The Door of Protection | Doors | Brad Wilkinson

Our decisions drive us to places that we never dreamed possible, and we get angry, and we get frustrated, and we ask God why, and some of the things, right? Think about this for a second. What if some of the things that as a follower of Jesus you feel are restricting, maybe you've said, well, how come the Bible just says no to a lot of things? What if the things that you have been feeling are restrictive, are not to frustrate you, but they're actually there for your protection? Thank you, Jesus. There's something about that name, the name of Jesus. I'm grateful. I know you are as well, but I'm grateful for the impact and the change that Jesus has brought about in my life. Come on, do you remember where you were when he found you? Do you remember the turnaround? Do you remember what God has done in your life? I think it's important every once in a while to just go back and remember and make sure that you give him the glory, because here's the truth, right? Like we are, we're selfish by nature, which means we like the glory. We like the honor. Some of y'all are like, I don't know, no, you do. It's why, it's why we sing songs of worship like this, because it takes the focus off of us and it puts the focus squarely on Jesus and it rearranges our priorities. It refocuses our life to say, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm not doing what I'm doing today. I'm not where I am today because of what I've done on my own. I'm here because of the help and the grace of God, and if it weren't for that, right? This is where we have to live. This is the posture of our heart, and it is, man, it's good to be in church with you today. What a joy to be in church. I'm really happy to be in church on Sunday morning. Yeah.

Hey, before you're seated, why don't you turn around, high five somebody, fist bump somebody. I don't know if you're feeling a chest bump today, however you're feeling. Just tell them how blessed they are to be sitting by you. So online, it's always an honor to have you a part of what God is doing in and through Christian life, and we pray that you feel, where you're watching from, what we feel in the house of the Lord. You guys know we're on the precipice of something amazing. It's called summer. Summer's here. Cassie and I were talking to the kids this week, and all three of them were in agreement, which if you have children, for them to, all three, agree on anything is a miracle from heaven. They all agreed that this school year seems to have gone by the fastest than any other school year that they've had. And Cassidy and I said the same thing. Man, I just felt like this year flew by. You know who this year didn't fly by for? Teachers! We have any teachers in the house today? Any administrators? Yeah, you guys are awesome. Thank you for being with our kids when we weren't. You guys are amazing. You know what summer's kind of like? I got to thinking about this. Summer is kind of like the whole grandparent situation. School and summer. Because as a grandparent, you get to kind of take them for a little bit, have a lot of fun, hype them up on sugar, and then send them back. And so now we're getting our kids back, parents.

And we're going to have to figure out what to do all summer long. But it's going to be a great summer. I hope you get to have some time with your family, whatever that looks like. Because really, the older I get, the more I'm understanding the importance of creating memories and special moments, because it does go by fast. So cherish this summer because, listen, I'm not trying to make things morbid, but we're not promised tomorrow. So make the most of the time that you have today. Now, let's move on. I wasn't trying to be morbid, but it got there quickly. If you were here last week, come on, did you enjoy the word from my sweet wife on Mother's Day? My goodness. I told her, I said, listen, you need to preach again today. You should preach. Even if you re-preach the same message, I'm sure we can get some different stuff out of it. It was just, if you haven't seen it, you need to go to YouTube, listen to the word of the Lord. And what you're gonna find today is the difference between my wife and I. Because she, the title of her message, like when she said the title of her message, I was in. I was like, yeah, I wanna know more about this. Talk to me about it. The title of her message was Dinner, Dishes, and Devotion. And I'm here for the dinner and I'm here for the devotion, but the dishes? But here's where you're gonna learn

the difference between Cassidy and I because today I'm starting a new series and I worked really, really hard, I mean hours, on a creative title for this series. And I can't wait for you to just hear my creative genius. I mean, I'm just, I'm very excited about this. Are you ready? We're gonna start a new series today that I'm calling Doors. I told you, buckle up. I almost went with The Door, but I was like, no, that's too much, man. You don't wanna blow them away. The title's too crazy. We're going with Doors. I'm really actually very excited about this series because if you're familiar with the word of God, doors are very important. One door can change your life. One opportunity, one conversation, one compromise, one decision, can change everything about your everyday life. It can change everything about your eternity. And all throughout scripture, there are so many different references to doors and symbolism with doors. And really, doors are, the way that the word of God describes some of these doors is actually very beautiful. And I'm not talking about the architecture.

I'm talking about the meaning behind them. Because think about what a door represents for a second. A door represents access. Who comes in, who stays out. What does that mean? Who comes in, who stays out. What comes in, what stays out. A door represents seasons of transition. Doors represent salvation. Doors represent relationship. Doors represent authority. We see that elders often sat at the gates. Kings controlled the entrances. There's authority issues here. Doors represent choices. And doors represent separation. Doors represent the beautiful timing of God. So there's so many different representations of doors in the Bible. But today, I felt compelled to focus on one in particular. And that is the door of protection. The door of protection. And we're gonna head to the book of Exodus to kind of bring this to life today. And if you're not sure where the book of Exodus is, just start at the beginning and you won't have to turn far. It'll be right there at the very beginning. But as you're turning in your Bibles to the book of Exodus,

let me make sure that we all know kind of how we got to the text that we're gonna be reading today. Perhaps you'll be familiar with this from maybe childhood Sunday school classes if you grew up in church or whatever that looks like. Maybe this story won't be super unfamiliar to you, but let's make sure we all know where we're going. So Israel had been in captivity in Egypt for 400 years and God was using a man by the name of Moses to get Pharaoh's attention. That the captivity season is over and things need to change. So God was using Moses to communicate to Pharaoh that now is the time that these people need to be set free. And what you would notice is that every time Moses would go have this conversation. with Pharaoh what he would come upon was a hardened heart and he would see time and time again a hardened heart and so the Lord had to do something to get Pharaoh's attention because the people needed to be set free and so the Lord started sending plagues if you remember this from Sunday school started sending plagues to get his attention everything from frogs covering the land to gnats and lice to flies to boils to hail and fire and locusts and in total there were ten plagues that covered the land in that day and age and it's interesting how I feel like after each of the first nine plagues Pharaoh unfortunately behaves like many of you and I behave today that when he was feeling the pressure of the plague he would beg for the pressure to stop Lord just just make it just make it stop and so the Lord would relent and he would relieve the pressure and in the moment that the pressure would be released Pharaoh would

change his mind he don't know stop God I promise we're gonna let him go and in the moment that it stops he changes his mind and his heart is hard again I wonder how many of us play with God like this from the get-go let me just tell you that this this sermon takes a very direct approach today so if you if you like it sugar-coated today's not your day today the Word of the Lord is very pointed and obviously anytime I feel a word like this from the Lord I want to deliver it from a place of love so please understand where I'm coming from there's no attack in this this is coming from a place of love and here let me tell you why because your soul is too valuable for me to not take this seriously with you today right and so that's the directive that I feel from the Lord today but after each plague his heart was hardened he would he would pray God that things will change things will change and then when things got back to normal things never changed and what's interesting as the the Egyptians actually looked at Pharaoh is this godlike figure and so the beauty of it is is that not only was the Lord getting his attention but it was also quite quite deeper than that because the Lord was also putting something in these people's mind that listen you're Pharaoh he's not in control of everything like you thought he was and so there's a whole another set of circumstances at play here but what you'll notice too is there is a progression of the plagues because what began as maybe a nuisance in their daily lives quickly became destructive and it was moving very quickly from destructive to to deadly let me show you what the final plague was going to be it's found in Exodus chapter 12 verse 12 on that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt I am the Lord now I don't ever want to get to a place where it has to get to this for the Lord to get my attention Lord let my let my heart be be tender enough towards you that even if I walk away that it never has to get here for you to get my attention this is this is where this is where they were this is how bad it had gotten this was the final plague but God gave his people very clear instructions these were not suggestions and this is

where the protection piece comes in that I think is vitally important for you and I today Exodus chapter 12 verse 3 tell the whole community of Israel this is the Lord talking to Moses and Moses would relay this to the people tell the whole community of Israel that on the 10th day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family one for each household we would know through the text that this is to be a spotless lamb this would be a lamb that was without blemish verse 6 says take care of them until the 14th day of the month when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and the top of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. If you've ever heard of the Passover, this is what they are celebrating every year, that they would be passed over from death because of the blood that was applied to the doorpost of their house. And so as we read this text today, and we're speaking specifically towards this door and this door of protection, I think the first thing that I want us to recognize out of the text is that what is on your door matters. What's on your door matters. See, they had to mark their doors, which means that the blood was visible, which means that anybody walking by could look over that night and they could see what marked this house.

