John Gray - Destiny Doors
I do believe that there is a word from the Lord, and I wanna get right into it if that's all right. You know, I'm a little nervous about this word, and I don't even know why. It's not that the subject matter is so touchy or any of that, I just believe that there's something significant that's supposed to happen with it. And maybe it's not just because I'm believing it for you, I'm probably believing it for me. Not probably, I know that I am. So y'all bear with me as I get this word out because there was a lot of opposition to me getting this word, and I believe the enemy would love to keep the body of Christ in the dark about things that God wants us to move in. And he's a liar and he's defeated, and I'm gonna preach the Word of God as God has given it to me.
I want you to do me a favor and go to John chapter 10, John chapter 10, and as you go there, I'm just telling you I honor the presence of God, and for the next three weeks, I'm gonna be dealing with what we are talking about tonight. So you wanna invite people the next three straight weeks. We're going after God in a very significant way. John chapter 10, and starting at the first verse, Jesus says this
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of a stranger.
Jumping down to the 7th verse:
Then Jesus said to them again, most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
Now I want you to jump to Revelation 3. And I'm reading from the 7th verse. "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, these things says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens. I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it: for you have a little strength," am I talking to anybody? "Have kept my word, and have not denied my name".
Before I get into this word, I wanna draw your attention back to the 7th verse. It says, "And the to the angel of the church in Philadelphia," Philadelphia, brotherly love. Phileos, brotherly love, a love that looks out for one another, and may the body of Christ today continue to fight for phileos love, a brotherly love, a sisterly love, in a world that is increasingly more bitter and more hostile and more divided and more secular and more angry, where people walk up to folk that don't come from their background and shoot them at point blank range, where intolerance rules the day.
May the body of Christ stand and say, we love each other, we fight for one another, and even if you don't believe what we believe we will cover you and we will pray for you, and we will fight for you. There is no judgment here. There is no big I and little them. It is time for the body of Christ to fight for lost souls, to fight for the broken, to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves, and if they don't believe in Jesus, that's not your business. Your business is to present Jesus, let the Holy Spirit do the work. But your job is to love people.
I'm tired of the church getting a bad name because a few bad apples do stuff and put Jesus on it. Jesus is not near that foolishness. Jesus doesn't hate people, Jesus doesn't kill people, Jesus doesn't murder people. Jesus is love, he is forgiveness, he is grace, he is covering, he is power, and he is mercy, and his love endures to all generations. And it's time for the church to look like Jesus, not like TV and not like politics. But it's time for the true church of Jesus Christ to stand up and love one another and fight for one another. Is there anybody in here who believes what I believe?
I'm tired of people attributing to Jesus the foolishness of a few folk. The Word of God is the character of Jesus, and I want you to know that in this season, God is closing up some things and opening up some other things. And I'm glad that he's closing shop on a lot of the stuff that used to pass as church, but it was really entertainment, and bad entertainment at that. No more will God allow people to occupy seats of authority who are not living the thing that they preach about. Those days are over. God's saying, "I'm closing the door on that foolishness".
I find it increasingly more difficult, in fact, it's impossible for me to preach something I'm not going through. In this season, God is elevating brokenness, people who have gone through pain, who have gone through tears, who have failed multiple times and then God restored them or redeemed them, and he's walking them through doors that your degrees could never get you through or your connections could never get you through or your hookups could never get you through.
You know who's walking through doors right now? People who have cried in the midnight hour, people who have tried and tried and failed, but then one day God broke through on your behalf. I want you to know there's a door that is open for you. I don't know who you are. Maybe you're watching at home or maybe you're listening on the radio, but I want you to know, baby, there's a door and it's open, and it's time for you to walk in. You can give him a praise break if you wanna, it's cool.
Tonight, I wanna talk to you from the subject heading destiny doors. Destiny doors. You know, I've been waiting a long time for some things in my life, and suddenly, the beginning of this year, some of those have not just cracked open, they have been kicked open, unbelievable opportunities, things that I'm sure you guys will see later on down the line and then I'll be able to talk about it more, but I'm talking about stuff that literally takes my breath away. I'm telling you, this pastor Joel Osteen is a prophet. He's got something on him when it comes to identifying the season that we are in.
And I don't know about you, but I'm gonna go ahead and walk through that season of abundance and that season of rain and that season of favor, 'cause I've had enough of the lack. I'm cool on that, no thank you anymore on the lack and on the less than. I'm ready for the greater than. Seven of us, amen. If you don't want yours, I'll take yours. I could use a double portion. Somebody say destiny doors. When you walked in here today, you walked through a door, but the door was a gateway. Now these doors are not always open during the week in order for there to be protection and control of this area, this sacred space, this sanctuary. But on service nights and service mornings, they unlock the doors because they know that folk are coming.
I want you to know that the reason why many of you have been under supernatural demonic attack is because you don't realize how close you are to an open door. I said you don't realize how close you are to an open door. And so what the enemy wants to do is block your view hoping you missed that right behind his foolishness is the door you've been praying about. In this season, God is putting your open door right behind the enemy because he doesn't want you to run from the enemy, he wants you to run through him. I got one amen, is there another? I see you, nate. Anybody else?
I'm not running from no devils, devils run from me. Greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. You think I'm gonna come in here and be scared of a devil after what Jesus did for me, and when he rose up, he said, "I have all power in heaven and in earth, and I got the keys," and you think I'm gonna be afraid of a devil? No, ma'am, no, sir. Move, devil, get out the way.
