Standing in the Doorway

I want you to find Revelation chapter 3, that's your last book in the New Testament. And once you've found that, find 2 Kings chapter 4 in the Old Testament. And then once you've found those two, find Romans chapter 9 to save time, because I want you to be able to see the words we're going to be reading. Revelation chapter 3, 2 Kings chapter 4, Romans chapter 9. Now, Father, I thank you, God, with all my heart today. I thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for your presence. I thank you, God, that you are speaking to us. If our hearts are open to hear you, wherever you are, there's the creation of life. You create things in us that are not there, but by your spoken word. Father, I thank you that you'll give me the ability to speak this word today and you'll give us the ability to hear it. Lord, I bless you for this. I bless you for the quickening of your Holy Spirit and the strength you give to those who serve you and live for you. It is a supernatural strength. It's divine. It doesn't come from our energy. It's your life within us. Help me today to stand in that life. Help us to hear in Jesus' name. The message is called, Standing in the Doorway, Revelation chapter 3, beginning at verse 7, standing in the doorway. And unto the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, these things says he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, he that opens and no man shuts and shuts and no man opens. I know your works. Behold, I've set before you an open door and no man can shut it. For you have a little strength and have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I'll make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you. Because you've kept the word of my patience, I will also keep you from the hour of temptation that shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly. Hold fast that which you have, that no man take your crown. He that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he will go no more out and I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God. And I will write upon him my new name. He that has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Revelation chapter three, verses seven and eight. Jesus Christ is speaking these words to his beloved friend, John. John is now probably in his eighties, perhaps even his late eighties. He's in a prison basically because of the testimony of Jesus Christ. Christ himself chose to appear to John. And in this prison place, he gave him these letters to write to the churches that had been formed throughout part of the world at that time. And he declares himself to John to be someone who is holy and true. In other words, my words can be trusted. I'm not like other people. God says the things that I speak, they're truth. They're holy. In other words, they can dwell in the presence of God because they come from God. There's no, there's no variableness. The scripture calls it in the King James Bible. In other words, no crookedness in God's speech. There's no fine print. The way he says it is what he means. He said, I have the key of David. In other words, I hold the keys of complete victory in my hand. I have the power to open doors and the power to close doors. I have the power to create that which you can't access in your own strength. And what I open, nobody can shut it. And what I shut, nobody can open it. Now, these words you would think are coming to somebody who's strong, the powerful, the influential, the rich. But actually, the message that he gives to John for this particular church is for people who don't have much strength. He says, I know your works. I'm fully aware of who you are sitting in Times Square Church this morning. May I paraphrase? I know everything you do. I see that you only have a little strength. When you pray, it's a constant part of your prayer. God, I'm not strong. God, I don't know how to do this. Lord, I don't know how I'm going to get through this. I don't know how I'm ever going to change in this area of my life. I don't know how my home will ever look like what I feel it should. I don't know how my marriage will ever find the wholesomeness that I know you can bring into it. And God, I feel you calling me to do something that's so far beyond me. And he says, I know. I know all of this about you. And I know you only have a little strength. And you've kept my word, though. In other words, you've not written off anything that I've spoken here as false. You've kept it. And you've not denied my name. You may not be a partaker of everything you've read, but you've not denied that I am who I said I am, and that I can do what I say that I can do. And he says, now I'm going to open the door before you that nobody can close. And I'm going to close another door that nobody can open. Now, the best way to understand this is go back now to 2 Kings chapter 4. And there was a couple. This portion of scripture talks about a woman of wealth. She was a woman from Shunem. And she and her husband, they had a prophet called Elisha that was constantly passing by their house. And, of course, this is how God spoke to those generations. He would have selected vessels that he would put his Holy Spirit upon, and these men or women would speak for God to their generation. And they were great prophets, and Elisha was one of