Going Through God's Open Door - Pastor Sandra Roach

Welcome to the Summit Church Podcast.

Thank you for joining us as we share weekly sermons and teachings from Summit Church in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Our prayer is that today's message encourages your faith and helps you grow in your relationship with Jesus.

Check out our website at summitchurchtn.com.

Thanks for listening, and we pray this message encourages you today.

Are you glad to be in the house of the Lord today?

Glory to God.

So today is the third, and I'm not sure if it's the final because I'm not big on series, but the Lord told me he wanted me to preach a series.

I said, okay.

But I give you permission to change your mind if you want to.

And so this is the third part, and we are being prepared.

If you are a guest here today, you've never been here before, or you come here on vacation.

We have some regulars who come here on vacation all the time.

Or if you're part of our family, we have a word from the Lord.

And so today we're going to talk about going through God's open door.

And I want to pray.

Heavenly Father.

And you always have loved us.

And you will always love us.

And we are living in a time where you are changing things in us to prepare us for the days ahead.

And we want to say thank you for that, Lord.

We want to say thank you for the plans and purposes you have for your sons and daughters.

And may I preach this word the way you gave this word, bringing only you the glory.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

So I'm going to start out by reading 1 Corinthians 16, 9, and then we'll jump down to 13 and 14.

And it says, there is a wide open door for a great work here.

Although many oppose me, be on guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong, and do everything with love.

What a word for the church today.

This passage closes the first letter of the Apostle Paul to the Church of Corinthians.

And nestled in the in the closing remarks, he says, There's a wide open door for a great work here.

As I read the ninth verse, the Holy Spirit began to stir in me to pray for the door he was opening here.

We've entered a new season, church.

Now I'm not just preaching to our people, I'm preaching to those who are visiting today.

We have entered a new season.

And God is moving in our hearts to prepare us to say yes to his open door.

Now, people get fearful when you say season.

Season is abused and overused in the church.

Usually how I hear season is this way.

Pastor, I love you, but my season here is over.

Well, thank you for nothing.

No, I don't say that.

I think it.

I don't say it.

But it usually comes right after an offense.

So when you use the word season, people that are involved in church always go, no, Pastor, don't talk about it, don't use that word.

But I'm talking about a real season in God.

I'm talking about when God is doing something fresh and new and glorious in his church and through his church.

Are you ready?

Hallelujah.

So last Sunday we spoke about the power of our guests.

Today, he wants to prepare us for the days ahead.

And I want to say this God has been moving in our hearts to bring about restoration.

Do you realize that?

When I start naming off these things, you're going to find yourself in this.

God is in the work right now in the church.

Those who love him, those who know him and love him, God is doing a work of restoration, restoring relationships.

Oh, come on.

Healing emotional wounds from the past and bringing his peace.

Glory to God.

Deepening our faith and trust in the Lord.

And restoring a hunger for prayer in the church.

Thursday night in prayer.

He told us that our prayer meetings were guiding us, we're taking us into what God has for us.

Our prayer meetings are.

Prayer has become so precious, and we're hearing from God.

And we're not just sitting around talking about nothing.

And we're hearing from God and we're praying His will on earth as it is in heaven.

Holy Spirit is moving at Summit Church to prepare us for the door He is opening.

Hallelujah.

Praise the name of the Lord.

So my question to those of you that call Summit your church, are you willing to say yes?

Praise the Lord.

Oh, when I talk to the church, beloved, I'm talking to you.

When I talk with the people here at Summit and those outside our church, whether they know it or not, God is moving in your hearts.

Something is changing, and He is preparing you for the next move of God.

He's preparing you.

Some of you know that.

Some of you are being awakened to it today, but we say, praise the Lord either way.

There are people who visit here every week.

I am so thankful that we have people that visit here every week and we get to speak into your lives because you're here.

And they'll come down.

Many will come down and talk to me after church, and they say these words.

See, they're already experiencing what God is doing.

