Wednesday, September 13th | Devoted Sermon Recap

Well, today is Wednesday, September the 13th. My name is John Galantis.

And I'm Elly Galantis. And you are listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

Or if you have any questions for Dr. Shah, anything you'd like to write in and suggest what we talk about, send us a text at 252-582-5028. You can also email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com and help us keep the show going by supporting us. You can share it online, leave us a good review on iTunes or Spotify.

Absolutely nothing less than five stars. We're going to leave a link in the description so you can do just that. Elly, you'll read for us the verse of the day. Yeah, the verse of the day today is 1 Thessalonians 4, 11 through 12, that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own friends, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside and that you may lack nothing. Seems like a verse you would want to send. Everybody's got like that family member they want to send this verse to, right? Lead a quiet life.

Mind your own business. Yeah, we in particular have had a run-in with that this week. I think everybody has. Everybody has.

Yeah, everybody has at some point in time. Christians, I know you want to stick your nose in other people's business. You want to tell them what they need to be doing, but sometimes just take a step back. Yeah, worry about your own stuff. You've got your own stuff on your plate that you need to be worrying about, and that's not us, that's Paul. He's saying that to leave a quiet life, to mind your own business, Christians who love other people don't stir up trouble.

Exactly. Especially if you look in the life of Paul, you will find religious people who love to just stir up trouble. In fact, this is the book of Thessalonians. The Thessalonic and Jewish leaders actually sent their people to Berea to stir up trouble for Paul.

They kicked him out of Thessalonica, and then he went to Berea and started preaching. That wasn't good enough, so they followed him there and started stirring up trouble. And so Paul is even talking to them.

It's really fitting that he's saying this. He's saying, look, Christians don't stick their noses in other people's personal business. They don't sit back with their arms crossed and judge people. That's not what Christians do.

They tend to their matters in a godly way. And if you really want to intervene, pray for them. You can pray for them. You can do that on their behalf. That's the way we would ask you to do, is intercede for them in prayer. You don't have to go sticking your nose in people's business, stirring things up. And that doesn't mean going to your local church and putting someone on the prayer list because you want to spread their business.

You want to spread their business. We say that all the time. Too many Christians doing that, man. Stop.

Just stop. That's what Paul's saying. I wanted to throw in there also. It's kind of cool reading 1 Thessalonians because that's where Pesach is, is in Thessalonica.

I think he's in Thessalonica today. You're right. That's true. That's true. I didn't know that. Yeah, by the time this airs, they will not be in Thessalonica. But yeah, on the day of recording, they are actually in Thessalonica right now.

That's pretty crazy. Maybe we'll call them later and get them to comment on that verse. You know what day it is here in North Carolina? What day is it? It's gripe vine day. It's my first gripe vine. It's going to be your first gripe vine. You want to do it?

This is what me and Ryan always do. Pick the gripe off and just go, doink. I don't want to. Make the sound effect. Here.

Doink. I'm not going to do that. Eat the gripe, Ellie. No, you can do that. You know what my gripe is when someone won't go along with the radio bit. There you go. All right.

You have the floor. I know you've been listening to the gripe vine for a number of years now. We used to do it on Carpet Mañana. Now we're doing it on TV today. I've been contributing some behind the scenes.

Yes, some of the gripe vines that you guys have already heard on the show are written by Ellie. Please. My gripe is more so now because I'm an adult. When Target or Walmart or any major grocery store chain, whatever, that I shop at wants to rearrange their whole store so that I can't find anything. I have been firsthand witness to some of the aggravation that comes out of you particularly. I don't get why it aggravates you so much.

So fill me in. Imagine you're going, you already don't particularly want to be going to the grocery store and taking an hour or so. Full stop. I hate to interrupt you, but right then and there we have to address that because I've never seen you not want to go to Target. I've never seen you not want to go to Walmart. I don't want to go to Target to shop for groceries. What is the difference? One is something I have to do.

The other is something I can do for fun. So I'm having to go shop for groceries because we have to eat. But then I go in there and they rearrange everything. Yeah, but they made me hate them when they rearranged everything. So you go in, stuff is rearranged. I can't find anything. So it's taking like triple or double or triple the time.

Triple the time? They have signs up over the over the aisles. They don't have signs over the aisles.

