 We're here in 1st Corinthians chapter 16. We're going to look at verses 5 through 12. Let's begin reading in 1st Corinthians 16 at verse 5. I'll read to verse 12. We'll get into our study. Now, I will come to you when I pass through Macedonia, for I am passing through Macedonia. But it may be that I will remain or even spend the winter with you, that you may send me on my journey wherever I go. For I do not wish to see you now on the way, but I hope to stay a while with you if the Lord permits. But I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. Now, if Timothy comes, see that he may be with you without fear, for he does the work of the Lord as I also do. Therefore, let no one despise him, but send him on his journey in peace, that he may come to me, for I am waiting for him with the brethren. Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brethren, but he is quite unwilling to come at this time. However, he will come when he has a convenient time. Now, as we open up this portion of First Corinthians, the verses that we're reading now are intended to explain Paul's upcoming itinerary. And Paul is detailing them and giving his travel plans to the Corinthians. But there are things that we can learn from these verses that can help us in a practical sense. I want you to notice a couple of things as I lay an introduction. Notice verse five. Notice how he says, now I will come to you when I pass through Macedonia, I am passing through Macedonia, but then verse seven, I do not wish to see you now on the way, but I hope to stay a while with you if the Lord permits. So, though he prepared his ministry plans, he is sensitive to the Lord's leading. One of the things that I want to develop with you, and it'll take just a moment, is that the Apostle Paul, as a leader of the, as a father of the faith to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul was an individual who had a tremendous, tremendous ministry and had a tremendous impact. We studied the life of Paul and we see that this was a tireless individual who went out with the gospel throughout their known world. And he proclaimed the message implanted churches. He did a lot of evangelization and he spent a lot of time doing this kind of work because that's what he was called to do. But it's interesting to me to note that though this was a man of tremendous energy and incredible integrity, yet he was also an individual whose, whose character was called into question, his ministry was called into question a number of times. You know, I am planning on taking you into some of the minor prophets after I conclude 1 Corinthians. I have to be honest with you, I would love to take you right into 2 Corinthians and there's a reason for that. Because 2 Corinthians is actually his most open-hearted epistle or letter that he writes. And when you read through 2 Corinthians, you'll discover that Paul had to write this letter for a lot of reasons, including the fact that he had to defend his ministry in the face of the criticism that he was receiving from those who had infiltrated the Corinthian church. And so they have lodged accusations against him and apparently in 1 Corinthians he's already responding to some of those things. In 2 Corinthians it's very developed and when you read 2 Corinthians you'll see that no less than 21 times in 2 Corinthians Paul responds to accusations. Now the way he responds to those accusations is simply by the things that he's writing and you have to read the things that he's writing in order to understand what he's doing and what he's doing is responding to criticisms. And so I'll just outline a few of them for you because I'm laying and developing a foundation for actually the last chapter of 1 Corinthians but you'll see if you were to go through 2 Corinthians that, that he had been charged with a variety of things. He had been charged with being selfish and hypocritical, that he used fleshly wisdom. He had been charged with being self-appointed. He'd been charged with an accusation that he lorded it over the church and dominated people's faith. When they spoke concerning him they said he was an unemotional intellect, that he was legalistic. He forced people to leave the church, that he preached for personal financial gain. He sincerely was peddling the word of God. He had no credentials. He had no letters of commendation. He's self-righteous. He's self-sufficient. He labors in the energy of the flesh. He uses impure crafty deceitful tactics. He preaches himself and not Jesus. He's a mad man that he has corrupted and defrauded the church. He uses guilt to get money. When he's with the people of Corinth he pretends to be humble. He uses fleshly tools to perform spiritual works. He's physically unattractive. He's untrained in speech. He's their spiritual inferior. He's not worthy of supporting. He's not worthy of compensation. He's deceitful because he uses guilt to ensnare. But he also, one of those charges was that he was fickle, that he changed his mind easily. And so when you look in 1 Corinthians that's the reason why in chapter 16 verses 5 and 7 are important because he's actually making it very clear that he's not changing his mind, that he's not fickle, that he's not somebody who says yes one moment and no the next. He's basically teaching them that his steps, the steps that he takes are not fleshly at all but actually the things that he's doing are things that God is by his Holy Spirit directing him to do. In other words we use the term he's being led by the Spirit and he wants them to know that. He prepares his ministry plans but he's also sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. In ministry that is a very important thing to learn. I believe it very important to plan because there's this old saying that we ministers use. If you fail to plan you're planning to fail and there needs to be obviously well thought out plans. You don't just expect things just to flow without some organization. After all that's why God gives the gift of administration to the church is so that the body of Christ can actually do things decently and in order. So there needs to be administration. There needs to be organization. Every company knows that you need to have an administrative executive who helps to plan things out and move projects in a certain direction. We all