Dominant Thought: We need to be known to God and people as being a follower of Christ?
Points: 1. What is the Devil known for?
2. What is God known for?
3. What are you known for?
Introduction
Henry Ford is well known throughout history as introducing the world to mass production of the Model T. Elvis has been known for years as the King of Rock and Roll. JFK assassination can still be remembered in the hearts and minds of people. Even politicians this past week have been trying to make themselves know to voters. But what about Rev. Bell, Henry Bellman, Frank Tepe, John Bloss or Sgt Cecil Bobo? These aren’t just random names to some people in this room. THEY WERE KNOWN FOR THINGS THAT THEY DID AND WHO THEY ARE?
People here today are even known by what they do here in the church whether they are elders, deacons, deaconess, piano players, and song leaders. But what I want to know today is: How are you really known?
I hope that question hits home with you. How are you really known? Do you want a lot of people to know who you are? Who do you want to know about you? Well I can tell you two people who know a lot about you. And I think we need to talk about those that know you before we talk about what you are know for.
First is the devil. If you think about it he knows your tendency, habits, temptations, how you handle your anger, he knows how to trick you. In fact the devil can make something look so good that it could only be something that God would do. He can disguise himself as an angel of light. He has some control to make us suffer if you look at the book of Job. He also knows that when we are the weakest. That is why when the devil tempted Jesus he tempted him with food because he knew that Jesus hadn’t ate in 40 days. The devil does his very best to bust up the will of God.
I heard a story one time that the demons in hell got together with the devil to come up with a new way to get people to not follow Jesus. Tell the story.
So the devil knows that he doesn’t have to get you to follow him all he has to do is get you to not worry about following anyone. With all the things we have talked about with the devil do any of his characteristic evident in our lives. If so we need to remember we have someone else who knows who we are and loves us anyway.
So the second person I want to talk about is God himself. What is God known for? The first thing he is known for is creating everything. Anything you look, smell, touch or taste comes from God. In fact in Ps. 139:13 it says, “that God even put us together in our mother wombs.” God is known for being all loving, 1 John 4:8 says, “God is love.” God is also always faithful even if we aren’t it talks about that in Romans 3. One of the greatest things known about God is that he never changes. If he never changes he will always love, protect, create, and will always be reliable.
We’ve all meet people that you can’t rely on, but I know that God is someone you can rely on. Noah relied on God when he built the ark. Can you rely on God in good and bad situations, my answer to that is yes?
So we know about what the Devil and God is known for, but what are you known for? Hopefully we can be know like Paul was in II Timothy 3:10-11. It says, “But you know what I teach, Timothy, and how I live, and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith and how long I have suffered. You know my love and patient endurance. You know how much persecution and suffering I have endured. You know all about how I was persecuted…but the Lord delivered me from all of it.”
That is a pretty high order isn’t it? Paul wrote Timothy and told him to look at his own life as an example. And in fact in Colossians 1:10 says that once you gain spiritual wisdom then your life will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. Does your life honor and please God because of how you are known to people in this community? Are you known for being a joyful Christian or are you more like a Christian that has been baptized in pickle juice. Are you known for your love, patience, faith, kindness, gentleness self control and purpose in life or are you known for being something outside of a Christian. If the first word that someone says about you is not that he or she is a committed Christian, then we need to try all the more.
Just like Henry Ford and Elvis how will you be remembered when this life is over will God remember you as someone that has been known to be faithful and loving or will God have to say I never knew you. Let’s pray that not a single person here hears those words.
