What is the narrow path? It’s getting rid of all that fleshly baggage and start really living for God’s will.

Joyce Meyer, one of the world’s leading practical Bible teachers and New York Times best-selling author, shares encouragement and advice to help us enjoy our daily lives.

With a heart to share Christ and love people, Joyce’s messages help people in all walks of life to grow in their faith, learn to study the Bible, find healing from the wounds of life, get answers to life’s questions and encounter the love of God in a powerful way.

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well tonight the title of my message is

pay day is coming because whatever we

saw we will ultimately reap if we remain

in that baby stage of Christianity

always just doing what we want what we

think of what we feel we will reap that

and we really won’t like what we reap

and we’ll probably blame the devil and

we’ll probably blame people but the

truth is we just never got around to

doing what we should have been doing to

start with can somebody say Amen

how many of you know we love to blame

all of our problems on somebody else if

we can’t find a person then it’s the

devil’s fault however the truth of the

matter is is nobody else is in charge of

your happiness except you do unto others

we read this stuff too fast and we go on

to something else and we just don’t get

it what kind of power is this giving us

in our lives do you want people to

appreciate you then start appreciating

everybody you meet you want people to

compliment you then start sowing

compliments everywhere you go when

people give you a gift you want them to

give you a really nice gift something

you’d really like to have then start

giving nice gifts don’t buy the cheapest

thing you can find give people good

stuff now a little more understanding on

a couple of scriptures that we probably

are well aware of enter through the

narrow gate for wide is the gate the

spacious and broad is the way that leads

away to destruction and many are those

who are entering through that gate a

wide gate a broad path not hard to be on

you can live by your feelings and be on

that path you can do what you think be

on that path you can have a bad attitude

and be on that path but it’s going to

lead to destruction but the gate is

narrow contracted by pressure and the

way is straight and compressed that

leads away to life and few are those who

find it the Bible says many are called

few

are chosen many are called but few are

willing to take the responsibility to

rise up and be the men and women of God

that God wants them to be

we can’t wait to feel like doing what’s

right to do what’s right we do what’s

right because it’s right

we can’t live according to the way we

think and what we want

we’re always tell everybody what we

think I think I think well I think well

I think this talks about the broad path

and the narrow path so few people ever

make it all the way through the

wilderness and live in the Promised Land

so few and I’m given my life to try to

encourage more people to grow up I love

to see people get saved and we have

hundreds of thousands of people receive

Christ in our meetings but I frankly

don’t think that’s enough I want to see

you go to heaven but that’s not all I

want to see I want to see you have a

good life while you’re here I want to

see every one of us become a fruit

bearing Christian I want to see every

one of us affect other people’s lives

and take other people to heaven with us

I don’t want to just go myself I want to

take a crowd and that doesn’t happen

because we’ve got a bumper sticker and a

rhinestone Jesus pin and a cross hanging

around our neck we got to have fruit

fruit fruit fruit amen the narrow path

the broad path now let’s put these three

scriptures together and I think we get a

lot more understanding whatever you want

other people to do for you do that for

them enter through the narrow gate that

is the narrow gate on the narrow paths

there’s no room for our fleshly baggage

on the narrow paths we can’t do what we

want what think what we think of what we

feel we can’t just talk to anybody

anyway we want to talk to him

you can do that on the broad path the

title lead to destruction however on the

narrow path you’re going to have to

treat people the way you want to be

treated on the broad path you wait for

somebody to do something right for you

and then maybe if you feel like it you

do something right for them but on the

narrow path that don’t work that’s what

the narrow path is you wouldn’t know

what the narrow path is you’ve got to

get rid of all that fleshly baggage and

start really living for God’s will in

God’s economy you give first and then

you receive we always want to receive

person and see if there’s any of it that

we don’t want that maybe we could part

