When God Opens Doors, Nobody Can Shut Them | Tony Evans Highlight

Dr. Tony Evans unpacks a powerful message from Matthew 16, revealing the concept of God’s “master key” and how it unlocks doors in our lives. Discover how aligning your actions with God’s word and boldly living out your faith can open doors that no person can shut.

Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.

If if you’ve never seen god, swing something open, it looked like it was closed.
If you’ve never seen him come through when there was no way, then you have not experienced the authority of Christ.
Vote may not know who you are, but you know him.
You confess him, and nothing will make the lord more real to you when he opens things up, you are too powerless to open up on your own, because you have little power.
Now in Matthew chapter 16, he says, I’m gonna build my church, and I will give my church the keys to the kingdom.
Watch this now. Jesus says, I have the master key.
That’s one key that can lock any door, but I’m gonna give to my people the church.
I’m gonna give them the keys plural to the kingdom.
So what he’s given us is multiple keys to multiple doors while he possesses the master key to every door.
So he has the key. We have the keys. How does it work?
When you use the right key, he’ll back it up with the master key.
But when you use the wrong key, the master key can’t back you up because the master key can only be consistent with the keys that he’s given us.
Let me put it another way.
If you skip god’s way to get it done, whatever it is you’re trying to get done, then don’t just call on god to use his master key when you’ve ignored the key he gave you.
He does not want you to skip the response ability he’s given you and simply call on him because he got the master key.
He wants to know your keys are consistent with his key.
I will give you the keys to the kingdom. Well, what is that? It’s authority.
I’m going to share my authority with you when you are consistent with me.
A authority kingdom means to rule.
So god wants to rule not only in heaven, but in history, through the person of Jesus Christ, and he possesses the key.
See, the reason why we are not seeing more of the master key is because god is not seeing more of the use of us using the right key.
See, we go and use a world’s key To unlock heaven, those keys don’t fit in that lock.
I I shared with you before how I was in New York, and I was at the Marriott Hotel, and I checked out, called a plane to Chicago, got into the Hilton Hotel, went up thirty five floors and the dead went up with my luggage freezing outside.
I put my key in the lock. Click click, click, red light. Click, click, click, red light.
So I’m a little ticked off, man, because I didn’t go on up 30 five floors, coal outside.
I catch the elevator down. I go to the registration desk. I say, excuse me, this key doesn’t work.
He said, Quebec, he doesn’t go to this hotel.
I’ve forgotten to throw away my Marriott key and was using a Marriott key in a Hilton Lock, and those kingdoms don’t fit.
Those keys don’t fit when you mix in kingdoms.
And what Christians do is they mix kingdoms and wonder why heaven’s door won’t open.
Because god won’t use the king key if you won’t use your key.
Your key must be consistent with his master key.
And he says when god moves, when Jesus moves specifically, he opens and closes doors.
And he says when he moves with his key, that is with his divine authority.
He says when he does that, nobody can shut it. Okay.
This ought to do something till you gets it right there, right there, right there.
Let me tell you what I’ll do what you gives it.
What this means is when you’re using god’s keys, people do not have the last say so.
See that? See, we get all shook up about people oh, he got the power to let me in or to lock me out.
He got the power to raise me or to put me down. He’s got the power.
She’s got the power to fire me hire me. They got the power. They got all the power.
Jesus said, but I got the master key.
And when I opened the door, I don’t care who they are, where they come from.
How much they have, what degrees they possess.
When I have the key, if I decide to open that door, nobody gonna shut a door I open, And if I decide to lock them up, they’re not gonna be able to get back in because I’m in charge here.
I’ve got the key to the kingdom. See, we fear the wrong folk.
We fear folk because they got a name. We fear folk. They got some money.
We feel full because they got some power, but you are related to the one who’s got the key of David, ultimate authority.
Final say so. So he’s, you know, you you haven’t been into a prison.
To to for one reason or another.
You know, they got these pods now, these elevated pods where the the gods sit.
And they they got all these keys to let folk in. Or the black folks out.
The world wants to hold you hostage and Jesus says, but I got the key to every cell.
I got the key to every door. So it’s the one with the key who determines it.
And if if you don’t get that and if I don’t get that, we’ll run around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get folk to do what folk may or may not be willing to do when you supposed to know the one who’s got the master key to any door that you have to deal with.
