Our God Is a God of Open Doors

As Mary and I were preparing to make our move into the area here, the pastor of Chicago and Beloit, a number of open doors occurred for Mary and I. We were told to go ahead and sell our home. We were given the nod that we were going to be pastoring both Chicago and Beloit.

They asked us to put our house up for sale. It took us a while because we had to clean out a lot of stuff. If you've been living in your house for any length of time, you collect stuff. We had so much stuff in our basement, you would have thought an army of about 50 or 60 people were living in our little house. Our house was only 1,600 square feet. It was not a big house. But we had lots of stuff to get rid of and so forth. Anyhow, by the time we finally got our house up for sale, we put it on sale, and marked it on a Monday about 4 o'clock.

By Tuesday at 10 o'clock, it had sold. Second person who bought it. That was an open door. Mary wanted to go in to discuss with her employer that she was leaving the area. You never know with a big corporation when you tell them you're going to leave. Many times, they call for security and out the door you go.

We really needed for her to be able to work the month of May. As it turned out, they had no problem with her giving her notice. She worked the entire month of May. That was an open door. A lot of other open doors, I won't go through all of those with you at this point. But, brethren, you also have prayed for open doors.

You have seen doors open in your life. You've seen doors close in your life. In terms of open doors, you've wanted service opportunities to serve our great Father God and elder brother Jesus Christ. You've wanted service opportunities to serve our fellow man. You've wanted family opportunities. You want doors open along those lines. You've wanted career opportunities. You've wanted educational opportunities. Any number of things you can add to the list of doors you've been praying that God would open for you. Now, as Mary and I were looking at our new beginnings serving our great God and you as people here in Beloit, various things were going through my mind.

I remembered a sermon I gave a couple of years ago at Dell's. Now, if you were in Dell's in 2014, this will sound very familiar to you. I'm not going to apologize because I think it's good to go through these things. Virtually nobody in Chicago was there. Because I gave this sermon last week in Chicago. I don't think anybody was there at the feast in 2014.

But I know some of you were there in 2014. Today, brethren, what I want to do is, if you'd like to take notes, put something across the top of your paper. The theme of my message today is this. Our God is the God of the open door. Our God is the God of the open door. Today, we're going to look at how God opens some doors, closes other doors, and some principles about opened and closed doors.

And I think some of these things, again, if you've not heard this before, will surprise you. Let's turn over to Acts 16. If you've got a marker, you might want to put that right there. Because I'll be using that as a base of operations. We'll be going to a few other places. But primarily, we'll be here in Acts 16. In Acts 16, we see the beginnings of one of the great churches of God of all time, the church in Philippi. We're going to meet some of the charter members of the church in Philippi.

But we're going to see some doors opening and closing for this church to begin. Now, as Mary and I were making our way to Beloit today, she was looking and I was listening as she was... That very nice book you gave last time we were here. I had most everybody's picture and bio. And after a while, Mary's going through those and reading about you and your lives. And she said, you know, this Beloit church, we've got people who have been in the church for a long time. And as I was looking through the records, I agree.

We've got a mature group of people here, a very mature group of people. Some of you perhaps have been in a church when a church was first starting out. I know when we started the Detroit East Church, I was a charter member of that congregation. There had been a church in Detroit since 1964. I wasn't in the church in 1964. But when we started the East Church in 1975, I was a charter member of the East congregation.

We had three in Detroit at the time. So here we have in Acts 16, the beginnings of the church in Europe, in Greece, the church in Philippi. Now, the first five verses, what we see here, and I'm not going to read these first five verses, we see Paul coming to Elystra. Now, geographically, where he's at is central Turkey. He's in central Turkey.

He meets a young disciple named Timothy, who was highly regarded by the Christians in that area. Timothy went along with Paul and Silas as they are making their way westward in Turkey toward the Aegean Sea, and meeting the various brethren there. This was what was known as Paul's second missionary journey. This was in the late 40s, early 50s AD. That's where we typically date that. Paul wanted to go and see how the brethren were doing, the churches that were begun in that first journey of his.

