What if after death you find that you missed heaven?  Here are some Scriptures you may never hear in church.  Matthew 7:13 – 14 – “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.  But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” NLT

You may believe that the gate is wide and all you have to do is accept Christ as Lord, accept Him as your Savior and that is all that is required.  Therefore, many Christians struggle with must I work my way to heaven or isn’t God’s grace sufficient.  Once my sins are forgiven are there further requirements?

Salvation is not necessarily a feeling.  It is God’s promise that if we accept Christ, we commit and surrender to Him; He will allow the Holy Spirit to enter into our lives.  Once we receive the Holy Spirit we may experience an immediate or a gradual change to become more like Christ in our disposition, kindness, gentleness and love.  Everyone may not recognize having acquired the Holy Spirit the same way.  My personal experience was that I wanted to change so that I could please God.  Tremendous changes took place in my life almost immediately.  Changes I had tried to do on my own and did not have the will power to do so.

Matthew 7:21 – 23 – “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.  On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’  But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’”

The requirement to enter heaven is that we must actually do the will of God in order to be accepted.  The question would be: Does every professing Christian live by and do God’s will?  It sounds like prophesying, casting out demons and performing miracles will not necessarily assure a Christian that they will automatically become a member of God’s family.

Matthew 10:38 – 39 – “If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine.  If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.”  Christ is telling us that we must identify with Him.  We must be willing to suffer and face death, if necessary, as a testimony that Christ is Who He says He is. We are to be His witnesses.  If we live by the ways of the world we could lose our relationship with God.  Are we allowing leisure, popularity, financial security, power, fame and the world’s lusts control us?  If we cling to the life of the world we could lose our eternal life with God.

Matthew 12:32 – “Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come.”  Every person must know the unpardonable sin.  How we treat the Holy Spirit that is within a Christian is extremely important.  Yet, many either do not recognize He is with us or we intentionally ignore Him.  This may be a deliberate hardness of the heart.  It is the belief that anyone committing the unpardonable sin will never ask for forgiveness.  Ignoring the guidance of the Holy Spirit will most likely reject the requirement of repenting or reversing direction of one’s life from being worldly to being spiritual.

Matthew 12:36 – 37 – “And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak.  The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.”  Jesus reminds us that what we say tells what is in our heart.  This reveals what our heart is focused on.  We must allow the Holy Spirit to change our thinking by giving us a new attitude and a different motivation.

Matthew 15:8 – 9 – “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.”  God requires that we do more than just act religious.  More is required than just reading and studying the Bible.  We must live according to God’s will and this is to develop the mind of Christ and deny our self-centeredness, become humble as a servant and follow the teachings of Christ.

Matthew 18:3 – 4 – “Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.  So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.”  Many Christian are similar to the Apostles.  They want positions in Christ’s kingdom.  Our earthly natures can exempt us from eternal destinies.  We can become so concerned about becoming someone that we lose perspective of our future in eternity.  We must see ourselves as team members and be willing to do whatever the team needs.  Christ stressed the importance of humility and having sincere hearts.  Matthew 20:26b-28 – “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 24:9 – 14 – “Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers.  And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people.  Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.  But the one who endures to the end will be saved.  And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.”  All over the world Christians are facing persecution and death.  There are false teachers preaching health and prosperity only.  Their messages are what people want to hear.  They tell you such as: God wants you to be rich.  If you have enough faith you will never get sick.   There is really no sin or hell.   God tells us He wants us to have an abundant life but that means loving Him with all of our heart and others as ourselves and He will meet our needs.  If we do not focus on Christ and times get severe, we could be one of those who could fall away.  If that were to happen, our Christianity was probably in our heads and never in our hearts where it must be.

Hebrews 13:5b – 6 – “For God has said, ‘I will never fail you.    I will never abandon you.’   So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear.   What can mere people do to me?’”  Christians who are materialistic do not trust God to take care of them.  Insecurity can lead to money, which can become the root of one’s spiritual problems.  A Christian with a heart experience will find contentment in all things.