[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Thank you, Preacher. God bless you. Take your Bibles. Turn with me to the book of Acts in the 16th chapter.
[0:11] Acts chapter number 16. While you're turning there, I do want you to know the pleasure has been mine to be here. And I've enjoyed your fellowship. You've made me feel quite at home. Welcome.
[0:22] And you fed me. I'll keep coming back. You stopped feeding. I leave. So this is it. But no, seriously, we had a wonderful meal today. Thank you to the church families that took care of that, as well as the wonderful meals that were prepared, the lodging.
[0:35] Everything about the meeting was just right. And I thank you very much. And then, of course, thank you for welcoming Kim as well and making her feel special and a part of the conference, even though she slipped in late and such.
[0:46] But we do thank you so much. Acts chapter 16. I'd like to begin reading in verse number 5, if you would, please. Acts chapter 16, verse number 5. And so were the churches established in the faith and increased in number daily.
[1:00] Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not.
[1:14] And they, passing by Mysia, came down to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us.
[1:25] And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.
[1:36] Therefore, loosing from Troas, we came with straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony.
[1:48] And we were in that city abiding certain days. And on the Sabbath, we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made. And we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
[1:59] And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of by Paul.
[2:11] And when she was baptized in her household, she besought a saying, Do you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord? Come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us. Dear Father, I thank you for the opportunity to read your word in the hearing of your people.
[2:25] Thank you for this very good conference that we've had thus far. It's because your hand has guided us through. Thank you for the times we heard from our missionaries, and the work to which you've called them.
[2:36] Thank you for the times around your word. Thank you for the times of fellowship that we've experienced. Father, tonight as I pray that I take this burden that you placed upon my heart, I pray, dear Father, that I'll be able to unfetter that burden in the hearts of your people tonight, and that we will walk away from this conference clearly convinced of what you've taught us tonight.
[2:57] For this I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Our son John is 24, and it was about, he was about four or five years old, and we were in Alabama at Kim's Families for Christmas.
[3:11] And as we had gone there for Christmas, we were there, and you know, we have a life on the road, so at that point, I don't even think we, when we first started, we didn't even have a home. We had a trailer that we lived in.
[3:23] We pulled a trailer, and a fifth wheel trailer as well. But there was one of those Christmases where we had given John a gift. I don't even remember what the gift was. I've asked him since, and he said he doesn't even remember what the gift was.
[3:36] But it's what took place with the gift that I want to reference something about it tonight. So we gave him this gift, and it was all wrapped up, and all of these things, and he got his gift, and it was time for him to open it.
[3:49] And so he's got the wrapping paper, and he's got his hands, and I think it was even the Christmas that he burnt his hand, if I remember right, because there was one Christmas, we have pictures, he's got this little paw, so pathetic, wrapped up, bandaged thing, but he went to open the present, and as he opened this present, he pulled the paper back, and as he pulled the paper back, with every tear of the paper, his eyes got larger.
[4:15] And then he started breathing in all the air around him, so it was one of these, and he froze in time for just that moment, and his eyes were open, and his mouth was open, and he's just, and then what happened next is what blew us away.
[4:32] He went, put the paper back down, and did it again, and put it back down, and did it again, the same piece of paper.
[4:42] You want that picture, don't you? You blew it on the other, but we're going to get this one. You ready? And he did it again. It's all good.
[4:53] Ed, where are you? Let's get this done with, no. So, we're stunned, and I think, John, what are you doing? All he keeps tearing the paper, and opening his eyes, and he said, just stop.
[5:05] Open the rest of the box. But there's something about that moment, when you open stuff. It's a new opportunity. Maybe it's some new options for you.
[5:16] Maybe it's something where you look at that, and say, you know, that's a new obligation for me. You look at it, and you say, I don't know, this is something exciting, and inviting. And for John that day, you know what?
[5:28] At that point, we should have just started giving him boxes with wrapping paper, and nothing in it, because that apparently was a lot more amusing. But in that moment, when I saw his face, and I caught his eyes, and I realized, he was genuinely excited, about opening something.
[5:44] Well, it wasn't until years, I'm talking years later, I was reading in my devotions, and I came across this verse. And it flashed back to that scene in my mind. John opened stuff, and he got excited.