And so that's what he's doing here at the beginning of chapter 16 of Acts. Now, let's take a look, let's zero in now, at Acts 16, verse 6. Now, when they had gone through Phrygia, still central, but it's kind of like southwestern Turkey, when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. Now, by Asia, they're talking about the northern portion of Turkey, of that peninsula.

The Holy Spirit forbade them. Now, how did that happen? How does that work? Verse 7. After they had come to Micea, again, they're moving more westward, they tried to go into Bithynia, again, northern Turkey, but the Spirit did not permit them. So here we see two examples in verse 6 and 7, where God is using His Spirit in a very subtle way to close doors, and they were getting it.

They were attuned to God. And certainly, brethren, this is something we can ask for God's wisdom. We want to be attuned. Now, it wasn't like as though some big earthquake or tornado or something's happening here to get their attention. This is a very subtle thing that God is doing. He's working through the Spirit of God that was in them to let them know, no, you don't want to go there. Was going there a bad thing? No. What did Paul want to do? Paul and Silas and Timothy wanted to go to the northern portion of Turkey to proclaim Jesus Christ as Savior, to discuss the gospel of the kingdom of God, to discuss the things we hold dear.

So what they wanted was something very good. So let's appreciate the fact that sometimes God will close the door on us even when we want to do something good. I think sometimes we think that God only closes the door for wanting to do something bad or harmful or what have you.

But they were wanting to do something good. But God sees an overall picture, and we'll take a look at that as the sermon progresses. God saw the overall picture and didn't want that trio of ministers in northern Turkey. Let's continue our story here. Verse 8, So passing by Micea they came down to Troas. Now Troas is right on the westernmost tip of Turkey. It's on the Aegean Sea. Some people think that's Troy. No, I don't know. Verse 9, Now here's where God is going to do something a little more obvious.

A vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia. This is eastern Greece. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

So here we see something a little stronger. You know, before it was a little more, you know, God working with their hearts and minds. Here now they have a vision where a door is opening. So we see, brethren, where there are times when God closes a door. And I think at times we think, again, a closed door might be a negative thing. Well, here a closed door is a good thing. Doors closed to go to northern Turkey, and then a door opened to go to Europe to go to Greece. And so the closed door was a good thing because it led to an open door. Okay? It led to an open door. Verse 11, Therefore sailing from Troas we ran a stray course, the Thamos Thrace, and the next day came to Neapolis. So from Troas, they basically were sailing north and a little to the west.

And they came to these cities. And from there to Philippi, which was right next door to Neapolis, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for many days. Now, a little bit of history here. Paul loved all the places, all the brethren, that he, where churches were built up, where he served. But there was a little special something in Paul's heart, I believe, for Philippi.

When Paul went to places, for example, like Thessalonica, he loved the brethren there, would give his life for the brethren there. But some of the brethren in Thessalonica wondered where Paul was coming from. And they wondered if Paul wasn't in it for the tithe dollars. And so in Thessalonica, and Paul didn't do this everywhere, but in Thessalonica, Paul would ply his trade as a tentmaker. He didn't want people to think he was in it only for the money. Now, there were times when he was doing his work, maybe not enough income was coming in, he would ask the church in Philippi to send him tithes, so he can continue to conduct his work there in Thessalonica.

Now, where it says here that Philippi was the foremost city in that part of Macedonia. So Romans knew what they were doing. When the Romans conquered a people, every so often they would make a little Rome, a little Rome, a colony.

They would take Roman soldiers, they would transplant them when they retired, give them some land, give them the retirement, and put them in a place like Philippi. Philippi was free from taxes, it was free from military duty for the young men. They could join if they wanted to, but they were free from being conscripted, from being made to serve. And Philippi had their own elected Senate, so it was, in essence, a little Rome. And this is something the Romans did because they wanted to not only conquer people, but get into their hearts and minds and turn them into Romans.

A few years ago, I was watching a special on Rome. My boys, since I am a Roman, my father was born just a few miles outside of Rome. So much of my family is from that region. I take an interest in Roman history. I was watching this special on Rome. The soldiers, their military was quite extensive. They were good at what they did. But they also weren't just a bunch of brute soldiers.

