We're continuing this morning with our thoughts of
servanthood.
The fact that Paul set this forth, particularly
in Romans 6, in a very strong way,
showing us our position, showing us what we're
to be doing in these days in which
we live.
We have a few days, we realize, between
salvation and glorification.
We often wonder what's going on in our
lives.
Lord, what do you want me to do?
Lord, what are you doing with me?
And Lord, why are things the way they
are?
Why not hasten the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ?
We're encompassed about with anxieties.
At least I am.
I don't know about you.
Maybe you're not.
I am an anxious person.
I am concerned with lots of things.
I wonder what the Lord has for me
and why he's working in my life the
way he is.
Above all else, I'm thankful, and I'm sure
you are too, that he is working in
your life.
Because he is.
Above all else, the Lord is working in
our lives.
As our brother pointed out last night, the
one thing, the grand purpose of God in
our lives and Jesus Christ in us, is
that we might be conformed to the image
of Jesus Christ.
And we're looking forward to that.
But while we're here, while we're still here,
we have a work to do for the
Lord.
He wants to use us.
If he didn't want to use us, he
would have taken us home to be with
himself the moment that we were saved.
And when we get into a tight spot
in our lives, we say, Lord, why don't
you just take me home?
Isn't that the easy way out?
Lord, I don't like this situation at all.
I'm very uncomfortable with what's going on.
Why don't you just take me home and
relieve me of this situation?
And we hear silence from the Lord.
Because he's teaching us something.
He has a situation that he's taking us
through and something he wants to show us.
We have a work to do, and the
Lord has something that he wants to show
us and to teach us.
We definitely are to be servants for the
Lord.
Like it or not, we will be servants
for the Lord.
We may be good servants, we may be
poor servants.
Let's turn to Romans chapter 6 again and
read these verses from Romans 6, reading from
verse 11.
I admire Jay's ability to be able to
memorize.
This is a portion that I would certainly
memorize if I were able to memorize large
portions of Scripture.
I thank the Lord that I have the
written word.
If it weren't for the written word, I'd
really be in trouble, because I have difficulty
in committing these things to memory.
And I think it is so important when
we have a mind that is able to
assimilate these things, that we can commit the
word of God to our memory.
I always was amazed at my own children
that they could.
My expectation was the same, yeah, by noon
you'll have it memorized.
A lot of times they did, it surprised
me, but I was never able to do
that.
I'm glad for the written word.
Romans chapter 6, verse 11.
What then?
Shall we sin because we are not under
the law, but under grace?
Certainly not, God forbid.
Do you not know that to whom you
present or yield yourselves slaves to obey, you
are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether
of sin to death, or of obedience to
righteousness?
That God be thanked that though you were
slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine to which you
were delivered.
And having been set free from sin, you
became slaves of righteousness.
Slaves of righteousness.
We reckon ourselves as servants of God, as
slaves of righteousness.
We reckon, we consider it as being so,
we are.
Because the word of God tells us that
we are.
We want to be, and we ought to
be servants.
And even more so, to be slaves to
him.
And we're not talking about being a bond
slave to sin, we're talking about being slaves
to the Master, to Jesus Christ who is
our Lord, to God our Heavenly Father.
And at this point in time, he is
speaking to us as being just that.
In the Old Testament, we run across a
group of people who are known simply as
anathemons.
Very intriguing.
You're reading in the Old Testament and suddenly
this group of people, where did they come
from?
Ever hear of them before?
What's their origin?
Who are they?
And quite frankly, no one really knows for
sure where they originated.
Some believe the anathemon that are revealed to
us in Ezra and Nehemiah, that these slaves
or these servants, we had best call them
servants at this point in time, they are
referred to as servants.
They suddenly came upon this name, we come
upon this name in Ezra chapter 8, and
particularly in verse 20.
And this group of people could have had
origin from two or three different places.
They may have been from the Midianites that
the children of Israel conquered.