know that. The church is very similar and yet the one thing about the church that's very important is we may make the plans but they have to be Spirit empowered and directed. Like it says in Proverbs 16 verse 9, a man's heart plans his way but the Lord directs his steps. So there's a sense of being led by the Holy Spirit even though you're making your plans you're waiting on and being directed by the Holy Spirit. And the Bible says in Psalm 37 23 the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in his way. And so Paul is simply making clear that he's not making his plans in a way that that is lighthearted in a way that doesn't demonstrate that he's thinking through and praying through things and that's why he says I do not wish to see you now on the way but I hope to stay a while with you if the Lord permits. I'm putting my plans in the hands of the Lord. Christians are to make our plans carefully. Our life plans should be prayerfully submitted to the will of God and sometimes we fail to pray before we move and then we end up being discouraged. We begin to do things without seeking the Lord in them. I was mentioning just the other day on a Wednesday night study how that very often in the past I've had people approach me saying I have a great opportunity to work in a new job in a new state and I'm going to get a raise and they're going to provide housing and things of that nature. I mean let's face it if if I were in the world and I had somebody saying listen I'm going to move you to this state I'm going to give you this executive job you're going to be getting all the all the perks that come with an executive position and you'll have a house will provide housing for you even put you up in a house until we build you a new one. That sounds pretty good to me you know I would think well that's wonderful where are you going to move me well we're going to move you to San Luis Obispo I said wow you know that that sounds pretty good to me but the bottom line is is the Lord in those plans and I've spoken to people before who have said to me you know pastor could you pray for me because I have an opportunity to move to another city and I'm going to move with my job and they're providing all of these things I already have a house that I've picked out and all and can you pray for me and and the first thing that I will say I always say this first thing and so if you were planning on speaking to me about this here's your answer I always say the same thing I'll say what church are you going to go to what church are you going to go to now for those who are who are rooted and planted into a church fellowship that means something because that's where you get your spiritual nourishment that's where you get directed that's where the Holy Spirit meets you in a personal way that's that's how you're growing and so that matters to you that kind of thing does matter to you but when when you kind of pop in and pop out of a church when there's really no commitment or accountability then it doesn't matter what city you move to because it doesn't matter you're going to be just as lacking in commitment to that church as you are to the one you're presently in so I'll ask that question I'll say what church are you planning on attending and I cannot tell you over the years how many times the response has been where they'll say something like well they're all pretty much the same there are a lot of churches in that city when our fellowship began um back in 1981 there were in the city of Ontario where we began there were over 80 churches that already existed it would have been easy for me and my family to find a church to go to there were so many so the fact is is I didn't know of one that I wanted to attend and so when my sister-in-law Patty asked me where are you going to be going to church I told her I haven't selected one yet we haven't even gone to visit one so she said to me well until you find the church could you teach me the bible and that's how this church began that's how we began it was for one person it was for my sister-in-law Patty and I've been trying to teach her for 30 some years and she still hasn't learned anything her husband sitting up here in the front and he's nodding his head he's saying amen amen say it again please is she here matt where are you patty you still haven't learned women are to be silent in the church patty you obviously missed that study but let me remind you if I may where are you going to go to church if you move it's none of my business if you leave or not it's up to you in the spirit of god and god needs to lead you where you're going to go amen to that but as a pastor it is right that I should ask you where are you going to be fed spiritually that's what pastors do hirelings don't care hirelings will say well leave your tie that the door when you leave but pastors will say where are you going to go to church because it may look good on the outside and let's face it there are a lot of places that are probably to be preferred over where we live right now oh there are unless the lord puts in your heart that location you'll never be happy or pleased or blessed it has to be the spirit of the lord you have to take your plans and pray them out god where would you have me to be what do you want for me because it's not all on the surface guys there are deeper things we can only see the immediate god sees the future and i want to be in the center of his will i want to be in the place where the holy spirit's going to move and so that's what paul is simply trying to teach us when he simply says there in verse 7 if the lord permits in james chapter 4 verses 13 through 15 we read now listen you who say today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city spend a year there carry on business and make money why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow what is your life you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes instead you ought to say if it is the lord's will we will live and do this or that you don't really know what tomorrow brings those runners at the boston marathon those those people who were there on the sidelines cheering on their family didn't know what was about to take place none of us did how could we know that i heard of a man and this really amazed me a man who was on his way to work it was very