Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #24471 - 4 Ways God Uses Closed Doors in Our Lives - Acts 16:1-10 & Isaiah 55

Transcript

#24471 - 4 Ways God Uses Closed Doors in Our Lives - Acts 16:1-10 & Isaiah 55 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

• 0:04
  Welcome to the Study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
• 0:08
  Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co To learn
• 0:12
  more about the many resources available through Abounding
• 0:15
  Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services, visit us
• 0:19
  online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
• 0:24
  Church app. Now here's Pastor Ed to take us
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  into our study. Amen.
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  Open your Bibles 2 places, would you?
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  Isaiah chapter 55 and Acts chapter 16.
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  Isaiah 55 and Acts chapter 16. And I've entitled our Bible
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  study four ways God Uses Closed doors in our lives.
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  Four Ways God Uses closed doors in our lives because today Paul
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  the Apostle experiences not one but two closed doors, A closed
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  door. It's just a picture because it
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  makes a lot of sense. When you come to a door and it's
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  closed, you can't go in. It's obvious if you don't have
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  the key, don't have access, you can't go in.
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  So we use that to describe when God says no.
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  When God says no, it's a closed door.
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  Of course, if we come to a door and it's open, then that's an
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  invitation. Just go through the open door,
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  closed doors, open doors. Very important for us to respond
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  faithfully to them as as Acts Chapter 15 comes to a close,
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  It's a bummer. It's sad to see such great
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  victory as we studied in depth through Acts 15 where the elders
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  of the early church came together and decided it's grace,
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  it's grace, it's grace, it's not the law and it's not
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  circumcision. It's the grace of God that saves
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  Jew and Gentile. To see the chapter end with such
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  division, where two good friends and partners in the ministry,
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  they argued so much that they couldn't go forward and they
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  separated and moved on in ministry.
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  And yet God used it. Even God's going to use the
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  difficulties that you experienced.
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  And I know it's hard. It's hard.
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  The thought of God using difficult things in your life is
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  hard for some of you or for many of you.
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  Truly, if we can control things a little more, we'd most
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  certainly control the difficulties out of our lives.
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  I mean, if we could schedule our life, if we could write it ahead
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  of time, we most certainly would write out all the pain, all the
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  suffering. Because not only do we not want
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  to experience it, but why go through it if we can get to the
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  same destination without pain in our minds?
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  Of course we think that then we would schedule it out of our
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  lives. But that's not real life.
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  Real life involves pain and sorrow and suffering, both by
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  decisions that we've wrongly made, but mostly by wrong
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  decisions that others make. We live in a fallen world, and
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  sometimes things go well and we rejoice.
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  And we should. Sometimes things don't go so
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  well. And at the same time, we should
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  learn to rejoice in all things because God is in control of our
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  lives. That's real life.
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  God is in control. There's a fancy theological word
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  for that. We use the word sovereign to
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  describe God's control. God is sovereign and our
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  response is to remain open to the Holy Spirit.
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  It's important that we yield ourselves to the work of God in
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  our lives. If you're taking notes, let me
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  give you a few scriptures that will help you grasp this.
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  Psalm 31, verse three says you are my rock and my fortress.
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  Therefore, for your name's sake, lead me and guide me.
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  I mean, some of you woke up today.
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  You were asking God, lead me, guide me.
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  I need some direction. In Proverbs chapter 16 and verse
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  nine, it says a man's heart plans his way, but the Lord
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  directs his steps. I mean, that's what we have,
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  this emotion that's moving us this way, but really, God wants
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  to move us this way. So we're looking for His leading
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  and we're looking for His guidance and we're looking for
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  God's direction. Proverbs chapter 16 and verse
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  33. The lot is cast into the lap,
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  but every decision is from the Lord.
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  And so even making hard decisions, big decisions, small
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  decisions, we want to look to the Lord.
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  Proverbs chapter 19 and verse 21.
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  There are many plans in a man's heart.
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  Nevertheless, the Lord's counsel that will stand, I mean, think
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  about it. You you're wanting God's
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  counsel, You're wanting to hear from Him.
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  Inevitably, when I leave for a period of time and I'm unable to
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  keep up with my e-mail or even access it, I'll come back to
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  hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of e-mail in my inbox
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  and I'll start going through them one by one.
