WAKE UP AND LIVE FOR GOD
Part 1
Our God is an awesome God and He has made life worth living and has provided us salvation through His Son. I want you to notice how Jesus is described in following verses:
John 10:7 Then
Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of
the sheep. 8 "All who ever
came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the
sheep did not hear them. 9 "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find
pasture. 10
"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.
I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more
abundantly.
Jesus came to this earth
to save us from the power of sin. He has made is possible for us to be brought
back to life from spiritual death and to have life more abundantly. Knowing
what Jesus had done for us should cause us live life with vigor and allow
people to see what it means to have Jesus in your life. This lesson is about
waking up and living for the Lord. This lesson applies to both nonChristian and Christians alike.
To nonChristians
Paul says:
Ephesians 5:14 Therefore
He says: "Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give
you light."
To Christians that are
just going through motions John writes:
Revelation 3:1 "And
to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ' These
things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: "I
know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are
dead. 2 "Be watchful,
and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not
found your works perfect before God. 3
"Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent.
Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will
not know what hour I will come upon you.
So, we have nonChristians that need to wake up from their sinful
lifestyles and turn to God so they can live. Unfortunately we also have
Christians today, who find themselves acting as if
they are still dead in sin who need to wake up and live for God.
I want to look at three
different categories of people who need to wake up and live for God. Our first category
is Christians who have fallen away because they have allowed themselves to get
wrapped up in the pleasures of this life. I wish I could say that this never
happens, but we know it does and the Bible tells us that it happens:
2 Peter 2:20 For if,
after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of
the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and
overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better
for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to
turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 But it has happened to them
according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and,
"a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire."
You can read similar
verses in Hebrews 6:4-8
and 10:26-27. Also in the parable of the soils Jesus says:
Luke 8:14 "Now
the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go
out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no
fruit to maturity.
Sometimes I wish we could
live in a world where there are no thorns, but the fact of the matter is that
there is always going to be things that happen in life that try and choke us
down and one of those things is the pleasure of sin. If sin was painful and
made you sick, everyone would stay away from it except for a few, but it just
the opposite, which is why it is so hard for some Christians to stay away from
sin, but our goal is to learn to look at sin for what it is. Yes, it might feel
good for a moment, but almost all sin has negative consequences in this life,
and most certainly has eternal consequences because sin can and will keep us
out of heaven.
I want you to notice the
contrast that Paul in makes in:
1 Timothy 5:5 Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God
and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. 6 But she who lives in pleasure is
dead while she lives.
First he talks about a
faithful widow and then talks about a widow who lives in pleasure, and he says
that she is dead while she lives. Just because a person obeys the gospel and is
made alive in Christ does not mean that they will remain alive or be able to be
saved in the end. When a Christian stops living for God and starts living for
pleasure they become spiritually dead, which is far worse than physical death.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death…
If a Christian continues
on this path until the day they die they will not be allowed into heaven, and
they will have to face torment of hell day and night for eternity, which is why
it so important that we do our best to reach out to fallen brethren and encourage
them to wake up and start living for God once again.
A great example of this
comes from the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. We all know the story,
the young man decides he wants to leave the protection and comfort of His
father's house and he wants his inheritance and his father gives it to him. He
goes off and lives a life of pleasure. He thought it was great at first, but
when he ran out of money and found himself feeding pigs and desiring to eat
their food, he realized that is was time for him to wake up and go back to his
father.
Luke 15:17
"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired
servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 'I will arise and go to my
father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and
before you, 19
"and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your
hired servants." '
20 "And he arose and came to his father. But when
he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran
and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21
"And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in
your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22 "But the father said to
his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring
on his hand and sandals on his feet.
23 'And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and
let us eat and be merry;
24 'for this my son was dead and is alive again; he
was lost and is found.' And they began to be merry.
Like this prodigal son,
there have been Christians that choose to leave their Father and the church. They go out and live
a life of pleasure, but some finally hit rock bottom and realize what they have
left. Many Christians have the same mentality of this son who did not think
himself worthy to be a son any longer but hoped to be a hired servant, but what
the parable teaches us about the fallen, is that God is watching and He is
waiting for you to wake up from your sin and come back to Him. He will not beat
you, nor put you in a lowly position, no He will run out to you and embrace you
and rejoice that you have come back home. You will be treated as a son or
daughter of God. You will be forgiven no matter far you have fallen and you
will be considered alive once again because that is the kind of loving God that
we serve.