Can I quickly just detour for a moment and remind you that your faith was not meant to be lived in private. Your life is meant to be marked by the power and the presence of God. That if you are living your faith and you're hiding it under a bushel, there is a better way. Our lives are meant to be lived in such a way that somebody could look at you, somebody could know your house and say, wow, there's something about them. I may not know what it is, I may not have the words to describe it, but I want whatever it is that they have. We got too many Christians that are claiming to be Jesus followers, but our faith in Jesus is private. Pastor Brads, you don't know the ridicule that I will face. You're right, I probably don't. But you don't know the consequences of living a life with your faith hidden. There are people, listen, there are people in your sphere of influence who whether they even know it or not, they're waiting on you to take your faith public. What if, let's make this a little heavier. What if the eternity of your coworker is waiting on you to take your faith public?

But I don't know the words. Just talk about what Jesus has done in your life. But I mean, I don't know when to do it. Do it over lunch casually. Start dripping it. Start dripping it at lunch. You don't have to give them the whole thing over one lunch. Just mention the name of Jesus one time. And then you're out to lunch again. You're in a group. You bring up and be like, what, what? Oh, you wanna, oh, let me tell you. What's on your door still matters. See, in Egypt at this time, especially on this night, there were two different houses. There were homes that were covered by the blood and homes that were exposed because the blood was not on their doorposts. And the blood on the doorpost was a declaration that this house belongs to God. Now, if you read the scriptures, you understand that we're not given a specific timeframe on how long these plagues would actually last, but most Jewish historians agree that they lasted somewhere around 12 months. So imagine with me for a moment what it might have been like to live in Egypt during this 12-month season. Can you imagine?

Can you imagine the fear and the anxiety of what's going on and what's gonna happen? And I don't know why is all of this happening? I'm frustrated. I don't know what tomorrow's gonna hold. This would have been the tension of the day. It would have been there and it would have lasted well for that entire year because it moved from just a new settlement to a new settlement. And it would have been a new settlement that would have been a new settlement for the entire year because it moved from just a nuisance to my daily life to things were being destroyed and now death is coming. I kind of picture it like maybe Noah. Imagine now with all of the anxiety and the fear and the frustrations, imagine on this night when people looked out their window and they saw neighbors. We're putting blood on the door frames of their home. What in the world are you, this is weird. What are you doing, it's a lot like Noah. Building a boat, people walking by, what in the world? Noah, you have a lot, this is massive. What is this structure out in the middle of the desert? We don't even know what rain is. What are you talking about? Isn't it amazing that obedience is always crazy right before it saves your life? And I know to the people looking on,

to the Egyptians watching, they had to think that this was absolutely insane. What are you doing? But the beauty of obedience, whoo, was about to save some lives. Can I ask you a question on this Sunday afternoon? What is your home marked by? What is your home marked by? And before you quickly respond and give me the churchified Christian saint answer, what is it marked by? Not what you want it to be marked by. Is your home marked by anxiety? Is your home marked by fear? Is your home marked by tension all the time? That you can walk in and you can cut the tension with, what is your home marked by? Listen, if you won't be willing to face what is the markings of your house, you'll never be able to change it. You have to be willing to face the fact that your home is actually marked by things that you're not happy about. Maybe things that don't line up with the word of God. And once we come to that understanding, then and only then can you change what's marking your house. Some of us need to be realistic about what's marking our house. We have this pipe dream of what we want it to be like,

but you know deep down that's not what it is, and you won't change it because you're afraid of what people around you will think. What is your home marked by? It's 2026, Pastor Brad. I know, but what marks your home still matters. What marks your house still matters. So now Moses is explaining to the people what God had just told him in the instructions that he gave them that they were to do, and here's how he describes it to the people in Exodus chapter 12, verse 22. He tells them this. Take a bunch of hyssop, a leafy plant that is used as a brush, and dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on the sides of the doorframe. Watch this. None of you shall go out the door of your house until morning. If you're taking notes, here's the second thing I want you to write down. They had to stay inside. They had to stay inside. Why? Because death couldn't cross what God had already marked. Death couldn't cross what the blood had already covered. There was safety inside what the blood covered. The blood was on the doorframe, but safety was connected to staying under the covering.

