1 CORINTHIANS 16:1-9

Have you ever had a door slammed in your face? Have you ever gone to see someone who didn't want to see you or welcome you? Most of us have had that experience. I visited a lady in the congregation several years ago and she said, "You shouldn't be here! Go away!" I found out later that she suffered dementia and believed that I had publicly denounced her from the pulpit! I had a brother who didn't speak to me for over three years. I lamented that and my children said, "Well, Dad, if you care that much, go see him. What's he gonna do? Take away your birthday?" I went, he opened the door and embraced me. We were close until his death because of an open door. We have all had doors opened to us. Those are happier, inviting, welcoming, and pleasant doors. Paul spoke of an open door in our text today. He was speaking of the door of opportunity; the door of evangelism; the door of missions. Paul knew that the door was open no matter who opposed Him! So today God has given His church an open door! Doors are open abroad and here at home! Doors of opportunity, doors of service, doors of responsibility. The story of two young men illustrates what we ought to do with such open doors. The sign in the window of Mr. Peters' store read: "BOY WANTED." John Simmons, though he was lazy, saw his opportunity and applied. He was hired and the pace was leisurely so he enjoyed the job. An open door for employment had been provided for John. What would he do with it after stepping through? What will we do with those doors set before us? And we must face that issue because there are open doors!

1. GOD PROVIDES OPEN DOORS: V9:
1. Paul didn't beat the door down, it was opened to him! God opened it. God always does the opening!
1. When Paul and Barnabas arrived in Antioch they gathered the church and told them that God had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. Acts 14:27.
2. John records Jesus' words to the church in Philadelphia "... See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name" Revelation 3:8.
2. Surrounding us are doors that God stands ready to open if we stand ready to enter.
1. People enslaved to alcohol and drugs, gambling and sexual immorality can be freed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. People deceived by the new age, secular humanism and other atheistic philosophies can be won by the truth of God's Word.
3. Folk who are caught up in materialism, temporalities and the world can find fulfillment and meaning in Jesus Christ.
4. Men and women mistakenly thinking that their goodness or sincerity or works will save them can be saved by Grace through faith.
5. Folk bowed down by depression, fear, anxiety, guilt, and despair can be raised up by the uplifting good news! 
3. God provides open doors and these are doors of
1. Opportunity which we must seize or lose.
2. Needs in the lives of others.
3. Responsibility that we cannot shirk or pass to others.
4. Though the world wants to shut the doors, forbidding prayer or Christian expression in the public arena, God opens doors for the Gospel. No matter what doors the world shuts or bars the world erects, Jesus' words are true: "The gates of death will not prevail!" God opens doors! He opens the doors, but what we do with them is up to us!

2. GOD PROVIDES OPEN DOORS THAT DEMAND DILIGENT SERVICE: V9:
1. When God opens a door He expects us to walk through it to serve, not to be idle.
2. Paul mentions going through Macedonia. When he got there he found people willing to step through a door to render real service. In 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 we read:
1. "Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability they gave of their own accord, begging us with much entreaty for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God." 2 Corinthians 8:1-5.
2. Here were folk who saw an open door of service and they served diligently. Note:
1. They saw a need among their brethren in Judea.
2. They begged for the favor of giving to help with the need though they were poverty stricken themselves.
3. They first gave themselves to God and to the church.
3. The Macedonian Christians were diligent and bountiful in service! They did according to their ability and beyond their ability! They model for us genuine, diligent service. 
3. God sets open doors before those who are willing to step through to service! Note some others who were willing to serve:
1. Moses was willing and it was written of him, "Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant," Hebrews 3:5. Of all God could have said about Moses, He said, "He was faithful!"
2. Joseph was willing and his service in Potiphar's house was so good that his master promoted him over his entire household. Genesis 39:4.
3. Phoebe was willing and was commended by Paul for her diligent service to the church. Romans 16:1.
4. We ought to be willing to step through open doors for diligent service, too. And our service ought to include giving our money for benevolent and missionary purposes, personally sharing our faith with others, ministering to others in their grief and need, and going where Christ may send us to do what He commands.

3. GOD PROVIDES OPEN DOORS THAT ARE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITIES: V9:
1. Note that Paul said, "a door is opened to me." Not to Timothy or Apollos or Barnabas, but "to me!"
2. Sometimes people see something needing fixing or changing or some task that needs doing and say, "Why don't they do something about that?" or "Somebody ought to do something about that!" But remember, we are all some of "they" and each of us is one of the "somebodies!" Let's all assume personal responsibility.
3. Consider some who realized their personal responsibility:
1. The Israelites, fresh back in Canaan after the Babylonian captivity, said to Ezra who had just explained to them proper conduct in the land, "That's right! As you have said, so it is our duty to do." Ezra 10:12 . They possessed a sense of personal responsibility. 
2. President Harry Truman used to have a desk plaque that read, "The Buck Stops Here!" implying that in the final analysis he assumed ultimate responsibility. 
3. Paul wrote to the Galatians, "For each one shall bear his own load." Galatians 6:5. The load here being the onus of personal duty and responsibility!
4. He wrote to the Romans, "So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God." Romans 14:12. Nobody else can do that for us; we are personally accountable and responsible.
4. To accept personal responsibility means:
1. No passing of the buck to others. Remember the old saying, "Let George do it!"? That doesn't fly for the Christian. It's "Here I am, send me!"
2. No procrastination, no putting service off , no waiting until a more convenient time.
3. No blaming others for our own shortcomings unlike Charlie Brown's little friend, Peppermint Patty, who demonstrates the failure to take personal responsibility. She is talking to Charlie Brown. "Guess what, Chuck. The first day of school, and I got sent to the principal's office. It was your fault, Chuck." Charlie said, "My fault? How could it be my fault?" Patty said, "You're my friend, aren't you Chuck? You should have been a better influence on me!" You don't have to be a brain surgeon to know who failed in their responsibility!

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