December 29, 2024
Morning Service

Joh 12:26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

            This verse summed up a short teaching we looked at a few weeks ago in our study in which Jesus was showing that there was a cost to discipleship (following).  His teaching emphasized that if want to serve Jesus, we must follow Him.  We must be willing to go the places He chooses and obey the commands He gives to each of us.  He then promises that this commitment to faithfully follow will be rewarded with honor from Our Father.  In our study of the 2^nd Corinthians, Paul challenged us to:

 

 2Co 13:5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?

            This is something that many people do at the beginning of a new year on many avenues.  We examine our financial goals for the year.  We set up a plan to make healthy changes to our lifestyle.  We devise a plan to slow things down so we can have more free time.  We even set spiritual goals like praying and reading on a more regular basis.  These are all good things, but unless we are committed to follow these resolutions, it seems we break all within a week and return to our same old plan.

            Our commitment to follow Jesus cannot be just a new year’s resolution that we try to do for a short time or only when it is convenient for us and the rest of the time we do what is comfortable for us.  We must be honest with ourselves in our own personal evaluation and realize following Jesus is not something that we focus on only at the beginning of new year, but it is a total change of our heart for everyday of the year.  So in my evaluation of myself I have found an issue I would like to share with you today about an area in which I found myself lacking and I wonder if you too could use some adjustment in this area?  I will try to explain it and then show you how the Lord showed me to fix it.

            As we look around us, it is very obvious that we are moving into the end times.  I do believe Jesus could return at any time, BUT I have used that as a crutch to do less rather that to do more.  Let me try to explain using an easy to understand example.  In the end times, there will be a “great falling away” where many choose to follow the pleasures of this world rather than to follow Jesus.  If church attendance drops, then it is easy for me to just say “it is the end times and that is supposed to happen.”  What about all the evil things we have seen surface in our society lately; gender confusion, abortion being called “women’s health,” sexualizing our children in schools, and referring to the scriptures as being “hate speech.”  It is no surprise for us to see these things, IF we simply say again “it is the end times and these are supposed to happen.”  What I am guilty of is to accept that our society/culture is moving that way and have accepted the changes as part of what is “supposed to happen.” This allows me to justify my inactivity in standing against these issues.  If it is going to happen anyway, why should I fight it? The Lord has showed me that I am acting in error to what He wants from me.  If you are honest with me this morning, I believe many of you can agree with me that we have done this to some degree.  I have spoken from this pulpit making you aware of these evils, but I don’t feel I have led you well and challenged you to not to accept these changes but to continue to fight for our faith in these areas.  Are you catching what I am pitching?   

The truth is no one knows when the Lord will return (Matt. 24:42) and we are wrong to justify our inactivity in assuming it will be soon rather than later.  We need to take a new, fresh perspective to this time we are living in.  What if, all of this evil is coming to the surface to awaken the sleeping church/ the sleeping Jesus follower into action.  What if we are entering a great reset in our society where we become so tired of being told evil is good that we finally stand up and do something about it!  What if, rather than becoming “Woke” the church “Awakens!”  That is exactly what can happen if we follow the command of Jesus to “Occupy until I come.”  This directive comes from the KJV of a parable Jesus tells in Luke and I feel helps us understand what God would have us to be doing in this our generation of time.

Luke 19:12-27 Therefore He said: "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.  (13)  So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, “Occupy (NKJ do business) until I come.'”  (14)  But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.'  (15)  "And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.  (16)  Then came the first, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned ten minas.'  (17)  And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.'  (18)  And the second came, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned five minas.'  (19)  Likewise he said to him, 'You also be over five cities.'  (20)  "Then another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief.  (21)  For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.'  (22)  And he said to him, 'Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.  (23)  Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?'  (24)  "And he said to those who stood by, 'Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.'  (25) (But they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas.')  (26)  'For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.  (27)  But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.' "

 

            What do we learn from this?

Jesus is the nobleman, and He is telling us to stay about our Father’s business in the time we are blessed with.  There is no time to quit, slow down, give up, or slack off, Jesus expects us to “Occupy until I come.”

·      Don’t use the end times scenario to justify slowing down our efforts for the Truth but let’s use that as motivation to get to work even more diligently.  This generation needs us to be a light.

We are His servants (followers) and He has given each of us abilities/gifts/opportunities (minas) to use for His glory and to multiply His kingdom.

·      God has equipped you uniquely to minister to others.  To “occupy well” we must be able to identify our abilities and find an area to use them for the kingdom.

·      He has placed you uniquely exactly where you are and you need to be looking for opportunities to love/minister to those around you.  Who around you needs some encouragement, help with a heavy load, or needs Jesus?  There is your ministry field, not in Africa(yet?)

·      A good comparison is thinking about these servants in the parable.  They had to go looking for opportunities to invest and increase their master’s money, it did not happen without effort.  You can see how that parallels with what we need to do to increase the kingdom.

God rewards those who are faithful with giving them more (He gave the one mina to the one with 10) and He takes away from those who are being unfaithful.

·      If you are not using the gifts/abilities God has given you, He will take them from you and use someone else to fulfill His will.  You are not losing your salvation, but you are losing your blessings and your reward level in heaven.  That is not filling the command to “Occupy until I come.”  As a truly committed follower of Jesus, that is not the position we want to be in.  We need to seek to be growing in our faith and being used by God in new, fresh ways.

 

In summary today as we enter into 2025, get busy about our Father’s business.  Revival comes from the inside out; commit to follow Jesus closer than you did last year.  Pray over every decision you make and discern if that decision gives you a greater opportunity to serve (increase the kingdom) or lowers your ability to do so.  Does this choice draw you closer to God or pull you away from Him?  Step one is to be sure the path you are on is leading you to where you want to go; closer to Jesus.  If not choose wisely and make the needed changes to become confident you are indeed putting Him first.

Step two, is to look around you first within the walls of your home and family and see who you can begin to minister to.  Then look in your community at where you can be a part of a positive change and get involved.  If you take that first move, God will guide you from there and bless your efforts.  To “occupy” means to get out there and try to be part of fixing the things we see wrong in the world.  Be the servant who multiplies what the Lord gives you by 10 fold, not the one who just simply holds on to what you have.

If you don’t know where to start, pray about it; asking God to open a door for you.  Start here within our Fellowship and ask, “where can I use my gift/abilities to make my church family better?” Where can I help out?  If you are seeking, God will lead you to the work He has prepared for you.  Let’s let 2025 become a year where we grow mightily in the Lord personally and as a church and “occupy” well!  Let the words of our Lord be our motivation; “well done good servant.”

 

Mat 5:13-14 "You are the salt of the earth (14)” You are the light of the world”