Sunday Evening Worship Service
by Krauss
First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Revelation 3:7-8, 2 Corinthians 11:14, Jonah 1:3, Isaiah 43:16, Isaiah 43:19, Exodus 14:21, Deuteronomy 28:1-2, John 10:9

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/krauss--sunday-evening-worship-service-60
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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Now, if you know me, I'm I'm not a a missionary that only shows slides, but I like to bless you with the word if that's okay. Um, and I would like to just take a moment and just preach to you about a thought that the Lord Lord has placed upon my heart today. And we'll go into the word of God real quick. Revelations chapter 3 verse 7. If you have your Bible, please open it up with me. And would you stand for the reading of of the word? Thank you so much. I I'll just do things the way we do it in Germany. Amen. And and you know, I'll just I'll just stand here. I'll preach and I'll I'll tell you what we do in Germany. We'll just we'll just try to do that together. Amen. Is that all right? I know this is a revival church, right? Hallelujah. You believe in re revival. Hallelujah. I know you do. Let's read right now in Revelations 3:7. And the Bible says, "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write these things say of he that is holy, he that is true, he that he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and he and no man shutth, amen, and shutth and no man openeth. I know thy works. Behold, I know thy works." He says, "Behold, I have set before I have set before the unopened door, and no man can shut it." An open door, and no man can shut it. For thou has a little strength and has kept my word, and has not denied my name. Hallelujah. Praise God. I want to just take a little moment here today on this Sunday evening. I would like to speak to you simply about open doors. Open doors. I like it when God opens the door. Amen. I like it when he's got a door for us and he opens it. Amen. And I want to walk through that. But I want to speak to you today just simply about open doors. Would you lift up your hands right now and let's pray together. God, I give you glory. I give you honor. God, I pray right now. Lord, preach to me and through me, God. Use me, Lord. Give me wisdom and strength, God. And use us, Lord, together. Speak into our hearts and to our minds, God. Lord, change our hearts and our lives, God. I give you glory for all that you are doing, God. And I pray right now, Lord. Encourage us. Strengthen us today, God. Lord, to walk through the open doors, Lord, that you've given us in our lives, God. I thank you and I give you honor in Jesus name. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen. You may be seated in Jesus' name. Praise God. Open doors. When we talk about open doors, that is something that all of us have either thought about or maybe prayed about over the length of our lifetime. Amen. And we like it when God is opening a door simply just because we know that if God is opening a door, no man can shut it as we just heard. Amen. This is of course uh the words of Jesus as he is spoken or he speak speaks here to the church of Philadelphia. Amen. God opens doors that no man can shut as we read. Amen. And when he closes a door though, no man can open that either. Amen. But the real question of course for us is today, how do we know when God or how do we know when a door is opened from or by God? Amen. How do we know that? And how do we get God to open a door when there seems to be no way? Amen. How do we know those things? And I'm not claiming to give you all the answers, but I do pray that God will help us to be more sensitive. Amen. and more sensitive to the voice of God, to the spirit of God, so that we understand whatever it is, the time where God is opening a door, but also when there is the time where God is closing or even shutting a door right in front of us where we are not supposed to go through. Amen. Now, we all have had doors sometimes open before us. And we all have gone through doors that we regret sometimes that we have went through. We all have gone through steps and made decisions sometimes without the right means in our life and the right things in our life and the right ways in our lives. Amen. But it is important for us sometimes to think and stop and think a little bit about what it means actually to have an open door because I believe there is a God in our midst. Amen. That is alive. Amen. He is not a dead God. Amen. And he is definitely able. Come on. He's definitely able, absolutely able to open a door in your life. Amen. He has the ability to lead you, to speak to you, and show you the door that you need to go through simply because he is a God that is alive. He's not dead. Amen. He doesn't hang on a cross. Amen. But he has come down from that cross. He rose in the third day. Amen. He is alive and he is still alive today and he is able to use his own spirit to speak into your life. Open the door. Hallelujah. Open the door. I don't need a coincidence. Amen. I I I don't need just accidents and accidentally you you got an open door. No, I need God to open a door for us in our life. Amen. I want to make sure that when I walk through that door, it is a door that God has opened. Amen. Not not not every