Evangelism Iii — Dana Congdon

Well, when we put this in our heart that we want to reach out and share the light of Jesus Christ out into the world and bring people in, then the spiritual atmosphere gets charged with interferences and problems.

I wonder if you've had any this week. All kinds of things. I got home last Sunday and in 24 hours I lost both of my cars and had no car all week long. One lost its whole engine and is now getting a new one put in.

The other one, I have a diesel and it had 10 gallons of water in the diesel tank and it shot the whatever it is that gets shot in those things. The injector. Yeah, somebody put in bad fuel. So, you know, things like that, so I walked around all week and fought off a cold this week.

How about you? You know. And I thought to myself yesterday as I was fighting off a cold and taking some vitamin C's and laying low, I said, you know, I wouldn't miss this weekend. I am thankful to be here and I'm very encouraged to hear of the prayer meeting Wednesday night of the doors that our Lord Jesus has opened already and is opening.

The people that are anticipated on coming tomorrow and if they get here, you know, they will come through spiritual flack and it will be a spiritual victory just to see people here. Really. It's a wonderful opportunity.

A Participatory Gospel Meeting

Now I want to share with you one detail which wasn't clear last week just to help us all trust the Lord just a little bit more. Now in gospel meetings you're used to, I suppose, you're used to having a gospel meeting basically have its focus down here in the front where somebody sings, somebody shares testimony, somebody preaches the gospel, somebody gives the invitation.

Well we are going to do most of that, but the invitation is the unique part of tomorrow's gospel meeting. And here's what's going to happen. I just want to tell you all about it so you can pray tonight.

After I share for a period of time the gospel, some simple message, I'm going to stop my message and at that point there are going to be 25 brothers scattered throughout this congregation, basically one for this side here, front and back, and one for this group and so on and so forth.

It's a great logistic problem, but we'll work it out. And at that point these 25 brethren are going to stand up and be identified and everybody is to group around these brethren. And here's what's going to happen.

These brethren are going to pose the question to everybody in the group that I am going to pose. I'll tell you what it is beforehand. I'm talking tomorrow morning on the 23rd Psalm and the end of it where David said, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, I'm going to pose this question.

Are you in the house of the Lord? Are you outside the house of the Lord? Or are you in the house of the Lord but not at home with the Lord? Basically I'm talking about salvation and Lordship. Okay? But I'm going to pose the question and leave it sufficiently ambiguous where it gives some people latitude depending on where they're coming from to express how they feel.

And what's going to happen is this group is going to get around and Dan is going to pose the question and say, now would anybody like to answer that question or perhaps raise a question? And I want a Christian to be the first to speak.

I mean it would be wonderful if somebody who's just a visitor is the first one to chime in. But most likely take one of the brothers or sisters and do you make your confession? You know, well I believe by the grace of God I am in the house but I'd like to be more at home.

Could we pray about it? I wonder how I could be more at home. Let's just be honest and then pray for one another. Well eventually the heat's going to get on and some of the people in the group who are just there visiting are going to get their chance to say where they're coming from.

Somebody might say straight out, I'm outside. Somebody might say, what does it mean to be in the house anyway? What's this guy talking about? And the whole group together gets an opportunity to pray silently inside and sometimes pray, you know, outwardly for the various people.

The brothers need to be bold enough to say, could we pray for you? Somebody says, well I don't know if I believe in God. You say, good. Can we pray about that? And what we do in the small context is actually invite people to declare where they're at and pray for them.

Some people will get saved. Some people will come closer to the Lord. We don't know what's going to happen. But this is going to be a little different than when we usually have a meeting and then one person draws a net and people come up to the front.

You're going to be evangelizing right there in your little group. How does that make you feel? Isn't that great? Okay. A couple other footnotes that I want to mention now. The person that you bring or have invited to the meeting, by God's grace, I hope you'll commit yourself as he enables you to follow up on that person.

We have no follow up system here in the house of God except your heart being faithful to find out where somebody's coming from. Now let's just say you're sitting over here and you brought a friend who absolutely mummifies during this little group.

Doesn't say a thing. Sir, where are you at? Well, you don't pry somebody open, you just go on to the next person. Does anybody else have something to say? But you, you see, you brought this guy right here.

