Thank you, brother. We'll be
looking, I don't think I'll have you turn there, I don't know.
Romans 8, but Paul's got a lot of ifs in there, don't he? You read that. You're not in
the flesh, but in the spirit, if. If. Don't leave it on Paul, does
it? He just tells you the truth.
And he goes and eats him a pulled pork sandwich after. Loved every
bite of it. Oh, if, if he'd be with us, if
we could hear his name today. Our Lord, if you will turn to
John chapter 10. Our Lord, we remember it healed as we've been
looking at for quite a while now. That blind man in John nine
didn't, that man didn't say a word. The Lord came to him. There was a discussion about
him and the Lord spit on the ground, made clay out of the
spittle, put it in his eyes. And I said, now get up and go
wash in the pool of Siloam. And he did. He said, go. And he went. And he came fourth sea. And then
his neighbors noticed it. They had lots of questions. How,
how, how, how, how? And then that didn't suit him.
So it took him to the best place they knew how. We're going to
take you to church. You ever done something wrong as a teenager?
You hear somebody say, keep that up, we're gonna take you to church,
boy. That's a horrible thing. That's a terrible thing. That's
religion, is all that is. You're playing religion, is what
you're doing. Terrible thing. Well, they took him to religion.
They took him to church, and the Pharisees said, how? How? How? How do you see? Probably
because they wanted to be able to make somebody else see. No
one had ever been blind from birth and was made to see since
Adam. This had not happened. This was
unheard of. And that blind fella got his
jabs in too. They said, you gonna be his disciple?
Is that why you wanna know how? Oh, I love him already. I loved
him before. He's just like me. He got his
jabs, he got some sarcastic jabs. You wanna be like him? We ain't
his disciple, we're Moses' disciple. He said, so says you. I'm gonna
find this guy. That's who I'm gonna worship.
That's the one that did something to me that came to me. But our
Lord speaks here to these Pharisees. We'll begin in chapter 9, verse
39. This man finally saw the Lord
in the flesh. He hadn't saw many people. He
hadn't saw 20 people his whole life. He said, Lord, I believe,
and he worshiped Him. John 9, verse 39. This is where
the paragraph begins, and it ends in verse 18 of chapter 10. But these chapter divisions and
verse divisions are here for our sake. Here's where our Lord
begins preaching. Verse 39, Jesus said, for judgment
I am come into this world that they which see not might see,
and that they which see might be made blind. That was off short, wasn't it?
Most of our Lord's messages, I wonder if he came, showed up
here tonight and preached. if it be long enough to suit
our religion. Well, he just said one paragraph. I got dressed for that. I got
cleaned up, took a shower. That's all he said. That's all
he said. Verse 40, And some of the Pharisees
which were with him heard these words and said unto him, Are
we blind also? I wish God would save someone
here tonight. You know, that's my prayer. Our brother prayed that.
I wish the Lord saved someone in this room tonight. What if
it was, I'll close my eyes, what if it was just me and you? And
I said, I hope the Lord saves somebody, not one of us. Would
that be offensive? Are you saying I'm blind? Are
you saying I ain't saved? That's what they said. Are we blind
also? So he gives them a parable. Verse
41, Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you should have no
sin. You cried, oh, Lord, save. I
think you saved me yesterday. I think I know you. I think you've
revealed your son to me. Save me right now. He said, for
you, you have no sin. But for the ones that's been
saved for umpteen years, if you were blind, you should have no
sin. But now you say, we see. I see. I see. Oh, I got a handle
on it. I see. Therefore, your sin remaineth. Truly, truly. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold,
but climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber,
but he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name,
and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his
own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him. For
they know his voice, and a stranger will they not follow, but will
flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. I
know some strangers, and I know people that hear their voices,
and I pray to God he would make them not hear those strangers. There's wolves that sheep are
just going and laying down in their mouths right now. And it's my job to tell you there's
wolves there, don't go near the wolves. The wolves are bad. And there's people going and
laying down in the mouth of wolves. Isn't that dangerous? Isn't that sad?