early in the morning and he was about to pass under a bridge with an earthquake hit it was a very severe earthquake and that bridge collapsed and it collapsed at the precise moment that that man began to enter under it and as that man began to enter under that bridge and it collapsed he died instantly and i couldn't help but think if that man would have left 10 seconds earlier or even 15 seconds later he would have survived but it was the he all the events that went into him leaving getting into his car starting the car pulling out driving down the street hitting a stop sign coming to a signal entering a freeway on ramp driving all of those events to the split second timed in such a way that he enters under that bridge at that moment and so you don't know what tomorrow is going to bring none of us do we can make our plans we're going to do such and so but he said you need to say if the lord wills it's not just some superstitious thing that we tack on to our our plans it's god i want to submit my will to yours i want to be where you would have me to be i want to do the things that are pleasing to you and that's why paul is stating here if the lord permits he's making it clear that his own plans are subject to god's leading and that's obviously demonstrated in full-time service to the lord a person may have a burden for some form of ministry or some place to serve but the holy spirit has a way of leading us elsewhere i tease about this already mentioned it but i thought that perhaps the lord would give me permission to go to another city to san lisa bispo you know because i've been going there for a long time and i mean my children basically on our vacations when they were small we would just drive up to san lisa bispo and i was just talking to somebody today how that when ana who is almost 30 years old now when ana was a an infant in arms that we would actually leave and we'd drive at night you know what like four in the morning and the kids would fall asleep in the back seat and it saved us the 25 30 dollars or whatever the room was going to cost at that time this was almost 30 years ago um but it saved us that and a lot of you have done the same thing and you just drive during the night and you arrive at your destination and then you find something to do until you can check into your hotel room and that's what we would do and then we would go into the room and we always got just a small room and it had a king-size bed and then we after a while we had to get a roll away and throw two of the kids in it but ana we would pull a drawer out of the chest of drawers and we would put a blanket in there and we'd put the infant inside she had her own she had the best room herself and we would put her in that little thing there and and that's what we did and we would do that we'd go to san lisa bispo and that's that was our vacation spot so my kids basically grew up in vacation by going there for two days you know that's what we did and and that's how we did our vacations and so i've been going there to that city since 1968 so it's been a long time and so naturally when i resigned my position as an assistant pastor in another church i turned to marie and i said i have a friend of mine nicky who who is a manager at a um a bread uh they the uh delivered bread i said uh i bet you he can get me a job as a delivery man delivering bread in san lisa bispo i said you know i'm delivering the bread of life why can't i just deliver bread i mean it's a difference you know and i can make some bread by delivering bread you know i did everything i could to try and get her to be convinced that that's what we were supposed to do because i i wanted to move i i mean and i told her i said what greater opportunity is it for us now we have nothing keeping us here we can go free at last free at last thank god almighty and and and i i wanted to go and i'll never forget marie when marie said to me you know that's not where god called you i hate that the wages of sin is chino you have to put your plans in the hands of the lord you have to god has the perfect place for you the right place for you i should say this i i never do say this i should say this i tease an awful lot about chino because i love the city so much i actually love the city of chino it's a great city i love the city but at the same time i don't know any hawaiians who wake up in the morning saying gotta get the chino before i die i just i mean how beautiful is the city that has a fly as a mascot you have to think about those things for a while but god's place for you will always be the best always you will never out plan god never that's why you submit your plans to the lord lord i would love to go to such and so place i'd love to have a business there i'd like to be able to stay there for a certain amount of time and i'd like to make a certain amount of profit james when he's speaking by the way is simply using business terms he's speaking about a business man who's making a business plan and that's what he's speaking about is about you don't even know what tomorrow is going to bring you don't know because tomorrow is the hand of the lord it's not in your hand so you need to submit your plans to god when it comes to again when it comes to ministry you may have a heart for a certain place and all but the lord may have a different idea you see the burden is not necessarily the call there are times that people will say i have such a burden for something but that doesn't mean they're called to meet that that need i have a burden for such and so location well perhaps the lord is going to put it into your heart to support somebody who's going to do a ministry there and he's not calling you there at all he's calling somebody else in acts in chapter 16 verses six through nine we read paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of frigia and galatia having been kept by the holy spirit from preaching the word in the province of asia when they came to the border of missia they tried to enter bethynia but the spirit would not allow them to so they passed by missia and went down to mont clare no went down to trohas during the night paul had a vision of a man of massadonia standing and begging him come over to massadonia and help us paul wanted to go into one direction but the spirit said no then he said then we'll take it over here and the holy spirit said no why because i have another location for you that i'm planning for you to enter in that you might do some work there so ministry must be led by the spirit and and it isn't something that you see the need and therefore i need to meet that need at least not that alone in romans 8 14 says it says those who are led by the spirit of god our sons of god so i'm 32 8 says i will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go i will guide you with my eye now that's an interesting phrase isn't it i will guide you with my eye what are you talking about my mom taught me the meaning of this though my mom didn't know the scripture and all of you will know exactly what i'm talking about because i'm i'm gonna assume that everybody in this room probably has done this has it had it done to you and that is this if somebody walked into the room and my mom wanted to notice them but didn't want to speak out loud what would my mom do she would look at me and then she'd redirect her gaze and she'd look at something else and as a child i began to realize my mom is guiding me she wants me to see something so i'd look at my mom and then she'd look like and then i would just follow her gaze and when i followed her gaze i saw what she wanted me to see if you have fellowship with the lord if you have this time with christ it's a picture of you meditating on the things of god and gazing into his eyes and you're getting so close to him that when he moves his sight to look at something else you follow where he's looking so that you might go where he's directing you to that takes time in the word and the spirit of god it takes time in experience with god to learn the way he guides you so what he's looking at he wants you to go to and god says i'm gonna guide you with my eye now paul desired to remain with them obviously for some time because disciple making takes time and it requires patience disciples are not formed quickly and disciples are not formed carelessly it takes time to develop foundations it takes time to begin to mature in the things of the lord that's simply the natural way i have grandchildren i've had my children it just takes time for them to mature to be able to do things that that require maturity for them to grow strong enough to do certain things and responsible enough to go certain places and be trusted and all of that maturity takes time disciple making takes time you get saved on saturday don't expect to be preaching to a congregation on sunday that generally doesn't happen what happens is you get saved and you start getting into the word of god you start developing godly friendships you begin to learn to pray you begin to be built up you begin to serve in some small way and over time the things that that really do not speak well of a disciple things that are still um practices of the flesh things that god is removing over time those things are are are basically trained out of you you grow out of them you you make determinations to forsake certain things and over time you get discipled you become a disciple and so as you're being discipled you are now being equipped to disciple others and that takes time maturity takes time when paul was writing to the galatians in chapter four verse 19 he said my little children for whom i labor in birth again until christ is formed in you it's like i'm i'm travailing in birth because i want to see maturity i want to see christ formed in you i want you to have a mature character and that will take time how do you make a disciple well jesus and matthew 28 19 and 20 said it like this he said go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit teaching them to obey everything i've commanded you surely i'm with you always to the very end of the age so you make disciples by teaching them to obey everything that christ has declared to them disciples are individuals who have begun to follow the lord whole heartedly and are learning the ways of the lord because they're being conformed into the image of their master it's enough that a disciple jesus said the as is master and so what you're doing is you're growing in your maturity and becoming like him that disciple making is the purpose of teaching ministries a teaching ministry is intended to equip the saints for works of service that's why we labor through passages and take as much time as we do because we want to equip you in collosians one 28 and 29 paul said it like this he said we proclaim him admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone perfect in christ to this end i labor struggling with all the energy which so powerfully works in me i want to present everyone mature the word perfect doesn't speak of morals spotless sinless perfection it speaks of maturity i want to present people mature people who have gone through and matured through the things that they've experienced i want to make them into disciples well he says again in verses six and seven it may be that i'll remain or even spend the winner with you well some Corinthians thought this kind of sensitivity to the spirit was in decisiveness they thought that paul was fickle that he changed his mind easily by the way there are still people who are like this Corinthian church if you say i think i'm going to do something and you don't do it they will say to you i thought you said you were going to do something and you didn't do it you are indecisive you're fickle you change your mind easily um you know i i've had that happen maybe once or twice here in this fellowship over the years where we've made it i've made a statement i'd like to do something and chosen not to do it and i discovered something i discovered that the more you teach the word the more people can become critical because they consider themselves to be well taught or at least learners and so they want to bring criticism and i think that sometimes every person ought to be open to uh to uh to correction you know i'm i have no problem with that i i can remember i just remembered a bible study i did many years ago where i had said i think we're going to do something we didn't do it and in the bible study one of the ladies it was a home bible study as a matter of fact was davin connie's house who sit here in the front with me trying to keep everybody from being my friend because they want me to