and you need to embrace the fact that if anyone is gonna name you it is what the lord says about you and you are worthy of everything the lord says concerning you thank you jesus let us just pray heavenly father we thank you for your word we thank you for your revelation we thank you for what you're doing in the room and even in the lives of those that are watching lord move holy spirit move do what only you can do when we gather in your name and so have your way in jesus name amen amen you may be seated unless you understand all right you know as we are going to look into the word today so many amazing things are just happening while i'm in nashville you know first of all there's the bachelorette parties um loving that but it's kind of hilarious to be honest um but another thing interesting happened again i was sharing this earlier you know we were we checked into our hotel last night um yesterday rather and i mean your pastors know how to take care of us all right and so we attracted to this amazing hotel and everything was just excellent so i'm doing my you know i have my laptop on the desk and i'm just looking over some notes and as i was doing that you know we wanted to turn the light on so my friend came into my room she's with me right now and so we turned the the desk light on and this beautiful just light comes out of it right we're not thinking anything about it we're just like you know there's light and we're i'm going over my notes she was on the couch and she was going over some emails and then this morning as i'm getting ready i put on the lamp a different lamp and then all of a sudden the light goes out it comes back on it goes out it comes back on and then i go to the other the desk lamp and nothing is happening it's not coming on and then i look inside of it and realize there's no bulb and i'm a bit and it didn't dawn on me until later on and my friend comes back in the room and i said i was like you know brenda yesterday am i tripping or are we tripping oh were you there or was i only there you know was this a dream or what is happening because maybe before i come to preach i need to make sure i'm in the right mind and i said did we turn on the light on the desk yesterday and she just like oh yeah and i said there's no bulb there is no bulb in this lamp where did this light come from but i recognize you see a lot of times even before the lord has given me a word to impart there's always something interesting that happens there's always something supernatural that he uses to communicate to me about what is going to take place and so as i got ready i began to understand that even as we were worshiping earlier i began to understand lord this light is the light that you're shining it doesn't need a bulb your light is it it doesn't it's not connected to anything but it is the light of god that was a reminder that remind my people that i have called them to be the light of the world and i was like lord supernaturally you produced light but supernaturally he produced you you see whenever we're looking at the world and we're like god there's all this calamity and chaos in life who where what is happening you know there's a famous question it's like you know what if all this evil is in the world where is god but the lord is saying where are you are you in position because when i saw a problem i created you when i saw darkness i sense you and that is why i call you the light of the world you see being the light of the world it's an identity we share with jesus we don't share many things with jesus in regards to identity we are created in the lord's image and all of this good stuff but in regards to titles you see he is called the alpha and the omega we are just somewhere in the middle he is called so many amazing things but we don't share we're not all knowing we are not ever present we're not all these things but the one thing well one of the one things that we share in him is that we are called the light of the world the same way he called himself the light of the world that the same way you see jesus as the one who solves problems that the lord said i also sent you to solve problems i also sent you in the darkness and so as i saw this i said okay god we're on to something here because you see he began to speak to me in regards to this message about the times of noah and for many of you that you know you know about the story of noah but i'm just going to talk about it you see noah was just you know a regular guy he loved the lord and in his time the lord had purpose he said look i'm going to wipe out all of humanity right there was so much corruption there was so much violence in the earth and the lord said it is about to be wiped out and he chose i mean the story is more to that read the whole bible you'll find it but he talks to he encounters noah because the bible tells us that noah found favor in the eyes of god and so he encounters no and he tells noah you know what you're going to build an ark this is going to save your family save you i'm going to preserve the human race i'm going to call the animals to the ark i'm going to preserve all of this but there's a flood coming and it's going to come by rain and it's going to wipe out everything noah the bible tells us that he did according to all that god commanded him he built the ark he did all of that but you see this is so intriguing because when i read stories like this i begin to engage the holy spirit and i'm like god help me make it make sense so in the whole world the whole world noah was the only one the only one that could be found i said i'm sure that other people knew you it couldn't be that the only people that knew the lord were in noah's family and the lord began to teach me that it wasn't that noah was the only one that knew him but noah was the only one that walked with him you see there is a difference between knowing the lord and walking with the lord the bible tells us that can two walk together except they agree you see many times we find ourselves disagreeing with the commandments of