Every time they conquered a nation, they would
take for themselves slaves or take for themselves
servants and use them for their own good.
We remember the story of the Gibeonites.
The Gibeonites, after Joshua had conquered Jericho and
Ai, the Gibeonites who lived nearby were a
little excited about what they were seeing the
Israelis do.
And they said, let's go over there and
make a deal with these people so that
they won't conquer us, they won't kill us,
they won't take everything we have.
And so in the story of the Gibeonites
in Joshua chapter 9, we find these men
traveling over and speaking to Joshua and pretending
that they had come from a long way.
And they dressed in what we could liken
costumes and made themselves appear that they had
traveled a long way.
Moldy bread and ragged water skins and wine
skins.
And so they entreated them, we've come from
a long far country, won't you deal with
us in a friendly way.
And because Joshua and the children of Israel
did not seek God in this matter, they
made a compact with the Gibeonites.
Only to find out that the Gibeonites were
neighbors, close neighbors.
They'd been deceived.
And rather than going in and conquering them,
the Gibeonites had made a pact with them,
a covenant with them.
And because of this covenant, Israel could not
attack them and did not attack them.
But what they did do is they made
them servants.
The Nephilim could have been the Gibeonites.
We don't know for sure.
The Nephilim could have been Solomon's slaves.
Solomon's slaves are mentioned in 1 Kings chapter
9 and again in Nehemiah.
It's possible, we simply don't know.
Who were these people?
In Ezra chapter 8, we find that these
people were a rather amazing group of people
because they as servants were serving in the
temple.
But the position they had was the most
lowly of all the servants.
They did the menial things.
They were pressed into service in the temple
doing the lowest and most menial tasks.
In Ezra chapter 8, verse 15, Now I
gathered them by the rivers that flow to
Ahabba, and we camped there three days.
And I looked among the people and the
priests, and found none of the sons of
Levi there.
Then I sent for Eleazar and several other
people, the leaders and men of understanding, and
I gave them a command for Edo, the
chief man at the place of Cassaphia.
And I told them what they should say
to Edo and his brethren, the Nephilim, at
the place of Cassaphia.
That they should bring us servants for the
house of our God.
Then by the good hand of our God
upon us, they brought us a man of
understanding, and the sons of Mali, and the
son of Levi, and the sons of Israel,
and namely Shurbiah, and his sons and brothers,
eighteen men, and Hashabiah, and with him Jessahiah,
and the sons of Merari, his brothers, and
their sons, twenty men, verse 20, also the
Nephilim, whom David and the leaders had appointed
for the service of the Levites, 220 Nephilim.
All of them were designated by name.
They were all known by name.
They had been designated by David, and the
leaders appointed them for the service of the
Levites.
The Levites were appointed for the service of
the priests.
The priests were for the service of the
Lord, the high priest service for the Lord
and for the children of Israel.
And so we see the chain of command
in the temple, the high priest, the priests,
the Levites who were serving them, and then
to serve the Levites were the Nephilim, the
lowest of the servants.
And who were they?
We don't even know who they were.
They may have been the Gibeonites.
They may have been a mixture of Gibeonites
and Midianites.
They may have been a mixture of Gibeonites
and Midianites and Solomon's slaves.
We don't know.
They were obscure.
I see in this a little picture of
the likes of us.
We have to admit that we're a little
obscure.
Where do we come from?
Who are we?
Where are we going?
But great or small, great or small, whoever
we are, if we serve the Lord, if
we serve Christ, we will benefit.
And the Nephilim benefited, even though they had
the lowliest position in this service, carrying in
wood and doing the menial things.
They were blessed, because in due time they
were assimilated into the nation of Israel.
They still held their position, a lowly position,
but they were considered part of Israel.
