Cup of Coffee with Pastor Byram

Special Days at Open Door

2011-11-15T17:58:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to take a minute to Praise the Lord for how He has blessed the church lately. As we just came out of our fall program, the Lord did some really great things. The biggest Sunday was the first day - "Treasure Hunt" We had 148 people with 46 saved! A crazy day, but the Lord really blessed. Next was Family Photo with 116 people. We preached strangely enough on "As It Truly Is - The Word Of God" Many people were helped with teaching on the inspiration and preservation of the Bible.
The third day was Old Fashioned day. I enclosed a couple of pictures of that great day. Then a new Sunday with several people honored on "Faithfulness Sunday". Lastly we had "Its About Time" Sunday where we learned about numbering our days. In all we averaged 110 people and had 65 saved in all! WOW has the Lord blessed us in the last few years of the church. Every soul is so precious, and we thank Him for even one who comes!
Visit Open Door at www.findtheopendoor.org
God bless,
Bro Byram

Not Boasting About Tomorrow

2011-07-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

This morning I was doing my morning Bible reading and a well known verse spoke to me - Proverbs 27:1 "Boast not thyself of tomorrow...." This principle is taught all over the Bible, and we have many reasons not to presume on the Lord that we will have tomorrow. In this verse it uses the word "boast" This implies we are not to brag about what what we WILL do.
This spoke to me because so many of us are not doing what we should be doing, but feel OK because we will do something better .......... someday. The thought is so simple, but you are what you are doing, and you have only accomplished what you have already done!
I have known several athletic kids who are slacking off in thier responcibilities because they are going to "play NBA basketball someday" Probably none of the thousands of teens thinking this wlll be there, but because of their boasting about the future they will be failures in life.
God forbid that we should make the same mistake with lives and eternities by failing now because we are boasting about tomorrow!
God bless,
Pastor Byram

Finially Back! Thought this morning

2011-06-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

It's only been about 14 months, but I am back and I will be writing much more often. I will explain why it has been so long in another blog.
As I was reading my Bible this morning (yes with a cup of coffee!) a thought hit me: What would it be like if EVERYTHING we recieved in life was a gift from 1 person. Our breakfast, water, car, housing, clothes - everything? How would we thank and appreciate that person? That IS the case! James 1:17 "Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whoom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning"
As I was thinking this I thought about the breath I was taking - it was a gift. I may work for some things, but there are so many things that put me into position to work that I have nothing to do with - like air.
How often do we really thank Gopd for all that he gives us? I hope as you read this you will not be a person who just goes through life taking your blessings for granted without thanking Him all day long

Foundation #5 The Right Motivations

2010-04-22T10:58:00.000-07:00

We need to do what we do for the right motivations. WHAT we do is very important, but so is WHY we do it.
Some exsamples are:

Giving - Matthew 6:1-4 Do we give to impress people, to be seen of men, to get something back, or do we give secretly for the Lord?

Prayer- Matthew 6:5,6 Yes, we can even pray for the wrong reasons!

One of the ways to check our motivation is to do what we do secretly. This removes all pretence and bad motivations.
At Open Door we want to be pure in our motivations. The Lord tells us many

Foundation #4 The Power Of The Holy Spirit

2010-03-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

Our next foundation is the Power of the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is probably my favorite subject to preach on. Every Christian believes in the Holy Spirit, but here are a few thoughts that make this so unique and important to us,

1. The Holy Spirit is a PERSON.
He can be grieved. Ephesians 4:30, He teaches John 14:26, He convicts John 16:8-11, He speaks Acts 8:29, He guides John 16:13, Acts 16:6-8, etc.
If you are Born Again you have a living powerful person living inside of you! Romans 8:9. He is just as much of a person as Jesus, and we should have a good relationship with Him.
2. He is incredibly powerful, and we should have His power in our lives and churches. Romans 8:11 says that we have the same power inside of us (the Holy Spirit), and that power can change our lives! Is your life evidencing the great power of God?
When you read the history of great revivals, you see the power of the Holy Spirit moving and convicting people. Read about the great awakenings in the mid 1700 and 1800's. Read about Finney, Moody and Johnathan Edwards. Christians and sinners fell on their faces under conviction of their sin! Millions were converted! Read about Pentecost, and the Apostle Paul's ministry. The Holy Spirit still has that power today!!! That power is in you and I, and we at Open Door believe that he can still change the world today!
I have found 7 clear ways in the Bible to Spirit fullness. I do not have the time here to teach a complete lesson, but here are a few thoughts in no particular order. At salvation you received all of the Holy Spirit, does He have all of you. You cannot be filled with the Spirit when you are already full of you, or the world. Do you deeply desire that Power? (Isa. 44:3) Have you quenched or grieved the Spirit? Are you working His work so you need a filling? (Hebrews 1:9)
The Holy Spirit is there to help, guide, convict, and change lives. He is not an emotion, or a toy to make you roll in an aisle. It is better to look for the fruit of the Spirit than to look for a feeling.
Some good books on the subject are: The autobiography of Charles Finney, The Power of Pentacost (John r. Rice), Meet the Holy Spirit (Jack Hyles), and of course the Book of Acts.
At Open Door the Power of the Holy Spirit is a foundation because all of our labour is in vain without Him, and we are seeking revival that man cannot bring!

