The Greatest Story Ever Told

Christmas means something a little different to everybody. To me, it is more traditional. Putting out milk and cookies for Santa(and dorritos and coke because there was a chance he might be a little more like me). Waking up as early as possible to rip off wrapping paper like a savage. I will always remember those times and the excitement that I felt. Now that I am older and Christmas mornings have a different meaning, so does the word Christmas altogether.

Several factors make the Christmas story all the more amazing now. Beginning with the fact that Mary was a virgin, but all of the sudden became pregnant. It is hard for me not to acknowledge Joseph's pain. The woman that he loves(and who he has not yet slept with) becomes pregnant. We soon find out that she was impregnated by the Holy Ghost.

What a miracle.

Matthew 2:10-11 says "When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh."

These two verses are speaking of the wise men, who rejoiced with exceeding joy when they saw His star. And then they fell down and worshipped in His presence, offering their treasures.

That is what Christmas means to me now. I have seen His light, I have seen His illumination, and I will fall down and worship Him. I will bring Him my treasures and gifts, and lay them at His feet.

I wish everyone could feel what I feel right now. Perfect peace can wash you. Presents? No. Presence? Yes.

Enjoy your family during this special time, and worship Him. Bring your gifts and treasures and adore Him.

Merry Christmas to all, thank you for joining this group and I hope you have read something this year that has blessed and encouraged you in some way.

Behind Closed Doors

Hope you all have had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends, and don't look now but Christmas is only 24 days away! I have enjoyed my break, and am slowly but surely sliding into the Christmas spirit. With that, the devotionals are back on. Here goes...

It is almost natural for my mind to think that what happens behind a closed door is something negative. Something that should not be seen. Almost like there is a dark reason why the door is closed in the first place. But I want to bring out a passage that teaches us to seek God in a secret place. To close out everything else. The point of closing the door is not to confine you there, but is simply there to close you off from any distractions.

Matthew 6:6-13 reads:

"But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil."

Gives the Lord's Prayer a new meaning to me. It used to be something I routinely recited before football games. But here we can find absolute direction on how to pray and what to pray for. Sometimes we have great intentions about prayer, but never truly pray because we don't know where to start.

Start with "closing the door" on everything else in your life. Turn your phone on silent, turn off the tv for a while, get away from the computer. Be sincere. You do not have to use a lot of words, because God already knows your needs. But talk to Him. Start by telling Him how awesome He is. The ask His forgiveness(if you are anything like me, you need some of that), and then ask for His protection.

This passage tells us to pray in secret, and then the God who sees in secret, will hear you. So this week, I encourage you to go to Him when nobody else is around. Find a secret and special place just to talk with Him. He is waiting on you there...

Punk'd at the Red Sea

I always thought the story of Moses parting the Red Sea was beyond cool. I was not able to really appreciate the strength of this story until I faced some things in my life to where there was no way out.

If you are being chased by something, the enemy, your past, etc...And it seems like you are running for your life and there is no escape...Then this story should appeal to you in a major way.

Exodus 13 and 14 is where we find this amazing source of God's power to do the unimaginable. Moses and the Israelites were fleeing from the Egyptian army...

And God punks the Egyptian army so hard...
In Chapter 14 and verse 6, it says "For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they are entangled in the land, and the wilderness has shut them in."

The enemy "THOUGHT" they were trapped! It "LOOKED" like they were trapped! You just "THOUGHT" you were trapped, but you are anything but!

God will make a way where there seems to be no way!

Verse 16 is where Moses was told to stretch his rod over the sea, and "divide" it. You know what happens later in the story, God's people walk through the sea with the water like walls on the left and the right of them and the entire Egyptian army was killed when the "water returned to it's strength" trying to chase them.

Wow!

Major encouragement to you today! You are God's chosen, and He will make a way for you to escape especially when it seems like you are trapped and the enemy is right on your heels! Have the faith and courage to trust His power!

Have a great rest of the week, God is good! Shaun

It's Hard Out Here For A P.I.M.P.

LOL. I know what you are thinking. How in the world is this going to be spiritual. That is exactly what I thought when I first heard this concept. Today, I am borrowing this from one of my black preacher friends who is in my opinion the most creative preacher I know. Here goes...

