Matthew 7:13,14.

¹³ Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is 4the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Matthew 11:12.

¹¹From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. [Amplified Bible: ... violent men seize it by force (as a precious prize)--a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought for with most ardent zeal and intense exertion.]

Luke 16:16.

The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. [ Wuest: ... everyone with the utmost earnestness and effort is pressing into it for his share in it.]

Luke 13:23-29.

²³Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" He said to them, ²⁴"Make every effort (agonize] to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, try to enter and will not be able to. ²⁵0nce the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.' ²⁶Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets. ²⁷But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers! ²⁸There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. ²⁹People will come from the east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.

Matthew 22:1-14.

'Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ²The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. ⁴Then he sent some more servants and said, "Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet." ⁵But they paid no attention and went off--one to his field, another to his business. ⁶The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. ⁷The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. ⁸Then he said to his servants, "The weddinq banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹Go 'to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find." ¹⁰So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both qood and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. ¹¹But when the king came in to see the guests he noticed a man there who was notwearing wedding clothes. ¹²Friend," he asked, "how did you get in here without wedding clothes?" The man was speechless. ¹³Then the king told the attendants, "Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." ¹⁴For many are invited, but few are chosen.

I Corinthians 9:24-27.

²⁴Do you not know that in a race all the the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. ²⁷No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

1 Peter 4:17,18.

¹⁷For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? ¹⁸And, "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"

Background from Greenfield Graphics.