be their friend and their friend alone but we were at their house and uh somebody said pastor didn't you say that we were going out you were thinking of doing something and i said yes and you didn't do it and i said no we chose not to do it they all had wadded up papers and made them look like stones and they stoned me in the front room you know as a false prophet you know because i had changed my mind you know i hate them so but sometimes you may say well i think this would be the best course of action when in when the holy spirit says no that's not what i want you to do and so paul wasn't fickle he wasn't easily changing his mind at all he was trying to be sensitive to the holy spirit i mentioned earlier out of second carinthians how one of the charges against paul was that he changed his mind easily you find that in second carinthians chapter one verses 15 through 17 there it says in this confidence i intended to come to you before that you might have a second benefit to pass by way of you to massadonia to come again from massadonia to you and be helped by you on my way to judea therefore when i was planning this did i do it lightly or the things i plan do i plan according to the flesh that with me there should be yes yes and no no so he actually was called into question because of what he wrote here in first carinthians 16 somebody said you change your plans easily and that's why paul is defending himself against that accusation so why did he write that he might remain with them until winter was ended well the reason he writes that is because he was a faithful steward who began and finished the work that he had begun before leaving jesus taught us in matthew 25 23 concerning a steward he said his master replied well done good and faithful servant you've been faithful with the few things i'll put you in charge of many things so he was just a faithful servant a faithful steward who wanted to complete an activity that he had begun now notice again he said that you might send me on my journey wherever i go now when he says that you may send me on my journey in verse six wherever i go he's saying i want you to be of support to me wherever i am i want to take your support with me i want you to send me on my journey and i want you to be an encouragement to me as i leave and even as i'm on that journey then i may know that you're praying for me and supporting me in verse eight but i will tarry an emphasis until pentacost for a great and effective door has opened to me and there are many adversaries so he wanted to remain where he was to continue ministering but he speaks concerning an effective door that has been opened now paul was in the city of emphasis when he was writing this letter and god has given to him an open door we use that phrase open door and the door opened up to me the phrase an open doors just speaks of a ministry opportunity god has given to me an opportunity for ministry call it an open door there are ministries called open door ministries and and it's simply another way of saying god has given to me a door of opportunity he's opened it up now i i share with people about doors and doors that may open to ministry and i say to them this i say be careful that you don't try and force doors open don't try and press yourself into something that god doesn't want in he may he may allow you in but that doesn't mean that he's going to bless you while you're there you know there there's a psalm a scripture in the psalms that speaks about the lord giving them their requests but sending leanness to their souls and there are times when when you may force your way into what you think was an opportunity when in reality you were just so desirous of of being there for whatever reason you might have had at that time that you weren't listening carefully to the spirit of god and and you enter in and you end up being hurt or hurting other people and so we have to be very careful that we do not press doors open in ministry over the years as a christian i've learned to kind of put my hand on doors if you will and kind of try the door push it a little bit if it begins to swing open then i carefully try start to step in and if it's of the lord god has a way of blessing years ago many years ago now i got a phone call from harvest riverside and they had said to me greg is planning on having a men's conference in the area we'd like to know if you could come and speak at the men's conference and so i said i'd love to what's the date and they said the projected date is this time so i said great just let us know well they didn't they didn't have the men's conference they cancelled it because i had accepted and so they cancelled it now i was thinking a men's conference needs to be done in this area we have one in at that time in anaheim you know thousands of men show up to that seven eight thousand men it's a great conference god does great works there but we need something in the inland empire when greg lory had said that he was planning on doing that i thought that he's a great man and that would be a great conference we ought to have it and uh but it it just didn't pan out so i waited then i thought well rawl he's just right here and rawl has a tremendous ministry it would be great if rawl were to have a men's conference so i waited because perhaps rawl will have one but rawl had no burden for that and so i thought about greg and i thought about rawl and then i thought well if greg isn't going to do one and and rawl isn't going to do one maybe we're supposed to do one maybe we're supposed to do one and that's how our men's conferences began it was for no other reason other than something needs to be done and so that's what we did i i thought well perhaps the lord is in this and and i began to push the door a little bit lord are you opening a door for us and now all of these years later we've had so many years of men's conferences and every year we see you know two three thousand men show up and hundreds of guys get saved and and we've seen that for so long now that's how i've learned about how the lord opens effective doors you pray you seek the lord you wait on him and then you move and and so paul is speaking about an effective door that has been opened but at the same time he says though the door is being open notice verse nine there are many adversaries and