Preach to the Open Door - Acts 18:4-8

Each Sabbath found Paul at the synagogue, trying to convince the Jews and Greeks alike. And after Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul spent all his time preaching the word. He testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.  But when they opposed and insulted him, Paul shook the dust from his clothes and said, “Your blood is upon your own heads—I am innocent. From now on I will go preach to the Gentiles.”  Then he left and went to the home of Titius Justus, a Gentile who worshiped God and lived next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, and everyone in his household believed in the Lord. Many others in Corinth also heard Paul, became believers, and were baptized. Acts 18:4-8

If anything, Paul (formerly known as "Saul") was a stubborn man.  The first thing the Lord said to him on the Road to Damascus was, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads." (Acts 9:5)  I think that's why Paul often went to the synagogue, trying to convince the jews that Jesus was the Messiah, yet with little success.  That's pretty much what happened in Corinth;  Paul tried to share the truth with the jews in that city, and they pretty much mocked him out of the synagogue! Finally Paul declared, "From now on I will go preach to the Gentiles."

I think there's a lesson here for us:  In our mission to tell people about Jesus, we need to look for the open doors.  

Now, I'm not saying we should completely ignore those who mock us for our faith, or those who initially resist our message.  Sometimes a person that God is already dealing with will put up a front of antagonism in order to hide a heart of conviction.

What I am saying is that we shouldn’t waste a lot of time trying to convince someone who is obviously not interested in hearing about Jesus.  If God has put someone like this on your heart, PRAY for them.  Trust me, God is very capable of working circumstances of their life, and the condition of their heart, to bring them to a place of being ready to hear the gospel.  When that time comes, you’ll recognize the open door.

Begin each day with a prayer to ask God to show you the open doors in the lives of the people around you.  Trust that God will lead you to them at the perfect time, and that the Holy Spirit will give you the words to say (Luke 12:12).

Pastor Clay

The Basics of Life - A New Family

The Basics of Life – A New Family

Acts 2:41-47

(CLICK HERE to listen online)

1.         Going to start out sharing a few data-points... Church Statistics - A recent study by the Barna group revealed some startling statistics… of those who responded:

a.    Those who say they attend church “regularly” has dropped from 43% in 2004 to 36% today, but that doesn’t tell the whole story….

b.    “Regular” church attendance used to mean 3 or more times per month,

c.    Today people consider themselves “regular church attenders who attend once every 4-6 weeks

2.         Looking at the future generation gives us an even less optimistic picture:

a.    Millennials (30 & under) only 20% feel church is important,

b.    45% of Millennials say church is NOT important

c.    and 35% actually have an anti-church stance.

3.         Of the reasons Millennials cite for not holding church to be important:

a.    35% say irrelevance, hypocrisy, moral failures by church leaders

b.    20% say they feel God is missing from church

c.    10% say they feel legitimate questions are not tolerated.

4.         NOTICE what they younger generation is NOT saying…

a.    Not saying that they don’t believe in God, or that they have no place for God in their lives…

b.    They’re saying that they have no place for church in their lives

5.         Last data point is what people who actually attend church say about the church they attend.  Of the people who attend regularly, they give the following reasons for attending church:

a.    44% want to be closer to God

b.    27% want to learn more about God

c.    20% say they want fellowship with other believers

6.         OK, so how is the church doing at meeting those expectations?

a.    44% want to be closer to God, only 20% actually feel closer to God

b.    20% want fellowship, only 10% of those who attend church say that they experience fellowship.

c.    27% say they want to learn more about God, only 6% say they actually learn more about God

What does all of this tell us? 

Search the Scriptures - Acts 17:10-11

Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.  Acts 17:10-11

Please know I’m not being critical when I say this, but I’m amazed at how little some Christians actually read their bibles.   They may be reading a devotional, reading a book, or listening to a message on the radio, which are all fine… but these things are not the same as staying your bible. Please don’t think I’m being judgmental about this.  Even your pastor can fall into the trap of “I’ve got a lot on my plate today, I’ll just read a quick devo this morning.”

The first problem with reading what other’s have written is that you’re getting the truth that God gave to that person.  See, the word of God isn’t just doctrine; it is alive, and powerful, and it has the ability to reach into the hidden places of our heart with God’s truth.  The writer of Hebrews describes it better than me:

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  Hebrews 4:12

The second problem with reading what other’s have written is what they write may not be true. There are many well-meaning people that love God, and who want to lead people towards God, but the things that they write aren’t always biblical.  Whenever I read something, the first filter I sift it through is "is this line up with scripture?"

That’s what Paul loved about the Bereans, they didn’t take Paul’s word about who Jesus was, they went and searched the scripture themselves, to see if what Paul was saying was biblical.  The fact that they ‘fact-checked’ Paul didn’t seem to bother him at all, he actually commended them for it!

So my challenge for you today is simple:  READ YOUR BIBLE! 