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  And I start with the oldest ones 1st.
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  And inevitably this happens. There'll be an e-mail at the
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  beginning of my trip that came in that said pastor, Pastor, I
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  need your Informa. I need your direction.
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  I need your counsel. I need you to answer this
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  question. And then, of course, I didn't
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  answer it because I'm not accessing e-mail.
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  And as I go through at the end of the week or at the end of the
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  next week, the same person emailed, never mind pastor, the
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  Lord took care of it. And that's a perfect thing.
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  You want the Lord to take care of it?
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  You don't need me. You don't need a pastor.
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  You have the word of God and the Holy Spirit, and he is ready to
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  lead you and guide you and take care of you and minister to you
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  if you will. Just present yourself to him.
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  Read your Bible every day and pray and present yourself to the
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  leading of the Holy Spirit, both to the things that you like and
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  also to those that you don't like.
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  Being open to Him so important in Isaiah chapter 55.
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  This is foundational, and I ask you to turn there because I want
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  you to see it. These two passages we as pastors
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  quote so much that I want you to see it.
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  I want you to have the address. I want you to mark it.
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  I want you to highlight it. For some of you, this is
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  homework for you. You need to memorize this.
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  Put these truths in your heart so the Holy Spirit can use them
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  in your life at the appropriate time.
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  But when you face difficulties, and when you face hardships, and
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  when you face separations, and when you face a closed door from
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  God or a no from God, it's important to remember these
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  things. Verse six Seek the Lord while he
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  may be found. Call upon him while he is near.
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  Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
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  thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, and
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  he will have mercy on him and to our God, for he will abundantly
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  pardon. Here's the key verse 8.
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  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my
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  ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
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  than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
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  thoughts Than your thoughts. Remember this church.
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  You and I are progressively learning the ways of God, and
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  we're learning. The ways of God are not our
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  ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts.
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  You see, when I'm worried, God's not worried.
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  When I'm overly concerned about something, God's not concerned.
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  When I jump in and I try to fix things or figure things out, God
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  doesn't need to fix or figure anything out.
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  He knows. And when when he approaches the
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  situation, I need to understand that I want to follow him.
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  God is not following me. That he is sovereign and
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  supreme. There have been times when I've
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  been impatient. God wasn't impatient or I've
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  been upset. God wasn't upset times when I
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  wasn't too concerned about something.
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  But God was very concerned. And just when I think I've got
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  God's plan all figured out, I'm reminded that I don't.
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  One of the ways that God reveals his ways to us is by answering
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  things yes, and also answering no.
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  And as chapter 16 opens up for us today in Acts, Paul faces
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  perhaps one of the most difficult things in his life,
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  one of the most difficult hardships.
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  It wasn't persecution, and it wasn't pain, and it wasn't
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  defeat. It was a closed door.
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  It was an answer of no from God. What's startling about this is
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  the no from God was actually no to something good, at least in
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  our minds, preaching the gospel. But the Bible says that God will
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  withhold no good thing from those that have our upright that
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  those that love God. He's not going to withhold any
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  good thing from you and me as we love him and serve Him.
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  So that means if God is withholding something from us
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  now, it must not be good for us. He'll take care of what he needs
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  to take care of, but it may not be good for us.
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  So notice with me in Acts chapter 16, as you're there in
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  verse one, you are there before me.
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  Then he came to Derby in Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple
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  was there named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who
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  believed, but his father was Greek.
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  He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra in
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  Iconium. Paul wanted to have him go on
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  with him and he took him and we'll pause there for a second,
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  Timothy. So Paul we by way of review
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  because we've looked at this before but Paul at the end of
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  the conference, the church council, he wanted to go back.
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  He had he had this heart to go back to the churches that they
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  planted and make sure they're OK And that that's what led to the
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  to the disagreement with Barnabas as they're arguing over
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  John Mark And it says back in chapter 15 in verse 40 that Paul
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  took Silas and he took off and he departed.
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  So he's going back into the churches.
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  He comes to this area of Derby and Lystra and the scene pauses
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  because Paul met someone, this young man Timothy, which is an
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  amazing divine appointment as his heart is for the church and
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  as it's hard to check in because he doesn't know he he's thinking
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  perhaps that these false teachers is disrupted faith.