door, Amen. Not every door is from God. Would you understand that? Amen. The enemy, he can open the door as well. Anybody ever seen that? Amen. Sometimes we've been walking through the enemy's door sometimes. Amen. 2 Corinthians 11:4 the Bible says, "And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." Amen. So he likes to show off and show you as if that was the light. Amen. But it is not the light. It is darkness. He can des absolutely uh uh uh mislead you. Amen. Some doors are traps. Amen. As of disguise, amen. And and not every opportunity is from God in our life. Now we know that but sometimes we need to be reminded. Amen. And just because a door is open it doesn't mean it is divine. Amen. Satan can open doors that look good. Amen. But but but are meant to actually derail you from your calling. Amen. Just bring you away, lead you or mislead you from your calling. Amen. And we want to make sure that the door that we are walking through is opened by the Lord. Amen. Somebody with me here. Praise God. As we uh think about Jonah today, God told Jonah, you to go to Nineveh, of course, and instead Jonah, he found a ship. Amen. Going to Tarses. Amen. An open door. It was an open door of escape. Escape. Amen. But it wasn't God's door. It led him into a storm. As we read in in in Jonah, read in Jonah 1:3, the Bible says, "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarses from the presence of the Lord." Sometimes, Amen. We are uh trying to use doors to flee from the presence of God or feel maybe more actually uh the responsibilities that we have when we stand in the presence of God. Anybody with me here today? Amen. So that's what he did right there. He He was trying to run away. And further away, it says right, it says, "And he found a ship going to Tares." Amen. The ship was there. Yes, it was convenient. It was an easy door. It It just felt like, well, wow, this is easy. This is simple. Amen. Uh and sometimes this is exactly the mistake that we're making. We are choosing the simple way, the easy way. just just whatever just opens up next and whatever feels convenient, whatever feels easy. Amen. And that's exactly what it what what happened right there. It was open, but it was the wrong door. Amen. And we need to make sure that we are not entering into the wrong door. So, how do we test a door? Still with me? Come on. Oh, come on. I need I need you. I said we're going to do it like in Germany. I need you guys to preach with me. Is that all right? We're getting there. We're getting there. Amen. How do we test a door? Very simple. We ask questions. Questions. Amen. Somebody said, "There's no dumb questions, just dumb answers." Amen. So, we can ask any kind of questions. We just got to find the right answer. Amen. We ask questions. Does this door align with God's word? Oh, that's so important. So important. It doesn't matter where you're at in this world. If you're over here in United States or if you're over there in Germany, it got it's got to align with the word of God. Let me tell you, whatever you preach, whatever you tell me, whatever you tell me where to go and what to be encouraged for, if it does not align with the word of God, I don't want it. Amen. I don't want in my life. I don't want it for my family. It needs to align 100% with the word of God. I've been in Bible studies where people were talking about the word of God. They were trying to quote scriptures and many times just half of the scriptures. Amen. They were trying to talk about the word of God. The word of God says this, the word of God says this. But let me tell you, too many people talk about the word of God, but not in the word of God. Only when you open the word of God. And only when you read it, I'mma tell you, this word will come alive. Amen. It will show you and give you directions. Amen. But it's got to be the word of God. It's got to be the word of God. Oh, too many people on the internet or other places, they're trying to fool us by quoting scriptures. And you know, it's amazing how many people quote scriptures wrongly. We we we traveled one day through um through Uganda and Africa, a couple friends of mine and and we we we were out in the streets and there's a guy telling us, "Oh, you got to be born again. You got to be born again." Amen. And and and I said, "Yes, that's exciting. God loves you." And he said, "You got to be born again." I said, "Are you born again?" He said, "Yes, I am born again." I said, "Well, how?" Amen. And I said, "Just continue the scripture." He said, "I don't know, but you just got to be born again." Well, I'm telling you, you need to know how. And that scripture, if you just continue to read it, it will tell you, you got to be born again by water and spirit. Come on. Hallelujah. There is a meaning behind that. You have to be baptized in the name of Jesus. You have to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Being just born again by just lifting up your hands, speaking one prayer, that's not what the Bible says. But the Bible tells us that we need to be born again by water and spirits. Test it. Hallelujah. To test making sure it's aligned with the word of God. Oh, there's so many people that like to talk about the word of God. Don't talk about the word of God. Talk in the word of God. Anybody with me? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Does this door door, does this door right here, does it draw me closer to God or does it pull me away? Well, you know, the truth is you leave your door open or you just open the door just a little bit. Oh, pastor, what just, you know, just a little bit compromising. Just, you know, not not not this is this is this not going to hurt anybody. But, you know, the devil, the devil, he is a liar and he's been in the lying business for quite a long time. In fact, longer than you are. Amen. He's been around for a long, long time. And he knows about all of this. Amen. And you know what the funny thing is? He comes back with the same things. And you know what's the worst is we'll fallen into the same trap over and over again. He doesn't even have to be smart. No. Because sometimes or most of the time we're falling back into the same things. So when the devil comes and he opens that door, make sure that door is not open. Amen. Just a little bit away from God. Just a little bit of pleasure of this world. Just a little bit of these things. Amen. If that door is drawn you even just the slightest little bit away from God, I'm going to tell you, it will not take long and the wind will blow and that door will get open and open more and more and before you know it, it'll be wide open. It'll be wide open. Amen. Don't even open the door you're not supposed to ever go through. Amen. Somebody with me. Does this door require me to compromise my convictions? Amen. Come on. Somebody needs to reme remind himself. Come on. You get You need to get reminded of what God spoke to you years ago. You You need to remind yourself about the truth that God spoke to you years ago. I remember when I was s sitting there in a Bible study with a missionary. Amen. And he explained to me Matthew 28:19. Amen. What he told me that we need to be baptized in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost. Amen. And he explained to me and he said the name is not father, son and holy ghost because I am a father. I am a son but my name is so and so. Amen. And he told me that the name that is required right there. The name is Jesus that I remember brother Mcool as if it was yesterday. Amen. That my light switch just turn over. God gave me a revelation when I understood that. Amen. From that moment on my life was changed. I was baptized in the name of Jesus. Convictions and revelations that God is pouring over your life. Hold on to it. Hold on to it. That's a door. Hallelujah. That's a door. And if it is requiring you to give up those things, I'm going tell you, don't even walk through it. Amen. Hallelujah. And when there is no door at all, you ever had moments where you pray and you seek the Lord and seems like there is no door. There's no direction. There is no way. Amen. Sometimes there is no door to walk through, no opportunity, no way forward or just just simply it's every everything is closed. There's only a wall and everything is silent. Let me tell you, God makes a way where there is no way. He does that. Oh, I know what I'm talking about. I've been long enough over in Germany to see how God is making a way where there is no way. Where there seems to be no way in this world. I have seen Germans, let me tell you, when they talk about Germans, they talk about them being uh very very, you know, reserved, very quiet, very uh they that somebody came over and said, "You know what? These Germans, we tried and tried and tried. They will never worship the way we worship over in the United States. Amen. But let me tell you, after 20 years of ministering in Germany, I've now heard people coming over to Germany telling us, "Guys, you need to come over to German to the States." Amen. And show us how you worship because we might have lost here and there some of our worship. But Germans, learn how to worship. If you love God, you will worship God. I don't care what your past is. I don't care where you're coming from, but you will learn to worship God from your bottom. From the bottom of your heart, it still happens. Hallelujah. Where there seems no way God can make a way. Anybody with me here? Isaiah 43:16, the Bible says, "Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path, amen, in a mighty in the mighty waters." It says further on, "Behold, I will do a new thing." Somebody say, "A new thing." God can do, he can make a new thing. Amen. Further on, it says, "I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." He can do that. I don't care where you where we at right now. And let me tell you, sometimes we've been in places like if we were in the desert. Sometimes we've been in places where we where we thought, "Is this ever going to happen? Is there ever going to be revival in Germany? Are we ever going to worship God like they do in Knoxville, like they do in Miraville? Amen. But I'm going tell you, I believe it is happening. It's happening in Germany. It's happening in Europe because we serve a God that is making a way where there is no way. Amen. Anybody with me? Hallelujah. God doesn't need a door. No, he doesn't need a door. He can make a door. Yes. Amen. When it seems like every way is shut, God says, "I'll make a path in the sea." Couple years ago, I had a phone call. Uh and and and and there was a a man on the phone and and he said, "Well, Mr. Krauss, we we found out about you in the internet and I am