god we know the lord we hear his voice and all that good stuff but when he gives you an instruction you begin to argue your way out of it it doesn't it's not convenient for you noah didn't only know the lord but he walked with him noah recognized that look it doesn't matter if it's convenient for me it doesn't matter if it's going to bring mockery to me but i trust you jesus i trust you lord whatever you tell me i am going to do that was the difference with noah and it made so much sense because you see noah had a great grandfather by the name of enoch enoch in the bible we don't learn we don't hear too much about him but one of the things that we know about him is that he walked with the lord and then the bible says and the lord took him and he was not so enoch didn't have a natural death he just walked his way into heaven he walked with the lord and all of a sudden you know personally that is my prayer i have been praying this prayer i said lord you know just do it in front of my family so they don't you know put me in the missing file uh missing person case just you know having dinner my birthday and you just come and say stephanie take a walk with me and i say family i'll see you later on the other side right but this was enoch i don't know if that's exactly what happened but he was not and the lord began to show me that it was not just that enoch was an example unto us because life is about walking with god enoch was an example that this is what it's all about you see many times we make life seem like it's just about making heaven and when it's just about making heaven then you're okay with saying well as long as i say yes to jesus this one time in my salvation i acknowledge and then i'm fine right i've said yes lord you're my savior and all that good stuff i'm gonna get to heaven it's not just about that because you see before the fall of man this was gonna be home forever if we ate the right fruit we would still be will be here forever and even when we say okay noble in the presence of god you know it's just going to be all this great stuff but even satan's address used to be the place we are heading to so even satan because you see there is so much to god that even in his presence you cannot it is impossible to to read all of him but you have to first come in agreement to walk with him satan was in the presence of god but even satan had the ability to rebel against god and influence others to do the same so it's not just about that sometimes we live for those glory moments that who i felt jesus in the room right you call everybody say wow jesus was just sitting next to me i was having a sandwich and i felt jesus in the room but life is not just about the glory moments the glory moments are supposed to translate into the your everyday life as we were worshiping you know that feeling of just like god everything is yours it's not just supposed to rest in the moment it's supposed to show up in your every day life that god i am making this is my decision i want to follow you with all of me and so this is noah noah said lord no matter what it is i would walk with you i am in agreement with you and this was the type of person he was the only one found worthy to carry an assignment despite not having any reference for it you see everybody was living their normal life they were having bachelorette parties they were doing their thing but noah was the one saying that lord i am moved by what moves you but this sometimes may seem like you know what lord this this seems difficult this seems whatever but at the end of the day when you are standing in front of the lord jesus this is what helps make decisions oftentimes when i find myself wrestling with what the lord has said to me i imagine what would it look like when i'm standing in front of my maker what would it look like is this going to really be an excuse this very thing that i'm complaining about when i'm standing in his presence would this be valid as an excuse at the end of the day i want to be faithful i want to be faithful that lord you found me faithful and true and so that's what we're going to dive in today we're going to be talking if you're taking notes my message for today is the narrow gate i'm going to be reading from matthew 7 verse 13 to 14 and the scripture says enter 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 you see this word life the gate that leads to life this narrow gate that leads to life is the same word jesus uses in john 10 10 when he says that i have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly you see this life is not just about eternity but there is a quality of life that the lord has called you to live in you know in ephesians 4 8 it tells us that when jesus ascended this is after the cross and all of that when he ascended that he took captivity captive and gave gifts unto men what i love so much about that that is a reminder that lord anything that had the power to keep me bound you took it captive you see the enemy while the enemy was thinking that he was crucifying our lord on the cross the lord was crucifying everything that would keep you bound and so when he took captivity captive and gave gifts onto men he had to take a hold of your bondage in order to release your freedom and he began to release to us our identity our truth and the grace to be able to walk in the fullness of it you see the reality is that what seems like bondage is a lie from the enemy it's when we have taken on a narrative of the enemy it will never get better than this there is no way out for you the moment you come into agreement with such thoughts that is why it's called a stronghold and we are called to cast down every stronghold for it to be in obedience to the word of god and so to cast down the stronghold you have to know the difference what is a lie and what is true god this is not what you said about me you have to be someone who is relentless with what you believe you have to guard your mind and guard your heart and sometimes you see the enemy tries to plant these lies even in especially