How to Serve
the Lord
Acts 26:12-18
Audio MP3
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
1 Feb, 2009 AM
I.
Introduction (Acts 26:12-18)
A.
Look at the
1.
Standing in
front of king Agrippa
2.
In trouble
for starting churches, and preaching that Jesus is Lord of all
3.
Giving his
testimony of salvation
4.
Hundreds of
people are
5.
And
B.
There are
basically three reasons why a person gets born again
1.
The selfish
reason is to be saved from a place called HELL
2.
The
spiritual reason is to be able to worship God like He deserves
3.
The best
reason is to be able to serve God, just like Jesus
C.
In other
words, God saves a lost, wicked, selfish, sinner,
to serve;
to do something good; to work for God
1.
To make a
servant out of him – a minister (26:16)
2.
To get him
to open his mouth and tell people what Jesus did for him – a witness
3.
To send
4.
To open
people’s eyes to the truth of the Scriptures (26:18)
5.
To turn
people from darkness to light
6.
To pull
people away from the power of Satan, unto God
7.
To help
people obtain forgiveness
8.
To help them
obtain heaven
9.
THAT will be
a lot of work!
D.
Now this is
where most religions have a load of confusion
1.
Many people
believe that God expects us to work to
GET forgiveness
a.
To work hard
at balancing out all our sins
b.
To do good
deeds so that He overlooks all our bad deeds
2.
It is just
the opposite with God
a.
Jesus ONLY
saves sinners (Luke 5:30-32)
b.
And it is
ONLY THEN that a person can actually do any good works
E.
The focus
this
1.
Working,
serving, obeying, doing the Lord’s will
2.
Being
steadfast in a ministry for the Lord
F.
The moment
that
G.
That must be
our constant prayer as well
H.
This
II.
Message
A.
Christians are Saved by Grace,
not by Works (Ephesians 2:8,9)
1.
Grace is…
a.
Grace is
completely Unmerited - Unearned
b.
Grace is a
GIFT from God to unworthy people – full stop!
c.
Grace is GOD
doing something that you and I can find Him and trust Him fully – that’s
GRACE
d.
Grace is all
about what JESUS did, not what you and I, or anyone might try and do – no
comparison!
e.
Grace is
JESUS being perfect, Jesus praying perfectly, Jesus reacting perfectly,
dying perfectly, rising again perfectly – that’s grace
f.
That is what
grace is – and thank God for it!
2.
Grace is God
offering you and me the free gift of salvation from our sins
3.
Salvation is
when you and I receive complete forgiveness from God (I received it 15th
June, 1980)
4.
Salvation is
the receiving of the forgiveness of sins – in total (Acts 13:38,39; Romans
6:23)
a.
Do you think
you can work to earn it? Go ahead, be my guest
b.
You will
have to be absolutely perfect – in thought, in word, and in action
c.
No mistakes,
no misunderstandings, no
d.
Just ONE sin
will blow it all for you
e.
And our sins
(no matter how small) separate us eternally from God – are you ready for
that?
f.
That’s why
everyone MUST get saved!
1)
I needed to
get born again
2)
Your
parents, no matter how religious
3)
Your
neighbours, no matter how nice#=
4)
Your enemies
g.
This is not
about religious, or differences of opinions – it is about
5.
Salvation is
not religious duty, religious rituals, religious traditions - because none
of those things can pay off our sin-debts to God – NONE!
6.
God does not
look for our good works – not at all (Isaiah 64:6)
7.
All God
looks for is faith from the heart
(Romans 10:9,10,13), trusting in the name of the Son of God, JESUS to save
you from a devil’s hell!
B.
Christians are Saved to Work
(Ephesians 2:10)
1.
The Bible
says in Eph 2:10 that we were not saved BY good works, but that we were
saved to DO good works!
a.
When Paul
was saved, he immediately asked, “Lord, what do you want me to DO?” (Act
9:6) “How do you want me to serve you?”
b.
Paul knew he
had been saved for a purpose. He didn’t just get forgiven, he got a job to
do for God, and got busy doing it (Acts 13:1,2)
c.
That is the
normal thing to do. It is abnormal to hold back from serving the Lord,
obeying the Lord’s will
2.
Before
salvation, we WERE the servants of sin (Romans 6:17,18), the puppets of
Satan.
a.
We obeyed
whatever our hearts told us to do
b.
We did what
everyone else was doing – mob mentality
c.
We tried to
stop, but couldn’t
d.
