In the Hall Way

Intro:

I am exited about what God has for us today. Do you know that God understands our challenges? But that doesnt mean He is going to just wave His wand and make it all go away.

Thats the tough part, thats the part where we struggle. Because sometimes we just gotta go thru it. Because He IS God, and we want Him to fix stuff. God, I been doing my thing. Praying, reading, worshiping. Yet we struggle cause stuff aint right. We are getting our grind on, but the grind has stopped grinding. We try to justify, where we are, who we are, what we are. Sometimes we find ourselves being in a position where a door has been closed on us. Rain dried up, opportunities gone. We then seem to go into a frantic search for an open door. But therein lays the challenge. We have been taught that when one door closes, God will “seamlessly” open another. Man I looked for that scripture. its not there. Actually, Alexander Graham Bell said it! But God sent this message to straighten the path.

This is what I found:

Scripture:

Revelation 3:7–13 (NLT)

7 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia. This is the message from the one who is holy and true, the one who has the key of David. What he opens, no one can close; and what he closes, no one can open:

8 “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me.

9 Look, I will force those who belong to Satan’s synagogue—those liars who say they are Jews but are not—to come and bow down at your feet. They will acknowledge that you are the ones I love.

10 “Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world.

11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown.

12 All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.

13 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

Title, Prayer:

What happens to us when we are between doors? Our subject today is the part of life that we face that I call “In The Hallway”. Pray

Application:

I wish I could say the I am an expert, or all seeing, or just know that I know about the doors that are closed behind me. Or I wish that I could say that I am forever understanding, or that I am always knowing about the doors that are opened in front of me. I can tell you that most times I feel like I am leaving one door only to be faced with trying to find the next door. I am often standing in the hallway waiting on the door. I am looking for the seamless part to kick in. Saying things like “lil help”? We in the struggle! Lord help us. But then I look at the journey the Israelites took. When they left Egypt, the journey should have taken 11 days…40 years later.

But thats the challenge. You step out of a door that God has closed and you say, okay, let me walk across the hall here and open the next door. But there is not a door…there is just more hallway! Then we turn around after frustration to go back to the last door, and its gone! That is where Satan wants to keep us. in that loop.

Let me show you. Remember Lot’s wife? The door is gone but you still keep looking for the familiar because of your fear of the unknown future. What is salt used for? A preservative to keep something in its current state. Salt dries food. Salt draws water out of food and dehydrates it. All living things require water and cant grow without it. What did Lot’s wife turn into? We look back on how things used to be. “I wish things would go back...” We dont get that all that is doing is turning us into that pillar of salt.

You ever go to a job interview and they tell you to wait outside, in the hallway. Or when you would get sent to the principles office. All kinds of thoughts go thru your mind.

I always found it interesting how actors will be waiting in a hallway waiting on there next big break, waiting on their door. But unlike in the hallway waiting on your interviewer, the actor will continue to practice! Go over the lines again, and again, and again. They embrace the long hallway as they continue to prepare!

There is some challenge in verse 9. The liars, those who belong to satan are trying to vie for your mind and how you see the open door. But God sees us in our struggle and He know’s we aint worth two cent.

Exegesis:

You may have to stand out in the hallway

and I have opened a door for you that no one can close

Here he didnt say you have gone thru the door. he just he opened a door. that tells me I still yet, have to go thru.

Remember back in the day when your teacher would catch you acting up and the would tell you to go stand out in the hallway.

We are often in the hallway looking thru the door seeing what is there and deciding that aint for me.

discuss

Hold on a sec, this aint the right door

It dont look like I thought is was gonna look

Lord, why you got me out here in the hallway anyway

Thats what the Israelites told Moses! Why you bring us out here?! 11 day trip took 40 years cause they panicked in the hallway

We get stuck in transition from door to door

Benediction:

But God is telling us to embrace our time in the hallway. Dont look back and try to reopen a door He has closed.

And dont be afraid, Because the size of the hallway is proportional to the blessing

Small hallway, small building, small blessing

Big hallway, big building, big blessing

What are you going to do in YOUR hallway?

Isa 22:22

Isaiah 22:22 (NIV)

22 I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

Matthew 16:18-19

Matthew 16:18–19 (NIV)

18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”