WELCOME TO GATEWAY CHURCH

Humans are inherently relational beings. We want and need relationships. We long to love and be loved. Why is this? We were created by a personal and loving God. Behind creation and the universe is not chance, or an impersonal force or energy, but a personal, knowable, and loving Being.

United in oneness eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God is, has been, and always will be, personal and loving. Because we were created in the image of God, we are also relational. We will always crave love and relationships. The problem is that our love relationship with God was broken through sin. Sin brings death because it undermines and destroys relationships, most importantly, our relationship with God who is the source of life.  The Good News is that God is seeking to restore our relationship with Him. He is motivated by love, He has provided the way through Jesus, and He is calling each of us through His Spirit and His word.

Say, “yes,” to God today and receive His love and restoration (This is eternal life, John 17:3). Pray. Ask God to forgive your sins. Tell Him you want to be forgiven and have your relationship with Him restored. Place your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who paid the penalty (took the punishment) for our sins on the cross. He was crucified, shedding his blood and dying for our sins. He died and was buried. On the third day (Sunday), He rose from the dead, victorious over sin and death. Receiving God’s forgiveness and placing your faith in Jesus Christ is the beginning of a new life in Christ.

We welcome you to join us at Gateway Church to learn how to live and grow in this new relationship together with others who have done the same!

Join us Sundays at 10 am for worship at 701 Formosa Avenue in Winter Park, FL or online at www.entertolive.org/gateway-live.

You can also follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/gatewaychurchfl), X-Twitter (@GatewayWp), YouTube (@gatewayfamily), and Instagram (gatewaychurchwp).

ENTER TO LIVE

We were born to live,

But death lies ahead.

Life is filled with both joys and sorrows.

We long to live long

With much peace and prosperity, and little pain and sorrow.

We live.

We believe.

We hope.

We struggle.

We worry.

We fight.

We strive.

We long.

We love.

We thrive.

We enjoy.

We regret.

We hope.

We believe.

We live.

We die.

So, what went wrong? Did anything go wrong? Is this just the way it is supposed to be?

If nature is all there is, and there is no God, then this is just the way it is.

But Jesus said something different:

I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. - John 10:9-10 (CSB)

“I am the gate” - Enter to live!

The gate is a person!

 The gate to life is not religion, it’s not an experience, it’s not a career, it’s not money, it’s not success, it’s not power, it’s not fame, it’s not conquests, it’s not sex, it’s not a drug, it’s not in you, and it’s not in me.

The gate is Jesus. This means that the way to life is a personal relationship with God who loves you!

“A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”

Someone else, something else is at work. There is a thief. Something has been taken from us.

In the beginning God created all things good.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. - Genesis 1:1, 26, and 31 (CSB)

But something went wrong!

Now the serpent…He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden, but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’” “No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So, she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. - Genesis 3:1-7 (CSB)

Innocence was lost when Adam and Eve sinned against God.
Death and the things that lead to death entered the world.

Guilt and shame entered their hearts, and they tried to hide from God.
When God came to them, they began to blame--
“It was the woman!” “It was the serpent!”

When we do wrong, we also feel guilt and shame and seek to cover-up, hide, and blame.

But we can’t hide from God.
We can’t cover our sin. We can’t blame others.

Thankfully God promised Adam and Eve a way out.
First, He covered them and then He promised that a descendent of Eve would crush the head of the serpent.

Jesus is that descendent!
He came to restore what was lost in the fall — that we may have life and have it in abundance!

Sin brought shame, guilt, suffering, loss, and death into the good world that God had created.

Now, God has provided the way out of shame, guilt, suffering, loss, and death and into life.

The Way is Jesus.

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. - John 14:6 (CSB)

Eternal life isn’t eternal existence; it’s a personal relationship with an eternal being.

This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent - Jesus Christ. - John 17:3 (CSB)

You can enter into this eternal life by entering into
a restored relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

God loves you; God is seeking you; God is calling you;
God has provided the way of forgiveness, restoration, and eternal life to you.

For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16 (CSB)

I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance. - Luke 15:7 (CSB)

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” - Luke 19:10 (CSB)

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. - 1 John 4:9-10 (NLT)

To enter into this relationship, you must repent of your sins and entrust your life to Jesus Christ.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23 (CSB)

For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:6-8 (CSB)

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 6:23 (CSB)

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation… For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. - Romans 10:9-10, 13 (CSB)

When you turn to Jesus in repentance and faith, God saves you.
It’s His work of grace that you receive by faith.

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast. - Ephesians 2:8-9 (CSB)

This is just the Beginning!

Many presentations of the Gospel (Good News) of Jesus will stop here, but there is so much more!

This is the beginning of a new life! You are saved by grace and not by works,
but you are saved by grace to do good works. God wants to lead and enable you to thrive—
to live in an intimate relationship with Him, to reach your potential, and to be a blessing to others.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. - Ephesians 2:10 (CSB)

Beginning this new life means there is so much to learn and discover.
There are new skills to develop, relationships to build, and new endeavors to explore.
Jesus described beginning this new life as being “born again” of the Spirit.

Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. - John 3:6-7 (CSB)

We are not born again into an idea or abstraction.
We are born spiritually into a family—the family of God.
God’s eternal purpose was to create for Himself a people, a family,
that would know Him, be loved by Him, love Him, and love one another.

God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure. - Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)

God is building a family and he wants you to be a part of it.
A part—a healthy growing functioning part of the family
which is also called the Temple of God—the place God dwells.
It is also called the Body of Christ.

But now through Christ Jesus you, who were once far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So, He is our peace.
In His body, He has made Jewish and non-Jewish people one by breaking down the wall of hostility that kept them apart. He brought an end to the commandments and demands found in Moses’ Teachings so that he could take Jewish and non-Jewish people and create one new humanity in Himself. So, he made peace. He also brought them back to God in one body by His cross, on which He killed the hostility. He came with the Good News of peace for you who were far away and for those who were near. So Jewish and non-Jewish people can go to the Father in one Spirit. That is why you are no longer foreigners and outsiders, but citizens together with God’s people and members of God’s family. You are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone. In Him, all the parts of the building fit together and grow into a holy temple in the Lord. Through Him, you also are being built in the Spirit together with others into a place where God lives. - Ephesians 2:13-22 (GW)

Welcome to the family! Join the fellowship!

When you turn to God through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ you are born again into the family of God.
As you live and grow in your relationship with God you must do so in relationship with others who are a part of God’s family in Christ.

We invite you to join us here at Gateway Church — a part of the Body of Christ.

Here you can worship, heal, grow, and serve together with other followers of Jesus Christ.