with but that’s not the way it works

with God now let’s talk about Jacob for

a minute because I think his story is

great

Jacob and Esau were twins Esau was born

first so he was the oldest and under the

Old Testament Jewish way of doing things

the firstborn son always got a double

portion of the inheritance it was called

the rights of the firstborn when the

father died he would before he died he

would pray that special blessing prayer

over the firstborn son and they just

always had a greater portion of

everything well Jacob and Esau his

father Isaac knew that it was time for

him to die so he called the older son

Esau and he said I know my time here is

just about up and I want to pray the

blessing prayer over you we want to

celebrate with a meal so he saw was a

hunter and he said I want you to go out

into the field and kill an animal and

make a special stew and then I want you

to come and we’re going to celebrate and

I’m going to pray this prayer over you

it was a big thing a big big big big

thing for them well Jacob and Esau his

mother actually favored Jacob the

younger of the twins and she wanted him

to have the blessing but the only way he

could get it would be if they tricked

Isaac so she quick made the stew

before Esau could get back with the

animal he went to hunt and she talked

her son into pretending to be Esau and

one of the things he did was he had to

put the skin of a hairy animal on him

because Esau was a hairy man and Jacob

was a smooth skinned man so he went in

and pretended to be the older son Esau

and received the prayer of blessing now

the thing is very interesting to me is

even after Isaac realized what he’d done

he couldn’t take it back that’s how

powerful that prayer was once he’d given

it he said what I blessed is blessed and

I can’t take it back

amazing well of course then there was

problems between Esau and Jacob so Jacob

spent a good number of years running and

hiding you know when you do the wrong

thing you always got to hide he got what

he thought he wanted by fleshly ways

rather than waiting on God to bless them

and all it did was create fear and

misery in his life so after a while he

ran into his uncle Laban and wanted to

go to work for him and Laban had a

daughter that he really liked her name

was Rebecca and he wanted to marry

Rebecca and Laban said well I’ll tell

you what I’ll let you marry Rebecca but

you got to work for me seven years first

so for seven years he labored and worked

for Rebecca when the seven years were up

and it was time for the wedding

Laban got him drunk and he woke up in

his tent the next morning and he looked

over at the woman he’d slept with and

married and it wasn’t Rebecca it was her

sister Leah well he was heartbroken he’d

been tricked

he’d been deceived how could you do that

to me come on now after seven years of

working for you now you’ve lied to me

you’ve tricked me you’ve deceived me I

think he totally forgot what he did

these huh I wonder how many times we’re

all bothered about something that we’ve

done I mean about something that

somebody’s doing to us and we’ve totally

forgotten that we did the same thing to

somebody else and didn’t see it as a

problem at all later on in his life the

same thing happened his own sons

deceived him concerning Joseph who was

his favorite and youngest son they were

jealous of Joseph they took him out into

a field to hunt with him and they ended

up selling him to slave traders they

went back and told Jacob his father that

he’d been killed by wild animals and

once again he was deceived and tricked

you know God forgave him he came to

point his life where he wanted things

straightened out between him and Esau

and Esau forgave him and God forgave him

but he still had something working in

his life because sometimes when you put

it on the wheel it’s going to keep

coming back around now let me explain

this because I know that we all know

that God is merciful but here’s what I

want to tell you and I thought about

this a long time because I don’t ever

want anybody to think that every time

you do something wrong you’re going to

get banged over the head we know that

God is merciful but here’s what I want

to tell you and I want you to just

listen to this Paul said that he

received grace because he acted in

ignorance it’s one thing to be ignorant

and not know anybody better it’s another

thing to sit in church week after week

after week after week after week have

your whole Bible underlined

watch Joyce Meyer on television three

times a day watch five or six other

Christian programs hear all the great

worship have all the DVDs all the CDs

have your car with bumper stickers

telling everybody you’re a Christian

it’s one thing to be totally ignorant

and do that kind of stuff

then you come to a knowledge of God you

repent and there’s mercy and there’s

