October 4th | Character Over Comfort
Everything but the gospel.

Anton Brown • Senior Pastor
October 4, 2026

4 Minute Read

Everything but the Gospel

As you sit with Sunday's passage this week, ask yourself two plain questions. What freedom am I holding so tightly that I will not spend it for someone else's good? And where have I been tempted to soften the gospel, or add something to it, to make it easier to carry? The five readings below do not repeat Sunday's passage. They walk you through the home that raised Timothy, the man Paul came to trust most, the freedom Paul spent, the line Paul would not cross, and the Christ who finished what no one can add to.

Grace to you as you carry Sunday's text through the week.

Pastor Anton

Five-Day Devotional

Monday

2 Timothy 1:3–7

Paul remembers the sincere faith that dwelt first in Timothy's grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice, and now in Timothy. Luke tells us only that his mother was a believer and his father was a Greek, which means much of that faith was handed down in an ordinary home, by people who were not famous and may often have felt alone in it. The faith taught at your table is never wasted, even when it seems small.

Pray: Father, thank You for the people who taught me Your Word, and make me faithful to hand it on to the ones You have placed in my home.

Tuesday

Philippians 2:19–24

Years after Lystra, Paul writes, "I have no one like him," and says that others seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. The young man two towns once spoke well of had spent years proving it, serving with Paul in the gospel as a son with a father. A good name among God's people is not built by guarding your image; it grows out of a life that keeps looking to the interests of Christ.

Pray: Lord Jesus, turn my attention from my own interests to Yours, and make my life one that speaks well of You.

Wednesday

1 Corinthians 9:19–23

Paul says he is free from all, and then he spends that freedom by making himself a servant to all, that he might win more of them. That is what Acts 16:3 looks like on the ground: a real cost, freely paid, so that others would listen. Ask where your freedom has turned into something you guard, and who might be helped to hear the gospel if you let it go.

Pray: Father, show me one freedom I can spend this week for someone else's good, and give me joy in spending it.

Thursday

Galatians 2:1–5

The same Paul who circumcised Timothy refused to let Titus be circumcised, and he says he did not give in for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would be preserved. With Titus, people were demanding circumcision as a condition of being saved, and giving in would have said that Christ was not enough. Paul was flexible about everything that belonged to him and immovable about the one thing that belonged to Christ.

Pray: Lord, give me a soft heart toward people and a firm grip on Your gospel, and never let me trade the one for the other.

Friday

Colossians 2:9–14

Paul tells believers that in Christ they were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, and that God canceled the record of debt that stood against us and nailed it to the cross. Timothy's circumcision opened a synagogue door; only Christ opens heaven's door, and He does it with nothing added. Carry that into next Sunday's gathering, and come with empty hands to the One who finished the work.

Pray: Lord Jesus, I stop trying to add to what You have done, and I rest in Your finished work with nothing in my hands.

Everything but the gospel.

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From this Tag: Devotions
October 11, 2026 • 5 Minute Read
Family Devotional: Help Us
Dear Mayflower family, This week the page grows out of “Help Us,” from Acts 16:6–10. The heart of it is this: people everywhere need help, and the best help God sends is the good news about Jesus. Paul and his friends wanted to tell people about Jesus, and God closed two roads in front of them. Then one night Paul saw a man from a faraway place called Macedonia, saying, come over and help us, and the friends knew what help to bring: the good news about Jesus. The line your table will be sitting with is the one from Sunday morning: they asked for help, and God sent the gospel. Read together, talk together, pray together, sing together. Here is this week's page. Pastor Anton Help Us Family Devotional · Acts 16:6–10 · October 11, 2026 This page works two ways: as one ten-minute sitting at the table, or as five short Monday-to-Friday steps from the same page. There is no wrong way. This week's Big Idea People everywhere need help, and the best help God sends is the good news about Jesus. Memory verse “concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” Acts 16:10 (ESV) 1. READ Read Acts 16:6–10 out loud. Stay on this one passage all week. Monday: verse 6. Paul wanted to tell people about Jesus in Asia, and God said no. Tuesday: verse 7. They tried another road, and Jesus closed that one too. Wednesday: verse 8. They came to Troas, a town by the sea, and ran out of road. Thursday: verse 9. In the night a man said to Paul, come over and help us. Friday: verse 10. Paul and his friends knew the help he needed was the good news about Jesus, and they went right away. 2. THINK Paul and his friends wanted to tell people about Jesus, and Jesus closed two roads because He knew where His good news needed to go next. A man from Macedonia asked for help, and he did not even know what kind of help he needed. God sent him the very best help there is: friends who came to tell him that Jesus died for sinners and rose again, and that Jesus is able to help everyone who calls on Him. 3. TALK You do not need to ask them all. For young children: Paul wanted to go one way, and God said no. Then a man asked Paul for help. What help did God send him? For school-age children: The man said help, but he did not say what kind. When someone we know is sick, sad, or having a hard time, what are some ways we can help them? How could we tell them about Jesus too? For teens: The man from Macedonia was asking for more than he knew. Lots of people say they are spiritual, but they could not tell you that the help they need is Jesus. When things get hard, what do you reach for first? Have you ever asked Jesus to help you in your own words, the way a woman once knelt in front of Him and said, “Lord, help me” (Matthew 15:25)? For the whole table: Who is one person we know who needs help this week, and what is one way we could help them and tell them about Jesus? 4. DO Do this: Pick one person who is having a hard time: someone sick, someone lonely, someone sad. Bring them something small this week, a meal, a treat, or a card the children made, and in the card write one true sentence about Jesus, like “Jesus is able to help.” Another way to do this: Pick one person who does not know Jesus yet. Draw a little boat on a piece of paper, write that person's name on the sail, and put it on the fridge. Every night this week, ask God to send them the good news about Jesus, the way He sent Paul across the sea. 5. PRAY Father, thank You that when people cried for help, You sent the good news about Jesus, who died for sinners and rose again. Please save every person at this table who does not yet trust Jesus, and grow the ones who do. Help us to notice the people around us who need help, and give us courage to tell them about Your Son. In Jesus' name, Amen. 6. SING Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. It sings that we have come this far only by God's help, and that Jesus came looking for us when we were wandering, which is exactly what He did for the people of Macedonia. If no one wants to sing, read the first verse out loud instead. One faith talk this week is a win.

