Most often we think that in order to keep God happy, and to be sure that we have visible gain in the Kingdom of God, we must continue to make new gains and move on to new things in ministry. Then as the obstacles come we tend to want attack them head on and get them out of the way.

Such development and progress is good, but it is not always the only measure of success, and it is not always God's way. In fact there are many times where the true measure of moving forward with God was actually to stay put.

In the OT we have accounts where those who were faced with obstacles and opposition were ordered by God to "stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." Exodus 14:13 Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.

2 Chron. 20:17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.' "

Ephes. 6:13-14 "…put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

In Keeping with this principal, the Apostle Paul in writing to the Corinthian Church gives to us an approach to ministry which does not always make the most sense, but will absolutely have the desired effect in terms of Kingdom principles. 1 Cor. 16:8-9 "But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door of effective work has been opened to me, and there are many who oppose me." Foundationally, Paul will always say that whatever we do we must do it unto the Lord. It must always be His purpose that we pursue, Whatever we do this year at "City View Christian Fellowship", if we are to press on effectively, we must be sure that it is fitting with God's purpose.

Paul gives us three principles for doing that. The first is that when we pursue God's Purpose:
I. Our Desires Concede To His Direction.

In other words, we must avoid the temptation to look beyond what God has planned for us today. Paul writes to the church in Corinth with a sense of urgent need to be with them. There are problems, as seen in the previous chapters. He has written an exhaustive manuscript addressing all of their controversies. He wanted so badly to be with them to address these issues in person. Not just for a moment, but for a length of time. In fact, his previous plans were to visit them sooner, and at least before going on to Macedonia. (2 Cor 1:12-2:4) But in spite of the urgency that he feels, he has a change of mind. Why? Because God had other plans for him where he was. God was not finished with him at that particular place . Herein is the key to Paul's planning throughout his ministry. It is mentioned briefly at the end of vs. 7 "If the Lord permits" This was the reason he was able to be flexible in his plans. He had a personal desire. He had a personal vision. There was a desperate need. All of these things were important. For Paul and for God. "Without a vision the people will perish" But together with that vision must come the openness and receptiveness to the voice of God through His spirit that may be contrary to what we desire or what seems like a good idea at the time.

This is characteristic of Paul, but only because it is characteristic of Paul's Lord. Jesus Himself said that there is nothing that He does without the Father's approval. John 14 :31. There were many instances of Jesus doing exactly what the Father told Him through the Holy spirit, in spite of great discomfort, and in spite of His desire being to the contrary. For example: 1. When the Spirit led Him into the wilderness after His Baptism to be tempted by Satan. 2. And in John 7, when His brothers told Him to go to Judea to seek recognition and popularity. He told them He could not go, because for Him the time was not right. He told them that for them, any time was a good time. But for the Kingdom of God, that is not the case. The right time is in God's time. 3. When the Spirit compelled Him to go through Samaria instead of His usual route. 4. When the urgency of the moment ought to have sped Him on to the bedside of a sick Lazarus, He obeyed the prompting of His Father and deliberately delayed so that the Glory of His Father would be greater. 5. When He prayed His agonizing prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, and concluded His request with the words, "Nevertheless, not my will but thine"

Jesus' brothers eventually caught on and one of them wrote something that he had obviously learned from his divine Brother. See James 4:13-15 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

Now we must do the same. In the character of Paul and of Christ our guide, it must never be urgency that determines our course. The tyranny of the urgent will usually cause us to make irrational decisions. It will cause us to get ahead of God. Cause us to miss out on the greater opportunities he has for us. "The steps of a good man are guided by the Lord. Though he fall he will not be cast down." When we follow the prompting of the urgent, we could fall and be cast down. My mom used to say, "Slow down son, more haste, less speed." The hastier we are, the slower we become in accomplishing the purposes of God.

At the City View we have a vision for the future. To be at a different location. To be in a different building. To reach out to a new community. All of these are good. But that is not in the now. In the now there is a door for effective ministry which has been opened to us and as Paul was committed to stay at Ephesus until Pentecost, I believe that our commitment must be to stay at Lanark until the Spirit falls in Power and God's work for us is done in this place. Our desire must always concede to His direction. It must always take second place to His purpose for our lives.

The second principal for pressing on that Paul speaks of here is that:
II. Our Effectiveness Depends on His Enduement.

"because a great door of effective work has been opened up for me."

Here we see again Paul's total dependency on the power of God in his life and ministry. He did not say, "I will stay on because I have found a way to bring in the crowds". He did not say, "I will stay on at Ephesus because I am on a roll here. I have clicked with the people and I really think I can reach them." These would have been reasonable statements to make, but what did he say instead. He said that someone else had opened a door for him. Who was that someone else? The same person that opened the door for him in Acts 13 when he was set apart for the ministry. The same one who in Acts 20 compelled him to go to Jerusalem. The same one that miraculously saved him and all of his companions from certain death in the ship wreck off Malta.

