Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
SLEEPING FOR CHRIST!
Acts 20:7-12, "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted."
One Sunday morning, nearly 2000 years ago, the disciples and the newly formed body of Believers in Christ came together to observe the Lord’s Supper. They didn’t come for a big feast but to commemorate the death and resurrection of their friend and their savior.
As most ministers will do, the observance of communion is never given without first making it a point to explain what the Lord’s Supper is all about, including the seriousness of taking part and the dangers of taking part unworthily.
We aren’t going to do a Communion service this morning, even though we will in the near future, but the occasion of this service has a great deal to say to each of us if we will open our eyes. I pray that the Lord will open our understanding and help us to see what the Holy Spirit is trying to bring to us right now.
Along with the Communion service I’m sure that there was a time of worship and of prayer for I believe that the basic procedures for coming to together for worship services in the early church were not much different from our own, especially in those churches that still allow the Holy Spirit to guide them and aren’t caught up in programs and formalism.
After they had gathered together the Apostle Paul stood up and began to preach. He didn’t give a text for his sermon for his life was destined to be a “living text” for a large part of the New Testament that you and I are using this morning. Paul was preaching from personal experience and through the unction of the Holy Spirit as he began to expound the Word of God and the way of the Lord to those who were gathered.
The early church was hungry to hear God’s Word. The experience of salvation was still fresh upon their hearts and they had not yet had time to grow accustomed to the presence of the Lord.
I know that many of us get used to being Christians and we often find ourselves living and almost “hum drum life” as such. I know that we must mature in the Lord and come to the place where we are resting in the Lord but I long for the excitement that we felt when we were first saved. I think our problem is that we have lost a lot of that excitement, that zeal for the Word of God and that we don’t think we have a need to come together as much as we did in the beginning.
When people are first saved they can’t wait to get to church and see what will happen next. They come with an air of excitement and anticipation of seeing God moving in some great way and speaking to them through His Word. But it doesn’t take long until we start taking all of that for granted. The excitement wears off, the anticipation changes from seeing God moving to hearing the words “you’re dismissed” and running out the door to get on with our planned activities. We have a greater desire to hear the words of the radio, the boom box, the TV, the newspapers and other people, than for the Word of the Lord. May the Lord help us to get that excitement and commitment back once again.
Paul began to preach and he had a lot to say in explaining the meaning of the Lord’s Supper as well as a lot of teaching to do on living a life for Christ.
Paul was soon going to depart on another of his missionary journeys and this would be his last opportunity to speak to the church at Troas. There was much to teach them and so little time to do it so Paul determined to feed them as much as they could take.
Here is where I want to make a point. There are times when the Holy Spirit gives messages to a preacher that are designed to speak to certain individuals. God knows the heart and condition of every man and His Word is always meant to accomplish something in the heart of those who are hungry and desiring to learn more and to change into the image of Christ.
If you are listening to this message, or any message from any preacher, and you don’t seem to be getting anything out of it, then one of two things is the case. Either your spiritual ears and eyes are opened and your heart hasn’t been prepared to receive what God has to say, or perhaps the message isn’t directed at your need.
The Word of God always has something to say to everyone of us if we will listen and try to hear. If you feel that it wasn’t speaking to you then thank the Lord that your life is in tune with the desire of the Holy Spirit and pray that whoever the message was designed for will get something great out of it. Perhaps if you focus on praying for your neighbor to receive a blessing God will pour out one on you too.
If you still don’t get a blessing from it, then just continue coming and listening because sooner or later God is going to hit you right where you live! Then perhaps that other person will be wondering what God was really trying to say.
I will say this though. If we don’t get anything out of God’s Word, it’s not God’s fault. We will only get out what we put in and God won’t force us to learn or hear anything.
AS A NOTE - How would you like to have a preacher like Paul as your Pastor?
Now here was a preacher’s preacher! This was a man who knew the power of God like no other. Here was a man who would not bite his tongue for anyone. Here was a man who spoke with power and the anointing of the Holy Ghost. Here was a preacher who not only knew the scriptures but had spent time in prayer and who knew the author of those scriptures. He was highly educated and a great orator. He was a very powerful figure who would stand up to anyone at anytime and was afraid of no one.