Once a fallen Christian
has come back, they must never forget what sin did to them so that they never
leave God again. We should follow after the example of Moses as we read in:
Hebrews 11:24 By
faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, 25 choosing rather
to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures
of sin, 26 esteeming the
reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to
the reward. 27 By faith he
forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him
who is invisible.
Let’s always do our best
to not let the passing of the pleasure of sin lead us away from God.
Our second category this morning are those who have never obeyed the
gospel. If you have never become a Christian, then you are dead spiritually and
you need to wake up and start living for Christ so that you will not longer be spiritually dead. Notice what Paul says in:
Ephesians 2:1 And you
He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once
conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the
others. 4 But God, who is
rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Here is what Paul is
saying. He is saying that before these people obeyed the gospel, they were dead
in their sins, but thanks to God and His wonderful grace, He provided the
perfect sacrifice for our sins, which was His Son. Though we did not deserve
it, He has given all sinners the opportunity to be saved. Grace is God’s part,
and we must accept His grace by having an obedient faith.
Ephesians 2:8 For by
grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the
gift of God, 9
not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Our obedient faith does
not earn us salvation but it is how we accept the grace of God. Now many in the
religious world teach that one is saved by faith alone, but this is not what an
obedient faith is all about. An obedient faith is one of action. A great O.T.
example of this comes from the time of Joshua.
Joshua 6:1 Now
Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out,
and none came in. 2 And the
LORD said to Joshua: "See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and
the mighty men of valor.
Here we can see that God
had given Jericho to Joshua, but Joshua had to do more than just believe it was
his because we learn there things he had to do to accept this gift:
Joshua 6:3 "You
shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around
the city once. This you shall do six days.
4 "And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams'
horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven
times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 "It shall come to pass,
when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you
hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great
shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go
up every man straight before him."
In order for Joshua and
his men to receive this gift from God, they had to have an obedient faith. If
they just believed that God was going to give them the city and did not follow
the instructions the wall would have never fallen.
We could look at Naaman in 2 Kings 5. He was covered with leprosy and Elisha
told him that he could be cured of his disease and told him to do it, which was
to dip in the Jordan river 7 times. Now, he could
believe that he would be cured all day long and for the rest of his life, but
until he had obedient faith by going to the Jordan River and dipping 7 times he
would remain leprous. If you have read the story, you know that he was hesitant
at first, but then he went and dipped 7 times and on the 7th time
his leprosy was taken away.
I could continue to show
example after example from the Bible of how God has always demanded an obedient
faith and not just mere belief, but I do not think that is necessary. If you
want to accept God’s gift of salvation then you must have an active faith. Even
if we had no examples, James forever settles the matter in:
James 2:14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he
has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked
and destitute of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace,
be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are
needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if
it does not have works, is dead. 18 But
someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your
faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one
God. You do well. Even the demons believe -- and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O
foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered
Isaac his son on the altar? 22
Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith
was made perfect? 23 And the
Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was
accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of
God. 24 You see then that a
man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received
the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the
spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
The reason I am pointing
this out from scripture is because there are many that call themselves
Christians because they believe the Jesus is the Son of God, but they have
never obeyed God’s plan of salvation. While it is wonderful that they do good
deeds and say they love God, they are just as dead spiritually as nonChristian. Now, I am not saying this to be mean or judgemental because Jesus Himself had said this very thing:
Matthew 7:21 " Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall
enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in
heaven. 22 "Many will
say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast
out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 "And then I will declare
to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who
practice lawlessness!' 24 "
Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him
to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25 "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the
winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on
the rock. 26 "But
everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a
foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27 "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the
winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."
Sometimes the truth is
hard to swallow even when Jesus is the one who said it. Yes, there are a lot kind
loving people who do many great works in the name of Jesus and they will boldly
profess Jesus as their Savior, but since they never obeyed God’s plan of
salvation they are lost and Jesus will say to them, “I never knew you.” Nobody
likes talking about people in this condition, but we have to and we need to do what we
can to reach them and get them to see that they are a Christian in name only.