I pray they'd make us not hear the voices of strangers. This
parable spake Jesus, verse six, unto them, but they understood
not what things were which he spake unto them. Then Jesus said unto them again,
do you see the patience and the long suffering and the compassion
to these religious zealots that were there and getting ready
to pick up stones and bash his brains in? The Lord said, there's
a sheepfold, that's his world. You're in it. I have sheep here. You can't get out of the sheepfold.
You ain't big enough. You can't jump the walls. There's
a door. I go to the porter, the one that's
in charge of this. I fulfilled all the requirements
of the porter. That's the Father. I fulfilled
the Father's glory and honor. I have fulfilled His holy and
just law. And therefore, rightfully, I
can go in and say, sheep, Brian, let's go. And you go, bye. And you go. Hear me, let's go. That's what he preached to them.
And they didn't get it. Did he just say, and walk, turn? Oh, the compassion he had. Look
at that. Then Jesus said unto them, again, again. How many
times have you heard this message? This, tonight's an again. If
the Lord be with me and give me his word, and allow me to
preach his gospel if he would use me as a mouthpiece and put
his water in me so it goes out on you. This is again. Do we treat it as such? Do I? I
said, well, that's just another worship service. Or I said, Lord,
let me hear your word today. Honestly, let me worship. Let
me hear you. He said unto them again, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me
are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. The thief cometh not but for
to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. I'm the good
shepherd. the good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep." God Almighty is preaching to these Pharisees.
And you know what he could have said to them? This would tickle
the ears of many, right? He could have give a polytheistic
expositional approach to his deity as to how those unbecoming
children of Adam are brought into glory. He could have done
that, couldn't he? He invented the English language.
I think he could talk about a wordsmith. He's the one that made words.
He invented those things. And all the words that the Lord
gave mankind to use, he chose this word to describe himself.
I'm the door. Isn't that wonderful? Aren't you thankful? That's deep, buddy. You get that?
A child could understand that. A child can understand that.
The sheep are in this sheepfold, and the proper way to exit, the
only way you can and live, the proper way to live, the proper
way to leave the sheepfold and not be stolen, the way you're
going to leave the sheepfold and not have an untrue shepherd
is to go through the door, supervised by the porter, ordained, blessed
off on by the porter. You've got to go through the
door. This earth is that sheepfold. The porter is the father. and
the requirements to satisfy the porter is His holy law. Now the
Scriptures tell us Christ is a good shepherd. That's what
He just said in our text, wasn't it? It tells us He's the great shepherd
and He's the chief shepherd that we look to come to get us. It
takes out the sheepfold. Christ is one with the Father.
He and the Father are one. So that means the shepherd and
the porter are one. But He didn't tell them I'm the
porter, did He? They're one. They're one and the same, but
he didn't say that. Christ was made one of his sheep. He was
made a sheep just like me and you. He was made a man. He was
into this world. He came into this sheepfold,
made like we are. The true shepherd, he entered
into the sheepfold. Christ came to this earth. He was made like
his brethren. And like a sheep is done before his shears, he
opened not his mouth. Did he say, I'm one of the sheep
too? I'm the elder both sheep. I'm the chief sheep. No, he didn't.
He didn't say he's the chief shepherd, he didn't say he's
the chief porter. He said, I'm the door. So why didn't our Lord
say he's the elder sheeper, the one with the porter, the shepherd
of his flock? We remember chapter 9, don't we? In John, everyone
was tore up by how the blind man received his sight. How? Are we blind also? When we go
assuming, assuming all the way to hell, maybe we ought to see
why the Lord did this. Christ has given them a how.
He's given them the how. How can somebody see? They have
eyes, but, oh, now I see Him. Now I know the Lord. How'd that
happen? He said, through me. Salvation's of the Lord. He's
telling them. He's the door. Through me. Sheep lawfully and
justly leave the sheepfold through the door. How are we going to
go to glory? How's somebody going to go to
heaven? Through the door. The door, the definite article,
not a door, not one of the doors, the door. He said, I'm the door. Thieves and robbers, they try
to find another way in. A door's for access. When we
come through that door, we access everything that's inside of this
room. When we go outside, we go out the door, we access everything
on that side of the door. You don't want to split air.