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  They've messed people up and he wants to go back and go, no, no,
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  no, it's all by faith. It's all by faith.
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  He had this heart to encourage and to strengthen the churches.
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  He meets this young man, Timothy, I want you to notice
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  that this young man, Timothy grew up in what we would call an
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  unequally yoked home. An unequally yoked home that
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  means only one of the spouses was saved.
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  And we know later that it was his mom.
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  We know his mom had a real relationship with God.
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  She was a daughter of the covenant, but not his dad.
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  So it was a very difficult home situation.
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  And in this we see that Timothy got saved, probably coming in
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  through either through his mom or his grandmother.
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  We learned that in first or in second Timothy chapter one,
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  verse five. It says when I call to
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  remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which first
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  dwelled in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and am
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  persuaded, is also in you. It could be he was already saved
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  when Paul came, Paul Barnabas came to town the first time, or
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  it was the deal was sealed when Paul came.
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  We don't know. We just know that his mom and
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  his grandmother played an integral part of his salvation,
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  even though he grew up in a difficult home.
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  I know that's the story for many of you.
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  You grew up in a difficult home or are in a difficult home right
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  now. And yet, like Timothy, God has
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  so much more for you than the home you grew up in.
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  Can I get an Amen on that? Anybody want to agree with that?
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  God has so much for us than the home that we grew up in.
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  You know, we often speak about dysfunction and difficulty and
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  and sometimes when we talk about dysfunctional families, we'll
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  say we were a good family and you had a really dysfunctional
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  family. But let you let me let you in on
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  a secret. You ready?
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  We all grew up in dysfunctional families.
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  Even the best of the best didn't measure up to God's perfect
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  ideal because we had sinful parents and mistakes are made
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  and we live in a fallen world. But some of you certainly did
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  grow up in a much more difficult home than others.
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  But I want you to know that doesn't limit you.
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  God has high hopes for you. He has a plan and a purpose for
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  your life, and it starts with a real relationship with God.
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  That's where it starts. What changed, Timothy?
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  Well, in his case, it was a faithful mom.
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  And what changed in her life? It was a faithful grandmother.
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  It was her mom. And I believe generational
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  change begins with you, your walk with the Lord that God will
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  save you, and then through your life, both to your parents and
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  grandparents, but then also to your children, your
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  grandchildren, to your siblings and your friends and your
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  cousins and your aunts and uncles.
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  Generational change starts with you, a man or a woman born
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  again. But listen, it doesn't happen
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  passively. You've got to cultivate the
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  character and the relationship and the commitment that it takes
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  in following Christ. You're going to have to leave
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  your past behind and embrace Jesus with all that you are.
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  And you go, pastor. Where do you get that from?
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  Well, I want you to notice something about Timothy.
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  I want you to notice something. First of all, notice in verse
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  two, he was well spoken of. This brother was known, this
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  kid. He was a young kid at this time,
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  probably in his early or late, probably in his early or late
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  teens, and in this he was already well known.
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  And when you are well spoken of, this is what is being revealed.
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  You have a depth of character. Your character is revealed when
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  people speak kindly of you and he was already well spoken of.
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  But on top of that we see an insight in his life.
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  Pick up with me in verse 3. Again, Paul wanted to have
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  wanted to have him go with him and he took him and circumcised
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  him. Now let's stop there for a
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  second. What?
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  Didn't this just get settled? Isn't this what we've been
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  studying for the last many weeks that doesn't?
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  Didn't we conclude that circumcision wasn't necessary?
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  I mean, and this is exactly what you think it is, this is the
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  medical procedure of circumcision, very painful and
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  difficult and hard for an adult. Wasn't that already settled?
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  And to that, the church says yes, Pastor, you taught us for
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  many weeks. Yes, it's by faith, not
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  circumcision. So what is going on here?
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  Why? Well, that's a good question.
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  The Bible actually answers it. Notice he took him and
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  circumcised him because of the Jews who were in the region, for
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  they all knew that his father was Greek.
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  They knew he was a Gentile. They knew about his story.
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  And so Paul circumcised him so that he wouldn't be a stumbling
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  block. But the emphasis to me, and many
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  pastors take this emphasis, but I I want to shift it just a
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  little bit. The emphasis to me is not Paul
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  circumcising him. It's Timothy being circumcised.