Anton Brown

Senior Pastor

October 11, 2026 • 4 Minute Read
October 11th | Help Us
The help the world is begging for is the gospel. This morning Pastor Anton preached Acts 16:6–10. The sermon was Help Us. Paul and his team tried two roads to preach the word, and Jesus closed them both. At the edge of the sea, in the night, a man of Macedonia appeared to Paul and said, come over and help us. He did not say, come and preach to us. He said help, and he did not know what help he needed. By morning the team had concluded that God had called them to preach the gospel, and they went immediately. The help that man was begging for was the good news of Jesus Christ. They asked for help. God sent the gospel. Now that you have heard it, sit with it this week. Some of us walked in Sunday standing in front of a road God closed, and most of us know someone who is saying help without using the word. Live into what was preached in two plain ways: hand the map back to the Lord who sees the whole road, and when someone near you cries for help, bring the meal and bring Jesus with you, in words. The five readings below do not repeat Sunday's passage. They walk you through the Lord who went where He was sent, the God our help comes from, a woman who knelt and said Lord, help me, the Savior who is able to help because He suffered, and the beautiful feet of those who are sent. Grace to you as you carry Sunday's text through the week. Pastor Anton Five-Day Devotional Monday Luke 4:42–44 When the crowds at Capernaum tried to keep Jesus from leaving, He told them He must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, because that is why He was sent. He went where the Father sent Him, not where the crowd wanted, and the same Lord closed two roads in Acts 16 because He knew where His gospel was going next. If He has closed a road on you, He has not stopped steering. Pray: Lord Jesus, You went where the Father sent You; teach me to trust You with the road You have closed in front of me. Tuesday Psalm 121:1–2 The psalmist lifts his eyes to the hills and asks the question everyone asks sooner or later: from where does my help come? His answer is not a plan or a thing but a Person, the Lord who made heaven and earth. The man of Macedonia knew he needed help without knowing what it was, and this psalm tells you where it comes from. Pray: Father, when I do not even know what help I need, turn my eyes from the hills to You, the Maker of heaven and earth. Wednesday Matthew 15:21–28 A Gentile woman with a suffering daughter came to Jesus, knelt in front of Him, and said three words: Lord, help me. She had no claim on Him and she knew it, and He helped her. Those three words are still a prayer He has never turned away. Pray: Lord, help me, not because I have earned it but because You are the One who helps. Thursday Hebrews 2:14–18 Jesus took on our flesh and blood and suffered when tempted, so that He is able to help those who are being tempted. He does not help from a distance; He went to the cross so that when we cry help, there is someone who can actually answer. Whatever you are carrying this week, you are bringing it to One who has been there. Pray: Lord Jesus, You suffered so that You could help me; make me quick to come to You first and not last. Friday Romans 10:13–17 Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, Paul writes, but how will people call on One they have never heard of, and how will they hear without someone preaching? That is why God sent Paul across the sea to Macedonia, and it is why He sends you across the street. Carry that into next Sunday's gathering, and think about the one person near you who is saying help, and what it would look like this week to bring Jesus with you in words. Pray: Father, You sent someone to tell me about Your Son; give me courage to speak His name to the one You have put near me. They asked for help. God sent the gospel.

