Don't Fall Asleep

DON’T FALL ASLEEP.

ACTS 20:7-12

For most Americans tomorrow is a holiday. It’s Labor Day &, in the opinion of some, it is the most hypocritical holiday of all. They say that if Labor Day is a celebration of the unique rights & freedoms that we, as workers, enjoy in our nation; & if we believe that work is a blessing; & if we’re sincerely thankful we have jobs while others don’t; then what we should do on Labor Day is to tell our boss, "I want to work today, & I’ll do it for free, just to celebrate the privilege of working." And we need to be able to say that with a smile on our face. But we won’t do that, will we? We’ll celebrate Labor Day by not working.

Well church when it comes to being a witness for Jesus Christ we are on the Job 24/7. There’s no holiday or days off. We are to be living for Him everyday of the week. This morning there are some things that I believe God would want us to continue to work on as Christians. Things that He has asked us to do as our boss that we will need to continue to work on till the day we die or He comes back for us.

Read Acts 20:7-12

1. TO HAVE A PASSION FOR HIM. (V. 7)

A. Passion for worship.

First of all, our worship is to be a celebration. Notice that it says that they met "on the first day of the week to break bread." Now we’re not told when or how the practice of Sunday worship was started in the church. But, this passage of scripture is the earliest clear reference to the Christian practice of observing Sunday as a day of worship. The O.T. Jews met on the Sabbath or 7th day of the week, which was Saturday to commemorate the fact that God created the universe & everything in it in 6 days, & then on the 7th day He rested. So to the Jews, Sunday was to be a day of rest & worship. So those Jews who became Christians they continued to observe the Sabbath as well as the first day of the week.

The question is why did it change? What brought about the change? Well, early Christians began to meet on the first day of the week as a weekly celebration of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from the dead. That tradition has carried over to today’s society. Most Christians today meet on the first day of the week to celebrate Christ’s victory over sin & death. We celebrate our salvation, & the promise of everlasting life. And church that right there is enough reason for me to come to Sunday school, church on Sunday mornings, evenings and Wednesday nights to celebrate and worship my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So does that mean those churches who meet on Saturday wrong? No, because they have scripture to back them up just like we have scripture.

It doesn’t matter when you meet. The point is that we meet as Christians and that when we come to church we should be excited to be here. Because we are learning about our Creator and Savior, we are worshiping a Savior who has given us eternal life. When you come to church your face shouldn’t look like you just ate a big bad of sour lemons. Don’t treat it like a funeral. It’s a celebration. It’s an exciting time. You may not like my preaching style, you may not like our music, but it’s not about us it’s about Him. It’s about making God our audience. It’s about worshipping a God who sent His one and only son to suffer and die on a cross So that you and I can have eternal life.

B. Passion to share the Gospel.

There was an urgency to get the Gospel out. Paul was leaving the next day and he knew that he would not see the People of Troas again, so in his mind there was an urgency to share the gospel with the people of Troas. Church we have to have that same kind of urgency when it comes to sharing the gospel. We have people that we work with that we go to school, that we see in town or at the grocery store that don’t know Christ as their Lord and Savior and whether you want to believe it or not God has placed you at that point in time in that person’s life for a reason and that is to share the gospel. That is to tell them that there is a Savior who loves them and wants to give them eternal life.

I’ve made the statement several times before that when you go to work don’t go there to work go there to witness by while your there work. When you go to school don’t go there to learn go there to witness by while your there learn. When you go to the grocery store don’t go there to shop go there to witness by while your there shop and the list could go on and on. The point is to live out the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” It’s to do what Jude v. 23 says, “snatch others from the fire and save them.” Church there should be an urgency to get the gospel out because we don’t know when someone may die or when God may decide to come back.