Now after it's over, tomorrow, I mean on Monday or during lunch or sometime, you should really go to the person and say, where do you think you fit into that little thing? Or what did you think of the meeting?

Or what do you think of the Lord Jesus? You see, you have this opportunity of following up the people that you've invited. Now please, brothers and sisters, do that. Otherwise we have no system, you know, we have no cards, we're not going to write down any names.

But we need to have our hearts sensitized now, because what's liable to happen here is the beginning of some people's conviction by the Holy Spirit, which will lead them down the road at some point to the Lord.

But you and I need to follow up. I remember a meeting that I had back, oh, it was three years ago, it was actually, we had sort of a, you know, a Christmas party is what it amounted to. We had a turkey dinner at this little fellowship out on Long Island.

And these people brought all their non-Christian friends, I mean, there's non-Christians all over the place up there, they're just, you know, but they'd come for free turkey. And some singing and we sang, and we sang some Christmas carols and we did a whole thing like that.

And then I shared the gospel. We gave an invitation, I think maybe one person accepted the Lord, a teenager, but that was the beginning of a snowball that eventually resulted in over 50 baptisms in that little group.

Because the brothers and sisters followed up with those people. As a matter of fact, one of the sisters and brothers started a Bible study in their home for a bunch of 12 or 14 of those people who came and heard and wondered what was going on.

And that started a snowball going out in Mattatuck on Long Island. It's just amazing what can happen. But if we just say, phew, man, I'm sure glad Sunday's over now. Now we just let everybody drift. Now we've missed it, you see.

I just hope you'll be very aware of the people that you brought. And if they feel very uncomfortable, help them. Help them. You know, it may come while they're in the group here and there's going to be a lot of noise here tomorrow.

You might even need to sort of talk to your friends just right there in the meeting. You just feel the freedom. Now, we're not going to pressure anybody. Listen, I don't believe in a gospel where they have to accept it tomorrow morning or it's too late.

I believe what we need to do is share the gospel. And for some people, it may just start to penetrate. So let's let people express where they're coming from, you know, and just pray for people and be kind to people and be confessional ourselves as Christians.

You know, if we all say, ah, praise God, I was delivered from hell and I live at home with Jesus and everybody who's good should do the same thing. Well, now, anybody who's struggling immediately has a tough time with that kind of a statement.

Now, I know all of you are almost perfect and ready to be raptured, but you don't have to tell that to everybody. You know, I think sometimes it's better just to be a human being and just thank God that you do believe you're in the house of God.

And maybe you want to explain just a second why. Now, we don't want the Christians to hog up those times, you know, but there needs to be input. And you Christians be sensitive. If the whole thing is dying right there and the brother is sweating like crazy, help him out.

Maybe you need to say, I believe we better pray for Rob. Rob says, yeah, I think I'm getting kicked out of the house. You know, whatever. Just be sensitive and pray. Well, you see, we have a tremendous logistics problem here tomorrow morning, which the Lord is going to have to help us get through.

Following Up After Evangelistic Meetings

We're going to have those small little groups for about a half an hour, and you're going to get a chance to see God moving in some people's lives. To me, the most wonderful thing is when somebody sees somebody coming to the Lord, just right there in front of your eyes, and you see conviction or you see harvesting done by the Holy Spirit in a real way and in a sensitive way, it's just a marvelous experience.

It's just wonderful. I remember back a few weeks ago, somebody came to my house who wanted, who because I have a minister, you know, quote, wanted me to marry him. I don't know where they got my name.

Actually I do know that the woman who is in the process of getting married, she's a sister in the Lord who goes somewhere and she's seen me somewhere. Anyway, so they came to find out if I'd marry him.

Well, I sat there and talked to them for about two hours and watched this man come under conviction and watched him start to cry and watched Jesus just soundly save him right there on my porch while we're talking about getting married.

You know, it's just wonderful to see that happen right in front of your eyes. You just see the power of the unseen God turning somebody's life around. Well, so here we are. We're going to give it our best shot tomorrow, and we believe the Lord's going to be present with us.