there will be many adversaries the enemy does not simply back off when god wants to move forward he has a way of opposing and he'll do whatever it is that he can to try and keep you from succeeding at whatever endeavor you have that would be pleasing to the lord and and and so you will have you will have adversaries now in the case of paul when he was speaking about this effective door that god had opened up well like i said he was there in the city of Ephesus and there were certain things that were oppositions to his ministry there was idolatry in the city of Ephesus there was a temple there called the temple of diana and even within that temple system of idolatry there was ritual prostitution that was part of the religious system that had corrupted the entire city not only was there this worship of diana but there was demon possession that was open there in the city of Ephesus there's an interesting story found in in the book of acts in chapter 19 verses 13 through 16 that speaks of a man by the name of skeva and his seven sons and skeva is spoken of as an itinerant or a vagabond jewish exorcist and he tried to cast the demon out of somebody and he said to him i adjure you by the name of jesus whom paul preaches and that's how they tried to cast the demon out of this demonized man and can you imagine how creepy this would would have been because the demonized individual says you know this demon speaking through this man says paul i know jesus i know but i don't know you and what an interesting thing to say when he says jesus actually jesus i know when you look deeper into the language and and what the greek language is actually saying he's saying i i know who jesus is absolutely i know who he is paul he's getting well known in the demonic realm i'm aware of him but you who are you and then the demonized man leaps on them and and beats them up severely and they all go running out of the house start raving naked and they streak through Ephesus the first streakers in the bible so there's demonization there there's idolatry there there was magic there occultism was accepted and rampant because when the gospel was was successfully planted there in the book of axe again chapter 19 speaks concerning the magicians who burned their books their magic books when they got saved so there were doors of opposition if you will adversaries there paul had encountered this and he had experienced great persecution there in Ephesus second chrithians chapter one verses eight through ten we would not brethren have you ignorant of our troubles which came to us in asia that we were pressed out of measure above strength in so much that we'd despaired even of life but we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in god who raises the dead who delivered us from so great a death and does deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us he encountered great great opposition adversaries you're on the job site you'd like to have a prayer meeting you begin to speak to some of your believing friends you decide to go into the parking lot to have prayer at lunch somebody doesn't like the idea that you're actually praying there on the job site they report it to your manager your manager speaks to you and says you're violating you know you're bringing in your religious faith and it's offensive to others so in favor of one person who doesn't like the idea of you praying prayer is shut down or you're we had a lady who worked in a in a school some one of the schools in the district here who had taken her bible and had placed her bible on her table just had her bible on her table and she worked not as a teacher but in one of the offices and there was a complaint and here comes her supervisor who says to her i'm sorry your bible is offending people here in the office and and and so you'd be thinking you know it's it's a it's a bible it's a book i mean how does this offend anybody listen the minute you do something with the intent of honoring god i promise you there will be adversaries there will be have you experienced those have you anybody who shares your faith experiences it you will you know sometimes i wear i wear my um a necklace here that has uh star david and my cross and i've had interesting responses to that you know i had one guy grab it and kind of flick it you know what's that you know and and and when he woke up i told him you know no i'm teasing of course i'm not raw you know people are interesting they they respond interestingly that's what happens so when you make up your mind that you're gonna stand up for jesus you will have adversaries and you want to know something be willing to have adversaries because the truth is going out if you don't give the truth who's going to if you don't share who's going to you know are you praying that god will bring a witness to your office or to your neighborhood or to your family have you ever thought that maybe he already has and it happens to be you you ever thought about that because god already has planted somebody in the family to love and share the faith of christ it's you and you will have adversaries the doors of opportunity are there and you want to just run insane oh this is great look and and the enemy is waiting behind the door with a bat and he wants to take you out i am not kidding you know that if you take your word the god's word and you begin to share with people you know exactly what i'm talking about it looks so like it's just it's just look it's so open and out of nowhere opposition comes and so don't be surprised when it comes because it does and and paul is speaking about it because that's a fact well in spite of the opposition god was still moving in a wonderful way there in Ephesus in acts 1920 it says the word of the lord was growing mightily and prevailing so god by his spirit opens doors of opportunity for those who enter in as you submit your plans to the lord he begins to reveal your path to you so we do not fold in the face of opposition we expect to encounter it we're engaged in spiritual warfare we know the enemy opposes our efforts he doesn't give up his captives without a fight he does what he can and you want to know something even when he's losing he has a way of taking one last swipe one last little boy throws himself into the fire and throws himself into the water his father doesn't