Anton Brown

Senior Pastor

October 4, 2026 • 4 Minute Read
Family Devotional: Timothy Joins Paul and Silas
Dear Mayflower family, This week the page grows out of "Timothy Joins Paul and Silas," from Acts 16:1–5, Sunday's passage, with Leon Jones as our guest preacher. The heart of it is this: Paul was willing to give up almost anything so people could hear about Jesus, but he never changed the good news about Jesus. A young man named Timothy, taught the Bible at home by his mother and grandmother, joins Paul and Silas, gives up something hard so Jewish people will listen, and helps carry the good news to the churches just as it was. Read together, talk together, pray together, sing together. Here is this week's page. Pastor Anton Timothy Joins Paul and Silas Family Devotional · Acts 16:1–5 · October 4, 2026 This page works two ways: as one ten-minute sitting at the table, or as five short Monday-to-Friday steps from the same page. There is no wrong way. This week's Big Idea Paul was willing to give up almost anything so people could hear about Jesus, but he never changed the good news about Jesus. Memory verse "So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily." Acts 16:5 (ESV) 1. READ Read Acts 16:1–5 out loud. Stay on this one passage all week. Monday: verse 1. God gives Paul a new helper, a young man named Timothy. Tuesday: verse 2. The Christians in two towns said good things about Timothy. Wednesday: verse 3. Timothy gave up something hard so Jewish people would listen. Thursday: verse 4. Paul and his friends brought the churches the decisions from Jerusalem to keep. Friday: verse 5. The churches grew strong, and more people believed every day. 2. THINK Timothy's mother and grandmother taught him the Bible when he was little, and when Paul came to town, God gave Timothy to Paul as a helper. Paul had Timothy circumcised, a sign Jewish families gave their boys, not to make Timothy right with God but so Jewish people would be willing to listen, because Paul would give up almost anything so people could hear about Jesus. But Paul never changed the good news itself: Jesus did everything needed to save us, and nobody has to add anything to what He did. 3. TALK You do not need to ask them all. For young children: Timothy's mother and grandmother taught him about God when he was little. Who teaches you about God? What is one thing you have learned about Jesus? For school-age children: The Christians in two different towns said good things about Timothy. What do you think they noticed about him? What would you want people to notice about you, and who could help you grow that way? For teens: Paul would change almost anything about how he did things so people would listen, but he would never change the message. Is there something you could give up so a friend would be more willing to hear about Jesus? Have you ever been tempted to leave part of Jesus out so faith would be easier to talk about? And have you trusted Christ yourself, or have you only learned about Him? For the whole table: What is one thing our family could give up this week so that someone else could hear about Jesus or feel His love? 4. DO Do this: This week, each person picks one thing they usually get to choose, like the dinner, the game, or the seat in the car, and gives that choice to someone else in the family on purpose, without being asked. At the end of the week, talk about how Paul and Timothy gave things up so others could hear about Jesus. Another way to do this: Choose one favorite thing to share together this week, like a snack, a toy, or an afternoon, and give it to someone outside the family, a neighbor or a friend from church, with a note that says, "Jesus loves you, and we wanted to share." 5. PRAY Father, thank You that Jesus gave up everything to come and save people like us, and that nobody has to add anything to what He did. Please save every person at this table who does not yet trust Jesus, and grow the ones who do. Make us a family that gladly gives things up so others can hear about You, and that never changes Your good news. In Jesus' name, Amen. 6. SING All I Have Is Christ. Paul could give up so much because Christ was enough, and this hymn sings that nothing else is needed. If no one wants to sing, read the first verse out loud instead. One faith talk this week is a win!

