Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. We're always tempted to give these kinds of excuses. Abraham could have said, I'm too old.
Just an excuse. Moses, tongue tied. Timothy, too young. Esther was the wrong gender. Gideon was the wrong tribe. And Jonah said, hey, you're sending me to the wrong city.
See, that whole idea. Listen, the thing you've got to remember about the open doors that God provides is simply this. If you're not dead, you're not done. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.
Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world. Serving the Lord in ministry is a lot like the first child you have. And you bring the child home.
Now, what seemed like a perfectly easy environment, as long as the child was in the womb, all of a sudden now the child is in the room. And when you're a first time parent, you know exactly how you feel. You have to have the thought. I'm not ready for this. I'm just not ready. Now, second, third, fourth, it gets quite a bit easier after that.
No question. But you see, feeling ready is highly overrated. Very few people have ever felt ready to go through an open door. Turn with me to Exodus chapter three, Exodus chapter three. Speaking of the nation Israel, I want to speak of the great deliverer, one who is a type of Christ. Verse 11, God speaking to the Bernie Bush tells Moses, I've opened a door for you. The door is open, Moses.
I prepared you 80 years to do this. Moses's first response, verse 11. But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?
You got the wrong man. I have a lack of identity. Who am I?
The answer is, God says, Who am I? You see, once I pick you, you think I made a mistake? That's the implication.
That's the by the way, we make that implication often. Ministry opportunities come your way in your life and you say, Who am I? Who am I to go and do that? You're exactly the person the Holy Spirit convicted that this is an open door at that moment.
But with your closed door mindset, you don't. Well, then, chapter four, verse one. Then Moses said, What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, The Lord does not appear to you. Not only do I have a lack of identity, Moses, I have a lack of authority. I mean, who am I?
See, I don't. What am I going to tell them? Who am I going to tell them sent me? You have to have credentials to do ministry. You have to go to like Bible college or seminaries to do ministry.
You have to have credentials. Really. Nothing against either, but that's not the way it works. First, chapter four, then Moses said, The Lord, please, Lord, I've never been eloquent, neither recently nor in times past, nor since I have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. I don't have the ability, lack of ability. I just I don't think I could do that. You see, I don't know, how would I ever teach first graders? I don't I don't know. I just don't have that ability. That's perfect for closed door Christians.
That's the perfect mindset. I don't have the identity. You see, I don't have the identity. I don't have the authority.
I don't I don't have the ability. And the truth of the matter shows up in verse 13. Moses then says to God, but he said, Please, Lord, now send a message by whomever you will. What is it he really lacks? It's right there. He lacks faith.
That's what we always really like. You see, he was afraid. He was afraid of the Egyptians going back. He was afraid of the Israelis who didn't like him. He's afraid. He's afraid he might fail a boy for people that are closed minded. They hate that.
What if I fail? That'd be the worst thing. People would think less of me. That's perfect if you're a closed minded and closed door human being.
It's not that unusual. In Judges Chapter six, remember Gideon? I come from the wrong tribe.
I'm like the worst guy in the worst family in the worst tribe. I can't possibly be a judge. I mean, I'd like to, Lord, but it's amazing. You see how that works?
Nevertheless, but I like the safety of the closed door. Abraham was too old. Jeremiah was too young. Isaiah said he was too sinful.
Esther told Mordecai, this is too dangerous. What's your excuse? See, what's your excuse?
You see an open door in front of you. What's your excuse? I can tell you one thing.
It is it isn't new. God's heard them all, even from his choice of servants. You know, I think we respond so poorly in this area of open doors for ministry that that's why churches have become so programic. They have programs. What's that mean? Pretty much this. The church finds a door of ministry and then tries to push you through it. You see, we have this opportunity now.
You try to push him, get him and get it. Go. But, you know, it can't be the best of the choices. Every one of you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. Every one of you are a child of God. Every one of you uniquely gifted by God.
And I've got to believe in your life. God has put in a whole variety of ways, open doors in front of you. For you to go through. Not for you to be coached or prodded.
And push through. You see, you have to be ready. The Lord didn't say go when you're ready.
He said, go and I'll be with you. You need to be ready. You can't let uncertainty bother you.
You can't let uncertainty bother you. Tell me the Genesis 12. Genesis 12. Now, the Lord said to Abram, go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house to the land which I will show you.
And he even tells him the results. I'll make you a great nation, a great people. There's the door. Wow. You know, when you come into Genesis 12 and you read the first 11 chapters of Genesis, there's a stark change that happens here. Genesis first, first 11 chapters are about the biggest issues of all. You've got issues like creation.