Mr. So and so and I am the leader of an ecumenical group in Germany and and and our group is is having a conference here very soon. We are a group uh that contains out of uh Catholics and Lutheran and or Orthodox and several other different uh uh groups of u um um religion of course and and and so he said uh we're having this huge conference and these delegates delegates come from all over the world actually I'm sorry from all over Germany they are coming uh to your city and we're going to have a conference and we will have discussions and we would like for you to come at this conference conference and be one of our speakers. I was like, well, why me? Why what what do you want me to speak about? I mean, I was I was a little confused, you know, never knew. Sometimes it's a scam those things, you know. And so, finally, I I I talked to him and he said, "Well, you know, we are Catholics. We're Lutheran and and Orthodox and and and and it's it occurs to us that uh as we look over our congregations over the past uh two decades actually uh we've noticed that our uh membership has gone down. Our churches are just being emptied out and many people are leaving our churches and but but but we were looking around and we were trying to uh find out about the Pentecostal movement. Amen. because we heard that the Pentecostals and especially apostolics, their churches are growing and and and you guys are filling up the church. So, we want you to come and we want you to speak to us and tell us about what you guys are doing so that your church are filled up. What are you guys doing? I said, "Oh my goodness, well, I said, well, you know what? I don't know exactly what you're talking about. I see our churches growing. I didn't know. But I'm going tell you what, if you want me to speak about it, I'll speak about it. Amen. If you want me to speak about truth and what we're doing, I will speak about it. Amen. I got excited because we're about to tell all these Catholics and Lutheran about the oneness of God about Jesus name baptism. So I got excited about it. He told me, he said, "We want to know especially about this thing called glosselia." This isn't that funny how they say this thing called, you know why he said thing? Because he never experienced it. He don't know what it is. So this thing glosselia, you know. So we got into this meeting and we had all these professors and these doctors from all across the country, hundreds of people that have been there, these delegates, and I'm telling you, these priests with their huge garments and hats and and I mean, they looked I mean, they had all these wonderful garments with decorations on and and and and and I I just came in with the sick. That's all I had. Amen. But we walk in there and these these professors and doctors telling everybody about this thing glosselia from every point of view of of uh of knowledge. Amen. Every uh uh um every background and every word that they were describing was so in detail and they were telling everybody about this phenomenon glossalia. And then finally whenever that professor was done he said well we got Mr. Krauss here. Uh it's pastor Krauss out of the church in Auxburg and he said, "We're going to bring him up here and he is going to tell us about the experience of the glossleia." Amen. And I'm going to tell you what I did. I walked up there and I started telling them about the oneness of God. I started telling them, me and brother Thomas together, we told them about the truth. We told them about Jesus name baptism, about him being one God. We told them about the Holy Ghost, the infilling of the Holy Ghost, and how you can speak in tongues and how God can change your life when you are filled with the Holy Ghost. Let me tell you why we weren't talking. People felt the spirit of God. People started lifting up their hands praising God. Priests with their garments and heads started just praising God and thanking God. The Holy Ghost is moving. Holy Ghost was moving. And here here's this guy. He says, "Whoa, Mr. Christ, no, no, no, no, no. Let me ask you in your church when you have any problems what do you do? How do you solve problems? Because all I was talking about is Holy Ghost. He said, "Well, you know what we do? We have this thing called altar." Amen. Altar. Because they were talking about psychologist, psychiatrist. They were talking about, you know, all these sessions that they have and how they solve their problems with this problem and that problem. different views of things, you know. And so they said, "If you do have different views and different problems, what do you do?" I said, "Well, we have this thing called altar." And you know what we do is when we do have a disagreement, we go into the altar. Amen. And we pray and we seek the Lord and we speak in tongues up until God is moving upon us. And whenever we have a disagreement, we're walking out together in unity because the spirit of God is bringing unity in our midst. The spirit of God can do something. Let me tell you, that spirit can fix your problem in just a twinkling of an eye. Amen. In just a moment, right here in this altar, whatever you're trying to do out there with doctors, with medicine, in years of times, God can solve it right here. Oh, you don't believe it? Come on. I've seen it. I've seen it. I've seen the greatest enemies coming into