know what to do he approaches jesus he says i he's basically saying i'm helpless you know there's nothing that can has been able to be done up to this point but if you can do anything help us and jesus said all things are possible to him who believes and the man's response was this lord i believe help thou mine unbelief and when the lord jesus cast the demon out of that little boy the bible tells us that the devil tore him one last time one last time in this room i have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that just before you got saved there was one last swipe that the enemy took at you one devastating blow where he tried to injure and cripple you once and for all i have met so many people who have told me that the week before the day before even that day they got saved the enemy took one last swipe at them one last attempt to hurt them one last time to try and cripple them one last attempt to harm them but then the lord stepped in and broke that and that's how the lord works but the enemy has a way guys and do not be surprised when you're leading someone to the lord when you're praying with someone don't be surprised that sometimes they even go down further before they come up because the enemy goes after them even more he doesn't give up his captives without a fight now finally in verses 10 and 11 if timothy comes see that he may be with you without fear or he does the work of the lord as i also do therefore let no one despise him but send him on his journey in peace that he may come to me for i am waiting for him with the brethren and so paul refers to this young man a man by the name of timothy it's possible that he was carrying the letter to them but it's interesting how he says if timothy comes to you see that he may be with you notice without fear now what is it that paul told timothy and second timothy one seven he said that god hasn't given to us a spirit of what a spirit of fear so this was part of timothy he was he was uh he was timid he he was reserved sometimes you may see some bold witness you know and there are some i mean really bold people and and and oh man and and you see how bold and courageous they are they're fierce like lions and you feel like you're weak and you can feel that way you can feel that way i think that's one of the ways the enemy keeps our mouths shut when i was a young man going to secular college you know i had spent a year in bible college i took a year from bible college and went to secular college so i could save up my gi bill because i took off to go to europe for three months so i saved up for a year and i put my gi bill away which was at that time five hundred dollars a month so that i'd have enough money to go to europe for three months and that's what i did i backpacked through europe for three months from june until september so i had spent a year in bible college at biola started getting some basics started teaching the word and was was into my second year of teaching when i took some time three months to go to europe but prior to that i went to secular college at that point i was a year uh i had been teaching for a year but i was still really fresh in my faith new and there i am sitting in class with these professors with master's degrees and doctorates and me i'm a high school graduate i mean that's what i am i had somebody write me a letter one time he's really angry at me and he signed his letter so-and-so phd thd and he was mad so i wrote him back and i signed my name david rozales hsg high school graduate i mean so what but he didn't like that he wrote me again but that's another story i thought i was funny but when i was sitting there in class with uh these professors totally intimidated by the years of knowledge the lord spoke to my heart in a very plain way through his scriptures it wasn't like a dream or some vision or some prophetic word just by reading the word of god if you open your mouth i will fill it when you're taken before the council do not meditate on how you will respond because the spirit of your of your father will be in you you know speak through you and i said what's it gonna hurt to trust god make sense to me so i'd be in my class and i made it i started doing this within the first week of attending i began to make a habit of openly declaring i'm a born-again believer in jesus christ okay you know i threw the gauntlet down what do you want to do for the next 11 weeks and that's what i did and yeah i took some arrows yeah the pseudo-intellectuals amongst the children who were going to school with me who thought themselves to be philosophers because they took philosophy 101 and very deep you know they had their things to say and we had our arguments in class and but i figured you know what you know i'm paying tuition like you are i live in the united states like you do i spent my years in the service that you haven't i've earned the right to speak and therefore i'll speak and your opinion is your opinion my opinion you can say is mine but i'm basing my opinion on god's word you're basing yours on people magazine so maybe god's word is greater than magazines maybe it is i got a feeling it is and that's how i went into class and and i went in with this combat mentality i went in with this you know put on your helmet of salvation we're off to war and that's how i went to school with this knowledge that what i believe is not accepted god taught me not to be rude god taught me to be kind god taught me to articulate clearly and quickly try to get to the point and not to be argumentative i had to learn that but i did and over time i discovered that that yes there's opposition but i'll never forget uh something that happened i won't give you the details but it was it was the best day of class i had and i got into it with two women's livers and that was quite fun and uh you know and then the teacher it was a family class and the teacher was a homosexual man who he didn't know what to do when these women were coming at me and my response he didn't know what to do with that baby is kind of like whoa you know who this is getting heavy you know and so but afterwards um he and i had a conversation but anyway afterwards uh people walked up to me and they said i just want you to know i agree with you and and i had heard the term silent majority before at that time there were