One night he was watching tv when he came across the MTV Music Awards, and 3 6 Mafia was up for an award for a certain song, "It's hard out here for a pimp." First off, let me just say that I hate the word pimp, and don't use it. Neither does this guy, but his mind started to think. "It's hard out here for a pimp." He started to think, life is not hard for a pimp....They seem to have everything that the world has to offer, women, fancy clothes, nice cars, "respect", etc...

But the word "pimp" kept him going. Pimp. Pimp. P.I.M.P. "People in the Master's Palm."

A sermon came to him, haha. "It's hard out here for a P.I.M.P."

John 10:37-30 says "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
I and my Father are one."

Now, a person in the Master's Palm is secure, and no man can pluck you out of that palm. Except yourself. It is no secret that many people claim to be "saved", but their actions show differently. A tree will be known by it's fruit.

Strong statement: Just because you signed a card at some Christian concert 10 years ago does not mean you are saved. A true Christian's life is denoted by humbleness, repentance, and fruit. If you do not have these things, I challenge you to examine your faith. You might be thinking, "who is he to say this?" And that is cool, I say this because I, at one point in my "walk", was claiming Christianity, but my actions proved otherwise. We all fall short, but point blank, many of us are not reading the Word, not praying, and maybe we go to church, but that does not make us Christians, it makes us church-goers.

For encouragement: Psalm 73 records a man who was seeing all of these wicked sinners around him, and they were prospering. It seemed as if they had everything. And here he was doing his best to live for God, and he was struggling....Ever felt that way? I wanted to do this devotional because I wanted you to know that somebody understands how hard it is to live for God. I know what it is like to leave your friends behind and step out on faith, I know what it is like to be persecuted by people you care for, I know what it is like to have a target on your back. I know what it is like to feel all alone on this spiritual journey. Truth is, you are not alone, He will never leave you, nor forsake you, and now you know at least one person understands that "It's hard out here for a P.I.M.P." Have a great week, Shaun

The Divine Laws of Love

The Divine Laws of Love...According to 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

1. Love is patient
2. Love is kind
3. Love is not envious
4. Love is not boastful or arrogant or rude
5. Love does not insist on its own way
6. Love is not irritable or resentful
7. Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
8. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love is a very strong word. Sometimes it is the easiest thing to say, and at others it is the most difficult. My love for people has been renewed as of late. Truth be told, I have almost been on the verge of tears at several moments of everyday. I feel the need that people have to be loved. People that put up walls and reject the love that God has for them, I feel their need the most. It does not make me want to retreat, but it wants me to pour out love all the more. As you know, love can be seen, felt, heard, and given in the most subtle ways. This week I encourage you to love with all energy. Guard your heart, true, but display the love of God to everybody you come in contact with. They need it, and honestly, you do too.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

14 Things Jesus Did NOT Say

#1 – “They will know you are my disciples by your theology, and the arrogance that accompanies it.” (John 13:35)

#2 – “Dream really small dreams and make sure you never ask for anything big!” (John 14:12-14, Psalm 2:8)

#3 – “If someone doesn’t believe just like you believe…make sure to do all you can to attack, criticize and beat them down as much as possible.” (Mark 9:38-41)

#4 – “Be tolerant of everyone…I am one of the many ways to God.” (John 14:6)

#5 – “Make sure you make the church about you…that you are served well…please, don’t do anything that might cause you any type of inconvenience. My goal is for you to be happy!” (Matthew 20:28, Luke 9:23-24)

#6 – “Please, whatever you do, DO NOT tell people the good news…keep it to yourself! The reason I died on the cross is so that you could get into really small groups of people and talk about ‘deep things’ that aren’t going to help anyone when it comes to eternity.” (Matthew 28:20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:48, John 20:21, Acts 1:8, Romans 10:14, Romans 10:17)

#7 – “Don’t EVER try anything new…don’t ever take a risk…don’t ever take a step of faith. Be AVERAGE!” (Isaiah 43:18-19, Hebrews 11:1, Hebrews 11:6)

#8 – “You can follow me and it will not impact your money at all!” (Matthew 6:19-24)

#9 – “Pray a prayer to get out of hell…and then live however you want.” (John 14:15, John 14:21)