No they do, but they're not helpful. The layout of Target now is dumb. Why? It makes no sense.

Everything is crazy. Why do you talk? Okay, okay, okay.

Let's slow down because I'm starting to attack you and this is grapevine time. I need to be on your side and I want to be on your side. Why is the layout dumb? It just makes no sense. They put stuff all over the place where it has no order to it. It's just like, oh, I think we have room for that there.

We can put this here and this here, but they don't. The two things kind of go together and they're across the store from each other. It's also should be said that this, this may be a woman thing, but it should be said that we don't have a Target in our town. No, it's like a couple towns over 30 minutes away.

So you have to have memorized the layout of a foreign Target and you have. Yeah. But also thinking about that, I'm taking 30 minutes to drive there and 30 minutes back.

Two extra hours in the store. So you're taking it personal. I'm taking it personal. You're talking, you're telling them it's like I'm going out of my way to be here for you to give you business. Target was one thing because, okay, because it's not so far away.

I don't go there that often. Sure. But then Walmart did it. Like before you make me spit, hold on, hold on one second. Let me try.

Okay. So, so Walmart sees Targets bad example, remodeling and rearranging everything. You go in there, you might go in there today, tomorrow's in a different spot. And then the day after that it's going to be in a different spot. So they're, they're figuring out what they want.

They don't even have their act. I thought this was coming down from like on high, from like on corporate, like from corporate heaven, but they're just feng shuiing Walmart is what you're telling me. Yes. I walk in, the owls are so tiny, like in this process, which granted I've gone back in later now and some of them, they've made them a little wider. So that, that did make me happy. But overall, I don't like it when stores remove. I have noticed like when I went to, when I went to Target, I always loved, Target has the best books. Like I love to, I love to go to into target. Like if, if Ellie drags me to target, I like to go to the book. They have, they always have star Wars books, which I love, but um, they, you go in and yeah, it's not, the books aren't in the back of the store where they usually are.

Like the books are off like tucked over the side now, but I don't get, I don't have an emotional reaction to it. I'm just like, you don't go that often, but you go a lot. And so you get more than you. Okay. So you get upset. So you're going there to relax and to shut somewhat, but then they do that. And if I have the kids in tow, oh, I'm definitely, I'm definitely upset.

Yeah. Cause I've got, I'm already on a ticking time clock and I've got two little ones with me and you rearrange and I got to refind everything. I'm going to send a, I think I'm going to send so I can have some peace at home. I'm going to send a sternly worded letter to the target corporation and tell them to please stop. Please do. Maybe, maybe you guys listening to the show, let us know.

Does that, does that infuriate you as much? I bet it does. I bet there's some moms listening to the show who are like, yes girl. There's a lot of people.

Slay girl. Tell them you're going to be like Aaron Brockovich. You're going to bring a small town to its feet and the corporation to its knees. We're going to start the show in just a moment. If you guys have any questions or suggestions for new topics we can cover here on the Clearview today show, let us know. Text us at 252-582-5028 or you can visit us online at cleerviewtodayshow.com.

We'll be right back after this. Hey everyone, my name's Ellie and I'm David and we want to take a minute and let you know how we can actually serve you as you're listening to Clearview today. The Bible paints an extraordinary picture of who we are as a church body. The mission of Clearview church is to lead all people into a life changing, ever-growing relationship with Jesus Christ. A huge part of leading people is praying for them. A big reason that Christians have unanswered prayers in their life is because they're not praying.

You know, first John 5, 15 says, and if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. If you're listening to the Clearview today show, we want to know how we can pray for you as well. There's a number of ways that you can get in touch with us at Clearview and share your prayer requests, but the best way is by texting us at 252-582-5028. You can also send us an email at prayer at clearviewbc.org or you can download the Clearview app on iTunes or Google Play.

You know, on that app, there's a dedicated prayer wall that helps us to get to know what's going on in your life, how we can pray for you, and how we can take any necessary steps to get you moving in the right direction. Thanks for listening. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to Clearview today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You can find us online at clearviewtodayshow.com or if you have a question for Dr. Shah, anything you'd like to write in, suggest we talk about, send us a text at 252-582-5028 or you can email us at contact at clearviewtodayshow.com. Ellie, good to see you again. Hey. How have you been?