a larger amount of people who were in agreement than today i guarantee you but at the same time they are there they are there i got up in front of one class and i was given a word you're supposed to you're supposed to take 10 minutes to speak on a certain word and the teacher said during the course of the uh 12 weeks you're here i'm going to give each one of you students at least one time a word that you have to come up and speak spontaneously on and i waited and waited and waited and finally it was almost the end of the semester when he finally said david here's your word and he and i walked up in front of the class of 30 students there and he says your word is freedom and so i said freedom i said when you speak to me concerning freedom i'm thinking of what jesus said jesus said you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free and and i said you guys are in bondage to sin and sin is holding you captive but jesus christ can set you free and when i was sharing that in this this one woman i didn't know she was a believer all of a sudden she yells out hallelujah so i had so i had someone with i am telling you you know open your mouth just go it it's exciting just open your mouth and see what god will do there are adversaries yes but don't be timid so when when paul was speaking there about timothy young timothy god has not given us a spirit of fear but a power of love and a sound mind and so he's saying i want you to care for timothy respect him do not frustrate him do not intimidate him and then he speaks concerning our brother apollos and that's interesting because when he says concerning our brother apollos i strongly urged him to come to you with the brethren but he was quite unwilling to come at this time however he will come when he has a convenient time there's so much you could say about this i'll just say it briefly and that is this apollos was one of the men that people were people were comparing paul with i'm of paul i'm of apollos i'm with syphus i'm of christ remember all the way back in the first chapters apollos was one of those men paul had apostolic authority he could have ordered apollos to go apollos was not an apostle he was a young man who was eloquent well learned but he was not one with authority so if i were teaching a leadership class i'd i'd be pointing this out i want you to see how paul gave an order he said to him i strongly urged him he was unwilling to come he will come when he has a convenient time i didn't make an issue out of it the lord is going to lead him i encouraged him he'll be there in leadership you don't have to bully people into doing what needs to be done you encourage them to make the right decisions and if you've poured into them enough of the word enough prayer enough love of christ they make the right decisions they make the right decisions there are some people who think their entire job is to make sure you make the right decisions they don't make sure they make the right decisions because their job is to make sure you do well i've discovered something i've discovered that if you trust god and trust people enough and if they love the lord they'll make the right decision it takes an awful lot of pressure off of you and it leaves the responsibility on the one whose shoulders that responsibility should be on which is the lord one last story i used to live as all of you who've been in the church know this for those who are not we're new here just up the street if you go up to the corner here take a left turn take a couple stop signs on the right side louis bay grain and feed there's a house there that is uh it has rocks on i used to call it the rock house but i can't anymore because we didn't sell rock there i lived there in gay bible studies the solid rock but i used to live there i used to live in that house and one of the roommates i had joined some other guys one of the roommates that i had is man by the name of steve and steve was about 21 years old when i moved in there and steve was already an alcoholic steve would come home with cases of beer and the course of a weekend he would drink these cases of beer he just he was an alcoholic every time i saw steve he had a beer and one day he started coming well one at a certain time he started coming to bible studies that i was doing there on tuesday night and uh he got saved in the bible study and one day i he had walked in he said something to me that i've never forgotten he walked in and i was standing real close to him and he kind of pulled back and he says david i wanted to tell you something he said i've noticed that he said this i've noticed that whenever i walk in you come real close to me he says it's obvious you're smelling my breath to see if i have beer on it and he says do you want to know something you loved me more before i got saved than you do now i never forgot that i said you know what steve let's go grab a beer and talk about it no i i said i did not i'm teasing i said you're right you're right you're right i'm judging you steve forgive me i said there's no real excuse for it i love you and i'm concerned for you and i've let my concern get in the way of our friendship and love i should trust that god has really saved you i'm sorry and he's still walking with the lord you know all these years later god did a real work in him i left him in the hands of the one who does the job the best so i hasn't really called you to monitor other people's lives now if there is an obvious sin then of course as a brother or sister i'll live you enough i'll tell you the truth i'm concerned for you but there are some things that that just leave it in the hands of the lord you don't have to be nitpicking everybody's life to make them better it's like what jesus said you know you're trying to take a speck out of somebody's eye when you have a beam in your own if you take care of that beam god has a way of helping them to take care of the speck i think there's a lot of truth in that so let's let the lord work in our lives and let's let the lord guide our lives paul said i wanted apollos i even strongly urged him to go apollos made a decision he's going to go as he senses the spirit's leading he'll show up and he trusts him and he trusts the lord i suspect that it's a lot wiser to trust the lord than it is to try and tell the lord what to do don't you