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  That's pretty significant. I mean, I want you to just think
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  for a second, you got to put yourself in the Bible, take it
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  into the 21st century, OK? Brand new to Calvary.
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  Heard us on the radio. Somebody invited you.
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  You saw a building on the corner.
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  I'm going to go to that church. That's my home church.
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  I got saved there. This is amazing.
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  Best thing I've ever had this every week, music and the
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  people. And it's amazing.
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  Amazing, amazing. You've been here for six months.
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  You want to serve, so you grab a ministry application and you go
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  through it. What's your name?
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  What's your address? And where'd you come from?
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  What do you believe? All of that?
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  And then there's this question. Are you willing to be
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  circumcised? You're like what kind of church
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  is this? Are you willing to be
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  circumcised? And it's online, so you unclick
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  it and you're like we're going to another church or you click
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  yes and a pop up window comes, Well man, we are so glad you
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  said yes. We have a circumcision service
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  today. Here's your appointment, 10:00
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  AM And I mean, we laugh, and that's my intent, because, you
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  know, we're not asking for anyone to be circumcised today.
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  And really, God isn't either. But you know, God asked for more
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  than circumcision today, He says, to lay your life down as a
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  living sacrifice. He asks you today to love your
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  enemies. How you doing with that?
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  He he asked you to have a heart for the widow and the orphan.
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  How's that going? He asks you to be generous with
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  what he's entrusted with you. How's that going?
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  He asks you to forsake known sin in your life.
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  How's that going? See, we look at someone like
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  Timothy and go, oh man, I can't believe it.
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  What a amazing thing that he would do.
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  But you and I have the privilege of walking in the same footsteps
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  of Timothy, but refuse it. I mean, the church isn't loving
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  their neighbor as Christ would have us.
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  It's why our nation's so sick today.
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  It's why our city's so sick. The culture in the world would
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  want you to think it's one way, but God knows society's sick
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  because the church isn't being the church, not living for
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  eternity, living for a different Kingdom.
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  Oh, we look at Timothy. He's well spoken of and he's
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  willing to be circumcised. But what are you willing to do
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  for Christ? What have you done for Christ?
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  Where is your life, the trajectory of your life?
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  How do you define sacrifice? I mean, I think, I think of the
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  sickness of the church at large today.
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  The church doesn't. The church has a hard time even
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  doing what's easy. Because I would say circumcision
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  would be high on the list of hard, don't you think?
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  Hard, like, you know, circumcision.
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  Now that's a 10 of a ten man. Hard.
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  But reading your Bible every day?
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  I mean, is that 10? I don't think so.
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  I I mean think of this. The church is so sick today at
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  large because so many of believers, they they don't even
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  give of their tithes and offerings.
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  They don't even give something so easy to do, not even
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  acknowledging what God has done in your life, that everything
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  you have has come from Him and you're not doing the easy
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  things. So what makes you think that the
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  hard thing is going to be easy? When it comes, God is preparing
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  you and strengthening you. And I love this in Timothy.
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  But he didn't wake up this way. God.
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  He developed it in him, and it came through small acts of
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  obedience. Church.
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  When we begin to live out the significance of the call of God
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  upon our lives, man, you watch out.
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  We'll begin to see in dynamic ways the beauty of the book of
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  acts in our own lives. Timothy is an example to us.
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  He's also a a a tremendous encouragement to us.
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  He's an exhortation to us, and for some, he's a place of
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  conviction where you really need to examine what God is doing in
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  your life and go, OK, here I am, Lord, I don't think I could ever
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  be circumcised for the gospel, Lord.
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  But I know you're not asking for that.
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  You're asking for me. That's how Timothy.
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  How was Timothy able to do a 9:50?
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  Because he already answered the question beforehand.
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  God, take it all, take it all. He doesn't need any idea that
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  Paul's coming to town. He has no idea.
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  Timothy, just like you today, this is so cool.
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  You and I, we have no idea what God has for us in the future.
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  Timothy has no idea that he will be the most significant man in
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  Paul's life the rest of his life.
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  Right now he's just a kid joining him on the trip, similar
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  to what John Mark could have been if he didn't leave them.
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  Timothy has no idea that he is going to be the number one
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  helper and Co laborer, the most trusted, supportive man in
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  Paul's life right here, right now.
