Sand Mountain Sermonette 48
Luke 22:42; Jeremiah 29:11
Sand Mountain Sermonette 48
The Open Door
“Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
Luke 22:42
About a year or so before I met my wife Nancy, I was working at a job in my hometown of Albertville, Alabama, when a friend of mine walked in and, within the course of our conversation, asked me a couple of interesting questions. He asked, “Louie, what do you think you will be doing in the future? “Do you believe you will be working here? I responded, “Yes, as far as I know I will probably still be working here.” Later in our conversation he asked, “Have you ever considered being a preacher?” To which I said, “Yes, for the past year or so I have found myself wondering what it would be like to be a preacher.”
Well, it wasn’t long afterward that I met Nancy and we were married and God led me to Florida where, one day driving to work at a place that featured similarities to my job in Albertville, I was so overcome by the Spirit of God that I had to pull my AMC Concord off to the side of the road, for the Lord was telling me I was to pursue ordained ministry. And, although other doors have closed in my life, this door has remained open to Nancy and me ever since God’s calling on my life (our lives). He has been faithful!
More than anything else, Jesus’ passion was to obey the will of His Father. And He did this, because He loved His Father more than anything else next to His loving us so much that He completed His mission to die on a cross so we could be dead to the power of sin and alive; really alive, now and forever, in Christ! To seek, find, and obey the will of God should be the passion of every Christian but oftentimes we allow our fleshly impulses to rule rather than the Holy Spirit who indwells every Christian believer.
The Bible teaches when God has a plan He wants to unfold in the life of one of His children, He will plant a desire in that believer’s heart, provide the opportunity, and then, open the door. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us, God’s plans for His people are to offer them soundness, completeness, and peace on all fronts rather than evil, distress, or injury, in order to give them a future and a hope (New American Standard Bible).
What a glorious adventure it is to seek where God will lead you wherever that may be: across town or from Florida to a seminary in Kentucky and back to Florida again. Will the road always be easy? “No.” Will I ever be afraid? “Yes!” but, the Lord will always be present and when we are following His leading, blessings will always follow, and oftentimes in the most surprising ways. Praise God for He has a plan for your life!
Surrender your heart to the Spirit, He will never fail you!
Pastor Louie