He was also in constant trouble, in and out of jail and prison, constantly being arrested and beaten, and wouldn’t stay at any one church for more just a few months maximum. If Paul were your Pastor, you can believe that your church’s name would be printed in the headlines of every newspaper in the country and you would have lawyers lined up outside your doors waiting to either prosecute or defend you and the news media would be filming your every move and recording every word you say. Some of you would even be seen on the TV as you were interviewed. How exciting that would be!
I can remember going to church in Baton Rouge some years ago when one of the great televangelists fell into sin and you could not drive onto the church property without having the news cameras filming you going and coming or worrying about whether one of them would stop you going into or coming out of service to say a few words to the camera.
I believe that it would be far worse in today’s world to have a man like Paul as your Pastor. He wouldn’t be in trouble for falling into sin but he surely wouldn’t be politically correct and he would know how to draw the attention of those who didn’t agree with him. Yes, it would be exciting indeed to have a Pastor like Paul!
But I dare say that most of us would be looking for another church fairly quickly. Either that or we would find ourselves sitting around murmuring and complaining because the preacher was too long winded and the roast burned, or we missed dinner because he just went on and on.
Paul started preaching sometime during the day on Sunday. Whether it was morning or evening isn’t stated but I believe it could have been early in the day just as we do now.
He preached and taught without taking a break until midnight Sunday night. Now it doesn’t matter what time of day he had began. Even if he didn’t start to until dark that would still have meant a long sermon. It was probably 6 hours minimum and could have been as long as 12 hours or more.
I do know that it began to get dark because they had to light some lamps to continue the service. As it grew closer to midnight they wanted to make sure that there was a light of light because they didn’t want to arouse the suspicions of the Roman government that there was some kind of secret meeting going on to plan an insurrection against the Romans.
God’s message is meant for all to see and hear. God loves the light and hates darkness. We are the children of light and God wants us to let our lights shine so that all the world can see who we are and what we are all about. God wants us to burn for Him and tell everyone we know about this gospel message and the Love of Jesus Christ.
Sometime around midnight the service got really exciting. A young man named Eutychus; a Greek name, which signifies one of good fortune, had gotten uncomfortable down in the crowd where it was hot and crowded so he decided to climb up and sit in the latticed window to get some air.
It’s not likely that Eutychus climbed up into that 3rd story window to find a place to sleep because it wasn’t a safe place to sleep at all. Perhaps the heat and close quarters had already made him sleepy and he climbed up to try to wake up so that he could near better and learn more. At least he didn’t get up and leave in the middle of the sermon like many people do now.
Most of us have been in services when it was all we could do to keep our eyes open. We were too embarrassed to get up and stand in the back and we just sat there fighting sleep with our eyes half closed and our brain crying out for rest. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to hear. It wasn’t that we were trying to ignore the preacher. The spirit was willing but the flesh was weak.
Let me tell you that it would have been much better for Eutychus to have walked around or stood in the back for a while to wake up than to fall out of the window to the courtyard outside, 3 stories down!
Don’t you think it is less distracting to the preacher to have you stand in the back than to fall asleep in the pew? Why is it that we can sit for 3 hours watching a TV show or a movie but we can’t sit for 45 minutes listening to God’s Word without dosing off? Do we have less excitement for God’s Word than for the things of the world? Is the glamour and glitter of the world more alluring, more exciting, more stimulating to the flesh than the promises of the glories of eternal life and Heaven? Well, to the flesh it probably is! And that, my friend, is where our biggest problem lies! Our battle with the desires of the flesh are often lost because we still living in the flesh and not walking in the Spirit!
The long-winded preacher was still going strong when all of a sudden Eutychus fell out of the window and hit the ground below. He probably fell between thirty and forty feet and was killed on impact. Now that would tend to interrupt our serve wouldn’t it! One thing is for sure, everyone was wide awake now!
Paul stopped preaching and went down from the upper room where he stood to the courtyard where the body of Eutychus lay. Paul was not shaken for he knew the miracle working power of God. He didn’t call for the doctors. He didn’t call for the police. He didn’t call for the coroner. He told the people around and the young man’s relatives to not get excited.
