I want to talk about the Golden Door. I want to take you first to 1 Corinthians 16, 9. I'll I'll read this. And then we'll turn to other verses. If you want to turn to it, you can.
But it says in 1 Corinthians 16, 9, For a great door and effectual is opened unto me. And there are many adversaries. Verse 13. Watch ye. Stand fast in the faith.
Quit ye like men. And be strong.
Now the word quit ye like men It simply means be courageous. If I were to give you the antonym, because sometimes giving the antonym helps you understand, it would be don't faint. Don't be faint-hearted. Don't be afraid. But quit ye like men.
Have courage.
Now in Paul's writings in the At least three times that I can think of, he uses the metaphor of the open door. And it means, in a word, opportunity. What Paul is saying He's saying A great door of opportunity is opened unto me. And the structure in the Greek grammar means it stands wide open. Wide open.
And what the inference is, is that this is an opportunity for a great harvest. A very Surplus and plentiful harvest. A rich harvest. It's an extraordinary opportunity for him to minister. The gospel.
that has opened up to him. in the city of Corinth. But, he said, along with this golden door of opportunity. There are many Adversaries. There are many enemies.
Satan is always going to challenge those who go forth with sickle in their hand. to reap the harvest of souls. There are always going to be great opposition, great opportunity, great opposition. They go together. And when people see the great opportunity, they're like, yeah, let's all get on the bandwagon.
But when they feel the great opposition, a lot of them decide to go home. Like they did in Gideon's day. How successful Satan will be. in opposing us is determined by how resolute and determine we will be that we won't take down and we won't back up. In this city of Corinth, Paul says, I have a great and effectual door.
Opened unto me. And we know by reading through Acts that Paul stayed here longer than any other place he ever went to minister. He stayed in Corinth. a whole year and a half and he said, I taught daily. How would you like to go to Bible school?
with Apostle Paul, your teacher and professor. Seven days a week. 52 weeks a year. and add another 26 onto that. How many think you might get a little bit of idea?
About the Bible and the gospel. You might just learn a little bit about God's word. How many think you would?
Well, that's what happened to those people in Corinth. He said it was a great door, an effectual door. There were many adversaries. We won't go into that because we'd have to go all through the book of Acts. But what I want you to see is, in this case, Paul was saying, wow!
What a great door was opened unto me. And he stayed there and he labored for a year and a half, daily himself, personally, before he ordained others to take over when he went on his way.
So every time there is an opportunity to move forward for God, there's going to be great. Opposition. I like what Joyce Meyer says. She puts it this way. New level?
New devil. How many say amen? And that's exactly what it is. A lot of people want to move up. But they don't want to face more opposition.
But they go with the territory.
Now let's turn to Colossians. You can turn there with me, the fourth chapter. We're talking now about the great door of opportunity. Colossians 4 verse 2. Continue in prayer.
and watch in the same With Thanksgiving. Wickle praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds. That I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without. Redeeming the time.
Let your speech be always with grace. Seasoned with salt. that ye may know how ye ought to answer. Every man.
Now look at this. In Corinthians says, a great door is open to me, a golden opportunity, a golden door. Here he's saying Saints, I need you to pray. I need you to pray that God will open a door. I need you to pray for a door to open.
And while you're praying, watch. Notice he said Pray, continue in prayer and watch with the same. It's not either or. It's not either, pray or watch, it's watch and pray. He said because I need God to open a door here.
He wanted to see God do there in Colosse as God had done at Corinth.
Now, if these saints take Paul at his admonition and get to praying, If they come under the anointing of God's servant and they get to praying for God to open this effectual door like he did at Corinth, and God hears their prayers and answers and a great door opens up to them, what do you think's going to happen? Same thing happened at Corinth. many adversaries. and great opposition. But when this happens, you've got to expect it to happen, and you expect it to happen because you're watching.
You're not taken off guard. You're not taken so that the devil can hit you blindsided. You are expecting because you're watching in prayer. You know that just as soon as that great door opens, don't relax. Don't let your guard down.
Look for the opposition. Because if he can hinder you, he will. Remember when Paul wrote a letter um I'm trying to think who he was writing to. I think it was to the Thessaloniki. He said, I desired to come to you more than once, but Satan hindered.
How many remember that? He said, Satan hindered.
Now, apparently, there were not enough people praying for that door to be opened. Because he said, I wanted to come more than once, but I wasn't able to come because Satan hindered. And so he's telling the people here at Colossa, they pray that God opens the door. And when God opens the door, keep on praying. Continue.
Somebody say, continue. Continue because God wants to give us the victory, and He will give us the victory over our adversaries. But we've got to be careful that we don't miss the opportunity.
Now, When God opens the door, we've got to be ready for that door to open. And when it's open, we can't wait till then to get prepared. He said, walk in wisdom.
Now, walk is in the present tense, it means habitual action. You don't just wait till the door gets open, and walk really means your whole life, how you conduct yourself, your manner of life. But you're already walking in wisdom. This is how Solomon said it. He said, He that withdeth souls is wise.
And so when you're walking in wisdom, when that opportunity comes for you to testify of the gospel, you're already ready. And you don't waste any time. He says you redeem the time. because you know the days are evil. How many say amen?
Let me tell you something. On September 11, 2001, a great door of opportunity opened. for every Christian. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. It was a golden opportunity that opened up to us.