Anton Brown

Senior Pastor

Currently Reading
October 4, 2026 • 4 Minute Read
October 4th | Character Over Comfort
Everything but the Gospel As you sit with Sunday's passage this week, ask yourself two plain questions. What freedom am I holding so tightly that I will not spend it for someone else's good? And where have I been tempted to soften the gospel, or add something to it, to make it easier to carry? The five readings below do not repeat Sunday's passage. They walk you through the home that raised Timothy, the man Paul came to trust most, the freedom Paul spent, the line Paul would not cross, and the Christ who finished what no one can add to. Grace to you as you carry Sunday's text through the week. Pastor Anton Five-Day Devotional Monday 2 Timothy 1:3–7 Paul remembers the sincere faith that dwelt first in Timothy's grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice, and now in Timothy. Luke tells us only that his mother was a believer and his father was a Greek, which means much of that faith was handed down in an ordinary home, by people who were not famous and may often have felt alone in it. The faith taught at your table is never wasted, even when it seems small. Pray: Father, thank You for the people who taught me Your Word, and make me faithful to hand it on to the ones You have placed in my home. Tuesday Philippians 2:19–24 Years after Lystra, Paul writes, "I have no one like him," and says that others seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. The young man two towns once spoke well of had spent years proving it, serving with Paul in the gospel as a son with a father. A good name among God's people is not built by guarding your image; it grows out of a life that keeps looking to the interests of Christ. Pray: Lord Jesus, turn my attention from my own interests to Yours, and make my life one that speaks well of You. Wednesday 1 Corinthians 9:19–23 Paul says he is free from all, and then he spends that freedom by making himself a servant to all, that he might win more of them. That is what Acts 16:3 looks like on the ground: a real cost, freely paid, so that others would listen. Ask where your freedom has turned into something you guard, and who might be helped to hear the gospel if you let it go. Pray: Father, show me one freedom I can spend this week for someone else's good, and give me joy in spending it. Thursday Galatians 2:1–5 The same Paul who circumcised Timothy refused to let Titus be circumcised, and he says he did not give in for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would be preserved. With Titus, people were demanding circumcision as a condition of being saved, and giving in would have said that Christ was not enough. Paul was flexible about everything that belonged to him and immovable about the one thing that belonged to Christ. Pray: Lord, give me a soft heart toward people and a firm grip on Your gospel, and never let me trade the one for the other. Friday Colossians 2:9–14 Paul tells believers that in Christ they were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, and that God canceled the record of debt that stood against us and nailed it to the cross. Timothy's circumcision opened a synagogue door; only Christ opens heaven's door, and He does it with nothing added. Carry that into next Sunday's gathering, and come with empty hands to the One who finished the work. Pray: Lord Jesus, I stop trying to add to what You have done, and I rest in Your finished work with nothing in my hands. Everything but the gospel.

Anton Brown

Senior Pastor

September 27, 2026 • 5 Minute Read
September 27th | Not By Agreement
The work of the Lord goes forward on the grace of the Lord, not on the strength of the men who carry it. This morning Pastor Anton preached Acts 15:36–41. The sermon was Not By Agreement. For two Sundays we watched a church answer the hardest question it would ever have to face, and then Luke ends the chapter with two of the best men in the New Testament in a quarrel they could not settle. He does not hide it, he does not soften it, and he does not tell us which one was right. He tells us the work went on, and doubled. The church at Antioch did not fix the two men. It prayed, and handed Paul over to the grace of the Lord, and that grace carried what they dropped. Two ships left Antioch. One gospel was on both of them. Now that you have heard it, sit with it. Most of us walked in Sunday with a name we have not said out loud in a while, someone we used to work beside, and one day the working together stopped. This text will not sort you into a column and it will not hand you a verdict, and that is mercy rather than neglect. Live into what was preached in two plain ways this week: go and see how somebody is instead of only knowing how they are, and hand over the thing you cannot fix, which is not the same as giving up on it. The five readings below do not repeat Sunday's passage. They walk you through the man who took a risk on Paul, the Son who was handed over for us all, the gospel that advances even where people are not getting along, the quitter who became very useful, and the Lord who came back for His friends by name. Grace to you as you carry the text through the week. Pastor Anton Five-Day Devotional Monday Acts 9:26–28 When Saul came to Jerusalem, every disciple in the city was afraid of him, and one man took him by the arm and brought him to the apostles. That man was Barnabas, and years later he was fighting for young Mark exactly the way he had once fought for Paul. Before you decide somebody is finished, remember that you are standing where you are because someone took a risk on you. Pray: Father, thank You for the person who took a risk on me when I had no record to show; make me willing to be that person for someone else. Tuesday Romans 8:31–34 Paul writes that God did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, and the words gave Him up are the same words Luke used when the church handed Paul over to the grace of the Lord. Before anyone was ever handed to that grace, the Lord of that grace had been handed over first, betrayed by one He chose and deserted by all of them, and He did not withdraw. Nothing you are carrying this week is held by weaker hands than those. Pray: Lord Jesus, You were handed over for me and did not withdraw; teach me to trust the hands I have been put into. Wednesday Philippians 1:12–18 Paul says that what has happened to him has really served to advance the gospel, and then he admits plainly that some are proclaiming Christ out of rivalry and not sincerely. He rejoices anyway, because Christ is proclaimed. God's work does not wait for the people doing it to get along, and He does not lose a thing in the mess we make of it. Pray: Father, when the people around me will not get along, keep my eyes on the Christ who is still being proclaimed. Thursday 2 Timothy 4:9–13 At the end of his life Paul is cold and mostly alone, asking for his cloak and his books, and he asks for one more thing: get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. This is the same Mark he would not have in the boat. The grace that would not let Paul go did not let Mark go either, and it is not finished with you. Pray: Lord, I have been the one who turned back; thank You that Your grace kept its hold on me and is not done with me yet. Friday John 21:15–19 Peter denied Him three times and then went back to fishing, and Jesus came to the beach, made breakfast, and asked him one question three times before sending him back to the work. That is the Lord to whose grace the church at Antioch handed Paul over, and He has not changed since. Carry that into next Sunday's gathering, and think about the person you have written off, and what it would look like to go find them the way He found Peter. Pray: Lord Jesus, You came back for the one who denied You; give me the courage to go and find the one I have been avoiding. Two ships left Antioch. One gospel was on both of them.

