Acts: The Lord's Work in the Gospel Mission

Well, good morning. It's so good to see. I'm glad

that you're here with us. If you have your Bible,

it's turning with me to act chapter sixteen, and we're

going to start in verse eleven in just a minute.

I Act Chapter sixteen, title my sermon this morning, the

Lord's Work in the Gospel Mission. The Lord's Work and

the Gospel Mission. I don't know about you, but many

times I have plans and I have ideas. I have

different things that I think I could see God doing.

But God's ways and his work is so much greater

than my plans or my work came in.

I shared with you a few weeks ago that there

was a story of a.

Mission team in our area from North Carolina was going

to Ukraine, and I shared a little bit with this story,

I think a few weeks ago. But they were going

to Ukraine and they do medical missions. They've done this

trip many, many, many times before. And as they were

preparing to go, there was a church in Rocksburg that

were making hmmade baby dolls and they wanted to send with.

This team some baby dolls.

So they talked to the ministry leader who's leading up

the trip and says, hey, we're gonna make a few

baby dolls. And he says that's great. That's good if

you want to do that, but you have to understand,

this is a medical mission trip. Our main objective is

to take medle school supplies, and we normally take eighteen

crates or eighteen bins of medical supplies, and we may

not have room for baby dolls, but if we have room,

we'll take some. And she says, little lady from Rocks

or Suys, so that'll be good. Well, they get ready

to go leave on the trip.

She brings three.

Trash bags full of baby dolls. They have eighteen bins

full of medical supplies, and he said to his wife,

he says, I don't know how we're going to get

these baby dolls in our carry on. So they start

packing the medical supplies. That night at eighteen again bins,

they had three bins.

Open, they got all the baby dolls in.

They get ukraine and they the part of the missions

is that they would do the medical things, and as

kids were coming, they were giving.

Those baby dolls. So it came to the last day

and I told you this story. I think a few

weeks ago.

They come to the last day, and they had thirty

seven baby dolls left, and they were praying that night

before they were going to the biggest area that had

been in all week, and they were worried because it

was the biggest city they were gonna have more than

thirty eight little girls who wanted a baby doll. And

he says, who wants to be a missionary to tell

baby that they can't have a baby doll because.

They rent out.

So he said, we prayed, and we prayed, and he said,

and as I mentioned to you, guess how many they

gave out, Well, they gave out thirty seven. There was

a little lady who was the oldest lady in the village,

and she told them when they came in that day,

if you have any baby dolls left over, I want

one because I never had a baby.

Doll like that. So they gave the little babies to

out baby dolls out. The story gets a little bit better,

and this is part of it shared with you last time.

There was a little girl in the village and she

was going blind, and they gave her one of those

baby dolls, and she held and on the baby dolls

that had the face painted, she held.

That baby doll to her face and she named it.

She named it Virginia. The mission team said, without, you know,

that's kind of strange, Virginia. That's not a Ukrainian name.

That's not heard that name before. They normally name their

children this or this and that. And so they get

back and they didn't think anything about it, come back

to church and they go to meet the ladies at

the church in Rocksbor and said that we just got

to tell you what happened, how God provided and how

we gave out to all the baby dolls.

And they said, you know, it's strange.

There's one of our team members who's not here who

helped us make all the baby dolls. And she's the

one who painted all the faces on all the baby dolls.

And we've got to make sure you come back because

she wasn't here today to tell We've got to make

sure you come back to tell a story. And they said,

by the way, what's her name?

What her name was, Virginia.

You see, God has a way of doing work that's

so much grander than anything we can plan. And as

we come to this passage of Scripture Acts chapter sixteen,

we see what God's work is in the Gospel mission.

Many times we have plans, we have ideas of things

that we want to see happen as we live on mission.

But God's work is so much greater than our work.

And so just a reminder as we start. We've been

preaching through the Book of Acts for a while. What

is the mission with the mission that Paul was living

out and he was practicing as we come to Act

chapter sixteen, was the mission.

Of taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

The Bible says in Acts one eight.

But you'll receive power when the Holy spirits come upon you,

and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea

and the Samria and to the ends of the earth.

That's the mission. That was a mission for the early Church.

That's a mission for us today as a church. But

that's the God's called us to take the Gospel to

our community beth Asda, to Durham, to North Carolina and

to the ends of the earth.

