Who Is Willing To Consecrate His Service To The Lord?

Have you noticed how many unnecessary questions we are asked each day?

You can go to some of these fast food places, and say to the man or the woman who is waiting on you, “Please give me a hamburger with everything on it!”

But you do not get the words out of your mouth, before the employee will say:

• Do you want mayonnaise?

• Do you want cheese?

• Do you want a slice of tomato?

I guess when it comes to Bill Clinton, it is “What does the word “IS” mean?”

But when it comes to these restaurants, it is “What does the word “ALL” mean?” Evidently it means different things to different people.

But the question that is asked us in this scripture text is, “Who then is willing to consecrate His service this day unto the Lord?”

Any time we hear a question, we have several options, such as:

• WE CAN PRETEND WE DID NOT HEAR IT (The people with these hearing aids have it made. They get by with all kinds of things because they hear what they want to hear, and if you crowd them, they will say, “I didn’t hear you!”)

• WE CAN HEAR IT AND IGNORE IT

• WE CAN ANSWER IT

Today, before we leave here, each of us will have to respond in some way. “Who then is willing to consecrate His service this day unto the Lord?”

But not only will the Lord know how we will answer that question, everyone here who knows us will know how we answered it.

Why? Because when a person is willing to consecrate his/her life to the Lord, every one who knows that person will know they are a godly person. GODLINESS IS NOT SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN HIDE.

For example, the Apostle Paul was a man willing to CONSECRATE HIS LIFE TO THE SERVICE OF GOD, and the scriptures shows us how that consecration manifested itself in his life.

Let’s look at-

I. THE GOD WHO CALLED HIM

Many times we hear people in the church testify about how they came to know the Lord Jesus as their Savior. From their testimony, the impression is given that one day they made the decision to accept the Lord, and God had no choice in the matter.

Illus: Wouldn’t that be kind of like a young man who sees a young lady he would like to marry, and tells her that he has decided to marry her. IT IS HIS DECISION AND SHE HAS NO CHOICE IN THE MATTER!

The fact is, every saved person here is a child of God, not because of what we did, but because of what He did!

• The reason we know the Lord today is because He did the CALLING, and we responded to that calling

• HE MADE THE FIRST MOVE, and we responded to His calling

Look at John 6:44, we read, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…”

God is the one who calls out to lost mankind in Isa. 1:18, and says, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

Paul was a CHOICE SERVANT of the Lord.

But him becoming such a servant, had everything to do with THE GOD THAT CALLED HIM, and HIM RESPONDING TO THAT CALLING IN A POSITIVE WAY.

We have looked at THE GOD THAT CALLED HIM, but also, it had to do with-

II. THE GRACE THAT CHANGED HIM

Before he was saved, the Apostle Paul had dedicated his life to the destruction of the Christian church.

Illus: Make no mistake about it, if you were living during the days before Paul was converted, and you were a Christian, if you valued your life you would have fled if you saw him coming.

Illus: He makes you think of the fellow known as big bad John, in the days of the old West. Someone came down main street hollering, “Big Bad John is coming to town.” In a few minutes this fellow came riding down main street on a buffalo. He was beating the buffalo with a rattle snake. He jumped off the buffalo, walked up to the saloon, and snatched the doors off the saloon, and threw his big arms across the bar and said, “Give me a drink!” The bartender brought him a drink, and with one gulp, it was gone. The bartender said, “Would you like to have another one?” He said, “Yes, I would, but I have got to get out of town because Big Bad John is coming.”

Before Paul got saved, he almost had such a reputation. As a Jew, he thought he was doing God a favor in trying to wipe the Christian church from the face of the earth.