Good. You did target, make you angry with the target earlier and they had rearranged everything. You were upset. Yeah, so I actually took a break and talked to some people in the church and I had many supporters, specifically women. People really don't like when target rearranges their stuff.

Target, Walmart, any of those. They don't like it. Well listen, we are going forward with our series on reviewing and recapping some of Dr. Shah's best sermons, specifically sermons that stuck out to you. I pitched this to Ellie when we said, and for those of you who don't know or haven't been listening to the show up to this point, Dr. Shah and the rest of the staff are in Greece. Pretty much everybody was able to go. David went, Ryan went, Elizabeth went, Nicole went, Thomas went, Nicholas went, Dr. Shah went. We stayed here because we were like, you know what?

Our Clearview Today audience needs us. David wasn't supposed to go. He jumped ship. David was like, I'm going to Greece.

I will swim across that pond to get there. He did that thing where he leans over the side of the boat and just blows bubbles. It's fun to be included. He was just like blowing bubbles to get him over there. But he actually sent me some of the shots. They're filming a documentary over there following Paul through his second missionary journey and some of the shots look incredible.

I'm really, really glad he went. But in the meantime, Ellie and I are sort of going through some of the sermons that Dr. Shah has preached that made a lasting impact on you particularly. And it led you to this one called Devoted. Yeah. So he actually did this one, I think it was maybe three or four weeks ago.

It hasn't been long at all. It's fresh in the mind. Very fresh sermon. Yep. So hopefully I have a good bit to talk about. But yeah, it was one he did recently. We actually had our ministry drive that day and it kind of ties in with that and talking about working and serving in the church.

That's right. We actually, we actually talked about this sermon on the show, but why don't we dive in and listen to it and we can kind of hear it with a fresh perspective. Sometimes when you think when you serve God, everything should be plain and clear.

Just a straight shot and you can skip through the meadows and get to where you need to get to. Sometimes things are complicated. You have to deal with circumstances.

Many of us had to deal with last week in my life at least. It is not always clear. That's not the moment you say, why God?

It's the moment you go, this is part of life. So Paul, even though he wanted to talk to the pastors in Ephesus, he had to come down to Miletus. It's a little complicated. Life is complicated.

It's just part of life. But then he sends a man to go to Ephesus, which is a three days journey. It takes three days to cross from Miletus to Priene on a ferry, takes a day, and then three days or two more days to get all the way back to Ephesus. Three days Paul has to wait. But then for the Ephesian pastors to come down, if it takes three days to go there, how many days do you think it takes to come back? Three days again. How many days is that?

Now think about it. The Apostle Paul, we don't think about these things for one whole week is sitting at this harbor here somewhere in Miletus. And so the Ephesian elders leave. They come down to Priene, which is two days. They have to walk down the Roman roads, which are full of robbers sometimes, wild animals. They have to stay overnight.

There are no hotels. So they have to stay somewhere in a tent. And then they had to get on this ferry from Priene and come down to Miletus. Again, we need to understand all these things are part of life. Here's a question for you.

I know it's an unusual question. If Paul has sent a message to you in Ephesus and said, I want you to come meet me down in Miletus, how many of you all would have said, absolutely, I'm dropping everything and I'm going. Wait, wait, wait. Before you raise your hands.

Many of us would have said something like, I wish you had given me some advance notice. You know, it's rainy season. You know, I had a point.

I have a doctor's. If I didn't have that man, I would be there right now. I guarantee it. Many of us would have made some excuse and said, I can't go.

I'm so sorry. I really, I want to see Paul. Why don't you go? Well, where are we going to stay?

What are we going to do? I mean, you know, the ferry ride, it's really messy. So I've heard people drowned with ankle deep water.

I know, but you can still drown from that. I'm trying to get somewhere with this because many times what we do is we make some excuse because we're more concerned about our comforts than about our service. How about like the apostle Paul? Would you have waited patiently? Have you ever thought about where did Paul stay for those six days? Did he stay at the harbor?

Did he stay in somebody's home or was he in some tent somewhere? Six days waiting and not sure if the Ephesians pastors will actually make their way down. Six days, I'm just going to wait here. I've got to get back to Jerusalem, but I'm just going to wait here patiently waiting.

Patience is not very important in our culture today. We want things now. I want things now. Give it to me now.