And God has brought you here today because He has you at a door that's getting ready to open, and it will be Him opening it, and you've got to choose whether you're going to go through or not.

Amen.

So He's just listen, it may be two hours from now.

It may be two weeks or a month or a year, I don't know.

But God is preparing you.

Your yes will usher you into what God has for you in these days.

Amen.

Can somebody say amen with me?

Hallelujah.

Revelation 4 and verse 8 says, I know all the things you do.

I have an open door for you that no one can close.

You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me.

You see, Jesus was speaking to the church in Philadelphia, and commentaries will tell you that Philadelphia was sort of a small church, and they had been faithful.

They had been faithful to the name of the Lord.

They refused to deny him or his word.

They had a little strength.

But God's saying to those who you may feel like you have a little strength.

You may feel like that you're not where you felt like you would be before God chose to take you through to the next place in Him.

But beloved, I want you to know it is not measured by what you think or what your family thinks or what the world thinks or even what people you go to church with.

Beloved, it is measured by the one who knows you.

And he is moving in you.

Next year, about this time, you're gonna say, look what the Lord has done.

Hallelujah.

Praise the name of the Lord.

Oh, thank you, Lord.

So, what is this open door?

I believe for us, it has everything to do with the word the Lord spoke to us a few weeks ago on Wednesday morning prayer.

And I've talked to you all about it, but I want to remind you that the Lord came in our Wednesday morning prayer that we have been having for 21, 22 years in this house.

People coming together to pray and to seek the Lord for his will and what he wants to do here.

And he made these statements.

Summit church is a place of his presence, a habitation for God, a place of encounter.

Summit church is marked by God as a place of transformation leading to transfiguration.

Hallelujah.

And this is the scripture they gave that He gave us that I am praying continually, and as I'm praying continually, God is moving us into clarity, and we're seeing what God is doing more and more.

Listen to this scripture.

It's in 2 Corinthians 3 in verse 18.

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord.

And the Lord, who is the Spirit, makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.

What an invitation! We're changed into His image, not the pastor's image, not other Christians' image, but changed into the very image of Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Oh, hallelujah! What a glorious invitation! And you may be thinking, well, well, Pastor, that promise is for all the church.

You're right.

That promise is for all the church, but beloved, I want to say this to you.

Very few are receiving the invitation to live in the light of his glory, to be changed from glory to glory, to allow transformation to happen, which will lead to transfiguration.

That when you walk in a room, something changes.

Oh, come on.

Darkness cannot hide when his light comes into a room.

Oh, hallelujah.

Glory to God.

See, we've been busy trying to grow the church with man's best ideas, strategies, and blueprints to amass numbers.

It's true.

We love photo ops, influencers, who have a presence on social media.

But you see, monuments are being built to man.

Everywhere.

Monuments are being built to man or to woman, whoever, instead of a dwelling place for God's glory.

Oh, come on.

Listen, shake it off, people.

Shake it off.

Come on.

Oh, glory to God.

Shake it off.

Shake off what religion and what the world has tried to put on us.

We feel like we measure up.

You know, now it's real popular to talk.

You know, we got something going on all the time.

Now it's real popular to talk about, you know, the COVID scam and Fauci and all that kind of stuff.

Well, I want to tell you something.

The church bought it hook, line, and seeker.

We like to blame people.

And it just shows us where we were.

Now we were out for about a month, and we we came back because the Lord said, You want that spirit to lift off of this nation?

Church got to get back.

I'm not bragging on us.

We should have never stopped.

However, he got a hold of Pastor and said, get back to the church.

We had people in this house.

Come on.

We had people in this house, and they'd show up and say, Pastor, I know I come on Sunday morning and preach it.

Do you know how awful it is to preach to an empty room?

Everybody needs an amen here and there.

I want to see, I want to look into your face, and I want to see that God is moving in you like he did in me when he gave me the word.

And so he shut that down.

People started coming in, and we said, you know what, this is ridiculous.

We're gonna have church.

If we get in trouble, we just get in trouble.

