Just a short word this morning. Jesus pointed out to his disciples once that it is hard to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Yep. We work hard at it. We try to muster our faith, to correct our doctrine, get our community right, and our church, too. And when the results are not what we expect them to be, we can get frustrated, wonder if we’ve missed the point, give up, or just try harder again. It is hard to enter the Kingdom of God nad maybe easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle…

That line astonished the disciples. “Who can be saved?” Jesus responded to that question by saying that for us, it is impossible. We can’t enter into the Kingdom of Heaven no matter how hard we try. And that’s good, I think. Hear me out. If we can’t force our way in, we can’t enter as conquerors. Conquerors scale the walls, raise their flag, and say, “Look at us. We made it!” I don’t think God wants us to conquer our way into his Kingdom.

Rather, he wants to conquer hell and bring us in. He is the conqueror of the sin that separated us and the death that captured us. He conquers. He sets free a host of captives and welcomes us into His Kingdom. Entering into heaven is about God moving and us surrendering. After surrender, we are made citizens. We are given a new identity. Then we can begin to obey in His kingdom. And we are given authority as the children of God. Then we can begin to move in power. It is not about what we can do for God. It is about what God has done for us and is doing through us when we are surrendered to Him.

It is impossible for us, but With God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26) We are wise to apply this principle to every aspect of discipleship, mission, and launching missional communities. It’s always about what God does.

Blessings on the journey.