Here's how I picture it. Anybody in here own an umbrella? Dumb question, raise your hand, everybody. Everybody has an umbrella. You've seen this illustration 1,000 times, but it rings true every time. You can have an umbrella, you can own an umbrella. You can walk around town with your umbrella. You can use your umbrella as a cane. You can use your umbrella to trip people with. You can use it for whatever you want to use your umbrella for. But when the rain comes, you open up your umbrella and you're standing underneath the umbrella and it's raining around you and you're dancing under the umbrella. Oh, I'm safe and secure, woo. Bring it on. It's raining, but I'm protected. But the moment that you choose to take the umbrella and hold it out here is the moment that you have to deal with the consequences of human sin. Of human nature. You have to deal with the consequences of your decision because you have just made the choice not to live under. the covering that was at your disposal. I told you this takes a pointed approach today.

I believe we have too many followers of Jesus, verbally only, that walk in and we say that we follow Jesus, and listen, I'm glad that you say that you follow Jesus. And if you're here today and you're just checking a box, I want you to know I'm glad that you're here, and I'm glad that you've checked that box, but I also want you to know that there's a better way to live. We've got too many people that say that we're a follower of Jesus, and we come in to church on Sunday. High five and praise the Lord. God bless you, how you doing? It's good to, I like, whoo, you smell good today. Yes, I do. And you know the right Christian language to use. You know when to raise your hands in the song. You got it all down. You come in to church and you live under the covering on Sunday, but then on Monday at the office you remove the umbrella and you're running your mouth like you don't even know Jesus exists. You're gossiping, whoo, slandering like you don't even know Jesus exists. You're living your life defined by your fleshly desires, but then on Sunday, ooh, I got the umbrella. And then, and then, and then, this is us, this is humanity, this is me and you.

The gall of humanity. Then we get upset at God. Why is it raining on me right now? I'm not supposed to be wet. No, no, no, you had safety at your disposal, but you chose to live outside the covering of what was at your disposal. It's not God's fault, friend. Trying to say this nicely, it's your fault. It's my fault. When we make the decision, and here's, our decisions drive us to places that we never dreamed possible. And we get angry and we get frustrated and we ask God why, and some of the things, right, think about this for a second. What if some of the things that as a follower of Jesus you feel are restricting, maybe you've said, well, how come the Bible just says no to a lot of things? What if the things that you have been feeling are restrictive, are not to frustrate you, but they're actually there for your protection? I took the kids to the community pool yesterday. Whew! Let me tell you, it was a great time. Sitting there, can I just, I gotta tell you what I was doing. I was there, but I wasn't really there. I was there, kids were splashing, just living the dream. I was trying to watch the Longhorns baseball game

on my phone, that's where I was. And there was this, it was jam-packed. I feel like 40,000 people at our community pool yesterday. I mean, just wild. Sitting there in the shade, there was this group of kids that were probably five years old, sweet as can be. This one little dude in particular, there was this group of rocks. This one little dude in particular, he had this orange swimsuit on, really like buzz cut, haircut, and had the tightest little goggles around his face. I mean, just like, like bro, it's gonna cut circulation off. This can't be good right now. And him and his group of buddies, again, I was right next, this was my own fault, I was right next to this group of rocks, and these dudes were absolute legends. I'm telling you, back flips, front flips, off the rocks. I'm like, this is crazy. Future Olympians right here. I'm witnessing it right now. And then out of nowhere, I hear, and I can't remember the kid's name, I wouldn't say it if I did anyways, I hear this mama from, she was down the ways a little bit, she wasn't close. And she yelled his first and his middle name.