I mean, that's an enormous issue. You not only have the issue of creation, but you also have this idea here of the flood, the fall, judgment, the spreading of man throughout the earth. All of these things occur in these first 11 chapters. And then in Chapter 12, something changes. It all boils down to one person.
It all changes. Oh, is this person a king? No. Prophet? No. Priest?
No. What is he? He's just an ordinary person like you and me. It all goes from all these big things to this one ordinary person. And this is a guy who lives in Ur of the Chaldees. He's just a guy living there. You talk about an unclear door.
Remember I said doors aren't usually that clear. Go. Go forth from your country. Go forth. Leave your city. Go.
That's all he says. Doors open. Go. Wow. If you're a closed door person, what are you thinking right now?
Oh, no way. I got a lot of questions. I got a lot of stuff I got to get worked out here. See, we can't help it.
It's just the way we are. The implication, by the way, go to means you have to go from. You see, that's the implication. You've got to go from Ur.
Understand this. 2000 B.C. Ur is probably the greatest, largest city on earth. It's the greatest city advanced beyond belief. And God says, I want you to go. He didn't even tell him where. And by the way, we know where because we read the rest of the story. A little patch of desert and palms called Canaan.
Wow, that's not Ur. That would be like God saying if you lived in downtown Manhattan. Go and you find out you end up in Wink, Texas.
West Texas, little town, dusty every day. That's what happened. But you know what makes Abram so special? He's an open door believer. You see, God said go. Then I'm going to go. Open door people are comfortable with ambiguity and risk.
They're comfortable with that. Abraham never asked them. There's no questions. You see, he shows a lot more of an open door than Moses did.
You see, he had no questions at all. In fact, why would he have to leave Ur? Well, in Joshua 24, Joshua tells the nation of Israel that God had him leave Ur because in Ur he was worshiping pagan deities. And God wanted to isolate him and take him to his own land.
Just imagine the culture shock. If you're Sarai, you're married to a guy who lives in a really prosperous city and you start walking. By the way, walk around 700, 800 miles.
First of all, how would you like to walk with your husband for 700 or 800 miles and he won't tell you where you're going? I mean, think about that. And then you get there. A land filled with ites, Canaanites, Jebus, every ite you can imagine is there. And it's just there's nothing there. And you get there, you see, no city, just land. You're a city person.
Just imagine what the culture shock is like. You see, but there's no word about that that really bothered Abram at all. You see, the open door is often more about where my insides are than where my outsides are. It's usually an issue about me on the inside. You have to be ready. You have to expect uncertainty. And you have to think beyond yourself. If you're going to go through an open door of ministry for the glory of God, you always have to think beyond yourself. Notice what he says in verse 2 and 3 of chapter 12. He says, and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great so that you shall be what? A blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. You will be a blessing.
You see, you always have to think beyond yourself. If you're going to do something for the glory of God and you're going to do a service or a ministry for God, it's always to bless others. You're going to be a blessing.
This is such an interesting perspective, and I know that word doesn't mean much anymore. Linguist Deborah Tannen says this, blessed is used now where in the past we used to use the word lucky. Oh, you're blessed. Jessica Bennett, New York Times article just written last year.
I love what she writes. There is nothing quite like invoking holiness and blessing as a way to brag about your life, but calling something blessed has become the go-to term for those who want to boast about an accomplishment while pretending to be humble. You see, I just beat the daylights out of that man in the boxing ring, and I'm so blessed. I've just been blessed.
You hear it all the time. Abraham wasn't about the humble brag. There was none of that.
Receive the gifts that God has given you and allow your life to be a gift to others. That's what blessing is. You know what his heart was like?
He started right away. Remember, who is this covenant with, Abram? Who is it not with? Lot. Lot just got to go along because Abram brought him. That's a blessing as Laniab. Then they get into the land, and they're going to decide where to live.
What does Abram do? He says to Lot, you choose where you want. I'll take what you don't.
You see that? He could have said, wait a minute, this is about me. People need to know how important I am. Of course, Lot chose the beautiful area of Sodom and Gomorrah. Going through an open door requires a spirit of generosity toward others.
It makes sense, though. God's mission is to bless us so that we become a blessing to others. That's his mission. That's what he does. There's a great difference between being blessed and being a blessing. Best illustration ever.
English literature, movies. Ebenezer Scrooge. Ebenezer Scrooge was blessed. He had tremendous wealth. That's the way the beginning and the middle was of that whole story.
But when it ended, what happened? He became a blessing. The question I have for you, which Ebenezer Scrooge are you?
You see, are you the one that's mostly just thanking God for all the blessing, but not being a blessing? Be ready. Expect uncertainty. Always think beyond yourself. And never, ever hesitate because of your imperfections.