We've been in trouble before.

Come on, church.

We've been in trouble before and we'll be in trouble again.

But we're either the church of a living God or we're not.

We're either his or we're not.

I do not want to look like the world.

I am not here to amass the crowd.

I am here to build, build a dwelling place for God's glory to come.

And then this nation, this city, this county will be transformed by the very power of Almighty God.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

What's wrong with her?

She is standing up here with the Holy Ghost.

She is standing up here with Jesus saying, remember to tell them this.

You know why I have notes?

I have notes because I don't want you to miss one thing he said.

Come on.

Hallelujah.

You see, I'm not talking about all churches.

I'm talking about the church that has become addicted to fame, followings, and finances.

Now let me put the brakes on here a minute.

Because you're gonna say, oh, we've got a pastor who preaches.

You don't have to give, you don't have to tie.

That's not what I'm preaching.

I am preaching that there are places that are amassing wealth.

Wealth.

And hurting people are still hurting.

Come on, church.

If if a pastor can't tell the truth, I'm not naming names because I don't know any names.

I couldn't remember them if I had to.

That's another thing.

Okay, let's go ahead and kick over that sacred cow since we're going in that direction, Lord.

Yes, Lord.

Nothing drives me crazier than people who make a platform on YouTube or Facebook or all those other little things that you are addicted to and you all the time, than to constantly berate the church and people who have had a following, had a falling, that had a following, they've had a falling, and instead of us praying, oh Lord, we ought to be calling, we ought to be calling more prayer meetings for the people, the warriors who have fallen.

Let me tell you something, they didn't start out that way.

I want you to hear me say that they didn't start out that way.

But the enemy seduced them into other things that were strongholds in their life.

They thought they had given it up.

But, beloved, when you take your eyes off Jesus, you will put your eyes on something else.

Hallelujah.

But instead of, I'm not a critique.

I don't build the platform of being negative and critiquing people.

I don't.

I just get in my prayer closet and start praying for people.

I just start praying, Lord, be glorified in the in the church.

Lord, change this nation, change the world through the power and the glory of yourself in the church of the living God.

That was his intention.

That was his first intention in the church that we would, who were created in his image when he bought us back.

We were out here.

We were out here in sin and did not know our Father.

And we lived by religion.

But in the fullness of time, Jesus came.

And he came and he won us back.

Oh, hallelujah.

I don't know about you, but I'm so thankful.

I'm so thankful for salvation.

I'm so thankful for the blood of Jesus.

And then the glorious thing happened.

After he took every sin we would have past, present, and future.

And he nailed it to the cross.

Then he sent his Holy Spirit to indwell in us so that we could be like him.

He said, He said in John, greater things than these shall you do because I go to the Father.

And whatever you ask the Father in my name, I will do it for you.

Whatever you ask the Father in my name, hear me say this.

Listen, some of you are afraid to ask because you think he won't.

He said, Go ahead and ask, sons and daughters, because whatever you ask in my name, I'll do it for you.

Oh, hallelujah.

But I won't do it to make you famous.

I'll do it to draw men and women, boys and girls, to Jesus.

Oh, hallelujah.

I'm feeling his presence here today.

He loves it when we love on him, okay?

So without his presence, beloved, true transformation will never come.

We have to, we have to be a house of his presence.

You see, in our worship today, I was beside myself in worship.

I sought the Lord, and he answered.

Whoa.

The Lord said, That's what I'm doing today, you know.

There are people here you don't even know about who sought the Lord.

And I'm answering them.

Glory to God.

Hallelujah.

So how do we recognize an open door from God?

Number one, it's through answered prayer.

Oh, hallelujah.

When we seek the Lord and He speaks, do you all really believe He's a speaking God?

Oh, hallelujah.

Beloved, it is so beyond anything we could do on our own.

So beyond.

Anything we could do on our own.

We can do our own best shot at it.

We can plan strategy.

But when God is up to something in your life, He will begin to speak to you.

And He'll start out with this.