the altar praying together. I've seen couples that have fought all the way almost to get divorced, but when they started coming into the altar, God has healed them immediately and they walked out hand in hand. I've seen family restored. I've seen marriages restored because I know when we enter into the presence of God. Oh, come on. If we enter into the presence of God, God can do anything. There is nothing nothing that he cannot do. Oh, yes. Ever since they they let us go, they were shaking their heads. They were like, "We we just don't understand." I said, "Well, you got to experience it. You have to experience. You can't just talk about it." Amen. It'll be just a thing for you. But once you experience, it's going to be your life. It's going to be in you. Ever since we have visitors, in fact, we just had uh four visitors this morning. They told me, in Axburg, we're still reaping out of that. We're still having people that go into their churches and it's dead and dry. but they they're looking for something great and they're coming into our services receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. We're seeing people that are hungry. Let me tell you today, there is a hunger in this world. There is a harvest in this world and God is about to open a door. He's about to open a door. That's how God can open a door. Even even a country where there seems to be no door there there seems to be no way God can do it. You believe that? Woo! He could use means that we would have never thought he could and he would. There's so many things that we talk about so negatively. So many things where we think, well, I don't know how God could use it. And let me tell you, there's a lot of things like internet. The devil is like, he likes to use that. And it is horrible in the hands of somebody that doesn't know how to handle it. But it could be a blessing. It could be a tool of evangelism. You know, I see people that are even in back in Germany all over that they're they're sharing things. They're putting things out there. Well, whenever whenever the church is putting something out, nobody shares what the church is putting out there. You know what? The greatest thing that you can share on Instagram or on Facebook is your church's web page. Is whatever they're posting out there. And whenever they have something good to say, whenever they put out a scripture, you get behind that and say, "Amen." Use it as a tool in your account. in your profile to tell somebody about Jesus. Ah, well, they do that and you know, I'm not sure if I want to use my profile. I want, you know, you're trying to pray for revival. You're trying to go out there passing out flyers and inviting people, but you're not willing to use your internet profile for that. Oh, I'mma help the media team here a little bit. Is that okay? You with me now? Be careful how you use those things. And I know we preachers like to butcher internet and butcher uh uh Instagram and talk about it and just be careful. Don't scroll all day long. And that's right. Don't do that. Amen. Stay away from them because there's so many other things you could do. But if you are in there, I believe God will use you even through those means. Amen. I'm going somewhere. You with me? Amen. The children of Israel, they stood on the right in front of the Red Sea and no door, no path, no escape. But in Exodus 14:21, the Bible says, "And the Lord caused the sea to go back." Amen. And it says further on, "And the waters were divided. God made a way." Everybody said, "No, that's not good. Let's not move into that direction. Let's not move that way." But finally, the Lord said, "You know what? Keep on moving. Keep on moving because even if there is no door, I will make a path. Amen. I will make a way for you. I believe he's going to make a way for you. If it's the word of God, he's leading you a certain direction. He will make a way. He will make a way. So, just uh few months ago, I think it was around February, right before we went on that ski trip that Yeah, that ski trip. Hey, man. And uh I had I had had somebody call me. I was driving down the road and it was a young lady. She called me. She said, "I'm I'm I'm my name is Natalie and I'm from Munich." And and she said, "Uh you know, uh Pastor Krauss, is this a Pentecostal church?" I said, "Yeah, it is." She said, "Uh well well I I'd like to come and visit you guys on Sunday, but I would like to get baptized in Jesus name when I get there. So what do I have to bring to get baptized in Jesus name?" That was on a Friday. So I said, "Well," I said, "Well, ho, hold on." I said, "You're a little fast on that. I mean, we don't even know you. I don't know if you understand baptism. So, why don't you just come to church and and we'll just talk a little bit about it. We'll make sure you understand Jesus name baptism." See, too many times we we were very quick and baptized people just quickly and they never came back. So, I always want to make sure people understand what this is about. So, I I told her, I said, "Just come on over." And she said, "Yeah, but I'm ready. I just want you to know I'm ready. I want to be baptized Jesus." I said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. just come on Sunday, we'll talk about it. So, so that's what she did. She came on Sunday. She came in. She was she was just a stereotype