Doorway Part 1 with Pastor Athol Barnes | 01.12.2025

Grace Point Baptist Church's Podcast

As we stand on the brink of a new year, I want to spend the next two weeks focusing on the prospect of changes that we all will be facing in the coming year.

Changes can be likened to doorways. Sometimes doors open to us, and we have the choice to step through them into a life change. It may be a new relationship or a job, or even a new home. Some people will graduate or receive a promotion. Others will retire. New doors can be stressful yet exciting, filled with potential.

When we as believers face a new doorway, we must have faith to step into the unknown.

Jesus described himself as the door in John 10:1-13. From this passage, we see that Jesus is the only door to eternal life, Jesus is the key to abundant everyday life, and Jesus is our Good Shepherd when we face life-altering doors.

Jesus is the only Door to Eternal Life

In John 10, Jesus declares that he is the only way of salvation; he is the only door to a relationship with God, sadly this doctrine is not widely believed in many Christian circles. A recent survey of 3100 people who claim to be born again Christians found that only 25% believed in the exclusivity of Christ for salvation.

I want to categorically state today that as long as I am called by God to preach the Word of God, I will hold to the truth that Jesus is the only way of salvation. If Jesus was not the only way of salvation, there would be no point in proclaiming the Gospel; it would be irrelevant. Jesus makes the statement in John 10 verse 9 that he is the way of salvation. There are several other verses in the Bible that explicitly declare that Jesus is the only way of salvation (see John 14:6, Acts 4:12, 1 Timothy 2:5).

No other religion has a god who did what Jesus did. Jesus is the only savior who stepped down from his throne in heaven and paid the price for our salvation by giving his life as a ransom for our sins. We don’t have to do anything to earn salvation, and we cannot add to our salvation.

Jesus is the Key to Abundant Life in the Daily Doors of Life

Once we have established that Jesus is the only door to eternal life, how does this knowledge affect our day to day lives in 2025?

Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Jesus came not only to save us but that we may have abundant life. This abundant life begins when we are truly born again and begin our relationship with our Creator.

This abundant life is not exempt from the trials and pain of life; rather, it is a life of peace with God, a life that lives to glorify God and enjoy His presence even in the midst of suffering.

To live this abundant life, we have many daily choices to make. Little choices that either lead to life or produce a slow death in us. Every day we are faced with new doorways as decisions are presented to us.

Doorways of Distraction

There are doorways of distraction: spending hours on social media, online browsing, watching hours of TV, listening to unhelpful podcasts, or the distraction of pornography. These doorways lead to a slow death in us, not eternally speaking, but a numbing of the mind and soul. I challenge you this year to make a radical decision to change what you are feeding on. When you decide what to watch, read, listen to, and consume, ask yourself: is it producing life or death in your heart and mind?

Doorways to Transformation

We have the choice every day to open the doorway to things that are life giving and supernatural. This doorway is opening the Word of God and prayerfully allowing the power of the Word of God to transform our life.

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