And then He'll tell when He knows you're listening, then He'll take you here.

Oh my goodness.

I want to tell you, I can't tell you details, but I can tell you this.

I've been seeking the Lord about something.

No, thank you, Lord.

I've been seeking the Lord about two things.

Y'all know I told you I had three things a few weeks ago, three things.

I've been seeking the Lord for a long time.

Well, He's answered two.

Hallelujah.

Two.

He's answered two.

Come on.

And I was, you know what I had to get out of the way?

That I believed he wouldn't and didn't know it.

Come on.

Remember, we talked about that three weeks ago.

That that lie of the enemy that you're believing that you don't know is in there.

He covers it up with all kinds of stuff.

And then when you ask him, him being a speaking God, he will tell you, I'll tell you what you're believing.

You're believing you're a failure, and you will never be able to pray through.

You're a failure, and you will never be able to see the glory that I showed you that brought you here.

And now, now we're moving in to the glory.

Oh, hallelujah.

Come on.

Come on.

Hallelujah.

You see, and and so it happened unexpectedly.

Sitting in a conversation, and someone said, I hear the Lord saying this.

Excuse me?

Yeah, I hear the Lord saying this.

Well, how long has he been saying that to you?

For quite some time now.

And you didn't mention it to me because?

Because it wasn't time.

Oh.

Hallelujah.

Let me tell you, you may think God is not on time, but he is an on-time God.

And if you're what you've been asking for isn't here yet, it's because he is setting up.

It is more than just about you.

Oh, hallelujah.

Thank you, Lord.

Oh.

His answers come in such glorious ways.

This is the scripture the Lord has spoken.

Wait a minute.

I forgot to tell you another one.

And there was a relationship that needed to be restored, and I didn't know how much.

Some of you in here right now, God's getting ready to restore some relationships.

You don't think you need them right now.

You feel like you're just, you know, you're big, this big saint that I'm pressing in.

Okay, they, I'll just have to leave it that way, but I'm going to be the giant.

Well, let me tell you something.

God wants to restore.

Thank you.

Because restoration is going to be a mile marker for you.

When God begins to restore, you're going to see, you expect to see the next move of God.

See, God began to restore.

And then we went from glory to glory to glory.

I'm telling you, there is a wave of glory come.

Shh.

You're going to be looking around saying, I didn't think you'd be riding in on this wave of glory.

Come on.

Come on.

You know how we are.

We think we're wonderful and they're not.

They hurt us.

They deserve what they get.

Beloved, let me tell you something we don't want to talk about deserving.

We don't want to talk about we got what we deserve.

Let's not do that because Jesus paid the price that I wouldn't have to reap the harvest of what I deserve.

Well, I thank him for that.

You know, glory to God.

He loves me so much.

I'm one of his favorites.

And you are too.

Isn't that glorious?

You are too.

Hallelujah.

Glory to God.

I said that to someone one time and they said, Well, that's pretty presumptuous.

I said, Yeah.

And then he told me, You are too, and it blew my mind.

They're like, Okay.

Praise the Lord.

Hallelujah.

You see, this is the scripture.

I've been praying for two weeks now.

This is the scripture, and we're going to see it.

And you may not understand the magnitude of this scripture, but let it get down in your spirit and you will.

Listen to this, Psalms 126.

It says this.

When the Lord brought back the exiles of Jerusalem, it was like a dream.

We were filled with laughter and we sang for joy, and the other nation says, What amazing things the Lord has done for them.

Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us.

What joy! Come on.

Hallelujah.

Restore our fortunes, Lord, as streams renew the desert.

Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.

They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.

Hallelujah.

God's answers always replace tears of intercession.

Listen, I have tears of intercession that I have prayed over this church, over this county, over this nation.

And I am going to see the joy of the Lord ringing through the streets of this county.

Every family will be touched by the glory of God.

Hallelujah.

And number two, unexpected provision.

Now come on, God.

That sounds like a deal.

Unexpected provision.

I'm not promising this to you.

He said it.

Unexpected provision.

God never opens a door that he doesn't provide the necessary provision to move forward.

Come on, don't worry.

God's working.

Even if you can't see it yet, God is working.

Beloved, think back.

I want you to think back a minute to the miracles that God has done in the history of Summit Church.

When 20 some banks said no, God said yes.

And brought in the provision in an unusual and unexpected way.

Are you hearing this?

Are you hearing this?

Hallelujah.

I remember the Lord began to, you know, remembering is beautiful when it's about the Lord, isn't it?

I remember when we first got the keys.

And the Lord said, have everyone bring a stone from their home, their place where they live, their land.

Have everyone bring a stone.

Okay, Lord.

And he said, You're gonna build a stone of remembrance.

And we all brought stones, and I can tell you that night people are bringing them in, and they're saying, we got this one from a creek bed on our property.

All of these things God was saying we did, we got brought ours from here and from there, and it it meant everything to them.

And I remember our precious Holly.

Who is going to receive her miracle?

Cancer has to go in the name of Jesus.

And she did a video and she read the scripture when your children ask you, What do these stones mean?

You'll tell them about what the Lord's done.

Listen, no matter what he does, from this moment on, I have a history with him.

Y'all hear that?

I have a history, and so do you with him.

And then this one right here, number three, can never be left unheeded.

Obey the Holy Spirit's prompting.

Are you hearing me?

You know, church, when the Holy Spirit is prompting you to do something, He gives you that inner nudge.

Everybody wants an audible voice.

Have you noticed that?

Everybody wants an audible voice.

Well, I'm just waiting on God to speak to me.

I'll believe him if he speaks to me.

Well, he's trying to speak to you now.

That inner nudging that God is doing something.

He is directing you toward a specific path that he has already, already he's been preparing for the direction he's getting ready to take you.

Do you hear me?

He's already prepared it.

It's already out there.

God is ready to do great and wonderful things in you and through you.

The second thing we want to talk about is the roadblocks to stepping through an open door.

There are always roadblocks.

Do y'all know that?

The enemy loves to put up roadblocks.

Does anyone in here know what I'm talking about?

Y'all want to be more.

Yeah, I'm familiar with those roadblocks.

Okay.

The first roadblock is always fear.

But the Bible tells us that his perfect love casts out fear.

He is calling us to lean in to him and to give our fears to him and be strong and courageous.

Hallelujah.

Glory to God.

And the second roadblock is opposition or warfare.

Anybody know anything about warfare in this house?

Two people raise their hands.

Some of you have got a dream life.

Either that or you don't have any idea what I'm talking about.

So I'm going to give you an idea.

Okay.

Open doors often attract spiritual resistance.

Every time God is moving you into a new place in Him, there will always be resistance.

Always.

The enemy will do whatever it takes to keep you from moving to your next assignment.

Okay?

Watch for it.

It said, watch.

Be alert.

Be courageous.

Come on.

Be alert to the tactics of the enemy.

And so the Lord reminded me of the storms that would arise when he would get into a boat.

Or when he was walking to a boat.

Come on.

Now let's think of that boat as your ministry.

And you're on the water, and you are moving toward what God has opened up for you, and a storm starts brewing.

Listen to this.

In Mark 4, I'll start reading in verse 35.

As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, Let's cross over to the other side of the lake.

So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowd behind, although other boats followed.

But soon a fierce storm came up.

High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.

Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion.

See, the scripture is trying to tell you how comfortable Jesus was.

He was sleeping, and it said, I said, what'd you put it?

What'd you put?

And his head was on a cushion.

And it the Lord was real comfortable in any situation.

Hallelujah.

And his spirit dwells in us.

Oh, come on.

We're going somewhere now.

So the disciples woke him up, shouting, Teacher, don't you care that we're going to drown?

When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, silence, be still.

Suddenly the wind stopped and there was a great calm.

Then he asked them, Why are you afraid?

Do you still have no faith?

Beloved, when you obey God's invitation to go through an open door, you will come against resistance.

But remember this.

Christ in you.

We are called to rest in Him.

Not to get stirred up and fearful.

Oh, it's bad.

It's really bad.

You wouldn't believe.

Oh, you wouldn't believe what the doctor said.

It's really bad.

And God told me he was going to do this, and now I've got all this going on.

I don't know what I'm going to do and where are we going to get the pineapple?

I don't know where the money is going to come from.

I'm telling you, I am just, what are we going to do?

Trust in God.

The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in your mortal body.

That same power is in you, in your boat, headed to where God is taking you.

Oh, come on.

Hallelujah.

So what will be your response to God's open door?

That's a good question, isn't it?

What is your response?

The first thing you've got to do is step out in faith.

Hebrews 11 tells us in verse 6 that without faith it's impossible to please God.

So if we don't have any faith, we're not moving forward.

Faith is always moving us forward.

To be stagnant and going nowhere, you don't need any faith.

How are you doing?

Well, I'm doing good.

I'm just, I'm doing good.

Yeah, I got my family, got my job.

Everything seems to be going good for now.

But you see, beloved, let me tell you something.

God didn't save you so you'd become stagnant.

God saved you so you'd be a reflection of his glory, his light, him to a lost and dying world.

Hebrews 11:1 says, faith shows the reality of what we hope for.

Hebrews 11:1

It is the evidence of things we cannot see.

You can't see it, but you know God has put it in you, and you have to go.

God calls you to another country.

You can't see yet, except in your spirit, what God is going to do, and it compels you to go.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

Pleasing God means moving forward with God and His plan.

Open doors require faith and obedience.

And the second thing, and this is the last thing we're going to talk about today, is leaving your baggage behind.

Some of us we just we just carry it around everywhere.

How are you doing?

Oh, I'm worn out.

Well, I guess so.

You're carrying all that baggage that God never intended for you.

Take it to Him and leave it there.

Oh, hallelujah.

You see, I want you to say with me, leave my baggage behind.

Hallelujah.

Let's say it one more time.

Leave my baggage behind.

You know why you need to say it out loud?

And you need to say it loud?

Because you need to let the devil know I am exhausted with carrying around my baggage.

What is your baggage?

Drop past regrets.

Failures.

You presumed were failures, but it was just God getting you ready.

Oh, come on.

Oh, that's so good.

In Christ, there are no failures.

Hallelujah.

Leave the baggage of hurt.

And leave the safety net that has always held you back.

That safety net says, well, if this doesn't work out, you see, I'm all in.

I'm gonna obey you, Lord.

I'm gonna obey you.

I have faith to obey you, Lord.

I'm going and I'm doing whatever you say.

I am not letting any lie of the enemy hold me back.

The baggage has to go.

Come on.

The baggage has to go.

All the lies you have been believing about yourself or those people that hurt you or those opportunities you weren't given.

The reason you weren't given those opportunities is because it wasn't your time yet.

Now it is.

God has you here today to hear this word.

God handpicked who would be here to hear this word.

Before you weren't ready, now you are ready.

Hallelujah.

Will you say yes?

Will you go through?

Hallelujah.

Praise the Lord.

Glory to God.

And the last thing I want you to do is understand that we must give God all the glory for what He's doing.

That open door you're going to go through as you see it.

Let me tell you something.

No person, hear me say this: no person, no obstacle, no plan of the enemy is going to keep you from going through a door God opened for you.

Nothing is going to stop you now except your decision to not go.

Hallelujah.

When I was a teenager, long time ago, there was a new song that came out.

I have decided to follow Jesus.

No turning back.

No turning back.

The cross before me.

The world behind me.

No turning back.

And I remember singing that as a teenager.

As if I were singing about my life.

But it didn't happen in my youth.

It happened when I was seasoned in the Lord for a purpose.

Beloved, there's a legacy waiting on you if you'll say yes to the Lord.

Hallelujah.

We must trust God's timing, step past our fear, and move into our new season.