#10 – “You can do it without me!” (John 15:5)

#11 – “I don’t expect you OR your church to be fruitful in any way.” (John 15:4)

#12 – “Isolate yourself from the world!” (John 17:15)

#13 – “Make sure there is a time when you question my word because it will one day be no longer relevant.” (Luke 21:33)

#14 – “Stop crying out to me in desperation…can’t you see I’m busy.” (Mark 10:46-52)

I'm All In

It's always an exciting moment when somebody decides to "go all in". The moment when someone declares that from this point on, I am putting everything on the line. Your mind might take you to the game of poker when hearing "I'm all in". But somebody that goes all in in the game of poker is taking a big risk that might not yield a great return. Spiritually, when you decide to go "all in", it can be a step of great faith, but it will always yield a great return. My mind takes me to Peter, who upon seeing Jesus walking on the water asked Him if he himself could go and walk on the water, Jesus accepted. I can see Peter debating, thinking to himself, "Should I?" "Will I sink?" "Will I really be able to do it like Him?" You know how the story goes, Peter decided to go "all in". And when he did, he was able to walk on the water. It was not until he took his eyes off of Jesus that he fell. I want to encourage you to sell out to Jesus, give Him your whole heart, go all in. It is worth every second.

Missionary of the Month

Euroclydon Ministries presents Aslam Malik, missionary to Pakistan as the "Missionary of the Month"!

Bro. Malik and his family are currently raising support in the United States to return to the mission field of Pakistan.

I encourage you to check out his story at www.pakistanharvest.org, and pray about giving to this wonderful ministry.

You can help reach the nations with the Gospel of Jesus Christ with just a small sacrifice!

Check out pakistanharvest.org to support today!

Of All Nations!

Matthew 28:19 tells us to make disciples of all nations.

How can we do that? Do we have to travel to every nation on Earth to do what God wants me to?

Surely not. However, there are things that we can do outside of our own fellowships in our respective countries.

Things like supporting missionaries. These people depend on faith that people like you will give. Give of your money, resources, and prayers.

I encourage you today to support somebody or organization that is reaching out, do YOUR part to make sure disciples are made to ALL nations.

If anybody needs to know of any missionaries they can support, don't hesitate to give me a shout at shaun@euroclydonministries.com

Stay Close To The Cross!

Sin is not a deal-breaker! Jesus paid the price for our sins on the Cross! LORD, keep me close to the Cross!!

True Worship!!

Worship is not something we do, it is a LIFESTYLE! Live an adventure this week by worshipping God with your actions!

Each One, Reach One!!!

Everybody REACH OUT to somebody this week! Did somebody witness to you? Sometimes all you have to do is to invite them to church, or simply tell them what Jesus did for you! Witnessing works! EACH ONE REACH ONE!

June News!!

Hello world! So much is taking place I have to share it. I dont think I have ever been so excited as I am right now about faith and growth. I have been taken by a fresh fire! I have been working hard researching different outreach avenues to help our church grow, and God has blessed it so much! Pastor Blaylock has been working hard attending some training classes and the results are that we are about to launch a Celebrate Recovery program in our city! This is an amazing opportunity and will allow us to be the Church and love addicts like they may never have been loved before! Do it Jesus! I was also told about the GROW program by Jerry Tidwell. Some of our churches have used this material and have had phenomenal results. After researching and studying the program, Bethel decided that it was the way we needed to go. I truly feel in my heart that both of these programs have been issued to us from God. I look forward to many lives being changed by the power of the Holy Ghost and seeing the pure love of God wash souls and bring them into freedom and peace. Aaaaahhhhrrrhhhhhh!!!!! shaun

Current Update!!

Summer is here! Looking forward to great vacations, great gatherings, and conferences! I really am working hard to start pod-casting and video blogging on the website. Slowly but surely, patience is a virtue! You will be hearing about it on the facebook group "Euroclydon Ministries" as well. Speaking of the facebook group, it now has over 500 members. That means that every 7 days or so, over 500 people are getting some Word, some encouragement, and some truth! With every message I send out, I receive about 10-25 messages back with people asking questions or stating their appreciation! I respond to EVERY message and am having a great time breaking bread with people. In random news, I will be in Birmingham this friday night for the Hillsong United concert at The Cathedral at The Cross. It is going to be an incredible night of worship, I highly recommend Hillsong to anybody looking for great worship music. And they have a new cd that is worth buying before you buy your next meal. lol...Have a great week everybody, hopefully God will help me and I can get some more stuff rolling...pray for me! Shaun

Update!!