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  And it could have been all thrown away.
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  It could have been just tossed to the side.
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  How do you not live the life of obedience?
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  It's so good. Well, oh, by the way, This is
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  why we do baby dedications. If at least one parent is saved,
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  we say come on up or sometimes even grandparents will say, hey,
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  my neither one of my kids are saved, but I they gave me
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  permission. If you could pray over the baby
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  and we're like, yes, and bring the kids with you so we can
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  preach the gospel to them and love them.
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  And the baby dedications are what now we call family
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  dedications of a child under the age of belief.
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  Because if a child believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and
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  they're saved, they're born again, You know what we do with
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  them? We baptize them.
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  And so before that, you can pray for your kids and we'll lay
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  hands on them because you never know where the next Timothy's
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  going to come from. You never know what God's going
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  to do with our sons and daughters.
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  There's great plans for our kids, even in difficult homes.
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  So Paul's heart here, coming back to the text he's preparing,
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  Timothy, he's wanting to look out for not stumbling people.
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  A great example of this First Corinthians Chapter 9, verse 19.
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  Paul would say for though I am free from all men, I have made
• 23:55
  myself a servant at all, that I might win the more.
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  And what Paul was saying is that he was using his freedoms for
• 24:03
  the sake of others. We got it all backwards today.
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  That's part of the problem, part of the problem in Christianity,
• 24:09
  in the broadest broad church today, and perhaps among us.
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  I mean, I'm not naive to think that some of you aren't
• 24:14
  struggling with this yourselves. The problem is you think your
• 24:17
  freedoms are for you. So you can just kind of, hey,
• 24:21
  you know, I've got freedom. I've got freedom.
• 24:23
  I can do whatever I want. Pastor, You know, I'm not
• 24:25
  limited by the Bible. I can do that, and it's OK.
• 24:27
  And I can get. So no, no, no, you've got it all
• 24:30
  wrong. God has given you freedom for
• 24:32
  others. God's given you freedom to
• 24:35
  reach, so that even though you might be able to do something,
• 24:39
  you don't for the sake of others, that you might win the
• 24:44
  more you know that you're exercising freedom well.
• 24:49
  And I know when I hear it, when you begin to say how it's
• 24:51
  restricted by others and not by yourself, you go.
• 24:55
  But Ed, is that really freedom? It is.
• 24:58
  It absolutely is. When you choose not to do
• 25:02
  something so that you won't stumble someone else, that's
• 25:05
  tremendous freedom. You know the spirit of God's in
• 25:08
  your life when you know I could do this and I don't care.
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  It doesn't matter. That doesn't sound like freedom
• 25:13
  to me. That sounds like bondage.
• 25:15
  Bondage to yourself and God has delivered you from that.
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  So First Corinthians 9 meditate, and I did a whole Bible study on
• 25:23
  this. It's so good on how to use your
• 25:25
  freedoms for the sake of the gospel.
• 25:28
  But we move on notice. So it says the end result in
• 25:31
  verse 5. The churches were strengthened
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  in the faith and increased in number daily.
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  So God honored their desire. So Paul moves on.
• 25:39
  He says in verse 6, when they had gone through Phrygia and the
• 25:43
  region of Galatia mark this word, they were forbidden by the
• 25:48
  Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.
• 25:50
  After that, they came to Messia and they tried to go into
• 25:53
  Bethenia, but the Spirit did not permit them.
• 25:58
  So we have two very strong words describing a no from God and
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  Paul just experienced great fruit.
• 26:06
  He's got Timothy on his team Now they head in.
• 26:09
  The churches are strengthened, people are getting saved.
• 26:12
  Let's keep going, let's go to Asia.
• 26:14
  And the Holy Spirit said, say with me church.
• 26:17
  The Holy Spirit said no, OK, OK, let's try to go this way and
• 26:22
  we'll go through a back door. Let's try to get into Asia
• 26:25
  again. And the Holy Spirit said no.
• 26:28
  Why? Because God didn't want him
• 26:31
  there. Sometimes it's just simple as
• 26:34
  that. You know, I'm going to give you
• 26:35
  4 keys on why God, how God might use closed doors.
• 26:38
  But sometimes it's even simpler than that.
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  When you receive a no from God, this is what he means.
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  No. Even if it's something good, you
• 26:48
  can. All Christians, we we get so
• 26:50
  good at justifying everything. Well, but it's for the gospel
• 26:52
  and it's for this and it's for this.
• 26:54
  But God said no, and we hate it. And this is where we get all,
• 27:03
  you know, bent out of shape and start kicking down doors,
• 27:07
  getting mad at God, frustrated, bitter.
• 27:12
  Because it's not the way you want it.
• 27:16
  It's not what you wanted. Some of you have a hard time not
• 27:20
  getting what you want. You were like that as a child.
• 27:24
  You're like that as a teenager, and here you are as an adult,
• 27:29
  and God is trying to teach you his ways are not your ways.
• 27:33
  You can trust him with your life.
• 27:35
  You can trust him in all the twists and the turns.
• 27:38
  When you think about it right now, here we here all of us are.
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  We have gotten through every single trial that God has
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  brought our way thus far. And you say, but Ed, I'm still
• 27:50
  in it. That's right.
• 27:51
  You're still in it today by the strength of the Lord.
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  There are times where God won't reveal His ways to us.
• 28:00
  You'll just say no or yes. Sometimes a yes answer.
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  It can be just as scary as a no answer, but certainly a no
• 28:10
  answer from God can bring discouragement, disappointment,
• 28:14
  bitterness, and all types of harmful emotions.
• 28:18
  And it's clear God uses closed doors to accomplish His will.
• 28:24
  In In Psalm 37 verse 23, it says the steps of a good man are
• 28:30
  ordered by the Lord and he delights in his ways.
• 28:33
  Isn't that great? But someone also added the stops
• 28:37
  of the Lord are also ordered by God.
• 28:40
  The steps and the stops, they all come from him.
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  I can't. Every time I come to this topic.
• 28:46
  I can't help but think of one of the most difficult times in my
• 28:50
  life, just before moving to here in Aurora, that I would not be
• 28:55
  in Aurora today. We would not be in any type of
• 28:59
  connection today had I not experienced a closed door in
• 29:05
  January of nine in December of 1999, January 2000, we were.
• 29:12
  Or 9899. Whatever year it was, God knows
• 29:16
  we were headed to another city, ready to rent a house, settle
• 29:21
  our little family down and begin a Bible study and plan a church.
• 29:26
  And as we were driving into the city, the Holy Spirit spoke so
• 29:32
  loudly and so clearly in our little cars we were driving
• 29:36
  through that It couldn't be ignored.
• 29:39
  And it's amazing because the Holy Spirit's voice was very
• 29:43
  familiar, sounded a lot like Maurice and the Holy Spirit said
• 29:52
  there's no way in the world, Ed, I'm living here.
• 29:58
  Not an exact quote, but how I remember it.
• 30:02
  That began a series of events that made it abundantly clear
• 30:07
  that we were not to move to that city, and we didn't.
• 30:12
  And God did. This emergency surgery in my
• 30:15
  heart completely felt like he ripped my heart out.
• 30:20
  And with it, any desire to pasture, any desire to plan a
• 30:25
  church, any desire to move my family, I didn't.
• 30:29
  That was not for me. And it was obvious.
• 30:32
  And we went back home in one of the two seasons of my life where
• 30:37
  I had any significant depression.
• 30:38
  That was the first time I ever experienced anything like that.
• 30:41
  I just couldn't believe what was going on, and I needed to accept
• 30:46
  it. I didn't know.
• 30:47
  And I figured I'll just be in the corporate world the rest of
• 30:49
  my life, which is fine with me, and I'll move on with my life
• 30:53
  and we'll move on with this silly church planting thing.
• 30:57
  But it was in that moment where I completely surrendered that
• 31:01
  part of my life. No church planning, no
• 31:03
  pastoring, none of that. That God said, oh, now you're
• 31:06
  ready yet. Now you're ready.
• 31:09
  And within moments, it seemed like just a few days.
• 31:14
  God opened so many doors and brought us right here to
• 31:17
  Colorado, right here in Aurora. He wanted us here, not there.
• 31:21
  You see, we don't know what God is doing all the time.
• 31:25
  We need to receive what God has for us.
• 31:28
  You don't know what the future holds.
