Jesus Said, "i Am The Door/Gate"

SERMON OUTLINE:

(1). A door lets people in.

(2). A door keeps people out.

(3). A door excludes people.

SERMON BODY:

Ill:

• Doors Quiz illustration.

• (Photos available in the PowerPoint).

• Door #1: 10 Downing Street

• Trivia: The London home of the British Prime Minister.

• The Georgian-style glossed-black door features a lion’s-head knocker.

• This secure entrance has been made from steel,

• Since the IRA’s Downing Street attack in 1991.

• The door can only be unlocked from the inside!

• Door #2: 221B Baker Street

• This door belongs to one of the most well-known detectives in fiction history,

• Sherlock Holmes created by author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

• When the series was originally written, Baker Street only went up to number 85,

• But in the 1930s the road was extended further and 221b was added.

• Door #3: Kennedy Space Centre

• The largest door in the world is at the Kennedy Space Centre.

• It is 465 feet tall, and it takes 45 minutes to fully open it.

• Door #4: Tom’s Mouse hole door (of Tom & Jerry Fame)

• Since 1940, this is one of the most best-known doors from TV & movies,

• Is the entrance into the home of Tom the mouse from Tom & Jerry.

• Each cartoon shows the two characters getting into comedic fights or chases,

• In which they often get hurt cartoon-style.

• Door #5: The oldest preserved door

• In 2010, during some construction work on a parking lot in Zurich, Switzerland,

• Builders uncovered this door.

• According to archaeologists that dated the door,

• It was probably built as far back as 3063 BC.

• About the same time that the construction of Stonehenge began.

• TRANSITION:

• 2,000 years ago, Jesus claimed to be ‘the door’ or ‘the gate.’

• Now I am going to stick with the word “door” instead of the word “gate,”

• Both are valid.

• The Greek word “Thura” (???a) simply means door or entrance.

(1). Background of the image.

• Now because you are looking at, ‘Jesus the Good Shepherd’ next week,

• I will be very disciplined and not steal his thunder!

• But I do need to say this…

• The door in these verses relates to the sheepfolds or pens.

• At the time of Jesus, there were two kinds of sheepfolds or pens.

• One kind was a public sheepfold found in the cities and villages.

• It would be large enough to hold several flocks of sheep.

• This sheep pen would be in the care of a doorkeeper,

• Whose duty it was to guard the door to the sheep pen during the night,

• And to permit the shepherds access in the morning.

• i.e. Think of dropping your car off at a secure multistorey car park.

• You park, you go home or shopping.

• You come back, pay a fee and take your car with you.

• That is one kind of sheepfold in the city or village.

• The second kind of sheep pen was in the countryside,

• where the shepherds would keep their flocks in good weather.

• This type of sheep pen was using what was available.

• You looked for a wall or bushes or a cave with a small open space to enter.

• The shepherd would keep the sheep between him and the wall or bush or in the cave.

• The shepherd would lay down in front of his sheep,

• He would sleep there, by doing this he literally becoming the door to the sheep.

• TRANSITION: This image was well known,

• And everyone from children to old men would understand it.

Question: What point is Jesus teaching from this imagery?

Answer: Let me suggest 3 points.

(1). A door lets people in.

ill:

• I wonder if you are one of those people, whose door has a door?

• If you have a cat or a dog, you may well have a cat flap or mini doggie door.

• The one purpose of that door is to give your pet access to the house or the garden.

• e.g. Likewise, everyone entered this building today, via a door!

• (or surprise me, did anyone come in via the window?)

• We entered by a door, and we shall have to leave by way of a door.

• e.g. If you came to Church today in a car,

• When you leave to go home,

• You will enter your car by a door, and you will exit it by a door.

• e.g. When you arrive home,

• You will enter your home by way of a door.

• e.g. At home as you go from room to room,