Sound of Faith

R. G. Hardy: I want to talk about the golden door. I want to take you first to 1 Corinthians 16:9. I'll read this and then we'll turn to other verses. If you want to turn to it, you can. But it says in 1 Corinthians 16:9, “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” Verse 13, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit ye like men, and be strong.”

Now the phrase “quit ye like men” simply means be courageous. If I were to give you the antonym, because sometimes giving the antonym helps you understand, it would be don't faint, don't be fainthearted, don't be afraid. But “quit ye like men” means have courage.

Now in Paul's writings, in at least three times that I can think of, he uses the metaphor of the open door. It means, in a word, opportunity. What Paul is saying is that a great door of opportunity is opened unto me. The structure in the Greek grammar means it stands wide open. Wide open!

What the inference is is that this is an opportunity for a great harvest. A very surplus and plentiful harvest. A rich harvest. It's an extraordinary opportunity for him to minister the Gospel that has opened up to him in the city of Corinth.

But, he said, along with this golden door of opportunity, there are many adversaries. There are many enemies. Satan is always going to challenge those who go forth with a sickle in their hand to reap the harvest of souls. There is always going to be great opposition. Great opportunity, great opposition. They go together.

When people see the great opportunity, they're like, “Yeah, let's all get on the bandwagon!” But when they feel the great opposition, a lot of them decide to go home, like they did in Gideon's day. How successful Satan will be in opposing us is determined by how resolute and determined we will be that we won't take down and we won't back up.

In this city of Corinth, Paul says, “I have a great and effectual door opened unto me.” We know by reading through Acts that Paul stayed here longer than any other place he ever went to minister. He stayed in Corinth a whole year and a half, and he said, “I taught daily.”

How would you like to go to Bible school with Apostle Paul as your teacher and professor? Seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, and add another 26 onto that. How many think you might get a little bit of an idea about the Bible and the Gospel? You might just learn a little bit about God's Word. How many think you would? Well, that's what happened to those people in Corinth.

He said it was a great door, an effectual door. There were many adversaries, and we won't go into that because we'd have to go all through the book of Acts. But what I want you to see is, in this case, Paul was saying, “Wow, what a great door was opened unto me.” He stayed there and he labored for a year and a half daily himself personally before he ordained others to take over when he went on his way.

Every time there is an opportunity to move forward for God, there is going to be great opposition. I like what Joyce Meyer says. She puts it this way: “New level, new devil.” How many say amen? That's exactly what it is. A lot of people want to move up, but they don't want to face more opposition. But they go with the territory.

Now let's turn to Colossians. You can turn there with me, the fourth chapter. We're talking now about the great door of opportunity. Colossians 4, verse 2: “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”

Now look at this. In Corinth, he says, “A great door is opened to me, a golden opportunity, a golden door.” Here he's saying, “Saints, I need you to pray. I need you to pray that God will open a door. I need you to pray for a door to open.” While you're praying, watch.

Notice he said, “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same.” It's not either-or. It's not either pray or watch; it's watch and pray. He's saying that because I need God to open a door here. He wanted to see God do there in Colossae as God had done at Corinth.

If these saints take Paul at his admonition and get to praying, if they come under the anointing of God's servant and they get to praying for God to open this effectual door like he did at Corinth, and God hears their prayers and answers and a great door opens up to them, what do you think's going to happen? The same thing that happened at Corinth: many adversaries and great opposition.

But when this happens, you've got to expect it to happen. You expect it to happen because you're watching. You're not taken off guard. You're not taken so the devil can hit you blindsided. You are expecting it because you're watching in prayer.

You know that just as soon as that great door opens, don't relax. Don't let your guard down. Look for the opposition because if he can hinder you, he will. Remember when Paul wrote a letter—I think it was to the Thessalonians. He said, “I desire to come to you more than once, but Satan hindered.” How many remember that?

He said, “Satan hindered.” Apparently, there were not enough people praying for that door to be opened because he said, “I wanted to come more than once, but I wasn't able to come because Satan hindered.” So he's telling the people here at Colossae to pray that God opens the door.

When God opens the door, keep on praying. Continue. Somebody say continue. Continue. Because God wants to give us the victory, and He will give us the victory over adversaries. But we've got to be careful that we don't miss the opportunity.

When God opens the door, we've got to be ready for that door to open. When it's open, we can't wait until then to get prepared. He said, “Walk in wisdom.” Now “walk” is in the present tense. It means habitual action. You don't just wait until the door gets open. “Walk” really means your whole life, how you conduct yourself, your manner of life.

You're already walking in wisdom. This is how Solomon said it: he that winneth souls is wise. When that opportunity comes for you to testify of the Gospel, you're already ready and you don't waste any time. He says you redeem the time because you know the days are evil. How many say amen?

Let me tell you something. On September 11, 2001, a great door of opportunity opened for every Christian, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. It was a golden opportunity that opened up to us to preach the Gospel. It was an opportunity to pray with people, pray for people, preach to people, witness to people that you never were able to before.