those. His predecessor was taken up in a flaming chariot right before his eyes. He picked up the office that that man Elisha had, and he was walking in that office. And so he's passing by them. And typically, in the mouth of a prophet in the Old Testament is the power to do the miraculous. And so she and her husband were inviting him in to eat bread. And it speaks about you and I, that we love fellowship with God. We do know that the worlds were created by the power of his speech. We know these things. And we do come to church because we want fellowship with God. I know you do. I do. It's wonderful to be in the presence of God. It's wonderful to hear his words. And so I can see this couple there. He's sitting at their table. He's eating bread, and he's speaking of things which are wondrous, really, because Elisha did marvelous. God did marvelous miracles through this man. And she said to her husband, verse 9 of chapter 4 in 2 Kings, Behold, I perceive this as a holy man of God, which passes by us continually. And in other words, she felt, even though they were eating bread, she said, there's something about the speech of this man. I hear something. I don't fully get it, but I hear something in this man's speech. It stirs my heart. And she said to her husband, let's make a little bedroom, basically, a little chamber on the wall, and let us put a bed there, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick. And it will be that when he comes to us that he can come and turn in there and maybe spend the night there. And these are people who enjoyed. They recognized the fellowship. And they must have felt, though, that the presence of God, he said, he passes by us continually. That it is true, but it seems to pass us by. Do you ever find that happening in your life? That you come here and you get so stirred by, hopefully you do, I mean, hopefully. I mean, if you don't get stirred Sunday morning, try 3 o'clock. Maybe you get stirred at 3 o'clock. But you hear something. And you hear a Sunday night saying, if anyone be in Christ, he's a new creation. And you know it's true. You know it. But there's only like a little place in your heart for this truth. You've made a little room with a little bed, little stool, little table, little candle. And you want to hear the words, but the words are passing you by constantly. They're spoken, but they just keep on going. And you love it. You do. You love the words of God, but you have such little strength. And you wonder, how are these words ever going to become part of my life? And one day, Elisha is in her house. And he says to his servant, call her and ask her what we can do for her. You know, there are moments in life where God speaks directly to you. And he speaks, says, what would you like me to do for you? And you know, many times we draw back and say, oh, do I dare ask? No, I can't. Because I can't run the risk of opening that wound in my life again. I can't run the risk of believing for that area again. I used to, but it's gone. I don't want to talk about this. I don't want this to come to the fore. I've more or less made peace with it. And I really don't want to discuss this. I somehow believe the words of God are true, but not for me in this area of my life. And the servant of Elisha said, what can we do for you? Can we talk to the king? Can we speak to the king on your behalf? Or can we talk to the captain of the host? Now, these are incredible things. Would you have us ask the king of the nation to do something for you? Or would you have us go to the one who leads the armies of Israel, in a sense, and have, do you need power? Do you need position? What is it that you want? What is it that we can do? And in other words, they're starting right at the top. We'll do something for you. And she said to him, I dwell among my own people. In other words, it is what it is. You look at another translation that says, my family have been good to me. Thank you very much. I've made peace with my situation. I've found a measure of comfort, even in my sorrow. She had created her own comfort, in a sense. And there's a wound in my life. Basically, when you go on, you find out. And I really don't want to talk about it. I don't want to take a chance on believing God that there can be this kind of a miracle come into my life. And so her voice says, it's fine the way it is, basically, is what she's saying. But then there's another voice in verse 14. And the servant of Elisha tells Elisha, says she is old and she has no child. Her husband is old, actually, and she has no child. And you see, this was the deepest ache. And she didn't really want to bring this to the surface. I don't want to believe for this. I know this is the word of God. And I know the word of God has passed me by. It passed me by years ago. And I don't want to take a chance on believing for this situation. And you and I find ourselves in a similar place sometimes. That God wants to speak, but we put away what he wants to speak about. It is what it is. Can we move on from there? You know, can we pray about something else? Can you give me a word that's something more tangible? Can you give me a word that maybe, you know, I can have a part in fulfilling it? But don't talk about this thing in my life. Don't talk about speaking to the king on my behalf, or speaking to the one who