They are kind of like the men who tried to use the name of Jesus to cast out a
demon in:
Acts 19:13 Then
some of the itinerant (i-tin-er-ent) Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves
to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying,
"We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches." 14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, (see-vuh) a Jewish chief priest, who did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered
and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?" 16 Then the man in whom the evil
spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so
that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
You can use the name
Jesus all day long and even do great works in His name, but it is not the same
as being known by Him or being in Him. The Bible is very clear on what we must
do as part of our obedient faith to move from being spiritually dead to
spiritually alive. So, I hope if you are here this morning and have never
obeyed the gospel or if you simply call yourself Christian because thought you
were saved by simply believing that Jesus is the Son of God, I hope you pay
close attention to what God’s Word says you must do in order to accept God
saving grace.
Hebrews 11:6 But
without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to
God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder
of those who diligently seek Him.
We must have faith in
God. Without faith, we will never be moved to do anything that God’s Word tells
us to do. We must understand that faith come from hearing God’s Word:
Romans 10:17 So then
faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Without the Word of God
we cannot have a faith that is pleasing to God. We cannot just believe in God,
we must be obedient to what we hear otherwise we will face the wrath of God (2 Thess 1:7ff). Once believe that Jesus is the Son of God and
recognize that we are sinner that needs to be saved, God’s Word tells us that
we must repent.
Luke 13:3 "I
tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.
Repentance is not like
when you hurt your brother or sister and mom or dad makes you say you are
sorry. No, it is when you make the commitment to change your ways and get sin
out of your life and continue to remove sin from your life by living in
accordance to God’s Word.
God’s plan of salvation
also says that we must confess Jesus as our Lord.
Romans
10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your
heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
If we are going to become
a disciple of Christ, we cannot be ashamed of Him and should never stop
confessing Him as our Lord. Jesus put it best in:
Matthew 10:32 " Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will
also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
33 "But whoever denies Me before
men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
Some in religious world
would agree with just about everything I have said so far about becoming a
Christian. Everything I have said so far is part of God’s plan of salvation,
but it is not the complete picture because there is one more piece of the
puzzle that is needed in order for a person to be saved and move from being
spiritually dead to spiritually alive. Earlier in the lesson I read these
verses:
Ephesians 2:4 But
God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved
us, 5 even when we were dead
in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have
been saved),
The question becomes,
when were we made alive together with Christ? This is
an important question to answer because whenever that happened is when we move
from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive with Christ.
Colossians 2:11 In Him
you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism,
in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of
God, who raised Him from the dead. 13
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all
trespasses, See also Romans 6.
This is how and nonChristian or a person who things they are Christian can
wake up and live for Christ. They must obey God’s plan of salvation, by
hearing, believing, repenting, confessing Jesus as Lord and by being baptized
in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. As Paul had described to plainly, baptism is when we are buried with Christ and
our sins are forgiven. It is also when we are raised up with Christ and made
alive with Him. So, baptism is the point we transition from being spiritually
dead to spiritually alive. It does not get much clearer than that.
So far, we have looked at
two categories. The first was fallen Christians that have turned to the
pleasures of this world, and second are those that have not obeyed the gospel,
which includes those who think they are Christians but are not because they
also have never obeyed God’s plan of salvation, which includes being baptized
for the forgiveness of your sins (Acts 2:38). The people that fit into these
two categories need to wake up and open their eyes to the truth as found in
God’s Word so they can turn to God and live for Him because if they don’t, they
will make the worst mistake in the lives because the wrong decision will have
eternal consequences.
The rest of us need to be
doing what we can to help these people wake up and live for God before it is too
late. I have more category to look at, but as the
saying goes, “you will have to come back tonight, to hear the rest of the
story.”
WAKE UP AND LIVE FOR GOD
Part 2
This morning I begin talking
about our great our God is and how He has made possible for us to have
salvation and for us to have life more abundantly. I began looking at 3
categories of people. The first one included Christians who have fallen away
and embraced the pleasures of this world. The second included nonChristians and people who think they are Christians but
are not because they never obeyed the God’s plan of salvation. I talked about
how these people need to wake up and get away from the sin and start living for
God.
Tonight I will be looking
at our 3rd category, which deals with Christians who are limiting
themselves and are not living the abundant life they could be. We need to
understand that as Christians there is nothing holding us back except us. We
must wake up and live for God and enjoy being saved children of God.
