Thank you all for your earnest prayers for me and for the team that traveled to Eastern Europe. I am profoundly grateful. It was God’s will that opened the door for us to be able to go to Ukraine, and God’s will that opened the door for me to come home healthy.
The “Threshold” sermon series has opened my eyes to how frequently doors are mentioned in scripture. From literal doors to metaphorical doors, “entry” (and sometimes a barred entry!) is a recurrent theme in the Bible.
- In John 10, Jesus said that he was the door to the sheep.
- In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas reported to the believers in Antioch on how God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
- In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul says that the Lord had opened a door for him in Troas.
The door to faith is still open, friends. You saw how many people walked through the door of faith on Sunday, May 1 and May 8, both to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior and to rededicate their lives to Him. But don’t wait too long. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells the Parable of the Ten Virgins and the five foolish virgins who wasted their time. When they realized their mistake, it was too late, and the bridegroom had shut the door. He uttered to them those terrifying words, “I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.”
Do you know someone who needs to walk through the door of faith? We all do! Don’t tarry in bringing them to the door. You can’t push them through, and Jesus is such a gentleman he won’t bum-rush His way through the door to get them, either. All you can do is lead them to the door and let them make the decision whether to open the door to Jesus…or not.
Do you feel far from God? I’m reminded of a story about a couple who would take long drives together through the countryside. They would sit close together on the long bench seat of their sedan, the husband driving with his arm around his wife and her head resting on his shoulder. Over time their drives became less and less intimate, and after many years, they sat on opposite sides of the seat, rarely if ever touching.
One day the wife began to cry, and when her husband inquired as to why, she told him that she missed their closeness, their intimacy. Their weekly drives had lost their romance, and she longed to feel his arm around her and to rest her head on his shoulder. The husband justly responded, “I’m the one who drives us, so I’ve been in the same place all these years. Who moved?”
Does God feel distant to you? Who moved? It wasn’t Him. Make your way to the threshold of faith now. Jesus awaits you on the other side. He is waiting for you to open the door. Do you hear Him knocking?