In Nehemiah chapter 10, we
find that as a result of the covenant
that the people made with God because of
their regathering, rededicating themselves to the Lord, in
verse 28, Now the rest of the people,
the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers,
the Nephilim, and all those who had separated
themselves from the peoples of the lands, to
the law of God, their wives, their sons,
and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and
understanding, they joined with their brethren, their nobles,
and entered into a curse and an oath
to walk in God's law, which was given
by Moses, the servant of God, and to
observe and do all the commandments of the
Lord, and his ordinances and his statutes, that
we would not give our daughters as wives
to the peoples of the land, nor take
their daughters for sons, etc.
The Nephilim were joined with all of Israel
at this point in time.
Servants, and I think they are a tremendous
example to us as servants.
Boy, if I'm going to be a servant
of the Lord, I want to be in
a high place.
I mean, I want to be the chief
assistant to the high priest.
If I'm going to serve God, I want
to be in that fellow's position over there.
I want to command the great crowds.
I want to make the decisions.
I want to be the leader.
I don't want to sit back and do
the menial things.
Isn't that the way our minds run?
We don't want to take the lowliest position,
but remember the example that Jesus Christ gave
to us in that he humbled himself and
became a servant.
And we also are to humble ourselves and
become a servant.
Jesus became the lowest of the low, the
humblest of all servants.
He is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord
of glory.
He humbled himself.
He is our example.
Who am I that I should think that
I should have some exalted position in the
church of Jesus Christ?
Oh, I'm so glad that I made it.
Speaking of making it, we had a dear
sister in our assembly that went to be
with the Lord recently.
She had the most marvelous visions in her
last hours.
She saw angels.
She saw loved ones that were already there.
She heard the music.
And Wayne naturally came to minister to her
for the last time.
She took his hand and said, Wayne, she
said, it's true, it's true.
Everything you've said and taught, it's true.
And all these visions that she had were
in the presence of her children and her
relatives, some who are unsaved and some who
are.
It was a marvelous homecoming.
That which the word of God says, that
which the word of God promises to us,
though we will take the lowest position, God
will exalt us.
And this exaltation will come when we are
in his presence, whether we go by the
grave or whether we go by the rapture.
And all the methonyms had a part in
the whole.
Paul speaks of our relationship in Romans 6
as that of not only servanthood, but as
actually slaves, because he's comparing what we were
in sin, what we were in Adam with
what we are now in Christ.
And just as you were slaves to sin,
now, because you're free from that, you can
become virtually slaves to God in Christ Jesus.
You know, this slavery brings us to the
place where we're very equal.
The Scriptures tell us that we are to
submit one to another as brothers and sisters
in the Lord.
The elders of the assemblies are to submit
one to another, as we submit to our
Lord Jesus Christ.
We are all equal in the church.
There's no pride in slavery.
If we really have humbled ourselves and become
slaves to God, slaves to righteousness, where is
pride?
Where is ego?
Where is ambition, other than our ambitions to
please and serve him?
I mean, personal ambition.
Personal pride, our ego, is not there.
What is there is a great expectation, a
great expectation in the one we serve.
Our expectation is not in ourselves.
Our expectation is not in others.
Our expectation is in the Lord himself.
God has placed us in Christ.
Our expectation is from him.
We are members one of another in the
body of Christ.
But we are still individuals, and our expectation
is from Jesus Christ and from God our
heavenly Father.
We read that word in Romans chapter 6,
verse 11, that word reckoned.
Consider it as being so.
Count on it.
Don't doubt it.
We reckon on certain things in our Christian
life, don't we?
First of all, we reckon on our salvation.
It doesn't say here, reckon on your salvation.
It doesn't say reckon on your justification.
But we do.
We count it as being so.
I think we have a common experience when
we're first saved.
We have a zeal for the Lord, and
yet we have great doubts.
And Satan comes to us immediately when we're
saved, and he says, Look what you did.
Look what you fought.
Look at what you're seeing.
Look at where you're spending your time.
You can't possibly, there is no way that
you can be saved.