When they would conquer a people, they would take the leaders of the people, the various elders of the people, and they would send them to Rome. Come, we want you to take a look at Rome. We want you to see who we are. When they went to Rome, they were shown various things. To the Romans, this was a type of psychological warfare. When they brought the various elders in from the conquered areas, they would show them the aqueducts.

In the back of the minds of the conquered people, they say, you know, these aren't just soldiers. These are people with engineering skills. They would show them the great buildings. They would show them the Colosseum. I don't know how many of you ever go to a movie, but there was a movie several years ago with Russell Crowe called Gladiator.

When the Gladiators came in from the provinces, they brought the Gladiators, they got out of their carriage, and they were brought up to the Colosseum. One of the Gladiators said something that was really interesting, and it was the essence of what Rome wanted people to understand. The one Gladiator looked at the Colosseum and said, I didn't think people could build such as this. And that's what the Romans said. That's right. That's right. If you disobey us, if you go contrary to us, we will reach out, we will come, and we will find you. We will reach out, and we will touch you. There was an interesting story.

Just one last aside here before I continue on. The Germans across the Rhine were coming into the Roman territories and making incursions. And they thought that because where they were at, the Rhine was so wide, so deep, so swift, there were no bridges or anything that they would be safe.

Julius Caesar said, uh-uh, not so. And so he marched his legions to that portion of the area, looked at the Rhine, had his engineers construct a pontoon bridge in ten days. See, the Germans were watching, and on the other side, they thought it was going to be an impossible task. But in ten days, he built a pontoon bridge, takes his legions across, does what a good Roman general does, marches around a bit, burns a few things, and then comes across the bridge, dismantling it as they go, and goes back home. The point being, Julius Caesar wanted the Germans to realize, we can get at you.

Don't think this river is an impediment to us. So here in Philippi, they made Philippi a little Rome. I wanted to give you a little bit of the mindset here. They made a little bit of a Rome, a colony. We talked about what a colony was, and we stayed in that city for some days. Verse 13, on the Sabbath day, this is Acts 16-13, on the Sabbath day, we went out from the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made.

We sat down and spoke to the women who met there. No synagogue. To have a synagogue, you needed ten men. Weren't ten men who were keeping the Sabbath. So the ladies were getting together. Now, a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God. So we're seeing now the first charter member of the church in Philippi. In ladies, it was a lady. It was not just any kind of lady. This was a businesswoman, a very successful businesswoman.

She was a seller of purple, which was a big commodity, an expensive, very expensive commodity. The way that was made by these little mussel shells, they would have to collect thousands of those just to get a drop or two of the coloring. So it was a very expensive process. Selling it brought a great deal of money. Thyatira was known for that.

She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God. The Lord opened her heart. Now, we're going to have, in Chicago and Milwaukee, two public appearance campaigns, two PACs, P.A.C. And there's something for all of our planning and all the things we can do. There's things we can't do. We can't open anybody's heart. We can't open anybody's mind. That's up to God. Now, we certainly can pray, because it is my strong belief that God is not done calling people in Chicago.

And God is not done calling people in Milwaukee. And it's my strong belief that God is not done calling people in Beloit, Wisconsin. But God has to do that. God has got to open their hearts. Here we see an open door here. It's an open door to her heart. So the Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. Not just hear them, to heed them, to do them, to be a disciple in a true Jewish sense, was not only to hear, but to do. Verse 15, And when she heard, and when she and her household were baptized, says, she and her household... it shows the level of commitment that she had to her family, the love she had for her family, the respect that her family showed her, that she and her household were baptized.

She begged us, saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. So she persuaded us. She persuaded us. So we see here that, you know, as a businesswoman, she knew something about persuasive powers. Of course, Paul and his entourage, Silas and Timothy, were able to stay there. She wasn't a single woman by herself. She had her family there as well.

So chances are she had a fairly good-sized setup, able to have three visitors, plus her family, plus she may have had house servants. So what do we learn from this portion of the sermon? We see that God knows what's best. When it comes to open and closed doors, God knows what's best. He knows the whole situation. You may have a broken heart because you want so desperately for God to open a door in some way in your life, but God's not opened that door.