Anton Brown

Senior Pastor

September 20, 2026 • 4 Minute Read
September 20th | The Spirit Decided
The Spirit settled it and the church says it. Now that you have heard it, sit with it. Some of you walked in Sunday braced for a further requirement, a list you had not been shown. The letter's answer is that the weight was already carried by the Lord Jesus, and there is none left to hand out. Live into what was preached this week by naming the burden a confident voice laid on you, and by being someone who can be trusted with a sentence: say what you mean, put your name on it, and stay in the room for the questions. The five readings below do not repeat Sunday's passage. They walk you through the burden Christ carried, the brothers He is not ashamed of, the liberty He asks us to spend, the men who stay, and the Spirit who still bears witness. Grace to you as you carry Sunday's text through the week. Pastor Anton Five-Day Devotional Monday Galatians 3:10–14 Paul says everyone who relies on works of the law is under a curse, and then he tells you where the curse went: Christ became a curse for us. That is why the letter from Jerusalem could say no greater burden. The apostles had no weight left to hand out because Christ had already gone under all of it. Pray: Lord Jesus, You carried the whole weight in my place; keep me from picking any of it back up. Tuesday Hebrews 2:10–13 The letter opened with brothers writing to brothers, the pillars of Jerusalem addressing uncircumcised Gentiles as family. They could only write that salutation because the Son wrote it first; He is not ashamed to call them brothers. Your standing in the family rests on what He did and what He said, and neither one moves. Pray: Father, thank You that Your Son is not ashamed to call me brother; settle my heart on His word and not on my own certainty. Wednesday 1 Corinthians 8:9–13 The four things in the letter were not the price of getting in; three of them were freedoms Gentile believers gave up so a Jewish brother could sit at the same table, and the fourth, sexual immorality, was never a freedom for anyone. Paul presses the same principle in Corinth: take care that your liberty does not become a stumbling block to the weak. Liberty that will not spend itself for a neighbor has stopped being Christian liberty. Pray: Lord, show me one freedom I can lay down this week for somebody weaker than me, and give me the grace to lay it down gladly. Thursday Colossians 4:7–9 Paul did not send only a letter to Colossae; he sent Tychicus and Onesimus, who would tell them everything and encourage their hearts. Jerusalem did the same with Judas and Silas, men who said the same words with their own mouths and stayed to be asked. When you have to correct something this week, do not do it in writing and then go quiet; stay in the room. Pray: Father, make me someone who says a hard thing to a person's face and stays long enough to answer for it. Friday John 15:26–27 Jesus promised that the Spirit would bear witness about Him, and then He added, and you also will bear witness. That is Acts 15 in one sentence, read from the other side of the sermon: the Spirit settled it, and the church says it. Carry it into next Sunday's gathering, and think about the person in your life who was handed a gospel with a condition bolted on, and what you will say to their face. Pray: Holy Spirit, You have borne witness to Christ; open my mouth to say plainly what You have settled. The Spirit settled it. Grace put it in writing.