There's no way you can be a son
of God and do the things and think
the things that you think and do.
You can't be saved.
And we reason and say, Well, yeah, that's
right.
I can't be doing these things.
I must not be saved.
And so we vacillate from day to day.
I'm talking about immediately after we're saved.
Satan tempts us and tests us and the
trials come.
And we say, Oh, I'm not saved.
And then we go back to the word
of God.
And the word of God tells us that
we are saved.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved.
We confess with our mouth that Jesus is
Lord.
We'll be saved.
We have the Spirit of God dwelling within
us.
We are saved.
The Spirit of God bears witness with our
spirit that we are the children of God.
And as we go back to the word
of God over and over again, he reassures
us.
Yes, you are my child.
You are saved.
You are born again.
You've been born into the family of God.
You are mine.
You are in Christ.
Until we get to a place where we
start believing what God has said.
Has God said?
Is this what the word of God says?
Am I really saved?
Yes, I am, because I believe God.
I believe the word of God.
And when Satan comes in and he says,
You're not saved.
You say, Yes, I am.
How do you know?
The word of God says so.
I may not feel it all the time.
Others may not see it all the time.
But I am, because the word of God
says so.
And so we get to the place where
we reckon on our salvation.
We count it as being so, and we
know that we are saved.
And we get to a place where we
have the assurance of our salvation, and if
nothing else, we know that we are God's
child, and we know that we are going
to go to heaven.
We know that.
We know that the death angel will pass
over us.
We know that the blood of Jesus Christ
will cleanse us, and has cleansed us, from
all unrighteousness.
We know that we have been declared righteous
in Jesus Christ.
And so we're reckoning on that.
We're counting it as so.
Now, just as we have counted so, just
as we have counted so and reckoned so
our salvation, here's something else he wants us
to count as being so.
He's talking about our identification, our position in
Jesus Christ.
He tells us this in Romans chapter 6,
and he says, What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may
abound?
Well, certainly not, or God forbid.
How shall we who have died the sin
live any longer in it?
Or do you not know that as many
of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?
Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism
into death, and that just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we also should walk
in newness of life.
For if we have been united together in
the likeness of his death, certainly we also
shall be in the likeness of his resurrection.
Knowing this, that our old man was crucified
with him, that the body of sin might
be done away with, that we should no
longer be slaves of sin.
For he who has died has been freed
from sin.
Now, if we died with Christ, we believe
that we shall also live with him.
Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the
dead, dies no more, death no longer has
dominion over him.
For the death that he died, he died
to sin once for all.
But the life that he lives, he lives
to God.
Likewise, you also.
Because of this, because you have been baptized
into Christ Jesus, because you identify with the
Lord Jesus Christ, when he died, you died.
When he was buried, you were buried with
him.
When he was raised from the dead, you
were raised with him.
And you now walk in newness of life.
Not in the old life, but in this
new life, this new life in Christ Jesus.
If any man be in Christ, in Christ,
he or she is a new creation.
All the old things have passed away.
That old life has passed away.
All things have become new in Christ, and
this is the newness of life that we
are to be walking in.
What does he say about that?
Count that as being so.
You did die with him.
Now, this is hard to understand and hard
to grasp, this identification with Christ.
The fact that we have started a new
life in him.
We understand that when we are justified in
him, that we have our sin forgiven.
That we stand right before God.
We understand that.
But he also has made for us this
possibility to walk before him as new creatures
in Christ Jesus.
Oh, what a wonder, this thing that he's
done for us.
And you know what?
Satan doesn't want you to know that either.
He does not want you to believe that
has happened.
But he says you know that, and he
says reckon it that you are dead indeed
to sin, but reckon that you are alive
to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And this is the key to our whole
Christian walk.
In Christ.
It is Christ in you.
We're told in Colossians, it is Christ in
you that's the hope of glory.
You in Christ, and Christ in you.
