Temple Baptist Church - 8-19-2026
I Cor. 16:1-14
Introduction:
A. In Romans 7:7-24, we saw the heart of the Apostle Paul revealed, teaching us that God can use fallible people. Men and women who still have a sinful flesh to battle. Men and women who often fail and yet get right and continue to live for Christ.
Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
B. In 2 Corinthians 10:10, we read that God can use men and women who are not physically strong or eloquent and articulate in speech.
2 Corinthians 10:10 For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.
C. In Acts 9:4-6, we saw that God can use men and women who will bow to God’s will and way in life.
Acts 9:4-6 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? (5) And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. (6) And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
D. God used one small, weak man to travel by foot to one great big world and help turn it upside down for Christ!
1. How did Paul know where to go? How did he know where to start? God open and closed doors to get him to the centers of travel and trade to establish churches that could spread the gospel to the world!
2. Paul mentions two places in particular where God opened a door: Macedonia and Ephesus!
E. Paul called it, in verse 9, “a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” The word “Door” is mentioned 189 times in your King James Bible. A door can be either physical or spiritual. This door was a spiritual one.
1. First Mention of “Door” is in a spiritual sense - Genesis 4:5-7 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. (6) And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? (7) If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
2. Last Mention of “Door” is also in a spiritual sense - Revelation 4:1-2 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. (2) And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
F. I give these verses to drive home a point. When God opens a spiritual “door,” it is normally one door at a time. It is a single, specific door. Oft times we try to do everything when God wants us to identify and do one thing that is special to us. This individual “door” is a “door” of opportunity.
G. The world was big and Paul was small and one, therefore, God opened doors in strategic places, centers of trade and culture, where local churches were established to spread the gospel in their own lands.
H. Spiritual doors, like physical doors, are entrances that can open and they can close. These doors are opportunities opened by God to both individuals and or churches corporate. Spiritual doors can close as quickly as they open, and must be entered when the opportunity is there to do so.
Revelation 3:7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
J. Each time, these doors, opened to Paul, brought about the salvation of the people of these cities along with the establishment of local churches. Salvation is a door that God opens for each of us.
K. In our text for tonight, we find two places mentioned where God opened a door for Paul.
1. Macedonia. God opened a great, effectual, and adversarial door in Macedonia, in Acts 16:6-15, often referred to as “The Macedonian Call.” God opened the door into Macedonia and Paul was obedient to go where God sent him. There Paul found a few women in Phillipi having a prayer meeting by a river. Lydia, a seller of purple, had her heart opened by God and Paul shared the Gospel with her. She was saved along with her household, baptized, and invited Paul to abide in her home. Thus, the beginning of the Philippian Church.
“The Macedonian Call.” Acts 16:6-15 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, (7) After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. (8) And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. (9) And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. (10) And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. (11) Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; (12) And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days. (13) And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. (14) And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. (15) And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
2. Ephesus. God is now opening a door in city of Ephesus, referred to in Acts chapter 19. One city at a time, God open the door for the Gospel to be preached. Ephesus, located in Asia, was an important city under Roman rule. God would use Paul to establish the church at Ephesus.
a) The church at Ephesus became one of the greatest in the Apostolic Age. Young Timothy was sent there to remain and keep their doctrine right, and did so. When speaking of the Church Age, in Revelation chapter 2, God referred to the Apostolic Age as the Church at Ephesus, a church that loved God and Paul and did everything right but, in the end of the age, left their first love.
Revelation 2:2-4 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: (3) And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. (4) Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
b) It was a church to whom the Epistle of Ephesians, often called the “Highlands of Faith,” was written. An epistle that dealt with both the Positional (chapters 1-3) and Practical (chapters 4-4) aspects of salvation.
L. Paul describes this “door” in 1 Corinthians 16:9: “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” I see three things that describe the “Door” Paul mentions that was opened to him.
1. It was a “Great” door. A door that only God could have opened. An opportunity to establish a church in Ephesus where the Temple of Artemas, called Diana, the goddess of the Ephesians, stood.
2. It was an “Effectual” door. Paul was able to start and establish the church at Ephesus. A local church in the midst of idolatry and sinfulness. These are doors that, when God opens, one MUST step through because they may or may not remain open long. I have often said that you can be in the right place at the wrong time or in the wrong place at the right time and be wrong in both cases!
3. It was an “Adversarial” door. These doors would swing on the hinges or resistance. Though the adversaries cannot shut the door, they WILL resist those who step through them! These adversaries can be satanic or circumstantial.
a) Fierce opposition from the Jews. (Acts 19:8-9) Paul first reasoned in the synagogue, but some became hardened and spoke evil of “the way”. Paul then withdrew and taught daily in the school of Tyrannus.
b) Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, became alarmed because Paul's preaching was turning people away from the worship of Artemis. He stirred up the craftsmen, and a huge crowd gathered in the theater. The riot that ended up in the theatre. where the people shouted for 2 hours, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.”
c) Paul later described his experience in Ephesus in remarkably strong language:
2 Corinthians 1:8 We would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.
In 1 Corinthians 15:30–32, Paul says: “And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?”
1 Corinthians 15:32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
d) Paul's work at Ephesus was not merely a short evangelistic visit. He spent years teaching and building up believers.
e) But, through it all, Ephesus was not simply a place where Paul had problems. It was also one of the places where his ministry had extraordinary success. Acts 19:10 says that “all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.”
f) His hardships occurred alongside remarkable growth of the gospel. He mentioned more hinderances in other places.
Romans 15:22-23 For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you. (23) But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you;
1 Thessalonians 2:17-18 But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. (18) Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.
M. Now, if you do not mind, a personal illustration:
1. I was not looking for God when God was opening a door for me. It was a great door, an effectual door, and an adversarial door. God opened my heart with the Word of God, and I walked through the Door which was Christ and was saved.
2. I was not looking to pastor a church, but God opened my heart and, when He called me into the ministry with Matthew 9:38, I stepped through that door.
3. From that point on, God began to open and shut doors to get me here in 1987. I did not know where Laurens was, much less Temple Baptist Church. I walked through the doors that God opened for me one at a time.
N. Some doors God opened for us that we should walk through.
1. The Door of Salvation. John 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. (God opens this door but will eventually close it if not entered!)
2. The Door of Spiritual Growth. 1 Peter 2:2-3 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: (3) If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. (A never ending door as babes in Christ can become giants of the faith!)
3. The Door of Sanctification. Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present (a presentation to God, not a departure from the world) your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Not just separation from the world but separation to God! A positive, not a negative thing!)
4. The Door of Service. Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. (As we are all different, we have different callings and work to do in the body of Christ! A surrendered heart is a useable one.)
5. The Door of Sharing. Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Both through foreign missions and sharing the gospel through our lives, testimonies, and literature, we can witness to our Jerusalem!)
6. The Door of Separation. 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (7) (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) (8) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (One day, thank God, we will walk through the door of death or be caught up in the air to forever be with the Lord! This sinful body gone and this sinful; world forgotten, we will forever be with the Lord!)
Conclusion: When God opens a door, step through it because it will be great, effective, and protected from its adversaries. If God has not yet opened your door, learn to wait in contentment until He does open it.