Everything outside, I have access to when I go out the door. Sinners
access everything that the Father has for them, all blessings,
in and through Christ. He's the door. How am I going
to get all his spiritual blessings? We're going to gang up and pray
until he caves into us. Hogwash. It's going to be in
Christ. That's how it's going to happen. It's going to be in
Him, in His will, and His good pleasure in doing. That's what
Paul wrote to us. The church of Ephesus said, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ. In Christ. In the door. In the
door. To enter into glory, or any blessing,
or anything that's not death, that's not eternal judgment and
damnation, is to be in Christ. to be in Him. But to leave through
the door is the right way. Is that simple enough? If we're
going to enter into any blessing, it's going to be in Christ. If
we're going to leave this earth and be with the Lord and be made
like Him, it's going to have to be in and through Christ.
He's the door. No one entered in through the
window this evening, did they? I don't think I could. There's
only a handful of us that could. Anybody crying through the window
coming in this place? No. You came through a door,
didn't you? No one tunneled in underneath this slab and busted
through like it was a bank heist and came up and sat down in the
pew, did they? No, you came in through the door. We came in
through the door. Any other way is suspicious. Any other way is the voice of
a stranger. Wait a second. Young people understand these
things, don't they? Nowhere in this scripture does
it tell you that God's trying to do something, does it, honey?
Ever. It ain't there. That's suspicious. That's strange. It's very strange.
If you came to my house in the middle of the night, and you
knocked on my door, and you asked me for something, I'd probably
wake up, my hair would be every which way, and I'd be in pajamas,
and I'd do everything I could to help you. But if you came
to my house in the middle of the night, and you came in through
my bathroom window, you better have some protection, silver
spoon or otherwise. It's a Joe Cocker joke. You're
coming through that bathroom window, I may shoot you. We get
that, don't we? Christ said, I'm the door. I'm
the door. Well, I chose to go through the
door. That ain't how it happened. You're just a sheep. Boy, it's
blessed to be a sheep, isn't it? That's a good thing. The
Lord said, I'm the door. Lots of different sheep from
different folds are in there, but if any will have life apart
from lawlessness, thieves and robbers, It's going to be justly
and accurately and correctly and perfect and holy law through
that door. This door is plain. The Lord
spoke in very plain terms. He said, I'm the bread of life.
How are we going to be alive? We're going to have to eat some
food, ain't we? You need bread. That'll make you alive. Christ
is the bread. If you're going to have life,
you're going to have to have Him. He said, I'm the living water. We
live in the desert. Water is important. You get thirsty. You have to have water. You're
going to die. That means we have to have Christ.
That's easy to get, isn't it? But it takes the power of Almighty
God for a person not to acknowledge that Christ is the door, but
to go through Him, to bow to Him. These didn't get it either. Down
in verse 19 of chapter 10, it says, There was a division therefore
again among the Jews for these sayings. The Lord got up and
preached them just a few verses. And they said, well, no, I think
this means that. I think he meant this. I think this one's a devil.
Well, he couldn't be a devil because the guy was blind. He
was blind. Now he sees. That ain't never happened. And
they're arguing over what they think. They're heresies. Not
praising the Lord. This bread of his body and his
wine is his blood. And he said, every time you do
this, you know what's necessary for life. Something purified
to drink and something to eat. He said, do this in remembrance
of me. Is that complicated? Well, I
will now partake in... Oh, shit. That's nonsense. This is the Lord's body. I need
Him. I need His work. This is His
blood. I need His atonement for sin.
And every time I do this, I remember Him. That means we're eating
a ham sandwich too, drinking orange juice. Well, I thank you,
Lord. I appreciate this food, but I
need Christ. I'm thankful for this bagel and this orange juice.
Oh, I'm thankful for His body and His blood. Like a door, a
person can dedicate their life to being a door inspector. They
can write all about the door. They can learn about what kind
of wood the door is made out of. They can take time and study
the period of the craftsmanship of the door. Well, this comes
from the 17th century. They can tell you all about the
door and never go through it. They can be standing right next
to the door and say, that's the door. To know how God saves sinners
is different than God saving a sinner. It's different. We remember the
Lord. We take His table. We remember
Him in our jobs. That's what we've been looking
at with Abraham, isn't it? That's our decision-making process.
