When God Closes a Door - Charles R. Swindoll

[Music] you're listening to dallas theological seminaries chapel podcast a clear voice in chaotic times profit but one of the things that we appreciate most about our speaker our chancellor dr. charles window is his faithfulness and his model to us in light of that the encouragement that he shares with us in a recent book called encouragement for life he also models and i think it appropriate to read a section by way of introducing him it's a little section called two are better than one and it epitomizes the role that he has here at DTS and his ongoing role as Chancellor but also his encouragement to those of us individually on the faculty and the staff and especially to me in my role there's an old Swedish motto that hangs in a mini a kitchen in Scandinavia it says shared joy as a double joy shared sorrow is half a sorrow without others life slows to a grind rather rapidly as the little kitchen motto states the secret of survival is not simply enjoying life's joys and enduring its sorrows but it's sharing both with others we gain perspective by having someone at our side we gain objectivity we gain courage in threatening situations having others near tempers our dogmatism and softens our intolerance we gain another opinion we gain what today in a technical world is called input in other words it's better not to work or live one's life all alone it's better not to minister all alone it's better to have someone alongside of us in the battle Chuck thanks for being alongside of us here at Dallas seminary for so many years in your roles as a board member than president and now Chancellor would you join me in welcoming our encourage her dr. Charles window you good morning special word of welcome to you here for the first time you have come to the campus and you are full of anticipation and you are in Chapel good for you in a few weeks when I'm back I hope to see you doing all the same again how important that is and Bill Brian you're looking more like francis schaeffer everyday as i amazing get a haircut bill [Laughter] ought to tell you that something wonderful happened and this is not a joke this is fun this is true we've been on a search for a senior associate pastor and our little church out in Frisco for about about five or six months and Lord led us to just the right man and located in another state I had really not spent any time with him just a little time during an intern trip in our pastoral intern and some of the pastors take a trip together and he said yes and so we're so relieved and so thrilled well when he came to spend some time with us his name is Paul utage utage you know Paul he said I've got to tell you my mentor is bill Brian first time I wondered if we really should have called Paul [Laughter] now I tell you bill um you have helped shape his life the reason I tell you that is you just never know when you spend time with each other and you build into another life the the significance it makes in them and just one story after another after another of how Billy Shirley had really helped Paul and Brenda in their early years of growing and learning in the walk of faith there is a sound that is impossible for us to get used to it often comes abruptly and it always happens surprisingly its inaudible but it is powerful and most of us can name specific places and times in our lives when we heard that sound and I'm referring to the sound that occurs when God closes a door now the thing that makes it so difficult is that we usually misinterpret that sound it often comes on the heels of strong commitment to obedience being filled with the spirit going through a season of Prayer often over weeks of time followed by hard work diligent effort the counsel of others and then slammed that door shuts and to make it even more difficult is that following the closing of the door there is silence deafening silence God's silence not unlike what Jobe experienced in the whirlwind of one what we would call tragic event after another and then silence where are you God times like that we are humbly reminded that he is the Potter and we are the clay he is the master we are the servant now we all know that theoretically there's the person in this room that would would deny that we say we willingly bow before him he is our God and He is our guide o great Jehovah just a pilgrim in a barren land and I'm I'm moving toward the goal of honoring you and serving you and now this to make it even more difficult God does not tell us why certainly not then one of my mentors during my years of seminaries dr. Bruce walki I remember in a class in Isaiah he was applying something from the text and then just tossed out a line that has stayed with me all these years God rarely if ever explains why one thing is for sure when that door closes we do not think at that moment this is going to lead me to something better the Scottish SAS Thomas Carlisle 19th century writer essayist historian put it this way when the oak tree is felled the whole forest echoes with it but a hundred acorns are planted silently by some unnoticed breeze when the door slams on our face we don't think that poetically all we can hear is the falling of our oak and the thud as it hit the forest destroying our dream our hope our anticipation we don't think at that moment that there are some acorns being whisked away and blown to a place that will grow and bear fruit for God's glory through an open door at a time like this when the door closes and some of you have had one close recently that's when great theology needs to kick in and true great truths come to our rescue the first truth is that God is sovereign God is sovereign daniel 4:35 all the inhabitants of the earth are is nothing and he does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and no one can ward off his hand or say to him what are you doing the psalmist put it this way in 1:15 3 our God is in the heavens he does whatever he pleases sort of point-blank in your face I'm in charge the other great truth is that God's plan is profound and often to us very strange revelation 3 7 tells us he is the one who opens and no one closes he closes and no one opens and there's no explanation following that statement now even a casual walk through Acts chapter 16 to which I'd like to have you turn we find a classic example of closed doors leading to an even greater and better open door unknown at the time to the men before whose faces the door had closed acts 16 follows on the heels of a paroxysm that burst between Paul and Barnabus as a result of an argument over whether they should take John mark with them on the next journey and the dispute was so great that they separated from one another and Barnabas took John mark with him and sailed away in one direction and Paul selected Silas and with the blessing of the church moved on into the second journey x16 is an account of the beginning of the second journey what's interesting is they take off with great hopes and plans and dreams anticipating one open door after another the first one is open sixteen one it came also we came also to Derby and to Lystra and behold a certain disciple was there named Timothy the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer his father was a Greek he was well spoken of other brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium Paul wanted this man to go with him so he took him so Timothy note out an agreement what an opportunity to travel with a seasoned man of God like Paul and another like Silas Timothy goes along and learned so much in the process so they come first we notice to the cities verse 4 they were passing through the cities delivering the decrees referring to the decrees made clear in Chapter 15 regarding the message of grace to those receiving Christ verse 5 the churches were being strengthened in the faith and were increasing in number daily that's what you want to see that's what's so exciting you love to see spiritual growth you love to see numerical growth you love to see the obvious hand of God on your life and the door is open and they must have thought we are in for the time of our lives has this journey unfolds wrong verse 6 they passed through the Phrygian angulation regions now pause for a moment don't read any further the Phrygian and Galatian regions were dark spiritually and they needed the gospel desperately and we read they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia that's a biblical way of saying the door closed one of the things I learned from Vernon McGee door an electric ship on Romans here in this very Chapel is that a need does not necessitate or does not demand a call just because there's a need does not mean you're called to meet that need everywhere you go there will be needs there were needs in Phrygia in Galatian regions they needed the gospel and Paul and Silas and Timothy no doubt long to get door closed slam no word of explanation here or later the door closes easy for us to press right onto the next verse and to forget what it must have felt like if you have ever planned a series of meetings or a strategy putting together for the purpose of making the gospel known some evangelistic effort on a campus some idea for a community or a church or a gathering of churches and it falls flat it's the most disillusioning feeling you feel like a failure you feel like you were poor in planning you weren't sensitive the Holy Spirit none of the above is true God closed the door but we're not ready to understand closed doors we like open doors especially when we're not told why they closed after all we're the Potter whoops he's the plotter we're the clay we're the responders not the initiators when the plan is of God he initiates it we then carry it out he didn't initiate it here let's go on when they came to Messiah they were trying to go into both iniya look at the words trying to go into both inia the spirit of Jesus did not permit them slam there's another one no explanation what's happening Lystra Derby Timothy along the way cities we minister to and we share with them the results of the council in Jerusalem and and there's an open door and there's joy and there's a growth and there's all the things were made for suddenly there's a door closing and a door closing and a door closing as they work their way across the continent or the country we know today is turkey passing by mithya that came to true as well guess why they stopped walking there because from then on you got to swim you come right to the edge of the water it's like leaving Texas going toward West Texas getting into New Mexico going across Mexico New Mexico through Arizona to the Mojave into the central and and northern section in California get to San Francisco but you aren't going to get further west unless you want to get wet there at Troas can't go any further now everything within us wants to rush to the vision but before you get there put yourself in the sandals of these men