[5:58] But in this verse that we read tonight, it said, God opened something. And then I started to think, of all the places in Scripture, that God was involved in opening things, and it's more than just in this verse.
[6:14] when Hagar was thirsty, God opened a well. When there were ladies who wanted to have children, God opened wombs.
[6:25] When the children of Israel needed protection, God opened the eyes of the servant, of the prophet, and showed them, I can open things. And every time, God opens something.
[6:37] New options, new opportunities, and sometimes even new obligations. And as I was putting all this together, for me, it was just research. It wasn't anything. I got to the New Testament.
[6:49] And just before the New Testament, and in the New Testament, it was a game changer. For no longer was God opening physical things, but we opened up some other things.
[7:00] And then I looked at them, and I said, they're connected. You see, at this moment in church history, where we just read, this growing, living organism that Christ started, missionaries are being launched out.
[7:16] And they're seeking God's will. They're in a place, and Paul is there with his ministry team, and he's seeking God. Do we go here? And it seems so unusual to see how the Word of God lays it out.
[7:29] The Spirit of God forbade them. He stopped them from going. And you're thinking, well, we're after Gospel expansion here. We're not after hindering, and at that, God hindering them from going.
[7:44] We're thinking, no, there's no place that you can shoot the Gospel gun that would be wrong. But there was a right time, and a right place, that God had for these men. And there was nothing wrong with them traveling east to bring the Gospel.
[7:57] There was nothing wrong with them traveling north to get the Gospel. There was nothing wrong with them returning back south with the Gospel. But in this case, God is saying, I'm going to hem you up until you get to where I want you to be.
[8:11] So you can imagine the frustration on the ministry team. Paul said, okay, we're pushing north. North. Nope, God stopped us. Okay, we're going to push east.
[8:23] Alright, let's go east. God stopped us. You can imagine the guys on the team thinking, is he ever going to get it right? This, I got confidence in this guy, but ever since, the parting of ways between him and Barnabas, and now look where we are, we don't even know where we're going.
[8:40] And I'm sure the brethren had many things to say, Paul can't get it right now. Something's missing here. But all the while, God was saying, I have something that I am doing, and I am trying to mobilize you to the right place at the right time.
[8:55] Paul went to bed that night. He had a dream. And this wasn't a too much dominoes before bedtime dream. Those are different. This is a dream from God.
[9:07] Now don't start with, I had a dream from God, and now I'm going to... We have the word of God, and His Spirit bears witness in our hearts, so we don't go by dreams. I dreamt I was a millionaire, so I'm going to have...
[9:20] No. Keep dreaming. But God said, I want you to see something. And so in this dream, a man from Macedonia appears before Paul. And you say, well, what is the significance of this?
[9:33] Had they pushed east, north, or south, it would have affected us being here tonight. You say, I don't get that. How could that affect us in Georgia when they're in the Middle East?
[9:46] Well, this turn that they're going to make is going to cross the barrier into Macedonia, where what we would now call modern-day Europe, the advancement of the gospel in the Western cultures will now be affected by the advancement that Paul is making into Macedonia.
[10:03] He crosses that threshold, and then as in Paul's ministry, three things happen, penetration, saturation, and expansion. Those things will take place. And now Paul will make that advancement, so God gets His man to the right place, at the right time, to do the right work, so the continuity of the work of God continues.
[10:26] So I say to you tonight, there are three things that God opens in the context of missions to which I'd like to draw your attention. The first one comes, here in this passage of Scripture, here in Acts chapter 16.
[10:39] Notice what the Word of God says. They were, verse 9, Paul has his vision. In verse 10, they immediately head toward there. Verse 12 says, they end up in Philippi, which was the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony.
[10:54] They were there. It was time for the Sabbath day to be, and they pushed out of town to go have prayer. And it is there and then, not that God's men met the man in the dream, but it was there in that place that God said, this is the purpose for which I've governed you.
[11:12] This is the reason that I hindered you. This is the reason why I didn't let you go there because you had to be in this place at this moment because when people pray, God opens hearts.
[11:24] Don't ever forget that. We can rejoice, and we must rejoice, over this wonderful faith promise commitment offering that was given, and the rest is it comes in, and we'll rejoice over all these things.
