Things that are open

Acts chapter 16 and verse 14 and a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized in her household she besought us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us.

I want to speak for a few minutes just about things that are open and here's the first one. There's a heart in Lydia that is open. Go back with me to chapter 7. Acts chapter 7. Here we have Stephen and he's being stoned and at the end of chapter 7 verse 50.

Let's go back to verse 54. Stephen spoke an amazing message. Just you can tell when you read it the knowledge that he had of the Word of God of the Old Testament and his ability to present that was is just amazing and of course it's by the Spirit of God but still that doesn't happen just as an impromptu speech.

He obviously had been spending time in the Word and so they were so affected by it in verse 54 of Acts chapter 7 when they heard these things they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth. No, it's a wonderful thing by the way. That's not my subject but it's a wonderful thing when a person speaks the Word of God and it cuts to the heart.

That's what we really need. Yesterday before I came out here I spoke at the hospital. They have a religious service every Thursday and I've been asked to join in taking turns at doing that and these are people most of them on the edge of eternity and as I left yesterday I thought I wonder what impression it makes.

It's not having a nice sermon saying something nice it's not even getting through it even this weekend our brethren will be exercised not just to make it through the weekend but we want to reach hearts and touch hearts and even sometimes as believers we need to be cut to the heart but to go on with the reading but he being full of the Holy Ghost looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God and he said behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Now let's go to the book of Luke that well-known passage of open things in chapter 24. I love this passage I can hardly read it without feeling very deeply what it must have been like for those men to be there.

My father who's passed away many years ago he said of all the places he would have liked to have been would be Luke 24 walking with the Lord Jesus Christ as these disciples were. So they're despondent and in verse 36 as they spake thus spake Jesus himself well that's too late as earlier I intended to start at let's go back down to verse 13 and behold two of them that went that same day to a village called Emmaus which was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs and they talked together of all these things which had happened and it came to pass that while they communed together they reasoned and reasoned Jesus himself drew near and went with them but their eyes were holding that they should not know him. So the Lord Jesus talks with them it's always ironic they're saying to the Lord Jesus are you new around here don't you know what's been happening are you stranger and he was the very center of everything and so the Lord Jesus speaks with them in verse 25 and says then he said unto them O fools and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to entered into his glory and beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded unto them in all the concerning himself.

Now when we go down the chapter to verse 31 it says their eyes were opened so we have their eyes opened when the Lord Jesus is present with them and then of course I'm not going to read the others for time but they he opened unto them the scriptures and finally what they did is they opened their mouths in fact it's very interesting you begin Luke's gospel and there's a priest and because of unbelief he is smitten with that he cannot speak and so you have a priest at the beginning of the gospel and because of unbelief he has nothing to say and when you come to Luke chapter 24 at the end because they've been the presence of the Lord they can't stop talking they're just filled with praise and with thanksgiving and we're continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Now what I want to start with is back in Acts chapter 16 we have a woman and the Lord opened her heart and I was thinking in view of this weekend what we need most of all before we ever listen to our brethren giving ministry we have to have our hearts open to do whatever God tells us to do. If we haven't got our hearts open the ministry will not affect us it will not have the impact on us that it ought to have it must begin there we were talking earlier in the day over at Gary and Norma's place and a sister had been resisting a certain truth I'm not going to name it here tonight it doesn't matter but I remember speaking to her about it and she said I really don't see that that's in the scripture you know that's been taught but it's not really there and I said to her if I could prove to you if I could prove to you that it is in the scripture would you do it and she says I don't know see that's where the problem was and I remember she's a sister that was not given to emotion at all some of us show emotion more but she was one that was the opposite there was a reason for that because of home life but I remember saying to her do you mind if I give it a try she said no I don't mind but you won't be able to do it it's not there so I took her to the passage we went down slowly carefully about what the scripture taught and she broke down and wept and she says it's there but I can't do it now I am asking myself not just you in the audience tonight preachers are here to learn too I'm asking myself whatever is spoken this weekend am I willing to bow to it I remember being at a conference one time and there was something I really wasn't aware of and a brother got up and he spoke and it was like a shot right at my heart and I don't show blushing very easily but I remember sitting in the audience and actually blushed as I thought of how true he what he said was about me and I hadn't been practicing it but we need to have hearts that are open and I want you to ask yourself and I will ask myself as we go home tonight and as others come tomorrow will we be coming with a heart that is really open to anything that God has to say to us no matter what we think it might cost us no matter how it may change our life are we willing before this conference gets going to simply have our hearts open you know what the outcome will be we'll be like Stephen and I want to tell you this weekend would be wonderful if we see heaven opened and see the Lord Jesus see for us there's only one thing that's worth living for and that's the Lord Jesus Christ when our children were little and I know we try to be sympathetic parents but sometimes children whine sometimes adults whine too and we when they would whine about nothing sometimes we would say to them will this matter a hundred years from now because it daddy I won't be around a hundred years from now well will it matter a hundred years from now no it won't well then it doesn't matter today and when life is over you and I will discover at the judgment seat of Christ all of us including myself will have spent time sometimes over things that weren't worth the effort as far better if we sit this weekend and see heaven open and get our values right heaven open and then we need as well as we spend the weekend together to have the scriptures opened and our eyes open like I said there was thing there are things and likely still are that I've been blinded to because of the hardness of a human heart sometimes I want my heart to be open I want my eyes to be opened I want the scriptures to be opened and then when we have all those things in place it'll be wonderful maybe even before the Lord's Day morning as we gather together it will be the best breaking of bread we've ever been in in our lives because we've seen him so much that it will be wonderful to be able to praise him and to be able to have our mouths open so we can say wonderful things about our wonderful Lord but let's start by asking ourselves is my heart open to whatever God is going to say to me I've been spending some time with believers lately and they have admitted resistance to the Word of God that's not a great way to start and no way to live the Christian life so may the Lord help us to have our hearts open before the conference gets too far along so that we might learn of God appreciate the Lord Jesus again and have a longing to enjoy him once more