Anton Brown

Senior Pastor

September 20, 2026 • 4 Minute Read
Family Devotional: The Spirit Decided
This week the page grows out of "The Spirit Decided," from Acts 15:22–35. The heart of it is this: God's Spirit decided the big question, and the church wrote the answer down, signed it, and sent two men to read it out loud, and the answer was that Jesus already carried the heavy load, so there is no bigger load for anyone to carry. The picture your table will be sitting with is a whole church gathered to hear a letter read aloud, and the gladness in the room when they heard what it said. Read together, talk together, pray together, sing together. Here is this week's page. Pastor Anton The Spirit Decided Family Devotional · Acts 15:22–35 · September 20, 2026 This page works two ways: as one ten-minute sitting at the table, or as five short Monday-to-Friday steps from the same page. There is no wrong way. This week's Big Idea God's Spirit decided, and the church wrote it down and said it out loud. Jesus already carried the heavy load, so nobody has to carry a bigger one. Memory verse "And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement." Acts 15:31 (ESV) 1. READ Read Acts 15:27–32 out loud. Stay on this one passage all week. Monday: verse 27. They sent two men to say the same thing out loud. Tuesday: verse 28. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us: no greater burden. Wednesday: verses 29–30. The letter was carried down to Antioch and given to the whole church. Thursday: verse 31. They read it, and they were glad. Friday: verse 32. Judas and Silas stayed and made the brothers strong with many words. 2. THINK Some men told the church in Antioch that God wanted one more thing from them before He would have them, and the church did not know what to believe. The leaders in Jerusalem prayed, listened to God's Word, and wrote a letter that said the Holy Spirit had decided: no greater burden. Jesus carried the heaviest load on the cross, so the church had no more weight to give anybody, and when the letter was read out loud, the people were glad. 3. TALK You do not need to ask them all. For young children: The people heard the letter and were glad. What did the letter say about the heavy load? Who carried the heavy load for us? For school-age children: Why did the leaders send two men to read the letter instead of just sending the paper? What can two men do that a piece of paper cannot? For teens: Verse 24 talks about people who spoke as if they had an authority they were never given, and it left a whole church unsure about their salvation. Has anyone ever made you feel that God wants something more from you before He will accept you? How does verse 28, no greater burden, answer that, and what would it look like to actually trust Jesus with it instead of trusting your own effort? For the whole table: If Jesus already carried the heaviest load, what is one load our family could stop trying to carry this week? 4. DO Do this: Write a short letter together to someone in your family or church who needs to hear something true and kind. Put everyone's name at the bottom. Then hand-deliver it and read it out loud to them, the way Judas and Silas did. Another way to do this: Pick one true thing from this week's passage, like "no greater burden," and each person says it out loud to the person on their left. Then everyone signs their name on one card in the middle of the table, and the card goes on the fridge for the week. 5. PRAY Father, thank You that Your Spirit settled the biggest question and that You put Your promise in writing. Thank You that Jesus carried the heaviest load on the cross so that we do not have to. Please save each person at this table who does not yet trust You, and grow the ones who do. Make us people who say what is true and put our names on it. In Jesus' name, Amen. 6. SING Blessed Assurance. The church in Antioch got its assurance back when the letter was read out loud, and this hymn sings about a promise you can rest on. If no one wants to sing, read the first verse out loud instead. One faith talk this week is a win!

Anton Brown

Senior Pastor

September 13, 2026 • 3 Minute Read
September 13th | Saved Like Them
One grace saves everyone, and it saves the apostle no differently than it saves the Gentile. Now that you have heard this week’s sermon, sit with it. The men in verse 1 were not oddballs. They were believers; they were in the room, and they had a Bible verse. They simply read it in the wrong order, and a sign meant to mark God's people became a door somebody stood in front of. Live into what was preached this week by finding the word you have been adding, and by naming the weight you have been carrying in the name of Jesus that Jesus never laid on you. The five readings below do not repeat Sunday's chapter. They walk you through the same order, the same Spirit, the same yoke, and the same wall taken down. Five-Day Devotional Monday Genesis 15:1–6 God brought Abraham outside, showed him the stars, and Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. That happened two chapters before the sign of the covenant was ever given. Sunday's whole crisis began with men who kept the sign and lost the order. Pray: Father, teach me to believe You first, and to stop treating the marks of Your covenant as the price of admission. Tuesday Acts 10:44–48 The Holy Spirit fell on a Roman officer's household while Peter was still speaking, before any ceremony and before a single credential. God gave His own testimony about who belonged, and He gave it without asking anyone to qualify first. That is the room Peter reached back for when the council in Jerusalem could not agree. Pray: Lord, You know the heart; give me eyes to see Your Spirit at work in people who do not look like me. Wednesday Galatians 2:11–16 Paul had to say to Peter's face in Antioch what Peter had said out loud in Jerusalem: a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. Even an apostle can drift back toward the table he came from. The word Sunday exposed, the little word "and," does not stay buried, and it needs killing more than once. Pray: Lord Jesus, keep me from adding anything to Your finished work, even quietly, even in front of people I want to impress. Thursday Matthew 11:28–30 Peter called the added requirement a yoke that neither their fathers nor they had ever been able to bear. Jesus offers a yoke too, and He calls it easy, because He has already gone under the load that crushed everyone else. He is not handing you a lighter version of the same burden. Pray: Lord Jesus, I am taking it off; carry what I was never able to carry. Friday Ephesians 2:11–22 Paul writes to Gentiles who were once separated, strangers to the covenants, and tells them that Christ Himself is our peace and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility. That is Sunday's council stated as doctrine, and it is worth reading from this side of the sermon. Carry it into next Sunday's gathering, and look for the person still standing on the far side of a wall Christ has already taken down. Pray: Father, You have made us one in Christ; show me the wall I am still guarding, and give me grace to leave it down. Same grace. Same way. We are saved like them.

