Open Doors

Bulletins

Jacob Holman
09/15/24 - General

The more we experience life’s trials, and the further our world moves away from God, the easier it can be for us to become cynical, discouraged, and pessimistic. If we remain that way for very long, Satan will weaken us to the point that we’re of little to no use to God, our family, our brethren, or our world.

However, God desires that we, His children, see life through a different lens. He desires that, despite the sinful state of the world and the trials we face, we see opportunities – open doors, if you will – to shake His salt, shine His light, spread His word, and thus accomplish His will on earth.

Seeing open doors for God’s work is something that our 1st Century brethren often did. Consider four New Testament texts that speak of “open doors” for God’s people to do His work in their world.

• Acts 14:27 – At the end of their first preaching trip, Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch of Syria, from which they had begun their journey. While there, they reported to the church “all things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.” While the door of salvation had closed for many Jews (Acts 13:45-46), God opened that same door for many Gentiles!

• 1 Corinthians 16:8-9 – Although it was Paul’s desire to visit his brethren in Corinth and spend “some time” (v. 7) with them, he could not do so immediately. As he told them, “I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost; for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” Despite experiencing opposition to the gospel of Christ as he labored in Ephesus, Paul enjoyed a wide-open door to preach His word!

• Colossians 4:3-4 – Before Paul closed his letter to the church at Colossae, he requested that they pray for him and Timothy “that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned, that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.” Though Paul was imprisoned at the time he wrote this letter (Colossians 3:18), his mind remained on his work, and he desired that God would open doors for him to proclaim His word!

• Revelation 3:8 – As Jesus wrote to the church in Philadelphia, He reminded this faithful congregation that “I have put before you an open door which no one can shut.” Though it appears that “the synagogue of Satan” (v. 9) was in their city, Jesus wanted them to know that He had opened a door for them to do His work there, and reassured them that no one, including Satan, could shut it!

If we learn nothing else from these texts, surely, we learn that God can and will open doors for His people to be a light in a dark world, to share the faith with lost people, and to serve Him and others in any way we can. However, let us also learn that we, like our 1st Century brethren, must be anticipating, desiring, and praying that God will place before us “open doors” of opportunity.

Open doors to do God’s work collectively and individually are abundant, if we will but see them as such. Let’s be looking for these “open doors” this week, and when we see them, let’s have the faith, courage, and wisdom to walk through them!

(Taken from Lenexa Edifer; Scripture quotes are from NASB1995)