Scripture Text: Acts 17:22 - 30 and Psalm 96:1-4, 8 (KJV)
Acts 17:22 - 30 and Psalm 96:1-4, 8 (KJV)
Acts 17:22 - 30 (KJV)
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Psalm 96:1 - 4, 8 (KJV)
96 O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing unto the Lord, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.
4 For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.
8 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.
The Title of Today’s Message is: While I Have A Chance
Introduction
I want to start my assignment behind the sacred desk today just to say how thankful I am to God for authentic fellowship that is built on nothing but the true desire to be in the presence of those who will encourage you to be the best that you can be. I am sure there are many of us in the room that know all to well a type of gathering that can sometimes be the opposite of that, where no matter how hard you try to be accepted and loved for who you are, you seem to never be enough for those who have already formed an opinion about you and your worth. If I were to tell the truth, I was bargaining with God not to start a message with the title “While I Have A Chance” this way, because when I had this message confirmed, the first thing I thought is “man God that’s good… this will be a message that can make some people ready to shout in the place”, but God told me that sort of thinking is contrary to the purpose of His Word on a Sunday morning, because He is not concerned about us shouting and hollering if it is going to lead to us not being transformed and renewed in our mind.
I had this kind of authentic fellowship yesterday with the men of this church. We were invited to go bowling by our Men’s President, Deacon Barkley, and while there was a small group in attendance, and while we are a competitive bunch (by the way I have to put in a shameless plug that we are so competitive that I actually had our Assistant Pastor sweating through the first 7 frames of game number one– and then I have to tell the whole truth and say that’s the closest I got for the rest of our time together at the bowling alley lol!), again, while we are a competitive bunch, the truth of the matter is that none of us wanted to see the others perform at any less than our best. We were in intense competition, and we wanted to win, but we did not want to win at the expense of our brother losing. And though we (mostly me lol) would make comments every now and then like “He is the God of the valley! If you throw a gutter ball He is there for you!”, ultimately, after every play, whether it helped our bottom line or made the competition that much more fierce, we gave each other high fives and cheered each other on. When we noticed things that were inconsistent in our approach, or in our footwork, or even in how we were releasing the ball at the throw line, we took the time to encourage and coach one another. Several times my brothers told me “the strength of your game is your consistency, not your power. Slow down how fast you are throwing the ball and focus on consistent form.”
And it was that type of loving fellowship that gave birth to the title of today’s message. Because it is important that we realize that this community that God has established is designed to provide the transformative power necessary for our lives to be changed. But if we are not careful, we will fall into a spiritual paralysis, already sizing up what the Sunday morning experience will be like based upon what we’ve experienced in the past, and missing the opportunity to be transformed by the One who attends every service to transform us. It is in Acts 20 where we see a narrative that is telling from God our father. The Apostle Paul was speaking with the churches and gives a powerful account of the challenge that is before us to protect the community of God by taking advantage of every chance we have to honor Him in all that we do. Starting at the 28th verse, Paul shares these words:
28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
33 I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel.
34 Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.
35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Connection to the Introduction
Such powerful words are found in this account where Paul knows he is about to be off the scene after all of the diligent effort he made to share the gospel everywhere that he went. And we have heard the words found in Acts 20:35 so many times that we may sometimes forget that it is much more than a colloquial phrase or common euphemism spoken out of familiarity. The phrase “tis better to give than it is to receive” is not just something that someone made up that has passed from generation to generation like an old wives tale. It is the Word of God that is tied to a spiritual law called reciprocity. And reciprocity is a fancy word that simply means what is found in many areas of the bible. The concept of reap/sow is powerful.
Job 4:8 says “even as I have seen, they that plow inquiry, and sow wickedness, reap the same.”
Psalm 126:5 says “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.”
Proverbs 22:8 says “He that soweth inquiry shall reap vanity”
Ecclesiastes 11:4 says “He that observes the wind shall not sow; and he that regards the clouds shall not reap.”