in our childhood because those are the things that begin to shape us but you see to walk with god is to embrace a journey of unlearning because many things that we took on it was never supposed to be on us and when we encountered the lord is to say lord what do you say about me who do you say that i am and i would believe that because i was named according to things that that almost like it pointed to the fall of man the fallen version but i want to be named what you see i want to be named what you know this is the life that jesus has called us to live yet the bible tells us that the gate is narrow and the way is difficult and when we read things like this you say i love asking questions of the text i'm like god why is the gate narrow because when you want to when you think about the lord you're like lord you know what you love us so why would it just be this wide gate that anyone can come through but you see without boundaries we will not know what is good and what is evil without boundaries we cannot discern what is from the lord and what is from the evil one the gate has to be narrow because truth by definition is narrow truth by definition is restrictive it is exclusive you cannot it's almost like saying the sky is blue but then it's brown no it's i mean at one point there's one color there has to be boundaries in order for you to know what is and what is not and so the gate is not narrow because the lord has an exclusive club the gate is narrow because the lord knows the real you and the struggle of life is to embrace that god your truth over mine your truth over the lies that i've taken on your truth what do you say about me that is what i want to take on the the gate is only narrow because the gate requires you to let go of the baggage of the lies but you see sometimes in life we love our lives sometimes in life we love the very things that keep us in bondage you know i began to learn that in order to get free it's not that the power of god is not available to you but we first have to come with an honest heart lord i love what is keeping me bound who has ever been there when you're in a relationship that relationship is toxic you know it but you love it you love the idea of of the good moments but the lord is showing you this is not for you and you have to come to the lord and say lord i love it it is keeping me bound but i love it and i need you to help me break loose because if you don't engage the lord with honesty then you are still hiding yourself from his power if you don't engage the lord from a place you see there is a man in the bible by the name of paul and before he was paul he was saul and saul was just killing christians he was given the order for christians to be killed but then the lord encounters him and transforms him and then he begins to preach the gospel and he's responsible for many of the books we read in the bible but you see what i love about saul is that saul was authentically himself all the way what he believed he thought that his the way he was going about which was out of alignment with god he thought that this was the thing he was supposed to do so when the lord encountered him the lord is encountering a man that would show all his flaws and all his scars that will show his ignorance and saying that lord i thought it was wisdom we have to come to the lord with an honest heart an honest approach lord you what you what what you did on the cross you see god doesn't need to die twice the lord doesn't need to go to the cross again and that is what encourages me that when it seems like this very thing has me bound it is a lie because lord you already paid the price for this and so what is it in my life that i need to be honest about what do i need to repent and bring to you and say god you know what actually i love living a life that is far from what you said what you said it scares me because you see the reason i believe and when it says few find this way because just like we talked about that there's a difference between knowing god and walking with god but that difference is trust you can know god but to walk with god means that you trust him and trust is the difference trust is the key because without trust family there is it it doesn't make any sense without trust we would say lord i know you're all powerful but i don't trust if this power would relate to my life lord i know you protected my friend the other day but i don't know if you protect me the same way lord i know you do this for others you see i i've seen god do amazing things through my life in healing in in just how his healing power shows up but the truth is as i'm seeing people get healed i also needed physical healing but i had to trust the timing of the lord i said lord it is the same power but this is a reminder that this is not of any person's doing it is your doing and it is in your timing and in your will that things happen you see sometimes you've experienced praying for people and they're receiving breakthrough in areas that you are still crying out to god for and these things can cause you to question god are you for me are you with me do you love me we were talking about love and worship and you are the same person that will tell others jesus loves you you say it in a really cool voice jesus loves you right but then you go home and you struggle but do you love me you see even in the scripture there was a certain man he had leprosy and he goes to the lord and he says lord if you're willing you are able to make me clean and what is interesting about that passage is that first of all he recognizes jesus you have the power to do this but in his honesty he's like but i don't fully trust that you desire to do it for me but we have to come to a place where we say lord you would never be against me this is the key there it's a shift in your perspective you see the enemy it is a curator of perspectives but false perspective the very same thing that could draw you closer to god if you don't see it right it will make you feel like god is not with you it's about a shift in