I. EXORDIUM:
How do you show your greatness?
By being a vigilant servant. Matthew 20:26
Matthew 20:26 (Amplified Bible)
Not so shall it be among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant,
II. AUDIENCE PROFILE:
Believers/unbelievers
III. OBJECTIVES:
To show that GOD will serve us in the days to come because He's the Eternal Great GOD, and all His creations will serve Him by waiting for His return.
IV. TEXT:
Luke 12:37 (Amplified Bible)
Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are those servants whom the master finds awake and alert and watching when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will gird himself and have them recline at table and will come and serve them!
V. THESIS:
Praise, worship, glorify, adore, bless, honor, acknowledge and thank You very much LORD JESUS for I am clothed with You, making no provision for the flesh, gratifying it's evil desires. I am free in and through You.
Romans 13:14 (Amplified Bible)
But clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and make no provision for [indulging] the flesh [put a stop to thinking about the evil cravings of your physical nature] to [gratify its] desires (lusts).
VI. TITLE:
The vigilant servant
VII. EXPLICATION:
A. Author: Dr. Luke, The Beloved Physician (close friend and traveling companion of Paul)
B. Audience: Theophilus (Greek means friend of GOD, a Christian)
C. Purpose: To give a connected and orderly narrative of the life of CHRIST as seen by eyewitnesses
VIII. MAIN BODY:
Luke 12:37 (Amplified Bible)
Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are those servants whom the master finds awake and alert and watching when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will gird himself and have them recline at table and will come and serve them!
Luke 12:37 (King James Version)
Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
A. Blessed are servants whom the LORD finds watching.
"Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are those servants whom the master finds awake and alert and watching when he comes."
Watching or "gregoreuo" in Greek meaning: to keep awake, watch, vigilant, wake, be watchful. Be watchful of the events around him taking place, the signs that leads to the return of the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Philippians 1:21 (Amplified Bible)
For me to live is Christ [His life in me], and to die is gain [the gain of the glory of eternity].
Philippians 1:23 (Amplified Bible)
But I am hard pressed between the two. My yearning desire is to depart (to be free of this world, to set forth) and be with Christ, for that is far, far better;
2 Timothy 4:7-8 (Amplified Bible)
I have fought the good (worthy, honorable, and noble) fight, I have finished the race, I have kept (firmly held) the faith.
[As to what remains] henceforth there is laid up for me the [victor’s] crown of righteousness [for being right with God and doing right], which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me and recompense me on that [great] day—and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved and yearned for and welcomed His appearing (His return).
A watchful servant has several qualities:
1. A watchful servant does not know the day or hour of the coming of his LORD.
Matthew 24:42 (Amplified Bible)
Watch therefore [give strict attention, be cautious and active], for you do not know in what kind of a day [whether a near or remote one] your Lord is coming.
Matthew 25:13 (Amplified Bible)
Watch therefore [give strict attention and be cautious and active], for you know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man will come.
Mark 13:35 (Amplified Bible)
Therefore watch (give strict attention, be cautious and alert), for you do not know when the Master of the house is coming—in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the morning—
The wicked world has these opinions in themselves if the LORD tarries and waits for His return, maybe He will not return. What a wicked generation this is! If you don't know the hour or the day, then you carefully watch for it and just don't idle or be lazy or slack in your work for the LORD. In the 80's, they say it's the last days, I say now it's the last hour. Clean up our act by GOD's Grace and start winning souls for the LORD. Fulfill the Great Commission.
Matthew 28:19 (Amplified Bible)
Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
2. A watchful servant is not alone, the LORD JESUS CHRIST is also watching with Him in prayer
Matthew 26:38-41 (Amplified Bible)
Then He said to them, My soul is very sad and deeply grieved, so that I am almost dying of sorrow. Stay here and keep awake and keep watch with Me.
And going a little farther, He threw Himself upon the ground on His face and prayed saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will [not what I desire], but as You will and desire.
And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, What! Are you so utterly unable to stay awake and keep watch with Me for one hour?
All of you must keep awake (give strict attention, be cautious and active) and watch and pray, that you may not come into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Pray: How do I do it? I make sure like in this 2.5 hours of spending time with the LORD on a daily basis, I allotted a time to pray like an hour, sometimes more, praying with understanding and praying in tongues. Majority of times, I don't know what to pray but the HOLY SPIRIT helps me in perfect prayer - praying in tongues. All throughout the day, I pray in tongues unceasingly.
Colossians 4:2 (Amplified Bible)
Be earnest and unwearied and steadfast in your prayer [life], being [both] alert and intent in [your praying] with thanksgiving.
Romans 8:26 (Amplified Bible)
So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.
I've been soaked in the world for 9 hours a day, and all I can boast is 2.5 hours of praying a day, that is too tiny for me to do that, it's not fair. But you know what, the LORD corrected me.
Galatians 5:9 (Amplified Bible)
A little leaven (a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers) leavens the whole lump [it perverts the whole conception of faith or misleads the whole church].
That little leaven is that tiny 2.5 hours compared to 9 hours of work a day. I'm planning to increase it further but that's about it, in my break time I get to win souls left and right, making the return of the LORD fast and quick for I missed Him so much.
3. A watchful servant does not allow his house to be broken into and his goods stolen.
Matthew 24:43 (Amplified Bible)
But understand this: had the householder known in what [part of the night, whether in a night or a morning] watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have allowed his house to be undermined and broken into.
The house signifies the house of prayer, it's GOD's temple, the body, the body is an instrument of and for righteousness not for wickedness and evil.
Matthew 21:13 (Amplified Bible)
He said to them, The Scripture says, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers.
Romans 6:13 (Amplified Bible)
Do not continue offering or yielding your bodily members [and faculties] to sin as instruments (tools) of wickedness. But offer and yield yourselves to God as though you have been raised from the dead to [perpetual] life, and your bodily members [and faculties] to God, presenting them as implements of righteousness.
To not be broken into by the enemy and our goods stolen (the gifts of the HOLY SPIRIT), we watch by praying.
ILLUSTRATION: I've dealt with several professing CHRISTian believers, so-called because they call themselves like that, but when you mingle with them closely, you will see their lives not lived for the LORD but for the cursed enemy who's future is eternal destruction, and they like it that way, living for the world BUT professing to be CHRISTians. Very rare are those people find to lived for the LORD. Have mercy upon us LORD JESUS, and return soon or else no one will remain on this earth find serving You.
My prayer life: I invest everday like 2.5 hours in my devotions, worships, prayer and study of the WORD, I will not come out into my house and venture on some things without doing this. I did made a tithe of the 24 hours entrusted unto me by the LORD. How about you? How do you do it? When you ask worldly believers, they will see they are good CHRISTians but when you start inquiring like how many hours you pray? how many hours you devote yourself into reading the WORD? They will just laugh and trash talk (modern word for curse words) and they say they're devoted CHRISTians, and I say in my heart devoted to what? devoted to destruction?
4. A watchful servant knows there's an enemy roaming around.
1 Peter 5:8 (Amplified Bible)
Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour.
We live cautiously not loosely. The believers are not living loosely but cautiously, the unbelievers are doing this loose lifestyle, but we have a lifestyle of faith.
Luke 15:13 (Amplified Bible)
And not many days after that, the younger son gathered up all that he had and journeyed into a distant country, and there he wasted his fortune in reckless and loose [from restraint] living.
We go back to the prodigal son who does this loose lifestyle we have right now in this generation. They have set of languages that I can never relate to. They call homosexuality and lesbianism as alternative lifestyle. The bible calls it sin.
5. A wathcful servant does not sleep.
1 Thessalonians 5:6 (Amplified Bible)
Accordingly then, let us not sleep, as the rest do, but let us keep wide awake (alert, watchful, cautious, and on our guard) and let us be sober (calm, collected, and circumspect).
Sleeping means that they no longer retain a prayer life.
My example: I retain a prayer request list where I list all prayer promises for me by the LORD and keep with numbers and in order the items to be prayer for, and most of them are there in years now as I pray for them on a daily basis, but sometimes boredom sinks in and I'm consciously see that majority of them are not answered yet but still I pray. These are tools I use to pray. Then another hour I retain this for the WORD of GOD, I hear them, I read them, I meditate them, I make sermons about them. Take advantage of the technology, use them to benefit you, not the technology using you to benefit them.
For example, most anti virus software will tag facebook and twitter as nuisance and time-wasters but I tag them as instruments of sharing to the world. I invite and evangelize through facebook and twitter. I can reach into the world without physically traveling fulfilling the Great Commission. Who knows how many people have been blessed by these blogs or sermons, I keep on doing it for the LORD gives me talents, abilities, gifts and strengths. I will never stop writing for the LORD until the LORD JESUS finds a way of exit for me in this life convenient to Him not to me, or the LORD takes me away in rapture.
6. A watchful servant retains the teachings from the LORD.
Revelation 3:2-3 (Amplified Bible)
Rouse yourselves and keep awake, and strengthen and invigorate what remains and is on the point of dying; for I have not found a thing that you have done [any work of yours] meeting the requirements of My God or perfect in His sight.
So call to mind the lessons you received and heard; continually lay them to heart and obey them, and repent. In case you will not rouse yourselves and keep awake and watch, I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not know or suspect at what hour I will come.
We are diligent in attending Sunday worship services, prayer meetings, midweek services, and practices and preparation on church. Our whole lives revolve around the church.
7. A watchful servant is prepared and ready any time because He is clothed with the LORD JESUS not naked.
Romans 13:14 (Amplified Bible)
But clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and make no provision for [indulging] the flesh [put a stop to thinking about the evil cravings of your physical nature] to [gratify its] desires (lusts).
While the whole world lies naked before GOD and they will give an account, but I will give interests to the LORD. Huge difference! When I close my eyes I see people just wandering around naked and not clothed because they don't have the LORD JESUS in themselves.
2 Corinthians 5:3-4 (Amplified Bible)
So that by putting it on we may not be found naked (without a body).
For while we are still in this tent, we groan under the burden and sigh deeply (weighed down, depressed, oppressed)—not that we want to put off the body (the clothing of the spirit), but rather that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal (our dying body) may be swallowed up by life [after the resurrection].
Right now, I'm eagerly waiting to be clothed with my glorified body but until then, temporarily I'm clothed with the LORD JESUS CHRIST while I'm waiting for Him.
Romans 13:14 (Amplified Bible)
But clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and make no provision for [indulging] the flesh [put a stop to thinking about the evil cravings of your physical nature] to [gratify its] desires (lusts).
B. The LORD will gird Himself, make that servant sit down, and the LORD will come and serve them.
"Truly I say to you, he will gird himself and have them recline at table and will come and serve them!"
This is a great exchange and a mystery since the LORD is LORD but He will be the One to serve His slaves/servants. That's what greatness in Heaven to serve.
John 13:4-5 (Amplified Bible)
Got up from supper, took off His garments, and taking a [servant’s] towel, He fastened it around His waist.
Then He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the [servant’s] towel with which He was girded.
What He has done in the washing of the feet of the disciples is just a sample and more to come from the LORD serving us while we're in Heaven. What a mystery? My mind is ready to blow knowing and grasping this.
Zephaniah 3:17 (Amplified Bible)
The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior [Who saves]! He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest [in silent satisfaction] and in His love He will be silent and make no mention [of past sins, or even recall them]; He will exult over you with singing.
John 12:26 (Amplified Bible)
If anyone serves Me, he must continue to follow Me [to cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying] and wherever I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (Amplified Bible)
But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed].
But I am now seeing a glimpse of all these things that GOD prepared for me.
Serve or "diakoneo" in Greek meaning: to be an attendant, to wait upon, to act as a CHRISTian deacon, minister, serve, use the office of a deacon. Since the LORD was (eternally) great, He serves all His creations.
Hebrews 1:3 (Amplified Bible)
He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high,
IX. CONCLUSION:
Praise, worship, glorify, adore, bless, honor, acknowledge and thank You very much LORD JESUS for I am clothed with You, making no provision for the flesh, gratifying it's evil desires. I am free in and through You.
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