And as we live out that mission, as.

We're working to fulfill that mission, God is at work.

And this morning I want us to see.

As we're sent out to fulfill this Gospel mission, what

is the work. What is the Lord's work in the mission.

Let's stand together and let's read God's word together. It's

Acts Chapter sixteen. Read just a few verses here, starting

a verse eleven. So, settingself from Tchoas, we made a

direct vergence at Semetras following day to Minneapolis, and from

there to Philippi, which was the leading city of the

district of Macedonia, a Roman colony. We remained in this

city some days, and on the Sabbath day we went

outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there

was a place of prayer, and we sat down and

spoke to the women who had gathered together. And one

who had heard us was a woman named Lydia from

the city of Thyra Tyra, a seller of purple goods,

who was a worshiper of God. And the Lord opened

her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul,

and after she was baptized her household as well. She

urged us, saying, if you had judged me to be

faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.

And she prevailed among us upon us. Let's pray together, Lord.

We thank you Lord today that God you're at the work. Lord,

your work.

Today, and but you're to work today in our lives.

You're to work to lay accomplishing your mission.

And today, Lord, I pray that we would see Lord,

how you're at work, how you are at work in

the life of Paul, and Lord, how you want to

be at work in our life as we continue to

live on mission.

So Lord, use your word today. Lord.

We've come gathered as a body of believers. Lord, and

that's not to hear my words, it's to hear your words. Say, Lord,

I pray today the Lord that you would feel me,

that you would give me your words to say. And Lord,

I would my words and this message will be pleasing

to you.

God.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of

my heart be pleasing you God today. And so Lord, Lord,

may you use this service, Lord to speak to our

hearts as we Lord surrender to your word. So move today, Father,

we pray in our hearts and the hearts of our

church and the life.

Of our church. Lord, we love you.

We thank you, Lord for the privilege we get to

be in your place.

To worship you. In your name. We pray you may

be seated. So what is the Lord's work?

In the Gospel mission. The Lord's work in the Gospel

mission is first, the Lord opens the door for the Gospel.

Where does the Lord's work in the Gospel mission? First

the Lord opens the doors for the Gospel. As as

we've been reading through Acts chapter sixteen and working through Acts,

we've been looking at Paul and he's on his second

missionary journey. And last week we looked at that beginning

of that second missionary journey, how he went back and

visited all the places he went first on his first missionary.

Journey in the area of Galatia.

And after he left Glacia, we saw last week that

as he's going to Glacier, he went.

Through to Asia.

Now I want you to look back with me, going

back with me to Act Sceptter sixteen, verse six. I

want you to see what we saw last week, and

just a reminder, and the Bible says, and when they

went through the region of Phrygia and Glacia, having been

forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak a word in Asia,

and when they came to Missia, they attempted to go

to Bathenia, but the Spirit of Jesus.

Did not allow them.

So here Paul is and he's on his first missionary journeys.

He's finished his first missionary journey. He starting the second

missionary journey. He goes and sees all the churches he

visited first in Glacia, and then he goes to a

new area, a new area. What Scripture tells us is Asia,

and the Bible says that Paul wants to share the gospel.

That has been what he's done on all his mission

trips and all his missionary journey, the first missionary journey.

Every time he went to a new area, went to

a new city, he began sharing the gospel.

So here Paul is. He starts the second missionary journey.

He goes to a new area called Asia, and the

Bible says last week that the Holy Spirit forbid Paul.

To speak, stops him, won't let him speak.

Scripture says he travels the first part of Asia was Phrygia,

and that's the first part we see in that passage.

The second part is Missia, goes to Missia.

So kind of gets halfway through Asia and says, Okay,

the Lord won't let me speak here, Well, maybe I

should go to Bithenia, which was east, if you will,

where he was go to this new region and maybe

the Lord allow me to do a mission work there.

And the Bible says Jesus forbid him to go to

that area. So he travels all the way to Truest,

which is the end of Asia, and there he's in

this port city and that night, as we saw last week,

he sees a vision. He sees the vision of a

Macedonian man calling to him to come. And Paul gets

up from that vision and gets up from wakes up

from that dream, and he knows and he declares, God

is calling me to Macedonia. See here Paul is and

he's he's following this what he believes God's leading him

to go.