Even sometimes when we come to church, I want it now. It just didn't happen right or that didn't happen right. We don't have a sense of patience. So think for a moment when you come to clear you. Do you stop to think about what all has gone into making a service possible? Can you see the plannings that go on, the workings that go on, the sacrifices that are made by people day in and day out?

Here's the question. What part do you play in the happenings of a service? What is your role?

How much do you help to contribute towards what is happening here? I'm challenging you this morning because I pray that as you make your way out, hey pastor, as you make your way out, that you will stop at one of those tables and ask yourself this question, what can I do? It may not be that you will give hundreds of hours.

It may not be that you will give even 10 hours, but I hope that none of you will walk away saying, I'm good. I don't come to this church for that. I hope all of you will stop by some ministry and say, hey listen, I may not have that much time.

I'm in a very busy season of life, but I'll give you 30 minutes. All of us should have some part in the church body when we're actually doing things for his kingdom. Paul, he waits there, they come, but now I want you to pay close attention to what Paul says to the Ephesians pastors when they get to Miletus. And by the way, this is the only message in the book of Acts given to Christians. The rest of them are given to lost people, to pagans, to philosophers.

This is the only one given to Christians. So if you're a Christian, this message of Paul to the Ephesians pastors is for you. Pay attention to what Paul says, Acts 20 verse 18. He says, and when they had come to him, when those Ephesians pastors made their way through Priene on a ferry to Miletus, when they got to him, he said to them, you know from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you. Why did Paul say that? You know from the first day I came to Ephesus, you know the way I conducted myself. Why would Paul say that? You have to read between the lines. Paul was telling them that to remind them of his integrity, of his work ethic, of his trials and his tears in serving the church in Ephesus because there was a smear campaign.

You know what a smear campaign is? They were trying to say that Paul came to Ephesus to take advantage of those people. They were trying to say that Paul had stolen their money.

You'll see that in a few moments in that same chapter. They were saying that Paul was a coward because at the end of the two and a half years of ministry, Paul had to leave because there was a riot. He had to escape and they were saying, look at this man talks about God and Jesus and resurrection and eternal life and he was, tuck his tail between his legs and he was out of there. There was a smear campaign against the apostle Paul so he is calling those pastors down and saying, come down here.

I want to talk to you before I go to Jerusalem because I may not get to see you again. By the way, how did Paul live among them from the first day? To understand that, go back to Acts 18 verse 19.

You can just listen to this. It says, when he came to Ephesus, he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews and when they asked him to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent. So he would go to the synagogues. He would talk to his own people.

What would happen many times? His own people would reject him. Sometimes they would try to even kill him and he had to leave. So Paul came to the synagogue. His people rejected him, maligned him, maybe even tried to kill him and he left and it says in verse 20, when they asked him to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent but took leave of them saying, I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem but I will return again to you, God willing. And he kept his promise because on his third missionary journey, he came right to Ephesus and he stayed there for two and a half years. How did the ministry begin in Ephesus? Very quickly, when he came there, he asked them the question, have you received the Holy Spirit?

And their answer was, we don't even know if there is a Holy Spirit. So Paul asked them, in what were you baptized? Well, in John's baptism. Then he explained to them, John's baptism was simply to prepare them for the coming of the Messiah. You need the baptism of Jesus. You need to receive the gospel. Listen, baptism doesn't save you but baptism is a mark that you are saved. So Paul tells the people in Ephesus, listen, you have to come to Jesus Christ, receive him as your Savior and King.

He is God's Messiah who died on the cross for your sins, was buried, rose again as promised. When you receive him, that's when you're saved. And they did. They got saved. They were baptized. They had a mini Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit poured down upon them and the church was born. Now won't you say that's a, that's an awesome beginning. What a wonderful story.

Won't you say that? Man, that's a great story. These people were over here still baptizing by John's baptism and Paul came and told them the truth and man, they were saved. What we don't hear are the struggles that Paul went through in Ephesus. Listen to what Paul says in Acts 20 verse 19.

It's on the screen here. It says, he said, I was serving the Lord with all humility. The Greek word there for humility is the word tapenofrosune. It has the idea of being a servant. It has the idea of not only being humble, but being humiliated.

Now we don't see that, do we? That Paul served the Lord in Ephesus as a servant with humility and being humiliated. There's a difference there. Humility means I'm humble.

