Open Doors Part 2

that moans in lowly exile here until the Son of God appears.

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Emmanuel, Emmanuel, His name is called Emmanuel.

God with us, revealed in us, His name is called Emmanuel.

Announcements.

Next week, someone's getting baptized.

Don't be so enthusiastic.

Let me just try that again.

Next week, someone's getting baptized.

Why are you so excited about it?

Because to get baptized is to declare to the world that,

listen, I actually belong to Christ,

and I've got no problems declaring it.

That's the intent of baptism.

So that's why baptism doesn't save you,

but it's a declaration that,

listen, I belong to Christ and I want the world to know.

It's like being public about your marriage.

It's the same kind of thing.

No, I'm going to announce who it is,

but I just wanted anybody else who hasn't gotten baptized

and wants to get baptized to let you know that it'll be right here.

And if you want to get baptized,

just meet me today or tomorrow, anytime during this week,

and we can arrange for it next week.

Yeah?

The water is warm because we've done baptisms in the river,

and you lose half the person.

Yeah, half the person gets saved.

So that's next week.

Besides that, like I said, starting mid-Jan,

we'll have Church 1 and Church 2 meeting at the new place on Monday and Tuesday.

We'll still have a regular service,

but instead of hubs and house churches,

it'll be Church 1 meeting on Monday, Church 2 meeting on Tuesday.

Church 2 is Mays, Church 1 is Dawns,

and they'll be sending out invitations to you,

so you'll receive in mail really well-worded inviting invitations

saying, please come and join us on Monday and Tuesday.

So when you get that, you can respond.

If one of those days is highly inconvenient,

get a doctor's note and we can consider it.

Yeah?

But otherwise, try and attend.

And when I say doctor, I don't mean Prashant or Matt, yeah?

Yeah.

And that aside, if you want to get a charitable receipt for any of your giving,

you'll have to do it before the 31st.

And if you have a new address and you want to receive your receipt

and not give it to someone else, just correct your address.

Other than that, don't think there are any.

After the teaching, there'll be the kids.

After the kids, there'll be a lot of food.

Yeah?

That's why Hamari hardly attends the service.

Yeah?

So let's go with the tea.

Let me introduce people that haven't been here before.

Hi.

Hi, Ignatius French.

Good to see you.

Yetu, you want to introduce?

Yeah.

I think they've all been here before.

No?

Hi.

And what's the sister's name?

Sorry.

Matt.

Matt.

Okay.

Anyone else?

Hi.

Hi, Peace.

That's a great name, man.

And Peace's friend Lenny is getting baptized next Sunday.

I think everyone else has been here before.

Okay.

Okay, so last week we started talking about open doors.

And we continue with that.

January we won't be meeting here.

We'll be meeting at Forest City Church.

And that's from 3 to...

Sorry?

31st we'll meet here.

And then after that we move there.

Slick hairdo, man.

Pawan?

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay, so we continue with open doors.

Two.

We talked about this last week.

And we said that we're at that stage where we are caught in a corridor between one door behind us closing and another door opening.

And so we need to know how to navigate that both as individuals and as a church.

And so one of the things we must realize is God is really intent on opening doors for us.

Really intent on opening doors for us.

When you have a good boss or a good dad, you'll find that even a good dad or a good boss likes opening doors for you.

So you can step through that into the next place.

Any good boss will want to open doors for those that follow.

Any good dad will want to open doors for their children.

So it's very natural then that if people are that way here on earth that God has the desire to.

So he opens doors to bring us.

He opens doors to bring us into spaces in him that will help him advance his kingdom and manifest his presence.

That's the reason he does it.

One of the reasons he opens doors for you is not so that you become richer, wiser, wealthier for your own sake.

But his intent is, hey, when I came here on earth, I'm a king who's had a kingdom from the beginning and will be the only thing left in the end.

But if I want to advance my kingdom and if I want to let people know who I am,

then I'll have to keep opening doors for you so that you can step through it into larger places than me so that people can see.

Someone did that for you, eh? That's how you ended up where you are today. Someone did that for you.

This is something that God really likes doing.

But whenever he opens doors, we need to know that an open door is like a treasure.

An open door from God is like a treasure.

It's like a treasure. And it must be possessed. It's waiting to be possessed.

The thing with God is he's not a tease, eh? He's not someone who shows you something just to say, look, look, look, and then hides it.

His intent is if I show you something, then I want you to step into it.

And so it's like a treasure because God doesn't just open doors that he suddenly thinks of this morning.

He plans this. He's planned it before you were born.

He's planned it before you were born.

There's nobody here for whom he hasn't planned a series of doors that we are supposed to walk through.