But God knows the whole situation. You know a part of the situation. You know your part, but God knows everybody's part. So we, as believers, must have faith. We must trust God's leadership. We must trust that closing doors are as valuable to us as when doors open to us.

Put a marker here as I've asked you to do. Put a marker here. Let's go over to John 10. John 10. John 10, verse 1. In my New King James here, this is red lettering. John 10, verse 1. Most assuredly I say to you, He who does not enter the shepherd, the sheepfold, by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber.

You know, we know from John 6, 44, 45, that God is the one who opens doors.

And so if we don't come by the door through God the Father or through Jesus Christ, then we're not doing it properly. Verse 2. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And no matter how long ago it was that you began to listen to the, perhaps, world tomorrow telecast, perhaps you were listening on radio, perhaps you got one of those old... As a matter of fact, some of you probably did. Some of you probably got those old brown plain truths that years and years ago that we put out.

But the same process, and that's the beautiful thing. Two thousand years ago... I'm not going to turn there, but in Acts 2. Two thousand years ago, Peter gives an inspired sermon to a group of people who were keeping the Holy Days, Jewish people keeping the Holy Days, keeping Pentecost there in Jerusalem. He gives an inspired sermon, and what is the response? The response is, men and brethren, what should we do? You know, the listeners, what should we do? Two thousand years down the road, people come to me as a pastor.

Mr. De La Sandro, I want a counsel for baptism. What should I do?

Same Father, where are the kids? Same process. Two thousand years. Acts 2, what should we do today? What should we do?

And so here we see how God opens doors and so forth, dropping down to verse 7.

Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. No. You knew the truth when you were hearing it. You knew that you needed to change and amend your lives, and you did so. Verse 9, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they might have life, and they might have it more abundantly. So here we see an open door so far as we've been in Acts 16. An open door for salvation. Let's go back to Acts 16 and continue our story. Acts 16, starting in verse 16 now. Acts 16 and verse 16. Now it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with the spirit of divination met us, who brought our masters much profit by fortune-telling.

So what we have here is a young woman who was demon-possessed, and the demon was able to foretell certain things in the future, and to do so, so accurately that people were paying her money. And you don't pay money for bad advice. You only pay money when things are relatively accurate. And that's what was taking place here. Now, as I mentioned, I think last time I was here, a month or two ago back in Michigan, I gave a sermon about how demons work and so on and so forth.

I'll give that same sermon here in due time. Not now. And we actually cover this section of Scripture from that point of view. Verse 17, this girl followed Paul and us and cried out, saying, These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.

Now, that was all very true, but that wasn't exactly what Paul wanted at this stage of the game. Verse 18, and she did this for many days, but Paul greatly annoyed, turned and said to the Spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out that very hour. Brethren, Satan wants to, in whatever way he can, hinder and impede the work.

Now, God is more powerful than Satan. We all realize that. We appreciate that. But for whatever the reasons, God does use Satan to try us and to attempt us, and to sometimes thwart an open door. Now, once God opens it, no one's going to close it, but Satan's going to try. As a matter of fact, let's turn over to 1 Thessalonians 2. 1 Thessalonians 2.

1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 18. It says, Therefore we wanted to come to you, even I, Paul, time and again, but Satan hindered us. Satan hindered us. That's why, brethren, when we may think something is so obvious, we don't need to pray for that. No, no. We always pray, because Satan is always wanting to hinder us.

He's always wanting to throw a wrench in the works. When Jesus Christ was starting his ministry in Mark 1, I'm not going to turn to this one, but in Mark 1, when Jesus Christ was going to start his ministry, what happened in Mark 1? One of the people who was probably a fairly long-time member of the synagogue, where Christ was going to start his proclamation, he stood up and began to work against Jesus Christ.