We have no other hope of making it
through this world and walking in a pleasing
manner and serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
Except we be in him.
Counted as being so.
We're identified with him.
And because we're identified with him, then this
is our sanctification.
The Lord is working in us.
God is working in us and through us
to bring us to this image and conform
us to this image of his Son.
And he's doing it.
Sometimes we don't recognize these things as happening.
We struggle with ourselves.
And we have lots of struggles and lots
of problems.
Because we have a mind that needs to
be renewed and we have our own free
will that keeps exerting itself.
And making decisions that are not quite what
they ought to be.
Not reckoning on our position in Christ.
But God is sanctifying us.
He is working, making us holy.
In a sense we are holy because we
are in Christ.
But there's the ongoing work of holiness.
The ongoing work of sanctification.
And that he is working in us hour
by hour, day by day.
Moment by moment, as it were.
Moment by moment.
I love that song.
That's one of my favorites.
Because that's all we have, you know, really.
We have just this moment in time.
That moment's gone.
It's in the past.
And that moment is not here yet.
It's in the future.
What we have is this moment.
Count yourself in Christ.
Holy and completely in him.
And we count on this position in Christ
and identify with him in this new life.
And because we have this new life in
Christ and we can walk with him in
this newness of life, then we can count
on him providing for us.
We reckon on his provision for us as
well.
One of the most amazing things to discover
is that God provides for us.
Philippians chapter 4.
God provides for us in amazing ways.
We feel that we have to have the
reins.
We have to have the keys to the
ignition.
We have to be at the steering wheel.
We have to be at the console.
We have to be at the keyboard.
We have to be in control.
And so, we let him control.
And he provides for us.
Now, he's talking to us in verse 4
of chapter 4 of Philippians.
He says, rejoice in the Lord always.
Again, I say rejoice.
And this joy that we have is the
joy of the Lord that is in our
hearts.
This joy is not always coming as a
smile on our face.
I don't smile all the time.
I probably smile less than most people.
My personality is not such that I smile
a lot.
But I still have a joy in my
heart.
And this joy is the joy the Lord
puts there.
This is the joy of the Lord.
Because I'm his.
And he is mine.
So we can rejoice always.
He says, let your gentleness be known to
all men.
The Lord is at hand.
Be anxious for nothing.
But in everything, by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to
God.
Don't be anxious about anything.
That speaks to me again.
I'm an anxious person.
I said that.
And for anxiety, we need peace.
He says in verse 7, the peace of
God which surpasses all understanding will guard your
hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus.
So God will provide for us.
We are not to be anxious for anything.
He will provide for us this peace of
mind and peace of heart.
How?
Through Jesus Christ.
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things
are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things
are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things
are of good report, if there is any
virtue, if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on
these things.
The things which you learned and received and
heard and saw in me, these do.
And to God, a peace will be with
you.
And I rejoice in the Lord greatly that
now at last your care for me is
first again.
Paul is talking of himself.
Though you surely did care, but you lacked
opportunity.
Not that I speak in regard to need,
for I have learned in whatever state I
am to be content.
God can give us contentment with this peace.
Paul says, I know how to be abased,
I know how to abound everywhere and in
all things I have learned.
This is the important part of this whole
situation.
He learned how to be content.
He learned how to live trusting in God
through affluency and through poverty.
He says, I can do all things through
Christ who strengthens me.
Here is the strength that we need, this
provision that he has for us.
Nevertheless, you have done well, you shared my
distress.
They had brought fellowship to him and provided
for his needs.
Down in verse 19 he is saying that
in verse 18 he says, I have all
and abound, I am full, having received from
Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you,
a sweet smelling aroma.
It is an acceptable sacrifice while pleasing to
God.
This is how God sees our gifts of
support.
And he says, because you have shown support,
you have supported the work of Christ and
the workers in Christ, my God shall supply
all your need according to his riches in
glory by Christ Jesus.