The first area that some
Christians struggle with is worry. I understand that we all have our
weaknesses, but this does not mean that cannot wake up and learn to conquer our
weakness so they do not hold us back. Jesus said:
Matthew 6:25 " Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will
put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 "Look at the birds of the
air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly
Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 "Which
of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 "So why do you worry about
clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil
nor spin; 29
"and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of these. 30
"Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow
is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you
of little faith? 31
"Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we
drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32
"For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father
knows that you need all these things. 33
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things shall be added to you. 34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its
own trouble.
I recognize the fact that
this is easier said than done, but when when we can
learn to put our faith in God and what His Word says, we can learn to accept
what Jesus has just taught us here. We can get to the point where we realize
that worrying about things are not going to change
what happens. The only thing worrying will do is eat up and make you weak and
keep you from living the kind of abundant life that God wants you to have. It
will also help if we put our focus on living for God and His kingdom because if
we keep our minds occupied with that, we will have less time to worry.
There are many things out
of our control, but as Christians we can turn our concerns over to God and know
that everything will work out in the end.
1 Peter 5:6
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you
in due time, 7
casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
Does this mean that bad
things will not still happen? No, but when we understand that God is with us,
whether good things or bad things happened, He will be there for us. We must
continue to look at the big picture and remember that this life is temporary,
but life after death is forever. That is what our focus should be on. As Paul
said:
1 Timothy 6:6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this
world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing,
with these we shall be content.
Philippians 4:10 But I
rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished
again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in regard to
need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all
things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to
suffer need. 13 I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me.
I know it can be
difficult for some, but we must do our best to turn our worries over to God and
let them go, so that we can focus on living for God and enjoy what He has
blessed us with.
Another thing we need
wake up from is
fear. God cannot use the fearful. Let take a look at Deut
20:8 where Moses is giving
instructions to the children of
Deuteronomy 20:8 "The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, 'What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.'
God
is letting the children of
Do
you remember what happened in this story? God wants Gideon to lead an attack on
the Midianites. Now Gideon belonged to the smallest
tribe of
Judges
7:3 "Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying,
'Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from
We learn that 22,000 people were fearful and left. But you see God wants it that way, because he can’t use fearful people and he didn’t want these 22,000 to affect the remaining men’s attitude. So as we think about this concept surely we can see that fear is a serious problem we need to wake up from and deal with it as quickly as possible because it hinders us from being used by God and our fear can affect others.
Some of the Jews during Jesus’s let their fears keep them from confessing Jesus as being Lord in:
John 12:4 Nevertheless even among the rulers
many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him,
lest they should be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the
praise of men more than the praise of God.
How many times have allowed our fear of what
others might thing keep us from speaking out for the cause of Christ? How many
times have we allowed evil to prevail because of fear? Fear is a real problem
for us sometimes, but we must never forget that God is backing us all the way:
Proverbs 3:25 Do not be
afraid of sudden terror, Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; 26 For the LORD will be your
confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught.
Matthew 10:28 "And do
not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him
who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Hebrews 13:5 Let
your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such
things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor
forsake you." 6 So we
may boldly say: "The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can
man do to me?"
Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For
You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
When we read verses like
these, it should encourage us to wake up and be courageous like a lion for the
Lord and not allow fear to keep us from excelling in the way of righteousness.
Another thing we need to
wake up from is murmuring and complaining and learn to rejoice about this life
we have with God. Yes, it is easy to find things to murmur and complain about,
but that is not the attitude a Christian is to have. God has never liked it
when His people murmur and complain. A great example comes from when God
answered the prayers of the children of Israel to be freed from Egyptians
bondage.
Numbers 21:4 Then
they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red
Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very
discouraged on the way. 5 And
the people spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you brought us
up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no
water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread." 6 So the LORD sent fiery serpents
among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel
died.
The children murmured and
complained many times as they wandered in the wilderness and several times God
punished them for this. Instead of being thankful that God had answered their
prayers and freed them from slavery, they kept complaining for their blessing
and kept saying they wanted to go back to their slavery. Nothing positive comes
from those who murmur and complain. Instead, they make themselves miserable
because they look at everything from a negative viewpoint and them make everyone around them miserable because they have
to listen to them. If you find yourself murmuring and complaining all the time,
here is what God’s Word says:
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
Philippians 2:14 Do all
things without complaining and disputing, 15 that you may become
blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked
and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life,
so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or
labored in vain.