He also was demon-possessed. Christ had to put that down. But again, it shows that if Satan and the demons are going to stand toe-to-toe with Jesus Christ, you better believe they'll do the same thing to try to hinder us. Continue on in the story here in Acts 16. Acts 16, verse 19. But when her master saw that the hope of their prophet was gone, so again, the young lady was successful. They seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. They brought them to the magistrates and said, these men being Jews, perhaps a little anti-Semitism there, exceedingly trouble our city, and they teach customs which are not lawful for us being Romans to receive or observe.

Then the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore off their clothes, commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. Fasten their feet in the stocks.

Brethren, let's pause here for a moment.

What are we seeing here?

We are seeing here that God has opened a door to Paul and Silas and Timothy. They walk through the door. They're obeying God. And as they obey God, wonderful things are happening, but not all the things that are happening are so wonderful. I don't know that any of us would like to have our shirts stripped off our back and be beaten. To be thrown into solitary confinement, perhaps maximum security, and have your feet stuck in these awful stocks. Now again, as I've watched various history pieces over the years, these Roman dungeons, you were lucky the temperature ever got much above 50 degrees. They typically were cold. They were typically dark. They were typically wet.

And these men were going through an open door and were beaten and jailed and were in pain. Now, why do I make that point?

I think sometimes we think that we only have an open door when we slide right through. And it's all rainbows and lollipops and sunshine.

Brethren, that's not the case. Sometimes God opens a door and there's a lot of travail.

You mothers out there, God has opened a door for you to have children.

Those precious little bundles. But before they came out of your body, there was some real tribulation, right? There were some hurtful times. There were some times that weren't pleasant. And yet, you don't tend to think about those times now. You tend to think about your lovely sons or lovely daughters and handsome sons and so forth.

But again, with everything, there's going to be some difficulty. And certainly here, we are seeing that. Let's continue now with the story. It's highly fascinating. We've seen one family, Lydia and her family, charter members of the church in Philippi. We're about to see another family here. Verse 25.

But at midnight, Paul and Silas are praying and singing hymns to God. And the prisoners were listening.

Now, what do you think they were singing?

You know, nobody knows the troubles I've seen.

That's what I'd probably be singing.

Paul was a much more converted man than I am at this point. I'd probably be singing, oh man, what was me? Some dirge.

We don't know what he was singing, but we know here, it says explicitly, the prisoners were listening. The prisoners were used to hearing the gods, because these were a pagan people, hearing the gods' names being taken in vain. They were used to a lot of profanity, a lot of all sorts of filthy talk. But here you've got these three, oh, these Paul and Silas here, singing praises to the great God. And I'm wondering, and I don't know this, this is a speculation on my part, but I'm wondering if they weren't singing what we know as Exodus 15. Exodus 15 is the first song in the Bible. It's called the Song of Moses. It's a song about deliverance. It talks about how God's great powers opening the Red Sea, God's great powers taking care of Pharaoh's army.

And to a group of prisoners, the idea of being delivered would be something they would want to listen to. The idea of there being some other power than Rome would be something they'd want to listen to. And just by what these men were saying, the prisoners were captivated.

Verse 26, Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened. Here, open doors. All the doors were opened, and everyone's chains were loosed.

Now, if you were a carnal man in that prison, and your door springs open, and your chains fall off, people might think that you're an Olympic champion sprinter trying to get out of that prison.

But, brethren, nobody moved. Nobody left. They all stayed there.

Why?

Maybe they were thinking about what they were hearing Paul and Silas sing and pray about. About deliverance, about the greatness of God. Suddenly an earthquake takes place. They're probably thinking, this is no coincidence! Their chains fall off. Earthquake didn't cause that.

Earthquake did not cause that. And so these prisoners are probably thinking, this is of God. I'm not moving.

What is this God going to do? Again, they don't know the true God.

Verse 27, And the keeper of the prison, awaking from his sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners have fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.

Now, brethren, you appreciate the fact today that nobody who's a police officer ever wants to be charged with anything so that they're put in prison.

Because so many times, the people they're going to be in prison with, those officers put them there.

And so a police officer being put in jail is not good for the police officer's health. And so here this fellow is thinking the same thing. He says, man, it's over with. I don't want to be tortured by these guys. I'll end my own life.