still mercy for us even now but we have

a much greater responsibility and I can

tell you something I don’t believe that

God in His mercy can deliver us from

every circumstance that we create by bad

behavior because if he does then we

never learn and we never change and we

never do things any different and so you

get quiet when somebody preaches to you

like this because we’d rather think we

can do whatever we want to and just get

by with it

I didn’t say God wouldn’t love you I

didn’t say you wouldn’t go to heaven but

I said there is a law that works in the

earth of sowing and reaping and if you

didn’t know anything about it before you

walked in here tonight

you’re going to know about it when you

leave and that’s going to give you a

greater responsibility to realize the

next time that you criticize somebody

and go gossip about them to five or six

other people

I mean it’s time for us to grow up what

sense does it make to just keep hearing

the same messages over and over and over

and over again and sit out there and say

hey man hey man praise the Lord

whoo that was good hallelujah think I’ll

buy that DVD and then the next time

there’s a test how many messages have

you heard on forgiving your enemies and

praying for those that hurt you 100 200

300 but I could have taught tonight on

bitterness resentment unforgiveness and

I would have had 80% of the people in

this room tonight tell me that they

needed prayer in that area sometimes you

don’t need anymore prayer what you need

is to grab yourself by the back of the

neck give yourself a good shaking and

saying I’ve heard everything I need to

hear now it’s time for me to do what God

is telling me to do rather I feel like

it are not here have to feel like

talking to somebody to talk to him I

mean even right now if Dave would make

me mad I would go home and I would not

want to talk to him but you know what

I’ve learned I’ll do it on purpose

because I’m not giving the devil anymore

foothold any more ground in my life you

don’t have to feel like praying for

somebody to pray you don’t have to feel

like talking to them to talk to him

you don’t have to feel like being good

to them you don’t have to feel like

giving your tithes and offering you

don’t have to feel like going to church

you don’t have to feel like anything you

say god help me

strengthen me in the inner man so I can

go out and do what you’re asking me to

do instead of just doing what I feel

like doing

now you’re sowing a seed that’s going to

bring a great wonderful harvest and

payday in your life can somebody shout

and say Amen

now just to make sure you understand

what I’m saying I’m not saying that God

doesn’t give us mercy I’ll tell you what

if God didn’t give us mercy we’d all be

dead but I do believe that when we’ve

been in the word 5 years 10 years 15

years 20 years and we’re still going

around and around and around the same

mountains then it’s time for something

to change can anybody say I agree amen

how many of you know better than to

gossip how many still do it

all the people that know not to how many

know better than to tell everybody’s

secrets the Bible says don’t tell her

don’t tell people’s secrets

and yet we just can’t hardly stand it

well I’m just going to tell you just

don’t tell anybody and then we even get

spiritual about it I’m you know I’m just

going to tell you so you can pray no you

ain’t telling them so they can pray

you’re telling them because you just

can’t stand nice to tell something I

mean it’s bad enough to do it it’s

doubly bad to spiritualize it and I know

because I’ve done it I mean everything I

teach you you should have no problem

eating it because it’s coming off my own

plate I’ve had to eat it first I’m not

preaching out a theory I’m preaching out

of my life hallelujah I would never tell

you something that I didn’t feel like

God had told me first God loves you so

much

my goodness we just have no idea the

life that God has planned for us I mean

I was thinking tonight we don’t even

really grasp God is good and God has a

good plan I don’t imagine there’s

anybody that’s ever lived that’s even

tapped into 10 15 20 % of God’s good

plan and I think this thing that I’m

sharing tonight is very important I feel

like that this is really something that

we need to grab ahold of you can

radically change what’s going on in your

life if you’ll just begin to do unto

others as you want them to do unto you I

said you can radically change what’s

happening in your life

you talked about people the way you want

to be talked about you think about

people the way you want them to think

about you you treat them the way you

want people to treat you and you’d be

committed to doing it from now until the

time Jesus comes back to get you and

you’re going to be amazed at what God is

going to do for you and you know what