It's probably more so in our home. It ought to be. Was this
going to honor the Lord? I can't do that. I can't take
that job. It's on a Wednesday. We got service that night. Whatever
it is, it's what I'm going to do is how I dress when I go to
work. Is that going to be honoring to the Lord and his gospel? Is
that going to bring reproach? Is that going to make me lose
my witness in the community? We remember the Lord in our jobs
and thankful he's given us a job and our schoolwork and our interactions
throughout the day when we're grocery shopping. We was down
there getting vegetables the other day. And I thought, man,
what would that garden be like in Adam's time? That's something.
It ain't nothing like that garden's gonna be to come. Them tomatoes
are pretty, but that ain't nothing like the tomatoes we're gonna
have then. Our Lord's been so gracious to us, and He's give
us real good tomatoes now. I think so. It encompasses our
thoughts if there's a new creation. Like old Paul said, if. If. Maybe not. The Lord said so.
Christ is the door and has always been the door. What does a door
do? It lets people in, don't it?
It lets people in. Remember when we went through
Genesis 6? Noah and Ark? We spent a whole lot of time
on Ark, didn't we? I thought, surely these people ain't gonna
show up and hear one more message in a row about the Ark. Lord
told Noah, He said, you make yourself an Ark, and you're gonna
put a door in it. There's a door in that Ark. One
door. And that door was open for a
long time, wasn't it? It was pitched with him just
like everything else was. But if he's going to be in that
ark, if he's not going to drown in those waters of wrath that
all of mankind, including Noah and his boys and his daughter-in-laws
deserve, you're going to be inside that ark. And the only way to
be in that ark is go through the door. The door's open, come
in. Is that our job? If the Lord came here tonight
and said, I want you to sweep these floors, how good of a job
would you do? How much effort would you put
into it? Would you sweep the floors good? What'd the Lord
tell us to do? Go into all the world and preach
the gospel. You go out there in San Diego County and tell
everybody you can, the door's open. There's one door, there
ain't another door. That's thieves and robbers climbing
up the side of that ark, trying to sneak in through the window,
it ain't happening. There's one door. How serious do we take
that? Is it different? It ain't no different, is it?
How serious do I take it? There's one door in Noah's day.
That door was open for a long time. But a door lets people
in, a door also keeps people out, don't it? That ark was open,
and the Lord said, go in. His people go in. And the Lord
shut them in there, and he pitched the door and sealed it. And then
the drops started coming out of the sky. What in the world
was that? That's water, little tiny things
of water, and they're coming out of the sky. This has never
happened before. That crazy fella that's been building an ark and
preaching to us for a hundred years, he said water's gonna
come out of the sky, and it's happening. That's not complicated
neither, is it? What he said was, he's telling
me the truth. Who knew? Wait a second. That's getting deep. I need to
be in that ark. Where's the door? It's sealed. That door's shut. What if it's
the last day that the Lord lets this door be open in this ark? God showed him in a water drop
that started falling. Everybody's looking for a door
then, wasn't it? Too late. Seek him while he may be found.
Call on him while it's today. That's the reason why the children
of Adam will not enter into glory. Did you know that? They don't
like that door. They may know a lot about the
door, but they won't enter into him. They won't have the Lord Jesus
Christ. He won't be their bread. I got to eat on something else.
I got to have a little higher doctrine than that, Kevin. He won't be their water.
Well, that wets my tongue, wets my whistle, but I don't even
have a little bit of Kool-Aid in there or something. No pun intended. They won't have this man as their
door, that one door of the Passover. You know what the Lord said?
You go in there and on your doorpost, you kill a lamb. How many lambs
you think had died that weekend? You kill a lamb, you take the
blood and hiss it, mix it with water, and you throw it on the
mantles and on those doorposts. And then you go in and don't
you dare come out. Don't you dare come out. You
go in that door where I see the blood and I'll pass over you.
You're out in the alleyway. That ain't gonna happen. I have
to see the blood of the lamb and that'll keep the wrath and
judgment away from you, just like the ark. The waves won't
touch you, but you have to go through that door. Rahab was
told to bring some folks in. Look over to Joshua chapter two. Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua,
sixth book of the Bible. Joshua chapter two, verse 18. Those scouts had went in and
talked to Rahab, and she took care of them. But the old faithful
Rahab lied to people. Where'd they go? I think they
went that way. I don't know where they headed. I gave her some
instruction. Joshua 2, 18. Behold, when we
come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread
in the window, which thou didst let us down by. The same gospel
we're saved by, that blood, that's what you're gonna put in the
window. Same blood that was on that door, same pitch that was
on that ark. That's what we're going to see,
that line of scarlet thread and window that thou hast led us down by.
