APRIL FOOL’S DAY

By Rick Mathes

It’s amazing how the years slip by but we are past our 25^th anniversary of Mission Gate. It seems just like yesterday when Trish and I were standing in our living room the first day of our new commitment to the Lord and I asked her, “What day is this?” and she replied, “It’s April Fool’s Day!” I couldn’t believe it. I was convinced that I was either daffy, in mid-life crisis, anointed or some combination of the three but I knew the Lord was playing with me our first day I called the Pastor that led me to Christ and I asked him, “What verse do you think of when you think of prisoners and our ministry?” He replied, “John 10:9 where Jesus said, ‘I AM the Gate.” Amen! We knew the name of our ministry would be Mission Gate Prison Ministry and that’s how it started and I continued to be fascinated in that verse. Let’s take a closer look at it.

John 10:7-10 (NIV) ⁷ Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹ I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.

He will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;

 I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Allow me to make a few points about this revelation of the “I AM.”

First, thank you Jesus there is a gate! Stepping through the gate into and then out of Satan’s mansion called The Department of Corrections (prison) was a nightmare. But now, there is another gate that offers life instead of death.

Second, thank you Jesus there is only one gate! I just know that if there were two gates, with my luck, I would choose the wrong one.

Third, thank you Jesus the gate is a turnstile! We can go through one man at a time. We aren’t herded like the cattle or prisoners in most institutions. We can put our shoulders back, lift our heads and step through the blood of Jesus, one born-again man at a time; each special in His sight.

Fourth, thank you Jesus it’s a strong gate! Jesus assured us that the gates of Hell cannot prevail against us, that He will always provide us a way out, that He will never give us more than we can bear, that no one can take us out of His hand, that He will never leave or forsake us and that where He is we will be.

Fifth, thank you Jesus by stepping thought we pass from failure to victory, sorrow to joy and from earth to heaven. Let me encourage you to step through the Gate for an experience you won’t soon forget!

Dear Lord, some people just don’t know how to step through the gate.  I remember running from you.  It is so amazing that the sinful life we are afraid to give up really amounts to nothing.  And the minute we believe, you offer us everything…everlasting peace and eternal life.