has power to make a difference in my situation. Don't talk to me about this. In Romans chapter 9, in the New Testament, please. Well, it's actually Romans chapter 8. I want you to think about this other voice. This is the servant of Elisha. I'm talking about the servant of Elisha as another voice. Elisha would represent what God can do. The power that's in the voice of God. And the woman is standing there before this other servant saying, no, please, it is what it is. My family have been good to me. Thank you very much. But there's another voice. And this voice overrides our own excuses and our own fears and our frailties. In verse 26 of Romans chapter 8, it says, likewise, the spirit, that's that other voice of God, the Holy Spirit lives inside of those who belong to Jesus Christ, helps our weaknesses, our infirmities. For we don't know what we should pray for as we should. That's amazing. I mean, I'm paraphrasing a little bit because I'm reading from King James. In other words, we don't know what to pray for really. That's what it really says. There's something, there's things we ought to pray for, but we don't know how. We don't even know what we should be asking for. But the spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. There is a voice inside of you that is constantly leading you and I to something deeper, something fuller, something farther. And he, verse 27, that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit. Because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. You have another inside of you praying. If you receive Christ, the Holy Spirit of God lives inside of you. And the Holy Spirit of God is yearning to bring your life and mine in line with something that God has for us because he's a God of the miraculous. He's a God that can open doors and nobody can close them. He's a God that can close doors and nobody can open them. Thank God. And he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God, according to the place that God chose to set you and I in the body of Christ. He has a specific purpose for you and for me in the body of Christ. And very often that purpose is beyond our natural ability. Thank God it is or we would touch all the glory. We'd take all the praise and we'd be telling everybody else how to do it. No, no. Very often the true. You see, how else is God glorified, but that he takes us in our frailty and opens the door before us and brings us into something of himself where our testimony is simply, I could never have done this in my own strength. Only God could have done this. God gave me the abilities I have. God gave me the power to love. God gave me the ability to speak. God gave me spiritual authority to stand against darkness in myself. I'm nothing, but he opened the door before me and I went through it by the grace of God and the testimony that God gives to those who belong to Christ is that God took me into the miraculous. He took me out of the natural and brought me into the supernatural. You imagine 120 people coming out of the upper room in Acts chapter two and they're speaking languages they'd never learned. They're communicating the gospel to people of other cultures. And it's an obvious thing that men and women would be standing there and the very demonstration of what they were doing would be, would lead credibility to this thought. I'm doing something that only God could have made me to do. I'm communicating great truths about God in your language. And these are, this is something I've never learned, but I've been given the ability to do this. And we know verse 28 that all things work together for good to those who love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. All things work together. All things are leading you and I to a place where we will be able to be used of God to bring glory to his name, because we're called according to not our purpose, but his purpose. You and I have a purpose. You have to know that today. It's not necessarily what you think it is. For whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. God knew that those who would receive Christ as savior, we would become partakers of the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, brought him out of the impossible and into the possible, out of death and into life, out of powerlessness and into all power. And God knew he understood this. This is the mark of the true believer in Jesus Christ. We are not to be a natural people, people in a sense that just are governed by our own thinking, our own strategies and our own abilities. We are to be a supernatural people. That's what the church of Jesus Christ is supposed to be. And Paul goes on and the rest of this chapter talks about the love of God. And Paul knew this was grounded in love. God doesn't do it because he feels obligated to make us a living testimony. He does it because he loves us. That's why Paul says in verse 38 and 39, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Not our own frailties, our own struggles, every thought of hell that comes against us and say, man, you're out of your mind. You've lost it. You really think God's going to use your life? You really think you're going to stand and speak before people? Do you really think you're going to ever amount any more than you are or people have told you you are or going to be? No, if God doesn't