I Am the Gate for the Sheep

John 10:1-10Have you found your way? Some say there are many paths to life. Jesus said there is only one. Thieves come to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus came to offer abundant life. When we enter life through him, we are saved and sustained. Welcome to worship in the presence of the great I am. Quotes:Samuel Shoemaker wrote:  I stand by the door.I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out.The door is the most important door in the world -It is the door through which men walk when they find God.There is no use my going way inside and staying there,When so many are still outside and they, as much as I,Crave to know where the door is.And all that so many ever findIs only the wall where the door ought to be.They creep along the wall like blind men,With outstretched, groping hands,Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,Yet they never find it.So I stand by the door.The most tremendous thing in the worldIs for men to find that door - the door to God.The most important thing that any man can doIs to take hold of one of those blind, groping handsAnd put it on the latch - the latch that only clicksAnd opens to the man's own touch.Men die outside the door, as starving beggars dieOn cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter.Die for want of what is within their grasp.They live on the other side of it - live because they have not found it.Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it,And open it, and walk in, and find Him.So I stand by the door.Go in great saints; go all the way in -Go way down into the cavernous cellars,And way up into the spacious attics.It is a vast, roomy house, this house where God is.Go into the deepest of hidden casements,But my place seems closer to the opening.So I stand by the door.I admire the people who go way in.But I wish they would not forget how it wasBefore they got in. Then they would be able to helpThe people who have not yet even found the door.Or the people who want to run away again from God.You can go in too deeply and stay in too longAnd forget the people outside the door.As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place,Near enough to God to hear Him and know He is there,But not so far from men as not to hear them,And remember they are there too.Where? Outside the door -Thousands of them. Millions of them.But - more important for me -One of them, two of them, ten of them.Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch.So I shall stand by the door and waitFor those who seek it.'I had rather be a door-keeperSo I stand by the door.To discover more messages of hope, go to tallowood.org/sermons/.Follow us on X and YouTube @tallowoodbcFollow us on Instagram @tallowood.baptistFollow us on FaceBook @tallowoodbaptist