Verse 28, But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.

Again, no one's moving. We are all here.

Then he called for a light, ran in, fell down, trembling before Paul and Silas.

He brought them out and said, Sir, what must I do to be saved?

Now, there's a lot here, brother, in verse 30. I don't have the time to go through all of that.

Again, explicitly, do I know what the background of this man was? No.

But we can surmise, maybe speculate, that he, before he fell asleep, probably was listening to Paul and Silas, listening to their prayers as they spoke their prayers, listening to what they were singing.

He may have even heard Paul preach, for all we know.

But this man had some background information.

And he asked Paul, what must I do?

Again, this is something that you asked once upon a time.

What must I do to be saved?

Again, showing how our great God works with his family, and you are part of that family.

Verse 31, so he said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.

Now, again, I don't have time to go through. There's a lot of material here.

But one of the things we're beginning to see is, this discussion is moving from the prison to the jailkeeper's house.

Now, is this the open door Paul was looking for?

Was the open door the door to get out of jail?

And the answer to that is, no, that wasn't the open door. We're going to see what the open door was in a few moments.

Verse 32, Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house.

And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and immediately all of them.

He and his family were baptized.

So here we have the second family that's going to be a charter member of the Philippi church.

Now, when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them, and he rejoiced, having believed in God of all of his household.

Now, when it was day, the magistrate sent the officers saying, Let those men go.

Let those men go.

Again, brethren, are we looking at this in understanding the chain of events happening here?

Earthquake takes place. Doors open. Chains fall off. The guard comes with a light.

How much might I be saved? They begin talking to jail, in the jail.

The conversation moves to the jailkeeper's home.

Now we see where Paul is back in jail again.

See, the open door was not getting out of jail, because Paul went from the jailer's house back into jail. Now, there's a reason for that. There are a number of reasons.

If Paul and Silas were to take off at that point, they'd be hunted down.

All the Christians in the area would be hunted down.

The jailer may well have lost his life for that, and the jailer is now a brother and a faith.

So Paul and Silas go back willingly to jail.

We see here that the magistrates, once they found out that Paul was a Roman citizen, who was deserving of a trial, a hearing, he was not given such, they realized they were in really deep water here. They were in hot water here.

Verse 36, So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, The magistrates have sent to let you go now therefore depart and go in peace.

Is this the open door? Nope.

Paul said to them, They have beaten us openly, and they have thrown us into prison, and now they put us out secretly?

No, indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.

An important principle here, brethren.

We are to be God's humble people.

We discuss this every year at Passover time.

But that doesn't mean, as a humble person, that we don't have rights.

It doesn't mean that as a humble person, we just have to have everybody run all over us.

That wasn't the case here.

Paul, in a larger sense, Paul wasn't doing this just because of his rights.

Paul was thinking about the rights of that jailer, of Lydia and their families, and all the others that would become members of God's church, and their rights.

So Paul wants the authorities to act the way the authorities should act.

And he demands that they come, and, you know, don't send us out the back door.

We're not trash. You come and you let us out the front door.

And you acknowledge you're wrong. Now, again, there's a reason Paul's doing this.

There's actually two major reasons Paul's doing this.

One of the reasons Paul's doing this is because here's an opportunity, an open door, and here's where the open door comes in.

Here's an open door for Paul to proclaim the Gospel unfettered in any way there in Philippi.

The city magistrates have now got to take a couple steps back. They've done him wrong. They know they've done him wrong.

They know he's a Roman citizen. They know he can pursue this in court if he wanted to.

Paul doesn't want to, but they don't know that.

And so, basically, they give Paul a lot of room here to proclaim the Gospel in Philippi.

That's the open door. And the second open door that Paul was, at least what was in God's mind, I think Paul came to see it, was that because this certainly got out to other Roman cities, or cities that Rome had control over, the Gospel message had more free reign. Not that Christians weren't persecuted here and there. They certainly were.

But there was more free reign because people realized, well, this Paul guy, you know, we did him wrong, give him a wide berth.

