Walking in Faith through the Open Door
by Dennis Harris

Texas Baptists Convocation

I want to tell a story I told when I was on a mission trip in the Yucatan. “A father went to see his son in West Texas. He asked him to go on a fishing trip that weekend and to bring his best friend. So he got his best friend and all of his camping gear together for the trip.

“They arrived Friday and fished all day long, caught many fish and had a good time. Saturday morning, they woke up to rain. It rained for two days and two nights. They began to play games and read books and tell stories. After playing all the games they knew and telling all the stories they knew, they began to argue and fight. They were so mad when they got home, they did not speak to each other for months.” This is what happens when fishermen stop fishing.

I submit it is not missions. It is mission. We have one mission and that is to lead people to Christ. We have one mission. That is to go everywhere and to tell people about Jesus. The convocation was great. We sang beautiful songs. We have heard beautiful music and we have heard wonderful messages. It has been a great time of sharing and visiting with others, however, I submit there has to be more to it than this.

We heard about Joel. Before that in Acts 2, they accused the men of being drunk and said Peter, “They are not drunk for this is that which was written of by Joel the Prophet.” Is this what Peter was talking about? Does this have any relationship to what Jesus started 2000 years ago? Does it look anything like a Pentecost? There has to be more to it than this.

I heard a story about a young West Texas cowboy who fell in love many years ago and decided that he wanted to get married. He wanted to have a fine wedding and honeymoon. So he wrote to the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, Texas. He said, “I want to impress my new bride. We are from West Texas and have never been anywhere. What do you have that is just the best thing in the world?”

They sent him a brochure with pictures of a beautiful room with chandeliers, a fourposter bed, a Jacuzzi and a fruit basket on the table. It showed a balcony with beautiful people standing on it. He said, “Boy that is what I want. I will take my bride there.” So he sent the money and got the confirmation. The appointed time came for the wedding ceremony.

Afterwards, they drove through the night to get to the hotel. They walked into the hotel and got the key to the honeymoon suite and they opened the door. After he carried her over the threshold, she began to cry. They saw a tiny room with a couch that made into a bed instead of a big fourposter. Instead of a big Jacuzzi only a sink and a small shower were there. No chandelier, fruit basket or balcony were there. There was a small closet.

The next morning he decided to get some West Texas justice. When he could, he went downstairs and cornered the manager. Before he could beat him, the manager said, “Wait a minute, let’s go up and look.” Together, they went to the hotel suite. The cowboy opened the door and said, “See this is not anything like the pictures.” The manager walked to the other door and opened it. Inside were a four-poster bed, chandeliers, a fruit basket and a Jacuzzi tub. They had spent the night in the foyer.

There has to be more to it than this. In Revelation the third chapter tells the story of writing a letter to the Philippians. Jesus says in this passage, “I set before you an open door and no man can shut it but me.” An open door of opportunity awaits us. It has been standing open for 2000 years. If we do not take something from here to lead others to Jesus, then we might as well quit.

There has to be more to it than this. We have to go through that open door. That open door is where people have the opportunity to meet Jesus. We must do the things that we need to do to get them there. The door is open, yet, we do not walk through that door.

Primarily we do not walk through that door because we spend so much time on research, development, planning, committees and fundraising. We do not have time to go through the door of opportunity and spend much time planning. We fail to walk through because we do not have the resources.

We have little time to win people to Christ. It is not possible. We lack time, energy, money and people. Therefore, we do not go through that open door. So people stay lost. We say it is impossible and just do not go through the door.

I remember a story about another man who was out of resources. They asked him to do something impossible. The story comes out of Matthew 14. Jesus had just finished being a host to a banquet for 5,000 people. He was tired and wanted to go up on the mountain top and be with the Father. The disciples had packed up and got into a boat to cross the lake.

Meanwhile, Jesus dismisses the crowd and goes into the mountains to pray. It gets dark and the disciples begin to struggle with the boat in the midst of high winds. The Bible says that the sea was tossing them around. They wrestled with the sails and they thought they could see a figure on the water, possibly a ghost. It never occurred to them that it might be Jesus.

Then they heard, “It is I, do not be afraid.” Peter said, “Lord if that is really you let me come to you.” Peter was afraid and he was out of resources. Here is a sailor, a fisherman who spent most of his time in a boat on that lake. He was ready to get out of the boat because he thought that getting into the stormy water might be safer.

Can you imagine a sailor being so afraid of a storm? All he knew was that the boat was full and the master was out in the water. He knew where to be, out in the water with Jesus where it was safe. Jesus says, “Come on.” He climbs out of the boat and suddenly he is standing up on the water on solid footing walking toward Jesus. He did not do this on his own resources, but a door of opportunity opened and he took it.

We preach and teach that Peter lost his faith. This scripture passage illustrates what happens to us when we lose our faith. We say that Peter began to look at the waves, listening to the thunder and took his eyes off Jesus and fell in the water. I submit that he was walking on the water. He turned back to the other disciples in the boat and was showing them what he was doing and fell down. I think Peter was bragging a little and he got wet.

He began to look at the waves and the thunder and decided he could not be doing this. How could I possibly be doing this? Bumble bees do not fly and fishermen do not walk on water. He got to looking at all that was going on and forgot that the object was to walk on the water to get to Jesus.