German. She was a tall lady, blonde hair, blue eyes. Amen. And and just very typical German, very sweet little girl. Uh tall girl. Amen. And and she was and she was really nice. But she walked in and as she walked in, God just just touched her right there. and and there was just a certain sweetness over her where she just allowed God to move upon her. So finally I walked over there and and and I said, "Well, you know, we need to have a Bible study. We need to look into the word of God and show you." And and so I said, "Well, why don't we sit down and we'll talk about it." And so she said, "All right." And she said, "Uh, let's sit down." So she opened up her Bible. I'll open it up to Acts 2:38. It's all highlighted and marked. Amen. I'll open it up to Matthew 28:19. Highlighted and marked. I mean, she had her Bible studied. all those scriptures about Jesus name baptism everything was highlighted I said what's going on here I said you never been to a church never been to an apostolic she said yeah that's right she said but a few weeks ago God somehow got a hold of me I read something in on Instagram I looked through and and I read something about Jesus name baptism and it caught my attention and so I stopped and I clicked on that and a lady out of Orlando Florida She contacted me and we started talking over the internet back and forth and she gave me Bible studies and we walked through the Bible and that's why I came to see you today. She brought me to this church. Amen. So I can get baptized in Jesus' name. There was no reason for me to teach her a Bible study. There was no reason for me to flip through those scriptures because somebody over in Orlando, Florida taught her a Bible study in Germany, Munich, and she got baptized that very day. She came out of that water talking in tongues. She loves God. She runs around it. Let me tell you, even Germans can be blessed and be filled with the Holy Ghost. God can do it. And he can use you. He can use you. I I I would have never thought that that, you know, sometimes we we think God can only use the missionaries that are going overseas, but these people have become missionaries on the internet. Amen. So, I'm going to tell you today, don't be shy to tell people about the truth because there's more people out there being hungry. Anybody with me? And God can make a way. He can open a door for you to evangelize in your area, to evangelize in your neighborhood, but sometimes even through the internet, sometimes even through Instagram and all those things. I'm not sure what you guys are preaching about all that, but if I'm preaching wrong, you'll you'll fix it. Okay? Is that okay? Amen. But use those things because God might have given you an open door. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You with me? Praise God. How do we get God to open the door? Faithfulness and obedience. I I I don't know more to tell you. I I I I you know, I I couldn't I didn't find any uh hocus pocus prayer that we could preach or pray and and then all of a sudden it just happens. Every time we pray this prayer, it happens. No, that's that's not how it works. I'm going tell you how it works. It's just being faithful. Staying to be be faithful. Amen. Be faithful in the in the word of God. Amen. Bible says in Deuteronomy 28:1, it says, "And it shall come to pass if thou shalt uh hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God." Further on it says that the Lord thy God will set thee on high. And further on, it says, "And all these blessings shall come on thee." On thee. We go back to the scripture that we read in the beginning. Jesus talking here to the church here and and it's saying in Revelations 3:8, "For I know thy works." Amen. He says, "I know thy works, for thou has little strength." He didn't say, "Well, you're strong. You're mighty. He says, "Oh, I I noticed." Yeah, sometimes you're weak. Yeah, that's right. Anybody ever felt weak? Little strength. Amen. I know. Amen. He He says, "I know thy works." Let me tell you, God is looking for somebody who is faithful in the presence of God. Amen. Somebody who's willing to say, I might not feel strong enough. I might not be uh feeling strong and heavy enough to do it, but I will tell you I will stay faithful in the kingdom of God. For thou hast little strength and it says and has kept my word and has not denied my name. This is what God is looking for. He's not looking for the strong guy. He's not looking for the perfect people. He's not looking for those perfect Pentecostals, apostolic that are dressed just right and doing all do all those things. That's wonderful. Let me tell you, he is looking even for those that are just weak, but he's looking for those that are just faithful. Faithfulness, faithfulness that open their Bible every morning and read it, pray every morning and read it, that are seeking the Lord even if they don't feel don't don't feel strong. Amen. But let me tell you, faithfulness is so important. God will open doors if we just stay faithful. We don't have to seek for all these all these special teachings. You don't have to look for your favorite preacher on the internet. You got a great preacher right here. Amen. You have a great pastor right here. Amen. You All you have to do is just stay faithful. Faithful. Amen. Remember a couple years ago they told us uh to we we had to move out of our old building. And then uh most of you have been in our building there in Auxburg, downtown Auxburg. Now downtown Auxburg, I need to tell you this. Auxburg is a city that's over 2,000 years old. And so um Auxburg is a wall surrounded city. Anything that is has Berg in it like Wittsburg, Wittenberg is is that Berg is indicating that there is a walled it's a walled in city or it's a they have a castle or something like that. And usually that wall indicates that that's the old town. So that's usually probably from the Roman time, the buildings that you find there. But most likely from the medieval time, you'll find buildings that are hundreds of years in there. And and so within those walls, everything is really old. And most of those properties belong to the Catholic Church. 