The question is, do we do or do we not? Because sometimes we don't. And we talk about that if we have time.

But he's got a series of doors. And please don't think that your circumstances now have shut the door.

He knew those circumstances too because he's all-knowing.

That's the crazy thing. A series of doors planned with your circumstances that he knew before.

Regardless of whether those circumstances are your fault or somebody else's fault,

there are a series of doors waiting for these are crafted doors, eh? Crafted by the carpenter with scarred hands.

And so it's a treasure. And it's available not once every birthday or once every Christmas or once every New Year.

Sometimes you've got multiple doors in a year, man, that you could step through.

For everybody here.

And so he crafts these doors and it's like treasure. And his hope is that you will possess it, that you will take it.

In Matthew 13, 44, we hear about treasure like this.

A man finds a treasure in a field. He knows that it doesn't belong to him.

He knows that he cannot take the treasure. The only way he can possess the treasure is by buying the field.

But to buy the field, he has to pay a high cost. The high cost is everything he has.

Once he pays the high cost, he can buy the field. If he buys the field, he can get the treasure.

If he doesn't pay everything to get the treasure, he's getting squat because he can't take the treasure without buying the field.

That's the problem.

So on one hand, it's a treasure that must be possessed.

But once God shows it, the question is, is there anything more important, more urgent, that will prevent you from buying the field?

And is there anything that opposes you internally or externally that you will not overcome?

The thing is, if I put dollar figures to this, it would be so easy to understand.

If there was a million dollars promised to you, forget million, let's even go with 50K.

If you put a million dollars, you can't even buy the field.

If you put a million dollars, you can't even buy the field.

If you put a million dollars, you can't even buy the field.

If there was a million dollars promised to you, forget million, let's even go with 50K.

If there was 50,000 promised to you on December 31st, you would move heaven and earth to get it.

Any opposition would be overcome, external or internal.

And we would get to a place where everything important would take second place because this must be gotten.

That's the kind of treasure we're talking about.

And if you think you don't have any open doors in your life or you don't know any open doors in your life,

in another 10 minutes you'll realize, ah shucks, I actually already have a faint or sometimes blurred or sometimes clear idea,

but I do not want to step through it because to give up everything else that is important for this one treasure,

that's the way things work in the Kingdom.

The problem with Christianity is people do not want to sell everything to possess the field.

You cannot have the treasure without buying the field and you cannot buy the field without selling everything you have,

including your reputation, your dignity, your dreams, your ambition, your affiliations,

everything laid down for one thing alone, that which Christ has for you, which is more brilliant than everything you're pursuing.

And for each of us, it's different things at different times, because like I said, these are a series of doors.

It's not one door that God opens.

In Matthew 2, 1-12, you see, don't know how many, three or four guys from the East on a quest that nothing can stop.

Let's go to Matthew 2, 1-12.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the time of King Herod, Magi from the East came to Jerusalem.

And they asked, where is the one who has been born the King of the Jews?

It's ironic that the two people in Israel, the two groups of people in Israel that recognized or called him King of the Jews were both non-Jews.

Magi from the East, Pilate from Rome.

When he was born, they called him the King of the Jews.

When they died, they put a sign over his cross saying, King of the Jews.

In between, he lived for 33 years and no one called him the King of the Jews.

And yet he was.

And so after Jesus was born, Magi from the East came to Jerusalem and asked, where is the one who has been born King of the Jews?

We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.

When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed in all Jerusalem with him.

When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

In Bethlehem in Judea, they replied, for this is what the prophet Micah has written.

But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.

He sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully for the child.

As soon as you find him, report to me so that I too may go and worship him.

And they had heard after they had heard the king, they went on the way and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.

When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary and they bowed down and worshiped him.

Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Notice that these guys see the star rise.

And because they have astronomical skills, they deduce the birth of a king.

And then set out on what might have been 16 to 18 months journey.

Please understand at this time there is no star leading them.

We've gotten so used to a star leading them.

There was no star leading them.

They just happened to see a star that they connected with the birth of a king.

And so they begin to head westward.

There is no star leading them.

There is just this deduction that this star means that there is someone born in the east.

That's how they begin this journey.

They get to Jerusalem and then they ask the question, where is this boy who was born king of the Jews?

And that is when, now they don't do any deduction, Biblical scholars of Torah say that it will be in Bethlehem.

Guess where Bethlehem was?

Nine kilometers from Jerusalem.

They still don't have a star leading them.

So they decide, okay, let's go towards Jerusalem.

As they begin their walk towards Jerusalem, because they know scriptures prophesy that he is in Jerusalem, suddenly the star appears again.

And it says that they were overjoyed at the star.

And then the strangest thing happens.

The star starts moving.