Hey everybody! God is so good! Recent news is I sent out a devotion on the facebook group entitled "From the Inside Out"...If you have not had a chance to read it, or are not a member of the Euroclydon Ministries facebook group, join now and get encouraged! Scripture urges us to live from the inside out, to clean what's on the inside before we try to take care of the outside, which so many of us do. I am officially, (yes it's true) on Twitter. I told myself I would not fall victim to every whim of technology, but after checking it out, and some very loving insight from Stanton Blaylock, I decided it could help me. Thanks Stan, lol. You can actually follow me by clicking on the right side of this page, or just go to twitter.com/euroclydon99...Have a great weekend Jesus lovers!!!
I love you all like old people love soft shoes and I miss you like a Shaq freethrow!

Recent Update!

Hey everybody! Hope all is well your way and you are allowing God to move on your behalf! He wants to! Life is busy busy busy right now, thanks to everybody for the patience on the website. Although it is up and running solid, there is so much left to do! As I said earlier, the podcasts are coming! I am trying to finish this semester strong and this is the busiest week of the year for me in lieu of the Railroad Festival! I am still sending out devotionals on the facebook group. If you are not a member, join...It is "Euroclydon Ministries". You will get a message in your inbox once a week. Thanks to everybody for the cool comments and messages. Not a day goes by that I dont get positive feedback from the devotions. Praise God and have a great weekend! Shaun

Time to use Time

WOW! It's hard to believe that it's already the 4th month of the year. Time is truly passing by so quickly. Are you doing everything you should be? Are you maximizing the time you have? Quick question....If you knew you only had 24 hours to live, what would you do differently? Think about those things and see if you can begin to do those things now, you aren't getting any younger!
Jesus was emphatic about maximizing our resources and time. In Matthew 25:14-30 we read about the parable of talents. The master gave three servants different amounts of money. To the fist, He gave 5 talents, and that servant in turn gained 5 more. He was called good and faithful and was given more responsibility. The second was given 2 talents, and he gained 2 more. He too was called good and faithful and was given more responsibility. The third servant was given one talent, and he buried it in the ground to keep it safe. The master called him wicked and lazy, and he was ordered to be thrown into darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. WOW! The treasure in this amazingly simple, but powerful story is that if you are faithful in the small things, God will bless you with the big things. Remember, to whom much is given much is required. I encourage you to exhaust your resources, maximize the time you have, and make eternal "gains" for the Kingdom.

I'm just beginning to launch fundraising efforts for El Salvador tomorrow, pray saints!

Have a blessed weekend, God is good!

Website Updated!

The website is currently undergoing "renovations". We added a Media Player called "EuroMedia". The are several worship songs anyone could listen to while they are browsing the site, or just play while working on the computer. We are editing videos that include testimonial interviews. This will add a new dimension to having a website and will make it easier for people to know what is going on with Euroclydon Ministries.

This past friday night, I was blessed to be a part of a youth revival at Faith Deliverance in Fulton, MS. My brother Brandon Holley preached a wondeful message encouraging the youth to be real Christians and not to play church.

Key thoughts from Brandon's message:
"You can have 32 degrees and still be frozen"
"Jay Z has more than 99 problems"
"50 Cent has more than 21 questions" LOL

He did an awesome job. I got to fellowship with my brothers from KingdomFlowz...It's always good to be around the crew, great spirits.

I will be doing a spoken word at Faith Deliverance in April at a Young Adult Revival. I'm excited! Haven't done one in a long time.

That's all for now, make sure to check out EuroMedia for some great worship music and be on the lookout for videos!

Peace and Love to all!