Jesus as the Door of the Sheep

And I'd like to just share a few things tonight regarding the Lord's presence with us. If you'd turn to John chapter 10, I'd like to start off with a thought that actually I mentioned briefly last week.

I'd like to take it up a little more fully. I'll begin reading in verse 1. John 10, verse 1. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep but climbs up some other way, he's a thief and a robber.

But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.

And the stranger they simply will not follow but will flee from him because they do not know the voice of strangers. This figure of speech, Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which he had been saying to them.

So Jesus said to them again, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. And all who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might have life and have it abundantly. Well, here's a wonderful picture of Jesus as the door, as the door of the sheep and as the door.

Now, of course, I'm sure since Lance has been here, you have heard this explanation of what it means to be the door of the sheep. If you go over to Israel and you travel around out in the country there and you see different shepherds grazing with the flocks and everything, and then you see the little sheepfolds where they take them at night, you're amazed by these little sheepfolds that are built up by stones about maybe three feet high, all the way around on four sides.

But there's an opening about this big for the sheep to come through. And there is no door. There's no wooden door. There's no iron gate. There's nothing. When the sheep come in, the shepherd sits down in the door.

He is the door of the sheep. Nobody comes in unless they go through the shepherd. He is the ultimate door. No safer door than having Jesus sitting in the doorway. The thief just can't come in that way.

And Jesus is using this illustration to show that he is the door to salvation for people who come in, for people who come out and find pasture. Jesus is the door. And as I mentioned last week, it means that Jesus is the way to salvation, but it also means something very practically for us now on the inside.

It means Jesus, practically speaking, is the way that salvation opens up for somebody. He's not only the way, but he is the actual mechanics. He is not only the way, but he's the means. Now, I'd like to explain what I mean by that, because when you look at the book of Acts, you see Jesus as the door.

This is my simple way of entitling the book of Acts. Now, you know, you've heard the debate over whether the book of Acts is the Acts of the Apostles or the Acts of the Holy Spirit or the Acts of Jesus Christ.

Well, Luke says at the beginning of the book that he's continuing on with the story that Jesus began to do and teach. It's obviously the Acts of Jesus through the Holy Spirit and through the Apostles.

But if you look at the book of Acts in a very simple way, we see that Jesus opens the door in this place and in that place for people to be saved, to come to himself. It's amazing that he not only is the gospel, but he is the gospeler behind the scenes who opens the door.

Pentecost and the Spirit-Initiated Gospel

Now, I'd just like for us to take a quick survey through the whole book of Acts, just so you can see what I'm saying. Okay, here we go. Let's go to Acts chapter 2. And you're aware, of course, of what happened on the day of Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit came down and there was a mighty wind and tongues of fire came down on these disciples. They began to speak languages of the visitors who were visiting for the feast of Pentecost. And such a stir and such a noise came about that people rushed to this particular meeting place where the disciples were banded together to find out what was going on.

And as they came together, Peter stood up with the other apostles. And what he basically did was explain what was going on. His sermon was actually rather simple. He said, you know what's happening right here?

We're not drunk. But the promise from the book of Joel that in the last days the Spirit would be poured out, you're seeing it right in front of your eyes. And this means that the Messiah has been glorified and gone up to heaven.

And that's why you see the Spirit being poured out. And the people were absolutely pricked in their hearts as Peter shared with them how they, in fact, had been culpable in putting Jesus to death. But now He's been raised again and this is proof of it.

And the people said, well, what shall we do? And He said, repent and be baptized and 3 ,000 were saved that day. Now, when I say Jesus is the door, what I'm trying to say is this. How could the disciples ever have gotten started?

What would your strategy have been? If you felt the Lord told us now to tarry in Jerusalem until you receive the power of the Holy Spirit and then to be a witness in Jerusalem. Now, how should we do it?

Peter, you got any ideas? I don't know. James, how about you? John, you got any ideas? How should we do this? Should we go out two by twos like we did in the past? They said, I think we better wait for the Lord to take the initiative.

And suddenly it was the day of Pentecost and we might say, and it's an understatement, the Lord took the initiative. I mean, a rushing mighty wind. Suddenly they're speaking the languages of the Parthians and the Medes and the visitors.

I mean, it's an amazing miracle. And in the context of that miracle, Peter didn't really preach perhaps the greatest sermon of all times. All he really did was explain what was going on and 3 ,000 people were saved.

Now, do you see that the perspective of it, I don't want to say this with disrespect, but it almost downplays the apostles. It was like this. An act of God took place on that day of Pentecost. And then the disciples just came along and explained what happened.

And 3 ,000 people got saved. Now, that's an amazing thing to think about. But let's jump over to chapter 3. And that's the story where Peter and John are walking to the temple one day and they see a lame man sitting there.

Now, they'd seen that lame man sitting there every day. That man had been there for years. Everybody knew this guy had been there for years. And Peter and John had been walking to the temple every day to pray every day they were there in Jerusalem.

But on this particular day, they're walking there and they see this man begging for alms. And they turn away and it's just a clue hits them. I like this word clue. I guess you noticed. And something hits them and says, wait a minute.

This isn't a mistake, this man being here. And they turn to him as if in the providential divine moment. And they said, silver and gold, we have none. But in the name of Jesus, stand up and walk. That man stood up and walked.

And it says in Acts chapter 4 that now 5 ,000 men had been saved. In other words, let's just put it this way. In the economy of effort of the working of Jesus, he opened up the door further in Jerusalem and at least 2 ,000 more people were saved as a result of a miracle.

You understand, when that man got up leaping and walking, everybody rushed around and said, what's this miracle? What are these miracle men like Peter? And Peter says, hey, what are you getting excited about me for?

There's nothing I'm doing. It's this Jesus that you crucified. You didn't know any better. But now he's raised up. And what you see about this man sitting here whole, it's because Jesus is raised up. And he's sitting at the right hand of God.

And God knows you made this mistake in the past. But now it's time to repent. And now the church goes from 3 ,000 believers to 5 ,000 men. And who knows how many women. Now, that's not to say that's the only thing that was happening in Jerusalem.

Every day they were sharing the gospel from house to house. And all the things were going on. But God did a divine act. And the disciples explained what was happening. In other words, let me put it another way.

Jesus opened the door through an event. An event that caught the eye of the people of Jerusalem who knew that man who'd been there for years. It was an event planned by God. And all we have to do is be obedient to doing those events planned by God.

And it's amazing the economy of how God opens up a whole door when such a thing happens. Now, if you look in Acts chapter 6, I mean, it just goes on and on, but if you look in Acts chapter 6 at verse 8, you find these men who've been chosen to help serve the tables.

And it has this to say,. And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. And some of the men in the synagogues began to argue with him. And verse 10,. And yet they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking.

Now, Stephen was this Hellenistic Jew who was soundly believing in the Messiah. And what he was doing was this. Because he was preaching the gospel, and there were such signs and wonders, people were stuck.

And when argumentation came up, he spoke with such wisdom that they couldn't out-argue him. It was an act of God. And what actually happened is through Stephen, God began to begin the very beginning stages of prying the Gentiles about this matter of the gospel.

When we go on and look in chapter 8, we see the same thing basically happens with Philip. What happens to Philip? Because of the persecution, Philip goes to the city of Samaria. And he goes there because of the persecution.

But as he goes to the city of Samaria, he begins to preach the gospel. And notice what it says. It says in verse 6,. And the multitudes with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip because the singing in the choir was so beautiful, because the tent was so luscious.

Now, now, what was it? Philip was preaching the gospel, and the Lord was coming right behind him with signs and wonders being performed. And in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice.

And many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was much rejoicing in the city. Now, listen. Anybody here who preaches the gospel, and there are such kind of miracles and signs following, people will listen to it.

The door opened up to the city of Samaria because Philip was willing to come and preach the gospel, and then the Holy Spirit came behind him with signs and wonders. Does it say anywhere that Philip was a miracle worker?

No, it only calls him an evangelist. But Jesus came to Samaria with Philip, and Philip preached the gospel, and Jesus came behind and opened the door to the whole city. The whole city was aware of this gospel of Jesus.

The Lord opened the door. Philip wouldn't take any credit for it. He was sent out into the desert. Next thing he knew. Let's look in Acts chapter 9. Again, of course, this is miracle after miracle and move of God after move of God.

