The ONLY Way to Stay Serving and Not Give Up
Colossians 3:22-25
Nov 25, 2018 PM Ministry Sunday
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
I. Introduction (Colossians 3:22-25)
A. Listen to what God expects of servants…
1. To obey other people’s commands in all things
2. To fear displeasing God (forget about displeasing your boss/employer)
3. To do EVERYTHING we do heartily – will passion – with all our hearts
4. Do it as if you were serving the Lord Jesus personally
5. Serve for God’s approval and reward, not for loss!
B. All of that is hard to do – always has been
C. But, HOW does God expect us to STAY serving, especially when it is so hard, so painful, and so unrewarding right now?
D. If you don’t learn these, you WILL become like the waitress who finally has had ENOUGH of all the pressure, and complaining, and disrespect, and hurtful words, and no tips!
II. TESTIMONIES
A. Anybody else want to just give praise to God
B. Thankful for the opportunities to volunteer and serve – better than just coming and going
III. I AM SO THANKFUL FOR THE MANY ‘SERVANTS’ IN OUR CHURCH
A. There are so many to thank – 50% of you at least do something
B. But many are not faithful and consistent
C. And there are still so many that are not involved in any way
A. TWTF Tony 7 6%
D. Discipleship Paul Layton 21 18% (Need everyone involved)
E. CC Betsy 20 17% (Need more Teachers/helpers)
F. Ladies Gina 4 4% (Need more helpers)
G. Bus Eric 4 3% (Need more helpers)
H. Missions Mona 1 1% (Need more helpers)
IV. Message - How to Keep Serving the Lord
A. Delight in God – not in a Ministry – NOT in what you do
1. It is normal to enjoy doing something for God
2. But that joy, that thrill wears off
3. The only way to stay thrilled and satisfied serving is to delight in GOD!
a. Psalm 37:4
b. Psalm 34:8
c. Psalm 134:4
4. The most important thing about your life is not you ministry, or your marriage, or your children, or you job, or your reputation
5. The most important thing about your life now that you are born again is your passionate walk with God
6. Only THAT will sustain you when serving God gets hard!
7. When serving your husband, your wife, your family, your boss, your ministry!
8. Act 11:23 Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.
9. Happy, thrilled servants in a church and in life are those that HAVE a consistent walk with God, and so love to serve Him
10. Bitter, angry, nit-picking, hyper-critical, used-to-be servants in a church are those that have burned out TRYING to serve people, but had NO walk with God
11. Which one are you?
12. Did you know, we all can usually tell which one you are!
B. Decide WHO you are going to serve now (Romans 6:16)
1. Serving is a choice you will make every day of your life (Romans 6:16)
a. You can serve yourself – you have naturally done that all your life!
b. You can serve the world and the culture around you, and the girlfriend or boyfriend
c. You can serve the devil
d. Or you can serve your Saviour
e. YOU decide
f. And every day you are making that choice, whether you will admit it or not
2. A Christian HAS to learn to declare, “I will serve the Lord” (Joshua 25:14)
a. That means I actively choose to do what GOD wants done in my life
b. Overruling what anyone else may want or need done
3. A choice that will become rarer and rarer these days
4. “I” choose
a. To NOT strive, but serve (2Tim 2:24)
b. To NOT argue, but serve
c. To NOT become numb because you have been hurt so many times, but instead, to stay soft, and meek, and compassionate and selfless towards the people in your life!
5. I choose to serve the Lord! And I choose to do it with GLADNESS! (Psalm 100:2) Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
C. Depend More and More on the Spirit of God (Zech 4:6)
1. Zec 4:6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
2. More on the enabling power of the Spirit of God than on your own talents and giftings and abilities and strengths
a. If you have any talent, or ability – let God use it as He sees fit
b. Use all your talents for God
c. But do not depend upon them – they will run out very quickly
3. The power of the Holy Spirit is…
a. More than just strength – like superman
b. It is a strength of patience in suffering
c. Endurance for the long hall
d. Joy in the midst of loss
e. Giving when you seem to have nothing more to give
f. Success when every attempt you make ends in failure (Rom 8:28)
g. THAT is a greater power than superman had!
4. Everything Jesus EVER did while here, He did NOT as God in the flesh, but as flesh and blood dependent upon the Holy Spirit of God’s power
a. Luke 4:14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
5. He did that to show US how to live in that same power!
a. Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
b. 1Cor 2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
c. Eph 3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
d. 2Cor 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
6. David discovered that he needed FRESH oil (Psalm 92:10) – he could not rely on last week’s help. He needed God’s help every moment of every day!
D. Stay Easy to be Entreated About SIN in your Life (James 3:14-17)
1. Sin will drain your joy, and your energies
2. It hardens us – no one is immune from its effect! (James 3:14-17; Hebrews 12:1)
a. Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
3. But if you are quick to admit and repent of every sin that hides in your heart…
a. 2Tim 2:21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
4. The very fact you DON’T WANT to serve the God who loved you and gave Himself for you, should scare you!
E. Stay Demoted (1Peter 5:5)
1. 1Peter 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
a. God gives GRACE, enablement, HELP ONLY to a servant that willingly subjects themselves to God ordained authorities in their life
b. That goes for teenagers, wives, husbands, and all ministers in a church!
2. Serving will ALWAYS be below you
a. Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you (Luke 6:26)
b. Mt 21:28,29
c. Luke 14:8-11
3. Yield your life as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1,2; Philp 2:17, 30)
4. Promotion should only come from God
a. Psalm 75:6,7
b. John 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
5. That is why God gave us a church – a family – to keep us humble, and to make us the best kind of servants
a. Makes us into children/not professionals – yes, become men and adults in wisdom – but children who get along together well (1Co 14:20) Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
b. Forces us to get along as family – by commandment (John 15:12) This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
c. Church a soil for us to grow safely in in preparation for the battles outside! (Heb 10:24) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
d. Forsake the assembling of ourselves together, serving together, and you will become dust in the hands of the world, the flesh and the devil! (Heb 10:25)!!!
6. So, NEVER grow out of being a servant (Luke 12:37; Mt 23:11)
F. Desire the Best Rewards (Galatians 6:9)
1. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not
2. Don’t blow them all with a bad attitude, or with quitting constantly, or backsliding
3. Ignore the pleasures and rewards of sin that last only a season
4. Seek the best rewards
5. It is okay to want to want hear WELL DONE
6. Keep that prize in your eye (Philp 3:13,14) and you will finish your course
7. Desire to have something to show for your Christian life – instead of being BARREN and NAKED in heaven (1Peter 18; 2Cor 5:1-3)
V. Invitation
A. HOW does God expect us to STAY serving, especially when it is so hard, so painful, and so unrewarding right now?
1. Delight in God
2. Decide WHO you are going to serve now
3. Depend More and More on the Spirit of God
4. Stay Easy to be Entreated About SIN in your Life
5. Stay Demoted
6. Desire the Best Rewards
B. Start from the first and you will never regret serving the Lord!