The star starts moving for a nine kilometer span.

That's it.

After 16 months of pursuing a quest that they know they had to complete, even though they had nothing to do with Judaism or Israel or the sons of Abraham.

Here are a bunch of guys that travel for 16 months, finally come to Jerusalem, find out that he is born in Bethlehem,

step out and it says they were overjoyed to see the star.

And then they realize, oh, shucks, the star is moving.

And not only does the star move now, it comes and actually stops over a house.

This is a supernatural part of it.

That for a nine kilometer distance, it moves and then it actually comes and stops.

People don't know whether it was a supernova or a comet or a constellation of planets aligning.

People hazard guesses.

It could be any of those things.

Fascinating how these guys would not back off.

It's almost like Queen Sheba visiting Solomon.

She brings frankincense, myrrh and gold.

They bring frankincense, myrrh and gold.

She says, I had heard of a king who was known for his wisdom.

They say, we have come to worship the king.

There are such parallels between Queen Sheba looking for Solomon

and these wise men from the East looking for a king.

And this is why Jesus then says, there is one greater than Solomon standing here.

And they did not know it.

So how do we identify those? How do we identify those?

How do we identify those?

How do we approach it?

How do we walk through it?

And if you walk through it, you enter a new God space

where you get to discover God afresh.

And ones who don't get to discover God afresh can only live with the God they knew

and the God they knew is still splendid but he wants more of himself to be known.

The whole process of life on earth is very simple.

Can I have you discover the infinite God that I am as I wanted Adam to do before he dulled himself?

What did Adam lose in the garden? The presence of God.

What was restored at Christmas? The presence of God.

The same God who used to walk in the garden suddenly does not walk in the garden

and now he walks among men because he is born.

He is so mathematical in the things he does. There is so much logic in his supernatural.

So how do we identify open doors?

Open doors. Guys, always remember God hides things in plain sight.

God hides things in plain sight. God hides things in plain sight.

Many times he says this, eh? Do you think I am a God who does things in secret?

Am I some nebulous character who says things and you think it's a riddle and you can't figure it out?

Yes, Jesus spoke parables deliberately to hide it from some

but his intent was always that things be known.

God hides things in plain sight. So if you look at Genesis 21 verse 9

Genesis 21:9

you have Hagar and she is in the desert and she can't even look at her son

because her son is dying of thirst. He opens her eyes and right in front of her is a well of water.

So when I say God hides open doors in plain sight, it is not that he is hiding it.

All he has to do is come and touch your eyes and in a second you will see what God wants next.

What do I have to do? All I have to do is seek him.

Father, what is it that you want me to step into next? What is it?

I have explored what you have given me. I have been faithful with what you asked me to do.

Now, show me the next door. Others may not think you are faithful.

Your spouse may not think you are faithful. Your pastor may not think you are faithful.

But God knows. Once he knows, a door is just waiting to open.

And it is in plain sight. This is not some hidden thing that needs deep knowledge or some mystical approach.

No, very simple. Always. Hagar was in the desert, needs water, can't see water, touches her eyes, opens her eyes, she sees water in front of her.

Balaam riding a donkey going on a mad dash to destroy Israel and to destroy his life.

In a second God opens his eyes. What does he see? An angel blocking his path.

So, God hides things in plain sight. If you seek him, he will show.

In 2 Kings 6-17, God opens the eyes of a servant. He can't see.

Elisha didn't need to pray. Elisha walked in a realm where he had the ability to see open doors, to see open heaven, to see things happening.

But Elisha's servant was scared and Elisha prays a simple prayer.

All he says and which is the only prayer that he needs to pray,

Oh God, would you open his eyes so that he can see.

And as soon as that prayer is made, God opens his eyes and he sees an army of chariots of fire above him.

It's such a simple prayer. Oh God, please Lord, open my eyes so that I might see what I am going to step into.

If you don't seek the help of God, here's what you are. You are the architect of your own future.

And how has that worked out thus far? What a foolish thing to be the architect of your own future.

How dumb is that? But surprisingly, we will continue in it.

He opens the eyes of Hagar. He opens the eyes of Balaam. He opens the eyes of the servant.

And then the other cool story is remember when Jesus is walking with the two guys on the road to Emmaus.

What happens? They spend time with him and they don't know who he is.

And then in a second, he opens their eyes and they know that they have been with the one who they were looking for in the breaking of the bread.

Call out this prayer. He has no favorites. He has no biases. He treats us as sons and daughters.

You ask him and he will show. But persist, eh? Seek. Because he's not a cosmic vending machine.

You can't throw a few coins into him and out comes an answer. No, seek.

There's no formula to seeking. It's him and you.

In Deuteronomy 29, verse 2 to 4, God says,

Deuteronomy 29:2–4

Here's the scripture. It says, You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes,

but to this day the Lord has not given you a mind to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.

That may be a diss on Israel, but we have seen it.

And we have seen it. And we have seen it. And we have seen it.

And we have seen it. And we have seen it. And we have seen it.

That may be a diss on Israel, but we have enough scriptures to come to that.

Ask God. James chapter 1, verse 5. Hey, do you lack wisdom? Do you not know where to go?

James 1:5

Do you not know which door to take? Ask. I assure you, I will not begrudge telling you.

I will surely let you know. Jeremiah 33, verse 3.

Jeremiah 33:3

Call unto me. Ask me. And I will show you things that you have not known yet.

How dear is this to me? One of the questions I was asking myself yesterday and today is,

Hey Jacob, how important is this to you? Is this so important?

Stepping through God's door, is it so important that nothing else is as important?

Maintain right relationship and wonder. Right relationship with God and wonder.

Wonder is not curiosity. Wonder is the awe of discovery.

Wonder is not curiosity. Wonder is the awe of discovery.

Do you have that? And if you have lost it, can you ask for it again?

It's the same thing you will see. A kid that really loves Lego.

Those silly little pieces that I have never understood.

They go over it like it was precious gold, man.

And they put it together and amazing things happen.

On one hand, yes, relationship with God helps me figure out God easier.

Like, I can predict what Derek is going to wear any day.

Like when you know somebody, you know what they are going to wear.

So in the same way, once you know God, once you are in right relationship with him,

it is easy to figure out the doors he is going to open.

It is easy to figure out the doors he is going to open.

We will talk about that a little later.

But the other thing is wonder. Don't lose wonder.

As you get older, it is possible to get stale.

As you get older, and when you say as you get older,

it might be from 24 to 25 or 58 to 59.

But it is easy to get stale. Why?

Because either you have taken too many knocks and life has treated you unfairly.

Or you have heard the same cliché so many times.

Open door, open door, open door, new season, new season, new season.

That it tastes like sawdust in your mouth.

And because of that, the awe of discovery begins to just fizzle out.

Recapture it man.

Because just because a true, just because a truism is overused and has become stale,

does not mean that God is not fresh every morning. Every morning.

And as you get older, snap out of it because the next stage is grumpy.

Any questions?

You have a right relationship, you have a right hand.

If you are able to cultivate the awe of discovery or the wonder,

strange thing happens, eh?

You will find those where you expect them to be.

And second, it will be consistent with what you understand the will of God to be.

There is a scripture which says, rejoice for the steps of a righteous man who are ordered of God.

As in, if I am in right relationship with God, don't be surprised that I find those where I expect them to be.

Because I have an idea of how he is traveling. I know where he is going.

He just knows.

And second, it will be consistent with what you understand the will of God to be.

It fits in with everything else God is doing in your life.

Both fit.

You see this with different people.

So, Paul knows that Paul's intent is, I have got to begin to head towards,

they have sent us out from Antioch, I am supposed to head towards Galatia and Phrygia and Bithynia.

So what does he do? He just starts walking.

And as he begins to walk, doors open, doors close.

He knows, he already knows where the doors are.

It is the same with David.

David kind of always knew which direction God would be traveling.

And then he would ask questions.

His family is taken. Everything is lost.

Ziklag is the place that they have taken the family to.

What does he do? He says, can I go and get them back?

He is asking a question that he already knows the answer to.

Jonathan is the same.

Jonathan and his armor bearer are waiting in a valley.

On top of the hill are a whole lot of Philistines.

And look at what Jonathan's question is.

Oh God, can we go?

If they say, yes, come up, we will go.

If they say, no, we won't.

And he knows what is going to happen.

He knows they are going to say, come up.

And he goes and he takes out his sword,

slaughters them and Israel has a resounding victory because Jonathan knew.

There is a sense of knowing that comes with relationship.

It's like knowing what your wife wants,

knowing what your husband wants before they speak.

You begin to know how they operate.

And so you find the door at the right place.

In these movies, remember, the wife gets upset and gets lost.

And then she goes and you know where you will find her.

She will be at that skating rink in the middle of Central Park.

And you go in there and you throw your scarf.

And she throws her scarf and the scarf mingles in the air and you find her.

Yeah.

So it's like that.

So there are things that are so predictable about God simply because of his nature.

I expect certain doors to be waiting for me when I get there.

If I know his nature and if I haven't lost the awe of discovery.

Let me just pray that quickly for us.

Jesus, could you by your spirit bring back into us right now.

Sitting here, the awe of discovery, the wonder.

For us who are old and have seen a lot and have borne a lot and have heard a lot,

could you dust off the layers of mud that has settled and retrieve treasure again.

Give us back, oh God, wonder.

The awe of discovery.

Remove jadedness from us.

You have already provided us right relationship.

We will walk in it.

But quicken our hearts.

Jump start our hearts to look forward to 2024 saying there is more.

I'm not done.

Do you want to read?

Deuteronomy 29, 29.

Deuteronomy 29, 29.

Deuteronomy 29, 29 it says that the secret things belong to God.

Things that are revealed belong to man.

Sometimes look at things revealed.

Look at things God has already revealed to seek out things God is concealing.

Just think of that for a second.

Deuteronomy 29, 29 says the secret things belong to God and things that are revealed belong to man.

Sometimes look at things that have already been revealed.

Look at the last one year.

How have you been tracking?

What are the highlights that happened in your life that was sheer God?

What were you invited into?

By God not by man.

As you look back at your photo album of the last 11 months, what do you see?

What are the vignettes that are presented?

As you look at the things that have already been revealed, you will have an idea of the things that God is concealing so that you can begin to pry it open.

Children across the world are shaking gifts today.

They don't know what's in it.

Half the gifts get broken because of the shaking.

But they want to know it's concealed.

But they go back and they start saying, Mom, is it this? Is it that? Is it that? Why?

Because over the last two months there have been conversations.

And then they look back to kind of guess what lies ahead.

I'm expecting like Air Canada gift cards and Canuck tickets and stuff like that.

And I'm trusting that Derek will deliver.

So why? Because we've talked about this.

As you look at the things that you've talked about, you can have an idea of what he has concealed in that packet, which hasn't arrived yet.

So next one is Proverbs 25.2.

It says that it is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to dig it out.

Just hear that. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter and it is the glory of kings to dig it out.

So God deliberately sometimes says, Hey, Jacob want to see the next door.

You'll have to come and see. Come.

I've called you priests and kings. Come, discover.

Wrestle with me. Find it. Push it. Press it.

It's the glory of God to conceal a matter.

It's not that he's trying to hide it from you, but he will not just give it away without you desiring it and seeking it.

And once the desire and the seeking is there, God will begin to let you have it because he says it's the glory of kings to dig it out.

Dig it out then.

These are precious things. These are God things. These are God crafted things.

These were crafted in timelessness.

We're not dealing with some small job. We're not dealing with a promotion.

We're not dealing with a Kanak jersey.

We are dealing with things that were hand stitched by God before time existed,

before you existed, before you were put together, before you were formed in the womb.

There were things meant for you.

E Efficience 2 10 created in God.

We are the workmanship of God created for good works in Christ that were prepared before time.

That's the kind of doors we are talking about.

You think he's going to throw them around like frisbees?

No. You wouldn't either.

When kids come to my house, all my planes, all the plane models that I have, they all disappear from, they're all five feet and above.

Why? Because as much as I like your kids, I don't want them taking one of my favorite planes and throwing it against the wall to see if it flies.

You don't do that.

It's the same principle.

So if I were to go with Proverbs 25.2, I must cultivate time and I must cultivate ability to search out the heart of matters.

God is beckoning me to cultivate time, cultivate ability, create time, cultivate ability, create time, cultivate ability.

Any questions?

Write down things, guys.

Define, define open doors, define open doors in your life in the past.

Define the last, define the last open door you walked through.

You know it was God. He helped you through it.

Define the last open door you walked through.

And then write, rewrite.

There's not some new way of doing things.

If you look at Joshua 18.4, Joshua 18.4, it says,

It says,

I will send them out to make a survey of the land and write a description of it according to the inheritance of each.

Then they will return to me.

Go to Proverbs 7, Proverbs 7.3, Proverbs 7.3.

Keep my commands. You will live.

Guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.

Bind them on your fingers.

Write them on the tablet of your heart.

Write it.

Define the last open door you walked through.

Begin to write down the next open door God is inviting you into.

Write it down.

So what if you're wrong?

So what if it's blurry?

Work on it again.

But at least you have something to work with.

As long as it is here, you've got nothing to work with.

Any questions?

Okay.

I think, can I take your life?

I think one of the open doors that happened in your life was when, in the presence of the congregation, your feet were washed.

And that was an open door that said, hey, Dilna, you're an absolute part of this body and you're received with absolute, in your entirety.

And that there is no defect or fault in you.

Those are symbolic ways that God opens the door.

And then suddenly you may not realize it, but after that, things begin to shape around you.

The right people come.

The right opportunities come.

What we don't realize is as soon as we accept or receive an open door into our lives, what God does is he starts bringing the right people.

He starts arranging them around you.

And your life gets richer by it.

That's one example of an open door.

I'm just taking simple things, not even large, important things.

There are so many of these things that happen in our lives on a regular basis.

Let me pick another one.

Who shall I pick on?

Let me pick on George.

George and Anna are relatively newcomers.

So this is another way God opens the door.

I remember sitting down with them about six months ago and explaining to them where God wanted to take them next.

And also saying to them that if you choose to go down this route, then know that these are the demands that will be placed on you.

But it is an open door that will take you into a place that is not Pentecostal, not Baptist, not nothing, but it will bring you into the mainframe of what God wants you to do.

You can ask them after this.

And they sat there and their response was, can we do this after six months because we are not ready yet?

Six months later they come and they say, we're ready now.

And the reason I'm saying this is you watch in the next eight months what happens with them.

No man can do it.

No man can do it.

Flesh decays.

But the spirit gives life and you watch what will happen.

Leave alone the other big doors that you can ask God for.

Be it in advancing the kingdom, be it in using your business to advance the kingdom, be it in the things that you might do in ministry, be it in nations that you might take even though you're a nobody.

Those are just additional things to it.

I can pick different lives here.

I can pick May's life from eight years ago when she sat at Denny's and she told me very clearly that I just want you to know that I'm willing to come to Accident Land, but do not put me into any role of leadership because I'm not interested.

And I'm looking at her nodding my head when I really want to do the Indian thing, but I didn't.

Because God is going to open a door in her life while she sat there in Denny's and it was only a matter of time.

And now when I see her, I sometimes cry.

I can take Sen's life, Chava's life.

God opens them.

But he uses people.

Guys, one of the things you can perhaps do is just on the side, what were the things?

What were the Delilahs and the things, and I'm not meaning Delilah as a woman, what were the Delilah means to languish?

What were the Delilahs and the things that were consistently successful in sapping your strength?

What were the Delilahs as in what did you lay your head down on?

What lap did you lay your head down on and get shorn and lost your strength?

What were the things?

In 2023, there were many occasions in your life where you were running strong and then something comes and just completely dismantles you or empties you.

What was it?

What is this lap that you always end up lying, putting your head down on and you get your head shorn?

And you wake up and you do not have the strength to break the cords that have now bound your hand and feet.

What were the things?

In each of our lives, there are things like this.

In my life, there is.

I'm willing to make a list of it.

I'm trying to stop at six or seven because sometimes you can't deal with all the things.

That were repetitive.

Each time it came up, instead of me being able to overcome that, I lost.

And I'm not even talking about stuff like porn and stuff like that.

Those are the major ones.

Think of the minor ones that lead to the major one.

Sometimes it's the little things that lead to the large thing.

What were the little things that would begin to trigger it off?

Was it anger?

Was it a quick loss of temper?

Was it pride?

Was it gossip?

Was it envy?

Was it malice?

Was it deceit?

What was it?

It triggers it off.

And quickly you reach to a place where you suddenly find yourself in your favorite sin that has entangled itself around your feet for years now and there is no escape.

Kill the root and you won't get bad fruit.

What is it?

Because it prevents you from walking towards an open door, eh?

You have an open door in front of you and you can hardly make it there because your feet are entangled and you keep falling, keep falling.

Everyone here has it.

Find it and you might begin to dismantle it in 2024.

Don't go for six or seven.

Go for three.

Just three.

Consistent pattern.

Many stand and speak of open doors that are before them but they don't enter.

One of the things that happens with Christians in particular is we will talk about it.

Hey, you know the Lord's place with open door before me.

We'll talk about it.

We'll stand right in front of it but won't enter.

We won't enter because one of the things we need to realize is this is the shut door and this is the open door.

This corridor to escape the gravity or the pull of this corridor is very hard because we love being here.

We say this is our past but we are so scared to step into the future because it will cost us everything.

This is where the battle is.

And there are different reasons we don't enter through.

One of them is fear.

The other one is complacency.

The other one is procrastination.

The other one is busyness.

The other one is unbelief.

And the last one is being a loner.

These are the reasons we are not able to walk through those.

We can be in the corridor.

I have just submitted my thesis.

I am now Dr. Matt and I'm in this corridor where that's my past.

It took a long while to get here.

Finally I'm here with my family intact, with my kids taken care of, with my wife and I still having a good relationship.

And now there's a door in front of me.

It better be a God door because I'll have opportunities here, here, here and here.

But God's door does not take care of one thing.

It takes care of the entire person.

He's interested in my spiritual, mental, physical, relational, financial makeup.

He's not interested in just one thing.

Oh, a whole new church has arrived.

My God, how can you teach after seeing them?

You know, if you do this every service it could get shorter and shorter.

No sheep, goats, cows?

No way.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah, so Matt is in this place now and there's an open door before him.

And now here are the things that can attack Matt.

Fear that if I leave everything familiar what's going to happen to me?

Second, complacency.

Complacency is when you lower your expectations because you don't want to take a risk.

Procrastination.

Procrastination is when you take on pleasant, easy things to do

and refuse to do the urgent, important things.

Fourth one, busyness, over-commitment and less time.

Unbelief.

Any door God opens requires faith.

Loner.

If Matt tries to do it alone without help, he won't make it.

Any questions on that before we kind of conclude now that our stars are here?

Any questions?

This really applies to you Matt and to the rest of us.

But whatever you choose next has to be a door that did not come because of your thesis but came from God.

Any questions?

Okay.

Gosh, I don't feel like continuing after seeing them.

Okay.

Let's stop there here.

Let's see if there's anything else.

Any questions guys on this before we...

Yep, go ahead.

Diana wants to hear the question that's asked.

You like your mommy a lot.

Your gifts just got bigger.

Let me just pray and then...

Father...

Okay, let me pray in terms of questions.

I'm going to ask you questions.

You don't have to answer.

I'm just phrasing it in terms of questions.

Do you actually believe?

Don't answer.

But here's the question I'm asking.

Do you believe that there were a series of doors arranged for you by God before you were born

and he's fully aware of your present circumstances, knew your future, and yet had doors set up for you to walk through?

Does that tie in with Ephesians 2.10 which says that God has made you his workmanship

and he has prepared paths for you to walk in before you were even formed?

So that's the first question.

Do you believe that?

Second, if you believe that, can you identify some of the doors you walked through in 2023

or have we gotten so used to circumstances directing us that we are subject to whatever happens?

Life dictates what happens.

So how does it work with Christians when life dictates what happens?

Life happens and then we go to God.

Life happens and then we go to God.

We don't go to God first and begin to steer life every day like one would steer a bull with horns.

Life happens and then we go to God.

As opposed to, Father, your mercies are new every morning.

There were plans for this day that were made for me before I was born.

I come now to seek them and walk in them.

The words of my mouth will begin to define some of the things that happened today.

Even though there's not a single cloud in the sky, my mouth will say,

I can hear the sound of the abundance of rain.

And as I begin to say it, I will begin to see it because the world around me is crafted by the words of God.

The world around me is crafted by the words of God.

So where do I get to hear the words of God?

I only get to hear the words of God if I actually go and seek him out for what he planned

and what he never underestimate the passion of God to bring to pass in your life the doors and the promises

that he planned before the foundations of the earth.

Do not underestimate his passion.

He will do everything in his power because he's passionate about what he planned.

Is there a plan for your life that he crafted that is not perfect?

And didn't he know that you would be born and you would grow in an imperfect world with imperfect circumstances?

Doesn't he know everything that has happened and will happen tomorrow?

And didn't he take that into account and still create pathways to walk in?

Do you think they are any less than perfect?

Do you realize that he has a picture of you for tomorrow that is far more brilliant than anybody can imagine on earth?

And that it is within your reach to become that?

Question is, do I believe that?

The answer is, usually no.

This is why it's important to write it down guys.

You write it, you read it, you write it, you read it and eventually what happens is it gets inscribed on your heart.

For the young ones sitting here who are looking for a future,

you know what life takes over, how life takes over for you?

Whatever you are presently being educated determines what you are going to do.

Whatever you are studying for, whatever you have spent thousands of dollars on,

will now cause you to spend another few thousands.

That's not how this works. Open doors.

Now let me pray.

Father, we need to find this sabbath for 2024.

Everybody here has these doors.

Everything else must be set aside.

Eyes of faith, Father. Eyes of faith.

Be it the Magi, be it Abraham, be it Isaac, be it Moses.

They had eyes of faith. What does eyes of faith do?

Eyes of faith shuts down.

It shuts down a common way of thinking.

Eyes of faith begins to see with your eyes.

Father, I ask for this church, I ask for myself.

This church has opened doors to go through.

People here, each individual here, handcrafted doors to walk through.

Father, what we need is not a prophetic word.

What we need is seeking your face.

That's time. We have holidays.

If we can do this before we eat the turkey, it will work.

To find, to go every day and ask.

I plan to do it, Father. The church plans to do it.

People plan to do it. And you will respond because you are faithful.

And now, Father, I'll conclude because these kids are here.

I didn't know we had so many kids.

When they're together, they are a lot.

So thank you for the kids that are in this church.

There was a time when there were no kids.

Thank you for the teachers who labor intensely.

Amongst them, it's so much harder, Father.

Thank you for Hamari and the crew that are setting up the potluck after this.

Enjoy yourself, Father, now.

As these kids do what they're going to do.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

If you need prayer, feel free to come up later and people will pray with you.

But ladies and gentlemen,

Shailen, can you give us a preview of the dance?

Alrighty.

That's what awaits us, guys.

Amen.

Check, check.

Hey, these actors don't mind if we use their cameras to take photographs and stuff.

Okay.

Check.

Check.

Check.

Check.

Check.

Christmas is the time when the world knowingly or unknowingly declares that our Savior can...

Hey, can you turn up the volume a little more?

Can you start again, Anna?

Okay.

Change.

It's five.

One second.

Yeah, this is okay.

Oh, hang on.

Oh, hang on.

Oh, hang on.

James, is this set on mono or stereo?

It's mono.

Check.

Check.

So Christmas is the time that the world knowingly or unknowingly declares the Savior and hope

to all mankind was born.

But for us, who knows this is true, the season brings us boundless joy as we celebrate the

birth of a Lord and Savior, Emmanuel the Vita's God.

We are excited to see the next generation of Acts 29 on the stage.

A lot of efforts have gone into this from our wonderful teachers and all our parents.

And so we take this moment to acknowledge all of them, those who are not here as well.

We now have our children presenting the timeless classic, Mayday Did You Know?

And as they perform and you engage in the greatest story of all times, we encourage

you to ponder in your hearts the promises spoken or our children, the heroes of faith

that they are to become and pray that we are all able to sow and invest into their lives.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?

Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?

This child that you delivered will soon deliver you.

Mary, did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy will calm the storm with his hand?

Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels draw?

When you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God.

Mary, did you know?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the world?

That sleeping child you're holding, it's so great.

Thank you.

Okay, we have one more.

We have one more.

You guys ready?

You guys ready?

Go.

It's Christmas.

It's Christmas.

Let it blaze resound.

It's Christmas.

Good will to all the earth in peace divine.

All of the earth rejoice.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas time.

Awesome guys.

Awesome.

Scheldon has decided he is giving up piano.

He will be doing dance lessons from now.

So..

All right, is Hamari here?

Can you ask her to come up?

If you need more time, I can go back to the teaching.

That's awesome, guys.

Well done, Jesus.

I know it looks so good.

Is it?

Hamari, can you tell us what's happening?

Here, I'll give you a mic.

Here, here, here.

Okay, so are we getting one hour?

We have from now till 2.15.

2.10.

2.10, okay.

So the food is almost ready, warming up, and we'll start.

We have two sections.

One is for the drinks and the desserts, and then the other one for the main course and

side dishes.

So please come and join us.

And thank you so much for everyone who signed up for the potluck and brought all the delicious

food.

So grateful.

Amen.

Shailok, you want to pray for the food before we go in?

Yes, please.

Yaya, you want to pray?

Mia.

Mia, can you come up and pray for the food?

Can you come and bless the food?

Come here, sweetheart.

Thank you.

Bless the food that you're about to have, okay?

Go ahead.

I'll hold the mic.

You can speak.

Okay, you go ahead.

We pray for this food, Father, and we pray for all of the healthiness that you've put

in it and you should pray.

Amen.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mia.

Thank you so much.

Just before we go and enjoy all that food, last year we were not able to bless Jacob

for everything that he has been doing, but this year we can, and so we would really like

to bless you.

Amen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, silent night, holy night.

Silent night, love's pure light.

Redeemed beings from thy holy face.

In the dawn of redeeming grace,

Jesus, Lord of all,

Jesus, Lord at thy birth.

Oh, silent night, holy night.

Son of God, love's pure light.

Redeemed beings from thy holy face.

In the dawn of redeeming grace,

Jesus, Lord at thy birth.

Jesus, Lord at thy birth.

Oh, silent night, holy night.

Oh, silent night, holy night.

Jesus, Lord at thy birth.

Jingle all the way.

Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.

Jingle all the way.

Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.

Dashing through the snow on a one-horse open sleigh.

Oh, the fields they go laughing all the way.

Making spirits bright.

Oh, what fun it is to sing a sleighing song tonight.

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.

Oh, what fun it is to ride on a one-horse open sleigh.

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.

Oh, what fun it is to ride on a one-horse open sleigh.

Dashing through the snow on a one-horse open sleigh.

Oh, the fields they go laughing all the way.

Bells on body drink, waking spirits bright.

Oh, what fun it is to sing a sleighing song tonight.

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.

Oh, what fun it is to ride on a one-horse open sleigh.

Oh, what fun it is to ride on a one-horse open sleigh.

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.

Oh, what fun it is to ride on a one-horse open sleigh.