open the door that most likely you and I won't. But the good news is that he opens the door that no man can open. And he closes behind us a door that can't be opened again. He shuts doors that can't be opened. That means our enemies can't pursue us. He leads us into a newness of life. He does things that we ought to have a song that's just bursting out of us like a spring that wells up from within. Say, God, it has been awesome what you've done this week. It's been awesome what you've done last month. And yeah, I might be in the valley of the shadow of death at the moment, but I'm going to come through this thing and your goodness and mercy are going to follow me all the days of my life. And so now this inner voice that's standing before Elisha in 2nd Kings says, call her, call her to me. And it says, when he had called her in 2nd Kings 4.15, she stood in the door. This message is called standing in the doorway. Call her. So she stood up and she stood in the door. She didn't come in. She stood in the doorway. She's got a choice. Now she can go forward to what she's about to hear. I'll go backwards to what she's leaving behind. She's about to be given a promise of God. And she has a choice. Do I go through the door? Do I believe this promise or do I back up and settle into my? It is what it is family situation. Or am I going to believe God? Am I going to go through this door? And am I going to, am I going to believe him? And so she stood in the, in the door, verse 15 and verse 16. He said, that's Elisha about this season. According to the time of life, you will embrace a son. Amazing. In other words, I'm going to speak something. I'm speaking it now. And if you can hear it, it's going to produce new life in you. As a matter of fact, it's going to be a miracle. Your testimony is going to be. My husband was too old and I'm barren. The time had passed. I made peace with failure the way I saw it. But God spoke to me and gave me a choice. You can stand in the door or you can, you can go in or you can back out. But God said, but in the season, it takes not going to happen in a day. In this case, it's going to take nine months, but you're going to have a son. There's you're going to embrace a son. And might I say it this way? I believe with all my heart that in this church and in many others. We're living in the last days and there's going to be a sudden embracing of the son of God. Come into your heart, an explosion of faith in your heart and mind say, God Almighty, I'm not standing in the doorway any longer, but I'm going to embrace what the son bought for me. I'm going to embrace what he won on that cross. I'm going to embrace the victory. When he came out of the grave, he said he blotted out my list of sins the devil had against me. He told me he gave me power to step on all the works of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt me. He told me he would take me and change me from image to image and glory to glory. Even as by the spirit of God. And so I'm going to embrace the son. I'm going to embrace this. I'm not going to reject it. I'm not going to put it away. In other words, may I say it this way? The word of God is not passing me by any longer. I'm not, I'm not letting, I'm not letting this word that goes by my house every day. Pass me by any longer. And I'm not just going to make a little room in my heart for church and for the word of God. No, sir. My whole house is now open to the word of God, my whole temple. And if you say I'm going to have a son that I'm going to get it, I've got to go down to babies or us and I got to get a crib and I got to get a mattress and I got to get sheets and I got to get diapers and I got to get pins because I'm going to have a son. Can you imagine this woman? When she's preparing, she's first prepares a room for the word of God. Then she starts preparing a room for a baby. And people must, people would have said, man, oh man, she's lost her mind. This guy, Elisha is really getting through to her. But God is a God of the miraculous. God, I remember when I, when I left my secular employment back when I was, I was 33 years age when I left. And I remember people shaking their heads, literally shaking their heads. A poor guy. We had such hope for him. He was rising up so fast in his career and he's leaving it to pastor this little group of people meeting in a hotel in this small, little out of the way, nowhere town. What is he thinking? And the only thing I can tell people, I hear something. I hear God calling me. I don't fully understand what it means, but I know I feel a compelling to go through the door that God has set before me. And I would rather die believing God than live in unbelief on the wrong side of the door. Revelation three verse eight. He says, I know your works. Behold, I've set before you an open door that no man can shut for you have a little strength. You've kept my word and not denied my name. Behold, I'll make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. I'll make them to come and worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you. In other words, God says, I'm going to do something so marvelous in you that people are going to leave their empty religious places and come and worship God, where you are. People are going to walk away from bankrupt religion. They're going to walk away from