This sect of theirs, they're not a big threat to the Empire, and so on and so forth. Those were the open doors that God wanted for the area. The open door of having the Gospel being preached, the open door of those families coming into the Church.

Let's just finish up the story here.

Verse 38, and the authors told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans.

Then they came and pleaded with them. A little bit of a difference, right?

At one point, they're stripping off their clothes, beating them, throwing them into jail, putting them in stocks. Now they're pleading, things have really changed here, pleading with them and brought them out and asked them to depart from the city. So they went out of the prison. So now that particular door is opening up. So they went out of the prison at that point and entered the house of Lydia.

And when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them, and then they departed.

God had his own timetable. God had his own desire of what was going to happen.

And that's what took place. Now I may mention to you that there are several principles here that we can garner about open and closed doors. I'm going to letter these for you. So if you like to take notes, the notes are a little easier for you to take.

Letter A. Letter A. God is the doorkeeper.

God is the doorkeeper. Let's look at Revelation chapter 3.

Revelation chapter 3.

I'm so glad that Dave brings water up here.

The way you see me drinking up here, you may wonder if it's actually water in that glass.

After a while, he'll probably learn just to drag a hose up here and turn it on.

Revelation chapter 3 verse 7.

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, These things says, He who is holy, He who is true, He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens.

Brethren, let this be an encouragement to you.

When God opens a door for you, no human being is going to shut it.

We can close it. We can walk away from it.

We can walk away from it. We can close it. We can walk away from it.

We might not even see it.

That's where we have to ask God for the wisdom of Solomon, or at least a portion of that wisdom.

We have to ask God for spiritual insight. He's given us His spirit of power.

He's given us the tools.

But as you fellows understand, tools are only good in the hands of somebody who knows how to use them.

Now, one thing you might know about, or will come to know about me is, I am as handy as a fish.

Now, you take my dad or my brother, and you give them a tool chest, and you set them on a deserted island, they'll build an empire.

I would probably starve to death, because I am not handy at all.

But God opens doors. God opens doors, and no human being is going to shut those doors. He's got that power, that ability.

Verse 8, I know your works, see I've set before you an open door, and no one can shut it, so He repeats it for emphasis.

So, brethren, what door are you asking God for you to see opened?

Ask God for the ability to be able to see those doors when they open, and to be able to have the strength and the courage and the foresight to walk through those doors when they open up for us.

Because, as we saw with Paul and Silas, just because the door is open doesn't mean there's not trials on the other side of that door.

There might be severe trials on the other side of that open door.

Letter B, letter A, as God is the doorkeeper, let's go on to the next one, letter B, you can only know a closed door by first trying it.

You can only know a closed door by first trying it.

I'm not going to turn there for the sake of time, but in your notes you might jot out Acts 16, verses 6 and 7.

We've already covered that. That's where in two different verses, back-to-back verses, the doors were closed.

But Paul and Silas would not have known that unless they tried to open the door.

They learned that God closed that door when they tried to open it.

Brethren, there are times in our life when we discern God's direction, as you and I are attempting to fulfill our calling, when we have to try something.

We've got to try something.

Let her see. Let her see.

An open door may only be evident after you've experienced closed doors.

An open door may be evident only after you've experienced some closed doors.

It wasn't until after the doors closed to go into northern Turkey that they understood that God wanted them to go some other direction.

In this case, God wanted them to go into Europe, to eastern Turkey, to Macedonia.

Letter D. I've only got six of these, so this is the fourth one. Letter D.

Our suffering may actually open a door of opportunity.

Our suffering may actually open a door of opportunity.

Let's turn to Philippians 1.

I'm going to go down just a little bit down the road from where Mr. Christiansen was.

Philippians 1 and verse 12.

Philippians 1 and verse 12.

Philippians 1 and verse 12.

But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.

There are times, brethren, when you are on your knees before God, I know you've done this, I've done this, I'm sure we've all done this, we've all been there.

Where we're on our knees before God, asking, Father, why this long trial?

Why is it coming upon me, seemingly, again and again, and then you name off names of people in the congregation?

They're not going through it! Why am I getting there helping?

Why am I getting there a portion? At least that's what we may be thinking.