And thou shalt bring thy father and thy mother and thy brethren
and all thy father's household home unto thee. And it shall
be that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into
the street, his blood shall be upon his head. If there's one
person in this earth that didn't get into Noah's ark, it's their
fault. If you don't go to Christ the
door, it's plumb your fault. Plumb your fault. And we will
be guiltless. And whosoever shall be within
the house, his blood shall be on our head. If any hand be on him. That's
good news right there. Christ our Lord. He protects
us. If we're in him, if we cry out
to him for mercy truly, Lord save, you already saved, but
if he puts that heart in us, to cry out to Him and come to
Him for mercy, our eternal protection and security from condemnation
and wrath solely relies, it's connected to His glory. That's
how surely saved His people are. If I don't put a little pep in
your step, I don't know what will. If I don't turn a frown upside
down, there's no condemnation now. His holy name is what secures
it. He said, by my name, because
I swear by no higher. That's on his head, on his name. Oh, buddy. That's sure, isn't
it? That's sure. City of Refuge,
chapter 20. Joshua 20. Joshua 20, verse 3. manslaughter here. That slayer
that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither,
and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. And
when he that doth flee unto one of those cities shall stand at
the entering of the gate of the city." What's that? At the door. How you gonna get in that city
of refuge? You're gonna have to go through a door, ain't ya?
That's how we got in this room. We've already established that.
You're gonna have to go to that entering at the gate of the city
and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that
city. And they shall take him into the city unto them and give
him a place that he may dwell among them." When you come to
cross the door, you declare your case in that door. You confess,
I've killed somebody. You tell what a murderous sinner
you are. I never killed nobody, Kevin. My sin put Christ on that cross. I cried, crucify him. I was at
war with him. And now he's the one I have to
come to and say, Lord, forgive me. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned. I don't know what else I've done.
I know a whole lot I have done, and if you knew part of it, you'd
quit eating lunch with me. But what I don't know, I don't
know what I don't know. Lord, forgive me for that too.
I need you. I'm gonna stand in the gate of
this city till you let me in. If I don't take it by force,
what it means, I have no other option. It's you or death. You ain't nothing but a dog.
I'll take your crumbs. You're right. I'll take crumbs
off your table." And it says, come in. In that city of refuge,
they go in and they have protection. Those that said, I murdered,
I was at war, I killed you. That was my heart. That's a heart
I had. But there's refuge here. And you go through that gate,
you go through Christ, you come into that city and you're allowed
to live there. and nobody can touch you until
that high priest dies. Now, worldly, what would you
do to keep that high priest alive? You need to eat some vegetables,
buddy. You want salad? No, no, no, I'll carry that for
you. As soon as he dies, you go back out there. Worldly, right?
Well, things don't always work out good in the world. What about
our high priest? He's after the Order of Melchizedek.
What's that mean? He has no beginning and he has
no end. We are in Him, and whenever He
dies, you'll die, and He ain't never gonna die. You see that?
Why? We went through the door. He
lives forever. We're in Him. We're gonna live,
too. Is that complicated? It's easy, isn't it? Sinners
need a door. Turn over Ephesians chapter 2. You tell people you gotta go
through the door, you can't jump over the walls. What does natural
man say? How high is that wall? And I
start stretching. Let me pop my knees a little
bit. Maybe I can get a run and go. You got any baskets around here
I can stack up next to that wall? Let me jump and see how high
I can get. That's her instinct. Don't eat it. You can eat any
tree you want, but don't eat that one. Well, I've just refined
myself. I know you ain't neither. Bare
hope God saves you, teaches you what a sinner you are. We need
a door. Why? There's a wall separating
us from the presence of the Lord we offended. Remember that holy
one that owns earth and everything and the fullness thereof? That's
who we offended, that's who we sinned against. Because we didn't,
he wasn't in all of our thoughts. All the time. From birth, from
conception, we were born in sin, conceived in sin. Come before
the blue line, the mommy. Nobody taught us how to. There's
a wall of separation between us. There's a partition, a wall
around us. And we're short, dumb sheep.
