Today's Devotional from Pastor Clay: A Heart for People - 2 Corinthians 12:14-15

September 12, 2014 View this email in your browser A Heart for People - 2 Corinthians 12:14-15 I think the saddest passage in the bible is found in 2 Corinthians 12: Now I am coming to you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you. I don't want what you have—I want you. After all, children don't provide for their parents. Rather, parents provide for their children. I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me. 2 Corinthians 12:14-15 Paul had spent eighteen months with the church at Corinth, teaching and ministering, laboring to strengthen the people in their faith and walk with the Lord. Yet after he left, all %$^# broke loose! There were divisions, people were suing one another, living in open sin without correction, and when Paul got the news I'm sure it broke his heart. Yet as hard as Paul worked to minister to the people in that church, the less they appreciated Paul. The more he loved them, the less he was loved. Why would Paul stay in relationship with a church like this? Why didn't he just write them off, and spend his time with churches that appreciated him? I'll tell you why: Paul had a heart for people, and not just people that were nice to him; ALL PEOPLE. Paul was able to look past the behavior of people, and see the need for love and growth in the Lord. You've heard me say before, "Hurting people hurt people, and broken people break things." Just like any other institution, the church is made up of people that are at different places in their spiritual growth.  Some are mature and exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, and some are still immature and operate in the flesh. But if no one is willing to come alongside the immature Christian, and help them grow, they may never grow up.  That's were you and I come in: We can take the example of Paul, and not look at others in the church from a perspective of what they can do for us ("I don't want what you have"), but rather what we could do for them ("I want you"). Paul was willing to be sacrificially poured out in order for others to grow in their faith, and I believe that we should be willing to do the same. Even if the person we're pouring into doesn't seem to appreciate it. Because that's what God's love does. "Lord, help me to be willing to invest in others, and to have a heart for people, even when they don't appreciate it." Pastor Clay   Enjoy this devotional?  Share it with someone! Share Tweet Forward Connect Facebook Twitter Instagram Subscribe by email Copyright © 2014 Calvary Chapel of Wilmington, All rights reserved. You're receiving this email because you subscribed through our website or my blog. You can click the "Manage Subscriptions" link to manage your email preferences.   Calvary Chapel of Wilmington 2831 Carolina Beach Rd Wilmington, NC 28412 Add us to your address book 910-791-1858 | www.calvaryofwilmington.org   unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

Today's Devotional from Pastor Clay: Strength Through Weakness - 2 Corinthians 12:10

September 11, 2014 View this email in your browser Strength Through Weakness - 2 Corinthians 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10 In our culture, weakness is not seen as a positive attribute. We want our country to be strong, and our leaders to show strength. The gym is full of people that want to be strong. "Live Strong" is the mantra. Now there's nothing wrong with being strong, but the Apostle Paul makes an interesting point when it comes to spiritual matters: When we are weak, then we are strong. Look at Paul's life; Was he a weak or strong man? To me, the man who traveled the ancient world spreading the gospel of Jesus despite the fiercest persecutions, who endured shipwrecks and imprisonment, who preached to kings and slaves, who established strong churches and trained up their leaders… Paul was not a weak man. In light of his life and accomplishments, we would have to say that Paul was a very strong man.  However, Paul understood that he was only strong because he knew his weaknesses, and he looked outside of himself for the strength of God's grace. And what great grace that was! Looking at the list of things Paul endured, I doubt any one of us would want to follow those footsteps. It would be more than we could bear, and I believe that was Paul's message. His trials and tribulations were more than he could bear, on his own. See it wasn't Paul's strength that carried him through all of those situations, Paul knew well it was the grace of God that strengthened him: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13 If we want lives of such strength, then we need to recognize and admit our weakness, then look to God alone for the grace that will carry us through the trials of this life. "Lord, help me to reach out each day and ask you for the grace to carry me through." Pastor Clay   Enjoy this devotional?  Share it with someone! Share Tweet Forward Connect Facebook Twitter Instagram Subscribe by email Copyright © 2014 Calvary Chapel of Wilmington, All rights reserved. You're receiving this email because you subscribed through our website or my blog. You can click the "Manage Subscriptions" link to manage your email preferences.   Calvary Chapel of Wilmington 2831 Carolina Beach Rd Wilmington, NC 28412 Add us to your address book 910-791-1858 | www.calvaryofwilmington.org   unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

Today's Devotional from Pastor Clay: “Here am I! Send me.” Isaiah 6:85

September 10, 2014 View this email in your browser "Here I Am! Send me" Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." Isiah 6:8 In the sixth chapter if Isaiah, the prophet was given a vision from the Lord. In this vision he was taken into the throne room of Heaven, in the presence of God Himself. The effect it had on Isaiah was profound; It wasn't "wow, what a cool place," but standing in the presence of a Holy God, Isaiah immediately realized his sinful state in comparison to God. ""Woe is me, for I am undone!"  I find that interesting, as Isaiah was a prophet, a man of God, a man who no doubt was very careful not to disobey God.  And yet, faced with the holiness of the Lord, he saw the stark contrast of his fallen nature, and the holiness of God. He was undone. In other words, "I got nothing!" But thankfully Isaiah's experience didn't end on that note. An angel stepped up, took a hot coal from the altar, placed it on Isaiah's lips, and declared him cleansed. What happened next is beautiful: As the Lord openly asked who might take up His cause, and be a messenger to the nation of Israel, it was Isaiah who then declared, "Here am I! Send me." I don't know if you can see it, but that is a picture of you and I, here and now. But it wasn't an angel that God sent to cleanse us, He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who became sin for us, took the penalty for our sin, and bore it upon Himself. Just like Isaiah, all we had to do was stand there and receive God's cleansing. In John 4:35 Jesus said "Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest." The open question is:  Who will go? Who will step out into the world, and tell people about Christ? Who will invite a neighbor to church? Who will pray for, and invite a friend to Harvest America on Oct 5th? Let us be like Isaiah; Justified and cleansed, declared righteous by a Holy God, and now willing to say, "Here am I! Send me." "Lord, thank you for the priceless gift of salvation, let me be a beacon of life to the world around me." Pastor Clay   Enjoy this devotional?  Share it with someone! Share Tweet Forward Connect Facebook Twitter Instagram Subscribe by email Copyright © 2014 Calvary Chapel of Wilmington, All rights reserved. You're receiving this email because you subscribed through our website or my blog. You can click the "Manage Subscriptions" link to manage your email preferences.   Calvary Chapel of Wilmington 2831 Carolina Beach Rd Wilmington, NC 28412 Add us to your address book 910-791-1858 | www.calvaryofwilmington.org   unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences