Title:  "The Gatekeeper"

Gatekeeper:  A person that controls access to something.  

When we ignore our gate, we put ourselves and those we love in jeopardy.

Song Solomon 2:15- "Catch the foxes for us-the little foxes that ruin the vineyards-for our vineyards are in full bloom."

Every marriage has a gate that protects, that prevents, and that provides opportunities for the "gatekeeper", which is the husband and the wife, to "catch the foxes" that are destroying our vineyard.

Ephesians 5:31-"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."

What reason?  The FULLNESS of the vineyard.

v.22-Wives:  "submit to your husbands."

v.25-Husbands:  "love your wife as Christ loved the church."

Genesis 3:1-7

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves."

Point #1:  REESTABLISH your position at the gate of your vineyard

"PROTECT THIS HOUSE"

Point #2:  REFUSE to abandon your position at the gate

Point #3:  REMEMBER your commitment that you first had to your gate

Ephesians 5:21-"Submit yourselves one to another, in the fear of the Lord."

Proverbs 25:14- "Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give."

1 Corinthians 15:58- "Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord."

We need to be reminded of that first commitment we made, before we celebrate an anniversary or we are faced with adversity.

Romans 13:11- "Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed."

Isaiah 52:1- Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean."