A Place of Service
Luke 14:25-30
25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
What we need within the church is for us to come to a place of service.
When we serve, we do it God’s way, not the way that we think that it should be done.
When we come to a place of service, we will do unto others as we would want it done ourselves.
As a born again Christian, I need to learn to count the cost.
What will it cost me to serve the Lord?
It is true that Salvation is free when it comes to materialism, but there is a price and that price is my whole life?
I have to be willing to pick up my cross and follow after Him.
In our opening Scripture, Jesus has just left the home of a Pharisee, and He is continuing His journey toward Jerusalem.
Jesus was making it clear what serving Him signified.
Luke 14:26-27
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Jesus is saying that we cannot love your father, mother, wife and children, brothers or sisters, or your own life more than we love Him.
If we do, He is saying that we cannot be His disciple, and there are no exceptions.
How many know that we have to bear our own cross and come after Christ?
If I don’t bear my own cross and follow after Jesus, I cannot be His Disciple.
This is not speaking of suffering as most think, but making the Cross of Christ and what He did for us our object of faith.
We need to understand that we are saved and we are victorious not by suffering, even though sometimes that will happen.
When it says “And whosoever doth not bear his cross,” it is talking about our faith in the cross and by what Christ did for us at Calvary.
And then it says that we have to come after Him, If not, then we cannot be His Disciple.
Jesus recognizes nothing else but this kind of faith.
If we, as Christians, are intending to build something then we need to be able to count the cost of what we are building.
If I was to build a house, then I should make sure that I can afford it.
Since I am working on a Spiritual house, I need to make sure of what my object of faith is.
My Spiritual house, just like a regular house, needs to be built up.
Jesus has to be my object of faith and where He leads me I must follow.
When I am really serving Jesus my life really is not my own, there was a price that was paid for me, and there was a price that was paid for you, and that is by the Blood of Christ as He died for us upon the Cross.
If I am going to build something then I have to be willing to be in it for the long haul.
I have to learn that every time something goes wrong in my life I can’t turn away from the object of my Faith.
When things go wrong, then I need to know who I can count on, and I do know who I can count on, do you?
Philippians 4:13
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Romans 12:1-3
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
In Romans 12:1, Paul says, I beseech you therefore brethren, in other words, he is begging them by the mercies of God.
All is given to the believer not on the merit of the believer’s part, but strictly because of the mercy of God.
Paul is saying that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
The word sacrifice speaks of the sacrifice of Christ and means that we can’t do this unless our faith is strictly upon Jesus.
We have to present our bodies Holy, acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service.
We are really trying to put Christ first and we are counting the cost.
Romans 12:2
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
We do not want to be conformed to the ways of this world.
“But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind”,
We must start thinking spiritually, which is referring to the fact that everything is finished to us through the Cross of Christ.
This is our reasonable service.
“That ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”.
We need to be, as Christians, in the acceptable and perfect will of God.
This morning, are we at a place of service in our lives?
Do we realize that our church ought to be like a restaurant that serves the best kind of food that there is?
Do we realize that the price is one that we can afford?
Salvation is free!
3-17-08 Dream
I dreamed that our church had become a restaurant. A family that used to go to our church walked in and I served them. The one was upset because we had become a restaurant.
Interpretation
It’s easy; this sermon this morning is about service.
As a servant of Christ, my job is to serve those who are in need.
Who are we serving this morning?
Are we counting the cost this morning in order to be a server?
Are we going to be willing to give our all and go wherever the Lord tells us to go and serve?
In order to serve properly, our foundation needs to be strong in the Lord.
If you have a crack in your foundation, it is time to let God fix your problem.
The reason why I preached this message this morning:
Dream 4-2-08
I dreamed that a woman could not get to where she was trying to go. She needed help and we picked her up in our truck. In the back was a bike of a man who had received a miracle. The bike was beat up and the tires were really bad. This man now had a brand new truck. We were following this man and we stopped at a gas station and bought snacks. We had to lift our hands above our heads to receive the snacks. The man went ahead of us. I knew that this woman needed help. I knew that she needed to get where she
could help her kids and her grandkids.
Interpretation
A woman could not get to where she needed to go; we picked her up, this is a form of service.
In the back of our truck was a bike of a man who had received a miracle.
He no longer rides his old bike now; he is driving a new truck.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Old things in his life are passed away; he now has a new lease on life.
We were following this man to the gas station; a gas station is where we fill up our vehicles.
We bought snacks; snacks represent appetizers that we receive from God.
We had to lift up our hands in order to receive the snacks.
We had to pay a price and that was… in order to receive lift up our hands to God and praise Him.
This woman that was with us needs a miracle in her life.
This woman needs to get to a place of reasonable service in her life.
Romans 12:2
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”.
Church, it is time that we be of good cheer, we might go through things but because Jesus overcame the world so can we over come through Him.
So, have you counted the cost this morning and you want to be a believer?
Then you need to understand that the price is one you really can afford.
This morning, are you in a place in your life that you are able to serve?
Hebrews 12:12-14
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. {straight: or, even}
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
John 4:33-35
33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?
34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
Church, Lift up your eyes, and look at the fields; for they are white and ready to harvest.
People, this morning, need someone to serve them.
Closing
Are we at a place of service, have we counted the cost?
If you’re a server, I want you to come up this morning and stand around the altars.
Make sure your salt has not lost its savor.
If you need served this morning, come up and we will pray for you.
If you are interested in seeing some God given dreams from diffrent people at our church go to :
http://www.ourchurch.com/member/w/windoffaithdrea/
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