[11:35] But remember, when it comes down to this, it is not the tally of the money, but it is the penetration of the gospel that we're making around the world because as we pray, God opens hearts.
[11:50] He said, we got there, and there was this lady that was there, and we found out God had opened her heart. And all those nights of frustration and praying and saying, God, is it north?
[12:02] Is it east? Is it south? Where is it? And God says, it's none of those places. Go west. Ooh, that sounded like a good thought. Go west, young man. Never mind. But he's, I need to take my medication even on Sundays, I can tell.
[12:15] And he said, go get to the west. Go to Macedonia. Well, what will happen? The gospel will penetrate Europe. It will spread across Europe. Even Paul, when he'll write in Romans chapter 15, he'll speak of trying to get to Spain, the furthest most region of western Europe, as we call it now.
[12:32] And then what will happen? Oh, and the gospel will leave England's shores. The gospel will make its way to America, which has a direct bearing on us having the gospel here tonight.
[12:44] I tell you, we must pray. And we'll watch God open's hearts when you look at prayer letters and you'll see missionaries and they'll write, they'll say, pray that God will open hearts.
[12:55] Pray that hearts will be opened. It is a spiritual thing. God does open hearts and he does so when we pray. There's a second thing God opens in the context of missions.
[13:07] Go back a page, if you would, or two, to chapter number 14. And I want you to look with me, if you would please, in verse number 27, Acts chapter 14. Now they're finishing up this first missionary journey and the Bible says they're on their way home, 23, when they had ordained them elders in every church and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they believed.
[13:30] After they had passed throughout Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Italia and thence they sailed to Antioch.
[13:41] Watch these words. From whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. You're a great missions-minded church. You probably already know this, but this is the model that we try to follow in missions today.
[13:54] Their churches send you out and then you come back and you report and share with them what God has done and the work that He's done. But notice what happens in this next phrase. We see the second thing that God opens in the context of missions.
[14:08] Number one, He opens hearts when we pray. Number two, 27, and when they were come, they gathered the church together. They rehearsed all that God had done with them and how He, referring back to God, had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.
[14:25] Stay with me in this same thought. Go to 2 Corinthians 2 and verse number 12. And I know this is a call, this is a turn, click, or swipe church. So, turn, click, or swipe over to 2 Corinthians chapter number 2 and look at verse number 12 with me.
[14:41] 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 12, Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, a door was opened unto me of the Lord.
[14:52] Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 16 verse 9, just back two pages or so. 1 Corinthians chapter 16 verse 9, Paul says he's going to tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. Why?
[15:02] For a great door and effectual is opened unto me and there are many adversaries. So the second thing I want you to see in the context of missions, the things that God opens is this, He'll open hearts when we pray, He'll open doors when we go.
[15:20] I fly to a lot of my meetings. There's these certain doors at the Charlotte airport. I like to time my steps just to hit just right because, I know, this is a very simple thing.
[15:33] This lets you into my world. It's a very simple place. There are two colors. It's black and white and things are just normal there. Everything else in life is a little confusing but in this happy place, this is how it works.
[15:45] My game is this, to walk up to the door at the exact stride that my entire body fits, don't laugh, that my entire body fits without breaking my stride to get through this certain set of doors, door B at Charlotte.
[16:00] So I love to take that stride and get it just right. There are some times I've practiced and I've missed. There are other times and people just look like, what in the world is this guy doing? For me, it's just that simple thing.
[16:12] But I've learned this, if I don't move, the door doesn't open. Let that hit you. When do we go? Say, now Brother O'Malley, I'm not one of these personal soul winner peoples, but if anybody ever comes to my door and knocks on my door and says to me, can you tell me how I can know for sure I'm going to heaven when I die?
[16:30] I'll tell them. But I'm not leaving the house. No, when we go, God opens those doors. When we make those advancements. Paul could have sat back there and strategized with a map and said, boy, if we did this over here, we'd cover that.
[16:46] If we did this over here, no, there was advancements that were made in the cause of the gospel and when those advancements were made, doors open. In this passage, he said, doors open, but boy, the boogeyman was, did I just say the boogeyman in church?
[17:02] The boogeyman was on the other side of that door. There are many adversaries, the Bible said. You say, well, I thought if God opened the doors, it was all supposed to be peace and love and happiness.