Never hesitate because of your imperfections. Remember how God said he was going to bless them? In the beginning, all he knew was we're going to be blessed, and the whole world's going to get blessed. And then he said, oh, by the way, I'm going to bless you through you and your wife, Sarah.
You're going to have a little baby. Now, if you remember, the first time Abraham heard that, he fell down laughing. By the way, it shows you another thing about God's patience. He was 75, and she was 65, and God said he told him, and he thought that was funny then, and then he had to wait 24 years. God said, you're not ready yet. You're not mature enough to have a baby yet.
We'll have to wait until you're 99. But I want you to think about Abraham. What kind of guy was he? Well, there became a drought in the land, so what did he do? Instead of trusting God, he took off for Egypt. He gets into Egypt and knows that Sarah is really a knockout and says that Pharaoh's household is going to want you, so how about if you just say you're my sister, and we'll work this all out, and I'll be protected.
He might even give me a bunch of stuff. What kind of man would do that? Sinful man, man with imperfections.
By the way, when he decided that God said he was going to bless him, and through him and Sarah, he said, I have a better plan. How about the maidservant? You see, how about if we create our own baby? Is that a wise idea?
No. Why would he do that, imperfections? By the way, he gets to repeat before Abimelech the same thing that he did with Egypt. After all those years, you thought, oh, he's got it all figured out. Now he does the same thing. You lie to him, you tell him this. He had imperfection after imperfection. Never hesitate because of your imperfections. See, what makes Abraham so special is God said, go, and he went.
An open door, and he went. That's why he's the champion of faith. Not because he was such a great man or such a spiritual man.
Scriptures don't work like that. We're always tempted to give these kinds of excuses. Abraham could have said, I'm too old.
Just an excuse. Moses, tongue-tied. Timothy, too young. Esther was the wrong gender. Gideon was the wrong tribe.
And Jonah said, hey, you're sending me to the wrong city. You see, that whole idea. Listen, the thing you've got to remember about the open doors that God provides is simply this. If you're not dead, you're not done.
You understand that? When you are home with the Lord, you're done. But if you aren't home with the Lord yet, don't ever use the excuse, well, you know, I'm too old.
Wow. God might tap you on the shoulder and say, I think Abraham told me that one. And I'm not asking you to have a baby. I'm just asking you to do some ministry. You see, to bring some glory to me.
All of the great characters of the Bible were flawed. But when God opened a door, even if it was reluctantly, they went through it. That's what they did. Be ready. Expect uncertainty. Become a blessing. And resist the temptation to hesitate because of your imperfections.
When it comes to open doors, there are two mindsets, open and closed. If you are a closed mindset believer, then I can tell you what your life will be like and what it's like right now. God will call and you won't answer. There will be risks that you'll never take. There will be obedience that you never offer. There will be generosity that you never give.
And there will be adventures that will never happen in your life. All that adds up, by the way, to regrets. You know, when we were young, you regretted what you did do. When you're old, you regret what you didn't do. Walking through open doors keeps us from future regrets. The divine go comes in the life of every single believer.
You see, you're not just baggage hanging on. God puts in front of you all kinds of things. These are opportunities. You might watch something and say, you know, I don't think that's right. I think something should be done about that.
A friend may tell you about an opportunity that they're volunteering doing something. You say, you know, I think that makes a lot of sense. All of these kinds of things, Pastor Brad can make an announcement. All of these things could simply be God saying the door's open. I'm not going to shut it. But you have to walk through it. You actually have to get up and walk through it. You have to do something with it. When I say yes, he will use me in spite of my imperfections.
The next time we speak on this subject, I'll deal with the process and what it takes to go through the process the best possible way. But none of that's going to even matter, by the way, if you're a closed door person. These will be just words that bounce off a hardened heart.
It won't change a bit. You just endure them for a little while and then forget them. But God still calls. God still speaks. God still sends. God still gives his children opportunities for service in his kingdom. God does this. Be ready, expect uncertainty, become a blessing, and resist the temptation to hesitate because of your imperfections. Dr. Carol Dweck's research allowed her to stumble on a biblical truth.
It's all about your mindset. Let's pray. Father, this particular area touches every one of us, and it touches us on a daily basis. I fear that so often we just ignore these open doors, these opportunities to serve you. Father, I love the fact that you tell us through John that one of the reasons you give us the open door is because we are weak. We have very little power, and that's exactly the way you want us to be so that you can use us for your glory. But Father, what we have to be is we have to be willing. We just have to be people that when we feel the conviction of something that could be done for your glory and for other people's good, we will walk through the door, we will allow you to use us, and we will view it, Father, as one of the great things in our life, the things we look forward to, an opportunity to give back to you because you have given so much to us through your grace. Father, we pray this in Christ's name and for our sake.
Amen. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.
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That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.
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