perspective and so you cannot stay in the space of okay maybe this or maybe not one of my favorite scriptures in the bible is when it says with my mind i will serve the law of the lord i have made a decision with my mind this is what i'm going to do with your mind you have to come to a place that you say lord no matter what it looks like you are for me you are not against me you are with me you are working all things for my good you see as a child when i was eight months old my father was assassinated years down the line we will come to find out that it was an uncle of mine who was actually very close to me when we found out i began to ask more questions about his assassination what happened and my mother begins to tell me the story and she says you know what he was at a gas station some people came up and they shot him multiple times but that was not actually when he died you see there were people that found him and they rushed him to the hospital the first hospital took i mean the first hospital when he came there they rejected him they said they needed a police report i'm from nigeria so at that time things were not really moving in the way that it should the second hospital he went to the same thing they asked for a police report the third hospital took him in but by that time he lost so much blood that he died when i found out this story it angered me a little bit because then i said actually he didn't die when he was shot and my question was god where were you why didn't you grant him favor with the first hospital what happened with this and the lord i had an encounter and i recognized that the encounter was not just about me coming into an understanding but that it was for me to recognize that god will always be for me and this is the message to deliver to all god's people that no matter what it looks like god is actually fighting your battles you see the bible tells us that his ways are not our ways you see when i had this encounter it was very interesting i was in a conference room and in the conference room there was a conference table and the lord jesus is sitting down there were angels that were sitting down and i understood that the angels that were sitting down were angels that were almost like a sign that the lord has sent with my father during his time on the earth and they began to give an account of why it was allowed by god for his life to be called home and when they began describing they mentioned several things that made me understand that this encounter is real one of the first things they mentioned was that the year that your father was supposed to pass away they told me the actual year that initially was ordained for him and that that was and that year was the same age that my mother's older brother passed away and i had no information about that so first they're giving me facts to understand that this encounter what you're receiving here is actually happening this is a real life encounter with you and the lord and we're going to give you an understanding then they began to explain to me decisions that my father started making and that he was going to continue down that path and if he did which he would have that we would not be who god has called us to be so there was a decision allowed by god in order to preserve what he has called in for the rest of the family you see your choices matter that's why even biblically we see in the old testament thank god for the blood but in the old testament that when a family was cursed by god that that curse went down to generations choices matter when you make a decision that is blessed because of abraham we are still enjoying blessings abraham is now known as the father of faith but abraham was a man just like you and i but he made a decision to honor god and and and by so doing it showed up in his lineage my father was making decisions and i talked to my mother about this when i came out of the encounter and she confirmed everything to be true he was making decisions that was taken him in a whole different direction and if we grew up with him i would not be standing before you today and so although i could say god where were you i realized it was always working for my good but you see the lord then began to teach me something you see one of the differences between not i mean apart from the fact that he is the son of the living god but one of the differences between the way the lord jesus walked on the earth and how we are doing life is that he came on the earth with full awareness of his calling but could you imagine if the lord did not know why he was sent here and he's just moving step by step in obedience he's just doing what he was supposed to do and all of a sudden he finds himself on the cross could you imagine the confusion and the lord began to teach me back then that you see stephanie sometimes in life there are things that you experience because it is what you are called to kill on the cross he became sin to kill sin there are some things you don't understand about your life and you wonder god why did i have to go through this god where were you when it happened and the lord began to teach me my ways and not your ways we had an agreement about this before i sent you to the earth you just don't remember i called you to become the very thing you were called to kill and so you may feel like god this happened and it disqualifies me but you see the enemy is trying to lie to you anytime that whatever you feel is your greatest weakness in life it is actually the place of your strength because we had an agreement with god before time the difference is that the lord remembered we did not because life is not about walking with him and walking with him means that he is the one leading this walk he is the one leading the journey and that is where faith comes in play that we walk by faith not by sight the lord if you tell me to go left i trust it if you tell me to go right i trust it and i'm here to tell you that what you think disqualifies you from walking in the narrow gate is a lie there are things you've