Don’t let my devotional, or anyone else’s, take the place of your personal time reading and meditating on God’s word.  I promise you that if you will, God will equip you for your day:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God [or woman of God] may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.  2 Timothy 3:16-17 [parenthesis mine]

Pastor Clay

Breaking Chains - Acts 16:30-34

And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.  And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.  Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.  Acts 16:30-34

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were arrested, beaten, then tossed into jail for casting a demonic spirit our of a young girl. Yet instead of being depressed about their circumstances, they had a prayer and worship service right there in the prison! The result was impressive;  The Lord brought an earthquake that shook the jail, opened all of the doors, and even opened up the prisoners chains.  While that was impressive, what happened next was even more important - The jailer accepted Christ, and his entire family was saved!

See, I’m sure the prisoners were happy about being released, but I wonder how many went back to their old life, and ended up right back in prison? The jailer and his family, on the other hand, their lives, and the lives of their descendants were changed FOREVER!

I see this as one of the often-overlooked blessings of salvation; Our decision to follow Christ not only affects our lives, but it affects the lives of our entire family. When we are saved, not only are our chains broken, but the multi-generational curse of sin that may have existed in our family line is broken as well.

Every time I go onto the UNCW campus, I notice the buildings with people’s names on them. Those buildings are the legacy of the people who donated money to the university, and wanted to be remembered.  The sad thing is that students go in and out of those buildings every day, and they have no idea of who that person was, or what their life meant.  It’s just “Jones Hall.”

Rather than live your life to put your name on a building, live your life to leave a legacy of the next generation that will go out and change the world of Jesus Christ, and it starts with the life-changing , chain-breaking gospel of Jesus Christ, one person at a time, one family at a time.

Change a man, change a family; 

Change a family, change a neighborhood; 

Change a neighborhood, change a city;

Change a city, change a state;

Change a state, change a nation;

Change a nation, change the world.

Pastor Clay

God cares about the little things... 2 Kings 6:1-7

One day the group of prophets came to Elisha and told him, “As you can see, this place where we meet with you is too small. Let’s go down to the Jordan River, where there are plenty of logs. There we can build a new place for us to meet.” “All right,” he told them, “go ahead.” “Please come with us,” someone suggested. “I will,” he said. So he went with them. When they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees. But as one of them was cutting a tree, his ax head fell into the river. “Oh, sir!” he cried. “It was a borrowed ax!” “Where did it fall?” the man of God asked. When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water at that spot. Then the ax head floated to the surface. “Grab it,” Elisha said. And the man reached out and grabbed it.  2 Kings 6:1-7

Sometimes you run across a passage in the bible and you wonder "why is this story there?"  This is one of those passages.  On the surface it seems like some random event that doesn't fit with the rest of the chapter.  Some guys cutting trees. An ax head falls into the river.  Elisha retrieves it.  But I find that sometimes it's the small, simple things that carry the greatest truths.  In this account we learn one simple truth about God:

God cares about the little things!

How many times have we experienced small setbacks, little things that go wrong, and instead of turning to God for help, we just chalk it up to "bad luck?"  We think that God is too busy for the small stuff.  This account dispels that thought, and confirms to us God does care about the little things that happen in our life, and that He's never too busy to help us with them.

My wife Tammy sometimes looses her keys, and when that happens she does the funniest thing:  She prays and asks the Lord to help her find them.  Sure enough, within a few minutes, she’ll walk right to where those keys are.  I find that kind of faith in the small things to be pretty impressive.  

This kind of faith is faith that GROWS, because if we’ll begin to bring the little things to God, and seek His help, it conditions us to bring the big things to Him when they come.

Today, I’m going to practice having faith in the small things.  By the way, has anyone seen my keys?

"If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.”  Luke 16:10 (NLT)

Pastor Clay

The Basics of Life - A New Worship Part 2

(To listen online CLICK HERE)

A New Worship - Part 2

1.         Last week looked at john 4 “worship in spirit and truth” (missed clayritter.com)

a.    this week we’re going to unpack the definition of worship, how it's described in the bible, relationship of music, and the result...

2.         What is Worship?  [Merriam Webster Dictionary]

a.    Reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power; an act of expressing such reverence

Origin

3.         Old English weorthscipe, meaning “worthiness, respect, reverence...

4.         In essence, worship is when something has great worth to us, we give devotion, honor, and reverence to it, I.E. we “worship” it.

5.         It is a responsive word; we worship something or someone as a response to what that thing or person means to us, or what it does for us.

The Words of Worship

Look at some of the words in scripture that are translated as “worship” or "praise" as the two are interchangeable

Old Testament

6.         Two words, yadah and todaw are closely related, and account for most of the times the word ‘praise’ appears in the Old Testament.

a.    Both of these words give us the idea of ‘casting’ or to ‘shooting’ - in a sense lifting our praises up to God!

b.    One example is Psalm 54:6

‘I will praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good.’ Psalm 54:6