80% of the properties within the city walls in Alt belongs to the Catholic Church. They just own it. And so uh that therefore they are making sure there is no other church within those walls. Amen. So it's only Catholic and Lutheran that are within those walls. But the Lord opened a door for us in 2012. Amen. And he led us into the downtown area. And I'm going to tell you how he did it. I they told us we were going to need to find a new building. So I was I was I was trying to find a building there where we can have our services and and and you know we don't have the typical nice buildings with the steeple up there in Europe. Now we we got to find something that will just be transformed into a a ser into a into a sanctuary. Amen. So so finally I was looking for a perfect building that was not too expensive, not too big, not too small, but just perfect for us. And so I I I they gave us a month to look for it and I couldn't find anything. I was looking and looking and I I I went to several real estates and and try to find something. I was really frustrated. And you know what I don't like about God sometimes is is is the He's a God that that's always on time. Amen. He's always on time, but sometimes just barely on time. I mean, never late, but just barely right there. I just wish God would be a little bit earlier, you know. Amen. But but but he he'll he'll get there. So, I was I was looking at at least 50 different buildings and I remember that day I drove in my car and I was frustrated and I said, "God, I just can't believe that we're not finding a building." I was driving through the downtown area, just went through those walls, riding on a carb stone road, and it just goes like, you know, and as I was driving down there, I got so frustrated. I said, "God, I can't believe that I'm supposed to find this building just by accident." I closed my eyes while I was driving. not supposed to do that. And as I closed my eyes, all of a sudden, and I was just so frustrated. Sometimes that's that's, you know, you you you you fight you you you you wrestle in a in a prayer, right? And so I was wrestling with God while I was driving on that cobblestone road and and and all of a sudden I turned my head and not closed my eyes. I need to open my eyes. As soon as I opened it up, I saw all of a sudden this huge sign which said and it said for rent and I was driving by and all of a sudden God speaks to me. He said that's it. I said well duh. So I turn around. I was driving this little driveway in there. I saw that huge sign there and it was a park garage. They used to have cars parking in there. And so I I walk up there and call the guy. Two days later, we had the key. Amen. And we were having a new building downtown. Amen. Downtown within the walls of the old town of Auxburg. Amen. Let me tell you, God can make a way, but there seems to be no way. Even if the enemy don't want you to be there, God can make a way and he can open that door. He sure opened that door. We went in there. The Catholic Church wrote us a letter. I guess they they they had to because we just moved in whether they liked it or not. So they welcomed us and said, "Oh, we're so glad there is finally another church that is spreading the gospel within these walls." Amen. And so we moved into that building. And all that it was, it was it was just an empty room. one huge big room. And so I took Bishop Bishop Vai from Manheim with me. And I showed him that. I said, "Bishop Vai, look at this. This is where we're having our baptistry. This is where the platform is going to be. This is where, you know, all this is where our kitchen is going to be. This is where our office is going to be." And it was just one empty room. And and brother, why? He just looked at it and while I was so excited, I'm going to tell you, while I was looking over that, God gave me a vision. There was no way. But there was a vision. Amen. God gave me a vision. And Bishop Vai, he looked at it and he goes like, "Uhhuh." And so he didn't say a whole lot. I was so excited I didn't care. So I just went on went on. And so he just let me go and finally God just opened doors for us. We had a team coming from Louisiana, built one drywall, showed us how to build a drywall, our Sunday school team. Amen. Our technician. And I I invited them to learn how to build drywalls. Amen. And so I told them, "Whatever they do, you need to continue on." So they took it from there, built another 22 drywalls all throughout the building. Amen. Sunday school teachers. And God just opened the door for