Now some teach a weird doctrine that talks
about prosperity, and boy, if you give to
God, you give him a spoonful and he'll
give you back a shovelful.
Well, you know, sometimes that's true.
We don't build a doctrine on that.
And we don't serve God and we don't
give to God in order to get back.
That's not it at all.
We give to him because we love him
and we serve him.
But he will provide, he will supply every
provision, every need, every need according to his
riches.
I have lots of wants, a lot of
things I really want badly.
Some would say that I even lust after
some things.
I suppose in a sense that's what it
is, you know.
Sam Dalton was down to our conference the
first of July and he came driving in
a brand new pure white Cadillac.
Sam, where did you get this new car?
Well, no problem, he said.
I stopped at the car rental, told them
I wanted an Escort.
Didn't have one.
They said, well, would this Cadillac do?
He said, yeah, I think so.
And so for the price of the Escort,
he got the Cadillac.
And God showed his provision that way for
him that day.
But, boy, you know, everybody walking around that
parking lot looking at our old, dirty, dusty
farm cars and trucks and here's this shiny,
white, brand new not a scratch on a
Cadillac.
Who does that belong to anyway?
It didn't even have a tag on it.
Sam Dalton drove that out there.
Wow, that brother serves the Lord.
By faith, he serves the Lord.
And he's driving this new Cadillac.
Boy, I sure would wish I had one
like that.
What do I have to do to get
one?
And so we tend to want these things.
I have an old car that's sitting out
there and it's got cancer really bad.
It's one of General Motors problems that all
of a sudden one year, the paint all
goes.
It just suddenly crazes and it's not a
rust problem from internally, it's a rust problem
because the paint's gone bad on it.
And they want astronomical amounts of money to
repaint the car because you have to sand
the whole thing clear down to the bare
metal.
I mean, everything in the whole car and
it's hardly worth it.
Boy, would I love to have that new
white Cadillac.
Well, I want that.
You see, that's what I want.
But God says be satisfied with your old
rusty Skylark.
That's what I've given to you.
Learn to be content with that.
So we're trying to be content with what
we have.
I say trying.
And sometimes it is trying.
But nevertheless, the point here is that God
will supply our needs.
If we're praying for something, if I needed
a brand new white Cadillac, if I needed
it, God would give me one.
I wouldn't have to argue about that.
He'd see to it that I got one.
But I don't need it.
You know how I know I don't need
it?
God isn't supplying it.
That's how I know.
Because God will supply to me everything that
I need.
As we serve Him, He promises us that
He'll provide all these needs.
Be it physical, be it emotional, be it
spiritual, whatever our need as believers are, He
will supply it.
He will do it.
Count on that.
Reckon on that.
He will do it.
Why?
Who is He?
This is Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
the King of Glory, who humbled Himself and
is now exalted on high, seated at the
right hand of God.
And all things have been given unto His
hands.
He's the one who's doing this providing.
He provides for us.
Talk about wisdom?
I need to know more about your word,
Lord.
I don't understand what it says.
I have difficulty with this passage or that
passage.
The Lord remains silent.
Do I really need to know that?
Not right at the moment, perhaps.
The things I need to know, the things
I need to know, the wisdom that I
need, He also gives.
James speaks to us about this.
He said if you lack wisdom, just ask
God and He'll give it to you.
He's not going to hold back.
He'll give it to you abundantly.
As much wisdom as you possibly need, He
will give to you.
Think of things that you need or could
possibly need.
There's not one thing that God will not
provide for you if you need it.
We reckon on those things.
We count on that that He's going to
provide.
And we also count on God's grace.
Because we count on this walk of ours,
we're walking by faith in Christ Jesus.
And so we reckon on God's grace.
We count it as being so.
The most amazing thing we find is our
stand in Christ is in God's grace.
Because God has no reason other than His
grace to give us the slightest thought.
This kindly disposition toward us that God has.
We stand and we're in awe.
Do you understand God's grace?
I don't.
I understand enough to praise the Lord for
it.
But to really comprehend God's grace.
Why God, the creator of the universe, the
one who is in control of everything throughout
eternity.
If we can use the term eternity past
and eternity future.
Why He would choose me I do not
know.
Why by His grace I have been saved
through faith I do not know.
Why He has shown me His grace.
Why He has given me the faith to
believe.
Why He has made me His child.
I don't know why He is so kindly
affection.
But He is.
Oh, that's God's love.
That's God's mercy.
Thinking of God's grace.
I was looking at the fruits of the
spirit.
The fruit of the spirit.
In Galatians chapter 5.
And as we think of God's disposition toward
us.
The way He loves us and cares for
us.
And we look at the fruit of the
spirit and we see grace manifest in the
fruit of the spirit.
In love.
In joy.
In peace.
In long suffering.
In kindness.
And in goodness and in faithfulness.
God is all these things toward us.
And in gentleness.
And in self-control.
We've been talking about why doesn't God strike
us down?
Why didn't He strike me down when I
was dead in trespasses and sin?
I do not know why He did not.
I was certainly worthy of death.
Fearful of death at that.
He showed me that His blood cleanses from
all.
When we think of the grace of God.
Look at this in Galatians.
At the fruit of the spirit.
God manifests these attributes toward us.
And then these are the attributes of the
Holy Spirit is working in us.
A relationship to God in Jesus Christ.
A relationship.
The fruit of that relationship.
He the bride, groom, and we the bride
of Christ.
And this relationship as one in Him.
We in Him and He in us, brings
forth within us the fruit of the Spirit.
Manifestation.
And it's all God's attribute.
All of these are God's attribute.
I stand in awe this morning.
Once again, I can't help but see the
word of God and see all that we
have in Christ.
And He says, count on it.
Everything you read here.
Everything you find here.
You who were dead in sin, have been
made alive in Christ.
Now count on it that all these things
are yours.
And my thoughts to you are only yea
and amen.
If God be for us, Paul said, who
can be against us?
Count on it as being so.
Reckon on it.
Oh, we are the most favored, favored persons
in the whole world.
As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We don't flaunt this.
We don't go out and say, hey you
sinners, we're better than you.
You need to be saved, so you can
be like me.
No, that's not what we're doing.
We're servants.
Manifesting the fruit of the Spirit.
The Lord is using us to minister to
others.
To be witnesses to the things that He
has done to us.
To be a witness is very simple.
All we do is tell others.
Has the Lord saved us?
Yes.
Tell others.
Have you been identified with Christ in His
death, burial and resurrection?
Tell others.
Has Christ provided for you?
Tell others.
Do you have a great hope within you
that one day Christ is coming for you?
Tell others.
Do you see the signs of the times
and know when the last days?
Tell others.
Those things that you have experienced.
Tell others.
Lots to do as servants of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Father, we stand before Thee again this morning
humbled not in ourselves but humbled by the
presence of Yourself in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grateful of Your great love when You loved
us that while we were yet sinners that
Christ died for us.
So thankful that You have revealed Him to
us and made it possible for us to
come to You by Him and in Him
and through Him.
We're so glad of our position in Christ.
And so glad of the things that You
give us to do and make plain to
us that we should do and where we
should do them and how we should do
them.
To provide our every need according to Your
riches in the glory of Christ Jesus.
Father, You humble us.
Your word humbles us.
These things that we have in Christ are
just more than we can comprehend and yet
we revel in the things that we do
know and do have and do see.
Lord, help us to be the men and
women of God that You'd have us to
be.
Continue to help us to grow in the
grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Until the Lord comes for us or perhaps
we might even go by the way of
the grave.
Even that is a testimony to Thyself, Lord.
Now bless us this day.
Bless our recreation.
Bless our fellowship.
Bless Your word, we ask.