When God Opens Doors, Literally

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Good morning guys.
This is Good Friday.
Welcome to Word Up.
We are so glad to have you withus today.
Resurrection Sunday rightaround the corner.
Is Jesus alive in your life?
Have you ever had a momentwhere you died to yourself and
began following him?

(00:31):
We had an awesome week this week.
It's been a busy week, as youcan tell.
There haven't been a lot ofpodcasts, but it has been an
awesome week.
We've seen somewhere aroundnine or ten students come to
know the Lord this week, andWednesday night we had an
awesome night.
It was just a really, reallyspecial, special day.

(00:56):
And Thursday just continued on,and so I just want to take today
and just give you a littletestimony about what God did on
Thursday at one of our localschools and using his people.
There were several peopleinvolved in this testimony, and

(01:19):
what I want you to get from thisis if any one of them, if any
piece of the body, had stoppedgoing in the direction God was
calling, somebody's life wouldhave been unchanged in the way
that God wanted to change it.
My challenge to you guys beobedient to whatever God is

(01:41):
calling you to.
So Wednesday night we looked atthe parable of the prodigal son
.
Now, why did Jesus teach inparables?
Why did he use that?
Because he knew that westruggle with what we can't see.
But he also tells us that thethings that we cannot see are
greater than those that we cansee.
He tells us in Hebrews 11.1that faith is believing that

(02:08):
things are so even though youhaven't seen them, believing
that God is going to provide.
And so my challenge to ourstudents is you know, as we come
to the altar, as we cry out toGod, as we plead with Him and
pray to Him and ask for guidance, are we in a place that we're
truly surrendered to whatever itis that he wants for us?

(02:28):
Are you willing to do what youcan't see in order to receive
what you can't see?
Or are you just negotiatingwith God on the sins that you
can see in your life and thetrials that you can see in your
life?
Are you going to the altar andsaying God, I know I've been
doing this wrong.
I see it.
I'll get rid of this piece aslong as you'll fix this tragedy

(02:52):
or this anxiety that I can see asituation in my life.
See, oftentimes we spend timenegotiating with God, just like
the young son in the parablethat Jesus was teaching in Luke,
chapter 15, where he asked hisfather for his inheritance
that's coming to him.
We go down, we negotiate withGod, we agree to get rid of

(03:16):
something, to do something,because we want peace.
God give me my inheritanceearly.
And then we leave and we go farfrom home and we use up that
peace that we got and we'redisconnected from our Heavenly
Father.
So there's no more provision.
We don't feel His presence andwe run out.

(03:41):
And then the famine comes.
The famine comes and then webegin serving the world.
As you see, this Jewish boybegins feeding pigs that he's
been raised to know that theyare unclean animals as a Jew,
and now he is feeding them.
He is providing for the verything that he was raised to know

(04:02):
and to believe was unclean.
And then it goes on to say thathe becomes hungry because
there's no food and he beginswanting to eat what the pigs are
eating.
He has stooped so low he'sgotten so low because he's been
so far away from his father thathe now wants to eat the very

(04:24):
things that the pigs are eating.
But then he looks back to hisfather's helpers the least of
his father's helpers and he saysthey have more than I do.
Guys, we've got to quitnegotiating with God.
We've got to quit trying to getpeace just enough to get

(04:48):
through the next situation andto go and to move on and use it
all up and think that we canjust live life and serve the
world and live like the worldwhen all we do we look back to
God and the people that we seethat they don't have the things
of this world.
They may not have a lot ofmoney, they may not have a lot
of friends, they may not live alavish lifestyle but ultimately,

(05:12):
because they've remained withtheir heavenly father, they have
more than we ever will wheneverwe run away from home.
So Thursday morning we sharepart of this message and one
young man decides that he wantsto follow Jesus.
He says I've never made adecision to follow Christ and

(05:33):
today's the day.
All the other students go intothe school.
We're outside, we're locked out.
He prays to receive Christ,makes a commitment to follow
Christ.
We're trying to get back in theschool like go knock on a
window and the teacher justrandomly sends somebody to the
door to open the door.
When that child opens the door,his shirt says Christ made me

(05:58):
new.
Can you imagine?
The young man just prayed toreceive Christ and the first
closed door that he comes to ispushed open by somebody whose
shirt says Christ made me new.
Have you ever experienced thatin your life?

(06:19):
But how awesome is it to seewhat God does?
You can't tell me.
There probably was not anotherstudent in that entire school
that had a Bible verse on hisshirt and God ordained that
child to open the door as a wayto just reveal himself to me and
to the student who just trustedhim.

(06:40):
I was already late for a meeting, felt like I needed to go, I
needed to hurry, but I couldn'tleave because it was so awesome
what God had done.
I had to go share it.
I go to the office and I'msharing with one of the ladies
in the office what God had justdone and show her a picture of
the two young men.
And then I finally go to leaveand I'm walking back out across
the parking lot headed to mytruck and I hear the lady from

(07:03):
the office screaming my name.
I turn around and I come backand right there there was
another student who was in theoffice, who I was not talking to
, who was not even a part of theconversation and she overheard
what God had done and she said Iwant to follow Jesus.
Look at the whole picture.

(07:25):
If the student had not beenobedient initially to respond to
God's call, we would havealready been gone.
If God had not ordained the boywith the verse on his shirt to
come to the door, I would haveprobably just texted a few
people and told them about theyoung man giving his life to the
Lord, and I would have got inmy truck and been on my way.

(07:47):
If the lady in the office hadnot been willing to run down the
hall, open the door and yellfor me, the other young lady who
overheard the story would stillbe lost in the wilderness,
trying to find her way.
What is it that God has calledyou to do today?

(08:09):
Who is it that he's asked youto reach?
What has he equipped you for?
Are you going to be the onepiece that stops somebody from
coming to know Jesus, or are youwilling to move forward, no
matter where he sends you, nomatter what it costs, no matter
what it takes?
Remember, guys, if you willstay true to God's word, stay

(08:34):
connected to him, don'tnegotiate, don't run away,
complete surrender.
He will use you and no matterwhat it looks like to the world,
you will have all that you everneed.