Hosea 10:12 says “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy.”
1 Corinthians 9:11 says “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?”
Galatians 6:7 says “be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
And while I could go on and on with the Word connected to the law of reciprocity, I’ll end this section by reading 2 Corinthians 9:6, which says “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall rap also bountifully.”
I am a witness of how church can change your life when you decide to make the most of the chance that God has given you to honor Him when you are in His presence. Some of you know my story probably better than I can tell it at this point, but connect with your neighbor for a second and say “neighbor– when you have a story– it is yours to tell!” You see when God has done something for you, sometimes you just have to tell it because you realize that it is a good thing to give God thanks while you have a chance. For those who don’t know or even for those who believe they do, I want to share with you that it was not my intention to stay in this church after I became an adult. My grandmother was the Pastor of this church for many years, and I was fortunate to live with her from my junior year of high school until the summer after I graduated from Old Dominion University. I knew that anything that had breath in my grandmother’s house was going to church. And so go to church I did. I was an inquisitive teenager. Every person that worked with me in the church knew that I was going to have a question about why things were the way that they were. And I thank God that though they probably wanted to tell me to go sit down somewhere and be quiet, that those leaders that worked with me understood that their words could either kill the fire that was burning within me to get some understanding or kindle the fire. And kindle the fire they did.
Before you knew it, I began seeking the gift of the holy ghost while I was in college. My mind shifted from coming to church out of compliance and obedience to getting all I could while I was there. I started enjoying bible study conversations and started reading my Word more often. And what this church was established to do, win souls to the body of Christ through an “each one reach one” philosophy was alive and well within me. What was most powerful is that those who were teaching me knew how powerful it was to seize each opportunity that was presented to them to encourage me through the Lord. They did something with the chance they were given.
I want to share as my central thesis for this message this thought: God has you here to disrupt the holding pattern that the world is trying to place you in, and He is doing that by activating Romans 12:2 in your life. The scripture says “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Contextual Evidence
In being transformed we must realize that in a service where the saints gather, God is calling us to be a contributor in accomplishing his purposes on this Earth, not to meet a need that He has. God is all-sufficient and is able to meet every need just because He is God. God is calling us to give so that we can receive.
Our attention has been stolen and distorted to focus on gifts instead of the gift giver. It is the reason why prophetic services can be filled to capacity while prayer and testimony services have a faithful few. It is the reason why we can get programmed into business as usual in a service instead of walking in with the expectation that God is here to do something new. And it is the reason why we often find ourselves stuck between placebo and power. I am so glad for the women that were able to attend the House of Succor retreat yesterday and I know it was fruitful to you. I am especially thankful for those within our own church that served as facilitators. In attending I hope you realize that though there is a purpose for placebo, it is not a place you are meant to stay forever. The tricky thing about placebo is that if you are on it long enough, you will feel like it is beginning to do the job that the true prescription is supposed to be doing because no one has told you anything different. But in order to see real transformation, we have to get ourselves to a place where nothing separates us from giving God our all. And when I say nothing, I mean nothing. No title or lack thereof should stop you from giving God your all. No situation or circumstance should hinder you from giving God your all. And when we realize that we don’t do what we do out of superstition and out of religion, but because if it had not been for the Lord on our side, the enemy would have swallowed us up.
Our worship is not a sign that God needs us, but an act of faith that we need Him to act, for in Him we live, move, and have our very being. God gets the glory when we offer to Him all that He deserves. We truly can’t give to God anything that doesn’t already belong to Him. Instead, we do as Psalm 96 says in the English Standard Version– we ASCRIBE to God. We offer Him the evidence from our own lives that He is who He says He is.
And so while I have a chance, I will worship Him. While I have a chance, I will praise Him. While I have a chance, I will honor Him.
Youth Fears– Peyton said being a lukewarm Christian and Daijah said going to hell.