Now how can you do that? How can to tell a family that is looking at the lifeless body of their son not to get worried or excited? In the tragedy of the moment all faith seems to disappear if we are not in tune with the Spirit. Paul called upon the Lord to confirm the message he was preaching with signs and wonders by performing a miracle!
Paul stretched himself over the body of the young man just as both Elijah and Elisha had done in the Old Testament times with the same results. The power of God came over Eutychus and his life was restored. Not only that but every bone was healed, every bruise disappeared and Eutychus went back into the service.
Now that’s what I call having church! Now that everyone was wide awake and excited over the miracle that had just happened, Paul decided to just go on with the service and he continued preaching until the sun began to rise on Monday morning.
I wonder how many had left before Eutychus fell? I wonder how many went home when everyone went out to the courtyard? I wonder how many had missed the greatest part of the miracles of God in their lives because they are in too much of a hurry to get away?
It never ceases to amaze me that people will get up and leave in middle of an altar service. These aren’t necessarily people under conviction for sin, even though that happens too. Sometimes the convicting power of the Holy Ghost is so strong that people either have to leave or run to the altar because they can’t stand there any longer.
If anyone left after Eutychus fell and killed himself, it would bring to mind those who don’t seem to have much compassion for the lost, dying souls or for those who are in need at the altars. Instead of praying and being concerned, they are too unconcerned and too busy to spend time praying for anyone else.
I have to admire the early church because they didn’t even let a fatal accident in the middle of the church stop them from having church. In the modern era we have churches who cancel normal services because you can’t get enough people to even come to justify turning on the lights. What a contrast we are to what we should be!
I am convinced that a very large percentage of those who claim to be Christian will not go in the rapture! If we aren’t excited about Jesus and hearing the Word of God enough to come to church on Sunday night or Wednesday night, why should we get excited about the rapture when we will get to be with Jesus all the time.
I am convinced that most Christians would rather watch the rest of the Super Bowl or have a barbeque than to go in the Rapture. At least that’s the message we put forth to God and to the world who are watching us! When we don’t have anymore commitment to the House of God than people in the world have to their forms of religion, how can we expect to convince them to get a stronger relationship with Christ through salvation? If we aren’t excited about Jesus and about being in church it is impossible to get anyone else excited about it!
Paul stopped preaching at daylight, not because he was through teaching but because it was time for him to leave for the ship was ready to depart.
They brought Eutychus in and everyone praised God for the wonderful miracle and for confirming the Word of the Lord through Paul with signs and wonders.
God will confirm His Word to you too. He confirms His word through providing for your daily needs. He confirms His Word by giving you the great miracle of salvation, the times of healing for sickness and the times of strengthening you for the journey ahead.
But there are lot of times that God wants to confirm His Word to your heart and we are in too much of a hurry to hear Him or see Him perform miracles for us!
There have been a number of times when I’ve heard people say that it seems that God moves most when they are here! I know that there are some very legitimate reasons for not being in service but we sometimes stretch those reasons into excuses. It gets to be like the little boy that cried wolf so many times that when the real wolf came no one listened. If we abuse the legitimate reasons for missing church when they aren’t really true then when we really miss because of sickness or trouble no one will notice. Then we get upset because no one cares and the preacher doesn’t come to pray for us.
If you don’t want to miss out on some of the greatest blessings of your life, then learn to have patience and give God time to perform the miracles in your life.
Who knows when God will decide to give us signs and wonders and perform miracles in the midst of the church. Let’s not get caught asleep spiritually! Let’s be careful lest we are the one who falls from the window and God has to perform a miracle of salvation once again to bring us back! Let’s not be among those who miss the blessing because they are impatient.
Isaiah 40:31, "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
Let’s wait upon the Lord and give Him time to work on our behalf. Determine within your own heart to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to see God’s best for your life. Run with the Lord and don’t grow weary of running. Walk with the Lord, keep your eyes open to what God is doing and what He is trying to say to you.
If you do then you won’t be caught sleeping when Jesus comes again.
