OPEN DOORS - OPEN MOUTHS - ENLIGHTENED UNDERSTANDINGS
Pastor J. C. O’Hair
The apostle Paul was in the jail at Rome when he wrote Ephesians, Colossians and II Timothy. He was the prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles. (Ephesians 3:1 and 4:1). “According to my gospel, wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the Word of God is not bound.” (II Timothy 2:9).
For a message which Paul called “my gospel,” he suffered as an imprisoned criminal. Note Paul’s testimony in Romans 16:25: “Now to Him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.”
So we learn that Paul was in jail for telling God’s secret, which from the beginning of the world had been hid in God. (Ephesians 3:9). Because it had been hid in God, and was God’s unprophesied, eternal purpose, Paul called the truth “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” (Ephesians 3:8 and 11). This word “unsearchable” is translated, in Romans 11:33. “past finding out.” The Greek root is “step” or “track.” It could not be traced through Israel’s Scriptures. Because Paul could not prove the Mystery by an appeal to Prophecy he got into plenty of trouble.
Now note Paul’s earnest request for prayer in Colossians 4:3 and 4 and Ephesians 6:19 and 20: “Withal praying also for us, that God would OPEN UNTO US A DOOR of utterance, to speak ‘THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST’ for which I am also in bonds: That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.” “And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may OPEN MY MOUTH boldly, to make known ‘THE MYSTERY OF THE GOSPEL,’ For which I am an ambassador in bonds; that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
Here we have the Lord’s servant behind a prison door, yearning for open doors for the proclamation of the very message that landed him in jail. Did Paul want to get his fellow Christians in trouble? Well, he told Timothy not to be ashamed of him in jail and his Lord; but to tell others what Paul had taught him; to endure hardness as a good soldier of Christ, to be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel and be assured that he would suffer persecutions. (II Timothy 1:8 - II Timothy 2:2 and 3 - II Timothy 3:12).
Paul knew that Satan hated “THE MYSTERY” as he hated no other message, because it had to do with Satan’s principalities in the heavenlies. (Ephesians 3:10 - Ephesians 6:11 to 14 - Ephesians 1:19 to 23).
Now after 1900 years you might write on one sheet of paper all of the doors that have been prayed open for this glorious truth. No one is doing more to close the doors to this truth than are the so-called Fundamentalists, who claim to be “grace” Premillenarians. Because of their boycotts and persecutions some mouths have also been closed, but none opened. So far as they are concerned. Paul suffered, (Colossians 1:24 to 26 and Colossians 4:3 and 4), in vain.
How few Christians are praying for open doors and open mouths for this ministry, which is truly the answer to every “ism” and “ill” with which the Church of Christ is afflicted?
How few Christians are praying the prayers of Ephesians 1:16 to 18 and Ephesians 3:12 to 19 for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to have the eyes of their understanding enlightened to comprehend “the dispensation of the mystery,” to know the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of Ephesians 3:18, to know the hope of God’s calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints? “In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” (Ephesians 1:11). Let every Christian make up for lost time by diligently and continuously obeying Ephesians 3:9: “And to make all men see what is THE DISPENSATION OF THE MYSTERY.”
This is the Divine method. Let’s all fall in, with it. This glorious truth has been lost and covered up for centuries in the ecclesiastical, religious rubbish. Let’s uncover or recover it. What do you say?
What is the Gospel?
Believing
Christ died, that’s HISTORY.
Believing
Christ died for YOUR sins and rose again, that’s SALVATION.
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto
you the gospel which the preached unto you, which also ye have received, and
wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto
you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose
again the third day according to the scriptures. 1. Corinthians 15:1-4
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Bible: King James Version
Posted By – Cecil Spivey
Cspivey1953@gmail.com
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