they left planning on evangelizing and establishing churches and all for all the right reasons this is Paul this is Silas this is young Timothy Timothy is being mentored and closed doors so here's a little disillusioned Paul and silent we never told what they talked about we weren't even told how long they were intro as I've always been taught that that night the vision appears doesn't say that night it says passing by Missy oh that came to TRO as a vision appeared to Paul in the night what night we're not told maybe they were there three days but the oak trees had fallen and all they could see and remember was the thud of broken dreams and disappointment I have been there so many times usually those are the times you don't write a prayer letter you know as a missionary you don't send back great words from the field it's unproductive it's unfruitful it's pretty bland it's just kind of business as usual sort of perfunctory there is a lot of that in ministry it isn't about one television show after another it isn't one massive growth spurt after another there is a whole lot of maintaining and staying faithful and doing what you ought to be doing even when you can't explain why it isn't working doors have slammed shut remember God is sovereign and God's plan is profound and often so strange a vision appeared to Paul in the night during biblical days God revealed his will in dreams visions various supernatural methods are wonderful now late great president John Walvoord writes this a vision is an experience in which God appears and communicates some revelation to his servant visions in the scriptures often occurred when the recipient was dreaming but not always usually the person receiving a vision received a realized it was supernaturally conveying a message from God before the Bible is complete visions were necessary and somehow and in some way a vision a presence from the throne room appeared before the Apostle at night and there was a man of Macedonia standing and appealing to him saying come over here and help us the silent breeze of the Holy Spirit had blown the a curtain to Europe Oh Paul had had his heart set on Turkey come over here over here across the vast body of water known as the Aegean and I love it when he had seen the vision immediately we sought to go to Macedonia that is a man you want to follow not a word of argument before I go please explain why those doors were closed nope none of that that's a waste of time get on past the closed doors there's something great to be reaped by going to the open ones so they set their faces like a flint and set sail to Macedonia a number of years ago I had the privilege to speak at the 50th anniversary of the navigators a Christian organization that I had come to really appreciate during my days in the Marine Corps and I'll spend my years paying back that debt of gratitude to that wonderful body of men and women who served Christ among those in the ranks of the business world the campus as well as the military world I had a chance to speak at a conference in Estes Park Colorado and a wonderful week with these friends many of them I knew most of them I didn't when the week had ended one of the nav representatives asked if he could drive me to Denver to catch my flight back home and I said I'd be great he said well you need to know if if you ride with me I got to tell you my story I thought oh brother hey but you know I've got to get there so I'll listen it's a story I'll never forget he said my wife and I were never EPS in the United States for a little while and we began to have our family children were still small and God had really blessed in the early years and then for some unrevealed reason the doors closed just the doors just closed and he said we attempted no and we nope so he said we got a little confused and he said in a conference not unlike this one we attended at Glen Airy a number of years ago my wife and I left our small children with a babysitter and we came just as a couple to pour out our hearts before God and to seek what it was he was trying to do and maybe why that was happening while we were there he said the leadership to whom I was accountable met with me and said that they had been praying and we they knew we had been praying and they felt that the new work they would like to open in the country of Uganda had their lives written all over it would they be open to that he said I smiled and said I don't even know where Uganda is a little bit of conversation he said I'll tell you what we'll do we'll pray we'll pray I know this the doors are closed around us here but I've got a little family and I'm a family of little kids and my son's just getting ready to start school and said oh hi oh but I'll pray and they did and he and his wife together amazingly had a wonderful piece let's do this so the next thing we knew we were landing in Nairobi Kenya said I left my wife and three small children there and and I took a Landrover bought for just a little bit of money and drove across Kenya into Uganda said it suddenly dawned on me when I went across the border this is the country where Idi Amin had that reign of terror it's a dangerous place he said before long we began to get to villages along the way and he said it was the villages had little tough kids walking through them staring at all the passers-by all of the boys carrying heavy loaded automatic weapons he said there was a chill of fear that just ran up my back and before I knew it night had