Anton Brown

Senior Pastor

September 6, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
September 6th | God Did It!
Five-Day Devotional Monday 1 Corinthians 3:5-7 Paul planted. Apollos watered. God gave the growth. Sunday's missionaries came home as companions, not authors. Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. That is Acts 14:26 in another room. Pray: Father, take the subject line back; teach me to call You the One who gives the growth. Tuesday Philippians 2:12-13 Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Companions work. The Agent is still God. Sunday handed you over to the grace that completes what it starts. Pray: Lord, work in me what I cannot finish in my own strength, and keep me from claiming the work as mine. Wednesday Ephesians 2:8-10 By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. The door of faith in Acts 14:27 is the same gift. You did not pick the lock. God opened it, and the good works were prepared beforehand that you should walk in them. Pray: Jesus, You are the gift and the Door; keep me from treating faith as a key I cut myself. Thursday Isaiah 26:12 O LORD, You will ordain peace for us, for You have indeed done for us all our works. Sunday's refrain in another century. The finished work you are tempted to author was already His. Report Him. Pray: O Lord, You have done for us all our works; humble my mouth, then open it to name You. Friday 2 Corinthians 4:5 What we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. Return to Sunday's report from this side of the sermon. They declared God. Carry that grammar into the next gathering. Pray: Father, we proclaim not ourselves; make God the subject of every sentence we can. God Did It!

Anton Brown

Senior Pastor

September 6, 2026 • 3 Minute Read
Family Devotional: God Did It!
Family Devotional: God Did It! Dear Mayflower families, Mayflower families, this page is our weekly Family Devotional. It is one page, built from Sunday's sermon, so the table sits with the same Word the pulpit preached. A parent can lead it cold. You don't need training, and you don't need to prep. Use it as one ten-minute sitting, or walk it Monday through Friday as five short steps from the same page. There is no wrong way. One faith talk this week is a win. This week the table sits with God Did It!, from Acts 14:24-28. Sunday's Big Idea in plain words: God is the one who did the work. Paul and Barnabas were the friends who went with Him. You will sit with a locked door, a long road home, and a God who opens the way in. Released Sundays at 2pm through Planning Center / Church Center. [BRACKETS: Anton, paste the Church Center link if you want one here.] Pastor Anton This week's Big Idea God is the one who did it. We get to go with Him. Memory verse "he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles." Acts 14:27 (ESV) 1. READ Read Acts 14:24-28 out loud. Stay on this one passage all week. Monday: verses 24-25. They walk the road and speak the word. Tuesday: verse 26. They had been handed to God's grace, and the work was finished. Wednesday: verse 27a. They gather the church and tell what God had done with them. Thursday: verse 27b. God opened a door of faith. Friday: verse 28. They stayed with the disciples for a long time. 2. THINK Paul and Barnabas did not come home to talk about themselves. They told the church what God had done. God finished the work. God opened the door. Jesus said, "I am the door." We cannot open the door of faith from the outside. God opens it, and we come in by trusting Jesus. 3. TALK You do not need to ask them all. For young children: If a door is locked, can you open it from the porch? Who has to open it? For school-age children: Why did Paul and Barnabas talk about God instead of talking about how brave they were? For teens: Where have you finished something hard and then made yourself the hero of the story? What would it mean to trust Christ as the One who opens the door, not just to try harder at being humble? For the whole table: What is one thing God did this week that we will report with God as the subject? 4. DO Do this: At the table tonight, each person names one real thing God did this week. Start the sentence with "God," not "I." Then thank Him out loud. Another way to do this: Draw a simple door and write "God opened it" on the door. Each person writes or draws one gift from this week on a slip of paper and slides it under the door. Read the slips together on Friday. 5. PRAY Father, thank You that You finished the work, and that Jesus is the Door. Save our children. Teach this family to report You, not ourselves. Open the door of faith for anyone at this table still standing on the porch. In Jesus' name, Amen. One faith talk this week is a win.