We tried to
do good, but failed!
e.
It is
because SIN has an inflexible grip on us until Jesus is allowed to take
over, and save us –
3.
Because of
the new birth, every believer in Jesus Christ is MADE FREE (
a.
Over 25% of
the Bible is about getting people to obey God, and do God’s will instead of
their own!
b.
Joshua spoke
for his whole family, “We will serve the Lord” (Josh 24:14,15)
c.
The nation
of
d.
Jesus, under
intense pressure, declared that He would only serve God (Matthew 4:8-10)
e.
Every great
man or woman, or child in the Bible dumped their will for God’s will, and
served the Lord by their lives
f.
Jesus
honours only servants (Matthew 25:21)
4.
We like to
call ourselves “Christians”
5.
But Bible
believers prefer to call themselves “SERVANTS of God” – more than anything
else.
a.
Romans 1:1
“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God”
b.
Philippians
1:1 “Paul and Timotheus, the servants of
Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at
c.
Titus 1:1
“Paul, a servant of God, and
an apostle of Jesus Christ”
d.
J
e.
2 Peter 1:1
“Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with
us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:”
f.
Jude 1:1
“Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ,
and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and
preserved in Jesus Christ, and called”
6.
To
serve is to obey, to do the will
of another; specifically, the will of God
a.
The truth
is, if you are born again, when we get to heaven, I will give you one guess
whether we will be constantly serving, obeying, worshipping, honouring,
loving, and fanatical about God – only one guess (Rev 7:15)
b.
We are NOT
supposed to wait until THEN before we get busy (Heb 12:28)
C.
How to Serve the Lord
– How to Work for the Lord
1.
Differently
(Hebrews 9:14) – purged, cleansed, washed, forgiven!
2.
Repentantly
- At the same energy level that you used to serve sin, and sinful habits
(Deut 5:15)
3.
Pre-eminently
– all the time. Doing absolutely everything as if to the Lord (
a.
You serve
the Lord when you obey His word, and do things His way
b.
You serve
the Lord when you give up what is easy, to do what he asks, no matter how
hard
c.
You serve
the Lord when you put up with hard people
d.
You serve
the Lord when you go to work joyfully
e.
You serve
the Lord when you mother your children, and raise them for God
f.
You serve
the Lord when you carry Gospel tracts, and hand them out to people you meet,
inviting them to church, and prodding them with thoughtful questions about
their soul
g.
You serve
the Lord when you do a good job for someone, in honour of your Lord
h.
You serve
the Lord when you give a glass of water to someone as a servant, not in
order to show off
i.
Serve the
Lord every minute, of every day!
4.
Energetically
(1Cor 15:10) – more than
others, not settling for less; Heartily - Do God’s will from the heart
(Ephesians 6:6)
5.
Humbly
(Matthew 20:25-28)
6.
Togetherly
(?) – as a body – a team (Hebrews 10:25).
a.
Christ saved
us to Work Together, as a Unit, called His Body (1Corinthians 12:12-27)
b.
Work
together with other believers in this church toward the common goals of
winning people to Christ, discipling them, encouraging them, blessing them,
loving them praying for them, leaning on them, letting them lean on you
7.
Faithfully
– constantly (2Corinthians 4:1)
8.
Practically
– Not mystically
a.
With others
in mind
b.
Honouring
and preferring others over yourself
c.
Meeting
people’s needs
d.
Loving the
hard to love – the unlovely
e.
Forgiving,
when you don’t feel like forgiving
f.
Praying for
people, interceding
g.
Picking up
people who need rides to church meetings
h.
Teaching a
Sunday school class full of young hungry hearts
9.
Prayerfully
always dependant upon the enabling power of the Holy Spirit
III.
Conclusion
A.
The last
Sunday this
B.
When you
were born again, did you, like
C.
There are
basically three reasons why a person gets born again
1.
The selfish
reason is to be saved from a place called HELL
2.
The
spiritual reason is to be able to worship God like He deserves
3.
The best
reason is to be able to serve God, just like Jesus
D.
If You are
NOT Born Again… Quit trying to work your way to heaven!
E.
If you are a
Christian and not busy serving the Lord: Shame on you!
F.
In other
words, God saves a lost, wicked, selfish, sinner,
to serve;
to do something good; to work for God
1.
Christians are Saved by Grace,
not by Works (Ephesians 2:8,9)
2.
Christians are Saved to Work
(Ephesians 2:10)
3.
How to Serve the Lord
– How to Work for the Lord