But he sees just God forbidding.

Him to.

Speak in Asia. But it really is Paul's desire. I

think it's very clear for us.

Paul wanted to share the gospel, but the spirit wouldn't

let him want to go to Athenia.

God wouldn't let him.

Comes to this passage of scripture this morning, so he

feels like God's calling into Macedonia. It comes into Macedonia

and we see as a passage just first begins in

verse sixteen. It kind of shows us I mean verse eleven,

it shows us kind of the path. They were port

city of Troas, and they leave there and it goes

to Semite. Semtrace is a little island in between troe

Ass and the police, which is the which is a

port city of Philippi. So they go through that area.

They get to the port city of Philippi. The Paulis

the Bible says in verse twelve, they get into Philippi.

Philippi is this is a Roman colony. It's it's one

of the Scripture describes it here in this passage as

a leading city when it's not the capital city of Macedonia,

but it's it is seen as one of the greater

cities in the district of Macedonia.

That pauls in this is the city that's very wealthy.

It's it's an area or a city that was rich

for copper, for silver, and gold. It's also a city

that was known for many worship of many different false

gods and also worship to the Emperor of Rome. We

also know it's a city, though scripture tells us that

it's a city that doesn't have a synagod. So if

you remember as you walk through the first missionary journey.

Paul kind of has a I guess he has a plan.

He's kind of have a statterned protocol that he follows

on his missionary journeys. And what that is is when

he goes into a city, he finds what the local

syna God is, and the first place he preaches or

shared the Gospel is with the Jews. And this is

something we've seen even in Romans. Romans chapter one, Paul says,

for I am not ashamed of the Gospels. First the

power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

First, the jew first, and to the Greek. And that

was kind of Paul's.

Method, if you will, it's kind of his protocol. I

go into a city, I get into the city, I

find out what a sen of God is. I go

to the send of Good and I share the God

first with the Jews, after the Jews. Here did I

take it to the Gospels to the Gentiles. So here

Paul is And it just seems like everything that Paul

wants to do.

On this second missionary journey it's just not working out.

But Lord, I go into Asia and I really feel

like I called I felt lad this share the Gospel

in Asia, and the Holy Spirit won't let me do it.

I go to halfway through and I want to go.

Buy Athenian, and Jesus she formid me to go in

that city. And now I come to in the place

where I feel you, where you called me to go.

And I get into the city Philippi, this massive Roman

colity that's just needs of the Gospel everywhere, of all

the faults teaching.

And I look for first the first place I need

to go to a synagogue, and there's not even a

synagogue there.

And you kind of sense that Paul was saying, you

know what, Lord, I don't know what you're doing here.

I know you called me here, but this just is

not working out. The Bible says in this passage scripture,

go with me. I'm back to the verses in verse

twelve from there to Philippi and the end of verse twelve.

As we remained in the city some days. In verse thirteen,

on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to

the river side. So it's understood that in order to

have a synagod in a city, you had to have

at least ten Jewish men to have I guess a

need for a Synagod.

So we understand here in this.

Little city of Philippi, there's very little Jews, and not

even ten men ten Jews in the city that would

justify a syene good. So as a result, the few

people who worship the God of Israel would go outside

on the river and they would worship there by the

river side.

And Paul, here's that.

Paul says, you know what, Synagod is not there, but

I hear there's people worshiping by the river.

And so that morning Scripture.

Tells us that they leave the city, which probably about

a mile or two. They walked outside the city to

where these people were worshiping. And you can imagine, like

I said, paulish just saying, Lord, this doesn't make sense.

What are you doing here? God?

You wouldn't let me speak in Asia, you wouldn't let

me go to Bythenia. You come into Macedonia. It's not

even a send of God here. It's just a few people.

It's just a little small people, a small group of

people by the river.

But God, I guess if that's what you want me

to do, I'll go.

And he goes and listen to what the Bible says. Look,

what it says here in verse thirteen. And on the

Sabbath day that went outside the gate to the river side,

listened to this where we suppose that there was a

place of prayer. And we sat down and spoke to

the women who gathered together, And one who heard us

was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyrah Tyra.

