WHEN ANGEL’S OPEN DOORS
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Eastern Europe, late 1950s–early 1960s
Brother Andrew (Andrew van der Bijl), later known as “God’s Smuggler,” was regularly carrying Bibles behind the Iron Curtain when Scripture was illegal in Communist countries. On one trip into Romania (he recounts similar incidents in East Germany and Yugoslavia), his car was loaded with Bibles in plain view—boxes stacked openly in the back seat. As he approached the border, Andrew prayed a simple, radical prayer:
“Lord, You made blind eyes see. Now make seeing eyes blind.”
A Romanian border officer stopped him and looked directly into the car. Andrew later wrote that the guard walked around the vehicle, leaned in, stared at the back seat where the Bibles were completely uncovered—and then waved him through! Moments later, Andrew looked in the rearview mirror and saw the same officer stop the next car, pull items out, and conduct a full search.
Andrew later learned that this kind of thing wasn’t a one-off. Multiple guards reported “not noticing” contraband that was later obvious, sometimes even admitting, “I don’t know why I didn’t see it.” Somehow guards has an inability to see what was directly in front of them!
We often want God to open doors
[17] But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy [18] they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. [19] But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, [20] “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” [21] And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.
Sermon title: “WHEN ANGEL’S OPEN DOORS”
Big Idea: GOD OPENS DOORS NOT FOR OUR PREFERENCES BUT HIS PURPOSES.
You don’t need God’s power for nothing.
Opening your home
Talking to another parent at soccer practice
Serving all day on worship
Dad being present to Bible read
I’ve never seen as many miraculous doors open, supernatural occurrences of power, and uncanny “coincidences” as I have since stepping into the uncertainty of God’s mission of church planting.
Paradise Honors
Justin Doyle was the first person I met with
Something will we’ll share next week
YOU CAN TRY BUT YOU CAN’T LOCK UP THE GOSPEL.
[27] And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, [28] saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” [29] But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. [30] The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. [31] God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. [32] And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
“Filled Jerusalem” Example of not being able to escape God’s work (Miguel?!)
How? → We obey God rather than men
Notice: It’s brashness for don’t tread on me sake.
They communicate the Gospel
YOU CAN TRY BUT YOU CAN’T LOCK UP THE GOSPEL.
2 Timothy 2:9 …for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!
On October 6, 1536, William Tyndale stood in the damp morning air,
shackled to a wooden post in the town of Vilvoorde, near Brussels. This was the cost of translating the Bible into the language of everyday people. The executioners forcefully secured his body to the stake with iron chains. A noose was fastened tightly around his neck. The crowd, a mix of solemn onlookers and those who believed him a heretic, stood in tense silence.
As the final moment approached, Tyndale’s lips moved in whispered prayer. His voice then rang out one last time: “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!”—a desperate plea for the very monarchy that condemned him to embrace the word of God in English. With a swift, merciless pull, the executioner tightened the noose, choking out his breath before flames consumed his body. His lifeless form was then burned, the crackling fire turning his flesh to ash. The smoke curled upward, but the word he had given his life to translate would not be extinguished. Within a few short years, his dying prayer was answered: the English Bible became available to the masses. In his day, Scripture was locked away in Latin, controlled by religious elites who feared that if ordinary people could read it, they might challenge the authority of the Church. Tyndale believed that every blue collar worker in England should have access to God’s word, and for that conviction, he was branded a heretic.
Tyndale dared to level these defiant words to the Pope: “If God spare my life, ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than thou dost!” He paid the ultimate price to ensure that generations after him could hold the Bible in their hands, read it in their own tongue, and encounter the living God personally.
But here’s the question: Are we willing to obey like Tyndale?
Because of this:
[33] When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.
Fortunately…Cooler heads prevailed. Gamaliel urges the council to let the apostles go, arguing that movements not from God collapse on their own.So they threatened them and beat them:
[40] and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. [41] Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. [42] And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.
Muslim Stories “When they are ready to die for Christ we know they are real converts…” Plot of ground where we can bury each other
What’s holding you back from obedience to Jesus?
Jeremy
“Study Religion” I denied Christ..
BAPTISM