that, which is just an imitation of God, but there's no power in it. They're going to walk away from it. They're going to start coming down the road. I see the prodigal daughters and sons are coming home in this generation. Many are coming home. They've been drawn into houses of powerlessness. They've been captivated by arguments that offer no life. But suddenly God says, I'm going to do something so profoundly powerful in a weak people who know they don't have much strength. And the only thing is that they have never denied the word of God has power to create. And they've never denied the name of Jesus as their Lord and savior. I'm coming to these people, a people of little power and little strength. And I'm going to do in you what only can be done by God. And not only is it going to set you free, it's going to set a lot of other people around you free. They're going to leave these other houses, going to leave these places of captivity that are powerless. And they're going to come and worship where you are. Oh, thank God for that. With all my heart, thank God for this generation. And he said, they're going to know that I have loved you. You see the essence of the testimony that I'm speaking about today is that it's built on the foundation of the love of God. I know I'm loved of God. I know that I'm safe in the hands of God. I know that if he's opened the door, he's not going to bring me to disgrace and shame. I know that if I put my confidence in him, if he's spoken directly to my heart, that he's not going to cast away. He's not going to cast me away so that I lose my confidence in his spoken word. And I'm going to believe God for the impossible because he loves me. I know that he loves me. Because you kept the word of my patience, verse 10, I'll keep you from the hour of temptation that shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. He says to this particular church, and it has application today also to you and I, I will keep you from the despair that's going to sweep over the whole world. Jesus in Luke 21, 26 talked about a season where men's hearts would begin to fail because of the difficulties that are coming upon this world as we know it. Matthew chapter 24, verse 12, Jesus said, sin is going to reach such a proportion that the love of many people will grow cold. The love of life, the love of people, the love of country, the love of future, the love of the love of God. Everything will begin to grow cold because sin will become so rampant in society. But he said to these people, I'll keep you. I'll keep you from the despair. Now, how's he going to do that? He says, I'm going to make you a pillar in the temple of God. In other words, I'll make you an example of strength, a strength that stands when everything else fails. You will have a confidence in God that is so much beyond anything could be produced even by human exuberance. You'll begin to know the sovereign power of God, and you're going to come into something of God that makes you a pillar when everyone else is running in and running out. They're running in looking for help, and they're running out trying to come up with their own solution. He says, no, I'm going to make you a pillar in the temple of my God, and you will go no more out. No more. In other words, I'm going to bring you into something of life, and I'm going to close the door behind you. And you will have no desire whatsoever to return to what you used to be. It will have lost its hold. It will lose its appeal. You will know it's bankrupt. You will know it's empty. I've set before you an open door. I open the door, you go through, and I close it behind you. You can't go back. And he says, I'm going to make you a pillar in the temple of God, and you will no more go out. You won't be this type of person that comes in for just a little bit of encouragement on Sunday and goes back out to weakness and defeat and despair and everything else that this life offers and discouragement. No, I'm going to bring you into something. Yeah, of course, you got to go home, but you're not going to leave God here. God's going to go with you because He's inside of you. And you will be in church 24-7. You'll be in church. You'll be able to worship God, able to trust Him for strength, able to believe. Your testimony will be morning by morning new mercies I see. Oh, yes, mountains may be falling on my left and floods may be coming on my right, but my heart is fixed. I trust in the living God. I trust in His power and in His word. And He says, I'm going to write upon you the name of my God. In other words, I will set you visibly apart as belonging to me. I'm going to write my name on you. God is going to write it. You're not going to write it. You're not going to have to tell many people you're a Christian. They're going to know and say, hey, you're a Christian, aren't you? I see something. I see something in you. Thank God. Thank God. I will set you visibly apart as belonging to me. And He says, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven, from my God. In other words, I will give you a countenance of hope and of one who has a certain future. You will see something coming. When everybody else sees disaster, they see wars, they see culture and country rising against country. They see global conflict perhaps arising again. It begins to cause their