And we can't jump the wall, and we can't find a way out. And
the law, the wall, is all around us. And when we die, we've got
to go through it. We've got to be dealt with, don't
we? But Ephesians 2 verse 11, Wherefore remember that ye being
in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who were called to uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope And without God in the world, are you a sheep
that don't see nothing but walls? Remember, we're still in them
walls. We're still in this body of death, ain't we? But now,
in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both
one and hath broken down the middle wall partitioned between
us. When we go through him, there ain't nothing but the one. You
understand that? Ain't nothing but him. All condemnation is
put away. The sins removed as far as the
East and from the West. We're wholly made like He is.
We have His seed in us. That partition's gone. He ripped
the veil clean in two. From the top, that's important,
to the bottom. Not from the bottom to the top,
top to the bottom. He taught, having abolished in His flesh
the enmity, even the law, the commandments, contained in ordinances,
for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace."
What does he tell them after he says, I'm the door? He says,
I'm the good shepherd. I laid down my life for the sheep.
This is what he's doing. And that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby
and came and preached peace to you, which were far off and to
them that were not. Ah, we need to look to that door.
We're in this sheepfold, we're in this earth, and we need to
look to Christ the door, our shepherd, our porter, our everything. But we need to see Christ the
door. We need to stop looking for heaven. How are we going
to get to heaven? Quit worrying about that. You
start looking for Christ the door. We need to stop worrying about how
we're going to have freedom. Oh, what are we going to do about
this law we offended? That wall's high. Quit looking at the wall
and look to Him. Look to the door. Back in our text, John 10, verse
9. One more thing I want to show
you. John 10, verse 9. He says, I am the door. There's a colon there. It's going
to list some stuff. It's going to tell us what that means, what that
entails. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. What about the real bad ones?
Doesn't it say any? What about the ones that are
real steeped in religion and preach falsehoods? It says any,
doesn't it? What about the pushers and the
prostitutes and this and that and the whatevers? Any. If any. If any man enter in,
he shall be saved. You lay down everything. All
your history. all your thoughts, all your traditions,
all your garbage, and you go to Christ, run to Him. If He
gives you a heart to do that for real, you shall be saved. Not might, maybe, well, we'll
wait and about, see how it washes out. Shall be saved, isn't it?
I'm the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. Now, wait a second. the sheepfolds
of this earth, that how are we going to go in now? What's he
talking about? This is beautiful. This is beautiful. There in Revelation
21, it says, And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, and every
gate was one pearl, and the streets of the cities were pure gold,
as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein.
Now the temple had a door, didn't it? I saw no temple therein,
for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
They are the temple. People's read that and they say,
well, no, there's 12 pearly gates and that's one for each tribe
and that means Des Moines, Iowa. I've heard some crazy stuff.
That's get up hiding from a government. Helicopters going over top of
you ain't careful, but watch out. Nonsense, foolishness. What's
that mean? For every tribe of the Jews,
there's an identical gate. Christ, he's the door, isn't
it? For every one of the Gentiles, black, white, bond, free, male,
female, tall, short, whatever, whoever, wherever, Ukrainian
or Russian, whatever it is this week that somebody's against
each other, there's one door, there's one gate, isn't it? And
it leads to the same place, same one. That's in time to come,
and there's gonna be a new heaven and a new earth, and we're gonna
be able to go in between. We can't do that now, can we?
It's impossible. Whatever the Lord will have for us, we'll
be here, and then whatever He'll have for us in worship, we'll
go there. He'll preach to us. It'll be
wonderful. But what about right now? What about right now? What
about in this life? Our brother read that in Romans
8. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the
flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the
Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace. Give us our daily bread. You
heard Christ today? Did you think about Him? When
you're buying groceries or wherever you may be, did you think about
when you walked through the door? You just went from this world
to that world. You sought things above, didn't you? We're all
gathered here, hopefully, in His name to worship Him, to honor
God. Well, now I can think on things
above. I've left this sheepfold for a couple of precious moments. I won't walk out that door back
in the sheepfold in this world. Forget it. Start bad, and then
He's going to come call us by name, remind us of Him one more
time through trials, tribulations, or whatever. Make us look to
Him, and we'll think on Him again, and then we'll go back. But we
have liberty to do such things. Liberty to pray for one another.
