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My door is open, and all are welcome.

My Door is Open from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

This is the message for Father's Day, 2016.06.19. My door is open, and all are welcome.

Here is the message outline:

God created mankind for fellowship. In the beginning, God would come down and walk with Adam in the garden of Eden during the cool of the day. Then one day God came down and Adam had hidden himself because he had disobeyed, leaving God to walk alone once again.

Several generations later there was Enoch, who “walked with God” and did not experience death, for God took him to heaven (Hebrews 11:5). There are least two cases of that in scripture where people walked so close to God that they were taken to heaven without dying, Enoch and Elijah.

God the Father wanted to speak to the people directly, but they were afraid to hear His voice and begged Moses to meet with Him instead. They did not want to be close to God, but preferred to worship from a distance.

(Exodus 20:18–21 NKJV) “Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.” So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.”

What the average person feared, Moses wanted more of: In Exodus 33:18 Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory.” Moses wanted more of God’s presence. When some people began prophesying in the camp and Joshua complained to Moses, he said: “Oh, that all the LORD’S people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!” (Numbers 11:29 NKJV). He wanted others to experience God for themselves.

Then came the veil, safely separating God from the people as they wanted. The people would stand at their tent door while Moses entered into God’s presence. (Exodus 33:8 NKJV) “So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle.”

God gave them what they wanted.

(Exodus 26:31–33 NKJV) “You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim. You shall hang it upon the four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold. Their hooks shall be gold, upon four sockets of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps. Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy.”

So God’s presence was separated from man by a thick curtain, and a whole lot of sin. But all of that changed at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ when God gave His own Son to redeem mankind.

When Jesus died on the cross, He said “It is finished” and the veil of the temple was torn into, from top to bottom. “Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Mark 15:38 NKJV)

Jesus bore our sins on the cross, and the door to the Father’s presence was opened. Previously only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and that was once a year, now anyone can come into the Lord’s presence at any time.

His door is now open, and all are welcome. He is calling everyone to come in.

Jesus told us: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30 NKJV)

The prodigal son in Luke 15 left the Father’s house and got caught up in “life in the fast lane” until he crashed and hit rock bottom without a dime, and without a friend. But when he came to his senses and headed back home, the Father’s door was open and he was apparently looking down the road, waiting for his lost son to come home. The Father ran to meet him and threw his arms around him. He was so happy to have his son back.

The Father’s door is now open.

The commandments that were written on stone, are now written on the tablets of our heart. Jeremiah wrote: (Jeremiah 31:31–34 NKJV) “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

That is today.

Jesus told us: (Revelation 3:20 NKJV) “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

I can hear the Lord saying: My people, the world has looked down on you, but I have prepared a place for you. A place of safety. In My presence, you will find the peace that you seek.

Psalms 91:
“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.” (Psalms 91:1–16 NKJV)

Many feel that I could never love you, but I have loved you from the beginning, and it was My plan for you to be here. My door is open. Come and dine with Me.