• 31:30
  God will say yes. God will say no.
• 31:33
  We need to trust him and stay open to him.
• 31:36
  So let me give you the four things and we'll head out today
• 31:39
  taking notes. Let me give you the four things.
• 31:41
  We're not going to get into them in depth because we don't need
• 31:43
  to, but they'll be helpful for you because they'll speak to
• 31:46
  your life. How does God use closed doors?
• 31:49
  Well, let me give you 4 ways, #1.
• 31:52
  Closed doors are used by God for His glorification.
• 31:57
  And what I mean by that is that God wants you to get your eyes
• 32:00
  back on him, and so He'll stop you and he'll just stop
• 32:05
  everything so you'll look to Him.
• 32:09
  And certainly what's being revealed is God's timing.
• 32:13
  God wants his timing, His His timing is always perfect, but he
• 32:16
  wants us on his timetable, and the only way we can be on his
• 32:19
  timetable doing his will is to keep our eyes on him.
• 32:24
  We see this perfectly with Moses.
• 32:26
  Moses, since he was going to deliver the children of Israel,
• 32:29
  but he went about it the wrong way, in the wrong timing.
• 32:33
  Then he jumped in. And if you're with us on our
• 32:35
  midweek Bible study, we're studying Exodus right now, you
• 32:37
  should be here. It's a fascinating part of the
• 32:39
  Bible, so relevant for us today. And we just looked at this
• 32:43
  Moses. He sees an Egyptian and a Jewish
• 32:46
  man fighting. And in his heart he says, I'll
• 32:48
  do this, I'll take care of this. And and he jumps in, he breaks
• 32:52
  up the fight, kills the Egyptian.
• 32:54
  And actually the text, I'm paraphrasing here, but the text
• 32:58
  says that he looked to the left and he looked to the right
• 33:02
  before he jumped in to break up that fight.
• 33:04
  And when he killed him, he thought he got away with it.
• 33:07
  The problem was, is he forgot to look up because God knew.
• 33:12
  And that one mistake landed him 40 years in the desert, in the
• 33:18
  wilderness. Because what God wanted to teach
• 33:21
  him in 40 minutes, he needed to learn in 40 years.
• 33:25
  God didn't ask him to break up that fight.
• 33:28
  God didn't tell him to break up that fight.
• 33:31
  Sometimes God uses these closed doors to get our eyes back on
• 33:35
  him, that he might be glorified and worshiped for the God that
• 33:39
  he is. #2 God will use closed doors in our lives for our
• 33:43
  cultivation. So I've tried to put the words
• 33:45
  together for you so you can remember them.
• 33:47
  Glorification. Now our cultivation.
• 33:51
  God will stop us in order to cut away those things that will harm
• 33:55
  us. Jesus described this as pruning.
• 33:58
  He's pruning us, and so he'll cut away those things that'll
• 34:02
  harm us and those and and even harm those that we're serving,
• 34:06
  ministering to. And it's been said by Warren
• 34:09
  Weirsby, he said this, that God is far more interested in our
• 34:13
  character than in Our Calling in our He's more concerned with the
• 34:18
  minister than he is with the ministry.
• 34:21
  But our problem is we're more concerned with what we do and
• 34:24
  who we are and with and what we do instead of who we are.
• 34:28
  And don't forget Timothy here, the depth of his character.
• 34:31
  God's more concerned about your character than he is.
• 34:35
  Anything that you do for him, who you are is more important
• 34:39
  than what you do. So sometimes God will close the
• 34:41
  door to remind you, hey, it's not about what you do for me.
• 34:44
  It's not about what you do for me.
• 34:46
  It's about who you are for me and who you are in me, Abiding
• 34:49
  in Christ #3. Closed doors are used by God to
• 34:53
  continue our preparation, as my pastor would always say.
• 34:58
  God is always preparing us today for what he has prepared for us.
• 35:02
  And God will use closed doors for preparation.
• 35:05
  He'll stop us in order to show us that he's in control, that
• 35:09
  he's sovereign, that we've we've left him, we've wandered for
• 35:13
  him, Who knows what he's trying to do in preparing us to trust
• 35:19
  him. That is our biggest issue in
• 35:22
  life. Our biggest issue in life is
• 35:27
  faithlessness. So God will draw us to Himself
• 35:30
  #4 God will often use closed doors in our lives for our
• 35:35
  protection, protecting us from something God can see far up
• 35:42
  ahead. He's all knowing and he always
• 35:45
  has the big picture in mind. And God will intervene in this
• 35:49
  CLO with a closed door to help protect us and guard us.