What a precious thing. We have a new man and an old
man in this body that goes back and forth. But this body itself,
we go from the world, and then we go through thinking of our
Lord, We come to be gathered in His name every week and twice
on Sundays, don't we? In this world, we have freedom
and liberty like the world's never known. I've talked to some
folks recently and they say, well, if I start going to church
and I have to give up everything, that's restrictive. I'm going
to have to stop watching the movies I watch or stop reading
the books I read and stop going to places I go to. No, read the
books you want and watch the movies you want. That'd be fine.
You just hear about the Lord. Now, all of a sudden, there's
true freedom. Now there's true liberty. This ain't my home. That's something
new, isn't it? I don't own anything. My name's on some titles that
can burn with the first wildfire that comes through, huh? I'm
an American citizen. Until the wildfire goes through
Washington, D.C. and another greater, a strong
man comes in, and we gotta learn another language. That's gone.
I don't own nothing. And that's freedom. That's freedom. Knuckleheads that people get
their senses tore all out of sorts, says, you owe nothing
to be happy about it. Well, if you know God, that's true. That
blind squirrel found enough that day. Once we see everything's
his, everything's mine, because I have him. He's all. He's my
all and end all. We enter into those things. We
start thinking on those things and considering those things.
the molecules that the Lord controls throughout time and the dust
in space, or whatever it is. Whatever He's pleased to do,
and that's what will happen. If He wills it, if He wants it,
first off, it's right. Don't matter what I think. Don't
matter what you think. It's right. And it shall come
to pass. And everything's His. He controls
all things. He's almighty. And He's holy. Now all of a sudden,
we got pasture, don't we? We come and go. in this life
and this old man and new man. But he put, turns us out to pasture,
not to a pen. We're not pigeonholed and you
get in that little tiny confined spot. No, there's plenty of green
grass. I think. Ah, what blessings hummingbirds. I got to bring it up. I guess
I got to watch hummingbirds this morning. Look what my Lord made.
Ah, he feeds it. I think he'll feed me. That's pasture. That's good grass,
still water. How is a believer fed in this
world? We see Christ. We enter into Him. He leads us
and we feast on Him. And He's our door, our bread,
our water, and everything else. Our light and our life. Hearing His
voice and following Him to the green pastures He leads us to.
John 10 verse 7. And it said, Jesus said unto
them, Again, verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door
of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers.
Does that mean Moses? No, of course not. all those
that didn't point you to him, all those that told you you could
do something, all those that told you to walk in the aisle or say
a prayer or get baptized or doing this or that or whatever, that's
a thief and robber. And you'll die in your sin believing
on those things and leaning on them. But he said, all that come before
me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I'm the door. If by me any man
enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find
pasture. The thief cometh not but to steal
and to kill and to destroy. I'm come that they might have
life. We're alive now. For the first
time ever, we have life. Thought it was live before because
we breathed air. Thought we could see before. First time ever,
we see. I'm come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. It grows
and it gets sweeter and sweeter, doesn't it? I'm the good shepherd,
and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. His person and his work is my
concern. And I pray that becomes more
and more of my concern. And this old man dies off and
the concerns of this world become less and less. And I can see
him and his shed blood and where he is now. and what he's done
for his people. And I pray daily. I get up early in the morning,
and you were on my mind, and your children's on my mind that
don't know him, and your grandchildren, or whoever they are, and I pray,
and your husbands and wives, and mothers and sisters, and
whatever, your families, Lord, allow them to see him. Allow
me to tell them who the door is, and then you make them, you
call my name if they're yours, and you make them go through
that door. and then you get in front of them and you lead them, and
then you get behind them and you push them, and you get on the sides
of them and you hold them up, and you get above them and below
them, all around them, encompass them, and make them immersed
in Christ. That'd be something. That's a,
let me tell you what, that's a life changer. That'll turn
your frown upside down, that'll open a clenched fist, that'll
make somebody that don't love start hugging and kissing, and
that'll just, it'll change your life, because it's a new creation.
That's all, amen. All right, Brother Mike. I guess
that's wrong.