Foundation #3

2010-02-25T10:26:00.000-08:00

Our Foundation #3 is Witnessing - New Testament style! I am so thankful that I grew up spiritually in a church that took the Great Commission seriously. The Lord has burned into my heart that we must be passionate about winning souls. This is a foundation at Open Door that really decides a lot of our church program - from missions to our soulwinning times to all of our ministries.
There are 4 big factors that make us live passionately this foundation.
1. It was commanded by The Lord. Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8
2. There is consequences to us not obeying. 2 Corinthians 4:2-6, Ezekiel 3:18-21. Souls are lost, and blood is on our hands, and people remain blind.
3. There is great reward in winning souls. Luke 15:7, Acts 2:41-47, James 5:20, 3 John 4. There is great joy on Heaven and among Christians when souls are saved. Can you imagine meeting someone in Heaven and them thanking you and telling you that they will be there forever because the Lord used you to witness to them?
4. There is a biblical pattern. Read the book of Acts. Just some specific verses - Acts 5:42, 20:20. They WENT to the lost! Jesus said GO! Many Christians believe in witnessing, but they WAIT for the opportunity. In the Bible they never stopped! We must GO GO GO into all of the world. Also, it was not just the Pastors going but all of the Christians - Acts 8:1-4. Every Christian whether they are gifted, or good at it should be a soulwinner.
We are not trying to build a church, but fulfill the Great Commission! Let's get busy in this wonderful work!

Foundation #2

2010-01-06T11:52:00.000-08:00

Another foundation we have at Open Door is the importance and power of the Bible. Over the years, I have seen over and over that people are starving for the Word of God. People tell me that the messages are dry and the teachers and preachers use very little Scripture. I also find that Christians as a rule read and study very little on their own. Some substitute watching a TV preacher, or reading a devotional as study of the Bible. This is no substitute! There is truly a famine in the land!
The Lord put into me very early the need to have a Bible filled and centered ministry. In every class at Open Door the people will learn the Bible. In every message I use many verses, and always put the verses into context. The way we run the church is according to the Bible, not the latest fad in church growth.
Here are some of the reasons for this important foundation:
1. The power of the word of God! Hebrews 4:12,13 It is called powerful, sharp, discerning. Human words, stories, and ideas are nice, but limited.
2. It is always right. Psalms 19:6,7
3. It makes us wise. 2 Timothy 3:15,16. In this verse specifically wise to know your home is in Heaven!
4. It is our spirtual food. 1 Peter 2:2. We are weak and starved without it.
5. It has all we need to Serve God. 2 Timothy 3:16,17
These are just a few reasons. I am determined to follow the Bible personally, and lead our church to be founded on it. It starts with you and I - How is your relationship with the Bible?

Remembering Our Foundations

2009-12-25T22:58:00.000-08:00

At this time of year I am laying the foundation of many things. We are working hard on the new year - the theme, calender, and we are also beginning several new ministries we will be starting this year. This is also my first blog, so I thought it might be a good time to remember the foundations of everything we do at Open Door.
All of the foundations I will share over the next few blogs are nothing new. The Lord had drilled these basic foundational truths into me by the time I was 18! To those who regularly hear me, these themes will be very familiar, and I always try to be very careful not to wander far from these truths. I do this because I know how easy it is for the Devil to make us wander away from the basics, and that is where we fall. Psalms 11:3 asks us "If the foundations be destroyed,what can the righteous do?" So amny people want to be so complicated and cute about things, and they often get away from the simplicity in Christ - 2 Corinthians 11:3
Over the next few blogs we will look at these 5 truths that are the foundation of Open Door's ministry, and that I hope will define us. Today we will focus on just one, (they are in no particular order) but I want you to think on your own and see if you can guess all 5.
Foundation #1 - God gets the glory!
Psalms 115:1 "Not unto us, Oh LORD, not unto us, but thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth sake" Isaiah 42:8 "I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images"
Think of glory as giving "credit" to someone for what they do. It means to shine a light upon something so it will be noticed. The Lord WILL NOT let others have the glory HE deserves. I think forgetting this gets a lot of people and churches in trouble. We love to personally take credit, and we are so often man worshippers! When we succeed we need to remember that without Jesus, we can do nothing - John 15:5. We need to praise, honour, and brag on the Lord for what He does in every area! May we never forget what we have heard many times this CHRISTmas "Glory to God in the highest."
Well, this is the first blog that I have ever done, and I hope that you will both continue to read, and be patient as I learn.
God bless,
Pastor