Paul gets, now, you can't imagine he's a little discouraged

or I just don't know what you're doing. He goes

that little riverside and they've been sharing the gospel, sharing

the gospel. And there's a lady named there, and her

name is what Lydia? And where is she from Thyrah Tyra?

You know where Tyra is Asia? Where where did Paul

want to share the gospel at Asia? Where did God

forbid him to speak in Asia? Now, God leaves Paul

all the way to Macedonia there by the riverside, and

there was a lady there who Paul was desperately wanting

to share the gospel with Asian people. And there was

a lady that God had led from Thyrah Tyra to

go to Philippi instead of her business there. And in

that place there by the riverside. She heard the good

news of Jesus. You see, Paul's plan was to go

to Asia to do this. But God's plan was so

much greater than Paul's. You see what is God's work

in the gospel mission? The Lord opens.

The doors for the Gospel. I think it so many times.

We have our plans, We think, Lord, this is has

how it has to work, this.

Is what we should do.

In God's plan is so much greater than our plan.

I think of a trip just a few years ago.

We were going to our first trip as a church

to an unreached people group. Unreached people group is a

is a group of people who have little to.

No access to the Gospel.

That means that there's no churches in their areas, there's

no Bibles, there's no Christians in the area. There may

not even be Christians among that people group. And we

were going to this area of this is our first

trip as a church to an underreached people group. And

this is a closed country. This country, it's illegal to

have missionaries, and so it was not legal for I

guess it was very difficult. It's closed for us to go,

and so we had to go on basis on doing

tourism with the hopes that while we did tourism, that

we make and share the gospel. But we were given

some strict orders as we win that we could not

we could not take our bibles, we couldn't take gospel tracks,

and we had to be very careful with what we

said about the gospel, that we could only share the

gospel if someone.

Asked us about our faith.

If they asked us, then we could be open. And

I remember I had took there were three of us

from Bethesden, and I remember talking to the other guys

who were going with me and they kept saying, well,

Pastor Owner, stand, I mean, we're going to go to

a closed country. There's unreached people group who've never heard

the gospel, who don't have access to the gospel, and

you're telling us we're going to go there, but we

can't take our bibles, we can't take our gospel track.

If we may not be able to share the gospel

with them, it don't makes sense. And I said, listen,

it doesn't make sense to me either. I just believe

God called us to go, and if we go, God

will open up doors opportunity. We just need to be

faithful and go. This one was a mechanic, And he says,

I just I don't see it. I don't know how

God's going to ask us to do what God's going

to ask for us to do there, how it's going

to work out. We get we get there, We.

Start sharing and we start visiting with folks.

And one night we we were in a home of

a Muslim. We ate supper at his home and got

to have some conversation with him, not much gospel conversation,

but we got to build kind of build relationship.

We left his house and it was dark.

We were going up through a valet and mosque was

just getting out, and it was very uncomfortable, to be

honest with you. We got to our vehicle. We all

kind of felt a little uncomfortable just for a few

things that happened. And we get into our vehicle and

no joke, our car breaks down. We can't it's dark,

we don't know what we're in the middle. It's just

a very uncomfortable environment and we can't get our car

to start again. The guy who was struggling with go

was what was his occupation?

His mechanic.

He starts evaluating the vehicle with no kidd and we

got tools from people in the neighborhood.

Just it was amazing. Within five minutes he had the

car running and we were out of there. Come to

find out.

We get to the next stop and we realized that

he had blown the head on the motor and the

motor would need to be rebuilt and they would need

to put new heads on the motor. And so we

get to the main city. I'm not joking. We get

to the main city and the mechanics in that area

were amazed that the missionary, the team member mine, had

the ability to do what he did, so that I

asked him, why don't you come and visit the shop

as we're rebuilding this motor.

We would like for you to see what we do.

As he goes over and he visits from the mechanic

and he has this necklace on. It's a gospel.

It's a necklace in order to share the gospel, and

the mechanic says, hey, tell me about that necklace.

And there in the shop of.

A mechanic he's able to share Jesus with him. Can

I tell you our plans? You say, God, I don't

know what you're doing. God has a way of opening

doors for the gospel. God opened the door of the gospel.

For Paul to share with Lydia from Asia. And God

has the way in.

His work, has the ability opens up the doors for the.

Gospel for you to share.