us. And we're didn't have no money. And all of a sudden, God just opened the doors for us to bring money, bring people, and give us favor. And I would spend all night today to tell you all about it. But let me tell you what happened. Bishop Vai finally after it was all said and done, he called me one day. He said, "Brother the crowds, you remember the day you showed me that building?" I said, "Yeah." He said, "You know, I didn't want to tell you back then, but but I I I this is what I thought." He said, he said, "I thought you were crazy." He said, "I I just don't see this happening." And his thought was, he said, "I'm not sure if Brother Krauss is realizing this is a park garage for cars." Amen. But you know what? If God gives you a vision, Amen. When God gives you a promise, oh come on. If God gives you a promise, he will open a door. He will make a way. Hallelujah. He will make a way for you in your life. Would you stand up with me? Hallelujah. He will make a way. If God gives you a vision, he will make a way. Got one more thought right here. I want to tell you this. When we look when we are looking for the door that God has for us. John 10:9 the Bible says this is this is the final the final point that we need to understand. The Bible says I am the door. I am the door. who he by me if any man enter in he shall be saved and he shall go in and out and find pasture. I want to tell you today at the end of the day we are not just looking for an open door. Amen. We are looking for him. We are looking for him. If you are looking for an open door in your situation, if you're looking for an open door in your problem, whatever you're going through, I want to encourage you today. You are looking for God because he is your door. He is your door. Hallelujah. He's your door. I don't know what you come tonight for, but I want to remind you today, there is an open door for you that God has, and the open door is his hands. Maybe you've been standing in front of all of a wall. I don't know what you what you've been facing, but maybe every door has just shut down in your life and maybe right in your face. But I came today to tell you, God can open doors and no man can shut it. Anybody with me? Amen. He can make a door. He can literally make a door where there is no door. And he can close the wrong doors to protect you. Stay faithful. Stay faithful. Stay faithful. Oh, another project for for Poland AYC. Oh, pastor, you got to give money again. Yeah. Stay faithful. Stay faithful. Oh, camp meeting. Oh, building project. Stay faithful. Stay faithful. I'm telling you, whatever you're facing, God is with you. Stay faithful. Keep praying. Keep praising. Because when God says it's time, no power in hell can stop the door that he will open for you. No power. The devil has you lying, lying at you, telling you, "No, I came. I This is what I feel right here. I feel like there's some people here that that years ago God has given you a promise and and and you've been holding on to it, but you know, things just didn't happen the way you you you wanted them to happen. What are you waiting for? What are you waiting for? God is going to open a door. He gave you a vision. If he gave you a promise, I'm telling you, stay faithful. Hold on. Hold on. Don't wait to that midlife crisis. Amen. Don't wait until everything falls apart, but it's our time because God will open the door that only he can open. I wonder on this Sunday evening if we can just gather here in this altar. There's some things we need to solve, some things we need to bring before God. There's a door right here that he wants to open for you. Are you willing to step through that door? Come on, there's an open door. Why don't you come up here to this altar with me? We're going to pray together for just a moment before before the music sings. Let's just just for a moment feel after God. Let's just feel after God. I I feel like we need to we need to just embrace his his power and his presence. Are you seeking directions? Do you need God to open a door in your life? a spiritual door, a financial door, or maybe even emotional. Come, come to this altar. Let God begin. He'll swing open that door in your life. Would you lift up your hands right now, wherever you're at right now? Oh God, I need to help you. I need you to help me. God, I need you to help me, God. Come on. Oh, in the name of Jesus. Oh, but pastor, you don't understand. It doesn't seem like there's there's a possibility here. But let me tell you, yeah, there is one. He can open a door in the middle of a desert. He can build a door. Even if there seems to be no door, he can do it right now. Why don't you lift up your hands and why don't you cry out to Jesus right now? Jesus, come on. Pray right now with me. God, I need you, Lord. Oh, I pray right now for encouragement for this church here. God, help us, Lord, to find in this altar, Lord. Everything, God, that this world is not able to ever give us, God. Everything that we need in our lives and our families, God. Oh, come on. There's an open door in this altar for you today. Why don't you lift up your hands? Why don't you pray with me right now? If God can do it for Germany, he can certainly do it for you. Hallelujah. If God can do it for Natalie, he can do it for you. I want to remind you right now, stay faithful. Stay faithful. Hold on to it.