Thought for the day

The Gospel
The Power of God
Romans 1:16

I was given the great opportunity to preach at Woodlawn MBC, in Denison, Texas again. This time is was different though. The man who had been the pastor there, which is a great friend, had resigned the church. Going into a church a week after a good pastor has resigned gives me a weird feeling. There was a since of unrest in the pit of my stomach, and I was only filling in for this church. I was not being considered as a candidate to be their next pastor. A preacher only knows what God lays upon his heart. If most would be honest, the message you study up usually sounds better on paper, while you are writing it up, than a man is capable of presenting it. With that being said, I think of Paul. What a great example to us all!
If you look at Paul and his ministry, you see the qualities that only most pastors can wish they had. He was a man that stuck with his principles. Paul was a religious man and at one point on the wrong side of the ball. Some conclude that Paul, who was Saul at the time, may have already been saved, but didn’t understand the Christian movement and didn’t want to hear about Jesus. He was a Pharisee, (Acts 26:5,) which was his life of religion. He was a member of the Sanhedrin and had commission for the chief priests to persecute and punish people who claimed the name of Jesus. He had a sense of pride and arrogance about himself. However, one day that would change with an impact that lasted the rest of his life.
He had been consenting unto the death of a devout man of God. Stephen, from what I’ve read, was kind of a tall man that people didn’t push around easily. He was a deacon that loved the Lord Jesus Christ and preached the gospel. Saul, whose name was later changed to Paul, held the coats of other men while they stoned Stephen to death. It was a gloomy day for Christians that day, but later that day things would change with that huge impact. Paul, who was going down the road to Demascus, met Jesus face to face. If you study the book of Acts, you find in that Jesus told the church of Jerusalem, “Ye shall receive power, after the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth,” (Acts 1:8). The church at Jerusalem had apparently gotten comfortable in their situation. A church of 3000 plus people was satisfied at just being themselves and serving the Lord there. This did not sit well with the Lord and therefore HE allowed Saul, later to be known a Paul, to persecute and cause havoc in the church. The scripture teaches that this church was scattered abroad. After Paul was saved, and received training from the Lord, he was sent out to this scattered people and started new churches. What a great story!
With the things that it took for Saul to be against the church, now Paul would be just that strong for the LORD. He said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jews first, and also to the Greek,” (Romans 1:16). Paul had the opportunity to preach the gospel that he once despised, and he did it with all that was in him. The people he once hated, he now loved. The people he once represented, he now preached the truth too. He really wasn’t ashamed of the gospel and its power at all.
With this quick look at some of the things about Paul, I am reminded of where I came from and what God has done for me in my life. I can’t say that I’ve always been as on fire for the Lord as I should be, but I know that I have a duty. That duty is to preach the gospel; to serve God with everything I have. Why? The reason I have the obligation of serving God is simply this; HE GAVE ALL FOR ME; WHAT DO I GIVE BACK? Preaching at a church or in a crowd shows me just how powerful God’s Word really is. The Lord reminded me, again yesterday, that it’s not about the preacher whatsoever. It’s all about Christ and HIS WORD, which is HIS power. There are times that as preachers, deacons, and teachers that we feel that we have done God an injustice in trying to teach the Word or Gospel.
If a man surrenders to the opportunity of preaching or teaching God’s Word the way God leads him too, and that man follows God’s direction, that man can not fail. Oh, yes, he can stumble with words, fumble around with the scripture, or just plain mess up in his delivery, but when God’s in it, it makes and impact. I cannot tell people how many times that I felt like I did yesterday, when I thought I had basically blew the good message God had given me, with my pitiful delivery. However, God showed me different. When we blow it, is usually when God uses it the most. People say that ‘the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness: but unto us which are saved it is the power of God, (I Cor. 1:18)’. The lesson I that I was shown yesterday, as times before, reminded me that the Power of Christ is in the Gospel. It is in HIS WORD and if I share it the way HE intended for me too, that HE would bless it and it would bring honor and glory to HIM. We all can be like Paul in this one way: Don’t be ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Tell people about Christ and use HIS WORD to allow its power to burn in the hearts of people. If we are obedient to that extent, then HE will bless it. Preaching or teaching can be tedious at times, but if we humble ourselves and allow God to use us, we will show we aren’t ashamed of His Word either. So the next time you preach, teach, give a devotional, or just lead a Bible study, keep this one thought in your mind the whole time: It is all about HIM; not about me, and don’t be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. Show it to people like it is the matter of life and death; because it is.