We look in verse 32 and we see Peter. Now, it came about that as Peter was traveling through all those parts, he came also to the saints who lived at Lydda. Now, Peter was visiting the saints at Lydda.

This was his purpose in encouraging the saints and talking about Jesus. And there he found a certain man named Aeneas who had been bedridden eight years, for he was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you.

Arise and make your bed. And immediately he arose, and all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord. All in two towns turned to the Lord. One miracle. Now, Peter was just at the right place at the right time.

Was Peter looking for miracles? Was Peter shuffling around saying, Let's see, who's somebody who's paralyzed? No, no, he was just going to serve the Lord. But he was there at the right moment, and there was something about Aeneas being there that Peter realized that God wanted to do something about.

And he touched Aeneas' life, and this miracle, just two whole towns turned to the Lord. And the story continues down in verse 36 because he goes to Joppa because this girl Thibitha dies. And to make a long story short, he goes to this girl and prays, and she's raised up from the dead.

And it says in verse 42, It became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. Now, Joppa was a big city. Now, Lydda was just a little town. Joppa was a big city. And many heard this throughout the city of Joppa and turned to the Lord.

The Lord opened the door in Joppa. I mean, who would get the credit for that? Did Peter have a strategy? Say, I'm going to Joppa. All he did was, I'm willing to be faithful and go wherever God tells me.

The saints come to Peter and say, Peter, Peter, come quick. There's this girl. She's dying. And he just goes in obedience. And God says, I'm going to open the door. The story, this continues. If we go to chapter 11, you know the story of Peter and his vision and his going to the house of Cornelius.

And you know, whenever the saints don't know quite what to do, well, I mean, Peter didn't know quite what to do about preaching to the Gentiles. I mean, what do you do? Give an invitation to them? Ask the Gentiles to be saved?

Peter wasn't clear at all about what to do about it. He just went in obedience. And as he was preaching the gospel, God said, well, I don't know if Peter's going to give an invitation, so I better take the initiative.

And boom, down came the Holy Spirit and those folks were soundly saved right there on the spot. And it was evident to all that were there, and so they baptized these Gentiles. There was a door opening to the Gentiles.

Right there. And who opened the door? It was Jesus. He poured down the Spirit sovereignly in that situation. God took the initiative, and Peter was there preaching the gospel when it happened. When we turn and see the rest of the book of Acts, and we primarily deal with the mission journeys of Paul, we see that when Paul was called to go, he took Barnabas and they went off.

Evangelistic Doors in Cyprus, Iconium, and Samaria

And they started going around, and the first place they went was to Cyprus. This is in chapter 13. Now, how is God going to open the door in Cyprus? Have you ever looked at the book of Acts this way? How is God going to open the door in Cyprus?

Well, let's see. Well, they began to proclaim the gospel in the synagogues and the people were listening to them and things were happening, but there was a certain magician in verse 6 named Bar-Jesus.

And this magician tried to prevent Paul and Barnabas from preaching the gospel. And when they prevented him and carried on long enough, Paul, verse 9, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked at that man and said, you who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked?

And now behold the hand of the Lord upon you and you'll be blind. And verse 12 says, then the pro-council believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord. And the door opened.

I mean, when the pro-council believes, the door opens for the gospel. And Paul, you know after this miracle, people started listening. God just opened up the door. It's an amazing story. Or if you just look in chapter 14, verse 3, you see in verse 1 that they come to Iconium and they begin to preach the gospel.

And here it says something interesting. Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hand.

So they preached the gospel and then signs and wonders came behind them to confirm that these things were true. And so in Iconium they stayed there quite a while preaching the gospel. If you look in chapter 16, you find how God opened the door up.

Lydia, the Philippian Jailer, and Providential Openings

Over in Macedonia and over in Europe. How did that happen? Well, basically Paul went to preach the gospel and he tried to go south and the spirit prevented him. And he tried to go north and the spirit prevented him.

We don't know what that means exactly. If circumstantially his chariot broke down or he took the mumps or what it was. But he was prevented. Couldn't go this way, couldn't go that way. I'm not sure it was just all spiritual witness.