I heard one lady on the news today on the streets of New York being asked, “Well, what happened that day that you were there?” She says, “Well, we all began to pray and we got the Bible out and read it.” The person interviewing her said, “Well, was that unusual?” She says, “Oh, yes. At my job, we've got all kinds of religions. That was the first time we ever got the Bible out.”

It was a golden opportunity that opened up. How many say amen? I saw the poignant story. It ran not only on Christian TV, but they managed to get this one on all the secular stations, too. Only they didn't go into as much detail as the Christian TV.

This one man and his wife are from India. They came to America, but they're born-again Christians. They were saved under Mark Buntain's missions over there in Calcutta. He came to America and he felt like God had put a call on his life to preach the Gospel. But he wasn't getting any opportunities.

That very morning, he worked in Tower One. His wife, who was four months or so pregnant, worked in Tower Two up on the higher floors. Just a few minutes before that first plane hit the tower that he was in, he was on the net typing email to a friend somewhere across the country.

He typed the words, “I feel such a strong call of God on my life, but God is not opening any doors for me to minister. I just don't know what He wants me to do.” I'm talking about less than an hour—I don't want to misquote but I know it's less than an hour—the plane hit his tower.

The wing, part of the wing, came into the very floor that he was on. Immediately, everywhere, smoke. They were blinded. They didn't know which way to go, which way was up. They didn't know how to get out because they were in a white, blinding fog of smoke and debris and that acrid stuff going down into your lungs.

Somehow or another, they managed to get out to the halls and start trying to work their way down. It was like a group that they were all with together. He began to pray, “Lord, help us to find a way out. Lord, help us to find a way out.”

To make a long story short, he managed to get in with a group of people. He said to them, “You need to start praying to Jesus right now. Call on Jesus right now. He will save you. He's the only way.” Because he was convinced he was going to die and they were all going to die, so he's going to try to get as many people saved as he could.

And you know what? They were saying Jesus. They were calling on Jesus. They kept going along, but then they began to get separated. Somehow or another, he came up with a man who had a light, and it happened to be an FBI agent who had a light.

He got hooked up with him and he got separated from that group of people that he got to pray. They managed somehow to get down to the bottom. But then when he got down to the bottom, things came down and he was hit under all the rubble and the debris.

Miraculously, I'm really speeding this up and just making the high points, he got rescued out alive. All those people that he told to pray to Jesus, they got lost, they were killed. But they prayed before they died.

He got out, but now he's worried about his wife. He knows she's in Tower Two and by this time that tower's had its thing. So here he is. He's thinking, “Oh my goodness, I survived now my wife and my unborn child is going to be dead.”

To make a long story short, she was late getting on her train. Her train was late getting there, and they were told they couldn't come, so she never even got to work on time. Give the Lord a clap offering.

You remember that sort of complaining email about how I feel a call of God on my life but God's not opened up any doors? ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News channel, CNN, on and on and on. Even in India, because remember he's from India. The boy from home.

He's all over. He's been called to preach all over cities all over the country. He's been outside of the country in churches. He's gone preaching the Gospel. A golden door was opened to him.

What I want you to see is he was prepared. He was prepared before one door opened. He was prepared and when that door opened, he was right there to bring those people to Jesus Christ. I'm sure that the majority of those people that perished in those towers and those planes were not saved when they went to work that day. I think it would be safe to presume that, don't you?

But I also think it would be safe to presume that in that time they started walking down those crowded stairwells, and of course they didn't make it out on time, that many of them called on the name of Jesus because there were Christians there that God had there that were ready for an open door.

The next thing he says is “redeeming the time.” To redeem something is to buy it back. In the Greek it's very intensive. It means this is absolutely vital that you buy it right now. Take hold of it right now. Seize the opportunity right now. Don't waste one precious moment. Whatever you lived in sin, you can't go back and get it. Whatever mistakes you've made as a Christian, you can't go back and fix them. Why you want to lament over that? Get up and redeem the time and walk in wisdom and walk through the door that God has opened to you. Redeem the times! How many say amen?

Let me tell you something. Islam hasn't taken a backseat. They're not hiding in the corners. At first they were because you had some people backlashing doing stupid things like going and hurting them which is not going to solve anything.

But now, I am amazed. All of the media now are soft-pedaling it. I watched something on TLC the other day. I had to turn it off because I was getting so upset. They were trying to show you—they called it Inside Islam: “We're going to give you the real scoop about Islam.”

They so soft-soaped it. They made Allah equal with God. They twisted everything. They made it that we all have the same God and all of that, and you know I preached a sermon on that before so I won't get started on that. Buy the tape.

But what I'm saying is they haven't taken a backseat. In California—my God, we need to get a burden for California. I just notice that everything I'm telling you, these people live in California. We need to pray for them, saints.

In California, one of the school districts, I forget where it is, but in one of the city county districts in California, they decided that they were going to have a course on religion. They were going to examine the different religions. They're not teaching the religion, supposedly; they're looking at it philosophically, which is okay.

When they did Christianity...