Paul's effectiveness in ministry was inseparably linked to the power of the Holy Spirit. See 1 Cor. 2:1-5; 9-13

As we press on this year we must never forget in whose power efficient ministry becomes effective ministry. Peter Drukker. "Efficiency is doing things right, but effectiveness is doing the right thing." There is a difference. God wants our church's to be effective rather than just efficient. You can be supper efficient in your church and still not grow.

Someone once said, "You can rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic, but the ship would still sink." The secret to being efficient this year for the kingdom lies in our spiritual enduement. Our prayer must be that God would fill us with His Holy Spirit. That He would so empower us that we would be a witness to those words of Paul, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him"

A desire that concedes to His direction. An efficiency which results from His enduement, and the third principal from Paul is that in pressing on for the sake of the Kingdom,

III. Our Obstacles Convert to His Opportunities.

It is the human tendency when faced with great opposition and struggle, to want to leave. To want to run away from it. Paul did the opposite. In the midst of the opposition he never once saw defeat. He always saw opportunity. It is no wonder that Chrysostom the great said of Paul that he was "only three cubits high, yet he touched the stars." "There will be many who will oppose the work" said Paul, but with every opposition God will invite us to a new opportunity.

Paul was used to opposition, but he was never deterred by it. Notice in Acts 20 he said that he had to move on to Jerusalem, because the Spirit had compelled Him to do so, and that he did not know what awaited him there except that it would be great opposition. In many other instances it was the opposition to Paul's ministry that gave him some of his greatest opportunities to spread the gospel as far abroad as the known world at that time. Many of his foreign mission opportunities were at Caesar's expense.

Again this should come as no surprise. Paul was a follower of one who turned the greatest difficulty into the symbol of the greatest triumph.

Jesus was opposed by those who should have been the first to receive Him. They knew all about Him. They had followed the scriptures. But when He came they missed Him because he did not live up to their expectations of the Messiah. You see, the greater the opposition, the more likely it is that the church is doing what it right. Why in the world would anyone oppose something that is unimposing? There would be no reason to. Yet it seems today that the church has very few enemies.

If the church was doing what God wanted us to do, we would have opposition at every turn and God's opportunities to show His glory would be multiplied beyond our wildest dreams.

Look for a moment at Paul's obstacles that became God's opportunities.

In Acts 13, one of Paul's first opposers was Elymus the sorcerer. He tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith by falsely accusing Paul. Paul confronted him in the name of Jesus, Elymus lost his sight, the proconsul was amazed and got saved. In the same chapter he preached in the synagogue and had great success. The Jews liked what he said and invited him back. The next week the whole city turned out, and all of a sudden the Jews did not like what he had to say anymore, because they were jealous. God used that obstacle as an opportunity to reach the gentiles. Verse 48 tells us that everyone that God wanted to be saved on that day was saved. 16: 22. Paul and Silas are flogged and placed in prison. What happens? In Paul's usual character they have a praise service. Remember, he was the one who said, "rejoice in the Lord always." So that is what he did. And again God takes that obstacle and turns it into the greatest opportunity as the Philippian jailer and all his family get saved. Church, every obstacle that Paul met was turned into a mighty victory to the glory of God.

We must thank God for the obstacles. We must thank Him for the opposition, seeing in every one an opportunity for God to be glorified.

A perfect example of this can be seen in the life of the boy Joseph. At first it would seem that there was nothing but tragedy in his life. Abused and deserted by his brothers. Thrown into a pit and then sold as a slave. He thought he was on his way down, but he was on his way up and he didn't even know it.

You see if he had not been sold to the Ishmailites he would not have gone to Egypt.
If he had not gone to Egypt, he would not have been sold on the auction block
If he had not been sold as a slave on an auction block, he would not have become a slave in Potipher's household.
If he had not become a slave in Potipher's household, he would not have been given charge over all of Potipher's affairs.
If he had not been given charge of Potipher's household, he would not have been falsely accused by madam Potipher.
If he had not been falsely accused by madam Potipher, he would not have ended up in prison.
If he had not ended up in prison, he would not have met the baker and the butler.
If he had not met these two, he would not have interpreted their dreams.
If he had not interpreted their dreams, he would not have been introduced to the king to interpret his dreams.
If he had not in the power of God interpreted the kings dreams, the king would not have found favor with Joseph.
Had the king not found favor with him he would not have been made ruler over all of Egypt so that he could save his people including his family from starvation and death.
Every obstacle in His life was an opportunity for God to be glorified. So he was able to say in the end - You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

Oh how we must come to grips with these principles as we press on into God's purpose this year. All of our personal desires. All of our will and our ambitions must come under the direction of the Father. Every success we have, if it is to amount to anything must be the result of the Holy Spirit's power in our lives. Every obstacle we meet must be seen as an opportunity for God to demonstrate His own power through our weakness.