experienced and sometimes we don't understand we're like god why would you allow this but could it be that you experienced something in the area that god called you to kill it that you would represent his kingdom on the earth and say this too would not overcome you that you can experience trauma you can experience pain you can experience all types of things and you can still stand and proclaim the gospel you see in the in the scriptures in the book of revelation there is actually a calling for being a martyr there is a calling to die for christ and personally to be honest with you i don't want that calling you know but if need be lord i would die for you okay but just let the pain go away real sweet [Laughter] but if there is a calling to die for christ then could could it also be that there was a calling to experience what you experienced but we cut we try to make things sound so sweet sometimes we try to make it sound like you know roses in the garden we try to make it sound like no jesus would never do that but could it be that what we call evil sometimes is actually the good that would still be that it's almost like it would be manifested in the end you see one of the things the lord taught me is that don't be so quick to say something is good or bad because the end reveals what it is because you might call this thing horrible and the lord said in the end of it you would see that my hand has always been with you and so what is it that is restricting you from going through the narrow gate you have to recognize that the hand of god is upon you that thing was never meant to defeat you you were called to defeat it i would have been raised with so much anger in my heart but the lord called me from a place of compassion my friend here calls me silver which means a nickname for silver lining because i am very optimistic about life in people but it is a weird thing that sometimes even my family doesn't understand because they will think that based on some of the things i've experienced in life that it should make me better it should make me cold but actually i recognize no with christ i can do all things with jesus that situation wasn't meant to overcome me but i was meant to show the example that because of the love of jesus i am the one called to defeat it it would not have me what is your narrow gate and what has been stopping you from walking in it what has the lord been convicting your heart about that you have been fighting you see conviction in simple terms is when the holy spirit makes you aware of sin and it's not just sin in regards to your behavior we try to limit it sometimes to you know the things on the surface lying and this and we're like i don't steal i don't lie all that stuff no but it's also about position are you in the place that god called you to be when god looks at you would he say like he said to adam where are you or would he literally just walk to you because you're taking a journey together are you where god has assigned you that is what conviction is about conviction is when the holy spirit begins to place a burden everything around you would seem okay but something inside of you feels out of place and you have to lean into it because conviction is a grace the holy spirit is a gentleman he's not going to force himself on you it's a grace and what happens is that when we don't lean into it and it lifts off off of us we begin to think everything is actually back to normal it's not when god convicts your heart you need to press in these are the moments that you realize i need to shut things down and i need to seek the lord i need to get back into my secret place lord what are you trying to show me something is not right this these are powerful moments to be back in the place of alignment you see a scripture that i love so much it talks about that it is the glory of god to conceal a thing and it's to the glory of kings to search it out and the bible calls us kings and priests so the lord is actually saying that it is your identity to search things out you are called to search things out because to search something out means that you are committed to what you will find you see sometimes you wonder god why does it feel difficult to have a revelation in this area because you see the lord will not give what is precious to someone who will devalue it and so he would hide it that for you to even understand it you need to search it out you need to be committed it is when you put in work that you recognize the value of the revelation sometimes even when you forget your dreams don't just get out of bed and act normal begin to ask the lord i know that i had a dream what was it you don't play with things when there is a burden on your heart and you don't have clarity some you know many times the easiest thing to do is say god you are not a god of confusion so i'm just going to keep living my life because i am not supposed to be confused the point is he is not a god of confusion meaning there is a way if you search him if you knock you will find it it's not that it means that he is not a god of confusion so you act like you are oblivious that something is off but that he it is an invitation to say my son my daughter i want to bring you into the place of alignment but what i'm going to reveal to you i cherish so much because this is literally the secret to life or death concerning your life and i cannot give it to you randomly because if i give it to you randomly you will not treasure it and so when god convicts your heart when the holy spirit makes you aware that something is out of place you need to press in for some of you maybe this is a season where you have to fast where you have to get off social media whatever is a distraction to you lord i need to press in i need to know what it is you're telling me to do because narrow is the gate but that way is the way to your truth is the way to everything god knows about you

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Length: 39min 50sec (2390 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 25 2021