• 35:54
  And we say protect us and guard us from what we may never know.
• 35:59
  But sometimes God will reveal to us.
• 36:02
  I can look back on some hard closed doors like the one I
• 36:04
  shared with you and say I know I didn't belong there.
• 36:08
  It's very, very clear I didn't belong there.
• 36:11
  Had nothing to do with the location or the city and had
• 36:14
  everything to do with me and my marriage, my family and my
• 36:19
  preparation. I mean, all of these, these were
• 36:20
  all working. There's so many more.
• 36:22
  They're all working in me as I look back.
• 36:24
  Don't be frustrated. Be careful not to be frustrated
• 36:28
  or disappointed when you don't see clearly why God's ways are
• 36:32
  not your ways. His thoughts are not always your
• 36:34
  thoughts. You trust Him.
• 36:37
  We walk by faith, not by sight, not by explanations, not by
• 36:45
  having everything just completely laid out for us.
• 36:48
  Like, oh, now I know. No, we trust the Lord.
• 36:50
  And the exciting thing is, and you, you can read ahead.
• 36:53
  But the exciting thing is, is that it's only two years before
• 36:58
  Paul goes to Asia. He does go that desire was from
• 37:02
  the Lord. It was just different.
• 37:05
  And reminds me that when I hear a no from the Lord, I I like to
• 37:09
  use this phrase Not now doesn't mean not forever.
• 37:13
  It just means not now. You've got to listen to that.
• 37:18
  Does it mean not forever? We don't know.
• 37:20
  We haven't lived forever yet, but we do know.
• 37:23
  Not now. And we want to be faithful to
• 37:25
  that. Paul's going to get there in two
• 37:26
  years. We're going to study it in the
• 37:28
  Book of Acts. But right now, he needs to
• 37:31
  respond to being forbidden, and he needs to respond to not being
• 37:35
  permitted and trust the Lord, just like you and me.
• 37:39
  Amen. So, Lord, thank you for the
• 37:41
  privilege of studying these lives and learning from them in
• 37:44
  our own lives. We can even say very clearly
• 37:49
  thank you for the closed doors. As hard and as painful as
• 37:52
  they've been. You use them.
• 37:55
  You use them in our lives. You are faithful to lead us and
• 37:59
  guide us, to direct us, to provide for us, to reveal your
• 38:07
  will to us. And I know many are waiting
• 38:09
  right now. Would you reveal it?
• 38:12
  Lord, I pray for those that came and have come or have in a
• 38:17
  difficult home life right now, that you might begin to wash
• 38:21
  them, Lord, with healing and comfort for the grieving and the
• 38:26
  hurting today, God for the orphan and the widow.
• 38:31
  Lord, in our own hearts, I know this church in such a gracious,
• 38:37
  generous church. But I also know that in our
• 38:41
  church family there's many that need to take that next step.
• 38:45
  There's many that need to step into obedience, submission,
• 38:52
  doing the easy things, sacrifice.
• 38:56
  They need a reputation where they're spoken well of by the
• 38:59
  brethren that they might care about their freedoms not for
• 39:04
  themselves but for others. I pray that over our church
• 39:06
  right now, those that we might have a voice to God, that you
• 39:10
  would draw your church back to a place of self sacrifice.
• 39:14
  They draw us to a place of self denial, that you would help us
• 39:18
  overcome our emotions and and our constant thoughts of
• 39:23
  ourselves. And they get our eyes back on
• 39:26
  you, Lord, so have your way with us as we leave here today.
• 39:30
  In Jesus name, Amen. We pray that you've been
• 39:34
  encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
• 39:37
  sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
• 39:39
  Call us at 87730 Grace. That's 877-304-7223.
• 39:49
  To listen to this message in its entirety or to join us for our
• 39:52
  live stream services, visit us online at Calvary, Co dot Church
• 39:57
  or download our free Calvary Church app.
• 40:00
  Be blessed as You Worship Jesus this week.