you may treat this person over here

right and maybe they’ll never get it and

they’ll never treat you

right but God will still bring you a

reward through somebody else over here

somewhere

that’s why I tell people if you didn’t

get the promotion at work that you

deserve and somebody got it they don’t

even work nearly as hard as you you

still have a good attitude you be happy

for them you keep doing a good job and

even if that boss never changes and sees

your value God will either get him out

of there and get somebody in the will or

he’ll get you out of there and gives you

a better job somewhere else but if you

don’t get treated right and then you act

bad about it get a bad attitude gossip

get addicted to death at the lunch table

I hate this place again you hanging in

there

well you just will stay there complain

and remain praise and be raised come on

I’m doing better than your acting

complain and remain my mom I feel better

tonight than I ought to I don’t know

what’s wrong with me

Galatians 6 you know I like this because

I feel like this puts power in my hands

I feel like man this has given me some

Authority this has given me some power I

can change some things in my life if

I’ll just begin to give away what I want

that’s really what that means give away

what you want wow wow wow and double Wow

that’s pretty exciting in it give away

what you want do not be deceived and

deluded in misled verse 7 God will not

allow herself to be sneered at scorn

disdained or mocked by mere pretensions

our professions or by his precepts being

set aside he inevitably deludes himself

who attempts to delude God for whatever

a man shows that and that only is what

he will reap he sews to his flesh lower

nature sensuality will from the flesh

reap decay and ruin and destruction but

he who sews to the spirit will from the

spirit reap eternal life and let us not

lose heart and grow weary and faint and

acting nobly and doing right for in due

time

and at the appointed season we shall

reap if we do not faint relax our

courage quit and give up I may not get

my reward from the person I’d like to

get it from but God will get it to me

one way or the other don’t come in the

front door it will come in the back door

and if it can’t come through a window

it’ll come down the chimney those that

come to God must believe that he is and

that he is duck rewarder the rewarder of

those who diligently seek Him everything

in our life is a seed every attitude

every action every thought all of our

words every prayer the Word of God is

called seed that’s planted in our heart

when it’s watered and nourished it grows

up and becomes fruit bearing trees of

righteousness the money that we give is

called seed we take that seed and we

plant it in the ground of God’s kingdom

and it brings a harvest in our own life

the Bible says if you judge others

you’ll be judged but if you sell mercy

you’ll reap mercy I could preach a whole

sermon here tonight on just being

merciful to people giving people the

freedom to be themselves don’t try to

make them be what you want them to be

train up a child in the way they should

go according to their own individual

bent gift or personality as parents

we’re supposed to find out what God

wants to do with this kid and help them

be what God wants them to be not try to

make them be what we want to be and try

to make them fulfill all of our

unfulfilled dreams come on

some of you are still hurting right now

because your parents didn’t know how to

let you be who you were some of you felt

strange and unusual all your life

because you didn’t seem to fit in to

what everybody else thought the mold was

we need to learn how to give people

freedom if we want freedom we need to

learn how to stop pressuring people to

be perfect hello

I like people to give me a little space

you know made my message and that won’t

even be perfect but I hope you love me

enough to like it and come back anyway

don’t send me letters about what you

didn’t like just in case you didn’t hear

me don’t send me letters about what you

didn’t like I don’t want to hear it I

want to be encouraged I want to be

discouraged you have to be good to older

people

hallelujah

I’m gonna play this thing up boy I love

this Psalm 126 those who sow in tears

will reap in joy oh my gosh sometimes

you got to do the right thing with tears

running down your face it’s so hard you

feel like it’s just going to absolutely

kill you you know there have been times

when Davis hurt my feelings are made me

mad and honestly I felt like the devil

concreted my mouth shut it was just like

I could not go in the other room and

speak to him if my life depended on it

not always easy to do what’s right

sometimes you got to do it through

gritted teeth and tears but those who

sow in tears will reap in joy hallelujah