But everybody's circumstances are different. I think I made mention. No, I was in Chicago. I'm sorry.

I don't think I made mention here.

You've got to forgive me if I repeat the stories over and over.

Sometimes I forget where I discuss certain stories.

But there was a situation that I was aware of, a number of us were aware of in the Detroit church, where one of our ladies got baptized. This was back in the 1970s. She got baptized, and they announced that there in the Detroit East Church, you know, Kathy so-and-so was baptized this last week.

And the response in my mind was, I thought she was always baptized. I've been going to church with her for years.

Now, again, I guess if I was more observant, I would have noticed on Passover she wasn't there those years.

I can be very observant. But I never noticed she wasn't at Passover, so I was kind of shocked. So I went up to her after service and said, Kathy, I didn't know you weren't baptized, and congratulations, and so on and so forth.

I said, would you mind me asking a little bit of a personal question? She said, well, what's that?

I said, why now?

Why now?

She said, Randy, she said, all these years I've been watching my husband Jim.

I've been watching the trials Jim's gone through. I've been watching how Jim was struggling with some trials, seeming to buckle under some trials, but he never broke.

He stayed faithful. He kept coming to church. He kept on doing what God wanted him to do.

His attitude wasn't always perfect, but he persevered.

And after all those years watching that, I realized that's God's spirit in action.

And I realized that I didn't have that spirit.

And she was baptized as a result of watching her husband.

And so you may be going through things, brethren, and you wonder why.

Now, certainly you and I, as we go through things, we develop character as a result.

But there may be times, brethren, when you go through situations and the work God is doing is a work through you, where others are observing you. It could be your children, it could be your maid, it could be grandchildren, it could be your next-door neighbor, it could be a coworker at work, and they're watching us.

So please be aware of that. Please be aware of that.

Our suffering may actually open a door of opportunity for the gospel to be preached.

And it may be preached through your life.

Two more points here. Letter E.

Closed doors may be closed only temporarily.

Just because the door is closed doesn't mean it's shut forever.

And there are ways God has of opening doors and accomplishing certain things that we would never think would happen just that way.

Let's look at Acts 19 for a moment.

Acts 19.

Acts 19.

Verse 8. Acts 19.

And He went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading, concerning the things of the kingdom of God.

But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the way before the multitude, He departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.

And this continued for two years.

One door is closing, but another door is opening here.

This continued for two years, so all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

Now, Paul never did go to northern Turkey.

When you study his travels, look at all three of his what is called missionary journeys, he never went there.

But his words went there. His letters went there.

As it says right here, he is preaching in the school of Tyrannus.

And all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, Jesus, because of Paul's writings and people talking about Paul's sermons.

Lastly, letter F.

And we're going to kind of answer a question that maybe some of you have been asking the whole sermon law.

Letter F.

That's why it's good not to compare ourselves among ourselves.

Doors may be closed to one Christian, but open to another.

Paul was not permitted to preach the gospel in northern Turkey.

Why?

Well, let's take a look at a biblical reason why I've given certain things earlier.

Let's look at 1 Peter 1.

1 Peter 1.

1 Peter 1 and verse 1.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the dispersion, to God's people, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

Those were the areas that God told Paul, you can't go.

And why didn't God want him to go? Because Peter was there.

God saw the whole picture.

God realized there's only so much in the way of resources we have.

I don't need two ministerial groups in one area.

Peter was there, that was fine. Peter can do the work there.

I'll send Paul where Peter's not going to go.

That way we cover more territory.

So see, brethren, God knows the big picture.

Sometimes we think because doors close on us that, well, what's wrong with us?

Maybe nothing is wrong with us, but God sees a bigger picture.

And we've got to have faith that he knows exactly what he's doing.

And walk through the doors, he opens for us.

So, brethren, this year, undoubtedly, doors are going to open for you, they're going to open for me.

Other doors will close for you and close for me.

And you and I have to be aware of how God does these things, why he does these things, and ask for God's wisdom to see all of this.

That's the reason I wanted to give this sermon today, because so much affects every one of us in this room.