Enter by the Door: John 10:1-10 [Fri night 1/27]

Pastor Dennis sharing God's Word

The Bridge worship team

Praying and dedicating the night to the Lord

Friday night's message was both encouraging and challenging.  Pastor Dennis began the night with the statement, "God hears your prayers!" He followed this statement of truth by setting the context of a story Jesus tells in John 10 about the Good Shepherd and His sheep.  The passage describes the humble job of a shepherd, watching his flock of sheep around the clock, laying his body across the entrance gate to sleep and identifying each sheep, as he guards and protects them from any threats.  

Jesus draws a parallel to the shepherd in the story to Himself and identifies meaningful symbolism for us to understand His relationship with us.  We are the sheep that the Holy Spirit guards over as He plays the role of the gate keeper.  Jesus Himself is the Good Shepherd as well as the entrance gate which provides us access to the Heavenly Father.  Just as the sheep will only follow the voice of the shepherd they have come to know, we too should seek the voice of God and beware of being influenced by the Enemy who serves as a thief and comes to "steal, kill and destroy" (v.10).

The main emphasis of the passage was the way in which Jesus serves as the door, leading us to a relationship with His Father.  A beautiful truth is displayed in verse nine which says, "If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture".  Jesus as the Good Shepherd knows us closely, rescues us from ourselves and grants us a peace that is beyond our understanding (Phil 4:6-7).

Pastor D wrapped up the message with three practical ways in which we can hear God's voice and live out our faith: 


#1. Read and follow His Word (ask -does it contradict the Bible?)
#2. Wait for a peace from God
#3. Look for open doors (God answers: yes, no or wait) 

The final encouragement for the night came from Ephesians 3:20-21

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen"