I have a door at my house, it’s the door to a closet in our bonus room. It’s where my kids' toys are all kept and so when I instruct them to clean up the bonus room, the toys just get tossed into the closet and then they shut the door real quick and hope for the best. So when you open that door, beware because you never know what’s behind the door and you never know what’s going to fall out of the door on top of you. How many of you have a closet door like that at home, where you’re a little bit scared to open it? Yeah, that’s a few of us. If you didn’t just raise your hand, we’re glad you’re here Martha Stewart! Maybe you could help the rest of us get organized!
There’s a particular game behind the door though that I want to introduce you today, if you’re got little kids, my kids have pretty much outgrown this game, but if you’ve got little kids, you’ll appreciate this game, it’s called “Don’t Break The Ice.” Anybody played this game? I need a volunteer to compete against here, and the good news is that the pressure is off if you’re watching me via video, you just get to watch somebody else make a fool of themselves, but let me just choose YOU. Come on up here! On every campus, put your hands together for my volunteer who didn’t volunteer! Ok, so here’s how you play the game, each of us have a little hammer device and we take turns knocking out blocks of ice and the one who hits the block of ice and makes this little man fall down and die, loses. Ok? Simple enough?
I started thinking this week, what would it feel like to be that little man? To have circumstances outside of your control taking whacks at everything that keeps you feeling safe and secure. Ultimately to be standing on what feels like the last block of ice and have it knocked out from under you by something that you have absolutely no control over and then it dawned on me. That’s how many of you feel today. You feel like the little man in the game. You’re barely hanging on. The ice is getting chipped away. If it’s not one thing it’s another. And you’re not quite sure what to do, you’re not quite sure where to turn, you’re not quite sure if things will ever change, and if you were to be honest today, you’re not quite sure how much more you can endure. Everyday for you is like a game of "don’t break the ice." And if you feel that way today. If you feel like things are crumbling around you and door after door after door keeps shutting or maybe you’re afraid that the next door that opens everything is going to come falling out on top of you, then I’ve got some really good news for you today.
Today if you are stuck behind a closed door of a dead end job or a closed door of unemployment or maybe there’s a closed door of health or a door that’s closed on a relationship or maybe you’ve got an addiction and the door to freedom just feels closed or the door to a financial breakthrough is closed, I don’t know what doors are closed in your life. I don’t know what has you feeling trapped like there’s no way out, but today I do know what opens closed doors. I know what opens
• closed doors of painful circumstances.
• Closed doors of frustrating moments.
• Closed doors of doubt and disappointment and despair.
And I want to teach you today what will open those doors in your life and mine because the Bible demonstrates for us how to open the doors that are closed in our lives and I want to show you this from the life of Paul in the Bible and we’re going to pick up in the middle of his story really. Because Paul has been traveling from one province to another, from one town and one city and one area to another to proclaim the message of Jesus and ultimately to start churches and just before the story we’re about to read, Paul has been following God’s hand through a series of doors. If you’ve been here the last couple of weeks, we’ve talked about following God and knowing His will through the doors of life. Well, finally, Paul walks through one particular door and he has a pretty interesting encounter. I want you to look at it with me, I think you’re going to be able to relate to parts of this story.
The Bible says, Acts 16:16-26 NIV: Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. (can I stop right there and tell you my favorite fortune-telling story? Years ago, Tabitha my wife and I were travelling through Suffolk and there was a sign for a business and it said something like Madam Zelda, palm readings and fortune telling and then we looked and Madam Zelda’s building had caught on fire and burned to the ground. And Tabitha said to me, I wonder if she knew that was going to happen? That had nothing to do with the sermon, just random humor. Anyways, it said that this the fortune teller) She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. (just following them around yelling this and it says) Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. (Can you imagine this? Everywhere he went, this girl is following him yelling the same thing over and over and over again and Paul gets annoyed. In fact, I like this tactic of Paul, I’m thinking about trying this the next time I get annoyed over something. Like the next time I see Dora the Explorer on tv, I’m just toing to shout it out, in the name of Jesus, turn it off! Is there any cartoon more annoying? Anyways it says) When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, (watch what happens here. In fact, I want you to read the underlined words out loud with me, on every campus, It says) they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
(let’s stop right here, because just like that, everything changed. Things were going good. Doors were opening. Opportunities were abounding. They were on their way to pray for goodness sakes but just like that, in an instant everything changed. A good day quickly turned into a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Open doors became closed doors. Somebody broke the ice. It all crumbled. Paul and Silas were seized and dragged, they were attacked and stripped and beaten and flogged and thrown and fastened. They were overwhelmed by their circumstances. They were trapped. The doors were shut and the key was thrown away.
Isn’t it something how things can change so quickly? How one phone call, one meeting, one decision, one Facebook post, one rumor, one lie, one report, one conversation can change everything for us? Today if you’re sitting in the dark facing a closed door then you can relate to Paul and Silas, and maybe your circumstances aren’t the same, and the conditions are different, the door is a little bit of a different shape, it’s a different size. They were stuck behind the red door, you’re stuck behind the blue one, but let’s be honest, the feeling is the same. Circumstances have overwhelmed you. Life has seized and dragged you. You’ve been attacked and stripped and beaten and flogged by something outside of your control. You’ve been thrown and fastened by someone who did you wrong. And when you’re sitting behind a closed door, I want to show you what you’re supposed to do when the door closes because the Bible says at) About midnight (that’s significant! About midnight. This is sitting in the dark. This is when people are supposed to be asleep. Some have even said that this is the darkest hour of the night at midnight, look) Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
(at midnight in a jail cell behind a closed door Paul & Silas were praying and singing. Paul and Silas were worshipping. Paul and Silas were recognizing that God holds the key to every door, opened or closed, God holds the key. You want to know what to do when the door is closed and circumstances have overwhelmed you and the ice is broken and you feel full of despair and discouragement, you want to know what to do? You worship! That’s what you do. Oh it’s easy to worship and sing and pray and give praise when all the doors are opened but worship means something, worship does something, worship becomes something in your life when the door is closed and there’s nowhere else to turn and the darkness has set in and the pain and the hurt and the frustration and the fear are all holding you captive, that’s when worship does something.
And don’t tell me you don’t know how to worship because I’ve seen you worship. I’ve seen you at the ball field worship. I’ve seen your sir when your team scores a touchdown and you erupt into spontaneous praise and worship. You know how to worship, you’re a good worshipper! I’ve seen you when you child brings home their report card ma’am and they made the honor role, you worship. I’ve seen you when you get the promotion, when you get the date to the prom, when you win the game. You are a worshipper.
• Worship is saying, I value this and I’m showing it.
• Worship is saying, in this moment, nothing has more worth.
• Worship is this, worship is taking your eyes off of everything else and placing it on the one thing that has your attention in that moment. That’s what worship is.
You know why the first 15 or 20 minutes of our service is so valuable? Listen, even if you’re not like a music person, it’s valuable. It’s important because it’s our chance to collectively say, Jesus, you are most important. It’s our chance to say, in this moment, when the world is crazy and things are falling apart in my life and when doors are closing, it’s our chance to say, nothing has more worth than you and nothing as my attention like you have my attention. And I’m telling you, something happens in those moments. Some of you are missing it. You stand there like, when will this be done? When will this be over? Some of you are looking around no doubt like those other prisoners were like why in the world are they so expressive, and why is that person singing so loud, let me tell you why we sing so loud and why are so expressive. Because sometimes when we come to this place the ice is breaking and the doors are closing and the circumstances are overwhelming but we know that our Jesus is greater than all of those things. That he’s greater than cancer and he’s greater than rejection and he’s greater than hurt and pain and frustration and disappointment. He’s greater and worship is my chance to say Jesus I am overwhelmed but you overcome! And when the door is closed, worship is what opens the door.
Let me tell you something we’re doing this week. I am so excited about this. How many of you use our web notes on a regular basis, would you just raise your hand? Ok, the rest of you are really missing out! Every week we post notes that you can use to read your Bible and grow on your own at home, you can get them from our website, watersedgechurch.net, you can even subscribe to them and have them emailed to you every week. So this week, every day, in addition to a verse or two to read, we’re giving you a worship song, performed by our band to worship to at home and this is the most exciting part. There’s a new song we’re going to start doing, and on Friday, if you use our web notes, you’ll get a preview of that song performed by our very own worship leaders. I want everybody, everybody worshipping this week using our web notes, every day of the week because watch, because worship gets the attention of GOD.
I’ll prove it to you. It says Paul & Silas are singing, they’re praying and) Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. Worship opened the doors and if it happened for Paul & Silas in that prison cell, it can happen to you and me in whatever circumstance we face. Worship is how to open closed doors and listen to me, that might mean that the closed door is opened wide like it was for Paul and Silas or might mean that your perspective on the closed door is changed, but whatever it means, I’m telling you today, that when you worship, your circumstances get smaller and your God gets bigger.
That something happens when we turn to Him with a confidence in worship that He holds the key to everything in our life, everything, every door, every problem, every challenge, every situation. You make much of Him and you’ll learn to make little of your problems and I’m telling you something, He’ll open doors on your behalf.
So I want to lead you to worship today. I want to lead you to learn the value of looking at every closed door as another opportunity to praise and worship the greatness of our God and listen to me, when you do, it gets God’s attention and closed doors will open in your life. Oh I love what says in Proverbs, it says, Proverbs 14:26 AMP In the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and His children shall always have a place of refuge. Can I tell you what that means? That means when you worship, you can lift your head, no matter what’s going on in your life. It means you can lift your hands in honor and submission to Him. It means that today if the ice is broken in your life, if your circumstances have overwhelmed you, if the door is closed and it’s midnight, it means you can have confidence because you have a place of refuge and worship takes you there, and when you worship, it’s the way doors get opened. So we’re going to worship today and I’m proclaiming, I believe it, in these next few moments, something’s going to happen in your life, some closed doors are about to bust wide open.