Won't you see what else in this by the way

Proverbs isn't this goes so well with what Proverbs three

five and six says to us.

Listen to this. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Do not lean on your what own understanding, all in

all your ways, acknowledge Him and He'll.

Make straight your past. As we live on mission, as.

We seek to live on mission, understand it's the Lord

who opens the doors for the gospel. Secondly, it's the

Lord who opens up the hearts for the gospel. You know,

as we look at this passage of scripture, paus on

this second missionary journey, he begins, He begins this second

missionary journey, Luke. As he begins giving this description, he

actually starts giving descriptions over the next few this next

chapter he gives descriptions of some individual conversions. So there's

three of them, and we see the conversion of Lydia,

a wealthy woman. We see conversion of a slave girl,

and then we see lastly the conversion of a jailer. Says,

we look at the conversions of Lydia. I want you

to understand a few things about Lydia. Who is Lydia?

One scripture tells us she was a woman of work.

The Bible tells describes her as a seller of dies,

purple dyes. This is an occupation that was a very

big occupation from the city of Thyrah Tyros, who it's

understood she learned her trade from her hometown and she

took that trade to Philip I to set up a

business there to sell these goods. That the word the

air comes from the name which they would use to

make the purple dye from a shellfish or maybe even

from a.

Plant called a matter plant. So she was a woman

of work.

She was also a woman of wealth purple goods, and

at this time in the New Testament, was was something

that was for the wealthy.

It was for those what scripture describes those who had

fine clothes, for those who were wealthy.

So this was something of us for people are of

a certain financial status that would only be able to

afford this. So she as a result would benefit from that.

She was a woman of work, but she was a

woman of wealth. Well, so no, she's wealthy because later

on in the passage she opens up her home to

Paul Silence and the other companions and have a home

that big would mean that she would have wealth. She

was a woman of work, she's a woman of wealth.

She's a woman of worship. Scripture describes, if you look

at this passage scripture in verse fourteen, as a seller

of proper good who was a worshiper of God. The

word worshiper for God is used commonly in scripture of

someone who was a former polytheis meaning that they worshiped

many gods to someone who worshiped only one God, the

true God, and that the God of Israel. It means

that she's never converted to Judaism.

She's just a worshiper, a god fearer.

We also saw this and other passage of scripture in

the Corneus's house was a Corneus was a.

God fewer, So it means that she sought God, but

she's not.

Converted to Judaism. She's looking for God. She's a seeker.

If you will, here's a woman who has wealth. This

woman has a good occupation. This a woman who is

seeking to worship God. It's interesting to come to this

passage scripture. We see the writer use the pronoun we.

It's interesting that we have these three we sections in

the New Testament. It is under stood that in tro asked,

Luke would have joined.

Luke's the writer of acts.

So he's describing firsthand accounts of him involving in the mission.

But the Bible says, if you look at Luke's description,

the Bible says, in verse thirteen, on saburthday, we went

outside the gate to the riverside, where we suppose there

was a place of prayer, and we sat down and

spoke to the woman to women who had come together.

The word spoke there means this personal conversation. It's not preaching.

But look at what happens as they have a conversation

with her. Look what happens in fourteen and the Lord

opened her heart to pay attention to what was said

by Paul. You see, Paul gets on this trip and

he goes and there he meets a lady from Asia,

and he was longing that God would allow him to

speak in Asia.

And now God opened the door.

For him to speak to a lady from Asia. The

Bible said, he speaks, he doesn't preach, he doesn't give

some clear maybe there's not a three point sermon here.

With the invitation, he nearly speaks to her.

And the Bible says God opened her heart. You think

about it for a minute. There's no preaching, there was

no church service, there was no songs. It wasn't an invitation.

They just simply spoke about Jesus in conversation and God

opened her heart.

You know, I don't know if you remember.

This summer, we had a team, a mission team that

went to Wahawk in Mexico, and they were doing door

to door evangelism, sharing the gospel, going door to door.

My wife was in a group. I wasn't with her.

She was with another team. And as they got to

the door, there was a lady there and she had

she had her own little business, and and Brandy decided

she want him to be the one that shared the

gospel with her. And she came back to me, and

I'll never forget what Brandy says. She said, Jonathan, I'm

so glad that you weren't there. And I said why

She said, because I messed it all up. I chared

the share of the Gospel, and I was sharing this

and I was sharing all this stuff and nothing made sense.

