Gatekeepers Pt.1 - "The 3 Positions Of A Gatekeeper " - Pastor Mark Killingsworth

GATEKEEPERS “Access Granted - Access Denied” #1 Video Bumper: Low Self Esteem vs. God’s Powerful Grace Today we start a series about the job of a gatekeeper that all of us must get a handle on. This gatekeeper basically makes decisions about what we let into our life, our marriage, our children, our home, our church, our school, our city and nation. The gatekeeper has authority to deal with things trying to get into our life. You have only 2 options to your decisions. 1. Access Granted 2. Access Denied The video at the beginning today showed the decision about letting in or keeping out low self esteem or letting in or keeping out God’s powerful grace that forgives and sets us free. What we allow into our lives determines the level of our health, strength and purpose. Jesus spoke of Himself being THE GATE, and said it like this in… Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Then Jesus defines this further in John 10:9 “I Am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.” WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CITY GATES? The Holy City of Jerusalem was surrounded by a large and strong protective wall. Spaced within this wall was 10 gates. SHOW THE FOLLOWING PICTURE: Aerial view of the old Jerusalem wall https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSzhm-9kC2vJMkhr__8PSjgDKWRZHOoXsPzCWb90iqJIyWQoQEd In Biblical times a “gate” was not just a passage way through the defensive wall, it was a massive and often complex structure, consisting of SHOW THE FOLLOWING PICTURE: A close up view of a gate in the Jerusalem wall. Leave it up while I describe the events of the gate. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRZ0RNBjQV_OI5SFC-TTLBCqTqDwYA6cF5lROlb3AFoZHS0Y5Vl *An outer gate with strong and large wooden doors (First line of defense) *An inner gate with equally large and strong wooden doors (Second line of defense) *Between these two gates would be a passage way the same width of the defensive wall. *Between these outer and inner gates there would be sometimes just a corridor with recessed guard rooms, other passage ways were made into a courtyard that the Bible calls “Within the Gates.” *Much of life took place within the gate areas. Not only did people and property flow in and out, it was a place where… 1. A town meeting place for impromptu law courts 2. A market place 3. A park like place with benches for sitting and visiting 4. An important place for decision making. 5. Here the Elders would meet to consider and make decisions about important matters. 6. Formal agreements or covenants were made between families, an important role as this was before times of contracts. Agreements with witnesses and covenant promises were made. 7. Many times Prophets would use this area to preach or proclaim the words of God. Like Amos where he said, “Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate.” THREE POSTIONS OF A GATEKEEPER I. Position Of Authority *Gatekeepers were given the KEYS of the city. Keys in scripture represent authority. In Matthew 16:19 Jesus gave us the KEYS of His Kingdom. “I will give you the KEYS of the Kingdom of Heaven; whatever you bind [Access denied] on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose [Access granted] on earth will be loosed in Heaven.” The Gatekeeper’s role is one of PROTECTOR and ENCOURAGER. *Protect from evil or harm *Encourage what is good and beneficial ILLUSTRATION Because we removed God’s Word as the foundation of truth for our nation this allowed situational ethics to become the guiding truth for those we have elected and appointed in our nations government. With the loss of a North star being God’s Laws for His people - we are now sailing in the direction of whoever can capture power. Following after whatever keeps them in power. With this decline as a nation we have defied God’s Word in some foundational ways. As Gatekeepers we have given the Keys of the Kingdom away to those without a foundation of truth. God said… 1. You are to have no other gods before Me. gods in the days of Israel: *Astoreth: goddess of sexual immorality - worshipped freely today. Then in Romans 1 it says, “God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. Because of this God gave them over to shameful lusts. Women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Therefore God gave them over to a reprobate mind. *Molec: god of child sacrifice - Abortion made legal in 1973 -250 million babies aborted since then. I could go on to many other old and new testament idols an you would see how we have moved back to idolatry, even though we have changed the names and have made it PC APPLICATION The only way this reverses in America. Is if the people of the church repent of our apathy and retake our positions of Gate Keepers using the Authority granted us by Jesus to use the power and resources of His Kingdom. T.S. So a Gatekeeper has the position of authority and secondly… II. Position Of Watchmen Ezekiel 33:1-6 “The message came to me, “Speak to your people and say to them: ‘When I bring war against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him a watchman, and he sees war coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, Then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not not heed the warning and war comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves. But if the watchman sees the war coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for blood. 1. Warning: The main responsibility of the WATCHMAN is to warn people of coming danger. 2. Vigilant: is the word that describes the character of the WATCHMAN. 3. Responsive: Quick to take action when danger arises. APPLICATION These problems we face are like eating the proverbial Elephant. It is too big, too strong, to make any difference. But I am please to tell you that here at Hamlin starting in January we are implementing a training plan from bed babies through high school and hopefully up through the adults that will be building a BIBLICAL WORLD VIEW. Doing the best we can to train up the next generation of leaders who can make a difference. ILLUSTRATION The Gatekeepers before us didn’t warn the people of the take over of the training of our children to pursue “situational ethics” What is right for me at any time is what is my right, my truth. This is why politicians can lie constantly because their ideas are their truth. This is why our news sources are now nothing but propaganda for ideologies. Again situational ethics - no foundation of right and wrong. This is why corruption in our government is so deep - because whoever is in power goes their own way, their own truth. Without a Biblical World View. III. POSITION WITH REQUIREMENTS I Chronicles 26 tells of the assignments for Gatekeepers: vs. 6 They are leaders in their father’s family. Very capable people vs. 8 They had the strength to do the work vs. 12 They held positions of ministry within the house of worship vs. 13 They were assigned by families to the various gates vs. 14 They were wise in counsel vs. 16 They worked sided by side with other guards ILLUSTRATION: As a point of current hope for me, one of the kids from our youth group in a previous church is now beginning the process of running for state office. I know his family. I know his strong biblical world view. We need to pray for, train up and send more and more of our strong young people with a mission to turn this nation back to our God APPLICATON: We are to train up the next generation in the way that they should go. In our homes. In our church. We need Jesus loving, God fearing school board members who will turn our schools back to a God honoring foundation. CONCLUSION Do you see yourself as a Gatekeeper? There has to be some actions, some steps we take, to do our part. Do you know the moral standards being taught to your children in school? Start there and make sure your kids are taught Biblical truth. Have you given yourself over to the worship of idols that God has warned us about? Confess, Repent, Become and active Gatekeeper RESPONSE NEXT WEEK we will pick up this series and deal with the importance of Prophetic Proclamation or in other words proclaiming and protecting TRUTH