The woes of this life do
not change just because we become a Christian, but the way we look at those
woes and react should change knowing that we have God in our life and that He
can help us through any situation and help us find some way of using even those worst tragedy for good. So, let wake up and stop
murmuring and complaining about life and start rejoicing and being thankful
that God is always with us wherever we go and whatever we are going through.
Many of the Psalms are beautiful, and I want
to share one with you that I think teaches us exactly why we should be
rejoicing and praising God instead of murmuring and complaining.
Psalm 145:1 I will
extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your name
forever and ever. 2 Every day
I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever
and ever. 3 Great is the
LORD, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is
unsearchable. 4 One
generation shall praise Your works to another, And
shall declare Your mighty acts. 5
I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your
majesty, And on Your wondrous works. 6
Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome
acts, And I will declare Your greatness.
7 They shall utter the memory of Your
great goodness, And shall sing of Your righteousness. 8 The LORD is gracious and
full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy. 9 The LORD is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works. 10 All Your works shall praise
You, O LORD, And Your saints shall bless You. 11 They shall speak of the glory
of Your kingdom, And talk of Your power, 12 To make known to the
sons of men His mighty acts, And the glorious majesty of His kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout
all generations. 14 The LORD
upholds all who fall, And raises up all who are bowed
down. 15 The eyes of all look
expectantly to You, And You give them their food in
due season. 16 You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. 17 The LORD is righteous in
all His ways, Gracious in all His works.
18 The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. 19 He will fulfill the desire of
those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them. 20 The LORD preserves all who love
Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.
21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD, And all flesh shall bless His holy name Forever and ever.
Another thing we need to
wake up from is doubting ourselves and we can
accomplish for the Lord. Sometimes, we might say, “What can I possibly do for
the Lord?” or “What difference can I make?” As I said at the beginning of this
lesson, there is nothing holding us back except us. When we doubt ourselves and
what we are capable of doing for the Lord, we hinder ourselves from
accomplishing anything because we will never try anything.
How many times did your
mom or dad tell you try some new food and you said “I don’t like it.” Then your
mom or dad asked, “How can you know you don’t like until you try it.” The
answer is that we don’t know because have not tried it yet. Well, the same
thing is true when it comes doing things for the Lord. Some say, “I cannot
teach a Bible class.” Well, have you tried to? If not, then you really do not
know for sure. I could mention a number of different things we could try at
least one time to see if we can do it or not. Even if you fail miserably when
you try, at least you gave it an effort. I believe that some of us in here
tonight have talents we could use for the Lord that are just waiting to be
unlocked by us removing doubt and moving forward.
I love the beginning of
Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 1:4 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 5 "Before I formed you in the
womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a
prophet to the nations." 6
Then said I: "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a
youth." 7 But the LORD
said to me: "Do not say, 'I am a youth,' For
you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall
speak. 8 Do
not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,"
says the LORD. 9 Then the
LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: "Behold,
I have put My words in your mouth. 10 See, I have this day set you
over the nations and over the kingdoms, To root out
and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down, To build and to plant."
Like some of us, Jeremiah
doubted himself. His argument was he was too young, but God basically says,
that excuse does will not work. I am with you and you can speak My message to those I send you to. So,
stop making excuses for yourself and doubting what you can do for the Lord.
If you will simply put your trust in God and step forward with courage, you
might be surprised at the things you can do for the Lord. I love what Isaiah
writes in:
Isaiah 40:29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And
the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
Let us wake up from doubting ourselves and believe that we can accomplish
great thing for the Lord when we try.
There are many more things I could specifically mention that hinders us as
Christians, but I hope this lesson tonight will cause you to look at your life
and the weakness that you have and that you will not let those weaknesses
hinder you from serving God as you should. I hope that some of the verses and
thoughts I have shared with you tonight will help you wake up and move beyond
those weaknesses and start living for the Lord more than you have been in the
past. One thing that can help us to achieve this is be
keeping our eyes on the goal of heaven as:
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are
surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and
the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the
race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Let us never stop running our race or losing our focus on our goal of making to heaven by living for God till the day we die.