Doors

Doors

I. Introduction

When you begin to actually survey, examine, take stock of life you suddenly realize that when you boil it down and get it down to the very basic reality you find that on a day to day basis life simply boils down to doors. We are constantly dealing with doors. We are dealing with trying to get the right door to open! Doors of opportunity, breakthrough, advancement, new territory, change, and seasons. Even the tough things we face are doors. Doors to respond correctly, a doorway to a new level of faith, an entry point to win a victory. It all boils down to doors. We are trying to work through entry.

And yet it seems to me that many of us struggle to gain access to everything God has for us. It seems to me that most of us appear to be stuck on the wrong side of the door because we have failed to learn how to open what should be opened to us.

Jesus spoke about doors to His disciples. I think what He said has implications for us and should reveal to us that perhaps our challenge is not the recognition of a door but that we fail to discern the type of door we are facing!

II. Text

Matthew 16:13-19

When Jesus arrived in the villages of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some think he is John the Baptizer, some say Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” He pressed them, “And how about you? Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter said, “You’re the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus came back, “God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn’t get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out. “And that’s not all. You will have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven."

Jesus has an interesting conversation with His disciples. Jesus forces them to come to a conclusion as to who He was. Peter has a moment of clarity and revelation and embraces Jesus' true identity for himself. Jesus' response is what intrigues me because if you have accepted Christ as your savior, then you too have had to come to this same conclusion/revelation. Peter declares "You are the Christ the Son of the Living God!" At the utterance of that revelation and at the moment we embrace that truth in our heart Jesus makes us a promise. Did you see it? Did you catch it? Do you see the implications as it pertains to the doors we are faced with daily? You will have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven.

So Jesus says that every door will be opened and there will be no more barriers. But how many of us are face-to-face with doors that we can't seem to get open? Was the promise a sham or lie? No . . . I think it boils down to the fact that we have to understand the type of doors we face and the other part of that statement . . . keys. Doors and keys.

So there are three kinds of doors we face. I want to just briefly mention the first 2 types because we don't play a huge role in opening either of these doors. I want to spend more time on the last type of door.

III. Three Doors

A. The Locked Door

This is the door that you come up against that only God can open. You can kick, scream, run into, pry, try to pick the lock and nothing you or anyone else can do can get this door open. We usually think this is God cheating us out of something and then at some point later in life we realize it was usually God protecting us from us. Anyone here thankful for some unanswered prayers . . . locked doors that you thought were right but now you realize that if you had gotten the door open you would be miserable right now? It is important that you discern a locked door and discern when God is saying "NO!" or you will waste your energy, efforts, and time trying to get into something that God is determined to keep you out of!