To preach the gospel, it was an opportunity to pray with people, pray for people. Preach to people, witness to people that you never were able to before. I heard one lady on the news today on the streets of New York asking her, well, what happened that day that you were there, blah, blah, blah. And she says, well, we all begin to pray, and we got the Bible out and read it. And the person interviewing her said, well, was that unusual?
She says, oh, yes. At my job, we've got all kinds of religions. That was the first time we ever got the Bible out. It was a golden opportunity that opened up. How many say amen?
I saw the poignant story. It ran not only on Christian TV, but they managed to get this one on all the secular stations too. only they didn't go as much detail as the Christian TV. This one man and his wife, they're from India. And they came to America, but they're born-again Christians.
They came to America. They were saved under Mark Montaigne's missions over there in Calcutta. He came to America and he felt like God had put a call on his life to preach the gospel, but he wasn't getting any opportunities. That very morning, He worked in Tower 1. His wife, who was, I think, four months or something pregnant, worked in Tower 2.
up on the higher floors. And Just a few minutes before that first plane hit, the tower that he was in. He was on the net. type an email into a friend somewhere across the country. And he typed the words, I feel such a strong call of God on my life, but God is not opening any doors for me to minister.
I just don't know what He wants me to do. I'm talking about Less than an hour. I don't want to misquote, but I'll know it's less than an hour. The plane hit his tower. The wing, part of the wing, came into the very floor that he was on.
Immediately, everywhere, smoke, they were blinded. They didn't know which way to go, which way was up. They didn't know how to get out because they were in a white, blinding fog of smoke and debris and that acrid stuff going down into your lungs. But somehow or another, they managed to get out to the halls and start trying to work their way down. It was like a group that they were all with together.
And he began to pray, Lord, help us to find a way out. Lord, help us to find a way out. And to make a long story short, he managed to get in with a group of people. And he said to them, He says, You need to start praying to Jesus right now. Call on Jesus right now.
He will save you. He is the only way. Because he was convinced he was going to die. They were all going to die.
So he was going to try to get as many people saved as he could. And you know what? They were saying, Jesus. They were calling on Jesus. And so They kept going along, but then they began to get, I guess, separated.
And somehow or another, he came up with a man who had a light, and it happened to be an FBI agent who had a light. And so, somehow or another, he got hooked up with him and he got separated from that group of people that he got to pray. And he managed, they managed somehow to get down to the bottom. But then, when he got down to the bottom, things came down and he was hid under he was under all the rubble and the debris. But miraculously, I'm really speeding this up and just making the high points, he got rescued out of life.
Okay, now he's rescued out alive all those people that he told: pray to Jesus, pray to Jesus. They got lost, they were killed. But they prayed before they died. He got out, but now he's worried about his wife. He knows she's in the tower too, and by this time that tower has had its thing.
So here he is. He's thinking, oh my goodness, I survived now. My wife and my unborn child is going to be dead. To make a long story short, she was late getting on her train. Her train was late getting there.
And they were told they couldn't come, so she never even got to work. on time.
So God, give the Lord a cat ball free. You remember that.
Sort of complain in email about how I feel calling God all my life, but God's not opened up any doors. ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News Channel, CNN. CBN, I mean, on and on and on, even in India, because remember, he's from India. The boy from home. He's been called to preach all over cities, all over the country.
He's been outside of the country in churches. He's going preaching the gospel. A golden door was opened to him. But what I want you to see is he was prepared. He was prepared before one door opened.
He was prepared. And when that door opened, he was right there. to bring those people to Jesus Christ. I'm sure that the majority of those people that perished in those towers and those places. were not saved when they went to work that day.
I I I think it would be safe to presume that, don't you? But I also think it would be safe to presume that in that time they started walking down those crowded stairwells. And of course, they didn't make it out on time that many of them called on the name of Jesus because there were Christians there that God had there that were ready for an open door. And the next thing he says is redeeming the times. To redeem something is to buy it back.
And in the Greek, it's very intensive. It means this is absolute. vital that you buy it right now. Take hold of it right now. Seize the opportunity right now.
Don't waste one precious moment. Whatever you lived in sin, you can't go back and get it. Whatever mistakes you've made as a Christian, you can't go back and fix them. Why do you want to lament over that? Get up and redeem the time and walk in wisdom and walk through the door.
That God is open to you. Redeem the times. How many say amen? Let me tell you something, Islam hasn't taken a back seat. They're not hiding in the corners.
At first they were because you had some people backlashing, doing stupid things like going and hurting them, which is not going to solve anything. But now, I am amazed. All of the media now are soft-peddling it. I watched something on TLC the other day. I had to turn it off because I was getting so upset.
They were just putting, they were trying to show you, they called it inside Islam. We're going to give you the real scoop about Islam. They so soft-soaked it, they made Allah equal with God. They twisted everything, they made, you know, that we all had the same God and all of that. And, you know, I preached a sermon on that before, so I won't get started on that by the tape.
But what I'm saying is they they haven't taken a back seat. In California, my God, we need to get a burden for California. I just noticed that everything I'm telling you, these people live in California. We need to pray for them, saints. In California, one of the school districts, and I forget where it is, but in one of the city, county districts in California.
They decided that they were going to have a course on religion, and they were going to examine the different religions. You know, they're not teaching the religion supposedly. They're looking at it philosophically, which is okay. Here's the problem. When they did Christian.