Anton Brown

Senior Pastor

August 31, 2026 • 3 Minute Read
Does family worship have to be long?
No. It has to be real. And it has to happen. Parents tell me they are tired. Work ran late. The youngest melted down. Someone has practice. By 7:30 the thought of a full service in the living room feels like one more thing you will fail. So you skip it. Then you skip it again. The 1689 Confession will not let that be the last word. Chapter 22.6 says God is to be worshipped everywhere in spirit and in truth, daily in each family, and privately by each person. That is still on us when the day was thin. Daily does not mean elaborate. Moses did not ask Israel for a stage. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7, ESV) Talk. Sit. Walk. A verse at breakfast counts. A psalm in the car counts. A short prayer at the bed counts. Ten honest minutes, kept, will outrun a forty minute plan you never start. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4, ESV) Long, grim sessions provoke. So does never opening the book. Aim at instruction they can receive. Here is a pattern that fits a tired house in 2026. Open the Bible. Read a few verses. Ask one question. Pray in ordinary words. Sing one verse of a hymn if you can. Stop. Do it again tomorrow. If the baby cries, finish the sentence and pick the baby up. If a teenager rolls their eyes, keep your tone and keep the habit. You are showing them that God is worth interrupting the night for. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, Article XVIII, puts the teaching of spiritual and moral values on the parents, by example and by loving discipline. Family worship is one way that duty gets a body. The gathered church still matters. 1689 22.6 also says more formal worship in public assemblies must not be carelessly neglected. Keep Sunday with the church. Keep the reading at home. You need both. You do not need a printed liturgy to begin. You need a Bible that stays on the table. You need a time you will defend. After supper works for many. Bedtime works for others. Morning works if the house wakes in time. Pick one and keep it for two weeks before you change it. If you have never done this, start smaller than you think. One verse. One sentence of thanks. One ask for help. Jesus is not measuring your family by production value. He is the one you are coming to. One next step Tonight, before screens, read this with younger children: Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. (Psalm 127:3, ESV) With older children, read Deuteronomy 6:6-7 again. Pray, by name, for each person at the table. Ask Jesus to teach your house to do this again tomorrow. If you want help building a simple rhythm, come talk. Check Next Steps for options that fit your situation. Biblical Counseling is there if the home is already in a fight every night. We would rather sit with a short, faithful family than watch you wait for a perfect one.

Anton Brown

Senior Pastor

August 30, 2026 • 4 Minute Read
Family Devotional: Darkness Blinded Him
This page is our weekly Family Devotional. It is one page, built from Sunday's sermon, so the table sits with the same Word the pulpit preached. A parent can lead it cold. You do not need training and you do not need to prep. Use it as one ten-minute sitting, or walk it Monday through Friday as five short steps from the same page. There is no wrong way. One faith talk this week is a win. This week the table sits with Darkness Blinded Him, from 1 John 2:9-11. Sunday's Big Idea in plain words: a person can talk about the light and still be blind, because hatred has already done something to his eyes. You will sit with a dark hallway, a claim that did not help, and Jesus--the Light who opens eyes and sends us to our brothers and sisters. Pastor Anton This page can work two ways: as one ten-minute sitting at the table, or as five short Monday-to-Friday steps from the same page. There is no wrong way. This week's Big Idea A person can say he walks in the light and still be in the dark, because hatred has already blinded his eyes. Memory verse "Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness." 1 John 2:9 (ESV) 1. READ Read 1 John 2:9-11 out loud. Stay on this one passage all week. Monday: verse 9. The man who says he is in the light. Tuesday: verse 9 again. The word still. Wednesday: verse 10. The one who loves his brother remains in the light. Thursday: verse 11. He walks in the dark and does not know where he is going. Friday: verse 11 again. Because the darkness has blinded his eyes. 2. THINK John is not telling us to be nicer. He is showing us that hatred is a blinding that has already happened. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." He came so that whoever believes in Him would not stay in the dark. Love for our brothers and sisters shows that His light has done its work. It is not how we buy the light. 3. TALK Pick the questions that fit your table. You do not need to ask them all. For young children: What happens if you walk through the house at night and never turn on a light? For school-age children: Why is saying "I am in the light" not the same thing as loving your brother? For teens: Where have you learned Christian words while quietly deciding you have no use for someone Christ calls your brother or sister? What would it mean to come to Christ the Light instead of managing that contempt? For the whole table: Who is one person we will ask God to help us love this week, and what is one thing love would actually do? 4. DO Do this: Name one brother or sister in the church you have walked past. Pray for that person by name at the table. Then do one concrete kindness for them this week (a message, a meal, a visit, a word). Another way to do this: Draw a simple picture of a dark hallway and a bright lamp. Write one person's name near the lamp. Ask God together to help you love that person, then place the picture where the family will see it. 5. PRAY Father, thank You that Jesus is the Light of the world, and that He came so we would not remain in darkness. Save our children. Give this family a real love for the brothers and sisters You have given us. Open any eyes hatred has shut, and keep us from managing contempt. In Jesus' name, Amen. One faith talk this week is a win.

Anton Brown

Senior Pastor