hearts to fear. They see lunatics having access to nuclear weaponry and weapons of mass destruction. They see this incivility coming into society that's causing them to be perplexed. But it says, I'm going to give you, when hopelessness is surrounding this world, I'm going to give you a countenance of hope. You're going to see something that people who are outside of the true power of God can't see. You're going to have an understanding that you have a future. You have a destiny. It's not just in time, but it's for eternity. And you're going to see a city coming down with the name of God on it, out of heaven. And also, he says, I'm going to write upon you or him my new name. Praise God. You will be called and even call yourself another name than the one which you presently are called by. This is what God does. He did it with Peter. He said, this is what you're called, but this is what you will be. God says, I'm going to give you a new name, a new name. You're going to be called and you're going to call yourself something different than what you call yourself today. I thank God for that with all my heart. An example of strength, visibly set apart, a countenance of hope and joy and a certain future and a new name given you by God. Behold, I set before you an open door and no man can shut it. Nobody that ever told you you were a loser, that ever told you you weren't going to mount anything, no teacher, no professor, no instructor, no mother, no father, no neighbor, no enemy. It doesn't matter what anybody said about you. Jesus said, I have the key to your life. I have the key to your future. Nobody else has it. Nobody else can hold that right. I hold that right since you gave your life to me and the door I opened for you, nobody can shut it. And once you pass through it, I'm going to shut it behind you. You can't go back and you're not going to want to go back. I've set before you an open door. I haven't called you because you're strong. I know you're weak, but you have kept the little bit of truth that you know. You've done your best to walk as an honest person before God and you have not denied the name of Jesus Christ. I've set before you an open door. Now think of this Shunammite woman when Elisha called her in and she stood in the doorway. That's where many people are today. They stand in the doorway. Israel at one time went to the shores of an incredible promised land and they stood in the doorway and they made a tragic mistake. They chose to believe that their own weakness could have the power to keep them out of what God promised. And so being in the doorway of an incredible life and place, they backed away and they chose a place of dryness and hopelessness. And that's what happened for the next 40 years. This Shunammite woman stood in the doorway and she's been given a promise that came through a servant, but from the mouth of God that she was going to, in the season, it would take a season. It's not a snap of the fingers, but it would take a season. But in its appropriate time, she would embrace a son. I think if the tragedy that could have been in her life had she chosen to back out of the room and say, no, sir, not me. And even when the devil came later on and tried to take that son away, he couldn't take it away because God had opened the door that no one can close. She knew that. And so my question to you this morning is what is to be done for you? Now, immediately I see heads bowing. And I know what that means when I see that body is called body language. I say, what is to be done for you? And many hear your immediate response is, oh, no, not me. Why not you? Why not? Give me one valid reason why not you? You look through this text of history. Whenever he wanted to raise a profit, he searched for a barren woman. Never chose the strong in themselves or the influential or the wealthy. When he wanted to do a miracle, he always looked for the least likely person through whom he could do it. Wanted to deliver Israel from an encroaching nation that would take away all of their prosperity and their produce. And so he goes to the smallest tribe, to the smallest house, to the smallest man, to the smallest man's son. And says, I've come to you, mighty man of resources. Amazing. Wanted to deliver Israel out of bondage, out of hundreds of years of bondage. And so he searches the countryside and finds an 80-year-old man just tending sheep. Says, ah, that's exactly what I need. To confront the mightiest army on the face of the earth at that time. Why not you? Why not? What is to be done for you? I can't answer that, but there is an inner cry that you pushed away. There is an area of your life where you've just made peace with weakness, failure, hopelessness. And you don't want anybody digging it up. But the Lord says to you today, what's to be done for you? Well, you don't understand. I was called to preach the gospel in my 20s. And I kind of put it out of my thinking. And now I'm 60 years old and 59. And it's passed me by. Who said that? Who told you that? That it's passed you by? God can do more in five years through a vessel surrendered in his hand than 500 years in people walking in the flesh. As long as I breathe, nothing has passed me by. Nothing has passed you by. So I'm not willing to let the word pass me by. See, this is the choice you're going to have to