Somebody say destiny doors. This is a very interesting season for your life. There's this thing in many of us, tell me if I'm talking right. You know that when you were younger, you had some big dreams, then life happened, kinda knocked you off course a little bit. But now, for some reason, you wake up and you can't let that thing go. I know I'm not the only one. Stuff that you probably had let go of some years ago, all of a sudden, God say, "What about that? Remember when you used to think about that? Remember when you wanted to do movies, remember? When I told you to write that book eight years ago"? Sorry. "Do you remember"?
And here's what's funny, God's timing is so perfect. He knows when we'll procrastinate, he knows how much we're gonna mess up, so he tells us early enough that we walk the process out that we end up getting to the door right on... I need somebody to give God praise because you are not late. You are right on... Can somebody give God praise at home, in a church, because you are right on time.
I don't mind, Pastor Craig, working a job if I had to. But I'd rather, Pastor Nick, work my passion, 'cause a job can give you a check, but your passion will give you peace. See, I don't preach because I can, I preach because I'm anointed to do it. And I'm not here because I filled out an application. I'm here because God wanted me here. And if he wants me in a small town in Alabama three weeks from now and start a church, if that's what he says, I'll do it, because I'm not locked into a platform, I'm locked into my passion, and my passion is Jesus. And if I stay obedient, every door with my name on it, he will walk me through it.
Destiny is in the divine desire. Number two, destiny is in the drive. Destiny is in the drive. What are you driven to do, motivated for, even if you were exhausted you would still do it? What is that thing? Destiny is in the divine desire, that's a God thing, it's innate seed. The second thing is the drive. What are you driven to do? What do you have a drive to do? If everything else was equal, you'd go do that. And then destiny is inside the decision. God knows us so well that he will hide our destiny inside of a thing we wouldn't normally face in order to make us address areas of our life that would go unresolved had we got success too soon.
I know that was a long sentence, and I assume people would shout right there, but y'all didn't, so I'm gonna go ahead and say it again. Destiny is in the decision. You've gotta decide you want this thing. But he's not gonna allow you to get it easy 'cause nothing comes easy, okay? You need to go ahead and be ready to work for this thing because there's some value in hard work. But God will put your destiny right behind an issue that you wouldn't normally face. He'll put destiny right in front, and right in front of destiny he'll put some bitterness, some unforgiveness, some unresolved issues he'll be like, "I want the process". I'm getting ready to walk through the door, and he's like, "What about your brother"? Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm. No, and God says if you want destiny, you're gonna have to deal with this last character test. He will put destiny on the other side of the thing you're not disciplined enough to do.
Let me tell you something. I know that there's destiny for me this year, and it's on the other side of me exercising and eating right and taking care of myself. Now that might not seem like a deep spiritual thing, but this is the physical house of my God-given destiny, and if I don't honor this body, I could die early, and it will be my fault, because why would I ask God for a miracle for something that I could do myself? God, I need a miracle. Put the pork chop down. No, no. Heal me. Heal me of diabetes. Put the slushie down. No, no, I need these cookies, Jesus, but heal my blood sugar, Jesus. He will put your destiny, this is preaching to me, he will put your destiny right on the other side of something you don't wanna face. So that person that you just, they get on my nerves, I can't stand 'em. God's like, "Destiny".
Y'all just gonna get up while I'm preaching? No, I'm playing, I'm playing, I'm playing, I'm playing. She's like, "Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me". Y'all are like, "I wanna get up, but I'm not. I wanna get up so bad, but I better not move". Girl, you better... Listen, let me give you this, let me give you this. We'll finish it up next week. Can I give you a couple more things real quick? How bad do you want it? No, no, no, how bad do you want your destiny? A divine destiny, a driven destiny, a decision away from destiny?
You're gonna have to decide how bad you want it? But I need you to be careful because Jesus said, "I set before you an open door". Jesus speaks to doors and they open. The enemy plays with silence. God is the author of words. The enemy likes to pervert silence. So what the enemy wants is for you to walk through a soundproof door. Because a soundproof door means you won't be able to hear the voice of the Lord once you get in there. Anybody every been in a spiritually soundproof place where you thought it was God but all of a sudden things started turning around like, no, this can't be Jesus.
The enemy wants you to get into a soundproof place because he wants to mess with your mind, hoping that you'll live in silence, the silence, the shame, the bad decisions. But I need you to understand the door God has for you is not soundproof, but it is flame repellent. Oh, I'm preaching good. Flame repellent, that means all of the fiery darts of the enemy will not be able to knock you out of position. And God says, "I don't want you in a room where you can't hear me, so I need you to walk through the open door," and he says, "And no one can shut". I want you to know the door's gonna stay open, but since the peace of God is guarding it in your heart and mind, ain't nobody coming in there that didn't come from God. I need you to get this and get excited. Destiny doors in this season, the right people are coming in and the wrong ones are leaving.
Last point, don't rush to get through the door. It's a destiny door, and it's your door. Don't rush to get through the door. Don't rush like God's gonna close the door. I know it's black history month, but don't act like we're back there, "Come on, hurry up, they gonna get us, come on, run, run"! It's not that kinda thing. Yeah, it's funny to me. That's your black history month lesson for February. But you don't have to run like you escaping. It's a destiny door.
God says, "I don't want you to rush through the door, I want you to walk through it, and I want you to savor it. I want you to look around. Matter of fact, you need to take a selfie at the door. You've waited this long, take pictures. Don't run through the door, red carpet that thing". Take pictures, you've waited too long for this not to be a moment that you treasure. God says, "I brought you through. I'm bringing you into destiny. You might as well celebrate. Call the people that were always praying for you. Tell 'em to meet you at the door". Somebody needs to praise God tonight. This is a destiny moment.