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"The Open Door" Page 1  | 2 | 3
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Mike Slaughter  |
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 Good
evening, people of Jesus. Have you ever experienced somebody who went
so out of their way to meet a need of yours that it kind of blew your
socks off? Here's one. I was speaking on a Saturday morning in Pittsburgh,
doing a conference for church pastors and church leaders. I had an afternoon
flight back here to do worship. It was 1:00 and I was at the airport
sitting and talking to an older retired couple who had come to the airport
to see someone off . . . and my flight was canceled. This older couple
knew that I was a pastor and that I had to get back to Dayton to do
worship, so they said, "We'll drive you back to Dayton." For the next
four hours they drove me back to Ginghamsburg Church. They stayed for
Saturday evening worship, then got in their car and drove back to Pittsburgh!
Now I want to say that they opened the doors of their car in incredible
ways. How big is your doorway? |
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| Isaiah 54:2-3 2: "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes..." 3: For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. |
I. How Big Is Your Door? Open
your Bibles to Isaiah 54:2. This is the passage that we are focusing
on for four weeks as we emphasize the spiritual journey around the question
"Will you grow?" "Enlarge the place of your tent. Stretch your tent
curtains wide, expand your door (your means of access for God's influence).
Don't hold back. "Lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes for you
will spread out to the right and to the left. You will expand your influence
- your means of access - for God. You are the means of access for people
to come to God. Did you know that? Look to your right and look to your
left. Of all the plans that God had to connect other people to God,
you're it. Isn't it an amazing choice that God trusts this incredible
mission to you! |
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| Mark 2:3 3: Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. |
The
Biblical story that depicts the mission of Ginghamsburg Church is found
in the second chapter of Mark. This is THE story that depicts our mission
and reason for existence. Jesus was teaching at someone's home. Crowds
heard that he was there and that God was moving. Any time we hear that
God is doing something, lives are being changed, and people are being
transformed - folks show up. We started down the road in that little
two-room country church. That little church had been there from 1876,
but the word spread that God was moving and doing something and crowds
showed up. Any time crowds show up there's going to be inconvenience.
We read that the doorway was no longer accessible. It could no longer
accommodate the needs. But there were four guys who understood the mission
of Jesus. The mission of Jesus is not to go to a place, hear him speak,
and write down little goodies that you can take away for your life.
The mission of Jesus is to bring other folks who need his healing with
you. They had a paralyzed friend that they grabbed and were trying to
get to Jesus because Jesus, alone, has the power to change and transform
people's lives. I can't change people's lives. You can't change people's
lives. You don't want to get them to Mike Slaughter. The goal is not
even to get them to Ginghamsburg Church. The goal is to get them to
Jesus.Before
I was a pastor, I was a psychiatric social worker at the University
of Cincinnati Hospital. I worked on the eighth floor. People would come
and stay on the psych unit, generally for an average of about three
weeks. My job was to arrange post-hospital care with them. A man came
into the psych unit with DTs. DTs happen in the final stages of alcoholism,
with all kinds of tremors and hallucinations. This man was in the final
stage of alcoholism and was in his mid-thirties. After his three-week
stay he was with me in my office and we were planning post-hospital
care and treatment. This was a multiple-time loser who had been in hospitals
many times. Too many more times and he would die. Alcohol was killing
him. I said, "Paul, I have spent thousands of dollars and four years
of my life trying to learn what I could tell you would work in your
life. After four years of education and thousands of dollars, I'm not
sure it will work. But I want to tell you what will." We weren't supposed
to be doing this. That's why I figured it was time to change vocations.
If you're not sure what you're doing will work, but you know what will,
it's time to change. And I told him about Jesus Christ. I am not going
to apologize for my witness to Jesus. I don't care how politically correct
I am in saying this, but all religions are not equal. Unlike any other
religion, it is in Jesus Christ that I see inclusiveness for in Jesus
there is neither male nor female.  Of
all the religions of the world, only in Jesus do I see this breaking
down of the gender barrier. In Jesus, there is neither Greek nor Jew.
That's the breaking down of the racial barrier standing between us as
people. In Jesus there is neither circumcised nor uncircumcised. That's
the religious barrier that stands between us as people. I don't witness
to Christianity, I witness to Jesus. Christianity will not change people.
Jesus will change people. In Jesus there's neither slave nor free. That
breaks down the social class barriers that stand between us. |
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