make today. Are you going to open your heart? You're going to go through the door or let the word pass by one more time. And say, well, that was, wow, that was great, but not for me. What is to be done for you? And so I'm going to give an altar call today. And there's something inside that God has spoken. I don't have to speak it to you already know. And the altar call for this morning is just simply, are you willing to believe God? Are you willing to get up and go through the door? And that's what this altar here in the annex in front of the screens and in North Jersey and at home. I would, I would like for those that God's speaking to, to have a forward motion today. That means I'm going to go, I'm going to symbolically go through the door and I'm going to trust God to close it behind me so that I'm not, I won't be tempted to go back into unbelief, but I'm going to go through the door and I'm going to embrace his son. It might take nine months, but I'm going to embrace his son. And I don't care how long it takes, but that which God speaks is going to become my life. And it's going to become my strength. Some people need to walk through the door to salvation because you really don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You don't understand yet that he died on a cross to pay the price for your sin and to give you an opportunity to know him in a very personal way and to have an assurance that when you die, heaven will be your home. And that's the door you need to go through today. You need to walk through that door of a living relationship with God and say these words, Jesus, I don't fully understand it all, but I do give you my life today. And I ask you to help me to understand what that means. And I ask you to forgive the wrong I've done and bring me into this life I've heard about this morning, this miraculous life of God. Teach me what that is and guide me into that. And all you have to do is have that cry in your heart and get up and go through that door. What is to be done for thee? Please don't make the mistake that this woman almost made when she said, well, it is what it is. My family have been very good to me. I've found comfort in a place that is short of what God has for my life. No, have the courage to get up. When I was a young Christian, I had a really bad temper. And it followed me into the kingdom of God. You know, old things pass away, but it takes a while for some old things to pass away. And I was struggling with being a good husband and being a good father and just a lot of stuff going on inside, a lot of stuff. I was told one time in university, I just wanted to be a dorm greeter, you know, so that when people come into residence, you just say, hi, how are you doing? Put your suitcase over here kind of thing. I took a course and failed it. I mean, how smart do you have to be to do stuff like that? You know, I was told that I wasn't leadership material. So here I am today. Some people, to be honest, some people still hold to that viewpoint, but they're entitled to it. But I remember being in a service and I felt God drawing me to something. And as far as I was concerned, like I was reading the Bible and there's a little kid that had five loaves and three fishes and fed 10,000 people, but he at least had loaves and fishes. I didn't feel like I had anything. I was afraid to speak in public. I was still fighting with a bad temper. I just was really not a good husband yet and working on that and a lot of just a lot of stuff. I mean, but I got out of my seat and I came and I knelt at an altar and I cried and I said, Lord, I feel like the least of your servants. I don't have anything to offer you, but if you can take this body and use it, I invite you to do so. And he did and it was an open door. I felt an open door and I just went through it. I didn't go through it in strength. I didn't go through it with the certificates on the wall. I didn't go through it with reputation. I didn't go through it with achievement. I didn't go through it with ability. I just went through it because I felt God calling me to something. Now, I don't know what that is in your life. God knows it. The Holy Spirit knows it and eventually you will know it, but he stirs your heart to believe for something. Quite often it's impossible except God do it. And if he is speaking to your heart, this altar this morning, we're going to worship for about 15 minutes. And as we worship, this altar is an open door into another room. And that's how I want you to consider it today. That I'm getting out of where I am and I'm going to go. I'm going to embrace the sun and I'm not going to walk away discouraged today because it doesn't happen before I hit Broadway. It might take nine months for me to even realize this new life is here. But God, I'm getting out of where I am and I'm going to go through and I'm going to believe you that you're going to do through my life something that will glorify your name. And my testimony at the end of this journey is going to be only God could have done this. I know I couldn't have done this. I know in my own strength it was hopeless. But God, you can do this for those who belong to you. And so I'm not preparing just a little room in my heart. I'm going to open my whole house and say, Lord, you come and you occupy this place and you do what you need to do. But take me, God, where you want me to go. And give me the courage to keep going through every open door that you set before me. Give me the courage to not say, to never say no to you. That I just keep going forward and going forward and going forward as you start to open the doors. I remember when I first got asked, they started to ask me to speak in small churches. Folks, I'm telling you, they'd be introducing me. I'd be sick in the bathroom. But I would be there as I'm leaning over the sink saying, God has not given me a spirit of fear, but a power and love and a sound mind. I would go through the door and I would step up. And the moment I would start speaking, the Holy Spirit would come upon me. And I would be in a surreal place. I would realize I couldn't be doing this if God's spirit wasn't on me. And then people would cry and people would get saved. And it would be just phenomenal what God. And you walk away saying, how did that happen? I just walked through the open door. Somebody has to get up and believe God. And so I want to challenge you with these things. You've got to realize this morning, we didn't all just parachute into Bible school and tell you how to live your life. We've walked this road. We've come the steps. And we're reaching back to some and saying, come this way. This is where life is. This is where victory is. You have no idea what God can do through a surrendered vessel. Father, I thank you, Lord, for giving me the ability to share your heart today. And I know I have. I don't feel like I've left a sentence undone. And I pray, God, for me, for everybody here to give us the courage, even as a congregation, to take that step that you're calling us to. Lord, you need a testimony of miracles in this generation. We can't be just more people singing boring songs in more houses. There has to be life. And so, God, start with me and start with us as leaders, Lord. God Almighty, take us through. We've never arrived to the point where there isn't another door before us. Give us the power, Lord, to yield to you and to obey you. Help the people of this congregation, North Jersey and those online. Help us to hear these words and obey them. Thank you, in Jesus' name. We're going to stand, please. And as we do, if God's speaking to you, just come forward to the front of the auditorium. The balcony, go to either exit, and you can make your way down. In the annex, you could step between the screens. And come believe in God today. Come believe in God. You know, when we sing that song, I Surrender All, sometimes we just see it as like job and car. How about unbelief? I surrender it, God. And I walk through this door, and I'm asking you, God, to close it behind me so I can't go back again. Let it be, Father. I'm going to ask our new elder, Victoria Griffin, to come lead us in prayer now at this altar, if you will, Vicki. There's a lot of people here making the same step that you've just made. Just pray, God, give us all grace. And oh, God, all we can say, Lord, is that we've trusted in your name, Lord Jesus. Lord, we don't bring anything, Lord God, to offer you, Lord God. Our sacrifice is small, God. But God, we pray today, Lord God, and every day hereafter, Lord God, that you would give us the grace, oh God, to continue walking through every door that you open, God. Lord God, that you would take away every fear, every doubt, Lord God. Lord God, that you, Lord God, would remind us, Lord God, Lord God, of how you've kept us, Lord God, of how you've provided for us, Lord Jesus, of how you've loved us, Lord God. Lord, with an everlasting love, Lord God, a love that never fails, that never gives up on us, Lord Jesus. Lord God, you saw us, Lord God. You saw us, Lord God. Lord, when we were unlovable, Lord God, when no one would come to rescue us, and you rescued us, Lord God. And Lord God, you established our going, oh God. And Lord, we just ask, Lord God. Lord, we stand today, and we surrender everything to you, Lord God. Lord, there's nothing that we have that you haven't given to us, Lord God. There's nothing that we would ever need that you're not able to supply. So God, we come to you today, Lord God. And we just bend our knee to you, Lord God. Lord, we submit to you, Lord God, to your authority, oh God. And we trust you, God. God, we place our lives in your hand, Lord God. We know, Lord God, that you love us, Lord God. We would never steer us in a wrong direction, Lord God. Your plan for us is good, Lord God. Your plan for us is good, Lord God. And Lord, we ask you, Lord God, that every day, God, that you would give us the grace to walk in it, Lord God. Every morning, that you would give us the grace to walk in it, Lord God. Through every difficulty, that you would give us the grace to walk through it, oh God. Oh God, you're our savior, our father, our king, Lord. And God, we place all our trust in your hands, Jesus. We place our lives in your hands, God. And Lord, we know, Lord God, that your plan, your will, Lord God, is what's best for us, Lord God. Open our eyes. Allow us to see. And give us the patience to wait on you, Lord God. Not to be discouraged, Lord God. Oh God, not to become impatient, oh God. But to just wait on you. And know that you're working all things together for our good. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, Lord God.