The speaker illustrates how anxiety over unanswered communication mirrors Paul’s distress in finding his companion Titos, leading him to abandon an open mission field due to lack of inner peace. This experience highlights the spiritual principle that resistance often indicates significance; therefore, believers should recognize that opposition serves as proof of divine importance rather than discouragement.
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doesn't text me back, that I don't start making up the most screwed-up scenarios in my head. So, I feel for Paul. I'm serious. If Holly doesn't… If I don't see bubbles within 25 seconds in my mind, she's dead. The car has flipped seven times. It's horrible. I know it's kind of funny, but it's really not in the moment. Anybody like me?
You have two minutes to respond to me, and I'm freaking out. Maybe they don't like me anymore. Maybe they don't respond to me anymore. When it's on green, when I text you and it's on green instead of blue on my iPhone… Oh, my God. Last week I preached about green, but if the text comes back green, you have your phone off. You don't ever want to talk to me again. I can get so offended. I am so bad at interpreting silence and space, and so this is Paul's moment.
Paul is like, I sent Titus to find out, and I couldn't find Titus, so I left Troas because I couldn't find Titus. I left the open door because I had no peace. Left the opportunity because although the door was open… See, that's the Enemy's strategy. That's why he says you can't let the Devil outwit you. He is using stuff that hasn't even happened yet. But God said, When I open the door, no Devil can shut it. The reason the Devil is at the door to begin with is because what God has on the other side of it is so important. There will always be an enemy to anything significant.
You know why there's a Devil at the door? Because what is on the other side really matters. You are an important city. You are a chosen vessel. You might not be Paul, but God has something with your name on it. There's a Devil at the door, and the bigger the opportunity is, the bigger the Devil is going to be. Don't you know now? The bigger it is, what's on the other side of the door… You may ask God, Why am I having to go through all this?
A while back… I don't know how to tell you this story because it's kind of tender to me. I was about to do something really significant in this ministry. I can't tell you what it was because it would kind of…
