Jesus is the DOOR to the Sheep!

Wow! It was exciting to preach on Sunday at United. Sunday is by far my favorite day of the week. The sermon series started off well, however, we were a little down in attendance because of the cold weather and sickness among some of our folks.
I am thankful that this has been the BEST winter yet as far as church growth and discipleship is concerned. Many new people are committing not only to the church but also to ministry!!

John 10:7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.


 If you look closely at the above picture you will see exactly what Jesus is speaking about. In Israel, there were two kinds of sheepfolds:

1. There were sheepfolds in the city and population areas where every farmer would bring their sheep and let them live together under the watch of hired hands, respectable men that would rotate shifts.

2. Another sheep fold is out in the country side where a shepherd would store only his sheep and watch over them day and night and even lay in the door of the pen to make sure nothing else came in or some of his own sheep left into the dangerous world outside.

I have read reports of the Twin Towers in NYC on September 11, 2001 where those that chose the door to the stairs were more likely to have survived and those that chose the door to an elevator were more likely to die in the building.

This is so sad, but life is like that as well. We get to choose which doors we want to take. Our only chance to survive is to choose the right door. Many are choosing the wrong doors in life. Wrong mates for life, wrong career paths, wrong friends, wrong habits and hobbies. These all lead to pain and strife.

 Here are 3 things that Jesus wants us to know and understand about Him being our DOOR: 

 1. He can provide for us the best Protection in life's battles!
2. He can provide a WAY OUT of a MEANINGLESS life
3. He can provide a WAY INTO a MEANINGFUL life

Jesus said he IS the door of the sheep. He wants to provide Security and Significance to your life! Are you secure? Do you feel significant? What kind of risks are you taking with your faith to reach out, to serve, to make a change in someone else's life? I encourage you to take a risk today and totally trust in God to give you victory! You can be so significant for the remainder of your life here in this world that people may talk about you for generations to come!!

See you the next time we meet at United!
Pastor Tim

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NO FEAR: The Fear of Failure

Image
LIST OF PHOBIAS: There are so many phobias in America today there is even a website - www.phobialist.com- that lists more than 500 human fears that people actually experience. In fact, it is estimated that there are about 50 million people in the United States who actually suffer from some type of phobia in their lifetime. You won't believe some of the fears that I have found. Some of them you will recognize. Claustrophobia - The fear of confined spaces. Dentophobia - The fear of dentists Pentheraphobia - The fear of your mother-in-law (several men confessed to this one!) Homilophobia - The fear of sermons Arachibutyrophobia - The fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. Luposlipaphobia - The fear of being pursued by timber wolves around a kitchen table while wearing socks on a freshly waxed floor. WOW! I never knew there were so many phobias. However, even thought Wikipedia lists all the phobias that we either have or could acquire, the Word of
Read more

Changing Directions

Image
Yesterday was a beautiful day and a great day for Easter worship. God continues to show us here at United Wesleyan that He is leading and blessing our congregation. A full parking lot is a good problem to have in the life of the church and that is what we were dealing with on Sunday.  However, the highlight of the morning for me was when I asked the congregation a question: "What was the signature dance of your generation?" Wow, you should have heard the answers! Carolina shag, Funky chicken, Duggie, Wobble, Macarena just to name a few! I threw in the only dance that I knew, The Hokey Pokey!  We realized that all these dances have something in common: The participant must constantly change directions! Do you realize this is what Peter said during the first sermon after the Day of Pentecost? When asked what they must do, Peter said: "Repent (change directions) in the Name of Jesus Christ!" I am praying that many people at worship services all around the world chan
Read more

Breaking Down the Walls

Image
We can have friends and relationships with those that are different from us! God takes great interest in breaking down walls that separate groups and people from one another. That is one reason He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to our world. God wants us to be ONE, especially in the church that Jesus died for: Ephesians 2:14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. The aforementioned scripture is mainly written about the relationship between the Jews and the Gentiles. They were so different in their traditions and their
Read more