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NOTICE:   THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!

WHY SHOULD WE SERVE THE LORD NOW?

Introduction:

Do you believe that Jesus is coming again? I trust that you do–BECAUSE HE IS!!!

There are many people today who call themselves Christians and even say that they believe that the Lord will come again some day, but you couldn’t tell it by the lives that they are living.

Although we do not know the day or the hour when Jesus will be coming for His saints, nevertheless, we do know for certain that He is going to come again. THE TIME IS SHORT!

Knowing that Jesus could come at any moment should motivate us to do several things:

1.         For those of don’t know the Lord, the knowledge that He could come at any time should motivate them to want to get saved!

2 Peter 3:9–“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

2.         For those of us who are saved it should do several things:

            a.         It should motivate us to long for His coming.

Romans 8:23–“And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”

            b.        It should motivate us to look for His coming.

Titus 2:11-13–“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;”

            c.         It should motivate us to live for His coming.

                        1.         It should motivate us to a life of self-examination and short accounts!

2 Corinthians 5:10–“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

                        2.         It should motivate us to a life of separation and sanctification!

1 John 3:3–“And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

                        3.         It should motivate us to a life of service!

1 Corinthians 15:58–“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

1 Peter 1:17–“And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

It is on this point that I want to encourage us today as we look at Scripture and answer this question, “WHY SHOULD WE SERVE THE LORD NOW?”

I.         WE SHOULD SERVE THE LORD NOW BECAUSE WE WERE SAVED TO SERVE!

            A.        It Is Required!

I’m not saying it is required for salvation, but it is required because of our salvation! Service is something that is expected by the Lord!

Ephesians 2:8-10–“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

            B.        It Is Rational! (Romans 8:29)

Think about this truth for a minute. In Romans 8:29 we are told that those who will be saved have been predestinated to be conformed into the image of God’s Son–The Lord Jesus Christ.

As you study the life of Christ do you know one of the things that stands out the most in His life?–He was a Servant!

Philippians 2:5-8–“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Matthew 10:24–“The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. 25It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord.”

Matthew 20:27-28–“And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Matthew 23:11–“But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”

            B.        It Is Reasonable.

Romans 12:1–“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

II.       WE SHOULD SERVE THE LORD NOW BECAUSE THE NEED IS GREAT.

            In Matthew 13:38, Jesus said, "The field is the world. . .”

The field that we have been given to work in is this world we live in.

Now, that is one big field! Have you ever stopped to think about just how big this world really is? Nevertheless, it is the field that we have been called to work in. There are almost 7 billion people living in the world today, the greater part of which have never heard a clear presentation of the Gospel. That is a lot of people that need to be reached!

In John 4:35, Jesus said--"Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are

            white already to harvest."

Now, we know that individually we cannot literally be in every place in the world. It is just not physically possible. So how does God expect us to reach the World?

            A.        We Need To Do Our Part Here.

                        We need to do what we can where we are at while we are here!

                        1.         God Put Us Where We Are At Physically.

                                    a.         We are to affect the area of the world in which we live with faithful living.

                                    b.         We are to affect the area of the world in which we live with faithful telling of the Gospel story.  

A man by the name of Charles Kimball probably thought himself to be a failure by just being a Sunday School teacher. However, he won a man to

Christ that eventually became one of the greatest preachers this world has ever known, Dwight L. Moody. Moody preached and thousands upon thousands got saved because Charles Kimball faithfully did what he could in the area of the world where he was at!

                        2.         God Put Us Where We Are At Chronologically.

                                    We live in the most technologically advanced world that has ever been!

The potential to get the Gospel to a lost and dying world are better than it has ever been!

                                    Think of the many ways that are available to us to get the Gospel out!

                                    The Bible teaches that to whom much is given, much will be required.

                        We need to do our absolute best for the Lord here and now!

            B.        We Need To Do Our Part Everywhere Else.

                        1.         We All Have An Obligation To Give To Faith Promise Missions.

We need to give what we can with what God has blessed us with so that others may go where God would have them go.