There's nothing in me but what God is. Humiliation is when somebody insults you, calls you names and treats you with contempt. Paul was treated with contempt and then he adds to that with many tears and trials. When he was in Ephesus, he had many tears.

We kind of go right past that. We don't think about it that Paul had many tears and also trials. Parasmos, trials means trials but also temptations.

Now pay attention to this. He says, serving the Lord with all humility with many tears and trials, which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews. His own people plotted against him. Paul does not give us much more than that. But if you want to know what Paul went through in Ephesus, are y'all still with me? You have to read 1 Corinthians. He said, wait a minute, 1 Corinthians was written to the Corinthians. Why would I read 1 Corinthians if I want to know what Paul was going through in Ephesus? Because Paul wrote 1 Corinthians while in Ephesus.

Listen, if I'm writing something down and I'm in Henderson and I'm writing things about how terrible life is and how tough life is or how good life is and how wonderful things are, it tells you how I am feeling right here. So if you want to know what Paul was going through in Ephesus, read 1 Corinthians. So let's read 1 Corinthians in the next few moments starting in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 9. Turn there in your Bibles because I want you to see this. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 starting in verse 9.

Give y'all another five seconds to find that because I really want you to see this. I really feel many of us are not seeing the word of God and the word of God is not being reflected in our hearts. There's something about looking at the Bible. I know we make things easy for you, we put it here, we put it there, everywhere on the blog, but there's something when you open the word of God and you start reading it, God's word starts reading you. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 9.

Listen to what Paul says. Listen, where is Paul at this time when he's writing 1 Corinthians? Ah, here he is. Where is he at? In Ephesus.

So, okay, let's go. 1 Corinthians 4, 9. Paul says, For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last as men condemned to death. For we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. What does that mean, God has made a spectacle? Have you ever said that about somebody? Man, what a spectacle.

It's an old fashioned way to speak. What you're saying is, man, what a mess. What Paul is saying here is, we have been made a mess in the sight of angels and people.

Keep reading. For we are, verse 10, what's the word? Fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. While Paul is in Ephesus, people are calling him a fool.

Hence, Paul says, with all humility. Has anybody called you a fool because you're serving Jesus Christ? Has anybody called you a fool because you're seeking to walk by God's word? That's good. They called the Apostle Paul a fool.

Incredible. You know, we talked about this on an episode, this exact sermon. We talked about this on an episode maybe two weeks ago, might even be last week, but you just don't see the depth of troubles and trials that Paul went through when he was in Ephesus until you start reading in 1 Corinthians and you start putting that together. I think it kind of harkens back to what Dr. Shaw said at the top of that clip. I really want to encourage you guys to listen to the whole sermon, but at the top of that clip, he talks about how life just gets so complicated. You know, life is so, so complicated.

Yeah, yeah. I think it was a good thing to point out because even Pesach talks about in the sermon, and even a couple sermons leading up to that, we're talking about how a lot of times leaders and pastors, you won't see what they're dealing with. They're not going to show you because their job is to serve you, to be there for you, to support you. So many times they have to push their own needs on the back burner and just don't mention it because they're trying to take care of the sheep as shepherds. And we tend to try to avoid complicated lives as much as possible.

We will plan out our entire lives years at a time to try to make everything as smooth and as wrinkle-free as possible. I do the exact same thing. I try to get so ahead of problems that I'm either creating problems or I'm not thinking about problems that just there's no avoiding. You know what I mean? That was one thing that stuck out to me, too, where he was talking about if I had sent a message to Ephesus for you to come to Miletus, how many of y'all would actually have come? How many of you are actually going to come? Oh, well, we're going to the beach this weekend, or we've got this baseball game or basketball game, or we're just tired. We've got so much going on.

We can't be there. Work is killing me, man. Work is killing me. But listen, I'm with y'all. I'm thinking about you.

I'm praying for you. And I'll watch it online. If you guys enjoyed today's topic or if you have any suggestions for future topics, let us know. Send us a text at 252-582-5028. You can also visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. You can support us financially on that same website as well. That's ClearViewTodayShow.com. Every single time you give, you are making an impact for God's kingdom through this radio show. So we thank you for all of your donations, your contributions, your giving, and your hearts of service. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clear View Today.