And I thought there's no way that God was going

to be working and what I was saying. Yet God

worked in Gloria's life, and Gloria, the lady that Brandy's

shared with.

Sought Jesus that day.

You see, listen to hear me today we what is

the Lord's work in the gospel mission. The Lord's work

is he opens the doors, but also the Lord's working

that he opens up the hearts. What is the greatest

reason at times that we don't share the gospel? As

we say, Pastor, I don't know what to say. Yes, Pastor,

I know I should be living on mission. I know

I should be taking the Gospel to but that's the

the Durham to North Carolina, to the ends of the earth.

But Pastor, I don't know what to say.

I don't know how to share. I don't know how

to preach. I don't know a clear gospel presentation. But

I want you to understand, as we come this passage

of scripture this morning, it's not the gospel presentation that saves.

It's not the preaching that saves. It's not the invitation

song that says saves. It's God who opens the heart.

You understand this morning. God doesn't need you. He doesn't

need your skills, your presentation, your preaching style. He needs

you to say, God, I will go and I will share,

and I'll trust that God, you are the one who opens.

Up the hearts.

Here, God opens her heart. It wasn't anything Paul did

or said, or his elaborate sermon. It's God who opens

up the doors of the heart. Do you think about

your life, When was it that God opened up your heart.

I don't know about you, but I remember I was

a fourteen year old boy on a Wednesday night church service.

I have no idea who even spoke, and I have

no idea what he was even said. I just know

God opened my heart that day.

How about you?

I bet many of you you may not know who

was speaking. You may not know the sermon, you may

not know this song.

All you know is that God opened your heart.

What is God's work in the gospel mission? God opens

up the doors and God opens up the hearts. Lastly,

as we finished this morning, I want you to just

think about what is our response to the Lord's work.

Knowing that God opens the doors, knowing that God opens

up the hearts, what is our response. First, we must

faithfully seek opportunities to share the gospel. The Bible tells

us that Paul and his companions Luke and Silas and Timothy,

they sought the place of prayer. You know, it was

not according to protocols, not their standard method method, but

they sought an opportunity to share, and they shared about Jesus.

You know, the Bible says in Matthew twenty eight eighteen,

Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven

on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Was our response.

We must faithfully seek opportunities.

You know why many times we don't see the Lord

do the Lord's work.

Because many times we're not going, we're not seeking, we're

not being obedient. I tell you, the Lord wants to

do marvelous thing in your sight.

Will usually be faithful to say, so, here's what we

want to do.

Sometimes we'll say, God, I'll do the work, and I'll

just sit and wait for you to open up the door. No,

God will open up the door, but you got to

first take the first step and go. You understand you say, Lord,

I'll seek for opportunities and I'll let you open up

the doors.

Amen, And I've courage you this week.

Would you just pray a prayer today, Lord, as I

go through my week. This week, Lord, I'm going to

look for opportunities to hear the gospel. God, would you

open up the doors as I go, as I look,

as I search for opportunities, just at Paul search for

the people at the riverside. Will you search for people

who are looking for Jesus. Secondly, we must faithfully respond

to his calling to the gospel. We must faithfully respond

to his calling to the gospel. You think about Lydia.

She had wealth, and she had work, she had work worship.

There something missing, what was missing in Lydia's life. There

was a void in.

Lydia's heart and that void was Jesus.

And that day by the riverside God opened up her heart.

I wonder if you're here today. You've come here, you're

seeking the Lord. You've come be a part of this service.

Even in person or watching online or TV. You're seeking

the Lord. And you may have a job. You may

have a good job, you may have material things, you

may have good health, you may have a lot of

things in your life that are going well. But there's

something missing. And what's missing in your life is Jesus

is the Lord today opening your heart. I think about

this story, and I think about another story in the Bible, Zachias.

You remember Zachias. Zachius was chief.

Tax collector, he had money, he had work at all things.

Where's something missing in Jachiah's life and it was Jesus.

That day as Jesus was passing by, he sought to

see Jesus climbed up into sycamore tree, as you know

the story, and Jesus what sought Zacheus Today, Zacheus, I

will be eat in your house today. And they end

of that passage, I think is a very telling passage scripture.

The Bible says in Luke nineteen nine and ten, Jesus

said to him, today's salvation has come to this house,

since he also is a son of Abraham, for the

son of Man came to seek and save the lost.

You know, I really believe this to day. Jesus is

seeking some today in this room. Jesus is seeking to.

Save some today in this service, God is opening your heart.

Would you faithfully respond to God's calling him your heart today?

Will you surrender your.

Life to Jesus Today's day the salvation. Would you receive.

Him who asked the band to make their way forward?

What does the Lord's work in the gospel mission? The

Lord opens the doors of the gospel. The Lord opens

the heart of the gospel. And what should our response be?

We should faithfully seek opportunities and we should faithfully respond

to the gospel. I heard a story as they are

making their way up of a lady named Jill. Jill

lived in England. Her husband was a pastor and they

were working at a Bible school. One day, Stuart left

early and left Jill with the car and she was

going to come in later, but he by chance took

the keys with him. She was looking all over the

house for the keys and couldn't find them. A few

hours later, she ended up borrowing a car from a

friend and she headed her way.

To the conference. As she was making her way.

To the conference, she noticed there were three young girls

there in England that were hitchhiking.

Something.

By chance, that day she felt led that she should

pick them up. As they began sharing with them, she

realized that the girls were from Germany.

They're German. She said, you know, it's strange.

I'm going to a conference for Jewish, I mean for

Christian Germans, for those just like you. Why don't you

come and go to the conference? And she begged them

and they kind of back and forth. Wasn't sure, and

they finally decide they would go. They get to the

conference and they're hearing the gospel message and one of

those three girls prayed to her see Jesus. Jill says

that one of the girls would later tell her that

she was studying. She came to England to study theology,

and she got to where she had struggled intellectually.

Worth worshiping God.

She got so confused as she got to where she

doubted so much. She ultimately gave God an ultimatum. God,

if you don't show yourself real.

I'm done.

I'm going to stop school. I'm going to stop seeking you.

And she actually told the Lord. And because there's nothing

to live.

For, that'll be it.

That day that girl got saved.

And it was the last day of the third month.

You see. God is the God who opens up doors.

It is God is the God who opens up hearts.

May we be like Jill to look for opportunities to

share the gospel.

And as God is calling us, maybe we are the

jeal today and God, you're seeking the Lord and today

the Lord's opening your heart.

Would you today be the day? Just say God, I

need you today. I want a relationship with you today. Jesus, Lord,

you or what's missing in me? Would you pray with me? Lord?

We love you.

We thank you Lord for this morning. I thank you

God that you know us. Your word tells us you

know our frame. Our ways are not hidden from you God.

God.

I pray that Lord, we would trust that as we

live on.

Mission, God you will open the doors. God.

May we trust as we live on mission that God

you will open the heart. So God, may we be missionaries.

May we be people who are sent who look for

opportunities to share the gospel. So help us live on mission. Lord,

help us go.

Father.

But Lord, I pray today that there'd be those today

that God, just like Jill, just like Lydia, just like

zach chis God. Today you're seeking some who are lost.

You're seeking some that have never put their faith in

you for salvation. And I pray the day it would

be the day that would be those who are write

and the sound of my voice, whether in the sanctuary

or watching on TV online today, there'd be those today

that will put their faith in you for salvation. Who

would admit that their sinner, they have sent it against You,

a holy God. They would believe today that You died

on the cross for their sense. And to be those

today that would confess you as Lord Savior, confess they

need you today to save them, to forgive them, say

the Lord. I pray they'd be those today that would

put their faith in you for salvation. Lord. I pray

you'd lead those who respond to your call God today

or we love you, We thank you Lord for your word.

We thank you Lord for your work.

Lord.

May you work now, Lord, in this invitation, I pray

they are those who need this, come to this altar

them and pray. I pray Lord, you'd lead those to

respond by coming and praying for opportunities to share the

gospel or maybe a loved one, a family member or

co worker, or I pray there'd be those who come

and pray over opportunities.

Lord, I pray that if I could pray.

For someone about how maybe today they put their faith

in you for salvation.

Lord, I pray you lead them to come. Lord, however

you lead us now.

Lord, I pray this is moment God, we respond to

your calling on us today or we love you and

your name.

We pray am

Jesus