                                    We affect the whole world with missions giving.

                        2.         We All Have An Obligation To Pray For Missions.

                                    1 Thessalonians 5:25–“Brethren, pray for us.”  

2 Thessalonians 3:1–“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: 2And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.”

1 Timothy 2:1–“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;”

                        3.         We All Have An Obligation To Consider Missions.

Isaiah 6:8–“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”

There are over 95 million people who are dying each year. Most of them are dying without Christ. Many of them die without ever hearing the name of Christ.

The need is great because there are fewer people who want to do the job that is expected of them.

There is plenty of work to be done in this world for anyone who is willing and wanting to serve the Lord.

Jesus said in Matthew 9:37-38–“The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”

III.      WE SHOULD SERVE THE LORD NOW BECAUSE NOW IS THE ONLY TIME WE HAVE.

Proverbs 27:1–“Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”

Galatians 6:10--"As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men,

            especially unto them who are of the household of faith."

            None of us know how long we will be able to serve the Lord!

                        A terminal illness could be on our horizon and us not even know about it.

                        We could become mentally and physically incapacitated.

                        We could leave this life through the avenue of death. (A divine appointment)

                        The Rapture could take place and those of us who are saved could be out of here!

            But listen to me, right now have the opportunity to do something for Christ.

We should be redeeming the time that God has given us.

            We waste so much time, don’t we?

We should be inviting others to Christ and to church. We ought to be thinking of ways that we can get others to Christ!

            We must serve the Lord today! Today is all we have!

Wouldn’t you rather that when Jesus does come that he find you faithfully serving Him--doing His work rather than doing some other activity that has no eternal value?

I’m afraid most of our priorities are all out of whack. If someone were to observe our lives, what would they say are the important things to us? What would they say our priorities are?

            Does Jesus have first place in your life? Does it show by what you do?

            Does it show by the choices you make?

            Listen folks, all the time we have is right now! We must work for Christ!

            Is there any sense of urgency on our part in doing the work of the Lord?

            There needs to be, because time is short!

IV.      WE SHOULD SERVE THE LORD NOW BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN WHAT WE NEED IN ORDER TO DO THE WORK.

            A.        The Lord Has Given Us His Power!

Matthew 28:18-19–“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore. . .”

Acts 1:8–“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me.”

                        Without Him, we are helpless and weak and can no do nothing.

John 15:5--"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."

                        With Him, we can do anything!

Mark 10:27–“With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.”

            B.        The Lord Has Given Us His Presence!

                        Matthew 28:20–“. . .and, lo, I am with you alway even unto the end of the world.”

Hebrews 13:5-6--". . . for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."

            C.        The Lord Has Given Us His Provision!

Luke 19:13–“"And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come."

                        The Lord has left us all that we need to able to the work that He wants done.

                        He left us with His complete Revelation--the Word of God.

                        Nothing more is needed.

We don’t need a God to speak to us in a vision or a dream or anything else outside of the Word of God.

He left us with the indwelling Holy Spirit to help us. That is part of His mission.

                        John 16:13--"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into

all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come."

                        He left us with the means to do the work that is ahead of us.

Do you know why God blesses the Christian materially?

Not just so we can provide for our families–although He expects us to do that.

                                    Not so that we can consume it with our lusts!

He gives us material possessions to do the work of God. Would to God that we would recognize that!

                        Where God guides, He provides.

Conclusion:

Let me ask you a question--Are you saved? If not, hadn’t you better take care of that today?

If you are saved, what have you done for the Lord lately? Are you truly serving Him?

We were saved to serve. Are you a servant like Jesus? It is our reasonable service!

The need is great. Can you see that? Are you doing your part where God has placed you?

Are you giving to see that the Gospel gets to the end of the Earth?

Are you serving Christ now? You may not have a tomorrow! We need to get busy for God today! Right now!

You see, we have been given all we need to do the work of God. God’s presence, God’s power, God’s provision. Are we good stewards of what God has given us? We are going to give an account one day!

NOTICE:   THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!

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