Recent Update of Euroclydon Ministries

God has been busy and so have I!! I am overwhelmed with what He has been allowing me to do in the recent weeks. Going back to a few weekends ago, I was honored to minister in Oneonta, AL for a Discipleship Now. Oneonta is about 20 miles from Birmingham and is saturated with wonderful people. The theme for the weekend was spiritual warfare and the Scripture base was Zechariah 10:5 that says "And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded." I want to thank Katy Myers for opening this door, and I thank God for allowing me to teach Bible studies on spiritual warfare to junior high boys. Underneath the massive pillow fights(2 black eyes, one bloody nose), liters of cologne before service, and constant loudness, was a group of guys that were hungry for more of God. What a cool thing to see.

In other news, I am now a licensed minister with the United Pentecostal Church International. Last monday, I was in Jackson, MS all day partaking in Ethics classes, Personal Finance classes, Tax classes, and Event classes, taking a 60 question Diagnostic Test to determine my grasp on the Bible, going through intense interviews with our state board who tested my knowledge of doctrine, our organizational manual, and my ministry experience. Needless to say, I was exhausted mentally, physically, and spiritually, but am so thrilled to be a part of this wonderful fellowship we call the United Pentecostal Church International. I join every other member with one cause: To advance the Kingdom and to usher as many souls to Heaven as possible.

I was honored to preach this morning at the Mission Mississippi prayer meeting. MM is a prayer-based ministry that brings together people from different denominations and races to pray to the One True God. Today, I preached to Pentecostals, Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, and maybe a few more. It was an incredible move of God to say the least. Black people praying with white people, Catholics praying with Pentecostals. I dont believe it gets any better than this.

Last but not least, I have been officially selected to participate in an Apostolic Youth Corp short term mission trip to El Salvador from June 26th-July 6th. The trip cost $1,700 that I will be fundraising for. Please pray that God will provide my needs for this trip. We will be ministering in villages as well as conducting mass crusades. If you or your church would like to donate towards this trip, you can do so by mailing a check to:

Bethel Apostolic Church
c/o El Salvador Missions
800 Tschudi Road
Amory, MS

That's the recent update! I pray God's blessings over your life, have a great day...Shaun William Capps

Let Him go...

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6

Have you ever felt alone? Like you were doing everything by yourself? Like you were the only person in the world that felt the way you do? Be strong and courageous! What about when people rise against you, even when you are trying to love them? Do not be afraid because of them! Man can not stop what God has ordained! If you have lived this long, you have learned that people will disappoint you and let you down. But God will never leave you nor forsake you! In the trial of your life, friends have the tendency to disappear...Family can even disappear...But God will never leave you. I want to mention to you that God will not place on you what you are not able to handle. When a mother prepares milk for her baby, she tests it to see if it is too hot for the child. She will even taste it and feel it to be assured it is not too hot. As a child of God, He has tested the trials before placing you in them. He even became flesh to experience all the things that you are. He has been where you are. Disrespected. Humiliated. Forgotten. Left alone. And He did all of this to remind us that the Father will never leave you or forsake you. Friends, whatever you are going through, you are not doing it alone, be strong and courageous, it is your duty, but more than that, it is your freedom in Jesus. Maybe God bless every one of you....Shaun William Capps

Bring the Soul Back

Sitting here, I am overwhelmed. Consumed, saturated, and kindled with a fresh passion. Considering all that God is doing in the Church and in my own life lately, I can't help but to be taken back to I Kings 17:17-22 in a story where Elijah was commanded to go to Zarephath where a widow would sustain him. Suddenly, the son of the woman fell sick and Scripture reads of his condition, "there was no breath left in him". Elijah took the boy and he prayed a simple, earnest, but powerful prayer...."Oh Lord my God, let this child's soul come into him again". The next verse says that the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. What we need is a revival. Sinners and ministers alike. Sinners from the guilt and shame that plagues them when Christ is offering them freedom. Ministers from doubt that the same Christ will not perform what He has promised. As a believer, it is easy to feel like "there's no breath left" sometimes. It gets hard to breathe as we are suffocated by schedules and things that are quite frankly, non-eternal. The answer is simple....Call out to God asking Him to bring the soul back into you, and as I Kings 17:22 reads, the soul of the child came back into him again, and he was revived. Let's admit that we get the breath knocked out of us sometimes, let's cry out to God, lets have revival. Brothers and sisters, Let's bring the soul back. God Bless you.....Shaun William Capps