[17:13] Hey, Satan doesn't want you in his territory. Satan doesn't want you making advances, but when God's people go, great things happen and God says, you think that door's closed? Take a step.
[17:25] Go ahead. I was going to say make my day, but I won't say that. Take a step. Walk through that door and watch me open these doors. That's God. God opens stuff.
[17:36] Well, I started looking and I thought, well, what else did God open? Go back with me to Malachi 3. The third thing that I see that God opens in the context of his economy.
[17:47] Look at Malachi 3 with me for just a moment. Now, I'm looking for Malachi. I allegedly am supposed to know where it is. In case you're looking, go to Matthew and then go back like a couple pages and it should be there.
[17:59] Malachi 3, verse number 8. The Bible reads, Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
[18:10] You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in mine house. And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
[18:31] The third thing I see, God opens hearts when we pray, He opens doors when we go, and He opens windows when we give. Alright? Where's Brother Trent? I didn't mean to wake you up.
[18:42] Sorry. How big is God? Let Him come up with the word like first. Don't help Him out, Brother Jeff, but I'm coming to you. Come on, college boy. Let's hear it. How big is God?
[18:54] Immeasurable. Okay? How big is that? Like really big, man. He's just like huge. Is God bigger than this room? Brother Jeff, help your brother out.
[19:04] Of course. How big is God? Very big. Hugier than huge. Okay? God is large. How big would a house have to be to contain God, Brother Trent?
[19:16] Brother Jeff? Ed? How big? My man. Help, help a brother out. Here's the question. How big, if God is like super huge, how big would a house have to be to hold God?
[19:32] As big as space. Way better than your answer. Way, way better than this anemic whatever something, something that you tried to pull off. God is huge, but yet He dwells inside of us.
[19:47] Please, that hurts my mind to think about, but He does. You say, well, why are you talking about that? All right, coming back to my brother here. Because there is no help over there. How big, in God's house, would the windows be?
[20:04] Like, sure! Absolutely! So if God has a house, because you're just not going to have these, what, window things that hang there, it's going to be in a house, in my Father's house, our many mansions were to God.
[20:18] We know that, John 14. Now Malachi writes, and he speaks of what God's rhetorical conversation with Israel is, and he said, prove me now herewith, if I will not open the windows of heaven.
[20:32] How do we get the windows of heaven open? Ed? Oh, my brother. God can open everything, and how does He open them? When we, when we, thank you!
[20:48] When we give, when we pray, no, when we go, no, when we give, read, oh, your Bible's not even open, no wonder. When we give, God opens the windows of heaven.
[21:05] Can you imagine the scene in heaven, when God saw the giving that was going on in this place, and the commitments to give? Boys, open up the windows, over Vision Baptist Church!
[21:16] they're proving me now! They're proving me now! And I will open up these windows of heaven! Up with the windows, boys! And the windows go up, and all of a sudden, God's chucking out blessings, and chucking out blessings.
[21:28] Why? Because He said, when I give, He'll open the windows of heaven. Work with me now. Now, we want to live, with the windows of heaven open, and yet, we're not willing to do all the giving we should.
[21:41] I think we need to get our hearts adjusted here, and to say, may we always, be amongst the mindset that says, I'm not giving for God's, just to say, oh, I got God's blessing, this is awesome, but rather to say, I'm giving out of obedience, and love to Christ, and when I give, the windows of heaven open, over my house.
[22:03] You say, oh, I sure wished I could see the windows of heaven open. You can. How do you do it, Ed? By giving! Good save. Bible's still not open, but good save. So when I look at this, I want you to see three things tonight.
[22:17] When I pray, God will open hearts. Never underestimate, the power of prayer. When I go, God will open doors. Never underestimate, the power of going.
[22:28] And when I give, never underestimate, the power of heaven, to be able to open, the windows of heaven, and see God do a wonderful, and great thing. You're part of a church, that is committed to these things, of praying, and going, and giving.
[22:42] And as part of that kind of congregation, it is our duty, to make sure that we stay faithful, to these things. This message was recorded, at Vision Baptist Church, in Alfred, Georgia.
[22:53] For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com, where you can find, our service times, location, contact information, and more audio, and video recordings.