I submit that none of that is what we need to focus on. Let’s not focus on his getting wet or on him fellowshipping with the storm. Let’s focus on what really happened that night. Here was just a man in sandals and normal clothes. He was just a fisherman. Peter decided that if he could just keep his eyes on the master and if he could walk through that door of opportunity that he could walk on water. Peter did walk on the water and went somewhere that no one has ever been. No other reports of people walking on water exist, not since or before that time. Peter walked on water. Even today, Jesus calls us to go where none dare to go.

He said to Peter, “Come to me.” Most of us would have stayed in the boat and most of us would stay in that boat now. His eyes fixed on Jesus, Peter climbed out of the boat and stepped out onto the surface of the water. Before he knew it, he was walking toward the Lord. He did not get very far but at least he did go somewhere.

We cannot duplicate the powerful works of our Savior, but we can do things for him that are beyond our wildest imagination. We can step out on faith and go where no one has ever dared to go before. One of the greatest privileges in life is to know one is living in the center of his will and doing what he is calling one to do and going where he is sending one to serve. He has set before us an open door. He asks us to walk through it in his power and to go where no one has ever gone before.

I promised the Lord 30 years ago, I would go anywhere he led me to tell others about Jesus. Three years ago, I promised that if my voice could be spared from the cancer that the last thing that anyone would hear me say would be the name of Jesus.

A third scripture is from a story I call the last breakfast. Peter and the disciples are fishing again. They had fished all night and had not caught very many fish. The disciples see someone on the shore that is roasting a fish and he calls to them, “Have you caught many fish?” Peter replies, “No, we are not catching many fish at all.” Jesus tells them that they are fishing on the wrong side of the boat.

Now another reason that I identify with Peter is that he appears so dense. This had happened to him once before. One would think he would remember it. Jesus told them to throw their nets on the other side. When they did, the nets had more fish in them than they could imagine. The width of success in following Christ and the difference in failure is the width of the boat when one is not paying attention to Jesus.

All of sudden John said to Peter, “Do you know who that is? That is Jesus.” Peter did not wait. He threw off his clothes and swam to the shore. If he had known what was coming, he probably would not have done that. Jesus was saying to him what he is saying to us. I had agonized this morning because I had promised to go anywhere he wanted and say whatever he wanted me to say. I never wanted to be a preacher; I just want to be a messenger for Jesus.

I believe that he has a message for us, for TBC today and this might be part of it. He says, “Peter, do you love me?” After breakfast as the group sat around the fire, Jesus turned very deliberately, to Peter and asked, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?”

Jesus was opening another door of opportunity for Peter. He was going to give him another opportunity to redeem himself after his last failure. I think Jesus was asking if Peter loved him more than the others did. He was asking if Peter were willing to take a greater risk. In his response, Peter said, “Lord you know that I love you.” He uses the word filao. You know that I love you.

He was restoring Peter. Jesus could forgive Peter because he had already died for him. He could restore him to service because he was the risen, living Lord of the church. We that have never failed like Peter tend to misunderstand what is happening. There are very few of us reading this like that. Those of us who have failed the Lord understand.

We, too, have been to the bottom. We, too, have come to the end of our resources and the end of ourselves. As commission keepers and disciples, most of us are failures in his sight. Everyone has fallen short. We have not been what we should have been or what we could have been.

We all want to serve him but none of us deserves to serve him because he is greater than we will ever be. He is holy and I am sinful. He is God and I am man, but he is also the Savior.

He is in the business of restoring old wrecks and rekindling cold hearts. Jesus is in the business of mending hurts and in the business of forgiving us. The Savior is calling this morning and he is saying, “Feed my sheep. Serve me.”

Jesus was asking Peter if he loved him with a selfless devotion and if he were willing to risk everything because of his love for him. This was the kind of love that Peter had expressed on the night of his denial. He kept coming back to the word filao.

I like to teach in the shadow of the Word. There is something here that I have not heard or preached before and I want you to see. The second time Jesus says, “Simon, do you love me?” he used the word agape. He was trying to get Peter to grasp that point and Peter replied as he did the first time, “Lord, you know that I filao.”

Jesus said, “Tend my sheep.” Failure overwhelmed Peter and he still could not look the Lord in the face although he had been given this significant commission. A few awkward moments passed. The other disciples seemed sympathetic with Peter. A third time Jesus said, “Peter, do you love me?” It was different and he used the word filao. “Do you just have that kind of love for me?”

Peter was grieved because Jesus had used that and he knew that Jesus knew what was in his heart. He looked at Jesus and was deeply saddened. He said, “Lord, you know everything about me. You know that I love you. Jesus says to Peter, “You are right. I do know you. I know every thing there is to know about you.” I know everything there is to know about Dennis Harris, about David Currie, about Dr. Reynolds and every one of you reading this

.Jesus knows your heart, your failures and your sinfulness. Then Jesus said to Peter and to us, “I know you in all your failures. I know you and I still trust you enough to ask you to feed my sheep.”

The door of opportunity is not shut and the door of opportunity is for all of us in our churches to walk through. You must walk through that door in the resources of the Father and to go somewhere that no one has gone before. Leading the world to Jesus is possible, but you must recognize that you have to get out of the boat.

I submit it is time to quit fighting and get back to fishing. Promise the Lord to quit fighting and walk through that open door of opportunity so you can begin to fish again. You can go where no one has gone before.

October 2001