You know what I'm saying? I'm not sure Paul just stood there and said, I don't feel good about that. He probably tried and circumstances made him begin to wonder and he stopped. Then they tried to go this way and circumstances again.

So a little bit befuddled and confused, he goes to the coast. He gets the Macedonian vision of a man who says, come and help us. He goes over there and how is Jesus going to open the door in Philippi?

Do you know how he did it? Well, just so happened in verse 14 that they went down to the river on the Sabbath day and just so happened they met this woman named Lydia who listened and turned to the Lord and her household with her.

And the door opened up in Philippi. Then what happened after that was interesting. A girl with a demon started chasing Paul around, yelling things all the time. And Paul evidently put up with it for a little while, but after a period of time he just was so distressed about it that he commanded this evil spirit to go out of her.

And the spirit did go out of her. And then he got put in jail for causing this girl to lose her job. And that's how the door opened in Philippi. Because then an earthquake came and then the Philippian jailer got saved.

Isn't it wonderful how God opens the door? But you see, Jesus is the door. Jesus is the door to Philippi. And His way to open the door there was through Lydia and through the Philippian jailer and probably their relatives and the people they knew.

And that's how the church began. Isn't that some magic? It happens through people. Communicating with people. The right people at the right time. Going down to the side of the river at the right time and meeting the right people is not something that happens by accident, as we're aware when we see this whole thing in its context.

Or if you go to chapter 19, you see how God opened the door in an amazing way in Ephesus. There were a few believers there in Ephesus and Paul came and God began to do mighty wonders and miracles and Paul began to preach the Gospel and many believers were saved and people who had magic books burned them.

It was a real revival time. God opened the door in Ephesus. Or in Acts 28, God opens the door in Rome. There's Paul in jail and he's freely and unhinderedly preaching the Gospel in Rome. I mean, God used jail to open the way for Paul in Rome.

Recognizing Unique Evangelistic Doors

Now, brothers and sisters, I just want us to see a couple of things. I mean, I am not saying that what we need is to emphasize miracles. What I am saying is this. I believe when I say Jesus is the door, what that means to me is this.

There is a specific door that He opens in an area. It's specific. It's unique. It's His timing and it's His opening and when He opens it, no man can shut it. And we need to be aware of these doors. Did you notice in each one of these places if we take Ephesus or Philippi or Iconium or Derbe or wherever you want to take these places, each door was unique.

There's no real pattern. Paul's pattern was he went to the synagogue and began to preach. But God opened a different door in different places. And it's amazing when you see a company of God's people how God opens a door.

Let me tell you what I mean by door. Sometimes a door is a college and two people on the college campus know the Lord and they start to get together with a few other people and next thing you know a door opens to this particular assembly and 30 people come from one college because somebody was there at the door.

And boom! They come and these people come in and for six months or a year 30 young people from, well, you've got all kinds of colleges around here like the University of Richmond or the medical college or whatever.

They suddenly come in. And then God closes the door. And then in the Shirley Woods neighborhood suddenly she meets somebody who meets somebody to have a Bible study and something happens and next thing you know that neighborhood's hot.

Really. People are excited talking about the Lord coming to the Lord, coming to the meetings and then six months later it sort of ends. And then there's a bunch of young people who hang out down somewhere around here by a 7-Eleven somewhere.

They're always hanging out there and nothing's ever happened and then somebody some young person who got some kind of gift goes down there and starts talking to them and one by one they start being saved and they start coming to the meetings.

Sometimes it's a family. Sometimes you'll see a fellowship and one family gets saved and this family has influence over other families. Next thing you know they're bringing in neighbors and they've got like a network of six or eight families and they're all entangled in this one family.

And when this one family gets saved by the Lord's providence six other families come in and get saved. And I'm telling you this whole thing is worked out by Jesus. And what we do is we need to be faithful and witness in many different ways that God has doors that He opens.

Sometimes it's not doors we like. Not the doors we would choose. Sometimes somebody opens up their house and next thing you know there's so many people hanging out in their house that they're hanging by the rafters.

And it's just a door. It's a sovereign act of God. But you see we kind of always notice that two years after it happened. Now you guys could probably tell me what the doors were two years ago here in Richmond.