You know. Oh yeah. I was, oh, my man's about to get it right now. now, it's not gonna be good. And she makes a beeline over and she says, you know we don't jump off the rocks like that. You know, you know better, we don't do, I've told you a thousand times. And I'm like, get her mom, get her mom. He's like, yes ma'am, yes ma'am, yes ma'am. Parents, you set boundaries for your children all the time. And as their parent, you set the boundaries not because you wanna be restrictive and you wanna be mean and because you don't love them, you set them up because you know what's coming if he slips on a back flip and hits the back of his head on a rock. You're not doing it to be mean, but you're doing it because you know the result of behavior like that. This is what the Lord does with us, with boundaries. It's not to be restrictive and it's not to be mean. He knows what's coming if you keep living like that. And I know what you're thinking. Well, I'm a grown adult. I should be able to make my own choices. You're right, you should. You are a mature, grown adult and you can make your own choices, but just remember that because you're a grown adult

doesn't exempt you from making childish choices. I know a lot of grown adults that are making childish choices every single day and they know that they have the protection, the covering at their disposal, but they're choosing to live outside of it. The Lord will not force you to stay under his covering. You will always have the decision. So they had to stay inside. See, the difference wasn't that the blood stopped the storm, it just stopped it from coming inside. So the night happens, issues happen, but when you're under the protection, look around and say, man, I'm going through it right now, but I'm still standing. I don't know how I'm standing because five years ago without this covering, there's no way I would have made it through this, but here I am, I made it through. Look at us, God. Come on now, God. Look, woo, thank you, Lord. Death could come through Egypt, it just couldn't cross the line that God had marked on the doorframes of the house. The safest place in Egypt that night was not the palace, it was a covered house. Lord, I want my home to be covered. I want my life to be covered by the blood. Where are you looking for your protection?

Is it in your money, is it in your stuff, is it in your power, is it in your position? It will never bring the protection that you're looking for. Let me tell you why this is all so important. Pastor Rad, you're talking about an animal that was slaughtered thousands of years ago in the Old Testament that was applied to their lives. And so, what does this matter for us? Many of you perhaps already know. Let me tell you why this is so important. I Corinthians chapter 5, verse 7 says this, for Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. So the story in the book of Exodus about a lamb, an animal that they had to slaughter and eat and then put the blood on the doorpost, this was always pointing towards Jesus. It was always pointing to you. So why does it matter, why? Because Jesus is our spotless lamb and Jesus was sacrificed for you and for me. And the beauty of, think about this, some of you are Bible scholars and you know this. In Egypt, a spotless lamb had to be sacrificed. In Egypt, blood was applied. In Egypt, judgment passed over. But at Calvary, a spotless, sinless Savior died. His blood was shed and His mercy and His grace became available to you and to me. Now, as we get ready to close this out,

I wanna show you one thing that's very important because the scriptures, they gave them a bit of instruction that I wanna make sure you and I. I don't miss. The lamb was to be slaughtered. But it wasn't enough for them to just slaughter the spotless lamb. There was something else that they had to do. The word is this. They had to, watch this, there we go, yeah, yeah, yeah. Does anybody know what the word says, what the word is that they told them to do? The word says that they had to apply the blood. They had to apply the blood to the doorpost and the frame of the house. Why is this important? Because there's a lot of people today that have knowledge and information of a spotless sinless Jesus that died for you, but you have never applied him to your life. And just because you haven't applied him to your life doesn't change the fact that he died. He died on a cross, stabbed in the side with a spear and blood and water came forth, nails driven through his feet and his hands and a crown of thorn shoved into his head. He died. But you have the option, and this is what we go back to, you have the ability to make your own decisions as a mature grown adult. Will you choose to apply Jesus to your life? This is the question. Because you can live with the knowledge that Jesus is the savior of the world. You can live with the knowledge that he died for the sins of the people. But until you apply him to the door frames of your life. So what does the application process look like? Do I need to take like red blood and paint, no.

It's that you have a defining moment with your savior where it's today is the day that I choose to not just know about you, not just to know and believe that you are a good teacher, that you are a man, that you are, woo, yeah, I know what everybody, but today I choose to apply it to my life, that I choose to tell you that you are the Lord of my life, that I choose to live my life in such a way that I will chase after you. I don't even know the details of what that looks like, but I know that I've got to apply you to my life so today I don't just know about you, today I start knowing you on a real and a tangible way. That's what the application process looks like today.