fallen and it was dark so the next village we came to there was little blinking lights saying hotel so he said I pulled over and before I walked in I said at the steering wheel of the car and I said Lord are you in this did I miss something here I cannot bring my family here he said that sleepy receptionist told him there was a bed in the room upstairs and took my money and he said I walked up a little narrow flight of stairs and along a wooden hallway and I opened the door and and found my way to a naked light bulb hanging over a table turned it on and turned around and there was one unmade bed and one still made bed he thought oh man I'm not alone who else is in here room was empty he just dropped to his knees he said first thing I did was just cry and I said Lord I am so afraid I am so out of my comfort zone I am so far from home he said I just told the Lord everything that was on my heart and I said but there is one thing I do want to do your will I do want to go where you want me to go so I finished my prayer and I heard heavy footsteps coming down a hallway and all of a sudden this door was flung open and there stood a 6-foot five-inch African speaking in crisp British English what are you doing in my room he said well I uh I've rated the room for the night I'm I'll just said the bed and then I'll be gone tomorrow and what are you doing in my country well he said um I'm with a little organization from the United States call the navigator but nothing dangerous and the man grabbed him under his arms and swung around the circle going praise God praise God praise God then I began to praise he put me down he said we sat down a little desk there by the by the table and or that at the table and he said he reached in my in his pocket he pulled out a little pack of scripture memory verses at the bottom he says see that Colorado Springs Colorado Gators that navigators he said yes he said all for two years I prayed that God would send someone from the navigators because through these verses I've come to know Jesus and I need to grow will you help me grow my friend said man became my best friend in the years I was in Uganda he helped us find a home in which to live helped get my family and safely helped us build a few things that we built as a part of the ministry and became a member of my board and God is in the heavens he does whatever he pleases before I finish the story I give you four guidelines on open doors closed doors number one since God is sovereign he is in full control on both sides of any door second being in full control God takes full responsibility for the results number three the closing of a good opportunity occurs in order to lead us to an even better one and number four not until you walk through the open door and look back do you realize the necessity of the other doors being closed my friend said years passed and after about 1213 years they have sent another representative to take my place to build on the foundation that idly he said the wonderful man took the work and we moved our family back to Colorado Springs he said a little while after we were back our oldest who was now a senior in high schools said to us one evening our senior class is taking its annual trip to Washington DC sort of a field trip they take every year and he said I'd love to go dad said he'd give him 40 bucks to spend anyway he wanted to to buy a memory of his trip to Washington and he was on his way and then in about a week he came back the boy rather sheepishly said to his mom and dad now I want to surprise you with what I got so don't come in my room till I call you so they waited wondering what in the world he had spent his money for and finally called him up and they walked upstairs walked in his room and they're hanging over his bed on the wall was a huge flag of Uganda and his mom and dad just burst into tears they stood there arm in arm and the boy said to them those are the best years of my life and I want to thank you for taking our family there in fact I want to go back there and spend the rest of my life making Christ known thank you for planting that seed in my heart and today he's there because a mom and dad said we'll go through that door even though we know we don't understand why we'll go I have no idea what closed doors you were living with for all I know you are going through self-loathing and blame or even worse you may be blaming someone else because a door closed because I don't know which one to speak to directly I speak to all of you and say let it be let the oak fall let the acorns scatter God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform he plants his foot step on the sea and rides upon the storm deep in unfathomable minds of never failing skill he treasures up his bright design and works his sovereign will let it be let it be maybe we bow together forgive us our Father for the wasted efforts the hours spent wrestling with you over trying to figure out why doors have closed and finding us ready and willing hearts of obedience to walk through the open ones and to remember that our times are in your hands and you do all things well in the name of Jesus everybody said you

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

Views: 162,267

Rating: 4.8088446 out of 5

Keywords: difficulty, hard times, trust, trials, leadership, trusting God, Dr. Charles Swindoll, Chuck Swindoll, Dallas Theological Seminary

Id: 9AhGAHkHqB4

Length: 33min 46sec (2026 seconds)

Published: Mon May 07 2012