Yeah. We gotta understand who we dealing with here. He says, I possess the keys. So what’s the problem?
He says, in verse 8, I know your deeds.
Behold I have put before you an open door, which no one can shut.
Because you have little power and have kept my word and have not denied my name.
Oh, watch it. In order for his key to work, for you, for me, and for his church, He says, you must have kept my word obeyed me and not denied my name.
So one of the reasons many believers are not seeing god come through is because they do not keep his word.
They they come to church and hear it.
But they do not keep his word and or they deny his name.
They don’t wanna be publicly associated with him. He says to them, you have little power.
That means this is a small church.
That doesn’t have big names, doesn’t have notoriety people, doesn’t have highly educated folk, doesn’t have a bunch of rich rich saint sitting in the sanctuary.
He says you have little power. You not all that in a bag of chips.
People don’t know who you are. They don’t appreciate who you are. They don’t respect who you are.
You don’t have what people view as substantive, significant, and worth applauding.
But he says, I have set before you an open door.
Even though folks say you are a nothing and a nobody, I have set before you an open door And when I open this bad boy up for you, the folk with the name with the money and with the power will not be able to shut it.
But the way I will open the door and the reason I will open the door for you, your life, your world, and your ministry is because you have obeyed my word and have not denied my name.
See, we got folk to god to open doors when they while they disobey him.
We got folks wanting god to open doors while they are ashamed to bear his name.
Notice you can’t deny his man. You can talk about god all you want.
You can talk about god this and god that. That’s not his name.
His name is the lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, not this generic god. No. No.
No. Yeah. God is there, but god has bequeathed or delegated everything to his son.
It is at the name of Jesus every knee bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is lord to the glory of the father.
So if folk don’t know your relationship to Jesus, you have denied his name, even though you may be talking about god bless you all day long.
You haven’t denied denied my name.
Jesus says when you deny me on earth, I will deny you before my father who is in heaven.
When you confess me on earth, I will confess you before my father who is in heaven.
So if you are ashamed of Jesus Christ, and don’t wanna be publicly associated with him.
Forget open doors. You can open your own door.
And that’s why we get so messed up because we round here trying to get folk to open up the door.
Create the opportunity, make the connection, give us the money, and we do an all list to open up doors, and Jesus is sitting there with a master key.
And and and if you’ve never seen god give you an open door.
See, you didn’t miss something.
If if you’ve never seen god, swing something open and look like it was closed.
And see, if you’ve never seen him come through when there was no way, Jose, it If you’ve never seen them intervene in your circumstances, then you have not experienced the authority of trust to overrule, particularly if you were of little power.
Now you didn’t have the wherewithal. You didn’t have the contacts. You didn’t have the money.
You didn’t have the education. You didn’t have the notoriety, but you had him.
Jesus says, folk may not know who you are, but you know him.
You confess him. You obey him. He got a master key.
And nothing will make the lord more real to you than it when he opens things up, you are too powerless to open up on your own.
Because you have little power, little notoriety, little name recognition. Season.
That’s why the the greatest people in our congregation I’m not necessarily the people with masses and doctorate degrees.
And I’m not necessarily the folks with Mercedes and and fences and and Linkins and what have you.
He said, no. It’s not necessarily the folk who who got the 6 figure plus incomes.
Nothing roaming any of those things in and of themselves, but you have to need to know the most powerful people are people of little power who know him and who advertise his name.
Because they have access to a master key.
Now the upscale folk can do that too, but he says, you have little power.
But you have access to me.
And for us, no matter what position you hold, money you have, or influence you will, keep yourself small.
Folk may be whispering in your ear.
You all that and a bag of chips. Don’t believe it.
You better keep yourself small in the eyes of god. Try coming before the fall.
You better keep yourself small. Don’t don’t think you all at me.
Because because, uh, pride coming before the fall.
And and and you need to understand that, uh, humility is a big deal to god.
That you are you you don’t view yourself that way.
Now other folks maybe write you out, but but how you think about you You better keep yourself small because Jesus says, even though you have little power, I’m gonna open up a door for you.
Because you have obeyed me and you have, uh, not denied my name.